Chapter 657: Disturbing
Black Water Taoist stammered as he provided everything he knew to Yan Shenjun, from Curator’s supernatural powers to the complete destruction of their cult. At this point, Lin Jin was already walking through the metal door of the Visitation Hall.
Truth be told, it wasn’t Lin Jin who slammed the door earlier. He just ran out of strength to keep it open. It was probably a defense mechanism that activated the moment he sensed Yan Shenjun’s profound immortal strength.
At the very least, Lin Jin suspected that this was the case.
Regardless, the moment the door creaked open just now, Lin Jin felt a wave of energy pouring out from the museum. Judging by the look on Yan Shenjun’s face, he seemed frightened by it.
Lin Jin considered this justice reclaimed.
Yet, he knew this wasn’t enough. He had acted too impulsively, but since it was already done, there was no longer any room for negotiation. For this week’s meeting, Lin Jin’s main goal was to liaise with Chen Xuankong and have him contact Miao Yan Zhenren.
The instant he entered the Visitation Hall, all his visitors were sullen-faced. Chen Xuankong bowed and said, “Curator, Appraiser Lin has been kidnapped. Every member of our Mystery Dao Sect was mobilized to search for him but we still don’t have any information on his whereabouts. Curator, please aid us.”
Lin Jin was dumbstruck.
Was Chen Xuankong asking Lin Jin to save himself?
On second thought, this was perfectly normal since he was blissfully unaware of Curator’s true ident.i.ty. If Lin Jin was placed in his shoes, he would have immediately contacted Curator too.
Chen Xuankong’s anxiety appeared to be genuine. Lin Jin could tell from his battered appearance that he had been out and about this whole time.
That alone, told Lin Jin that their entire sect was combing the forest in search of him.
Lin Jin nodded. “Chen Xuankong, calm down. Rise first.”
Lin Jin conducted himself in a composed manner.
‘Curator seems confident despite the gravity of the matter,’ mused Chen Xuankong. It went without saying that he was thoroughly impressed by Curator’s reaction.
The other visitors had already heard the situation from Chen Xuankong just now, so everyone looked worried. However, most of them couldn’t be of help.
After all, this mission exceeded their range of competence.
Even experts like Madam Ghost Child, Black Crow, and Ye Yuzhou couldn’t do anything.
This incident was unfolding at the extraterritorial land and none of them could even get there in one piece, much less save Lin Jin. Qin Yunshang spoke up, “Curator, my master has led the disciples of our Immortal Cloud Sect to the Mystery Dao Sect to aid their search for Appraiser Lin.”
True enough, only Qin Yunshang and her sect were able to render a.s.sistance.
After a thought, Lin Jin figured he still didn’t know Yan Shenjun well enough. As the adage went, ‘know thy self and know thy enemy, one need not fear the result of a hundred battles’. Lin Jin couldn’t be bothered with anything else so he asked his two immortal guests if they had heard of Yan Shenjun before.
Both of them were surprised by his question.
They weren’t shocked by the name itself, but by the fact that Curator actually knew about Yan Shenjun. Wouldn’t this imply that Curator already knew Appraiser Lin was kidnapped by Yan Shenjun?
This was now a little magical.
Even the Mystery Dao Sect’s Miao Yan Zhenren only obtained this information not too long ago.
For Curator to already know about it was truly impressive.
“Since Curator knows about Yan Shenjun, you must already know quite a bit too. I’ve only heard my sect leader mention a little about this person before,” replied Chen Xuankong.
Next, he began explaining Yan Shenjun’s ident.i.ty, which was supplemented by more information from Qin Yunshang. With this, Lin Jin came to learn more about the profound immortal, Yan Shenjun.
The man was already famous during the peak era of immortals for his expertise.
Yan Shenjun used to have a sect too, but he betrayed his sect before the great immortal tragedy ocurred. Since then, he became a loose immortal expert.
Of course, this would never sit well with his sect, so they sent immortals to eliminate him.
In the end, all pursuers were killed by Yan Shenjun. At one point, due to insurmountable opposition from Yan Shenjun, the sect crumbled under their own weight.
This was never heard of among sects.
As such, Yan Shenjun’s actions pushed many immortal experts into banding together to eliminate him.
However, before that could happen, the great immortal tragedy happened, saving his life at the cost of others. The path of immortality ended there and the handful of immortals who survived could only escape to the extraterritorial land to live out their lives.
Yan Shenjun himself went into hiding for a period of time. He then appeared again out of nowhere to destroy quite a few smaller sects. Since the unfettered immortals have all died off, the lone profound immortal proved more than what the smaller sects could handle. Yan Shenjun’s force kept growing, allowing him to win over many powerful experts and loose immortals. His faction was on par, if not stronger than other sects.
“Rumors say that Yan Shenjun is a man with peculiar tastes. He took in a monster as his disciple a while back, and to everyone’s surprise, he actually engaged in dual cultivation with this monster,” said Chen Xuankong.
Qin Yunshang’s face was flushed red upon hearing this. It was clearly a sensitive topic.
Lin Jin understood what he was trying to say. A suitable a.n.a.logy for humans would be engaging in b.e.s.t.i.a.lity. Lin Jin didn’t think much of it because he knew that monsters commonly possessed divine looks after taking on human forms.
Lin Jin’s own disciple, Shang’er, was one such example. Though, Lin Jin wasn’t as despicable as Yan Shenjun to lay his hand on his disciple.
This alone demonstrated the different ideals he and Yan Shenjun subscribed to.
Lin Jin thought of one other thing.
Yan Shenjun mentioned capturing Lin Jin because he wanted him to treat a disciple of his.
Piecing the puzzle together, it appears that this disciple was most probably Yan Shenjun’s ‘lover’. It was no wonder he got so anxious.
Chen Xuankong continued speaking, “I also heard that Yan Shenjun holds this disciple in high regard, that he’s infatuated with the creature.”
Up until this point, Chen Xuankong had a strange look on his face. Lin Jin didn’t find this particularly strange because there would always be a handful of humans who were interested in beast girls. These monsters suited their taste so it wouldn’t be weird for them to be that infatuated. Lin Jin wouldn’t label someone as a weirdo because of this. However, Lin Jin almost choked up when he heard what Chen Xuankong said next.
“Hmph! To think a mighty profound immortal would fall in love with a monster. It’s a male monster for crying out loud!” exclaimed Chen Xuankong disdainfully.
Lin Jin felt as if he was struck by a bolt of lightning.
For a moment there, the image of Shang’er in his mind was replaced by White Ape.
He couldn’t imagine the scenes… No, he didn’t even want to imagine it. Lin Jin’s stomach churned as he struggled to stop himself from dry heaving.
Fortunately, he held it back.
He was Curator right now, so he shouldn’t puke no matter what.