Path of the Sect Leader

Chapter 148: Threads of Fate Intertwined

Between an old married couple, the smallest gestures carry whole conversations.

Min-niang felt the heat steadily rising in her husband’s gaze. A flicker of smug satisfaction crossed her face. Deliberately she arched her back just a fraction, tossed him a languid, inviting glance—and sure enough, his expression melted into helpless adoration. Heat answered heat inside her own chest. Without a word she reached up, unpinned the jade clasps from both their hair, and let them drop carelessly to the side table.

That was their oldest, quietest signal.

Normally Qi Xiu would have scooped her up right then, tossed her onto the bed, and lost themselves in each other for a long, breathless while.

This time he held back.

Instead he reached into the pouch at his waist, drew out a pair of delicate earrings—second-tier magical treasures, exquisitely wrought—and placed them gently in her palm.

“This trip was mostly bad luck,” he murmured, “but I stumbled across these. They match the style you usually wear. Take a look—do you like them?”

“You came back having lost so much, yet you still remembered to bring me something… How could I not like them?”

Min-niang’s voice was honey-sweet. She lifted the earrings closer to study them.

Then her face drained of color.

She shot upright, out of his arms, clutching the jewelry so tightly her knuckles whitened. “Where… where did you get these?”

Qi Xiu hadn’t expected the reaction. He blinked, thrown. The earrings had come from Qi Nan City. After helping Duoluo Nuo retrieve Duoluo Xin’s belongings, the man had—out of some belated flicker of conscience—not only returned the storage pouch and personal effects, but also produced several pieces of feminine jewelry. He claimed they were spoils taken years ago, alongside a certain treasure map of the Nether Spring Vault, during an ambush on a passing rogue cultivator. Since they were women’s ornaments and useless to him, he’d told Qi Xiu to pick one as a small favor, a keepsake.

Knowing Min-niang had collected several second-tier adornments over the years—hairpins, clasps, but never earrings—he’d chosen these to bring home.

“I… I bought them. Why? What’s wrong?”

Because of the soul-binding contract, he could never speak Duoluo Nuo’s name aloud. Even though he already sensed these earrings carried enormous weight for his wife, he could only lie through his teeth.

“These belonged to my aunt. Wei Wan.”

Min-niang’s fingertip traced the delicate curve of one earring. Fat teardrops began to fall, splashing against the jade.

“This style… it’s unmistakable. Before our branch of the Wei family migrated south, this was the fashion back home. Aunt wore them every single day. There’s no mistake. How did you come by them?”

Qi Xiu froze.

Could it really be?

The cultivator Duoluo Nuo and Kuai Liang-shu had ambushed and killed… was Min-niang’s own aunt? Wei Wan—the one whose lifespan was running out, who’d left home to wander in search of any chance to heal her grave injuries or find a new lease on life?

What were the odds?

“These were her most cherished pieces. She never took them off. If they’re circulating outside now… it can only mean she’s already fallen.”

“Where did you buy them? Do you know anything about the seller?”

“No—I have to go back to Mountain Capital at once. I need to tell the family.”

Wei Wan had been the closest blood relative Min-niang still had in the Wei clan. Right now she was unraveling, pacing frantically inside the thatched study, tears streaming. Without waiting for an answer she hastily straightened her appearance and made for the door.

“Wait!”

Qi Xiu’s sharp command stopped her cold.

“Hold on. Let me think this through first. Then you can go.”

Min-niang had always deferred to her husband. She halted, turned, and collapsed onto the bed, sobbing openly.

Watching her grief, guilt and tenderness warred inside Qi Xiu’s chest. He carried too many secrets—even from her, the person closest to him. Duoluo Nuo had killed Wei Wan. Because of the soul contract, that truth would probably stay buried in his heart forever, never seeing daylight. As her husband he couldn’t even share the burden of vengeance; worse, he had to cover for the killer. How pathetic was that?

He coaxed her gently for a while, then began pacing the room, turning the whole tangled mess over in his mind.

He had never actually met Wei Wan face to face. He’d only waited outside her cave abode for half a day. Soon afterward she’d left—her life running dry, seeking any opportunity to extend it or perhaps take a body through possession. And directly beneath the Nether Spring lay exactly the sort of ownerless husk perfect for soul-seizing, a chance at renewed life. How could a cultivator from a distant branch family happen to possess such a precisely targeted treasure map? Suspicion one.

