Chapter 54: The Demonic Cult's Great Threat: Su Changqing

"Zhang Xiaofan."

The beautiful young girl called out the name three times, as if wanting to commit it to memory, though she did not know at the time that the name she would remember was one Su Changqing had reported as someone else's.

"Alright, you know my name now, so could you please get down from our cabin? If you want to admire the moon, go do it on your own roof."

"You are lucky you ran into me today; if it had been anyone else, they would surely have captured you and brought you before others for interrogation."

Su Changqing had no desire to continue playing around with her and said to her.

"Who would dare?!"

Hearing Su Changqing say this, the beautiful young girl immediately grew arrogant and said very haughtily: "Who would dare capture me? I would make them know that I am..."

But as she reached the end, the beautiful young girl seemed to react, hurriedly covering her mouth and stopping herself from continuing in time.

*So you want to let them know you are Bi Yao, the princess and beloved daughter of the Ghost King, leader of the Ghost King Sect, the head sect of the Demonic Cult, and then make them suffer the consequences, right? * Su Changqing silently answered for her in his heart.

From the moment he first saw her, Su Changqing had already guessed her identity; even though the righteous and demonic paths were distinct, he did not want to expose her identity just like that.

Just at this moment, another figure walked toward this place and saw the two people on the roof at a glance. That figure was slightly annoyed, but said nothing, merely watching the two of them quietly without speaking.

It was the masked woman who had sat with Bi Yao at the evening banquet and cursed Su Changqing as a "lecher."

Bi Yao also saw this figure and seemed somewhat surprised, leaving one last sentence for Su Changqing: "Perfect, I am feeling a bit sleepy and am going back to rest."

She then leaped off the roof and walked toward the woman.

Su Changqing nodded, following her gaze to look, and exchanged two glances with the masked woman. Her beautiful eyes held a trace of anger and were filled with a warning, as if she were annoyed that Su Changqing had met with Bi Yao.

However, Su Changqing looked back without any fear, his expression calm, not taking this warning to heart at all.

Determining that Bi Yao would likely not return to repeat her old tricks and investigate their group again, Su Changqing saw no need to stay, so he leaped off the roof and returned to his own cabin first.

After Su Changqing left, Bi Yao threw herself into the masked woman's arms, her face blooming with a bright smile as she acted spoiled: "Aunt You, why are you here?"

The masked woman, whom she called Aunt You, gently tapped Bi Yao's forehead and sighed worriedly: "You child, you never let me rest easy. If I hadn't come, when were you planning to go back?"

"Oh, Aunt You, wasn't I just gathering information?"

Bi Yao rubbed against Aunt You's arms, acting spoiled.

"Then did you manage to gather any information?"

Aunt You dotingly ruffled her hair and asked Bi Yao curiously.

"No, I only found out that the person just now was named Zhang Xiaofan, and then you arrived; I hadn't had the chance to trick any other information out of him yet."

Bi Yao playfully stuck out her tongue and said embarrassedly.

"You."

Aunt You shook her head with a wry smile, then said to Bi Yao with utmost seriousness: "In the future, you are not allowed to act on your own initiative like this again. Don't forget the mission we have for coming down the mountain this time."

"And that Zhang Xiaofan, he looks extraordinary and dashing, but in the end, one knows the face but not the heart; it is better to have less contact with him in the future."

Her voice drifted through this garden, soft yet carrying a trace of faint ghostly Qi, and she continued amidst Bi Yao's surprise and confusion: "These people are all disciples of the Qingyun Sect. The eldest one leading them is Qi Hao of the Longshou Peak lineage; the next is the proud daughter of Xiaozhu Peak, Lu Xueqi; and the one who loves to joke the most is the Fenghui Peak disciple Ceng Shushu, whose father is the Peak Master of Fenghui Peak, Ceng Shuchang. The other two are unknown, and seem to be newly recruited disciples of the Qingyun Sect."

Having said this, Aunt You took a document out from her bosom.

"Our purpose for coming down the mountain this time, besides the mission your father gave you, also includes the goal of investigating a newly emerged proud son of heaven from the Xiaozhu Peak of the Qingyun Sect, named Su Changqing."

"This person was taken into the sect by the Qingyun Sect a year ago and has been extremely mysterious ever since, with little information available. However, the matter of your Grandpa Poison being heavily injured by the Qingyun Sect at Jiuyin Mountain should have something to do with him; the sword technique used by that mysterious person that day is the same method he uses."

"Furthermore, he has been in the limelight recently. In just one year since entering the sect, he has stepped from the Qi Refining Realm into the Foundation Establishment Realm, and he even won the championship of the Qingyun Sect's Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament; both Lu Xueqi and Qi Hao were defeated by him in succession."

Speaking of this, a trace of worry rose in Aunt You's eyes, and she sighed mournfully: "One year to step from the Qi Refining Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm—even the Sect Master has praised such talent and comprehension as unheard of and unseen. If he is allowed to grow smoothly, I fear he will become a grave threat to our Holy Sect in the future."

"Is he really that scary?"

Bi Yao, however, was unconvinced and pouted as she spoke.

*Although it sounds intimidating, I, Bi Yao, have never seen it myself. Who knows if he is just a proud talent the Qingyun Sect is using to build momentum and hype up? *

Even she, Bi Yao, who was born with superior talent and had her father's full support, still took two years to go from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, and now it has taken another year to reach the second stage of the Golden Core.

How could she believe that someone could possess such talent?

"The world is vast and full of wonders; you must never underestimate anyone. Besides, the news comes from within the Qingyun Sect, so it is unlikely to be false."

Aunt You said to Bi Yao very sternly.

"Bi Yao has been taught."

Seeing Aunt You so serious, Bi Yao honestly accepted it.

However, upon reflection, she realized that she had no memory of the cultivation realm of that 'Zhang Xiaofan' from just a moment ago. Was it because she didn't investigate?

Or was it because she couldn't detect his cultivation realm?

How truly strange.

As this thought sank deeper and deeper, Su Changqing's face remained imprinted in Bi Yao's mind for a long time. She decided that if there were another chance, she must trap him and 'interrogate' him thoroughly.

The next day, the five members of the Qingyun Sect woke up, and after washing and tidying up, Qi Hao gathered the four of them.

"Kongsang Mountain is still over three thousand miles away, and it is not a short journey. We should set off as early as possible and head there quickly."

The other four had no objections, so they once again set off on the journey to the Wanfu Ancient Cave of Kongsang Mountain.

The five of them flew through the air, and this three-thousand-mile journey took a full ten days or so, most of which was because Zhang Xiaofan was holding them back.

Of course, since the five were a team, none of them looked down on Zhang Xiaofan; instead, they encouraged and taught him, which made Zhang Xiaofan increasingly proficient.

Su Changqing was happy to be at ease.

For these ten days, he had been practicing the "Covering Heaven Method" to open up his Bitter Sea every single moment.

(End of chapter)