06. Gui Fang Wu Di
Due to their special bloodline, the Guifang family members often cultivate with "evil energy," making them incredibly powerful, on par with the Beichen family. However, every generation of Guifang family practitioners of evil energy is plagued by the "backlash curse."
In the original novel, Gui Fang Wu Di made his first appearance by fighting against the protagonist "Bei Chen Sui Xing" in the departmental ranking competition, which won him many book fans. Netizens have been asking: Is the character Gui Fang friend or foe?
The author gives an ambiguous answer in the latter half of the book: turn the page a few hundred chapters later.
Tangxi and others lacked the patience to follow the story. Instead of waiting until the end, they skipped directly to the final volume, where Gui Fang Wu Di was consumed by the eerie energy and became the most insane villain.
Now the villain is behind him, controlling him with puppet strings.
Tang Xi was tense all over, and could clearly hear herself swallowing.
What do you want from me?
"We want to collaborate with you."
As if seeing through Tang Xihe's thoughts, Gui Fang Wu Di stretched out his pale, bony hand from under his black robe, making an invitation.
"Teacher Qin asked me to ask a question for you."
"What?"
"Would you like to be my regular teammate?"
?
Tang Xi pointed incredulously to the tip of her nose, "I have 0 points, and Teacher Qin wants you to find me to be your teammate?"
"So what if you have 0 points? With over 800 missions and ranking first in mission completion, it's impossible that you only know basic spells."
Gui Fang Wu Di seemed about to laugh, but the red thread that had sewn his mouth open stretched it into an exaggerated arc, making him look even more eerie. "You're quite generous, why are you giving away your points for nothing? Are you doing someone a favor?"
"..."
Tang Xi found herself completely exposed in front of this guy.
Or perhaps—
Suddenly, a talisman appeared at Gui Fang Wu Di's fingertip. At the same moment the talisman spontaneously combusted, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. Tang Xi felt as if she were soaking in water, as if something had separated her from Gui Fang.
A high-grade soundproof barrier costs 120 Immortal Coins!
Tang Xi was heartbroken. Suddenly, Gui Fang Wu Di's gaunt face drew close, looking down at Tang Xi:
"Or are you also cultivating using unorthodox methods?"
"......"
Tang Xi's throat tightened, and she carefully asked, "How am I supposed to answer that? What kind of answer do you want to hear?"
"Okay, I understand. I think the conversation will go more smoothly."
Gui Fang Wu Di's voice was gentle, yet carried an air of undeniable authority. He untied the puppet strings and extended his gleaming white bone claws towards Tang Xi.
"Let's go, Teacher Qin will treat you to tea."
·
Student Affairs Office.
They burned high-level barrier talismans worth 120 each without a second thought, not feeling the slightest bit of heartache. On her way to the student affairs office, Tang Xi envied the Gui Fang family's wealth for the nth time.
Upon entering the office, Tang Xi was blindfolded by Gui Fang.
He felt a suffocating aura around him, a thick and oppressive atmosphere spreading out. It was Gui Fang using strange energy to activate some kind of formation. A strong wind howled in the student affairs office, and there was a buzzing in his ears. Tang Xihe wanted to sense it more carefully, but Gui Fang had already completed the formation and was pulling Tang Xihe forward with puppet strings.
"Did you use puppet strings to follow Pipi?"
"That ugly thing is called Pipi?" Gui Fang retorted. "How could you adopt such a suspicious creature?"
"……ah?"
"Its form, neither rabbit nor dog, is not the true form of that monster." Gui Fang paused, and Tang Xihe stopped as well. Gui Fang continued, "However, you good students probably don't know the 'Fiery Eyes Technique,' so it's normal that you can't see it."
"..." Was he mocking me?
Tangxi was furious but dared not speak out.
After walking for five or six minutes, Tang Xihe's blindfold was pulled off by Gui Fang. He blinked hard to adjust to the environment and couldn't help but make a commotion, like a monkey entering the Grand View Garden for the first time, looking around everywhere. When he straightened up, he almost bumped his forehead and got a bump.
