Chapter 20 Request
Qingjue opened his mouth, but was somewhat speechless.
Other children had never seen themselves cry, but Jie had.
Will he demystify his tall and imposing image? Will he question why he cried back then? ... That's probably not the point.
Why was I so intimidated by his gaze, even though he was just a child?
Is this the aura of a protagonist?
"Brother Jie!" Aju shouted, "Let's go back for a midnight snack!"
Jie walked over from a distance during the day. In the blink of an eye, Qingjue vaguely saw a tall shadow, but in the next blink, it disappeared.
What was that just now...?
“Master, Master,” Ruan Linglai said, waving her hand in a spell, “I don’t want Junior Brother Zhan Yan’s sword. He flies so fast every time, it’s terrifying.”
"You don't believe me when I say you're a spoiled brat."
"You...! I hate you!"
"snort."
Ruan Linglai muttered, "When I get my own sword in the future, it will definitely be more powerful and more beautiful than yours."
Yan Shiqun: "Tch, we'll talk about it when you have one."
Qingjue tapped his forehead: "Why are you arguing again?"
Jie didn't ask anything during the day. He quietly pulled him aside and said that the children's wounds had been bandaged.
Sometimes Qingjue felt that the child saw right through him, but he didn't reject the feeling.
That's a real surprise.
The Qing family warmly welcomed the other immortals who came to help from all directions, and unusually, they dispelled the fog on the lake and built a fairy bridge to provide temporary refuge for the homeless.
Of course, these are all the meanings of Qingjue.
The old-fashioned elders felt it was somewhat inappropriate; what kind of order would it be if anyone could just come into a powerful sect?
But everyone is equal in the face of disaster, and they still understand what is more important than what is less important. They were dissatisfied, but they didn't argue with Qingjue.
Therefore, the Qing family was especially lively during this period.
Ordinary people were grateful and wouldn't make a scene on Qing's territory. They tried to keep a low profile and not cause trouble for the immortals. Some even took the initiative to do chores. Qing Jue occasionally saw Fan Aotian, but he always avoided him.
The lively atmosphere is mostly due to...
"Hey you, surnamed Qing, come out and fight me one-on-one!"
"Yun Chunhua, what are you yelling about so early in the morning? Don't you know I'm a patient?"
"You speak with such a strong voice, you don't sound like a patient at all! I haven't settled all the scores with you from before. A year ago you sent me Shui Yunyao, half a year ago you brought your good apprentice to my mountain to catch dragon lizards, three months ago..."
"Stop, stop. Bringing up old grievances is pointless. Tell me honestly, did the herbalists of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou turn a blind eye to your problems? Did they give your Yun family a discount? Did they go to help with the mountain ghost incident five months ago?"
"Stop talking nonsense, are you just too scared?"
"Fine, let's fight."
Aju rubbed her sleepy eyes and said, "I remember Master said before... to treat Young Master Yun well..."
So the two fought in the morning and went outside to help in the afternoon. The Yun family head and Elder Qing chatted and laughed, saying, "My son has never had any playmates his own age. I'm sorry to have made you laugh."
"Not at all, our Immortal Lord has become increasingly unreliable in recent years."
Qinghuan helped Qingjue with a lot of the work, but his main task was still to count the number of deaths.
The good news is that the death toll from such a massive disaster has been kept to three digits, which is already quite incredible.
These counts were obtained by asking each household, and apart from some unrecognizable corpses, most of them were missing, with no trace of their remains.
With a large number of people missing, it's safe to assume they're buried deep underground. The primary task is to rebuild the surface, as the bodies underneath are indeed impossible to retrieve.
Qinghuan handed the booklet to Qingjue and said, "Immortal Lord, this is the current situation. Please take a look."
"Yes, thank you for your hard work. I'll definitely give you a raise once things stabilize."
"It's no trouble at all, I'm glad I could help... But there's something about Huan that I feel a little..."
"Speak."
"Aren't there too many missing persons? There are far too few bodies that have been found. Huan is thinking, should we send someone to comfort the families who haven't been able to find their loved ones' remains?"
“That makes sense, I agree. We also need to do a good job of persuading the people. Many immortals helped with this matter in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, so we should thank them properly afterward.”
"Huan received the order."
“There’s one more thing,” Qingjue said, having finished flipping through the booklet in his hand, “This earthquake is suspicious; it doesn’t seem like a purely natural disaster…”
As things gradually calmed down these days, Qingjue finally had the time to think about that unusual thing from back then.
He did indeed sense unusual fluctuations in the underground spiritual veins.
Although this incident stirred his memories and made him feel more immersed in the situation, Qingjue never forgot the worldview of this place.
This is a world with a cultivation background, where magic spells, demons, monsters, and all sorts of supernatural phenomena come together.
In modern times, this earthquake might simply be a result of a significant change in the geological structure, and earthquake predictions are generally unreliable; humanity is far less capable than that.
But in this world, all rumors are true, and all illusions are foreshadowing; this is the truth.
