My Husband’s Ascension C44 (Part 1)
Chapter 44.1 Reciprocal Defense
“You’re a disciple of Kunwu, and Dao Lord Tianshu even sent you to handle matters concerning the Zhongli Clan?”
On the road to Mount Ling, Shi Lanyan studied the female cultivator who called herself A’Lan, her gaze tinged with suspicion. “A disciple so trusted by Tianshu, yet I’ve never seen you before? Where is your sword? You couldn't have entered a sect specializing in swords, only to cultivate incantation arts?"
Kunwu gathered Daoist learning from across the world. Besides sword cultivators, nearly half its disciples practiced incantation arts. Most chose one path or the other, learning only a superficial measure of the rest.
Only a prodigy like Dao Lord Tianshu could master both.
The woman in white, her robes pale as new snow, smiled. “That is correct. Does this not meet with your approval?”
Shi Lanyan looked at her, yet an indefinable sense of discord lingered. She turned the matter over in her mind but could not recall where she might have seen her before, and could only say, “Those who act on Tianshu’s behalf are usually no more than Mu Ling and Zong Fei. I know most of Kunwu’s direct disciples. This truly is our first meeting. Don’t tell me you’re an impostor?”
After hearing of the human pillar from Zhao Zhao, Shi Lanyan had grown jumpy, seeing shadows of Mount Ling’s schemes in everything.
The Kunwu cultivator before her was strikingly beautiful. If she were truly a disciple trusted by Tianshu, Shi Lanyan would surely have paid her special attention in the past. How could she have no impression at all?
The woman in snow-white robes smiled faintly. “Miss Immortal Lanyan is a disciple of Polaris Confucian Sect, not of Kunwu. It’s only natural that you wouldn’t be familiar with those around Dao Lord Tianshu.”
Shi Lanyan narrowed her eyes. “Tianshu and I are childhood sweethearts. Are you saying I don’t know him well?”
“Isn’t ‘childhood sweethearts’ a bit suggestive? You merely knew each other from childhood. Compared to that, your ties with Lord Yaoguang and Sir Immortal Zi Qian should be far deeper. Yet I’ve never heard you refer to them as your ‘childhood sweethearts’ at all.”
Shi Lanyan was met with his gentle, unhurried rebuttal and found herself momentarily at a loss for words.
After speaking, the white-robed cultivator cast a glance toward Zhao Zhao’s expression.
In the dim night, one could only vaguely make out Zhao Zhao pressing at her temple, as though nursing a headache.
“—She definitely likes Tianshu!” Shi Lanyan muttered softly by her ear. “She probably already knows about you and Tianshu’s past, so she’s deliberately needling me with those polite barbs. Can you really swallow that? Some merely passable female cultivator daring to act so brazenly in front of you. If you don’t scold her, I’ll lose all respect for you.”
Zhao Zhao replied helplessly, “If you want to scold her, do it yourself. I don’t seem to have any reason to.”
Failing to recruit an ally, Shi Lanyan huffed and turned her face away.
Her senior brother, watching from the side, somehow produced a piece of malt candy from nowhere. Shi Lanyan pouted and complained that she was long past the age of liking sweets, yet still honestly popped it into her mouth.
“…I once heard that Polaris Confucian Sect turned down Kunwu’s marriage proposal. But looking at things now, Miss Immortal Lanyan seems to have intentions toward Dao Lord?” Mo Lingyun had been observing quietly for a while before asking with mild curiosity.
Zhao Zhao withdrew her gaze from Shi Lanyan and her senior brother’s interaction, pressed her lips together, and smiled faintly. “That was before. Now, it’s hard to say.”
The young man beside her fell silent for a long moment.
Under the night sky as they rode the wind, his subdued question drifted over. “Then what about you, Miss Immortal Tanzhao?”
He might be slow, but he was not a fool.
Beneath Dao Lord Tianshu’s gentle, refined smile, there were moments when a cold, incisive scrutiny would fall upon him. With a little thought, the reason was not hard to guess.
“What?” Zhao Zhao was busy discerning their bearings beneath the clouds and failed to catch his words.
“N-Nothing!” Mo Lingyun suddenly found that he did not particularly wish to know the answer after all.
He moved closer, helping Zhao Zhao identify the terrain below.
“This is the land north of Mount Ling. We’re almost there.”
The party of nine first swallowed the Five-Hued Incense Pills Zhao Zhao had given them, and only then set foot within Mount Ling’s domain.
The Mount Ling lineage lived in seclusion. Aside from occasionally appearing to deliver divine oracles, they never took part in exchanges among the various sects. For many present, this was their first time setting foot upon Mount Ling.
“Mount Ling truly lives up to its other name, Medicine Mountain. Wood-attribute qi gathers here in abundance. So many rare and precious materials that are scarcely seen outside. This has been quite an eye-opener.”
The one who spoke was a disciple of the Divine Farmer Sect.
Shi Lanyan laughed and said, “Then why don’t you stay outside tonight and gather a few herbs?”
The Divine Farmer Sect disciple flushed red and lowered his head, saying nothing.
Zhao Zhao spoke gently, “Within this grotto-heaven there are even more heavenly treasures. If Sir Immortal happens upon anything to your liking, feel free to pick it. We’re all risking ourselves together today. Having extra medicinal herbs on hand can only be beneficial.”
As expected of a fellow practitioner of the Divine Farmer Dao, she knew exactly how to speak to one’s heart.
