Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

Were weapon cultivators powerful? Of course, they were. Compared to other forms of cultivation, the damage their attacks could make was much more potent than other forms. But that was also the problem.

One had to use their blood to tie their magic weapons to themselves, and the weapon existed for as long as the owner existed. If the weapon were to be destroyed, the owner wouldn’t die, but the owner would lose a lot of their cultivation progress; their souls often took more than a century to recover.

Also, the other problem with merging with a weapon was that you wouldn’t have any energy or time to refine any other weapons. That had to be the worst part of all.

Such cultivators were often praised as being masters in their craft because of their sheer devotion to refining just one weapon, but most cultivators secretly laughed at them.

Why? Because when it came to cultivation, the last one standing would be the one with the highest number and the most powerful magic weapons, followed by how many formidable techniques one knew.

Your sword fighting skills could be top-notch, and just your sword Qi might be able to slice something as far as 15 kilometers away. You could be a master in swordsmanship, but you wouldn’t be able to do anything if your opponent had a powerful weapon to protect themselves or attacked you with one. Or worse, if your opponent could cast a demonic spell on you from miles away, you wouldn’t be able to do anything to them.

Unless you were at a level where you could shatter the dimension you were in or somehow break free from the laws of nature you were governed by, there were always too many restrictions and disadvantages.

As for an ancient high-level cultivator like Suihan, he never believed there was such a thing as “one move to kill them all.” There was no way of knowing if your next step was the entrance to a formation or if you had walked into a cave covered in traps.

The cultivation world had no lack of ridiculous things that could kill another person. Some cultivators were killed because a magic weapon literally fell from the sky and smashed their heads in. There were cultivators who were consumed by sulfur that suddenly gushed out when they were cultivating in a cave. And then some died after getting trapped in a formation while searching for treasure. There were so many stories like these.

“I’m so glad I’m not one of those young fellows who has to start from scratch. My centuries of experience and knowledge have saved me so much time, and got me out of so many bad decisions,” muttered Gu Suihan to himself as he took a Body Stabilizing Pill out and swallowed it.

Gu Suihan started taking stock of what he had. He had nearly lost his life inside the secret realm and had barely gained anything. The one and only supposed spiritual weapon he had was gone because he had chosen to sacrifice it in order to save his own skin. He had also used his trump card, the Expanse Bomb. Also, he had paid off Mu Tian and Yan Wuheng with a Blood Jade Fig each plus some compensation.

He had fewer than 6,000 Spiritual Stones left on hand. The wandering cultivators he had killed had so little on themselves, all their assets added up to just a few hundred Spiritual Stones.

“The only thing of worth is this flying spiritual weapon.” His mood improved a little only after he took out the adorable green leaf-shaped object that was only slightly longer than an inch.

He had to sell this off, but he couldn’t sell it to someone within the sect. Spiritual weapons were still pretty rare even among internal disciples. Hang Chulong had one probably because the leader of the Four Directions Court, Wang Aolin, had lent it to him. If he tried to sell it within the sect, the Four Directions Court would make sure that nobody paid above a certain amount for it just so that he couldn’t benefit from the sale. He wasn’t afraid of these so-called factions of power, but their potential involvement in this matter annoyed him.

This item could probably fetch nearly 10,000 elsewhere, he estimated. Then, he took out Hang Chulong’s sword. This was a high-grade magic weapon. A snake was carved around the handle and the blade came out from its mouth. The entirely white sword had one very thin red line down its middle.

Windblast Formation, Blood Breaking Formation, Howling Formation, Soul Breaking Formation.

The runes for these four formations were carved intricately onto the blade. They were somewhat related, yet unique in their own ways. It was so close to becoming a spiritual weapon. “What a pity,” thought Gu Suihan.

He furrowed his brows as he observed the sword carefully, then sighed sadly before keeping it away in his storage ring. He had been reminded of that sword he had sacrificed in the fight against Li Rong.

That sword had been made from a few dozen parts and tiny runes had been carved onto each one. If he had sacrificed a little more time, effort, and money, that sword would have become a full-fledged spiritual weapon. Then again, an external disciple waving a shiny Qi-filled weapon around was definitely going to attract a lot of unwanted attention. So, he made sure it was better than a high-grade magic weapon, but just one step short of a spiritual weapon. Unfortunately, it was gone now.

And now, he had decided to cultivate in the Geng Gold Sword Mantra. This cultivation technique was apparently adapted from the Innate Five Element Geng Gold Breach, but he had no idea what the difference really was. Its connection to the Innate Five Element Geng Gold Breach made it sound like it must be just as powerful, but Gu Suihan was pretty sure that was bullshit. The Innate Five Element Geng Gold Breach was an ancient cultivation technique, while the other one was invented a lot closer to modern-day. That was a long period of time in between.

For now, he had to get well, then get a spiritual weapon sword that he could use to cultivate before entering the competition to become an internal disciple.

After he had made those plans, he swallowed a few more pills and began meditating.

—-------

Two weeks slowly ticked by. Color had returned to Gu Suihan’s previously deathly pale face and his sharp jawline looked more charming than gaunt.

“Hoo!” Gu Suihan’s breath was tinged with blood as he finished another round of executing his cultivation technique and cooling down.

“I’m finally all healed up.”

He stretched his stiffened limbs and his joints cracked loudly. He circulated his Qi and all the dirt and blood on his body disappeared. Then, he changed into the clothes that the middle-aged man had prepared for him and hung the Seven Kill Sect disciple token on his belt.

