Chapter 673: Hidden Worry (2)

Chapter 673: Chapter 455: Hidden Worry (2)

After a moment of silence, Sikong Chen finally said, resignedly,

“Sect Leader Fang, why must you make things difficult for a mere errand-runner like me? I don’t hold any significant position in the Star-Picking Pavilion, so I don’t know anything important.”

Fang Qingyuan understood the implication. ‘He doesn’t know anything important, which means he can be persuaded to reveal a few unimportant details.’

Fang Qingyuan was inwardly delighted to see Sikong Chen starting to yield. Sikong Chen’s standing among the Golden Core Cultivators of the Star-Picking Pavilion wasn’t high, but he was still one of only six. If he was willing to talk, what more could Fang Qingyuan ask for?

“I’m not trying to make things difficult for Fellow Daoist Sikong. We’re just having a casual chat. Please, relax. I won’t ask what I shouldn’t.”

Sikong Chen gave a resigned smile at Fang Qingyuan’s placating words. He wasn’t one for verbal sparring. Since the situation compelled him, he figured he might as well share a few trivial matters. He resolved in his heart, however, that he would not utter a single word about the events on White Mountain.

However, Fang Qingyuan’s very first question caught him off guard: when Yan Nanxing failed his tribulation, was Sikong Zhou present?

……

Half an hour later, Fang Qingyuan emerged from the private chamber, his expression serene. He looked at the crowd’s expectant gazes and spoke directly to Yan Muyun.

“Let Sikong Chen go. Any further delay will make things difficult to explain to the Star-Picking Pavilion.”

His words were immediately met with several protests. “How can we just let him go? We haven’t gotten an explanation for what happened! We should at least wait until we see Sikong Ji!”

Fang Qingyuan shot a glare at the Sect Leader who was trying to stir up trouble, silencing the rest of his words.

“Sikong Ji will come, but not until Brother Yan’s memorial ceremony. At that time, if anyone has questions, you can just ask him directly. If you can’t wait, you can go directly to the Star-Picking Pavilion. No one will stop you.”

A single sentence crushed all opposition. In the face of Fang Qingyuan, a newly advanced Golden Core Cultivator, no one had the nerve to argue senselessly. Such was the deterrent effect of Bear Wind; with an ally possessing Nascent Soul Battle Power ready to act at a moment’s notice, everyone had to carefully consider the cost of offending Fang Qingyuan.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Luo Shiyin, the Sect Leader of the Yingxia Sect, stepped forward to smooth things over.

“Sect Leader Fang, were you able to glean any useful information? Please, analyze it for us. It would set everyone’s minds at ease.”

Fang Qingyuan looked at the sensible Luo Shiyin. ‘Now this is a cooperative attitude.’

“Before Brother Yan went up the mountain, he signed a Soul Contract with Sikong Ji. With Sikong Ji as a guarantor, the possibility of being ambushed is very small. Since ancient times, when Golden Cores try to break through to Nascent Soul, not even one in ten succeeds. Brother Yan’s luck was just bad, there’s nothing to be done about it.

“We are all vassal sects here; we can’t just move our territories as we please. We will all have to ascend White Mountain eventually. However, after this incident, I suggest that the next time any of you sign a contract with the Star-Picking Pavilion, you make sure to settle your affairs first.”

Luo Shiyin detected the shift in Fang Qingyuan’s attitude. He sensed that after speaking with Sikong Chen, Fang Qingyuan no longer wished to get deeply involved. He therefore spoke up and suggested,

“We should release Sikong Chen, but not right this moment. It’s rare for someone from the Star-Picking Pavilion to come down the mountain; we should all have a chance to… appreciate his presence. If you’ll all excuse me, allow this old man to go in and have a word with him.”

Luo Shiyin, seeing that Fang Qingyuan had likely learned some secrets he was unwilling to share, had an idea. He decided to follow Fang Qingyuan’s example and talk to Sikong Chen himself.

However, Luo Shiyin emerged from the private chamber just a few minutes later, looking disgruntled. He had clearly failed to get anything out of him.

Seeing even the most prestigious among them, Luo Shiyin, meet with such failure, the remaining Cultivators lost any desire to try their luck. And so, after a polite send-off from the Yan Gui Sect, Sikong Chen flew away without another word.

And just like that, Fang Qingyuan extinguished a spark that had threatened to erupt into a full-blown conflict.

Only after Yan Muyun had seen off the various Sect Leaders who came to offer their condolences did Fang Qingyuan finally have a private, detailed discussion with him.

