The four of Yan Baichuan stayed at the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion for three days, finally waiting until the Grand Opening Ceremony for the Divine Weapons List.
The crowd of cultivators on Sword-Discussing Peak had gathered in one place long ago. Pei Wuji was dressed in Sect Master attire, standing atop the upper peak together with the various sect masters, ready to begin as soon as all preparations were complete.
Right at this moment, Pei Simiao suddenly said something to Elder Ning with an unsightly face. After hearing it, Elder Ning’s face changed drastically, dashing up to Pei Wuji’s side in two or three steps to whisper softly in his ear. Hearing it, the faces of several sect masters waiting by Pei Wuji’s side turned unsightly as well, summoning their disciples one after another to discuss something.
The cultivators below noticed something was wrong, and there was a faint trend of a commotion breaking out. Right then, who knows who opened their mouth, speaking such a sentence: “What words cannot be spoken in public, that you still need to hide from us? Could it be that Sect Master Pei has some shameful matter fearing exposure?”
Frowning, Pei Wuji looked toward the direction of the speaker, his expression suddenly freezing, a faint anger lingering in his eyes.
In the direction of the entrance to Sword-Discussing Peak, it was precisely the Sect Master of the Shangyuan Sect, Xuan Yangzi, dressed in Shangyuan Sect attire with immortal cranes on his sleeves. The person who spoke just now was not a stranger either, being originally the second disciple of the Shangyuan Sect, Pei Wuji’s junior brother, Meng Zhiyi.
These words were spoken extremely impolitely, but coming from the Shangyuan Sect, it was justifiable after all. After all, Pei Wuji was still regarded by some people as a traitor who betrayed the Shangyuan Sect, attempting to poke at his spine. But besides swords, Pei Wuji was clearly not very interested in other matters, so as time went on, those who mentioned it also became fewer.
Now that the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion was hosting the Grand Opening Ceremony, Meng Zhiyi speaking such words in public was truly a bit petty, appearing unable to present himself on stage.
In any case, it was a bit embarrassing, and Jin You saw the corner of Xuan Yangzi’s mouth twitch slightly.
Xuan Yangzi quickly masked his dissatisfaction toward Meng Zhiyi, apologizing to Pei Wuji unhurriedly: “Zhiyi is young and vigorous, so Sect Master Pei need not pay mind. However, if Sect Master Pei has troubling matters, why not speak them to everyone, saving people from speculating for nothing? What does Sect Master Pei think?”
Xuan Yangzi’s words lightly glossed over Meng Zhiyi’s rudeness, putting Pei Wuji on the spot instead. Glaring his eyebrows, Elder Ning was about to step forward to curse people, but was held back by Pei Wuji extending his hand. Pei Wuji signaled to Pei Simiao with a look, and although unwilling in his heart, Pei Simiao still spoke: “Someone trespassed into Sword-Sacrificing Peak last night, and the thief has not been caught yet.”
A clamor broke out among the cultivators below, as no one expected the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion would have this kind of incident occur!
“Then is that demonic blade Dichen still inside Sword-Sacrificing Peak!”
“There are several massive arrays inside Sword-Sacrificing Peak, who was so foolish as to go steal it?”
“Where is the demonic blade, is the demonic blade still there? Sect Master Pei, speak up quickly, who doesn’t know the prize for the top spot on this year’s list is Dichen, we all came for the demonic blade!”
With an icy glare, Pei Wuji looked straight at the person who spoke, walking over with slow steps, his tone extremely cold: “Who?!”
That person was wearing a green brocade robe, with a brown leopard beside his feet, looking as if he were a disciple of the Qingluan Sect. Pei Wuji possessed an extremely strong aura, and when questioned by Pei Wuji, this Qingluan Sect disciple lost his original arrogance without a trace, saying with fierce words masking inner fear: “What are you trying to do, can a sect master bully people?”
Pei Simiao fell half a step behind Pei Wuji, his expression identical to his: “The Sect Master is asking you, who spread the rumor that the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion was setting Dichen as a prize? As far as I know, the Sect Master has issued no command whatsoever setting Dichen as a prize.”
