novelraw Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Seeing the curious gazes of the younger disciples turn toward him again, Shuang Wenlü smiled. “About the same for me.”
Xie Jingfei looked at him with the expression of someone who had found a brother in shared hardship.
Shuang Wenlü ignored his gaze and asked, “If that Demonic Cultivator intends to extract and refine the earth’s qi, why did he not choose a place with few people? Why pick here instead and alert so many people to come stop him?”
Xie Jingfei said, “Hasn’t there been news lately that the Blood-Rust Blade is about to emerge in Suizhou? He is probably afraid that if he leaves Suizhou, he might miss the Blood-Rust Blade.”
“I see.” Shuang Wenlü did not pursue the matter further and continued, “What do you plan to do?”
Xie Jingfei said nonchalantly, “What else can we do? We charge in and fight. Junior Brother Zhan from Wujiguan has already calculated the core of this evil formation. If we find the core before the formation is completed, we destroy it. If we cannot find it, we plow through the entire area. In any case, it cannot be outside this range. If the Demonic Cultivator who set up the formation dares to show himself, we will beat his face into a mess.”
Yin Songquan laughed. “Senior Brother Xie is still as straightforward as ever.”
“With so many of us here, what could possibly go wrong?” Xie Jingfei said.
The number of disciples from the Sword Pavilion in Suizhou was unusually small. Because of the news that the Blood-Rust Blade was about to emerge, many cultivators had gathered in Suizhou. Since the blade had not yet appeared and the matter of the earth’s qi had arisen, most of these cultivators had simply come over to take part.
Meanwhile, Shuang Wenlü was communicating with Pavilion Master Luo Pinglan and could not help sighing. “How did all these juniors end up like this?”
Luo Pinglan chuckled softly. “Grand Martial Uncle, they all admire you.”
Shuang Wenlü paused. “Am I really like that?”
Luo Pinglan replied, “You are not like that. In the legends, however, you are much more decisive and straightforward.”
Back then, the story of how Shuang Wenlü split the Demon Abyss with a single sword had already been distorted beyond recognition. All that remained in the tales was how overwhelming his strength had been and how carefree and elegant his bearing. As a result, the younger generation had begun imitating him, growing more and more simple and direct in their methods.
Luo Pinglan had contacted Shuang Wenlü for a serious matter. The Sword Pavilion had already conducted another thorough investigation and captured all the demons who had infiltrated the pavilion using “Golden Fingers.” After receiving the news, other sects had begun their own investigations as well.
However, this led to another problem.
Since demons could obtain “Golden Fingers,” ordinary disciples could naturally obtain them as well. These disciples possessed all kinds of temperaments, and Rule Fragments often contained extremely powerful abilities in certain aspects. How to identify disciples who had obtained Rule Fragments—and once identified, how to treat them—had become a new dilemma.
“There is quite a lot of disagreement among the various sects about this,” Luo Pinglan said.
Shuang Wenlü sighed. He had already anticipated the trouble that would follow.
Sure enough, Luo Pinglan added, “The major sects are planning to hold a joint meeting to discuss it.”
Shuang Wenlü still attempted a little resistance. “You are the Pavilion Master. You can attend it.”
Luo Pinglan laughed again. “Grand Martial Uncle, you have already come out of seclusion. How can you not show your face?”
“…Inform me when the time comes.” Shuang Wenlü finally gave up resisting. However, the meeting would not happen anytime soon. Rule Fragments were extremely concealed. If the host did not reveal it themselves, there were very few people in the world who could detect them. If they could not even determine who possessed the “Golden Fingers,” how could they possibly discuss how to treat them?
Luo Pinglan happily agreed and took the opportunity to show some filial concern as a junior. “Grand Martial Uncle, how are things on your side? Do you need anything?”
Listening to how relaxed these juniors were, Shuang Wenlü asked, “Someone is still keeping an eye on the situation in Suizhou, right?”
Luo Pinglan replied, “All the sects are watching.”
Although they generally did not interfere with the training of the younger generation, the matter of the Blood-Rust Blade concerned the entirety of Suizhou.
Now the issue of the earth’s qi also involved eighteen counties and towns. Naturally, the various sects could not simply allow the juniors to act completely freely.
“As for the earth’s qi matter, no one needs to intervene,” Shuang Wenlü said.
“I am watching it. They have not even learned how to run yet, and they already want to fly. Let them take a fall.”
