Chapter 401: Agu, Three Strikes and You’re Out
Dark clouds like ink covered a hundred li of mountains.
Countless electric sparks, like purple snakes, stirred up waves of wind between heaven and earth.
Roaring…
On a ten-thousand-zhang precipice, riddled with holes like an ant nest, stood a seven-sided watchtower, like a needle anchoring the mountain, at the summit of the peak.
Gu Mingxin, clad in a wide black robe, was currently ascending a stone staircase that had cliffs on both sides, heading towards the watchtower at the very top.
The left sleeve of her robe was empty and swayed slightly with the rise and fall of her body as she walked. Her left arm was slung around her neck with a black leather strap, and half of her face was wrapped in brown, bloodstained bandages.
“…”
After leaving Jiang Mojiao, she had sought out fellow demonic cultivators, wanting to find a safe place to recuperate and then return to the Eastern Domain as soon as possible to report the matters in the Northern Region to the elders.
However, little did she know that Ye Anping had already revealed the locations of almost all the demonic cultivators within the Hantian Kingdom to the Hantian Kingdom.
Led by the Grand Tutor of Hantian Kingdom and three cultivators in the Deity Transformation stage, along with nearly seventeen Nascent Soul cultivators from the Snow-clothed Guard, and hundreds of Core Formation and Foundation Establishment cultivators, they had set up an inescapable net for them.
Originally, the six demonic sects had only sent disciples in the Core Formation and Foundation Establishment stages to the Northern Region. If their locations hadn’t been exposed, they could have worn down Hantian Kingdom through guerrilla tactics, like a cunning rabbit with three burrows. But once their locations were exposed, they were like fish on a chopping block, left to be slaughtered by the Snow-clothed Guard.
While escaping the Northern Region, she had encountered one of Hantian Kingdom’s Deity Transformation cultivators.
It was sheer luck that she ran into several other Core Formation demonic cultivators during her escape.
Those individuals helped distract the Deity Transformation cultivator and most of the pursuing Snow-clothed Guards.
Otherwise, she would likely have been separated from her Ye Anping forever.
Her current injuries were almost entirely sustained during her escape from the Northern Region.
Whoosh whoosh…
The biting cold wind from outside the mountains blew past Gu Mingxin’s frost-like cheeks, rustling the black hair by her ears.
As if sensing something, Gu Mingxin suddenly stopped climbing the stairs. She slowly raised her face, which had been looking down at the ground, and gazed towards the turn in the path ahead—
At the bend of the mountain path stood a hexagonal pavilion leaning against the cliff. A man dressed in the black sect uniform of the Tian Mo Sect was sitting on a stone bench inside the pavilion.
The man appeared to be a mortal youth in his early twenties, with a well-proportioned build. He had purple eyeshadow painted below his eyebrows, giving him a somewhat feminine aura.
—He Ji Ming, the youngest son of the Grand Elder of the Tian Mo Sect. Like Gu Mingxin, his cultivation was at the Mid Core Formation stage, but he was nearly forty years older than her.
Sensing Gu Mingxin’s arrival, He Ji Ming reached out, picked up a wine pot from the stone table, and filled an empty wine cup with a bloody liquid. He held it out:
“Junior Sister Gu, your trip to the Northern Region must have been arduous. That place is freezing. Senior Brother heard you returned, so I specially prepared century-old spirit deer blood, squeezed this morning, to warm you up. How about a cup?”
Gu Mingxin’s expression was unreadable. Without a word, she glanced at him and continued towards the summit.
However, just as she walked past the pavilion, He Ji Ming suddenly stood up and instantly appeared behind her, clasping her shoulder:
“Hey? Junior Sister Gu, in such a hurry?”
Gu Mingxin turned her head to look at his face. A hint of killing intent flickered in her crimson eyes:
“…”
“Alright, alright, Junior Sister, don’t get angry. It’s not good for your recovery.” He Ji Ming conceded, quickly stepping back two paces with the cup of deer blood: “It’s just that… Senior Brother has heard a bit about the affairs in the Northern Region…”
Gu Mingxin remained silent: “…”
“I heard someone exposed their identity, provoked their enemies, and caused a lot of trouble. The bounties in the Northern Region’s black market were plastered everywhere, and finally, Hantian Kingdom followed the clues and wiped out all the disciples sent to the Northern Region by the six demonic sects.”
“What do you want to say?”
“Hey~ It’s not that Senior Brother wants to say it, but the sect is already buzzing with it.” He Ji Ming said with a smile, “They say Junior Sister Gu secretly accepted bribes from Hantian Kingdom and deliberately exposed the information…”
“…”
At this point, He Ji Ming paused for two breaths, raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, and asked,
“Hey? Junior Sister Gu, aren’t you going to refute that?”
