HSSB1056: Scheming while fleeing
Bright Connection Valley had long since been overturned by others many times through.
Not only had all the things there been taken away and investigated, even the environment had already changed.
The ground had even been dug up, the earth exposed.
According to Wang Pu’s words, due to the countless investigations, the current spiritual qi flow of Bright Connection Valley’s earth veins was already completely different from how it had been in the past.
“This place has been in ruins for many years. Still, your mother was smart as she even deliberately returned here to stay for a period of time before where no one would think to look for her,” Wang Pu said, “Therefore, after her departure, this place was searched and investigated over once more.”
Yan Zhaoge stroked his lower chin, “I can understand that.”
Many people, the Earth Exalt Wang Zhengcheng included, had been trying to capture Xue Chuqing not only due to the pressure from the Immortal Court.
They too were similarly interested in that Heavenly Essence Stone fragment.
Whether or not the Heavenly Essence Stone truly possessed the function that Yin Tianxia and Hu Yuexin spoke of, it was a treasure that the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord and the Immortal Court yearned for greatly at the very least.
Its value was definitely not low.
Since that was so, whether they would keep it for themselves or hand it over, there was still a need to seize Xue Chuqing and obtain it.
Overturning the entirety of the Bright Connection Valley was naturally something they would have no qualms in doing.
Walking once around the area, Yan Zhaoge did not discover anything.
Still, he was vaguely caught by a rather strange feeling as inspiration seemed to flash past his mind. Still, it was gone in a flash as he was hard pressed to apprehend it.
After investigating the area again and confirming his inability to learn anything from it, Yan Zhaoge could only quell his thoughts and leave the Bright Connection Valley together with Wang Pu.
The two then searched those other places where Xue Chuqing was said to have appeared before.
It was only to be expected that these places would definitely have been searched by others before.
Under such circumstances, even if clues had initially been left behind, they would already have been obtained or damaged by those who had come before.
Wang Pu very patiently led Yan Zhaoge along in visiting all these places.
While he believed that they would not learn anything from this, merely gaining reassurance from the fact that they had made an effort, he bore no resentment in accompanying Yan Zhaoge throughout.
Yan Zhaoge was not disappointed, however. On the contrary, he felt his thoughts growing increasingly clearer the more he saw.
Yan Zhaoge felt that he had grasped that flash of inspiration from earlier.
While Xue Chuqing had not left behind any valuable clues at the places where she had resided before, these locations were actually thought-provoking in themselves.
If one were to connect the various coordinates with lines, they might find that some sort of rhythm seemingly existed within.
After realising this, Yan Zhaoge felt that his mother was really not simple indeed.
While she had been fleeing, this had not been the sole thought on her mind as she had even been up to some kind of scheme.
One might say that she had been fulfilling some sort of mission, which might be hers or instructions of her lineage.
Yan Zhaoge was still unable to get to the bottom of this rhythm right now.
Some of the places that Xue Chuqing had hidden in would surely have been chosen as impromptu hiding places due to some unforeseen circumstances and such.
In other words, they did not fit into that rhythm, not being part of her overarching plan.
At the same time, in order to conceal her true goal, Xue Chuqing would definitely had created many false trails too.
He would have to precisely exclude these locations before he might be able to restore the entirety of her plan.
Moreover, some of her hiding places might still be unknown as no one had discovered them thus far.
Before he had managed to gain a precise grasp of this, Yan Zhaoge would be unable to see through the profundities that existed therein.
This was especially so considering how most of the places that she had been to had been investigated on a large scale by those seeking to find her. Even if she had left some special mechanisms behind, they would long since have been deactivated or cleared away.
How would her scheme exert its effects?
Or was it to say that just having made a single trip to these places was already sufficient?
Next, had she already finished the route that had been pre-planned in her schemes?
How far away was she from the endpoint as of right now?
“Has anyone else besides me managed to see through this?” Yan Zhaoge wondered as he walked.
