Chapter 621 - 101: Using the Spirit Communication Stone

After reading the handwritten letter from Qiuwang, Wang Ping asked the disciple who had returned to report, "Where is your master right now?"

"Replying to the True Man, as soon as he received the news, my master left with two of my senior brothers through a secret passage. If everything went smoothly, they should have already reached the Datong Marquisate by now."

After hearing this, Wang Ping thought for a moment before waving his hand. "Alright, you’re dismissed. Go get some rest."

Xia Wen Yi immediately withdrew with the man.

Yu Lian flew up to a beam over the courtyard gate, staring at the two departing figures. "So, they’re planning to encircle us. If the Liangjiang Region and the True Yang Mountain Region team up, the northern city wall of Nanlin Road will fall in three months at most. With the addition of Lishui Prefecture’s army, I’m afraid the Chu Kingdom Court itself will be destabilized."

"These people really are a nuisance!"

With a casual flick of his finger, Wang Ping constructed a detailed map of the south out of Wood Spirit Qi. He stared at the map for a good while, and then Xia Wen Yi returned.

"I’m afraid our Daoist Temple on Moon Mountain is going to be destroyed," Xia Wen Yi warned.

"If it’s destroyed, we can rebuild it!" Wang Ping said, pointing at the map. "This encirclement is still missing one piece: Mozhou Road. What kind of trouble do you think will erupt there?"

Xia Wen Yi looked at Mozhou Road on the map and shook his head. "I can’t figure it out. It wouldn’t be in Wu Quan’s interest to betray you. Besides, if he actually did something like that, he’d be ostracized by the entire Southern Cultivation Realm."

Hearing this, Wang Ping suddenly laughed. "If we can’t guess, then let’s not worry about it. Besides, with the way things are going, it shouldn’t be long before the truth of Mozhou Road is revealed to us."

Just then, Yu Lian flew over, landing on the Stone Table and coiling her body. She looked at Wang Ping and said, "Knowing Wu Quan’s personality, I bet he’s trying to play both sides. He probably doesn’t intend to leave our alliance, but he definitely wants to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."

Wang Ping gave a nonchalant smile. "Let’s not talk about him..." He pointed to Ningzhou Road on the map. "The key to the situation in the north is Ningzhou Road. Our opponents are clever; by blockading it, they’ve left us with almost no room to maneuver."

"According to the initial intelligence from our internal affairs division, Daoist Li Miaolin came to take up his post alone!" Xia Wen Yi chimed in.

Wang Ping had already learned this from the puppets he’d placed in Ningzhou Road, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a trap. ’If I were in Li Miaolin’s shoes, I’d never do something so reckless.’

"I still don’t understand why Wan Zhi Daoist would suggest he help govern Ningzhou Road!" Yu Lian’s tone was filled with discontent.

Wang Ping couldn’t answer, as he was just as confused. He thought for a moment, then looked at Xia Wen Yi and asked, "How much longer until our internal division can confirm this intelligence?"

"It should be soon. It’s not a difficult thing to check; Daoist Li Miaolin has to make public appearances over the next few days."

The very next day, the internal division sent back a confirmed report: Li Miaolin had, in fact, arrived to take up his post in Ningzhou Road alone!

On that very same day, the Ji Family of the Liangjiang Region delivered a formal declaration of war to the Chu Kingdom Court and dispatched an army of one hundred fifty thousand to march south.

After receiving these two pieces of news, Wang Ping brought Yu Lian to the small courtyard of his master, Yu Cheng Taoist. The courtyard was just as he remembered it. Every time he came here, Wang Ping couldn’t help but think about his master, but he now forced down the guilt in his heart. He tossed a handful of seeds into the yard and performed a Spell.

As a dense current of Wood Spirit Qi flowed out, the scattered seeds instantly transformed into a thick tangle of vines. They burrowed deep into the courtyard’s soil. The ground throbbed and bulged, and in a short while, the vines dragged a wooden box from beneath the earth, one intricately carved with a Gold Spirit Sealing Array.

