Chapter 1427: The Six Sacred Venerables Take Command in the Mortal World

Even Yuan Se’s usual good temper could not withstand being mocked by the entire group like this. He immediately struck back. “I admit I can’t handle the Holy Rakshasa. I know my own limitations. I’m sure none of you are all talk either. When we face the Holy Rakshasa, you had better put some real effort into it.”

Wu Chang flashed down and asked, “Are we going or not?”

Whoosh! Luo Qiu had already swept away from the pavilion and landed beside the entrance to the Sacred Realm on a nearby mountaintop.

Granny Xue flashed away as well, followed by Wu Chang. The others exchanged a glance, then all flew off together.

The group left the Sacred Realm without lingering on Sacred Island. They crossed the sea and streaked away above the boundless waters like meteors.

The sea and sky were vast, yet before their speed, even that vastness seemed small. By the time they touched down again, they were already on the soil of the State of Song.

They had not maintained contact with their respective factions during the journey, but making contact was hardly difficult. The All-Under-Heaven Money Houses spread throughout the lands of the seven states were their normal channels of communication.

After obtaining the latest information through a money house, the six had little trouble finding the small town that had already been consumed by fire. There they also met Chen Hankui, the Misty Pavilion deacon overseeing the State of Song.

Huo Kong, Presiding Administrator of Misty Pavilion, had arrived before the six of them.

Standing atop the earthen wall outside the town, the six looked over the ruins while listening to Chen Hankui’s detailed report. Their expressions were grave.

The Holy Rakshasa’s appearance had already surprised the Six Sacred Venerables. Yet somehow Lü Wushuang had been drawn out as well?

They could not understand it. If Lü Wushuang was perfectly fine, why had she not returned to the Sacred Realm? Why had she sat back and watched her own faction come under attack?

“You’re certain it was Lü Wushuang herself?” Yuan Se stared at Chen Hankui and questioned him heavily.

Chen Hankui cupped his hands. “Sacred Venerable, this subordinate knows about the upheaval inside Misty Pavilion. I was afraid there might be some trick, so I watched her closely and examined her repeatedly. I can be certain she was not an outsider in disguise. Her manner and tone were also unmistakable. It should indeed have been her. I was not the only witness. Many people saw her, and I was not the only person present who had met her before. Xi Haitang, Sect Leader of Myriad Beasts Sect, knows her as well. The others who had seen her before also confirmed that it was Lü Wushuang herself.”

Yuan Se asked, “Then where did the Holy Rakshasa go? Is she dead or alive?”

Chen Hankui replied, “Sacred Venerable Wushuang ordered us to withdraw thirty li away. The Holy Rakshasa’s whereabouts after that are unknown. We did not witness what happened, so we don’t know whether she lived or died.”

Yuan Se turned to the side. “There were several other people with Lü Wushuang. Have you found out who they were?”

Huo Kong’s expression was serious. “Master, every one of them came in disguise and deliberately concealed their true appearance. No one spoke with them, and none of them revealed their skills. There is simply nothing to analyze. They probably drove everyone away precisely to prevent us from identifying them.”

Yuan Se said, “Weren’t there also two flying mounts? Isn’t that a lead?”

Huo Kong replied, “This disciple arrived earlier and already asked about them carefully. They were ordinary Gray-Feather Eagles. Most Gray-Feather Eagles beneath Heaven look almost identical. Unless the individual beast is directly in front of you for close examination, it’s difficult to distinguish any unique characteristics. All we can say is that every Gray-Feather Eagle in the mortal world, including those on Sacred Island, is a suspect.”

Luo Qiu spoke up. “In other words, any faction with Gray-Feather Eagles could be colluding with Lü Wushuang?”

Huo Kong turned toward him. “Not only the ones openly held by the various factions. Some were robbed or otherwise lost in the past, and their whereabouts are unknown. Those are suspects as well. For now, all we can do is determine the exact locations of every known Gray-Feather Eagle held by the various factions at the time of the incident. I’ve already ordered people to investigate.”

The group fell briefly silent. They all knew this method of investigation was basically useless. Since the people involved had dared act, they would certainly have prepared thoroughly. Whatever their Gray-Feather Eagles had supposedly been doing at the time would surely have a reasonable explanation.

