Chapter 19: CH 19

Translator: transcendentwings

Editor: teaff 

Now that the ghostly cultivators’ hideout had been determined, they began to plan out how to take care of all those wicked beings in one shot.

According to Tao Xian, there were about a dozen ghostly cultivators who went to the mountain temple to kidnap the troupe, but it was unknown how many were actually laying low at Baima Peak.

The leaders of the four sects congregated at one table to discuss.

Zhou Beinan took the lead: “Naturally we should surround them on all sides and attack them head on.” 

Qu Chi shook his head: “That’s not a good idea, we don’t know how many ghostly cultivators are hidden inside. If we charge in recklessly and encounter a large and powerful enemy force, we’ll have no problem retreating unscathed, but what of the rest of the disciples?”

“Then how do you suggest that we proceed?” Zhou Beinan countered, “First encircle Baima Peak and then send a message to the four sects, asking them to send more reinforcements to suppress them?”

Wen Xuechen answered without hesitation: “Also no.”

Xu Xingzhi supported his cheek: “Xuechen is right.”

After expressing his agreement, he turned to the group of disciples who were patiently awaiting their orders, picked one at random and asked loudly, “Lu Yujiu, your Qingliang Valley has been studying various formations all year round. The ghost clan kidnapped so many people and even chose a mountain with a spiritual aura to conceal themselves. It must be to borrow the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to create a large array to camouflage their ghostly auras. If they wanted to utilize those arrays to cultivate, how many days would be needed?”

Qingliang Valley has strict rules and regulations with clear stratification of seniority. Among the people present, there is almost no one who was promoted to the inner sect later than Lu Yujiu. With his seniors before him, he didn’t dare interrupt without authorization.

It wasn’t until Wen Xuechen conveyed his tacit approval that he spoke up: “Exactly 72 hours. More than two days have passed since these villagers were kidnapped. If we were to call upon members of our fellow sects to come to our aid, I’m afraid it would be a case of having good intentions but being too late to do anything; If we were to wait for them to refine the array become able to hide their ghostly auras, with the boost from the array to summon a soul successfully, it would be akin to adorning a tiger with wings, freeing fish in water, making it even more difficult to suppress them.”

Xu Xingzhi boasted: “This child is pretty good ah. His analysis was well done and he has cultivated properly.” 

Lu Yujiu’s analysis was truly so superb that even Zhou Beinan couldn’t help but give him a few more glances.

Wen Xuechen tapped the armrest of his wheelchair with his finger rhythmically and looked at Xu Xingzhi: “You are very familiar with the disciples of our valley?”

Hearing this, Lu Yujiu unconsciously twisted the hem of his clothes tightly.

Yet Xu Xingzhi answered frankly: “I had the fortune of meeting him once during the Eastern Emperor’s Sacrificial Ceremony a few years ago. He saved the disciples of my Fengling Mountain; loyal and righteous, he is an intelligent child. You should try and promote him a bit, did you hear me Wen-baimao?” 

When Wen Xuechen came across this type of shameless person who sought credit for others, he was also speechless. He urged: “Xu Xingzhi, if you have an idea in mind, then speak up quickly, and skip all the nonsense.”

Xu Xingzhi pushed the pale green hairband that dangled in front of his face back behind his head.

“I actually do have a way.” He smiled as he spoke, “. . . It’s just a little risky.”

Wen Xuechen: “. . . Go on.” 

Xu Xingzhi earnestly replied: “A raid from all sides, splitting the mountain from the outside.”

Zhou Beinan almost laughed out loud: “What kind of solution is that??”

Wen Xuechen didn’t smile. He frowned for a moment and stated: “. . . It might be feasible.”

Qu Chi also agreed: “It’s indeed possible. As far as I know, when the ghostly clan draws their array, they must set up an altar, raise a high platform, and worship souls. But now they are dogs who’ve lost their homes and need to borrow the spiritual energy within Baima Peak. Since it’s impossible to set up an altar on the summit of Baima Peak in a grand manner, they can only act like moles and dig out a space on it to borrow energy from the mountain to set up the altar.” 

