Mother and Daughter, One Person; The Peddler Cheats Them Out of Their Treasure

"Today's Dayuan Dynasty was like an enormous slaughterhouse, an immeasurably vast field of chives."

"As a little piglet or a little chive, where could I possibly run?"

Ge Xian's expression darkened somewhat as the metaphor came to him.

Fortunately, he was not one to refuse to adapt.

On the contrary, the moment he realized the path ahead was blocked and fraught with danger, the fellow quickly thought of other routes and, in the blink of an eye, settled on the one that would benefit him most.

He turned to look beyond the doorway, toward Sunset Mountain.

It was just getting light, and the day of the Guǐ Wǔ Tournament and the Martial Arts Competition for Marriage had arrived.

The Ancient Tomb Sect's formerly closed grounds were opening. Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators who had rushed there from every corner of the land poured inside like a swarm.

Among them were great sects such as Shaolin Temple, Wudang Sect, Beggar Sect, and Ming Cult, as well as minor, second-rate sects like Five Tiger Gate and Zombie Gate. The spectacle was so grand that it had been rarely seen in decades.

Ge Xian had previously wondered why the news had spread so quickly, even reaching the Guǐ Wǔ Sects in the Western Regions.

Now he knew the truth: the Eternal Life Cult, an Evil God Dharma Lineage capable of going toe-to-toe with the Myriad Laws Sect, was spreading the news. Naturally, it had traveled at an astonishing speed.

"Neither running nor staying is a good idea. That makes this hard to decide."

"But there's one thing that's definitely good for me: selling information."

"Now that I know intelligence of this caliber, I ought to sell it to one household after another and secure the benefits first."

"If I delay even one day and the Eternal Life Cult sets its scheme in motion, my information will be worthless."

"Liu Futong, Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Hongwu, the Political Investigation Department, and the rest are all wealthy powers. If I offer them intelligence worth a fortune, the resources and treasures I can trade for will surely be extraordinary too."

"The Guǐ Wǔ Tournament is about to begin. Monk Faxian, Shi Er, Yang Bi, and Fei Zhong are all on the mountain for the festivities. I can meet them together and spare myself the trouble of going to each one."

Halfway through his thoughts, Ge Huolang could no longer hide the delight on his face.

Once he had made up his mind, he didn't hesitate.

Ge Xian turned to Fox Woman Qiu Niang and said,

"Return to Willow Oriole Alley and cover for me. Don't let a single thing slip."

"Yes, Master."

The Fox Woman answered obediently. Then she resumed her bewitching bearing, not showing the slightest sign that anything was amiss, and returned to Willow Oriole Alley on her own.

As for Ge Xian, he thought for a moment, then quickly drew several ugly Skin Sacs to keep in reserve. He stuffed the prayer beads, whistle-stick, jade pot, Secret Manual, and all the other strange objects he had obtained earlier—including the Lord She Treasure Pouch—deep into the peddler's pole.

He then picked up the broom tied with rainbow-colored ribbons. He had been about to ask her something, but remembered that the pretty young wife had said she wanted him to take her along wherever he went.

So he hung her Soul Residence on the peddler's pole as well, lifted it onto his shoulders, and left the little courtyard for Sunset Mountain.

Clearly, the fellow intended to carry all his worldly possessions on his back, ready to flee at once if things turned ugly.

Sunset Mountain was thronged with people.

Ge Xian climbed the mountain with several hundred Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators, most of them from minor sects.

By his reckoning, it was his first time entering the mountain. He had watched from afar when Ancient Tomb Sect Leader Li Wa led her disciples in an assault on the mountain and shared the flesh of that White Snake demon, but his attention had been fixed entirely on Li Wa, whose peerless elegance made her seem anything but mortal.

He had completely missed the many buildings inside Sunset Mountain.

It turned out that aside from Leifeng Pagoda, the mountain also held many pavilions, towers, temples, and monasteries. Most were relics from the Song Dynasty, and one look at these buildings was enough to tell how incense-filled and prosperous the area must have been back then.

Though they had lain abandoned for years, and the Demonic Mist that sealed the mountain had allowed mutated beasts, evil spirits, mountain sprites, and the like to claim them and wreak havoc, their lingering charm remained.

