Chapter 106 : That Man Has a Habit of Flirting with Women
Chapter 106: That Man Has a Habit of Flirting with Women
At the edge of Twin Su Manor,
Canglan Immortal Mountain's reinforcement team was carrying out an intensive investigation, sealing off the formation, the converging spirit veins, and the corpses of the dead.
The leader of this reinforcement mission was the External Affairs Elder, Dong Xun.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
Dong Xun's Dao title was Star Abyss, placing him among the Star generation of elders.
Within Canglan Immortal Mountain, Dao titles were assigned according to seniority—Water, Moon, Star, Cloud. The Star generation was only slightly older than the youngest Cloud generation.
For Dong Xun to have reached the Sixth Realm, his aptitude naturally needed no further praise.
Moreover, because he excelled in battle,
he had been promoted to External Affairs Elder.
For most of the year, he remained outside the sect, participating in military campaigns, exploring secret realms, and negotiating with foreign races.
He was exceptionally knowledgeable.
He had witnessed all manner of atrocities committed by evil cultivators in pursuit of the Great Dao.
Yet even so,
the bizarre scene before him still left him deeply shocked.
The alterations to the cultivators' bodies were only secondary.
The truly alarming part was
that Dong Xun could not find any trace of them having been controlled.
...Cultivators who had not been controlled—including orthodox disciples of the Orthodox Path—had willingly participated in such a brutal massacre, as though their personalities had completely changed and they delighted in the slaughter.
Judging the whole from a single part, if even a tiny place like Twin Su Manor had become like this, then perhaps the entire cultivation world was nothing more than a greatly enlarged Twin Su Manor.
He could vaguely sense the aura of Heavenly Dao Tribulation Qi within it.
Only a vague sensation.
It was faint and indistinct, far too uncertain to serve as evidence.
He needed a reliable method of verification.
"Elder Star Abyss, we've found the body of a disciple from the Taibai Sword Sect."
One of his subordinates reported.
"Preserve it properly and wait for their people to retrieve it."
"As for the condition of the body..."
"Leave it exactly as it is."
Dong Xun shook his head.
"This is no longer merely a matter concerning Canglan Immortal Mountain. It concerns the entire cultivation world."
As he spoke,
a deep rumble suddenly echoed across the distant sky as a silver-white streak tore through the clouds at tremendous speed.
Only when it drew closer did they recognize it as a Flying Boat covered in intricate spirit inscriptions.
A Flying Boat from the Supreme Unity Talisman Palace.
Dong Xun found it rather strange.
He knew there was a surviving disciple from the Supreme Unity Talisman Palace, but the communication talisman had not yet been sent out. If the Talisman Palace had already arrived, they must have come for another reason.
The Flying Boat came to a halt in midair as its cabin door swung open and several figures stepped out into the air.
At the front was a young woman dressed in red-and-white robes.
The outfit was stylish and modern, slightly puffed in design, with a skirt that only reached her knees. Her shapely lower legs were neatly wrapped in pristine white icy silk, leaving not a trace of skin exposed.
The young woman possessed an impressive figure, yet her face remained adorably youthful with a hint of baby fat.
That lovely face also carried an unmistakable trace of arrogance.
She held her chin high, concealing both confidence and urgency.
Dong Xun paused slightly.
Lü Muxue? The daughter of Lü Zhouwdang, the Palace Master of the Supreme Unity Talisman Palace? Why is she here?
The moment Lü Muxue noticed him, she casually offered a perfunctory salute.
Her gaze swept across Twin Su Manor.
The sight of the devastated ruins only made her expression even more anxious.
"Where is my cousin Lü Shu? What happened? Where is Fang Chang?!"
"Miss Lü, this way, please."
A subordinate beside Dong Xun stepped forward.
Dong Xun had met Lü Zhouwdang before, and he had also met this young lady.
He naturally had no intention of arguing with a junior, nor did he have the mood to explain matters personally.
He instructed one of his men to briefly explain the situation and lead her to Lü Shu's sickroom before returning to his work.
The more Lü Muxue listened,
the deeper her brows furrowed and the faster she walked.
A large group of disciples followed closely behind her without daring to fall behind, stopping only upon reaching Lü Shu's room.
Some time later,
she emerged from the room, her pretty face dark with anger.
She walked once around the survivors' temporary camp.
Then, after locating Dong Xun, she strode toward him aggressively.
"Elder Star Abyss!"
"I'm looking for a Corpse Refinement Path cultivator named Fang Chang. Are these the only survivors?!"
Without raising his head, Dong Xun continued studying a rubbing of the formation patterns in his hands.
"Yes. If you can't find him, then he's probably dead."
"Do you have a list of the victims?"
