Ch65.2 - This Venerable One is…… the Saint Sovereign after all.

After taking care of this matter, Feng Ci let out a breath of relief and walked in front of Pei QianYue: “Still not getting up?”

With a smile, Pei QianYue held out a hand towards Feng Ci. 

The grand and majestic LangFeng City Master, actually, needed someone’s help to get up.

Feng Ci really couldn’t stand this person’s sticky enthusiasm to constantly seek a sense of presence in front of him. However, he didn’t say anything either and tugged Pei QianYue up with a smile.

“What do you plan to do next?” Feng Ci asked him.

Pei QianYue, however, asked in return: “What does Master plan to do?” 

“I plan to listen to your arrangements.” Feng Ci looked at him darkly: “You clearly knew of LingXiao Gates’ plan to rebel, yet you still chose the Heavenly Spirit Ruins as the location of the trial. Don’t think I’m unaware that you have other arrangements. Go ahead. Talk. What have you done?”

Although before Feng Ci went into secluded cultivation, he had repeatedly instructed Pei QianYue not to do anything extra, if Pei QianYue really didn’t do anything at all, then it wouldn’t be Pei QianYue.

Feng Ci huffed coldly: “From what I see, if I left secluded cultivation a few days later, the seclusion would have been completely in vain.”

By that time, Pei QianYue might have already hogtied his physical body and delivered it to the entrance of the cavern of his secluded cultivation.

Pei QianYue only gave a faint smile. He didn’t refute it or explain anything.

Holding Feng Ci’s hand, he said: “Come with me.”

Lin ChangAn followed Feng Ci’s instructions and tied the other people. When he looked up, this scene instantly entered his sight. He hastily turned his head stiffly away.

Pei QianYue ignored the others and guided Feng Ci towards the direction of the city gates, hand in hand. 

The commotion just now didn’t actually cause any change to the entrance of this abandoned and decrepit ancient city. Pei QianYue and Feng Ci stood in front of the ancient city gates. The bright pure moonlight was overhead. The desert in the distance extended endlessly, stretching as far as the eye can see.

This was not the first time Feng Ci has seen such a grand SaiBei desert landscape. However, now that the people looking at the scenery were different, the emotions that it elicited were also completely different.

He turned his head. The contours of Pei QianYue’s face were clearly outlined under the moonlight. Acting on impulse, Feng Ci stepped on tiptoes and leaned over to kiss him.

However, before he touched the other, he halted again. 

“I forgot.” Feng Ci withdrew regretfully: “I can’t use this physical body to kiss you.”

Pei QianYue’s fingers moved slightly, as if he didn’t really want Feng Ci to withdraw. However, in the end, reason won and he restrained himself.

He said: “I will retrieve your body for you, Master.”

Feng Ci didn’t answer. 

He turned to look ahead and sighed softly: “I didn’t want you to get involved in this originally.”

What they were facing right now was the Heavenly Principles. Regardless of whether he ultimately chooses to follow the Heavenly Principles or opposes the Will of the Heavens, the last thing that Feng Ci had wanted was to get Pei QianYue involved in this.

He shouldn’t have been involved in these things from the start.

“Too late.” Pei QianYue said: “Since the start of Master’s involvement, it was impossible for me to mind my own business.” 

Feng Ci: “What exactly is your plan?”

Pei QianYue didn’t answer. He looked up towards the horizon and suddenly said: “Here it comes.”

At the same time, Feng Ci also felt the fluttering in the air.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

It was a spirit butterfly. 

Mijqqlcu lar klcur, atf qjif ubiv rqlgla yeaafgois fcmlgmifv atf akb qfbqif j ofk alwfr jcv atfc oifk yjmx ktfgf la mjwf ogbw.

Mfcu Jl ibbxfv lc atf vlgfmalbc bo atja rqlgla yeaafgois’r vfqjgaegf jcv uijcmfv lcmgfveiberis ja Ufl HljcTef: “Pa’r cba yglculcu er ab olcv ws qtsrlmji ybvs, gluta?”

Pei QianYue said: “It is.”

“After the first day of the trial, the disciples who were eliminated had no means of transporting automatically out of the secret realm. To ensure that the disciples stranded inside the secret realm do not encounter any mishaps, the patrolling disciples had gathered those people in one place.” The two people traveled through the vast and boundless desert via flying sword as Pei QianYue said: “It will take us to the location of the gathering.” 

The two of them rode on one sword, Pei QianYue encircled Feng Ci in his arms and thoughtfully shielded him from the incoming wind and sand.

“So, you were the one who did something to stop the eliminated disciples from being transported out of the secret realm?” Feng Ci looked up at him: “You’re using innocent people as bait again.”

Pei QianYue: “You can say that.”

