Lin Shu gently brushed the moss on the stone pillar, and underneath the moss, he was startled to see Array Inscriptions from Da Qian.
“These are Da Qian characters… but… why Da Qian?” Lin Shu muttered to himself.
This immortal’s secret realm in Qingshan Town was a replica of “Qingshan Town” from the Shang Dynasty, which dated back a hundred thousand years. Logically, there shouldn’t be any characters from the Da Qian era appearing here.
“Senior Brother, what does this inscription mean?” Lu Zhiyun came over and asked.
The inscription on the stone pillar was indeed in the script of Da Qian, but it looked like some kind of Array Inscription, which Lu Zhiyun hadn’t studied before and naturally couldn’t understand.
Come to think of it, I still don’t know what skills the demonic cultivator has.
What if he can’t read it either? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing for me?!
At this thought, Lu Zhiyun couldn’t help but worry a little.
“It’s just an ordinary array. It basically says to tie the sacrifice to the stone pillar and then activate the array to perform a Ritual Sacrifice,” Lin Shu explained.
“Oh, I see!” Lu Zhiyun breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good then, it’s just for offering flowers!”
After all, Town Chief Shi had previously explained to them that during the Flower Sacrifice Festival, they would pick the biggest and brightest flowers around the town, bind them to these three stone pillars, and then burn them as offerings.
Lin Shu shook his head and continued, “If that was all, it would be fine. But the sacrifice here has been replaced with living people!”
“Living people?!” Lu Zhiyun was shocked at his words.
“Yeah! To be precise, not just any living people. The requirement is for cultivators at the Qi Refining Stage—the higher the talent, the better!”
After saying that, Lin Shu frowned slightly. It seemed this altar was prepared just for them.
Qi Refining Stage sacrifices, immortal’s secret realm, and the Flower Sacrifice Festival…
If we really trace it back, all suspicions point to that strange Trial Letter…
But for now, Lin Shu didn’t have time to dwell on it. There were still many mysteries about this immortal’s secret realm, and they had to get out before anything else.
“I suspect all this is the work of demonic cultivators!” Lin Shu said with certainty.
Only demonic cultivators would be capable of such things!
“What! Demonic cultivators again?” Lu Zhiyun’s mind went blank.
“Junior Sister! Why did you say ‘again’?” Lin Shu asked curiously. “Have you seen other demonic cultivators before?”
Isn’t the biggest demonic cultivator right in front of me!
Lu Zhiyun wished she could slap herself twice. Why did she have to let that slip now?
“Oh, oh! When I was working as a constable in the capital, I ran into plenty of demonic cultivators!” Lu Zhiyun hurriedly made something up.
“So that’s it! Is the capital’s security that bad? Demonic cultivators are actually that common?”
If that’s the case, I’ll have to remind Her Majesty next time I see her. Come to think of it, with so many demonic cultivators in the capital, how could Grandmaster Jiang not step in to take care of things? That’s neglect of duty!
“Um… Senior… Senior Brother! Do you know which demonic cultivator did this?” Lu Zhiyun quickly changed the subject by asking.
“I have a guess! It should be someone from the Yi Qi Cult!” Lin Shu speculated.
The Yi Qi Cult, one of the current Three Great Heretical Sects, was almost impossible to track by the righteous path.
The reason Yi Qi Cult was listed as a heretical sect was because of its inhuman cultivation method—sacrificing living cultivators!
This unusual “Flower Sacrifice Festival” seemed to be their handiwork.
“So it’s the Yi Qi Cult?” Lu Zhiyun was shocked. “Are they doing this for their cultivation?”
Lu Zhiyun had learned about this sect in her classes at Tianque Sect—their cruelty was almost unmatched among the heretical sects.
“It’s hard to say. I remember their sacrificial rituals aren’t usually this elaborate. This method is more like… more like…”
It’s like they’re trying to resurrect something!
Lin Shu stared at the inscriptions on the pillar, lost in thought.
A long time ago, news from Da Qian claimed they had discovered the purpose for which Yi Qi Cult was founded—to resurrect the so-called ‘Yi Qi Immortal.’
Speaking of this ‘Yi Qi Immortal’, it was hard not to associate it with Tianque Sect’s ‘Three Pure Daoist’, but Lin Shu thought that was utter nonsense.
Compared to other supreme immortal sects, Tianque Sect’s only weakness was that they’d never produced an immortal.
The creator of “Three Pure Unified Arts”, the Three Pure Daoist, at most reached the Transcending Tribulation Stage before dying, and didn’t even touch the Half-Immortal Threshold.
