Chapter 20: Secret
Translator: Christina Editor: Rundi
Zhang Yuanshan’s mind was a mess. All he could think of was how on the “samsara square” Qi Xia cheerfully introduced Tang’s Flower to them and talked about traps and secret weapons. Originally, he believed that if there was someone who would take risks and reveal the “samsara world”, it would be Jiang Zhiwei or him. He never imagined that it would be Qi Xia, who had finally gotten into contact with what she had always dreamed of and who could have fulfilled her wish very soon!
How could he know that while he was still hesitating, she had already made up her mind? No, it seemed like she had made the decision a long time ago!
“Was she just pretending to be extremely happy during the exchange?”
“No, her reaction didn’t seem fake. Maybe even her happiness couldn’t win over her will to escape from danger!”
Immediately after Qi Xia finished her sentence, Kong Wen looked to her and said after an “Amitābha”, “Please go on, benefactor Qi.”
“What do you know?”
Outraged by the true murderer, Taoist Shou Zhuo looked to Qi Xia and waited for her to provide some clues.
At the same time, Su Wuming, Xuan Yuanzi, Qi Xia’s father Qi Yuan, and many others all had their eyes on Qi Xia. They didn’t know how she, who lived several yards away from Xuan Tian Sect’s yard, could have discovered something about Qing Jing’s death.
If it was something she had noticed when she went to the toilet at night, masters like them would have also sensed it even in their sleep. In other words, since it was something that could outsmart their senses, there was no way that a young girl who hadn’t even attained Enlightenment could have discovered it coincidentally.
Zhang Yuanshan subconsciously hid behind Xuan Yuanzi, and his left hand clenched into a fist. His right hand felt the hilt of his sword, and the coldness of it slightly alleviated his nervousness and worry. He quietly glanced at Jiang Zhiwei, and saw that her right hand was pressed to the hilt of her sword as well.
After Qi Xia blurted out the first sentence, there was no chance for her to regret. She looked around at the seniors in the hall and Kong Wen, the “Dragon-subduing Arhat”, and hoped that this Dharmakaya-level master could stop the “Owner of Samsara”.
Even if His Abbotship Kong Wen himself was the villain behind this, he would protect her to protect his own secret. He would even escort her back to the Dajiang Gang. After she returned to Dajiang Gang, her father and the other seniors, who by now would be very alarmed, would definitely bring out the ultimate weapon of their faction, the “Staff of Dancing Sea and Somersaulting River”, and then her safety would be guaranteed for sure.
“His Abbotship, both Qing Jing and I met the ‘Own…”
Qi Xia formulated her words and attempted to raise everyone’s vigilance by speaking as quickly as possible.
As she tried to pronounce the word “owner”, she suddenly felt her heart begin to beat faster and faster and faster, until it reached an almost unattainable speed. A huge amount of blood upwelled through her vessels. Her brain swelled, her throat became blocked, and she could no longer take a single breath.
Bang!
With a blurry consciousness, Qi Xia thought she heard a crisp crack, and her sight became flooded with red. Though unclearly, she saw a large hand stretch out to her, trying to save her; it glittered with a solemn Buddha shine and carried a gentle and calming atmosphere. At the same time, a sword shine emerged like a swift eagle diving from the sky, and in a blink of the eye, it pointed at the space three inches behind her.
“I didn’t expect that the “Owner of Samsara” would really dare to attack in front of a Dharmakaya-level master…”
“Unfortunately, everyone is a bit late…”
With bitterness, regret, shock, and an unwillingness to reconcile, Qi Xia fell into the rimless darkness. Losing support, her body fell to the ground.
“Daughter!”
Qi Yuantong yelled mournfully, rushing towards Qi Xia’s body very quickly and catching her in his arms. Genuine Qi flowed out from the center of his palms and poured into Qi Xia’s body, but she did not move again.
Jiang Zhiwei was still confused and shocked when Su Wuming retrieved his long sword. His left hand gently stroked his sword, and his eyes, which had always been half-closed, opened. With a very serious expression, he seemed to be pondering deeply what had just happened.
“Amitābha, I was too late.”
His palms together pressed together, Kong Wen no longer had a sacred Buddha shine flashing around him. For the first time, shock and astonishment appeared on his calm face.
“Pretend to be unprepared and late… Pretend to be unprepared and late…”
Zhang Yuanshan was both startled and frightened, and his mind was a chaos. Fear, regret, self-accusation, and a guilty joy that the corpse lying on the ground was not his mingled together and deprived him of his ability to think.
Suddenly, an insight popped into his head.
