Jia Jin Sheng, I Actually Didn't Want to Kill You

Rain poured down in sheets.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and the distant mountain ranges stretched endlessly, merging into a mass of inky black.

The curtain of rain wove heaven and earth together.

Crack!

The sky suddenly flashed bright. A bolt of lightning, like a silver snake, tore across the heavens before vanishing in an instant.

Summer was approaching, and this late-spring downpour seemed to carry a trace of summer's fervor.

On Qing Mao Mountain, vast swathes of emerald bamboo stood proudly erect against the wind and rain. Their stalks remained straight as spears, their tips pointing directly at the heavens.

Within Gu Yue village, countless stilted bamboo buildings stood row upon row, their heads lowered beneath the washing rain. Outside the village, the caravan had set out once more.

"The rain's getting heavier. Watch the road!"

"Don't fall behind! Gu Masters, keep your Gu worms under control—especially the Fat Armor Beetles. Don't let them get stuck on the mountain path!"

"You mortal warriors, keep your eyes peeled and watch the goods! Lose even one item, and you'll answer for it!"

Calls and shouts rose and fell continuously throughout the caravan.

After staying in Gu Yue village for three days, this caravan left this place and followed the mountain paths of Qing Mao Mountain toward its next destination.

The downpour scoured heaven and earth. The roads around the village were paved with cobblestones, making them somewhat better, but five hundred meters farther out lay narrow mountain paths thick with mud.

The proud camel chickens lowered their heads now. Their vibrant feathers had been soaked by the rain and clumped together, turning them into true drowned chickens.

The Fat Armor Beetles wriggled their bloated bodies forward at a painfully slow pace. Rain struck their black leather armor, forming streams that slid down onto the ground on either side.

Even the furry Mountain Big Spiders had been drenched, their blue-black fur sticking together in clumps.

Only the Toad Gu cried out joyfully as they carried goods and Gu Masters, hopping their way along the mountain.

There were also Winged Snakes, which had already folded away their wings. Their thick bodies happily weaved through the muddy water.

In order to protect the goods and keep them from being soaked by the rain, the Gu Masters each displayed their own methods.

Several Gu Masters stood atop the middle sections of the huge, bloated Fat Armor Beetles. With both hands raised high, each held a One Qi Golden Light Gu floating an inch above their palms.

Bronze True Essence rose like mist and poured into the One Qi Golden Light Gu. The entire Gu glowed like a golden bean, and from it as the center, a vast pale-gold air shield spread outward.

The hemispherical shield covered a considerable area. After completely enveloping one Fat Armor Beetle, it still had ample room to spare.

When raindrops struck the shield, they were all bounced away, as though hitting an umbrella.

However, this One Qi Golden Light Gu continuously consumed true essence. After too long, Rank 1 Gu Masters could no longer endure it.

Sure enough, before long, one Gu Master shouted, "I can't hold on! My true essence is nearly exhausted. Who'll replace me?"

"I will!" Almost immediately, another Gu Master rushed over and took his place.

Some Gu Masters pulling carts or riding Mountain Big Spiders activated the Green Silk Gu within their bodies.

Under the power of the Green Silk Gu, the Gu Masters' hair grew wildly.

A normal person had at least a hundred thousand hairs. Every one of those hundred thousand strands stretched to five or six meters, tangling and interweaving with one another to wrap around the Gu Master and the mount Gu beneath his rear, forming a temporary, watertight black hair raincoat.

The Green Silk Gu was a Rank 1 Gu worm, often used by Gu Masters to defend against attacks. Each use consumed thirty percent of Bronze True Essence at once, unlike the One Qi Golden Light Gu, which required a constant output of true essence.

If this Green Silk Gu were refined together with a Rank 1 Black Pig Gu, it would be promoted into the rank 2 Black Mane Gu.

Once activated, the Black Mane Gu affected more than just the hair. Even the body hair could turn black and coarse, growing within several breaths into a layer of black mane armor over the Gu Master's body.

If the Black Mane Gu continued to be promoted, it could become the famous Steel Mane Gu among Rank 3 Gu.

Besides the One Qi Golden Light Gu and Green Silk Gu, many Gu Masters in the caravan chose the Water Spider Gu. A thin layer of pale-blue water clothing covered their bodies.

Water flowed endlessly over the surface of the water clothing. The instant raindrops struck it, they integrated into the water clothing.

