Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 92

“Somebody must have put him up to it, and that person isn’t very smart either,” thought Gu Suihan as he quickly scanned all the disciples who were watching earlier as he sat back down again. His gaze eventually landed on a senior member of the sect who was chaperoning the disciples.

That senior was none other than Disciplinarian Zhang. He was staring frostily at Gu Suihan now.

Gu Suihan chuckled when he saw Disciplinarian Zhang’s expression. He slowly opened his mouth and then spat on the floor.

Disciplinarian Zhang narrowed his eyes immediately to hide the almost attention-catching murderous intent shooting out from his eyes. He didn’t dare to show it openly because if You Hantian discovered it, he would definitely be punished. The Seven Kill Sect’s situation was not looking up, so if he stirred up more trouble at this point, an old man at Origin Core like himself would really be unable to bear the consequences of punishment from the sect leader.

Even though he had hidden his murderous intent well, Gu Suihan was still able to detect it very faintly. After all, compared to Gu Suihan’s almost realistic murderous Qi, this little murderous intent of his wasn’t even worth mentioning.

Gu Suihan was sure that this competition wasn’t going to finish in just one or two months. If the plan worked, he would face the combined attack of the Seven Kill, War Demon and Yin Principle sects after getting out of the secret realm. Even reaching Origin Core wasn’t going to save him from that.

After the fight earlier had ended, the disciples went back to whatever they were doing. Compared to watching petty fights between disciples, they were more concerned with whether they could comprehend anything useful to their cultivation on their journey to the competition.

The last time Gu Suihan went with Xi Ran and the others to the place that an ancient cultivator supposedly left behind, he came back with a Three Lives Spirit Recovering flower. He had turned it into more than ten pills, but these pills were pretty much ordinary ones since his method of processing the flower was only able to bring out a maximum of 70% of the plant’s effect.

Even so, taking those pills along with the three bottles of soul-nourishing pills that he got from Xiexin zhenren, the pure soul of the broken knife’s weapon spirit, as well as the past few years of undisturbed cultivation, Suihan’s soul had finally managed to stop itself from falling apart and was slowly getting better.

That was what Gu Suihan counted on to survive this world, and he couldn’t afford anything bad to happen to his soul. At the same time, it was only because his soul was starting to heal that he could promise to help Li Rong destroy the portion of Xiexin zhenren’s soul that was supposed to take hold of Li Rong’s body.

“Once you set foot into the secret realm, crush the jade pendant I gave you. The partial soul of your father will be kept under control for the time being. I will leave a bit of my spiritual sense with you, use that to look for me within the next three days, and your problem will disappear,” Gu Suihan said to Li Rong via telepathy.

He saw that Li Rong was about to reply, so he narrowed his eyes and sent another message, “Don’t respond to me, You Hantian will detect it. Your telepathy skills are too ordinary to escape his eye.”

Li Rong’s expression flinched slightly as he opened his mouth but did not say anything. He then closed his eyes again and continued with his cultivation.

Gu Suihan had nothing to do, so he started observing the huge creature he was on closely with a mildly curious look in his eyes. This thing had disappeared without a trace when he was on Earth and had not reached Origin Core. When the world modernized, not only did such wild beasts disappear, but even the Demonic Race was wiped out completely.

In those days, he had no choice but to swallow other souls in order to cultivate. If he didn’t do that, he would have died by now.

He didn’t want to die, so it was better just to let everyone else die.

Mythical beasts, the Demonic Race and the Upper World. Many characteristics of this world were familiar to him. Gu Suihan stared into the distance, his eyes shining like the stars in the galaxy.

There was an old joke about how plants and animals were only disallowed to become higher beings after the Republic had been established [^note1], but that was actually applicable to the real world too.

In fact, it wasn’t only applicable to plants, animals or even the Demonic Race that required large amounts of Qi. Even cultivators like himself had gone down in numbers. The number of people with Spiritual Roots had decreased, and the amount of Qi and the number of heavenly abodes slowly disappeared. It was truly the end time for this group.

It was not an apocalypse for ordinary people but for cultivators, demons and other creatures that had supernatural powers. All of them were forced to give up cultivation because there wasn’t any more Qi in the air for them to absorb.

When he thought about everything he had done on Earth, Gu Suihan could not help but shudder inwardly. He had spent centuries destroying millions of living creatures just to understand what his mentor back then had shouted just before he perished.

