Chapter 9: The Sect Leader's Exclusive Favor is Given to Only One Person: Fu Ming, Protected by Xiao Huaiyuan...
On the summit of the sect leader's peak, Xiao Huaiyuan sat alone in the dim light.
Since his duel with Fu Mingmoyuan, the border between the immortals and demons has been unusually peaceful, without even a single demonic cultivator engaging in robbery. Thanks to him, Xiao Huaiyuan, as the leader of the Immortal Alliance, has been spared from worldly affairs and even has some nothing to do.
He cleared the letters waiting to be reviewed from his desk and freed his hand to carefully examine the Heart Demon Oath mark on his wrist. The interlocking black lines faintly showed the flow of the laws of heaven, like an invisible chain that connected him and his senior brother from afar.
I wonder what my senior brother is doing right now.
Just then, a loud crash came from outside the door, and Fu Ming pushed the door open and shouted as he entered.
"Master, I've come to see you again!"
Now, Fu Ming felt no qualms about addressing his junior brother as "Master," a matter of improper seniority. He casually put his arm around Xiao Huaiyuan's shoulder, marveling at how broad and strong his junior brother's shoulders were, while also stealing a glance at the confidential documents of the Immortal Realm.
Xiao Huaiyuan turned half his face to meet the gaze of the newcomer. The candlelight made his disciple's expression appear unrestrained and vivid, almost like a real person.
"Master... what urgent matter do you have with me?"
He was momentarily dazed, and almost blurted out "Senior Brother".
Just inches away, the sudden appearance of the character "师" (teacher) made Fu Ming's heart skip a beat. Could it be that this person had discovered something?
Their eyes met, each harboring their own secrets. However, they could only hold out for a few breaths before Fu Ming succumbed to Xiao Huaiyuan's calm yet intense gaze. No, he couldn't hold on any longer; his junior brother would burst out laughing if they stared at each other for too long.
He covered his face with his fist and secretly looked away, pretending to admire the scenery.
"Ahem, Master, this is a long story, but to put it simply, I need a sect leader's decree to use at the Xuanluo Sect."
As he said this, Fu Ming smiled with his eyes crinkling, looking very obedient, which was completely unlike the arrogant Demon Lord Fu Ming he once was.
“Mount Tai Xuan is too dangerous for Foundation Establishment disciples. I cannot give you an imperial edict unless absolutely necessary.” Xiao Huaiyuan’s tone was as calm and even as usual, as if the strangeness just now was just an illusion.
"What if I told you that there's a rift to the Demon Realm near the Xuanluo Sect, and that only I know its location?"
Fu Ming pulled a crumpled map of the Immortal Realm covered in markings from his sleeve and deliberately waved it in front of Xiao Huaiyuan. The map, marked in red ink, showed the movement of the beast tides over the past century, with several red lines intersecting prominently among the dense markings.
Fu Ming, who was usually carefree, was unusually serious. Xiao Huaiyuan nodded in response, signaling him to continue.
"Master has probably heard about the rift in the Demon Realm. I grew up on the border and witnessed it firsthand. At that time, a huge gap suddenly opened up underground, sweeping away carts, horses, cattle, and sheep, and spitting out some strangely shaped demons, which sometimes swallowed people as well. But that's not the point. The point is that even after the rift closed, the demonic energy continued to spread outwards, and sometimes it would crack open again, connecting to the Demon Realm."
"After the beast tide at Mount Taixuan, demonic energy can always be detected on the corpses of spirit beasts, but we don't know where it comes from. I wonder if it's because of the rift?"
Fu Ming recounted the story with a mix of truth and falsehood. He certainly didn't grow up on the border, but he had spent over thirty years in the Demon Realm and had plenty of experience wandering around. Even if he hadn't eaten pork, he had seen pigs run.
"The Demon Realm Rift has only been recorded at the border. Mount Taixuan is thousands of miles away from the border between the immortals and demons. How can we be sure that the source of the demonic energy is the Demon Realm Rift? Moreover, no related traces have been found before."
