Sect Leader Is Under Great Pressure CH 056 The Past And Former Happenings, Are All Smoke And Clouds
A huge ship docked into the port, and the silver ship bell rang crisply and melodiously.
The hull was slender, the outside like a tortoise shell, and strange dark patterns flickered in and out of sight, and the ship practically filled the vacancy of the entire port, and everyone who came down from the ship was in fact a cultivator.
Dressed in black robes, the hems embroidered with different patterns denoting various mountain peaks, all of them appeared full of youth and spirit.
"Hey, there's a flying peak, what a coincidence, it's the time for the Dragon-Phoenix Selection again."
"That's perfect, we don't have to fly back ourselves, just hitch a ride on the flying peak."
"This is the flying peak that sends back new disciples to the outer sect. The speed is so slow that we might as well fly ourselves. After flying back on it, the flowers will already be in bloom."
"What are you afraid of, we have so many goods this time, why not deal with some worthless ones first, otherwise it will cost a lot of money to hire a few more cloud turtles to transport them all back."
"That's right, and don't forget the tax money that was promised to the Great Yan's ruler before. The sea clans under him have helped us a lot over the past days."
The cultivators on the ship walked to the shore while discussing, in twos and threes, some went to a tea house, some went to a restaurant, some went to the palace, meandering skillfully through the crowds like a dragon entering the sea.
And many shrewd people on the shore practically rushed towards the huge sea ship, and only more came after, almost filling up the road to the port.
"What kind of ship is this?" Feng Qingxiu asked the mermaid who was trying to sell sea corals to him.
"This is a sea expedition ship." The beautiful mermaid glanced at the big ship with admiration and envy, "The ship is made by Great Yan's emperor, who spent a hundred years of domestic savings, and was reinforced by the great immortals on Kun-Lai Mountain. Every forty years it will go out to sea, traveling to the various countries surrounding the Southern Sea, stopping at the Southern Continent, the Eastern Continent, and even the Northern Continent, to exchange for all kinds of treasures. The things they bring back every year are good and cheap, but unfortunately I am not qualified to go up the ship."
"So it is like this." Feng Qingxiu walked up with his equally curious master.
As he expected, Kun-Lai disciples did not need any qualifications.
"Not lacking even compared to a luxury cruise ship." Ji Yunlai looked at the people coming and going on the deck and was a little impressed.
On the huge deck, all kinds of goods and garbage were piled up there, surrounded by a bunch of people everywhere, bidding higher than the next, and the sound of haggling filled the ears.
Before Feng Qingxiu came back to his senses, he was almost squeezed out of the deck, but fortunately an octopus guard helped him.
"How could Kun-Lai guests see this kind of street stall goods? The lower floors are where the good things are." The octopus brother stretched out a tentacle and pointed to the entrance of the stairs blocked by guards, "This year we went the farthest to the Northern Sea and exchanged a lot of ice crystals, earthsea spiritual water, ancient coral core… almost hollowed out the sea clans over there…"
"Those things are all over the Northern Sea, alright," a human guard next to him sneered, "A few rolls of siren muslin and you can exchange a pile."
"Can your long-distance cloud turtles reach the Northern Sea?" The octopus gave him a cold look, "Our ship's speed can give even the tuna a run for its money, and even so, it took more than 20 years to reach the Northern Sea. Do you think the humans and sea clans in the Northern Sea are stupid? Who else would they trade with except Kun-Lai?”
Then he said to Feng Qingxiu: "This time, us Haijing cultivators made a proposal to add another expedition ship. Remember to support us in Kun-Lai, and we will give a 20% discount for each supporter."
Feng Qingxiu: "..."
Ji Yunlai was dumbfounded for a while, these sea spirit demons were quite the talents, even skilled in canvassing for votes.
They wandered around at random, but neither of them bought anything because they didn't need it.
So they left.
The matters that followed were all left to the flying peak. Haijing's household registration was extremely strict, but it still couldn't stop many people who wanted to steal or bribe another's identity. The rights and wrongs could practically fill a book.
Fortunately, everyone had experience, and the little bit of trouble was easily taken care of.
Nothing major happened.
Not long after, the Dragon-Phoenix Selection was successfully completed, and the flying peak began to fly back to Kun-Lai with the new batch of students it received.
After stepping on the main peak of Kun-Lai, Feng Qingxiu's jade figure turned into just a normal white jade carving, as if it had never been able to move before.
Feng Qingxiu couldn't help but begin carving a lot more, of different sizes and shapes. He also used paint to color them. At the beginning, the coloring was not very good, but he seemed to be very artistically talented and his creations soon began to improve.
When he returned to Zhaoyue Peak, when he saw the solitary figure of his master who was as aloof as the moon, he felt as if they had been a world apart for a while.