"There are too many victims. Most of them have been mutilated beyond recognition and cannot be identified... Furthermore, the current situation is complicated. Please forgive me, but I cannot permit you to inspect them. At the very least, bring a Fifth Realm cultivator."
"But Fang Chang refined my aunt into a Yin Corpse!"
"I'm sorry, Miss Lü. There are far more important matters here. Your personal grudge cannot compare in the slightest."
"What about your Canglan Immortal Mountain disciples? I heard some of them were involved as well."
Dong Xun raised an eyebrow.
"Are you suggesting that Canglan Immortal Mountain has disciples of the Corpse Refinement Path?"
"What's so strange about that?"
Lü Muxue frowned stubbornly.
"That man is guilty of countless crimes beyond all measure. Who knows? Perhaps all these deaths are connected to him. Finding him would save you quite a bit of trouble, wouldn't it?"
Ridiculous.
Dong Xun shook his head.
He knew that this massacre had been caused by the Tribulation Qi leaking from the Heavenly Dao Rift.
What did that have to do with a Corpse Refinement Path cultivator?
However, since the Heavenly Dao Rift itself had been a disaster created by Canglan Immortal Mountain, there was no need to expose their own embarrassment.
Unwilling to waste any more words on Lü Muxue, he handed her over to someone else and continued his work.
Naturally, Lü Muxue refused to give up and tried to pursue him.
She was stopped instead by a female cultivator who had just come from the survivors' camp.
"Are you Lü Muxue?"
Song Zitan's face was deathly pale.
"Are you looking for Fang Chang?"
Lü Muxue halted.
"You know him?"
Fear immediately surfaced on Song Zitan's face.
"I do. He almost got me killed."
Only now did she realize that Fang Chang's earlier claim of being acquainted with Lü Muxue had been complete nonsense.
The two of them were clearly enemies!
"Where is he now?!"
"I don't know. But before I nearly died, I saw him standing together with Cheng Hua of Canglan Immortal Mountain."
Lü Muxue's face turned cold as she silently repeated the names Canglan Immortal Mountain and Cheng Hua several times.
She tossed Song Zitan a storage pouch filled with Tai Sui Flesh.
Then she turned around and returned to Lü Shu's room.
Lü Shu had already awakened.
She wore a bitter expression, her face still frighteningly pale.
"Any news?"
A murderous aura appeared on Lü Muxue's pretty face.
"Cheng Hua of Canglan Immortal Mountain may be connected to him."
"Cheng Hua? That makes sense. That man has a habit of flirting with women."
"He's very likely a disciple of Canglan Immortal Mountain. However, the people there protect their own. Elder Star Abyss is like that, and the others are even worse. Coincidentally, Canglan Immortal Mountain will soon host the Twelve Orthodox Sects' Dao Exchange Conference... My elder brother and I will attend personally. I'll capture that man myself. You should return home first and recover from your injuries."
Lü Shu, however, shook her head.
"Aunt Zhang Su risked her life to save me. I can't simply ignore her. I'm going too."
Lü Muxue pursed her lips in silence.
After a long while, she gently embraced her.
"Are you certain... that Aunt Zhang Su truly still retained her soul and consciousness?"
Lü Shu rubbed her soft little face affectionately against her cousin's equally soft cheek.
"There can be no mistake. She even defied Fang Chang's orders because of it and desperately fled while protecting me."
"...Corpse Puppets possess neither soul nor intelligence. That man truly isn't an ordinary Corpse Refinement Path cultivator. To think he could even perform such a miraculous soul-restoration technique... But..."
Lü Muxue frowned suspiciously.
"If Fang Chang possesses such a miraculous technique, why would he allow Aunt to break free of his control? I don't believe he'd simply let something like that happen."
Lü Shu had not expected her cousin to think so highly of Fang Chang.
"Perhaps... he simply hasn't mastered it yet? He's only a Third Realm cultivator."
"When I first met him, he was only in the First Realm, yet he had already orchestrated everything. He even killed a Seed Nurturing Path cultivator who was about to step into the Fifth Realm."
Lü Shu was startled.
"Are you saying he did it on purpose? He deliberately let Aunt save me? But why?"
Lü Muxue shook her head.
Her emotions were complicated.
She had originally believed that her aunt had died and been refined into a Corpse Puppet,
reduced to nothing more than a walking corpse that others could manipulate however they pleased.
Yet now,
her consciousness still remained.
She recognized Lü Shu.
Which meant she would certainly recognize her as well.
The thought made Lü Muxue genuinely happy,
yet also deeply confused.
Why would Fang Chang do such a thing?
...
"That man has a habit of flirting with women."
Lü Muxue's brows suddenly knitted tightly together.
Could it be...
that this man simply enjoyed playing with conscious Corpse Puppets?