The Yin Corpse Cloud

The Yin Corpse Cloud.

Though it was only an offhand remark from some disciple, who had no intention of looking for Li Siguan and the other two, it still made Pei Ling's heart race with fear. He was terrified that patrol disciples might descend from the sky at any moment and drag him off to the punishment hall for questioning...

After being rejected by seven or eight groups in a row, one kindhearted senior brother even told him outright that no group would take a burden like him for free. He would have to pay spirit stones or offer something else, like his looks. Otherwise, he'd be better off staying obediently inside the sect and keeping his feet on the ground.

After all, everything in the Sacred Sect cost spirit stones. Most disciples barely had time to scrape together a living. Where would they find the spare time to do good deeds?

Pei Ling listened, anger and anxiety churning inside him as he frantically considered what to do. Just then, a man and a woman pushed through the crowd. They looked like siblings. While greeting several people around them, they casually let slip that they had just accepted a mission and were about to set out immediately. Their group happened to be short a member, so they had come to find someone at the last minute to fill the spot.

A male disciple stepped forward and asked, "Senior Brother Chen, may I ask what kind of cultivator you're looking for? Would I do?"

"Sorry, your cultivation is too high. I only want disciples at the third or fourth layer of Qi Refining." Chen Huan glanced at Zhao Yan and smiled amiably. "This trip is mainly to temper my younger sister, so it'd be best to find someone around her level."

His younger cousin, Chen Mei, stood beside him, smiling shyly and demurely. She looked graceful and delicate, as if she might blow away in the wind.

Pei Ling's eyes lit up. He pushed through the crowd and approached them. "Senior Brother, I happen to be at the fourth layer of Qi Refining!"

After being rejected so many times, he'd said it without much hope.

To his surprise, Chen Huan gave him a casual look and said, "All right. But we're leaving right away. Can you make it?"

"No problem!" Pei Ling was overjoyed. He'd killed Li Siguan and the other two, and now he wanted to leave the sect immediately. He couldn't bear to wait another moment!

Chen Huan was a suspicious man. Seeing how easily Pei Ling had taken the bait made him wary, but then he reconsidered. Pei Ling came from some remote little city, had only entered the Sacred Sect yesterday, and was already eager to leave today... With such an unsettled temperament, it was no wonder he was easy to fool.

So he led Pei Ling out of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department and to a secluded spot. He gestured for Chen Mei to call the others over, then spoke in a measured voice. "Junior Brother, my surname is Chen. My name is Chen Huan..."

He briefly introduced himself, explaining that he had accepted several missions for this trip outside the sect. Along the way, he, a cultivator at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, would split off from the group to handle one of them alone.

"I won't hide it from you. The main reason I'm taking this trip is to broaden my younger sister's experience. But leaving the Sacred Sect costs a lot, so I accepted some missions of my own to make up for the expense." Chen Huan spoke with refined courtesy, seeming utterly sincere. "After I leave, I'll have to trouble you to look after my sister. Our family has protected this girl too well; she doesn't have much sense. Last time, at the marketplace down the mountain, she was nearly swindled by a Rogue Cultivator right before our eyes. If not for the help of a fellow disciple, she would've been taken away!"

What he meant was that, although he was a cultivator at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, he'd deliberately chosen Pei Ling, whose strength was similar to his sister's, instead of someone more powerful. He was afraid Pei Ling might harm her when he left to handle his mission alone.

Pei Ling solemnly assured him, just as expected. "Don't worry, Senior Brother Chen. Since we're in the same group, we all rise and fall together. I'll make sure to protect Senior Sister Chen!"

Once they were outside the sect, he'd find a chance to run.

When the time came, who'd care whether the siblings lived or died?

"The sect's penalty for leaving is too high. I have to trick this kid into coming outside as soon as possible!" Chen Huan was thinking much the same. "I've nearly finished refining my Soul Summoning Banner. Once I get this kid's blood essence and soul, its power will surely rise to another level. Then..."

Both of them thought this way. Afraid the other might change his mind, they grew ever more friendly.

So when Chen Mei returned with three people, she found Chen Huan and Pei Ling already as close and comfortable with each other as old friends reunited after years apart.

"Junior Brother Pei, let me introduce everyone." Seeing Chen Mei and the others, Chen Huan said enthusiastically, "This is Chen Mei, my good-for-nothing younger sister. She's at the fourth layer of Qi Refining. This is Huang Xian, at the fifth layer; this is Zhang Zhongqin, also at the fifth layer; and this is Xiao Tasha, likewise at the fifth layer... We've all known each other for years, and now a brilliant young talent like Junior Brother Pei has joined us today. We absolutely must raise a cup to that!"

Once everyone had arrived, they exchanged a few polite words, and Chen Huan immediately led them to a platform built amid the clouds and mist halfway up the mountain.

There was already a short line of groups waiting. Though it wasn't long, both Chen Huan and Pei Ling were so restless they could barely sit still. If cutting in line hadn't incurred a fine of ten spirit stones, they would've pushed straight to the front.

After a while, their turn finally came. Chen Huan took out ten spirit stones and said to the disciple in charge, "One Yin Corpse Cloud. Please hurry; this mission is urgent!"

The disciple said nothing. He tossed the ten spirit stones into a nearby formation. At once, dark clouds surged above it, and before long a sinister cloud had formed, with what looked like severed limbs mixed into it.

"Junior Brother Pei, come on up." Chen Huan stepped onto it first. Though the cloud beneath his feet looked like mist, somehow it held him up as solidly as the ground.

It was Pei Ling's first time seeing an Yin Corpse Cloud, but this was hardly the moment to study its mysteries. Without another word, he stepped onto it. The spot beneath his foot wasn't soft as he'd expected; it was remarkably firm.

Once everyone was aboard, Chen Huan formed a hand seal. The Yin Corpse Cloud began to move slowly, then gradually picked up speed, drifting toward the southeast.

"Senior Brother Chen," Pei Ling asked when he saw this, "is the Sacred Sect's mountain gate to the southeast?"

"You only entered the sect yesterday, Junior Brother Pei. No wonder you don't know." Chen Huan laughed. "The Sacred Sect's official mountain gate is actually due south! But the entire sect is covered by the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Yin-Yang Separation Pagoda Formation. For the convenience of its members, passageways have been set up in every direction. You can pass through once your Nameplate has been verified... Our destination is closer if we go southeast, so we chose this route."

Pei Ling's thoughts stirred. "So once we leave the sect, the Nameplate isn't very useful anymore?"

"How could that be?" Huang Xian cut in. He'd hardly spoken since the beginning and seemed to look down on Pei Ling. Now he sneered. "When we joined the sect, our blood essence was used to light the Life Soul Lamp, and the Nameplate was made from a wisp of aura drawn from that lamp. Inside the sect, you can't be without it for even a moment. Outside the sect, it proves our identity and lets us call upon the Sacred Sect's forces. It can also pinpoint our location for the sect's rescue teams if we're in danger!"

"...Senior Brother Huang, does that mean the Nameplate still has all kinds of uses outside the sect?" Pei Ling's heart jolted, and he tentatively asked, "What would happen if someone accidentally lost it?"