Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 95

Gu Suihan wasn’t interested in wandering around the capital, and the other disciples grew bored of the city after the novelty wore off. All of them started secluding themselves to continue with their cultivation.

Meanwhile, all was not well at Nan Yuntian’s residence. The atmosphere in the house remained tense even though nothing had really happened, like the calm before the storm.

After Nan Yuntian’s youngest son had been rescued from nearly drowning in the river, he remained unconscious for days. Nan Yuntian went to look for various cultivators to find out what was wrong but to no avail. The boy’s body and soul were perfectly fine, but he refused to wake up. One of the experts hired by the palace guessed that the boy was in this state because he had been cursed.

The expert’s advice was for Nan Yuntian to find the person responsible for laying this curse and apologize to them; otherwise, the boy would definitely die. The world was a huge place with countless cultivators and countless schools of Daoist thought. Similarly, there were just as many people practising witchcraft and other dark arts. Something like a curse could only be lifted by the one who cast it. It was almost impossible to find any other way to dispel it.

But even though Nan Yuntian figured that Gu Suihan had to be the one behind this, he hated the young man so much and wished death upon him. How could he bring himself to plead with Gu Suihan?

At the same time, when he saw how his son became thinner and thinner and how his breathing became weaker and weaker each day, Nan Yuntian became filled with a rage that had nowhere to go. It was killing him from the inside.

His hatred for Gu Suihan increased by the day, yet he could do nothing about it.

While Nan Yuntian was inside his study, clutching his head and seething with rage, a clear voice rang in his ears from afar, “Nan Yuntian, may I enter?”

“What’s he doing here?” muttered Nan Yuntian quietly to himself as he looked at the door with a puzzled expression on his face. He called out, “Come in.”

After the person came in, Nan Yuntian looked at his visitor and asked, “What brings you here, Disciplinarian Zhang?”

Nan Yuntian’s visitor was Disciplinarian Zhang, the same Disciplinarian Zhang who hated Gu Suihan so much.

“I heard that your son is ill, so I specially made a trip here to see if I could be of any help,” said Disciplinarian Zhang as he took a seat without being offered one.

He had come here with some plans in mind. After he heard that these physical cultivators who believed in the Way of Martial Arts were also joining the inter-sect competition, he started thinking about how best to use this situation to his advantage.

“Do you even know anything about curses?” Nan Yuntian snorted as he looked at his visitor with disdain. He was clearly mocking Disciplinarian Zhang for using such a lousy excuse.

Disciplinarian Zhang remained unaffected, and he even looked a little smug as he said, “I actually do. I do know quite a bit about curses and their relevant techniques.”

Before coming, he had already heard about what happened in Nan Yuntian’s household, and he was secretly happy to hear about it only because he did know quite a bit about curses. He was hoping to take this chance to get closer to Nan Yuntian and join hands with Nan Yuntian to kill Gu Suihan in the secret realm during the competition.

He had been eyeing that item that Gu Suihan stole from the tax ships many years ago, and he had been eyeing it for a long time now. Also, he thought that Gu Suihan had been able to reach Mid Foundation Establishment in just a few years because he had used up that item.

“If you can solve one of my biggest worries, I don’t mind doing you a favour in return.” Nan Yuntian’s expression was grim, and there was a ruthless gleam in his eye. “If you can’t solve my problem, then you have to leave something behind.” Nan Yuntian was going to make this old man pay for it if he dared to hoodwink him.

Disciplinarian Zhang broke into a cold sweat when he saw that ruthless gleam in Nan Yuntian’s eyes. There were a million and one possibilities when it came to curses, so it was impossible for anybody to guarantee results. At the same time, Nan Yuntian had real clout, and he meant what he said. Disciplinarian Zhang wondered if he had been too rash in deciding to offer help.

But Nan Yuntian had made it very clear. If Disciplinarian Zhang could resolve this issue, Nan Yuntian would owe him a favour and would also be willing to work with him. However, if Disciplinarian Zhang failed to resolve the issue, then he would have to compensate Nan Yuntian, and he could forget about getting Nan Yuntian to help him with anything.

This was not an easy decision to make, but when Disciplinarian Zhang thought about what Gu Suihan did before this, he decided to go with it and said through clenched teeth, “Deal! I will try my best.”

“Let’s go.” Nan Yuntian was anxious to settle this problem, so he got up immediately and walked out of the room, leaving a grim and conflicted-looking Disciplinarian Zhang behind.

It was less than three days before the Seven Kill Sect disciples were due to depart for the competition. Gu Suihan was relaxing in the sun within his own little front yard, picking up a peeled fruit from time to time and stuffing it into his mouth. He rocked his body back and forth leisurely on a chair with his eyes closed.

He looked like he was completely relaxed on the outside, but his mind was moving rapidly. He was going through all the possible movements required to complete the last part of the Geng Gold Sword Mantra cultivation technique. As he went through them, he would eliminate the things that didn’t make sense and carefully analyze the ones that seemed correct.

