novelraw Chapter 152 : The Ancient Spirit Clan
Chapter 152 : The Ancient Spirit Clan
Tantai Ming lay on the table, listless. "Little Junior Sister, why did the Sect Leader call you to the main hall?"
Chu Sang was just like them, all newly admitted inner disciples. How could she attract the attention of someone as lofty as the Sect Leader?
Indeed, Little Junior Sister was special wherever she went.
"I don't know, I'll go and see," Chu Sang shrugged. Her first impression of this Myriad Stars Sect Leader was quite good.
The Sect Leader seemed to be a person of utmost purity and kindness, she probably wouldn't give her a hard time, especially since she hadn't done anything.
Her Senior Brothers and Sisters were a bit worried and secretly followed her, even using eavesdropping talismans on the wall to listen to what was happening inside the hall.
"I heard that it was you new disciples who accepted that Class A mission?"
Oh, so it was about the mission.
Chu Sang looked up at the gentle and kind-looking Myriad Stars Sect Leader. This was the first time she had been in such close proximity to the Sect Leader. Rumor had it that she was already a Unity stage cultivator, but her demeanor was calm and quiet, returning to simplicity. She looked no different from ordinary people, not making one feel any pressure at all.
Chu Sang still felt that she looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't remember where she had seen her before.
She spoke properly, "Yes, I'm too poor, so I accepted a Class A mission, vainly hoping to get rich overnight."
"..."
Seemingly never expecting such an answer from the young disciple, the gentle smile on the Sect Leader's face paused for a moment. However, befitting her position as Sect Leader, having seen all sorts of situations and outrageous remarks, she quickly regained her serene and graceful demeanor. She shook her head, "Class A missions are not so easy to complete. You are just a few Foundation Establishment stage little disciples, this is too dangerous for you. It's better to leave it to others."
She patted her shoulder.
The disciples nearby who saw this scene were all more or less surprised.
Although the Sect Leader looked like a very gentle woman, she actually had a very cool and serious personality. She rarely showed such kindness to disciples in daily life. Why was she so good to this newly arrived little disciple? After knowing that she had accepted a Class A mission, she even came specifically to ask about it.
Perhaps even the Sect Leader herself wasn't quite clear why, from the first glance at this little disciple, she felt an extraordinary sense of closeness to this child. There seemed to be something about her that always made her want to cast more glances.
Chu Sang was used to taking advantage of favor. She blinked her eyes and smiled, showing a row of snow-white teeth. "If the Sect Leader is really worried about the safety of us little disciples, why not help us with something?"
"?"
She's even good at bargaining?
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After just a few words, Chu Sang came out.
While she was being specially cared for, called in for tea and questions, her Senior Brothers and Sisters weren't idle. After a while, Su Chen'an brought the most explosive news of this trip—
"The Myriad Stars Sect Leader is from the legendary Ancient Spirit Clan."
"Fifth Senior Brother, you truly live up to your reputation as the intelligence chief," Chu Sang said solemnly. "I hereby declare that the honorary title of intelligence chief will be transferred from Seventh Senior Brother to you, Fifth Senior Brother."
The former intelligence chief Tantai Ming expressed his disagreement, "Where did you get this information? Is it true?"
"The lovely female disciples in the sect told me," Su Chen'an fanned himself like a peacock. He had a clear understanding of his own charm. With the addition of some beautiful and practical small magical tools like hairpins and bracelets that he refined, there were hardly any female disciples who could resist. No, even males couldn't resist.
He made a round in the sect and collected quite a bit of useful intelligence.
Chu Sang rubbed her chin, entering encyclopedia mode. "I've seen an introduction to the Ancient Spirit Clan in the sect's ancient texts, but unfortunately, there are no more Ancient Spirit Clan members in the current cultivation world."
"Legend has it that their physique was extremely special, able to accommodate multiple types of power. Before the Ancient Spirit Ancestor was extinct, there were quite a few evil cultivators who specifically captured Ancient Spirit Clan members as vessels, injecting things like demonic energy or ghost energy into their bodies, used for researching deviant evil techniques..."
The news was indeed big news, but after burning the midnight oil researching for half a night, they hadn't yet figured out how this information could be of much help to them.
They decided to focus their attention on the mysterious shadow in the back mountain forest.
Now that they had confirmed that the shadow was someone from within the Myriad Stars Sect, they could narrow down the range. As long as they could investigate the identity of the shadow, perhaps they could find the key to passing the Immortal Sect trial.
Tang Yanling cupped her face in her hands and blinked. "Then are we going to do the same as last time, accept the mission and then go to that small forest?"
