Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 12

“At that time, the sect agreed to this arrangement because Xuran had contributed greatly to the sect before this. However, Xuran’s Spiritual Root was still destroyed, his memories wiped out and he was sent back to live among ordinary humans again. But the Vast Sky Sect was still worried and was afraid that Xuran might spill some secret of theirs, so they sent someone to kill him after Xuran had lived as an ordinary person for just a few days. Thankfully, I got there in time and snatched Xuran’s soul away from the other party. I suppose Xuran must have reincarnated several times by now.”

Everyone exchanged glances after hearing Disciplinarian Zhang’s recount and their faces were filled with even greater admiration and respect for this legendary senior.

Everyone except Li Rong. His expression remained almost entirely unaffected except for that tiny bit of disdain as his lips curled upwards very slightly but this disappeared almost immediately after that. But Gu Suihan had caught it from the corner of his eye.

Hurhur, a touching story about a Master and his disciple? Willing to stand guard for 300 years? Gu Suihan scoffed inwardly. Li Rong’s smirk was the best proof that this was bullshit.

But Gu Suihan didn’t care about this stupid touching story and just sighed along with everyone else. What really caught his attention was Disciplinarian Zhang’s vague mention of the Demon Abyss.

When Disciplinarian Zhang was recounting his story, Gu Suihan could hear a difference in his voice when he uttered these two words. There was a sigh in his voice, but there was also terror.

He had said these words fairly quickly, but Gu Suihan had spotted Disciplinarian Zhang’s left-hand trembling slightly behind his back.

Demon Abyss, thought Gu Suihan? Interesting. This place is not as simple as it seems. When he looked up again and stared at the tall mountain peak in front of him, he had a playful look in his eye.

“Alright now, we’ve arrived,” Disciplinarian Zhang suddenly called out and broke the silence as well as Gu Suihan’s train of thought. “Let me warn you right now, memorizing the sect’s rules will not do you any harm.”

Most of the disciples just disregarded these odd words. Most of them were here with other aims, such as which technique to choose once they were formally part of the sect, how to curry favor with their seniors and so on.

Only a small group of brighter ones seemed to have caught on. They looked at the little lab mice discussing the future excitedly with sympathy in their eyes.

“It isn’t always peaceful within the sect. Even though you can get somewhere if you can fight, most of the time, you’d need this,” Li Rong whispered into Gu Suihan’s ear as he pointed at his own head. “If you’re in a really sticky situation, just use my name.”

After that, he patted Gu Suihan’s shoulder, then said to Disciplinarian Zhang, “Senior Uncle, do we return to the sect right now? Or should we…” His voice trailed off hesitantly at the end, as if he was in a difficult position.

Disciplinarian Zhang looked like he had remembered something bad, and his expression looked almost as constipated as Li Rong’s. “It’s an order from the Sect Leader, so there’s nothing I can do about that. Let’s go. At most, we’ll quickly finish this job and come back. I don’t think those children will get into much trouble so fast.”

He sighed as he subconsciously touched the ring pouch around his waist and kept it away discreetly.

But Li Rong had noticed his actions and despised Disciplinarian Zhang inwardly for being timid. But he too, quickly removed his storage ring and hid it in an inner pocket of his clothing.

Just then, a gold beam shot out from the sky, swooshing loudly as it cut through the air.

Li Rong instinctively frowned as he put his fingers together to make several gestures before catching hold of the item that fell from the sky. After looking at the words on it, he immediately held it out to Disciplinarian Zhang hurriedly, as if it was burning his fingers.

“What has happened?” asked Disciplinarian Zhang puzzledly as he took the item from Li Rong.

Everyone was a little frightened from the sound the item made, but they were also very curious, so they took a step forward and stuck their heads out, hoping to catch a glimpse of what it was.

There was nothing else in Disciplinarian Zhang’s hands besides a thin piece of jade. It was made from high quality white jade and the border was engraved with an intricate design. But nobody could read the words written on this jade slip.

“It’s not up to us now,” said Disciplinarian Zhang with a bitter laugh after he read the words on the slip.

Before anybody could say anything, the jade slip suddenly gave off a bright light and slowly floated up to the front of the boat as it exuded a faint, cold and sinister air. It kept swaying in the air, as if it was hurrying the rest to follow it.

“We’ve got to play by ear and get out of this as soon as possible,” muttered Li Rong with a frown.

“That’s right.” Disciplinarian Zhang nodded. The Ruyi Scepter hooked on his belt suddenly made a buzzing noise. It shot out a light screen that instantly enveloped the boat, and the whole thing moved towards the jade slip.

The faint blue screen blocked the strong winds easily and rode on the wind to move faster and faster.

“Shut your eyes and focus!” shouted Disciplinarian Zhang at the new disciples with a frown when he noticed that all of them were just watching with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

His voice flooded their eardrums and snapped them out of their daze. None of them dared to continue staring after that. They obediently sat down in a lotus position and focused their attention on their inner being. That dizzying scene in the sky was simply too terrifying to watch anyway.

