Chapter 123: The Path of Black and White (Part Two)
At the edge of the Corpse Bone Abyss, inside a certain cave.
“…”
Sheng Nian toyed with a message talisman in his hand, brow slightly furrowed, seemingly lost in thought.
Just then, Lü Qin returned from outside.
Sheng Nian quickly pocketed the message talisman.
Though his movements were swift, every action had been observed by Lü Qin.
“Junior Brother, you’re not cultivating properly here. What are you doing?”
Sheng Nian maintained his arrogant bearing and attitude. “Hmph, mind your own business.”
He stood and walked toward the cave entrance.
Whether he had grown accustomed to his junior brother’s attitude or was simply exercising remarkable restraint, Lü Qin’s face showed little dissatisfaction.
He glanced sideways in the direction Sheng Nian had departed.
“That little bastard has been sneaking around these past few days…”
After a moment’s contemplation, a layer of dim spiritual energy surfaced around him, concealing him within the night.
Sheng Nian walked along, glancing warily around from time to time.
Upon reaching a fork in the path, he suddenly leaped toward the northeast.
The mass burial ground.
Sheng Nian periodically looked around, then quickly stepped behind a stretch of crumbling ruins, where a set of gray stone stairs descended downward.
A light flickered in his hand as he slowly descended, disappearing at the foot of the stairs.
On the mass burial ground, a desolate mountain in silence.
A moment later, Lü Qin’s figure materialized at the entrance to the stairs, shadow-like.
His gaze did not fall upon the stairs below, but was instead fixed upon a broken stone nearby.
He reached out and lightly brushed away the dust and gravel, revealing an extremely concealed symbol.
It resembled some kind of helmet ornament, or perhaps the horn of a demonic beast.
Vaguely discernible, but not quite clear.
Lü Qin’s pupils contracted slightly.
“The Asura Path…”
His junior brother was actually in contact with the Asura Path.
But he had never heard that the Asura Path’s demonic cultivators were involved in this matter!
Before the two of them had been dispatched to Changping, the Xinshan Hermit had spoken to him privately.
“If you discover any unusual behavior from Sheng Nian, there is no need to intervene. Simply observe and report back truthfully afterward.”
Just as he was pondering his next move, another sound came from the stairs below.
Lü Qin hastily concealed himself, melting into the night.
Sheng Nian emerged from below, looked around carefully, then quickly departed.
“…”
A moment later, a shadowy figure slowly descended the stairs.
There was a protective formation here.
“Heh heh…”
Lü Qin sneered. “Trifling tricks.”
His junior brother probably did not know that before becoming the Xinshan Hermit’s disciple, he had entered the dao through formations.
He formed a dao incantation with his fingers, a flash of blood-red light at his fingertips, and struck several formation nodes.
Hummmm—
The formation continued to operate, but when he stepped inside, he was not obstructed.
It was a secret chamber.
Besides the entrance on this side, there was another door on the opposite side, leading to an unknown destination.
But it was currently blocked by a pile of old incense candles, paper offerings, an offering altar, and other items, making passage difficult.
At the center of the secret chamber stood an offering altar.
Upon it rested a jade slip.
In the cultivation world, most cultivators used voice transmission talismans to communicate, but such talismans carried the risk of interception.
Therefore, for particularly secret matters, one could naturally carve the information onto a jade slip and deliver it in person.
Lü Qin approached slowly, inspected it carefully, and after verifying multiple times that there were no hidden tricks, he picked it up and probed it with his divine sense.
“Jin Tianya!?”
His heart lurched.
The contents of the jade slip actually revealed Jin Tianya’s exact location.
The Yellow Spring Path would be transferring Jin Tianya’s location in three days, at which point the Asura Path would intervene to seize him.
“So the Yellow Spring Path had Jin Tianya imprisoned in Cheng Family Village…” Lü Qin mused.
But this was not the point that truly concerned him.
What shocked him was how deeply the Asura Path had concealed themselves.
The great factions of demonic cultivation in this world were divided into five branches.
The Asura Path, the Joy Union Sect, the Yellow Spring Path, the Demon Seed Sect, and the Evil Sword Sect.
In the Chu Kingdom, there were basically only Yellow Spring Path and Demon Seed Sect demonic cultivators.
As far as Lü Qin knew, the Asura Path only maintained a presence in the Central Domain and the Qi Kingdom.
However…
Changping sat right on the border between the Qi Kingdom and the Chu Kingdom. If they had caught wind of some news and decided to meddle, it was not impossible.
The crucial question was: what exactly was his junior brother’s relationship with the Asura Path?
“In three days…”
Lü Qin drew a jade slip from his cosmos bag.
He copied the contents of the message talisman exactly, then placed it back on the offering altar, undisturbed.
His divine sense stirred, sensing someone approaching.
He immediately transformed into a dark shadow and left the secret chamber.
A black-robed figure was walking toward the area on the mass burial ground.
Lü Qin did not use his divine sense to probe, but the terrifying killing intent that radiated from the figure—something he had never encountered before—was unmistakable.
“The Asura Path…?”
The black-robed figure stepped into the secret chamber, emerged moments later, and departed.
“Heh heh…”
Lü Qin let out a cold laugh.
He thought to himself that his junior brother, whether in fortune or talent, was indeed extraordinarily rare.
Unfortunately…
His mind was a bit slow.
“Sheng Nian, oh Sheng Nian…”
“Thinking that by allying with the Asura Path, you can deceive the world.”
Lü Qin was now nearly certain that Sheng Nian had discovered Jin Tianya’s whereabouts and intended to conspire with the Asura Path to claim a share of the spoils.
He pondered.
If he could personally capture Jin Tianya, extract the location of the Central Domain’s secret treasure, and then report it to the sect, it would surely be enough to replace Sheng Nian in their master’s favor.
“In three days, I must see what play the Yellow Spring Path and the Asura Path are staging.”
“If the snipe and clam fight each other and both sustain heavy losses…”
“Then I can certainly play the fisherman!”
Calculating his plan, his figure merged into the night and departed without a sound.
…
Outside the Corpse Bone Abyss.
Sheng Nian sat alone on a cliff, gazing toward Cheng Family Village.
“Now, it all depends on Old Song.”
He murmured to himself.
Within his mind, the demonic thought surged, and that ancient voice rose faintly: “Once Lü Qin is dead, the Xinshan Hermit will have almost no one of consequence left under his command.”
“You need no longer worry about him growing suspicious.”
Sheng Nian shook his head slightly. “It’s too early to speak of such things. Let us wait until Lü Qin is truly dead before considering it.”
The demonic thought sneered. “Heh heh, though Lü Qin is meticulous in thought, he is extremely arrogant, always believing his intelligence superior to others’.”
“He has always thought himself the only one capable of seeing through what others cannot.”
“I have seen far too many people like this.”
“Now he believes you are brave but foolish, and assumes he can manipulate you at will.”
On this point, Sheng Nian agreed with the old demon.
Regarding the matter of Jin Tianya, had he told Lü Qin directly, the latter would have grown suspicious.
But when Lü Qin himself followed the “clues,” discovered others’ “flaws” and “mistakes,” and pieced together the so-called secret step by step…
For a man who prided himself on his intelligence, such a discovery would be utterly convincing.
Moreover, in this senior brother’s eyes, he was nothing more than a somewhat fortunate simpleton with no cunning whatsoever.
“Three more days…”