Volume 1: Questioning the Past Chapter 20 Hidden Man Chen Changqing
At the foot of the sect’s mountain, the two men bowed and knelt in front of the mountain gate.
But in front of him, there was a jade stele, six feet high, engraved with three characters, called the Soul Devouring Sect! Next to the stele was a stone staircase, and looking further inside was misty clouds, and it was difficult to see clearly.
As for the two people, they were naturally Gu Xiaoxing and Du Siyu. At this moment, they were kneeling in front of the mountain gate, waiting with their heads bowed. After a moment, their bodies tensed at the same time, a terrifying divine sense descended, and a sound like a huge bell rang in their ears.
"Good! In the battle of Blackwood Forest, you two fought to the death to save our hidden man. You have made great contributions to the sect and deserve a reward! You can enter the mountain gate...!"
As the voice fell, thick fog condensed in the stone staircase and turned into a gray cloud that floated in front of the two. Du Siyu looked indifferent and stepped forward. It was obvious that this was not the first time he entered the mountain gate.
Gu Xiaoxing's eyes showed wonder and he followed suit. He felt that the clouds were soft, like stepping into mud and sinking into it, but it just happened to help stabilize his body.
Clouds floated up, carrying the two of them straight into the sect's mountain. Gu Xiaoxing felt as if he was flying in the clouds and mist, and suddenly felt dizzy. In fact, with his strength of the fourth level of Qi Condensation, it was very easy for him to stabilize his body, but in panic he still subconsciously grabbed around, and he grabbed a soft jade arm.
Du Siyu's face immediately turned cold. He tried to shake his hand off, but failed. So he got angry and slapped the man with his backhand. With a "pop", screams were heard in the mountains of the sect.
The clouds rose in the east and moved in the west. Gu Xiaoxing didn't know how they flew. Anyway, he appeared in front of a palace in a daze. He covered his face with his hands out of curiosity. There were faintly visible fingerprints on his face. The next moment, the clouds suddenly dissipated. He stumbled to the ground and almost fell.
Du Siyu landed steadily on the ground and glared at Gu Xiaoxing with anger in her beautiful eyes, as if she was going to hit him if they had a disagreement.
Gu Xiaoxing didn't dare to respond to the glare, thinking that the other party was mentally ill, and secretly curled his lips, "Tsk, you are so skinny, who would want to touch you."
"Don't come in yet."
At this time, a voice was heard from the main hall, but it was different from the voice at the mountain gate before, and Gu Xiaoxing felt vaguely familiar with it.
The two men's expressions became serious, and the soul-eating insect between Gu Xiaoxing's eyebrows trembled slightly. The palm print on his face slowly disappeared, and he walked into the palace. There were two people standing on the high hall in the palace. Gu Xiaoxing took a look and realized why the voice sounded familiar, because one of the two people was his "big backer", the sect's great elder, Master Bai.
Master Bai also stared at Gu Xiaoxing, his face calm and expressionless, but Gu Xiaoxing felt a little frightened by his gaze. He lowered his head and felt secretly guilty.
Standing next to Master Bai was the old woman who had rescued him yesterday. Gu Xiaoxing had asked Du Siyu when he came here, and found out that this old woman was the second elder of the sect and had accepted Du Siyu as a registered disciple.
In addition to the two people sitting above the throne, there was a young man standing below the throne. He was the bloody man who was rescued in the Black Woods yesterday, and the sect's hidden man mentioned earlier. The two people sitting above the throne had no expression on their faces, but the young man's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Du Siyu and the others. However, now was not the place for him to speak, so he could only nod at the two of them and give them a look of gratitude.
Gu Xiaoxing and the other two greeted each other as required. Before Master Bai could speak, the Second Elder spoke first. She said, "Alright, I don't like these roundabout rules. Boy, I heard about what happened yesterday. You are quite good."
As she spoke, a crystal stone flew out from the Second Elder's sleeve and landed in front of Gu Xiaoxing. She continued, "I will give you a piece of spiritual essence to help you break through in your cultivation."
Gu Xiaoxing thanked him quickly and took it. It looked only slightly larger than a spirit stone, but the spiritual power fluctuations contained in it were completely different. The spirit essence flowed inside it, and the pure spiritual power was condensed in it like liquid, which made Gu Xiaoxing have an urge to absorb it immediately.
I licked my lips subconsciously, what a good stuff!
Then, the second elder turned his gaze to Du Siyu, his eyes were obviously softer, and said: "Siyu, you are not a spirit-eating body, so the method of absorbing spirit essence to quickly improve your cultivation is not suitable for you. Come with me. I have prepared spirit liquid for you, which can strengthen your body and concentrate your consciousness, and help you break through to the eighth level of Qi Condensation in one fell swoop."
"Thank you, Master! I will definitely win first place for you in this outer sect competition." Du Siyu bowed.
The second elder shook his head and smiled, then left with Du Siyu.
At this time, there were only three people left in the hall. Under the hall, the young man looked calm and silent. Master Bai suddenly showed a half-smile and said, "Your cultivation has improved very quickly. In the blink of an eye, you have reached the fourth level of Qi Condensation. I guess you have been eating well in the sect recently!"