Inside the box was the "Jia-Xia-07" Spirit Communication Stone. It was the artifact the madmen from the radical faction of True Yang Mountain’s Jimin Association had used in their assassination attempt on him. It could instantly corrode the Wood Spirit within the body of a Taiyan Cultivator!

"You’re planning to move on Li Miaolin directly?" Yu Lian asked.

"What do you think?"

"He’s backed by a Fourth Realm Cultivator. Even though Wan Zhi Daoist said we don’t have to worry about the higher-ups, for us to be the ones to provoke him..."

"If having a Fourth Realm Cultivator for a master means someone can act with impunity in this competition, then we might as well just roll over and die!" Wang Ping cut in. "Besides, I’m not planning to kill him."

"Seal him?"

"Exactly."

With that, Wang Ping took out a Puppet Bird.

Yu Lian sensed the aura within the Puppet Bird. "You’re planning to ask the Jimin Association for help?"

"You see a problem with that?"

"I just feel like you already owe the Jimin Association too many favors. I’m worried you won’t be able to pay them back."

But Wang Ping just smiled, unfazed. "It’s only now that I’m starting to understand what Wan Zhi Daoist meant by cause and effect. This time, I’m afraid the Jimin Association won’t be the only ones I’m indebted to."

As he spoke, he took out a bamboo slip and used his Wood Spirit Qi to imprint a line of code onto it. He then placed it inside the Puppet Bird’s abdomen and sent it flying.

When the Puppet Bird had ascended into the clouds, Wang Ping took Yu Lian back to the underground grotto of the Mountain Peak Dojo and used a Communication Token to contact Zhi Gong Daoist and Hu Yin.

「Three days later.」

An investigation file—listing neither a target nor a date—was personally delivered into Wang Ping’s hands by two Entry-level Disciples from Qianmu Temple and the newly returned Dongcan. This was the highest class of investigation file from the Daoist Palace. Its purpose was to investigate whether any Third Realm Cultivators within the Chu Country had improperly interfered in the struggle for the Zhongzhou Divine Artifact, and it required the joint signatures of three chief officiants to be enacted.

This was the justification Wang Ping needed to deal with Li Miaolin. After all, he was the disciple of a Fourth Realm Cultivator; one needed a proper pretext to make a move!

「Two days later.」

Spring rains began to sweep across the southern lands. Early that morning, Liu Huai’en of the Jimin Association appeared on Qianmu Temple’s Ascension Platform. At the same time, an urgent military report was delivered to Wang Ping.

The report was from Zuo Liang, who had taken charge of the loose cultivators. She wrote that the offensive from the Liangjiang Region was ferocious and that without reinforcements, she could hold out for half a month at most!

Wang Ping gave Xia Wen Yi full authority to handle the military report. He wasn’t worried about the war for secular power at the moment, as he still had the specially-made Power Pills as his trump card.

Mountain Peak Dojo.

Wang Ping met with Liu Huai’en alone.

After a brief reunion, Wang Ping got straight to the point.

"I happen to know a bit about Daoist Li Miaolin," Liu Huai’en began. "It’s been over twelve hundred years since he broke through to the Third Realm, but he’s spent all this time cultivating at his master’s side. This is probably his first time venturing out. He’s likely trying to compete for a spot in the Fourth Realm, but it’s more probable that he’s being used by certain people."

Liu Huai’en pointed to his own head. "Cultivators who spend all their time in seclusion can be quite naive. Your plan is the right one. Sealing him is the best choice. If Chongxing Daoist comes looking for him, you can just hand him over."

After listening, Wang Ping looked at Liu Huai’en and said, "Judging by your tone, you seem very confident about sealing Li Miaolin."

"With the Spirit Communication Stone, I wouldn’t call it a walk in the park, but it won’t be too much trouble, either."

"Good. To make absolutely sure nothing goes wrong, I’ll give you three more helpers."

Wang Ping planned to have Lu Shan and two others from the Nine Tripods Sect assist Liu Huai’en. Truth be told, if he weren’t worried that Lu Shan’s trio might get ideas after obtaining the Spirit Communication Stone, he wouldn’t have even asked the Jimin Association for help.