Chapter 373

Chapter 374: Clues Connected

Yu Sheng finally felt it: Xuan Che, this Elder Senior Uncle, really was a master of exploration. He could pull strange objects from stranger places out of his pockets at any time; in a way, he was like a Dora A-Immortal.

Immortal Yuan Hao turned the Weird Mask in his hand as he recalled: “Thinking back, that Outpost should have been an anomalous space Node, not an Otherworld, because there was no ‘depth gap’ from the real world. That Black Robed Cultivator must have gone into the Outpost to look for something, but he was trapped and died inside by the endlessly looping space.”

Yu Sheng listened, stunned, his eyes following the odd Mask as it moved. When Immortal Yuan Hao finished, he blurted out: “Where was that Outpost? Can we still find it?”

Immortal Yuan Hao shook his head with a trace of regret: “The asteroid belt is easy to locate, but the Outpost is gone. I went back the second year and found nothing there. It was likely swallowed whole by the anomaly. These spaces cannot last long. A year is enough for them to collapse and vanish. As for how it formed, I cannot say. Maybe the Outpost’s gear failed, or it met some natural phenomenon.”

The Grand Hall fell silent as everyone thought. After a moment, Immortal Yuan Ling broke the quiet: “Anything else? Senior brother, did you search that black robed man himself? Did you trace his origin?”

Immortal Yuan Hao sighed: “No. He was scrubbed clean. Nothing on him could prove who he was. It was like he appeared out of thin air, clearly prepared to keep everything secret, ready to die rather than leak anything. He also showed thorough Body Tempering, which made his background hard to track. But… even if I could not learn where he came from, I did find one more thing.”

Yu Sheng and Immortal Yuan Ling spoke together: “What thing?”

Immortal Yuan Hao said: “He held a Jade Fragment in his mouth. He likely put it there at the last moment when he knew he would not survive.”

Yu Sheng blinked, then saw the thoughtful look on Immortal Yuan Ling’s face and asked with curiosity: “What does that mean?”

Immortal Yuan Ling explained to Yu Sheng: “He was probably a frontier descendant from Cold Spike or Sentinel Silence. Dying with a stone in the mouth is common among many peoples living on the Border of the star region. Long ago, many pioneer planets were harsh. Early settlers who met disaster could not even keep their bodies whole, or they were lost in strange voids and could not return home. So a belief spread: die with a stone from your homeland in your mouth so your soul can return. Over time it was passed down. Even after those worlds became stable, the custom stayed.

“Because the pioneer planets are far apart and have different resources, the custom also varies. Some places use purple gold or crystal, some use white stone or long rock. But those who hold jade are only frontier descendants from Cold Spike or Sentinel Silence.”

Yu Sheng listened in surprise at this “folk custom” that only locals of the Featherwing-13b region would know, then reacted quickly: “That matches our earlier guess. Those Black Robed Cultivators really came from the Border. They are from a pioneer world.”

Immortal Yuan Ling nodded, serious: “Exactly. Also, if those Black Robed Cultivators truly came from Sentinel Silence, that connects to another clue.”

Yu Sheng asked: “What clue?”

Immortal Yuan Ling’s face grew solemn: “A thousand years ago, the elder Yun Qing Zi was seen fighting an unknown powerhouse and then went missing. The place was a barren planet near Sentinel Silence.”

The moment he said it, Yu Sheng’s eyes widened. A light flashed in his mind. Countless scattered clues suddenly found a shared path and linked together at once.

A thousand years ago, the Immortal Sect ancestor Yun Qing Zi fought a mysterious foe near the Border Planet called Sentinel Silence. Only broken limbs were left on the battlefield, and he vanished for a millennium. A thousand years later, a strange Otherworld appeared near the Grand Void Spiritual Axis. A group of Black Robed Cultivators who seem to be from Sentinel Silence showed up to search for the so called Sovereign’s Legacy. At the same time, the long missing Yun Qing Zi suddenly appeared in a scene of dreamlike Illusion Arts, and his goal was also the Sovereign’s Legacy.

On top of that, this Yun Qing Zi seemed to have changed in temper, turning from a cultured immortal elder in the records into someone jittery and odd.

Immortal Yuan Hao, who had no idea what his junior brother meant, paused and looked shocked: “Yun Qing Zi? The Exiled Immortal of the Frontier who went missing a thousand years ago? Why bring up that senior?”

Choosing his words, Immortal Yuan Ling said slowly: “This matter may be tied to that missing elder. In a dreamlike Illusion Arts, Yu Sheng met someone who called himself ‘Yun Qing Zi,’ and he too was after the Sovereign’s Legacy.”

