Chapter 658: Xiao Shan Lord's Hobby

After Wang Ping sat down, Yu Lian craned her neck to look at the nearby pavilion, but she quickly grew bored. She flew up from Wang Ping and went to the door of the main house.

She had long been curious about the furnishings inside.

“Don’t mess anything up in there.”

Wang Ping admonished.

Like a thief caught in the act, Yu Lian was just about to push the door open with her tail. Wang Ping’s voice made her jump. Annoyed, she flicked her forked tongue and said, “You scared me!”

With that, she mustered her courage, gently pushed open the wooden door with her tail, and stretched her head to peer inside.

The furnishings in the room were very simple: a wooden bed with two cattail mats, and a bookshelf set against the wall. The shelf was filled with bamboo slips and books. On the far left were the most primitive, wide bamboo slips; the further right one looked, the more advanced the method of recording became, with bound books at the very end.

It was clear at a glance that these were books the Xiao Shan Lord had collected during his cultivation. Most of them were storybooks—apparently, he shared the same hobby as Yu Lian.

Yu Lian went to the far left, used her Levitation Skill to roll up one of the wide bamboo slips, and flew out as fast as she could. The tension in her heart only eased slightly when she landed on Wang Ping’s shoulder.

Her eyes fell on the wide bamboo slip as she asked, “What are we going to do now? Are we going to hunt the Forest Blood Wolf?”

Wang Ping didn’t answer her question. He looked at the wide bamboo slip floating in front of her and asked, “What are you reading?”

“An old storybook. The room is full of them,” Yu Lian said quickly. “So this is what old storybooks were like. It’s only two hundred characters long, so simple. It’s some cliché plot about a young man from the Southeast Sea Region whose parents were eaten by the Demon Race, and who then cultivates to take revenge.”

“You can get revenge in just two hundred characters?”

Wang Ping looked at the bamboo slip with curiosity. Not only was there text, but there were also pictures carved with a bamboo knife, some of them even colored. Also, the script was different from the modern one, but it was still readable, similar to the difference between traditional and simplified characters.

“The Xiao Shan Lord liked to read these storybooks when he was young?”

“No, he didn’t just like them when he was young; he liked them when he was old, too. Some of the newest books tell stories I’ve read before, including one adapted from the life of General Liu Yue.”

Wang Ping’s mental image of the Xiao Shan Lord suddenly became much richer, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face. Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from near the pavilion.

He looked toward the sound and saw familiar faces.

The one in the lead was none other than Tong Jing, who had taken over the daily affairs of the Six Heart Sect after Zi Luan’s disappearance. Behind him followed Hongyuan and Qin Zifeng.

The moment Wang Ping’s gaze fell on Hongyuan and Qin Zifeng, he immediately used the Heaven-Covering Talisman within him to observe their pasts. Hongyuan’s past was quite normal. He was born into a wealthy family in Jinhuai Prefecture, sent by his parents to the Six Heart Sect to study the Dao at age seven, and began following Zi Luan at twenty. At that time, Zi Luan had more than a dozen disciples, but most of them perished while trying to advance to the Second Realm.

From then on, high hopes were placed on Hongyuan, and he did not disappoint Zi Luan’s expectations, successfully advancing to the Second Realm.

Within his memories, Wang Ping actually sensed his own karma; it was because Hongyuan had set him as a goal to surpass. It was also because after Wang Ping advanced to the Third Realm that Hongyuan turned pressure into motivation and successfully broke through to the Second Realm.

Zi Luan’s state of mind had only changed so drastically in the last few hundred years; Wang Ping could feel this clearly from Hongyuan’s past.

Turning to Qin Zifeng, his past was pitch black—he was indeed a puppet. The great net connecting him to heaven and earth led to a place shrouded in a fiery light, which was likely a powerful demonic weapon distorting the outcome.

While Wang Ping observed the three of them, they had already cautiously approached the courtyard gate. They stood there, respectfully clasping their fists in salute, and shouted in unison, “Greetings, Changqing Zhenren! We wish you utmost peace!”

‘They must have rehearsed that line beforehand, or they couldn’t have shouted it in such perfect unison.’

Wang Ping found it both amusing and gratifying. This was the most direct manifestation of human nature. After their greeting, he waved a hand and said, “Come in.”

The three men entered the small courtyard.

Wang Ping sized them up for a moment, then looked at Hongyuan and asked, “Any news of your master?”

