The moon hung high at its zenith, and a cool breeze drifted by.
Waves rose and fell against the shore, making a crisp, splashing sound.
Those escape lights, shaped like shooting stars, or perhaps fireworks, in a myriad of colors, added an extraordinary beauty to the night.
For the common people of Guanhai City who had not yet gone to rest, this was a sight they would rarely see again in this life.
Adults and children alike threw open their windows, admiring the spectacle.
Every face wore a smile.
Fu Qingfeng's face also carried a smile, only his was tinged with bitterness.
The City Lord's Mansion of Guanhai City was only a few steps from where the Misty Sect's Towering Ship was anchored, but Fu Qingfeng did not want his disciples to see how close he was to breaking down, so he transformed into escape light and roamed the night sky instead.
Amid the azure escape light, he would from time to time cross paths with cultivators of deep attainment from nearby sects.
A mere instant of meeting eyes was enough for him to clearly see their beaming, jubilant expressions.
Their joy formed an unbearably stark contrast with his own desolation.
From the snatches of conversation that reached him, he understood that the Divine Weapon Compendium, which had not been updated in a long time, had been updated tonight.
And that Supreme Treasure, the moment it appeared on the list, overwhelmed countless other magic treasures to claim the top rank on the Divine Weapon Compendium.
"No wonder... no wonder..."
He muttered to himself, and the words spoken by the City Lord of Guanhai City immediately surfaced in his mind.
Even though half an hour had already passed, those cold, indifferent words still had not left his mind.
"Senior Fu, His Majesty has decreed that everyone from your esteemed sect must come to Guanhai City within three days to undergo inspection by the five State Preceptors!"
"As for everyone aboard the Towering Ship, movement is restricted with immediate effect. Until ordered otherwise by a State Preceptor, no one is to leave, not even a single step!"
"At the same time, His Majesty has already bestowed an Immortal Mountain Blessed Land outside the Imperial City upon your esteemed sect. Once the five State Preceptors have finished their inspection, the officers of the Demon Suppression Division will personally escort everyone from your sect to the immortal mountain."
"On the mountain there are longevity deer and immortal foxes, and in the trees dwell spirit birds and mystic cranes. The jade grass and rare flowers never wilt, and the green pines and cypresses stay evergreen all year round."
"At the foot of the mountain, the Demon Suppression Division patrols day and night, making it the safest place in the realm, bar none. From now on, you and Senior Shen need never worry about cultivation resources for your sect's disciples again — whatever your esteemed sect requires will be delivered directly by the Ministry of Revenue."
To Fu Qingfeng, these words were nothing short of deafening! They struck straight through his heart!
If he complied with the Imperial Court's arrangements, how would the Misty Sect be any different from a sect destroyed?
But if he refused to comply, the entire Misty Sect might never see tomorrow's sun again, not for the rest of this life.
Thinking of this, Fu Qingfeng — a man well over a thousand years old, who normally prided himself on having a Dao Heart as firm as stone — could no longer hold himself together. He hovered in midair, head bowed, sighing without a word.
Had he known it would come to this, why had he and Fellow Daoist Shen, over two hundred years ago, bothered fleeing the central continents and establishing their sect in this remote place, just to avoid trouble from those on the Heaven-ranked list?
What galled him most was that he didn't even know the name of that Supreme Treasure, or what power it held.
And yet he was expected to accept such a "generous reward"!
As these thoughts churned, Fu Qingfeng's expression grew increasingly gloomy.
"Forget it... forget it..."
"Better to head back to the Towering Ship first, and explain everything to the sect's Deacons..."
After muttering a few words to himself, he turned to leave.
But just then, a faint sound of laughter drifted up from below.
Fu Qingfeng's expression stirred slightly.
The laughter sounded somehow familiar to him, so he followed the sound down toward the ground.
At that very moment, in a dense forest along a rugged mountain path, Zhang Qianren, having realized he was now over a thousand li from Guanhai City, felt the oppressive fear in his heart dissolve completely — and even more, a sudden thrill, like a fish set free in a boundless sea.
He landed on a branch and let out a light laugh, his brows dancing with delight.
"Heh heh heh heh heh~"
Just as he was laughing away happily, a low, eerie voice suddenly sounded by his ear.
