Bait

"Fengxi? Your name really is Fengxi?"

The sister-in-law of the Qi Household covered her mouth and laughed for quite a while.

"Hahaha, Fengxi is even worse than Qingqiu. Qingqiu at least leans a little toward the demon side. Fengxi is practically no different from a beast."

Feng Boar was recorded in the Records of the Hidden Within as a ferocious beast shaped much like a pig.

"Feeling better now? That's why we beasts ought to help each other."

Su Che took a teacup and poured a cup of tea for Qingqiu across from him.

She was also the first member of the Mount Zhong Association he had met face-to-face.

"You're a beast. I'm a demon."

Qingqiu had quite a lively, uninhibited personality. On one hand, she could crack filthy jokes without batting an eye; on the other, she seemed utterly guileless.

"Hey, who did you see at today's gathering? Did Gushiye go this time too?"

Only then did Su Che completely set aside the killing intent in his heart.

This little demon really was a member of the Mount Zhong Association.

"Gushe didn't go last time?"

"No. It's normal for everyone not to be able to gather." Qingqiu looked at Su Che. "Hey, hey, did that Zhongyuan grant you any divine abilities?"

"Mm. He gave me a cultivation method for the Mirage Shadow Origin Sword."

"Hmph, what a cheapskate. The thing he gave you isn't worth anything at all, just the Eastern Sea Sword Pavilion's beginner sword art." Qingqiu looked as though she were standing up for her new little brother. "When I have time, I'll find you a few powerful ones."

"Then many thanks."

"What are you thanking me for? You were more or less brought into the association by me. Looking after you is only proper."

Qingqiu picked up the teacup beside her and took a sip.

"By the way, did they say what the next assignment was?"

"We're to investigate the changes in Mystic Mountain's inner region."

"Mystic Mountain?"

Qingqiu furrowed her brow tightly, looking weighed down with worry.

"Looks like things really are getting troublesome."

"Troublesome?"

"You haven't spent time in the martial world, have you?"

Su Che thought about it. Across both his lives, the closest he had ever come to life in the martial world was watching movies.

The Five Hundred Million Dollar Detective, Brother Pheasant, Big Two, Crippled Hao, Hua Zai Rong, and the like.

Otherwise, there had been Iron-Gallant Divine Marquis, Xiongba, or Liu Huaqiang...

The martial world truly lay far from his life.

"Please enlighten me."

"When I first came to Shanyin County, it had nothing to do with the association. An elder of my Household divined that a great opportunity awaited me between Shanyin and Guobei, so I settled here."

Big Sister Qingqiu held up her tea bowl, slurped a mouthful of cold tea, then lightly set it down, signaling her newly acquired little brother to fill it.

Su Che hurriedly topped up his boss's cold water.

Big Sister Qingqiu gave him a look that said he knew the ropes.

"I stayed around here for quite some time, and eventually I figured something out. Back then, a powerhouse with supreme divine abilities, named Lion Azure Lotus Perfected Tathagata, once passed through this place. And it's very likely that he was buried here."

Su Che really wanted to tell Qingqiu that it was not merely likely. It was already certain that Old Lion was in Mystic Mountain's inner region.

"You ordinary folk who have only just begun cultivating may not know what the third rank signifies. The Confucian School's third-rank Sages, the Daoist School's third-rank True Persons, Buddhism's third-rank Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats—once one reaches that realm, they can all live long and see far into the ages."

Qingqiu was getting more animated as she spoke. Su Che discovered that she was truly a little chatterbox; once she started talking, she simply would not stop.

"What one of those figures wasn't an outstanding hero of an era? There definitely wouldn't be any shortage of good things on them. Tell me, what an enormous opportunity is that?"

"It truly is. But where does the trouble lie?"

Su Che decided he ought to play the straight man properly.