After a few moments, everybody began to feel the ground beneath them shake before finally feeling a great sense of stability, which made all these young men and women who were flying for the first time nearly burst into tears of relief.

“Disciplinarian Zhang, you’re finally here!” Before Disciplinarian Zhang could keep the flying boat away, a middle-aged man in black robes came running over. “Everyone else is already here except you. They’re all waiting for you to make a decision.”

“Hmm?”

The man in black robes went straight to the point as he used telepathy to speak, “She’s inside waiting, like she does every year, but…” He hesitated before continuing, “Fang Suyu and Wang Aolin are here as well. It looks like they’re not going to let her have her way anymore.”

Disciplinarian Zhang narrowed his eyes out of habit, fell silent for a while, then said, “Did the Sect Leader or anybody else pass down a message regarding this matter?”

“Yes.” The man in black robes froze for a moment, then pursed his lips before saying, “The Sect Leader said to let them go ahead and make a fuss if they want. As long as they don’t cause any major issues.”

“Major issues?” Disciplinarian Zhang carefully considered these two words as he thought to himself with a scoff, the Sect Leader is a really unscrupulous one.

“So, what should we do now?” The man in black robes was getting antsy.

Disciplinarian Zhang pondered this matter for a long time before responding in a solemn voice, “Since the Sect Leader has put it this way, it means that he has already thought this through very carefully. We just need to follow his orders.” Then he secretly gave the man in black a look.

After their eyes met, they both smiled mysteriously.

“Disciplinarian Zhang, your efficiency has really gone down the drain in recent years,” a strange effeminate voice rang out. Everyone turned to realize that the one talking was a young man with delicate features and narrow eyes.

“Hoho!” Disdain filled Disciplinarian Zhang’s heart for a moment when he heard these words, but he kept a smile on his face as he said, “I’m an old man stuck at the Origin Core stage for several decades now, so I don’t have the youthful energy that you have. I’m old, I’m old.”

The new disciples couldn’t help but exchange glances. This young man must be someone much higher up the ranks since he could speak to the disciplinarian like this.

“I saw Senior Brother Fei speaking to you just now, so I suppose you already know about the Sect Leader’s stance.” The young man’s expression was nasty as he continued in his shrill voice, “In that case, then please hand the evaluation book to us so that we can look at how this batch is more gifted than others.”

“Here you go.” Disciplinarian Zhang’s lips curled into a slightly contemptuous smile as he flung a thin booklet at the young man. “I suppose there’s nothing else you need? I still have other matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave.”

The young man didn’t seem to have heard him and just waved his hand before reading the booklet in his hands carefully.

Disciplinarian Zhang glanced at the new disciples and thought, does the Sect Leader think the sect isn’t messy enough? Then, he flew off into the distance.

“Qingyuan, where’s the evaluation book?” A young lady in her teens walked out and snapped at the young man, “Miss and the rest are getting impatient already. You’re so slow.” She took the booklet from the young man, turned to the new disciples and said, “All of you, come with me.”

She didn’t wait for anybody to respond and turned to walk back to where she came from.

Her flippant attitude made Qingyuan fly into a rage. He suddenly ran over to block her way and threatened her, “You’re just a young girl. How dare you disregard me like this?”

But the young lady wasn’t afraid of him at all. She even took a step closer to him and scoffed in his face, “So, you think you’re something just because you’re from the Four Directions Court? If Miss were here, would you still dare to say something like that?” She shoved Qingyuan aside and walked off with a smug look on her face.

“Humph!” Qingyuan’s face was all red and the veins on his neck bulged angrily. A moment later, he narrowed his eyes as he calmed back down, then followed the young lady back.

“Interesting.” Gu Suihan had a strange smile on his face as he watched their little spat.

“Let’s go.” Li Rong patted Gu Suihan’s shoulder and sighed heavily. “Gosh, why are they all here at the same time? According to the rules, the Way Seekers Alliance should be here first.”

“Huh?” Gu Suihan didn’t understand what Li Rong was talking about and looked at Li Rong puzzledly.

Li Rong looked dejected as he explained, “The sect has Seven Peaks, and each peak is in charge of Seven Councils, and each council is in charge of their own disciples. There are 99 direct disciples, 999 internal disciples and I don’t know how many external disciples there are. But there are always some with their own ambitions, so they either take the initiative or they are forced to come together and form a group. The three largest groups are backed by high-ranking disciples, and they always take in the cream of the crop of new disciples.”

“Before this, they had always observed the rules. Whenever we take in new disciples, the three major factions of power would take turns to come here and pick who they want. I don’t know why both the Way Seekers Alliance and the Four Directions Court are here at the same time. I suppose the Nobles Clan is here too.”