Chapter 256: Thinking Deeply is Terrifying

Returning from the Liu family, Ji You and the people from the Immortal Supervision Bureau stayed at the same inn.

Afterward, they rested until noon, and then invitation posts from the Central Province noble families began to be sent into the inn.

These posts were clearly written in a hurry, and some even had ink that hadn't dried yet.

And among these noble families who came to send posts, the Qiu family was also among them.

Actually, as early as when Ji You defeated Yan Hao, the Qiu family head had already regretted why he hadn't insisted on marrying his daughter over back then; later, he had also personally gone to ask He Lingxiu for help and gone to invite Ji You.

But that time, Ji You returned to Fengzhou.

Now hearing about what happened in the mountains last night, his heart for remediation became even stronger.

To show sincerity, the Qiu family head even specially called his daughter Qiu Hanyue over and ordered her to personally send the invitation post.

He originally thought his daughter would refuse, after all, what his daughter previously thought of was marrying a noble family better than the Qiu family, so he prepared a belly full of persuasion.

But what the Qiu family head didn't expect was that after Qiu Hanyue took the invitation post, she didn't say anything and turned around and hurried to the inn.

When sitting and drinking tea with other noble disciples earlier, others were persuading her.

Especially those sisters, saying things like sometimes fate is just this strange, and besides, you didn't want to marry him before, so there's no need to hurt yourself for him now.

Her good sister Sheng Xiyu also persuaded her, saying that even if his combat power was strong, it still couldn't change the fact that he was alone now, and so on.

But Qiu Hanyue didn't know why, she couldn't be as open-minded as her sisters said, and in her heart, it was as if she was hiding some unwillingness.

So on the way to the inn, the Qiu family daughter was preparing her words, such as explaining that she didn't know him when she was at the Heavenly Dao Assembly, and the reason she resisted this was because she didn't like hearing others arrange her marriage, not because she had any opinion about him, and so on.

But after these Qiu family daughters came to the inn, they couldn't help but be stunned on the spot.

Because she discovered that many of her sisters had already gathered at the inn, especially Sheng Xiyu, who was also here.

Compared to when they were drinking tea in the courtyard earlier, Sheng Xiyu had even specially changed into a chest-baring ru-skirt, revealing a patch of white, greasy snow-cleavage, which made Qiu Hanyue's expression gloomy.

The good life my sister didn't live, I will live it for her.

However, the post Ji You finally accepted was the one from the Yu family of Central Province.

The Yu family didn't have chest-baring ru-skirts, naturally no white roundness, but for the Ji bandit whose purpose was eating, the banquet they set was still not bad.

After breaking through two major barriers in physique, Yan Shuyi indeed needed more sisters, but the one who made the decisions was the tsundere ghost.

Moreover, these Central Province noble family girls, looking at them, also seemed unable to withstand chiseling...

Central Province was just a temporary stop.

After a night, the morning light spilled down, and Ji You, who had rested here for a night, boarded the carriage of the Immortal Supervision Bureau, preparing to head to Shangping County, Dongliang Prefecture.

There was also a vast mountain range there, in which quite a number of Evil Seeds were hidden.

Ji You sat on the bumpy carriage, seeing many Immortal Sect walkers and noble family walkers along the way, continuously entering and exiting the remote mountain wilderness.

These Immortal Sect walkers did not participate in the extermination of the Evil Seeds; he was with the people from the Immortal Supervision Bureau and was extremely clear about this point.

So they were not afraid of the Evil Seeds causing disaster, but were investigating something.

Ji You sat on the carriage, looking at these Immortal Sect disciples, and the scene of the demon person ascending at Qiling popped up in his mind.

So many Evil Seeds appearing, and the quantity was still unclear; it was estimated that it had also provoked the nerves of the major Immortal Sects and noble families.

They were probably also associating it with the Qiling incident, which was why they were so nervous.

Ji You withdrew his gaze at this time, then felt the carriage stop slowly, so he lifted the door curtain and jumped off the carriage shaft, discovering he had already arrived at Shangping County, Dongliang Prefecture.

Here, many Immortal Sect and noble family walkers were entering and exiting the mountain forest; seeing Ji You appear on the long street, they couldn't help but gather their gazes.

He had only come out of the Sages' Holy Land last night; not many people had seen him, so encountering him on the street naturally attracted everyone's observation.

"He came out of the Sages' Holy Land; when did this happen? Why haven't I heard?"

"Perhaps it was just these few days, otherwise there wouldn't be no news spread."

"He doesn't return to the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan; what is he doing here?"

"It seems he is following the Immortal Supervision Bureau; it should also be for the Evil Seed matter."

"Those who returned from the Holy Land earlier all said he spent more than half a year and is still in the Realm of Profound Understanding; is it true or false?"

"His aura is restrained; it's not clear..."

Amidst the discussion, the squad sent by the Immortal Supervision Bureau to be stationed here hurried over and reported the situation regarding the Evil Seeds in the mountains to Mu Jing.

The quantity of Evil Seeds here was slightly less than those in the Shangnan Mountain Range, but the problem was that they were too scattered, not gathered in the valley, and needed to be broken one by one.

Among them, the south slope had the largest quantity, and the vegetation on the south slope was relatively dense, the terrain was complex; compared to the north slope, which had a smaller quantity and gentle terrain, the danger level was not just a little bit higher.

However, just listening only gave a general idea and couldn't get the full picture.

Thus, led by this stationed squad, the group turned around the desolate mountain once.

After finishing the turn, Mu Jing subconsciously turned his head to look at Ji You: "What does Young Master Ji think?"

Ji You pondered for a long time: "I will go to the south slope; you go to the north slope."

"This... wouldn't that be too dangerous? The terrain on the south slope is a disadvantage for us."

"There is a village in the south; I won't be humble; your efficiency is too slow; I'm afraid some Evil Seeds will escape; otherwise, for such a dangerous thing, I would definitely only do it if I were paid."

After Mu Jing finished listening, he looked toward the direction of the south slope: "Young Master Ji is truly different from other cultivators; I originally thought Young Master would change in the end."

Regarding the course of Ji You's cultivation journey, the people from the Immortal Supervision Bureau were very clear.

Even Ji You himself didn't know that he actually had a separate case file in the Immortal Supervision Bureau.

Those who knew his experience well had always felt he would change.

He entered the Immortal Sect, entered the inner courtyard, and became famous at the Heavenly Dao Assembly; people like this who had appeared in the past basically all became high-and-mighty immortals, becoming the same as those noble disciples back then.

Especially yesterday, those immortal sect daughters were dressed up in flowers and willows, all wanting to invite him in.

If he wanted to, he would definitely have already integrated into the Immortal Sect.

But what he was still concerned about now were those mortals who, in the eyes of cultivators, wouldn't have much impact even if some died.

Afterward, the group from the Inspection Division sat together, formulated a plan to clear the Evil Seeds, and entered the desolate mountains.

Ji You parted ways with them at the mountain stream, then carried his sword and headed toward the south slope.

There were indeed enough Evil Corpses on the south slope, and they were hidden in every corner.

Ji You observed for a long time from a safe distance that wouldn't trigger the ferocity of the Evil Seeds, determined the approximate locations where those Evil Seeds were hiding, and then released his aura, and his strength began to condense continuously.

Suddenly, he turned into an afterimage and rushed toward the south slope.

It seemed that they felt the human scent; the Evil Seeds on the mountain slope instantly stirred, the baleful aura all over their bodies swayed to the sky, their faces instantly became hideous, and they whistled toward Ji You.

Ji You did not stop, his blood and energy surged, he retreated to the west, his foot strength burst out, and he instantly crushed a mountain rock.

And the Evil Seeds in the west also immediately bared their fangs and brandished their claws, surging toward him like a tide.

If one looked down from high to low, the entire scene was dozens of Evil Seeds wandering in different positions gathering, some circling an arc, others sprinting straight, all rushing toward Ji You.

Slashing one by one was too time-consuming and laborious, and if one was not careful, some would indeed be missed; Ji You didn't want to do things that were too uncertain, so he had already thought of using their ferocity to gather them together earlier.

Doing this had risks, because the bodies of the Evil Seeds were originally incomparably sturdy and hard to be slashed in one sword.

Then when the Evil Seeds gathered, the risk of being drowned by the corpse tide would increase infinitely.

Bang!

Ji You suddenly stopped, the heavy stomping force causing a burst of sand and dust to fly in the mountain body.

Those Evil Seeds whose ferocity had been triggered had already sprinted over at this time; seeing the standing Ji You draw his sword, the bright sword body emitted a ringing sound.

At this moment, facing the sprinting Evil Seeds, a scorching aura began to sway in the mountain peak.

Following that was a clear sword light whistling up, whipping up a burst of wild wind and overlapping waves. 【Dao Sword Willow Color New】

Under the powerful sword aura, ripples appeared in the air, and the scorching sword blade slashed out horizontally.

The sword Dao fell, the mountains trembled, and the Evil Seeds in the front row facing the charge hadn't even touched that incomparably sharp sword aura when their bodies were directly shattered by the heavy air strength.

Following the sweep of the sword aura, countless Evil Corpses were pierced through by the sharp Dao sword, and severed limbs flew everywhere.

Actually, Mu Jing had sent a squad to assist Ji You, but they were arranged by Ji You on the outer perimeter of the south slope, only responsible for surrounding and guarding.

And when Ji You rushed out, they understood that in order not to let the Evil Seeds escape, Ji You actually chose to use his body as bait, gathering all the Evil Seeds together.

Even knowing Ji You's combat power was astonishing, looking at the black mass of Evil Seeds surging over, they couldn't help but feel shocked.

Until that hot sword blade swept across, the air waves in front of them cutting their faces like knives, they realized what the Evil Seeds on the south slope were facing...

"This kind of thing called Evil Seeds really doesn't have any characteristics."

"No clothes, and the dried corpses look the same; it seems the Immortal Supervision Bureau's inability to confirm the source of the Evil Seeds is indeed not because they were slacking off."

Ji You squatted on the ground after sheathing his sword, continuously groping in front of several Evil Corpses, trying to find some things that could explain the source, but ended up in great disappointment.

There were no things that could prove the source, and he couldn't even confirm whether this batch was from the same source as the one in the Shangnan Mountain Range...

The Immortal Supervision Bureau and Zhenbei Army squad on the north slope were slaughtering at this moment, and after clearing all the Evil Seeds, they came out of the mountains to rendezvous with Ji You.

The Immortal Sect walkers and noble family walkers did not receive orders to clear the Evil Seeds, so they had been waiting in the county town.

Seeing the group go in and come out, with less than an hour in between, their eyes couldn't help but be somewhat surprised.

They naturally knew the number of Evil Seeds in the mountains, and also knew that those copper-skinned and iron-boned ghostly things were not easy to kill, especially on the south slope, where not only was the terrain complex, but there were many Evil Seeds.

The surprise of these people was that they could actually clear the Evil Seeds in such a short time...

After the Evil Seeds in Shangping County were cleared, the Immortal Supervision Bureau waited here for a day.

This place was closer to Qingzhou, and the one responsible for clearing the Evil Seeds in Qingzhou was the Execution Division of the Immortal Supervision Bureau; Mu Jing had originally agreed to return to the capital with Wang Mian, Inspector of the Execution Division, but waited and waited without seeing the person come.

Thus, he left a few people to head to Qingzhou along the road to investigate the situation, while the remaining few took a carriage back to Shengjing.

Also returning were those Immortal Sect disciples who had come to investigate the Evil Seed appearance sites.

Just as Ji You had guessed earlier, neither the Immortal Sects nor the noble families had much interest in the Evil Seeds themselves, nor had they thought of sending great experts to suppress these Evil Seeds that were causing trouble.

The reason they sent disciples to investigate everywhere was indeed because the dark clouds behind the appearance of the Evil Seeds had provoked their nerves.

After investigation, all the places where Evil Seeds appeared had basically become clear; the major Immortal Sects and noble families summarized the data reported up, which was then drawn into a map.

The original chaos gradually began to have order, thus causing countless discussions.

"Looking at the map, all Evil Seeds basically appeared in the mountain wilderness; some were close to ruins, but some locations had no traces of ruins at all; at the very least, it can be explained that they did not escape from the ruins, which is the same as what happened back then."

"Are you saying Evil Seeds can act independently of the ruins?"

"Correct; this kind of thing only appeared in the Qiling incident; such a coincidence, I'm afraid there will be a connection, so this might not be a natural disaster, but a man-made calamity..."

"But we have tried many times before, and things in the ruins really cannot be brought out no matter what."

"This is the thing that makes people most doubtful, and also the thing that makes people most uneasy..."

The ruins left by the Remnant Race had always been a taboo in the Qingyun world, especially after the Qiling incident; the major ruins were all guarded by Immortal Sects and noble families, ostensibly saying that entry was strictly prohibited.

But in reality, although everything was calm after the Zheng family ancestor died, some Immortal Sects and noble families among them had never given up on the research of the ruins.

It was just that after researching for a long time, they hadn't found anything of value.

The power in the ruins was not accepted by the outside, and things brought out would turn into ashes, while people who ate those things would never be able to come out again.

Useless things, no matter how good, had no value, so naturally, they wouldn't be missed by people anymore.

But the sudden appearance of Evil Seeds made it hard not to associate it with what happened before, making people feel whether there were any other ancestors or the like.

Some things were just like this; if one only looked at the surface, this was just an Evil Seed disaster, but upon deep thought, it made people feel it wasn't that simple.

Similarly, people in tea houses and wine shops were also discussing these things.

They didn't have the drawn map in their hands, but through the continuous coming and going of rumors, they could roughly know where Evil Seeds had been discovered again.

This kind of lively scene was different from before; the previous liveliness had order, but the clamor of voices at this moment seemed somewhat chaotic.

At this moment, the carriage from the Immortal Supervision Bureau returned from the west, entering the city along the city gate.

Upon arriving at the divine path in front of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan gate, Ji You lifted the door curtain and jumped off the carriage shaft.

Although he had only stayed in the Sages' Holy Land for more than half a year, if the Heavenly Dao Assembly were counted together, he had been away for almost a year.

This spring and autumn were naturally as short as a white horse passing a crack for cultivators, but Ji You still had a feeling of having been away for a long time.

There was no wicked disciple to snatch silver, so Cao Jiaoxi, who thought every day about how to spend so much monthly salary, must be very miserable.

And there was the Long Xiandi, whose money bag in his bosom was too bulging, which must have made him suffer in silence.

Ji You felt a bit of heartache when he thought of the two of them, so he stepped onto the divine path and headed toward the mountain gate.

Actually, regarding the matter of Ji You coming out of the Sages' Holy Land, some people had vaguely begun to spread it in recent days.

It was just because the Evil Seed matter was of great importance that this news was drowned in the discussion; otherwise, at this time, there would definitely be people gathered in front of the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan gate to see if he was really still in the Realm of Profound Understanding after staying in the Sages' Holy Land for more than half a year.

Ji You walked along the road beside the Immortal-Ascending White Jade Terrace at this time, heading toward Cao Jingsong's courtyard, and reached out to push the door.

What surprised him was that the person sitting in the courtyard was not Cao Jingsong, but Ding Jiaoxi Ang from the outer courtyard.

Ding Ang was drinking tea with Wang Jiaoxi Ma Zhiyuan in the courtyard at this time, chatting about the Evil Seed matter; seeing Ji You at this time, he couldn't help but be startled.

Not having met for a whole year, meeting again would indeed make people feel dazed.

"Ji You...?"

"It's me; why are the two instructors in Cao Jiaoxi's courtyard?"

Ding Ang stared at him, and only after a long time did he return to his senses and speak: "Uh, Cao Jingsong cultivated disciples with merit; according to the instructions in the academy, I exchanged my original courtyard for him to live in."

Ji You looked at Ding Ang: "So Ding Jiaoxi was exchanged to this courtyard?"

"Yes..."

"Cao Jiaoxi doing this is somewhat arrogant; it's simply simply forcible seizure."

Ji You couldn't help but frown: "Ding Jiaoxi, give me some silver, and I'll help you teach him a lesson."

Ding Ang and Ma Zhiyuan looked at each other: "Uh, forget it; we are very clear about the style of you two."

Seeing that Ding Ang was unwilling to spend money to have him act as a wicked disciple, Ji You didn't insist on forced buying and selling, so he asked clearly where Cao Jingsong's current courtyard was and turned to leave.

Ding Ang and Ma Zhiyuan sent him to the door, looking at his departing figure, and after pondering for a long time, couldn't help but look at each other: "The rumors are not false; Ji You is indeed still in the Realm of Profound Understanding."

Ma Zhiyuan swallowed: "Why not take action to test him?"

"I have no private feud with him."

"Isn't Cao Jingsong arrogant just because of this wicked disciple?"

"That is true, but as an instructor, I don't need to make things difficult for a junior..."

Ma Zhiyuan looked at Ding Ang, thinking to himself that if you're afraid, just say you're afraid; there's nothing shameful about it; in fact, he wasn't too daring either.

Because almost everyone in the Heavenly Tian Shuyuan knew that Ji You's cultivation had always been strange.

This kind of strangeness largely stemmed from his body refinement method, to the point that he was not only invincible in the same realm but could also fight across realms.

Ding Ang and Ma Zhiyuan were both in the Upper Realm of Merging with the Dao; logically speaking, crushing someone in the Realm of Profound Understanding shouldn't be a problem, but once they thought that this Realm of Profound Understanding was Ji You, they felt bottomless.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 257 =====