CH 121

Chapter 121 – Is There Still a Future?

TL: Sponsored chapter (4/4)

When Xu Disheng opened his eyes, there was an endless vitality erupting from within. After a while, it settled into a deathly stillness. In the midst of the fluid transition, all beings seemed to pass through the vicissitudes of life and death.

“Master?” Little Sky said, his low voice appearing in Xu Disheng’s mind.

After lightly shaking his head, Xu Disheng closed his eyes and opened them again. This time, his gaze had returned to normal.

“Hm? I recalled some things earlier. There’s no obstruction anymore,” Xu Disheng said falteringly, unsure for a moment whether this was reality or his imagination. Now that he had returned from those vague, ancient memories, he set those matters aside and started to go through the assortment of items in front of him.

Of the seven brightly glowing Magic Treasures in front of him, the brightest of the two were the Smoky Cloud Screen and the White Lotus Array Flag, each of which were peak top-grade Magic Treasures!

There was also Zhao Yueban’s Remnant Rainbow Sword, and Zuo Yanran’s silver fishnet. Although these two Magic Treasures were slightly inferior to the Smoky Cloud Screen and the White Lotus Array Flag, they were still ranked as top-grade Magic Treasures and were extremely powerful.

Following their masters’ deaths, these Magic Treasures were now without a master. Xu Disheng picked up the Smoky Cloud Screen and White Lotus Array Flag and refined his mark onto them, then deposited them into his sea of consciousness.

Aside from those four top-grade Magic Treasures, the others were ranked as ordinary Magic Treasures. However, it was only possible to hold a maximum of five Magic Treasures in the sea of consciousness, so having more than that would be pointless.

Xu Disheng rifled through the jade slips and picked out one of them, then activated it.

It was the message jade slip for the Spirit Karma House on Passing Sin Peak.

Last time, Xu Disheng had purchased the Yin Yang Diagram from them. After completing the business deal, he received this jade slip, which he could use to contact someone from the Spirit Karma House whenever he wanted.

If he wanted to buy or trade something valuable, he could directly call one of their errand disciples over. It was extremely convenient, given he didn’t even have to leave his own courtyard.

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the message jade slip vibrated, notifying him that the person from the Spirit Karma House had already arrived.

Xu Disheng didn’t let them enter his room, instead opening the light barrier and walking out of his courtyard.

Unexpectedly, the person who came was a Dao Foundation stage Deacon.

Seeing Xu Disheng come out, the Deacon didn’t put on any airs and got straight to the matter at hand. “I am from the Spirit Karma House. How may I help you today, esteemed customer?”

Xu Disheng didn’t waste any words and directly handed a storage pouch to the Deacon.

Seeing Xu Disheng not say anything, he was a bit doubtful, but took the storage pouch anyway. When he subconsciously checked the contents, his expression changed slightly. His voice lowered and he asked, “Would you like to sell all of these things?”

He wasn’t making a fuss over nothing. After all, laid neat and tidy within were a whole six Magic Treasures, and two of them were even top-grade Magic Treasures!

Excluding the Smoky Cloud Screen, the White Lotus Array Flag, the Remnant Rainbow Sword, the silver fishnet, and his own Yin Yang Diagram, Xu Disheng had even put his Glorious Sun Bow in the storage pouch. The three Destruction Arrows were already used up, and using profound qi to make arrows would limit its power by a lot. It would be far too difficult to try and find more Destruction Arrows to purchase, so it was better to just exchange it for spirit stones.

This Deacon from the Spirit Karma House never would have imagined that this early Sea of Qi stage disciple would hand him a mere storage pouch, which itself cost no more than a dozen spirit stones, and yet the contents exceeded 20,000 spirit stones in value!

Xu Disheng nodded and said, “That’s right, you can take all of it with you right now. You can directly acquisition it or help me sell it, but when you finish exchanging everything for spirit stones, just have someone send them to me.”

The Deacon from the Spirit Karma House gave Xu Disheng a deep glance. “Understood.”

The Deacon hopped on his flying sword Magic Treasure and started ascending into the sky above Morning Dew Peak.

The two of them didn’t even bother to speak of whether or not the Spirit Karma House would send over his spirit stones in the end.

Not to mention the fact that Passing Sin Peak was the most famous marketplace in the entire Mingxin Mountain Range, the strict sect rules made it so if any shop were to brazenly covet a disciples’ belongings, they wouldn’t be able to bear the aftermath.

If Xu Disheng wanted to protect his spot in the final round of the tournament three days from now, he at least had to have a Psychic Magic Treasure.

However, Psychic Magic Treasures were far too precious and rare, and couldn’t simply be bought by just having enough spirit stones. There was hardly a market for them because there was no supply.

Occasionally, an almighty powerhouse at the three stages of Approaching Divinity would put out one or two Psychic Magic Treasures, but they would always be snatched up instantly at exorbitant prices.

Although the marketplace on Passing Sin Peak was the main marketplace of Mingxin Mountain Range, Mingxin Mountain was only the Sixth Mountain out of the eight, so the quality of the marketplace was a little lacking in comparison to some of the others. After all, the marketplace on Passing Sin Peak was pretty much the market for the entire Mountain Range, and yet there wasn’t a single Psychic Magic Treasure to be seen.

He Junyu’s Thunderflame Pagoda, as well as Yu Yangyao’s Coiling Serpent and Jian Liangbi’s Dragon Abyss Ancient Sword were all Psychic Magic Treasures, but they were all bestowed to them by their elders, and hadn’t been purchased. Such items could be encountered through fortuitous chance, but couldn’t be easily sought out.

