“Mingshan Laogui1!” From behind the group a single voice spoke, Yue Zhongling had immediately guessed the speaker's identity. After all, of all the demonic cultivators only one would refine puppets. Watching the black mist in front of him, Yue Zhongling's face brimmed with seriousness.
Mingshan Laogui was only a Foundation Building phase, demonic cultivator. His fame was not because of how advanced his cultivation was, but because how good he was at refining other cultivators into his puppets under his power, greatly enhancing his own strength. He also had a penchant for using poisons.
Recalling this, a trace of disdain crossed Yue Zhongling's eyes. After all, a true cultivator should approach cultivation whilst maintaining their heart and adhering to the righteous path. Those who chose the crooked path were ultimately undesirable.
Immediately, as though he'd remembered something, his expression became extremely distressed. He pulled the three people next to him, gathering them into a group, and whispered, “Be careful, the mist is likely poisonous.”
“He he he, even knowing that it is poisonous now, wouldn't it be too late?” Saying this, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
Before their eyes was a person squatting. His body was covered with a greasy black robe and his face was pitch black, obviously the result of frequent contact with poisons. At that moment, his eerily peculiar eyes, like a pair of black holes, stared at them unblinking.
Qin Mo once more lifted Bi Youjian into his hand, but he did not expect the pain in his chest. Again he spurted out blood. His white clothes, dyed with blood, looked extremely miserable.
“Oh!” Seeing Qin Mo in such a state, Yue Zhongling quickly grabbed his hand, wanting to send some of his spiritual energy into Qin Mo's body to ease his injury. However, he found his own body had no spiritual power remaining within it. This response was proof the poison had already invaded his body.
“Come on, become my puppet good child. I'll start with you!” As Mingshan Laogui spoke, a pair of shrivelled hands reached out in front of Qin Mo. The nails were long and thin, moving as if they wanted to stab his face.
Amidst Qin Mo's heart was a 凸. He strained, swinging his sword towards the hands, only to find the sword cutting through a mist-like substance, unable to cause any harm.
“He he he he! It’s useless! Don’t struggle any more!” Mingshan Laogui's voice was full of inexplicable excitement. Staring intently at Qin Mo, he couldn't help but lick his lips. This truly was a good young master, he would make an excellent puppet.
“Audacious monster, actually daring to face Yueqing Sect so impudently!” The hand had already grabbed Qin Mo. When just then, a loud sound rung through the clouds and a large flying sword flew in, piercing through Mingshan Laogui's face.
Seeing the sword, Yue Zhongling's originally serious expression couldn't help but relax and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. In a pleasantly surprised tone, he called out: "Sect Head!"
Jin Linfeng, the head of Yueqing Sect, had arrived. After receiving a summon from Yue Zhongling, he'd felt something was off in his heart and rushed over. He'd seen the desperate scene unfold, but as he was too far away to attack, he could only throw the flying sword in his hand.
Unlike Qin Mo's previously powerless sword, this sword fairly obviously terrorised Mingshan Laogui. He cried out and quickly withdrew his hand.
Once again, he looked at Qin Mo before him, his eyes exposed a trace of reluctance. Sensing that the person above was on the verge of arriving, he couldn't help but grit his teeth. Promptly, he threw some black liquid on Qin Mo's body. A grim hideous smile hung on his face, his body quickly transformed into a black mist and disappeared.
“Oh, quickly he's escaping.” A middle-aged man sporting a long beard appeared in front of them. Watching the direction Mingshan Laogui had escaped to, his brows furrowed and his face brimmed with rage. If not for the fact that he'd been too far off and could've only thrown his sword, then today that devil would have met a violent end.
From behind, Jin Ling-er grabbed the man’s hand and anxiously spoke. “Ah, Shixiong! What happened to you? Father, quickly look. How is Shixiong?”
Hearing the remark, the middle-aged man quickly turned around. Seeing Qin Mo's present state, his pupils couldn't help but shrink. Qin Mo's originally white complexion had a vague darkness to it, and a thread of black blood seeped down the edge of his mouth.
Jin Linfeng at once moved to support Qin Mo’s body, holding the back of his hand he searched for his pulse.