Over the past few days, the Ancient Tomb Sect had cleaned the place up. It had regained much of its former splendor, drawing constant praise from the Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators. They all said Sect Leader Li had a keen eye; even when relocating the sect, she had quickly found such a fine place.

The Martial Arts Competition for Marriage and the Guǐ Wǔ Tournament were both being held on the broad platform outside Leifeng Pagoda at the mountain's summit, so everyone headed there.

To avoid drawing attention, Ge Xian walked at an ordinary pace among the crowd.

Along the way, he heard plenty of the Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators' noisy chatter.

"Tsk, what a lively scene! A gathering this grand hasn't been seen in decades. Even a nobody like me gets to take part. I must have been blessed for three lifetimes."

"We have Sect Leader Li Wa to thank for this. If she really makes the Mortal Transformation Secret Technique public, she'll be the greatest person in Guǐ Wǔ martial arts history, past or present."

"She definitely will. Those of us who practice martial arts have always fallen far behind the 'spiritual cultivators' and could never hold our heads high. If we can break through our limits and reach Mortal Transformation, we'll still be far inferior, but at least we'll have hope."

"Sigh, if we could cultivate immortality, who would choose to practice martial arts? I never awakened a single talent. If I hadn't been lucky enough to join Giant Flood Dragon Gate and learn the Giant Flood Dragon Palm, I'd still be a fisherman trying to make a living. Some fish demon or shrimp monster might have eaten me by now."

"Guǐ Wǔ cultivation doesn't demand too much talent, but the price is steep. I practice the Eagle Claw Skill, and both my hands have been replaced with strange eagle claws. They're powerful, but every day I suffer terribly. I've also developed Vicious Habits: eating rotten meat, sleeping outdoors, lusting after female eagles, and so on. I'm sinking deeper into them by the day. Give it a little longer, and I may no longer be myself."

"If Sect Leader Li isn't lying, Guǐ Wǔ will surely rise again. By then, all sorts of Guǐ Wǔ techniques with a smaller price might appear, benefiting the human race."

"Speaking of which, has anyone here seen Sect Leader Li's daughter? I hear she's called Li Su, and she's a great beauty, with skin like ice and jade, and a face of unmatched radiance. Not a single young hero who's seen her hasn't fallen for her."

"Nowhere near as much as her mother!"

"Shameless! Everyone, stay away from him, lest his blood splatter on you."

As Ge Xian listened, he also examined the Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators around him.

Though they all wielded strange powers, most were from minor sects and were only a little stronger than ordinary people.

Almost every one of them looked "incomplete." Some had transplanted organs; others had grown strange appendages that did not belong to the human race.

Their mental states seemed wrong, too. They were either overly excited or terribly haggard—both signs of short lives.

Yet at that moment, every one of them was full of hope, light gleaming in their eyes. They spoke of the Ancient Tomb Sect and Li Wa with boundless reverence. Anyone who dared speak ill of them, or even voice doubts, would be set upon by the assembled cultivators.

Some cultivators must have had loose tongues or violent tempers among their Vicious Habits. Unable to hold back, they spoke out. The lucky ones were beaten half to death; the unlucky ones were killed on the spot.

Watching them, Ge Xian sighed inwardly.

"So this is what they call Guǐ Wǔ!"

"In truth, it's a way of cultivating that the many people without awakened talents have painstakingly explored for themselves throughout history."

"They practice martial arts in the hope of catching up with those who cultivate immortality."

"But they're lacking from birth, and their Dao Paths are full of hardship. They can never break through the limit of the Mortal Transformation Realm. No matter how gifted they are, they'll only ever reach Foundation Establishment before they die. In the Cultivation World, Foundation Establishment is merely the beginning."

"These Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators need hope so badly. Even though many of them are intelligent enough to harbor suspicions, they're suppressing them for now, not saying a word, and putting all their faith in Li Wa's promise."

"Too bad the Mortal Transformation Secret Technique is not only false, but a great calamity capable of destroying them all."

The closer they got to the summit, the more feverish the atmosphere became.

When the Guǐ Wǔ Cultivators from every corner of the land gathered on the broad platform and saw the astonishing mother and daughter in white on the ring, the crowd's restless screams reached their peak.

Ge Xian was among them, carefully observing the mother and daughter onstage.

Were they beautiful?

