Found Five Mummified Corpses

Glug glug, glug glug—Ji You drank water.

The old doctor sat beside him, asking about Ji You's family circumstances and his ambitions for the future, like a kindly elder.

Ji You smiled politely, yet remained wary and unwilling to say much.

When one roamed the jianghu, one's roots could not be revealed lightly. One careless step could leave behind the seed of disaster.

But when he later heard that the old man charged no consultation fee, his floodgates opened.

It was a temperament he had developed over two and a half years in Yuyang County: whenever he met someone who did not charge money, he felt as though he had found a kindred spirit too late.

"So on the day you arrived, you robbed Young Master Kuang of his silver?"

"Hey, how could a scholar's business be called robbery? Old man, that's terribly rude of you."

"A scholar? Wasn't that Kuang lad the scholar?"

"..."

"How could robbing a scholar be called robbery!"

Before long, a burst of aged yet hearty laughter rang out, mixed with an endless stream of dog-like cackling.

Out in the courtyard, Hall Master of Jixiang Hall, a flower hairpin in her hair, sat at the stone table with a cup of tea.

The winter air was bitterly cold. The tea on the little stove quickly went cold, so she had to turn spiritual energy into flame and keep it warm.

She had just finished warming a pot when the laughter from the courtyard caught her by surprise.

Yesterday morning, word had spread through the inner academy that a student had been attacked in the street.

Countless people had described that disciple who cultivated both martial arts and the Dao as something almost mythical, leaving her deeply astonished as well.

Yet what surprised her even more was that her master had suddenly emerged from the bamboo cottage deep within the sea of clouds that morning and said he wished to stroll around the outer academy and take a look.

She had thought her master had lived alone in the deep mountains for too long and wanted to see the smoke and fire of mortal life, so she had accompanied him.

But You Yingqiu had not expected her master to head straight for Jade Garden of Bingshui Lake to visit that outer academy youth who had fallen unconscious after exhausting his Divine Sense.

Just then, footsteps came from inside the room. You Yingqiu rose and looked over.

Her master had already come out. Muttering, "No need to see me off, no need to see me off," he walked out the door.

"Master, have you finished seeing him?"

"I have."

The old man nodded with a smile, hands clasped behind his back as he left Jade Garden of Bingshui Lake.

You Yingqiu paused slightly, feeling that her meaning of "seeing" did not seem to be the same as her master's.

She had meant paying a visit, while her master's "seeing" seemed more like observation.

Just as he had said when she had competed for the position of Hall Master of Jixiang Hall all those years ago: You will do. I think you are quite good.

She did not know what exactly her master thought was good about her, but it was said that people at his level of cultivation could see at a glance even how one's spiritual energy circulated.

And just as the two of them left the courtyard, the wind overhead began to howl.

Cao Jinsong arrived through the air and landed in the courtyard, drenched in cold sweat. On that frigid day, steam rose from his head like vapor from a boiling pot.

Normally, flying back and forth through this courtyard required only a little spiritual energy. Today, though, it was as if he had run into an evil spirit—no matter how he flew, he could not reach it.

He felt as if he had flown across the stone arch bridge over Bishui Lake five times, but he had no proof.

At last, he reached his destination and could not help sighing over his profound cultivation and iron-boned, unyielding perseverance.

"I wonder whether Ji You has woken up..."

Cao Jinsong pushed open the door and entered, only to see Ji You sitting up in bed and stretching. At last, he relaxed.

Ji You was yawning when he saw him enter. "That doctor was pretty good."

"?"

Cao Jinsong was stunned for a moment. Who hired a doctor?

Exhausting one's Divine Sense was not an injury. Why had someone been so eager to hire a doctor? Could they be trying to steal my student?

Damn it...

It had to be Instructor Ma and Instructor Ding!

Ever since Ji You had sensed the Celestial Academy, it had not been just a day or two that they had coveted this extraordinary student of mine.

Ji You suddenly remembered the attack and asked, "Have the disciples who went out to search returned?"

Cao Jinsong came back to himself. "That is exactly why I came. The three stewards of the Affairs Management Courtyard asked me to ask whether you would be willing to join the discussion. If not, they can come here themselves."

"Have the three people who attacked us been caught?"

"They have, but five were caught."

"?"

Ji You froze slightly. Do catching bandits come with bonus gifts now?

Knowing he did not understand, Cao Jinsong explained, "After you fought in the city, the remaining instructors took disciples after them. But the other side had clearly planned it beforehand. They headed straight for Wanzhuo Mountain outside the city, using the complicated terrain to conceal themselves. Their route was clear."

Ji You raised an eyebrow. "What usually comes after that is, 'We were unfamiliar with the terrain, so we lost them in the end.'"

"One team did catch up to them, but the disciples sent were not at a high enough realm. Two were seriously injured in the end, and they still failed to keep them there."

Ji You had fought them before and knew full well how dangerous they were. If Dao Integration Realm cultivators were so easy to catch, that realm would not deserve to be ranked among the Upper Five Realms.

But the Celestial Academy... its strength was a bit pathetic.

He muttered this, then recalled Cao Jinsong's earlier words. "What did you mean when you said five were caught?"

Cao Jinsong's expression grew even uglier. "Another team had intended to pursue from the far side of the mountain. Along the way, they accidentally discovered a cave. Its entrance was extremely narrow, but its interior ran very deep. There were five mummified corpses inside. We recognized two of them."

Ji You narrowed his eyes. "Cai Ziyao and Zhang Congzhi...?"

"How did you know?"

Ji You glanced at him. "Didn't you tell me just yesterday that the two of them had gone missing?"

Cao Jinsong nodded. "That's right. Though their appearances can no longer be identified, their clothing and accessories matched what Zhang Congzhi and Cai Ziyao wore on the day they disappeared."

This Arrogant Sword Immortal script was practically turning into Young Bao Qingtian...

Ji You fell silent at this, then followed Cao Jinsong to the Affairs Management Courtyard.

The Affairs Management Courtyard was not large, only about the size of Bishui Lake, but its grounds were packed with people at the moment.

There were the search disciples who had returned today, as well as wandering cultivators from other sects who had done nothing but gasp in shock and horror on the street last night, without lending a hand.

When Ji You entered, low murmurs immediately rose among the crowd.

Especially for those who had watched the battle on the street that day, the image of three swords whistling through the air and that white-robed swordmaster standing beneath the night sky, coldly swinging his blade, surfaced in their minds.

In the immortal cultivation world, when people witnessed a highly accomplished cultivator cast Dao arts, they would usually cry out, "How marvelous, Senior!"

But last night, they had not seen any Dao arts on that white-robed swordmaster, yet they still wanted to call him marvelous.

In this world, swords were auxiliary tools. One either infused them with spiritual energy to meet an enemy or used them to carry Dao arts for attacks.

Put plainly, they were like the wands in Harry Potter—they were not used as weapons of attack themselves.

But the day before yesterday, they had carelessly gotten a taste of something good...

Ji You walked through countless admiring gazes and looked up, discovering that besides these wandering cultivators from other sects, there was also a group wearing Great Xia official uniforms standing behind them.

Kuang Cheng, whom he had not seen for several days, was among them, giving him an approving look.

Ji You saw two words in his gaze: Fucking awesome.

But what did Old Kuang have to do with this? Oh, he had joined the Immortal Affairs Supervision Bureau.

No, even if he had joined the Immortal Affairs Supervision Bureau, his work was clerical. Why had he been called here too?

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