novelraw Chapter 82 : Now That You Mention It, You Really Do Have a Point
Chapter 82 : Now That You Mention It, You Really Do Have a Point
Chapter 82: Now That You Mention It, You Really Do Have a Point
Lianyun Hall.
The great hall sat upon the most perilous point of the mountain peak, majestic and coldly solemn.
No one inside the hall spoke.
The dim light pressed heavily downward, and the incense ash in the bronze furnace at the corner had long since gone cold.
A group of Canglan Mountain’s upper-echelon elders and Perfecteds sat within.
Members of the Cui Family, and outsiders bearing different surnames alike.
At the head seat—
the seat belonging to Sect Master Cui Xuan.
It was completely empty.
Among those present, Perfected Water Mirror seated at the side held the highest status.
But he was an old man already half buried in the grave. His dry, moistureless hands gripped a cane.
His entire body curled within the seat, atop a face nearly buried beneath wrinkles, motionless.
He was too old.
His aura was too faint.
If someone unaware of the situation entered, they would probably think he had already died in his seat.
Perfected Yue Xi held a scroll document.
“In that case, the list of those from the Twelve Orthodox Paths coming for Dao discussions and investigations regarding the Heavenly Dao Rift has been finalized. Elders and Perfecteds, does anyone still have questions?”
She swept her gaze around, but no one answered.
Yue Xi inwardly sighed.
In the past, at least someone would respond.
But recently, the atmosphere had become terrifyingly oppressive.
Meetings like this had once been rare within Canglan Mountain, but ever since the Five Turbid Path assaulted the mountain, they had become more frequent.
The reason?
The Cui Family cultivators had concealed that “luring the enemy into the trap” plan, causing sect disciples to suffer slaughter at the hands of the Five Turbid Path...
The matter had inevitably been exposed.
Naturally, it had also inevitably provoked furious outrage from the outsider cultivators.
Even some Cui Family cultivators who only learned of the matter afterward expressed dissatisfaction and doubt.
This portion of the Cui Family cultivators only voiced their opinions in secret.
The Cui Family could not display obvious internal division.
“Yue Shu, what about you?”
Yue Xi looked toward Perfected Yue Shu’s seat.
It was empty.
Of course. Of course.
There was no way this woman would obediently sit properly.
Her gaze swept around until she spotted a wine gourd in a dark corner of the hall.
A small corner of a skirt extended into the candlelight. Following it, one could vaguely make out the graceful figure of a woman leaning against the wall in a slovenly posture, though her appearance remained unclear.
Seeing that Yue Shu had wrapped herself tightly, Yue Xi secretly sighed in relief.
Thank goodness.
At least this woman was not as casually revealing outside as she was at home.
“What opinion could I possibly have? In the end, isn’t it all decided by your Cui Family anyway?”
A lazy voice came from the corner.
Yue Xi’s lips twitched.
She hated that mocking, sarcastic tone of hers.
“There is no need to bring this matter up again. We have already shown sufficient sincerity...”
“I only have two disciples, Yue Xi. You know that. I only have two disciples. Yet they nearly died.”
“...Cheng Hua is already a direct disciple now.”
“So that was compensation? I see now. If you had said so earlier, I would have told her to slash Cui Jianghan and Cui Sha to death with one sword strike. What do you think?”
“......”
Yue Xi did not particularly wish to answer that question.
During the Direct Disciple Trial two months ago, she had personally witnessed Cheng Hua’s terrifying sword strike.
Even though she herself was not a sword cultivator, she could still perceive the meaning within it.
She could also see old Water Mirror’s widened eyes and stunned expression.
It was a sword art that seemed to freeze time itself, moving from the inside outward.
Did the Grand White Sword Sect possess such a sword technique?
Perfected Yue Xi felt that they did not.
This was a sword strike that had never before appeared in the cultivation world.
This was Cheng Hua’s personal sword strike.
It was a sword strike that could make even someone like Perfected Yue Xi—who normally did not care much about the divide between the Cui Family and outsiders—unable to stop herself from thinking:
“If only you had been surnamed Cui.”
“Yue Shu.”
Yue Xi calmed herself.
“The Sect Master will give you master and disciples, as well as everyone else, an explanation regarding this matter after all. But I also ask that you understand the Sect Master’s desire to reclaim the Fire Element Treasure Seal... In the end, the Sect Master is doing this for Canglan Mountain.”
Yue Shu snorted coldly and ignored her.
But once someone took the lead, others naturally followed immediately.
A beautiful elder surnamed Kang spoke up.
“But the Fire Element Treasure Seal still has not been recovered. More importantly, regarding the alteration of the grand formation—was it truly the work of the Five Turbid Path? I have inspected portions of the modified formation diagrams myself. The ingeniousness within them differs from Cui Yinqiu’s alterations like clouds from mud.”
“...We are still investigating this matter.”
“And furthermore, where exactly does ownership of the Fire Element Treasure Seal now lie? When the Five Elements Treasure Seals separated, the other four returned to the Five Elements Dojo. Yet the Fire Element Treasure Seal clearly fell somewhere within Canglan Mountain. So where is it now?”
