Chapter 357: Old Stories, Old Friends
Chapter 357: Old Stories, Old Friends
Before Chu Ning could ask, Cen Ziqin continued:
"It is said that among the group of disciples given to the Yin Demon Sect by Qingxi Zong, there was one who didn't possess the Spirit Harmony Qi. Instead, it was a Golden Core Elder from Qingxi Zong in disguise."
"After the old freak of the Yin Demon Sect emerged from seclusion and used a secret technique to locate the Wood Spirit Seed, he couldn't find it. In the end, he forcibly demanded that Qingxi Zong hand over the disciples who had acquired the Spirit Harmony Qi in the past."
"I don't know what Qingxi Zong was thinking, but they actually handed over those disciples to the Yin Demon Sect."
Chu Ning's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he heard this. Compared to other sects he had encountered, Qingxi Zong's treatment of its disciples was lacking beyond measure. In the eyes of the Grand Master, Xin Wuyao, these disciples were nothing more than pawns to be discarded at will.
Cen Ziqin continued, "It is said that many of these cultivators had already successfully refined the Spirit Harmony Qi and built their foundation. However, after the Yin Demon Sect obtained them, they employed a mysterious technique to extract and refine the Spirit Harmony Qi from their bodies once more, ultimately using it to locate and acquire the Wood Spirit Seed."
As Cen Ziqin spoke, her eyes studied Chu Ning's reaction. Seeing his slightly furrowed brows but otherwise calm expression, she breathed a sigh of relief.
There was no need to mention the fate of those Qingxi Zong cultivators; everyone knew what had become of them. She had been worried that Chu Ning might have been close to any of them.
"This matter was supposed to be highly confidential, but somehow it leaked out. Some say the Yin Demon Sect deliberately spread the news. There are also rumors that the Master of Qingxi Zong, Xin Wuyao, gained benefits from this process and even received a portion of the Wood Spirit Seed."
As Cen Ziqin spoke these words, a look of disdain flashed in her eyes.
"Because of Qingxi Zong's actions, many of its cultivators and disciples were outraged. News spread that in order to obtain the Wood Spirit Seed, Qingxi Zong sacrificed over ten thousand Qi Refining cultivators. This incident caused great shame among the major sects. Some sects even used Qingxi Zong as a negative example when recruiting cultivators, assuring prospective disciples that they would never treat newcomers as callously as Qingxi Zong had."
"That's why even here at Yaochi Palace, so far removed, I've heard about this."
Having provided this background, Cen Ziqin paused, allowing Chu Ning to process the information.
"Xin Wuyao received a portion of the Wood Spirit Seed?" Chu Ning's attention was piqued by this particular detail.
The Wood Spirit Seed he had obtained from the bald man felt incomplete, and Cen Ziqin's words seemed to provide a possible explanation for this.
However, he wondered how the Yin Demon Sect had learned such a secret technique, not only to search for the Wood Spirit Seed but also to divide it. No wonder the bald man had been able to break through to the Yuan Ying stage.
Most likely, he had already been at the peak of the Golden Core stage and then used the power of the Wood Spirit Seed to advance. Chu Ning wondered if Xin Wuyao, who had exchanged the lives of so many disciples for the incomplete Wood Spirit Seed, had also managed to reach the Yuan Ying stage.
Seeing Chu Ning's silence, Cen Ziqin thought he was struggling to accept the shameful actions of his former sect. She offered him comfort, "Chu Ning, you don't need to feel too badly about it. It's not your fault. You left Qingxi Zong long ago and are now an Elder of Jiuhua Zong."
Chu Ning smiled at her words. "I'm not upset, just curious. That old freak from the Yin Demon Sect went to great lengths to use the Spirit Seed to break through. How did he end up with the Wood Spirit Seed, and why did he share it with Xin Wuyao and the bald man? Or did he divide the Wood Spirit Seed into three parts?"
Cen Ziqin had no answer to Chu Ning's question. She smiled and said, "As for the rest, it's just a reminder of Qingxi Zong's heartlessness toward its disciples. I'm just glad I left early. Compared to them, Jiuhua Zong treats its cultivators much better."
"Do you want to go and take a look at Qingxi Zong?" Cen Ziqin asked.
Chu Ning gently shook his head. "There's no need to go out of our way. However, our route will take us in that direction anyway, so we can't really avoid it."
"Speaking of which," Chu Ning continued with a smile, "that's where I first met Bailing. She used to talk about how someone in the nearby mountains had bullied her, and she wanted to get her revenge."
Hearing Chu Ning mention Bailing, Cen Ziqin immediately asked, "Oh yes, where is Bailing? Bring her out; I want to see what her true form looks like now. She's been in her human form for so long."
Chu Ning patted his spirit beast bag, and Bailing appeared.
"Young Master!"
Bailing looked at Chu Ning first and then at Cen Ziqin.
"Oh, Cen Xianzi, we meet again."
"Mmm." Cen Ziqin nodded, her bright eyes shining as she examined Bailing. "You're still as cute as ever, no, even cuter! You've grown wings and have three tails now."
Cen Ziqin held Bailing in her hands, petting and pinching her affectionately. She then reached into her storage bag and took out a spirit fruit.
