Chapter 163: The Way of Lurking
“Ten years? Then why did you go into seclusion ten years ago?”
Li Qingqiu stared at Mo Jiuhong and pressed the question.
Ten years ago, he had only just taken over Clear Sky Sect.
If he had encountered Mo Jiuhong back then, wouldn’t it have been dangerous?
Fortunately, Clear Sky Sect had been low-key enough in its early days.
“I know.”
Chu Jing suddenly emerged from within the Tianhong Sword and stared at Mo Jiuhong as he spoke.
Li Qingqiu glanced at him and asked, “You know?”
Jiang Zhaoxia and Xu Ning looked toward Chu Jing, their expressions strange.
Although they had long known of Chu Jing’s existence, every time they saw him, they still felt uncomfortable.
They were not used to having a ghost drifting behind Li Qingqiu, especially in broad daylight—it was unsettling.
When Mo Jiuhong saw Li Qingqiu’s gaze shift toward an empty space beside him, he could not help but freeze.
“Ten years ago, this fellow wanted to assassinate Zhao Zhi. He infiltrated the imperial palace and was heavily injured by me,” Chu Jing snorted, his tone carrying a trace of disdain.
Li Qingqiu asked in surprise, “You were stronger than him back then?”
“Ten years ago, he wasn’t this powerful. At most, he felt like someone at the Second Layer of the Nourishing Vital Energy Realm,” Chu Jing shook his head.
The current Chu Jing had already reached the Fourth Layer of the Nourishing Vital Energy Realm and could tell that Mo Jiuhong had grown much stronger.
“Who are you talking to?” Mo Jiuhong could not help asking.
Everyone here was an immortal cultivator—what was this performance supposed to mean?
Trying to scare me?
Li Qingqiu replied, “I’m talking to my sword soul. He said the reason you went into seclusion was because you forcefully broke into the imperial palace ten years ago and were severely wounded by him.”
Upon hearing this, Mo Jiuhong jumped back in fright and asked nervously, “Nonsense! What sword soul?”
The corner of Li Qingqiu’s mouth lifted as he said, “His name is Xuan Gong. Do you still remember?”
With a thought, he allowed Chu Jing to reveal himself.
After becoming a ghost cultivator, Chu Jing had already gained the ability to manifest during the day.
He directly revealed his soul body, causing Mo Jiuhong’s eyes to widen in shock.
Immediately after, Mo Jiuhong’s eyes turned red as he roared angrily, “Evil beast! You destroyed the foundation of Great Li! You’re courting death!”
He directly grabbed the great blade from his back, raised it high with both hands, and prepared to slash at Chu Jing.
Clang—
The sound of a sword leaving its sheath rang out instantly.
A treasured sword was held horizontally in front of Mo Jiuhong’s throat, making him calm down at once.
Mo Jiuhong let out an awkward laugh and said, “I really was muddleheaded. He’s already become a sword soul, so he must be dead. All grudges from life should be wiped clean!”
Xu Ning’s expression turned strange.
Jiang Zhaoxia, on the other hand, looked icy cold, his gaze filled with displeasure.
Chu Jing looked at Jiang Zhaoxia, appreciation flashing in his eyes.
If he had such a loyal and steadfast fierce general under him back then, his life would not have been so exhausting.
Li Qingqiu teased, “Daoist friend, it seems your cultivation isn’t high enough—you can’t even see a ghost.”
In ten years, his cultivation had increased by two layers.
The place where this fellow secluded himself was probably far from ordinary.
That so-called earthquake caused by an ancient god might have been because the ancient god had set its sights on his seclusion site.
After all, he had been in seclusion in the Northern Border, which was Cangzhou, the northernmost province of Great Li.
Mo Jiuhong felt awkward and cursed inwardly.
How had he been so unlucky as to run into Jiang Zhaoxia?
The key was that he should not have clashed with Jiang Zhaoxia in the first place.
After all, they both wanted to deal with Lingtian Sect.
He had only acted because he saw Clear Sky Sect disciples killing too many people—being an immortal cultivator, he could not stand by and do nothing.
