CH 089 Past Matters Are Concluded, Current Matters Are Unresolved

Feng Qingxiu and An Xian arrived at Zhuiyun Peak together. Just as he was serving tea to the peak master, guests arrived. 

The visitors were of high status—two of the chief elders overseeing this expedition, Yan Zhao and Bai Shuixian.

“Look at how anxious you are,” An Xian said dismissively, playing with the thin porcelain cup in her slender fingers. Her body radiated sword intent, restless and eager. “It's not like I would do anything to him. Such a little child could never satisfy me.”

“Calm down, and by the way, what’s with that outfit?” Bai Shuixian soothed, then asked, noticing An Xian’s bizarre attire: a white tunic and boots, with a top that reached down to the tops of her thighs and tight-fitting white pants. Though peculiar, An Xian’s bearing and figure carried the ensemble, making her look as noble and divine as ever.

“I’m in mourning for my late husband. What’s wrong with that?” An Xian asked coolly.

“You and Bai Liu have been separated for a hundred years,” Yan Zhao frowned, clearly troubled.

“Is that why you didn't tell me he died?” An Xian put down her teacup and looked up, her gaze clear and cold as autumn water, reflecting her sword intent.

“That’s enough. Who are you resenting? You were the one who left,” Bai Shuixian retorted, also full of anger over her apprentice's death. “These years, his heart has been plagued by demons, causing errors in his judgment, and he even attempted to cross the celestial demon tribulation. I’d like to know who gave him the ancient spirit demon blood to increase his cultivation. How could he have possibly concealed it from Qingnu’s eyes?”

“I left because I had important matters to attend to! I gave him the blood. He said he was creating a new pill, and once completed, Qingdi Peak would become the foremost of all peaks, providing him with more resources,” An Xian couldn't resist taking a big gulp of wine, “so I didn’t return all these years, just stayed here collecting ancient spirit demon blood for him, always worried he wouldn’t have enough.”

“You always indulged him,” Yan Zhao shook his head, not knowing what to say, and finally sighed. “He’s dead now, so let’s put this matter to rest. He would have suffered if he had lived.”

Yan Zhao’s last words left An Xian unable to argue. She chuckled softly and fell silent.

Indeed, what was the point of talking about it now? Back then, Bai Liu saved so many people, especially those on Wenjian Peak. She was probably the swordswoman he treated the most. But in the end, no one could save him.

She only knew how to kill, not how to comfort, let alone heal someone’s heart—those were Bai Liu’s specialties.

She stayed in the Yuntian Domain not only because of her mission but also to prove that there had been manipulation in the events of that year. Though he was at fault, he wasn’t the main cause. As long as she could prove this, he might be able to overcome his heart demons.

But…

She suddenly threw the wine pouch off the peak and left in a flash of light.

“This matter isn’t over. I will find out who is behind it and then cut them down piece by piece with a thousand swords,” she vowed.

“Aren’t you going to stop your apprentice?” Bai Shuixian asked, looking at Yan Zhao.

“She needs to find someone to fight and vent her anger. I have important duties and can’t afford to get injured,” Yan Zhao shook his head. “Let You Bazhua go.”

Bai Shuixian nodded, then quietly said to Feng Qingxiu, who had been pretending not to hear anything, “Don’t stray too far from the flying peak in the coming days. Something might happen.”

Feng Qingxiu nodded to show he understood.

After asking about some routine matters and ensuring there were no problems, Bai Shuixian and Yan Zhao left.

Only then did Feng Qingxiu breathe a sigh of relief. Listening to the elders’ secrets, he felt awkward whether he tried not to listen or not.

Still, hearing them talk, he felt a sense of pity.

“I’ve heard that in its prime, Qingdi Peak’s Pill, Poison, Medicine, and Acupuncture veins were all flourishing, no less than Taiyi Peak. But now, there’s nothing left…” he sighed softly.

“The path of cultivation is full of perils. One misstep can lead to such an outcome,” a voice said faintly beside him.

Feng Qingxiu jumped up in surprise and joy, “Master!”

Ji Yunlai nodded and caught his apprentice as he rushed forward.

