IS Chapter 3
by VolareUpper Purity Mountain, Dao Sect Great Hall.
Today, the Sect Leader and the Second Elder’s expressions were unusually grim. They dispatched people to the Martial Sect’s mountain to hurriedly invite their Clan Elders, Lou Kui and Jiang Yan, a married couple. Afterwards, they ordered that no one was allowed to enter the Great Hall.
“Second Elder, you must not speak carelessly! My son has a noble character and a steadfast Dao heart; there’s absolutely no way he would do such a thing!” In the hall, Lou Kui’s face was filled with anger.
The Second Elder’s expression was cold and stern: “Then can it be that the Dragon Scent Guide and several other medicinal ingredients in our sect’s treasure vault were stolen by outsiders?”
Lou Kui: “It must be that your Dao Sect’s discipline is lax. There’s infighting among the disciples, and someone is trying to frame my son! Besides, that Second Palace Master Ye is a man; how could my son have such thoughts about him?”
“Good, good, good,” the Second Elder laughed instead of getting angry. “What kind of person do you think that Ye Zhuo is? He’s the Number One Sword Under Heaven! He went to the point of no return, the Spiritual Mountain, at the age of thirteen. At eighteen, he challenged the top three swordsmen in the world at the Ullambana Assembly. Just last year, he single-handedly leveled the Misty Cloud Small Realm with his sword — and you also said he’s a man. Tell me, even if there’s infighting among the disciples, who would target that killing star and fling such ridiculous mud?”
“It’s precisely because that Ye Zhuo is an unreasonable killing star that someone would use this to frame Ke’er and kill with a borrowed knife!” Jiang Yan cried. “Where is Ke’er now? What has Ye Zhuo done to him? Has the Second Elder checked his Life-Bound Jade Tablet?”
“His Life-Bound Jade Tablet is already shattered — bring the corpse up!” The Second Elder said, “Take a good look and see if this sinful disciple’s own heart demon arose, causing him to explode and die!”
A miserable, sharp scream immediately echoed in the hall. Lou Kui’s eyes were also bloodshot, and he gripped his weapon tightly.
The Second Elder said in a deep voice: “Now the witnesses and evidence are all present. The Palace Master of their Micro-Snow Palace is waiting in the front hall, wanting our two sects to give an explanation. Lou Kui, what do you say we should do?”
“My son is already dead; what explanation can there be?” Lou Kui said, “What Micro-Snow Palace, what Palace Master, Second Palace Master, they’re just a small, newly emerged sect! Today, I’ll storm Green Mountains to avenge my son!”
The Second Elder sneered: “Since the Number One Sword Under Heaven is their Second Palace Master, don’t you think about how much worse their Palace Master could be.”
“The one waiting in the front hall is their Palace Master, right? I took a look, and he’s a young brat whose feathers haven’t even grown in yet. His cultivation is only mediocre, only a hair better than my eldest disciple!”
“Oh? Then you should go into Death Meditation and then forcibly break through it halfway. If you still have one soul and two spirits left of your three souls and seven spirits by then, Elder Lou, I’ll let you storm Green Mountains.” The Second Elder said in a strange tone, “Right now, that Wei Sheng Xian isn’t just demanding an explanation for Ye Zhuo; he’s also standing there perfectly intact, demanding that we compensate him for the damage from forcibly breaking out of Death Meditation.”
“Outrageous! After killing my son, they still want to rip off Upper Purity Mountain; does whatever he says go?” Lou Kui was furious. “I’ll say it again, there’s absolutely no way my son would do such a despicable thing! If one Palace Master isn’t enough, let that Ye Zhuo come too; we’ll have a face-to-face confrontation with him!”
“How lively.” A slow, gentle voice suddenly rang out.
The people in the hall looked at each other and then turned together to the person who suddenly appeared at the entrance of the hall.
The Dao Sect’s Great Hall was actually entered silently and without a sound. What were the guard disciples doing?
Wei Sheng Xian surveyed the Great Hall and said with a slight smile: “Is this your esteemed sect’s explanation?”
Lou Kui was born in the Martial Sect and cultivated the method of vigorous body refinement. He was already naturally irritable, and at this moment, he roared like a cannon: “This matter is unclear, and we cannot give an explanation! My son has upright character and a detached heart. How could he make a move against a man? Palace Master Wei Sheng, don’t you think this is very laughable?”
“Oh? But our Second Palace Master has outstanding looks, like flawless jade. This is something that everyone in the Immortal Dao knows. It’s only natural that a disciple of your sect would be moved by him,” Wei Sheng Xian said calmly.
Everyone was momentarily speechless.
Unfortunately, that Ye Zhuo did indeed have a face that captivated people. This person emerged out of nowhere back then, without deep qualifications or reputation, and without a renowned sect or faction. Even though he had challenged all the famous swordsmen, some elders still didn’t recognize the title of “Number One Sword Under Heaven,” but the nickname of “Number One Beauty Under Heaven” had never been refuted.
“This matter is strange and should not be prejudged,” Jiang Yan said. “He’s just a small disciple; how would he dare to poison a famous senior? The reasons for this need to be investigated further.”
“Famous is true, but I wouldn’t dare to be called a ‘senior.’ Our Second Palace Master is actually younger than your son,” Wei Sheng Xian said, unhurriedly shaking out a divination from his sleeve. “It’s strange to say, but the day your son came to visit, he also made a divination, asking about Second Palace Master Ye’s fate and marriage.”
“Coincidentally, the divination is good, with the Red Matchmaker Star showing signs of movement. It seems he was in a hurry to become that Red Matchmaker Star.”
