Chapter 518: Chapter 264: Demon Sect Takes the Blame, Lu Chan’s Intuition
Lu Feng hurriedly returned the greeting, "Congratulations, congratulations."
However, Lu Feng at this moment had no intention of exchanging pleasantries; he just wanted the Lu Family members to quickly find Li Bai. The Life-long Spirit Contract had already expired, and getting Li Bai to sign another was no longer realistic.
But Li Bai’s willingness to help Lu Chan indicated he was still grateful to the Lu Family. If they could find Li Bai before the City Lord’s Mansion and offer a satisfactory price, perhaps they could keep Li Bai with the Lu Family.
Even if he had to go to the West Mountain Spirit Suppressing Army in the future, at least Li Bai would still count as one of the Lu Family, not an outsider.
The status of the Lu Family could also rise accordingly.
...
Three days later.
The news that Li Bai was not dead and even saved the Lu Family spread rapidly.
When Wen Jiu heard this news in the inn, he was momentarily stunned, especially upon hearing that Li Bai had been captured by a Demon Cultivator and survived with great difficulty. It was even more unexpected and puzzling.
What exactly happened?
Upon further inquiry, Wen Jiu found that the Lu Family was doing their utmost to find him, and together with the City Lord’s Mansion of East Pole Immortal City, they issued a bounty across the entire West Mountain Floating Domain.
Anyone who finds Li Bai or escorts him back to the Lu Family will be rewarded with fifty million Low-grade Spirit Stones!
Simultaneously, the City Lord’s Mansion of East Pole Immortal City provided a reasonable explanation to the Hundred Li Land of Absolute Spirit.
It was the doing of the Outer Path Hidden Demon Sect.
Not Li Bai.
This only added to Wen Jiu’s confusion.
"Why are things developing so differently from what I imagined?" Wen Jiu fell into deep thought and immediately used the Corpse Fate Technique for divination, trying to see if there was any conspiracy behind the Lu Family and the City Lord’s Mansion of East Pole Immortal City doing this.
After meticulously analyzing the Life Fate Veins behind Lu Feng and Zang Qianjian for more than half a day, although there was no definite result, it was more or less clear that neither of them harbored malice or conspiracies.
However, both were backed by several powerful Life Fate Veins, their true identities unknown, but pointing towards the West Mountain Spirit Suppressing Army.
After confirming that there was likely no conspiracy, Wen Jiu once again fell into reflection, pondering the reason behind this. After much thought, Wen Jiu concluded there was only one possibility, "It seems Lu Chan helped smooth everything over for me."
That night.
Wen Jiu used the East Spring Undying Bone Divine Sense to directly contact the recuperating Lu Chan, who truthfully relayed the events and took the Heart Demon Oath to ensure her words were true. Wen Jiu was somewhat helpless about this result.
Now, the Lu Family was instead grateful to him and wanted him back as an Elder; the Spirit Suppressing General of the West Mountain Spirit Suppressing Army also promised not to mind about the Soul-Extinction Ghost Skill matter, even offering to take him into the Spirit Suppressing Army for cultivation.
The concerns Wen Jiu originally had about the Lu Family holding a grudge and the West Mountain Floating Domain’s Domain Lord’s Mansion being wary hadn’t come to pass.
"If I return now under Li Bai’s identity, I would surely gain a lot of benefits, but these benefits might not be so easy to claim for the East Spring Undying Bone." Combining the Spirit-Extinguishing Ghost Qi and Top-Grade Golden Core does make the West Mountain Spirit Suppressing Army favor, and forces the Lu Family to trust Lu Chan’s words, but the risks are too great.
"It’s better to let Li Bai’s persona sink into oblivion for now." Once Wen Jiu made up his mind, he immediately instructed Lu Chan to cast a Silencing Spell on the night’s events and accumulated another favor from her for her actions.
Regardless, Lu Chan’s actions did help him somewhat.
Lu Chan said with shame, "I dare not ask for much, only that Fellow Daoist Li doesn’t act against the Lu Family in the future."
"Whether the Lu Family Ancestors believe your words or not, I will not act against the Lu Family," Wen Jiu promised by transmission, but added a caveat that the Lu Family must not wrong him.
After a few more inquiries about the Alchemy Method from Lu Chan, Wen Jiu didn’t plan to say anything further. Lu Chan, however, suddenly spoke up, shifting the topic.
"Fellow Daoist Li, although I don’t know your background, nor why you needed to use the Lu Family Yin Meridian Core Formation and then chose to disappear, I know you must have some unspeakable difficulties. If you ever need assistance from me in the future, feel free to let me know... While I can’t help you much now, after future Pill Transformation Rebinding, when becoming a Lu Family Elder, I will surely be able to assist you somewhat."