They certainly were.

Li Wa, who had supposedly entered the Mortal Transformation Realm, no longer brought to mind a "human woman." Anyone would have taken her for a goddess carved from jade and wanted to kneel before her in worship.

At her side stood a young girl of sixteen, also dressed in white. She had skin like ice and jade and a face of unmatched radiance, but on top of that, the spiritual aura about her was so striking that it rivaled Li Wa's. At least half the crowd had their eyes on her.

Gasps of admiration rose and fell.

Ge Xian clearly saw the young heroes he had robbed earlier—the Beggar Sect, Huashan, Qingcheng, and others—all trying to hide the way they swallowed, but unable to conceal the adoration and greed in their eyes.

The next moment, Li Wa's cool voice rang out again, and what she said set the mood on Sunset Mountain ablaze.

"Fellow cultivators!"

"We'll begin with the Martial Arts Competition for Marriage today. Talented young people from every sect may take the stage. Whoever can defeat my daughter, Li Su, or earn her approval, will become my son-in-law."

"Of course, women may compete as well. My daughter has no preference between yin and yang."

"Let me also tell you all that she has cultivated the Jade Maiden Immortal Scripture to perfection. If you cultivate with her, you'll not only gain tremendous benefits, but one day you'll surely enter the Mortal Transformation Realm together."

"Senior fellow cultivators, there's no need to rush. The Guǐ Wǔ Tournament will begin as soon as the competition ends. I'll fulfill my promise at once and make the Mortal Transformation Secret Technique public."

"Li Wa only hopes to see Guǐ Wǔ flourish again, and to see many more cultivators reach Mortal Transformation after today."

Her words fell.

All of Sunset Mountain seemed to boil.

The restless cheers even carried as far as Qiantang County.

At that moment, if "Li Wa" had stepped forward and declared herself the leader of the Guǐ Wǔ Alliance, demanding that every Guǐ Wǔ Cultivator in the world submit to her, it would hardly have caused an uproar.

Amid such a fervent atmosphere, Ge Xian alone could not quite smile.

His perception seemed to have glimpsed another horrifying truth:

"What Li Wa and Li Su?"

"These mother and daughter are clearly one and the same person."

"The qi mechanism hidden deep inside them is exactly the same."

"What sort of twisted game is this?"

"Are all the cultivators from the Eternal Life Cult this perverse?"

Ge Xian shuddered, and alarm bells rang in his mind. He couldn't help recalling the scene he had witnessed when Lu Hualong and the Eternal Life Cult cultivators had put on their act: those sticky, fleshy monsters that were half-human and half-snake, and that song of spirit and desire.

Could these supposed mother and daughter who had bewitched everyone look similar once they shed their Skin Sacs?

While Ge Huolang was still reeling, the competition began.

The young heroes of the martial world, unable to restrain their desires, scrambled to get onstage.

Seeing "Li Su" as a snowy, delicate girl, they instinctively assumed she wasn't very strong. But the young heroes were soon dealt one crushing blow after another. Nearly a dozen talented youths went first, and not one could withstand even a single exchange. They were knocked off the stage in a few moves.

It wasn't until Zhuang Hongshi, Duan Feihong, Guo Qingyu, and other talented fighters took the stage that the battles became more evenly matched.

None of them managed to beat her, but they seemed to receive special treatment. When they were knocked off the stage, each was given a healing pill.

They said it was an Ancient Tomb Sect Jade Bee Pill. It looked as crystalline as snow and gave off an intoxicating fragrance. Those who received one swallowed it without hesitation.

After seeing this, Ge Xian couldn't help shuddering again.

His Supernatural Perception, combined with the Outer Sky Gray Eye he now possessed, let him unexpectedly see what the Jade Bee Pill contained. Inside were countless tiny pink "flesh eggs," each covered in hooks.

Even a single glance filled Ge Xian with a dreadful feeling.

He could almost be certain that the young heroes who had eaten the Jade Bee Pills would soon be unable to control themselves and would become Li Su's slaves.

"What a trap. What shamelessness."

"Damn it... If I can ruin this scheme, then this trip here will have been worth the risk."

As the thought flashed through his mind, Ge Xian began to act.

He focused his senses, and soon learned where Monk Faxian, Shi Er, Yang Bi, and Fei Zhong were.