“Aren’t they just trying to draw an array?” Xu Xingzhi revealed a sly smile, “Before that, let’s find out how many escape routes they’ve tunneled on Baima Peak then combine the forces of us four to strike the summit of Baima Peak from the outside— There is actually no need to split the mountain for real as long as we are able to collapse their altar and create a fissure on the sacrificial array they’ve drawn. Once they’ve lost their formation and fallen into a panic, what else can they keep up their arrogant pretense for?”

“When the time comes, we just need to follow the correct passage that had been scouted out, and it’d just be a matter of shooting fish in a barrel.”

After the conference, they settled little Tao Xian down in the teahouse.

The boss pitied this child and decided to keep him in the shop to make tea and boil water while taking care of his meals and accommodations. When he gets a little older, he can make the decision to stay or leave and the boss will let him do as he wished. 

Wen Xuechen had a severe heart disease and had difficulty moving around so Zhou Xian brought him and led four accompanying disciples to Baima Peak to set up the formation first. Zhou Beinan and Wen Xuechen followed behind closely while Xu Xingzhi, who took care of the bill, was the last one to follow them out of the teahouse.

After he caught up with the rest of the team, the first thing he did was dash over and tug on an end of Qu Chi’s whisk, dragging him to the rear of the group: “Qu Chi, Qu Chi, come here, let me give you something good.”

Qu Chi let him do as he pleased, not irritated at all: “What’s the matter?”

Xu Xingzhi pulled a stick of candied haws wrapped in a paper bag from his arms. 

Qu Chi: “. . .???”

“I mulled it over. My master, Qingjing-jun has always spoiled me and yet he has only given me one hundred spirit stones to cast spiritual tools every month. It’s a bit too high-handed of me to exchange a hundred spirit stones for one stick of candied haws.”  Xu Xingzhi stuffed the candied haws into his hand, “So I bought another just for you, I’m a true bro ba.”

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With Qu Chi’s promise, Xu Xingzhi finally felt at ease.

He stuffed the candied haws into his mouth and bit down on a ball of hawthorn before he was reminded of something. He turned around and inquired: “Speaking of which, this means you’ve never eaten these types of snacks before ba.”

Qu Chi shook his head honestly. 

Despite feeling sympathetic, Xu Xingzhi still teased him in a joking manner: “Do you know what sweetness tastes like? Don’t you want to try it?”

“Of course I’ve thought about it.” Qu Chi responded warmly, “Master won’t allow it, so I’ve just contemplated it and that’s it. . . . You know that I was abandoned in the water by my parents when I was born and was adopted by a temple. When Master passed by, and discovered that I had spiritual roots and the capacity to cultivate, he took me to Danyang Peak and raised me with care. I owe a lot to my Master and so of course I should obey his teachings.”

After teasing Qu Chi, Xu Xingzhi bit into the candied haws and sidled back to Zhou Beinan: “Xiao-Beibei.”

Zhou Beinan rolled his eyes: “. . . Why do you act like such a social butterfly. What do you want now?” 

“I’m not doing anything.” Xu Xingzhi held the candied haws in his mouth, “I just wanted to ask you when will the matter between Xiao-Xian’r and Xuechen be settled?”

When he mentioned this, Zhou Beinan jabbed him with his elbow: “Shoo, go, git, stop sticking your nose in my sister’s affairs, find yourself a good companion first ba.”

Xu Xingzhi chirped cheerfully: “Even you aren’t in a hurry, so I’m not in a rush either.”

“I think Ruzhou isn’t bad.” Zhou Beinan stated, “I think she is slightly interested in you in that way.” 

Xu Xingzhi scratched his cheek: “Ruzhou ah, she’s a good girl, but. . . I think my older brother likes her very much.”

