After all the stewards and those above them had entered the underground cave, the many Flying Immortal Peak disciples immediately scattered of their own accord to search for the Peak Master.
All the Flying Immortal Peak disciples believed the Peak Master must have been injured and was healing somewhere.
Not a single person believed anything had happened to him.
Wen Jiu went out with the others.
He searched through the woods alongside them, weaving between the trees.
But he knew very well that Peak Master Ji Qiubai of Flying Immortal Peak was almost certainly doomed. He didn't know what Shadow's End Poison was, but he believed the Blood Robe Tower remnants and Gong Chi's three men would never let anything go wrong.
Not delivering a finishing blow was the sort of contrivance that existed only to serve a story's protagonist. Gong Chi and the other two would never act that way; otherwise, they couldn't have hidden themselves beside Ji Qiubai without being discovered. Still, Ji Qiubai must have had his suspicions.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been wary of Gong Chi back at Flying Immortal Peak, and Gong Chi wouldn't have summoned him to question him at midnight.
What a pity.
In the end, Ji Qiubai had lost by a single move.
From now on, I'll need to grow eight hundred pairs of eyes, Wen Jiu silently resolved.
He didn't want all his years of hard work to end in nothing.
Suddenly.
Only two hours had passed.
The signal talisman sounded in the sky, calling everyone back.
When he returned to the Chen family grounds, Wen Jiu saw that Gong Chi and the others had already come back. They seemed to have found Ji Qiubai's corpse. Most people wore expressions of dejection and bitterness, with a hint of shock.
"We're taking the Peak Master home!" Gong Chi climbed aboard the flying boat and called out loudly, his voice full of sorrow.
The sun sank in the west.
The sky suddenly turned crimson across half its expanse at dusk.
As Gong Chi's hoarse, grief-stricken voice rang out, the Flying Immortal Peak disciples gazed silently at the flying boat before them. They watched the corpse, draped in thick white cloth, being carried aboard, and remained speechless for a long time.
No one believed the Peak Master had actually fallen.
Nor could anyone believe that the Blood Robe Tower remnants had truly managed to kill Peak Master Ji Qiubai.
After all, Ji Qiubai was a disciple of a Main Peak Elder, and his spells were all top-tier secret arts. How could the Blood Robe Tower remnant they had chased down, the same one who couldn't even withstand a single move from the Peak Master, have possibly turned the tables and killed him?
But no matter how hard they found it to believe,
Ji Qiubai's corpse lay right before their eyes.
Soon,
everyone boarded the flying boat.
They walked slowly, every step heavy with grief.
The joy of victory and their gains vanished completely with the Peak Master's fall, as they counted the casualties and learned that more than two hundred disciples had died in the battle. Looking back, yesterday's friends had already been reduced to bones—or left no bones at all.
Wang Nian was no different. After boarding, he silently walked over to Wen Jiu and sighed. "How could the Peak Master have died at the hands of the Blood Robe Tower remnant? That remnant was only at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer... Even if he'd been hiding his strength, the Peak Master had all those secret arts from the Main Peak. If he couldn't win, couldn't he at least have escaped?"
Wen Jiu replied, "Perhaps that's just how unpredictable life can be."
"Unpredictable indeed... You're right about that." Wang Nian sighed. "Even someone as powerful as the Peak Master has fallen. We little nobodies have no idea how long we'll survive in this world of cultivation."
After sighing, Wang Nian seemed especially melancholy.
The joy he'd felt at gaining spirit stones was gone.
Wang Nian sighed again, sounding rather pessimistic. "I survived this time, but what if next time it's me..."
Wen Jiu hadn't wanted to say anything.
He'd only wanted to quietly watch the sunset and the dusk.
But as the mood grew heavier, he decided to speak.
"The moon waxes and wanes; people face fortune and misfortune from one day to the next. None of us knows how far we'll travel down this road or how long we'll live in this world. But with every step we take, with every extra day we live, we get to see more of this vast land—and draw closer to immortality. Even if we fall before the end, our lives won't have been lived in vain."
"I don't ask for a smooth, level road to immortality. I only hope that after the wind and rain... I'll see a rainbow."
