The elder also pressed on, determined to get to the bottom of the matter:
“But was it named personally by Sect Leader Dongfang?”
Dongfang Zhen finally turned to look at him, offering an awkward smile: “Indeed.”
The elder stroked his goatee with an air of composure, flipping his long kasaya back and forth until Dongfang Zhen began to suspect there might be lice hiding inside.
Only then did he hear two chuckles—whether cold or mocking, or perhaps both—before the elder finally said, “A fine name.”
The others stifled their laughter, also thinking it was a fine name. Dongfang Zhen glanced at him once more before shifting his gaze back to the Water Spirit Mirror.
Over on the other side, Shen Chunyi and Tong Che, having finished their work with considerable success, returned to the cave carrying their swords. They saw Shi Yun had already bandaged all the disciples and settled them aside to rest.
Shen Chunyi sat cross-legged on the ground, picking up a small twig to scribble aimlessly. With nothing else to do, Tong Che sidled over to see what Shen Chunyi was up to. Squatting opposite him, Tong Che stared earnestly at the meaningless doodles on the ground for a long while but couldn’t make sense of any of it:
“What are you doing?”
Shen Chunyi replied with utmost seriousness: “I’m pondering something.”
Tong Che immediately straightened up: “What is it?”
Shen Chunyi said, “Do you think all the disciples of Wansheng Temple are monks? I just saw a few with hair earlier.”
Tong Che sighed wearily: “Could you ask something more meaningful?”
Shi Yun, nearby, chimed in: “Many at Wansheng Temple practice with their hair intact. They cultivate but do not enter monastic life.”
Shen Chunyi let out an “oh” and said, “No wonder.”
“No wonder what?”
“No wonder the formation master I’ve been studying, who hails from Wansheng Temple, isn’t referred to as a nun.”
Shi Yun asked, “What have you been researching lately?”
Shen Chunyi instead inquired: “How much water do we have left?”
Shi Yun replied, “Enough to last at least three days.”
Shen Chunyi nodded. Trying to anticipate Shen Chunyi’s actions, Shi Yun hesitated before finally asking:
“Senior Brother, are you thinking of… poisoning the water?”
Every alliance meeting location was chosen to include at least one clean, flowing spring. Although immortal cultivators could survive without water or food for a while, having water was certainly better than not. What if some lower-level cultivator actually died of thirst?
However, uttering those two words drained Shi Yun of all her energy. As someone raised in the orthodox traditions of the immortal path, she didn’t find such methods particularly honorable.
Shen Chunyi blinked, a mischievous smile curling at the corner of his mouth:
“What do you think, Junior Sister?”
Shi Yun weighed her words: “I think… well, when we were searching for the cave earlier, I did see a spring. But the springs on this mountain are likely all flowing water. ‘Flowing water does not stagnate,’ so even if we poison the upstream, it won’t stop the water from gushing out—unless we block the springhead. That seems a bit too underhanded… Besides, this mountain might have more than one spring. Who knows where the disciples of other sects will fetch water? I don’t think it’s worth it.”
Shen Chunyi didn’t comment on her perspective. Instead, he unfurled his folding fan, waved it gently, and smiled: “Whether it’s worth it or not, you’ll find out soon enough, Junior Sister.”
Of course, he intended to poison the water. Every Alliance Conference venue is chosen for its living springs, so of course, some have considered poisoning the water. However, this is hardly a wise strategy, as ordinary poisons cannot taint flowing water. To contaminate a living spring, one would have to pour in poison by the crate—a laborious and inefficient endeavor.
What Shen Chunyi used was certainly not poison. To affect all the flowing water, what was needed was something that could continuously disperse, just like the living springs themselves. Thus, it could not be something inert like poison.
Holding a strangely patterned object resembling a river stone, he asked mysteriously, “Guess what this is?”
Shi Yun replied cautiously, “It looks like a stone.”
Shen Chunyi grinned. “It’s a gu insect egg.”
Shi Yun nearly choked. Everyone around them instantly retreated a hundred paces, leaving Shen Chunyi standing alone in a vast empty circle.
Shen Chunyi laughed helplessly. “It’s not that terrifying. These insects aren’t aquatic—they just reproduce quickly. The adults won’t survive in water for more than five days, so don’t worry.”
The array carved onto its shell was Shen Chunyi’s work. Once the egg sank into the river, it would automatically disassemble and multiply, using the water as a medium to spread through all the tributaries.
Shi Yun couldn’t even imagine a river teeming with insects.
Shen Chunyi declared shamelessly, “These insects carry a bit of toxin, so if anyone insists on drinking the water, they might be laid up for a few days.”
“No,” Shi Yun said numbly. “I don’t think anyone will drink it.”
Shen Chunyi raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
The people around them agreed wholeheartedly. “Really.”
For humans, going without food is bearable, but without water, their ability to act quickly plummets. Sure enough, within a day, people began collapsing one after another. Over on the other side, Dongfang Zhen calmly poured a cup of tea. Before he could bring it to his lips, someone slammed the table and stood up, shouting angrily,
“Sorcery! It truly is sorcery!”
Dongfang Zhen remained unmoved and finished his cup of tea. A purely defensive strategy was too passive. Thus, Shen Chunyi divided the Taiwu Mountain disciples into two groups: one to guard the formation and the other to patrol and engage in combat. They would switch at sunset, with the patrollers resting and healing inside the formation while the guards went out to fight.
Battling demons and monsters, fighting each other, and now with their water source cut off and supplies exhausted—the various sects were eliminated rapidly. In just a few days, only a handful remained. In comparison, Taiwu Mountain was faring much better.
