Episode 164

At the Youthful Clarity Sect.

“What in the world happened?” asked Zhou Lingfeng quietly with a grim look on his face.

Several elders stood a step below him as they looked silently at Shuang’er and Jingjing.

“The three of us went to carry out a sect mission, the mission to investigate the plague that wiped out Fenglin. On the way…” Jingjing choked up as she slowly recounted what happened.

Because Gu Suihan had altered their memories, Jingjing and Shuang’er thought that after they had finally managed to get to that courtyard, a terrifying layer of fiendish qi covered the entire capital city. An unknown formation suddenly appeared from beneath the ground, revealing a cultivator seated cross-legged in the middle of it. A gigantic whirlpool suddenly appeared in the sky, and they lost consciousness. The rest of their account was after they regained consciousness, so those memories weren’t altered.

Zhou Lingfeng’s heart pounded in shock when he heard their story and stood up. “What did that cultivator look like? Did you manage to see his face?” he asked anxiously.

“The formation covered his face. We only managed to see his blurry figure before losing consciousness.” Jingjing was horrified, but she also felt terrible as she said, “If that hadn’t happened, junior brother wouldn’t have ended up in a comatose state trying to protect us.”

“Suihan…” Zhou Lingfeng’s expression fell, and he sighed a little sadly. He didn’t expect something like that to happen. He had put this up as a sect mission because he just wanted to ensure that the nasty plague didn’t reach his sect. It wasn’t meant to be a difficult mission or anything like that. Who would have thought that something like this would happen?

A few moments later, Zhou Lingfeng shut his eyes and gripped the armrests of his chair as he sat down again. “Use everything we have to heal Suihan,” he said in a low voice. “We must help him to recover.”

The reason why he had made this decision was that Jingjing had told him that Gu Suihan’s blood had transformed into a nectar-like liquid.

If not, he would have just searched the young man’s soul instead of slowly listening to the account of the two ladies. Finding out the person behind that deed was more vital to him than a disciple with high levels of aptitude.

This world was now in chaos, and problems kept cropping up. Their plans failed. The alliance formed with the Ethereal Court lost huge numbers of disciples. Qingming had come back to life. The Seven Kill Sect refused to make a stand. The seal over the Devil Abyss was about to be broken.

All these insane things happening at the same time gave him a terrible headache, and he felt like he was under a lot of pressure. He even felt like he was about to collapse under this pressure.

“Sect Leader, do you know if the Seven Kill Sect…” suddenly asked one of the elders.

Zhou Lingfeng massaged his forehead like he had a headache. He bent his head and said quietly, “There’s no reaction from You Hantian. It looks like he will take a big bite out of us. Or worse, fight to the point where both parties suffer severe losses.”

Immediately after Zhou Lingfeng said that the elder frowned and spat nastily, “It’s no loss to him. Even if the seal over the Devil Abyss is broken and countless demons come out of that place, he could just stuff his entire sect into his secret realm and head for the Upper World. But the rest of us…are going to die.”

“And what can we do about that? That wily old fox from the Ethereal Court refuses to say anything and doesn’t even want to apologize. The rest of us are just pawns. Those two are the ones playing the game.” Zhou Lingfeng’s voice was filled with anger and indignation but also carried a tinge of helplessness.

When it came to a fight between cultivators, the one who was more powerful had control of the situation. The Ethereal Court and its allies were the weaker parties, and the difference in power was impossible to overcome.

“We’ll just leave things as they are for now. Wait for Suihan to wake up and see if we can find out from him whether that cultivator was Qingming or not since Qingming has now disappeared without a trace. If that person were Qingming, that would be a bit of good news for us. But if it’s some other powerful figure, then…things are going to become more chaotic,” said Zhou Lingfeng quietly. He decided to play safe for now.

“Who in the world was that?” You Hantian stood with his hands folded behind his back as he looked into the distance where Fenglin lay. His sinister gaze flickered, and his breathing was a little uneven, revealing that his heart was not as calm as his expression seemed to be.

“Qingming…is it you?” he murmured as he looked away and fell into deep thought.

At the same time, the Ethereal Court was located thousands of feet above the ground, floating among the clouds.

The wrinkles on the elderly face of the sect leader of the Ethereal Court seemed to have become deeper. His expression was grim as he murmured, “Qingming, You Hantian…you can’t defeat me. I’m going to move forward by stepping on all of your bones.”

