Chapter 520: Rest In Peace
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
Li Xi's funeral was very simple.
Surrounded by green mountains and waters in a hard to come by peaceful place outside Ghost Weeping Forest was a plain and simple tomb where his remains was buried. Li Xi's original magical treasure, heavenly fragrance tripod, stood in front of the tombstone. Burning under the cauldron was the un-extinguished cooking fire, and the soup that was boiling inside the cauldron would never dry up. The steam that swirled up from the cauldron was so dense that it was as if it resembled the smiling face of that fat man.
Besides Li Xi's grave, the cloth tomb of Shen Yiwen and Wang Donghua was set up according to their seniority.
Headed by Ouyang Shang, the present cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect on the scene softly sang a send-off song, a farewell to friends of the same path who met misfortunes en route in the path to immortality ahead of others.
Spirit Sword Sect never emphasized over-detailed formalities. The grief and indignation that followed along their singing voice were hidden in the bottom of their heart. After completing the whole song, Ouyang Shang and the team set up a defense array to expel the wild beasts and poisonous insects, protecting the peace and quiet of this place. The group then continued to embark on their journey.
Along the way, no one said anything about Li Xi's death because there was no need to create complications at this time. Moreover, there was no cultivator in the golden generation who is not reasonable and couldn't understand what is right or wrong.
Wang Lu used his primal chaos heaven splitting sword qi to kill Li Xi, literally destroying his body and soul. The method used was cold and ruthless, showing no mercy to the member of the same sect whatsoever. This action seemed likely to arouse disapproval, but at the time, it was a critical moment that could not tolerate any mercy or compassion. Moreover, when Li Xi laced the broth with the rotting bone poison, no elite on the scene actually realized it. Were it not for the especially trained Wang Lu, the broth might have caused heavy casualties!
At that time, Li Xi was already not the genius fat chef Li Xi, perhaps he was just even a walking corpse… Thus, the most correct approach was to let him rest in peace.
Let alone Wang Lu's full strength sword attack not only finished off Li Xi, it also destroyed the primordial spirit that was attached to him… The miserable scream in the distance startled the birds, and they could hear it clearly from far away.
Wang Lu's Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting sword qi could be called as an immortal world sword qi, no less powerful than Brilliant Sword Heart. Unfortunately, it was limited to his cultivation base, thus ultimately could not finish off that culprit completely. Perhaps a period of peace could be guaranteed, but no one could tell precisely.
There were still too many questions that needed to be answered. For example… when on earth was Li Xi controlled? All the members of the team always gathered together. Even while setting up the camp, if Li Xi went to a slightly farther place to capture prey, he would often be accompanied with the primordial spirit scan of his brothers, almost without any gap.
It was not that they were not at ease with Li Xi, but while in a dangerous place and facing the threat from the strong enemy, they must always take care of each other to ensure safety. A pity that even with such a prudent approach, there were still problems as it was impossible to restore the trust in each other, which clouded heavily on everyone's mind.
So what should they do next? Even if they had the courage to go back to the mountain, it would still take six to seven days of travel to arrive at Spirit Sword Mountain from Ghose Weeping Forest, during which, it was difficult to imagine that the enemy would just sit down and do nothing. How many more disciples of the Spirit Sword Sect would be killed in this period?
"Junior Brother Wang Lu, do you have any thought?"
On the way, Ouyang Shang quietly asked through his primordial spirit. He did not want this to be heard by others because he was worried that Wang Lu actually had the answer, but that answer would probably destroy other people's confidence.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any… I'm not hiding anything here. Even if the truth is cruel, it's better than not knowing the truth. But… regardless of that, I don't remember the teaching of the Elder about this, but demon race also has a puppet control technique."
"According to your statement, at that time, the Elders learned the lessons after great sacrifices and extracted ways of dealing with the enemy, but it was still impossible to grasp all of the means of the demon race. Moreover…"
Wang Lu smiled bitterly. "Moreover, the timeline has undergone major changes, so it's natural that the new situation appears. It's just that, against such an opponent, we might be faced with a particularly brutal situation in the next few days."
Because it was impossible to judge the way the opponent took control of people, it was impossible to predict that Li Xi would be the last one. Moreover, the opponent would only become more cunning.
This time, the poisoning was thwarted by Wang Lu because the red blood poison that was supposed to be unknown to human was within the scope of Wang Lu's knowledge, but what about the next time? Even Elder Lu Li never said that he could identify all the poisons of the demon race, and Wang Lu's knowledge was of course not as much.
Moreover, the poison was small—as long as the opponent was not stupid, a more effective way could easily be thought: hands and feet destroying each other.
He could control Li Xi to put poison in the cauldron, and when he was seen through, he naturally could control other people. On the surface, there didn't seem to be any change, but someone could suddenly turn violent and hurt others… Even if that didn't go well, it could create distrust among disciples of Spirit Sword Sect.
The members of the golden generation were so close like brothers and sisters. Their dozens of years of tacit understanding was indestructible, but that was based on everyone knowing the background of each other. If they couldn't even determine if the other person was even the real ones, then all those tacit understanding and trust were just empty words.
"Moreover, there's still a more fatal problem in this." Ouyang Shang bitterly sighed.
Wang Lu nodded. "When he controlled Li Xi… I didn't see any clue until I finally noticed the red blood poison in the bowl."
"Me too." Ouyang Shang said, "The disguise is flawless, exactly the same as the original. Even the most subtle details are imitated. This can only mean that he had fully mastered Li Xi's personality and… memory."
Wang Lu said, "Your golden generation is like brothers and sisters. After decades of training together and being true to one another, there are almost no secrets. Therefore… as long as he can control one person, he will be able to control all the others."
