Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Inside the lotus pond of some mansion, the well in a courtyard, the underground river, the entire Linhai City except for the Yun family mansion that had long cleaned itself of impurities – it was as if water sources all around were bubbling under the influence of the high-pitched, far-reaching zither sound. Dark blue color surfaced on the water. The sea by the port, in particular, was surging with great waves of a deep blue luster. The surface of the sea seemed like sparkling, translucent gems.
The waves undulated back and forth so violently that it gave off the impression of someone struggling before death. After some time, the waves abruptly froze in their movements and numerous cracks started emerging in them. In an instant, they shattered into fragments that turned into the sea and dyed the azure color a deeper hue.
The sound of the zither was like the firmament, frightening the heaven and shaking the earth!
Wearing a calm expression, the Third Childe of Ruan Clan’s finger, that darted about the strings, picked up speed. The tune became faster, interweaving to form the sound of a large and a small pearl falling on a jade plate. The sound prompted many in the mourning hall to look at each other in dismay.
“What music score of the Ruan Clan is this? Why haven’t I heard of this before?”
The three Exterior experts of Eastsea Sword Village – He Jiu, He Xiu, and Huang Taichong – felt a delighted surprise despite their expressions. They did not expect a zither tune that targeted and repressed Blue-blooded People to exist in the world.
Had they known this earlier, they would have sought the cooperation of the Ruan Clan!
The frenetic sound of the zither traveled like a gust of wind. The Third Childe of the Ruan Clan, with his thin and fragile body, seemed like he would collapse at any moment. Even so, he was unaffected. His expression was focused as his fingers danced across the strings so quickly that it produced afterimages.
Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream echoed in the hall. Senior Yan, who had been keeping watch on the coffin all along, took several steps in retreat. The shade of blue tainted his face, making him look terrifying.
“Senior Yan!” Ninth Childe shouted in alarm.
Huang Taichong and He Xiu moved to both sides of the coffin to surround Senior Yan. He Jiu calmly asked him, “Senior Yan, are you the one who harmed the late Master?”
When he saw everyone wearing a stupefied look, he gave them an explanation amid the zither tune. “I surmise that Senior Yan has taken a preliminary step in becoming one of the Blue-blooded People with their High Priest’s help.”
His original plan was to use the secret technique that successive generations of Eastsea Sword Village had carefully cultivated to examine everyone in the household and find the traitor whose blood would show signs of turning blue. Before he could even try, the Third Childe of the Ruan Clan had taken matters into his own hands. Moreover, his method was even more effective and precise. He Jiu’s method would have definitely let one or two slip, especially those with weaker blue blood.
Thirteenth Childe could barely contain his shock and rage. “Senior Yan! How could you do this when the late Master trusted you so much?!”
“You damn traitor!” Everyone else in the Yun household roared.
The zither tune continued to flow, causing the blue tint underneath Senior Yan’s skin to squirm. The occasionally sagging and bulging of his skin made him look malevolent.
Boiling sounds seemed to be coming from under his skin.
Huang Taichong and He Xiu struck at the same time, their Sword Qi crisscrossing to hit Senior Yan. With the latter already at death’s door thanks to the zither tune, they managed to easily seal his Vital Spirit.
“He trusted me?” Senior Yan burst into laughter, exposing his senility. “He knew my lifespan was almost over. Despite that, he secretly consumed immortality elixirs without any consideration for me!”
“Why do I have to give up my life for a cold-blooded person like him?”
“That’s why you turned to the Blue-blooded People?” Sixth Childe said coldly.
“Yes! The blue blood nurtures life force. If I succeed in turning my blood blue, I’ll be able to live for another century!” Senior Yan used his state of derangement to suppress his blood-curdling screeches.
He grinned at everyone. “He kept his consumption of immortality elixirs a secret so he could see how you people would squirm before his death and what tricks you had up your sleeves. He wanted to select a successor for the family, but too bad for him, he won’t be seeing the outcome!”
These words astounded the entire Yun family.
