Mistaken Era – Chapter 3
So no matter how earnestly Cui Xiaoxiao studied now, it was just temporary clutching at straws – completely futile!
After their meal, the three senior martial siblings did not accompany the sect master in studying, instead retiring to the adjacent guest rooms to rest.
Once out of the dining hall, Ji Wuqi immediately began complaining: “Our brilliant master, why did he inexplicably make the mistake of passing the Talisman Sect leadership to that freshly-joined little con artist girl on his deathbed?”
Originally, as they followed their master roaming the foot of Spirit Mountain, they encountered a father and daughter claiming to be refugees. The man insisted on selling his daughter as a maid to their master – in reality a pair of thieves plotting to rob them once asleep.
Not only that, the elderly male swindler was utterly vile. Seeing their master was wary and his repeated attempts failing, the brazen villain even tried poisoning their tea to kill the master and disciples.
Fortunately, the female swindler’s conscience was not entirely lost, and she secretly spilled the poisoned tea.
After unmasking their schemes, their master subdued the two yet still gifted them his entire fortune of wealth, truly “purchasing” this Cui Xiaoxiao girl. Despite her repeated attempts to flee and myriad misdeeds, the master never mistreated her harshly.
Ji Wuqi could understand their master wanting to reform the world by transforming a female bandit disciple. But passing the sect leadership to this petty thief girl was utterly baffling.
Recalling her defiant sass-mouthing and lies when first joining, Ji Wuqi felt outraged.
If tonight proved dangerous, so much the better! It would properly teach this con artist girl that the Talisman Sectmaster position was no role for just any dog or cat to assume. If she got scared away entirely, that would be most satisfying!
Second Senior Sister Jiang Nanmu did kindly bring an oil lamp for the diligent junior sect master, as dusk was falling and the lighting growing dim.
“Junior Sect Master Sister, you need not worry too much. With the three of us here, there’s no need for you to take any risks yourself.”
Cui Xiaoxiao looked up at her consistently kindhearted senior with a slight smile, before abruptly changing topics: “How old is the leader of the Nine Profundities Sword Sect? What does he look like?”
Jiang Nanmu hesitated before replying, “That personage rarely shows himself, reportedly constantly secluded in disciplined cultivation within his sect’s grounds. It’s said he is just a few years away from breaking through to immortal ascension. As for his appearance…I’ve truly never seen him before.”
Though her own master Tang Youshu was once a fellow disciple under that Qin Lingxiao, strictly speaking Qin was like an honorary martial uncle to her.
However, after Qin Lingxiao slew his demonic master Wei Jie to attain his current lofty powers, most of the former demon lord’s sect dispersed their separate ways, cutting ties long ago.
Xiaoxiao nodded pensively: “I noticed those Sword Sect disciples all had red lotus line markings on their foreheads…I wonder what the significance of eight red lines would signify in their sect?”
As Jiang Nanmu lit the oil lamp for her, she casually remarked: “Those lotus brand patterns represent their sword qi attainment levels. To have eight red lines across the heavens likely only belongs to the Nine Profundities’ founding patriarch Qin Lingxiao…”
Cui Xiaoxiao nodded in realization, not inquiring further. By now, night had fully fallen, and in their casual chat the two failed to notice several silkworms crawling onto the roof beams, slowly spinning cocoons around the dimly lit room…
After a satisfying meal, it was time to work off that generosity!
When the night watchman drumbeats sounded the wee hours, the Talisman Sect cultivators were prepared, led by a local officer to the afflicted silkworm farm in the county outskirts.
Their guiding officer grumbled along the way: “I said long ago this place is cursed. These farms spanning a hundred li originally all belonged to the Bai family in the east. But alas, the Bais had no heirs, falling severely ill one after another until their line went extinct. Some say it was retribution, since their family business specialized in boiling silk cocoons, with all that killing of life…”
He eyed the disciples warily before continuing, “You see, now that the Jin family has taken up this trade, their farm is plagued by imps too! It’s all because they failed to revere the Silk Sprite…”
Always a conversationalist, Cui Xiaoxiao had also heard local lore about the farm from the county gatekeepers during the day. With interest, she asked: “I also heard the final Bai family matriarch was once pregnant but supposedly unfaithful to wifely virtues, so she was captured and drowned in a well?”
The officer looked at this Taoist nun admiringly. “You only just arrived in Fei County yet understand so clearly – truly possessing divine insights! However…from what I heard, she was not drowned but confined to a shed and burned alive…”
Cui Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened with intrigue. “Such an event truly occurred?”
Energized, the officer lowered his voice conspiratorially: “Common folk don’t know the full story! It was said that Madam Bai was having an affair, and the child in her womb did not belong to the Bai family…”
He paused dramatically before continuing, “Aiya, the shed where she was locked also stored drying tobacco leaves. Who knows how it ignited, but the stench took three days to dissipate! In those dry conditions, fires could start from anything. But here’s the strange part – according to the Bai servants, no remains were found in the ashes of that shed…”
By the time their idle chatter concluded, they had reached the silkworm farm.
The main gates were tightly shut, the courtyard’s surrounding mulberry trees casting an eerie, windy pall in the faint moonlight.
As they pushed open the sealed entrance, a swarm of moths suddenly erupted outwards, drawn to their lantern lights – clearly the abandoned silkworms had already metamorphosed into pupae in the caretakers’ absence.
The sight of swarming insects instinctively disgusted Second Senior Sister Jiang Nanmu, who couldn’t help covering her face with a shriek.
However, Ji Wuqi swiftly produced a talisman slip, muttering an incantation before manifesting flames from his palms to incinerate the entire moth swarm to ashes.
Cui Xiaoxiao couldn’t help praising: “Senior Martial Brother, you can actually summon real flames!”
