Chapter 109: The Audacity of Slander
"This junior did not an to offend you, Senior. Farewell!"
eting Qin ran's cold gaze, Tang Ping'er instinctively hid the storage ring she had just looted from Daoist Sanquan. She spun on her heel, prepared to flee.
But before she could take a single step, a suffocating pressure locked onto her. The air turned to lead. Tang Ping'er’s face went pale, and she trembled violently, looking back with wide, terrified eyes.
"Se... Senior..." she stamred, shrinking back. "This junior rely passed by this place unintentionally. I beg Senior to let this lowly girl go! If there is a chance in the future, this lowly girl is willing to serve you like an ox or a horse to repay Senior's kindness!"
As a disciple of the Joyous Union Sect, Tang Ping'er was a master of performance. Her pitiful posture and tear-filled eyes made her look like nothing more than a harmless, beautiful rogue cultivator caught in a storm.
Qin ran sneered.
"You dare to disguise yourself before this Venerable One?"
With a cold snort, Qin ran shattered the illusion. Tang Ping'er's aura flickered, revealing the unmistakable, cloying spiritual signature of the Joyous Union Sect.
Qin ran didn't bother to look at her further. She glanced disdainfully at the corpse of Daoist Sanquan, then extended a demanding hand toward Tang Ping'er.
"Hand it over."
"Senior..." Tang Ping'er clutched the ring tighter, her knuckles white.
"This Venerable One is rely curious," Qin ran said flatly. "What is it that you demonic sect disciples have sched so desperately for? Let see it, and perhaps I will let you keep your life."
"I..." Tang Ping'er bit her lip.
She genuinely didn't know what was inside. Daoist Sanquan had been tight-lipped about the 'great opportunity.' But facing the cold, imperious gaze of an Azure Mystic Peak Master, she had no leverage. With a heavy heart, she placed the storage ring into Qin ran’s hand.
Qin ran swept her Divine Sense through the ring.
A mont later, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Just for this... trash?" She looked at Tang Ping'er with genuine baffled contempt. "Demonic disciples are truly savage. You slaughter each other over such ager scraps?"
Trash?
Tang Ping'er blinked, confused. Before she could speak, Qin ran tossed the ring back to her like it was a dirty rag. Tang Ping'er scrambled to catch it and frantically scanned the contents.
Her heart sank.
Blood-cultivation materials. Spirit stones. A few decent artifacts. But nothing earth-shattering. Nothing that justified three years of planning or the betrayal of a Mahayana-level sect.
Where is it? Where is the great opportunity?
Before she could process the emptiness, a furious roar tore through the sky. A massive figure crashed into the alleyway, blocking her escape.
"Wretch! I knew you were treacherous!"
It was Cao Tieniu, the Deputy Gang Leader of the Four Seas Gang. He glared at Tang Ping'er, his killing intent boiling, before his eyes snapped to the woman in white standing nearby.
"Peak Master Qin?" Cao Tieniu froze, his anger montarily checked by caution. "The Azure Mystic Sacred Land has co to rob my Four Seas Gang as well?"
Qin ran waved a hand, her expression bored. "This Venerable One is rely passing by. Continue your petty squabbles."
She turned to leave, her robes flowing with elegant indifference.
"Senior! You cannot burn the bridge after crossing the river!" Tang Ping'er suddenly shrieked, dropping to her knees.
"What?" Qin ran frowned, stopping mid-step.
"I only killed Sanquan to atone for my cris against the Four Seas Gang!" Tang Ping'er cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Qin ran. "But Senior, you took the treasure I intended to return! You took the item and left here to die! How can you be so cruel?"
The accusation was delivered with such conviction that even Cao Tieniu hesitated. He stared at Qin ran, his suspicion hardening into certainty.
"Nonsense!" Qin ran snapped. "When did I take anything? How could this Venerable One possibly covet the garbage in your ring?"
Tang Ping'er cowered, too terrified to argue further, but the damage was done.
"If it were ordinary items, naturally Peak Master Qin would not care," Cao Tieniu said slowly, his voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. "But what if it were half a stalk of Immortal dicine, which my Four Seas Gang spent decades searching for?"
Immortal dicine?
Qin ran froze. Even she, a high-ranking cultivator of a Sacred Land, felt a jolt of greed. Immortal dicine was sothing even Supres fought over.
"Stop this madness," Qin ran recovered quickly. "I took nothing."