After receiving the map, Xiao Huaiyuan circled the border cities and the location of the Xuanluo Sect. The two were separated by thousands of mountains, and even flying at full speed on a sword would take a considerable amount of time. On the other hand, the Tianyan Sect and the Xuanluo Sect were much closer together.
"This is just speculation at the moment, but Master—"
"Do you really want a hidden danger to remain beside your bed? If it really isn't a rift, then consider it an opportunity for your disciple to go out and gain experience, is that not acceptable?"
The man sat unsteadily, leaning against the table, and beckoned to Xiao Huaiyuan in the dappled light. He lowered his voice, his clear eyes gleaming, and the end of his sentence seemed to hold a small hook that gently tickled the heart.
Xiao Huaiyuan's eyes darkened, and he gently stroked the messy handwriting on the paper with his fingertips before calmly putting the yellowed and torn map into his storage bag.
There's an 80% chance it's him.
"good."
Fu Ming felt a weight in his palm as Xiao Huaiyuan placed the small, exquisite edict, engraved with the Qiankun Taiji pattern and exuding a dignified Daoist aura, into Fu Ming's hand with extremely clean and swift movements.
When people are in high spirits, they are in a good mood. His carefully prepared words were not needed. Xiao Huaiyuan is really easy to talk to these days.
Fu Ming walked along the rugged path on the sect leader's peak. A fork in the road, paved with bluestone slabs, stretched out from the swaying bamboo forest, ending at the sword-testing platform built on the edge of the cliff. Fu Ming used to practice martial arts here every day and spar with his junior brother, so he was very familiar with this place.
Overjoyed, he strode quickly onto the platform, following the bamboo branches. The dark black heavy sword given to him by Xiao Huaiyuan appeared out of thin air, and he twirled it in his hand with a perfect blend of strength and grace. The moonlight was cold and gentle, flowing over the ancient sword and giving it a soft, faint glow, as if the sword had been tempered in the deep pool of a cold abyss for ten years.
A sword should be heavy, not light, and long, not short. He and his junior brother have always been in complete agreement on the aesthetics of weaponry.
After the dance ended, Fu Ming suddenly felt a thorn in his side. Following the direction he seemed to sense, he looked up and indeed saw Xiao Huaiyuan standing on the terrace, looking at him across the distance. The guy's still posture was like a stone statue. He didn't know how long he had been looking at him, but he didn't say a word.
Fu Ming outwardly accepted the scrutiny, but inwardly he muttered to himself: He was using the Qingfeng Sword Technique, a basic sword style that everyone in the sect could learn; surely they couldn't have noticed anything wrong with it from that.
"The night dew is heavy; you should go back now."
Xiao Huaiyuan finally spoke, but there was a hint of melancholy in his words.
There weren't many rooms on the sect leader's peak, so Fu Ming condescended to stay in a guest room at the foot of the mountain. It must be said that the guest rooms on the sect leader's peak were much more spacious than the dormitories for Foundation Establishment disciples, which pleased Fu Ming greatly. He wasn't a very sound sleeper, and when he shared a room with his junior brother, he would always squeeze him into a corner or have him cling to him like an octopus.
"System, do you think there's a high chance Xiao Huaiyuan has been possessed?" Fu Ming lay sprawled on the bed, staring blankly at the rotating starry sky outside the window.
"Hey, this feature isn't unlocked yet, meow. Click the 'Donate Merit Points' button on the screen to help upgrade the system! Give it a try~"
...As expected, I shouldn't have expected the system to be of any use.
After being blown by the bleak autumn wind for a while, Fu Ming's mind, which had been clouded by joy, calmed down and he realized that something was wrong. His junior brother was the most clear about his likes and dislikes, and he couldn't tolerate even the slightest bit of filth in his eyes. Back then, with such low cultivation, he still insisted on joining others in the search for him. Now, his explanation was full of errors, yet he was let off lightly. Why had he suddenly changed his nature?
That shouldn't be the case. Could it be that they are secretly gathering evidence to catch him in one fell swoop?
Fu Ming decisively got out of bed and worked through the night under the starlight to prepare his plan. Although the death of his avatar would inevitably damage his soul, he could also abandon the avatar if necessary to gain an opportunity to escape.
