Chapter 407 - Secrets of the Corpse Refinery Sect (2/2)
Xiao Chen felt his eyelids flinched; Yu Yangzi’s deceit when they first met on the Changyin Mountain Range was as vivid as the morning sun in his mind. He could never forget how he had tried to trick him into unsealing the spatial-isolation barrier to ensnare Su Xiaomei’s ghost. But Xiao Chen would also not forget that it was this man who had helped defend him against the pursuers of Family Zuoqiu. It was a sad and sorrowful sight to behold, watching the man in such a wretched state.
“I do, Senior.”
“Good! Very good! Come here please, young friend!” Yu Yangzi was visibly excited to know that it was someone who knew rather than a foe who had come to visit him
“As you wish.”
Xiao Chen walked forward. Suddenly a hand held him back. It was Su Lianyue. She shook her head quietly with a strong look at him. But whatever it was that gave her away, no one could tell. Yu Yangzi’s head tilted and his brows curdled into a grimace and he projected his spiritual senses at Su Lianyue, trying to find out who she was. “You, girl! Who are you? You’re not the lass I met at the mountain range, are you? Rest assured I will not be able to possess you with my soul; there are magical bounded fields erected in these halls that prevent my soul from escaping.”
In just a breath, Yu Yangzi admitted Su Lianyue’s gravest concern. But the knowledge of the precautions made Su Lianyue breathed easier and she relaxed her hold on Xiao Chen’s arm, which Xiao Chen immediately realized. Xiao Chen had always thought that Yu Yangzi wielded only the powers of the Nascent Soul Realm. Meeting him now personally has changed this perception. “Yu Yangzi is very strong!” That very thought flashed through Xiao Chen’s mind. “Or at least his soul is.” There was no telling if this man, despite his disability and confinement, harbored insidious intents to possess them if there were no magical restrictions set upon this place.
As his visitors drew warily closer to him, Yu Yangzi croaked, “How did you come to this place, my friend? And why are you here?” Naturally, Xiao Chen was not here solely to mount a rescue. With no intention to beat around the bush, Xiao Chen admitted truthfully, “I am here, because I need your counsel, Senior.”
Yu Yangzi’s expression turned to stone and he sneered. “Ye Wuxin sent you, did he?”
“Nay,” Su Lianyue interjected, “Fort Raksasa swears no allegiance to Ye Wuxin. We’ll never serve his summons or commands.”
“You are a member of Fort Raksasa?” The news seemed to fill Yu Yangzi with relief. Su Lianyue bowed curtly, “Greetings to you, Senior Yu Yangzi. I am Su Lianyue, Lady of the Blue-water Altar of Fort Raksasa.”
“Heh heh heh…” Yu Yangzi cackled bleakly to himself, sounding intensely sour, “What a joke I must look like to you young ones…”
“Hardly, Senior,” Su Lianyue uttered, “Your name rumbles with fear after the Battle of Mount Guiling. Good or evil, everyone speaks of the name Yu Yangzi with deference and respect but definitely not ridicule.”
“Enough chattering about the bygones,” Yu Yangzi husked hoarsely, “Now tell me why are a pair of young ones coming here to see an old senile like me?”
“We do have a few matters that require your advice, Senior,” Xiao Chen replied calmly.
“Heh heh heh! Very well! I’ll help you on the account that you’ve been able to hoodwink me once. Ask away, and I do my best.”
Yu Yangzi seemed to guess what it was that Xiao Chen wished to ask. There was no longer any reason to keep the secret, except that it had to remain a secret to Ye Wuxin.
Xiao Chen took a heartbeat to recompose himself. “How old is the Corpse Refinery Sect? Do you know the founder of this order?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know this myself.”
Xiao Chen paused briefly before he continued, “I see. There’s this place that all in this Sect seem to fear. Do you know where this place is?”
Yu Yangzi’s body flinched so hard at the mention of “this place” that the chains that bound him clanged loudly to his movements. Then there was silence as he hesitated to answer. But finally, he answered, “I assume you’ve heard of the Administration of Heaven?”
“The Administration of Heaven!” Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue repeated under their breaths, shocked and surprised to hear this name. The name of the most mysterious society in the realm. No one knew anything about them save for the knowledge that they traded in souls.
“So, the name of the place that all men here fear… is the Administration of Heaven?!” Xiao Chen confirmed at once.
“Aye,” Yu Yangzi cackled gruffly and said, “The Corpse Refinery Sect supplies the Administration with countless of souls each year. Most of them are the ghosts of orderlies or acolytes punished to death. The pain of death awaits each and everyone in the Sect, including the High Chieftain himself, should the Sect fails to honor this demand of tribute. No one will be left alive, although, as far as I knew, it will not be the Administration who would swing the axe. The judgment comes from somewhere else.”
Xiao Chen exhaled gravely. The information that the Corpse Refinery Sect owed fealty to the Administration of Heaven was news indeed to him. Fealty that only a select few knew that had endured for more than three millennia. In fact, not even the orderlies and students of the Sect knew about this.
Xiao Chen recomposed himself again. “So is that the reason the Sect is trying desperately to reanimate the Divine Corpse? To break away from their oath of loyalty?”
The hall became drearily quiet. So quiet that Xiao Chen could hear Su Lianyue’s breathing. But it was swiftly broken by the maniacal burst of laughter of Yu Yangzi, “Divine Corpse!? What Divine Corpse?! The Corpse Refinery Sect has no such thing! Everyone is tricked! Even Ye Wuxin himself! There’s no such thing as the Divine Corpse! Hahahaha!”
“What?!”