This chapter has been brought to you by me, and Adnana.
Last chapter recap: Kong Hou has her first battle experience and meets the interesting sword cultivators of Cool Breeze Sect.
Chapter 39: Flying Message Seal
"Miss, please do not misunderstand; this one has no other meaning. Miss, your sword is so beautiful that this one envies it greatly." Ye Fei"s face was slightly red. She knew that her question was rude, but if she did not ask, she may obsess over it for a hundred years.
"You speak of this one?" Kong Hou took down the lucky cloud hairpin in her hair. The hairpin turned into the Water Frost Sword in her hand, the blue light astoundingly beautiful and brighter than jewels.
"Yes, yes, yes, this one." Ye Fei"s gaze was locked onto the sword. She didn"t even bear to blink.
"This sword is named Water Frost. An elder of my sect gave it to me. As to what materials were used or what is inlaid, I am not too clear." Kong Hou only knew how to make some simple seals right now, and knew a bit about formations. Forging, pill making, beast training—she had not learned much of those. Master thought that it was easy to split one"s attention due to studying too much. She would start on these after reaching Mind Activation Stage.
"Miss, you don"t know either?" Ye Fei was slightly disappointed. She looked at the Water Frost for a few more moments before moving her gaze away. "This one was rude."
"Miss Ye is too polite." Kong Hou held the sword in front of Ye Fei. "If Miss doesn"t mind, you can hold it and look closely. Maybe you will get some clues."
"Many thanks, Miss!" Ye Fei carefully took over the Water Frost Sword with both hands. When she touched it, she felt the great power contained in the sword and almost shook. Countless seal scripts had been added onto the sword, many of which Ye Fei could not understand. She could see the person who had created this sword was an expert. This sword was one that people would not be able to buy with money. The stones inlaid on the sword hilt were not precious stones but the Five Channeling Stone rare in the cultivation word. This kind of stone could transmit the power of the five elements. A piece the size of a thumbnail could be sold for several tens of thousands of spirit stones in auction. This sword hilt had five pieces inlaid in it, and each was as large as a pigeon"s egg.
The moment she saw this sword, Ye Fei felt she wasn"t holding a sword but a little spirit vein, so heavy she could not raise her hand. Even scarier was that her benefactor who saved her life let her hold the sword to admire. Just how at ease was this person?
Her hand trembled as she handed the Water Frost Sword back to Kong Hou. Ye Fei received a deep understanding of her poverty.
"Miss Ye, do you know what kind of stone this is?" Kong Hou turned the sword back into a hairpin and pushed it back into her hair. The hair looked exceptionally beautiful contrasted against the magnificent hairpin.
Ye Fei saw Kong Hou acting so casually and guessed that she may not know how valuable the stones on the hilt were. Taking a deep breath, Ye Fei said, "Miss" elders must care greatly for you?"
Kong Hou nodded. The people in the sect were all good. From the elders and Master to her shidi and shizhi, all of them were good.
"The stone on the sword hilt is called Five Channeling Stone. It can gather the five element energies of the world onto the stone and give it great power." But what was most powerful was not these pieces of Five Channeling Stone, but the countless layers of seals which had been added to the sword. Ordinary people would not be able to do this.
"So that"s how it is." Kong Hou nodded in realization. She was slightly puzzled. Why did Miss Ye"s expression look so strange?
Seeing Kong Hou still undisturbed, Ye Fei wanted to grab her shoulders, shake her, and tell her just how powerful and valuable this sword was. Yet the gaze of this young girl was too clean. This made her feel that if she used a price to evaluate the value of this sword, it would be an insult to the sword.
Maybe her elder gifted her this sword out of affection, and did not want her to know the value of this sword. Since that was so, how could she act the villain?
"Kong Hou." Huan Zhong interrupted the two girls" conversation and stood up. "You have been here a few days but still haven"t toured the streets. Do you want to walk around?"
"All right." Kong Hou nodded without even thinking. She smiled back apologetically at Ye Fei. "Miss Ye, goodbye."
