82. Natural Barrier (Part Ten)
◎The Mantra of Unity! ◎
The air inside the hall suddenly froze because of Lou Guan's words.
On either side of the long table, the sect leaders had different expressions. Cutting off the passage meant that the huge number of cultivators in the Mortal Valley could be controlled, but it also meant that the possibility of mortals cultivating the Dao was completely cut off.
Qian Zhong said, "The Second Elder is right. The spiritual energy in the realm is concentrated in the five sects. Even if a mortal succeeds in comprehending the Dao, he will only waste his time in the Valley of Mortals."
"The cultivators of Mortal Valley have become a major threat. It would be better to cut off this source. Then, we can set up a barrier in Mortal Valley."
Chang Nian lifted his eyelids, his originally gentle voice now tinged with solemnity, "What Sect Leader Qian said is far too cruel. Setting up a barrier would be to trap the cultivators of Mortal Valley firmly within Mortal Valley. Qingxiao should not be able to bear such consequences."
Lin Ge went even further and mocked, "Sect Leader Qian's words sound nice, what kind of barrier is this? It's just building a cage to trap the prey inside, but he won't give it a quick death and will let the prey slowly die of old age in the cage!"
Qian Zhong's face turned ashen: "Those cultivators from the Mortal Valley didn't take over Fei Feng's sect, so Sect Leader Lin can naturally say such sarcastic things. But if Fei Feng were taken over one day, would Sect Leader Lin still be as at ease as he is now?"
Seeing the tension rising again, Lou Zhen and Lou Li, who had been silent until now, also began to try to mediate:
"The matter of Qingxiao Mountain Gate ultimately stems from the fact that mortal cultivators have no way to cultivate. If Qingxiao is willing to set aside some peripheral spiritual veins for them to cultivate, then there will naturally be no conflict."
Qianzhong resolutely refused: "Impossible."
In his view, if this door were opened, wouldn't the cultivators cause a ruckus, and he would have to carve out a mountain territory? If a few more cultivators died inexplicably at the sect's gate, he might as well just hand over Qingxiao to them.
Seeing this, Lin Ge stood up first, "Since Sect Leader Qian has already made up his mind, why bother sending out invitations? Farewell!"
Chang Nian followed up: "I do not agree with severing the passage between the mortal realm and the mortal valley, nor do I agree with setting up a barrier in the mortal valley."
Only when the two reached the door did Qian Zhong say threateningly, "If I insist on going my own way, are Sect Leader Lin and Sect Leader Chang going to oppose me?"
The room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Yunxiu, who had been observing from the sidelines, stood up and broke the tense silence: "Why are you sect leaders so angry? If you ask me, the matter between Xi Qi and that cultivator from the Mortal Valley is quite easy to handle."
“Bring the cultivator’s family to Qingxiao first, and nourish them with spirit stones and pills. In time, the trouble will subside on its own.”
Lou Yi echoed, "Excellent, excellent. For now, let's use this method to quell the trouble. As for the matter of Qingxiao Mountain Sect, we have a foolproof plan."
Qian Zhong's expression changed, and finally he let out a heavy sigh. The meaning of the Discipline Hall was clear: to only temporarily resolve the matter of Xi Qi, which had caused trouble in the Discipline Hall, and to delay as long as the matter that had not yet escalated.
So he immediately stood up and said, “Regarding Xi Qi’s matter, we will follow the opinions of the sect leaders. But as for the Qingxiao Mountain Sect being occupied, you can’t both fail to come up with a solution and refuse to allow Qingxiao to resolve it on its own. Don’t you agree, Second Elder?”
Lou Guan smiled and nodded.
"Sect Leader Lin and Sect Leader Chang spoke eloquently, but they had no solution whatsoever. So let's set a one-month deadline. When the deadline is up, I will handle the matter of the cultivators in Mortal Valley myself, so there's no need for you all to discuss it together."
*
When the news reached Fei Feng, Ran Qinghe was practicing Fei Feng's Beast Taming Technique with Mu Tou in the woods in the backyard.
Hua Jin, holding Miao Miao, slowly approached. He stood aside without disturbing them until the two stopped, then stepped forward and briefly explained the matter of the council hall.
Ran Qinghe showed no surprise: "As expected, Xi Qi and Xi Shu have an extraordinary relationship, and Xi Shu has always been close to Qian Zhong. Even if things got out of hand like that, it was just a matter of raising the issue high and then letting it go lightly."
"As for the matter of the Mortal Valley, it is not suitable to resolve it quickly. This month is probably the limit that Qianzhong can endure."
Hua Jin spread his hands and said, "However, this matter cannot be resolved for the time being, which is a good thing for you, at least Qian Zhong is currently too busy to deal with it."
"But I'm afraid someone might soften their heart."
Ran Qinghe slowly shook her head, then paused for a moment before replying after a long pause: "No."
When she first entered the Valley of Mortals after attaining enlightenment, she was met with cold indifference and even bullying and humiliation. Only Ye Buchen took pity on her loneliness and accepted her as his disciple, which made her life a little better.
As for Little Bell, it was only because of Ye Buchen's favor.
"The lives and deaths of others are none of my concern; if anyone is to blame, it's that they were born at the wrong time."
Hua Jin found her words strange, but before she could ask any more questions, she was startled by the meow in her arms.
He only loosened his grip slightly, and it rushed out, baring its teeth and lunging at the wood nestled in Ran Qinghe's arms, seemingly jealous that the wood had taken its place.
The wood was caught off guard by the cat's pounce and rolled out of Ran Qinghe's arms. The two snow-white balls rolled and tore at each other on the ground, making low growling noises.