He never expected that he would almost be beheaded by Jiang Zhaoxia and had been so frightened that he knelt down on the spot to beg for mercy.
“That’s true. Compared to your Clear Sky Sect, I’m just a wild cultivator, relying on groping my own way through cultivation,” Mo Jiuhong said with a flattering smile.
Li Qingqiu could not help but laugh.
This man truly knew how to bend and stretch.
He did not look down on Mo Jiuhong because of this.
After all, back then, Mo Jiuhong had dared to storm the imperial palace alone at only the Second Layer of the Nourishing Vital Energy Realm.
“Tell me then—how much do you know about the ancient god? If I’m not satisfied, I’ll have no choice but to search your soul,” Li Qingqiu stared at Mo Jiuhong and said calmly.
Soul search?
Mo Jiuhong instantly broke out in goosebumps.
Just hearing those two words, he knew what they meant.
He hurriedly said, “My Dao techniques originated from a mountain cave. In that cave, I obtained several secret manuals. One of the books mentioned that on the Nine Provinces land, there exists a kind of demonic tree with an extremely long history. No matter how you kill it, it can’t be eradicated. Even in places with sparse spiritual energy, it can still grow, because it can devour flesh and blood to grow, searching for spiritual energy within the flesh and blood of all things.”
“This demonic tree is greedy by nature. Feeding it flesh and blood will only make it grow more insatiable. Moreover, it is cunning and adept at bewitching hearts. I always thought it was fake, until its tree vines actually reached my seclusion site and completely devoured a spiritual tree that I relied on.”
“This tree is far too sinister. It cannot move, but its root system can spread across hundreds of miles. If this continues, the entire Great Li will be drained dry by it. That’s why I wanted to destroy the Qi Clan, so that no one would nourish it, letting it be exhausted to death.”
Hearing Mo Jiuhong mention the spiritual tree, Li Qingqiu finally believed that he was telling the truth.
Roots spreading for hundreds of miles—this truly shocked Li Qingqiu.
What kind of great demonic being was this?
No wonder the Qi Clan had been so fearless.
Not only Li Qingqiu, but Jiang Zhaoxia, Xu Ning, and Chu Jing all frowned.
“Although that demonic tree can enhance the cultivation of the Qi Clan’s people, it also consumes their lifespan. The Qi Clan is grateful to it, but they still care about the world and do not wish to bear too much infamy, so they only dare to secretly deliver flesh and blood to the demonic tree. The demonic tree is vicious and dissatisfied with the Qi Clan’s caution, so it planned to possess the divine son cultivated by the Qi Clan, restoring its ability to act. It would then use avatars to collect flesh and blood in place of its true body. Fortunately, seven divine sons were slain by me. The remaining two are nowhere to be found.”
“This demonic tree also deceived the Qi Clan, claiming that it was doing this to help the Qi Clan conquer the world sooner and restore order to the land. It called itself an ancient god, saying it pitied all living beings. It claimed that it was merely recuperating now, and that once it fully recovered, it would resurrect all those it had absorbed. That’s utter bullshit. The Qi Clan is extremely ignorant—how could they believe this?”
The more Mo Jiuhong spoke, the angrier he became.
His chest heaved, and his neck accidentally brushed against Jiang Zhaoxia’s sword blade, yet he did not retreat.
Li Qingqiu continued, “Tell me more about the demonic tree’s characteristics. I need to know how strong it is.”
Upon hearing this, Mo Jiuhong’s eyes lit up as he asked, “Daoist friend, you’re going to deal with that demonic tree?”
Li Qingqiu said solemnly, “Such an object that harms heaven and violates morality—how could we stand by and do nothing? Our Clear Sky Sect is not what the secular world calls the righteous path, but our Clear Sky Sect is willing to protect all living beings under heaven. Whether righteous or evil lies within our hearts.”
These words made Jiang Zhaoxia and Xu Ning’s eyes shine, their blood boiling with fervor.
Chu Jing looked at him, unable to tell whether his words were true or false.
If they were false, why would Clear Sky Sect time and again oppose Zhao Zhi?
