Chapter 216: Guiding Souls
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
Qin Mu turned his head around and was stunned when he saw Wei Yong. A smile bloomed on his face and he waved his hand. “So it’s Brother Wei and Duke Wei. Why are you standing outside? Come in quickly.”
Wei Yong immediately made eyes at him and said, “Come out quickly, I have something to tell you! Come over here, something huge has happened at Imperial College!”
He was worried about Qin Mu’s safety, so he had to pull him out of the pit. He thought to himself, “Brother Qin must have come to take a walk, not knowing that this is the place where Heavenly Devil Cult is seeking its revenge, so he went in mistakenly. How dangerous is this? These fiends of Heavenly Devil Cult even dared to kill a first ranking high official like Sun Nantuo, who was a cult master level existence, in an instant. I’m afraid that even the bone marrow would be squeezed out from that small body of Brother Qin!”
Duke Wei looked at the two elders blocking his path of retreat and a vein popped out on his forehead while the corners of his eyes twitched. “Wei Yong, this scoundrel, he’s even more of a troublemaker than me! I’m afraid I can’t leave now even if I wanted to!”
Qin Mu raised his hand, and the old woman behind Duke Wei immediately went forward. Qin Mu tilted his head and said a thing or two to her.
That old woman returned with a grin. “Duke Wei, little brother from the Wei Family, please take a seat inside.”
The corners of Duke Wei’s eyes twitched, and he took a long look at Qin Mu before taking in a deep breath. “Let us go in.”
As the two people went into the village, they could see that this place was only built recently. Everything was new, and there was even the fragrance of wood in the air.
Duke Wei and Wei Yong saw Qin Mu walking farther into the village and braced themselves to follow him. Duke Wei asked in a low voice, “Yong’er, how’s your relations.h.i.+p with Little Brother Qin Mu?”
“We have been through life and death together!” He then added respectfully, “He was the one who saved me when the scholars’ s.h.i.+p got attacked by Dragon Rider Sect!”
Duke Wei started to get a headache. “Then did you save him?”
Wei Yong shook his head.
“He saved you yet you didn’t save him in turn, so what’s this having been through life and death together!”
Duke Wei’s heart was anxious. “I can only take thing step by step now. I can consider myself having been sabotaged by this little scoundrel. I don’t know if my few meetings with Li Tianxing would be of any use…”
They came to the center of the village where there was a stage. It was only a foot above the ground and was constructed of wood.
The stage wasn’t huge, about ten yards wide.
Most of the Heavenly Devil Cult’s followers sat below the stage, and the old woman beside Duke Wei chuckled. “Duke, little brother from the Wei Family, just take a seat. Don’t worry, we’ve just mopped the floor, it’s very clean.
Wei Yong lowered his head to have a look and saw some dark red bloodstains. After noticing this, he couldn’t stop himself from muttering under his breath, “I wonder if they cleaned up properly, or if there’s still a human head or two lying around…”
Heavenly Devil Cult had eliminated Nantuo Side Palace as well as Sun Nantuo in an instant, which showed how absurd their strength was. Even Duke Wei who had experienced hundreds of battles didn’t dare to be reckless and thought to himself, “Even though Heavenly Devil Cult has such a great fanfare here, the strong pract.i.tioners in the capital will definitely not be alarmed. Their actions were too quick back then, and I reckon they could kill us equally fast right now too…”
Under the stage, several hundred people sat in silence, waiting for the teachings of the sacred teacher.
Wei Yong looked around and saw Qin Mu. He immediately waved his hand at him excitedly. “Brother Qin, Brother Qin! Over here!”
Duke Wei wanted more than anything to press this little fatty down on the ground and stuff a few stinky socks into his mouth so that he would stop blabbering.
Luckily, the followers of Heavenly Devil Cult didn’t seem to hear Wei Yong’s blabber and remained sitting upright.
Qin Mu smiled at Wei Yong and walked up the stage.
Wei Yong jumped in shock and hurriedly said in a hoa.r.s.e whisper, “Don’t go up the stage, don’t go up. That’s where their sacred teacher gives his teachings…”
Duke Wei looked at him fiercely and scolded, “Rascal, keep your mouth shut!”
Wei Yong immediately shut up. Duke Wei said angrily, “Don’t you see how tight-lipped I am? How did I have such a blabbermouth of a descendant like you? Haven’t you realized it yet?”
Wei Yong was stunned. When Qin Mu walked up the stage and turned around, all the followers of Heavenly Devil Cult stood up and bowed. “Cult master sacred teacher!”