Ran Qinghe was about to step forward to break up the fight, but when she saw that Mu Tou was able to fight Miao Miao to a standstill, she stopped in her tracks in astonishment.
She turned to look at Hua Jin: "Could it be that your master's cultivation level is too low, and Meow Meow is the one with such strength?"
Hua Jin raised an eyebrow and retorted, "Even if my strength is lacking, Meow Meow is still a Heavenly Rank spirit beast. To be able to fight Meow Meow to a draw, the origin of your spirit beast must be extraordinary."
Ran Qinghe thought to herself, "After all, it was once the contracted spirit beast of the chief of the Discipline Hall, so its realm must not be low."
She had watched the spectacle long enough and was about to step forward to separate the two beasts when Hua Jin suddenly interrupted her, saying:
"By the way, I ran into Elder He on my way here. He said he couldn't find you at Tingfeng Garden and asked me to tell you that he seems to have something urgent to discuss with you."
Ran Qinghe asked, "Elder He?" The two of them had no prior relationship, so why was he suddenly looking for her?
She glanced at Wood, who was still focused on battling Meow Meow, and patted Flower Ash on the shoulder, signaling, "Keep an eye on them, and remember to tell me who won in the end."
When she found Elder He, he was buried in a mountain of books. His desk, the floor, and the shelves were almost completely covered with them.
Ran Qinghe glanced through them carefully; most of them were books about spirit beast contracts.
Her heart sank. Recalling Elder He's excessive concern about the spirit beast contract between her and Mu Tou in Lingxiao Palace, she spoke first: "I wonder what important matter Elder He has to discuss with me?"
Elder He then noticed her, and said with a hint of joy, "I think I probably know what the strangeness of the contract that day was."
He said smugly, "I knew it. Ever since I joined Feifeng and presided over the signing of spirit beast contracts, there hasn't been a single spirit beast contract in Feifeng that I'm not familiar with."
Ran Qinghe replied calmly, "Oh? What did the elder discover?"
“A few days ago, one night, the sect leader suddenly came to find me and told me that if we couldn’t find the answer, we didn’t need to continue the investigation.”
"When I heard that the sect leader was so considerate of us, I couldn't let him down, so I read through all the books on spirit beast contracts from the past thousand years."
Ran Qinghe continued, "And then?"
Seeing that he was rambling on and on without getting to the point, Ran Qinghe also showed some impatience.
Elder He, having kept them in suspense for quite some time, finally revealed: "On the day of the contract, what was formed was not a spirit beast contract, but a contract between cultivators!"
Ran Qinghe asked with a serious expression, "What do you mean?"
The contract between cultivators is about wood; it couldn't have originally belonged to a cultivator, could it?
In an instant, she thought of the most unlikely possibility.
"What contract? Explain yourself."
Elder He said, "It is the Heart-to-Heart Mantra of the Discipline Hall. Combining the scene of the contract that day, and the fact that the contract penetrated deep into the soul, I am almost 90% certain that I can make this conclusion."
"This is the Unity Mantra of the Discipline Hall!"
Ran Qinghe felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. A strange anger, mixed with surprise and grievance, surged up from her heart. She felt as if she were in two extremes, as if she were being pierced by Elder He's words.
And the sense of unease that had been building up all this time suddenly made perfect sense.
No wonder! Lou Tinglan was able to get ahead of her, coerce Wei Lin, and save Xiao Lingdang's mother.
No wonder! She made frequent mistakes when practicing the Beast Taming Technique with it earlier, and she thought it was because she was practicing it incorrectly.
Even on the day they returned from the Valley of Mortals, when she pressured him so much, he didn't tell the truth.
Lou Tinglan is quite the schemer; he's completely outmaneuvered her!
Clinging to the last glimmer of hope, Ran Qinghe tried her best to keep a calm expression as she asked, "Elder, why are you only 90% certain? What about that last 10%...?"
Elder He was completely unaware of her odd behavior, and his words were full of pride in his discovery.
"This last part is why I've come to find you. Let me ask you, have you two ever been apart?"
Ran Qinghe shook her head and then nodded.
Elder He patiently explained, but unwittingly added fuel to the fire in Ran Qinghe's heart.
"This Heart-to-Heart Technique was originally used by the Discipline Hall to restrain elusive and unruly cultivators, and it has almost been lost to history."
"If two people who have planted the Heart-to-Heart Technique are more than 100 meters apart, they will suffer a backlash."
"However, since the two of you have never been separated, it is impossible to verify this for the time being."
Suddenly, Ran Qinghe remembered that night when she left Mu Tou alone in the inner room, and then, halfway there, she was overcome with a heart-wrenching pain!
She even suspected it was a backlash from her own cultivation, but she never doubted it.
Ran Qinghe sneered, "What a blockhead!"
What a remarkable Lou Tinglan!
She bowed respectfully and took her leave of Elder He.
Ran Qinghe didn't know how she left that place. She only felt a surge of pent-up frustration in her chest, rushing and crashing wildly.
He watched her become close to "Wood," watched her hug it without any hesitation to rest, fall asleep, and even talk to it...
Does he find it interesting?
She was like a fool being manipulated.
She squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, all that remained was a calm that suppressed her anger.
She slowly walked back to Tingfeng Garden. The backyard had returned to peace. Hua Jin laughed at her, "You blockhead, you actually have some skill."
She ignored his words and could only see the wood sitting quietly on the stone bench.
Its snow-white fur gleamed softly in the sunlight, and its glassy eyes looked at her with the same pure innocence.
That was such a convincing performance.
Ran Qinghe approached, squatted down, and reached out to gently stroke its head as usual.
"Did you win?" she asked, her fingers sliding down, seemingly unintentionally touching its neck.
Why... was it so completely unguarded towards her?
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