Wei Wan should have had no connection whatsoever to Duoluo Nuo. But Kuai Liang-shu? That was less certain. Years earlier Kuai had taken part in the night raid on Immortal Grove Hollow and had been sent to Mountain Capital to stand trial before the Wei family. Then, years after that, he joined forces with Duoluo Nuo to kill Wei Wan deep in White Mountain. Was it truly just a random robbery of a passing cultivator, as Duoluo Nuo claimed? The coincidence stretched belief. Suspicion two.

Duoluo Nuo was a morally gray Foundation Establishment rogue. Kuai Liang-shu was an inner disciple of the Artifact-and-Talisman Alliance. Two men who should never have crossed paths—how did they suddenly team up in the depths of White Mountain to murder Wei Wan? Moreover, after Duoluo Nuo seized the treasure map by force, Kuai—a mere Qi Refining cultivator—had clung to him doggedly for years, refusing to let go, yet never once turned to his own sect for help. Instead he hired outsiders like Shen Gu. Suspicion three.

And Qi Xiu himself? His own role in this web felt the strangest of all.

Wei Wan was his wife’s aunt. Kuai Liang-shu had once helped rob his sect’s Immortal Grove Hollow. Duoluo Nuo was the uncle of the very Duoluo Xin whose shop Qi Xiu had later acquired in Black River Market. Qi Xiu’s Foundation Establishment opportunity had been mysteriously guided straight to that very soulless husk beneath the Nether Spring.

Some invisible hand seemed to have tugged every thread—pulling him inexorably toward that body—while the one person with no apparent connection to anyone, Shen Gu, had walked away with the prize and severed Qi Xiu’s greatest chance at Foundation Establishment.

“What’s wrong? Are you hiding something from me again?”

Min-niang had cried herself out. Seeing her husband pacing, brows locked in concentration, ignoring her entirely, she felt a sting of resentment and spoke up.

“Nothing… wait—right!”

A sudden spark of insight flashed through Qi Xiu’s mind. He almost laughed aloud.

“Hiding something—exactly! What was being hidden!”

His pacing quickened.

“The secret beneath the Nether Spring. If that treasure map originally belonged to Kuai Liang-shu, then everything snaps into place.”

“Kuai was captured by the Wei family. The map fell into Wei Wan’s hands.”

“With her life running out, she took the map and set out searching for any means of survival—perhaps even possession.”

“Kuai couldn’t accept defeat. He hired Duoluo Nuo. Together they ambushed and killed her somewhere in White Mountain. Cause and effect fit perfectly. No coincidence at all.”

“Duoluo Nuo, relying on his superior cultivation, took the map by force. Kuai knew exactly what was at stake—so even though his realm was lower, he hounded the man for years.”

“And Kuai never dared involve his own sect. A soulless body ripe for possession is too valuable to reveal. He could only hire unrelated outsiders with spirit stones—Shen Gu and the rest. So Duoluo Nuo and Shen Gu never knew the precise contents of the vault. Only the employer, Kuai Liang-shu, truly understood.”

The realization clicked into place like the last piece of a long-broken mechanism.

Qi Xiu halted mid-step and smacked his fist into his palm.

“So what if I understand it now? I signed soul contracts with both Shen Gu and Duoluo Nuo. Wei Wan set out carrying that map, intending to possess a body. Whether the Wei family knows or not—I can’t breathe a word of this. Not one syllable!”

He exhaled hard, chest tight with frustration.

“From Artifact Talisman City I hired Huang Shao-neng, which drew Kuai Liang-shu out. The map passed through the Wei family, ended up in Duoluo Nuo’s hands. And it was me—me—who received that mysterious pull toward the Foundation Establishment opportunity, who ended up deep in White Mountain helping Duoluo Nuo, buying off Shen Gu, killing Kuai Liang-shu… until at last I stood at the bottom of the Nether Spring, right beside the body that was supposed to be my chance. Fate itself braided all these people together, laying out a clear path for my Foundation Establishment. Yet in the middle of all that killing and scheming, after I clawed my way so close… I still came up short. Shen Gu took everything.”

Qi Xiu could only tilt his head back and let out a long, helpless sigh.

Min-niang watched her husband grow steadily more agitated after learning the earrings had belonged to her aunt. Then, abruptly, he seemed to collapse inward. Her heart softened again. She rose quietly, wrapped her arms around him from behind, offering silent comfort.

They stood like that for a long time—two people leaning on each other amid private storms—until Kan Qin’s voice came from outside.

“Immortal Master Yu is almost here. He’s had too much to drink again. I couldn’t stop him.”