Then there were the flying mounts that had disappeared over the years. No one had cared much about where they ended up before. Trying to trace every one of them now did not mean the trail could still be reconstructed.

Of course, they could also arrest everyone who possessed a Gray-Feather Eagle.

But that was easier said than done. Those who possessed flying mounts of that class were basically the great sects at the top of the cultivation world or the courts of the seven states.

In other words, the mounts mostly belonged to major factions rather than individual people. How were they supposed to arrest them? Seize every faction involved? The Six Sacred Venerables could not do it. Even mobilizing all of Misty Pavilion would not be enough. The combined power of the great sects beneath Heaven exceeded Misty Pavilion’s own. How could they possibly proceed?

Besides, the culprit might not be one of the outside factions at all. The people colluding with Lü Wushuang could very well be insiders within Misty Pavilion itself.

In some respects, that possibility was actually the greatest.

Wu Chang suddenly broke the silence. “Something must be wrong with Lü Wushuang. If that really was Lü Wushuang, then she is very likely badly injured—or otherwise unable to act herself.”

“Indeed.” Yuan Se gave a slight nod and stared at Chen Hankui. “If Lü Wushuang were behaving normally, he would already be dead!”

Others might not understand, but Luo Qiu and the rest immediately grasped his meaning.

Their side had struck hard at Lü Wushuang’s faction. There was nothing strange about Lü Wushuang arriving here and ordering the assembled people to withdraw. But after encountering Chen Hankui, who did not belong to her faction, she would never normally have been so easy to deal with.

They could all imagine what the usual Lü Wushuang would have done. The moment she arrived, she would not have bothered with courtesy, nor would she have shown consideration for another faction’s people. Killing Chen Hankui first and then using his death to intimidate everyone else into withdrawing—that would have been normal for her.

“Could the rumor really be true? Was she injured by the Scorpion Emperor?” Du Wuxu asked hesitantly. “Can the Scorpion Emperor truly be powerful enough to injure her?”

One gaze after another shifted toward Wu Chang.

Granny Xue asked, “Why exactly did Lü Wushuang seek out that Yuan Gang and scheme for the Scorpion Emperor?”

Wu Chang said, “I don’t know either. If I had known she was so fixated on Yuan Gang, I would have guarded against her long ago and never allowed her to take him away so easily. But one thing is certain. If she is still alive yet can stand by while her faction is destroyed, that already explains a great deal. Something happened to her. She no longer dares face us openly.”

The others nodded slightly.

Lan Daolin suddenly said, “Lü Wushuang’s sudden intervention in the Holy Rakshasa matter cannot have been because she wanted to kill the Holy Rakshasa. If that were her goal, she could simply have stood by and watched her die.”

With one sentence, he clarified the very question Yuan Se had asked earlier about whether the Holy Rakshasa was alive or dead.

Understanding dawned. The Holy Rakshasa was not dead. Lü Wushuang had come to save her. And since the Holy Rakshasa had vanished, she had most likely been taken away by Lü Wushuang.

“Why would she take the Holy Rakshasa away?” Wu Chang muttered to himself, his gaze shifting uncertainly.

The others did not know the background, but another possibility had occurred to him.

Lü Wushuang had wanted the Scorpion Emperor to enter the Fifth Domain. The Fifth Domain was connected to Shang Song and his wife. Now she had come for the Holy Rakshasa, who was likewise connected to Shang Song and his wife.

Wu Chang was now almost certain that Lü Wushuang truly knew secrets beyond what was recorded in the Demon Canon.

In short, mysteries seemed to lie everywhere in the matter. Some of what needed discussing was unsuitable for outsiders to hear, so the Six Sacred Venerables dismissed everyone unrelated and began conferring on the spot.

Their discussion ultimately came down to the same thing: they had to find both Lü Wushuang and the Holy Rakshasa.

A Lü Wushuang behaving mysteriously and unpredictably was already enough to put them on guard. Now the enormously dangerous Holy Rakshasa had entered the mortal world as well. None of the six could remain calm.

The Holy Rakshasa’s objective was obvious enough.

Find her!

Faced with such an enormous threat, the six had no intention of returning to the Sacred Realm for the time being. Instead, they would personally take command in the mortal world, avoiding the delays caused by messages traveling back and forth and allowing them to respond immediately.

