Chapter 1302: Where the Eight Treasures Lie

Yuan Gang had spent a long time at Niu Youdao's side handling intelligence. He had developed a keen sensitivity to information and knew well what it meant, for a decision-maker like Niu Youdao, to seize on useful intelligence in time.

Niu Youdao narrowed his eyes slightly. He and Zhao Xiongge turned to look at one another, a deep significance in both their gazes.

Zhao Xiongge hesitated. "Could the guiding object at the Land of the Buried Buddha really be the Scorpion Emperor? Could Lü Wushuang truly know something, just as you suspected before?"

What did that mean? Yuan Gang could not follow what the two of them were saying at all. He had only been away from Master Dao for a short while, yet it felt as though he had become completely disconnected from everything happening around him. What Holy Son? What Land of the Buried Buddha?

Niu Youdao's eyes flickered in thought for a moment before returning to Yuan Gang. "If Lü Wushuang truly knows something, she won't let him go easily. Martial Uncle, the rear mountain isn't suitable for him to stay on for long. Move him to the Demon Palace as soon as possible."

He had also seen the confusion in Yuan Gang's eyes. "There are circumstances he still doesn't know about. To avoid mistakes, tell him afterward what happened this time so he knows where matters stand. It'll help him pick up useful intelligence. He's good at that."

Zhao Xiongge nodded.

Niu Youdao said, "I'm going."

"Wait." Zhao Xiongge raised a hand to stop him.

Niu Youdao, who had just turned away, looked back. "Something else?"

"All this time, haven't you wanted to know who on the Demonic Sect's side is connected to Guan Fangyi? It wasn't convenient for me to say much before. Now that I've handed the item over, I have nothing left to hide. You may as well know."

Niu Youdao stared into his eyes, then suddenly spoke a name. "Nantian Wufang?"

Zhao Xiongge froze. "How did you know?"

"So it really is him?" Niu Youdao found it amusing. "Given your circumstances, and the fact that you don't associate with many people, who else on the Demonic Sect's side could make you keep quiet all this time? I suspected him long ago."

"..." Zhao Xiongge was speechless. He found himself wondering how this man's mind was put together.

Niu Youdao said, "Go on, then. What's the story between him and Guan Fangyi?"

Zhao Xiongge sighed. "Nantian Wufang was Guan Fangyi's first man. Guan Fangyi's original name was Guan Honghua. 'Fangyi' was the name Nantian Wufang gave her..." He slowly recounted the past as Nantian Wufang had told it. Even with Yuan Gang present, he did not conceal the position Guan Fangyi should originally have held.

He knew Yuan Gang was Niu Youdao's trusted confidant and had long handled many of Niu Youdao's secrets. The fact that Niu Youdao was willing to ask the question in front of Yuan Gang meant he had no intention of hiding it from him.

By the time Niu Youdao finished listening, his expression had become wonderfully complicated. This truly was something he had never imagined before. No matter how clever he was, he could never have guessed that Hongniang of the Qi capital, whose allure was famed beneath Heaven, had actually... been the woman who should have become the Demonic Sect Saintess?

All because of Nantian Wufang's love for her, Guan Fangyi's fate had taken such an enormous turn?

And the chain reaction from that single turn of fate meant that the complete decline of the Shangqing Sect and the destruction of Prince Ning's entire line of power had all begun from this?

Even Yuan Gang, tormented by his injuries, was stunned.

"Heh." Niu Youdao suddenly could not help laughing. He shook his head. "This joke got a little too big. I don't even know how I'm supposed to bring it up with Hongniang. It seems there are only two kinds of people in this world: men and women. At the root of the most complicated relationships, it always comes back to men and women!"

As though summoned by the words, a figure flashed through the air. A man with black-and-white hair drifted down, carrying an air of easy freedom.

Niu Youdao's gaze met his at once, while the newcomer took a somewhat longer look around the scene.

No introduction was needed. Niu Youdao ran the possibilities through his mind and immediately guessed who the man was. He gave Zhao Xiongge a slight nod in farewell.