"At your leisure." Ye Fei moved a step back. She did not dare to look too often at Huan Zhong. For some unknown reason, she felt slightly afraid of this sickly young master. Whenever he spoke, she felt weak.
Was it because she was facing a benefactor? But facing the adorable girl, she did not feel like that?
She thought it over. This was only one reason. The man was not as adorable as the young girl, so she unconsciously liked the girl more.
"I am going to watch the two cultivators and will not go with you." Lin Hu stood up and pointed upstairs. He turned and walked away, not lingering for a moment. Kong Hou looked at his departing back and felt that he seemed to be in an inexplicable hurry.
Coming out of the inn, she found the ice on the ground had not melted completely despite the sun coming out. In a short period of time, Kong Hou saw many people slip and fall. She couldn"t help but touch the back of her head. How much would a fall hurt?
The streets of Three Trees Town were not long, and the things sold in the shops were ordinary. Kong Hou strolled around the entire street and did not find anything suitable to send back to the sect. Fortunately, she did not persist and gave up after not finding anything suitable.
"Huan Zhong." She turned and looked at the silent man next to her. "Are Five Channeling Stones rare?"
"Not very." Huan Zhong thought for a while. "I think I have a box in my cave residence. If you like them, I will have Lin Hu return to the sect and get them for you."
He always left Lin Hu in charge of material matters. A few years ago, he saw his fellow sect members donating to Sky Sect for the New Year"s brocade bags that Sky Sect sent to the major towns during the Ten Thousand Stars New Year"s Eve. He had given Sky Sect a Five Channeling Stone as well. Otherwise, he would not even remember he had something like this in his cave residence.
"No." Kong Hou shook her head and refused without thinking. "What would I do with so many stones? I cannot make then into a necklace." Kong Hou took out the stone she had worn for several years. "I"m used to wearing this now."
The first night she came to Lingyou World, this stone had accompanied her into sleep. Master said it had the ability to activate her tendons and cleanse her meridians. So she wore it on her neck and never took it off. It had become a habit after these years.
Because of this stone, she had not make trouble for that Mind Manifestation cultivator from Sky Sect when he was imprisoned in Splendid Cloud Sect"s jail. No matter what, without Sky Sect, she would not have received that golden brocade bag.
Huan Zhong looked at the bead she held. His eyelids trembled slightly. This stone…
"Aiya!" A few paces away, an old person holding a bamboo basket fell to the ground. Kong Hou wanted to go help him up but a hawker with a stall nearby said in a small voice, "Miss, be careful. This old man will fall a dozen times every day on the streets."
Kong Hou looked in puzzlement at the hawker. What did this mean?
"Who helps him up will pay money." The hawker saw Kong Hou"s clean appearance and did not want her to be fooled. "Many foreigners have fallen for this."
Kong Hou: "…"
There were people like this in the world?
She thought and said to Huan Zhong, "Return first. I will take care of him." Then she walked in front of the old person. "Grandpa, are you all right?"
The old man who had been lying on the ground quickly grabbed the corner of Kong Hou"s clothes. "You, girl, are dressed so beautifully—why did you push me?"
The old man was extremely smug. Young girls dressed beautifully like this who did not know the hardships of life were the most easily fooled. They were easily embarra.s.sed and could not withstand the pointing and whispers of others. In the end, they would pay compensation.
Yet the old man"s plans failed. He had not expected this beautiful girl to lie down on the ground as well, and whimper in pain, "Ah, who pulled me? My leg is broken."
The old man gaped at this. A moment later, he climbed off the ground, patted away the dirt on his clothing and swore, "Is something wrong with your head?"
It was a matter which could be resolved with a bit of money, but she had to go lie down on the ground. Were young girls now all this shameless?
"I will go to the town government and tell them you bully young girls!" Kong Hou pointed at the old man, and started wailing in pain again. Soon, she attracted an enormous crowd. Several large men saw a beautiful girl being bullied and surrounded the old person, wanting to send him to the town government.
