Chapter 139 (2/2)
But even Xiao Chen could not hold himself from gasping with surprise. He had not sensed the presence of another person when the company had entered the hall despite a quick probe with his Divine Sense. From behind the partition screen came a man completely robed in red with a Chinese straw hat that obscured his face.
“Amitabha…” Xu Gu recited respectfully with his palms pressed together, “This must be the lord of the city. We have two members of our company lost and missing. If you would please, my lord, let us know of their whereabouts.”
“The time for it will come when it is due,” replied the man in red, revealing a thin smile from under his hat, “Do you Buddhists not preach much about Fate? Why the rush when all things are pre-ordained, dear monk?”
“My apologies for my brashness,” Xu Gu muttered.
“So, if you would please, Lady Xiaoyue,” said the man in red abruptly, turning to Xiaoyue with his smile still visible, “Let us cleave to the matter at hand: please reveal the true purpose of your visit.”
Suspicious and puzzled stares trained upon Xiaoyue immediately. The manner of the man in red’s speech seemed to insinuate that she had another hidden agenda rather than the matters of vanquishing evil and the investigation of the Soul-consuming Evil Flowers.
But Xiaoyue remained casually cool and calm. “You have erected the Blood Soul Formation and had caused the death of countless lives.” She countered with a silky but harried voice. “I believe it is safe for me to guess that the bones and remains of innumerable dead people in the tunnels that honeycombed this mountain are your handiwork? This alone is reason enough that we of the Orthodox Path can no longer sit by and watch you continue your devilry!”
“Hahahaha!” The man in red roared in laughter. “Countless of lives? Their lives and deaths are no concern of mine!”
“You!” Somebody had snarled angrily from among the company. The red-robed stranger’s capricious and lofty declarations angered almost everyone in the company. But no one dared to lay the first strike, fearing his yet unrevealed strength as well as any other hidden contrivances that he might still have.
“Leng Ningfeng, you may withdraw. I’ll handle things here myself,” the man in red muttered, flashing a thin smile to him. Leng Ningfeng made no response. He spun and began walking towards the exit. But when he brushed by Yu Yifeng’s side, he smirked and disappeared, only to reappear once more at the exit of the hall and promptly drifted out of sight.
The man in red shifted his attention back to Xiaoyue. “You have gone through great lengths to muster such a force against this Wuwang Wind Cloud City, Lady Xiaoyue,” he uttered with a stiff tone, “Would I be wrong to guess that your true purpose here is for that Earth Spiritual Meridian?”
“You have seized the Earth Spiritual Meridian for your own and have caused great devastation everywhere,” Xiaoyue retorted again, her voice calm but tense, “This alone is grounds for us to act against you? You dare question our justice?”
“Amitabha,” Xu Gu interjected gently and said, “What you’ve done, my lord, has indeed caused great damage to both land and lives. Despite being neck-deep in sin, it is still not too late for repentance. The Lord Buddha does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” The Blood Soul Formation must not be activated again, even if the Wuwang Wind Cloud City’s former transgressions were to be overlooked, lest more deaths would continue pouring in.
“Hahahaha!” The man in red erupted into another fit of maniacal laughter. “What nonsense! Don’t make me laugh!” Immediately, his laughter died the next second as he shot a scathing glare at Xiaoyue. “You have done well to fan the flames of blame upon us, Lady Xiaoyue. But do you dare deny that the Thousand Feathers Sect are also after this Earth Spiritual Meridian?”
Sensing the incredulous and wary glares focusing upon her, Xiaoyue did her best to keep herself calm. “This man is trying to create discord among us,” she growled, “Pay no heed to what he says! The millennia-long dignity and history of the Thousand Feathers Sect will never be so easily sullied by mere slander!”
“Say no more, lord.” Qin Xinyan stood forward suddenly, his voice steady with resolve. “The Thousand Feathers Sect is the titular leader of the Orthodox Path. That is common knowledge to all.”
“As expected of the student of the great Perfected Immortal Su Nian!” The man in red declared, still wearing his watery smile. “Indeed, the resemblance between teacher and student is uncanny…” There was a distinct change in his tone suddenly. “But Su Nian sent you here alone… Is she still in solitary meditation, or it is as I have suspected: the residual magic of the sealing barrier of your stronghold is failing? Is she, along with the other old hags of your order, are now so terribly occupied, so head over heels in this crisis, that she had to send you, a budding youngster to do her bidding?”
If the man in red had been trying to prod Xiaoyue, his attempts have finally borne fruit. The very mention of the failing magical barrier sent a shudder into her, puncturing her composed and serene facade. “I do not know what you’re talking about, lord,” she hissed and said, her voice now jittery and nervous unlike before, “My teacher has long remained in solitary training; she had long decided to no longer trouble herself in the affairs of the mundane world.”
At the back of the company, Xiao Chen continued taking in the entire episode with interest. So everything that he had witnessed about Xiaoyue in her memory was true, he mused. The Universal Mystic-Yin Formation at the stronghold of the Thousand Feathers Sect was failing and Xiaoyue’s true purpose, as revealed by the man in red, was to seek an Earth Spiritual Meridian to help replenish the magical powers of the Formation.