Inside Sword-Discussing Peak came a moment of silence first, which then suddenly erupted into a violent argument, pointing all spears straight at Pei Wuji. Seeing that it was about to turn chaotic, Pei Wuji raised his right hand, and a Taiji sword array that Yan Baichuan had experienced before hung right above the heads of the cultivators. Although the crowd of cultivators was unwilling in their hearts, they still stopped their speech.
Elder Ning stepped forward two paces, his voice like a sonorous bell: “Everyone better not forget that the thief who trespassed into Sword-Sacrificing Peak last night has not been caught yet. It is unknown whether he might be right in the middle of everyone right now, so why not stay calm and wait for the Sect Master to speak.”
Xuan Yangzi let out a cold laugh: “The Sword-Forgetting Pavilion was lax in its supervision, yet actually wants to suspect all the cultivators here instead? In my humble opinion, why don’t we all step over to Sword-Sacrificing Peak together to confirm whether the demonic blade is intact, so as to reassure people’s hearts.”
Elder Ning swung his sleeve forcefully, shouting sternly to stop him: “Sword-Sacrificing Peak is our sect’s forbidden ground, how can anyone be allowed to enter casually!”
What Xuan Yangzi waited for was precisely his sentence, taking a glance at Pei Wuji as he said: “Since you neither allow us inside, nor wish to let us confirm whether Dichen is intact, how can people feel that the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion can bear this heavy responsibility?”
Listening to the noisy sounds rising around again, Pei Wuji felt it was ridiculous to the extreme.
Returning to the upper peak, Pei Wuji finally opened his mouth for the first time before everyone: “The prize, permitted.”
Achieving his goal, Xuan Yangzi was just about to say something more, but saw Pei Wuji looking straight at him, a bad premonition rising in his heart, and sure enough heard him say: “The Shangyuan Sect, excluded.”
“What does Sect Master Pei mean by this!” Listening to the whispers of neighboring cultivators, Xuan Yangzi felt somewhat embarrassed: “On what grounds is my Shangyuan Sect excluded!”
With calm composure, Pei Wuji spoke two words: “Avoid suspicion.”
Who didn’t know that back then the Shangyuan Sect and Pei Wuji fell out to the point of life and death over this Dichen. There were quite a few formidable cultivators in the Shangyuan Sect, and whether Sword-Sacrificing Peak was the doing of the Shangyuan Sect was still hard to say, so on what grounds should they be allowed to pick up the bargain!
The wind direction returned to Pei Wuji’s side, and even if Xuan Yangzi was ten thousand times unwilling, he had no choice but to let the matter rest, maintaining the composure a sect master ought to have.
The matter set in stone, Pei Wuji designated Dichen as the prize for the top spot on this session’s Divine Weapons List, with Xuan Yangzi and Meng Zhiyi also withdrawing from the competition on the surface. Yan Baichuan knew full well that Pei Wuji was not a person who would move his blade to serve for this kind of purpose, so mostly he was framed by someone.
Pei Wuji kept to himself and rarely went out, and even after becoming Sect Master, his mind was devoted to sword techniques, rarely going out unless for major events, so his appearance at Mount Lanfen last time was an accident after all. But for several elders not to report this matter was somewhat unjustifiable.
Yan Baichuan and Jin You changed their appearances, mixing into the crowd to register and wait for tomorrow’s roster of participants. Yan Baichuan took the pseudonym Yan Hai, Jin You took the pseudonym Jing Li, while Lingyun and Ying Chuang used their real names, as anyway the two of them had no troubles of being hunted, so using real names didn’t matter.
Looking at the result of the bet between Lingyun and Ying Chuang that day, it seemed Lingyun still won. These past few days Lingyun was always teasing Ying Chuang to make him call her Sister Lingyun, yet Ying Chuang happened to be stubborn, every time stumbling out a call even while feeling awkward to death, as if saying he was a wolf who kept promises.
Jin You privately reminded Lingyun not to go too far, lest driving Ying Chuang into desperation make him angry. But Lingyun said cheerfully that she had a sense of propriety, telling them to put ten thousand hearts at ease.
Lingyun came from a Taoist background and recognized quite a few sects. After she pointed in a circle, the three of Yan Baichuan roughly recognized a few sects with slightly decent strength: the Qingluan Sect, Medicine Immortal Valley, Sound-Condensing Building, and Hundred-Refining Gate. The Qingluan Sect was most adept at beast-taming, which Yan Baichuan and the others understood somewhat. Medicine Immortal Valley mostly consisted of medical cultivators, but ever since spiritual energy fell into disorder, medical cultivators picked up the poison-making techniques that were once criticized by the sect in order to protect themselves, so nowadays they could be counted as dual cultivators of medicine and poison.
