Chapter 40: Inconclusive
That afternoon.
A streak of white light shot through the distant sky before landing on a white jade plaza on the Holy Fire Peak.
The light faded to reveal a clean-shaven middle-aged man.
The man was wearing a scholarly robe, which was flapping around him as he slowly descended, and as soon as he landed on the plaza, he was immediately greeted by a male voice that rang out behind him.
"Brother Nangong."
The middle-aged man turned to discover a man with a black beard wearing a set of daoist robes approaching him from several thousand feet away.
The man didn't appear to be moving very quickly, but there was a trail of afterimages in his wake, and he was able to cover a distance of several hundred feet with each step, arriving in front of the scholarly-robed man in the blink of an eye.
"Let's go together, Brother Zhuang," the scholarly-robed man greeted with a smile.
The daoist priest nodded in response, then cast his gaze toward several streaks of light that were flying through the distant sky, and he remarked, "If I recall correctly, it's been over a decade since such a big fuss has been kicked up about anything in the sect."
These two were none other than Nangong Changshan and Zhuang Ziyou, the masters of the Cloudrise Peak and the Sunset Peak, respectively.
"This most likely has something to do with the recent scripture library incident. I'm afraid we won't be able to escape accountability," Nangong Changshan sighed with a shake of his head.
"I was busy refining some pills at the time, but I did hear mention of the incident, and the circumstances seem rather strange to me... Not only was the perpetrator able to bypass all of the restrictions to enter the inner library, even Elder Huyan was unable to stop him from escaping," Zhuang Ziyou mused with a grim expression.
"It was indeed a rather peculiar incident. I'm sure the supreme elder will elaborate on the matter when we meet him," Nangong Changshan replied with a nod.
As the two were conversing with one another, they had already passed through the plaza and arrived in front of a grand and majestic red palace. Both of them fell silent here, then quickly scaled the staircase before stepping into the palace together.
At the center of the palace was an elevated section that was around three feet above the ground, upon which was an intricately engraved chair. Below this chair were two more rows of chairs that were facing one another, one on the left, and one on the right.
The pillars behind the chairs were all constructed from precious materials with all types of exotic birds and beasts engraved onto their surfaces.
On the chair in the left row situated closest to the main seat sat a red-haired man in a crimson robe. There was a dark look on his face, and he was built like a steel tower, with a musclebound body that gave off an astonishing aura.
Nangong Changshan and Zhuang Ziyou exchanged a glance with one another, then picked a pair of neighboring chairs before sitting down and closing their eyes to meditate.
More and more people continued to enter the palace, and soon, all of the chairs in the hall were occupied.
All of the people present were at the Spatial Tempering Stage, and there wasn't even a single cultivator at or below the Deity Transformation Stage.
However, all of them were wearing rather grim expressions, and they only exchanged the most concise of greetings, seemingly not interested in chatting.
The entire palace was filled with a rather oppressive and solemn atmosphere.
A few minutes after all of the chairs in the palace were occupied, two more figures strode into the palace from the inner hall.
Everyone in the palace immediately rose to their feet, including the red-haired man, and they all extended a collective respectful bow as they greeted in a unified voice, "We pay our respects to the supreme elder and the sect master!"
The one walking at the front was a purple-robed man with hair as white as snow, and he was the Cold Flame Sect's sole supreme elder, Sima Jingming. Accompanying him was an authoritative middle-aged man wearing a tall hat, and he was the master of the Cold Flame Sect, Liu Jingzhu.
Sima Jingming made his way over to the main seat, but instead of sitting down, his gaze slowly swept over everyone present.
His aura was completely subdued, but even though he was only casually standing there, he still gave off an astonishing sense of pressure. Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to look at one another or even breathe too loudly for fear of retribution.
A short while later, Sima Jingming finally began to speak.
"Recently, two incidents of theft have taken place in quick succession at the Heavenly Talisman Hall and the scripture library, and it is for this reason that all of you have been invited here."
His voice wasn't very loud, but it was filled with an indescribable sense of authority.