Mo Jiuhong felt his blood surge as well and immediately said, “Daoist friend, let me join Clear Sky Sect. Since you took over, Clear Sky Sect has only existed for eleven years. If I join, I will surely be able to help you.”
Li Qingqiu revealed a smile and said, “Alright. I’ll allow you to start as an inner sect disciple. After all, you’ve provided Clear Sky Sect with very important intelligence.”
Inner sect disciple?
That sounded great!
Mo Jiuhong agreed readily and then continued explaining the demonic tree.
A long time passed.
Jiang Zhaoxia and Xu Ning prepared to take Mo Jiuhong down the mountain.
“Wait. I forgot to ask—how did your matter go?” Li Qingqiu suddenly called out to Jiang Zhaoxia and Xu Ning.
Jiang Zhaoxia turned around, his expression slightly unnatural.
Xu Ning spoke up, “It can be considered a failure. We wiped out all the Lingtian Residences but didn’t find their sect master. We did encounter three protectors and killed them all. Thinking of the Qi Clan matter, we returned early. Tomorrow, we’ll head down the mountain again. Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we’ll drag the Lingtian Sect master out.”
Li Qingqiu shook his head and said, “No need. This task ends here. For the disciples who followed you, it counts as completed, and all task rewards will be distributed. But for the two of you, it counts as a failure—there will be no task reward.”
“Alright.”
Jiang Zhaoxia and Xu Ning replied at the same time.
Li Qingqiu waved his hand, signaling that they could leave.
The two of them departed with Mo Jiuhong.
Li Qingqiu sat on the chair, falling into deep thought.
“Master, that demonic tree is far too powerful. We can’t confront it head-on. It needs time to recover, but Clear Sky Sect also needs time to develop. In fact, as long as we restrain the Qi Clan, we can restrain its recovery. I think time is actually on our side,” Chu Jing said.
According to what Mo Jiuhong had said, the demonic tree could injure people with flying leaves.
Its vines were thick like dragons, and its roots were like mountain ranges.
Once it moved, it would be earth-shattering.
At present, Chu Jing had not seen anyone within Clear Sky Sect who could be that powerful, including Li Qingqiu.
Li Qingqiu sighed and said, “Yes, time is on our side. It’s just that during this period, how many innocent people will die?”
Chu Jing replied, “People die every day. Even without this demonic tree, the world is full of tyrants and treacherous villains who harm others at every moment. Accumulating strength to save all living beings is not shameful.”
Li Qingqiu did not need comfort from others.
His heart had always been firm.
He was merely sighing at the thought that if he did not cultivate immortality, he could only wait for fate to toy with him.
Clear Sky Sect could not care for everything.
At most, it could protect its own disciples and the common people below the mountain.
But if Clear Sky Sect could cover the entire world, then it could protect all living beings under heaven.
What he envisioned was not covering the world through authority, but building Clear Sky Sect to span the entire world, allowing its disciples to establish cave dwellings everywhere under heaven, with teleportation formations in every city.
Using authority to restrain the world would be no different from a dynasty.
But if it truly covered the world, then even without wielding power, it could still deter those who held power, becoming the heaven in people’s hearts and backing them up.
However, to develop to such a level was definitely not something that could be achieved in ten or twenty years.
Li Qingqiu could not be impatient, lest Clear Sky Sect fall into an abyss ten thousand fathoms deep.
As he pondered how to restrain the Qi Clan, he waited.
Whether Mo Jiuhong was trustworthy still depended on his loyalty.
If it was too low, someone would need to keep an eye on him.
After half an hour, he finally found Mo Jiuhong’s profile on the Dao Lineage panel.
【Name: Mo Jiuhong】
【Gender: Male】
【Age: 42】
【Loyalty (to Sect Master / Sect): 67 / 82 (Maximum 100)】
【Cultivation Aptitude: Average】
【Comprehension: Average】
【Fate Traits: Able to Bend and Stretch, The Way of Lurking】
【Able to Bend and Stretch: In order to survive, he can set aside his dignity, but he has principles of his own that must not be trampled】
【The Way of Infiltration: Skilled at infiltrating hostile forces, difficult to detect, even capable of gaining the enemy’s trust, and adept at teaching infiltration experience】