When he finished,
Wang Nian froze.
Liu Xiao, who had been silent beside them, couldn't help looking at Wen Jiu. Then he suddenly called out, "Well said, young Wen!"
Night fell.
The flying boat landed at the Main Peak.
The Flying Immortal Peak disciples gradually dispersed, and news of the Peak Master's death began spreading beyond the Main Peak.
This night was destined to be anything but peaceful.
"Kid, come have a drink at my place." As soon as they got off the flying boat, Wang Nian called out to Wen Jiu.
After Wen Jiu had talked him through his grief, Wang Nian's mood had improved considerably. He hadn't sighed again on the way back, so Wen Jiu figured there was more to this invitation than simply sharing a drink.
Sure enough.
When they arrived at Wang Nian's home, Wang Nian shut the door behind them.
He had just lifted his cup when he said in a low voice, "Brother Wen, once the Peak Master's funeral is over, Flying Immortal Peak is going to go through a major upheaval. You chose to follow Mu Canglong, and there's no telling whether that'll bring you fortune or disaster."
"Why?"
Though he asked, Wen Jiu could more or less guess.
It was like when a company leader suddenly left: wouldn't all the deputies fight tooth and nail for the position?
Wang Nian continued, "Mu Canglong is one of Elder Gong Chi's people in the Night Patrol Division. But Elder Gong Chi wasn't Peak Master Ji's trusted subordinate; he was loyal to the previous Peak Master. So if the people on Peak Master Ji's side want to rise, they'll definitely suppress Elder Gong Chi—and they'll certainly suppress his people too... How about I go see my second granduncle and get you transferred to the Alchemy Room? You could tend the fire or something."
"Thanks, Brother Wang, but there's no need. I like raising corpses in Dead Corpse Land." Wen Jiu shook his head.
Wang Nian tried once more, but Wen Jiu still refused.
Left with no choice, Wang Nian had to let it go.
He couldn't understand why Wen Jiu was so fixated on Dead Corpse Land. If it weren't for the spirit stones, Wang Nian wouldn't go there even if someone begged him.
Soon,
after three rounds of drinks,
Wen Jiu left once he was slightly tipsy. He first went to Dead Corpse Land, reburied the Black Zombie in the Corpse Nurturing Ground, then cultivated there for a while. The corpse qi and death qi helped him feel calm.
When he was about to head home late that night, bells suddenly rang across Flying Immortal Peak, summoning the disciples to gather.
"What happened now?"
Wen Jiu was somewhat puzzled.
Still wondering, he hurried to Flying Immortal Peak, joined the other disciples, and went straight to the summit. There, he saw a sight he would never forget. Before the main hall at the peak stood three enormous spirit beasts, each with a pair of wings on its back. The spiritual qi and aura they gave off were no weaker than those of any Flying Immortal Peak elder.
The three men in golden robes standing before the enormous spirit beasts were even more formidable than Gong Chi and the others.
They were only slightly weaker than Peak Master Ji Qiubai.
Clearly, even if they hadn't reached the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, they had already reached the very limit of the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
The other golden-robed cultivators who had come with them were somewhat weaker, but there were plenty of them—thirty in all—and every one was at the Qi Refining Third Layer. Their overall strength might not have matched Flying Immortal Peak's, but their imposing presence overwhelmed everyone there.
Just then, the oldest of the three golden-robed cultivators, a long-bearded elder, spoke coldly. "By order of the Inspection Hall, all elders, stewards, and managers of Flying Immortal Peak are to be taken into the main hall and held there!"
At those words,
the faces of every disciple on Flying Immortal Peak changed.
A female elder of Flying Immortal Peak tried to argue, but the long-bearded elder cut her off coldly. His chilling tone left everyone tense and pale.
"Three Inspection Envoys, the Peak Master was killed by the Blood Robe Tower remnant. It had nothing to do with us..."
"Anyone who objects will be executed, by order of the Main Peak Elder of the Inspection Hall!"
Just then, Gong Chi stepped forward and slowly walked toward the main hall, taking the lead. "I trust the three Inspection Envoys will get to the bottom of this. I'll lead the way. Until the truth is known, I won't leave the main hall!"
Before you continue