Mother Qu packed up her belongings that very night and descended the mountain with her son. Just as Qin Xun had anticipated, the two of them left through the main gate openly and honestly, proceeding smoothly all the way without encountering any obstructions—they didn’t even see a single shadow of anyone.
Qin Xun settled Mother Qu in an inn at the small town, instructing her not to wander around, then climbed back up the mountain alone in the dead of night. The guards were all present this time, but Young Venerable Qin, whose cultivation wasn’t suppressed by the secret realm, came and went from this place as if it were uninhabited territory. He easily dug out the Young Sect Master from his bedding.
“Well, well, long time no see.”
The Young Sect Master was thrown onto the ice-cold, hard floor. The last scene of his life was the malevolent, ghost-like grinning face of ‘Qu Xi.’
“Ahhh——!!!”
The sky-piercing scream startled birds from the mountain forest. When the sect members arrived following the sound, their first sight made them all involuntarily bend over and vomit violently.
Amidst the ground scattered with chunks of flesh and blood were a few barely recognizable body parts and severed limbs. Blood and mud splattered on the door panels and courtyard walls in scattered dots. Not a single intact bone could be found. Who knew how much torture he had endured before death—it was a complete scene of living hell.
On one side, ‘Qu Xi,’ having ‘avenged his great grievance,’ took Mother Qu to venture through the cultivation world. On the other side, Xu Rong, after eating three consecutive meals of the secret realm’s porridge, being scolded with looks that showed nothing was right about him for a full day and night, and obtaining no effective information, finally couldn’t bear it anymore and stormed out.
Damn this secret realm! What kind of secret realm tortures people like this! This woman is definitely not any kind of key character!
When he rushed out, the sunset was about to fall. There were far fewer disciples coming and going in the sect. Xu Rong searched aimlessly all the way, finally encountering the first person who didn’t avoid him like a snake or scorpion as night was about to fall.
The Young Sect Master walked over with a smile, waving his folding fan. “Well, well, if it isn’t Qu Xi? Haven’t seen you in a few days—you look much thinner.”
Xu Rong sized up this person. Dressed luxuriously, clearly of high status. He didn’t sense any malicious intent, so he allowed the other to approach while contemplating how to gather information. He responded perfunctorily, “I… ugh!”
Two burly men suddenly rushed out from the side and caught him off guard, pressing him to the ground. Xu Rong’s face was pressed tightly against the sand-and-gravel-covered ground, grinding painfully. He looked at the Young Sect Master in anger. “You!”
The Young Sect Master still smiled playfully, swaying as he squatted down in front of him. He reached out to grab Xu Rong’s hair and forcefully slammed it against the ground once. Xu Rong’s forehead immediately showed red.
The Young Sect Master had no intention of stopping. One by one, neither hurried nor slow, he forced him to hit the ground while asking with a smile, “Does it hurt?”
Xu Rong wanted to kill someone. “Nonsense! What grievance do I have with you that you would humiliate me like this?”
“It should hurt.” The Young Sect Master’s expression suddenly changed. He viciously threw his head toward the ground and stepped on the side of Xu Rong’s face with one foot, pinning him immobile. “What grievance? Qu Xi, you beat this Young Sect Master the other day—have you forgotten so quickly?”
Xu Rong secretly gritted his teeth. What kind of damned backstory had this broken secret realm arranged? But he could bend and stretch. Right now, he forced out a fawning smile despite the severe pain. “…I was blind and did something wrong. The Young Sect Master’s punishment is deserved.”
The Young Sect Master’s expression was like seeing some novel plaything. He suddenly burst into laughter. “Hahaha, I didn’t expect it, Qu Xi! You actually know how to act like a grandson? This Young Sect Master thought you would forever be that hardheaded person with a dead face.”
“Too bad, this Young Sect Master doesn’t want you as a servant.”
Xu Rong had just breathed a sigh of relief when the Young Sect Master’s expression suddenly changed. He kicked heavily at his waist and abdomen, sending him flying. Xu Rong felt like all the bones in his body were about to break. He had just landed and rolled twice when he was immediately pinned down by the burly men again.
The Young Sect Master seemed to have gotten playful and didn’t intend to end this torture quickly. While beating Xu Rong, he spoke to him slowly.
“Do you know what this Young Sect Master can’t stand most about you? Your bones are too hard. You’re a bastard who doesn’t even know who your father is, whose mother is probably from some brothel—what right do you have to walk this Heavenly Ascension Path?”
“Hmph, with a bit of talent to climb into an immortal sect, you little brat should have been content. This Young Sect Master giving you a place to stay—you should have been grateful and knelt down to lick my shoes. But you had high aspirations, actually deluding yourself about going to an even better sect, deluding yourself about surpassing this Young Sect Master?”
As he spoke, he kicked hard, his face twisted. “What kind of thing crawled out of the mud are you, to dare compete with me, someone born with cultivation bloodline!”
“The Linghua Sect too—what’s with this treating everyone equally, conducting selections without distinguishing high from low, giving filthy, disgusting things like you who deserve to die a chance to defile this noble and exalted Heavenly Ascension Path! This Young Sect Master crossing off your name was what you deserved! Yet you dared to harbor resentment and take revenge on me… Remember well, this is the consequence of your insubordination!”