"Steward Zhang, what has you laughing so happily? Why not share it with this seat, so this seat can enjoy some happiness too."
Caught completely off guard by these words, Zhang Qianren's laughter immediately choked into a strangled "gack," his throat suddenly feeling as though it had been stopped up.
The smile that had not yet faded froze stiffly on his face.
A chill shot straight up his spine and into his skull, making his scalp tingle in an instant.
Swallowing hard, he lowered his head to look, and there stood the Nascent Soul Stage Vice Sect Master he had most feared running into — head tilted slightly upward, expression bleak, eyes fixed on him with deep meaning.
In the night wind, the man's Green Robe swayed gently.
In the next instant, he found himself lifted by a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere, drifting slowly down from the treetop until his feet touched the ground.
Looking into those eyes of Fu Qingfeng's that seemed capable of seeing through everything, all of Zhang Qianren's earlier joy vanished into thin air in an instant.
He hated himself for being so restless, so easily swept up.
He hadn't even been able to wait a moment before starting to grin with excitement.
He wasn't usually like this at all.
As his thoughts raced, Fu Qingfeng spoke, his voice low and cold.
"Steward Zhang still hasn't told this seat — what has you so happy?"
Zhang Qianren was yanked back to reality by these words. Trembling, he raised his hands and bowed deeply.
"Paying respects to—"
He had barely gotten the words out when Fu Qingfeng cut him off with a wave of his sleeve.
"What has you so happy? Happy enough to hide in a place this sinister and eerie, laughing to yourself?"
Zhang Qianren pressed his lips together and said hesitantly, "Reporting to the Vice Sect Master, this old man... this old man... this old man..."
He said "this old man" several times over, but couldn't think of what to say next.
Just as his heart began pounding wildly, inspiration struck him, and following those two words, he blurted out, "This old man... has an heir."
The moment those words left his mouth, the rest came out without a single stutter.
"Just now, an old flame of this old man's suddenly sent word of this happy news."
Fu Qingfeng offered a forced smile and said, "Congratulations," then asked, "Such happy news should be celebrated openly. Why is Steward Zhang hiding out here?"
Hearing this, Zhang Qianren let out a soft sigh and shook his head. "It's all because of that Supreme Treasure. Earlier, when this old man returned to the Towering Ship from the East Sea, I suddenly heard the other Deacons gossiping endlessly about the matter, all because of me."
"Going on and on about reporting me to you and the Sect Master, accusing this old man of exaggeration, and demanding you and the Sect Master dismiss this old man from his position as Deacon."
"This old man got into a big argument with them over it, and originally meant to just return to the sect and have nothing more to do with any of Guanhai City's affairs."
"Who would have thought that halfway there, this old man received a letter from an old... flame."
"That's what brought me down to the ground here, unable to help myself, laughing quietly."
"As you know, this old man is already old in years, with poor Aptitude to begin with, and unusually thin fortune besides — to suddenly have an heir now..."
He trailed off without finishing the thought.
Fu Qingfeng eyed him with suspicion, sweeping his Divine Sense over the man's entire body, and said coldly, "Erase the mark on your Storage Ring and hand it over to this seat."
The instant that Divine Sense touched him, Zhang Qianren's body subconsciously tensed, terrified that the man would discover the Ruyi Jingu Bang tucked among his hair, disguised as a Jade Hairpin.
But Fu Qingfeng's next words instantly gave him a feeling of being granted a great pardon.
"Since the lie has already been told this far, if this old man hands it over directly, it will only make himself look more suspicious."
With that thought, he steeled his courage, raised his head, and asked hesitantly, in his usual manner, "This old man wonders why the Vice Sect Master wishes to see this old man's Storage Ring?"
His question, oddly enough, made Fu Qingfeng's furrowed brow relax.
"The Imperial Court suspects that someone among us has already obtained that Supreme Treasure. Everyone's Storage Magic Treasures are to be inspected, one by one."
Zhang Qianren gave a bitter laugh at this. "This old man has no such good fortune. Just catching a single glimpse of that Supreme Treasure was already more than enough to satisfy me."
As he spoke, he erased the mark on his Storage Ring and handed it over to Fu Qingfeng.
