On the second day after Lord Gutless was cooked through, the Mountain God Temple released the news, making it known to every faction in the commandery that the crab demon had died by Qin Xuan's hand. Mountain God Tan had originally intended to borrow the blades of the Yishui River God's Mansion and the Lan River Water Palace.
However...
On the very day the news broke, an elder from Yuansong Temple made a high-profile show in the city by slaying another crab demon causing trouble in the marketplace and nailing its corpse to the city wall.
This demon had also hailed from the Lan River, specifically sent to gather intelligence for Lord Gutless.
Furthermore, the temple dispatched three disciplinary elders, including Elder Luo, to contact neighboring factions and track down the spider demon Sheng Hu's whereabouts one by one.
The stance conveyed by this move could not be clearer.
Yuansong Temple was openly providing Dao protection for its sword art genius. If any faction provoked him now, this foremost power in Pingyuan Commandery would show no mercy whatsoever!
At the same time, the City God Temple, which had remained motionless in the commandery, suddenly launched major operations.
The Commander of Prison City had already drawn near Pingyuan Commandery. Lord City God secretly received word that the Xieling Sect was actually implicated in the Juetian Sect incident. All at once, under his orders, the commandery's Divine Way acted to mend the fold after the sheep had strayed.
Before the commander arrived, they successively captured the Xieling disciples lurking within the city.
Yuansong Temple possessed greater raw power than the commandery's Divine Way, but when it came to intelligence, they were truly no match. The mortal world's incense flowed into the shrines, and the various mountain gods and earth deities wove a vast net, so that even if the Xieling Sect burrowed into the earth, they could no longer hide.
The Dao Sect and the Divine Way—the two major factions—briefly shared the same goal.
As a result, even with Lord Gutless eliminated, the Lan River Water Palace and the Yishui River God's Mansion could only watch helplessly from the sidelines.
In this atmosphere, rumors regarding Qin Xuan spread farther and wider.
The deaths of figures from all sorts of factions—Xieling disciples, demon clans, and Divine Way protector deities—were all linked to him.
His reputation as a genius was no longer as widespread as his fearsome notoriety.
And when someone pointed out the deep feud between Qin Xuan and General Manager Black, many onlookers gloated, thinking that General Manager Black back in the Lan River must be growing anxious.
The world seemed to have forgotten Lord Gutless already.
Even in the Lan River Water Palace, a dead crab demon was of zero value to General Manager Black.
Yet there were always those in this world who mended and patched, recovering bits and pieces of fragmented memories.
On the fifth day after Lord Gutless was cooked through, a new cenotaph appeared on the mountain behind Yuansong Temple, inscribed: "Tomb of the Crab Roe Immortal."
Beneath it were two lines of eulogy: "In life, he walked sideways; in death, he stands upright in a pit."
Zhou Cang sprinkled a handful of fine sand over the mound—crabs liked this sort of thing. The two of them had interacted briefly with Lord Gutless, so this would settle the karma.
"Qin Xuan killed Lord Gutless, and we buried him in spirit."
"Consider it a proper conclusion."
Zhou Cang turned to look at the leopard-eyed young man beside him. "Senior Brother Shen, your judgment was spot-on. Elder Ji was drawn into this matter and left lingering perils, yet the two of us detached ourselves completely."
Shen Yunfei did not take up that remark, changing the subject instead. "News regarding the Pingyuan King's tomb has leaked into the city."
"I heard as well."
"It seems people from the Upper Court may be coming."
Zhou Cang took a deep breath. "If those who arrive belong to the Luogu Peak lineage, what should we do?"
"No need to panic," Shen Yunfei said. "Judging by the temple's attitude over the past few days, Qin Xuan has certainly gained the favor of some seniors. Last time, when that senior displayed Ancestor Xuannian's tally, Daoist Ou of Luogu Peak was already made aware. As long as the people sent down aren't fools, they won't openly make things difficult for him."
"If they trip him up in secret, we only need to act as the situation demands."
Zhou Cang frowned. "Senior Brother Shen, even when the Upper Court sends people, we still just act as the situation demands?"
Shen Yunfei replied calmly, "The Qin Xuan we know is the one of the past, not the one of today. To stir up so much trouble outside, he must have something backing him. Not knowing what his backing is, we are best off steering clear."
"The people in this world who cannot be provoked are countless. Adding one more to the count still makes them countless. There is no difference."
Hearing this, what little reluctance lingered in Zhou Cang's heart dissipated. "True, very true..."
"Meow~~!"
In Qin Xuan's earthen-walled courtyard, a cat cried out.
Over the past few days, he had enjoyed some rare leisure. Jinghu Manor no longer required deliveries of spirit herbs, and Senior Mao Yan had not assigned him any tasks for the time being.
Mainly, his cultivation was too low; even if he were given tasks, he could not handle them.
He actually wanted to go cultivate in the boiler room.
Yet unfortunately...
The five elements spirit metal on his person had long since run out.
The white crane had done admirably, exchanging for quite a few yin spirit jars from the temple's elders. However, when Qin Xuan went to look for the little fox the day before yesterday, he learned that her maternal grandfather had gone to walk the yin road, so he could not trade them for spirit metal.
