Chapter 57: Building Power

A cultivator’s intuition could sometimes be remarkably accurate.

There had once been an unspoken consensus on Hengze Continent: the more talented a cultivator was, the more keenly they could sense danger. It was said that this was the Heavenly Dao protecting its favored children from perishing halfway along their path.

Although this belief was not universally applicable, it was accurate at least sixty percent of the time.

After hearing Wen Xu’s analysis, Bian Chunzhou could not help paying a little more attention to that senior sister. For some reason, the more he listened to her voice now, the more it sounded like... the cries of the person calling for help when he had returned late that night.

But he was not particularly sensitive to voices. After thinking about it for a long while, he ultimately decided to borrow the shadow-recording stone back from Kaiyuan Peak and let Wen Xu listen to it.

Even after hearing it, Wen Xu could not make a definite judgment. When people were extremely nervous or in danger, their voices would unconsciously become strained and shrill, making them sound different from how they usually spoke.

Besides, he had only heard Jiang Ying’s voice during their match in the arena. At the time, he had been fully focused on the fight, so her voice had not left much of an impression on him.

“Doesn’t it sound a little like her?”

Wen Xu remained silent for a long time. Only after listening to the recording three more times did he cautiously say, “Chunzhou, even if you think it sounds like her, are you planning to ask her directly?”

Bian Chunzhou froze.

Surely Yonglu Mountain’s disciples had not reached the point where cultivation drove them into a breakdown and made them run to the foot of the mountain screaming for help.

Besides, if that person had been Jiang Ying, her cultivation had still been lower than his at the time. How could she possibly have escaped so quickly? Unless—

Unless Senior Sister Jiang Ying had a teleportation array made by one of the sect’s senior cultivators.

As for why it could not have been a teleportation talisman... well, teleportation talismans could not be assigned a destination. Simply put, they randomly launched the user somewhere within their range.

A low-grade teleportation talisman could transport someone anywhere within ten kilometers. A mid-grade one covered a hundred kilometers, while a high-grade one could transport someone across cities. But honestly, almost no talisman masters bothered drawing high-grade teleportation talismans.

To put it bluntly, there was no market for them, and they were expensive. For one-tenth of the price, a person could buy an excellent teleportation array instead.

Moreover, a teleportation talisman left behind a talisman mark after use. An array, however, could conceal all traces of itself if it was sufficiently sophisticated.

Yonglu Mountain was surrounded by mountain-protecting grand arrays. If an external teleportation array had been used, it would certainly have left traces. But if the array came from within the sect, that was another matter. The senior brothers and sisters from Array Peak frequently tested various arrays at the foot of the mountain, so it would attract little attention.

Or rather, it would be hidden in plain sight.

“That still seems unlikely. The mission posted at Kaiyuan Peak was fairly conspicuous. Anyone who had visited Kaiyuan Peak should have seen it. If it really was Senior Sister Jiang Ying, she could simply have admitted it. Why deliberately hide it?”

Wen Xu thought Chunzhou had far too optimistic a view of human nature.

He was different. Although he had fought Jiang Ying once, he did not know her and had no personal relationship with her. Naturally, he had no qualms about assuming the worst.

“Could it be that she simply doesn’t want anyone to know she was the person calling for help that night? Otherwise, why didn’t she stay there and wait for you? Why did she disappear without leaving a single trace?”

“That’s true. Why would she do that? Why would she hide? Could it be...”

“Could it be what?”

“Could it be that someone else was there besides Senior Sister Jiang Ying?”

Bian Chunzhou scratched his head.

The whole situation was becoming stranger and stranger. From the drastic change in the attitudes of Jiang Ying’s parents to the transformation in Jiang Ying herself, everything carried a sort of... stiff, forcibly imposed twist.

But if there truly was something wrong with Senior Sister Jiang Ying, Yonglu Mountain had so many high-level cultivators. Could none of them have noticed?

“No, I have to investigate. Damn this curiosity of mine.”

With that, Bian Chunzhou headed straight for Kaiyuan Peak.

He first returned the shadow-recording stone, then went to chat with some outer disciples he had recently met. Before long, he learned how Senior Sister Jiang Ying had entered Yonglu Mountain.

It was indeed as he had heard beneath the arena that day. Senior Sister Jiang Ying had entered through a recommendation slot, but that recommendation had not come from the Jiang family.

Jiang Ying had once saved an elderly man. Although the man himself was an ordinary mortal, his son was a Nascent Soul Realm True Lord.

To thank Jiang Ying for saving his father’s life, that True Lord granted her one promise. Jiang Ying used that promise to obtain a recommendation slot for Yonglu Mountain.

As for the Jiang family, they were merely a cultivation household with a bit of money.

Jiang Ying’s father had unremarkable talent. Despite possessing four spiritual roots, he was still only in the early Foundation Establishment Realm. Jiang Ying’s mother was not even a cultivator, but her family was extremely wealthy. In fact, ninety-five percent of the Jiang family’s present wealth came from her.

Hearing this, Bian Chunzhou could not help clicking his tongue.

No wonder she had casually handed over such a huge pouch of spirit stones.

Being rich was wonderful.

“Senior Sister Jiang Ying isn’t an only child?”

Who said cultivators rarely had children? This family seemed plenty fertile.

“No. The Jiang family has an elder daughter named Jiang Baozhu. She once attempted Yonglu Mountain’s entrance examination as well, but unfortunately, she wasn’t strong enough. Later, when Senior Sister Jiang Ying came to register with the admission token, the Jiang family apparently had an argument over who should use it.”

“Senior Brother, how do you remember all of this so clearly?”

“Probably because I was the one who handled the matter,” the senior brother replied casually.