The following day, Fu Ming appeared at the farewell party with two strikingly large dark circles under his eyes.
No matter how much Xiao Huaiyuan trusted him, he wouldn't let a disciple with only Foundation Establishment cultivation go into danger alone. So he summoned a Nascent Soul elder and several elite Golden Core disciples to go to Xuanluo Sect together.
"Does the sect leader suspect that there is a rift to the demonic realm in the wilderness of Mount Taixuan?"
"Indeed, I will trouble you to lead the team to investigate the situation."
“This matter is of utmost importance. Sects such as Xuanluo Sect produce black gold ore and have close ties with the Refining Peak. If we go there rashly, we may provoke the dissatisfaction of the aristocratic families.”
The male cultivator who was having a pleasant conversation with Xiao Huaiyuan was Xu Yan, an elder of Wanjian Peak.
“Our destination is not in the mining area. The Chen family, which is led by the Refining Peak, has become much more low-key now. You can go ahead and do it.” Xiao Huaiyuan waved his hand, and the Immortal Realm map marked by Fu Ming unfolded and floated in the air. He pointed out several gathering places of beast tides to Xu Yan.
Xu Yan's expression was somewhat strange. His gaze swept over the map made of ordinary paper and the few holes on it. His eyebrows twitched incessantly, and he almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"...Xiao Huaiyuan, are you so poor that you can't even afford decent paper? If you're short of money, I, Wan Jianfeng, will lend you some, hahaha."
"I made this drawing. Since you are so generous, Elder, why not give me, this poor disciple, 100,000 spirit stones as a grant?" Fu Ming, who was originally peeking at the eight swords carried by the Wan Jian Peak Elder in the corner, jumped out to extort money after hearing such a callous remark.
Xu Yan awkwardly touched his nose. It would be a lie to say that Wanjian Peak wasn't poor; where was he going to get 100,000 spirit stones for him? How could Xiao Huaiyuan, that honest blockhead, have taken in such a quirky disciple? He put on a stern face and tried to drive away the uncooperative Fu Ming.
"When elders are speaking, juniors should step aside..."
“This is my disciple Mingchen. He grew up on the border and knows many traces of the rift in the Demon Realm. You will need him to lead the way this time.”
Fu Ming was secretly pleased that Xiao Huaiyuan had protected him. Xu Yan, that stingy man, used to get furious if he said anything about him being poor, but now he dared to laugh at him for being poor. He deserved it.
Xu Yan's face turned red, then green, then white, as if he had plunged headfirst into an unevenly dyed vat. After sulking for a while, he began to change the subject.
A messenger from the Demon Realm reported that the new Demon Lord was besieged by the rest of the Demon Realm yesterday, yet he single-handedly fought his way in and out, capturing several minor leaders. For the Immortal Realm, the advantage is that the scattered demon cultivators on the border have lost their leader and are unlikely to pose a threat, thus ensuring a period of peace. The disadvantage is that he will be even more difficult to deal with; if his expansionist ambitions resurface, given his talent and temperament, he might be far more terrifying than the old Demon Lord.
The two tacitly avoided mentioning the new Demon Lord's name. Xiao Huaiyuan glanced at Fu Ming out of the corner of his eye; Fu Ming was stuffing spiritual fruit snacks into his mouth, his cheeks bulging like a squirrel down the mountain.
Fu Ming was also chatting, having a casual conversation with the system within his consciousness.
System: Great news! Congratulations, host, your world title has evolved from the universally hated Great Demon to the infamous Great Demon Lord! A cause for celebration!
Fu Ming: What's the difference between these two titles?
System: The difference is huge! This means fewer people want to beat you up now, all thanks to this system for pulling you back to the right path, hahaha!
The next second, Fu Ming ruthlessly exposed the system's rhetoric: "The person who wanted to beat him up was beaten so badly that he gave up his illusions. You cheap system still have to pat yourself on the back. Aren't you ashamed?"
Fu Ming overheard Xu Yan's worries from next door, but he couldn't be bothered to pay them any attention. The vague future of the Three Realms they were talking about was less important to Fu Ming than the chestnut pastry in his hand.
After all, once we've eaten this meal, we'll be on our way.
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