“You said you would wake up in the Yuntian Domain. I thought… I thought…” Feng Qingxiu blushed slightly and stepped back from his master’s embrace.

“You thought I’d send a paper avatar?” Ji Yunlai chuckled, ruffling his apprentice’s hair. “That’s possible too, but Zhuiyun Peak has plenty of spiritual stones, so I borrowed a little to manifest my form. It’s no trouble.”

Feng Qingxiu nodded, then suddenly asked, “Master, when did you wake up? Peak Master An had some things she wanted me to relay to you.”

“I heard it all.”

Ji Yunlai nodded.

Feng Qingxiu’s expression became serious, “What do you think?”

Though Ji Yunlai had no memory of the past events, he would never say so. After a brief pause, he said, “Recently, my Calamity Sword has been somewhat unstable, so I suppose they’ve all noticed. I’ll handle this.”

“Okay.” Seeing that his master was already prepared, Feng Qingxiu felt much relieved and began recounting the recent events to him in detail.

They talked until dusk, after which Feng Qingxiu returned to his room to meditate under his master’s watchful eye and began his daily cultivation.

Ji Yunlai, seeing that his apprentice’s spirit had entered his sea of consciousness, nodded, then stepped out of the room into the small courtyard.

The sky was vast with clouds, not much different from standing atop Kun-Lai Immortal Mountain.

Although he had seen the sky countless times, he still found it difficult to deduce the future from the myriad heavenly secrets. This was not due to a lack of clarity in the heavenly secrets but rather because the Dao of Heaven was concealed. It had not yet been entrusted to any person or object, which was normal in times before a great calamity.

However, not everything had to rely on the Dao of Heaven.

He had already somewhat guessed why it was Qingdi Peak that was chosen as the breakthrough point. Kun-Lai established its sect based on talisman seals, which was considered its foundation. However, later, each peak and vein flourished extensively, with a large part due to Qingdi Peak's assistance. Every cultivation method in the world can be changed significantly, and any minor error can damage meridians. Therefore, modifying a cultivation method is quite difficult, often taking hundreds or thousands of years for advanced cultivation methods to emerge.

Yet, Qingdi Peak had discovered a technique for repairing meridians and dantian, which greatly accelerated the improvement of cultivation methods across all peaks and veins. He had checked, and before the appearance of the meridian and dantian repair technique, Kun-Lai had a total of eleven cultivation methods, most of which were calculated by the Sect Leader himself.

After the repair technique emerged, Kun-Lai now had nearly seven hundred sixty-three different cultivation methods, approaching the rare collections of the Central Continent's major sects. The speed was beyond what could be described as terrifying.

Moreover, the main network still had various new cultivation method simulation posts, proposing various ideas, like a convergence of spiritual enlightenment. Both Qingnu Peak and Qingdi Peak have dedicated cultivation method and technique simulation rooms, with medical and acupuncture techniques on standby, and issues could be resolved in the shortest time.

Thus, choosing Qingdi Peak as the first to be destroyed was not without reason.

What Kun-Lai lacked the most was time. As seen recently, Kun-Lai did not lack prodigies like An Xian and Yang Fuyin. Given enough time, there was nothing they could not achieve.

Even his apprentice Xiao Qing in his room, if not for him controlling his cultivation speed, would probably have already easily reached the Nascent Soul stage.

Therefore, Kun-Lai still needed his protection. As long as there was a little time, and another Human Immortal was produced, it could immediately stabilize Kun-Lai’s situation.

The fear that other sects had for Kun-Lai was probably due to this. In the past, Great Xuan had three Human Immortals, which forced the sects to migrate for ten thousand years and only dared to return after Great Xuan’s fall.

Thinking of this, Ji Yunlai looked at the brightly lit city below the peak and stepped easily onto the spacious street.

This was the foundation of Ziyun Dao for ten thousand years.

He was like an ordinary youth, strolling along the long street. Carriages and pedestrians passed by him, but no one noticed him.

His spiritual senses spread over the surroundings silently and seamlessly.

Like the breathing air, it was naturally unnoticed and undetected.