“No, His Abbotship Kong Wen didn’t even show his Golden Body of Arhat. If he indeed was pretending to be unprepared, then he should have tried his very best to prove his innocence! Maybe he was really unprepared? Even I, who know what’s behind all this, didn’t expect that the ‘Owner of Samsara’ would act so quickly, so mercilessly, and so mysteriously…”
Looking at Qi Xia, who had lost her vigor and lay in Qi Yuantong’s arms, Zhang Yuanshan felt like his heart was grasped by an enormous hand. It felt so heavy that he could barely breathe.
Taoist Shou Zhuo also hadn’t come to rescue on time. At first, he glared at Kong Wen, as if he was going to blame him for not doing his best and accuse him of being involved with the true murderer. However, his expression suddenly changed a few times, as if he had recalled something important, and he gradually calmed down. In addition, Xuan Yuanzi, Qi Yuantong, and the others also didn’t blame Kong Wen.
“Benefactors, what has just happened to benefactor Qi reminded me of several similar events,” Kong Wen slowly began to say. “It’s my oversight that I didn’t link what had happened to benefactor Qing Jing to those events. Otherwise, I could have saved benefactor Qi.”
“Several similar events?”
Zhang Yuanshan felt that there had been too many shocking events tonight, which kind of exceeded his limit. He looked at Kong Wen with nervousness and alarm, only to find that Jiang Zhiwei behaved exactly the same as he did.
Fortunately, other people had similar reactions, so they didn’t seem weird.
“I’m willing to listen to the details.”
Xuan Yuanzi made a salute. Qi Yuantong also looked to Kong Wen with his red eyes.
Kong Wen sighed. “Have any benefactors heard of a mysterious organization called ‘The Immortals’? Their members would die mysteriously, just like how benefactor Qi just did, if they wanted to leak the organization’s secrets. I suspect that their bodies have some kind of curse hidden inside, which will bring a mysterious force if it is triggered.”
“‘The Immortals’? I’ve once fought with one of their members, ‘Doumu Progenitor’. You know what, I nearly lost my life,” Xuan Yuanzi said self-mockingly, “but I’ve never caught a member of theirs, and never saw a similarly mysterious death either.”
“What? You nearly lost your life? And what is that ‘Doumu Progenitor’?” Taoist Shou Zhuo, who had a bad temper, asked with disbelief.
Xuan Yuanzi was the head of the general affairs of Zhen Wu Sect. Although he was not a top master of the sect, he was still a famous person on the Earthly Ranking, and he was as strong as Taoist Shou Zhuo. It was truly unacceptable that he would be beaten by a master from an “organization” that was not famous at all.
“From what I know, ‘The Immortals’ don’t have many official members, and there are at most 20 of them. Every one of them has code-named themselves after a famous Taoist or immortal from ancient mythology, and none of their real names are known. ‘Doumu Progenitor’ is one of them,” Kong Wen explained to the people that had never heard of “The Immortals” before.
Xuan Yuanzi shook his head with a bitter smile. “His Abbotship knows much more than I do. I muddleheadedly met that ‘Doumu Progenitor’, fought with her, and fled. I know nothing other than the name ‘The Immortals’ and her codename. I think she was already at the top of the Exterior Realm ten years ago.”
“Code-named themselves after immortals, and no true names are known? How on earth could there be so many nameless masters! I would say this organization is secretly formed by a group of ambitious people from different sects and families! Xuan Yuanzi, can you tell the kungfu origins of ‘Doumu Progenitor’?” Taoist Shou Zhuo asked with a humph.
He didn’t believe that so many masters could keep themselves unknown to public. Except their codenames in “The Immortals”, they must have other famous identities in Jianghu!
Therefore, he still suspected that Shaolin had secret agents!
Xuan Yuanzi answered, “If I could tell her kungfu origins, I would have found her a long time ago. Zhen Wu Sect is the legitimate successor of Zhen Wu Emperor. We are not that easy to play around with. The kungfu ‘Doumu Progenitor’ used was similar to the ultimate kungfu the ‘Doumu Progenitor’ from ancient mythology used, which was called Star God’s Arrival on Earth. However, both Star God’s Arrival on Earth and the Art of All to None have been lost for tens of thousands of years. How would I know who has inherited them by chance?”
“Art of All to None… Star God’s Arrival on Earth…”
Zhang Yuanshan’s face was pale—he remembered that these two ultimate kungfu were both on the “Owner of Samsara’s” exchange list. The former was worth 500 thousand Karma points, and the latter was worth 80 thousand.
“Is “The Immortals” related to the “samsara world”?”