Hongyuan was clearly startled by the question and quickly replied, “Answering the Zhenren, Master told no one when he left, and he has not contacted us since.”

Wang Ping ignored Hongyuan’s alarm and said, “In the blink of an eye, over a hundred years have passed. Time truly flies. So much has changed; there’s no need for him to hide any longer.”

After saying this, he looked at Tong Jing and instructed, “Go to the mountain gate and dismiss those people. Crowding around like that makes a spectacle of yourselves. If there are important matters, report them through the Daoist Palace’s normal channels. Also, in a while, Qianmu Temple will be holding a dharma assembly. I will meet with them all at that time.”

Hearing this, Tong Jing respectfully lowered his head, clasped his fists, and said, “Yes, I will see to it at once!”

The moment he lowered his head, his expression darkened slightly, but the apprehension in his eyes vanished. For years, he had been scheming to become the Sect Leader of the Six Heart Sect. Wan Zhi Daoist had suppressed him before, and now that Wan Zhi Daoist was gone, he had come with the Third Realm Cultivators of the Daoist Palace to pay his respects, mainly to sound out Wang Ping’s intentions.

But before he could even speak, Wang Ping had shut down his ambitions.

Wang Ping’s reasoning was simple. The Xiao Shan Lord had, in a sense, done him a great service. As the Xiao Shan Lord’s legacy, the Six Heart Sect’s leadership should not be inherited by a Gold Cultivator.

However…

Wang Ping looked at Hongyuan and Qin Zifeng before him, and felt troubled. Finally, after some thought, he said, “If your master contacts you, tell him for me that I don’t blame him. If he is willing to return, the position of Sect Leader of the Six Heart Sect is still his.”

He suddenly had a premonition that Zi Luan would probably return. There was nothing left in the Southern Cultivation Realm worth hiding from. The only thing was, his return would mean enduring the gossip of other Cultivators, but that wasn’t a real issue, as the Six Heart Sect’s official announcement was that Zi Luan was in seclusion.

As the saying goes, as long as I’m not the one who’s embarrassed, someone else will be!

Hongyuan wanted to say more, but Qin Zifeng preemptively nodded and said, “Yes.” Hongyuan fell silent.

Wang Ping paid no mind to their little gestures and added casually, “Everything in the Six Heart Sect will remain as it is.”

With that, he called to Yu Lian and vanished without a sound.

When he reappeared, Wang Ping was hovering in the sky above the Six Heart Sect’s protective barrier. He just stood there, yet not a single one of the many Third Realm Cultivators at the mountain gate below could detect him.

Then, his figure merged with the Wood Spirits between heaven and earth.

A dozen breaths later, he appeared at the edge of the poisonous miasma in the Southern Chaotic Sea Region. At his current level of cultivation, the poisonous gas here posed no threat to him at all.

“Wow, so this is what the Chaotic Sea Region looks like. It doesn’t seem that chaotic, just a lot of poison gas. It’s full of disgusting poisonous creatures. Huh, there’s even a town… What disgusting-looking people…”

On an isolated island at the edge of the poisonous miasma, there was a small town of tens of thousands of people. The skin of every person in the town was festering, their eyes glowed with a faint green light, and their teeth were almost completely exposed, black and revolting to see.

There were no children or elderly in the town. A barrier surrounded the island, preventing the people inside from passing through. On the island, they were cultivating a type of plant that glowed with a gray halo.

“These are all criminals from the Zhongzhou Continent!”

A voice came from within the miasma, and then a person Wang Ping knew all too well emerged from it.

It was Chengxi!

Wang Ping wasn’t surprised. He asked, “What are they growing?”

“Heart-devouring Grass. The poison refined from it can consume the life force of otherworldly beings. Cultivating it requires the bodies of those beings. Once it matures each year, I will have someone deliver it to you.”

As Chengxi finished speaking, he lowered his head and clasped his fists.

Wang Ping looked at the archipelago within the poisonous miasma. “Where is the Array set up?”

He wanted to see the Array that attracted the otherworldly beings and see if his light screen panel could replicate it.

Hearing this, Chengxi respectfully clasped his fists and said, “There’s no need to rush, Zhenren. The most important thing for you to do now is return to Qianmu Temple, accept the homage of all the Cultivators in the Southern Cultivation Realm, and legitimize your status.”