Ouyang Shang bitterly smiled.
"Speaking of which, when your sect elders initially trained you, did they not consider this problem? When the cultivation is still shallow then it's fine, but when you guy accomplishes things in the future, you will each take charge of the plot of land of Spirit Sword Mountain… As long as there's one person among you being applied with the soul-searching technique by other people, wouldn't the whole sect be finished?"
Ouyang Shang didn't answer this question, instead, he changed the topic, "I wonder what happened to the two Junior Brothers who went home to the mountain to report?"
"I think they should be okay. Since the opponent has been entangled in the Ghost Weeping Forest for a long time, it should be too late for him to take care of other problems, so they have a great chance to be able to return safely to the mountain. But..."
Ouyang Shang said, "It's hard to imagine that the opponent will expose such a big flaw… Unfortunately, right now, we can only take one step at a time."
"Oh, I just thought of something." Wang Lu said as he shook his head, but did not elaborate. Instead, he just said, "I hope it's not that bad."
Ouyang Shang cast him a look. With Wang Lu's temperament, rarely were there anything that he had not been able to say. For him to be so afraid… perhaps that thing was really not easy to resort to 'open the mouth and talk about it'.
And that thing, I have also guessed what it is, it is indeed… I hope it's not going to be that bad.
—
There was once a law called Wang Wu's Law in the later generation of Spirit Sword Sect, the content of which: as long as Wang Wu has the possibility of losing her moral integrity, no matter how small that possibility is… she would definitely lost it for you to see.
In the same way, as long as there was a possibility that things could go bad, one would have to face it regardless of how reluctant they are.
The thing that worried Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang appeared one day later.
"Humph!"
Wang Wu's muffled hum broke the silence of the procession.
The team was flying quietly over a big river. The river was filled with danger, which was well-known to them, but it was also a shortcut to return to Blessed Fountain.
A few days ago, Ouyang Shang, Wang Lu, and Wang Wu crossed this big river and rushed to the Ghost Weeping Forest. As long as they stayed quiet while crossing this one hundred feet wide river, they would not disturb the powerful monsters within the river.
And this time, before crossing the river, the team had been properly briefed, and in the process of crossing, they were also cautious. But, halfway through, things suddenly changed.
The leader of the team, Ouyang Shang, immediately turned his head but saw that Wang Lu had already arrived at Wang Wu's side. Holding the Sword of Mount Kun with his right hand, Wang Lu activated his Non-Phase Sword Defense while Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword Qi lingered around the fingertips of his left hand, ready to be sent out.
With Wang Lu's temperament, he was not used to this 'waiting for action after having accumulated energy' step. After the enemy's attack was confirmed, the sword qi would erupt, showing no mercy whatsoever. However, this time, he actually had to endure.
Because the person who attacked Wang Wu was Liu Xian!
Even Wang Lu didn't expect this to happen. He suspected everyone in the team, but didn't give much thought on Liu Xian because Liu Xian was the survivor of that time's disaster, and within his timeline, this reward giver Elder of Spirit Sword Sect had an unfathomable strength… Although that was Liu Xian one hundred and fifty years in the future, but in Wang Lu's mind, this preconceived idea continued to persist.
God knows how the opponent grasped this flaw and controlled Liu Xian and then attacked Wang Wu with a sword strike. Were it not Wang Wu always being an important target to guard in Wang Lu's mind… this sword strike would've killed her.
"... Right now the ten members of heavenly sword hall are all bottom trashes within the golden generation? Uncle, you were too modest. Only with your sword strike, even if you might not be among the top level in the golden generation, you can absolutely be counted in the upper middle level."
Wang Lu looked at Liu Xian in front of him with mixed feelings. I never expected it to be you… If you want to blame, blame it on the damn timeline!
Thinking to this, Wang Lu no longer held back his primal chaos heaven splitting sword qi and was about to unleash it. However, right at this time, Liu Xian suddenly looked stunned, his face seemed to be in a daze.
"What… What happened to me?"
Wang Lu stopped sending his sword qi. "Liu Xian?"
Liu Xian shook his head hard. "Just now… It's like I'm in a trance, what happened?"
Then he saw Wang Lu's Non-Phase Sword Defense and Wang Wu who was silently beside the former with a heavily injured arm.
Although Liu Xian wasn't shocked, he was certainly not a fool. He immediately realized what had just happened.
"... D-Did I do that? I was taken over by the enemy and injured Junior Sister Wang Wu?"
The people present gathered around Liu Xian and looked at him with mixed feelings. There was doubt, sympathy… and so on.
Wang Lu inwardly sighed with emotion: The enemy actually thought of this trick. Seize him and then release him, leaving behind a mess to see how they would solve it.
Facing an apprentice brother who had a criminal record, could the relation between the members of the golden generation… be maintained?
Could everyone still trust Liu Xian without reservation? Who could guarantee that his innocent gesture wasn't just a pretense? After all, being taken over by the opponent, the latter was able to reproduce every action and movement of the host body perfectly.
But if they hardened their heart and executed Liu Xian without the slightest hesitation, could the crowd… could they really face those still innocent eyes? When they dream about it in the middle of the night, wouldn't they worry that the demon heart would cause trouble?
This was the best way to attack them...
"Senior Brother... Wang Lu…" Liu Xian's voice quivered slightly. "I'm sorry…"
Then, he raised his sword, which was still stained with the blood from Wang Wu's arm, and aimed it at his own throat.
Obviously, Liu Xian had already understood about this situation, that he had now become a burden for the team. Thus, he gathered his courage as the golden generation, ready to kill himself.
However, the next moment, Wang Lu made his move. The primordial chaos heaven splitting sword qi came through his fingertips.