Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

Gu Suihan was expressionless as he watched the slaves outside line up to collect their daily ration of food. Their faces were void of any emotion as they picked up the dark-colored gruel or when they occasionally glanced at Gu Suihan from time to time.

“What a tragedy. Is that all they can do to chastise me?” murmured Gu Suihan as he sipped his tea slowly.

After what happened three years ago, all the people who had been so angry, hateful, and determined to take revenge on Gu Suihan had completely given up. They walked like zombies, living in a daze.

None of this bothered Gu Suihan, but Sun Miaozhi and the others who were let off back then were absolutely terrified. They looked at Gu Suihan like he was a demon. Their polite behavior covered a deep-seated fear of him.

A short while later, Sun Miaozhi came in hurriedly and whispered, “Sir, someone would like to see you. He says he needs to talk to you urgently.”

“Hmm?” Gu Suihan let out a puzzled sound and started wondering who it could be, but he couldn’t figure it out, so he got Sun Miaozhi to let that person in.

A few moments later, Sun Miaozhi led in a clean-faced and fairly elegant-looking young man. He bowed and left the two of them to talk.

Gu Suihan looked nonchalantly at the slightly stiff young man before him and his lips curled up ever so slightly as an amused glint began to shine in his eye.

His guest was none other than the cultivator in the Way of Ghosts he had seen three years ago when he snuck into Han Xingxiong’s home, Xi Ran.

Han Xingxiong’s aunt died in the end. This tiny place only had a few cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above after all. Han Xingxiong couldn’t find anybody to help him and Gu Suihan couldn’t be bothered to be a nice guy, so Han Xingxiong had to watch his aunt live as though she were dead, and she eventually passed on quietly in bed. Gu Suihan guessed that Han Xingxiong had not given Xi Ran the item they were talking about. Otherwise, Han Xingxiong’s aunt wouldn’t have died so tragically.

As Gu Suihan observed Xi Ran, Xi Ran was also sizing him up. After Gu Suihan arrived in the fairly secluded Qingguo three years ago, claiming to be guarding the mines on behalf of the Seven Kill Sect, some people had kept tabs on him.

They had heard about how Gu Suihan had massacred the workers on the first day and made sure that their clans had no descendants, then sometime after that, the king of Qingguo suddenly started a war, upsetting the peace between the surrounding countries that had lasted for several decades. All of them knew that these things had something to do with this mysterious new young man in town.

One of the reasons was that the king of Qingguo’s level of cultivation had suddenly gone up significantly. They heard that Gu Suihan had entered the palace to speak to the king for a long time before that happened, but nobody knew what they had talked about.

“Greetings, Mr. Gu. My name is Xi Ran.” Xi Ran clasped a palm over his other fist and sat down as though this wasn’t his first visit.

Gu Suihan snorted inwardly at the way Xi Ran carried himself. He looked very confident and unafraid of Gu Suihan, but his slightly shifty gaze and fidgety movements betrayed him. Xi Ran was clearly feeling a lot more nervous than he had let on.

“Why have suddenly decided to come?” Gu Suihan sensed a sinister aura from Xi Ran and didn’t want to spend too much talking to him, so he cut straight to the chase.

Xi Ran was annoyed by Gu Suihan’s neutral and unbothered way of speaking, but when he thought about why he was here, he tried his best to suppress his anger while mentally calling Gu Suihan a rude person.

In most cases, the guest would be served some tea, regardless of why he was visiting. Then before they got to the main topic of discussion, the host would make some small talk and butter each other up a little to make the atmosphere a little friendlier. That way, it wouldn’t seem too sudden when the main topic is finally brought up.

Gu Suihan, on the other hand, didn’t care for small talk and didn’t even bother with serving tea. He clearly couldn’t be bothered to take care of Xi Ran at all, which was why Xi Ran was so annoyed.

His expression stiffened and he forced himself to smile as he said, “Mr. Gu is a real straight talker, I see. I have come to discuss something very urgent with you.”

“What is it?” Gu Suihan looked a little interested now.

Xi Ran was happy to see that he had piqued Gu Suihan’s interest, but he didn’t show it on his face. “Some days ago, I happened to walk into a formation and tried all means and ways to break it. To my surprise, there were actually magic weapons inside, and judging by the appearance of these items, they were probably left behind from ancient times.”

“There’s more hidden further inside, but my understanding of formations is not very high. Mr. Gu, you’re from the Seven Kill Sect and you’ve seen a lot more, so I’m sure you know much more than a wandering cultivator from the countryside like myself. After thinking about it, I decided to invite you to join us in exploring the formation. If we find any items, you can pick one for yourself. If we find spells or cultivation techniques, then we shall pass it around among ourselves and make a copy each.”

“Join us?” Gu Suihan quickly caught an important word that Xi Ran had glossed over.

Xi Ran’s heart trembled. Gu Suihan looked like he couldn’t be bothered with anything at all, but he was actually very sensitive and was really listening attentively. This fellow was no simple character, and was certainly a disciple from a major sect, thought Xi Ran.