Even so, the Divine Farmer Sect disciple declined. “Before we set out, the elders instructed me to bring sufficient pills. Miss Immortal may rest assured. Time is pressing. We should focus on the task at hand.”
Zhao Zhao nodded and said no more. Just as she was about to open the grotto-heaven’s seal, several yellow talismans shot skyward from behind them. A net of thunder and lightning unfurled, instantly striking down several crows perched in the trees.
“They’re divine crows posted by Mount Ling to keep watch.” Dao Lord Tianshu spoke concisely. “We need to move quickly.”
The previously relaxed air vanished at once, replaced by a shared sense of urgency.
Golden light flared as the sealing formation opened. Dao Lord Tianshu remained at the rear on guard while the nine of them entered the grotto-heaven one after another.
Just as they had seen before, a towering golden human pillar rose from the lake’s depths, thrusting straight into the clouds. The golden column required at least a hundred people linking arms to encircle it. Its overwhelming presence stood before them, leaving those seeing it for the first time struck dumb.
“The cultivator used as the human pillar was at least in the late stage of the fourth major realm.” Dao Lord Tianshu gazed at it in silence for a moment before reaching his conclusion.
Mo Lingyun rubbed his chin, puzzled. “With cultivation at such a level, how did Mount Ling manage this?”
“Enter the water and you’ll know.” The Divine Farmer Sect disciple took out water-repellent pills and distributed them to everyone.
Though one could also move freely underwater by employing a water-warding technique, it would consume spiritual power. Using water-repellent pills conserved one’s strength instead.
“I’ve long heard that the Divine Farmer Sect possesses countless wondrous pills. Today, I finally get to try one.” Zhao Zhao remarked.
That disciple pressed his lips into a smile. “Cloudculm Abode’s pills are also renowned and by no means inferior to those of the Divine Farmer Sect. Miss Immortal is too modest.”
Holding the water-repellent pill between her fingers, Zhao Zhao thought to herself that this was indeed true.
Because her master had originally been an elder of the Divine Farmer Sect.
Zhao Zhao recalled that, before setting out that night, when Daoist Ming Jue learned that Mount Ling was hiding a human pillar, the elderly, usually ever-smiling, had grown uncharacteristically grave, as though the sky itself were about to fall.
Yet in the end, he said little, only impressing two matters upon her.
First, exposing Mount Ling was secondary. Her own safety came first.
Second, she must ensure that Dao Lord Tianshu stayed far away from Mount Ling.
Zhao Zhao did not quite understand why Daoist Ming Jue had stressed the latter point. But at this moment, Dao Lord Tianshu should indeed be remaining at Beaconlight Mountain. That likely counted as keeping his distance from Mount Ling.
After the time it took an incense stick to burn, the water-repellent pills took effect, and the nine of them plunged into the lake.
They felt none of the chill they had imagined. It seemed the pills not only repelled water, but also carried a warming effect against the cold.
Among the nine, Zhao Zhao’s cultivation was neither the highest nor the lowest, so she was placed in the middle of the formation.
Ahead of her, a Buddhist disciple from the Western Region’s Buddhist Kingdom silently chanted Sanskrit scriptures. The power of the Dharma manifested as ribbons of golden light, winding and unfurling through the dark waters like flowing silk.
It illuminated the pitch-black lakebed while also dispersing the faint, lurking killing intent in the depths.
Shi Lanyan sent a voice transmission to Zhao Zhao.
—There are strange fish in this lake.
Zhao Zhao nodded. She had noticed them as well.
Dao Lord Tianshu surveyed their surroundings and transmitted to everyone.
—They are creatures born and nurtured by the spiritual power of the human pillar.
So that was it.
A thought suddenly occurred to Zhao Zhao. She slipped out from the protective ring of golden script, aimed at the shadows where the shoal stirred, and abruptly sent out vine-like tendrils, hauling several of them back.
The strange fish were even more ferocious than Zhao Zhao had expected. As they were dragged in, they did not try to flee. Instead, one lunged straight at her face.
The vines were sluggish underwater. Zhao Zhao instinctively raised her hand to block.
Whoosh!
An ice arrow formed from spiritual energy pierced straight through the fish that had leapt toward her.
A cloud of crimson blood immediately spread through the water.
—Are you alright!?
Shi Lanyan and the others ahead immediately halted and gathered toward Zhao Zhao.
Zhao Zhao came back to herself, nodded, then picked up the strange fish that had already been pierced through by Dao Lord Tianshu’s ice arrow.
—If this fish gained such strength by being nourished with spiritual power, then by determining how many years of cultivation it has, we can judge how long the human pillar has existed.
Realization dawned on everyone at once.
Mo Lingyun was quick to praise her.
—Miss Immortal Tanzhao, you’re so smart!
Shi Lanyan shot him a glance. If he wanted to say that, couldn’t he have transmitted it to Xie Tanzhao alone? Was it really necessary to send it to everyone? Was he afraid people wouldn’t notice his interest in Xie Tanzhao?
Dao Lord Tianshu cast a cool sidelong glance at Mo Lingyun, then returned his attention to the fish.
—At least a thousand years. But this fish was originally a low-grade species native to the lake. Even after a millennium of spiritual nourishment, it has barely awakened its intelligence and remains a minor yao. Moreover…the spiritual power here is steeped in vicious resentment. It can only give rise to such warped creatures.
Everyone looked at the fish’s jagged teeth and blade-sharp fins, a chill creeping up their spines.
What kind of undissipated resentment in death could nurture such a monster?
The Buddhist disciple lowered his eyes and softly murmured an Amitābha.
