Chapter 77
Shen Qiao glared at him, but Yan Wushi laughed: "Sang Jingxing was heavily
wounded because of you, so naturally his hate for you is so deep that it reaches into his
bones. But Hehuan Sect's other members don't carry any similar grudge against you.
Rather, they greatly fear you. You should leave this place on your own. Don't worry
about me any longer. You should focus on ridding yourself of them, instead of
burdening yourself even more with me."
Shen Qiao sighed: "I thought that you were actually going to come up with a good
plan. Stop with your nonsense already. Let's head up the mountain first."
"Is this not a good plan?" Yan Wushi asked.
"If I had wanted to get rid of you from the start," Shen Qiao said, "why would I wait
until now? If I am to save a life, I will go through with it completely, as one would escort
the Buddha to the west.60 If I lend my hand to you in the beginning, then I will naturally
do all I can for as long as I can."
The two of them continued forwards. Shen Qiao, after having completely used his
qinggong to his utmost power, now felt that every step demanded too much effort. He
could not help but say: "I really can't move anymore. You head up first, and I'll cover
for you here."
Yan Wushi laughed: "Ah-qiao, you're really so cute. If I were to rely on you covering for
me with your present state, then once Sang Jingxing comes around, he'll eat you right
up, bones and all."
Before Shen Qiao could respond, he felt the ground disappear from beneath his feet as
the other man carried him on his back.
Ah-qiao, you're so foolish. When have I ever treated you well?
—SHEN QIAO DID NOT EXPECT that he would do such a thing, so he was quite
startled.
The other man moved with lithe and graceful steps. A moment passed, and they had
already left the small grove and reached the foot of the mountain, following an
upwards path that led to the opposite side of the mountain.
Shen Qiao's mind went blank for a good moment, before asking: "We're going up the
mountain?"
"On the other side is a temple, hidden within the mountain itself. It's been abandoned
for several years," Yan Wushi said.
Shen Qiao was suspicious. "You seem to be familiar with this place."
"After I battled with Cui Youwang that year, I had entered seclusion in this mountain,"
Yan Wushi said.
Shen Qiao suddenly understood, but did not ask any more questions. He was indeed
very tired. Earlier, he had fought with all of his strength against four people. Bai Rong,
Yan Shou and Baoyun had all come at him, each one stronger than the other, and this
wasn't including Xiao Se, who had been severely wounded by Yan Wushi. With Shen
Qiao's present internal strength, even if he possessed the realm of jian xin, it still
wouldn't mean that he could escape completely unscathed.
Though Yan Wushi's pace was rather quick, it was also very steady. Shen Qiao could
feel the warmth of his body through the fabric of his clothing. Without the strength to
think much more, he fell asleep without realizing it.
The next time that he opened his eyes, he found that he was no longer surrounded by
a thicket of trees like earlier, but instead what looked to be a temple.
Due to how old it was, the incense sticks within the temple had already been broken in
half. They didn't even know where the incense burner could have been. The statue of
Buddha had been severed at the head, and around them were large nets of dust.
However, where Shen Qiao had slept was clean. Beneath him was a curtain, pulled
down from two nearby pillars. Though it was rather old and tattered, it wasn't nearly as
bad as sleeping on the cold stone floors.
He rested his back against the wall for a moment.
Though he had not sustained any
heavy wounds from earlier, the internal wounds he sustained from battling with Xueting
had been somewhat irritated, which resulted in his present condition, leaving him
unable to utilize his full strength in battle. This was also the reason why he was unable
to kill Yan Shou. Afterwards, with Baoyun being added into the battle as well, this
opportunity was, in the end, lost to him.
Shen Qiao dizzily rubbed his head, and sighed softly.
A cool hand brushed past him. Shen Qiao was completely unprepared. A tremble
passed through his body as he felt the ice-cold fingers make contact with his skin.
"What are you sighing for?"
Yan Wushi was sitting beside him. He was reading the sheet of silk in his other hand.
Shen Qiao narrowed his eyes at the sheet, scrutinizing it. Sure enough, it was the lost
volume of the Zhuyang Ce that the man had taken from Chen Gong that day.
He wanted to speak, but could only watch as Yan Wushi turned over his hand and
placed the sheet of silk in the fire. In an instant, it was swallowed by the flames.
Shen Qiao was silent.
Yan Wushi turned and caught sight of Shen Qiao's expression. He did not wait for the
man to ask, and instead spoke: "I've already memorized the contents. What use would
there be if I left it?"
"As a last resort, you could have given the sheet of silk to Hehuan Sect so as to escape
them," Shen Qiao said. "Why won't you even give yourself this way out?"
"Even if I did give them the sheet of silk, do you think that they'll believe that it's really
the last volume?" Yan Wushi asked.
Shen Qiao frowned and did not speak.
Yan Wushi smiled unkindly: "In the past, the Riyue Sect had a secret technique that I'm
sure even you haven't heard about. In truth, it is simply the Moyin Shexin utilized at its
utmost perfection. If you can achieve this, then you can control the minds of others and
force them to speak the truth without their realizing it. If it were my choice to make, I
would much rather decide to use this method of getting information I want to hear,
rather than believe some characters written on a sheet of silk."
"Then if Yan Shou and the others take advantage of your greatly reduced cultivation,
capture you and take you back to Hehuan Sect, they could easily have you recite the
contents of the lost volume of the Zhuyang Ce," Shen Qiao said.
"That's right," Yan Wushi said. "My worth to them cannot even compare to that of a
corpse. Additionally, with possession of the Zhuyang Ce and my position as the
zongzhu of Huanyue Sect, they can easily control Huanyue Sect as they like if they
capture me."
It was as Shen Qiao thought. Yan Wushi had read the lost volume of the Zhuyang Ce,
which means that he had already read three of the five available volumes. Most
significant was the one that they had found in the underground city of Ruoqiang, as it
had specifically corrected and further supplemented parts of the Fenglin Yuandian.
Sang Jingxing and Yuan Xiuxiu both studied the Fenglin Yuandian, and naturally
understood the effects of the flaws within the demonic core.
Any day they went where
the flaw was yet to have been corrected was another day that they could not cultivate
the Fenglin Yuandian to absolute perfection. As a result, they would want the contents
of this volume more than anyone.
Had it been the Yan Wushi of before, so at ease and far above the rest of them, his
mere identity would have made them too afraid of the consequences of taking any rash
action against him. But the present Yan Wushi had just returned from the brink of death
after the five great masters made an attempt on his life. His wugong was significantly
inferior to what it was before. If they did not act now, then when?
Shen Qiao understood very well the methods that the members of the demonic sect
utilized.
The reason why Sang Jingxing wanted to ruin Shen Qiao's wugong was because of the
day that Shen Qiao had killed his disciple, Huo Xijing. He wanted to cut off his limbs
and keep them as his trophies; and after recklessly toying with him, he wanted to give
him to the rest of Hehuan Sect to violate him.
And considering the relationship
between Huanyue and Hehuan Sect in the past few years, as well as Yan Wushi's
venomous words and overindulgent behavior, the treatment that Yan Wushi would
receive at the hands of the members of the Hehuan Sect wouldn't be that much better
than that of Shen Qiao.