Shen Chunyi and Shi Yun led a group to a forest free of rotting corpses, intending to hunt some pheasants or wild rabbits to give everyone a taste of meat. Just as they spotted a colorful rooster passing by and were about to shoot it with a needle, they suddenly heard the heavy sound of footsteps crunching through fallen leaves.
Layer upon layer, wave after wave, irregular and relentless. The Lion-Tiger Sect!
The Northern Lion-Tiger Sect was renowned for taming spirit beasts, with tigers and dragons under their command, a truly awe-inspiring sight. The water shortage didn’t affect them much, as spirit beasts were, after all, just beasts. When supplies ran out, they could be slaughtered for food. Moreover, the flesh and blood of spirit beasts not only filled the stomach but also replenished spiritual energy—an incredibly useful feature.
Shen Chunyi and Shi Yun both took two steps back, holding their breath and focusing intently on the heavy, menacing footsteps. Layer by layer, wave by wave, Shi Yun mouthed to Shen Chunyi, “At least seventy or more!”
Shen Chunyi had made a rough estimate as well and couldn’t help but furrow his brow in calculation, his gaze fixed on the rustling grass ahead.
Amidst the rustling leaves, a large gray wolf with long fur emerged, baring its teeth at Shen Chunyi and the others. Its thick front paws crunched through the scattered leaves on the ground, gradually revealing the figure seated on its back.
A golden-beaded red headband, silver-scale armor trimmed with crimson, a rein in the left hand, and a long spear adorned with a red tassel held behind the right—this was the person riding atop the gray wolf, slowly emerging from the thicket.
Shen Chunyi fanned himself lightly, offering a polite smile first.
“So it’s Brother Yuechuan.”
Pei Yuechuan, the young master of the Northern Lion-Tiger Sect. As the head disciple, Shen Chunyi often accompanied Dongfang Zhen on visits to various sects and had become acquainted with many peers, Pei Yuechuan being one of them.
Seeing only Shen Chunyi and Shi Yun at the forefront, Pei Yuechuan couldn’t help but laugh.
“I wondered who it was—turns out it’s just you two.”
At the moment, Shen Chunyi and Shi Yun had only brought half their people, and Tong Che, the main force among the sword cultivators, was absent. Facing the entire Lion-Tiger Sect’s pack of wolves and fierce tigers, they undoubtedly stood no chance in a fight.
Shi Yun whispered, “Senior Brother, let’s retreat for now.”
Shen Chunyi patted her shoulder with one hand, then stepped forward, shamelessly remarking, “In duels between disciples of different sects, spiritual blades are typically used. Yet, your sect employs spiritual beasts as support, while our disciples rely solely on their physical prowess. Doesn’t that seem somewhat unfair?”
Pei Yuechuan found it utterly bizarre for Shen Chunyi to say such a thing. “The spiritual beasts are both tamed and controlled by me, so they naturally count as part of my cultivation method. Winning through one’s cultivation method—what’s unfair about that?”
Shen Chunyi let out an “oh” and smiled again. “You make a fair point. I just remembered the alliance’s rule: ‘Anything that leads to victory is permissible’—right?”
Shi Yun felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding. Pei Yuechuan quickly scanned the crowd and, noticing Tong Che’s absence, deliberately asked, “Huh? Where’s Tong Che? Since you haven’t brought your sword, why not remove your spirit stone and crush it first? Otherwise, once my sect’s sharp fangs and claws get close, it’ll be quite painful.”
Shen Chunyi replied amiably, “He’s not here.”
Pei Yuechuan chuckled. “Then let’s skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can all go home.”
He tugged the reins, forcing the wolf beneath him to raise its head, and commanded the people and beasts behind him from his elevated position, his voice booming,
“Kill.”
Without turning his head, Shen Chunyi said, “Form the formation.”
Shi Yun was baffled. “What formation?”
“Any formation will do.”
Shi Yun formed hand seals with both hands, and a soft, watery cyan light shot into the sky before drifting down like winter snowflakes.
Shen Chunyi asked, “Why a defensive formation?”
Shi Yun was utterly speechless. “Didn’t you say anything would do?”
“Ah,” Shen Chunyi said. “It’s fine, but it’ll require you to have a deeper appetite.”
The sense of foreboding in Shi Yun’s heart grew heavier. On Pei Yuechuan’s side, after a few symbolic clashes, he suddenly halted abruptly, alert. “What are you doing?”
Shi Yun followed his gaze and saw Shen Chunyi’s right fist tightly clutching a throwing star, fresh blood trickling from the space between his thumb and forefinger.
Just as Pei Yuechuan was considering whether he should say something like, “You can’t surrender without a fight,” to boost morale, he noticed Shi Yun and the others stepping back a full eight zhang with practiced caution.
Shen Chunyi flipped his left-hand fan, transforming the blood droplets into a red mist that flew out. It didn’t strike anyone but instead settled on the ground before him.
Shen Chunyi raised his injured hand and swiftly formed a blood array, smiling as he said, “This is also part of my cultivation method.”
Before anyone could react, the array was already complete. With a light tap, he fused it into the ground. Instantly, the earth trembled and the mountains shook.
It wasn’t an earthquake—something was emerging from the ground!
First came enormous, furry limbs three feet long, followed by five-foot-long feelers. Then, slowly crawling out was a six-legged giant insect as tall as a person, followed by a colossal earthworm, a snail, and withered, writhing tree roots…
Everyone was stunned.
This time, it was Shen Chunyi’s turn to burst into laughter. “Since I know what demons despise, of course I also know what they desire. I merely added a bit of blood as bait to lure the underground demons to the surface. Look, cultivation method against cultivation method—that’s not breaking the rules, is it?”