Si Kou Qiu said, "And then get slapped to death by someone again?"
"..."
Fourth Senior Sister was someone who knew how to be silent.
Chu Sang said, "Don't worry, it's my turn to make a move."
Everyone looked at her. They saw Little Junior Sister rummaging through those few storage bags at her waist, pulling out a humanoid puppet that looked exactly like herself.
Of course, they had seen this humanoid puppet before, so they remained relatively calm.
But she wasn't done pulling things out yet.
She then pulled out several more humanoid puppets, which turned out to be puppets of each of them!
It was the first time her Senior Brothers and Sisters had seen puppets of themselves. Immediately, the uncanny valley effect kicked in.
"...Where did you get these from?" Mu Chihuai was shocked.
Chu Sang clapped her hands. "I got them from Third Senior Brother."
Her first humanoid puppet had broken, so later she found an opportunity to have Third Senior Brother make her a new one. Then she thought, since he had already made one, why not collect a full set? So she had Third Senior Brother make puppets of all the other Senior Brothers and Sisters. In case they encountered some special situations in the future, they would have more chips to play.
"Third Senior Brother was that kind-hearted?"
Although their impression of Mu Changqing as a psychopath had somewhat improved after their interactions over this period, he was indeed not a good person. His temperament was unpredictable, and getting him to obediently do things for someone was simply a pipe dream.
"Of course he wasn't that kind-hearted. I exchanged things with him for these!"
Everyone thought Little Junior Sister must have brought out some rare and precious items to earn Third Senior Brother's respect, but then they heard Little Junior Sister speak enthusiastically, "It was really not easy, you know. It cost me a lot of spirit stones. Second Senior Sister's puppet, I exchanged for a portion of rouge goose breast. Fourth Senior Sister's puppet, I exchanged for a portion of lotus root and osmanthus paste. Seventh Senior Brother's puppet, I exchanged for a portion of honey-glazed spring chicken. And Sixth Senior Brother's braised lion's head meatballs, that's the signature dish of the Hundred Mile Fragrant Building! I even specially got up early to queue and only managed to buy one portion!!!"
"..."
Say no more, say no more. They knew there were many instances of differential treatment in this world, but they never imagined it could be this extreme.
If they went to ask Third Senior Brother to make a puppet, he would probably smile and say, why don't I flay your skin to make one... But Little Junior Sister just needed to buy some delicious food from down the mountain to successfully bribe Third Senior Brother.
They each dripped blood onto their own puppets, infusing them with their aura. It would be very difficult for anyone to see through the disguise.
The puppets were easy to control. It was no longer difficult for them to control them with their divine sense for long periods, but they had to be close to the puppets, so they still went to the forest on the back mountain that night.
That person unsurprisingly appeared again.
After an attack identical to last time, that person only then realized these "people" were fake. They immediately realized they had fallen into a trap and, enraged and embarrassed, wanted to flush out the real people.
At that moment, a bright light flared up outside the forest—
It turned out that people had been lying in ambush outside the forest all along.
That person seemed extremely afraid of exposing their identity and left without a word, disappearing.
They ran too fast, comparable to Earth Traveler Sun.
"Are any of you injured?"
The Sect Leader and Vice Sect Leader had both come, followed by several personal disciples who had hurriedly arrived.
That person's strength was extremely high. Even though it was just a trace of ghost energy that accidentally affected them, when Tantai Ming blocked it with his sword, the tiger's mouth of his hand cracked a bit.
The personal disciple they had met earlier in the Mission Hall saw their miserable state, frowned, and coldly snorted, "I warned you earlier not to accept this mission. You few didn't listen and insisted on courting death."
"Qiu Ping, say no more," the Sect Leader rebuked him, then looked at Chu Sang and the others with some apology. "Qiu Ping has a quick temper and usually speaks harshly, but he means well."
"Did any of you manage to catch that person's trail?" the Vice Sect Leader also asked with concern.
Chu Sang picked up the black sword in her hand. "That person escaped, but when they were fleeing, I left a wound on their right wrist. As long as we judge by the location of the wound, we can identify the person behind this."
"If that's the case, they shouldn't have escaped far."
After hearing this, the Sect Leader's face also showed joy. She immediately used spiritual energy to urgently seal off this area.
All the disciples within the area were called over.
They were checked one by one.
Originally, they thought this plan, with inside and outside cooperation, was flawless. But unexpectedly, after checking all the several hundred disciples present, no suspicious wounds were found on them.
"Strange."
