“The Tie Shi Tribe has attacked.”
Feng Yingqi only spoke with certainty once he saw all the Za Yi Hall Disciples startled out of their dwellings and gathered at the main hall.
“The Tie Shi Tribe?”
Feng Yingqi looked back at Jiang Che, hesitated for a moment, and then explained, “The Kuxin Sect is backed by the Rust Ridge Mountains and borders three prefectures and two states of the Great Chen Country. Such a vast territory naturally cannot have only the Saint Sect as a power. The Tie Shi Tribe is a primitive, uncultured tribe, and they are quite powerful in the Rust Ridge Mountains.”
“The Tie Shi Tribe is powerful, but how do they compare to the Kuxin Sect?” Jiang Che pressed.
“That I don’t know.” Feng Yingqi was stumped by the question and shook his head with some annoyance, “I’ve only seen the Tie Shi Tribe attack once before.”
At this moment, the clamor outside the dwellings grew even louder.
Some of the Za Yi Hall Disciples who had initially gathered in the main hall began to move to other places, knocking on doors from house to house, calling out to friends and companions.
“It’s been a quarter of an hour, and the fire still hasn’t diminished!”
“It can’t possibly burn all the way to the Za Yi Hall’s territory, can it?”
“That’s hard to say. I can hear some shouts and explosions in the wind. This might not be a fire; it might be a battle outside Blood Sin Peak.” A relatively calm voice rose from the crowd.
“Where are the Shu Wu Hall Senior Brothers?”
“If the Senior Brothers were coming, they would have come already. The urgent matter now is to know whether we should leave or stay.”
“Is anyone willing to risk going closer to check the situation?”
At the foot of the mountain, the Za Yi Hall Disciples huddled in their respective circles, discussing animatedly.
If Elder Tian’s lecture hadn’t caused an unexpected turn of events, Jiang Che would also have had a circle of peers by now.
The core of that circle should have been Qu Gu, who was the first to sense the qi.
Strangely, not only was Jiang Che unperturbed in his dwelling, but Feng Yingqi, though anxious, remained steadily seated on his bed as usual.
He neither intended to go out to visit friends, nor did any other Za Yi Hall Disciples actively knock on his door looking for him.
Jiang Che merely glanced curiously a few times, and his expression involuntarily became solemn.
Because after nearly a month, the metallic buzzing sound in his ears finally resumed.
【Foreign tribes harass, malevolence assaults the blood peak, in front of Za Yi Hall, choose fortune or misfortune, tranquility and restlessness lead to different paths】
Immediately, the ink talisman blurred, and three different divination outcomes were presented in sequence:
【Upper-middle sign: Flee Za Yi Hall, Cultivate quietly by the Azure Underworld River at the foot of the mountain, obtain a seventh-grade Opportunity; handle it carefully, and you will have no future worries. Minor auspiciousness.】
【Lower-middle sign: Close your door, focus your mind, and Cultivate quietly. There are no immediate disasters or calamities, but hidden dangers lurk. Minor inauspiciousness.】
【Lowest sign: Sneak out at night, approach the firelight to investigate, get embroiled in chaos, and perish. Great inauspiciousness!】
Reading the divination outcomes, Jiang Che’s eyes flickered.
The lowest sign was easy to understand.
Regardless of the Tie Shi Tribe’s strength compared to the Kuxin Sect, it was not something a small Za Yi Hall Disciple like him could contend with.
Sneaking out at night, risking approaching the illuminated area to investigate, if he encountered one or two fierce individuals, it would naturally be a great inauspicious situation with ten deaths and no life.
However, staying in the Za Yi Hall, closing the door and cultivating quietly, also resulted in a minor inauspicious outcome?
Could it be that the Tie Shi Tribe truly could fight their way all the way to the Za Yi Hall?
Jiang Che stared at the phrase “there are no immediate disasters or calamities, but hidden dangers lurk,” pondered for a while, and finally decided to go to the Azure Underworld River first.
He got up and pushed the door open.
Behind him, Feng Yingqi spoke, “No matter what the Tie Shi Tribe does, that’s something the Senior Brothers above us should consider.”