Zhou Bienan frowned slightly: “. . . Xu Pingsheng? What are you caring about him for. The man is unmarried and the woman hasn’t been married off, how can such matters be discussed on a first-come-first-served basis?”

Xu Xingzhi rarely showed an expression of a rock being stuck in a hard place: “I already know that my brother has a crush on her, so it won’t be good of me to go after her. Besides, I don’t have those romantic feelings for her. If I was with her, I would just be wronging her.”

“Ruzhou is a famous beauty in our four sects. You’ve been interacting with her day in and day out and you haven’t developed any feelings?” Zhou Beinan exclaimed in admiration, “. . . You sure are a strange person.” 

Xu Xingzhi was about to answer, when he suddenly heard a very happy call from the mountain nearby: “Shiiii Xiongongongong—”

When Qu Chi heard that cry, he was bewildered and looked around.

Zhou Beinan heard this voice too many times before and actually reacted faster than Xu Xingzhi.

He joked: “Your family’s two shidi love to stick to you too much ba.” 

Xu Xingzhi didn’t bother taunting him back and took off into the air on his sword and directly hauled the two little brats, who were huddled in the gap between mountains, out. He didn’t speak a word as he morphed the sword back into a fan and rapped them each on the head once: “Didn’t I tell you to follow Wen-shixiong first? Why were you guys squatting here?”

Meng Chongguang wasn’t afraid of Xu Xingzhi at all and the half-grown boy didn’t shy away. He stretched out his arms and looped them around Xu Xingzhi’s waist: “I missed Shixiong, I want to stay with Shixiong.”

Xu Xingzhi allowed him to do as he wanted: “. . . We’ve only been apart for how long?”

Meng Chongguang’s voice was a little aggrieved as he snuggled into his arms: “I don’t know, it just feels like I haven’t seen you for a long time.” 

Xu Xingzhi really couldn’t do anything against him, and rubbed his hair while he asked Jiu Zhideng next to him: “Why did you join him in messing about?”

Jiu Zhideng’s speech was as concise as ever: “. . . I was afraid he’d run around and cause chaos.”

Xu Xingzhi asked again: “You guys snuck out halfway?”

Meng Chongguang nodded: “En!” 

“En what en? Are you feeling proud of it?” Xu Xingzhi pulled a serious face on, “If Wen-shixiong ends up scolding you, I won’t intervene.”

Meng Chongguang’s smiling eyes were curved into crescents and shrouded in a haze: “Shixiong is unwilling to allow me to be scolded ne.”

Jiu Zhideng, who was entirely excluded by Meng Chongguang in his comment, wasn’t perturbed and only focused all of his attention on Xu Xingzhi: “Shixiong, let’s go.”

Xu Xingzhi sighed and gave the leftover candied haws in his hand to Jiu Zhideng: “Okay, let’s go.” 

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Jiu Zhideng accepted it and cherished it as he ate them a bite at a time.

Because of this half-stick of candied haws, Meng Chongguang glared at Jiu Zhideng the rest of the way in jealousy.

Perhaps it was because he was too well-informed in regards to Xu Xingzhi’s habit of protecting his cubs, but when Xu Xingzhi’s group arrived at Baima Peak and met up with Wen Xuechen and his group, Wen Xuechen didn’t comment on the fact that two Fengling Mountain disciples had fled half-way.

Of course, he was generally too lazy to stick his nose into the business of disciples who weren’t a part of his own sect. 

He marked the caves he confirmed the ghostly cultivators were in on a sketched map and pointed them out to Xu Xingzhi and the others one by one.

This area was uninhabited within a 500 km radius so these ghostly cultivators had snuck in quietly, imitating cunning hares, and had slipped into seven caverns on the main peak of Baima Peak.

The group that came only consisted of fourteen or fifteen people in total which, after a relatively even division of manpower, just so happened to have two people in charge of each cavern.

After causing the mountain to quake and the formation to shatter violently, they could then break into the caves according to plan, annihilate the ghostly cultivators, seize the corpses of those civilians back, and finally bury them properly. 