“Understood. Then I will coordinate with the other sects,” Luo Pinglan said.
With just a few brief exchanges, the two had already settled the future arrangements.
Meanwhile, Xie Jingfei remained completely unaware of any of this.
He continued smiling at Shuang Wenlü, treating him as a fellow unfortunate who also could not return to the Sword Pavilion.
He said enthusiastically, “Looks like we arrived at the right time. This mission is very simple. We will wait another two days for news from Junior Brother Zhan. After the mission ends, I will take you around Suizhou for some sightseeing.”
Shuang Wenlü smiled.
“All right.”
Two days later, Zhan Herong of Wujiguan still had not found the core of the formation.
“How could this be?” Zhan Herong murmured.
“The reaction of the earth’s qi is already this strong. How could the formation show no fluctuations at all?”
The cultivation path of Wujiguan specialized in observing the trajectories of all things.
Their Dao began from the smallest details, making them extremely sensitive to all kinds of fluctuations.
Zhan Herong had already used Wujiguan’s secret technique to investigate several times, yet he still could not detect any fluctuation from the formation.
“Could it be that their concealment is simply too perfect?” Xie Jingfei asked.
“That is impossible,” Zhan Herong shook his head.
“If he possessed such mastery over formations, the disturbance in the earth’s qi across these eighteen counties would not have been exposed. Everything would appear completely normal until the day he truly activated the evil spell art that refines divine abilities. Only then would the earth’s qi suddenly be drained.”
Yu Meng of Shuiyue Ward said, “I have not detected any traces of illusion concealment.”
Shuiyue Ward cultivated the Dao of illusion and reality and excelled in illusion techniques.
Yet even she had not sensed any hidden traces.
Not only were there no fluctuations from a formation, but even the Demonic Cultivator who had supposedly set it up could not be found anywhere.
Yin Songquan said, “No matter what, the situation cannot be delayed any longer. The stagnation of the earth’s qi is becoming increasingly severe. If this continues, even if we destroy the formation later, the earth veins will inevitably suffer damage.”
Medicine King Valley had unique expertise regarding earth’s qi and wood spirits.
Yin Songquan had been closely monitoring the changes in the earth’s qi the entire time.
“We can only take the final step,” Zhan Herong shook his head.
“I will activate the restriction.”
As early as when they first discovered this place, they had already set up a restriction to prevent the Demonic Cultivator behind the scenes from escaping.
However, because too many cultivators had been coming and going, the restriction had only been operating in a monitoring capacity and had never been fully activated.
Zhan Herong took out the formation disk and began adjusting the restriction.
Yin Songquan suddenly remembered Shuang Wenlü and turned to ask Xie Jingfei, “Senior Brother Xie, where is that Senior Brother Shuang who came with you?”
Xie Jingfei replied, “He said this morning that he wanted to look around nearby. He should be back soon.”
While the two were chatting, Zhan Herong, who was staring intently at the formation disk, suddenly changed expression.
“That is not right! There is no formation here at all!”
Yu Meng was startled.
“What do you mean?”
Zhan Herong said urgently, “When two formations overlap, they inevitably conflict. That is why I set this restriction using a formation disk. If the restriction were fully activated, it would certainly clash with the Demonic Cultivator’s formation that stagnates the earth’s qi. But when I activated the restriction just now, I felt no obstruction at all.”
Yin Songquan said in shock, “But if there is no great formation, how could the earth’s qi of eighteen counties have developed a problem?”
They had previously concluded that the issue with the earth’s qi was caused by a Demonic Cultivator’s formation, and that conclusion had been supported by ample evidence and records.
Without borrowing the power of a formation, who could possibly have the ability to stagnate the earth’s qi of eighteen counties and towns?
Yu Meng, whose mind was delicate and sharp, quickly ran through the possibilities.
Her expression changed drastically.
“Notify everyone to withdraw from here immediately!”
The earth’s qi could not suddenly develop a problem on its own.
And it was far too coincidental that the phenomenon matched perfectly with a formation that used earth’s qi to cultivate evil techniques.
Someone must have arranged this behind the scenes.
If the formation was false, then the person behind it was not trying to refine an evil art with this formation at all.
They had another objective.
Yu Meng did not yet know what the mastermind intended to do, but she could already see the result.
Many orthodox cultivators of Suizhou had gathered here.
They were the true target of the one pulling the strings.