“By comparison, this seat is far more interested in knowing which dickless eunuch beat my disciple into such a state.”
Hearing this, Shen Xiuhan felt immensely relieved!
He had initially thought Xu Zhouling went to such great lengths just to probe into the matter of the Destiny Divine Ability.
After all, if the shadow of a Divine Ability suddenly emerged in a minor county, anyone would look deeper into it. Was there some grand opportunity hidden within?
As it turned out, he had guessed wrong.
Although the Star-Plucking Sect Master did care to some extent about the Divine Ability, his priority was avenging his disciple!
He really protects his own!
Shen Xiuhan let out a soft breath, a decision forming in his mind.
But protecting his own is a good thing...
The Diaohai Blessed Land was about to open, and the forces involved were complex and tangled, far beyond what he could influence alone.
Prince Jiang Su, the Ninth Prince of the Qi Court; the Xuanjing Division; Zhendong General Wang Zhifan; the prestigious Qi family of the capital; the Dragon-Subduing Temple of the Yan State; and even the faint shadow of the Raging Sea Sect.
In such a deeply entrenched situation with experts as numerous as trees in a forest, let alone his current Anjin Rank cultivation, even if he were to fortunately break through the Huajin Rank barrier, he would likely struggle to protect himself.
Therefore, he had to find himself a backer.
Shen Xiuhan had originally intended to use his master, Wen Qingye, to build a bridge to the upper echelons of the Star-Plucking Sect and secure the sect as his shield.
However, Wen Qingye had been in secluded meditation refining pills, and there was still no word on when he would emerge.
Right at this moment, Xu Zhouling had brought up the matter, and this Sect Master happened to have a fiercely protective temperament...
This is my best opportunity right now.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Shen Xiuhan did not hesitate for long before speaking up.
“Sect Master, the one who injured Senior Brother Zuo is named Wei Wusheng.”
“Wei Wusheng...”
Xu Zhouling's eyes suddenly flared with a sharp light as he slowly chewed on the name.
“As expected of the Xuanjing Division. Surnamed Wei... could it be that Punishment Executioner Eunuch?”
“It is indeed him!”
Xu Zhouling did not press him on how he knew the other party's identity. He merely sneered, his laughter laced with a bone-chilling coldness.
“To discipline a disciple on my behalf... what audacious gall.”
Shen Xiuhan stood quietly to the side without saying a word, but his mind was wandering elsewhere.
It seems that night, Brother Zuo was mocked and beaten, suffering immensely.
...He suffered such severe injuries yet didn't utter a single word about them. He even dragged his wounded body all the way to Mount Bixia just to invite me to join the Star-Plucking Sect...
Hiss!
Brother Zuo is truly great, words are unnecessary!
While his thoughts were drifting, he suddenly heard Xu Zhouling ask out of the blue,
“Why is that Wei Wusheng in Changyun County?”
Here it comes.
Shen Xiuhan's heart tensed. He focused his mind and began to explain the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
From the emergence of the Diaohai Blessed Land, to the Child of Destiny Xiao Wu, to the involvement of the Wang and Bai families, and finally to his own affliction by the Destiny Divine Ability—he disclosed every event one by one, only omitting the minor details that were inconvenient to explain.
“The Diaohai Blessed Land...”
Xu Zhouling's eyes flickered, a look of realization appearing on his face as he muttered,
“So that's how it is, so that's how it is!”
He turned his gaze to Shen Xiuhan and sighed.
“I understand now!”
“No wonder the people of the Xuanjing Division appeared here!”
“They...”
“...want to reenact the events of the Nanxiang Blessed Land of the past in the Diaohai Blessed Land!”
The Nanxiang Blessed Land...
Shen Xiuhan's heart stirred. He had seen this name in the records kept by Xiao Yan.
Seeing his silence, Xu Zhouling assumed he did not understand the history. Standing with his hands behind his back, he gazed out at the vast, misty lake, explaining in a distant tone,
“The Nanxiang Blessed Land and the Diaohai Blessed Land were both ancient sects from the early days of the Dayang Dynasty.”
“Tracing back to their origins, both are lineages of the Yandao Rank expert from the medieval period, the 『Heavenly Ren Mystic Hidden Sea-Overturning Daoist Monarch』.”