As luck would have it, all four were on the mountain, though far apart from one another.

Ge Xian first found a secluded place to set down the peddler's pole. Then he donned a Skin Sac and, while everyone was watching the competition, quietly squeezed up beside a red-robed monk. It was none other than Monk Faxian, who hailed from the Maitreya Cult and had been running around with Liu Futong.

The Maitreya Cult was no proper Buddhist sect, and Faxian was no proper monk either. He was the sort who frequented brothels.

At that moment, he wasn't looking at the stunning Li Su onstage. Instead, he was staring straight at the eight-foot-tall Li Wa seated in the VIP section above, leering lasciviously.

As he watched and swallowed, he couldn't help muttering:

"What a peerless beauty."

"But why does she give me such a dangerous, disgusting feeling? It's not as if I've never had an old monk take a young woman to bed..."

Ge Xian had just arrived when he heard the lecherous monk's obscene words.

His face darkened. Then he waved the wrist bearing the prayer beads in front of Faxian.

When Faxian's gaze was drawn to him, Ge Xian sent a voice transmission before he could speak.

"Master Faxian, I'm Ge Xian."

"Don't look too closely at Ancient Tomb Sect Leader Li Wa. She's actually the daughter of the Eternal Life Cult's Spirit Desire Great Priest, and she's already a Mortal Transformation Realm cultivator. If she notices you, you may be in danger."

"Gasp!"

Ge Huolang opened with a bombshell of information. Faxian's mind roared, and he immediately lowered his head.

The instant look of terror on his face showed just how frightening the words "Eternal Life Cult" and "Spirit Desire Great Priest" were.

Sure enough, the next moment, he sent a voice transmission in reply:

"Brother Ge, what did you say? That woman's one of those freaks from the Eternal Life Cult?"

"Do you have proof? What's the daughter of an Eternal Life Cult priest doing here, pretending to be a Guǐ Wǔ Cultivator?"

If this had happened at another time or place, with intelligence of this caliber, Ge Huolang would have tried to bargain and drive up its price.

But this time, he planned to use a different approach.

Without hiding anything, he told Faxian every secret he had uncovered.

And so!

Ge Xian watched Faxian's expression shift from terror to alarm, then to disbelief. After a moment of dazed silence, it suddenly turned to delight.

"Excellent! Excellent!"

"This intelligence is terrifying, but it's clearly an opportunity, too. There's still time, so I'll make some arrangements. I can surely foil the Eternal Life Cult's plot and make that arrogant Evil God Dharma Lineage suffer a heavy loss. Who knows, perhaps I can even use this chance to bring down that old turtle Yelü Tianzheng. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful."

"Brother Ge, you've done another great service. I can't believe you uncovered a secret this huge. It seems you're not only extraordinarily talented, but also wiser than most, careful and sharp-minded. Even I can't compare to you."

"When we return to Bozhou, I'll put in a good word for you."

"Before then, stay close to me. Once those madwomen of the Eternal Life Cult begin their sacrificial ritual, Sunset Mountain will instantly become a living hell. You haven't entered the Dao yet; you could lose your life at any moment."

As Monk Faxian sent such excited messages, Ge Xian's anxious reply immediately entered his ears:

"Master Faxian, just do what you need to do."

"But I can't stay with you for now. To be honest, I've fallen in love with a Fox Woman. She risked her life to steal this intelligence and give it to me. I was worried for your safety, so I hurried over to warn you. I haven't had the chance to return to Qiantang County and rescue her yet."

"Now I have to go back and save her. Once I've rescued her, I can take her to Bozhou ahead of you. Then I'll meet up with you and ask for your recommendation."

Anyone would have found it hard to argue with those words.

Especially since the fellow couldn't resist slipping in a little more honey at such a crucial moment. His story sounded all the more convincing.

Monk Faxian thought it over for just two or three breaths before casting Ge Xian an admiring look. As he began rummaging through his belongings, he sent another voice transmission:

"I never would have guessed that Brother Ge was such a man of feeling."

"Since that's the case, how could I not help you?"

"You've earned such great merit, but once we return to Bozhou, I won't be able to give you all the rewards you deserve right away."

"But giving you a few strange treasures to save your life, protect yourself, or escape and travel quickly will be no problem."