As the Gu Masters remained in the rain, the water clothing on their bodies grew thicker and thicker. At intervals, they had to activate the Water Spider Gu to drain away the excess water. At that point, the thick water clothing would be reduced back to its original thin layer.

As for the mortal warriors, they ran back and forth along the muddy road, tending to the goods. Most wore straw raincoats, but amid the chaos, those raincoats offered little protection. They had all been soaked through.

"Damn this weather!" the warriors cursed fiercely in their hearts.

Rainy days made mountain roads even harder to travel.

In such weather, no matter how sturdy a warrior might be, he was ultimately still made of mortal flesh. If his whole body was drenched and he became overly exhausted, he could easily catch a chill. Falling seriously ill would be the least of it; he might suffer lasting aftereffects, and those critically ill could be abandoned directly on the road by the Gu Masters.

If they encountered a collapse or landslide on the mountain paths, or suffered attacks from wild beasts or Gu worms, they could lose their lives outright.

Though the caravan was large and had many Gu Masters, every trading journey brought heavy casualties. Mortal warriors died in the greatest numbers, but Gu Masters also suffered losses.

If the caravan unfortunately ran into a large migrating beast horde, total annihilation was entirely possible.

In fact, besides these natural calamities, there were also man-made calamities.

The villages along the route did not necessarily welcome the caravan's arrival. Some villages enjoyed robbing outsiders.

"We're leaving! See you next year!" Some Gu Masters sat atop their Gu worms, twisting around to wave farewell toward Gu Yue village.

At the door outside the village, quite a few people had gathered to watch the caravan depart.

"Make sure you come again next year!" the children shouted reluctantly.

The adults' gazes were far more complicated.

"The future is uncertain, and these are hard times. By next year, who knew how many familiar faces would still return to the village?"

"Whether one travels as a merchant or lives in the village, earning a living is never easy."

The caravan traveled farther and farther away, and the crowd gradually dispersed as well.

The cheerful, bustling atmosphere of the marketplace vanished along with it. Where tents had once stood and stalls had been set up, only a vast mess remained.

The endless stream of people had trampled the turf until roots and soil showed through. Rain struck it, instantly turning it muddy, with countless puddles of murky water filling the pits and hollows.

There was also quite a bit of household refuse left behind.

Fang Yuan stood alone on a secluded hillside, gazing at the caravan from afar.

The caravan was like a fat, multicolored flower python. Beneath the gray rain, it slowly slithered along the narrow mountain path and into the dense forest.

"What perfect weather..." Fang Yuan sighed softly.

He held a yellow oiled-paper umbrella and stood quietly in the rain.

He wore the plainest hemp clothing. His figure was lean, his skin carrying the pallor of a fifteen-year-old boy, and his short black hair was neat and clean-cut. The tips of his hair trembled lightly beneath the umbrella in the wind.

Others cursed this miserable weather, yet he felt that the rain had come at exactly the right time.

He had killed Jia Jin Sheng last night and dealt with the scene, but the incident had happened too suddenly, and there were always some loose ends. Especially the bloody smell—because the hidden cave lacked ventilation, it was not easy to remove.

Now that the rain had fallen, it washed heaven and earth clean and cleansed the air, greatly weakening methods of tracking by scent. There would surely be another small waterfall pouring down beside the rock crevice. Once the fresh moisture diluted everything, exposure would be almost impossible for a short while.

Of course, the longer time passed, the greater the possibility of exposure.

This world held all manner of wondrous Gu worms and a dazzling variety of investigative methods. Even Fang Yuan knew only a portion of them.

Rain pattered against the yellow umbrella, then streamed down along its ribs in rivulets. It struck the bluestone beneath Fang Yuan's feet with soft slaps, splashing up blossoms of water.

Watching the caravan turn around the bend and disappear entirely into the dense forest, Fang Yuan showed no joy. Instead, his gaze became somewhat grave.

"Although Jia Jin Sheng's cultivation is weak and his aptitude too low, his status is special. Everyone in the caravan is busy until they are run off their feet, so they have not noticed his disappearance yet. But it will not be long before someone discovers it. At that time, Jia Fu will return to investigate. The real challenge will arrive then."