The eerie blue-purple flames on the fireplace illuminated the cold corridor, making the figure of the ghost leading the way appear tall and thin. The corridor was covered with talismans on all sides, in such large quantities that it was as if a secret passage had been paved with talisman paper.
Tang Xi exclaimed, "Your Department of Mystic Arts only has one teacher, yet you're so rich!"
"...Approved by higher-ups."
Gui Fang walked ahead, stopping and starting. He was tall and slender, and his height of over two meters forced him to bend his knees and crouch in the narrow passage, making his posture look somewhat lewd and strange. Wherever he went, blue-purple eerie flames ignited, illuminating the high-level barrier talismans that covered the surrounding walls. The further he went, the more eerie flames lit up the corridor, and the clearer his vision became.
"arrive."
When the ghost came to a wall, it felt around and then gently pressed its skeletal hand into the wall.
The talismans on the wall seemed to suddenly come to life, vibrating all at once, and the flying talismans, like waves, swallowed the ghost into the wall.
Tang Xi stood where Gui Fang had disappeared, mimicking his posture of pressing against the wall, and poured in spiritual energy bit by bit. The next second, he was also sucked into the wall.
"Ghost side?"
Tangxi staggered two steps, and when she looked up, she found herself in another space.
This place still seemed to be the student office, with a coffee table, three sofas, a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, and a calligraphy brush on the desk automatically writing something. Tang Xi's gaze shifted, and she saw Gui Fang brewing tea in the corner, the aroma filling the air.
All the equipment and displays were exactly the same as the original student office, except that this time, there was a woman in a suit on the sofa.
It's her!
Their eyes met, and Tang Xi paused for half a second. She sat obediently on the sofa, her back straight, her hands neatly placed on her knees, not daring to look around, quietly waiting for the other to speak.
Before me stood a woman who looked very scholarly, with a single braid hanging down her back, some faint freckles on her face, and a gentle smile.
Is this Qin Xiuluo?
Why does this seem different from the "madwoman" title in the novel?
The aroma of tea wafted through the air, and two cups of tea floated over. Qin Xiuluo nodded slightly in the direction of Gui Fang, who then quietly retreated to the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't explain things clearly. I was also worried that if too many unrelated people knew, it would be detrimental to the Ghost faction."
Qin Xiuluo said apologetically, "Zhang Benyi is a bit slow to understand things. Did he scare you?"
Where? Where?
Tang Xihe quickly waved her hand, her face visibly flushed, "I scared myself."
Qin Xiuluo covered his face and chuckled, "Are you afraid of me? I didn't expect the 'Mission Master' to be afraid of his teacher."
Hearing her teasing, Tang Xi's face burned even hotter.
How could I not be afraid?
He slaughtered a city in a day, a realm in seven days, and almost dragged more than a dozen Venerables down with him when he self-destructed.
Qin Xiuluo, who hasn't yet turned evil, appears kind and approachable, but he also has the identity of a teacher. Tang Xi, regardless of the world, always keeps her distance from teachers.
He cleared his throat. "Did Teacher Qin need something from me?"
Qin Xiuluo lowered his head, took a sip of tea, then pushed the teacup into the air and got straight to the point: "Do you know about 'disintegration'?"
"Know."
The concepts from the textbook came to mind subconsciously, and Tang Xi answered, "After a Corpse-Dissolving Immortal ascends to immortality, they will choose an item to inherit their magical power. Some of these items are weapons, while others are items that the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal usually keeps or keeps close at hand. In short, this kind of 'immortal shedding its skin' and leaving behind an incarnation with magical power is called 'Soldier-Dissolving'."
At this point, Tang Xi immediately understood Qin Xiuluo's meaning. "Ah? So... you want me to take Gui Fang to the secret realm to find 'disintegration' after the departmental ranking competition?"
"Yes."
Qin Xiuluo nodded solemnly. "The rules have changed this year. Freshmen can also participate in the secret realm trials. The lower-level secret realms have been given to freshmen to practice in, which means you will be entering mid-to-high-level secret realms, which will be more difficult than in previous years. You are a well-known mission master in the school, and I hope you can help my student find the 'Disintegration' Tranquil Flute."
