Chapter 206: Dark Memories
Yu Nianzhen almost spat blood when he heard Jiang Yue’s words.
When they became Taoist companions and double-cultivated for the first time, they shared all their memories.
It was because of this that Jiang Yue knew the name given to Yu Nianzhen by the little beggar in Han town. Otherwise, Yu Nianzhen would never share such dark history.
"Little Saint?" Qi Feiyan asked, and her lips twitched in amusement.
No matter how she looked at it, the man in front of her did not look like a little saint. Most importantly, she felt her life would end miserably if she dared to call him that way.
’He is terrifying.’ She thought and shuddered.
Although she couldn’t see his cultivation level or feel his qi presence, she couldn’t be at ease. The danger she felt was instinctual and came from deep within her bones.
At a loss of what to do, she glanced at her brother but he was in a similar situation.
He was trying to hide it, but she could see he was afraid and didn’t dare to be presumptuous with Yeying’s Taoist companion.
"Don’t mislead people." Yu Nianzhen admonished his lover, but his eyes were full of doting tolerance.
"I am not misleading anyone. Wasn’t there someone who called you that way a few years back?"
"How can you follow that person’s lead? His mind is a little..." Yu Nianzhen didn’t continue and instead frowned.
He didn’t like thinking about the little beggar because he inevitably remembered the spitting ceremony.
Even after so many years in the Cangxing world, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t forget that traumatising experience.
When he thought about it now, he shuddered and desperately wanted to take a shower.
’Have I re-traumatised him?’ Jiang Yue wondered and felt a little guilty.
Although he wanted to tease his lover, he didn’t want his Azhen to be uncomfortable.
Taking pity on his husband, he changed the subject and steered the conversation away from the events of Han town.
"How about ’great demon lord’?" He suggested and looked at his lover.
Yu Nianzhen looked at his cheeky husband and couldn’t help but rub his hair.
"Are you not afraid that someone will challenge me for the title?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
He knew Jiang Yue had taken his teasing in another direction and was now poking fun at his ’secret’ nickname in the previous life.
"This fellow Daoist is right to be worried. "Qi Shuo suddenly joined the conversation.
"What do you mean?" Jiang Yue asked.
"It’s what I was about to mention before the fellow Daoist arrived."
"After every Cangxing list ranking, there are many title disputes." Qi Shuo informed, and Yu Nianzhen frowned.
He didn’t understand what they were talking about, and he looked at his lover in question.
In a few breaths, Jiang Yue talked about the Cangxing list, and Yu Nianzhen fell into thought.
"If the list only reports the titles, how would anyone know who to find to settle a title dispute?" He finally asked.
"This is simple." Qi Feiyan answered before her brother could do so.
"Many cultivators like the fame of having a good position on the Cangxing list. Those cultivators intentionally reveal their identities and can be easily found."
"Also, you can issue the challenge through the Cangxing list in the sea of consciousness. The challenged party must accept, but they have the right to choose the time and place of the duel."
"However, there are restrictions and conditions." Qi Shuo took over.
"The first restriction is that the duel must happen within a year of the challenge."
"Sounds like a fair restriction." Jiang Yue said.
He felt this way because the Cangxing world was large. There was no guarantee that the challenger and challenged were close to each other. By giving one year, it guaranteed that both parties could travel to the agreed location for the duel.
Also, one year was not enough time to cause significant changes to power levels. Although this was not necessarily the case, it was true in most instances.
"The second condition is that the cultivation of the challenger will drop by two levels if they lose the duel."
"It’s only fair." Jiang Yue nodded.
This kind of condition dissuaded cultivators from issuing frivolous challenges. Without this condition, famous cultivators would be continuously challenged by fame chasers.
"Is there a reward for the winner of the duel?" Jiang Yue asked.
Qi Shuo nodded and was a little yearning.
"The cultivation of the challenged party will increase by one level if they win. As for the challenger, they will take over the title if they win."