“Before attaining the Dao, this Daoist Monarch had taken two disciples!”
“One was surnamed Xiao, named Xiao Feng; the other was surnamed Dou, named Dou Weixiang.”
“Although the two did not achieve the rank of Daoist Monarch, they were both Grand Daoist Masters who had each refined four Divine Abilities.”
“Each founded their own sect. Xiao Feng established the Diaohai Pavilion, while Dou Weixiang established the Nanxiang Swamp. Using great Divine Abilities, they opened the Diaohai and Nanxiang Blessed Lands respectively, both honoring the 『Sea-Overturning Sect』 as their parent sect.”
“And the Nanxiang Swamp is where Dongyue Lake, Xingyue Lake, and Cloudwater Lake are located today...”
“Unfortunately, later on...”
Xu Zhouling's voice turned slightly heavy.
“It is unknown what grand upheaval occurred. The historical records of the Dayang Dynasty are vague, with only a few sparse notes stating that because the 『Heavenly Ren Mystic Hidden Sea-Overturning Daoist Monarch』 suddenly vanished, both sects suffered enemy attacks. Several Xiantian and Divine Ability Rank figures within the sects either died or fled, and the sects collapsed almost overnight.”
“And with that, both the Diaohai and Nanxiang Blessed Lands were completely sealed, their locations lost to time.”
“Until a few years ago!”
“On Dongyue Lake, six hundred miles north of Xingyue Lake, the void tore open, the sky overturned, and the Nanxiang Blessed Land suddenly opened!”
“Within the court of the Great Qi, someone had long calculated the timing of the Blessed Land's opening. They dispatched people inside and captured the Child of Destiny named Dou Jiao.”
Speaking to this point, Xu Zhouling's tone grew increasingly low as he said,
“A Child of Destiny is blessed by heaven with immense fortune. They are born as humanoid treasures.”
“If the information I received is correct, that Dou Jiao...”
“...has already been refined into a human pill, which was swallowed and refined by Prince Li, Jiang Zhu, the Sixth Prince of the capital.”
“And now!”
“It is obvious that someone has calculated the day the Diaohai Blessed Land will open.”
“This time, the one they are targeting is the Child of Destiny named Xiao Wu!”
Shen Xiuhan listened blankly, a wave of horror washing over him.
“Using a Child of Destiny to refine a human pill?”
“Indeed.”
Xu Zhouling nodded slightly, his gaze deep and solemn.
“A Child of Destiny is favored by heaven. As long as they do not die young, they will eventually grow into a formidable figure.”
“From ancient times to the present, various forces have thoroughly researched such people.”
“The ancients discovered that through a method of 'force-ripening,' a Child of Destiny's fortune could be pushed to its peak.”
“And the key to 'force-ripening' lies in creating a 'gathering of winds and clouds'—a situation of great convergence.”
“As long as the Child of Destiny becomes the center of the vortex, gaining immense fame, his fortune will soar higher and higher, and his cultivation will advance even more rapidly.”
“The higher the Child of Destiny's cultivation and the more renowned he is, the stronger the effects of the refined pill will be.”
He paused, his tone carrying a trace of coldness.
“For instance, that Child of Destiny of the Nanxiang Blessed Land, Dou Jiao, was only at the Huajin Rank. Yet after being refined into a human pill, he allowed Prince Li, Jiang Zhu, to condense two divine ability seeds in just a single year, stepping into the Heavenly Gang Rank in one fell swoop.”
“A Gangjin Rank martial artist has a lifespan of only about two hundred and forty years.”
“To condense each divine seed, it takes at least several years of bitter cultivation in seclusion, and up to over a decade, requiring countless natural treasures along the way.”
“By swallowing that single human pill, he saved himself a solid ten to twenty years of painstaking effort...”
“With such effects, who wouldn't be tempted?”
“So that's why...”
Shen Xiuhan felt a sudden realization, but a wave of chill immediately washed over him.
“But Sect Master...”
“Refining pills from living humans, feeding on fellow cultivators—such toxicity of heart and wickedness of action is no different from the demonic path; in fact, it is even worse!”
“With a prince of the capital practicing such demonic deeds so openly, is there really no one to stop them?”
This question seemed to stump Xu Zhouling. He fell silent for a long time before finally speaking:
“Someone will stop them!”
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