“Cultivation is not easy. If you consider your own safety, why not just stay honestly in your dwelling and wait for a result?”
“Brother Feng, your words are greatly mistaken.”
Jiang Che couldn’t grasp Feng Yingqi’s sudden intention and was eager to leave, so he casually replied, “We cultivators contend with heaven for our lives. How can we be ignorant and wait for death?”
With that, without waiting for Feng Yingqi to reply, Jiang Che walked straight out.
He bypassed the noisy crowd.
Leaving the firelight behind, he hurried on his way.
The Kuxin Sect governs three peaks: Heaven's Cry Peak, Hanging Corpse Peak, and Blood Sin Peak, where Jiang Che was located.
It is said that the inheritances and structures between the peaks are vastly different.
They were almost three distinct demonic Sects, only brought together under the iron fist of a former Sect Senior, allowing them to take root in the outer reaches of the Rust Ridge Mountains.
Even as time passed, and despite occasional disagreements between the peaks, no one ever suggested splitting up.
In Jiang Che’s eyes, unaware of the inside story, this strange unity was a marvel.
As for the Azure Underworld River, it was a large river originating from the Rust Ridge Mountains.
After flowing through Serpent Shedding Gorge, a tributary branched off.
It made a turn around the outer reaches of Blood Sin Peak, then split into two sections: one within Blood Sin Peak’s territory, often used by the peak’s Disciples for water for Artifact Refining and daily life.
The other section flowed outwards, past Heaven's Cry Peak, and further beyond.
After about half an hour, when the rumbling sound from the burning area was almost imperceptible to Jiang Che, he finally reached the Azure Underworld River.
It was late at night, and the area was undergoing a major upheaval.
The riverside was empty.
Wading through the mud, Jiang Che sat cross-legged on a large bluestone, with the gurgling sound of water flowing beneath him.
With his eyes half-closed, he began to Cultivate quietly.
Amidst the mountains and forests, accompanied by the clear breeze, bright moon, and flowing water.
Even though he could still faintly discern the sky-high flames in the distance, Jiang Che found a rare sense of tranquility, and the effect of his cultivation was far better than before.
He did not know how much time had passed when, in a profound stillness, a disturbed sound of flowing water suddenly intruded, exceptionally chaotic.
Jiang Che abruptly opened his eyes and looked down.
A floating corpse, wrapped in a dark robe, was drifting down from the upper reaches of the Azure Underworld River, bobbing up and down in the water, clearly about to pass Jiang Che’s location and continue drifting into Blood Sin Peak’s territory.
“Could this be the seventh-grade Opportunity mentioned in the divination?”
Jiang Che dared not delay. He circulated the Thunder Sound Marrow Cleansing Scripture, gathering a wisp of embryonic breath in his abdomen.
With a few leaps, he covered several zhang, intercepting the floating corpse’s path, and pulled it out of the water.
A brief examination showed that the corpse had not been dead for too long.
Following the direction it drifted from, Jiang Che gazed upstream of the Azure Underworld River, where the extension led to the direction from which the firelight had come earlier, outside Blood Sin Peak, near the Rust Ridge Mountains.
“The robe wrapped around the corpse is similar in style to the clothes usually worn by the Shu Wu Hall Senior Brothers, but there are some differences.”
Jiang Che roughly pieced together the corpse’s origin in his mind.
This person should have been a Senior Brother from another peak of the Kuxin Sect, or from outside Blood Sin Peak’s Shu Wu Hall.
This Senior Brother unfortunately died in the chaos caused by the Tie Shi Tribe tonight.
Perhaps because the battle was so fierce there, no one noticed that the fallen body had dropped into the Azure Underworld River and drifted downstream, all the way to Jiang Che.
“Handle it carefully, and you will have no future worries.”
Jiang Che recalled the divination outcome, calmed his mind, took out the beast-hide gloves he used when preparing medicinal herbs, and carefully searched the corpse.
The floating corpse had drifted a long way, and the current was swift, so many personal belongings should have been lost in the river.
But two items were still found by Jiang Che.
A reddish, slightly larger than a thumb, small bead.
And several slightly turbid white crystals.