“...That matter is also still under investigation.”
Elder Kang was a respectable person.
She merely furrowed her brows at the side, looking at them suspiciously.
Yue Shu sneered.
“If you ask me, the Fire Element Treasure Seal is in your Cui Family’s hands, isn’t it?”
“We have no knowledge of such a thing.”
Yue Xi frowned in rebuttal.
Yue Shu said coldly:
“The complete diagrams of the mountain-protecting grand formation throughout history have only ever been controlled by the Sect Master and this old undead thing. Yet now you claim ignorance? How interesting.”
Perfected Water Mirror trembled weakly, vaguely trying to open his eyes.
“Keep sleeping!”
Upon hearing Yue Shu’s cold voice, Perfected Water Mirror immediately shut his eyes again.
At my age, the secret to living this long lies in three words—
Mind your own business less.
“The Fire Element Treasure Seal, the mountain-protecting grand formation diagrams... wonderful, wonderful. So your Cui Family intends to completely turn Canglan Mountain into the Cui Family’s Canglan Mountain?”
“Yue Shu!”
Yue Xi shouted angrily.
“This is a sect meeting. Speaking such divisive words will only make everyone suspicious of one another and deepen distrust. What possible benefit can come from it?!”
Yue Shu remained seated in the shadows, gloomy beyond measure.
“My two disciples nearly died, while I was inexplicably intercepted by two Sixth Realm Five Turbid Path cultivators and unable to provide aid in time. What exactly do you think I was doing?”
“......”
Elder Kang smoothed things over.
“Yue Shu, don’t be angry first. Perfected Yue Xi, calm yourself as well. We are all handling matters for the sect. There is no need for this.”
“Besides, the Heavenly Dao Tribulation Qi overflowing into this world has increased more and more recently. In merely a few months, the chaos within Jinzhou has multiplied several times over compared to before. This is a sign of great turmoil.”
“To settle external troubles, one must first pacify internal ones. Rather than hiding things from each other like this, why not simply explain the situation clearly so everyone can work together?”
Yue Xi said nothing, only tightly furrowing her delicate brows.
“This matter... will naturally be explained once the Sect Master emerges from secluded cultivation.”
Elder Kang shook her head helplessly at the Cui Family’s perfunctory attitude.
A faint sneer lingered at Yue Shu’s lips as she picked up her wine gourd and slammed the door behind her as she left.
Thus,
Canglan Mountain’s sect meeting once again ended on bad terms.
...
...
Returning to Suhua Courtyard,
Yue Shu sprawled lazily in a reclining chair, drinking sulkily.
From afar, she saw her two disciples—one big and one small—walking back from outside.
“Master~”
Mi You called out sweetly, instantly improving Yue Shu’s mood considerably.
As expected.
The older one was no fun. Raising a younger one was much better.
“Come let Master hug you.”
Mi You originally wanted to say that Master smelled bad and she did not want a hug, but the moment she saw Master’s face, she froze slightly.
Though she did not fully understand anything, she still took the initiative to move closer, giggling as she squeezed into Master’s soft embrace.
Yue Shu’s mood improved greatly. Hugging Mi You tightly, she buried her face against her repeatedly, making the girl burst into laughter.
“Hehehehe—tiny little girl, Master is going to suck away all your youthful energy~~”
Cheng Hua walked past nearby.
Without speaking to anyone, she went straight into her room and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Yue Shu looked over in confusion.
Mi You wrapped her arms around Yue Shu’s neck and reached out to knead the things on Master’s chest while frowning.
Why are they so heavy?
Can I avoid growing them in the future?
“What’s wrong with your senior sister? Why is she sulking so much?”
“Dunno.”
“Did things not work out?”
“They did~ We’re leaving in two days.”
“Then who did you two run into? Why is she this unhappy?”
“Senior Sister Cui... and Senior Brother.”
Yue Shu froze for a moment.
“That Corpse Refinement Path fellow named Fang Chang?”
She always heard her disciples mention him, but honestly speaking, she had never actually met him once.
The number of times Cheng Hua became angry could be counted on one hand. The reason probably was not Cui Wenxi—her positive bias toward that senior sister ran too deep.
That meant the one who angered her could only be Fang Chang.
To stir Cheng Hua’s thoughts and emotions like this—
that was tempering the Dao Heart.
For someone like Cheng Hua, who was naturally pure-hearted and free from worldly desire, this was extremely beneficial to her Dao Heart!
This was precisely what Yue Shu had always wanted to achieve and witness, yet had never succeeded in doing!
Her eyes rolled once.
Suddenly curling her lips upward, she thought of a wonderfully mischievous idea.
Cui Wenxi seemed acquainted with Fang Chang.
If Little Cui were made to play matchmaker and arrange a marriage engagement between the two just to tease them a little, would that make Cheng Hua even more emotional?
Now that you mention it, you really do have a point!
It actually did seem possible!