“To be honest with you, if we include you, there would be four of us on the trip and I think that’s enough for us to handle the problem. They’re both at Foundation Establishment, and even though they’re not as talented as you are, they’ve been at this stage for a few decades now. They’re also pretty well-known in Qingguo, so they’re reliable people.”

“Alright then. I’m not interested in magic weapons, but if there are any pills or spiritual herbs that can help to recuperate the soul, I want it all.” Gu Suihan put his teacup down gently and ran a finger slowly around the rim of the cup, making a soft, ringing sound.

“Deal!” Xi Ran breathed a sigh of relief. He was pleasantly surprised that Gu Suihan hadn’t asked for a lot and his impression of Gu Suihan improved. Even though anything that could help the soul was very valuable, the other three had no use for such an item and it was difficult to sell since the demand was much lower compared to the demand for magic and spiritual weapons. That was why he had agreed to Gu Suihan’s request immediately.

“Sun Miaozhi, serve us some tea.” Gu Suihan had a faint smile on his face and he wasn’t as unfriendly as before.

The two of them discussed the details for about an hour before Xi Ran left with a smile on his face.

Unbeknownst to him, Gu Suihan got Sun Miaozhi to call Han Xingxiong in after Xi Ran had left.

“Sir, I hear you’re looking for me?” Han Xingxiong had no expression on his face and sounded distant. He was obviously still angry that Gu Suihan had not helped him back then.

“You know the man who came earlier, right?” It was difficult to read Gu Suihan as he glanced casually at the profusely sweating Sun Miaozhi before looking back at Han Xingxiong.

“Yes, sir, I know him.” Han Xingxiong had a nasty expression on his face for a second before reverting to his expressionless face.

Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow and asked in a mischievous voice, “So…your aunt passed on after all? And it has something to do with him?”

“How did you know? I don’t think someone like him would have told you about that…”

“There’s a dead air around him that refuses to go away and smelling it made me very uncomfortable,” said Gu Suihan with a faint smile.

“He’s the one who laid the curse on my aunt back then.” Han Xingxiong took a deep breath and continued, “Back then…”

He was just about to begin his story when Gu Suihan waved his hand to cut Han Xingxiong off and said in an unbothered voice, “Stop. I’m not interested in all the things that happened between the two of you. What I want to know is whether he’s snatched away the thing you were holding onto. Is that thing something passed down from many centuries ago?”

“How…how did you know…” Han Xingxiong’s mouth fell open and he stared in shock at Gu Suihan and stammered. “He…he did snatch that key away, but it’s not really something passed down from centuries ago. At most, it’s some spells and pills left behind from some ancient cultivator.”

“I’m curious about one thing. Why didn’t you do anything about the key since you’ve had it for so long? If you did that, I don’t think you would have been threatened by Xi Ran.”

Han Xingxiong had an agitated and hateful look in his eye for a moment before he sighed helplessly. “My level of cultivation is too low. The formations hidden in that place require someone at least at Foundation Establishment to get through them. I’m only at Qi Activation and there’s no way I can get to Foundation Establishment. If I tried getting past the formations, I would have died. My master tried to go in with Xi Ran, but he ended up coming out again with severe injuries and passed on shortly from them.”

“I see. Both of you may leave,” instructed Gu Suihan.

“So that’s what happened,” murmured Gu Suihan to himself as he looked a little more enlightened now. He remained in the room by himself, sipping the tea that had already gone cold in a leisurely manner.

“HA! Miss! That Gu Suihan can’t get away after all!” Xiaomei bounced gleefully into the room and laughed merrily.

“What’s happened?” The last three years did not age Mo Yuluo one bit. She was still just as charming as ever.

Xiaomei noticed the grim look on Mo Yuluo’s face, so she straightened herself up and said seriously, “I don’t really know how it happened either, but the Sect Leader has given orders to the Disciplinary Court. He wants them to send somebody to call Gu Suihan back.”

“Three years ago, the most senior elder of the Wonderful Sound Sect, Qingyin Zhenjun, reached the end of his life and died while meditating, so the Ethereal Court had forcibly stopped the selection from happening and postponed it till now. And now the Sect Leader wants Gu Suihan back here? Looks like he has no choice but to be part of this mess and he can’t just hide away as though he has nothing to do with this.” A mocking smile spread across Mo Yuluo’s pretty face.

Gu Suihan had suddenly left the sect a few years ago, running far, far away on the pretext of completing a sect mission. The Peak Leaders had gotten a shock but there was nothing they could do about it. Xiexin zhenren was even prepared to send his own subordinates out to bring the young man back, but he abandoned that plan in the end. Unfortunately for Gu Suihan, things did not go as planned and he was still destined to be part of this mess.

“Teehee! That fellow will probably pale in horror when he sees someone from the Disciplinary Court come for him!” Xiaomei’s laughter had a sense of schadenfreude.

Mo Yuluo smiled quietly, then remarked, “But that fellow is no simple character. Furthermore, he took a mission to guard a Spiritual Stone mine, so his level of cultivation must have increased significantly over the years. We lost terribly when we fought him back then, so if those snobbish disciples from the Disciplinary Court aren’t careful, they might not even come back alive. After all, the sect rules only apply within the sect. Once they’re outside…HA!”