Qingjue intends to thoroughly investigate who is hiding underground and causing these deaths.
A week later, the people outside were basically settled, and the rest could be left to them to handle themselves. The surrounding immortal sects also left one after another.
Qingjue doesn't need to use a sword; he can easily float high in the sky and look down at everything below.
From this perspective, all living beings appear insignificant, and the magic array he had arranged for his disciples to set up in the past few days has now been completed.
From the last clue, it can be seen that the culprit is very cunning. It sensed that Qingjue's external force was quickly burrowing away from underground. Therefore, Qingjue knew that this guy absolutely could not be grabbed by brute force, otherwise what if it caused such a big earthquake again?
Qingjue instructed his disciples to set up a gentle, harmless array that was imperceptible except for spiritual energy. However, its range was vast, and with a small amount of his spiritual power probing in, it could...
Qingjue sensed the restored internal energy in his body while in mid-air. Although it would still take some time to fully recover, it was enough to affect the magic array.
He took out the Misty Green sword and plunged it straight into the center of the lake without causing a ripple.
Silently, spiritual energy seeped into the array's core, permeating all directions, and after half an hour, it covered the entire Quanzhang.
Qingjue closed his eyes and calmed his mind, resonating with the senses of the sword inserted into the ground.
He opened his eyes.
Found it.
The surrounding magic arrays and runes emitted a faint light, so faint that no one would notice it. The talismans slowly melted into the ground and were all collected by Qing Jue's sword.
It's like a large, automatically filtering net has been gathered up.
The pale blue sword leaped out of the water, splashing a little, and returned steadily to Qingjue's hand.
Qingjue gripped the misty green sword and made a few clean and crisp gestures in the air. A talisman-like pattern disappeared along with the sword energy.
He flicked his sword with his other hand, and a ball of blue flame-like substance landed in Qingjue's palm.
The blue flame was very small, seemingly about to dissipate with the slightest touch; this was the wisp of spiritual energy that Qingjue had just grasped with his sword.
With this item, you can use magical artifacts to find its owner.
Qingjue sensed the aura and confirmed that it was exactly the same as the one he had found underground in his panic.
When Qing Jue returned to the Qing family, he had a small blue flame in his hand, which attracted the curious onlookers of the children.
Aju: "Master, what is this?"
Wen Tianyu stopped Ruan Linglai, who was about to step forward, and said, "Be careful, I can feel it, she's vulnerable."
“It’s alright,” Qingjue said. “I have already protected it with my own spiritual power. You can continue practicing on your own. I will go find the elder.”
After he left, the children huddled together.
Ruan Linglai: "What is that in Master's hand?"
Wen Tianyu: "I sensed a faint spiritual energy."
Jie Zhoujian: "Tianyu is right, I also sensed it, but the aura was too weak, I don't know if it was malicious."
Yan Shiqun: "Who knows what he's up to... What can we possibly guess here?"
Wen Tianyu: "I can see."
Aju: "No, no, Senior Brother Wen, have you forgotten that you overused your eyes when you saved people before? Senior Sister Qingfeng told you not to use them casually."
Wen Tianyu: "Well, there's nothing I can do..."
Ruan Linglai: "But Master..."
Jie Zhoujian: "Master certainly doesn't need us to worry. Let's focus on practicing our swordsmanship so we can protect Master and the others in the future."
Qingjue brought back that faint spiritual energy. To find the owner with such a weak spiritual energy, not only would a high-grade item-finding magic tool be needed, but also several people with profound inner strength cultivation would be required to make progress.
Qingjue was strong on his own, but considering that he had just overexerted himself and was about to set off to capture the culprit who was causing trouble, the elders stopped him from doing the job.
The cyan flame-shaped object merged into a small compass-like device. With the infusion of internal energy, the pointer spun several times before finally pointing in a direction.
Elder Zhenling handed the items to Qingjue, reminding him, "That demon's cultivation is definitely extraordinary. This journey will be fraught with danger, so you must not be careless."
Qingjue nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely find it and give the people justice, so that it will not cause trouble again."
Everyone has witnessed Qingjue's strength, and in recent years he has genuinely become smarter, at least knowing how to back down. Compared to his previous cold and unfeeling demeanor, he now values his life much more.
So Elder Zhenling didn't say anything more.
This matter concerns the lives of thousands of people in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. If the culprit is not found, the next attack could come at any time.
No one could interfere with this matter, so Qingjue only announced his trip to visit old friends and did not even communicate with the Yun family.
The children were definitely not allowed to go on such a dangerous mission, so Qingjue got up very early, intending to leave quietly by himself.
On the day he left with Xun Fangyi, Qingjue opened the door, but unexpectedly, Jie Zhoujian was standing at his door with the long sword Fulan on his back.
This was indeed unexpected by Qingjue: "Up so early during the day? Go find your senior brothers and sisters for breakfast."
Jie performed a standard curtsy during the day.
"I request to go with Master during the day."
A note from the author:
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I'll be taking a one-day break before the VIP chapter expires tomorrow due to word count restrictions. [hugs]
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