Chapter 315 - 286: To Enter, or Not to Enter?

Chapter 315: Chapter 286: To Enter, or Not to Enter?

The wisest course of action right now was to get away from this troublesome place, not wait around like an idiot for the Third Elder to return.

So, Jiang Xu first sprinted for a good distance. After confirming no one was around, he concealed his presence and altered his appearance to ensure no one would recognize him.

Once all this was done, Jiang Xu relaxed slightly, but he didn’t let his guard down completely.

He journeyed for another hundred li until he was certain he was safe, finally stopping in a secluded spot.

Compared to personally venturing deep into Peach Blossom Valley, he much preferred to observe the situation from afar.

To analyze the situation like a spectator and learn from it.

’Risking my own skin is nowhere near as fun as watching someone else step on a landmine.’

Jiang Xu glanced at the right shoulder of his clothes, a faint smile touching his lips.

Just now, when Jiang Xu had said he couldn’t find Sun Zixuan, he was lying to the Third Elder.

His Seeking Technique was at the Perfect Level, completely different from Sun Long’s.

Sun Long’s Detection Techniques were numerous and varied, but none of them had reached the Perfect Level.

In terms of quantity, he had more than Jiang Xu, but in terms of quality, he was truly inferior.

Jiang Xu had secretly tried using the Seeking Technique to find Sun Zixuan earlier and had successfully located her through her aura.

But Jiang Xu hadn’t said a word.

Because if he had said he could find her, the one being dragged into Peach Blossom Valley wouldn’t have been Sun Long—it would have been him.

And whether or not Peach Blossom Valley was dangerous was still unknown.

Jiang Xu wouldn’t be greedy for merit and rush in headfirst under these circumstances.

He’d suffered enough for making that mistake in the past.

Jiang Xu focused his Divine Sense on the spot on his right shoulder where the Third Elder had grabbed him and activated his Seeking Technique.

His Seeking Technique had long reached a level where he could find someone based on the faintest trace of contact.

In an instant, countless auras materialized between Heaven and Earth. Having practiced this twice before, Jiang Xu was prepared and easily filtered out the extraneous, useless ones.

What remained was a single, powerful-looking thread of aura.

The thread drifted far into the distance. Jiang Xu gently pinched it and sensed it carefully.

Before long, his brow furrowed.

It wasn’t because he sensed the owner of the aura was in danger, besieged and under attack.

Quite the opposite.

From his senses, the Third Elder had definitely gone deeper into Peach Blossom Valley.

But Jiang Xu could sense that the Third Elder’s condition was robust; she didn’t seem to be engaged in Magical Combat with anyone.

’What’s going on?’

’Judging by how the Third Elder acted earlier, she clearly wanted to go and raise hell.’

’And Peach Blossom Valley surely wouldn’t let her run rampant. They would definitely send people to stop her.’

’What gives? Could it be the Third Elder is all bark and no bite? Did she get scared once she actually met them?’

’No way!’

Jiang Xu took out a booklet.

This was the one Sun Long had written yesterday.

Jiang Xu used his Seeking Technique on the booklet, connecting to Sun Long’s aura.

This time, he discovered that even Sun Long was completely unharmed. In fact, he was in much better shape than he had been that morning when his Spiritual Power was drained.

Jiang Xu’s expression turned strange.

’Don’t tell me those two went off to have a good time?’

’You’ve got to be kidding me!’

’Having an orgy and they didn’t invite me!’

’I can let it slide with Sun Long.’

’But you, Third Elder, with your silver hair and all... you’re such a dirty old woman!’

’The crucial part is, they didn’t invite me!’

’Er, wait.’

’I think I’m the one who refused to go...’

Jiang Xu withdrew his senses from their auras and stopped thinking about it.

’Let the temptations be endless, I shall remain unmoved!’

But Jiang Xu was genuinely curious about what special... activities were involved in an orgy in the Cultivation Realm.

’Don’t get me wrong.’

’I despise this sort of thing.’

’I just want to satisfy this damn curiosity!’

Slapping his cheeks, Jiang Xu forced himself to focus.

He frowned and thought for a moment.

His final decision—he still wanted to go take a look.

It took Jiang Xu a full hour of deliberation to reach this conclusion.

This wasn’t because he was overcome with lust and disregarding his own safety.

It was really because Jiang Xu felt that this whole affair was strange, through and through.

’A trap?’

