[Lan Yue: The Second Elder even made a spirit artifact himself in his early years, called the Stench Spirit-Draining Banner. Supposedly, once unleashed, its stench could spread for a hundred miles, even draining all the spiritual energy within that area.]
[Lan Yue: Apparently, he once used this banner to knock a Demon General and a whole group of demon soldiers unconscious with the stink alone. The sky darkened and the stench rose to the heavens, yet the Second Elder remained utterly unmoved in the middle of it all. So this is what talent looks like?]
"Second Elder, when those demon soldiers and generals invaded the wilds, you cleared all the mortals and cultivators out of an area hundreds of miles wide during the Wilds War. Was this banner how you did it?" The Spirit Artifact Hall Master suddenly remembered the incident and could not resist asking through a voice transmission.
The Second Elder: "..."
What else could he say? Admit that it had happened? Then, just like the fifth elder, he could kiss his dignity goodbye.
If only he had known not to provoke Lan Yue. Perhaps he could have preserved his lifetime of glorious renown.
"Ahem, although this stench banner doesn't have the most pleasant name, it is indeed very useful. It's a rare spirit artifact." The Second Elder could only offer that explanation.
In truth, the little figure inside his heart was already streaming tears.
The wind howled, South Spirit was cold; perhaps he would leave one day and never return!
[Lan Yue: Still, there seems to be a reason behind all of this. The Second Elder was actually cursed in his early years!]
The Second Elder, who had just been planning to flee, froze. He had been cursed?
When had that happened? Why didn't he know about it?
Beside him, Yuan Su instinctively extended his spiritual sense, quietly circling it around the Second Elder, but he found nothing.
Yuan Su: Second Elder, do you remember who cursed you?
The Second Elder looked utterly bewildered at the voice transmission. He had not even known he was cursed, so how could he remember who had done it?
Yuan Su: A secret art involving a curse like this should come from the Western Region. It's a long way from here. They specialize in gu poison, as well as mysterious cursing arts.
The Second Elder knitted his brows tightly. He had met very few cultivators from the Western Region. The only one he regularly kept in touch with was the female cultivator he had met in those ruins back then.
Deep down, however, he was unwilling to believe she had cursed him. After all, he had once saved her life.
But thinking it over carefully, his condition seemed to have begun after he met her...
At that thought, the Second Elder's heart clenched even harder.
[Lan Yue: So that's what happened. This curse was actually a Chain Curse, so an expert covered it with other curses, trying to make them cancel each other out in pairs. They just accidentally left behind some side effects.]
Behind her, the Second Elder breathed a sigh of relief. He had been overthinking things. That cultivator had not secretly harmed him; she had saved him instead.
It was just that these side effects were rather hard to put into words...
[Lan Yue: Though the curses canceled each other out, how could they possibly be eliminated completely? If this remains unresolved, it will probably flare up again under certain conditions. When that happens, the Second Elder might turn into a monster, neither human nor ghost.
After all, this curse was planted in the Second Elder when he was first born. Hundreds of years have passed, and it has already grown into a force to be reckoned with.
No wonder the Second Elder never appeared when the Southern Spirit Sect went to reinforce the Southern Region Battlefield in the original novel. He probably wasn't guarding the Southern Spirit Sect at all. His curse must have acted up again.
These side effects are actually pretty easy to fix. All he needs is rootless powder, and the medicine will cure him straight away! To make rootless powder, you need to grind rootless fruit and starlight flowers into powder. Rootless powder comes from the Northern Region, and there's a chance of finding this rootless spirit herb growing in the Endless Desert there.
It's so far away. I can't get there! Sigh, how about...
Huh, Spirit Moon Peak actually has some! One of these days, I'll sneak into Master's back garden, dig one up, and mix it into a tea packet to send to the Second Elder.]
The Second Elder, who was pursuing her: "..."
What a wonderfully filial disciple you are!