Bian Chunzhou fell silent.

His luck really was not that bad after all.

Still, when families had two daughters or two sons, did they not usually give them similar names?

Why was one daughter named “Ying,” while the other was called “Baozhu,” meaning “precious pearl”?

It was not that Ying was a bad name, but compared with Baozhu, it sounded remarkably casual and perfunctory.

If the elder daughter was called Baozhu, should the younger not have been named something like Zhenzhu or Baozhen?

Wait. Something was wrong.

Bian Chunzhou abruptly raised his head. “Wasn’t the admission slot given to Senior Sister Jiang Ying? Why would there be an argument over it?”

“Oh, that. Yonglu Mountain’s admission slots aren’t registered to a specific name. What we give out is merely a jade pendant serving as proof. Whoever brings the jade pendant to the mountain and registers with it becomes an outer disciple.”

They could do that?

“Wouldn’t that mean there’s no guarantee of the person’s character?”

The senior brother laughed. “Outer disciples still have to undergo evaluations. If someone has poor character or an indolent temperament, the sect won’t simply allow them to continue causing trouble.”

Oh. He understood.

Yonglu Mountain’s reputation was renowned far and wide, and the sect had plenty of ways to discipline its disciples. Even if someone had been recommended by a major trading house, the sect would not hesitate to handle matters impartially.

So after Senior Sister Jiang Ying received the admission slot, her own elder sister, Jiang Baozhu, had nearly taken it from her?

Bian Chunzhou blinked.

He had understood correctly, right?

Combined with what Senior Brother Chang had told him that day—that the Jiang family intended to sacrifice Senior Sister Jiang Ying’s future for the sake of a promise—her parents sounded rather biased.

Or perhaps... excessively biased.

But that did not make sense.

If they had not welcomed the arrival of a second daughter, they could simply have chosen not to have one. Why give birth to her only to treat her harshly afterward?

Of course, it was also possible he was imagining things.

Without conclusive evidence, he still could not bring himself to think so badly of them.

Besides, this was someone else’s family business. His relationship with Jiang Ying was merely that of fellow disciples. Until there was definite proof that Senior Sister Jiang Ying had been the person calling for help that night, there seemed to be nothing he could do.

Bian Chunzhou steadied himself and decided to focus on passing the preliminary examination first.

Once that was over, he would ask the proprietor of the Shared Cup Tavern to help him investigate the Jiang family. In case he had misunderstood everything, acting rashly now would turn the whole matter into a joke.

…

By the third day of the competition, most of the seeded contestants had advanced without incident. A number of outer disciples blessed with both luck and skill had also secured places in the finals.

Bian Chunzhou and Lin Congcong, on the other hand, had become exceptions.

After the two stepped onto the platform, several disciples beneath the arena recognized them and began whispering.

“Aren’t those two senior brothers from the inner sect?”

How had they ended up facing each other in the preliminary examination? Could there be some grudge between them?

“They really are. What are they doing?”

Wouldn’t any normal person try to reach the finals first? If one of them lost here, would that not be terribly embarrassing?

“I heard a little rumor. Do you want to hear it?”

“What rumor?”

“This is just what I heard, but on the first day of the arena matches, these two senior brothers lost one after another to an inner disciple surnamed Shi. A friend of mine saw them arguing afterward. Perhaps they were fighting over Senior Brother Shi’s favor?”

“Whoa. Seriously? Something like that actually happened? What sort of background does that Senior Brother Shi have?”

Shi Yijian, who had secretly come to watch the arena matches, was speechless.

Good thing he had shown up today. Otherwise, he would never have known the rumors outside had already become this entertaining.

He looked up at the two somewhat familiar figures on the platform.

Hmm. He had indeed defeated both of them.

So were they truly fighting because of him?

Probably not.

Shi Yijian rubbed his chin and watched with great interest.

“It’s starting! This is a fight between inner disciples. I need to watch carefully.”

No sooner had the words been spoken than the two fighters onstage had already exchanged two rounds of attacks.

Bian Chunzhou’s offense relied primarily on talismans. Water and fire talismans were currently the attacks he was most proficient with, but he could not draw talismans in midair like Senior Brother Shi. To cover the gaps between throwing talismans, he had also trained in a little body cultivation.

Chen Zui had guided him in his training.

His physical techniques were not particularly offensive, but when combined with his talismans, they were at least sufficient for self-protection and defense.

Coincidentally, Lin Congcong possessed a single earth spiritual root.

Earth spiritual roots were naturally stable and inherently defensive. When it came to offensive techniques, the most famous included the Earth Dragon Art, Earth Escape Art, and Flying Earth Across the Sky.

But as an inner disciple, Lin Congcong naturally did not follow an ordinary path.

The technique he had mastered most thoroughly used earth to bind his opponents.

In simple terms, it was a restraining technique, but one that drew upon the earth of heaven and earth and the living spirit within all things.

In a genuine battle to the death, he could even trap a person or object within a confined space until their spiritual power was exhausted and they perished from suffocation.

Bian Chunzhou quickly discovered that this bastard was extremely good at creating earthen prisons.

When his water met the earth, the entire fighting space turned wet and sticky. Even his movement technique slowed somewhat.

Of course, Lin Congcong was not much faster himself.

No one had expected the match to become a prolonged battle.

Generally speaking, low-level cultivators feared drawn-out fights the most. If their spiritual power continued being depleted like this, they would inevitably be the first to lose.

But...

Heh heh.

His Fire Within Water Art only became stronger the longer it was allowed to build power.

Bian Chunzhou feared prolonged battles least of all.

Lin, you bastard, just watch.

He was definitely winning this round!

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