Qin Mu nodded and said, “Everyone, dispense with the formalities, sit.”
Everyone sat down.
Wei Yong’s mouth was agape, and there was a stupefied look in his eyes. He didn’t regain his sense for quite some time.
Duke Wei sighed and muttered, “I long knew that there was a problem with that Pangong Tso. His Grand Shaman Ruda Scriptures was a little different. From the looks of it now, it was most likely the cult master sacred teacher of Heavenly Devil Cult making his move personally. Heavenly Devil Cult actually chose a youth as their cult master, they really have guts…”
On the stage, Qin Mu also sat down and said, “Who here know spells regarding searching the soul?”
A woman stood up and bowed. “Sacred teacher, I have some attainments.”
Qin Mu nodded. He suddenly executed Soul Guide and a sinister looking gate appeared behind his back. Black fog poured out of the gate, and even the light from the kerosene in the iron woks died down.
At this moment, everyone saw Sun Nantuo standing in the sinister darkness along with the rest of the monks.
Qin Mu said, “Hall Master, I want to know who are the accomplices of Sun Nantuo that had allied with him to harm our two heavenly kings.”
“Understood.”
The female hall master went forward and took out a s.h.i.+ning mirror. She executed her secret art and shone the light towards Sun Nantuo.
This mirror ray shone on the monk’s soul, penetrating it and landing on the air behind him. All kinds of pictures appeared, which were the memories of Sun Nantuo of when he was still alive. The pictures fleeted by rapidly and continued to go back in time. Soon, they reached the memory of when they had ambushed Heavenly King Lu.
“Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor Yun Boshan, Crown Prince’s Grand Protector Ting Yanju, Crown Prince’s Junior Preceptor Cui Mingzhi, Crown Prince’s Junior Tutor He Qianqiu, and…”
Right Guardian Xue Bi’e recorded down the people who had appeared in Sun Nantuo’s memory. Her pupils contracted when her gaze landed on the last guy. “And Eternal Peace Empire’s Crown Prince Ling Yuxia.”
Qin Mu nodded and said, “Note it down. We’ll send them on their way when we find the chance.”
Right Guardian noted down the name of Eternal Peace Crown Prince.
Duke Wei’s heart trembled violently, and he opened his mouth, yet no sound came out.
Heavenly Devil Cult was too unbridled to even want to send the crown prince on his way. After all, that was the crown prince of Eternal Peace Empire!
However, it wasn’t good for him to say anything. Eternal Peace Empire may be flouris.h.i.+ng now, but it had only started doing so in the last two hundred years. Eternal Peace Empire only rose in power when Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had risen.
Heavenly Devil Cult was instead a true behemoth that had existed from the ancient times. It had a long history and had been through the prosperity of countless countries as well as the change of dynasties. What happened was not only a deep hatred that was born from the death of their heavenly kings, but also a great humiliation, so this revenge had to be taken.
Now that Duke Wei was in a precarious situation himself, how could he speak for the crown prince?
That female hall master continued to look back into Sun Nantuo’s memories and searched all the way until they had ambushed Heavenly King Qian. Other than the ones named, there was an additional person during the attack, Crown Prince’s Junior Protector Master Ruo Piao.
Crown Prince’s Junior Protector of this generation wasn’t Gu Linuan. Because he had been missing for two hundred years, the position of Crown Prince’s Junior Protector was given by the emperor to Master Ruo Piao.
He was from Buddhism, and his religious name was Ruo Piao.
Yun Boshan and Cui Mingzhi were both cult master level existences that came from Daoism. Ting Yanju and He Qianqiu were both from influential families that had followed Great Ancestor Emperor to conquer the world.
These five people including the already dead Sun Nantuo belonged to the crown prince’s faction. They had all been teachers of the crown prince.
Among the sixteen first ranking high officials, there were six in the crown prince’s faction.
“Note down Master Ruo Piao’s name,” Qin Mu said. “It’s almost New Years now, so let’s let them have a peaceful celebration and eat their last New Years Eve’s family dinner. Sun Nantuo is already dead and Nantuo Side Palace has already been eliminated. Nantuo Monastery is still around, so guardians and elders, raze Nantuo Monastery without leaving any trace.”
All of the guardians and elders acknowledged this command.
Duke Wei let out a sigh of relief. This young cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult was still thinking logically. If they went in now and killed six first ranking high officials of the imperial court in a short while, including the crown prince, the emperor would definitely investigate and find out that it was the doings of Heavenly Devil Cult.
