“Senior Sister, where are we going?” Although Yi Nan was older than Zhong’er, she had joined the sect later, so she still had to call Zhong’er Senior Sister.
Zhong’er stood at the edge of the flying boat, looking at the clouds with boredom. Hearing the question, she said, “Master plans to take us to the Floating Sky Realm.”
“Floating Sky Realm?” Yi Nan had lived in Leyuan City for most of her life. Her parents were ordinary people, and she herself had no spiritual roots, so she knew very little about the world of cultivators.
Zhong’er understood this and patiently explained, “Legend has it that the Floating Sky Realm is a Purple Mansion secret realm left behind by a powerful cultivator who ascended 30,000 years ago. This Purple Mansion is as large as half of Zhongzhou, filled with rare treasures, spiritual beasts, formations, talismans, secret techniques, and scriptures… It has everything you can imagine. It’s the largest and most abundant known secret realm.”
“What’s more amazing is that it floats high in the sky, moving its position on its own every so often. Its whereabouts are unpredictable, hence the name Floating Sky.”
Yi Nan realized, “That’s so impressive.”
“However, it’s also extremely dangerous. The Floating Sky Realm opens once every ten years, and countless cultivators die inside each time it opens,” Zhong’er sighed.
Yi Nan was puzzled, “Then why do they still go?”
Zhong’er smiled, “Of course, to seek their own opportunities. The ultimate goal of cultivators is to ascend, but this path is too difficult, with very few succeeding.”
“Master said before that since Venerable Zhuozhi ascended to the upper realm 700 years ago, no one in the seventeen states has successfully ascended,” Zhong’er rested her hands on the railing, looking down at the passing clouds. “Now, even Venerable Jinghe, Venerable Zhuozhi’s disciple who was most likely to ascend, has perished…”
Yi Nan understood, “Is Master going to the Floating Sky Realm for ascension too?”
Zhong’er shook her head, looking towards the tightly closed curtain of the boat cabin, “What Master wants to accomplish… is even more difficult than ascending.”
Inside the boat cabin.
Sang Yun was slowly sipping tea, looking at two water mirrors not far away.
Chu Linyuan was probably in the main hall of Wushi Sect’s main peak, with a huge ink painting pulsing with spiritual energy behind him.
“The Dao Discussion event has frightened all the major sects and families, even the elders in the Chongzheng Alliance have quieted down,” Chu Linyuan paused, then said, “According to my disciple Shen Xi, the person controlling the poison gu is called Ning Fan, and he has a cultivator named Xie Jiu by his side. They colluded with Wang Bin and escaped.”
“Ning Fan?” Sang Yun’s hand holding the teacup paused. She casually drew a few lines on the table and frowned, “Five hundred years ago, he was just an insignificant small branch clan leader of the Ning family.”
Even Zen Master Ming Sang shook his head, “I’ve never heard of this person.”
“I heard about him from Xingyuan,” Chu Linyuan recalled. “Back then, he took Ning Chengfeng from Ning Fan’s hands.”
Sang Yun lowered her head, seemingly looking at something again, and frowned slightly, coldly saying, “A despicable scoundrel.”
“So it was such a person—” Chu Linyuan’s tone was hard to discern whether it was anger or dismay.
It was such an insignificant little figure who had ruined their carefully planned scheme, even appearing and disappearing mysteriously over these five hundred years… Suddenly, it made everything they had done seem somewhat laughable.
A nobody they had never taken seriously before.
A flash of killing intent passed through Chu Linyuan’s eyes.
Sang Yun sighed and comforted them, “At that time, we were young and ignorant, having just returned to the seventeen states from the mortal realm. It was inevitable that we were overconfident and made oversights, allowing someone to exploit the gaps.”
Chu Linyuan said in a deep voice, “Now that even Venerable Jinghe has… No matter what, this person must be eliminated as soon as possible.”
