Being careless can cost you a heavy price. But who"s the careless one here?
(Regardless, here"s hoping you"ll enjoy!)
C23. A Mistake in Identification
A ray of green light appeared rapidly, and the burning torches immediately moved in a single direction.
When the firelight was back to normal, there was suddenly another person in the wastelands.
His priest robes hung loosely off him, embroidered with the sun, moon, and stars, as with ceremonial robes. But his robes were not fastened, and he wore no hair cap. Though he appeared careless and slovenly, his gaze was stern and fierce.
Some of the Great Snowy Mountain people with low cultivation bases had their legs give out beneath them, making them drop to their knees.
The green-robed Nascent Soul-level cultivators did not have an easy time either; beads of cold sweat formed on their foreheads as they kowtowed.
"O Divine Master, might you have any orders."
"Divine Master" was a term of address granted to Qiankun Abbey by emperors of the previous dynasty, and the abbots of each generation used this as a t.i.tle.
Hearing that the Divine Master had arrived in person, many of the Great Snowy Mountain"s people were visibly elated. Never had they thought that by following orders and coming to the wastelands for hard labour, they would have been able to see the abbot. So it would seem that this mission was especially important, and they were in fact being favoured?
Of course, Liang Qianshan did not care about the thoughts of these lowly people who had not even formed a Golden Core. After sweeping the area with his divine sense, he questioned harshly, "Has there been anything amiss."
"Abbot, that Blood Demon—"
Liang Qianshan raised a hand to stop him, nodding coldly, "I have received the news, no need to mention further."
"Well…we disciples have not seen anything out of the ordinary," the monks in green robes replied fearfully.
Liang Qianshan"s gaze s.h.i.+fted. Had he guessed wrong?
Impossible, it was only that these fellows were useless! If high-level masters like him and s.h.i.+ Feng really were to do something, would a few Nascent Soul-level cultivators be able to notice anything out of the ordinary?
"Speed up the search, investigate the entire area around Cangs.h.i.+ Town before daybreak!" After leaving behind these icy words, the Divine Master of the Snowy Mountain left with a flourish of his sleeves.
Only after sending off the ray of green light with respectful gazes did the people in the wastelands come back to their senses. Looking around at the vast areas still unexplored, everyone"s expressions immediately turned bitter.
Liang Qianshan broke through the air on his sword. He sent out his divine sense, skimming over the desert poplar forests and wolf packs in the wastelands in an attempt to find traces of "that powerful person".
On the way, he came across two figures who stopped and kowtowed in his direction, greeting him as "s.h.i.+zun."
"Something is amiss, the Secret Beixuan Treasure may already have been discovered by others."
"What?"
Liang Qianshan cast him a look of displeasure.
Liang Qianshan had two disciples, and he never liked the younger disciple, who was neither calm nor astute. A good example was this very moment, where he was exclaiming aloud out of shock, as if he did not realise this was as good as questioning his s.h.i.+zun"s words.
Had he not been exceptionally talented and far more capable than others, Liang Qianshan would never have bothered to bring him out here.
"Your master sighted the Blood Demon outside Cangs.h.i.+ Town and chased him to the area near Flowing Mirror Lake in Yizhou. The Blood Demon is heavily injured and his blood will surely leave tell-tale signs behind. Go and track their whereabouts."
"Yes, s.h.i.+zun!"
After watching the younger disciple activate a magic item and leave excitedly, Liang Qianshan made a noise of disgust, saying to his elder disciple who had been waiting by the side most respectfully, "That bronze cauldron is in Grandmaster Huanjian"s hands, and the secret about the Secret Beixuan Treasure was discovered by a spy we planted in the demonic side and pa.s.sed back to us with great risks. Time waits for no man; once Grandmaster Huanjian discovers that this is the Secret Beixuan Treasure, we shall have no chance to keep this treasure for ourselves."
"s.h.i.+zun has long been prepared for this, no? The Great Snowy Mountain"s people are only looking for the ancient demonic sect"s inheritance to prevent it from being used by the demonic cultivators," the elder disciple said, his head kept low. "Even if the central lands" powers wish to extend their reach beyond the borders, we of the Great Snowy Mountain must first give our consent."
Just the right amount of flattery, which made Liang Qianshan"s eyes crinkle with satisfaction.