Everyone involuntarily tensed up slightly upon hearing this, and they were all waiting in silence for the tirade that was surely to come.
However, what Sima Jingming declared next instantly had everyone looking up with stunned expressions.
"I hereby declare that this will be the end of the matter. Cease all investigations with immediate effect."
Everyone was astonished to hear this, and they couldn't help but exchange bewildered glances, wondering if they had misheard the message.
However, no one dared to ask any questions, either.
In the end, it was the red-haired man who broke the silence, and he stepped forward as he cupped his fist in a salute. "Senior Martial Brother Sima, the theft that took place at the scripture library is a major incident. I..."
Before he had a chance to finish, he was cut off by Sima Jingming, who interjected in a cold voice, "Do I need to repeat myself, Junior Martial Brother Huyan?"
With that, he turned and departed from the palace, offering no further explanation, leaving everyone completely perplexed.
At the same time, Sect Master Liu Jingzhu declared, "That concludes the meeting. You can all go now."
After that, he also departed.
A short while later, on the white jade plaza outside the palace.
Zhuang Ziyou was still reeling from the announcement, and he turned to Nangong Changshan as he asked, "We're supposed to just cease all investigations? Are we simply accepting the loss of so many precious scriptures from the scripture library?"
"The loss of the scriptures isn't a big deal. I'm sure our sect will have replicas that can replace them. However, it's going to be a problem if these secret scriptures are leaked to the outside world. The supreme elder must have his reasons for making such a decision, so let's not speculate aimlessly about this," Nangong Changshan replied with a smile.
Despite what he was saying, he was no less perplexed than Zhuang Ziyou.
Not long after that meeting, all of the disciples of the Cold Flame Sect noticed something extremely puzzling, which was that the sect had suddenly ceased all investigations and searches at the Heavenly Talisman Hall and the scripture library.
This naturally created quite a stir among all of the disciples, but all of the peak masters seemed to be very reluctant to speak on the matter.
Thus, what should've been a pair of incidents with far-reaching consequences and implications blew over under inexplicable circumstances with no concrete conclusions reached.
As the perpetrator, Han Li was completely oblivious to everything that had taken place in the sect. He was holed up in his cave abode, studying the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
Prior to this, he had only quickly read through the cultivation art, but the more he studied it, the more he came to realize how profound and ingenious it was, and the more excited he became.
Ever since he began his cultivation journey, he had come into contact with many body refinement cultivation arts. Some of those cultivation arts primarily refined the muscles and tendons, some focused on refining the bones, and there were also some that refined the internal organs, such as the Organ Refinement Origin Arts. [1]
However, the Big Dipper Origin Arts was unique in that it focused on the cultivation of profound apertures.
What were profound apertures supposed to be?
Han Li had no clue, and there were no further elaborations offered in the cultivation art, either. However, judging from the scripture, the cultivation process was extremely profound, and even for him, it had taken a long time to make sense of the process being described.
To put it in simple terms, if one could attain full mastery of this cultivation art, then they would attain physical power comparable with that of the average immortal.
However, at the same time, there were also many caveats.
Firstly, the cultivation process was extremely painful, and for those with insufficient mental fortitude, there was no way that they would be able to last till the very end.
Secondly, it was extremely difficult to draw in the power of starlight. After all, the stars were an unfathomable distance away. As a result, practicing this cultivation art was extremely time-consuming.
Han Li paid no heed to these caveats, and he planned to begin pursuing the cultivation art right away.
First, he made a trip somewhere, only returning the next day, upon which he immediately activated all of the restrictions within the cave abode.
After that, he chose a suitable secret chamber before opening up a large hole in the ceiling, which allowed him to see the sky.
After doing all of that, he sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.
Before practicing a cultivation art that had been passed down from the Immortal Realm, he had to prime himself into the optimal condition so that he was best equipped to deal with any circumstances that could arise during the cultivation process.
1. For more information on the Organ Refinement Origin Arts, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2339: Organ Refinement Origin Arts. ☜
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