Fu Qingfeng held the ring in his palm, and his Divine Sense, vast as the sea, immediately plunged inside to search it.
No Supreme Treasure was found. Instead, what he "saw" were many ordinary iron weapons that had been smelted at high temperature and forged into blades, swords, and rods, along with some odds and ends and Pills.
As he handed the Storage Ring back to him, Fu Qingfeng asked, "Steward Zhang, why do you have so many blades, swords, and rods forged from common iron packed into your Storage Ring?"
Sensing that the other man's Divine Sense had withdrawn from his body, Zhang Qianren carefully controlled his Spiritual Energy to bring a rush of Blood Qi to his face.
As a result, in Fu Qingfeng's eyes, this honest, low-Aptitude Deacon who had toiled for the sect his whole life stammered, his old face flushing red, "My... my child is a boy, and this old man... this old man got carried away with excitement and prepared these for him."
As he said this, he was immensely thankful he had prepared them.
Earlier, when leaving the East Sea, he had worried both that Fu Qingfeng might discover the Ruyi Jingu Bang on his person, and that the man might wonder why his ring was full of common Iron Ore.
So he had gone ahead and Refined a few Weapons on the spot.
Only, the excuse he had prepared at the time was not the one he had just given.
It had been meant as a gift for an old friend's descendant.
As he pondered all this, Fu Qingfeng, with a trace of hesitation, drew from his own Storage Ring a lump of gold the size of a small mountain. With a light wave of his finger, this gold mountain, some sixteen or seventeen zhang tall, drifted down gently and settled on an open patch of ground nearby.
"This is a piece of Geng Metal Ore this seat found in years past. This seat had meant to Refine a Magic Treasure from it, but since the other materials were never gathered, it ended up set aside."
"Steward Zhang, you've worn yourself out over the sect's trivial matters all these years, and now you've suffered wrongly on the sect's behalf besides — so as compensation, and to congratulate you on the birth of your heir, this seat gives you this piece of Geng Metal Ore!"
In truth, he was reluctant to part with it, but on second thought, since the Ministry of Revenue would handle everything from now on, what use did he have for keeping this Geng Metal anymore?
Zhang Qianren stared at the gold mountain, dumbfounded.
Goodness!
No wonder you're a Vice Sect Master who cultivated all the way to the Nascent Soul Stage — such generosity!
A mountain, and in your mouth it's merely "a piece of ore."
He couldn't help recalling how he himself had once labored miserably at the seabed under crushing water pressure, activating a Water Repelling Talisman just to smelt scraps of Iron Ore over an Alchemy Furnace — and now, all at once, he felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal clear skies.
With this small mountain of Geng Metal on hand, the Ruyi Jingu Bang could surely raise his Spiritual Root by several points at the very least!
At the thought, Zhang Qianren's eyes instantly turned red.
Seeing the man's eyes red with what looked like genuine emotion, much of the bleakness faded from Fu Qingfeng's expression, and he said with a smile, "Now hurry and put that ore away, and come back to the ship with this seat. This seat still has other matters to announce to the rest of the Deacons."
At these words, bitterness welled up in Zhang Qianren's heart.
But he didn't dare refuse aloud, and could only stow the small mountain of Geng Metal away in his Storage Ring, before being carried off by Fu Qingfeng's escape light.
The escape light moved at tremendous speed — in mere moments, the two of them had traveled the thousand li back to Guanhai City.
Landing back on the Towering Ship, Fu Qingfeng, amid a chorus of respectful greetings from the sect's disciples, brought Zhang Qianren to the room where the many Deacons had gathered.
Yue Yang, seeing that Zhang Qianren — who had supposedly gone diving for treasure in the sea — had returned together with the Vice Sect Master, couldn't help but feel a stir of doubt.
"Paying respects to the Vice Sect Master!"
"Paying respects to the Vice Sect Master!"
Amid the chorus of greetings, Fu Qingfeng, clad in his Green Robe, strode to the main seat, swept his robe aside, and sat down.
Before he could even speak, the Deacons, who had clearly been waiting a long while, immediately crowded around him.
"Vice Sect Master, come quick and look at the Divine Weapon Compendium — it's just been updated!"