Xu Xingzhi arranged as follows: “Chongguang’s cultivation base is still shallow so he will follow me into the cave to the south. Beinan and Ruzhou possess first-rate swordsmanship, and she is the best among all of the female disciples of Fengling Mountain and is even proficient in the medical arts. She can lead the Qingliang Valley disciples into a cave. . . Lu Yujiu, you go with her.”

Lu Yujiu cupped his hands: “Yes, Xu-shixiong.”

Yuan Ruzhou’s expression was vaguely unwilling: “. . . Yes.”

He continued: “Xiao-Deng, bring a Danyang Peak disciple with you into a cave.” 

Jiu Zhideng replied steadily: “I’ll accompany Shixiong, otherwise I’ll go alone.”

Xu Xingzhi frowned: “It’s too dangerous to go alone. . . Forget it, just follow me.”

After arranging the matter of entering the caverns simply, Xu Xingzhi cast his gaze at Qu Chi and the others as he raised his eyebrows provocatively: “. . . Everyone, let’s move out ba? Who’s first?”

Within a moment, the four of them chose a spot and took up their positions surrounding the mountain. 

Xu Xingzhi whistled and took the lead, taking the initiative to turn the folded fan in his palm into a glimmering long scythe. After whirling it in circles in the air a few times and kindling a cold and blazing firelight, he took advantage of the wind current generated and cleaved the side of Baima Peak.

When the sickle struck, the birds were startled into flight, and the mountain couldn’t maintain its appearance. The entire mountain shook violently, and a cloud of dust and smoke rose up belatedly to cover the sun, muddling the sky.

A small part of the mountain peak was chopped down directly and large pieces of rocks tumbled down the mountain.

Without waiting for this momentum to dissipate, the other three forces that were no less inferior also began their attack on their sides. 

According to their arrangements, each of them broke into the caves immediately as soon as the the entire mountain shuddered violently.

The first cavern that a struggle occurred in was the one Zhou Xian and Wen Xuechen were in charge of.

Not long after the two entered, they heard the howling of ghosts not far ahead of them while a dark wind blew fiercely.

It didn’t take long for them to see two evil spirits clearing the way, each armed with weapons as they rushed towards them. 

Zhou Xian stood in a sideways stance and with a hook of her long spear, she ensnared one of the ghost’s life-grappling hooks and slammed it on the ground with Wen Xuechen’s eight trigrams array following close behind, releasing the enchantment onto the body of that ghost. It screeched in agony at once and then disappeared into the void.

Zhou Xian’s movements barely paused as she struck with her long spear again and knocked away the longsword of another ghost then hurled her spear towards the interior of the cave, knocking off the talisman used to manipulate the ghosts that was hidden in the rear, pinning the ghostly cultivator onto the ground with one fierce yet graceful strike!

She retrieved her spear and looked back at Wen Xuechen.

The master of the ghosts died so the remaining ghost servants dissipated as well. 

Zhou Xian smiled gently and pointed at her own temple.

Wen Xuechen understood her meaning instantly. He reached upwards and picked out a leaf that was stuck in the hair by his temple.

His ears became a little heated, then he turned his face away and maneuvered his wheelchair, trying to go further inside.

Zhou Xian slipped her spear back into its sleeve on her back then took up pushing his wheelchair as they headed further into the depths of the cave. 

Xu Xingzhi, Meng Chongguang, and Jiu Zhideng made their way in on their side very smoothly. With Xu Xingzhi controlling the scene, Meng Chongguang and Jiu Zhideng hardly needed to do anything.

They were the first team to break into the depths of the altar.

As Xu Xingzhi had expected, the altar was shaken and had already split apart, damaging the cursed array as well.

The ghostly cultivators that were guarding it had already abandoned the altar and fled. The bodies of the members of the troupe they had collected were lined up in large and small rows, most of their faces already rotted away from the cursed enchantments of the ghostly clan. 