Gu Xiaoxing's heart trembled, and he felt as if he had been seen through. He thought to himself that Master Bai knew everything. His expression immediately became solemn, and he said respectfully: "I also want to thank Uncle Bai for his guidance! Without Uncle Bai, there would be no Xiaoxing, and Xiaoxing would have no parents. But from now on, in Xiaoxing's heart, Uncle Bai is like a reborn parent. As long as Uncle Bai gives an order, Xiaoxing will not dare to frown even if he goes through fire and water!"
Gu Xiaoxing became more and more excited as he spoke, and even patted his chest with a sincere look on his face.
Master Bai's mouth twitched, thinking that this boy was so shameless that he called him "Uncle Bai" before he even went to settle the score with him. He felt quite disgusted, but at the same time, he also felt a sense of relief as if he had found a treasure.
Although Gu Xiaoxing had used some tricks, and had taken advantage of the Soul Devouring Body, he had never before been able to reach the fourth level of Qi Condensation within half a month of joining the sect. After pondering for a moment, Master Bai slowly said, "It's still a little short after all."
Gu Xiaoxing was slightly startled, not knowing what Master Bai meant. Then he saw two more pieces of spiritual marrow flying towards him and floating in front of him. Then he heard Master Bai's voice.
"Spiritual marrow is rare, and is an excellent item for the Spirit Devouring Body to improve its cultivation. However, everything must be done in moderation, and cultivation should be steady and solid. Of the three spiritual marrows, you can only absorb one piece per month, and you can only absorb the next piece after your cultivation is completely stable."
Gu Xiaoxing remembered them all.
Afterwards , Master Bai passed down two more techniques, one was a body movement technique called "Fang Cun Bu", and the other was an attack technique called "Yuling Finger".
"That's about it. Maybe it's a little hard to win a place, but it's enough to gain some experience in the outer sect competition."
Listening to Master Bai's words, Gu Xiaoxing was stunned.
What outer sect competition?
Did I say I would participate?
As if seeing what Gu Xiaoxing was thinking, Master Bai frowned and said, "Why, you don't want to participate in the outer sect competition?"
Gu Xiaoxing asked weakly, "Is this outer sect competition dangerous?"
"Didn't we just say we would go through fire and water? Besides, as cultivators, we should strive for the truth. If we get scared when we encounter a little danger, how can we seek immortality?" Master Bai glared at Gu Xiaoxing unhappily. He wanted to continue preaching, but when he saw the fear in his eyes, he changed his mind and coughed lightly, "But the outer sect competition is not a battlefield, so it's not dangerous."
Gu Xiaoxing finally breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it was not dangerous, it would be fine. He had just recovered from the battle in the Black Wood Forest, so he agreed. As long as his cultivation level reached the standard by then, he would participate in the outer sect competition.
"Okay, Changqing, send him down the mountain. You've just returned to the sect, so you should get acquainted with the people there." Master Bai waved his hand impatiently.
"yes!"
The young man took Gu Xiaoxing out of the hall, suddenly bowed and said, "I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. Junior Brother Gu and Junior Sister Du saved my life. Chen Changqing will remember it in his heart. If you ask me to do anything in the future, I will do it."
Gu Xiaoxing was startled when he heard this. He was still thinking about the competition, but he didn't expect the other party to be so formal all of a sudden. He quickly helped him up, and then the two of them went down the mountain after exchanging pleasantries, gradually becoming familiar with each other. During this time, Gu Xiaoxing asked some obscure questions based on the grace of saving his life.
The Soul-Devouring Sect's foundation is the Soul-Controlling Art, which is used to guide soul-devouring bodies into the sect for practice. Because the soul-devouring bodies practice very quickly in the early stages, they have become the sect's backbone. As a result, the Soul-Devouring Sect has been established for only two hundred years, but it has been able to compete with those sects in the Small Wasteland that have been passed down for thousands of years.
But just over ten years ago, the Soul Devouring Sect suddenly discovered that the Soul Controlling Art had been leaked, and they could not find the reason. The situation even got worse. After a thorough investigation, they discovered a force called the Soul Devouring Gate. This force was doing the same thing as the Soul Devouring Sect, secretly guiding soul-devouring bodies and growing stronger, but they were also extremely mysterious.
The Soul Devouring Sect naturally could not allow it to grow stronger, and in a rage, they launched a massive killing spree against it, but the effect was minimal, and they could never find the Soul Devouring Sect's lair, so they could not get rid of the roots . In desperation, the Soul Devouring Sect's leader made a hidden move, waiting for the opportunity to uproot it.
However, the Soul-Devouring Sect was also extremely cunning. Over the years, several hidden players had been pulled out one after another. Chen Changqing was one of them. It was not difficult to tell from his words that he seemed to have discovered something, which led to his exposure. As for what he discovered, that was the sect's secret and he could not say it.
When Gu Xiaoxing heard this, as well as Chen Changqing's account of the various dangers he encountered as a hidden man, he was shocked and reminded himself once again that the world of cultivation is dangerous and he must never leave the sect!