Taoist Shou Zhuo walked around Qi Yuantong and slightly nodded his head. “A mysterious force burst inside the body and is connected with an unknown outer force. This is indeed impossible to be accomplished by ordinary people. Yet since there will be traces of curses or things similar to that, we can check each other’s identity right now and right here.”
Just when Zhang Yuanshan got extremely nervous and scared, Su Wuming, who was standing in front of Jiang Zhiwei, opened his mouth. “Similar traces will be very well-hidden. If we don’t find out the origin and design a method accordingly, we might not be able to discover anything.”
“Su Wuming, we should act instead of just guessing around.” Taoist Shou Zhuo became doughtier. He was not afraid of Su Wuming.
“What benefactor Su said is absolutely right. Last time, I well prepared before trying to find some clues left behind by ‘Lord Tai Yi’, who is also a member of ‘The Immortals’, yet I still didn’t find any concealed trace…” Kong Wen roughly told everyone the several encounters he had with “The Immortals”. He then looked to Su Wuming. “It sounds like benefactor Su has similar experiences?”
Su Wuming said without any fluctuation in voice, “I met an organization called ‘The Myths”, which is similar to “The Immortals” yet is its deadly foe. Their members use names of ancient deities as their code-names.”
“Benefactor Su, did you learn anything from them?” Kong Wen asked with concern while all the others were still shocked by the fact that there was another mysterious organization.
Su Wuming was calm as usual. “The ‘Patriarch East’ whom I met and fought with was pretty strong, so I couldn’t restrain my strength.”
“So he means the guy is already dead?”
Many young disciples didn’t know how to react.
“And the corpse mysteriously self-destructed,” Su Wuming added.
Kong Wen sighed. “With my monitoring, ‘Lord Tai Yi’s’ corpse was not destroyed. His true identity was not ordinary. Later I will tell you about it in detail.”
Since there were too many people in the hall, it was not suitable for a more in-depth discussion.
“May it be ‘The Immortals’ or ‘The Myths’, they are both sneaky and mysterious. There must be some conspiracy. I suggest that all large sects work together and investigate this thoroughly!” Taoist Shou Zhuo said in a loud voice.
Kong Wen nodded and took back his nine-ringed staff. “If we discover any new information, Shaolin is willing to share it with all of you.”
“So is Xuan Tian Sect,” Taoist Shou Zhuo promised immediately and looked to Qi Yuantong. “My Taoist friend Qi, please check your daughter’s belongings and see if there are any discoveries.”
Qi Yuantong nodded with a gloomy face. It was no surprise that he soon found the production method of “Tang’s Flower”. After that, he clenched his teeth and said, “Dajiang Gang does not own a concealed weapon like this! Humph! I must kill ‘The Immortals’ and ‘The Myths’, turning them into sacrifices for my daughter!”
A concealed weapon’s production method which he had never seen in Jianghu reminded him of the Star God’s Arrival on Earth that Xuan Yuanzi mentioned previously. This convinced him even more that the two mysterious organizations had something to do with his daughter’s death.
Xuan Yuanzi glanced at the disciples that stood behind the masters of each sect. “This matter is extremely important. Please take care of your disciples and make sure they don’t leak it to outsiders.”
Only future elites of each sect were allowed to enter the Great Buddha’s Hall, and they had a certain level of eligibility to listen to matters like this. Therefore, he only told them not to leak the information to outsiders.
“Yes, uncle,” Zhang Yuanshan answered immediately. Other disciples also made their promises one by one.
The seniors went to the back of the hall to secretly discuss the matter before returning inside.
Zhang Yuanshan followed Xuan Yuanzi to leave the Great Buddha’s Hall, and then walked towards the yard he lived in.
On his way, he couldn’t stop worrying about what had just happened.
Suddenly, he heard a light sigh from his teacher and uncle, Xuan Yuanzi.
The sigh was like a trigger that caused an outburst of Zhang Yuanshan’s confusion. He quickly caught up with Xuan Yuanzi and asked in a low voice, “Uncle, why didn’t you suspect His Abbotship Kong Wen? He didn’t try his best to save little sister Qi, not even showing his Golden Body of Arhat.”
Xuan Yuanzi smiled and complimented, “A very careful and detailed observation.” Then, he looked to the sky and said with a sigh, “The rumor is not false.”
“Huh?”
Zhang Yuanshan looked at Xuan Yuanzi with confusion, but the latter didn’t seem like he would explain what he had just said. He shook his head, which implied that Zhang Yuanshan shouldn’t ask too much.
The night was cold, small snowflakes falling from the sky that had just begun to light up.