"Do you still like spirit fruits?"
Chu Ning laughed and replied, "She still enjoys spirit fruits, but her taste has become more refined. She won't eat just any ordinary spirit fruit."
"Yes!" Bailing replied with a vengeful tone. "Even though it was because of that guy chasing me out that I accidentally met you, Young Master. But that big guy chased me for so long, and I almost got eaten. Of course, I want to get my revenge."
Hearing this, Chu Ning couldn't help but be curious and asked, "What kind of demon beast was that 'big guy' that chased you back then?"
Bailing tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I think it was a third-rank Whirlwind Wolf."
"Third-rank?"
Chu Ning nodded slightly, having guessed as much. "No wonder, as you were only a first-rank mid-stage demon beast when I first found you. By the way, do you remember why you appeared in the Qingxia Mountains?"
Bailing shook her head, looking puzzled. "I don't know. I only remember that I seemed to have woken up from a deep sleep there. Not long after, I was chased by that guy."
"Then let's go and take a look at the Qingxia Mountains and see if we can find any clues," Chu Ning suggested, directing the Golden Thunder Eagle to speed up.
As they passed through the Tianyi Mountains, Chu Ning and Cen Ziqin did not linger but deliberately avoided the territories of some of the major sects.
Although they encountered other cultivators along the way, Chu Ning was a late-stage Gold Core cultivator, and with Cen Ziqin, a fellow Gold Core cultivator, by his side, along with the fifth-rank Golden Thunder Eagle, whose cultivation was comparable to an early-stage Gold Core cultivator, ordinary Gold Core cultivators would not dare to provoke them easily.
As for Nascent Soul cultivators, being the top power of the current major sects, they were actually relatively rare.
The chances of encountering them were not high.
Flying through the Tianyi Mountains without incident, they soon entered the territory of the Qingxia Mountains.
However, instead of heading directly into the Qingxi Sect's territory from the Tianyi Mountains, they entered the area controlled by the Feng Canyon Sect.
As they flew through Feng Canyon City with Cen Ziqin and Bailing, Chu Ning couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia.
Back then, he had a talent for talisman making, but because his success rate was too high, he dared not reveal it fully to the sect.
So, he often came to Feng Canyon City to sell his talismans.
This part of his history was something even Bailing wasn't very clear about, as the little guy had loved sleeping the most back then.
And Chu Ning, worried that Bailing might be discovered by other cultivators, had kept her hidden in Yanji City.
In the blink of an eye, nearly a hundred years had passed since then.
Without causing too much of a stir among the Feng Canyon Sect's cultivators, the group continued eastward, soon arriving at the former site of Yanji City.
What surprised Chu Ning a little was that Yanji City no longer existed, and the place now belonged exclusively to a certain cultivator family.
This unexpected change caused Chu Ning, who had originally planned to bring Bailing here to reminisce, to give up on the idea. Instead, he directly entered a nearby branch of the Qingxia Mountains.
They flew straight toward the main peak of the Qingxia Mountains, and soon Bailing found the place where she had first started her activities.
Perhaps because this place was too close to the branch mountain, or perhaps because it was still within the Qingxia Mountains, relatively fewer cultivators appeared here.
The Swiftwind Wolf's lair was still there, but the third-rank Swiftwind Wolf had already broken through to the fourth rank, comparable to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Moreover, Chu Ning could sense that it was close to reaching the Condensation stage and advancing to the fifth rank.
"Woof!"
This fourth-rank peak demon beast, which had been dominating the area, was now trembling in its lair's entrance.
It never expected that a mere fourth-rank demon beast like itself would attract a Gold Core cultivator to hunt it down.
In response, it received only a casual spray of icy blue light from Bailing's mouth.
This fourth-rank demon wolf didn't even have a chance to struggle before it was frozen solid.
"Let's go, Young Master," Bailing said with a smile, her revenge fulfilled. But Chu Ning shook his head, his gaze fixed on the depths of the Qingxia Mountains.
"Wait!"
Cen Ziqin and Bailing, knowing that Chu Ning's powerful spiritual sense must have detected something, looked at him curiously.
"I've encountered some old acquaintances. Let's go and take a look," Chu Ning explained, rushing toward the Qingxia Mountains.
Seeing this, Cen Ziqin followed with Bailing in tow.
A hundred miles ahead of them, a man and two women stood facing each other.
The man was a middle-aged man with a white, beardless face, looking extremely refined.
The two women facing him were of different ages. The older one appeared to be in her sixties, with a cultivation base at the early stage of the Gold Core realm. From her face, one could tell that she had been quite a beauty in her youth.
The other woman was around forty years old, with a gentle and quiet appearance and a pleasant demeanor.
At this moment, the older woman, a Gold Core cultivator, looked at the white-faced middle-aged man with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "Sect Master Xin, you really won't let my disciple and me leave?"
Hearing the woman's question, the middle-aged man with the white face slowly spoke, his refined face bearing a sinister expression. "Clock, you know very well that asking this question is pointless. The moment you and Gu Xiaoqin stepped out of the Qingxi Sect, you already knew the answer."
(End of Chapter)
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