Reaching Jindou

Alone, clad in armor and a cloak, Li Xuanfeng stood astride a golden flying shuttle, skimming swiftly through the dark, churning waves. Taking advantage of the storm raging across the sea, he had concocted an excuse and quietly departed the Fenkuai Island market. Riding the wind amidst thunder and driving rain, he sped eastward along the water currents, traversing thousands of li until he reached the Zhulu Sea. Even in the Eastern Sea, where the weather was fickle and skies ever-shifting, a thunderstorm of this magnitude was rare. The night was heavy, smothered under boundless, oppressive dark clouds. The Zhulu Sea had deepened into a dark green nearing ink, stretching into endless darkness as far as the eye could see. Li Xuanfeng reined in the golden light of the flying shuttle, gliding forward silently upon the wind. Driving rain lashed against his dark-gold spirit armor, shattering against its dharmic glow into a diffuse mist. Jindou Island appeared faintly on the distant horizon. Li Xuanfeng halted quietly and pulled back some distance, retrieving the jade box from his storage bag. Although confident the monk would take the bait, Li Xuanfeng was not one to act recklessly. Estimating a distance of a hundred li, he took the statue out of the jade box in advance and casually swept along the periphery a hundred li from Jindou Island, circling down once before stowing it back into the jade box with a flip of his wrist. He then found an islet to alight upon, waiting to see how Jindou Island would react. ... Jindou Island. Having been ambushed by the Li family in league with Kong Tingyun, Situ Mo had initially suffered a terrible setback. But after cultivating on the island for several years, he emerged from seclusion to find that things were not nearly as dire as he had feared. For one, it was fortunate he had been cautious enough to treat Kong Tingyun as a worthy adversary; not only had he saved his own life, but he had sustained only minor injuries. Upon returning to the island that day, he had breathed repeated sighs of relief. For another, Moutuo had fallen into his hands. He had thought Moutuo's death meant losing a major asset, never expecting that after a mere half year on the island, one of the women Moutuo had favored gave birth to a child. The moment Situ Mo emerged from seclusion, he sensed something amiss and promptly ordered the child brought to him. Sure enough, the half-year-old child before him was already able to walk on the ground, staring up at him with a scrunched, hideous face—plainly Moutuo himself. Curious, Situ Mo had asked, "Why didn't you return to the north? With this reincarnated body, even if you cultivate from scratch, it will take at least several decades to regain the rank of Master, won't it?" Moutuo had rolled his eyes with evident irritability, snapping, "Could the north possibly be as safe as your Jindou Island?" Only after asking closely did Situ Mo learn that the northern Wrath lineage had long devolved into utter chaos. As for the contingencies he had prepared in the north—statues, offspring, or spare vessels—who knew how many of his fellow senior and junior disciples were lurking beside them, waiting for him to reincarnate? With a shift in thought, Moutuo had chosen to return to Jindou Island instead. Only then did Situ Mo realize that when Moutuo first arrived on the island, his day-and-night sleeping with women was meant to plant a fallback plan all along. 'He did reach Master, after all... He naturally has life-saving tricks up his sleeve.' With Moutuo in his grasp, Situ Mo felt vastly relieved, even secretly overjoyed: 'Moutuo truly capsized in a ditch this time and has no choice but to rely on me. From now on, there will be no more bargaining or compromises; for decades to come, this fellow must serve me as my running dog.' Moutuo was inept at direct combat, yet remarkably skilled at preservation arts and divination. Having a weakened Moutuo under his control would allow him to circumvent most risks. Situ Mo had thus built him a small shrine, fattening him up in peace so he could use him for calculations. Only two years had passed, and just as he finished preliminary treatment of his wounds, another piece of good news arrived: Kong Tingyun had finally been reassigned back! Situ Mo felt much more at ease. He was exceedingly prudent; although Kong Tingyun was unlikely to repeat such a clumsy scheme, he still clung stubbornly to the island, refusing to step outside until his injuries were fully healed. No matter how Moutuo and the guest elders urged him, even when word arrived from within his sect that Kong Tingyun had been sighted at another stronghold, he remained adamant about staying put. Situ Mo was no fool. The Li family's enmity toward him was already out in the open. Even without Kong Tingyun, would it be difficult for the Li family, with their resources, to hire several Foundation Establishment cultivators? Combined with the three from the Li family, if an injured man like him were ambushed and gravely wounded, it would spell catastrophic trouble! Deep down, Situ Mo also harbored resentment toward Tangjin Sect and, by extension, the state of the world. He loathed how Tangjin Sect exploited the Ji family to harvest blood qi only to discard them at will. To draw a clear line, he was even unwilling to use blood qi for healing or cultivation, which made him treat his grave injuries with all the more gravity. Having just emerged from seclusion, he was still pondering these matters when Moutuo rushed up in a hurry, calling out anxiously, "Situ Mo!" Over these past years, Moutuo had used blood qi to at least restore his appearance to what it was before. Situ Mo was disgusted just looking at him, yet forced himself to suppress his temper and said in a heavy voice, "What is it now?! If you want blood qi, go buy it at the market yourself! Don't lay a finger on the people of my island!" Moutuo said excitedly, "There's a precious artifact!" Once the red-faced monk breathlessly finished explaining, Situ Mo listened patiently before frowning. "What damn precious artifact! It has to be Kong Tingyun's doing, trying to lure the two of us out!" Moutuo opened his mouth to curse him as a cowardly dog, but suddenly remembered that it was Situ Mo's caution that had saved his life last time. He could only grumble resentfully, "What does that matter? Kong Tingyun returned to the State of Yue long ago! Besides, it's a mere hundred li away—what good would setting an ambush there do? The moment a fight breaks out, one need only fire a beam of dharmic light into the sky, and it could be seen from the island at a glance. Who sets an ambush like that?" Situ Mo frowned, looking at the monk with a headache. "What can this precious artifact do?" Seeing no one else around, Moutuo spoke bluntly, "It is immensely useful! Some techniques of my Wrath lineage can utilize a certain special precious artifact to control and apprehend others from afar, proclaiming their transgressions. The effects are marvelous!" Moutuo continued, "This method can execute the Dao of Transformation. The texts record that some people love eating venison and crave it every single day; when illuminated by this precious artifact, their sins manifest, turning them into a deer so they may suffer the same fate! An eye for an eye, after all. And if someone's cultivation is too high for the transformation to succeed, don't they have juniors? Don't they have kin? Let them taste retribution all the same. "This transformation is no illusion. If struck by the technique, one truly becomes a deer, as though born of nature." Situ Mo was appalled. Staring deeply at him, a chill gripped his heart. Seeing how adamantly Moutuo spoke and finding no flaw in his words, he stayed silent for a while before suddenly asking, "What difference is there between eating man and eating deer?" "All living beings are equal; there is no distinction." Moutuo showed a mouthful of white teeth, as if the blood qi he consumed days ago was merely a few bites of venison. Sensing Situ Mo's gaze, he shook his head and said, "Therefore, eating deer is eating man—a boundless, grievous sin... Neither should be eaten... I—" Unable to stomach it any longer, Situ Mo cut him off with a curse: "You bastard, you were consuming blood qi just a few days ago!" Moutuo shook his head and said, "Me? When I achieve the Dao, those people and deer that aided my cultivation will all ascend to ultimate bliss. It is a great karmic blessing." Situ Mo reined in his temper, cast him a glance, and said in a low voice, "Cut your nonsense. My ears have no patience for this drivel. I will send someone ahead to that direction to look for you first. Don't go rushing in blindly."