He Jiu’s surroundings turned ethereal like he was shrouded in a mass of Sword Qi that expanded and retracted indefinitely. “Senior Yan, the Blue-blooded People wouldn’t target the Yun family without any reason. Also, they aren’t the kind of people that someone like you can come into contact with on your own. Who’s the one pulling the strings? Who directed you?”
“That’s right. Why would the Blue-blooded People living in the deep sea scheme against a lower-class aristocratic family on the ground?” Ninth Childe unconsciously glanced at Second Childe. “Did he risk this for a chance?”
Senior Yan cackled maniacally as his skin melted away to reveal the blue blood underneath.
“The person who directed me is of course…”
He looked around with widened eyes, a malicious smile playing at his lips.
“Of course, it’s someone qualified to inherit the position of the Master!”
Fluctuations came drifting from afar as soon as he spoke. His suppressed blue blood abruptly exploded, engulfing him in it and causing a great cloud of vapor.
A silhouette condensed a tiny dewdrop high up in the air into a hand. He spread both hands and remotely made a mark.
The silhouette possessed only nine fingers. His broken finger did not heal because of the nature of the dewdrop. His hands were gleaming with a sparkling translucency.
After killing Senior Yan, he turned into a water radiance and instantly escaped towards the sea. The sound of zither took a sharp change and the image of a phoenix materialized behind Third Childe of the Ruan Clan.
A figure dressed in a tunic flew up in the air and gave chase while carrying Flowing Fire. Huang Taichong turned into a sword light condensed from seemingly countless Sword Qi and pierced through the mist, all while launching lightning at the back of the Blue-blooded person with nine fingers.
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The two figures chased after an escaping one; in seconds, all of them disappearing from sight as they submerged into the sea.
The change occurred so instantaneously that the members of the Yun family could not recover in time. They thought it would take a long unraveling of matters to uncover a complicated conspiracy but with the abrupt interruption of Third Childe of the Ruan Clan, they had now come to the final step: determine the traitor and establish the new Master!
However, with Senior Yan’s deliberate provocation before death, they began to look at the childes with complicated expressions. Each of them was a suspect but they cannot be ruled out altogether. After all, the Yun family was not one of the top aristocratic families. There were only about 20 Exterior experts in the household, with only seven of them at the peak of the realm. Excluding the dead Senior Yan, a distantly-related Tai Shang Elder, an employed Foreign Official, only the four childes were left.
If they lose all four childes, the Yun family whose grandmaster was dead would likely lose its qualification as a second-tier clan. They would become dependant on Eastsea Sword Village just to live in Linhai!
…
Inside the ship sealed by black light, Dark Broadsword’s heart sank as he saw the green-robed Merciless Tyrant slowly stepping forward.
Even Soul-chasing Demon Monarch was able to render him helpless; what more of a Merciless Tyrant who scared the former away with just a sneer?
From his previous experience in fighting Merciless Tyrant, he knew this man possessed unfathomable strength. If he had not used his life-saving trick last time, escape would have been impossible!
Even so, he was no coward. For him to have become an Exterior expert in a perilous heterodox path, he could definitely demonstrate a death-defying fearlessness in the face of crisis. He racked his brain as he put aside his feelings of despair, preparing to launch a desperate strike.
Meng Qi kept his hands behind his back, wearing an apathetic expression. Instead of directly making a move, he stepped closer and closer to Dark Broadsword to give him a severe psychological burden.
“I heard you betrayed your sect to enter the heterodox path,” Meng Qi said with faux casualness as if commenting about the weather. However, it was not just a simple idle chat. It felt more like a father speaking to his son-in-law for the first time. It put an immense pressure on Dark Broadsword.
Dark Broadsword was trying to adjust his mood as soon as possible so he could exert his full strength. Since there was nothing worth hiding, he replied, “Yes. That’s why Soul-chasing Demon Monarch is hunting me down.”
“Which sect or family is it?” Meng Qi stopped at a perfectly-calculated distance from Dark Broadsword, causing the rising pressure the latter was experiencing to suddenly turn sluggish.
Dark Broadsword was momentarily silent. “Luo Denomination.”
“Luo Denomination?” The beautiful face of the perpetually indecipherable Gu Xiaosang surfaced in his mind. “That means both you and Soul-chasing are cultivators of Luo Denomination.”