Feng Ci: “What do you mean by that?” 

Pei QianYue explained: “This was actually part of Xuan YangZi’s plan. He was the one that altered the magic array. I am only using it to my advantage.”

“……That’s all?” Feng Ci was pretty annoyed by how he only explained something when asked about it specifically: “What else did you do? Whose spirit butterfly is this? When did you plant a spy? Hurry up and explain thoroughly. Or else I’ll beat you up.”

Pei QianYue couldn’t hold back from chuckling quietly.

Feng Ci: “You—” 

Pei QianYue hastily pacified him: “Okay, I’ll talk.”

“It was I who proposed to use the Heavenly Spirit Ruins as the final location of the evaluation.” Pei QianYue said: “The Heavenly Spirit Ruins coexists with the Heavens and Earth. When dying inside this secret realm, the corpse and spirit energy will be absorbed by the secret realm and then released back into the world. Under this kind of circumstance, the puppet will naturally choose to clean up the cultivation disciples inside the secret realm.”

Because this was what the Heavenly Principles wanted.

Feng Ci faintly felt something seemed off, but he couldn’t figure out what was so strange temporarily. As such, he didn’t interrupt and allowed Pei QianYue to continue explaining. 

“After the location was determined to be the Heavenly Spirit Ruins, I ordered WanFa Pavilion to invent a tracking device to make it easier to facilitate the trial’s progress. Simultaneously, LingXiao Gates also implemented countermeasures.”

This measure was to disrupt the transportation arrays inside the secret realm, turning the Heavenly Spirit Ruins into a place that can only be entered, not exited.

“Xuan YangZi’s plan actually kills two birds with one stone. He can both help the puppet trap the eliminated disciples, and also set a trap for me.” Pei QianYue said: “As for that spy…… You know him.”

Feng Ci blinked and still wanted to ask. The two people just happened to fly over a sand dune at this moment. In the distance, several flashes of light appeared from the use of spirit energy. 

There was a fight.

That place was an oasis within the desert.

Over the oasis, hundreds of cultivation disciples held magic weapons in their hands and pointed their swords uniformly towards a certain place in front of them. The dazzling bright light illuminated that small area in the sky as if daylight.

At the center of bright light, a white robed young man stood alone, the hem of his robes fluttering in the wind. 

“Overconfident.” With the unfurling of his robes, a powerful force rippled outwards in a circle around him, instantly dispelling the numerous flashes of spirit energy flying towards him.

The people, who were nearby, were even slammed backwards and thrown away by the force of that pulse.

The crowd was instantly knocked over in disarray. In front of the crowd, however, there was a youth who climbed up after a struggle.

Gaze landing on the youth, the young man shook his head: “I already spared your life before. Why do you still wish to remain my enemy…… Meng ChangQing.” 

Meng ChangQing was the closest to the young man just now. He was also the most injured. A trail of blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth. Meng ChangQing wiped it off carelessly with his sleeve: “You slaughtered everyone in my TianXuan Sect. If I don’t get my revenge, how can I still live honorably in this world!”

He threw away the horsetail whisk in his hand and pulled out a long sword from the spiritual storage pouch on his waist.

It was the sword that accompanied him and never left his side since he joined TianXuan Sect.

The cold light of the sword’s body reflected on the youth’s determined face. Meng ChangQing held onto the sword tightly in his hand and yelled: “Today is the day of your death. Even if I die, I’ll drag you down with me!” 

The youth advanced, brandishing the sword. The glow from the long sword in his hand expanded greatly.

The young man watched his movements. Not dodging or evading as he lazily raised a hand.

A bright light of spirit energy suddenly flew down from the skies above. In the instant that Meng ChangQing’s sword energy hit the young man, it also struck immediately afterwards.

Boom— 

The young man was knocked and thrown backwards by that spirit energy. It sent countless yellow sand flying with him and, ultimately, created a deep, human shaped pit in the sand dune he slammed into.

Feng Ci slowly landed and looked over at that sand pit. He patted the youth on the shoulder: “Meng-Shixiong, what a powerful sword strike.”

Meng ChangQing: “……”

Pei QianYue landed behind the two people. Simultaneously came the arrival of the spirit butterfly that was guiding the way for them. 

The spirit butterfly slowly flew over the crowd of people and ultimately landed on Meng ChangQing’s shoulder, transforming to dots of light to vanish in the air.

“I never imagined.” Feng Ci said with a smile: “That you’re the spy, Meng-Shixiong.”

Feng Ci’s hand was still resting on Meng ChangQing’s shoulder. The latter turned and evaded. He also shifted his gaze: “I…..”