Eternal Peace Imperial Court was the orthodox one after all. If they went against the imperial court, there would be no place left for Heavenly Devil Cult. In addition to that, Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery would definitely hit them when they were down. When that time came, Heavenly Devil Cult would be in danger.
Killing one every few days could minimize their risk to the lowest.
For example, to kill Sun Nantuo and eliminate Nantuo Monastery, Qin Mu had used the ident.i.ty of Rolan’s Golden Palace and brought Nantuo Monastery’s legacy treasure to bait the monks out. He also forced Sun Nantuo into the open and lured him out of the capital city.
Even though Sun Nantuo was a cult master level existence, killing him and eliminating Nantuo Side Palace only took an instant. Furthermore, since they didn’t make their move in the capital, there was no traces left, so it could be said that everything had been perfectly executed and covered up nicely.
Even if the emperor wanted to investigate, he wouldn’t be able to find any clues. He would never know it was the doing of Heavenly Devil Cult.
After Sun Nantuo had died, the crown prince would definitely be alerted, and it would be hard to lay their hands on him. If they made a move, they would probably fall into an ambush, so it would be better for them to pa.s.s this period of time in waiting.
At this moment, Qin Mu looked at Wei Yong and Duke Wei, revealing a smile. Duke Wei felt a lingering fear in his heart and chuckled. “Cult master, I have a very loud voice.”
“I know.” Qin Mu smiled. “If duke shouted, everyone in the capital city would probably hear you quite clearly. Does duke think the method our sacred cult used to kill Sun Nantuo was clean and fast?”
Duke Wei’s heart was hanging on a string. Qin Mu meant that he could eliminate them before they could even shout out a word!
Duke Wei took in a deep breath. “I once had quite a deep friends.h.i.+p with your Cult Master Li!”
Qin Mu tilted his head and looked at the Left and Right Guardians beside him. Xue Bi’e replied, “The previous cult master had met with him a few times. They didn’t have a deep friends.h.i.+p.”
Duke Wei’s complexion turned black, and he looked around secretly, trying to see if there was a chance to escape.
Qin Mu said solemnly, “Duke, my cult just lost two heavenly kings so there are two seats empty. Since Duke belongs to an influential family but not to any sect, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from becoming our cult heavenly king, am I right?”
Duke Wei gave two coa.r.s.e laughs, then looked around and saw the twenty strong pract.i.tioners who had worked together to kill Sun Nantuo standing up. The corners of his eyes twitched, and he said, “I’m Duke Wei and I have an official position, so where would I find the time to be your cult’s heavenly king? Why don’t you give me an easier task…”
Qin Mu smiled warmly down at him. “Don’t worry, our sacred cult is quite idle. We will only trouble Duke Wei when we need to fight, it’ll be just a t.i.tle. Besides, not only are the cult heavenly kings idle, even I the cult master am also very idle. If something like this hadn’t happened, there wouldn’t have been the need for me to come out personally. If duke isn’t willing to, we won’t make things difficult for you. As long as duke makes an oath to not say what you saw today, you may leave. Everyone has too many misconceptions about our sacred cult. They even think that we are devils that don’t even blink when slaughtering people. Don’t you think so?” When he was done, he laughed out loud.
The followers of Heavenly Devil Cult also laughed with him, but they were all putting on fake smiles. They looked like they were ready to fall onto the two intruders and silence them.
“I’m willing!” Duke Wei immediately said.
Wei Yong hesitated for a moment and said, “Duke…”
“Shut up!”
Duke Wei turned his head around and scolded him, “You have landed me in hot soup! The reputation I built throughout my whole life is all tarnished now in the hands of you little brat. If you didn’t shout out for Brother Qin, we could have left unscathed!”
Wei Yong pouted and said, “Old master, they said that they would let us leave, so why did you have to join their cult? Brother Qin is kind-hearted. He’s not some kind of villainous person.
Duke Wei blinked a few times. “Do you really think he’s not a villainous person? If he’s not a villainous person, how did he become the cult master of Heavenly Devil Cult?”
Qin Mu coughed. “Heavenly King Wei, we normally call ourselves Heavenly Saint Cult and not Heavenly Devil Cult. I’m also not a devil cult master, I’m a sacred cult master. Heavenly King Wei, keep this in mind.”
Wei Yong said excitedly, “Old father, the t.i.tle heavenly king stands out much more than duke! Brother Qin, a.s.sign me a role as well!”