In the past few months, although his master was always by his side, when he saw him again, he realized that he still missed the other, and wanted very much to throw himself into his arms…
"Then come." The willful master said.
Feng Qingxiu blushed instantly, not knowing why his words that were barely audible ended up being heard by his master.
His master just smiled slightly, looked at his embarrassed apprentice, and stepped forward to give him a hug.
"Did Xiao Qing have a good time?" His master's embrace was so warm that Feng Qingxiu was stuck in a trance for a while, and could hardly hear what the other said.
"What a dummy." His master chuckled lightly, letting his apprentice hug him tight.
***
Under Zhaoyue Peak, a bird that saw Feng Qingxiu coming back called out three times.
Not long after, someone came over and delivered a large package of dried rat meat and cloud melon seeds, a young man who had always chatted well with them.
"Qiu gongzi, I heard that an expedition is going to start?" Black Snake swallowed a rat and asked the elegant young man sitting under the pine tree drinking tea.
The boy's black hair was slightly curly, and his facial features were very good-looking, clean and gentle.
"Yes, once every 12 years. Kun-Lai started preparations a year ago." The blue-robed boy said slowly, his voice was like a spring water trickling out, and it was very pleasant to listen to.
"I heard that this time you will be going to the Qingqiu Region?" Black Snake asked.
"Yes, there are seven routes in the Western Continent expedition, and each expedition will go to a different place." Qiu Yuansheng smiled, "The Sect Leader said that we must give a place time to recuperate, only then will there be a greater harvest, so this time it is the Qingqiu Region bordering the Western Continent on the north."
The Qingqiu Region was the sphere of influence of the celestial fox clan, and it was also the place where the nearby spirit demon clans had the weakest power. Back then, during the Great Xuan Expedition, both sides used a lot of sinister techniques, which caused evil miasma to flourish there, and it was difficult for non-venomous creatures to survive, but so long as you go over, there was still a small half of Qingqiu Region left that was untouched. There was also the Wu Region to the north, all of which would yield much harvest. This expedition was to follow this route.
"We can participate too, right?" Black Snake asked.
"Of course, our Kun-Lai expedition is a major event for the human race. Every year, there are humans and spirit demons from all continents and regions participating. Of course, it is expensive to buy a spot on a flying peak. This must be made clear." Qiu Yuansheng said softly, " Otherwise, it will be embarrassing to be left behind as a one-way trip passenger."
"No problem," Black Snake touched his pocket with a complicated expression, "I just want to have a look. Back then, when Great Xuan led an expedition to Qingqiu, I was the commander."
The young man was stunned for a moment, and his gaze when looking at the other was filled with unclear emotions: "You don't look like it but I see that you were in a high position back then."
"Back then, Nightingale and I were the twelfth and thirteenth princes of Great Xuan, and our fief was the Western Continent." Black Snake sighed.
"Eh, so it seems that if we look at it from the laws of Great Xuan, the Western Continent and Kun-Lai are yours." The young man joked, "Would you like to ask it back from the Sect Leader?"
"No no no~~~ Great Xuan is already nonexistent~~" Black Snake snorted coldly, "So Great Xuan's laws are just a pile of dung, I am very self-aware, and my biggest dream at present is to be a history tutor + antiquities expert~"
"You never thought about reestablishing the nation?" the boy asked.
"The fortune of the nation is gone~~ How could I restore it?" Black Snake paused, "If it was the High Priest, there might still be a possibility."
"You don't seem to hate him at all." The boy named Qiu Yuansheng asked tentatively.
"I still hate him a bit, but I hate the Celestial Fox Su Wan even more." Black Snake nibbled at a rat in a melancholy way, "In the past the High Priest was a very good person."
"That's right, at that time, the High Priest was in charge of Great Xuan's national fortune and the Three Lives Three Worlds Divine Codex. He was gentle and self-disciplined, and never committed a wrong. He taught us children from the imperial family with great care. We were all taught by him, including His Majesty. Most of the twelve Human Immortals were his students." Nightingale interjected, "If it wasn't for His Majesty's actions, there might still have been hope for Great Xuan."
"What did he do?" Qiu Yuansheng asked.
"His Majesty already had many concubines and consorts who gave birth to many princes. I don't know why, but he suddenly became interested in the High Priest," Black Snake recalled, "The High Priest was noble and powerful, and it was normal to be attracted to him. Back then, the High Priest rejected His Majesty more than once. And even beat him up to the point he couldn't show up in public more than once."
"But there is a stubbornness to not admit defeat in the blood of the Great Xuan imperial family. His Majesty spent hundreds of years, getting into many dangerous situations, in order to win over the High Priest," Nightingale recalled, "At that time, almost the whole nation was against it. But I remember that His Majesty said in front of the world in the great hall of the palace, 'So what if I like him!', and I was so shocked."