Inside a Quiet Chamber, Yan Muyun respectfully motioned for Fang Qingyuan to take the seat of honor before personally pouring him tea.

Fang Qingyuan didn’t touch the tea. He was not in a good mood. His abrupt change in attitude earlier wasn’t just because of what he’d managed to pry from Sikong Chen; it was also due to a message from Tu Wuzhao, delivered through an incense-fire channel.

This was intelligence straight from the hands of a Divinity Transformation master—infinitely more valuable than anything Golden Core Cultivators like Sikong Ji or Sikong Chen could ever know.

Tu Wuzhao’s message was unequivocal: Fang Qingyuan was not to involve himself in the affairs of White Mountain. The waters there ran deep. The current war raging on the mountain was just one part of a larger scheme. Until a certain threshold was met, the war couldn’t be stopped, even if the factions involved wanted to.

Tu Wuzhao hadn’t elaborated on the specifics. She used only a single word to describe the situation on White Mountain: cycle.

With Tu Wuzhao’s tip, Fang Qingyuan combined it with all the information he had gathered over the years. He fed it all to the Bee Queen in his Immortal Mansion, which used the super-computational power of a thousand Queen Bees to arrive at a horrifying conjecture.

Everything currently happening on White Mountain had been meticulously orchestrated. If Fang Qingyuan were to step out now, he would have to face the mastermind pulling the strings. And against a mastermind capable of manipulating a dozen Nascent Soul experts, Fang Qingyuan had absolutely no desire to make a move.

Why was White Mountain in a perpetual state of conflict? Every one or two hundred years, a massive war would erupt, engulfing the entire region. According to the records, the last great war across White Mountain claimed the lives of no fewer than thirty Golden Core Cultivators and tens of thousands of Foundation Establishment and Qi Cultivation practitioners.

Conflict and death were the true colors of White Mountain. Combined with Tu Wuzhao’s mention of a “cycle,” Fang Qingyuan guessed that someone needed the cultivators of White Mountain to die, over and over again. And that someone could only be the Master of White Mountain.

As for *why* the Master of White Mountain would do such a thing, Fang Qingyuan had no idea. But the current situation was proof enough: the Master of White Mountain had clearly not truly perished. Otherwise, with such a vast cultivation territory left unguarded, why hadn’t other Divinity Transformation Cultivators come to claim it?

‘So after all this, the Master of White Mountain isn’t completely dead after all. It seems the Star-Picking Pavilion is still a force not to be provoked.’

He had come here eagerly, hoping to get a slice of the pie, but instead it felt like he’d swallowed a fly. It was no wonder Fang Qingyuan was in a foul mood.

Still, learning so much of the inside story and gaining a preliminary grasp of the situation on White Mountain was a worthwhile harvest. Now it was time to advise Yan Muyun. He couldn’t let the boy be goaded into a reckless charge by the other sects; he had to at least honor the support Yan Nanxing had given him in the past.

“Mu Yun, we must set this matter aside for now. We’ll look for another opportunity in the future. I’ve received word that the Master of White Mountain has not yet truly perished. The currents here run too deep; you can’t handle it.”

Fang Qingyuan didn’t analyze the situation in detail for Yan Muyun, even intentionally glossing over the specifics of Yan Nanxing’s death. Under the rules established by the Master of White Mountain, the life of a single Golden Core Perfection Cultivator was worth that of a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators. But there was no need to tell Yan Muyun that.

A look of indignation flashed across Yan Muyun’s face, but after a few moments of internal struggle, he forced himself to regain his composure.

“Thank you for your guidance, Senior Uncle. Mu Yun will take it to heart. I will endure for now and await a future opportunity.”

Fang Qingyuan was momentarily speechless. He himself had no idea when or where such an opportunity might arise, so what could he possibly say to Yan Muyun?

‘How unfortunate it is to live on White Mountain. If only my sect were based in Qi Yun, or even the Beast Taming General Mountain…’ At that moment, an untimely thought crossed Fang Qingyuan’s mind.

Leaving a few of his disciples with Yan Muyun to help with the funeral arrangements, Fang Qingyuan silently rode Yinbao back to the Qingyuan Sect.

He had thought that with Bear Wind’s support, the Qingyuan Sect would be able to rest easy. He never expected the situation on White Mountain to be this perilous.

In fact, another hidden worry lingered in Fang Qingyuan’s mind: ‘Would Bear Wind also be summoned to the mountain one day?’

The more high-level intelligence he was exposed to, the more worried Fang Qingyuan became. Outsiders only saw his boundless prestige, but the immense pressure he shouldered was something he could never speak of to others.