Dark Broadsword replied, somewhat stunned, “You’re an authority of the heterodox path indeed, to even know the class of cultivators in Luo Denomination. But Soul-chasing and I are different. He’s called the future Oracle; someone with the hope of becoming an Oracle.”
“I’ve unconsciously become a great authority…” Meng Qi felt an indescribable sense of glee.
With his bearing becoming increasingly profound, Meng Qi slowly said, “Which skill of Luo Denomination did you steal?”
“The Soul-illuminating, Secrecy-reaching, Heaven-engulfing, and Earth-devouring Divine Skill.” Dark Broadsword was more than happy to hand Merciless Tyrant the skill if it meant saving his life. Besides, he knew the skill by heart by now.
“What a strange-sounding skill…” Meng Qi was hit by an inexplicable feeling just from hearing the name. “Did you choose it yourself or did someone impart it to you?”
“Goddess personally imparted it to me after I became an Exterior expert.” This question perplexed Dark Broadsword.
“Gu Xiaosang?” Meng Qi frowned internally. “This woman is always working toward some profound, far-reaching goal but internal impartation in Luo Denomination is just routine. There shouldn’t be any problem with this… But Dark Broadsword has involved Devil Lord in this while Gu Xiaosang has once entered the Devil Tomb. Things shouldn’t be this coincidental!”
Meng Qi retained his inscrutable mask and said a little lethargically, “Then why did you betray your sect? Were you afraid that the sect would steal your treasure and shut you through murder, or did you suddenly realize that you’re a good person?”
Dark Broadsword suddenly laughed, a little enthusiasm coloring his face. “Neither. I’ve simply come to understand that devil that occupies my heart isn’t in tune with Luo Denomination. Since our paths are different, naturally we won’t be able to scheme the same!”
“The devil that occupies your heart?” Meng Qi, as a ‘great authority’ of the heterodox path and an esteemed person, remained dignified and profound.
“Some evil spirits use lust to confuse ordinary people, while some are fond of massacres and destruction. Some climb up in life by defying the natural order and some seek power to topple regimes by themselves. There are so many different devils in the world; what’s yours?” Dark Broadsword’s expression had taken a layer of sacredness.
“Retain a merciful heart and destroy the abyss of worldly suffering, so all living beings will no longer sink into depravity and continue an endless cycle of painful reincarnation.” Meng Qi’s little smile melted the apathy in his expression. He looked like a tranquil man who had witnessed the vicissitudes of life.
Looking at Merciless Tyrant who unexpectedly resembled an esteemed senior monk, for a moment Dark Broadsword did not know how to reply. After a long time, he finally said, “You have something in common with Luo Denomination in terms of philosophy.”
Meng Qi felt a jolt in his heart and asked, “Is your new-found understanding related to the demoness of Luo Denomination?”
Dark Broadsword was so stunned that his entire expression changed. He seemed to be in a deep thought and replied unconfidently after a long time, “I don’t think so. It’s true that Goddess was the one who assigned me the task that ended up enlightening me, but all incidents were sporadic and unrelated.”
Meng Qi gave a small nod and then asked another question.
“Can you remember which experience is related to the Mark of the Devil in your midbrows?”
Dark Broadsword’s expression changed considerably as he grappled with a deep fear. Merciless Tyrant was indeed superior to Soul-chasing Demon Monarch. He had exerted the power of the Mark of the Devil on both but the latter had merely developed the desire to steal the impressive power. Soul-chasing did not notice its true abstrusity and significance. On the other hand, Merciless Tyrant took an indirect approach and questioned this out of nowhere. He had evidently made some conjectures and had some measure of confidence in the secrets of the Mark of the Devil.
Dark Broadsword’s expression instantly turned malevolent as the Mark of the Devil in his glabella protruded. A violet illusory figure materialized behind him as muttered the words:
“The Devil returns to the world, and the Saint follows!”
The Mark of the Devil came off Dark Broadsword’s midbrows, prompting an abrupt change in the world. It was as if a sinister, depraved thought that had been lying in dormant since a long time ago was slowly awakening.