The higher the difficulty of the secret realm, the better the magical artifacts and weapon fragments hidden within. With a bit of luck, you might even snag a high-level weapon fragment. But—
Gui Fang, who had been silent all along, looked at Tang Xi and couldn't help but remind her, "Teacher, he has 0 points."
"I know that last night, the martial arts department challenged Tang Xihe in the alley of the academy. The challenge failed, and many people said that Tang Xihe actually had 0 points."
Qin Xiuluo chuckled, "You've been hiding for three years, and now you suddenly reveal that you have zero points. It seems like you're planning something?"
"......"
Tang Xi smiled awkwardly, picked up the teacup that had been floating beside her for a long time, and took a big sip.
Do these master and apprentice have mind-reading abilities?
After a moment of silence, Tang Xi asked, "Why me? Aren't there others who are better than me?"
Qin Xiuluo slowly stood up, casually straightened his suit collar, and slowly walked towards Tang Xihe.
“There aren’t many people I can trust in this school. Zhang Benyi is one of them. Although he is honest and conscientious, he is not flexible enough in his work, so I don’t trust him.”
"As for Beichen... the Beichen family and the Guifang family have been fighting each other for many years. Beichen's followers are very strong, but I can't figure out how he views my students, so it's not good to ask him to team up."
"As for the other students in the Martial Arts Department? During every departmental ranking competition, many students in the Martial Arts Department hate Gui Fang and despise those of us who cultivate using strange energy. I don't trust Gui Fang to team up with them either. My students are very naive. If they get stabbed in the back, we in the Strange Energy Department are outnumbered and can't reason with them."
"And you—"
Qin Xiuluo walked to Tang Xihe's side and smiled as he placed his palm in front of Tang Xihe's forehead.
"You have an inner core, right?"
Upon hearing this, Tang Xihe turned pale and looked at Qin Xiuluo in disbelief.
Gui Fang couldn't help but ask in astonishment, "How is this possible? How can a human cultivator form a core?"
The only response from Gui Fang was silence; Gui Fang understood.
Qin Xiuluo pressed his palm down and gently patted Tang Xihe's head, then touched Tang Xihe's tense face.
"See, Gui Fang, I didn't lie to you. Besides the demon race, human cultivators can also form their core."
"How is that possible... That's strange. So, does that mean I can do it too?"
Gui Fang glanced at Tang Xi, who was bowing her head in silence, and then unconsciously raised her claw, gathering a ball of cold, eerie fire. "The teachers of the general courses all say that the student's spiritual power limit is determined by the number of points they accumulate."
"Those bad old men are lying to you. What they teach in school is outdated and old-fashioned."
Gui Fang remained silent for a moment, seemingly having figured things out, and did not utter a sound.
No wonder they brought Tang Xihe into the secret room to talk. A human cultivator who has reached the Core Formation stage? If outsiders find out, Tang Xihe might be captured and dissected alive by the people from the Spirit Source Research Institute.
"I heard about your reputation as a 'task master' two years ago. I was a bit confused before. How high is the score of a kind person who often helps classmates with tasks? I didn't expect that you would abandon the wrong cultivation method and secretly develop your own cultivation method."
Qin Xiuluo extended a finger, lifted Tang Xihe's chin, and forced her to look him in the eye. "I'm very curious, how did you know about the cultivation scam?"
"I can take Gui Fang Wu Di to find 'Bing Jie'," Tang Xi replied, seemingly unrelated to the question.
Qin Xiuluo: "You can speak freely here."
"...I can't say right now."
Tang Xi silently clenched her fingers, preparing to make a hand seal and escape.
Unexpectedly, Qin Xiuluo released his jaw.
"Okay, it's normal for young people to value their privacy and have their own secrets."
Qin Xiuluo waved his hand and returned to his desk. "Take him out."
·
On the other side.
Pipi paced anxiously in circles around the house. It lost count of how many times it flew around, finally arriving at the balcony, where it brought Tangxi's blanket and, belatedly, piled it over the hole in the barrier.
"Oh no, is he dead? What will happen to my soul? Tang Xi seems to be treating me really well, she even took me to eat fried grasshoppers..."
Pipi suddenly paused and looked warily in a certain direction.
An unfamiliar and dangerous aura.
Who's here?
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