"Me too." Black Snake flicked his tail, "Later the High Priest was finally willing to accept him. It would have been a good story."
"But after His Majesty succeeded in his courtship, their ideas began to conflict. The High Priest strongly opposed taking the fortune of the human race to accumulate 12 Human Immortals. He said that once the fortune backlashed, Great Xuan's existence won't be guaranteed, and it would definitely bring great disaster to the human race. He suggested instead to clean up and manage the government, and those who occupied the fortune of the country should release it, allowing it to return to the human race. Although it would take a long time, it was better to be safe," Nightingale added, "But at that time, there were too many nobles in Great Xuan, and the national fortune was only so much. Most of the people supported expeditions to foreign territories, so long as the empire occupied more territory, there would be endless national fortune."
"The empress and nobles supported the emperor, and the High Priest stood practically by himself. The emperor wouldn't listen to his words, and not only became cold to him, but also repeatedly complained in front of us how extremely dull he was," Black Snake sighed, "At that time, we felt injustice for the High Priest, but unfortunately, almost all of Great Xuan's combat power was caught in the battlefields in the Outlands, and couldn't help him out at all."
"Afterwards, the Celestial Fox Great Sage Su Wan came," Nightingale said resentfully, "It was me and Black Snake who destroyed Qingqiu, and it was me who also left a note identifying myself as the killer of her family. And that she was welcome to improve her cultivation and come back for revenge~~~ so that she won't find the wrong person, but I didn't expect that fox to directly possess Lady Shu Wan'er and enter the palace!"
"As soon as that ten thousand year old fox seductress made her move, His Majesty was completely bewitched and under her spell," Black Snake said angrily, "In the palace she tried all means to incite enmity between the High Priest and the empress, and even tempted His Majesty to fan the flames of war even more, causing those lone Great Sages to all join in. The war lasted for a hundred years, and the human race was also plagued by disease and war, and people everywhere were struggling to survive."
"The High Priest couldn't do anything about it. The Great Xuan government he managed had problems everywhere, so he proposed that the Human Immortals reincarnate and bring back some of the country's fortune," Nightingale added, "he thought that with a few less Human Immortals, the expedition could basically be regarded as a failure and Great Xuan would then retreat back to the human race, and slowly recuperate."
"What I didn't expect was that as soon as his suggestion came out, His Majesty actually said that since the Human Immortals must die, then the High Priest should lead by example!"
"When the poisoned wine was brought over, the High Priest laughed, raised his hand and killed His Majesty—" Black Snake said painfully.
"Good job!" Qiu Yuansheng exclaimed involuntarily, and then realized that he had lost his composure and coughed lightly, "I'm sorry, I can't help it, it should be, um, the tiger hasn't shown his power for a long time so… the emperor thought he was flirting with a house cat? He not just provoked the tiger, he even backhanded the tiger..."
"Who said it wasn't so? Later, he directly destroyed the Three Lives Three Worlds Divine Codex, saying that it was originally something to steal the fortune of the human race, and it should have been destroyed long ago," Black Snake whispered, "So we failed in reincarnation and became spirit demons. We can no longer have access to the fortune of the human race, let alone say anything about restoring the nation."
"So we will work hard and go to see Qingqiu. If possible, we want to take Su Wan down with us." Black Snake almost cried when he talked about the past, "Back then when the fortune backlashed, although Nightingale and I were Human Immortals, we were originally false Human Immortals created by the accumulation of the fortune, so naturally we were seriously injured on the spot and died. Even our souls almost didn't manage to escape."
"I can't sympathize with you, but if you're going, I can give you a discount on the cost of medicinal pills on the way." The young man comforted them, "If you don't have money, you can put it on the tab."
"That's so kind of you…"
***
When Qiu Yuansheng returned to Danding Peak, he was surrounded to the point of being unable to move a single step, but he skillfully summoned his junior brothers. As one of the Kun-Lai Seven Talents, he had many subordinates.
Very soon he returned to his room.
After sitting in silence for a long time, he still couldn't help but light an incense stick.
The smoke was swirling, and there seemed to be a faint sound.
The young man knelt in the quiet room and said softly, "Priest, I'm a little reluctant."
"..." Another sound echoed back.
"You have no conflict with him. Don't you want him to know anything? Actually, I already guessed it."
"..."
"I'm the only spy that managed to stay in Kun-Lai who hasn't been eliminated by the exams while in the outer sect. Of course, I can complete the task, but if I complete the task," the boy squeezed his fingers in distress, "the Net will be disconnected once he leaves Kun-Lai!"