Lu Chan had an intuition that Li Bai would definitely not show himself again.
She also had an intuition that forming ties with Li Bai would certainly yield significant rewards in the future.
"Sure."
Wen Jiu responded briefly and said no more, but within he also developed the idea of supporting someone usable in East Pole Immortal City.
Lu Chan.
Perhaps she was an option.
Because after this Core Formation, if one of the two corpses achieves Top-Grade Golden Core, this Corpse Cultivator identity definitely can no longer be used. Moreover, it’s not just in East Pole Immortal City, but across the entire West Mountain Floating Domain.
"I still need to observe further, to see how she is after the Pill Transformation Rebinding." Supporting someone without potential is worse than concentrating efforts on supporting Feng Jue; at least Feng Jue has great fortune, with a promising future."
...
Months slipped by.
During this period, the Lu Family and East Pole Immortal City continued searching for Li Bai, and the matter of the Top-Grade Golden Core and Dark Altar was widely known throughout the entire West Mountain Floating Domain. Wen Jiu couldn’t be bothered to inquire about the news, using the pretext of secluded cultivation to quietly wait for the two corpses to form cores.
Finally, the message from the City Lord’s Mansion arrived on this day, accompanied by a favor from Master Zhu.
It contained detailed information about the ten individuals participating in this Core Formation, involving multiple Golden Core Major Influences’ Golden Core Cultivators. Those who made it into the list of ten were all Loose Cultivators from the West Mountain Floating Domain, except for the two corpses.
All eight were renowned and had profound foundations within the same realm. Two even achieved the status of the Ten Great Heterodox Foundation Establishment. Such figures, even within Golden Core Influence, belonged to the top tier.
According to Master Zhu’s investigation, these two had been planning for Core Formation for decades.
Aside from the two, the remaining six were no simpletons either; their foundation and strength included Tier Two Top Grade and even Pseudo-Tier Three skills, all quite commendable, representing strong backgrounds.
But from the list, all eight appear as formidable opponents.
The intelligence brought by Master Zhu, for others, had great utility, allowing them to straightforwardly assess the strengths and weaknesses of competitors. This way, they could control the pace of Core Formation, positioning themselves favorably.
However, for Wen Jiu, it had no use, but he accepted it in front of Master Zhu’s trusted confidant, pretending to owe the other a favor. One must admit, these Golden Core Zhenren calculated shrewdly.
Ten individuals, each with an intelligence dossier; regardless of whether they succeeded or not, they all owed him a favor.
Ten days later.
Wen Jiu controlled the two corpses to board the flying ship from the City Lord’s Mansion, joining the others heading to the location of the Tier Three Yin Vein.
The day of Core Formation was in three days.
Beside the City Lord’s Mansion’s flying ship, many cultivators also set out, preparing to witness the spectacle of ten individuals forming cores.
Wen Jiu also controlled the East Spring Undying Bone to blend within the crowd, listening to their speculation, but just as he caught up, he sensed something unusual from one person in the crowd. That person stood with Master Zhu, seemingly very familiar. Others appeared unsurprised, evidently aware of their relationship.
"This person, according to Master Zhu’s intelligence, was a Tier Two Top Grade Loose Cultivator Talisman Master from East Pole Immortal City, running a Talisman Shop, having achieved Tier Two Top Grade Talisman Master status for just over a decade, relatively less grounded compared to the other eight." But the East Spring Undying Bone Divine Sense could rival a Late-stage Golden Core Cultivator, able to perceive many things. Confirming the anomaly, Wen Jiu immediately used the Corpse Fate Technique for divination.
The result was as expected, this person was not really named Ye Xing. Regarding the true name, the Minor Corpse Fate Technique couldn’t directly determine, but it was definite that this person was no Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but a Golden Core Zhenren.
Yet not a True Pill.
But a Fake Pill.
A Fake Pill Cultivator who had formed a false core.
"No wonder none of the ten individuals forming cores this time had links with Golden Core Zhenren or Golden Core Influences. Perhaps Golden Core Zhenren all had their own Core Formation resources, but it wasn’t possible that all Golden Core Influences had abundant Core Formation resources. After all, even the Lu Family had to queue for Core Formation resources, let alone other influences."
Wen Jiu speculated that it was all Loose Cultivators possibly to pave the way for this person.
This way, Master Zhu received benefits without offending any Golden Core Influences. As for being found out later, the offended would merely be some Loose Cultivator Fake Pills who, even upon discovering the truth, might dare to get angry but not speak out.
"Every single one of them is tricky." Wen Jiu sighed, "If you’re going to do it this way, you’d better return my Spirit Stones doubled."
[Two updates completed.
See you tomorrow.
Today I won’t make up for yesterday’s three thousand words, I’ll gradually repay it later.
Looking for a time in good writing condition.]
