Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

The Sect Missions Court was the most crowded place in the sect besides the Main Library and the Fortune Court.

“Look! Gu Suihan’s here! This has got to be the first time I’ve seen him come here.” Someone spotted Gu Suihan and nudged his friend with his elbow.

“What?” The friend peered at their surroundings with a confused look, then widened his eyes when he saw Gu Suihan. He gasped and said, “I can’t believe he’s dared to come out here. Isn’t he afraid that the Disciplinary Court might come after him?”

“Come after him?” The first disciple snorted. “Whatever for? It’s true that anyone who isn’t blind could tell that he had lost that fight on purpose, but it isn’t against the rules to do that. The Disciplinary Court cannot do anything about him.”

“Oh, that’s true. I heard that the Peak Leaders are really angry with him. Do you think…”

“Do I think what? Tsk! The Peak Leaders are from this sect too, so they have to follow the rules as well. Otherwise, everyone would have formed their own factions and tried to kill each other by now. There wouldn’t be a sect anymore because we’d be all dead.”

“Oh wow, Senior Brother, you really know a lot! I’m so amazed!”

“I’m glad you know where you’re lacking. You’d better learn a thing or two from me, or you’re going to lose out in the future.”

Their conversation obviously did not capture Gu Suihan’s attention in any way. He walked straight up to the sect missions board to look for a mission that was to his liking. He wanted to take this chance to get away from the growing whirlpool of disaster within the sect. He didn’t want to be implicated anymore than he already was.

“This one looks good.” Gu Suihan spotted an older mission that was right at the bottom of the board and his eyes lit up.

Once decided, he ripped the note off the board and walked to the counter to confirm his decision.

“What the hell is wrong with him? That mission will take a very long time and he won’t even get that much out of it.” The junior disciple from earlier on noticed which mission Gu Suihan had picked and turned to ask his senior about it.

The senior paled and clamped a hand over his junior’s mouth, then dragged the younger man to a quiet corner and began to reprimand him. “Please, watch your words! Gu Suihan was barely a few meters away from you, so I’m sure he heard every single word you said clearly! What if he sees you outside the sect and decides to kill you? Besides, he can choose whatever mission he likes. What has that got to do with you?”

The junior turned as white as a sheet as he stammered, “S-senior, please, forgive me! I am at fault! I’ll apologize to him right now!”

He ran back to where Gu Suihan was and bowed deeply. “Senior Brother, please forgive me for speaking so rudely earlier. Please forgive me!”

“It’s alright. Just watch what you say next time, or you might get yourself into unnecessary trouble,” said Gu Suihan good-naturedly as he smiled and patted the junior’s shoulder.

“Yes! I will remember that!” The junior bowed several times gratefully and left immediately after that. He was so glad that Gu Suihan had been in a good mood.

“I’ll take this mission.” Gu Suihan watched as the junior scampered off and chuckled to himself. He hadn’t taken any of those words to heart at all. He wasn’t interested in being the sort who killed others over petty things like that. Such characters only existed in those stupid novels. He would only kill if doing that benefitted him.

“Your token,” said the old man at the counter without even raising his head. He took the slip of paper from Gu Suihan very slowly while inscribing the mission onto a jade slip in his other hand with his spiritual sense.

“Here you go.” Gu Suihan showed the old man his disciple token and was assigned the mission after the old man had verified his identity.

This mission was very simple. He was to go to one of the mines along a Spiritual Meridian within the sect and guard it for ten years. His reward was 10,000 Spiritual Stones. It was a very small mine, so there was little to reap from it, and that was why nobody wanted to take on this mission. But this was exactly what Gu Suihan wanted.

When he got the map to where he was to go, he was even happier. This place was right at the back of the sect and very far from where the fights were taking place. That was what he was hoping for.

There was no time to waste. Gu Suihan packed up all his things, got Taohua to pack her things as well, hopped onto a flying item, and flew off as though they were making an escape.

“Young master, why are we leaving in such a hurry?” asked Taohua with a pale face and eyes shut tightly as she grabbed Gu Suihan’s arm in fear.

This was the first time she was flying and it made her terribly nervous. Her entire body had been trembling since they took flight.

“The world of cultivators is in turmoil. My level of cultivation is too low, so it’s best that I go as far as I can from these unpredictable circumstances. Those who hope to gain something from the chaos normally end up dead,” explained Gu Suihan patiently to the woman in his arms. He looked back at the shrinking peaks in the distance as they flew on and breathed a big sigh of relief.

“But Young Master, you’re so powerful! None of the external disciples dare to offend you,” said the young woman with a pout. She looked down at the clouds beneath them and threw herself back into his arms from being too terrified. She was too adorable when she did that.

“External disciples?” Gu Suihan gently caressed her head as a smirk spread across his face. “Even internal disciples have trouble handling me, never mind those useless little external disciples.”

