Episode 168

At the Seven Kill Sect.

You Hantian stood outside a door made from rock and called out, “Great Elder, the seal over the Devil Abyss is about to break!”

One full hour later, an elderly and hoarse voice slowly responded, “In that case, we’ll work together.” There was helplessness and gloominess in that voice.

“Got it.” You Hantian smiled faintly as a bit of excitement filled his heart.

For the sake of breaking through to the next stage, this old man had been cultivating in isolation for hundreds of years now. After a quick calculation, You Hantian figured that the old man was about to run out of energy. The old man wasn’t going to last much longer.

You Hantian bowed and took his leave. He looked at the plain-looking door, smirked, then walked away silently.

His intentions were simple. He was just looking for a scapegoat.

This old man was the most suitable candidate in this tiny world to do that.

What he feared was not what he knew but what he didn’t know.

You Hantian feared that his plans to extort You Hanyun and the sects with him would fail. If that happened, then there was no turning back because he knew that You Hanyun…was also from the empire. One of them worked in the open, while the other worked in secret to watch this world and maintain order.

He had just received news that Qingming was already dead, but he wasn’t sure if You Hanyun knew the same thing as him.

This was something that affected their future.

It would decide which one of them would leave this hopeless cage.

The Seven Kill Sect wasn’t left with a lot of people. He only had two Peak Leaders at Peak Origin Core who were also on the verge of breathing their last. That wasn’t enough to reseal the Devil Abyss, and that was also why he decided to make use of the Great Elder of the sect.

He was very sure that this old man wouldn’t want to watch his home get captured or watch his family get killed. But he was also unsure if this old man was seriously willing to give up his life for his family.

That was why he had come here. He had come to confirm these things.

The world of cultivators slowly fell silent. Any waves that could raise a storm were quietly surging beneath the surface.

The Ethereal Court. The Seven Kill Sect.

You Hanyun, You Hantian.

The Huangquan Evil Ghost, Zhou Lingfeng, as well as…Gu Suihan.

Each of them had their own schemes, and each of them had their own plans.

This time, who would win? Who would survive? Who would lose? Who would die?

This was now a matter of life and death for the various factions of this world.

“I’m very curious to find out who gets the last laugh.” Gu Suihan slowly blew at the steaming cup of tea In his hand and took a relaxed sip as he enjoyed a massage from Taohua and Lihua. He slowly closed his eyes and hid the bright glint that flashed in his eyes.

“Young master, the inter-sect exchange is coming soon,” Taohua whispered into Gu Suihan’s ear with a cheeky look in her eyes.

“You naughty girl! I just fell asleep, and you dare to disturb my sleep? I’m going to teach you a lesson!” Gu Suihan’s eyes opened slightly, and a warm, sweet smile spread across his fair and beautiful face as he grabbed hold of Taohua’s snatched waist, raised his hand, and smacked her bottom a few times.

“Sis! Help! Young master is bullying me!” Taohua was red-faced as she struggled, then leaped up and clutched her butt as she ran to hide behind Lihua, peeking at Gu Suihan timidly over Lihua’s shoulder.

“It’s your fault for teasing young master all the time. You know you can’t fight him, yet you continue to do this,” said Lihua in an amused voice as she used a finger to prod at Taohua’s head gently.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the main door.

The two maids immediately shut their mouths. Taohua rolled her eyes at Gu Suihan, then pouted as she ran to open the door.

“Sir!” Yan Hua was covered in wounds, and there was a trail of bloodied footprints behind him. He could barely stand, like a candle in the wind. Once he entered the house, he fell to his knees with a thud before Gu Suihan, then retrieved a brocade box from his storage bag and used both hands to present it to Gu Suihan.

“So…it’s true that the older one is, the more useless one becomes.” Gu Suihan didn’t even bother to open the box. He flicked the box, and it instantly turned to dust.

Some days ago, he had given one such brocade box each to Elder Yan and Yan Hua without saying anything.

But both of them knew what Gu Suihan meant when he gave them these boxes.

And now, Yan Hua was still alive, meaning Elder Yan was in the box.

“Eat this and rest up. From today onwards, you will live here,” said Gu Suihan as he threw a pill bottle at Yan Hua expressionlessly. He then pulled an arm around his maids and walked into his room without giving Yan Hua a second glance.

