The Eleventh Elder strolled over, glanced at Lou Shuangzui, and immediately waved his hand, indicating that Lou Shuangzui could freely preview or self-study the next topic. Lou Shuangzui had a bit of interest in magic arts. The reason he hadn’t studied them in the past two months was that he believed formations were more important. If you think about it, using formations to ensure no one could pull any tricks on his turf was more crucial.
His learning ability had always been impressive. This skill had once helped him fight his way out of the slums in his past life, eventually becoming the leader of mercenaries. Applying it to cultivation was equally effective. After reading through an entire book, although he hadn’t had the chance to practice each spell, he had gained a lot.
For example, hand seals. In cultivation, there are only a few hand seals that are used repeatedly. Many spells share the same hand seals, and those who are skilled can even cast spells without them. The key to casting spells lies in how one uses their Primordial Spirit to control spiritual power. The strength of the power also requires personal insight.
Attributes with strong offensive power, like thunder, fire, metal, and Lou Shuangzui’s poison wood, make it harder to grasp spells for daily life and healing, such as cleansing, rainmaking, dust removal, and muscle and bone regeneration. Conversely, softer attributes like water, wood, and earth make it harder to master offensive spells, like striking, suppressing, and killing.
The control of the Primordial Spirit… Lou Shuangzui always felt that this concept was similar to mental power. His hand lazily rested on the table. After reading the last word, he turned the page, stopping at what he subconsciously thought was the most important spell: the Muscle and Bone Regeneration Technique. His fair fingers tapped on the rough paper, instinctively forming the hand seal from the book.
Suppressing his toxicity, he then stimulated the blood and flesh cells… The first attempt failed, and the power even corroded a large dark green hole in the scarecrow on the table. But Lou Shuangzui vaguely grasped a bit of inspiration about power balance.
So he wasn’t discouraged at all and quickly formed the seal again to gather power. This time, he spent more time and effort to control the power. The dark green light extended from his fingertips, and this time, the wound on the straw was much smaller, even healing a little.
Lou Shuangzui felt his fingers, squinting his eyes. The third attempt, failure. The fourth attempt, failure. The fifth attempt, failure. … It wasn’t until the tenth attempt that the power ratio finally reached the optimal level. But Lou Shuangzui didn’t put his hand down; instead, he frowned thoughtfully.
He was exploring and searching for direction. Logically, based on the results, his direction wasn’t wrong, but his healing ability was different from what the textbook presented. Although it seemed to heal, it was like the saying “medicine is three parts poison” was misinterpreted, leaving a subtle residual poison in the healed flesh. If not activated, it seemed like… nothing, leaving no trace. But as the master of the poison, Lou Shuangzui could sense the slight anomaly.
It was like an extended tentacle, a dormant seed, ready to grow the poison at any moment… The black-haired inner disciple flicked his finger, and the scarecrow was completely corroded. He blinked and quickly took out a second scarecrow from the storage box beside the podium.
Halfway through his practice, the Eleventh Elder passed by Lou Shuangzui’s desk, glanced over, and couldn’t help but touch his chin in amazement. “Not bad, you’ve already learned the Muscle and Bone Regeneration Technique.”
Lou Shuangzui hid the unusual look in his eyes, curled his lips, and pretended to know nothing. “Really? But I always feel it’s not good enough. Would you like to check it?”
Lou Shuangzui’s speed of mastery was a bit fast, and the Eleventh Elder was also a bit puzzled. So, upon hearing this, he picked up the scarecrow, examined it from all sides, and infused it with spiritual power. He quickly put down the puppet with satisfaction. “Not bad, you’ve indeed mastered it.”
Lou Shuangzui squinted his eyes happily, a smile appearing on his face. —Even the Eleventh Elder couldn’t detect such residual poison? Better test a few more people to see if this could be a suitable “backup plan.”
In the following months, Lou Shuangzui “unintentionally” asked several seniors about the scarecrow. Except for Lian Chaoxi, who was in seclusion, the Peak Master of Herb Peak, and the Peak Master of Divination Peak, everyone else gave the same answer.
So Lou Shuangzui felt relieved, memorizing the feeling of power allocation, planning to use it for special situations. During this time, Mu Yunge and Yan Zhige also grew closer to Lou Shuangzui.
This was because the current Peak Masters of the eighteen peaks had mostly held their positions for less than a thousand years, with over two thousand years left. They weren’t in a hurry to take disciples and train successors, so many of the current Peak Masters didn’t have disciples. The number of current inner disciples wasn’t many.
Suspended Mirror Platform had thirteen inner disciples, five at the Golden Core stage, and the remaining eight were still at the Foundation Establishment stage. Lou Shuangzui often interacted with these eight. Excluding those who preferred to be alone and those already in close-knit groups, the remaining ones were Mu Yunge, Yan Zhige, and Lou Shuangzui, who had only joined a year or two ago. So, they gradually became companions.
Yan Zhige’s Artifact Refining Peak was closest to the Suspended Mirror Platform. On their way back together, he was the first to step onto the clouds and bid farewell, quickly disappearing into the clouds below.
Mu Yunge, however, still walked alongside Lou Shuangzui for a while. She followed the boy’s gaze, which landed on a particularly peculiar mountain peak—the green of the trees appeared somewhat withered and blackened, and its location was unfavorable, on the edge of the Chen Yue Sect.
