Chapter 166

Chapter 166: Qing Zhu to the Rescue

A wall of leaves blocked Li Chang’s attack. In the next breath, a figure appeared in front of the three of them.

Liu Hao Tian stepped forward respectfully. “Master! You came?”

True Lord Qing Zhu glanced at his own disciple with clear disgust. “Hao Tian, why are you in such a sorry state?”

Liu Hao Tian replied at once, “Master, we were ambushed by this City Lord. Before that, we captured several evil cultivators.”

He didn’t explain everything. He only stated the most important points.

True Lord Qing Zhu wore a robe of alternating greens. With a sweep of his sleeve, he pushed the three of them aside. A green jade flute appeared in his hand, and he raised it to his lips. The moment he began to play, a clear, winding melody echoed across the entire forest.

Li Chang’s expression changed. True Lord Qing Zhu specialized in sound attacks, and his music struck directly at the soul. That was not an easy opponent. Li Chang flashed away, dodging the first wave of sound attacks, and chose to flee immediately. If there was no sure win, there was no reason to get entangled.

A trace of disdain flashed across True Lord Qing Zhu’s handsome face. He snorted. “He runs pretty fast.”

Then he turned and began lecturing, looking both annoyed and disappointed. “Hao Tian, how many times have I told you? Stop always fiddling with your compass. Practice music more. My sound arts use melody to form formations. Isn’t that far better than you exhausting yourself setting up arrays?”

Liu Hao Tian swallowed a healing pill. His face was still pale, but he answered seriously, “Master’s lesson is right. But this time, by chance, I was sent to the mortal realm. I got some real training, and I also found an opportunity to form my core. Once I return to the sect, I can break through. After that, I will calm down and study sound arts properly.”

Only then did True Lord Qing Zhu’s expression soften a little. He frowned and asked, “How did Li Chang end up targeting you?”

Liu Hao Tian clasped his hands. “Master, please take down the Yin-Yang Sect people and the evil cultivator first. After that, this disciple will explain everything to you in detail.”

True Lord Qing Zhu had already noticed the formation in the distance, but he didn’t know what was happening inside. So he came first to save his disciple.

Liu Hao Tian immediately waved to the Fei Xia Butterfly perched on a leaf, signaling it to pass the situation here to Wei Yun Xi.

Not long after, the formation stopped running. True Lord Qing Zhu saw several battered figures, and the only one still standing was Wei Yun Xi, gripping the Seven-Star Doom Staff.

Yun Xi collected the Fourth Rank formation disk and dragged the Yin-Yang Sect cultivator whose dantian had been destroyed. She walked up to True Lord Qing Zhu and bowed with clasped hands. “Disciple Wei Yun Xi of the Hao Ran Sect, under True Lord Yu Ling, pays respects to True Lord Qing Zhu.”

True Lord Qing Zhu smiled warmly. “I didn’t expect that ice block would actually take a disciple. His taste has always been good. I didn’t expect that at such a young age, you’ve already formed a core. That really makes people envious.”

Yun Xi gave a bitter smile. “True Lord, this junior formed my core only because I was forced into it. I had to do it to stay alive.”

“It sounds like your training was quite exciting,” True Lord Qing Zhu said with a laugh.

He had also noticed Yun Xi’s bone age was only fifteen. Forming a core that early was clearly not what Leng Ruo Han would have wanted.

“Yes,” Yun Xi said. “True Lord, please control these people first. They’re tied to evil cultivators. They’re specifically responsible for raising the special-physique mortals the evil cultivators find in the mortal realm into cultivation furnaces, then sending them to the Upper Realm.”

She only highlighted the key points.

True Lord Qing Zhu swept his sleeve. The remaining people collapsed unconscious. Then, with a move like Universe-in-the-Sleeve, he swept them all into his sleeve. After that, he released a flying boat and brought the four of them aboard.

As they left, he also erased every trace of their stay. Even the nineteen special-physique mortals were taken away. Not a single mark was left behind.