The Young Sect Master kicked hard at his chest. The two burly men released their grip at just the right time. Xu Rong rolled heavily onto the ground, motionless, without even the strength to cough up blood. More breath going out than coming in—it looked like he was about to die.
The Young Sect Master was satisfied and left with his lackeys.
The night had grown deep. Torrential rain fell within moments, instantly soaking the ground.
Xu Rong lay motionless in the mud, the arc of his chest rising and falling gradually slowing, nearly to nothing.
Thunder roared in the clouds. As Xu Rong’s life force dissipated, the disturbance grew increasingly violent. A bolt of lightning nearly split the sky.
“So annoying!”
A human voice suddenly emerged, filled with impatience, angrily cursing at the thunder on the horizon. “You damn Heavenly Dao, are you being reasonable or not? This kid just failed the trial—why won’t you let me kick him out!”
The thunder responded with a boom.
That voice grew even more annoyed, and one could even hear the defiant tone as it argued back. “Bah! Where is there such favoritism? I don’t care who this kid is. The trial rule is that the capable prevail. Laozi is already dead—I’m just counting on finding a decent successor. Who has the patience for your endless nagging?”
This time, a bolt of lightning as thick as four or five people embracing struck straight down from the sky, thundering toward a point in the void.
The Daoist gasped and dodged frantically, not forgetting to curse through the gaps. “Dream on! Absolutely no favoritism! Even if you strike Laozi until my soul scatters, don’t think I’ll relent! You damn thing—you already snatched Laozi’s treasure back then to hold an auction, which was fine. I’m dead anyway, so letting that thing spread out benefits the cultivation world masses. But you can forget about Laozi’s inheritance! That must be left for the young lad Laozi has chosen!”
The thunder and lightning on the horizon grew increasingly urgent. The Daoist just wouldn’t back down.
After a long while, the Heavenly Dao seemed truly helpless. Xu Rong’s body on the ground seemed to be pushed by something, and a half-circular jade fragment rolled out from his bosom, emitting a lustrous glow.
“Eh?”
A young man in his twenties suddenly emerged from the void, wearing Daoist robes. His appearance was seventy to eighty percent similar to ‘Qu Xi,’ just more mature.
He was pearl-white throughout. After emerging from the void, he landed right beside Xu Rong, bent down to pick up the jade fragment, and examined it carefully before his eyes. He then fumbled in his bosom and took out a small fragment to piece together.
“Amazing, this kid!” The young man circled Xu Rong twice, his face full of admiration. “With mine, that makes over half the Primordial Jade fragments collected. I remember these things all fell into the hands of some old undying folks. This kid looks only about ten years old—how does he have such ability!”
Thunder rumbled again on the horizon.
The young man pouted, reluctant. “Alright, alright! I’ll give him one more chance.”
He pieced the four jade fragments together and tucked them into his bosom. “I’ll take this as payment. If this kid can pass the final trial, I’ll return it along with the inheritance. If he can’t… good things should naturally be kept for my future dear disciple.”
He waved his hand. Xu Rong’s body turned into flowing light and dissipated in the heavy rain. This world also twisted and deformed, finally transforming into a small orb that merged into his palm.
The young man chuckled, his steps light as he turned and walked away. “Let’s go watch that black-clothed kid. Hehe, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a junior who suits my taste.”
****
Qin Xun took Mother Qu and left the sect they’d been staying at. He considered whether to go seek out the Linghua Sect that had supposedly selected ‘Qu Xi,’ but quickly dismissed this idea.
Daoist Tianxuan was a rogue cultivator without sect or school. In the secret realm he set up, the option of relying on a sect should be the least reliable. The previous Young Sect Master had proven this point. If he really went to the Linghua Sect, who knew what other oddballs he might encounter?
Moreover, bringing Mother Qu, this ‘burden,’ in this era that emphasized severing family ties, ninety-nine percent of sects probably wouldn’t accept him.
Qin Xun simply became a rogue cultivator himself. Not relying on immortal sects and not going to the Northern Demon Territory, he protected Mother Qu while venturing through the cultivation world. When he encountered secret realms, he’d go in and grab what he could. With a black heart and ruthless methods, relying on the experience he’d gained from struggling at the bottom levels of the Northern Demon Territory back then, his days passed fairly well.
Except…
He looked at Mother Qu, whose appearance hadn’t changed a bit in three years, feeling a bit worried.
Just as Qin Xun lamented daily about when the first trial round would end, during one outing to hunt for treasures, he encountered the next key figure.
Black clouds pressed down on the city, demonic qi overwhelming the sky.
Qin Xun looked up at this spectacular sight he’d never seen before, unable to hide his amazement. Since he could remember, whenever demonic cultivators left the Northern Demon Territory, they were like rats in the gutter, unable to show themselves. When had they ever had such overwhelming momentum?