The old man that usually relied on public opinion to win experienced for the first time the inability to clear his name. When he saw that little girl still sobbing and pretending, he was full of anger. "She is a liar. She is trying to blackmail me."
"The girl is beautiful and her clothing is refined—why would she try to blackmail you?" an aunt shouted. "Is anything you wear worth one of her handkerchiefs?"
Who said people with money did not lie? The old man almost fainted in anger, but for some reason, his legs were out of his control. He could not even bend, much less pretend to faint.
"Send him to the town government!"
"Yes, he is so old yet he is still bullying a young girl. Shameless!"
"Shameless!"
Huan Zhong stood outside the crowd. He looked at Kong Hou covering her face and pretending to sob, and the old man whose face had flushed in anger as well as the crowd filled with righteous fury. He was stunned. As a disciple of a large sect, he had never thought people could do something like this.
She only needed to send an ordinary blackmailer like this to the town government or teach him a lesson with spells—why did she have to do this?
But for some reason, he still followed the crowd. He watched as the old man was escorted by the crowd to the town government, and countless people were made to believe this old man was a shameless person.
The matter only settled near night. Under the dim light of night, Huan Zhong watched as Kong Hou came out of the doors of the town government and bid farewell to the women concerned about her. Then he walked next to her. "We should return."
"Huan Zhong, you"ve been waiting outside for me all this time?" Kong Hou"s face was rosy. Seeing Huan Zhong, she was slightly surprised. "It is so cold—why were you waiting here for me?"
"No matter, I have nothing to do." Huan Zhong saw mud spots on Kong Hou"s dress. She may have gotten them when she lay on the ground. "Why did you use this kind of method to argue with an ordinary person?"
"This is called an eye for an eye. He blackmails people, so I let him taste what it is like to be blackmailed." Kong Hou laughed happily. "If this matter spreads, almost the entire city will know he is a blackmailer. I want to see how he blackmails others in the future, then."
Looking at the smile on her face, Huan Zhong swallowed back all the things he originally wanted to say. "You are amazing."
"It"s not that I"m amazing." Kong Hou was slightly embarra.s.sed. "But against people like this who are shameless, you have to be even more shameless."
She turned her head. A crescent moon hung in the cloudless sky. She couldn"t help but point at the sky. "Moon!"
"Do not point." Huan Zhong gripped her outstretched hand and forced her finger back. Realizing that his action was slightly impolite, he drew back his hand rapidly and put his hand behind his back.
Kong Hou did not notice this. She asked in puzzlement, "Why can I not point?"
"Little children cannot point at the moon." Huan Zhong thought back to many years ago when he sat in the yard with his mother who told him that children could not point at the moon. She told him many stories related to the moon.
But the memories were so distant that even his mother"s appearance was blurred.
"But I am not a child." Kong Hou skipped and caught up to Huan Zhong"s steps. Her eyes were extremely wide. "So it is all right for me to point."
"In my eyes, you are still a child." Huan Zhong saw her moving to step on the ice on top of the puddle. As she became cheerful because of the ice"s cracking sounds, his brow eased.
"How can there be sixteen-year-old children?" Kong Hou took her foot back from the ice and became serious again. "Huan Zhong, the evil cultivator that Elder Lin Hu mentioned today will be troublesome?"
"As long as the ten major sects do not fall, there will not be any problems." Huan Zhong saw her frown. "You are still young; do not let these matters affect your mind."
"I don"t know if Shibo received my flying message seal yet." Kong Hou shook her head. "As a disciple of the sect, I am a part of the sect. I cannot keep myself away from everything just because I am young."
Hearing this, Huan Zhong"s mind shifted slightly and he stopped urging her. He thought he now understood why the elders of Splendid Cloud Sect liked Kong Hou so much.
The flying message seals quickly reached Splendid Cloud Sect and Radiance Sect after being sent out. When Radiance Sect received the message and, very solemnly, was just preparing to send messages to the other nine major sects, a flying message from Splendid Cloud Sect arrived.