"Yes, yes, come take a look!"
Hearing that the Divine Weapon Compendium had indeed been updated, Fu Qingfeng's heart lurched.
He didn't even need to look to know that the newly listed Supreme Treasure was the very same mysterious Supreme Treasure that had brought this catastrophe down upon their Misty Sect.
"This seat would like to see for himself just what sort of Supreme Treasure it is, that could draw Fellow Daoists from all directions and bring such disaster upon our Misty Sect!"
With that thought, he took the sheet of paper from one of the Deacons.
At once, a passage of hastily copied text filled his vision.
【In the 247th year of Great Prosperity, in the third month, a Supreme Treasure was born within the Vast Eastern Sea.】
【At that time, the sea surged with a golden lotus, wind and thunder stirred together, and an exotic fragrance filled the sky — one that, upon inhaling, could strengthen the Nascent Soul.】
【As nine-colored light pillars — red, orange, yellow, green, azure, blue, purple, white, and black — connected heaven and earth, ten thousand zhang beneath the sea, rosy clouds shone brilliantly, and auspicious light billowed forth.】
【This treasure stands ten thousand zhang tall and fifty-nine zhang wide, with Golden Hoops at both ends, engraved with Cloud Patterns; its shaft is forged of Black Iron, bearing five characters — Ruyi Jingu Bang.】
【It is said that...】
As he finished reading this passage, he suddenly felt as though he'd been struck by a sudden, sharp rebuke.
In his sudden realization, the paper slipped slowly from his hand, drifting down to land lightly on the low table before him.
Fu Qingfeng seemed not to notice at all, merely shaking his head and laughing bitterly to himself.
"No wonder..."
"No wonder..."
After muttering these words to himself a few times, his right hand tightened without him realizing it.
"Crack!"
The Prayer Beads he had kept looped around his wrist for over a thousand years — one bead suddenly crushed to pieces in a moment of carelessness.
That "crack" abruptly yanked him back to reality.
Fu Qingfeng glanced down at the Prayer Beads in his hand, one now shattered, then slowly raised his head and said quietly, "Relay the Imperial decree — everyone aboard the Towering Ship is restricted with immediate effect. Until ordered otherwise by a State Preceptor, no one is to leave, not even a single step!"
At these words, everyone's expression changed.
Fu Qingfeng, seemingly oblivious to the looks on their faces, continued, "Everyone in the entire sect must come to Guanhai City within three days to undergo inspection by the five State Preceptors. This seat will notify Fellow Daoist Shen of the matter shortly."
"During this time, should anyone aboard this ship attempt to flee... regardless of rank, Talent, or Cultivation Level, that person — along with their entire family — will be put to death without exception!"
"At the same time, His Majesty has already bestowed an Immortal Mountain Blessed Land outside the Imperial City upon us. Once the five State Preceptors have finished their inspection, the officers of the Demon Suppression Division will personally escort everyone to the immortal mountain."
"From now on, all of the sect's needs and expenses will be delivered by the Ministry of Revenue!"
Having said this, he added quietly, his expression complicated, "Everyone, take care of yourselves from now on."
As the crowd looked on in bewilderment, Zhang Qianren secretly clenched his fists.
For one fleeting moment, the thought crossed his mind to hand over the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
After all, it was the Misty Sect that had raised him — without the Misty Sect, there would be no him today.
But the instant he thought of "Becoming an Immortal, so close within reach," he gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed the urge!
And kept reminding himself over and over in his heart.
"The Immortal Path is right in front of me — this old man absolutely cannot be a fool!"
"What do Fellow Daoists matter!"
"What does the sect matter!"
"They were just gossiping about this old man, even trying to punish him for it!"
"How could this old man give up an Immortal Destiny bestowed by the heavens, for the sake of people like that!"
"If you've come to this, you have only your own poor luck to blame!"
"For the sake of the sect having genuinely raised this old man all these years, once this old man becomes an immortal, I will seek out your reincarnated selves and help you continue along the Immortal Path once more!"
As his thoughts churned on, the conflicted look that had appeared on Zhang Qianren's thin, gaunt face gradually faded away.
His expression, too, settled into calm in that moment.
Two-in-one chapter, newcomer new book, asking for everything!
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