But Liang Qianshan was not so vain that he would think of himself as invincible just after hearing something flattering. He purposely chided his disciple, "In this world, the strong reign supreme, and only the wisest have the last laugh; one must not underestimate the opponent. There are few powerful figures in the cultivation world who are at the Immortalisation stage, but they do exist. If they were to come here, the Great Snowy Mountain would mean nearly nothing to them."
His disciple agreed readily.
Liang Qianshan gazed out towards the Redwinds Desert. Just then, he had a thought: "Have everyone retreat from the wastelands and move to the gravel beach at the southern end of the desert, pretend that the Secret Beixuan Treasure is hidden there. I will then bring you and other disciples to personally search the wastelands."
"Understood!"
After his disciple was out of earshot, Liang Qianshan laughed coldly, muttering to himself, "s.h.i.+ Feng, no matter what tricks you play, you can never fool these eyes of mine."
Miles and miles away, in the capital.
In a secret room, there lay a bloodied corpse. The room was dimly lit with candlelight, with two people standing in the shadows, conversing.
"This is the spy sent by the Great Snowy Mountain, the secret of the ancient demonic sect"s inheritance may have gotten out already. Ji Hong, we must tell the Venerable Grandmaster about this."
"Right you are!" One of the people in the shadows whipped around.
"Argh!"
A short howl, and the other person fell to the ground clutching his slashed throat, his face full of shock and horror.
"Aiya, this spy was going to escape, and you tried hard to stop him, so both of you ended up dying."
These words, spoken in a low voice, made the victim struggle and extend his arm, which caused his abdomen to be impacted; his dantian broke apart, and he died.
The man looked at the two bodies in the secret room, beginning to laugh as he muttered to himself, "Baiwu the White Centipede Lady should have obtained the demonic sect"s inheritance roughly two years after, but she didn"t discover the Secret Beixuan Treasure which had been hidden deeper inside. All this would only be uncovered after sixty years. Now I have let the Great Snowy Mountain know about this, but they have been misled to search the wastelands. When the time is ripe, I will notify the Venerable Grandmaster of the treasure"s true location, the gravel beach, and would I have to worry about the Venerable Grandmaster not accepting me as a disciple then?"
He paced about with his hands behind his back, then shook his head, laughing,
"Chen He, your luck really knows no bounds. Yunzhou City wasn"t burned down, it seems that the Stone-borne Flame was taken away by you. This time, you didn"t even get that much karma, hmph."
The door to the secret room slammed shut, leaving behind only the corpses with their eyes still wide open.
***
Chen He was completely unaware that someone was thinking of him.
He strung up the jade orb, put away his bamboo stem with the records, and swallowed two food abstention pills. Then he relaxed, and under his senior brother"s guidance, began to enter a meditative trance in order to heal his wounds.
The mountain cliff s.h.i.+ Feng chose was not treacherously steep, and woodcutters and hunters often pa.s.sed through the forest.
It was just that the caves near the cliff were hardly approached, for there was a ferocious black python living here.
—now, this python"s cool, breezy cave had been forcibly occupied, and since it was still attached to the den it had used for so long, it lay pitifully in the corner, waiting for s.h.i.+ Feng and Chen He to leave. Thus it became a slave to help this senior-junior pair guard the entrance.
Due to his uncanny powers, s.h.i.+ Feng was accused of becoming a demonic cultivator, and this was spread throughout the world, making it known to everyone. He gained the nickname Blood Demon, but it had been a blessing in disguise, for at least it meant no one in the cultivation world dared to duke it out with him.
Were he to become injured and cough up blood, the enemy would be even more concerned than him.
Even when Liang Qianshan saw how heavily injured he was, s.h.i.+ Feng did not mind at all.
He had known Liang Qianshan since he was sixteen. Qiankun Abbey and the Beixuan Sect had both been on the Great Snowy Mountain; s.h.i.+ Feng understood Liang Qianshan"s weaknesses better than anyone in this world.
Liked to pretend, loved to scheme, never listened to what he hated to hear.
There was nothing much about the first two, while the last one was Liang Qianshan"s greatest problem. He never listened to what he hated to hear, thinking rather highly of himself.
Liang Qianshan had the mind of an unscrupulous man. In order to mislead him, one did not have to say anything, for simply arousing his suspicion would suffice. s.h.i.+ Feng did not do anything except for not covering up his injuries and instead pretending it was a recurring internal injury.
—only, it had scared his junior brother.
s.h.i.+ Feng watched quietly as Chen He cultivated. His heart filled with worry.