’It certainly looks like one.’

’From what I first heard from Master Fatty, to later learning from Elder Liu and the middle-aged cultivator about the withered wood’s pull on me, and then the Sun Family bringing me directly to the vicinity of Peach Blossom Valley...’

’Everything has been pushing me to enter Peach Blossom Valley.’

’But something is clearly wrong.’

’Leaving aside everything else, if this really is a trap...’

’Then this trap would have had to be set decades ago.’

’But I wasn’t even born back then.’

’Even the combined age of my two lives doesn’t add up to that long.’

Jiang Xu thought again of the "Abyss of Destiny" that Master Fatty and Elder Liu had mentioned.

’Divination Masters?’

’Everything happening now seems to be their doing.’

’Could it be that they want me to go to Peach Blossom Valley?’

’But their methods seem so heavy-handed, don’t they?’

’It’s too easy to become suspicious.’

’With the kind of foresight that allowed them to start planning decades ago, they should have been able to lure me into Peach Blossom Valley without me noticing a thing, right?’

’It shouldn’t have even taken much effort.’

’They only needed to make Elder Liu remember that the withered branch was dropped by someone from Peach Blossom Valley. There was no need to mention the words ’Abyss of Destiny’ to him at all.’

’Besides, for a normal mortal to remember a single sentence spoken by an old man who stayed for one night decades ago is already quite ridiculous.’

’Looked at this way, perhaps this is a gesture of goodwill from the people of the Abyss of Destiny?’

’They let me know how powerful they are, yet they also revealed their identity to prove they have no ill intentions?’

But this was all just Jiang Xu’s speculation.

What if that wasn’t the case? What if Peach Blossom Valley really was a trap? What then?

And the Divination Masters of the Abyss of Destiny seemed to be incredibly skilled.

’If I don’t walk into this trap now, will more things happen later to force me to go to Peach Blossom Valley anyway?’

If they were dead set on getting Jiang Xu into Peach Blossom Valley...

...then next time, they might not use such gentle methods.

’Or what if the Abyss of Destiny is only pretending to want me to enter Peach Blossom Valley, but is actually using my suspicious nature to make me avoid it?’

’If that’s the case, wouldn’t I be playing right into their hands by not going?’

"..."

Jiang Xu’s head was about to explode.

In the end...

...he was just a newly promoted Foundation Establishment Cultivator Early Stage.

He hadn’t even been in this world for that many years, all told.

He originally thought Dinghai State was getting too unstable, what with Golden Core experts about to start raining down like bombs, so he’d quickly run off to seek refuge.

But who knew he’d run into such a strange situation even after leaving?

"Damn it!"

Jiang Xu suddenly cursed out loud.

"Forget it!"

Whatever happens, happens!

I’ll face whatever comes my way.

As long as I’m strong enough, nothing can affect me!

Right now, he couldn’t advance his Realm because of his Cultivation Technique.

But when it came to Magic, he was far from hitting a bottleneck.

A thousand types of Magic were waiting for Jiang Xu to cultivate and master.

No one knew what kind of power he would possess after he finished cultivating them.

Not even Jiang Xu himself.

Jiang Xu immediately set up an Array, sat down cross-legged on the spot, and took out the peculiar Escape Technique manual he had looted from the middle-aged cultivator.

No matter what was going on with Peach Blossom Valley, improving his own strength was never the wrong move.

But Jiang Xu had less than three weeks left on Greed Wolf Island.

Trying to master all the Magic in these three weeks was definitely wishful thinking.

However, mastering just one type of Magic was quite easy.

In Jiang Xu’s opinion, the Escape Technique of the middle-aged cultivator he had killed not long ago was incredibly profound, allowing him to escape even when death was imminent.

You have to understand, that was the devouring of the Spirit-Devouring Insects.

Even though those were just Sub-Insects and not the Mother Insect herself...

...their Spirit Devouring Skill was enough to make most Cultivators they consumed lose all ability to resist.

Right now, Jiang Xu just wanted to master this Escape Technique.

If he had any time left after mastering it, he planned to use this Escape Technique as the core, supplemented by other escape-related Magic, to combine them into a Star Map specifically for fleeing.

’If I can’t afford to provoke them, I can at least afford to hide, right?’

’If I can’t hide, it just means I’m not running fast enough.’

Jiang Xu refused to believe it.

’If I could cross an entire state in an instant, would I still be this passive right now?’