The room door opened silently with the wave of his hand. The bright sun rays made him squint for a moment, only stepping out of the room once his eyes had adjusted to the light.

“The young gentleman has woken up! Tell Master immediately!” the servant standing guard outside the room quickly gave his subordinate instructions when he saw the elegant young man with an aloof and unapproachable air appear in front of him. He bowed and greeted Gu Suihan politely and led Gu Suihan towards the living room after Gu Suihan acknowledged his greeting with a nod.

After they had walked past a small lake and crossed a little bridge, Gu Suihan started frowning. It was clear that there were people in the living room and they were talking very loudly and aggressively. They were nearly a hundred meters away, yet their voices could be heard so clearly.

Gu Suihan stopped walking and asked, “Who’s inside?”

The servant was frowning too as he listened carefully to the voices. When he realized who these voices belonged to, his expression faltered and he said in an awkward voice, “Sir, I believe these voices belong to members of the Hang family. The one speaking the loudest right now is Hang Chulong’s mother, Zhou Xiuqin.”

“The Hang family?” Gu Suihan smirked, his pearly whites gleaming brightly in the sun. The servant stole a glance at Gu Suihan and suddenly felt very afraid.

“Bring me to these people. I want to see what this supposed family of cultivators is like,” said Gu Suihan raising his chin.

“Yes, sir!” The servant nodded fearfully and showed Gu Suihan the way immediately.

When Gu Suihan arrived at the door to the living room, he dismissed the servant and sauntered in by himself with a frosty smile on his face and his hands folded behind his back. He looked towards the troubled-looking middle-aged man seated in the chair reserved for the head of the family and spoke calmly as if there was nobody else in the living room, “Mr. Wan, I have completed the recuperation process and I have fully recovered from my injuries. If there’s nothing else, I shall take my leave.”

“Ah! You’re all recovered? Of course, you can leave anytime.” The middle-aged man was the one who had saved Gu Suihan. When he saw Gu Suihan, he quickly bowed politely and threw glances at the couple from the Hang family in hope that Gu Suihan would help him out.

“That’s good to hear. Farewell.” Gu Suihan didn’t even bother looking at the expressions of the other people in the room and ignored the pleading look on the middle-aged man’s face. He turned and began walking away.

He had already given Hang Chulong’s severed head to the Wan family to prove that the person the Hang family had been relying on to force the Wan family into submission was dead. That resolved the biggest crisis the Wan family was facing, so in his mind, he had repaid the favor he owed them for saving his life. Whether the Wan family lived or died after that was none of his business.

But even though he wanted to leave, someone else didn’t want him to.

He was about to step out of the living room when a shrill female voice called out from behind him, “Stop right there!”

“You are?” Gu Suihan was expressionless as he turned back to look at the middle-aged woman with arched eyebrows, thin lips, and a nasty, arrogant look on her face.

She was clearly fuming and she glared maliciously at Gu Suihan as she said, “So, you’re the little bastard who claimed to come back with the head of my son, Hang Chulong?”

“Hoho,” Gu Suihan suddenly broke into a gentle smile. “And who do YOU think you are?”

Immediately after he said that the middle-aged woman suddenly flew into the air and crashed into the wall behind her. The sound of tables and chairs breaking as well as vases breaking filled the air soon after and the woman was pinned to the wall firmly by the wooden splinters of the furniture and the shards of the ceramic vases. Her entire body was covered with blood.

“I’m the one who killed Hang Chulong. Does anybody have any problems with that?” Gu Suihan turned to look at the rest of the people in the living room as if nothing had happened. His gaze was gentle and kindly, but that only made everyone shudder on the inside.

The middle-aged man who was sitting next to the middle-aged woman just before she was sent flying was now perspiring profusely, his clothes drenched in sweat as he stared in horror at the corpse pinned to the wall. His voice trembled as he replied, “I…I don’t have any problems with that!”

“But I do!” a bright but displeased voice called out from outside the living room. Everyone turned to see that a young and pretty lady was standing outside. They had no idea when she got there.

Her arms were slim and her eyes were beautifully shaped, but her thin lips made her look rather fierce.

The middle-aged man who was sweating profusely looked as though his savior was there. His voice trembled as he called out to her, “Ting’er! He’s the one! He’s the one who somehow managed to produce your brother’s head! We came here to reason things out with these people but he killed your mother just like that! Just look at what he did! You’ve got to—”

“Shut up!” shouted Hang Wanling with an icy look on her face. She turned and saw the corpse on the wall and the bloodstains all over the living room. Then she spun around to stare venomously at Gu Suihan as she spat, “You’ve used some illusionary spell to trick all these ordinary people to make them believe that my brother is dead, and now you’re trying to wipe out my family? You’re dead meat!”

“An illusionary spell? Are you seeing things now?” Gu Suihan snorted as he threw Hang Chulong’s sword onto the floor.

“You…” Hang Wanling’s expression froze when she saw the sword on the floor. Then, she shrieked at him, “How DARE you scheme and bring harm to a fellow disciple from the sect! You’re doomed! You’re definitely doomed! I’m going to report you to the disciplinarians and make sure they send you to the Demon Abyss as your punishment!”

“You’re wrong!” Gu Suihan didn’t seem bothered by her threat. He picked up the sword and said quietly, “As long as there’s no proof, the sect cannot do anything to me. So, do you have any proof?”

“Oh...wait…there’s proof!” Gu Suihan exclaimed dramatically. “This sword is proof!” He looked at Hang Wanling’s agitated expression and said in a mocking voice, “But…do you think you can get your hands on it?”