“The enemy is hidden while we are exposed. Moreover, he has been lying low for five hundred years, so it won’t be easy,” Sang Yun said. “The opponent is extremely cunning. We can’t be too hasty in this matter.”
The three of them exchanged information and discussed further. Zen Master Ming Sang said, “The Floating Sky Realm has appeared in Kun Prefecture, Zhenzhou these days.”
With this statement, both Sang Yun and Chu Linyuan fell silent simultaneously.
“Amitabha,” Zen Master Ming Sang closed his eyes slightly, his tone calm. “Why be so concerned?”
Sang Yun put down her teacup heavily.
“Sang Yun.” Chu Linyuan frowned.
Sang Yun took a deep breath, her tone unusually harsh, “Yan Jinzhou was a rogue cultivator without any sect. She didn’t even have her only disciple by her side when she died. Why do you think we are concerned?”
Sang Yun suddenly choked up a bit. “Or perhaps you Buddhist monks are compassionate and save all living beings, yet in the end, not even a piece of spirit money was—”
“Sang Yun.” Chu Linyuan interrupted her, his face also looking unpleasant, “The urgent matter at hand is to solve the problem of the Linglong Bone in the Floating Sky Realm.”
Sang Yun forcibly stabilized her emotions and said in a calm voice, “I have already given the instructions to Ning Chengfeng. He will naturally take that child to the Floating Sky Realm to find a method to pacify the soul. However…do we really want to do this?”
Zen Master Ming Sang raised his hand in a Buddhist gesture, “Amitabha.”
Chu Linyuan lowered his eyes, “The Linglong Bone is crucial, and we don’t have much time left.”
Sang Yun remained silent for a while before saying, “Yan Jinzhou died in Kun Prefecture, Zhenzhou. Even with the Floating Sky Realm, Ning Chengfeng might not… necessarily go.”
****
The climate varied across the seventeen states. The southern provinces had already entered summer, while the northwestern swamp wilderness was just beginning to show signs of spring.
Although Xiaoqiu Mountain had “small” in its name, it covered a vast area, with most of it in the swamp wilderness. Not only was it filled with miasma, but demonic creatures also frequently appeared there, so few people ventured there. However, the side adjacent to Banyuan Town was peaceful and abundant with spiritual creatures, with those demonic creatures and miasma unable to cross over.
“It’s said that an immortal once transcended tribulation here and specifically set up a barrier on top, keeping all those miasmas and demonic creatures on the other side,” a townsperson who seemed to recognize them as children from the newly moved family, enthusiastically struck up a conversation. “Young man, what are you all doing up the mountain?”
Feng Zizhang smiled and said, “We’re here to dig for wild vegetables.”
The townsperson was an ordinary person, looking only forty or fifty years old, with an honest face. “Oh, but wild vegetables are particularly abundant at this time. You can go that way…”
“Thank you, uncle!” Jiang Yizheng and Feng Zizhang thanked him.
He very enthusiastically gave directions to Feng Zizhang and the others, watching them walk towards the other side of Xiaoqiu Mountain. As their figures suddenly disappeared, he put away the smile on his face.
“Hmph, if you’re here to dig for spiritual plants, just say so. Why say you’re digging for wild vegetables—” He spat to the side, bent down to scrape the thick mud off the bottom of his shoes with a hoe. When he looked up, he was startled by a suddenly appearing person, “Oh my!”
The suddenly appearing young man wore what looked like luxurious wide-sleeved black robes, with a strangely shaped but translucent white jade hanging at his waist. His aura was imposing, and as he stood there casually, his back was unconsciously straight, just like those young masters from cultivator families he had seen before – noble and arrogant, as if nothing could break their backbone.
Yet this person had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, inexplicably adding a touch of wickedness.
Ning Buwei allowed him to size himself up, and only after the other’s eyes clearly showed wariness did he speak, “Where did you send those children?”
The townsperson bowed and said, “Oh, Immortal, I just arrived and don’t know.”