He then explained everything about “Yun Qing Zi,” with Yu Sheng adding many details along the way. When they finished, Yuan Hao and Yuan He in the Grand Hall were both dumbfounded.

After holding it in for a long time, the tall and thin Immortal Yuan He finally muttered: “Maybe I should go back and check on my Rare Beast Pavilion. I have been away so many days. I do not know if the disciples finished their assignments.”

Immortal Yuan Ling hurried to stop his junior brother: “Do not rush off. If you go back now and see the land sea air cockroaches and the ten year mosquitoes your disciples refined, your head will hurt even more. If this truly involves an ancient powerhouse and even drags out things from the ‘old world,’ none of us will be able to rest.”

Immortal Yuan He sighed: “I only want to study in peace. Why is it so hard…”

Sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, Irene suddenly had a spark: “So those Black Robed Cultivators may have been sent out by that ‘Yun Qing Zi’? He sent them to find the Sovereign’s Legacy?”

Yu Sheng said with a serious face: “We can’t rule that out,” then lifted his head toward Yuan Ling and Xuan Che: “How is the captured Black Robed Cultivator now? Can we question him?”

Immortal Yuan Ling thought a moment and nodded slightly: “It would be safer to ‘prepare’ him for another day or two, but since we now have ‘Yun Qing Zi’ and ‘Sentinel Silence’ as breakthrough points, we can try asking.”

Yu Sheng said at once: “Good. Let’s question him now and see if he can give us anything useful.”

A short while later, led by Immortal Yuan Ling and Xuan Che, Yu Sheng’s group reached a secluded spot some distance from the main hall of Parted Clouds Palace.

Tall stone walls rose here, wrapped by dark woods. A lingering chill coiled between trees and walls, as if countless wary eyes hid within it and watched everything. Inside the gray white walls stood a single plain, ordinary pavilion.

The moment Yu Sheng stepped into the courtyard, an unexplained heavy pressure rose from his chest. It felt like countless people were whispering right beside his ears.

On his shoulder, Irene instinctively straightened, then brushed the air beside her with a small, annoyed swipe: “Quit babbling.”

A sharp tear sounded in the air. A black gleam flashed at the Doll’s fingertip, and the whole yard fell silent in an instant.

With a crisp splat, a dark silhouette stamped onto the pavilion’s outer wall. The shadow twitched, slid down, and became a veiled woman in black.

Everyone froze. Yu Sheng jumped: “Who is that?”

Immortal Yuan Ling looked a little embarrassed: “A gate guard disciple of the Heart Questioning Pavilion. She must have habitually used the Heart-Inquiry Mantra to check whether anyone entering the walls held ill will. The child is a bit rigid. Since she took this post, she even ‘asks’ me by the rules whenever I come. I must apologize to our guests.”

Yu Sheng felt even more awkward than Immortal Yuan Ling. He poked Irene on his shoulder and whispered: “Hurry and apologize. Your hand is heavy.”

While he spoke, Xuan Che had already rushed forward to help the veiled woman up. She looked around in a daze, then focused on Immortal Yuan Ling and, a beat late, bowed: “Master, I was just attacked…”

Yu Sheng lifted Irene closer. The Doll hung in the air with her head lowered and said: “Sorry. I thought someone was blowing into my ear, so I reacted.”

The woman in black stared: “…?”

She still did not understand how she had been plastered onto the wall.

In Yu Sheng’s heart, another thought rose: [I usually see Irene get slapped into walls. This is the first time I have seen her slap someone else into one. Truly, everyone has their specialty. In mental attacks, this 66.6 cm tall shorty has never been scared of anyone.]

Immortal Yuan Hao could not help glancing at the Doll, frowning slightly with a hint of puzzlement in his eyes: “Miss Irene’s Soul-Binding Spirit-Seizing skill is remarkable. But as far as I know, Alice’s Doll does not specialize in this branch. You focus more on curses, right?”

Irene blinked: “Is that so?”

She only paused for a second, then waved wide and carefree: “Close enough, because I am awesome!”

She turned back to the gate guard in the black dress and offered a serious apology: “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

The woman finally realized what had just happened. Facing her master and senior uncles, she became flustered: “I am fine. Just now…”

Immortal Yuan Ling cut in: “We can discuss that later. We are here to interrogate the Evil Path Cultivator. How is he?”

She lowered her head: “He is muddled. I worried he would try to kill himself when he woke, so I just fed him some Divine Heart-Locking and Soul-Calming Mind-Clearing Elixir.”