Unfortunately, for the sake of staying alive, he had to give up everything and start over.

When he thought about that mysterious whirlpool that seemed to contain many incredible secrets as well as the appearance of that dim and unfathomable will, his expression became bitter.

If getting to the Immortal stage wasn’t enough, he was going to cultivate until he got even higher than that. He didn’t think that the supposed will of heaven could be lumped together with the will of the historical flood.

“I’m just barely surviving. Even though I don’t know if you’re purposely hiding in the shadows or if you’ve been pushed into a corner, you’re no longer the same as you used to be. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to escape,” thought Gu Suihan as an indescribable murderous look filled his eyes.

You Hantian suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the land below as though he had suddenly thought of something. He patted the head of the zheng and turned to say to the disciples behind him, “We’re right above the capital city of Fenglin, so we’ll land there for a while to rest.”

“Fenglin.” Gu Suihan could not help but think of Nan Yuntian, as well as his daughter, Nan Xingyuan, who died at his hands.

He was now at Mid Foundation Establishment, but Nan Yuntian was someone who could fight a Beginner Origin Core cultivator like Disciplinarian Zhang back then. In terms of cultivation level, trump cards and influence, Gu Suihan lost in every aspect. But there was one thing that Gu Suihan was confident in – he could always just run for it. Why should he fight Nan Yuntian head-on?

So, Gu Suihan only thought about this matter for a short while and quickly focused on whether he could benefit from the country of Fenglin instead.

After You Hantian made that announcement, the beast let out a long howl. Its bright and ear-deafening roar could be heard within a few hundred miles, which caused many animals to flee instantly. Several ordinary people within the capital city instantly looked into the sky in shock. After they noticed that ferocious and murderous-looking beast that spanned at least 300 meters in length, their mouths fell open before they started screaming and running in a panic.

“You Hantian! What are you trying to do?” a firm and angry shout came from deep within the majestic and opulent palace just as the zheng flew above the capital city and frightened everyone who saw it.

The shout was so powerful that all the disciples at Foundation Establishment paled. Their gazes were frantic and terrified.

“Quieten your hearts! Calm your spirits!” You Hantian’s steady and calm voice instantly snapped all of them out of their fears.

When they thought about how that angry shout had made them so afraid, they quickly started using their cultivation technique to do exactly what their sect leader had instructed them to.

“Old geezer! I heard that the cultivators in the Way of Martial Arts are sending some people to the inter-sect competition too,” said You Hantian in a loud voice as he flew off the zheng and landed in front of the palace gates.

“What plans are you hatching?” The person who shouted earlier had calmed down again. He was very pleased with the effect his shout had on You Hantian’s disciples earlier.

“Nothing, really. I just heard that you have a really huge flying ship that goes very fast and has plenty of space. You don’t have that many people, and it’ll be such a waste of all that space. Why don’t we all travel together?” You Hantian snickered, and his eyes suddenly lit up as he looked around him, as if he were curious as to where this rumoured flying ship was hidden.

“Humph! Dream on! This beast of yours was just asserting its authority over my territory! Why don’t you just take it all the way to the competition?” The voice from the palace suddenly grew louder and higher in pitch. He was getting angry now.

You Hantian chuckled and said in a threatening voice, “I heard that the seventh prince is doing pretty well in the Youthful Clarity Sect. I was wondering if I ought to put up a Blacklist Mission.”

“You’re asking for it!” His voice was like the roar of a dragon as it echoed through the skies and shook everything within a ten-mile radius. Immediately after he spoke, a domineering figure suddenly emerged from the depths of the palace and appeared before You Hantian less than a second later.

“Am I? Either way, you’re definitely not someone who can kill me,” said You Hantian with a disdainful tone of voice and a smirk on his face.

The other party had a squarish face and a large nose. He looked fairly advanced in age, but his eyes were bright and alert. He wore a dark yellow robe and exuded an authoritative aura even when he wasn’t angry.

When he heard You Hantian’s veiled threat, he immediately flew into a rage. But after pausing to think for a long time, he suddenly piped up, “Fine; we’ll go with what you say. But it will cost each person 100 Spiritual Stones.”

“Sure.” You Hantian motioned to his disciples to get off the zheng and said to them, “100 Spiritual Stones each, pay for it yourselves. If you don’t want to, then you can walk to the destination on your own. If you do that, make sure you aren’t late; otherwise, you’ll be punished according to the sect’s disciplinary policy.”