The youth looked uncomfortable, a huge difference from the naturalness he displayed previously when interacting with Feng Ci. Seeing this, Feng Ci stopped smiling and asked: “So you already knew I wasn’t Lu JingMing a while ago, right?” 

Meng ChangQing: “En.”

Feng Ci: “When did you guess it?”

Meng ChangQing glanced at him, then looked at Pei QianYue next to him, and said quietly: “Right from the start…… LingWu Mountain.”

Feng Ci frowned. 

He had seen what happened to TianXuan Sect from Lu JingMing’s memories. The puppet had already discovered by that time that Lu JingMing’s physical body could be used by Feng Ci, but it didn’t take away Lu JingMing’s life.

On the contrary, it let them go and gave them a chance to head towards LingWu Mountain.

LingWu Mountain……

The light in Feng Ci’s eyes turned heavy. A hypothesis that he didn’t think too much about, and didn’t want to assume that way, appeared in his head. 

“You guys went to LingWu Mountain… not to steal treasures?” Feng Ci closed his eyes and said quietly: “You guys went…… to bring Lu JingMing’s body over there.”

When Feng Ci’s Divine Soul returned to this world, the first thing he’d definitely do was to head towards LingWu Mountain. As such, they brought Lu JingMing over there and allowed his physical body to approach death; Feng Ci naturally would have no choice but to enter Lu JingMing’s body.

That was a premeditated sacrificial offering.

Sacrificing Lu JingMing’s life in exchange for the survival of the TianXuan Sect’s orphans. 

Meng ChangQing lowered his eyes and didn’t answer.

Feng Ci’s chest heaved intensely. He was just about to say something when Pei QianYue pulled him back.

“It’s not how you imagine.” Pei QianYue said coolly.

Feng Ci was stunned. 

Pei QianYue: “Lu JingMing was cursed to die.”

The puppet had finally found a physical body that matched extremely well with Feng Ci’s Divine Soul. Naturally it wouldn’t let the opportunity go by without doing anything.

He laid a curse on Lu JingMing that only gave him five days of survival and made the TianXuan Sect disciples to bring Lu JingMing to LingWu Mountain within five days. Otherwise, he’d slaughter the rest of the TianXuan Sect orphans.

In those five days, they didn’t tell Lu JingMing anything.  

On their way to LingWu Mountain, they relied mutually on each other for survival and spent the last of Lu JingMing’s time together with him. 

“We……” Meng ChangQing hung his head, his voice already somewhat choked with emotions: “We originally thought that since LingWu Mountain has Grandmaster QianQiu’s mystic texts, perhaps there’s a method to resolve the curse……”

Yet despite their travels, when they arrived at LingWu Mountain, they weren’t even able to break through the outermost layer of magic arrays.

And instead, all died inside them. 

Out of the entire TianXuan Sect, only Meng ChangQing remained.

Meng ChangQing wiped his eyes hard with his sleeve and pointed at the sand pit in the distance: “I’m going to get revenge. I’m going to kill him!”

In the distance, the fine sand shifted and moved. A slender long arm reached out of the sandpit.

The young man slowly got up from the sandpit. The sand didn’t even leave the slightest mark on his robes. His white clothes remained immaculate and untouched. Step by step, he started walking towards the crowd. 

Feng Ci withdrew his gaze and placed his hand back on Meng ChangQing’s shoulder. He consoled: “Meng-Shixiong, I can understand your wish to get revenge personally, but this time, it’s better not to force it.”

“After all, if something happens to you, I won’t be able to fulfill the request that Lu JingMing entrusted me before his departure.”

Meng ChangQing was stunned: “Lu-shidi, he……”

Feng Ci smiled: “He wishes for you to live a good life.” 

“He also wishes……” Feng Ci turned his gaze and looked towards the young man walking over slowly from the sand dune: “I can end all of this.”

The young man came to a halt not far away.

“Are you really going to obstruct me?” The young man asked him: “Do you know what you’re doing here?”

Feng Ci ignored him. 

He walked forward step by step. As he walked, a formless spirit energy encircled him, creating small, tiny whirlpools of sand by his feet.

The young man’s expression changed: “You’re opposing Father’s command. Do you know the consequences of this? You can’t—”

“I can’t.” Feng Ci interrupted him: “Because the Heaven’s will cannot be infringed. I know.”

“But what can I do? This group of youngsters call me their Grand Founder. I need to at least do a bit of something for them.” 

Spirit energy gathered rapidly over this oasis. A rift was violently ripped through the void. Feng Ci raised his hand. A golden light suddenly appeared within the rift, which presented a long, golden sword.

Feng Ci grabbed the handle of the sword, his robes and long hair fluttering under the growing surge of sword intent.

“This Venerable One is…… the Saint Sovereign QianQiu after all.”