Yan Hua was silent for a moment, then he took the pill bottle and staggered to the smallest room by the side.

The next day, Gu Suihan only got up lazily at noon time. His two maids helped him to wash up and get dressed even as they chided him for waking up so late, then he called Yan Hua into the study.

“From today onwards, you are Gu Suihan. The Youthful Clarity Sect’s Gu Suihan,” said Gu Suihan slowly as he rapped his knuckles on the table and glanced at Yan Hua, who stood with his body slightly bowed.

“But…” Yan Hua looked up with a start in shock. His heart trembled when he met Gu Suihan’s steely gaze and tried his best to calm himself down. “Yes, sir.”

“From today onwards, I will teach you swordsmanship, and I will guide your understanding of it. I will even…give you a few hints about the Origin Core stage.” Gu Suihan threw a jade slip to Yan Hua again. “This jade slip contains one secret technique meant for changing one’s body, a few dozen low-grade sword techniques, a dozen middle-grade sword techniques, and a few more techniques that are no less than the ones that this sect teaches. You can practice by yourself. Ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand. You must grasp at least 80% of these things within the next six months. Then, you will be able to understand the sword’s will by yourself.”

Yan Hua’s jaw dropped in shock, and his hands were trembling in fear as he held the thin jade slip. His level of cultivation wasn’t high, but he could tell that these techniques that Gu Suihan had seemingly put together casually were all extraordinary techniques. The more mysterious Gu Suihan seemed to be, the more frightened Yan Hua became of Gu Suihan.

“Give me Elder Yan’s storage ring,” said Gu Suihan sending a wisp of qi to ring in Yan Hua’s ears.

“Y-yes, sir!” Yan Hua hurriedly removed an antiquated and intricately designed ring from his pocket.

Gu Suihan removed the seal on it and retrieved a small sword that was only about the size of his palm. There were bloodied tadpole-shaped runes swirling around it, and it smelled faintly of blood. He gave the sword a pleased smile, threw the ring back to Yan Hua, then waved him out of the room.

Once Yan Hua left the room, Gu Suihan chuckled. He weighed the rather heavy sword made from jade and looked out of the window. He looked at the tall mountain peak that was hidden in the clouds and said, “Time…is running out!”

Time flew by. A few months passed like sand between one’s fingers.

Gu Suihan looked expressionlessly at the young man with the same height, shape, features, and aura as himself. He finally had a genuine smile on his face.

“The list of disciples who will go for the inter-sect exchange has been released. Ten disciples led by the sect leader will go for this exchange. Find a chance to replace one of them,” Gu Suihan quietly instructed Yan Hua, who looked like his twin brother right now.

“Yes, sir.” Yan Hua’s features twitched slowly, and he looked the same as before. He bowed and took his leave.

“I wonder if you’re ready, You Hantian!” Gu Suihan stood in his front yard with his hands folded behind his back. The eyes behind his half-closed lids gave off a dazzling but frosty glint from time to time.

Three days later, Zhou Lingfeng led Gu Suihan and nine more disciples onto a flying item which whooshed rapidly toward the Seven Kill Sect.

While nobody was taking notice, a fairly charming young lady slowly came close to Gu Suihan and used telepathy to say, “Sir, I’ve transformed myself into Hua Ling.”

Gu Suihan’s face instantly froze, and his lips twitched uncomfortably when he saw a curvaceous young woman with almond-shaped eyes, pink cheeks, black hair tied up with a pin decorated with phoenixes, and wearing a long chiffon white dress.

“What the fuck…” Gu Suihan cursed inwardly and glared at the other party.

“I didn’t have a choice. The others are just as good at fighting as I am, so if we fought, it would draw everyone’s attention. That’s why…” Yan Hua had obviously caught Gu Suihan’s judgmental look and couldn’t help but try to explain what was happening.

Gu Suihan’s expression slowly calmed back down, and so did his mind. “It’s alright…”

Yan Hua looked at Gu Suihan’s calm expression and felt a shudder run down his spine for some reason. He had a bad premonition.

“Disguised as a woman. Why not?” thought Gu Suihan. But the red spider lily between his brows seemed to feel more and more alive, swaying in the wind as though it were a real plant.