Episode 152

Once Taohua and Lihua had hidden beneath the windowsill for about 15 minutes and realized that everything outside had gone quiet, they mustered up their courage to peek out of the crack in the window again.

They were relieved to see that Gu Suihan had collapsed, and they ran out into the yard. “Hurry, hurry!”

They had done this so many times over the past year.

“Just like before, we’ve got to pretend that nothing happened. Otherwise, who knows what Young Master might do?” said Lihua softly to Taohua once they had returned to their small room connected to Gu Suihan’s after they had carried him back to his bed and tucked him in.

Lihua looked at the younger girl whom she regarded as a sister, pointed at Gu Suihan, then ran her finger across her neck to warn her of what could happen. Taohua was so frightened that she hugged Lihua tightly and refused to let go for a long time.

After she had finally comforted Taohua sufficiently to convince her to go to bed, Lihua sat alone by the bed with a conflicted look in her eyes as she glanced toward Gu Suihan’s room.

Those words were not only a warning to Taohua but also to herself.

Maids like them were trained from a young age to serve cultivators. The people who trained them had warned them several times over the years about how cultivators could have a very unpredictable temperament. As maids, they had to keep their mouths shut about anything they saw or heard because, to cultivators, any careless slip could result in great calamity to them.

On the contrary, these maids were like extra seasoning on food. The maids were at their beck and call, and their lives were of almost no value, even if they were pretty.

Those who were able to cultivate were the cream of the crop. Nobody with such a bright future or such great opportunities in life would be swayed by a mere pretty face.

“If only I could cultivate! That would be so nice,” murmured Lihua to herself. She looked enviously at the sleeping Gu Suihan and sighed sadly.

“With regard to the destruction of the Rolling Clouds Temple, I went to take a look myself, and I didn’t find anything unusual. I didn’t expect the Dawning Clouds Shrine to also suffer complete destruction.” Zhou Lingfeng looked dismayed as he said in a low voice, “Someone with such formidable methods cannot be from our world. I’m quite sure this person has something to do with Qingming.”

“A lot of small sects have been coming to us in hope of receiving protection in return. I believe the rest of you are also annoyed by this,” said Zhou Yunjian in an irritated voice as he frowned.

Zhan Wuchang, the sect leader of the War Demon Sect, had a glum face as he said, “The only thing we can do now is to make sure that we get rid of Qingming completely so that our sects can gain a breather. Only then can we take the time to slowly rebuild our sects and send cultivators to the kingdom the next time we need to.”

Everyone’s expression fell when Zhan Wuchang talked about how they would eventually have to send cultivators to the Upper World. But they could only sit in silence and accept this as their reality. They were in this predicament because they had failed in their plans. This was their own fault.

“That’s easier said than done. We don’t even know where he is. How are we supposed to get rid of him?” Zhou Lingfeng scoffed at what Zhan Wuchang suggested.

None of them were fools. If they really wanted to track someone down, they would find a way to do so. The problem was, doing such a thing would cost them a lot, especially since the other person was a cultivator at Divine Soul. This man had cut himself from any karmic cycle and severed all ties with his worldly desires and relationships. His hun and po were one entity too. It was impossible to track him down without paying a high price to locate him.

Everyone knew there was a price to pay. But who was going to pay it?

Nobody wanted to. Cultivators were all selfish people. Those who stood up for the right thing and helped others were all dead and completely decomposed in some random place out there.

“I’ll do it.”

Just as everyone was focusing on drinking tea and refusing to step forward, the beautiful woman from the Falling Star Sect smiled faintly as she casually threw the old man from the Ethereal Court a look of disdain while agreeing to take up this challenge.

“That’s a good idea. The Falling Star Sect is an expert in such techniques,” murmured Zhou Lingfeng as he nodded slowly.

“There’s no time to waste. Settle this matter first, then we’ll go look for that wily old fox, You Hantian. At worst, we’ll give him all the credit. We just cannot allow him to report this matter to the Upper World.” Zhou Yunjian had a scowl on his face as he crushed the teacup in his hand to powder silently.

Everyone had a scowl on their faces too, but there was nothing they could do about this situation.

If You Hantian were allowed to report this matter, they were certain that tyrant would happily crush the ants that tried to bite him to death.

All of them were wily old foxes who had remained in this high position for hundreds of years themselves, so they knew this very well. If they didn’t nip the problem in the bud, they were asking for more trouble in the future.

They took Zhou Yunjian’s words very seriously. This was a matter of life and death to them. They weren’t ready to die just because they didn’t want to give the credit to somebody else.

“I’m off first. We’ll gather here again after a month, and I’ll execute a secret technique. He’s a cultivator at Divine Soul, so even though he’s not at his peak now, we’re still no match for him. So, once I execute that technique, I will be severely injured, and I will have to leave him to the rest of you,” said the beautiful woman after she finished her tea. She glanced at the Ethereal Court sect leader who sat in the chair reserved for the leader of the group and scoffed disdainfully.

