Chapter 96: The Future is Uncertain

At this moment, Sima Wuhen was heard asking.

"Dao brother, why do you say that? This... how is that possible?"

However, Su Yuanshan suddenly laughed, his laughter rough and deep.

"What is impossible? Even jade stones can grow vines; if the seeds are inhaled, no matter who it is, being eroded by plants and bearing flowers and fruit is not impossible. It's just that these flowers are not ordinary flowers, and... you had better stay away from the guy lying on the ground, because..."

Because... because of what? Sima Wuhen was full of confusion and was about to ask, when he heard Su Yuanshan speak indifferently.

"It is about to sprout and bloom!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Yang laughed out loud, his tone full of mockery.

"What? Sprout and bloom? Do you think that is a flowerpot? Fellow Daoist is simply talki..."

"Snap!" Before he could finish his sentence, dozens of flowers suddenly—bloomed on the spot, their branches swaying, beautiful and moving!

Eerie!

Such a beautiful scene made everyone shudder, feeling an endless sense of eeriness!

At that moment, the surroundings were silent; one could hear a pin drop!

Until Sima Wuhen swallowed hard and asked in a hoarse voice.

"Dao... Dao brother... how... how did you know?... Could it be... could it be that you... have been here before?"

At that moment, everyone's gaze was fixed squarely on him, filled with surprise, confusion, suspicion, and also fear...

"Haha," Su Yuanshan laughed instead.

"No, I guessed. What of it? Human intuition is just that magical; I think everyone has had this kind of experience, right? That was close; luckily I guessed right, otherwise I would have lost face."

Hearing Su Yuanshan explain it this way, some breathed a sigh of relief, while others remained suspicious.

He is too good at spouting nonsense, Sima Wuhen thought with a bitter smile, saying to himself, I don't believe a word of it!

But Su Yuanshan noticed that the purple-clad young girl, who was either looking at the sky, the ground, or occasionally up at the air, finally looked at him directly for the first time, though she quickly shifted her gaze away and continued her cold, aloof state.

However, Su Yuanshan did not care.

He had seen all kinds of people.

Whether they had ability or not, they all liked to act cold and play deep in front of others to some extent, so he felt such people were extremely superficial. He couldn't be bothered to pay them any mind!

He now possessed the ability of Purple Star Astrology; this ability could predict heavenly secrets and foresee the future, although it could only glimpse the heavenly secrets and the future for a mere few seconds.

And this ability only lasted for one hour; after one hour, it would automatically disappear, but for Su Yuanshan, this was already enough.

Su Yuanshan had suddenly exposed the bizarre incident of plants eroding human bodies.

Although many were still quite confused about this matter, some believed Su Yuanshan's explanation, thinking he was just a blind cat that happened to run into a dead mouse—pure luck.

But that middle-aged scholar from the Kaiyuan Academy began to pay attention to Su Yuanshan.

The monks from the Wuyang Temple remained silent, though the little bald monk looked at Su Yuanshan from time to time, clearly curious about him.

The master of the Qingyun Temple, Lv Qingshan, was examining the corpses thoughtfully, as if trying to find some secret within them.

And Cai Lian was still struggling with why this dark-faced man would know about such bizarre things.

Meanwhile, Huang Yang, Tian Ruoyun, and the others from the Yaoguang Sword Sect were focused on how to pass through here and other such questions regarding the Zhoutian Si.

Even the Sect Master of the Yaoguang Sword Sect, Xie Lingyu, was vigilantly scanning the surroundings, fearing they might encounter more danger.

Those rogue cultivators did not have so many concerns, seemingly pinning all their hopes of passing through the Zhoutian Si on these large sects.

However, Sima Wuhen was the most frantic one; he had a clever brain but did not know how to deal with this situation.

At this time, Huang Yang was heard saying.

"Shouldn't we be going? Let's not waste time here!"

The middle-aged scholar from the Kaiyuan Academy nearby reminded them.

"Everyone must be careful; the further we go, the more dangerous it will be, especially after entering that strange temple."

"Oh?" Huang Yang asked.

"What is strange about that temple?"

The middle-aged scholar sighed and said.

"I don't know how to describe it specifically; I can only say that it is full of oddities and traps everywhere inside. One careless step and you could lose your life. This is why I didn't want to come here, sigh!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd could not help but feel more worried, filled with a sense of uncertainty about the future.

Tian Ruoyun even thought to herself, if only an immortal could come and help us, it would save my master and me from being so terrified.

Not to mention whether we can find any opportunities here, according to what they say, even returning might be a long shot! Sigh!