---

“What! Gu Suihan has escaped?”

Half a day after Gu Suihan had left, a booming voice resounded from the top of Peak Four. The voice traveled several kilometers far and echoed for a long time. Every person on the peak exchanged nervous glances and shuddered in fear.

Xiexin Zhenren’s usually calm and emotionless face was now filled with intense rage. He was the one who had let out that shout earlier.

“Father, I’ve tried my best. Nobody could have known that the fellow would sneak out of the Weapon Refinery Court in the middle of the night. He ran for it very early in the morning and it was impossible to catch him in time.” Li Rong’s expression was grim and his eyes were filled with hatred.

Gu Suihan had left happily, but that was bad news for Li Rong. After Xiexin zhenren found out about Gu Suihan’s aptitude, he intended to use Gu Suihan to replace Li Rong instead. Unfortunately, when he found out that Gu Suihan was actually an Origin Core cultivator who had to take over another body and restart his cultivation journey, Xiexin had given up that idea.

Li Rong didn’t want his father to fall back on his previous plan, so he lied and said that Gu Suihan’s soul was severely injured and hadn’t recovered, which worked. His father had started to target Gu Suihan again.

But now, Gu Suihan had escaped, which meant that Li Rong still couldn’t escape his fate after all. Li Rong could only blame his luck. There was nothing else he could do.

“Humph! This fellow is indeed a senior in cultivation in a young body. He’s so sensitive to such things,” grumbled Xiexin zhenren with a nasty scoff after he had paced the peak of the mountain several times.

He turned to look at Li Rong, who was still lying prostrate on the ground. He sighed and said, “You are dismissed. I know what to do.”

Li Rong got up and excused himself politely from his father’s presence, but inside, he was thinking, “You know what to do? More like you were already prepared for this to happen.”

---

“What?! Gu Suihan has escaped?!”

The same words echoed within Mo Yuluo’s room. Xiaomei was rolling her eyes as she told Mo Yuluo the news she had just received.

“I need details.” Mo Yuluo got up with a start, ignoring how her blanket slid off her to reveal her curvaceous body, and tugged on Xiaomei’s sleeve anxiously.

Xiaomei sat down exasperatedly and tucked Mo Yuluo back under her blanket again before continuing in a disdainful voice, “Miss, you sent people to watch the Weapons Refinery Court for so many days, but in the end, that fellow snuck out in the middle of the night, picked up a mission first thing the next morning and disappeared. There wasn’t even enough time for the news to reach us. I went to his residence just now and he’s taken everything. He’s even taken that maid with him. Do you think he’s never coming back?”

Mo Yuluo had remained mostly expressionless until Xiaomei told her how Gu Suihan had cleared out all his things, including the maid. Her expression looked rather conflicted and she was silent for a long time before she said quietly, “Given how that fellow is, it’s actually possible that he might never come back. He was clever enough to quickly admit defeat during the competition and did not become an internal disciple, so the sect does not keep any tabs on him. This place is huge. If he is really bent on hiding, nobody will be able to find him.”

Her lips began to quiver slightly and she let out a long sigh. “He’s a really decisive character. Then again, he’s a senior in cultivation who just took over a younger body. The sensitivity he has towards impending danger is definitely much higher than most.”

Xiaomei frowned and asked puzzledly, “Miss, what danger is he afraid of? What danger could have made this fearless and audacious fellow run for his life like that?”

Mo Yuluo looked rather worried as she gently stroked Xiaomei’s shiny, black hair and said softly, “You wouldn’t understand.”

Xiaomei wasn’t stupid, so she understood that this wasn’t something that she could do anything about. She nodded obediently, smoothed Mo Yuluo’s blanket out, and did not bring the topic back up.

Unlike how the peaks past the time waiting for a storm to strike them, Gu Suihan was enjoying himself.

Over the next two weeks, he continued his journey towards his destination without stopping, covering thousands of kilometers. Along the way, he switched to a different flying magical beast but never stopped to rest.

After flying for at least 5,000 kilometers, the two of them finally arrived at their destination, much to Taohua’s delight.

He showed his token and pass from the sect, then called for everyone in the mine to gather where he was because he had something to say.

Most of the people at the mine had heard that the one who had come to take charge of the place was a good-for-nothing external disciple who had failed the internal disciple selection and was probably forced to take on this mission. They heard that this fellow had no backers and not much choice in where he could go next. There was no need to pay a teenager like him too much attention.

Many of them thought like this because they didn’t think any cultivator with some experience and some future ahead of them would choose to come to this lousy place. They wouldn’t be like this fellow, traveling all the way out here with his maid, as if he was some rich man’s son on a vacation.

Even so, nobody really went out of their way to go against Gu Suihan’s orders. They didn’t want him to make an example out of them either.