Guesswork

Lu Qing had originally wondered: he had publicly destroyed that Blood Bone, so how could the subsequent Cause and Effect possibly fail to connect to him?

Yet once he heard this, things could actually develop like this.

Lu Qing had not seen what strange ability the seventh of those seven possessed, but he had heard of the man's death. To someone who knew the truth, those words only made it feel as though Heaven's Will had decreed it.

Those seven had come for that Blood Bone. This Seventh Brother should have been an expert at divination, yet he had never expected to lose his life here instead.

What was even more unexpected was that the words he had failed to finish in one breath had been misunderstood by the others.

After all, anyone who heard it would think that something calculated at the cost of a life could not possibly be false. But was it possible that it was not false at all—there simply had to be another sentence afterward?

Among the possibilities in the Divination, Lu Qing recalled that one was to stay, while another was to seal it away. Both could have been discovered through divination to be here.

If their divination had pointed here, then even if that man died, the Cloud Soaring Sect cultivators would not have left so decisively.

But logically speaking, with at least six Purple Mansion Realm cultivators, there was no way I could defeat them. Yet it had not shown a bloody calamity. Instead, Cause and Effect was tangled in countless knots.

Lu Qing had not wanted to overthink it, but today's turn of events gave him several more insights into this innate ability.

Fate and Cause and Effect were still far too ethereal for Lu Qing at present. Hearing of this development, he could not help thinking of the peculiar nature of this skill. When it had first been developed, it had been marketed as a benefit. Though incomplete, it was extraordinarily useful.

Lu Qing looked over again. The several massive black ships, cold as ice, that he had seen on the river earlier had already left.

"Cloud Soaring Sect, treasure, and a Daoist..."

He thought of the Divination's revelation: Cause and Effect layered upon layer, entanglements impossible to shake free, no escape from the trap.

He thought of the Demon-Slaying Mission Divination he had triggered in the Dao Academy before.

He vaguely felt that this incident would not be an exception.

"Mountain rain is coming, and the wind fills the tower."

He looked toward Spirit Terrace County. The mountains were verdant and the waters fair, and there truly were opportunities here. Had he not obtained the Ancient Tree Spirit Liquid and made a single leap in his Divine Soul? His Divine Soul could now leave his body and match his cultivation realm. The formations once inscribed into his fleshly body had even begun to gleam faintly with golden light upon his Divine Soul.

This made Lu Qing abruptly realize that cultivating his Divine Soul was also, without his noticing, driving the circulation of Spiritual Power through his body.

With that, his aptitude underwent another transformation.

Records stated that this Ancient Tree Spirit Liquid aided the Divine Soul, but such a treasure evidently did not merely nourish the Divine Soul—it also nurtured one's foundation.

Lu Qing could not yet say whether his cultivation aptitude had entered the Earth-Grade Aptitude range, but even if it had not, he expected it would not be far off.

The other cultivators in Spirit Terrace County had no idea what had happened. Only a scant few saw those strange, majestic ships. While secretly remaining on guard, they were also astonished to find that the ships seemed to have stopped only briefly before swiftly turning around and departing.

Elsewhere, the ships prepared for their return journey, and New Peace Prefecture drew ever closer.

After they left, within an even deeper underground palace, countless blood-red candles burned atop tables. They were densely arranged, like the places where memorial tablets would be offered.

Suddenly, one candle went out.

A strange, twisted figure standing guard nearby raised its head for a look. "Why has another one died?"

Its voice was hoarse and muffled, like heavy rotten wood grinding against itself—grating, harsh, and enough to fill the heart with irritation.

The candle flames cast a ghostly glow through the dark underground hall.

They illuminated a blank face whose features could not be remembered.

Far away on Spirit Terrace Mountain, Lu Qing was continuing his cultivation. Just as he was about to set down his teacup, a sudden chill flashed through his heart.

His brow rose slightly. His Divine Consciousness swept in every direction, but he found no gaze spying on him from the shadows.

"Is someone watching me? Or is someone still divining?"

Lu Qing did not disregard that fleeting chill. The instincts brought by a cultivator's body could often save one's life.

The innate ability in his mind had not activated, and there was no lethal danger. Lu Qing could only speculate that it was related to the Spirit Terrace River.

By now, Lu Qing no longer believed that the Spirit Terrace River contained only a Foundation Establishment old turtle hibernating within it, with nothing else worth worrying about.

After the inexplicable Eerie incident, as well as the Cloud Soaring Sect true disciples who had inexplicably arrived in search of treasure, he now only hoped that the treasure behind all this truly was a treasure.

And not some—Immortal Mansion appearing in the world. Lu Qing was not jumping to conclusions. Rather, after becoming a stationed guard, he was required to record certain major events.

That previous Eerie incident had been a major event. Everyone had witnessed it, so Lu Qing naturally had not considered falsifying anything. Merely concealing some details was not lying, and no one would come after him over it.

For some stationed guard from who knew how many generations ago to have written down those words, it seemed that such a phantom might truly have appeared back then.

As someone within the situation, Lu Qing saw less than the higher-ups did. But Spirit Prefecture was a remote place that had never received much attention. If it involved an Immortal Mansion, should they not have sent stronger cultivators, no matter what?

Not only were some doubts left unresolved, but even more had arisen.

Lu Qing could not be bothered to rack his brains over it. Since he could not figure it out, he would not think about it now. Once his cultivation and strength rose, the veil over the world would naturally be lifted before him.

Thus, over this period, after he stopped fretting over what the Spirit Terrace River might draw over and what impact it might have on his current post, his cultivation smoothly reached the second realm of the Purple Mansion Realm.

The countless laws and myriad things of heaven and earth manifested by the Great Dao of Water all aided Lu Qing's comprehension.

He could not claim to possess profound insight into the Dao, but if he cultivated water-related techniques or spells, he would surely achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Lu Qing had also set his sights on a technique one level above the Minor Cloud Rain Technique: the true Cloud Rain Technique. If cultivated to great depths, it could even produce the divine ability to Call the Wind and Summon the Rain.

Lu Qing looked into the token space. The Mission Hall was closed, but there was still a small Exchange Pavilion specifically for disciples stationed outside. Compared to the Mission Hall, Library Pavilion, and Scripture Pavilion, its collection might seem like a mountain and sea of books to outsiders, but to Dao Academy disciples, it could only be called rudimentary.

Only techniques and spells that could be copied into the space as jade slips or paper manuals could be exchanged.

Lu Qing had quite a few Spirit Stones on hand now. Every month, someone set aside his allotted share for him. Here, he did not need to earn Spirit Stones by growing Spirit Plants as he had in the Dao Academy. But the same issue remained: the exchange rate between contribution points and Spirit Stones was terribly unbalanced.

After Lu Qing exchanged for the Cloud Rain Technique, half his Spirit Stones vanished at once.

Still, it was within what he could bear.

These Spirit Stones came easily, making Lu Qing understand why, although all aspects of life outside were inferior to those within the Dao Academy, quite a few disciples still chose to leave Li Mountain and continue on to a stationed post after completing a mandatory stationing assignment.

If nothing else, the Spirit Stones alone were enough to make people covet them.