Xu Xingzhi whispered “condolences”, and investigated the altar as he sincerely sang the Great Compassion Mantra to lay their souls to rest.

. . . It was only that the Great Compassion Mantra was sung very poorly as his tone had already taken flight beyond the highest heavens.

Meng Chongguang and Jiu Zhideng originally planned to go and take a look at the corpses, but who would’ve thought that as soon as the two of them had just taken a few steps, they would hear a shocking explosion erupt from the center of the altar.

The gravel tumbled about and lime filled the sky, Xu Xingzhi’s figure was completely buried within the collapsed altar. 

Meng Chongguang panicked and advanced without regard to how dirty the lime was or how it choked him in a few bounding steps: “Shixiong? Shixiong!!!”

Amidst the dust and fog, a person leapt out.

Meng Chongguang lunged over and grabbed onto Xu Xingzhi’s robe as he examined him up and down: “Shixiong, are you okay? Are you injured?”

Xu Xingzhi’s legs were a little soft and only spoke after a long time: “. . . F*ck, there were bugs.” 

Just earlier, he saw the Gu worms that the ghost clan hadn’t been able to retrieve in time from the copper cauldron that was on the altar. The white and fat ringed worms squirmed and squeezed together, packed in the cauldron like silkworms in spring.

Seeing this image, Xu Xingzhi’s scalp exploded with goosebumps, his spiritual power instantly went out of control and blasted the altar and the stand along with it.

Seeing the way Xu Xingzhi was trembling, Meng Chongguang couldn’t help laughing a little and even Jiu Zhideng raised the corners of his lips slightly.

Yet, the unexpected occurred in that instant. 

A ghostly cultivator who was hiding among the piled up corpses, got up inaudibly while everyone had their guard down.

Before him was the undefended back of Jiu Zhideng.

Xu Xingzhi’s eyes flashed only to see the staff used for enchantments in the ghostly cultivator’s hand, silently ambushing Jiu Zhideng from behind.

Jiu Zhideng was currently caught in the gap between tensed nerves and relief and was still lacking experience in countering the enemy. When he heard the sound of a blade whistling through the air, he only had enough time to turn around and see the snakehead on the enchantment staff flashing with a bright red symbol. 

Seeing that it was unavoidable, just as he was about to be struck in the chest with the curse mark, Jiu Zhideng’s field of vision suddenly darkened as he was protected by someone in their arms.

. . . The snakehead slammed fiercely into Xu Xingzhi’s back.

Xu Xingzhi resolutely took the blow. His movements didn’t stop for the slightest bit and in the instant he turned around, his folded fan turned into a liuxing spear, striking the ghostly cultivator in the jaw, launching him more than three meters away.

Facing the fallen corpse of the ghostly cultivator, Xu Xingzhi cursed: “Daring to attack my shidi, b*stard.” 

Immediately after, his body swayed twice and he fell backwards, straight into a sluggish Jiu Zhideng’s arms.

Discarding all etiquette, Meng Chongguang rushed forward and hurriedly tore the waist sash on Xu Xingzhi’s robes off, exposing his back.

A snakehead rune was clearly seared on the flesh in the center of Xu Xingzhi’s back. The surrounding area was swollen and bruised and scarlet veins stretched out from around the wound. In a blink of an eye, it had already spread all over his back.

Meng Chongguang sealed several of his acupuncture points, barely halting its spread. 

There were already tears in his voice: “Shixiong, how do you feel?”

Xu Xingzhi gritted his teeth and took a long time to squeeze out one word: “. . . Cold.”

The author has something to say:

Shixiong’s afraid-of-the-cold constitution get√ 

Sweet darling Chongguang is online√

qwq May enter V tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, heart!

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Assail the mountain, raid, snake rune 

The translator has something to say: Gasp! Could Zhou Wang’s father be. . .? And if so, what pushed them into such an unrecoverable and cruel end?

The editor has something to say: Omg, is that why Xu Xingzhi is afraid of the cold?? T_T

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