The thoughts in his mind were like the brilliant stars in a galaxy. His Qi moved about like shooting stars, and inspiration was bursting through his brain like fireworks as he concentrated on every possibility.

Just when he had arrived at an important part of his thought process, a loud shout suddenly came from outside, “Gu Suihan! Come out right now!”

His train of thought was instantly broken, and the trance-like state he was in disappeared as he snapped out of his own little world.

He narrowed his eyes unhappily at being disrupted and instantly unleashed a murderous aura from his body. Questioning Heaven leapt three inches out of its sheath. His murderous Qi instantly covered an area within a few hundred meters radius, creating a reddish and bloody-smelling layer of clouds in the sky.

The doors to his yard opened without him having to use his hands, and he didn’t bother hiding the rage in his eyes, aiming it directly at the person standing outside the gate. “If you don’t have a good explanation for needing to see me right now, then forget about returning home in one piece.”

The man who had shouted for Gu Suihan outside the gate gulped nervously, and his heart palpitated with fear as he looked at the terrifying young man in front of him. But when he thought about who was behind him, he pulled himself together and did his best to remain calm. “You’re the one who robbed the Fenglin tax ships back then?”

Gu Suihan burst out laughing from being too angry. He didn’t say anything, but a bright red beam of light shot out from his eyes and hit the other man in the eyes as quickly and as violently as lightning.

Boom! Everyone outside the gate stared in disbelief as the man who had shouted earlier was now nothing but a headless corpse. His skull was now a mess of bones and other liquids while blood spurted out from his neck.

“Any last words?” Gu Suihan scanned the rest of the man’s companions as his expression only grew more murderous.

At that moment, the only sounds left were the harsh winds blowing past and the heavy, horrified breathing of the dead man’s companions.

An elegantly dressed young man behind the dead man’s body looked warily at the bloody clouds in the sky that blotted out the sun as well as the corpse on the ground before him. He then looked up at Gu Suihan with a solemn look on his face and only forced himself to smile after a long time as he said, “Brother Gu, this is indeed a very interesting way of receiving guests. But we mean no harm. We’re just here to ask a few questions.”

“A few questions? You mean no harm?” Gu Suihan couldn’t be bothered to talk to these people anymore. He gave his sheath a pat, and Questioning Heaven instantly flew out. Its sharp blade was pointed straight at the spot between the elegantly dressed young man’s brows and unleashed a thick cloud that smelled of nothing but blood.

The thick cloud filled the air like a jiaolong that stirred up the seas. His sword Qi surged like the tide, its humming becoming louder and louder. Gu Suihan flew forward so quickly that he became a blur, thrusting his sword toward his opponent with enough murderous Qi to fill the skies.

“How dare you!” The elegantly dressed young man immediately got angry and took a step back in shock. But he quickly realized he was in danger, so his eyes widened and he took a large step to the side. The explosion that followed turned all the stone slabs on the ground into mere rubble.

His bones rattled in unison and let out the roar of a tiger. His robes tore, revealing his bronzed, muscular arms covered in veins.

“The Great and Vast Sky!” he yelled loudly as his fists were filled with enough internal energy to punch a hole in the sky. His heart thumped as loudly as war drums, booming loudly as he threw a powerful punch fearlessly toward the oncoming sword that was just a few inches away from him.

Moments before the two were going to collide, Gu Suihan’s lips curled upwards into a mocking smile. What an idiot, thought Gu Suihan. By fighting a sword with a punch, it meant that either this young man was a complete idiot, or there was someone more powerful whom he could rely on to save him. Gu Suihan could see that immediately.

The sword in his hand suddenly stopped just before it collided with the young man’s fist. Gu Suihan stepped lightly on the ground to fly into the air. Stopping his attack so suddenly made him feel a little nauseous, but he instantly retreated a few hundred meters in a matter of seconds.

His robes flapped loudly as he stared down at the people in front of him. He ran a finger down the blade of this sword, coating it with a thin layer of blood. With the nourishment of his blood and the energy within, Questioning Heaven suddenly vibrated as loudly as thunder. The ferocious beasts around the cross-guard seemed to come alive, and everyone felt like they could hear a hair-raising violent roar all around them.

The tip of his sword drew so many patterns in the air, mincing the air with a sword Qi that was enough to shatter a dam or flood a city, then surged toward the elegantly dressed young man like clouds in a storm or like a rushing river.

The elegantly dressed young man’s eyes bulged, and his face paled from having to retract his attack. He stared a little despairingly at the sword Qi surging toward him like the gushing waters of a river, as though shooting stars were coming at him. He thought of dodging the attack, only to realize that he didn’t have enough time to move at all.

“You resorted to trickery!” he shouted furiously as his bronzed skin was covered in tiny wounds from the sharp sword Qi that rained on him.

His instinct was to raise his arms in front of his head, howling miserably with a contorted look on his face as he tried to endure the excruciating pain that felt like he was being skinned alive.