Rumors

Without waiting for Qin Xuan to express his thanks, the Black Bear Monster clutched his honey jar and sped away on a cloud of mist. Judging by his hurried manner, he was bound to be fretting over the wild boars in his cave abode. When this Black Bear Monster was acting serious, he could imitate someone from the Western Religion quite convincingly, but giving away a gift like this ruined the impression—the people of the Western Religion would never be so generous. Qin Xuan toyed with the bamboo tube for a moment. The mists harnessed by demon cultivators were generally foul-smelling dark water mist, or else things like miasmic fumes, fragrant pink mist, green phosphorus mist, and the like. This kind of True Water Mist, produced from a spirit spring, likely took quite a long time to gather. Tucking it into his robes, Qin Xuan entered the city. Not far from the city gate, he crossed paths with the three toads. The trio from Toad Mountain was squatting beneath the shade of the trees, watching him walk back into the city. During the fierce battle in the city earlier, they had happened to be nearby and had witnessed with their own eyes Qin Xuan being abducted by Old Man Black Corpse of Mount Tong. Now, their toad eyes bulged wide. "The one who returned is actually him?!" Junior Brother Fan Xun gaped, dumbfounded, utterly unable to believe it. "Where is the Xieling Sect's Old Man Black Corpse?!" A look of dread crept over Elder Tao's toad face. "Most likely dead. Truly unfathomable... An old freak who dominated Mount Tong for so many years, backed by more than half the Xieling Sect's manpower, actually met his end at the hands of a junior." Fan Xun still couldn't believe it. "How did he pull that off?" Elder Tao shook his head. "Who knows? Perhaps some expert backed him from the shadows." Senior Brother Fan Da couldn't help nodding. "Back when he shattered my qi barrier with a single willow twig, the skill he showed told me he was no ordinary person." Having been the first to discover Qin Xuan's return, the three toads scurried off to where the Qi Refining cultivators and pugilists in the city gathered, loudly spreading the news. In an instant, every faction in the city was in an uproar. What an insidious and cunning figure Old Man Black Corpse was, yet he too could fail! At first, people remained somewhat rational, guessing that Old Man Black Corpse had fallen into an ambush, or that someone from Guanjiang Mountain had intervened. Soon, however, wild rumors spread: a giant toad had spoken in human tongue, declaring that Yuansong Temple's sword art genius had brutally whipped the Xieling Sect's Great Elder to death with a divine willow whip. Before long, the news reached deep underground outside the commandery city. Inside an expansive earthen cave, Zhang Laosan was applying medicine to one of his arms, while seven or eight corpses of his sect brethren lay scattered around. Yuansong Temple had truly been enraged; the elders of the Scripture Tower and Enforcement Hall had mobilized together, inflicting devastating casualties upon them. Vice Sect Master Feng Wen had also been wounded, losing decades of cultivation. Aside from a handful of disciples lurking in the city to gather intelligence, all the rest were dead. When word of Qin Xuan's return to the commandery city reached the underground hideout, Zhang Laosan and Vice Sect Master Feng, both nursing their injuries, nearly coughed up blood. "How could that be?!" Feng Wen's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as he glared at the messenger. "Is Qin Xuan truly alive?" Feeling crushing pressure like a mountain, the disciple stammered, "A-alive. When he entered the city, right before the crowd, he tossed out the Great Elder's corpse. Then people saw him buy some wine and more than half a roast duck, eating and drinking contentedly the whole way." Feng Wen suppressed his fury. "What else? Speak in detail." "Some also say... say the Great Elder was whipped to death by that Qin Xuan with a divine willow whip." "Bullshit!" Feng Wen roared. Were it not for having no hands left to spare, he would have long since struck this messenger disciple dead with a slap. "Go! Scout further!" After the disciple left, Zhang Laosan wore a grim expression. "No wonder Elder Feng never sent word to us... Ah!!" "What do we do now?" "What do we do?" A bloodthirsty light glinted in Feng Wen's eyes. "Can a mere branch court of Guanjiang Mountain stop our entire sect? I will send word to Senior Brother Yu Cheng at once and have him come here in person!" The Senior Brother Yu he spoke of was none other than the sect master of the Xieling Sect, whose name shook Mount Tong. "Once we capture that little beast, we will have Senior Brother Yu interrogate him with his unique corpse-manipulation blood method to extract everything he knows. Then we will sever his head and hang it from the eastern city wall, and refine his corpse into a walking cadaver to march westward. Only then will the hatred in my heart be appeased!" Looking at Feng Wen's grim, venomous expression, Zhang Laosan could understand his fury. So many of their people had mobilized, and at such a terrible cost. They had thought