“Actually…the Ethereal Court is better at such techniques, aren’t they?” Zhou Yunjian smirked as he unleashed a beam of righteous qi from his finger without even looking at the Ethereal Court sect leader. The beam of qi cut through the thick clouds, and Zhou Yunjian laughed loudly as he flew off.

“Hoho!” Zhou Lingfeng and the other sect leaders exchanged smiles, glanced at the Ethereal Court sect leader, then took their leave.

“Young Master, it’s time for your herbal bath.” Taohua stuck her head out from the bathroom, her face so red it looked like a freshly steamed bun.

Gu Suihan nodded and grunted in response. He flung the sword in his hand aside and ignored the whining of the weapon that clearly had a mind of its own.

For some reason, he felt apathetic toward everything. Everyone was so envious that he had a spiritual weapon, but it was nothing more than a sword to him. For some reason, a faint feeling of disgust would fill his heart whenever he noticed any sign of sentience in any spiritual weapons.

He had no idea why this happened, but he had a feeling that this had something to do with that gloomy shadow inside his brain.

“An elder is giving lessons at the Sword Plain in the afternoon, Young Master. Are you going to attend?” asked Lihua quietly from behind the screen.

“Yes, I’ll be going. The two of you can sleep early tonight. A lesson by the elder will end quite late,” said Gu Suihan flatly as he moved the qi within his body to absorb the energy from the herbal bath. He knew why she was asking him this question.

“Oh, look. Junior brother Gu is here too.”

“He’s flown here. I guess he’s at Foundation Establishment already.”

“Constantly having to be compared to people like him will really be the death of me someday.”

“He’s been singled out by the sect leader to be given special training and privileges, so someone should be giving him one-to-one lessons. Why is he here?”

“I don’t know. I just know that this fellow is really arrogant beyond belief. He’s good only because he’s got a high level of aptitude. I’d be as good as him if I had his aptitude.”

Several disciples immediately started whispering among themselves when they spotted Gu Suihan from afar. Their gazes were all centered on him, and their words were filled with jealousy. They were clearly very displeased with the unfair treatment Gu Suihan was getting.

“He’s just a dumbass who’s so blessed but doesn’t seem to know it. I heard that before joining the sect, he absolutely refused to become a cultivator,” said one of them in a shrill and sour voice as he looked disdainfully at Gu Suihan. That was a voice meant to provoke Gu Suihan.

Gu Suihan didn’t even have to look at the other party’s provoking expression to know that this was yet another idiot who was obsessed with getting more for himself. This idiot noticed that he was getting special training and treatment, so the idiot was hoping to take him down and move up the ranks.

“You’ve got a death wish? I’ll grant you that wish,” said Gu Suihan frostily. A sinister smile spread across his face as he looked at the muscular external disciple with narrow eyes.

Immediately after he said those words, he drew his sword and brought it down heavily, even as the other party stared at him in shock. The sword qi was powerful enough to part the sea, and the blade could cut through the sky.

“How dare you! How dare you ignore the sect rules and attack me like this! Aren’t you afraid you’d get disciplined by the Disciplinary Court?” The other party reacted quickly, slamming a hand on his heavy scabbard, which flew into his hands. He held it up horizontally and managed to block the imminent attack.

“If they get rid of my ability to cultivate, I’ll be happy to let them handle me,” said Gu Suihan with a snort. He pulled his arm back such that the two blades zinged against each other and caused sparks to fly in a long line before thrusting it with lightning speed at the palm of the other man, who was using it to hold his scabbard.

“Humph! And you think I’m afraid of you?” yelled the other disciple. He raised his scabbard and ran his right hand across the hilt. The sword emerged from its sheath and the gleam of the blade seemed to come alive as it made its way toward Gu Suihan’s blade.

“You must die today!” Gu Suihan grinned to reveal his pearly whites, but the rest of his face remained expressionless, making him look creepy.

His sword trembled and rang quietly as it struck the other disciple’s scabbard and sent it flying before continuing to advance forward. He rotated his sword to knock away the other party’s sword and aimed straight for the area between the other disciple’s brows.

“Dark Element Spiritual Barrier!” The other disciple broke into a cold sweat and barely managed to form a barrier in time to deflect Gu Suihan’s sword. He instinctively threw a punch in an attempt to push Gu Suihan further away from him and buy him some breathing space.

“It’s too late,” came Gu Suihan’s frosty voice.

“What?” The other disciple didn’t even stop to think and retreated immediately.

“You cheated!” he yelped as he threw his sword away and stumbled backward as he saw the two bloodied dots on the fist he had just used to punch at Gu Suihan.

“In order to win, no soldier would mind resorting to a dirty trick or two.” Gu Suihan ignored him and took a seat in the frontmost row.

“Why, you!” The other disciple could sense a frosty air move swiftly toward his internal organs from his arm and couldn’t help but let out an angry shout. He emptied his storage bag frantically and poured several antidote pills into his mouth, but no amount of pills could stop this frosty air.

He convulsed as his complexion paled in seconds. He collapsed stiffly onto the ground in the blink of an eye as his body continued to exude a chilly aura. He turned green in the face and breathed his last with a contorted expression.