"Of course, of course," Cao Tieniu said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "But this matter is too grave to leave to words."
Without warning, Cao Tieniu lunged forward, grabbing Tang Ping'er by the throat. His spiritual energy surged, piercing her mind.
Soul Search!
Tang Ping'er scread, a raw, tearing sound, as her mories were ripped open and displayed for Cao Tieniu. He saw everything: Sanquan’s plan, Lu Yutian’s success, the betrayal, and finally... Qin ran inspecting the ring.
Critically, he saw Tang Ping'er’s conviction. She hadn't seen Qin ran take anything, but she knew the treasure had been there. Lu Yutian had it. Sanquan had it. The only unaccounted variable was Qin ran.
"Bitch!"
Cao Tieniu threw the broken, drooling Tang Ping'er to the ground. He turned to Qin ran, his eyes burning with fury.
"Peak Master Qin. My gang may be small, but to rob us of Immortal dicine in broad daylight..." He stepped forward, the ground cracking under his boots. "Is this not bullying the weak?"
"I. Did. Not. Take. It." Qin ran enunciated every word, her patience fraying.
"You are the Peak Master of Ink Scroll Peak. A scholar of the sages," Cao Tieniu said through gritted teeth. "You wouldn't want to tarnish your reputation, would you? Return the dicine, and I will bury this matter. No one will know."
"I cannot return what I do not have!" Qin ran shouted, her aura flaring. "This Venerable One does not lie! Do not test !"
"You refuse to admit it?"
"If I had taken it, I would say so! What could you possibly do about it? Do you dare attack ?"
Cao Tieniu ground his teeth so hard they nearly shattered.
Too much! This is too much bullying!
But in the end, the weight of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land was too heavy. He could not attack a Peak Master without bringing annihilation upon his gang.
"The Azure Mystic Sacred Land is indeed overbearing," Cao Tieniu spat. He turned and stord away, his voice carrying back on the wind. "But this grudge is settled! The matter of the Immortal dicine will not end here!"
Qin ran watched him go, her chest heaving with indignation. For the first ti in her life, she felt the bitter sting of being wrongfully accused. The cognitive dissonance was deafening—she, the righteous scholar, painted as a common thief?
While Qin ran stewed in her misplaced outrage, the true culprit was busy.
Listening-to-Rain Pavilion.
Gu Xiu sat before a dense array of materials. He had spent days gathering reagents, burning through his accumulated wealth. Everything was ready.
He picked up the withered branch.
Earth Cloud Sprout.
A true Immortal dicine. In this lower realm, it would never grow, but its vitality was potent enough to defy death. It was one of only two known substances capable of repairing a damaged soul.
The Four Seas Gang had hidden it well. But thanks to One Glance Ten Thousand Years, it now belonged to Gu Xiu.
However, curing the soul was only half the battle. The true enemy was the Dao Injury.
An injury from the Great Dao was not a wound of flesh or spirit; it was a conceptual scar. Even if the soul was nded, the Dao Injury would remain, a parasite clinging to his existence, preventing him from ever advancing.
But Gu Xiu had a plan. He had read a theory once, in a forbidden text. A speculation on how to treat the incurable.
He placed the Earth Cloud Sprout into his alchemy furnace. He ignited the talisman fire.
He wasn't just making a pill. He was preparing for surgery on his own soul.
anwhile, at the City Lord’s Mansion.
Sang Shoudao sat alone in the moonlit courtyard, a cup of wine in his hand. He was the silent watcher of Cloud Firmant City, an old relic of a bygone era.
His Divine Sense retracted from the city, and the frown on his face smoothed into a lancholic smile.
"Kid," he murmured to the empty air. "I know you avoided because you didn't want to bring trouble to this old man."
He set down his wine cup and reached into the void, pulling out a massive, unadorned longbow. He ran a weathered hand along the string.
"But you forget... these hands of mine."
His eyes glead, shedding the dullness of age for a sharp, martial light.
"Back in the day... they could draw a great bow."
He stood up, his spine straightening, the years falling away from his shoulders. He downed his wine in a single gulp and began to chant, his voice resonating with the power of a general singing his final war song:
"Who says life cannot return to youth?" "Before the gate, flowing water can still go west!" "Do not sing of white hair..." "And the yellow rooster!"
Tonight, the dormant City Lord would act. He would live up to his na: Sang Shoudao. Guardian of the Way.
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