59 No Need to Delay (1/2)

His mother's aura was getting stronger by the second. This Xin Qiang was done for. Han De didn't like her, but obviously that didn't mean he wanted her dead. He wouldn't want to watch her die either. Out of panic, he sent a voice transmission to distract his mother.

Long Xiu stopped. Her aura wasn't getting stronger anymore, but it wasn't getting weaker either. She was still intensely staring at Xin Qiang. Han De tried to push a little bit more.

While Han De was trying to stop the gruesome affair that was about to happen in front of him, he was also thinking about the reason for his family's odd behavior.

'They probably did a divination check on the cultivation idiot when he was born. With that idiot's luck, his results would be devastating for any parent. No one would want to be reminded of such a fate. No one would want their child to learn of it either. It explains a lot, actually. No wonder they are so doting all the time...'

Long Xiu sighed. She didn't retract her aura, but she looked at her son.

This unexpected statement caused Han De to blink in surprise.

'That's… a bit excessive... How could a sect function without divinations? What if your son goes missing, are you not even going to perform a divination?'

Han De had many memories of the cultivation idiot scoffing at low-level sects for relying on divinations. If a disciple went missing, they would try to divine their whereabouts first. They would also regularly try to divine the future of the sect to get information about potential calamities in advance.

Long Xiu thought for a while and scattered her aura. She stared at Han De's eyes.

Long Xiu switched her gaze to Xin Qiang. It was evident that she was 'conversing' with her through voice transmission. Han De was speechless due to his mother's comments. He didn't notice how Xin Qiang's face was rapidly turning white.

'Is she making that up because of the cultivation idiot's fate? Or is that really a thing? How can someone's 'fate' be damaged by divination? It doesn't make any sense...'

Han De had already learned the Immortal Sentinel Scripture. The System hadn't stopped him. If it was really that harmful it would've shown a warning. In fact, the System seemed to favor the divination scriptures a great deal. It had displayed more stats, accuracy, medium, defense. The last one was probably anti-divination. Probably.

'So far, the System has been squeaky clean. It didn't do anything to damage me or did anything against my will. Apart from some limitations coming from its programming, there isn't anything to complain about really.'

While he trusted his family, he trusted the System more when it came to cultivation. As far as Han De was concerned, no one in this world could rival the System on that subject.

'Maybe this is like Qi deviation. The System increases my understanding of the methods, but it doesn't do anything against Qi deviations. There is probably something going on with fate and divinations, but maybe it could be circumvented through careful practice. Yes, that should be it. Nothing there to be worried about! Probably.'

Han De decided not to use the scripture during the voyage. Since he wasn't burning with a passion to perform divinations, it didn't affect him that much. However, having paid 51 Profound Points for a virtual paperweight caused great pain to his liver. But Han De endured. This wasn't over. Sooner or later he would have a chance to practice it at Grand Master level!

'If divination is a taboo, why would this Xin Qiang bring it to me? Is she that clueless or was this something deliberate?'

Once he returned to the real world, Han De saw the white as a sheet Xin Qiang silently looking down. His mother finally released Xin Qiang from her gaze and gently smiled at him. Just that one look was enough to make his hair stand up on the back of his neck. The context of that look was too frightening to think about.

”I have also brought news of the Starfall Mountain elder Xiao Lan. I found her body while traveling through the Ming Empire.”

Long Xiu narrowed her eyes at Xin Qiang, and slightly nodded. She liked smart girls like this one.

Meanwhile, Han De was successfully distracted.

'Starfall Mountain Elder? Xiao Lan? Is there another Xiao Lan? Is that a different pronunciation?'

Xin Qiang removed her storage ring and gave it to Treebeard that appeared out of nowhere once again. The silent lackey took out the corpse of Xiao Lan. He didn't need to unseal the ring, perhaps due to her previous experience, Xin Qiang unsealed it herself before coming aboard.

The brown, leathery, and horribly twisted face of the corpse caused Han De to flinch. He immediately averted his gaze and waved his hand at Treebeard to remove it from his sight. This sight was too much even when he was at his best, but he had only eaten 5 minutes ago. His stomach was adequately full. While he tried to calm himself down, his thoughts inevitably went to Xiao Lan.

She had lived a terrible life all things considered. The cultivation idiot crippled her step-brother turned lover. She left her family and her sect for him, but that only gave her a life of quiet suffering.

Han De inadvertently sighed. He felt a vague sense of guilt towards her due to the memories of the cultivation idiot. She was a stranger, and she caused Han De a lot of trouble, but that didn't mean he wanted to see her dead. Truly, this Xiao Lan was as unlucky as him!

'Right, she said Elder Xiao Lan. When did she become a Starfall Mountain elder? Didn't I send her away with resources and tons of money?'

Han De looked around to find Old Peng. Treebeard realized who his young master was looking for, and used the power of space to bring Old Peng into the room. Han De gave a mental +1 to this ent.

”Peng. 'Elder' Xiao Lan died... Talk.”

Old Peng subconsciously gulped and gave Han De a scroll. This was Xiao Ping's anomaly file that he readied once he got the news about Xin Qiang. Han De started reading the section about Love Interest A.

'Reached Core Formation after the duel? Invited to the sect by my father? Left to visit her relatives 16 days ago?'

”Who was the one in charge of her? What is their status?”

”T-The last report came 3 days ago. Since he is a Unity Realm expert, he has a soul light and it is still intact…”

The standard procedure for watching love interests was sending an expert at least 3 realms higher than them. Xiao Lan was no exception. That distorted face was Xiao Lan's, there was no question. This meant that the expert in charge of keeping an eye on her was still alive. But he was most likely captured or crippled.

The prime suspects were obviously her family and the Celestial River sect. Even in the worst-case scenario, they should've reported her disappearance, along with his lackey's.

Han De narrowed his eyes. He looked at Xin Qiang and waited for her to continue her news.