“That damned Yu Deno…”

Qi Xiu turned with an apologetic look. “I have to go see the old man. When you go to Mountain Capital to tell the family about Aunt… remember: stick to the story that I spotted these earrings in Bo Sen City. The style reminded me of your family’s old fashion, so I bought them on impulse.”

Min-niang heard the layers beneath his words. She knew there was far more he wasn’t saying. But she and her husband had long since fused into one being. She asked nothing more—just nodded silently, straightened her clothes, and left the thatched study alone, heading for Mountain Capital.

…

“Ai-ya! My sect leader senior brother!”

Yu Deno staggered through the doorway, reeking of wine. The moment he saw Qi Xiu he lurched forward and slapped him heartily across the shoulders.

“Bai Muhan already told me everything. Foundation Establishment chance gone? Find another one! A bit of wealth and external goods—lost is lost. Don’t tie yourself in knots over it. Stay alive—that’s what matters!”

“You’re drunk…”

Qi Xiu eyed the white-haired old man who increasingly resembled the childish, carefree Wang Guan of years past. He couldn’t bring himself to scold him the way he would a younger disciple. With a helpless sigh he guided Yu Deno to a chair. Kan Qin brought a cup of sobering tea.

Yu Deno cradled the cup like a wine bowl, took a noisy slurp, and kept right on rambling without filter.

Qi Xiu had no patience for it today. He endured in silence, answering with the barest fragments of speech.

At first the old man spun a few blood-curdling tales from the depths of White Mountain—mostly trying to comfort him. Then the stories wandered farther afield.

“Back in the day, if it hadn’t been for you and Zhan Yuan, this old bag of bones would’ve run out of luck in Black River and seriously considered risking everything in White Mountain. If I’d gone then… who knows whether I’d have had your kind of fortune. Might not even have lived to this age.”

“Heh. Each person walks their own fate. Hard to predict.”

Qi Xiu gave the expected polite reply.

“Sigh… thinking about it now, really—human destiny is strange. That clever little Gu Ji, dead at the hands of some nameless valley hunter. And that slow-witted Qin Weiyu—somehow still alive and climbing in cultivation. Who could’ve guessed?”

The casual mention stabbed straight into Qi Xiu’s sorest spot. He forced down the surge of anger, managed two dry laughs.

“If Gu Ji were still alive… he’d be thirty this year. We should’ve been drinking at his wedding banquet by now…”

Yu Deno kept prattling on, jumping from topic to topic.

But that one sentence had already hooked Qi Xiu’s thoughts deep into memory. He closed his eyes. The old man’s voice faded to a distant murmur. In his mind Gu Ji’s lively features were as vivid as yesterday—bright voice, quick smile.

If Gu Ji had survived Nameless Valley, of course Qi Xiu would have wanted that more than anything… but there were still so many deadly passes ahead: the Scripture Pavilion battle, the Heaven-Attraction Mountain campaign, the chaos at Black River Market. Reaching thirty would never have been guaranteed.

He thought of his own narrow escapes—especially that night in the military supply post when the execution cultivator from Qi Yun had chopped down toward the back of his neck with a hand blade. If he hadn’t dodged… he’d be buried under Black River Peak right now, just another handful of yellow earth like Gu Ji.

“Wait—hold on!”

A bolt of clarity ripped through the darkness like lightning.

“Fate is said to be unfathomable—yet how can a cultivator sense their Foundation Establishment opportunity from a thousand miles away? If fate is fixed, then how do I explain coming back empty-handed this time? If fate is capricious, then my ‘Blood Rushes to the Heart’ talent isn’t a lie. But if fate can be predicted, then what about my ‘Beyond Calculation’ talent?”

The moment the thought crystallized, Qi Xiu’s Daoist robe billowed though no wind stirred the room. Spiritual energy leaked uncontrollably from every pore. A hazy, indescribable insight rose in his chest—too profound to grasp, yet impossible to resist.

In the sea of consciousness, inside the Seven Orifices Exquisite Heart, six apertures blazed with six different radiant colors.

Only one aperture remained dim.

Yet something was stirring there—faintly taking shape, pulsing insistently.

“What…?”

Yu Deno caught sight of the phenomenon enveloping Qi Xiu and gaped, all drunkenness evaporating in an instant. He had seen enough in his years to recognize the signs.

“The sect leader is about to establish his Foundation! The sect leader is about to establish his Foundation!”

He bolted out of the thatched study, shouting at the top of his lungs, calling for everyone to come.