Chapter 93: Gongsun Huaiyu’s Little Secret, Chen Changsheng Returns to the Kunlun Holy Land
Chapter 93 – Gongsun Huaiyu’s Little Secret, Chen Changsheng Returns to the Kunlun Holy Land
A tranquil field.
Gongsun Huaiyu sat cross-legged, while Chen Changsheng lounged nearby, leisurely flipping through an ancient text.
After an indeterminate amount of time, a vast and primordial phenomenon abruptly manifested behind Gongsun Huaiyu.
A solitary azure lotus slowly unfurled from the depths of her Sea of Bitterness, blossoming in its entirety to reveal three nine-colored lotus seeds radiating a sacred, pristine light.
Noting this ethereal display, Chen Changsheng glanced over, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“An innate divine ability. Somewhat interesting.”
As his evaluation hung in the air, Gongsun Huaiyu fluttered her eyes open.
“Sir, I have broken through to the Divine Sense realm.”
“Passable. With your current cultivation, you should be able to weather fifty exchanges against the Yaoguang Holy Son.”
Upon hearing this, the elation on Gongsun Huaiyu’s face instantly evaporated.
“Sir, is the Yaoguang Holy Son truly as monstrous as you make him out to be?”
“He is not merely as monstrous as I say; his prowess exceeds my casual estimation.”
“The armor you wear was forged from the scales of the Thunder Beast clan, a lineage renowned for their impenetrable defense.”
“Given the supreme craftsmanship of that armor, your current cultivation could not leave a scratch on it even if you struck it yourself.”
“Yet, the Yaoguang Holy Son pierced it cleanly with a single strike. Had he not deliberately stayed his hand, you would already be a corpse.”
“Ah?”
Absolute bewilderment washed over Gongsun Huaiyu’s delicate features.
“When did he ever hold back? I remember his blows carrying the weight of a collapsing mountain. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he fought with lethal intent!”
“Whether he exerted his full might is debatable, but he undeniably spared your life.”
“During that battle, the seven great prodigies besieged you. You parried the strikes of the Kunlun Holy Son, Jiang Ping, and the Zifu Holy Maiden, Zi Ning.”
“But against the remaining five, you relied entirely on the tyrannical resilience of your flesh to endure.”
“Su Tian and his peers are aware of my ties to the Seventy-Two Wolf Smokes, so they merely wounded you to avoid a blood feud.”
“But those other three are a different breed: Mei Yongsi, Batulu, and Fu Yao.”
“Which of those three is not a peerless heaven-chosen? As a fellow prodigy, you should be well aware of the myriad, insidious methods they possess to snuff out a life.”
“Leaving aside their grander techniques, injecting a thread of hidden Qi to silently shatter your Meridians would be child’s play for them.”
“Yet, none of them took that lethal step. This hesitation is deeply unnatural.”
Digesting Chen Changsheng’s cold logic, a chill ran down Gongsun Huaiyu’s spine as she recognized the glaring anomalies of that day.
She had been too overwhelmed by the avalanche of life-and-death crises to piece together these subtle incongruities.
Now, under the harsh light of hindsight, their restraint felt distinctly bizarre.
“Sir, what do you suspect their true motives were?”
“I have no idea. I have crossed paths with them exactly once. You are far more acquainted with their natures than I am; how could I divine their hidden schemes?”
“However, there is another mystery that captures my interest far more. What exactly were you doing at the Kunlun Holy Land?”
“I had previously sent a formal decree to the Seventy-Two Wolf Smokes, yet when you saw me, you failed to recognize my face.”
“If my intuition serves me right, you sneaked out of your sect, didn’t you?”
Instantly, Gongsun Huaiyu’s gaze darted toward the horizon, refusing to meet his eyes.
“Our treasury was running dry on cultivation resources. I merely sought to fleece a fat sheep to replenish our stocks.”
“Bullshit.”
“The Seventy-Two Wolf Smokes is not some impoverished clan desperate for scraps. Furthermore, I interrogated your master about this exact matter.”
“He confirmed that you act first and scheme later. You fled your mountain first and merely sent a token message back after the fact.”
“So, will you confess with your own lips, or shall I have your master drag the truth out of you himself?”
Cornered by his relentless interrogation, Gongsun Huaiyu latched onto Chen Changsheng’s arm, shaking it with exaggerated pleading.