He remembered his master saying that over a thousand years ago, the Northern Demon Territory’s name didn’t have that ‘Northern’ prefix. The demonic cultivators’ sphere of influence spanned three continents. Only after the Demon Lord’s fall did demonic cultivators’ power greatly weaken. Under pressure from all sides, they had no choice but to retreat into the northern continent, barely surviving under the [Confusion Obstruction] white fog sent down by the Heavenly Dao.
The name ‘Northern Demon Territory’ only began circulating from that time.
This city often held open markets. Cultivators from the vicinity would mostly come at fixed times to exchange things they needed. Qin Xun had only recently settled down and found his way here.
When the demonic cultivators attacked, most cultivators skillfully grabbed their things and ran, so practiced that Qin Xun was amazed. “Is this kind of situation very common?”
The cultivator nearby had a fairly young-looking face and was rolling up his sleeves to pack up his stall. Hearing this, he looked up at him in surprise. “Are you from the Southern Region’s Buddhist Sect?”
Qin Xun puzzled, touching his thick hair. “How can you tell?”
The cultivator laughed. “Demonic cultivators are powerful. Only at the furthest south, near the Tiantai Buddhist Sect where the mountains are high and the land is far, do they receive relatively fewer invasions. You clearly haven’t been beaten before!”
Qin Xun: “…” Envious, so envious.
But no matter how much he envied the demonic cultivators of a thousand years ago, as a righteous rogue cultivator now, he had to grab his things and run quickly.
After running a few steps following the young cultivator, the young cultivator’s expression suddenly changed. With a mournful face, the things in his arms scattered all over the ground. “We’re finished.”
Qin Xun: “?”
The cultivator cried out. “This time it’s actually a Demon Venerable leading. This small broken city doesn’t have any Tribulation stage cultivators. Once the demon realm opens, we can’t escape at all. This time we’re really going to lose our lives.”
Qin Xun looked up. From the roiling black clouds, three figures slowly emerged, demonic qi swirling around them, difficult to distinguish their cultivation levels. What shocked him into standing frozen, forgetting to run, was that the middle figure’s appearance was actually seventy percent similar to his master’s demonic cultivation state!
Only Yin Lang’s features were somewhat softer. This person’s facial lines were distinct, with upturned eyes at the corners, his aura even sharper.
Calculating the time, this should be his master’s father, the Second Demon Venerable Yin Jiuxuan.
Yin Jiuxuan’s gaze swept around and caught sight of some righteous cultivators who were running fastest and about to escape the city. He snorted with a laugh.
He drew out his words, calling slowly, “Where is the Floating Shadow Army?”
In an instant, countless black shadows emerged from the demonic qi in all directions. The cultivators who had rushed out of the city first met disaster, becoming lost souls under the blades of the black-clothed cultivators.
The other two Demon Venerables saw this and laughingly scolded Yin Jiuxuan for moving too fast, not leaving them any meat soup. They also ordered their subordinates to attack.
Yin Jiuxuan didn’t care. He stood there lazily, occasionally exchanging casual remarks. His casually wandering gaze fell on a figure in the city who stood motionless.
“Hmm?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. In the next instant, he vanished from where he stood.
Qin Xun only felt his vision blur, his sight suddenly losing focus. In the blink of an eye, the black-clothed Demon Venerable standing on the horizon appeared right before him, no more than a few feet away.
The Demon Venerable stared at the dirt and sweat on his chin with a look of disgust. He rubbed his fingertips together and drew from his sleeve a fragrant handkerchief, carefully wiping him clean.
Only then did he condescend to reach out and lift the youth’s chin. “You…”
With a Tribulation stage great cultivator before him, Qin Xun’s heart pounded wildly. He didn’t hear what the other said at all. Without hesitation, he took out the jade stone Yin Lang had given him, crushed it, and cast the spell.
He felt his consciousness gradually growing muddled, slowly losing perception of the outside world, sinking deep into his body.
Outside the secret realm, Yin Lang, who was closing his eyes to heal his injuries, sensed his disciple’s call for help. His soul immediately followed the jade stone array’s connection and infiltrated, taking control of the body.
Feeling the slightly cool hand at his neck, Yin Lang, who mistakenly thought his disciple’s neck was about to be twisted off, suddenly opened his eyes. Spiritual qi surged as he flipped his hand upward, his other palm precisely striking toward the opponent’s vital point.
The enemy also reacted extremely quickly. The hand pinching his chin turned flatly and struck out a palm, forcing him to retreat and withdraw. The opponent lifted a leg to kick at his shin, taking advantage of his unstable lower stance to bend a knee and press against his waist, directly pinning him onto a street-side stall.
“Tsk, you little brat’s skills are truly impressive.”
A familiar voice from distant memory sounded in his ear. Yin Lang’s hand paused slightly, but Yin Jiuxuan caught the opening. His large hand twisted and clasped, directly pinning him immobile.
He asked with a laugh. “Which one bore you? Although you don’t look like me, you’ve inherited my skills. But you’re quite good-looking—logically speaking, I shouldn’t forget which one was your mother, right?”
Yin Lang, who had just felt a bit of longing after not seeing his father for several hundred years: “…”
Screw his damn father.