Before leaving, he cast one deep glance at Yuan Gang's hands and feet, then flashed away as though nothing were wrong. In truth, his heart was heavy. He simply did not want to show it in front of Yuan Gang and make him feel worse.

Nantian Wufang watched him leave, then turned back and asked, "Who was that?"

For now, Zhao Xiongge certainly had no intention of letting him know that Niu Youdao was still alive. He casually replied, "Someone from Tianmo Sacred Land."

Nantian Wufang nodded slightly, then looked toward Yuan Gang and ventured, "And this is...?"

Zhao Xiongge said, "The Holy Son."

So this was the man who had received the Saintess's inheritance? Nantian Wufang's expression immediately became complicated. For a moment, he did not even know whether he ought to salute. His gaze fell to Yuan Gang's hands and feet.

Nearly all the flesh had been stripped from his fingers and toes, leaving little but white bone. That was, for all practical purposes, a cripple.

They had brought in a Holy Son, only for him to be a cripple? Nantian Wufang did not know what to say. He sighed. "I'll gather the Demonic Sect disciples later and hold a formal obeisance ceremony."

Zhao Xiongge understood. The ceremony would formally acknowledge Yuan Gang's status as Holy Son.

"And this one?" Nantian Wufang's gaze shifted to the unconscious Feng Guan'er.

Zhao Xiongge said, "Feng Guan'er."

"Oh." Nantian Wufang's tone was loaded with meaning. He could not resist looking at Yuan Gang again. The whole thing left him deeply uncomfortable, chiefly because he simply could not make sense of it.

A Demonic Sect Saintess had to maintain a certain degree of purity and could never marry. But there had never been a Holy Son before. This one had arrived with a woman in tow. The Demonic Sect had no precedent for such a thing. What were they supposed to do with that?

And according to Zhao Xiongge, this was the man generations of Demonic Sect Saintesses had been waiting for. It seemed they had no choice but to accept him.

Nantian Wufang did not know what purpose the person awaited by generations of Saintesses was supposed to serve. Yet the man who had finally arrived was actually a cripple...

Zhao Xiongge said, "I'm afraid Lü Wushuang's anger hasn't subsided. The Holy Son shouldn't remain here. Send him to the Demon Palace immediately and settle him there."

He did not dare linger for even a moment. Once the decision was made, he and Nantian Wufang immediately moved Yuan Gang and Feng Guan'er away.

After living in this cave residence for so many years, Zhao Xiongge finally moved out.

The Demon Palace was on the front mountain, not far away.

Once they had quickly settled in, Yuan Gang grew anxious. Ignoring his own injuries, he urgently wanted to understand what exactly had happened. He was worried that Niu Youdao might have paid some enormous price to save him.

Inside a quiet stone chamber, once no outsiders remained, Zhao Xiongge told him the course of events.

Sure enough, the price had not been small. Yuan Gang fell silent after hearing it. To save him, Master Dao had actually been willing to let Zhao Xiongge hand over to Wu Chang the Demon Canon he had guarded with his life.

The Demon Canon itself was not what concerned Yuan Gang most. What mattered was that when he had left the Maolu Annex, he had told Master Dao not to concern himself with him.

At the time, Master Dao had been furious. He had even said harshly that if Yuan Gang left, he should never come back.

Yet in the end, Master Dao still had not abandoned him. In the end, he had acted, exhausting every possible method to pull Yuan Gang out of danger and clean up the aftermath for him.

Yuan Gang understood perfectly well that without Niu Youdao's intervention this time, he would unquestionably have died.

But precisely because of that, he could not help doubting himself. Had he truly been wrong? Every time he caused trouble, Master Dao was the one who saved him. And afterward, Master Dao was the one who wiped his ass.

Zhao Xiongge could see how low his spirits were. There were some things he did not say aloud—the son business.

Relatively speaking, there was no harm in leaving that unsaid. That was what they had told Wu Chang as well: Yuan Gang did not know.

"Rest and recover." Zhao Xiongge raised a hand and patted his shoulder, then turned and left.

...

"ROAR! ROAR!"