“Don’t know?” Ning Buwei tugged at the corner of his mouth, half his face hidden in shadow, his tone sinister, “Then if I peel off your human skin and crush your demon core, would you know?”
The townsperson’s face changed dramatically, and then he was frightened by the black mist that suddenly rose behind Ning Buwei. He stumbled and fell to his knees with a “thud”, crying and pleading, “Great Immortal, please be merciful. This small demon has cultivated on this mountain for many years and has never harmed anyone. I just wanted to protect the spiritual plants on the mountain from being plundered…”
Ning Buwei sneered and drew out the Suzaku Knife, but heard the other continue to sob, “Xiaoqiu Mountain once received the protection of Venerable Jinghe. The spiritual energy is abundant, and many spiritual creatures and plants have spontaneously developed consciousness. But at first, they were powerless to protect themselves and were frequently picked and hunted by people from the town, so this small demon came up with this plan…”
Ning Buwei’s movement paused, and he looked at this unknown flower demon, “Received the protection of Venerable Jinghe?”
“Fi-five hundred years ago, Venerable Jinghe once severed the Heart Demon Realm and underwent tribulation here, reshaping his Dao heart…” The little flower demon sobbed while revealing his true form.
This flower demon had fair skin and beautiful features, delicate and boneless. He raised his head timidly to look at Ning Buwei with teary eyes. His beautiful phoenix eyes were slightly upturned, looking about six or seven parts similar to Chu Jun.
Yet he wore a colorful, vibrant outfit. With tears in his eyes, seemingly wanting to speak but hesitating, he added three parts of allure, vastly different from Chu Jun’s cold and aloof demeanor.
Ning Buwei found it increasingly uncomfortable to look at him and frowned. Unexpectedly, the little flower demon boldly grabbed his sleeve, looking up with a soft voice, “I swear to the Heavenly Dao that I’ve never taken a life. Those children only entered an illusion and will return to Banyuan Town after a few hours. Please, Immortal, spare my life!”
Ning Buwei mercilessly yanked his sleeve away and said coldly, “Don’t speak with that face.”
It was as if Chu Jun had been possessed by someone else.
The flower demon was stunned for a moment, then reached up to touch the face he was so proud of, “Isn’t this face good-looking?”
It was indeed good-looking, but it depended on who wore it.
He used a talisman to see that this face wasn’t the flower demon’s true appearance, and immediately felt displeased, “Where did you see this face?”
The flower demon said pitifully, “This is my original face.”
After saying this, some strange thought crossed his mind, and he actually thought Ning Buwei would be charmed by his face. He made to grab Ning Buwei’s hand, “If you fancy this face…”
Swish!
The Suzaku Knife sliced off a few of his petals. The little flower demon cried out in pain, and his colorful outfit made of flower petals shattered.
Ning Buwei used the Suzaku Knife to lift his chin, keeping him at a distance, preparing to peel off this fake, inferior face. His smile gradually became ferocious, “Your face?”
The flower demon shuddered in fear at the dense evil aura on the Suzaku Knife, immediately bursting into tears and stammering in panic, “I-I—hic!”
Ning Buwei noticed his expression change and glanced around.
He saw a familiar figure standing not far away, dressed in white, as cold and aloof as a pine tree. The figure first glanced at the little flower demon’s face, then cast an indifferent gaze upon him.
“Thud! Ah!” Before Ning Buwei could react, a loud child’s voice mixed with dog barking and exclamations rang out.
“Father, what are you doing!?” Feng Zizhang cried out in anguish.
Ning Buwei looked down at the flower demon’s face, which was six or seven parts similar to Chu Jun’s. The demon was kneeling weakly on the ground, tearful and disheveled, while he held a knife to the other’s throat, with scattered fabric at his feet—
He suddenly turned to look at Chu Jun.
Chu Jun’s gaze was cold, his expression blank.
Ning Buwei suddenly felt the Suzaku Knife in his hand become a bit heavy.
He could explain, really.