He had to admit that he was rather touched. It was truly rare for this girl to think of him and try to resolve his curse!
So this curse was planted in me when I was an infant? No wonder it's so persistent. Even the Grand Elder failed to discover it.
Fortunately, someone had secretly intervened, and Lan Yue had provided a solution as well.
Otherwise...
The Second Elder could not even imagine the consequences.
If only this girl gossiped a little less. Now she had him trembling with fear whenever he went out.
Fortunately, there were not many people on Spirit Moon Peak, so more disciples would not hear Lan Yue's thoughts. Otherwise, his reputation would be beyond saving.
Before he could finish letting out that breath, however, he spotted several furtive disciples in the forest behind Lan Yue, perched on branches with leaves held up in front of them, staring curiously in their direction.
It's fine, it's fine. It's only a few disciples.
The smile had not yet faded from the Second Elder's face when he noticed quite a few fresh mounds of earth on the forest floor. Several heads poked out again, clods of dirt balanced on top.
?????
Not only that, quite a few people were lying in the nearby stream. Had the Second Elder's cultivation not been high, and had he not been exceptionally sensitive to auras, he might not have detected them at all.
Does every last one of them have this much free time? I thought Spirit Moon Peak was so quiet because they had realized the importance of cultivation and gone off to meditate diligently. Who knew they were simply outdoing one another at hiding?
Surely they can't be hiding right under my feet, too?
He had only just stamped his foot when a cry came from below. A pair of eyes opened in the mound beneath him, clearly frightened badly at the sight of him, then vanished with a whoosh.
The Second Elder: "..."
Deep breaths, deep breaths. I must not get angry!
"Second Elder, rootless powder is easy to obtain. Elder Guangji has some. But starlight flowers aren't ordinary materials. Generally, this kind of spirit herb only appears in ruins, and newly discovered ruins at that." The Spirit Artifact Hall Master quietly sent him a voice transmission.
Generally, the places their disciples visited for training had ruins or secret realms. Both ruins and secret realms were divided into grades, and high-grade materials like starlight flowers mostly appeared in high-grade ruins.
"There's no other choice. High-grade ruins haven't appeared in the Southern Region for a long time. I can only ask around at the Southern Region Battlefield when the time comes. Perhaps someone has some in stock." The Second Elder was still quite concerned about the curse on him.
Moreover, he truly could not imagine why someone from the Western Region would have cursed him.
The Western Region and the Southern Region faced each other across the endless sea. With no direct Teleportation Array connecting them, cultivators from there rarely came over.
While the Second Elder racked his brains, the inner voice over there continued.
[Lan Yue: Wow, the Second Elder doesn't seem to be chasing me much anymore. I've escaped another disaster! Where was I just now? Right, starlight flowers.
Starlight flowers are pretty easy to find, too. Won't Spirit-Denuded Island near the Southern Spirit Sect have some in half a month? In the original novel, this was exactly when the new ruins appeared on Spirit-Denuded Island.
But something went wrong in the original novel. Someone suppressed the news of the ruins appearing and even secretly wallowed in the same mire as the Greenstone Sect. The Southern Spirit Sect only discovered this three years later. By then, most of the precious spirit herbs had already been harvested, and someone else had even obtained an inheritance there. It was quite a shame, really.]
The elders and disciples behind her: "!!!!!"
New ruins were actually going to appear near their Southern Spirit Sect! A place could generally only be called ruins if it had been the residence of a mighty cultivator at Spirit Transformation or above, or if it was a space of ruins left behind from ancient times.
Either way, the things inside would be extremely precious!
And these ruins would appear on Spirit-Denuded Island, which lay within their sphere of influence and was so close by. Those ruins would be the sect's wealth!
No other sect would have any grounds to challenge their claim!
Yet someone had actually concealed these ruins in secret. Everyone was practically ready to explode with rage.
Who was it? Who exactly was it?
The Greenstone Sect, was it? They would remember this!
Before you continue