"Is there a condition about cultivation levels when issuing a duel?"
"There isn’t." Qi Shuo said.
"However, the dao of heaven will equalise the cultivation of both parties during the duel."
’The dao of heaven is benevolent.’ Yu Nianzhen thought, but his mind was racing.
Cultivators were competitive, and it was only natural for them to compare with each other.
However, he couldn’t understand the heavens’ interest in the ranking.
When he thought about it, he didn’t believe everything was as simple as ranking everyone. Yu Nianzhen felt there was a hidden purpose behind the list, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.
However, he didn’t dwell on this matter.
With his current cultivation, he wasn’t qualified to question the purpose of the heavens.
Although he was a little uncomfortable not knowing, he also felt he would know when the time was right.
’I have truly become a person who believes in fate and such.’ He thought and sighed in frustration.
Fortunately, Yu Nianzhen wasn’t an unreasonably stubborn person.
He understood he was now in a new world and the logic that applied on earth wasn’t necessarily applicable in the Cangxing world.
’It’s good to be adaptable.’ He thought and focused on the conversation.
"The test stone for the ranking, does it test attack power only?" Jiang Yue asked and frowned.
As an illusion master, his attack power couldn’t compare to martial artists or swordsmen.
There were also alchemists, formation masters, and other fringe cultivators who generally had low attack power.
If the list was based on attack power only, Jiang Yue felt it was unfairly prejudicial.
"This..., I am not sure." Qi Shuo said and frowned.
He knew that everyone needed to hit the stones when the test began.
However, the grading criterion was a mystery.
From what he heard from the Qi family elders, there was no guarantee that those with high attack power would rank above those with low attack power.
That said, there was no telling whether those with ’low attack power’ were hiding before the test. As such, Qi Shuo wasn’t certain that attack power wasn’t the grading criterion.
"Only the elders of the Celestial Sky sect know these mysteries." Qi Feiyan said and sighed.
When the Celestial Sky sect was mentioned, Yu Nianzhen remembered Li Futian and the map pieces they got in the Thousand Herbs Garden.
After exiting the Thousand Herbs Garden, he and Jiang Yue took the initiative to give a complete copy of the map to the Sea Cloud sect.
However, they concealed they had pieces of the original map and only mentioned it to master Yang.
"I heard there was a dispute over a treasure map in the Thousand Herbs Garden. Has there been word from the Celestial Sky sect?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
His tone was so casual that no one would suspect that he had a stake in the matter.
"I have also heard about this matter." Qi Shuo said and didn’t suspect anything.
From what he knew, Yeying’s cultivation was at the peak of the qi transformation realm.
Although he couldn’t see the cultivation level of Yeying’s Taoist companion, Qi Shuo guessed that he shouldn’t be too different from Yeying.
Since the Thousand Herbs Garden was opened less than ten years ago, Qi Shuo expected that Yeying and his Taoist companion did not enter. With their current cultivation level, he felt they should have already been in the qi transformation realm when the Thousand Herbs Garden opened.
Otherwise, their cultivation talent was too monstrous.
Most importantly, he still suspected the two were from a hidden family. In that case, they wouldn’t have had a chance to enter the Thousand Herbs Garden.
"Originally, everyone knew that the treasure location could not be found in less than a hundred years, and the Celestial Sky sect has confirmed it. However, the exact time is still not known. We only know it’s close to two hundred years than one hundred years."
’That’s good news.’ Jiang Yue thought happily.
In some things, Jiang Yue was a person who wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
Since the Nine Treasures secret realm was about to open, he wanted to enter it without giving up his chance to go to the treasure land.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to make a difficult choice.
"Are you happy?" Yu Nianzhen asked when he saw the look on his husband’s face.
"Happy." Jiang Yue answered and smiled at his husband.
Yu Nianzhen chuckled and then turned to look at the two Qi siblings.
Although he didn’t say a word, his meaning was clear; it was time for the extras to exit the stage.