"The Jia family head deliberately arranged for Jia Jin Sheng and Jia Fu to lead the caravan together. This move carries deep meaning. In cultivation, Jia Jin Sheng and Jia Fu are as far apart as heaven and earth. In wit, the former has been left several streets behind. The Jia family head arranged this precisely so Jia Jin Sheng would suffer setbacks and recognize reality, then live peacefully and properly in the future. At the same time, he is testing Jia Fu's character. If Jia Fu strikes too hard and cannot even tolerate his own brother, how could the position of Jia family head possibly be given to him?"

"Jia Jin Sheng never truly understood his father's painstaking intentions. He had some intelligence, but unfortunately, he had only trained the outer skin. What a pity. Such a Good Gu chess piece, wasted."

Fang Yuan sighed inwardly. Relying on his five hundred years of experience, he had long since seen through the surface and discerned the deeper essence of the matter.

When he had seen the complicated relationship between Jia Jin Sheng and Jia Fu during last night's dispute, a vague plan had immediately formed in his heart.

In this plan, Jia Jin Sheng had been a very suitable chess piece. His cultivation was weak, but his status was high. Though he had a little cleverness, his experience was too shallow. He could have been completely controlled.

Once this chess piece was brought under control, it would have been immensely useful.

First, Fang Yuan could have established a stable channel for disposing of stolen goods through him, preparing for future murder and treasure-snatching.

Second, Fang Yuan could have hidden behind the scenes, using him and the image wall to stir up conflict among Qing Mao Mountain's three great villages, incite civil war, and reap the fisherman's profit.

Third, he could have relied on him to infiltrate the Jia family. The future Gu-fighting convention triggered by disputes over Jia family property would be a major event with countless benefits. Fang Yuan could have sought the greatest possible gains within it.

"My cultivation is currently too weak. Everything I do is constrained. If I had a chess piece to use, I could have him handle matters that I cannot appear in person for. It would not only be convenient, but would greatly lower the risks. If I were exposed in the future, I could simply discard the chess piece and remain free and untroubled."

"Everyone around me is someone I know thoroughly, loyal to the Lineage and difficult to manipulate. Only outsiders like Jia Jin Sheng can more conveniently break open the situation. What a pity. I never expected Flower Wine Wanderer to have left behind a strength inheritance."

Flower Wine Wanderer was a Rank 5 Gu Master. His inheritance was naturally more precious than Jia Jin Sheng, this chess piece.

Of course, obtaining both would have been best. But before such a precious treasure, Jia Jin Sheng had already slipped beyond control, so Fang Yuan could only abandon him.

"Of the things in this world that fail to go as one wishes, eight or nine out of ten." Fang Yuan shook his head and sighed.

The appearance of Flower Wine Wanderer's inheritance had shattered Fang Yuan's original plan. After the image wall transformed, all the previous images vanished, leaving behind only a line of blood-red words. It told Fang Yuan that if he broke the image wall, an opening would appear. By following the opening downward, he could obtain the strength inheritance.

The bloody words appeared for only several breaths before vanishing. The image wall also reverted to the most ordinary mountain wall.

Fang Yuan had spent all last night dealing with the murder scene and had no time at all to break the image wall.

"Killing Jia Jin Sheng in haste has left behind many consequences; they simply have not surfaced yet. Although I successfully destroyed the corpse and erased the traces, there will certainly be trouble ahead. In that case, the method of exposing the Wine Worm Gu must be changed. I also cannot visit the hidden cave in the rock crevice for now. For the near future, I must remain in the village and guard against the coming investigation."

Fang Yuan turned around, held his umbrella, and walked back toward the village through the rain.

"But this is good as well. Recently, I have consumed a great many Primeval Stones to refine mid-grade true essence. By using the mid-grade true essence to nurture my Aperture, I should soon break through to the mid stage. Once I reach the mid stage, my strength will double. Then, I will have greater confidence in inheriting Flower Wine Wanderer's legacy."

The inheritances of demonic path cultivators were nothing like the gentle inheritances of righteous path figures. They usually came with perilous trials. If one failed a trial, the price was often one's life.

"The affairs of the world are impossible to predict, but that is precisely what makes them interesting." A cold smile curled at Fang Yuan's lips.

The rain-soaked green mountains stretched on without end, their gray-green hues bleak and heavy.

A gust of wind blew over, tilting the rain as it struck Fang Yuan's shoulder. A wave of chills swept over him.

He thought of Jia Jin Sheng again.

With an inward sigh, he thought, "Jia Jin Sheng, I actually... didn't want to kill you."

What a pity for such a Good Gu chess piece.