Once they confirmed it was safe, Liu Hao Tian recounted what they had suffered in Xia Fei Valley, and then their escape – when they accidentally got teleported to the mortal realm.

First, they discovered a corpse-raising ground and zombies. Then came the Soul-Gathering Mirror in Tao Yuan Village. Finally, they found that evil cultivators were secretly collecting special-physique mortals and smuggling them back to the Cultivation World. When they caught them red-handed, Li Chang ambushed them.

The others filled in what Liu Hao Tian missed. After half an hour, True Lord Qing Zhu understood the entire chain of events. His expression grew heavy. If an entire sect was involved in the evil cultivators’ plan, it would not be easy to deal with.

Yun Xi, reading the situation well, offered the image-recording jade from her waist. “True Lord, everything is recorded here. It can prove we weren’t lying.”

The other three also offered their own image-recording jades. Together, the four jades were enough to piece the full story together.

True Lord Qing Zhu’s expression relaxed. He smiled. “You did well. You even knew to keep evidence. Leave the rest to me.”

Yun Xi glanced down from the flying boat and saw they had already left the border area. She clasped her hands and said, “True Lord, could you let this junior off near Kun Yu City? This junior left the sect to return to my clan, but many twists happened along the way, so I was delayed.”

True Lord Qing Zhu didn’t object. He only smiled. “You noticed a new evil cultivator plan this time. You have the greatest merit. You won’t return to the sect and report it?”

Yun Xi replied at once, “Senior, you flatter me. Yun Xi did contribute some effort, but I don’t dare claim the top merit.”

She continued, “If Daoist Friend Liu hadn’t noticed the mortals’ fate-luck had been altered, we wouldn’t have found the corpse-raising ground. If Daoist Friend Liu hadn’t seen through the space entrance of the Soul-Gathering Mirror, we couldn’t have destroyed the mirror spirit. And the special physiques of the courtesans were first discovered by Daoist Friend Liu and Daoist Friend Yu. Otherwise we wouldn’t have followed the clues and discovered something was wrong with the Yin-Yang Sect. The top merit should go to the two Daoist Friends from the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.”

What she said made Yu Qing Cheng and Liu Hao Tian feel a little embarrassed, but thinking carefully, she wasn’t wrong. She had simply blurred her own role in it all.

“Hahaha. You little girl are interesting,” True Lord Qing Zhu said, laughing.

He understood that Yun Xi was giving credit to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, but he accepted the sentiment. After all, his two elite disciples had participated, and they really were the first to spot the anomaly.

Still, True Lord Qing Zhu didn’t want to owe a favor. He brushed his storage ring and pushed a green bamboo hairpin toward Yun Xi. “Take this protective hairpin for self-defense. It can block three strikes from a Nascent Soul cultivator. Next time you meet Li Chang, you won’t be so helpless.”

Yun Xi accepted it with both hands and examined it closely. The hairpin was refined from pale dusty-green jade. The handle was carved like bamboo segments, as thick as a baby’s little finger. On one end were three emerald bamboo leaves – simple, yet delicate.

“Thank you for the gift, True Lord. This junior likes it very much,” Yun Xi said respectfully.

She immediately bound it with a drop of blood, then pinned it into her bun. Turning back, she asked Yu Qing Cheng and Xia You, “Does it look good?”

“Of course it looks good. True Lord’s taste is the best in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion,” Yu Qing Cheng said, narrowing her phoenix eyes as she laid on a heavy dose of flattery.

True Lord Qing Zhu’s smile deepened.

The four of them knew they were about to part. They exchanged the aura signatures on their communication jade slips and agreed to team up again if they had the chance to go training outside. Yun Xi also traded with Xia You for three more image-recording jades to keep as backup.

In the end, Yun Xi got off the flying boat at the foot of Yu Ling Mountain, a hundred li away from Kun Yu City, and officially said goodbye to her companions.