At this point in time, Yan Zhaoge already no longer planned to continue examining those locations.
He looked at the vast map of the World beyond Worlds and marked the points where Xue Chuqing had previously appeared based on the information provided by Wang Pu.
Then, he quietly observed these points and lines that might exist between any two individual ones.
Yan Zhaoge believed that others should have thought of this possibility as well. While they would doubt that Xue Chuqing had really been doing something like this, they would probably not have neglected any possibility whatsoever.
At a time like this, one would have to depend on their accumulated knowledge to seek the truth, finding the underlying rhythm that potentially existed.
With the current strength of Yan Zhaoge’s soul, it was not difficult for him to construct hundreds of crisscrossing lines in his mind to form thousands, ten of thousands of combinations.
He unceasingly recalled the various diagrams and information from his memories before performing some comparison and selection.
The combinations swiftly decreased as the wrong ones were eliminated non-stop.
While several hundred possibilities still remained, the search radius had already been reduced greatly.
Yan Zhaoge exhaled, next muttering to himself, “I will require more information from here on out. Rushing matters will not help.”
He composed himself before saying to Wang Pu, “Senior apprentice-brother Wang, it has been tough on you.”
“It looks like it would indeed be difficult to gain anything if we continue searching like this.”
Wang Pu smiled, “I understand your thoughts.”
Yan Zhaoge said, “Let us return to the Northern High Peak then. Still, there is a matter which I may have to ask you about when the time comes.”
“Of course,” Wang Pu nodded before looking at the surrounding environment, “Speaking of which, we are in the vicinity of Ingenious Flying Peak right now. You can be considered acquainted with Ingenious Flying Peak. How about paying them a visit?”
Yan Zhaoge answered, “Passing by without visiting would surely be rude. Also, I wonder if the Brocade Emperor has returned.”
Wang Pu immediately led the way as the two traversed the lofty peaks of Kunlun Mountain together.
Ingenious Flying Peak was a part of Kunlun Mountain. As the main peak of that area, it was surrounded by an endless range of mountains which could all be considered landmarks in their own right.
The Brocade Emperor’s dao arena, Red Lotus Cliff, was the highest peak of Ingenious Flying Peak.
As Yan Zhaoge and Wang Pu paid a visit now, Red Lotus Cliff naturally treated them with due respect.
First not speaking of how Yan Zhaoge currently possessed unordinary strength and status, Wang Pu was a ninth level Martial Saint and a disciple of the Sword Sovereign Yue Zhenbei who represented the Sword Sovereign in managing the usual affairs of Jade Capital Crag. This was worth Ingenious Flying Peak treating him with the utmost respect beneath only the Brocade Emperor.
Of course, the martial practitioners of Ingenious Flying Peak inevitably felt rather awkward as they saw Yan Zhaoge at this moment.
Amidst their awkwardness, they appeared rather anxious.
As Yan Zhaoge arrived at Red Lotus Cliff, he saw ‘Grand Red Lotus’ Fu Ting whom he had not seen for many years.
Close to seven years had passed, yet Fu Ting still remained in secluded cultivation at Red Lotus Cliff, never once emerging. Her cultivation base had been improving by leaps and bounds, though.
She had been a fifth level Martial Saint in the past. Now, she was at the peak of the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm, the late Seeing Divinity stage, also already being confident of ascending the Immortal Bridge.
It was only because of her father, the Brocade Emperor, that she felt unable to settle down, thus having been delayed.
Both sides felt rather emotional as they saw each other. Fu Ting first congratulated Yan Zhaoge on the success of Broad Creed Mountain’s opening ceremony before expressing her apologies yet again.
“There is no need to stand on ceremony, Miss Fu. Speaking of the Brocade Emperor’s current situation, it might still be because of this Yan and Broad Creed Mountain,” Yan Zhaoge said, “It probably is not the case that the Brocade Emperor went back on his word and failed to show up. Instead, there must have been a cause behind this.”