“Sir, I promise I will reveal everything to you in due time. Please, don’t force my hand today!”
“Ah, speaking of which, didn’t you promise to open those stones today?”
“Teach me the Dao of Stone Gambling! Once I master it, I swear I will bleed those arrogant young masters dry until they weep for their ancestors!”
Seeing the little fox clumsily deflect the conversation, Chen Changsheng merely chuckled, allowing the interrogation to drop.
For an old monster who had weathered millennia, his judgment was impossibly sharp. How could Gongsun Huaiyu’s petty evasions cloud his vision?
Though her lips remained sealed, Chen Changsheng had already unraveled the greater part of her mystery.
He only needed to wait for her to inevitably expose her own ‘flaws.’
“Very well. Keep your secrets for now.”
“As for Stone Gambling, there are no profound Dao-arts or mystical tricks. The only absolute strategy is to seize every rock by force and crack them open yourself.”
Gongsun Huaiyu snorted, refusing to believe a single syllable of his flippant advice.
“Sir is trying to trick me. Perhaps finding a treasure in the inner courtyard could be chalked up to some obscure technique.”
“But how do you explain the Kunlun Stone Workshop’s grand signboard? Countless grandmasters passed beneath it blind, yet you spotted its secret. How?”
“It is quite simple. I intimately understand the nature of the Fire Dragon Source.”
“In the ancient epochs, God Source was not known by that grand title; the ancients called it Spirit Source.”
“When the Kunlun Holy Land excavated that legendary vein of Fire Dragon Source, I was personally present.”
“While every grandmaster and sovereign flocked to study the draconic Spirit Source itself, I focused my Daoist observations on the mundane stone encasing it.”
“I deduced a fundamental law: this particular Spirit Source slowly drains the structural integrity of its shell, rendering the stone incredibly brittle over centuries.”
“The signboard of the Kunlun Holy Land was sculpted from the discarded husks of that very Fire Dragon Source.”
“Normally, the rock shielding God Source is impossibly dense. Those mortal artisans were lazy, seeking out a compromised, brittle slab to ease their carving.”
“Thus, I knew with absolute certainty that a fragment of God Source remained trapped within.”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s casual revelation, Gongsun Huaiyu’s mouth fell slightly agape.
She had never imagined that the grand secret behind unearthing a sovereign treasure was rooted in such mundane logic.
“It was truly that simple?”
“How convoluted did you assume it to be? The Heavenly Dao is often far less complicated than mortals believe; you simply lack the vision to see the unadorned truth.”
With a flick of his wrist, Chen Changsheng summoned the ‘Welcoming Pine’ stone from his spatial reserves—the prized rock he had claimed from the Kunlun Stone Workshop’s inner courtyard.
The instant Gongsun Huaiyu had initiated her assault back then, he had smoothly swept the boulder into the void.
Feuds and bloodshed were fine, but he was certainly not going to abandon a treasure he had rightfully purchased.
Yet, just as he raised his hand to cleave the stone, Chen Changsheng paused.
“Ah, returning to the matter of the Yaoguang Holy Son—do not let his shadow hasten your Dao Heart. Given time, you will inevitably eclipse him.”
“That azure lotus of yours is a primordial anomaly. Once those three seeds ripen, you may very well awaken three supreme divine abilities.”
“The cultivation paradigm your master and I forged merely illuminated the gateway. The path forward must be carved by your own two feet.”
Gongsun Huaiyu bobbed her head vehemently in agreement, yet her unblinking eyes remained glued to the uncracked boulder.
Noting her split attention, Chen Changsheng smiled and shook his head, offering no further reprimands.
She was merely a fledgling, barely a century old. It was natural for worldly greed to cloud her focus. The grinding wheel of time would temper her soon enough.
……
Kunlun Holy Land.
“Chen Changsheng has returned!”
The cry rippled across the majestic peaks of the Kunlun Holy Land. The enigmatic man who had vanished for over twenty days had finally reappeared.
Moreover, he had returned with the notorious Gongsun Huaiyu of the Seventy-Two Wolf Smokes trailing behind him.
Abducted by vicious rogues, only to stroll back casually with a breathtaking beauty from the thieves’ own den in tow—how could anyone view this spectacle as anything but utterly absurd?
……