Both inside and outside the city, whether ordinary people or cultivators, every action, smile, and cry was vividly reflected in his mind, observed and deduced one by one.

Besides several Synthesis cultivators from Kun-Lai, there were three Synthesis cultivators in the city.

Two of them were in the palace of Ziyun City. One was meditating, and the other was about to listen to a subordinate report on the movements of Kun-Lai cultivators today.

The third one—Ji Yunlai clearly saw that the Black Snake Yin Wushe, a remnant of Great Xuan’s descendants turned spirit demon, was approaching a young spirit demon cultivator, who was dressed like a Ziyun Dao cultivator and observing Kun-Lai's flying peaks from a high building, under the protection of several Wenjian Peak cultivators.

The spirit demon cultivator was dressed in cultivator robes, resembling Ziyun Dao’s attire. Black Snake had transformed into a youthful form and approached to strike up a conversation, then pretended to be drunk, revealing a beautiful and exquisite snake tail.

“Why hasn’t that cultivator called out to kill the snake demon? Snake demons are usually favored by orthodox cultivators. Snake skin makes armor, snake gall is a valuable medicine, snake bones make weapons, and snake meat is edible. Why isn’t he interested?” A Wenjian Peak cultivator following them sounded puzzled. “Did he slip up?”

“We’ve only used this trick to bait four Ziyun Dao cultivators today. It shouldn’t be too soon,” another replied. “Oh, look, that cultivator is moving. He’s taking off his clothes… Is he going to eat? Prepare! If he eats the snake, we’ll rush in and capture him, make him compensate!”

“Okay. Wait… look, that cultivator…” The  Wenjian Peak cultivator next to him was stunned.

The handsome cultivator revealed a strong snake tail of his own and began to touch Black Snake’s tail gently.

Black Snake Yin Wushe immediately woke up.

“Wait a moment.” Black Snake swam out and bumped heads with the Wenjian Peak cultivators. “Tonight, I'm going on a date. This cultivator can’t be baited. I’ll go baiting with you tomorrow.”

“What’s going on with you? We agreed to bait prey with a three-seven split,” the Wenjian Peak cultivator asked.

“He touched my tail. This is our signature move for mating among snake spirit demons, a clan thing. This guy looks very robust… I haven’t got laid since I joined the expedition. I’ll join you tomorrow.” Black Snake shamelessly explained.

“You spirit demons are so casual! Will he hurt you? This is unfamiliar territory. Be careful,” a cultivator advised, how could the agreed baiting be abruptly canceled.

“Because I didn’t know he was a snake, I revealed my tail first. This is a clear mating invitation among snake spirit demons. We, as a species, like mating by nature. I’m a beautiful snake too,” Black Snake proudly flicked his tail.

Well, the exasperated Wenjian Peak cultivators packed up and returned home.

Black Snake swam back.

“Kun-Lai’s spirit demon,” said the serpent-tailed cultivator, “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Why are you only coming now?”

Ji Yunlai paused, his fingers beckoned, and his spiritual sense immediately controlled Black Snake, which was about to ask him what he meant by that.

Black Snake was stunned. For some reason, he found his vocal chords uncontrollable and instinctively began to say, “Kun-Lai is heavily guarded.”

“Is that so?” The handsome snake spirit demon pushed him onto a nearby bed. “Let’s discuss serious matters after our mating.”

“Wait, what’s your name?” Black Snake asked involuntarily, without struggling. “How do I know it’s you?”

“Ziyun Hai Chaoxu. I’ll prove it to you right now.” The snake spirit demon smiled and flicked his tongue. “Little Beauty Snake, I’ve never met a common rural snake becoming a spirit demon like you before.”

“…Alright.” Now able to speak at will, the Black Snake suspected it had fallen into some kind of struggle. He was clear someone had been spying and secretly controlled his responses just now… How dangerous! If not careful, his snake life might be in danger… Better stabilize things and leave quickly. Black Snake regretted not being more cautious tonight.

***

On the long street, Ji Yunlai withdrew his control over Black Snake’s speech and thought that if these two serpents didn’t provide useful information, he would treat Xiao Qing to a taste of snake meat in the morning.