Jin Yue opened the flying message with the seal of the sect master of Splendid Cloud Sect. After reading the contents, his expression became more serious. He had not thought that Splendid Cloud Sect was also notified. What else did the letter say?
Many thanks to your n.o.ble sect"s disciple for taking care of their disciple on their trip?
Jin Yue knew what his disciples were like. The sect"s disciples were obsessed with the sword, had stoic personalities and always abided by the rules. Whereas the disciples of Splendid Cloud Sect were mostly easy-going and had lively personalities. The disciples of his own sect may not be able to endure such personalities. How could they travel together with a disciple of Splendid Cloud Sect?
Maybe it had been a coincidental meeting, so they travelled together for a while. Heng Yan just said a few words in the letter as a courtesy. After understanding this, Jin Yue responded to Splendid Cloud Sect with a letter of caution and sent the information on the evil cultivators to the major sects.
In the main hall of Splendid Cloud Sect, Heng Yan finished reading the letter from Radiance Sect. He handed the letter to his shidi. "In this period of time, all disciples who have not reached Base Building will not be allowed to leave Harmonious City without a good reason. Also, send more people to patrol the city, and protect the ordinary people of the city. Also, send all disciples with Core Formation cultivation and above to our subordinate cities and sects. Have them take along flying message seals. They will notify the sect of any suspicious people or event. Do not skimp on the flying message seals."
"How many disciples are travelling outside?" Pei Huai asked. "Should we summon them back?"
"Not right now. Message them to pay attention to safety and not to go remote towns," Heng Yan said. "Right now, the matter is not clear. If we summon back all travelling disciples, wouldn"t the little sects panic?" When he finished he saw w.a.n.g Tong twisting on his seat restlessly. He said, "Do not worry. Kong Hou is travelling with a disciple of Radiance Sect; nothing will happen to her."
"Radiance Sect members usually have dull and boring personalities. If Kong Hou travels with them, will she be unhappy?" w.a.n.g Tong frowned. "How about I call her back?"
"w.a.n.g Tong, Kong Hou has to grow up." Heng Yan knew he still worried about Kong Hou"s safety and urged him. "She will only know the cruelties of the cultivation world if she travels more. We protected that child too well."
w.a.n.g Tong muttered in a small voice, "I want to protect her for her entire lifetime." He would take care of his own apprentice. He did not bear for her to really endure hardship.
"Spoiling the child is akin to harming the child. w.a.n.g Tong Shidi, you are obsessed," Heng Yan said. "We all watched Kong Hou grow up. She is slightly innocent but extremely perceptive. She will not suffer losses."
"All right, don"t call her back." w.a.n.g Tong stretched a hand in front of Heng Yan. "Shixiong, give me ten flying message seals."
"For what?" At times like this, Heng Yan was made to feel he owed all his shidi.
"To write letters to my apprentice," w.a.n.g Tong said righteously. "I do not have flying message seals, so I can only ask for them from you."
Heng Yan sighed. He did not know how much debt he incurred in his past life and how much sin he committed to have ended up with a shidi like this. If he gave to one shidi, the others would also beg shamelessly. Heng Yan threw the flying message seals to them, and threw them all out.
"Wu Chuan." Heng Yan said to his apprentice, his expression weary. "Do you know why Master only took you as an apprentice?"
Wu Chuan did not answer. His master had told him the answer to this question no less than twenty times.
"Master does not have a good life to have ended up with these shidi. I do not want you to end up like me after becoming the sect master."
Wu Chuan held his sword and said calmly, "Master you are still young."
It would be more suitable to consider the matter of being sect master a few more centuries in the future.
While the elders did not want to make a fuss and affect the cultivation of the disciples, as the Core Formation shixiong and shijie were sent to other sects and the inner sect disciples started to walk around the city, the disciples who had just joined the sect detected that something was wrong.
However, as the level of the food did not decrease in the next few days, and the shixiong and shijie of Food Hall looked at their expressions to determine how their hands shook, the new disciples quickly forgot this and hapily lived in the sect.
"Do you not feel something is wrong?" Gui Ling looked at the other disciples competing for food at his table, and said, "Many inner sect disciples have left the mountain in the last two days."