After dividing the territory among themselves, the six would more or less each take charge within a different state.

On one hand, they would personally oversee the search for the Holy Rakshasa and Lü Wushuang. On the other, they would personally push forward the internal investigation of Misty Pavilion.

The situation was growing increasingly chaotic. Lü Wushuang’s unexpected intervention had, for the first time, made the Six Sacred Venerables genuinely uneasy. For the first time, they felt events were slipping somewhat beyond their control.

In a certain sense, Lü Wushuang was the only person they could truly regard as an opponent, especially now that she had become entangled with the enormously threatening Holy Rakshasa.

The more critical the moment, the more they needed a powerful and effective Misty Pavilion to handle affairs. With the Wuliang Fruit stolen, they had to straighten out Misty Pavilion’s internal problems as quickly as possible.

Their subordinates would naturally arrange suitable lodgings for each of the six.

Once the others dispersed, Wu Chang did not travel far. He entered a nearby mountain forest and reached a hidden valley where ten people were waiting for him.

Under a shadowed cliff stood ten figures wrapped in black cloaks. When Wu Chang arrived, they all saluted.

Wu Chang raised a hand to stop them.

The ten opened their cloaks and spread their arms, revealing the interiors densely hung with small dark wooden plaques. Every plaque was made of yinwood and carved with talismanic runes.

Wu Chang reached out and removed one plaque. Murmuring an incantation, he circulated his art through it. Light began flowing through the runes, gradually transforming into a faint, diffuse wisp of ethereal spirit-light.

The mist-like glow seemed ready to vanish into the unseen, but black vapor rose from Wu Chang’s five fingers and drew it back through the air. He forced it into the yinwood plaque again.

Light flowed once more through the carved runes before slowly fading away.

Wu Chang nodded in satisfaction.

...

A carriage left the prefectural city of Nanzhou and arrived outside a farmhouse in the countryside.

Guan Fangyi climbed out of the carriage and entered the courtyard. Old Six Xu, who had been driving, continued onward.

Once inside the house and reunited with Yun Ji and the others, Guan Fangyi looked surprised. “You reached the outskirts of the city but didn’t go back, and instead called me out here to meet you. Why? How did things go? Where’s Master Dao?”

Yun Ji pointed toward a coarse cloth curtain at the side, indicating the inner room.

Guan Fangyi immediately lifted the curtain and went in. Niu Youdao was standing at a paper-patched window with his hands clasped behind his back.

Her gaze shifted and she noticed someone else in the room. A woman lay on the bed. Guan Fangyi naturally could not resist going over to see who it was.

She approached the bed and found a dirty little face sleeping soundly.

“Yin’er?” Guan Fangyi exclaimed in surprise. Then she patted her chest in relief. “Good. She’s fine. With Master Dao personally taking action, naturally there was no problem.” There was a teasing note aimed at Niu Youdao in her voice.

Then she sensed something was wrong. Sitting down beside the bed, she reached out to examine Yin’er. She looked back. “She was injured?”

Niu Youdao remained silent by the window.

Yun Ji, who had followed Guan Fangyi inside, answered instead. “She was poisoned too, but she’s fine now. Once she wakes up, she should be more or less all right. There shouldn’t be any further problem, though she has certainly suffered a serious depletion of vitality.”

Guan Fangyi rose. “What happened?”

Yun Ji glanced at Niu Youdao. Seeing no reaction from him, she told Guan Fangyi the whole story.

Guan Fangyi was still shaken by what she had heard when Niu Youdao finally turned around and spoke. “She should wake soon. Make the necessary arrangements. Later, find a suitable excuse to take her into the city and send her to the Commandery Princess.”

Guan Fangyi nodded silently, then hesitated. “The Commandery Princess is an intelligent woman. If you suddenly send Yin’er to her, aren’t you afraid she’ll notice something suspicious?”

Niu Youdao said, “Other than the Commandery Princess, this glutton has nowhere else to go. Under the present circumstances, I can’t possibly keep her beside me. As for whether the Commandery Princess notices anything, conceal what we can. If we truly can’t hide it, then there’s nothing to be done. I’ve been dead for so long that the worst of the attention should already have passed. The Commandery Princess probably won’t attract anyone’s notice anymore.”

[End of Chapter 1427]