“I don’t care.”
“Junior Sister Gu is truly solitary. As a direct disciple of ‘Yu Yan,’ you don’t feast on immortal meat, nor do you keep male consorts. Aside from the Tian Mo Heart Sutra, your life is like that of an immortal cultivator. Junior Sister might not care what others say, but I wonder if the Sect Master cares if his direct disciple is a running dog…”
Hearing this, Gu Mingxin closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and interrupted:
“If Master believes I am guilty, I will accept my punishment. I don’t need a good-for-nothing bum like you to babble beside me.”
“Hoh… Junior Sister, you…”
Gu Mingxin didn’t give him a chance to speak and interrupted with narrowed eyes:
“Don’t forget. Five years ago, when you, a Mid Foundation Establishment cultivator, fought desperately with me, a Mid Core Formation cultivator, and then knelt on the ground begging me not to kill you, all the disciples of the Tian Mo Sect witnessed it. Also, don’t forget how Grand Elder He pleaded for you before the Sect Master back then.”
“…”
“…”
Silence—
A brief silence.
And then…
Roaring—
From the dark ink-colored clouds above, a purple lightning bolt illuminated the entire mountain.
Almost instantly, He Ji Ming drew his spirit sword from his storage bag. But as he gripped his sword, the tip of a blood-colored spirit sword was already pressed against his slightly parted lips, touching his tongue.
He Ji Ming’s eyes widened. He looked at Gu Mingxin, whose left hand was hanging on her chest, and saw that she had instantly thrust the spirit sword into his mouth. His eyes were filled with disbelief.
—She was so heavily injured, how could she…
Gu Mingxin’s face remained impassive, her gaze indifferent, as if she were looking at a wild dog baring its teeth at her. The blood-colored spirit sword in her right palm was as steady as a mountain, not even trembling slightly.
“Disciples of the Tian Mo Sect speak with swords, not with their mouths.”
The words fell.
Swish—
“Agh—!”
The blade cut across He Ji Ming’s left cheek.
Half of his tongue, along with a spurt of blood and the wine cup filled with deer blood, flew out in the direction of the sword’s cut, plummeting into the ten-thousand-zhang abyss from the side of the mountain path.
He Ji Ming stumbled back two steps, clutching his torn left cheek and glaring at Gu Mingxin like a hungry wolf.
However, Gu Mingxin calmly flicked the blood from the sword, retracted it into her soul realm, and turned to continue up the stone steps towards the summit:
“My matters are for my Master to decide. Although Master can admonish me, you cannot.”
“…”
Her voice gradually faded into the wind. Gu Mingxin’s retreating figure disappeared around the corner ahead.
Drips of blood fell from the gaps between He Ji Ming’s hands and face, leaving dark spots on his python-skin boots.
He Ji Ming stood in place for a long time until a “buzzing” sound reached his ears.
A red-haired old man in black robes, riding a sword, ascended from the ten-thousand-zhang abyss below the path, carrying a fresh tongue, and appeared before He Ji Ming.
Although the red-haired old man’s expression was calm, his voice was filled with anger:
“Unfilial son, kneel before me!!”
“Ah…” He Ji Ming was so scared that his knees buckled, and he immediately knelt. Cupping his hands and lowering his head, he pointed in the direction Gu Mingxin had left: “Waaah waah waah waah…”
“Look at you!”
The red-haired old man reached out his hand like a claw, directly grabbing He Ji Ming and lifting him, clutching his neck. With an angry glare, he then grabbed He Ji Ming’s tongue and shoved it back into his mouth before letting him drop to his feet.
“Get home, and stop embarrassing yourself here!”
“Waa… Yes—”
Though He Ji Ming was unwilling, he dared not say anything more. He cupped his hands in farewell and then transformed into a red light, flying towards one of the Tian Mo Sect’s mountain peaks.
The red-haired old man let out a deep sigh, then glanced up at the Tian Mo Hall above before following Gu Mingxin’s footsteps.
…
————
On the plaza in front of the seven-sided watchtower, several Tian Mo Sect disciples wearing black masks and holding identical standard iron spears stood like statues on either side of a carpet.
Gu Mingxin nodded slightly, saying:
“Disciple Gu Mingxin, pays respects to Master!!!”
Only then did she step onto the blood-red carpet and head towards the double doors of the watchtower.
Actually, after hearing He Ji Ming’s words, although Gu Mingxin appeared outwardly calm, she was inwardly quite apprehensive.