"The trouble lies in too many people knowing. In matters like tomb raiding and treasure snatching, every fewer person who knows means one more measure of chance to get it. Once the whole world is clamoring about it and the imperial court is alerted, it's like a little fox wanting to steal chickens, only for every snake and weasel to set out together. They alarm the owner, and by the time the owner reacts, the chickens scatter and the eggs break—no one gets anything in hand."

"Your analogy is quite spirited."

Su Che sincerely praised her. She clearly had life experience, and he added plenty more cold water for the little fox.

Though this matter was still some distance from becoming known throughout the world, it had indeed alerted the imperial court.

"As far as I know, the imperial court should already have caught wind of it."

"When I came to the Central Land, the elders of my Household told me to beware the Embroidered Riders and the Nightwatch Bureau. From what I saw today, they truly are formidable. They actually reacted so quickly."

You are quite right. I, too, made a tiny contribution.

That person had once said that members of the association either bore deep blood feuds or brimmed with ambition. Yet this little fox before him looked entirely free of ulterior motives.

Why had Zhongyuan gathered such a group of people? What was his purpose?

"Miss Qing." Su Che looked at Qingqiu. "I have a proposal. I hope Miss Qing will consider it."

"You're speaking so politely. Is there something you want to ask of me?"

"I wouldn't dare ask anything excessive of Miss Qing. I merely have a small proposal."

"What proposal? Let's hear it."

Sister-in-law from the Qi Household looked listless and unmotivated.

"To speak frankly, the Mount Zhong Association is full of shifting clouds and treacherous currents. I imagine you have sensed that as well."

Qingqiu looked at Su Che suspiciously, unable to guess what he was after.

"I believe Miss Qing and I could cooperate."

"Why? You're so weak. Cooperating with you would just mean adding dead weight to myself. No."

Qingqiu rejected Su Che with utter decisiveness.

This little fox spoke so directly. Su Che felt somewhat wounded.

"Precisely because I am the weakest, I am the most sincere." Su Che looked at Qingqiu. "Miss Qing, if Wuzhiqi said he wanted to cooperate with you, would you dare trust him?"

"I refuse. When all is said and done, the benefit you can offer is merely wanting to become partners in wickedness with me." Qingqiu shook her head. ""

Partners in wickedness? Your command of idioms is about on par with Colonel Nojiri's.

"Speaking of which, there is something I find very interesting. I wonder whether Miss Qing would be interested in hearing it."

"Go on, then."

"Don't you think the Mount Zhong Association's structure makes it very easy for problems to arise?"

Qingqiu furrowed her brow tightly.

"By Miss Qing's account, your contact with me could be said to have resulted from that person's guidance."

"May I presumptuously ask: what opportunity led you to join the Mount Zhong Association?"

Qingqiu looked at Su Che. "Me? I met Zhongyuan in the Eastern Sea."

Good. He had caught one piece of information: Zhongyuan would actively travel the world in search of people worth cultivating.

Moreover, Zhongyuan must be highly skilled in some kind of transportation divine ability, or possess a magical artifact for it.

Divine abilities or magical artifacts capable of transportation on that level ought to be extremely rare. If he could make a list of people with similar capabilities, then identify those who liked to wander without fixed abode, perhaps he could pin down Zhongyuan's true identity.

But the chances were probably slim. So long as Zhongyuan was ancient enough and did not appear on any list known to others, it would still be difficult to determine who he was.

"So a line forms between everyone. If someone keeps investigating me, they may have a chance to follow the vine and find Miss Qing, then confirm the existence of the Mount Zhong Association and Zhongyuan. At least in Great Liang, whether the Censorate, the Embroidered Riders, or the Nightwatch Bureau, all of them might notice the problem here."

Su Che continued, "And don't you find it strange? By Zhongyuan's account, we either carry deep blood feuds or possess some sort of ambition. Such people always become the focus of every faction's attention. Doesn't seeking out people like us greatly increase the danger of the Mount Zhong Association being exposed?"

"So I have a feeling that perhaps we are merely bait."