Having time on his hands, he used the Geng Day Pill Book given to him by Old Zhu to concoct pills. Combined with soaking the medicinal herbs in spiritual water, the probability of yielding red-pill quality rose higher and higher.
Small pills that drew forth fifty percent of the spirit herbs' medicinal properties, or great pills that drew forth eighty percent, had actually become rare.
This morning, using Patriarch Geng's Jinhua Furnace, he concocted a furnace of Solidifying Origin Pills, and every single one was a red pill exceeding one hundred percent efficacy.
In all of Yuansong Temple, great pill quality was considered uncommon, and not even the elders of the pill room could produce red pills that surpassed the herbal limits.
Qin Xuan felt that he was only short of a highest-grade "purple pill" to prove that he was an "incomparable genius of alchemy."
He also reviewed the techniques obtained from the Xieling Sect and the Renmao Sect once more.
The Black Corpse Elder's Juetian Ground-Shrinking Curtain was indeed a formidable earth escape secret technique, but hard to initiate. Only those with bone structure inclined toward earth among the five elements were suited for it; otherwise, practicing it would consume a massive amount of time.
Fortunately, having an earth escape expert like Zhao Huaimin around gave Qin Xuan some insights.
Thus, he encouraged Huaimin to keep delving into it.
Likewise a demon sect secret technique, the Renmao Sect's Puppet Wood Technique was far more accommodating.
It was a spell akin to puppet crafting, favoring the wood element, but once the puppet was refined, even cultivators without wood-aligned magic power could control it.
The Renmao Sect was still in Pingyuan Commandery, and it was unknown whether Qiu Bailu had returned to his tomb lair.
Learning more about his rival's techniques now would make it easier to cope should they cross paths.
"Meow~"
Another cat cry sounded beside Qin Xuan, a fluffy tail brushing against his leg from time to time.
Under the eaves, two little birds—one gold and one silver—watched the cat warily.
For the cat was fixated on a spiritual fruit in the yard.
Nourished by spiritual water, the hawthorn berry brought out of Elder Wu's residence had not only grown into a small tree, but had even borne fruit.
These past few days, the cat often dropped by to visit.
It circled the tree mewing, drooling over the fruit.
Had Qin Xuan, that ruthless villain, not suppressed it by frequently threatening to snip off its bells, the cat would have long leapt into the tree to gorge itself.
"Alright, seeing that you've begged for days, I'll give you one."
Qin Xuan picked a hawthorn berry and said solemnly to the fat cat, "This fruit possesses extraordinary spirituality, transformed from an immortal vine on Mount Penglai. Don't you dare forget my generosity. If you eat one of my fruits, you must find me a treasure in return."
Before the fat cat could agree, Qin Xuan had already stuffed the berry into its mouth.
"Good, you owe me another spirit treasure."
Qin Xuan could not help laughing aloud, vigorously petting the fat cat's head.
"Senior Brother! Senior Brother Qin~!"
Just then, two shouts came from outside the courtyard. It was Liu Xi and Yu Han.
"What is it?"
"Senior Brother, there is a letter for you, as well as a visiting card."
Qin Xuan opened the letter. It had been sent by the housekeeper on his maternal grandfather's side from the Lin clan, explaining the reason for their delayed arrival. It turned out his grandfather's family had purchased a blessed cultivation land in the Qing River basin and was relocating the entire clan from Laidu, so the dispatch of family members here would be significantly delayed.
The Qing River basin belonged to the fief of the King of Tang, a vassal king of Great Yan.
When Geng Zhi had danced on the grave, the court Formation-Breaking Dance he used originated from the court of the King of Tang.
In the Great Yan Dynasty, the King of Tang was the most powerful vassal king, his domain expanding year after year.
The Qing River basin was dotted with lakes and marshes and boasted numerous prime cultivation lands. The Lin clan had flourished in recent years and possessed a Zhongzhou background, so it was only natural for them to relocate toward an area where dragon veins converged to enhance their fortune. Qin Xuan was not at all surprised by this.
Putting away the letter, he looked at the visiting card.
A look of delight instantly surfaced on his face. Master Bear was dependable after all!
Qin Xuan took two hawthorn berries and gave one to each of his junior martial brother and sister.
The two stared at the fruit, their eyes lighting up.
Elder Wu's hawthorn berries were already extraordinary, and Qin Xuan's cultivation with spiritual water had augmented their spirituality even further.
"This fruit is so rich in spirituality! Thank you, Senior Brother~!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother!"
The two youngsters were thrilled. Just holding the fruit, they could smell the dense spiritual qi. Senior Brother was truly generous.
"Come, I'll go along with you."
Just as Qin Xuan went to shut the doors, Xiao Jin and Xiao Yin had already heard his words and directly closed the doors from the left and right.
Liu Xi was slightly astonished. "Senior Brother, the birds you raise are already spiritually aware."
Beside him, Yu Han laughed and said, "Senior Brother's cat is even more impressive. I heard that a century-old bone flower Elder Ji An cultivated specifically to enhance vital energy and blood was stolen, sending him into a raging fury. Yet I saw Senior Brother's cat clutching that bone flower on the roof, nibbling away!"
Qin Xuan chuckled. "Junior Sister, you haven't told anyone outside, have you?"
"Of course not..."
Chapter 69