A few years ago, after returning from the Imperial Sect, her master hadn’t said anything to her, and after listening to her explanation, he had immediately begun investigating for spies within the Tian Mo Sect.
But this was the second time…
She would likely not escape a severe scolding, and if anyone else added fuel to the fire, her master might fly into a rage and kill her.
To be honest, Gu Mingxin had really wanted to hack He Ji Ming to vent her frustration just now.
But Xue E had transmitted a message to her when she was about to act:
“Why not ask Elder He Buqun below? Mingxin, don’t act impulsively. Besides, you’ve made a mistake. Go up and see your father’s attitude first. If your father’s attitude is still good, then it won’t be too late to cut him to vent your anger.”
Therefore, she had only cut off He Ji Ming’s tongue.
If she made another mistake now, she would truly be doomed…
—Father is very terrifying. He’s the kind of person whose calmest words are the most frightening.
Gu Mingxin feared nothing, except her adoptive father.
Although the blood-red carpet in front of the Tian Mo Hall was only about thirty zhang long, the closer Gu Mingxin got to the hall doors, the slower time seemed to pass.
These short thirty zhang felt as if she had walked for dozens of li. By the time she reached the hall doors, she was already exhausted in body and mind.
Boom boom—
Roaring—
The heavy hall doors, weighing thousands of pounds, slowly opened to both sides, revealing a middle-aged man with half his face covered by a white mask. The shadow of the door split his face in two.
—Gu Yan, Sect Master of the Tian Mo Sect, Void Returning stage, posthumous title: Prison Yama Exalted.
Gu Mingxin quickly knelt on one knee, lowered her head to look at her heels, baring the back of her neck to Gu Yan:
“Disciple Mingxin, pays respects to Master.”
“Hmm…”
Gu Yan strode across the threshold, gently patting Gu Mingxin’s shoulder. Their figures instantly twisted and then shrank into a single point, disappearing before the hall.
Gu Mingxin felt a wave of dizziness, as if she had just woken from a sleep. When she opened her eyes, she was already in a blessed paradise.
“Speak. About the matters in the Northern Region.”
“Yes…” Gu Mingxin came back to her senses, looked at Gu Yan, who was already seated on a stone chair, nodded, and replied, “Disciple went to the Northern Region with Junior Brother Wu and Sister Lu. Unexpectedly, I was suddenly issued a high-value bounty and was pursued all the way…”
“Hmm.”
“Later, I received the Demon Summoning Order from the Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect and rushed over. As a result, I was surrounded by the Snow-clothed Guard of Tianfeng Immortal City, and I encountered those Xuan Xing Sect disciples that I met in the Central Domain last time.”
“Hmm…”
“One of them, named Yu Die, has the bloodline of the Saint Emperor.”
“Dead?”
“No… No.” Gu Mingxin’s eyes darted away. “Disciple couldn’t kill her. Primarily, there was another person… that person was backing her up…”
Gu Yan’s brows furrowed slightly, and he cut to the chase:
“Mingxin, third time’s the charm.”
“Yes… But please, Master, let your disciple finish speaking.”
“… …”
“The Liang Xiaoliu I mentioned last time, her real name is Ye Anping. Disciple inquired after returning and it seems she is the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect. She seems to have an inside contact within the demonic sects. It was she who informed Hantian Kingdom of my and other fellow Daoists’ locations in this Northern Region incident.”
Gu Yan listened, his brows furrowing slightly: “Ye Anping? Hundred Lotus Sect?”
“Yes…” Gu Mingxin took a deep breath and mustered her courage, saying, “Master, could you lend me some disciples? Disciple wants to detour through the Southern Domain to the Western Regions and go to the Hundred Lotus Sect to find…”
Gu Yan glanced at the map of the Western Regions hanging in the corner of the room, his gaze immediately landing on the “Hundred Lotus Sect” three characters, as small as ants, next to the three large characters “Xuan Xing Sect.”
Then he cut her off directly: “An excuse?”
“No… Master, that person truly is…”
“How many people do you want to borrow?”
“Disciple inquired, and the Sect Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect is only at the Mid Core Formation cultivation. If I could borrow three Nascent Soul elders…”
“So, you want to give Elder Dan Yue three Nascent Soul elders of the Tian Mo Sect as a token of loyalty?”
Gu Mingxin’s eyes widened at this. She quickly knelt again, nodded, and urgently explained:
“Ah… Disciple has absolutely no intention of betraying Master.”
