“One must work extremely hard behind the scenes to appear effortless in public.”
“There’s no such thing as a true windfall from the sky; it’s all about careful planning!”
The lecturer stood on a rock, speaking with confidence and eloquence;
Those being lectured gathered in a circle, nodding repeatedly, deeply convinced.
A chain of rumors was being born right before his eyes.
The smile on Song Qian Ji’s face gradually disappeared.
“Little Song, where did you run off to?” Lu Zhou panted, “Prince Wei has been looking for you.”
As he spoke, the rogue cultivator squad surrounded Song Qian Ji, leading him away from the crowd, but instead of heading toward the silver-armored guards, they hid behind a large, secluded rock.
“Fellow Daoist, how should we address you?” Lu Zhou asked in a low voice.
The other squad members looked at Song Qian Ji cautiously, including the usually sharp-tongued, ill-tempered sword cultivator, who also appeared nervous and uneasy.
Seeing their expressions, Song Qian Ji knew they had discovered the protective talismans he had left for them during the intense battle.
“As before,” Song Qian Ji said. “I still have some matters to attend to.”
Captain Lu Zhou sighed in relief: “Thank you for saving our lives.” He glanced at the other squad members and said with difficulty, “We’ve discussed it. For Song Daoist to be able to draw such powerful protective talismans, you must not be an ordinary person. Willing to go to such lengths to conceal your identity, joining our squad, keeping a low profile, and taking orders from others—you must have something very important to do…”
The sword cultivator found him too long-winded and interrupted, “Let me be direct. You saved our lives, so of course we stand with you! But Prince Wei has also treated us well! I certainly can’t bring myself to kill him! For anything else, we’d go through fire and water without hesitation, but for this matter, it’s impossible.”
Lu Zhou sternly warned: “Lower your voice!”
Suddenly, a morning breeze arose, rustling the trees. Zhang Hou, keeping watch in a tree, turned his head only to see a bird flying past.
Below the tree, Song Qian Ji was completely confused: “Kill? Kill Wei Zhen Yu? Why?”
Lu Zhou smiled bitterly: “We’re just a group of rogue cultivators with nothing worth taking. If you meant us harm, you wouldn’t have left us protective talismans.”
The faces of the rogue cultivator squad uniformly displayed “We know our place.”
The fat formation master whispered: “So, you’re here to assassinate Prince Wei, right?”
First using culinary skills to attract Wei Zhen Yu’s attention, then coincidentally meeting during a moonlit walk, gradually getting closer while enduring humiliation—all for an assassination.
Song Qian Ji choked and coughed, finding it both laughable and frustrating: “Why would I kill him?”
Kill the world-savior? And after killing him, who would save the world?
Wouldn’t I just be creating problems for myself?
The rogue cultivators stared at him intently, their expressions anxious.
Song Qian Ji looked to the sky helplessly: “Regardless of whether others believe it or not, in this world, I am the person least likely to kill him.”
The rogue cultivators were stunned.
For a moment, no one spoke. Song Qian Ji said: “Let’s go.”
He gestured for the others to go first, while he followed at the end as before, like an inconspicuous tail.
The group understood and hurriedly adjusted their expressions, but secretly transmitted conversations:
“Judging by his tone, he should be an old acquaintance of Prince Wei, but unwilling to be recognized.”
“Most likely. The cultivation world is truly complex.”
Lu Zhou: “The cultivation world is simple; it’s the cultivators who are complex.”
The rogue cultivators deeply agreed, nodding repeatedly.
…
“Editor Ji.” Li Ci Quan stood up, staring intently at Ji Chen. “You’ve come to…”
“Don’t be nervous, everyone. Sit, please sit. Continue your conversation, don’t mind me.” Ji Chen greeted the silver-armored guards warmly. “Having fought side by side earlier, I’m here on behalf of Qian Qu to thank Prince Wei!”
“May I have a word in private?” Ji Chen looked toward Wei Zhen Yu, who was at the back of the crowd.
The man was seated on the ground, with someone reporting important matters to him. Others stayed five or six zhang away from him.
He seemed to be in a bad mood, with furrowed brows, tightly gripping his sword scabbard, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
“I’ll accompany Prince Wei,” Zhu Sheng stood up.
“No need.” Wei Zhen Yu shook his head slightly and said to Ji Chen, “Let’s go.”
When they reached a place away from others, Ji Chen hesitated: “Are you… Are you alright?”
Wei Zhen Yu was sparing with words: “Fine.”
“Oh.” Ji Chen’s naturally sociable enthusiasm was spent. The cool morning breeze brought the stench of the battlefield, and facing this cold expression made him feel even more chilled.
The two stood in silence.