Inside the main hall of Wushuang Palace, a single slash produced two tiger roars. Lü Wushuang drew the saber back and frowned slightly as she studied the three tiger ornaments along the spine of the Three-Roars Saber.

Angry Tiger, Running Tiger, Crouching Tiger. Her fingers lightly stroked the Crouching Tiger.

The saber was the Three-Roars Saber Yuan Gang had left behind in Wushuang Sacred Land.

The tiger roars had come from her hand. She had seen Yuan Gang wield the weapon and had heard something of the Three-Roars Saber forged by Xi Wuxian, Jin's foremost artifact-refining master and the so-called foremost artifact refiner beneath Heaven. "Angry Tiger roars with ease; Running Tiger makes no sound; Crouching Tiger is hard to wake." She had heard that saying as well.

Even with her cultivation, a full-force slash could produce only two tiger roars. The third sound carried through the air was merely a faint hum, nowhere near a true third tiger roar.

She had not stopped after a single slash. On a sudden whim, she wanted to hear what the third tiger roar sounded like and how it differed from the others, so she tried several more times. Yet no matter what she did, she could not wake the Crouching Tiger.

"When Crouching Tiger wakes, none beneath Heaven can stand against it?" Lü Wushuang suddenly scoffed. If even her strength could not produce the third tiger roar, she did not believe anyone beneath Heaven possessed the power to wake the Crouching Tiger. Even if someone a little stronger than she managed to make it roar, calling them unrivaled beneath Heaven seemed rather exaggerated.

Clang! She casually planted the saber upright on the floor, her gaze growing intent.

Playing with the great saber had not been the point. It had made her think of the man who had left it behind.

Yes, under pressure from the other Saints, she had promised to give up. Wu Chang's threat had added further pressure. But faced with a secret she desperately wanted to know, how could she truly abandon it so easily? She was already considering how to act covertly when an opportunity arose.

...

"Sacred Venerable!"

At Tianmo Sacred Land, Wu Chang flashed back to the Tianmo Palace and strode inside.

Hei Shi came forward and saluted, then followed after him and tentatively asked, "Sacred Venerable, did you obtain the item?"

Wu Chang said nothing. He paced through the hall until he reached the stone wall he had yet to finish, then stopped before it.

Receiving no answer and unable to tell what Wu Chang was thinking, Hei Shi carefully watched his reaction.

A long while later, Wu Chang's deep voice sounded. "The Shang Mirror... The Heart-Illuminating Mirror is in the State of Qin, the Void-Breaking Sword in the State of Song, the Heaven-Swallowing Ring in the State of Wei, the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron in the State of Han, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler in the State of Jin, the Spirit-Calming Pearl in the State of Qi, the Immortal-Subduing Staff in the State of Yan, and the Stellar Command Token in the State of Zhao..." After reciting the list, he fell silent again.

Hei Shi felt his heart twitch. Wu Chang would not recite such things for no reason. And considering that he was no longer impatient about the Demon Canon, he had presumably obtained it. More than likely, he had seen information about these objects in the Demon Canon.

Wu Chang suddenly said, "The State of Wei is already gone. What purpose is there in leaving the Heaven-Swallowing Ring there?"

Hei Shi probed carefully. "Sacred Venerable, you mean...?"

Wu Chang turned around. "Find a way to get the Heaven-Swallowing Ring for me."

Hei Shi froze. "Sacred Venerable, wouldn't that be inappropriate? The so-called Eight State-Protecting Divine Artifacts are things the Sacred Venerables agreed should be left for the secular world to contend over. If we take one without authorization, wouldn't we be breaking the rules?"

"As long as no one knows. And the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron in Han... We'll discuss that after you've obtained the Heaven-Swallowing Ring."

Hei Shi was filled with uncertainty. What did Wu Chang want with these two objects? Did they conceal some special secret? Outwardly, he answered, "Yes. This subordinate will make arrangements as soon as possible."

Wu Chang continued, "And Zhao has already fallen. That emperor—what's his name, Hai Wuji—the Stellar Command Token should be in his hands. Where exactly has he gone into hiding? Find him for me!"

[End of Chapter 1302]