As for the ‘Yi Qi Immortal’—that was even more ridiculous! There was no such immortal recorded anywhere in the history of the cultivation world!
“Senior Brother, do you think they might also be inside the secret realm?” Lu Zhiyun asked.
“Hard to say! But this secret realm only lets in Qi Refining cultivators. Even if they are here, you should at least have the power to fight them. Just stay alert!”
Lin Shu patted Lu Zhiyun’s head in reassurance.
Lu Zhiyun’s cheeks reddened slightly. Lin Shu’s large hand pressed lightly against her bangs, brushing her willow-shaped brows, making her heart itch a little.
If it weren’t for Jiang Chenyin’s mission, Lu Zhiyun would’ve found this scene rather heartwarming.
It was just a pity—Lin Shu was also a demonic cultivator, one even crueler than the Yi Qi Cult.
At most, the Yi Qi Cult sacrificed cultivators by the individual, but Jiang Chenyin had once said Lin Shu’s hands were stained with countless lives!
Sigh…
In the end, they were just strangers passing by!
That night, the four juniors gathered again for a meeting to share information from the day.
Wang Zhiya was the first to speak, sitting calmly, his body faintly carrying the scent of rouge.
“I’ve handed out several hundred Dan Medicine samples today. Now I recognize just about every Dama in Qingshan Town around the age of thirty!”
As he finished speaking, Wang Zhiya took out a new silk banner—“Women’s Friend”!
“Who wants to see that?!” Ye Qing spat.
“Seventy-two consecutive wins! I can’t even imagine how I could possibly lose!!!”
By all rights, this should have been something to celebrate, but Ye Qing looked as if he wanted to cry, with an expression as if he’d rather die.
“Calm down! There’s always tomorrow, seventy-two isn’t your limit!” Wang Zhiya gloated.
“Right, Junior Sister Tong, did you discover anything new?”
Tong Yao was startled by the sudden question. “Huh? I… I found out the grass in Qingshan Town tastes pretty good?”
“???” Everyone was puzzled.
Lu Zhiyun patted the table and began her report, from the inscription on the stone pillar, to the Yi Qi Cult, to the possibility that demonic cultivators had mixed into the secret realm, covering every detail.
“Demonic cultivators mixed in among us? But we haven’t noticed anything at all!” Wang Zhiya said.
“Is it Chief Shi? How about we take him out tonight?” Ye Qing suggested.
This scene felt so familiar!
Lu Zhiyun laughed awkwardly. “No, Chief Shi isn’t the problem!”
“But right now, the enemy hides in the shadows while we’re out in the open. Everyone needs to be extra cautious!”
“Junior Sister Lu is right!” “Agreed!” “Senior… Senior Sister Lu is right!”
Several more days passed, and Qingshan Town remained as peaceful and harmonious as ever.
Except for two people…
“Damn it! How many days has it been, and the Golden Core expert from the sect still hasn’t shown up?” Shi Yan said angrily.
He never expected that a Golden Core would stand them up!
No, that’s not quite right!
It’s that they were about to get stood up by a Golden Core!
“Sigh, boss, even a Golden Core can stand us up. Maybe Yi Qi Cult doesn’t have much of a future after all!” Little Stone tossed and played with the stone in his hand, shaking his head.
“Don’t talk nonsense. Maybe something delayed him, but he’ll definitely show. For now, let’s come up with a plan!”
Shi Yan paced back and forth, then turned his gaze to Little Stone.
“What? Boss! There’s no way I can beat them by myself!” Little Stone shrugged.
“Who told you to fight them?” Shi Yan snapped. “A veteran at Qi Refining should act like a veteran at Qi Refining!”
“For example?”
“For example, poison them! Or get close to them, gain their trust, and trick them!” Shi Yan listed.
What does that have to do with being a Qi Refining cultivator? Any ordinary person could do that!
Little Stone felt once again that joining the Yi Qi Cult was a losing deal!
“In any case, just go try! If it doesn’t work, I have a second plan!”
Before Little Stone could protest, Shi Yan shoved him out of the concealed barrier.
On the streets of Qingshan Town, Little Stone wandered around with a Relationship Chart in his hand.
“They say that, but what am I actually supposed to do?”
Before long, cheers and shouts reached his ears. It seemed there was a tournament stage up ahead.
“Great! Young Hero Ye has won three hundred and fifty-nine times in a row! Just one more win, and Master will announce an early end!”
“No—”
Little Stone glanced at Ye Qing on the stage, who was shedding tears of happiness, and had an idea.
“As the saying goes, nothing brings people together like a fight. If I let him win one more time, wouldn’t that quickly improve our relationship?”
With that, he stepped forward.