“Ah… that’s the Transformation Peak,” the girl’s eyes were clear as she casually explained to Lou Shuangzui. “Ever since Senior Brother Li’s incident, Elder Pang refused to establish a protective formation for the Transformation Peak. So, the formations there are different from other peaks, and because the owner’s formation skills aren’t sufficient, even though they set up protection, the earth veins have issues.”
At this point, Mu Yunge suddenly frowned. Her innate divination talent gave her a revelation, and her gaze became vacant for a moment, her steps halting. The girl’s expression turned pale.
She instinctively looked up at Lou Shuangzui, her fingers almost spasming from weakness and fear, trembling finely, but she still insisted on gripping the boy’s sleeve tightly, giving her first piece of advice. “Stay away from there.”
Something important was being drawn from the girl’s body, yet she was both terrified and delighted, continuing to “see.”
“I will, don’t worry,” Lou Shuangzui saw Mu Yunge’s pain, his eyes widening in surprise, suddenly realizing something. The boy took one last look at the Transformation Peak, suppressing the malice stirred by the prophecy, softening his tone. “Can you tell me what you divined, Senior Sister?”
Mu Yunge’s face grew paler. Under the involuntary activation of her divination, the girl, whose level hadn’t reached this stage, rapidly lost vitality. In a moment, her hair turned half white.
Her words were intermittent, her voice uncontrollably weak. “Black, blood, oppression, I can’t see clearly. I can only sense the source of the disaster is at the Transformation Peak, and the place of danger is the Sword Peak… Stay away from the Transformation Peak, Junior Brother Shuangzui, stay away from those people!”
Seeing those green eyes gradually filled with madness and confusion, Lou Shuangzui’s expression turned serious. He decisively knocked Mu Yunge unconscious, preventing her from speaking more prophecies and damaging her foundation.
In a flash, the first disciple of Sword Peak had an idea. Holding the unconscious Mu Yunge, he descended from the clouds, landing on the ground. His whip lifted the grass, and he bit his finger to draw a Spirit Gathering Formation on the spot, laying the girl flat on the soil.
—Mu Yunge had a special Yin attribute spiritual root. The sky was Yang, the earth was Yin. Closer contact with the earth and moonlight was more beneficial for the girl’s recovery.
But this couldn’t continue indefinitely. So, after placing Mu Yunge down, Lou Shuangzui quickly took out a communication talisman. He couldn’t contact the Peak Master of Divination Peak, Mu Qingyu, because they hadn’t exchanged tokens, so he sent the message to Sect Leader Wen Shunian.
The Sect Leader arrived quickly. Wen Shunian’s soft pink hair was a bit messy. He hurriedly landed, pausing for a moment when he saw the formation on the ground and the unconscious girl. Then he quickly squatted down to check, soon breathing a sigh of relief.
“Well done, Nephew Lou,” those light purple eyes were filled with warmth. Wen Shunian even reached out to ruffle Lou Shuangzui’s hair. “Very timely, very calm.”
He turned his head to observe the girl lying on the ground, sighing. “Can I call you that, Shuangzui?” Seeing the boy nod, Wen Shunian continued, “Go back to Sword Peak first, Shuangzui. Junior Sister Mu will be here soon. Leave this to us adults.”
Lou Shuangzui had no intention of staying. Not only because he was of no use, but more importantly, he worried that if Mu Yunge saw him when she woke, her prophecy might continue.
The future and information were important, but sacrificing a useful companion’s life for it, even in his past life’s most crazed, selfish, and ruthless times, Lou Shuangzui wouldn’t do it.
So he just took one last look at the girl, quickly got up, bowed, and left.
The cloud landed in front of the house moments later. Lou Shuangzui grabbed the slightly wider part of his sleeve, fully focused on thinking about Mu Yunge and the prophecy, almost walking into the room with a gloomy face—because this was Sword Peak, and the only person he cared about, Lian Chaoxi, was in seclusion. With two of the three immortal servants he was confident he could persuade and control, there was no need to hide.
But after just a few steps, his intuition gave a warning. Those nascent snake eyes lifted their corners, scanning the surroundings.
Someone was watching him, Lou Shuangzui had a hunch, and it wasn’t just one person. They were weak, unable to hide even their breathing, the few sounds they leaked enough for Lou Shuangzui to confirm their location.
Recently, no guests had applied to come to Sword Peak. During Lian Chaoxi’s seclusion, all documents were approved by Lou Shuangzui, so he could be sure of this.
Without an application, unless under special circumstances, not even the Sect Leader had the right to casually come to Sword Peak.
Lou Shuangzui’s golden eyes turned cold, filled with hostility, almost brimming with the ferocity of a beast.
He didn’t even need hand seals or preparation. Attacking was the nature of the poison wood attribute, just like this—
“Ahhhhh!!!” Screams tore through the tranquility of Sword Peak, instantly muffled by the poisonous vines choking them.
Lou Shuangzui leisurely drew his whip from his waist, approaching the bushes where the people were hiding. Amidst the scattered broken wood and fallen leaves, the disheveled figures of Liu Qing and others came into view.
“Mu Yunge’s involuntary prophecy has made things a bit tricky. The sect’s attention should be on Divination Peak now, which means… in the short term, no one will notice your disappearance.”
The boy’s voice was soft, but the coldness in his words made the gentleness resemble the suppressed breath of a beast before a hunt. “Now, let’s have a good talk about how you managed to bypass the mountain protection formation.”
Author’s Note: