Chapter 101

Outer City, Xiaoyao Cave.

Lin Wanyi wore a black wide-sleeved gown and a black gauze veil hat, her entire body wrapped tightly; only after confirming no one on the street was paying attention did she enter a fur shop and ascend the stairs to the second floor.

Compared to the shop below cluttered with miscellaneous items, the second floor was much tidier; a painting hung on the wall depicting countless stars, while the moon was merely a slender crescent hook, representing the image of the 'New Moon'.

And the New Moon was precisely the sect emblem of Queyue Villa.

Bu Hanying, the incense master operating in Luoyang, was currently wearing reading glasses and flipping through books at his desk; upon noticing Lin Wanyi coming upstairs, he hurriedly stood up:

"Yanyu girl, you've finally arrived."

Lin Wanyi removed her veil hat, revealing a face of peerless beauty:

"Master Shu Bu, were you waiting for me?"

"I've been waiting for you for two days!"

Bu Hanying gestured for Lin Wanyi to take a seat, his eyes still showing lingering fear:

"You didn't reveal your Wu Sect identity to Xie Jinhuan, did you?"

Lin Wanyi hadn't intended to reveal it; Xie Jinhuan had figured it out himself. She hadn't yet had the chance to report this to the sect, so upon hearing this, she blinked:

"Not yet. What's wrong?"

Smack~

Bu Hanying slapped his thigh, his face full of the relief of having narrowly escaped death:

"The night before last, after I finished discussing matters with the heads of the Geda Sect, I was blocked by Xie Jinhuan the moment I stepped out!

"He is investigating evil demons and heretics, acting with such decisive speed; right after finding me, he killed the rogue cultivator in the antique street within less than an hour!

"Fortunately, this old master was cunning and deep, persuading him with emotion and reason to leave. Otherwise, if we had fought, it would have damaged our mutual harmony..."

"..."

Lin Wanyi took a light breath, feeling that Xie Jinhuan was somewhat unscrupulous, using her master shu as a mouthpiece!

But given Xie Jinhuan's style of action, if he truly wanted to make things difficult, Master Shu Bu would probably be in pieces by now...

So he did give her some face after all...

Lin Wanyi didn't mind this too much and asked curiously:

"What were you and the Geda Sect discussing?"

"Sigh, it's about the matter of restoring the Gu Du Pai."

Bu Hanying helped pour tea and sighed heavily:

"After Tai Shu Dan caused a scene, the imperial court's crackdown on poison masters has clearly intensified. The common people, fearing harm to themselves, report any fake medicine sellers to the government office, which is unfavorable for our preaching in the Central Plains.

"I've been flipping through the founding histories of the Geda Sect these past few days and feel this problem must lie in the 'name'.

"Look at the Daoist sects: Hidden Immortal, Elixir Furnace, Divination—they sound ethereal. And names like 'Taiyin Palace, Mount Zihui' also sound like orthodox sects.

"But us? Both Gu and Poison, we don't look like good people at all. Places like Chilong Cave and Sanshi Cave sound like loose rats on the evil path..."

Lin Wanyi actually deeply agreed:

"Master Shu, are you preparing to change the name? How?"

Bu Hanying adjusted his glasses and analyzed with grave seriousness:

"The two characters 'Que Yue' carry too much yin energy, sounding like they come with three parts of murderous aura, which is unsuitable. But a sect's name cannot lose its core purpose when changed!

"So I think we can reverse the name: Que corresponds to Qian, Yue corresponds to Ri. It won't detach from the root, yet the evil aura won't sound so heavy..."

Qianri Villa...

Lin Wanyi sat up straighter, feeling this name was quite strange:

"Uh... what about Chilong Cave and Sanshi Cave..."

"Just follow the same logic."

Bu Hanying said with great enthusiasm:

"A dragon without horns is called Chi; no horns on the head means a bald, hairless dragon, so Chilong Cave can be renamed 'Bald Nest'.

"Sanshi refers to the three dantians; Tian corresponds to Mu, so Sanshi Cave can be renamed 'Sanmu Tun'..."

Oh my god...

Lin Wanyi felt that if this name were revealed, the Gu Du Pai would probably be evacuated on the spot!

"What about Gu Du Pai?"

"Gu is insects, Du is herbs, so we are the 'Wu Sect Insect Herb Sect'. Just hearing that makes us sound like good people!"

"Hey?! This one actually works!"

"Right? I'll write a letter to the villa master later..."

Speaking of insect herbs, Lin Wanyi remembered the real matter and took a list out from her sleeve:

"I came today to ask the villa to help collect some medicinal herbs; they must be delivered within ten days..."

Bu Hanying took the paper and glanced at it briefly:

"Hmm... no big problem. Let's discuss this later; the villa has a more important matter that needs you to handle."

Lin Wanyi frowned:

"What matter?"

Bu Hanying stroked his beard: "Last autumn, didn't the villa master and the sect master of Mount Zihui meet in Huofeng Valley in the Southern Border..."

"I know that. The sword immortal Nangong was afflicted with a love gu by my master."

"What love gu? That's just gossip spread by people in the Jianghu."

Bu Hanying lowered his voice and whispered:

"At that time, both of them were seeking Phoenix Feather Grass to enter Super Rank, but there was only one such heavenly treasure, and Nangong Ye was guarding it first.

"Heaven-sent things go to the capable — the Manor Lord couldn't just hand it over, so they came to blows. Though the Manor Lord practiced both Wu and martial arts, in a straight fight he was indeed outmatched by the Daoist sect's supreme Yang Thunder Law. Pressed with no choice, he resorted to the 'Immortal-Burning Gu'…"

"Huh?!"

Lin Wanyi heard this far and felt the situation was turning bad.

A Love Gu at most tormented a person — it wouldn't kill them.

But the 'Immortal-Burning Gu' was different. It was a toxin of extreme Yang, something Crescent Moon Manor had specifically developed to deal with Daoist and Buddhist cultivators. When it took effect, it would burn the qi, blood, and marrow; if the qi within the body was purely Yang, suppressing it was like pouring oil on fire — essentially incurable.

"And the result?"

"The result was Nangong Ye couldn't match him and fled defeated. The Manor Lord successfully got the Phoenix Feather Grass. He thought Nangong Ye would come to the door and back down afterward, but Nangong Ye's temper was stubbornly unyielding — not only did she refuse to bow her head, she even chased the Manor Lord to beat him…"

Lin Wanyi furrowed her brow: "If I recall correctly, once struck by the Immortal-Burning Gu, one lives at most a year, right?"

"Right, that's where the problem lies."

Bu Hanying clapped her palm, her brows full of troubled color:

"The Manor Lord isn't a clay Bodhisattva either — before, he didn't want to bother with her life or death.

"But Nangong Ye is a disciple of True Person Qixia, and is famous across the entire Daqian — her admirers are beyond counting.

"Setting aside the plan to re-enter the Central Plains, if she were poisoned to death by the Manor Lord, every cultivator in all of Daqian would hate Crescent Moon Manor to the bone. And the Daoist sect would surely demand blood for blood…"

Lin Wanyi heard this far and understood the meaning.

Nangong Ye was hailed as the 'Number One Absolute Beauty of the Daoist Sect.' Her cultivation wasn't the highest among peak-level sect masters, but her influence was indeed top-tier.

If this dream girl of every knight-errant were killed off by Crescent Moon Manor, not to mention others, even Xie Jinhuan would probably be heartbroken.

But that wasn't the most crucial part.

Nine-tenths of the Daqian Daoist sect belonged to the Danding Sect, and traced back they all came from one ancestral founder.

Nangong Ye's master was True Person Qixia, making her already a core figure of the Danding Sect. If she were robbed of her treasure by Crescent Moon Manor and then poisoned to death, and Lu Wu Zhen didn't demand blood for blood, how could he serve as Zhang Sect of the Danding Sect in the future?

And her own master certainly couldn't beat Lu Wu Zhen. For the sake of some heavenly treasure and earthly material, making such a deadly grudge was clearly not very sensible.

"Then what to do? Heavenly treasures go to the capable — Sect Master Nangong didn't win the fight, so does the Manor Lord have to turn around and beg her not to die?"

Bu Hanying was utterly speechless, but still nodded:

"That's pretty much the idea.

"Nangong Ye can die at anyone's hands, just not at Crescent Moon Manor's — otherwise when Old Ancestor Sikong washes clean and goes legitimate later, we'll all still be stuck in the Southern Border watching demon beasts bare their fangs.

"According to the Manor Lord, a few days ago Nangong Ye heard demonic qi had appeared at Mount Zihui, and suddenly returned to Daqian.

"You have some connections in Danyang. The Manor Lord's idea is to have you think of something — see if you can find someone to talk some sense into her."

"Huh? Me?"

Lin Wanyi sat up straighter: "With my meager cultivation, I can persuade Sect Master Nangong? I'm not even close with Linghu Qingmo, and how would I even bring this up?"

Bu Hanying sighed softly: "The Manor Lord knows this is hard to handle, but there's no way around it. Nangong Ye is as stubborn as an ox. Last month the Manor Lord already set aside his pride and prepared to make peace privately, but Nangong Ye came right out with, 'Hand over the Phoenix Feather Grass first, then apologize respectfully — otherwise we fight to the death.'"

"Tell me, isn't that being unreasonable? This is my first time seeing someone who lost fair and square still act so overbearing. Is poisoning someone in secret not a skill? If the Manor Lord weren't considering the big picture, he would have destroyed her on the spot…"

Lin Wanyi blinked, feeling it wasn't Nangong Ye who was being overbearing, but the entire Danding Sect.

Her own master clearly wasn't considering the big picture either — he had snatched the treasure, then struck from the shadows and poisoned her to death. And the one poisoned to death was the Number One Absolute Beauty of the Daoist Sect — far too hate-inducing, and he feared becoming a public enemy of Daqian.

"How much time does Nangong Xianzi have left?"

"Two or three months more, though recently she certainly wouldn't dare to get worked up."

Bu Hanying said with earnest weight:

"Right now the Manor Lord and Nangong Ye are competing in endurance — seeing who can't hold the pressure and bows first.

"The Manor Lord is, after all, the second-in-command of the Wu Alliance. If he can't afford to offend the Daoist sect and has to soften up and apologize, how will he hold his ground in the Southern Border afterward? So this matter can only be handled by finding a way to make Nangong Ye bow."

Lin Wanyi blinked: "What if Sect Master Nangong would rather die than submit?"

Bu Hanying looked left and right, leaned in, and said in a low voice:

"This is just between us. If Nangong Ye would rather die than submit, the Manor Lord can only consider the big picture and come apologize in person. He can't let this small matter cause the Danding Sect and Gu Du Pai to split and fight each other to the death."

Lin Wanyi clicked her tongue: "Then Sect Master Nangong definitely won't bow. It's obvious we don't dare kill her — if she bows, isn't she just asking for trouble?"

"That's why we're asking you to think of something."

Bu Hanying sighed: "If you can think of a way to persuade Nangong Ye, the sect will record you for first merit. From now on, you'll be Crescent Moon Manor's 'Holy Maiden.'"

The Wu Sect's Holy Maiden meant heir.

Lin Wanyi was currently an inner-sect direct disciple — in both status and strength, she wasn't qualified to be Manor Lord, and had never thought she could inherit Crescent Moon Manor and become Old Ancestor.

But her sect had suddenly given her this chance — if she could fight for it, naturally she still had to fight for it.

That way, when Crescent Moon Manor went legitimate in the future, her background wouldn't be any worse than Linghu Qingmo's…

"Mm… let me think of something."

"Fine, but hurry. The Manor Lord didn't say anything, but in his heart he must still be anxious…"

……

(End of chapter)