"What's strange?" Qiu Ping had also tied the band on his wrist and looked at Chu Sang suspiciously.
"That person was clearly severely wounded on the wrist by me, why has it disappeared?"
She lowered her head in thought.
"You, a little Foundation Establishment disciple, even if you hit the other party, so what? That person's strength is far beyond yours. They don't even need to eat healing pills. They can recover from the wound in an instant." Qiu Ping sneered.
Chu Sang looked at him calmly without saying a word.
Of course, she didn't mention that what she had used to chase that person was the Primordial Soul-Chaser.
No cultivator, no matter how strong, could resist the resentful energy of the Primordial Soul-Chaser.
The resentful energy that was difficult to remove would linger in the flesh and blood of the wound, preventing blood clotting. That person's wrist would definitely have a wound that was difficult to heal.
Chu Sang rarely felt somewhat defeated. No, there must be something else she had overlooked.
After returning, they reviewed today's operation. It should have been foolproof, but unexpectedly, it still failed.
No wonder the champion teams of each sect competition, who were all top-notch figures, had never successfully passed the Immortal Mansion trial... Indeed, this secret realm trial wasn't as simple as they had imagined. The task ahead was arduous and long.
"Who's eavesdropping?"
Chu Sang swept her divine sense and immediately discovered the person eavesdropping at the door. She immediately threw out a hidden weapon. With a boom, the wooden door collapsed.
Qiu Ping was startled. Seemingly feeling that his eavesdropping wasn't very honorable, he decided to take the initiative. "I heard everything just now. You still want to find the mysterious person, right?" As he spoke, he stepped over the threshold. "You few Foundation Establishment disciples are really persistent. But I quite like your spirit. I've been investigating this matter all along recently."
"Why don't we cooperate? I can tell you the clues I know."
He walked over with his arms folded across his chest, very open and aboveboard. The few who were still somewhat suspicious of him immediately dismissed their thoughts.
...That mysterious person shouldn't be this stupid.
"You're willing to help us?" Chu Sang glanced at him with some surprise and smiled. "Tell us, what clues do you have?"
"I'm not helping you, I'm just helping the sect. As a personal disciple of the Myriad Stars Sect, I naturally have the responsibility to root out the culprit who's harming people!" Qiu Ping pulled up a stool and sat down next to Chu Sang. "You newcomers probably don't know, our Myriad Stars Sect was built on top of the lair of a terrifying creature."
"There's quite a terrifying big fellow sealed under the sect."
"I heard this big fellow isn't dead yet, just in a sealed state. If the seal ever loosens, it will eventually be released."
"So, you guess it's that big fellow who's harming the sect disciples?" Chu Sang met his gaze.
"I'm not too sure, but it's possible," Qiu Ping said. "I guess the seal might have loosened, releasing part of that fellow's energy, so it's now in urgent need of food, which is why it's secretly capturing some sect disciples."
Chu Sang rubbed her chin. In the small forest, she had vaguely glimpsed the silhouette of that mysterious person. It was clearly an adult man, unlikely to be some indescribable big creature. Of course, it was also possible that the big creature had used energy to materialize into a form, or was controlling someone else.
"That big fellow was sealed by our sect's founding patriarchs many years ago, saving the people of this area. To commemorate that day, the sect holds an ancestral worship ceremony every year. Besides commemorating the great achievements of the founding patriarchs, the Sect Leader and elders also strengthen the seal that year, preventing that behemoth from breaking out of its cage and harming the area again."
Qiu Ping looked at them, still with that arrogant demeanor, but his tone relaxed a bit, containing an inviting meaning. "The ancestral worship ceremony will be in half a month. The Sect Leader previously speculated that the seal on that big fellow would be at its weakest in a thousand years on that day, so they will strengthen the seal once."
"Although inner disciples aren't qualified to go, if you want to go, I can take you there at that time. Maybe you can find some clues."
Seeing that Chu Sang was still cupping her chin, obviously lost in thought, not knowing what she was thinking about, Qiu Ping said somewhat irritably, "Hey, are you listening to me seriously?"
"I'm listening, I'm listening," she said perfunctorily. "The ancestral worship ceremony is in half a month, right? Then please trouble you to take us there. Thank you."
Qiu Ping snorted lightly and didn't say anything more before leaving.
"Little Junior Sister, what are you thinking about?"
Tantai Ming came over to ask.
Unexpectedly, Chu Sang suddenly slapped the table, startling him. "I finally know."
"Little Junior Sister, what... what do you know?"
"I finally figured out what I overlooked..."