Finally, Wei Zhen Yu spoke first: “Someone stole your seal earlier and forged your handwriting to write me a letter.” He sneered, “That person isn’t very clever. Your handwriting is uniquely ugly in all of heaven and earth; anyone trying to imitate it can be spotted at a glance.”
“Such a thing happened?” Ji Chen was shocked.
“You should go back and find out who could access your seal.”
Wei Zhen Yu meant to warn Ji Chen that Qian Qu might have a spy and should be investigated promptly.
But Ji Chen smiled and said: “My seal is kept at the printing bureau for stamping title registers. Whoever wants to use it can just take it. That person is strange—if they wanted to write, they could write as themselves. Why pretend to be me? Now they’ve been exposed.”
Wei Zhen Yu took a deep breath, suppressing his anger to explain carefully:
“Using your identity to write to me, after gaining my trust, they would naturally lure me to some location for a meeting, or design other traps. If something happened to me, and then the blame was placed on you, it would cause discord between us. Qian Qu and the Northern Desert would inevitably go to war—a plan that kills two birds with one stone. Who would ultimately benefit? The Hua Wei Sect of the Western Continent, or the Zhao family of the Northern Continent?”
Seeing Ji Chen blinking indifferently, he finally couldn’t hold back: “Why are you still so foolish? With you being this foolish, why does Song Qian Ji still keep you at Song Academy?!”
Halfway through listening, Ji Chen thought, truly worthy of being Housekeeper Wei Ping, with more suspicions than there are grains of wheat in Qian Qu’s fields.
But as he listened further, he felt something was wrong. He wanted to say that it was just a few letters, how could Wei Zhen Yu possibly be tricked by such a simple ploy? Then he heard the mention of Song Qian Ji and immediately changed his expression: “You may be clever. But back then, you chose to leave on your own. Wei Zhen Yu, no one at Song Academy owes you anything!”
Wei Zhen Yu was stunned, his face turning pale.
Ji Chen turned to leave: “No matter how foolish I am, I can take good care of Senior Brother. Prince Wei may be wise, but you’re an outsider. Don’t trouble yourself with our affairs.”
Ji Chen left confidently but returned with a dejected expression.
Meng He Ze mocked: “Didn’t you go to offer comfort? How did it go?”
Ji Chen’s hand, hidden in his large sleeve, emerged with a fist clutching a protective talisman drawn by Song Qian Ji.
“You saw it just now—he has so many protective treasures, he doesn’t need this at all. He’s been harmed by people these past few years and now thinks everyone is out to harm him.” Ji Chen suddenly thought of something, “Brother Meng, did you ever steal my seal?”
Meng He Ze choked, immediately denying: “Only a dog would steal your seal!”
“Good that it wasn’t you. Now I’m going to tell you something, but you must stay composed.” Ji Chen’s expression was solemn, which only invited more mockery from Meng He Ze.
A moment later, Meng He Ze couldn’t laugh anymore. His expression changed from shock to joy, and finally settled on fear as his gaze swept the surroundings: “I can be a dog, but you can’t deceive me with something like this.”
Ji Chen angrily said: “I’ll be a dog if I’m lying to you!”
“Alright, it’s fine if Senior Brother has seen us; we can make amends gradually,” Meng He Ze consoled himself. “We’ll pretend not to know, as Senior Brother said. Don’t ruin Senior Brother’s important matters.”
Just then, a young disciple hurried over: “Senior Brother Meng, the silver-armored guards are moving; they’re entering the underground palace!”
Meng He Ze smiled: “Can we let them get ahead of us?”
He called out loudly: “Let’s go!”
…
After the giant serpent’s death, two mountains collapsed, and the great river changed course.
The hidden entrance to the underground palace was thus revealed.
That great door, as if embedded in what was originally the riverbed, was a full twenty zhang wide, completely black, made of unknown material, and leading to an unknown world.
After the guiding ancestor’s voice from the sky completely disappeared, the cultivators all waited for Qian Qu or the Northern Desert to take the lead.
“Song Xun.” Wei Zhen Yu beckoned to the rogue cultivator squad. He didn’t ask where Song Qian Ji had just been, nor did he seem to have been looking for him.
“Prince Wei called me?” Song Qian Ji emerged, allowing himself to be examined, his tone normal.
“I want you to explore the underground palace. What do you think?” Wei Zhen Yu asked.
“I think that’s fine,” Song Qian Ji said.
“You go first,” Wei Zhen Yu said. “We’ll follow behind you.”
Song Qian Ji: “…”
This dog is using me as a probe stone.
He found Wu Xiang’s situation suspicious and didn’t want the palace explorers to run into trouble.
But faced with such a blunt request, Song Qian Ji really couldn’t be happy about it.
Seeing his change of expression, Wei Zhen Yu instead smiled: “If you think it’s fine, then open the door.”
Song Qian Ji took a breath and finally said: “I hope you won’t regret it.”