Qi Yuan's Scheme

After delivering the finishing blows, Qi Yuan swept through the Black Mountain Sect like a gust of wind scattering residual clouds, looting it clean. Naturally, with time running short, his main focus had been ransacking the Library Pavilion. To Qi Yuan, cultivation techniques were of paramount importance. The vast breadth of knowledge accumulated from countless techniques, paired with his ability to see hidden information, was the only way he could continue perfecting the Qi Yuan Scripture and forge a grand path of cultivation. "Time to go." Estimating the time, Qi Yuan swiftly departed the Black Mountain Sect. …… Dressed in a simple, elegant chest-high ruqun, Duan Qianrou was currently seated inside a cloud rabbit carriage. A cloud rabbit had three heads and eight legs. It could tread the earth or soar through the sky with remarkable stability. Consequently, the rabbit enjoyed a fortunate fate—it was an excellent draft beast for land and sky, with no need to fear having its heads eaten. "Everyone, in our negotiations with the Black Mountain Sect this time, we must stand together and not back down. Giving the Black Mountain Sect a twenty percent cut of our blood crystals is already our limit; we can't add a single bit more!" a burly man declared. Inside the cloud rabbit carriage were a dozen or so people, all owners of the various blood crystal mines in Bloodless City. Just a few days earlier, the Black Mountain Sect had demanded that each mine owner increase their blood crystal tribute from twenty percent to thirty percent. This had infuriated the mine owners. Bloodless City was not under the Black Mountain Sect's jurisdiction to begin with. Handing over twenty percent in the past was already unreasonable enough. Yet now they were hiking it straight to thirty percent—it was truly tyrannical. "Sigh, Old Wang, what good is a united front? The Black Mountain Sect is backed by Old Demon Black Chicken; even the three great cultivation sects have to give them face. How can we rogue cultivators contend with the Black Mountain Sect? I'm just afraid that if we don't raise their cut, we won't even make it back to Bloodless City," an old Foundation Establishment man spoke up, his voice helpless. Everyone present wore somber expressions. This was indeed something the Black Mountain Sect was capable of doing. Which of the Black Mountain Sect's elders wasn't a ruthless figure? Even that delicate, pitiful-looking Yu Linglong had cultivated her Dao techniques through slaughter before being claimed by Old Demon Black Chicken as his plaything. As for the disciples of the Black Mountain Sect, most had begun as robber cultivators; one could easily imagine how vile their temperaments were. "Sigh, if only a sword immortal would come one day and wipe out the Black Mountain Sect with a single stroke of a sword, how wonderful would that be!" "Even the three great sects can't do anything about the Black Mountain Sect. Where would a sword immortal come from?" "Old Wang, lower your voice. Don't let the Black Mountain Sect overhear you." Sitting in the cloud rabbit carriage, Duan Qianrou also felt a pang of melancholy. Right at that moment, however, the cloud rabbit carriage slowed down. The hearts of those inside the carriage clenched, thinking they had run into someone from the Black Mountain Sect. The curtain was drawn aside, and they saw a handsome youth. Duan Qianrou was somewhat surprised, as this youth was the very person who had chatted so pleasantly with her mother earlier today. How... could he be within the Black Mountain Sect's territory? And so close to the Black Mountain Sect's headquarters, no less? Could he be a disciple of the Black Mountain Sect? At that thought, a wave of disgust welled up in Duan Qianrou's heart. It wasn't that she was generalizing unfairly, but there truly wasn't a single decent person in the Black Mountain Sect! "Pardon the intrusion, everyone." The newcomer was none other than Qi Yuan, who had just exterminated the sect and descended the mountain. Looking at the crowd, he said slowly, "May I ask which nearby market has a Lingtian Pavilion?" Hearing that he was only asking for directions, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Their only fear had been that he was a disciple of the Black Mountain Sect. "There's one in Tianyun Market," Duan Qianrou replied. "Many thanks, everyone!" Qi Yuan bowed politely, marveling inwardly that there truly were more good people in this world after all. Remembering