“…”
This divination was truly simple and clear, and the handwriting could also be recognized as belonging to their own son. The Lou family parents looked at the divination paper, their faces turning red and white by turns, extremely unpredictable.
The Second Elder coughed and said: “Palace Master Wei Sheng, let’s put this matter aside for now. You said earlier that you were in Death Meditation and should be unaware of worldly affairs. Why did you forcibly break through it halfway and happen to run into this matter?”
“Second Elder, these words sound like you’re saying that my Micro-Snow Palace set a trap to harm someone,” the gentle and refined smile on Wei Sheng Xian’s lips gradually disappeared.
He took out another divination. The young Daoist had no expression on his face: “What, is he allowed to make divinations, but I’m not allowed to?”
“…”
A soft sigh came from the head seat; it was the Dao Sect’s First Elder, who hadn’t spoken all along.
“Alright, everyone, stop arguing and needlessly harming our harmony.”
“Is Second Palace Master Ye unharmed now? It’s been a long time since we last met.”
“Yes, yes,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “Everyone knows about our Second Palace Master’s cultivation. A mere poison can’t do anything to him — but he has a bad temper. I was afraid that another dispute would arise, so I didn’t let him come. Once the matter is settled, he will definitely come to your esteemed sect to pay a visit.”
The First Elder sighed deeply and cupped his fist towards Wei Sheng Xian: “In this matter, our Upper Purity Mountain owes the Micro-Snow Palace an explanation.”
–
Ye Zhuo came out of seclusion ten days later.
On this day, another thing happened at Micro-Snow Palace — the Fourth Palace Master, Feng Jiang, who had gone out to gather herbs, returned to the mountain with two medicinal workers. Among the vast Green Mountains, the few living people finally increased by a few more.
“I heard that some blind person poisoned you. There aren’t many poisons in the world that can affect you, right?” Feng Jiang asked Ye Zhuo with a smile while sorting out the herbs he had gathered.
Ye Zhuo was sitting in front of his desk. It was hard to say whether Feng Jiang’s attainments in medicine or poison were higher. The only thing that could be determined was that the few elixirs refined by his hands were all priceless treasures in the Immortal Dao.
Ye Zhuo asked directly: “What is the Dragon Scent Guide?”
Feng Jiang was stunned upon hearing this.
He didn’t even bother sorting out the medicinal ingredients. He walked closer to Ye Zhuo: “No way? …You were poisoned by this stuff? That cheapskate actually succeeded? Is he dead?”
Ye Zhuo: “No. He’s dead.”
“Then Wei Sheng helped you detoxify?” Seeing him today, his cultivation has dropped quite a bit.”
“No.”
“It couldn’t be that you forcibly dispersed the poison yourself in the cold pool, right?”
“…First, tell me what this thing is.”
“Dragon Scent Guide is rare in the world, so it’s almost never seen in records. Fortunately, I’ve read a secret ancient book, so I know a lot about this stuff,” Feng Jiang said. “When a male dragon courts a mate, its body naturally emits a scent, which has an extremely strong aphrodisiac effect. You’ve heard of it, right?”
He didn’t need to “hear” it; Ye Zhuo had already experienced it personally.
Ye Zhuo: “Mm.”
“From the body of a living or recently deceased male dragon, you can dissect the organ that produces this scent — that’s the ‘Dragon Scent Guide.’ The Scent Guide is the size of a fist, its color is grayish-white, its texture is like solidified fat, and it can be refined into elixirs.”
“After being refined, its effect is several times that of ordinary scents. It’s extremely difficult to resist; even dragons themselves avoid it, and even Tribulation Transcending cultivators can’t resist it. It’s only natural that you couldn’t withstand it; it’s not because your cultivation hasn’t reached that level.”
“What’s more…” Feng Jiang stammered a little, “Your Life-Bound Sword is made from dragon scales, so your sensitivity to the dragon scent should be even more intense than ordinary people — um…in short…ah, the person who poisoned you might not have even thought of this key point, but using it on you is really a match made in heaven.”
It sounded like the cycle of heaven was indeed at play, and retribution was inevitable. Moreover, the previous night wasn’t just the poison of the Scent Guide; there was also the scent of that dragon itself. Ye Zhuo was speechless.
Ye Zhuo: “Thank you for clearing up my confusion.”
“Ai.” Feng Jiang’s eyebrows curved, and he laughed, “Big beauty, you’ve already said this much, aren’t you going to give me some hush money?”
Ye Zhuo: “I’m not a chaste woman or a steadfast widow, nor do I cultivate pure Yang techniques. What can you do even if you tell people?”
“Sigh, you sword cultivators are really no fun.” Feng Jiang pulled his hand over to take his pulse.
Ye Zhuo suddenly changed the subject: “Do you have anything similar to the Dragon Scent Guide here?”
“What do you want to do? Hmm…the human realm and the dragon realm are not connected. Separated by the barrier between realms, the scent guides of true dragons are rarely seen in the world. I do have some scent guides of river dragons, but their effects are not great; they’re better than nothing.”
Ye Zhuo: “I want one piece. I also want a portion of your most potent poison. By the way, tell me more about the habits of dragons.”
Feng Jiang blinked: “What do you want to do?”
Ye Zhuo threw an object out of his sleeve. Feng Jiang caught it and examined it carefully.
“Wow, an Ice Lotus Spirit Soul? How do you still have such a good thing?”
“To buy your medicine.” Ye Zhuo went to the inner room, “Take me to see it.”
“Understood, I will definitely keep my mouth shut.”
Ye Zhuo: “…”