Author's note:
Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!
Chapter 12: A Night Visit to the Ancestral Hall
Though he said that, his eyes already held certainty. After meeting his gaze, Wu Fei lowered his eyes, a dark gleam flashing through them before they returned to calm. "Don't you already have an answer in mind, Devil Venerable?"
Sure enough, the protagonist wasn't so easy to keep things from...
Having all but confirmed the answer from Wu Fei's words, Yin Fan raised a hand and rested it on the hand turning the prayer beads. He smiled. "Next time, you needn't take off those prayer beads, Buddha's Disciple. If you're worried about me, you can simply say so."
Wu Fei's expression remained unchanged. "It was late and quiet. I merely feared disturbing the elders of the Buddha Spirit Sect."
Then he asked, "I have yet to ask, what brings you to the vicinity of the Buddha Spirit Sect, Devil Venerable?"
The Buddha Spirit Sect was remote to begin with. Yin Fan must have come for that figure shrouded in gray mist. Just what was that gray mist...?
Yin Fan sat down beside him, his burning gaze fixed on Wu Fei. "To deal with a traitor."
In truth, he had come for Wu Fei all along. Dealing with the traitor was merely something to do along the way. He hadn't expected there to be something quite strange about that traitor.
Wu Fei had grown used to being stared at. At the word "traitor," he recalled Meiji from last time and asked, "Devil Venerable Mingyu again?"
That was almost certainly the case. Before Yin Fan appeared out of nowhere, Devil Venerable Mingyu had long coveted the Northern Region and spent ages laying his plans. Who could have expected Yin Fan to turn up midway, kill the Northern Region's Devil Venerable, and take his place?
Although the protagonist had seized the Northern Region, it was only for
revenge.
He knew that quite a few Devil Cultivators under his command were spies for other Devil Venerables, but as long as those spies didn't flaunt themselves in his face, he turned a blind eye.
"Again? It seems you know a great deal about my affairs, Buddha's Disciple." Yin Fan raised an eyebrow at that, then continued, "Correct. It is indeed Devil Venerable Mingyu. He had someone steal something from me."
The item wasn't particularly important, but his subordinates had reported that the traitor was fleeing toward the vicinity of the Buddha Spirit Sect...
The room fell silent. Wu Fei carefully recalled the book's contents, yet he had no recollection whatsoever of this part of the plot or that gray mist.
Since Yin Fan already knew he had fired the golden arrow, Wu Fei asked directly, "Do you know what that gray mist is, Devil Venerable?"
Yin Fan frowned slightly as well. "I've never seen it before."
The aura of the figure who had fled the little mountain village was only at the Nascent Soul Realm, yet he had blocked Yin Fan's bonded spirit sword, until...
As Wu Fei pondered this, he suddenly felt a weight on his hand, followed by a faint, suggestive caress. His eyes narrowed slightly, then instantly returned to normal. Turning to Yin Fan, he asked mildly, "Could it be that you wish to taste the power of these prayer beads too, Devil Venerable?"
Yin Fan suddenly laughed, the delighted sound emerging from behind his mask. Only once he had laughed enough did he withdraw his hand.
Wu Fei's expression remained unchanged. "That gray mist repels the spiritual power within me."
Not merely repelling it-it was more like mortal enemies locked in a struggle to the death.
At that, Yin Fan recalled the moment the golden arrow had touched the gray mist, and his expression grew slightly grave. "Does it repel all Buddhist cultivators, or only you, Buddha's Disciple...?"
Raising a hand to his chest, Wu Fei lowered his eyes, a cold gleam flashing through them. Slowly, he said, "It likely repels the Exquisite Heart."
And the Silent Dust Pearl...
Wu Fei suddenly recalled the day he had returned from the Heavenly Sword Sect. He had asked his master about the origins of the Silent Dust Pearl, only for his master to look deeply guarded.
It had seemed as though he knew something but could not mention it for some reason. The last time Wu Fei had seen that expression on his master's face was when he had first transmigrated here and asked about this body's origins...
With neither father nor mother, an Innate Exquisite Heart who had embarked on Buddhist cultivation from birth—he might very well have an unusual background as well.
At the thought, Wu Fei couldn't help feeling a little interested.
The following day, someone reported that a little mountain village within the Buddha Spirit Sect's territory had suffered a massacre by a Devil Cultivator. However, that Devil Cultivator had killed only a few people before another group of Devil Cultivators arrived, killed him, and took him away.
The sect leader was about to assign someone to investigate when Wu Fei suddenly spoke up and accepted the task. Given Wu Fei's consistently dependable reputation, Jingguan naturally agreed and entrusted the matter to him.
The village was called Clear Heart Village, and all its inhabitants were ordinary people who had never cultivated. Remote as it was, they had previously lived peaceful, self-sufficient lives.
Wu Fei sent Kuzheng and the others to reassure the villagers while he walked around the village himself, finally stopping at Clear Heart Village's ancestral hall.
Most of the villagers' homes were earthen houses with thatched roofs, but this ancestral hall had blue bricks and red tiles. In particular, the plaque bearing the words "Ancestral Hall" was made from a rare spirit wood.
That was somewhat suspicious...
Perhaps because he had been looking for so long, the Devil Venerable concealed within the ink-black xiao suddenly slipped out, keeping all his Demonic Qi contained within his body so no one would notice.
"Is there something wrong with this ancestral hall?" He followed Wu Fei's gaze.
"There's nothing suspicious about its aura," Wu Fei said. "But that plaque is made from life-extinguishing wood."
Where life-extinguishing wood grew, not a blade of grass survived within half a li, hence its name.
An ancestral hall was a place to worship ancestors and seek their protection for their descendants, yet its plaque was made from life-extinguishing wood. Either the villagers didn't recognize the wood, or there was some other reason.
In theory, the former was more likely, but...
Wu Fei gazed at the ancestral hall before him, his voice deepening slightly. "Ever since I entered Clear Heart Village, my Exquisite Heart has felt quite uncomfortable."
Before coming here, Wu Fei had assumed that last night's discomfort was caused by the gray mist. Now it seemed that it wasn't just because of the gray mist, but also because of Clear Heart Village.
As they spoke, figures approached from a distance. Yin Fan stirred his Demonic Qi slightly and slipped back into the ink-black xiao.
Wu Fei raised a hand to brush his prayer beads, his expression softening slightly as he turned.
"Senior Brother." Kuzheng approached with the village chief, who sported a graying beard.
Wu Fei asked, "Is everything done?"
Kuzheng replied, "Yes. We've set up a spirit array around Clear Heart Village to ensure no more Devil Cultivators can break in."
Beside him, the village chief looked grateful. "Thank you for all your trouble, immortal masters."