"Big Brother!"
Jiang Yunlin's expression changed. His eyes bloodshot, he raised his sword and charged at Liu Bingyuan.
But how could Liu Bingyi let him succeed? A longsword barred his path, stopping him.
Jiang Yunlin's cultivation was already inferior to Liu Bingyi's, and now grief and fury overwhelmed him, throwing his moves into disarray. Liu Bingyuan caught up from behind and to the side, joining the attack. Unable to withstand them, Jiang Yunlin took several sword thrusts and died.
Liu Bingyuan took two panting breaths, kicked the two Jiang brothers' corpses, and spat. "Two dogs who didn't know when to quit. You thought you were worthy of taking my head for a reward?"
He turned to look at Jiang Che again, all trace of a smile gone from his face.
"You said Huo Shen was only one of the threats, and that there would still be danger outside the cave. That much was true. But if you claim to have come from the future, able to read peaks and mountain veins and foresee fortune and disaster, how did you fail to see that those two mongrels, Jiang Yunwei and Jiang Yunlin, would turn on us?"
Jiang Che opened his mouth to explain, but his vision blurred. Liu Bingyuan was already right in front of him, his sword darting forward and slicing across his throat.
Jiang Che fell, clutching his throat. Choking on his own blood, he could not get even half a sentence out and could only writhe on the ground.
"Jiang Zongcheng can detect lies. I thought he let you in because you actually had some ability." Liu Bingyuan's voice gradually receded from his ears. "Turns out you're just another useless fraud playing at being an oracle."
His vision went dark.
"Liu Bingyuan, you son of a bitch!"
When he opened his eyes again, Jiang Che looked at the familiar Pure White Space and cursed once more.
His Spiritual Body floated in midair, reduced to seventy percent of its original size.
Only after taking a couple of breaths to settle himself did his thoughts clear again.
He could now essentially confirm that the two men from the Jiang Household were probably not the "local" recorded in history.
Whether Jiang Che was there or not, they would turn on the others, but they were no match for the Liu Household.
Jiang Yunwei had clearly known about the treasure called the Copper-Flame Talisman Mirror all along. But even before this, Liu Bingyuan had been guarding against them, claiming it could only be used once. They thought that use had been spent killing Huo Shen, never expecting it could be used again. That was what had brought the Jiang brothers down.
Then was Liu Bingyi, the last survivor, the one who killed Liu Bingyuan?
It was possible, but not very likely.
The more likely candidate was Huo Shenqian, who had been killed first. After all, this rogue cultivator's death had resulted from Jiang Che's interference. In the actual course of history, he might have survived until they left the cave.
Still, while this information might prove crucial to clearing the instance in the future, it meant little to Jiang Che right now.
He finally understood: none of the people in this instance were any good. If he wanted to raise his rating to grade A, remaining an ordinary mortal simply would not do.
"Once I've built up my strength, I'll kill every last one of you!"
After venting his impotent fury with that curse, he brought his thoughts back to the present.
What mattered more was what he had gained from this journey through time.
The south-facing cave entrance... the long, narrow valley... the steep slope to the west... the stream...
He repeatedly traced the terrain around the cave entrance in his mind until he was certain he would never forget it.
Although the night had been too dark for him to see the entire landscape outside the cave, these details alone were enough for him to find the place on the real North Luan Mountain.
Aside from that, his reward for this instance had also arrived.
The scenes he had experienced flashed past frame by frame, finally freezing on his death.
[Grade C rating] [Reward: "Azure Heaven Wind Dew Embryonic Breath Method," middle eighth-grade cultivation method]
Jiang Che's eyes lit up!
A cultivation method!
That was what he needed most right now!
And he had not merely obtained a cultivation method. The instant he claimed the reward, he understood every secret of nurturing qi, Transforming Force, and circulating internal energy contained in this middle eighth-grade Embryonic Breath Method.
The so-called Embryonic Breath Period involved drawing in the scattered spiritual energy of the world through breathing, then passing it through the limbs and bones, internal organs, meridians, and acupoints to transform it into qi force.