Worth mentioning were the Sound-Condensing Building and Hundred-Refining Gate. The former sect was dominated by sound cultivators, mostly female cultivators, their melody shifting in a hundred twists and a thousand turns with infinite variations, often killing people and eliminating evil in an invisible manner. The Hundred-Refining Gate sounded like an artifact refining sect by name, but was a genuine blade cultivator sect, the most famous being the Hundred-Refining Blade Technique named after the sect. It was said that the two words “Hundred-Refining” of the Hundred-Refining Gate did not refer to weapons, but meant the cultivators themselves.
As for other small, obscure sects such as the Solitary Shadow Gate and Singular Sword Sect, even Lingyun was not quite clear about their sect situations, so Yan Baichuan asked no further.
On the other hand, the Yuanguang Temple seemed to feel the fighting aspect of the Divine Weapons List was too heavy and did not come to the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion to participate, otherwise there would be another formidable enemy.
Yan Baichuan and Jin You were inclined to chat with Pei Wuji about the current situation, but right now was not a good time. While Jin You and Yan Baichuan were waiting on the side for the roster, they suddenly saw a young man squatting beside that Qingluan Sect disciple just now, appearing to inspect the leopard beside his feet, yet was nearly kicked away by that disciple. Jin You subconsciously supported him, and the young man steadied his posture, politely expressing thanks to Jin You: “I am a disciple of Medicine Immortal Valley, Qi Huang, many thanks to sir for the assistance.”
Jin You shook his head: “I am Jing Li, merely rendering a hand in passing, Brother Qi need not pay mind. Though what was Brother Qi doing just now?”
Dressed in alchemist attire, Qi Huang had gentle compassion between his eyebrows and eyes, being as refined as a scholar: “This leopard is probably sick without receiving timely treatment, and now its inner core already has a faint crack, so continuing like this is afraid to be unfavorable.”
“What kind of thing are you, it’s just a leopard, catch another after it dies, does it need you meddling in other people’s business!” Instead of thanking Qi Huang, that Qingluan Sect disciple gave the leopard a kick, strutting away amidst the leopard’s whimpering.
Frowning, Jin You had an even worse impression of the Qingluan Sect: “Is this Qingluan Sect always like this?”
With a bitter smile, Qi Huang nodded: “Always like this, yet the Qingluan Sect happens to have the most beasts, where beasts that have opened spiritual wisdom receive somewhat better treatment.” But it was also possible to be even more painful because of it.
Jin You himself was a koi carp, unable to stand this kind of behavior treating beasts as slaves. Not far away, several people wore alchemist attire similar in style to Qi Huang’s, presumably his fellow disciples, yet the words spoken after walking over were entirely sarcasm: “Haven’t seen you in a few days, and you are still keeping company with beasts like that, Senior Brother Qi. So what if your comprehension is high, and so what if your medical skills are good, aren’t you still a third-class disciple.”
Those who entered the sect later than Qi Huang had already become second-class disciples, yet Qi Huang was still a third-class disciple, so thinking about it, Qi Huang’s status in Medicine Immortal Valley would not be high anywhere either.
Letting out a cold snort, Jin You stepped back half a pace, voicing sarcasm: “Where is that dog barking coming from, Brother Qi hurry and see if a stray dog from somewhere is having a fit, as I heard you are especially adept at treating beasts.”
“You dare to curse me as a stray dog!” The speaking Medicine Immortal Valley disciple’s face turned the color of pig liver, losing face before his junior brothers and sisters, taking two steps approaching Jin You wanting to teach him a lesson, only to discover his hands and feet were not quite obeying his command. Looking down, he discovered his spiritual acupoints had been sealed in several places by Qi Huang using silver needles, rendered unable to move for a time.
Pretending to be surprised, Jin You clapped for Qi Huang: “Brother Qi is indeed formidable, truly worthy of Brother Qi’s name. Why don’t a few friends go together in a bit to check the groupings?”
Withdrawing his silver needles, Qi Huang still maintained a gentle smile on his face: “That would be very good.”