Hearing this, Ji Wuqi felt quite proud. Unlike the illusory tricks of their junior martial brother A Yi, Ji Wuqi had joined the sect the longest and skillfully mastered control over the elemental forces of water and fire – no mere deceptive stunts!
Amidst the faint aroma of singed silkworm pupae, Cui Xiaoxiao narrowed her large eyes, as if spotting something in the blazing flames just now.
Yet when she brought it up, the others all claimed to have seen nothing. Ji Wuqi rudely scoffed, “If you’re scared, then don’t come in – stop putting on airs and saying spooky stuff!”
With that, he took the lead striding forward into the farm.
But after just a few steps, Ji Wuqi’s footsteps halted, for the path ahead was obstructed by woven layers of sticky silk like a series of barricades, impassable underfoot.
At that moment, a voice came from behind: “It seems you’re simply deaf to dissuasion, blindly coming to throw away your lives. You truly don’t know your own insignificance!”
The Talisman cultivators turned to see the white-robed Nine Profundities disciples had returned.
This time, they were still resplendently garbed, yet faintly emanating a pale white glow in the pitch darkness – the luminous Tian Gang aura radiated from their dantians, capable of not only illumination but warding off blade attacks.
Such high cultivation levels were truly enviable. Even the most junior Nine Profundities disciples with just two lotus lines could become elite cultivators in other minor sects!
Cui Xiaoxiao scanned the disciples, once again spotting that disciple with the unmarked, pristine brow. But this time, he had a fresh-faced young lady in tight black robes accompanying him, likely also a female cultivator.
The leading senior disciple Jiang Zheng disdained even glancing at the lowly Talisman Sect, retrieving a luopan compass to quickly scan their surroundings according to the yin-yang fish rotations before instructing: “This place is indeed thick with demonic miasma. Stay sharp everyone and quickly locate the foul beast’s hiding spot. But be cautious – we must avoid harming what’s…you understand.”
After speaking, the Sword Sect disciples scattered like celestial immortals.
Their bodies sheathed in translucent force-fields, they gracefully wielded spirit swords to slash away the obstructing silk, swiftly advancing into the farm’s inner courtyard.
Ji Wuqi felt indignant at the Sword Sect’s showy display.
As the current strongest among the Talisman Sect’s senior disciples, Ji Wuqi immediately circulated his inner energies, trying to manifest his own luminous aura.
Unfortunately, having overeaten at dinner, this slightest exertion caused him to loudly pass gas with a string of raucous farts echoing across the courtyard…
The three senior martial siblings showed excellent coordination by immediately spacing apart, a momentary fracture in their unshakable sect bond as they subconsciously distanced themselves from their flatulent elder.
As Ji Wuqi flushed crimson in embarrassment, the Nine Profundities disciples were already displaying divine skills – their white robes billowing as they moved with ethereal grace, effortlessly unleashing sword qi to rend away the ensnaring white silk strands crisscrossing the yard.
As the least capable present, Cui Xiaoxiao could only helplessly watch from the sidelines. But as she observed, her delicate brows furrowed before she suddenly called out: “Quickly, hold your swords! Do not cut any further!”
Alas, her words carried no weight, and the Sword Sect cultivators continued flitting about unheeded.
However, one of their disciples – that same elegantly handsome youth with the unmarked brow – soon echoed Cui Xiaoxiao’s cry: “Everyone, halt!”
It seemed this sword cultivator’s voice held some authority, as the others immediately froze their motions.
Yet as they tried retracting their spirit swords, they suddenly found the blades ensnared by countless hairline strands, faintly glimmering with an eerie luminescence as if absorbing their own projected spiritual energies.
For those disciples who had already sheathed their spirit blades, those glowing silk filaments unexpectedly whipped into their bodies along with the returning sword auras. Those cultivators’ eyes bulged as they shrieked in anguish, their skin rapidly withering like drought-parched soil as their essence was drained.
The remaining disciples quickly tried slashing away the essence-absorbing strands, but they only multiplied with each cut, rapidly enveloping their spirit swords in layers reminiscent of silkworm cocoons.
Soon the silk threads also coiled around their arms, exhibiting signs of their own energies being leeched.
The unmarked Sword Sect disciple suddenly extended his palm, expelling thousands of Tian Gang(Heavenly Dao) energy needles to pierce into those ensnared disciples’ bodies.
As the needles struck, those disciples deflated like punctured balloons, eyes rolling back as they collapsed unconscious. The entwined spirit threads, no longer sensing their spiritual energies, loosened and fell away.
Watching disciples dropping all around, the leading senior Jiang Zheng anguished: “Master…you’ve sealed away their entire sword qi cultivation!”
The elegant unmarked disciple responded: “It seems this demonic beast subsists on the spiritual energies of cultivators. If their martial auras weren’t suppressed, not only would their lives be in peril, but the beast would become even harder to handle once gorged on those energies…After returning, giving them Consolidating Qi spirit pills can gradually replenish their depleted inner reserves.”
“That’s uncertain – your method may have crippled their entire cultivation foundations! Even with spirit pills, they’ll likely never reach the Yuan Ying(Nascent Soul) or Golden Core realms!” From the sidelines, Ji Wuqi had clearly witnessed it all and immediately mocked the ruthless actions against his own sect mates.
Upon Ji Wuqi’s disdainful rebuke, the handsome unmarked disciple slowly turned his piercing gaze upon him, his eyes like needles that seemed to jam the rest of Ji Wuqi’s intended insults back down his throat.
The leading senior disciple also seemed offended at an outsider criticizing his sect mates, angrily drawing his sword to chastise the loud-mouthed Ji Wuqi.
But at this moment, Cui Xiaoxiao steadily watched ahead, softly observing: “It’s too late…the demonic beast has already gorged itself…”