something, Duan Qianrou couldn't help asking, "Why did you come to the Black Mountain Sect?" Everyone realized that Duan Qianrou knew this youth, so there was no real danger. "I came here to... stargaze." Qi Yuan rolled his eyes around. Truly terrible at lying, he made up an excuse on the spot. Duan Qianrou let out a soft laugh. "Pardon my rudeness. By the way, the Black Mountain Sect is very dangerous. Unless necessary, you must never come here." "You're right, it's far too dangerous here. I've got to run!" Having said that, Qi Yuan dashed off. Watching Qi Yuan vanish in a flash, everyone present found it rather baffling. "Mine Owner Duan, you know this youth?" Old Wang asked. "His personality is quite amusing." "I don't know him," Duan Qianrou denied. The others said nothing more, merely assuming Duan Qianrou was just kindhearted. This was merely a brief interlude. None of them took it to heart. The cloud rabbit carriage sped along. Before long, they arrived at the entrance of the Black Mountain Sect. "Huh? Why is the White Bone Bridge broken?" Everyone felt astonished. To reach the Black Mountain Sect, one had to cross the White Bone Bridge. Now, the White Bone Bridge was gone. "Look over there, what is that?" The crowd immediately cast Daoist techniques to peer inside the Black Mountain Sect's mountain gate. They saw that the mountain gate had collapsed, and within the Black Mountain Sect, corpses littered the ground everywhere. "That's an Origin Core... elder." Someone's teeth chattered. "The Black Mountain Sect has been exterminated!" Everyone was overwhelmed with horror. That was the Black Mountain Sect—the overbearing, tyrannical Black Mountain Sect! To wipe out the Black Mountain Sect, wouldn't someone have to be at least a Divine Infant old monster? Weren't they afraid of offending Old Demon Black Chicken? Suddenly, everyone turned to look at Old Wang, who had just spoken of a sword immortal wiping out the Black Mountain Sect. Old Wang waved his hands frantically. "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" Meanwhile, Duan Qianrou narrowed her eyes, thinking back to the youth they had encountered on the road. Did he... see something? Various thoughts raced through their minds, but they all understood one thing: Great Shang was headed for turmoil. …… Tianyun Market. Qi Yuan was walking faster than usual. After coming down from the Black Mountain Sect, he had suddenly realized he hadn't handled things thoroughly. True, he had already humanely destroyed Yu Linglong. However... what if there was more than one Purple Bamboo Physique in the Black Mountain Sect? What if the sect master of the Black Mountain Sect, Daoist Heifeng, was also a Purple Bamboo Physique? Old Demon Black Chicken was playing a grand game of chess; Yu Linglong was merely the overt Purple Bamboo Physique, while his adopted son Daoist Heifeng—or even others in the Black Mountain Sect—might be covert Purple Bamboo Physiques. He didn't dare return to the Black Mountain Sect. So after pondering for a long time, he found a way. Namely, spreading the news that there was a Purple Bamboo Physique in the Black Mountain Sect! If he did that, when Old Demon Black Chicken came out of seclusion and arrived at the Black Mountain Sect, what he would find... would surely be a Black Mountain Sect without a single corpse left. To break through realms—especially to the Divine Infant or even the Purple Mansion—how insane could cultivators get? Qi Yuan could hardly imagine. That was why he had asked for directions to Lingtian Pavilion on the road. Lingtian Pavilion was a unique entity in Great Shang. One could say that eighty percent of the game jade slips, ninety percent of the projection jade slips, and fifty percent of the communication jade slips in Great Shang originated from Lingtian Pavilion. In Qi Yuan's understanding, this was the Tencent of his past life. His purpose in coming to Lingtian Pavilion was to use its various jade slip channels to let the cultivators across Great Shang know that the Black Mountain Sect possessed a Purple Bamboo Physique. That way, countless cultivators would surely risk life and limb to flock to the Black Mountain Sect. Then, when Old Demon Black Chicken came out of seclusion and arrived at the Black Mountain Sect, would he be able to investigate who had destroyed the sect? Investigate, my ass! The place would be swarming with people! And the corpses of the Black Mountain Sect disciples would be scattered all across the country!