"What is wrong?" Gao Jian shoved in a mouthful of rice and pressed on the braised pork in his bowl so another shixiong could not steal it. "Isn"t this all good?"
"Some Core Formation shixiong and shijie have been sent to subordinate sects." Gui Ling lowered his voice. "Have you not heard any news?"
"Isn"t this normal?" All of Gao Jian"s attention was on the braised pork. Before coming to Splendid Cloud Sect, he had grown up living an easy life in his family. Also, an elder of the family was a cultivator, so he knew more about the rules of a sect. "Isn"t a major sect sending people to subordinate sects one of the unspoken rules? Even Radiance Sect would send people to supervise subordinate sects. Otherwise, who would be responsible for trouble that occurred at subordinate sects?"
"Little Gao is correct. This is ordinary. Gui Ling, do not think too much." The shixiong who hadn"t managed to get the braised pork crowded over. "We are disciples of a top ten sect—what could happen?" Then, when Gui Ling wasn"t paying attention, he quickly picked up the braised pork in Gui Ling"s bowl and shoved it into his own mouth.
Gui Ling took a deep breath and reminded himself not to get angry.
But no matter how he comforted himself, he felt he was sitting with a herd of pigs. They only knew to laugh, talk and eat—couldn"t they have at least some motivation?
"Hey, don"t be angry. I"ll even give the meat back to you." The shixiong picked up a piece of braised pork to return to Gui Ling.
"I"m done eating!" Gui Ling slammed his hands on the table, stood and left. He feared he would also turn into a pig if he spent more time with these people.
"So young, such a big temper." The shixiong looked at Gui Ling"s back and hit Gao Jian with an elbow. "What did he just ask you?"
Gao Jian thought for a moment. "Asked me if there was something wrong."
"His temper is extremely wrong." The shixiong held his bowl, shook his head and sighed. "He was able to decide to not eat such delicious braised pork—this is wrong."
The disciples of Cool Breeze Sect rested in the inn for a few days. When Hu Yian could move on his own, people from Cool Breeze Sect came for them.
Seeing all the disciples alive, the elder of Cool Breeze Sect sighed in relief. He came with many gifts to thank Kong Hou and Huan Zhong. However, he did not meet Huan Zhong but Lin Hu.
The moment Lin Hu appeared, Cool Breeze Sect"s elder was shocked. A Mind Manifestation cultivator?!
Lin Hu pretended not to see the shock in the Cool Breeze Sect elder"s eyes. He said with a stiff expression, "Path Friend, no need to be courteous. We are all orthodox cultivators, and we should help each other."
"While it may have been a wave of the hand to Path Friend, it is a great favor to our Cool Breeze Sect." The elder of Cool Breeze Sect bowed and said, "Path Friend, which sect are you from? Our Cool Breeze Sect is not accomplished, but we want to do some minor things for Benefactor."
As an elder of the sect, if he said this, it meant they were determined in trying to pay back. If the benefactor was not willing to accept their gratefulness, they would repay the benefactor"s sect to show their sincerity.
While Cool Breeze Sect"s status in the cultivation world could not match the ten major sects, they were still famous in the cultivation world. The value of this promise could be seen. Ordinary people who received a promise like this would be both terrified and joyful. But the person standing there was Lin Hu.
He said calmly, "Path Friend, no need to be so courteous."
"Please, Path Friend, tell me." The elder bowed deeply.
Lin Hu sighed. Why do this? While no one had mentioned that awkward matter between Radiance Sect and Cool Breeze Sect, they had not completely forgotten.
"Path Friend." The elder saw Lin Hu not talking and bowed again.
Seeing the other so determined, Lin Hu could only say, "My master is a disciple of Radiance Sect."
The Cool Breeze Sect elder: "…"
This path friend spoke of… that boring and old-fashioned Radiance Sect whose members did not even decorate their lifebond sword?
Translator Ramblings: Kong Hou is very good at fighting fire with fire. Too many scene breaks in this chapter.