“Then tell me, how do you plan to escort three Nascent Soul demonic cultivators into the Western Regions? Lei Wanjun and Feng Du control the Eastern and Western frontiers of the Western Regions. As soon as you step into the Western Regions, the Xuan Xing Sect will know immediately. Moreover, do you think Elder Dan Yue’s Star Divination Art is merely a formality?”
“… …”
Gu Mingxin was speechless.
In fact, on her way back, she had asked Xue E to help her investigate Elder Dan Yue.
According to the Tian Mo Book Scroll, as long as Elder Dan Yue was in the position of the Xuan Xing Sect, which was like a “star eye,” everything within the territory of the Western Regions would be laid out before her like a chessboard.
She could survey the entire situation from the perspective of a chess player, knowing everyone’s movements through her Star Divination Art.
All schemes would be known the moment they were laid, and even overt strategies would be detected and thwarted early on.
The writings in this book almost seemed to boast of Elder Dan Yue’s “invincibility.”
However, Gu Mingxin had never witnessed the Star Divination Art herself.
She didn’t believe that the “Star Divination Art” had no flaws; there was no perfectly flawless cultivation method in this world.
Xue E said that Elder Dan Yue’s Star Divination Art was only effective within the Western Regions, and she couldn’t calculate as accurately outside the Western Regions. This was a weakness.
But if this was the only weakness, then there was still no way to deal with it.
Therefore, Gu Mingxin believed that Elder Dan Yue must have something she feared and was wary of, which she had hidden very well, and no one had ever known about it. That was why the owner of the Tian Mo Book Scroll hadn’t recorded it.
“Disciple believes Elder Dan Yue’s Star Divination Art is by no means flawless. It must have…”
“Tell me?”
“This… Disciple… Disciple doesn’t know yet.”
Gu Yan narrowed his eyes and questioned:
“Mingxin, what do you think your Master has been searching for over the past thousand years?”
“… The flaw in her Star Divination Art?”
“Heh…” Gu Yan chuckled with a twitch of his lips. “That old woman stays in the Xuan Xing Sect all day and doesn’t come out. She performs Star Divination every day, so how could she expose any flaws? The Star Divination Art can reveal heavenly secrets, but that old woman is far from having the cultivation to peek into heavenly secrets. What I’m searching for is the Tian Mo Book Scroll.”
“… …”
Gu Mingxin had been by her Master’s side, but this was the first time she had heard this.
When she was young, Xue E had constantly told her not to tell anyone about the Tian Mo Book Scroll and her existence, including Gu Yan. Because before being adopted by Gu Yan, she and Xue E had depended on each other, so she had always listened to Xue E and hadn’t said anything.
At this moment, Xue E, within Gu Mingxin’s soul realm, once again transmitted a message:
“Mingxin, I’ll warn you again, absolutely don’t say anything!”
Gu Mingxin pretended to ponder for a moment, then asked with a slight hint of confusion, in a low voice:
“Tian… Mo Book Scroll…?”
“… …”
“… Master, what is recorded in the Tian Mo Book Scroll?”
Gu Yan looked at Gu Mingxin’s confused expression, his eyes narrowing as he replied:
“It is said that the Tian Mo Book Scroll records everything in the world. It should also record those things that old woman doesn’t want people to know, such as what the Star Divination Art fears…”
Gu Mingxin recalled what the Tian Mo Book Scroll had written about Elder Dan Yue…
—”Sun Gray Calendar Year 10293, Fairy Dan Yue of the Xuan Xing Sect spat out the old moon and created a new one.”
—”Sun Gray Calendar Year 10312, Elder Dan Yue secretly went and blew up the Tai Bai Dragon’s Lair in the Southern Region, soaking the accumulated dragon dung of a thousand years into the Tai Bai River, flooding Tai Bai Mountain with excrement. The entire Tai Bai Sect had to relocate to Mount Nan Yue, three hundred li away, for a temporary stay. Patriarch Yuan, the Sect Master of the Tai Bai Sect, offered a million spirit stones as a reward in the Four Domains to capture the person who blew up the dragon’s lair.”
—”Immortal Calendar Year 12, the Sect Master of the Wunian Sect gave Elder Dan Yue a celestial robe that didn’t fit as a birthday gift. Elder Dan Yue, in return, gifted those bald asses five hundred mountain boars. The Sect Master of the Wunian Sect, Taishang Wusun, had his disciples bury each boar outside the sect in a bone tomb and even erected a stele for each boar…”
—”Immortal Calendar Year 49, the Tai Bai Sect moved back to Mount Tai Bai. The dragon dung was cleaned up, but the reward was still posted. I’m a bit tempted to report it and claim the reward. But I am a demonic cultivator, so I cannot.”