Those few rogue cultivators even sat together and began to whisper.

"Listening to their tone, that so-called Zhoutian Si is very hard to pass!"

"That's right, I'm afraid one careless move and we'll leave our lives here! If only that famous master among us rogue cultivators, Xingyan Dashi, were here."

"Passing through this Zhoutian Si would probably be a piece of cake."

"Who's to say otherwise? The point is, isn't he not here! What is the point of talking about him now?"

"We should still think about how to leave here quickly and get through this Zhoutian Si."

Just as everyone was chatting, they didn't expect the group from Yunu Gong to follow them, led by that old woman.

Seeing everyone stopped here, she opened her mouth to speak.

"You have been walking for so long; I thought you had already passed the Zhoutian Si. I didn't expect you to still be here. Even if you dawdle here, what is the point?" She turned to the girl in yellow behind her.

"Xian'er, let's go!"

After speaking, she passed the crowd and walked forward along the mountain path.

Seeing that Yunu Gong was willing to act as the vanguard, Su Yuanshan did not stop them, nor did he compete with them; he just watched them walk past, leaving a trail of cosmetic fragrance.

However, when that girl named Ling'er passed by him, she seemed to glance at him, a look of disgust appearing on her face, as if to say, why is this person's skin so dark, so ugly, and quite frightening!

Regarding the appearance Su Yuanshan had transformed into, the girl did not see the full picture, yet she reached this conclusion, and a sense of disgust arose in her heart.

Su Yuanshan also seemed too lazy to pay any mind; it was not that he ignored them, but rather that he disdained to, much like a master who had reached the realm of "swordless sword" and could injure others by plucking a flower or leaf, while a child holding a wooden sword and just beginning to learn swordsmanship mocked him for having no sword in his hand.

Because they were not on the same order of magnitude, it would be futile to explain a realm she could not understand, so why bother with such useless effort? Therefore, Su Yuanshan only smiled faintly.

At this moment, the little bald monk from Five Suns Temple spoke to the old monk.

"Master, let us hurry over too, otherwise those good things will all be snatched up by those tigresses."

The old monk, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground meditating, stood up upon hearing this, picked up the gleaming tin staff beside him, and said.

"Amitabha, it is time for us to go as well!"

However, when passing by Su Yuanshan, the old monk suddenly stopped his steps, pressed his palms together, and asked.

"Monks do not tell lies; was what the benefactor said just now all true?"

Su Yuanshan knew what he was asking about, but he did not want to say, so he feigned ignorance and said.

"The so-called 'form is emptiness, emptiness is form'; may I ask if form is truly emptiness, or if emptiness is truly form? Could the Master please enlighten me?"

Although he was saying this with a smile, the old monk was slightly stunned upon hearing it, then turned and walked away, thinking to himself.

"Such a glib-tongued, sophistical fellow; I actually overestimated him! Nine times out of ten, what he said was a lie, deliberately making shocking remarks to gain the attention of others, and it just so happened that a blind cat bumped into a dead mouse.

That saying is indeed true!"

Thinking this way in his heart, he could not help but look down on Su Yuanshan a little more.

Seeing that the high monks of Five Suns Temple had all set out, those loose cultivators followed one after another, leaving only Sima Wuhen and the purple-clad young girl standing in place, unmoved.

Lv Qingshan glanced at them and said to Cailian.

"Lian'er, let us go too!"

As he passed by Su Yuanshan, he cupped his hands and said.

"Little brother, are you not going to follow?"

However, Mr. Su merely made a gesture of invitation and said nothing; the action seemed very rude, but it was not truly unreasonable—Su Yuanshan was just accustomed to it, a very casual manner.

Yet, when Cailian saw this, she became somewhat displeased and could not help but speak up.

"You really are something; my master is talking to you, why are you being so indifferent?"

However, Lv Qingshan did not seem to mind and instead said to Cailian.

"Lian'er, do not be rude!"

Saying this, he cupped his hands to Su Yuanshan again and left with Cailian.

Huang Yang of the Jade Light Sword Sect also glanced at Su Yuanshan, Sima Wuhen, and the purple-clad young girl, and said to Xie Lingyu and Tian Ruo.

"Senior Sister, Yun'er, let us follow them too."

When he left, he did not even pay attention to Su Yuanshan, instinctively feeling a sense of disgust toward this dark-faced man.

Although Su Yuanshan's actions earlier had surprised him somewhat, that surprise was quickly washed away by the disgust deep in his heart.

Even he could not explain the reason; he simply felt that this person, Su Yuanshan, made him feel unpleasant.