the Great Elder had succeeded. Who could have imagined it would end like this? Although having the sect master come in person made it feel like a sure thing, Zhang Laosan couldn't shake an uneasy feeling whenever he thought of that kid. The Great Elder had clearly carried him off, so why was it the elder who wound up dead? Even if a Golden Core grand cultivator had arrived, even if the Great Elder couldn't win, fleeing would have been no hard feat. Zhang Laosan looked down at his arm, which had been injured by the blast of Old Daoist Wu's Xuan Yang evil qi; without three to five months, it would hardly recover. Fortunately... his legs were unharmed. While he was pondering, Feng Wen, who had been nursing his wounds, suddenly stood up. "Where are the people from the Renmao Sect and the Huanyin Sect?" Zhang Laosan started. "Sect Master, our affairs are best kept from those two." "Naturally I won't tell them, nor am I interested in what they're up to, but this time, we must borrow their strength. The people from Prison City in the north will arrive any day now. If news from Zhongzhou travels over, I fear they will link the Juetian Sect to us. "We'll muddy the waters. Why should the Huanyin Sect and their lot reap the benefits so cheaply? "Let's go." "Yes." Seeing that his mind was made up, Zhang Laosan knew better than to dissuade him further. Earlier, it was only because they had obtained information from those people that they laid an ambush at Lianyun Manor, only to end up walking into a trap set by others. That made him distrustful of these two demon sect powers. Moreover, both sects were more influential than their own. The Xieling Sect's intentions were already out in the open, while the other side was shrouded in secrecy; under such circumstances, it was all too easy to be used. Yet Feng Wen was currently in a rage, and Zhang Laosan obviously could not talk him out of it. ... Qin Xuan shook off a few tails and, as twilight deepened, arrived outside Jinghu Manor. He rubbed his face to make himself look a bit more haggard. Passing the spirit screen and seeing Mao Yan, Qin Xuan clutched his arm and dragged his feet forward with heavy, labored steps. "Senior Mao... this disciple nearly didn't make it back to see you...!!" Mao Yan's eyelid twitched. At first, he had been gravely worried about Qin Xuan; sensing the disturbance in the true fire, he had paced the courtyard in a great dilemma, only putting his mind at ease after receiving a transmission from Temple Head Wu. Now, looking at Qin Xuan, he naturally saw through the act at a glance. In the past, if a disciple had played such a joke on him, Mao Yan would have sent him flying with a slap long ago. Yet seeing Qin Xuan now, Mao Yan's expression softened instead, and he made a rare effort to put on a comforting look. If the people of Chongjin Pass saw this, each and every one would be struck dumb. Could the stubborn, fiery-tempered Senior Mao actually have a considerate side? If Mao Yan's disciples witnessed this, they would all want to jump into the East Sea rather than believe their own eyes. "The old man knows you've been wronged. Rest assured, you won't suffer this grievance in vain." Qin Xuan lowered his eyes, wearing a dejected look. "A little grievance for this disciple is no great matter, but once your Secret Demon Divine Quail True Fire emerged, the people of the Xieling Sect not only refused to back down, but pressed their attack even harder. That damaged your prestige and tarnished Madam Wei's grace! That is where the Xieling Sect deserves death the most." "Outrageous!" Hearing this, Mao Yan truly felt exasperated. He paced back and forth in the courtyard; had he not been bound to this place, he would have transformed into a streak of light and stormed out to slaughter them right now. "Just you wait. The day this old man walks out of here, I'll send a blast of true fire straight into Mount Tong, burn the Xieling Sect's demon den to ash, and wipe them off the map! "And as for whatever foes you have, if you need me to step in, I won't hold back either." Qin Xuan promptly cupped his hands. "Senior Mao's noble character and immortal presence are truly the model for our generation of cultivators." He then added, "Senior, I feel that a single wisp of true fire isn't quite secure enough. Could you grant a few more?" "No, no!" Mao Yan shook his head vehemently. "Is true fire that easy to refine? You'll understand once you reach the Golden Core realm in the future." Qin Xuan had anticipated as much and settled for the next best thing. "Senior, this disciple has a cloud of True Water Mist and some evil qi. Could I trouble you to help refine them?" "Hmm?!" Mao Yan was half-skeptical. Qin Xuan then brought out the True Water Mist given by the Black Bear Monster, the Soul-Eroding Cold Evil collected by Qiu Bailu of the Renmao Sect, and the three bottles of Gui Yin Corpse-Refining Divine Evil from the Xieling Great Elder's hundred-treasure pouch. "Kid, you..." Mao Yan had assumed that Qin Xuan had been taking beatings everywhere and living in miserable destitution these past few days. Who could have guessed he was getting rich at every turn, amassing quite a fortune... ...