A long time passed, Jin Linfeng breathed a slight sigh of relief, but his brow was still wrinkled. He spoke: “It’s only a common poison. However, if we don't hurry with treatment, I fear it will affect your cultivation in the future.”
Hearing this, everyone anxiously got up to move, once more boarding the Cloud Boat and hastily leaving.
On the Cloud Boat, watching Qin Mo as he sat alone on the ground recovering his breath, Jin Linfeng's heart couldn't help but sigh grimly. His disciple was too stubborn. Even if he was unwilling to show weakness at a time like this, he should rely on others a little.
Qin Mo could only feel blankness in his mind. Now and then, numerous chaotic images flooded his consciousness; scenes of him holding a scalpel performing surgery on someone, a youngster wielding a longsword dancing.
Previously, the Cloud Boat had already travelled for the greater half of the day and its location was already pretty close to Yueqing Sect. So before long, they arrived.
When the Cloud Boat arrived at the Sect grounds it came to a halt. Even though Jin Linfeng was the head of the sect, he could not violate the Sect rule that prohibited the use of mystic flying items within Yueqing Sect grounds.
As one of the three major sects under the blue sky, Yueqing Sect was obviously extraordinary. It stood at the summit of a huge mountain. From the foot of the mountain, you could see the faint outline of Yueqing Sect's mountain gates.
Generally, when new disciples came to the Sect, they had to traverse Dengtian Road on foot. The route called Dengtian Road was a narrow strip from which the peak wasn't visible where there stood a set of stone stairs.
This stone staircase was very long, and access to it had been restricted by the first ancestors of Yueqing Sect. New disciples often had to walk for a few days to reach the top of the mountain. Many gave up half way up; most of them were sent back home, still, some would not resign and stayed to become the most humble servants of the Sect, hoping to one day become immortals.
But even for those who fearlessly reached the peak, entry into the inner sect wasn't guaranteed.
Yueqing Sect was divided into an inner sect and an outer sect. The inner sect was directly subordinate to a Jindan immortal2 under the Sect, and it held an extremely high status. Regular disciples, without a heavenly spirit root or two spirit root, could not enter the inner sect unless they had cultivated to the Foundation Building phase. However, the disciples in the outer sect were generally unqualified, and most wouldn't be able to cultivate up to the Foundation Building phase.
In the novel, although Lin Zizheng was young, his resolve was firm and though he suffered a lot of hardship, it took him only two short days to cross Dengtian Road. Despite this, since he had an ordinary five spirit root, he could only stay in the outer sect. There, he was sincerely admired by the outer disciples, and also caught the attention of the inner sect Jindan immortal.
At this moment, because of the worry surrounding Qin Mo’s body, Jin Linfeng and the others were not too concerned with Lin Zizheng's circumstances. Bringing Lin Zizheng through the mountain gate, they handed him over to the elder responsible for the outer sect. Following that, Qin Mo was taken back to the main peak of Yueqing Sect - Yunlan peak.
The obvious special treatment Lin Zizheng received caused strong resentment from the disciples of the outer circle.
There were many families who'd send their young to Yueqing Sect to learn to cultivate. Even though some of the new disciples had been trained in cultivation before, they had to traverse the path without using any spiritual power.
Yet this newcomer Lin Zizheng was somehow different? He was nothing more than a five spirit root good-for-nothing. Why would Sect Head only carry him up the mountain!?
Within the outer circle, Lin Zizheng would live a life quite different from his previous one.
In Yunlan peak, Qin Mo once again coughed out black blood and fell into a coma. The entirety of Yunlan peak was in chaos. After all, Qin Mo was the direct disciple of the head of Yueqing Sect. He was highly talented and his cultivation was good. Furthermore, his position in the sect was also very conspicuous.
Btw I really do enjoy reading the reviews you guys leave behind on the Novel Updates website. While of course, the translation can only ever be as good as the original text, I still hope I am able to do justice to the original author's words. Also for those interested in reading the Indonesian translation, Akai is doing one here.
-Bean
1Mingshan Laogui: essentially this guy's "name" means the old spirit of the dark mountain, I'm gonna place the bet that this probably isn't actually his name and is more likely to be his title.
2Jindan immortal: a cultivator who has finished the Core Formation phase and has a gold core.