Junior Brother was smart and stayed hidden in his arms, hiding his face from Liang Qianshan and allowing Liang Qianshan to mistake him as "s.h.i.+ Feng"s disciple". He had not mistakenly called out "Senior Brother", or even made a single noise. But Liang Qianshan was at such a high level of cultivation that he had remembered the mark of Chen He"s spiritual energy; it might not be that easy for Chen He to escape if they met again in future.
He had to urge Junior Brother to cultivate and form a Golden Core soon. No matter what, Junior Brother had to have at least enough ability to escape or hold out until he came to the rescue.
As s.h.i.+ Feng"s thoughts reached this point, his right ear twitched, and he looked out of the cave.
"Hsssss!" The black python leaped up a few feet, letting out a hiss of rage. Its den had already been occupied, and now another bold human was stepping into its territory.
"So it was a large worm." A human"s voice came from outside the cave.
A young man in black Daoist robes lifted the vines with his sword, giving a casual look around the place.
Black robes, purple belt, three-lotus hair cap. This was a direct disciple of the Divine Master of the Great Snowy Mountain.
s.h.i.+ Feng"s gaze swept over him briefly. This person had a decent cultivation base, having already reached the early stages of the DemiG.o.d stage. Such power was already considered rare in the cultivation world.
This person did not see through the camouflage spell s.h.i.+ Feng cast, leaving on his sword after looking around the snake"s cave once. Clearly, he did not notice the abnormality in the bamboo cl.u.s.ters. Which also proved that Chen He"s sneaking out in the night and busying around behind s.h.i.+ Feng"s back had really tricked the Divine Master"s disciple who had come after them.
s.h.i.+ Feng knew very clearly what his junior brother was capable of.
At most, Chen He could only masquerade as some mortal trekking in the mountains, perhaps someone who had pa.s.sed by the bamboo forest and built a bonfire in the night.
If one were to be patient and observe carefully, they would be able to tell the length of time that had pa.s.sed from the footprints, the dew, and the temperature of the ashes from the fire. Why would a pa.s.sing mortal leave so early before daylight?
—well, there was no way a disciple taught by Liang Qianshan would be as wise as that. They would be either proud and haughty, or someone impatient. No matter how high their cultivation base was, they would never amount to anything great.
Unlike his junior brother.
s.h.i.+ Feng"s gaze s.h.i.+fted back to Chen He. His junior brother had been discerning and sharp since young. At the age of nine, he could accurately identify who in Black Depths Valley had stolen his meat buns and go up to them angrily to argue.
Although the Master of Black Depths Valley had just "conveniently" taken them away, with no erased evidence or use of supernatural powers, it was quite the impressive feat for a child who would forget past happenings every day.
Unfortunately, the Secret Beixuan Treasure involved many things. It was a matter that concerned the things from eight thousand years ago.
Many sects in the cultivation worlds had been roped into the conflict because of rumours about the treasure, or greed, or coercion, and even more of them had been innocent. Any one of them would have bad blood with the Beixuan Sect.
If news of the Secret Beixuan Treasure were to spread, and he and Junior Brother returned to Black Depths Valley, the grandmasters of demonic cultivation and the other Immortalisation-level cultivators would come to Sky-High Cliff to cause trouble for them.
The people from the Great Snowy Mountain searched directly in the wastelands without any fear that their actions would be leaked to others.
From how Liang Qianshan personally testified that the news came from elsewhere and chased after him to persuade him, s.h.i.+ Feng knew that this secret was no secret at all. Liang Qianshan was anxious, and the demonic side was not far from the truth either.
Soon, news of the Secret Beixuan Treasure would spread throughout the cultivation world and fill it with unrest.
Looking at Chen He, who was completely unaware of all this, s.h.i.+ Feng sighed. Looks like he and Junior Brother would be wandering the world from now on.
Author"s words:
Please welcome the fourth reborn person.
IQ-wise, Chen Shu < young="" master="" yao="">< stone-borne="" flame="">< ji="">
And it"s Chen Shu + Young Master Yao + Stone-borne Flame < ji="">
Although he didn"t have a good start…╮（╯＿╰）╭
With plot progression comes…new characters!
New names:
Ji Hong = 季弘. (弘="broad" or "vast" when used on its own; meaning changes depending on usage with other characters) Liang Qianshan"s younger disciple, a member of Qiankun Abbey, and Reborn Person #4.
I will only introduce names under this section when the characters formally appear in-story, so forgive me for not introducing Grandmaster Huanjian for now.
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