Those in the Embryonic Breath Period could not directly control or use spiritual energy. That was the defining mark of the Qi Refining Period.
Yet inner force alone already gave Embryonic Breath Period cultivators strength far beyond that of ordinary people. Someone who had just entered Embryonic Breath could kill ten people single-handedly with the added power of that force. At greater depths of cultivation, they could also use inner force to activate magic artifacts or cast simple spells.
Now, he could also confirm that the wisp of [primordial origin first spirit] in his belly was indeed high-quality spiritual energy, also called spirit essence. It was entirely different from the scattered spiritual energy one encountered simply by breathing.
Slowly gathering the ordinary spiritual energy between heaven and earth was indeed the conventional way to cultivate. Through years of breathing exercises, small amounts accumulated into something greater. With the requisite root bone aptitude, a sudden moment of enlightenment could transform qi into force, marking one's entry into cultivation.
But having a wisp of already-concentrated, high-quality spirit essence that met the cultivation method's requirements would undoubtedly accelerate that entire process enormously.
He had an instinctive feeling that as soon as he practiced the method he now knew by heart, he could immediately transform the [primordial origin first spirit] into inner force and become an Embryonic Breath cultivator on the spot.
Unfortunately, he did not quite dare.
The name of this cultivation method...
Azurefall? How audacious!
This was Azure Mystic Sect territory!
The word alone might be harmless. He had never heard of the Azure Mystic Sect persecuting people over wording, either, but Jiang Che still felt he should exercise caution.
This was not a cultivation method he had heard of before, and his greatest concern was that it might be connected to the Sky Pillar Sect.
Could things produced by an instance be highly likely to have some connection to things already within that instance?
If that conjecture proved true, then he really could not practice this method.
In the real world, Heaven Pillar had been the loser. If he inexplicably practiced a Heaven Pillar cultivation method and became a remnant of a demonic sect, he would be utterly screwed.
"North Luan Mountain?"
Jiang Weichuan was sitting on a stone bollard at a street corner, unable to hide the exhaustion on his face.
There was no need to ask. Another half-day had passed without any results, so his impatience was hardly surprising.
"We searched that place on the very first day. There wasn't a single clue. Look, if you can't turn anything up, just come along and help us search properly."
"So we can all get our heads chopped off together when the time comes?"
"You!... Sigh..."
The words were unpleasant, but Jiang Weichuan actually had nothing to say in rebuttal.
He himself was pessimistic, too.
All this frantic work was simply them doing their utmost so that, if they really had to die, they could at least face it with clear consciences. They would have tried.
As for whether they could actually uncover anything... the patrol teams led by dozens of Outer Disciples had not found a single thing so far. Everyone had lost hope.
Never mind them-even Steward Du and the two managers, all Qi Refining cultivators, had failed to discover anything, hadn't they?
It seemed everyone was merely struggling while waiting to die.
But Jiang Che still disagreed. "North Luan Mountain has indeed been searched, but it's so vast. How thorough could that search have been? I checked some old records from earlier years and deduced that a group of Sky Pillar Sect Remnants fled toward North Luan Mountain back then. Could there be hidden caves or secret passages in the mountain that were never discovered or sealed? Since we can't find anything in the county, why not follow the lead I've found and give it another try?"
Everything Jiang Che said was true.
He had not forgotten something he heard Liu Bingyuan say during his third run through the instance: Jiang Zongcheng was a Qi Refining cultivator who could distinguish lies.
Whether that was a spell or an ability all Qi Refining cultivators possessed, it had put Jiang Che on his guard. What if Du Yongchang could detect lies too?
So, from now on, he should tell the truth whenever possible and avoid lying, lest something go wrong.
Jiang Che really had read the old records, really had deduced that North Luan Mountain contained secret passages, and really had found a connection to the Sky Pillar Sect. None of it was a lie.
The truth could be told cleverly, too. There was no need to spell out every last word in perfect clarity.
Before you continue