As he sat on the couch, Xu Disheng clutched the intermediary disciple token in his hand, his face contemplative.

In terms of position, an intermediary disciple was second only to a Dao Foundation stage Secret Realms Envoy.

Back when he was in the Chu Territory, he had encountered Zhou Xinghe and Jiang Wu, who were intermediary disciples. They had been accompanying the Secret Realms Envoy, Liu Xiangji.

Celestial Tide Spirit Master specifically said that Xu Disheng would be able to act at his own discretion. Did he want Xu Disheng to bring Daoist Lord Qingxin back himself? Or was there some deeper meaning?

Xu Disheng recalled the profound, erudite gaze of Celestial Tide Spirit Master and then thought of his relation with Qingxin and Zhuri Mountain Range, and slowly came to an understanding.

Qingxin was someone that Celestial Tide Spirit Master had brought back to the Shangqing Sacred Sect from outside. After that, he didn’t take care of Qingxin, and simply placed him in the Outer Region of the Eighth Mountain, Zhuri Mountain. However, Qingxin encountered trouble and was banished to the Secret Realms, where he wasted 200 years of his life.

If someone said that Celestial Tide Spirit Master didn’t lose face over this matter, Xu Disheng wouldn’t believe it even for a second.

Clearly, the person who got Qingxin into that mess didn’t know that he was someone that Celestial Tide Spirit Master brought back to the sect. But as a Divine Core stage Spirit Master, this matter really did damage his prestige.

Although he brought back a disciple and simply left them in the Outer Region of Zhuri Mountain and didn’t take care of him, Qingxin still wasn’t someone that should have been easily humiliated with a Divine Core stage Spirit Master behind him.

However, Xu Disheng still needed to go to the Chu Territory and find Qingxin to fully understand the truth behind all of this.

Perhaps what Celestial Tide Spirit Master meant by acting at his own discretion was to return from the Chu Territory himself and go to the Outer Region of Zhuri Mountain to thoroughly put this matter to rest.

There were many types of affairs disciples, and depending on their post, they would have different privileges that far exceeded those of ordinary disciples.

Now that he was Secret Realms intermediary disciple, he had a portion of authority to observe, make judgments, and investigate matters at his own discretion within the Mortal Secret Realms.

Of course, this authority came from the Secret Realms Envoy. If Xu Disheng wanted to reopen the investigation regarding Qingxin’s punishment, he would need the permission of his direct superior, a Secret Realms Envoy who he had never met before.

… …

“Older sister, what’s wrong?” Little Yu said, his face full of worry and anxiety as he gripped his sister’s slim hand. He was at a complete loss on what to do as he watched black blood slowly seep out of her sleek arm.

The girl’s complexion was pale as she lay there on the sofa. She forced herself to smile as she said, “I’m fine. Hurry up and go to the village center to get your bloodline measured. The ceremony is almost over. If you don’t go soon, you won’t make it.”

Panicked sobs began to percolate Little Yu’s voice. “Older sister! I only went for a quick trip to Lord Qiuyue’s place to turn in the Mandala Flowers. What happened? Why are you like this now?!”

There was a hint of despair hidden in the girl’s gaze. She shook her head, and her sweet, crooning tone started becoming hoarse. “Hurry up and go take part in the ceremony. There’s nothing wrong with your sister!”

Tears welled up in Little Yu’s eyes when he looked down and saw her arm sticky with black blood. A heartfelt pang stung in his chest, and he wrapped himself tightly around her arm, refusing to let go.

“Little Yu, remember this. As lowest-rung ghost citizens, we have no dignity to speak of. Even if a ghost soldier slaughters us, there’s nothing we can do except quietly turn into a true soul and reincarnate,” the girl said, her voice gradually losing volume. “Little Yu, be a good child and listen to your sister. Go take part in the ceremony. If you can awaken the bloodline of the Grandmaster of Moonphase, you’ll be able to avenge your sister. Okay?”

Little Yu wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded his head vigorously. “Then Sister, wait for me here until I come back. I’ll definitely awaken the bloodline of Grandmaster Moonphase!”

The girl watched as Little Yu left the room and let out a weak chuckle. She no longer used ghostly qi to control the bleeding, and in the next moment, black blood immediately began to pour out from her body.

The shroud of death fell over her originally delicate and pretty facial features. The girl looked up through a hole in the raggedy roof of the house and gazed at the gloomy sky of the Nine Serenities Realm. She quietly muttered to herself as her voice faded to nothingness, “If only these heavens could treat every living being equally, how great would that be…”

Black blood pooled around her body, and she gradually morphed into a drifting wisp of death energy.

The girl’s figure finally transformed into a mote of light signifying a true soul, which lightly fluttered off in the direction of the Paths of Reincarnation.

Little Yu ran wildly as he thought of his sister’s smiling face.

How could he allow himself to disappoint his sister?

She always loved to smile and warmly pat his head.

Although the brother and sister pair didn’t always get enough to eat, his sister would always look towards the future with yearning and longing. She would never complain, and her clear eyes had always been filled with hope.

Someone had struck his kind-hearted sister a terrible injury and humiliated her, and yet there was nothing he could do about it!

In that instant, Little Yu seemed to mature a bit. A burning flame ignited in his heart, causing a trace of power hidden deep within his meridians to show signs of awakening.

A Grandmaster bloodline!

“I will definitely awaken the bloodline of Grandmaster Moonphase. Sister is still waiting at home for me!” Little Yu shouted in his heart, his eyes firm and resolute. His gaze was full of longing for the future as he stepped into the village square of Xiangmi Village.

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