—”Immortal Calendar Year 271, encountered a woman in the Southern Border of the Central Domain. She looked about twenty years old. She glanced at me, and I immediately had a bad feeling and ran. Thinking back later, it might have been Elder Dan Yue of the Xuan Xing Sect.”
—”Immortal Calendar Year 523, correction! Elder Dan Yue should be an old woman who looks about sixty years old, quite short, with white eyes, possibly suffering from an eye ailment.”
…
There wasn’t even a definitive answer as to what she looked like, only a lot of messy gossip…
Although some of it was indeed “unknown to the public”…
Gu Mingxin remained silent for a moment and then asked,
“How can one find the Tian Mo Book Scroll?”
Gu Yan stared into her eyes and slowed his speech, asking,
“Mingxin, don’t you know?”
“This is the first time Master has mentioned it to me…”
“… …”
Gu Yan stared at Gu Mingxin, remaining silent for a long time.
For a moment, the entire room was so quiet that it felt as if time had stopped. Gu Mingxin’s heartbeat quickened with the passage of time and the pressure of his gaze.
Thump thump… Thump thump…
What would happen if she told Master? Master had always taught me meticulously since I was young. Although he is an adoptive father, he is more like flesh and blood. But Xue E…
Xue E’s voice echoed from her soul realm again:
“Mingxin, don’t think about it! Listen to me, we are of one life and one destiny. No matter who harms you, I will not harm you. I’ll tell you a story: Once upon a time, there was a mountain, and on the mountain, there was a monk…”
Although this ethereal girl’s voice was speaking nonsense, at this moment, it greatly distracted Gu Mingxin’s attention, calming her mind.
“Master?”
Gu Yan closed his eyes slightly, then waved his sleeve. The room was instantly filled with a dark, swirling wind. When the black wind dispersed, the figure of the red-haired old man appeared beside Gu Mingxin.
Looking at the red-haired old man, Gu Yan narrowed his eyes:
“He Buqun… What is it?”
“Disciple greets Exalted One.”
He Buqun cupped his hands in greeting, glared fiercely at Gu Mingxin beside him, and then gravely replied:
“Rumors are spreading within the sect that Young Master Gu colluded with immortal cultivators, which is why the Northern Region incident ended in partial failure. Therefore, I thought, since Elder Gui Lao is leading the Ghost Spirit Sect to attack Donghuang City, why not let this disciple accompany Young Master Gu to assist, allowing her to atone for her mistakes and clear her name? What do you think of this suggestion, Exalted One?”
Hearing this, Gu Mingxin gritted her teeth and couldn’t help but glare back.
This sly old fox, his proposal, which seemed to be helping her clear her name, was actually Gu Mingxin’s premonition that if she went to Donghuang with him, not only would her name not be cleared, but it would be further tarnished.
Back then, when she had beaten He Ji Ming so badly that he couldn’t find his way, her father had hated her to the bone. On one hand, he was disappointed in her lack of progress, and on the other, he felt she had not given him an opportunity to step down.
Gu Mingxin quickly spoke, saying,
“Master, disciple thinks that it’s not…”
But Gu Yan interrupted her with a raised hand, his eyes narrowing as he questioned:
“He Buqun… The grievances between juniors, why are you, an old man, interfering? I saw what happened on the mountainside just now. If the person whose tongue was cut off was Mingxin, I wouldn’t have defended her either. I watched you fight your way from a Foundation Establishment cultivator to your current position as Grand Elder. What? Have you forgotten the rules of the Tian Mo Sect?!”
“Disciple dares not! Disciple is merely considering the reputation of Young Master Gu and the Exalted One…”
“Heh…” Gu Yan sneered. “Mingxin, third time’s the charm.”
“Yes.”
Gu Yan rubbed his fingers, pondered for a moment, and said,
“Mingxin, let Fu Yatou from the Prison Hall accompany you to Donghuang.”
Gu Mingxin breathed a sigh of relief, cupped her hands, and said,
“… Disciple understands.”
He Buqun, standing by, had nothing more to say. He cupped his hands and said,
“Then this disciple takes his leave!”
After receiving Gu Yan’s nod, He Buqun’s figure turned into a red light and disappeared.
Gu Mingxin pondered for a moment, then cupped her hands again and said,
“Master, regarding the matter of ‘Ye Anping’ that your disciple mentioned earlier, I fear she has inside contacts within the other five sects…”
“Hmm, I believe you.” Gu Yan nodded. “I will relay this matter to the other sects… Is there anything else to say?”
“No more, disciple takes her leave.”
“Hmm…”
…