“Hey. I know you’re awake. Stop pretending,” said the Huangquan Evil Ghost with a disdainful look on its face. It had slid out from the shadows after the two maids had left Gu Suihan’s room.

“You can talk now?” A mysterious smile slowly spread across Gu Suihan’s deathly pale and barely breathing face.

“During this time, I managed to fully suppress my evil ghost nature. I’m not in any danger at the moment, so I can speak all I want,” said the evil ghost as it shrugged nonchalantly.

Gu Suihan paused to think about this unfamiliar term. “Evil ghost nature?”

It seemed like their techniques were still very flawed!

“You…were the one who did that?” The evil ghost sounded like it was asking a question, but the look in its yellowish-brown eyes was certain.

“Qingming’s supposed to have come back to life. Of course, he’s got to wreak a little havoc,” said Gu Suihan with a chuckle as he turned to look out at the cloudless sky a little distractedly.

“There’s no way the will of this world could be that weak. It couldn’t even kill someone at Foundation Establishment like you?” The evil ghost’s facial features were all scrunched up, and it gesticulated wildly as it spoke.

“It…has been held back by something.” After some thought, Gu Suihan revealed the reason he felt was the most accurate.

The evil ghost was curious. “What’s that?”

“This place…is very small. The only thing that can make the will of this world take notice is probably that place that’s known as the Devil Abyss,” said Gu Suihan slowly. The smile on his face slowly faded as well.

“The…Devil Abyss?” murmured the Evil Ghost. For some reason, it suddenly lost interest in the conversation and disappeared into the shadows again without saying a word.

Gu Suihan quietly calmed down again and closed his eyes to cover the flicker in his gaze. “You seem to know something,” he thought.

“All of you can leave. Shuang’er, stay behind, I need to talk to you,” said Zhou Lingfeng in a deep voice as he waved the others out of the hall. He picked up Shuang’er, and they arrived inside a meditation room in the blink of an eye.

“Sect Leader, what do you need to talk to Shuang’er about?”

Zhou Lingfeng couldn’t help but pat her head adoringly when he saw how cute she looked. He said gently, “Your father suddenly sent me a message a few days ago, saying that he will be coming sometime soon to take you home.”

“Take me home…?” Her expression fell, and tears welled up in her large eyes.

“I might as well be honest with you.” Zhou Lingfeng had a solemn expression on his face as he patted her head and said grimly, “Many things have happened over the past few years, and they are all signs that this world is becoming more and more chaotic. The current affliction we’re going through results from the war between You Hantian and You Hanyun. Myself, all of the Youthful Clarity Sect, and even every faction in this world are pawns in their game. The world is turning upside down. Your father is worried about you and I…I’m worried too.”

“So, be good and don’t go against our wishes, alright?” said Zhou Lingfeng with a deep sigh.

“I…okay…” replied Shuang’er sadly after some time.

“Now that things have come to this, I don’t have a choice.”

Zhou Lingfeng looked at the little girl adoringly one more time, then turned his back toward her. Over the past decade, he had long regarded the little girl as his own daughter. He wouldn’t want her to go back either if he could help it.

The message was from him to her father, not the other way around. After what happened in the secret realm, he had sensed that there were dangerous undercurrents surging beneath the seemingly calm surface of the world of cultivation. That was why he had sent the message out himself.

Shuang’er left the room without him realizing. Zhou Lingfeng cut a lonely figure as he stood there all by himself.

The winds are beginning to blow.

That was the thought inside the hearts of You Hantian, Gu Suihan, You Hanyun, Zhou Lingfeng, and the rest as they looked toward the gradually darkening sky in the distance.

Meanwhile, Elder Yan wiped his perspiration away and panted heavily as he pulled a strange-looking saber out and carefully placed it on the table.

The blade was four feet long and was as straight as a sword. The edge of the blade was sharp and was covered in terrifying teeth like a saw. The hand guard was angular and had thorns of varying lengths attached to it. The end of the handle was fashioned like a screw and tapered at the end, so it looked very odd and resembled a dagger.

One word was carved clearly into the back – futility!

“This is…really one terrifying weapon.” Elder Yan gently put it into its sheath. He shuddered when he remembered the intense murderous qi that had risen from the weapon when it was first forged. He put it into a storage bag, then called Yan Hua to come in, instructing him to ensure this was delivered to Gu Suihan.