The river wasn't exactly deep, but it wasn't shallow either. Liu Xiaolou thrashed in the water, tangled in the Groundbinding Spirit-Scattering Cord. He couldn't float up or sink down. He drifted aimlessly in every direction, suspended like he was hanging in midair.
There was something strange about the force coming from the cord. It reached into all the acupoints throughout his body, pulling at the true qi inside them like it was trying to tear it away from him. Terrified, Liu Xiaolou struggled with everything he had, fighting to keep control, wrestling with the cord for command over his true qi. But the harder he fought, the weaker he felt.
Who knows how much time passed. Suddenly, a bamboo pole dipped down from above and poked his body. It hooked under him and with a quick lift, flung him out of the river and back into the stone cave.
Dazed, Liu Xiaolou saw several faces crowd around him. They looked blurry, but vaguely familiar. Still, he had no time to think about that. Every ounce of his attention was locked on resisting the cord, doing all he could to stop it from stripping away his true qi.
He held on a while longer. Just when he was about to collapse, when his strength was nearly gone and it felt like every bit of energy in his body was about to be sucked out completely, it suddenly surged back into him. The force was so intense it nearly burst his meridians.
He coughed up a mouthful of black blood that had been stuck in his chest for who knows how long. Finally, he could breathe again. He lay flat on his back in the cave, gasping for air, caught somewhere between relief and dread.
That was way too close. I almost didn't make it…
The three faces in front of him came into focus. They were Wei Hongqing, Zuo Gaofeng, and Tan Bajhang. Out of the corner of his eye, Liu Xiaolou spotted someone lying motionless in the back room of the cave. It was Hou Sheng.
"He's awake, he's awake!" Tan Bajhang was overjoyed. He grabbed Liu Xiaolou by the shoulders and shook him hard, so hard that Liu Xiaolou ended up coughing up a few mouthfuls of sour river water before Tan finally let go.
Still catching his breath, Liu Xiaolou asked, "Well? Did you take him out?"
Wei Hongqing smiled. "No way we'd let him live."
Liu Xiaolou pointed at the corpse. "My formation disk…"
Zuo Gaofeng was already going through the body. He casually tossed the Abyssal Blackstone Formation Disk over. Liu Xiaolou caught it and ran his fingers over it for a moment. Finally, he let himself relax. All the effort and energy he'd poured into refining it; it was back in his hands at last.
Meanwhile, Wei Hongqing was examining the Groundbinding Spirit-Scattering Cord. As he looked it over, he muttered, "Xiaolou, this was the cord that had you wrapped up just now? Why didn't it show any signs of spiritual energy?"
Liu Xiaolou glanced at the cord in his hands. It had shrunk down to a short length of string, barely over a foot long, limp and resting across Wei Hongqing's palm. But the moment Liu Xiaolou's eyes landed on it, something stirred inside him. It felt like there was a connection between them. Right then, the cord lifted off Wei Hongqing's hand, coiled itself around Liu Xiaolou's wrist, and burrowed beneath his skin, disappearing from sight. It looked like a faint bluish vein running along his arm.
"Whoa, that's a treasure!" Wei Hongqing exclaimed in surprise.
Any item that could recognize a master on its own was undoubtedly something special. It must have bonded with Liu Xiaolou because its previous owner, Hou Sheng, was dead. And because their energies had already intertwined during the struggle.
Liu Xiaolou was just as thrilled. This Groundbinding Spirit-Scattering Cord had the power to scatter an opponent's true qi; he had suffered its effects firsthand. He remembered Hou Sheng mentioning it before. Hou Sheng had dared to come capture Lord Xingde alone because he had this spirit cord as his trump card. Its power went without saying.
Magical tools that could align with a cultivator's meridians were incredibly rare. Of all the magical items Liu Xiaolou owned—the Bewildering Fragrance Tendon, the Three-Mystery Sword, the Abyssal Blackstone Formation—none of them had that kind of direct connection to his body's meridian system.
The instant the Groundbinding Spirit-Scattering Cord merged with his own meridians, a sudden clarity washed over him. He instantly understood how the magical artifact worked. The cord contained hundreds of "acupoint shadows," each one corresponding to an acupoint on the human body. However many of his own acupoints he had opened, that same number would light up on the cord, allowing it to lock down that many acupoints on an enemy. Once every open acupoint on an enemy was covered, they'd lose the ability to circulate their true qi. And all they could do was wait to have it drained away.
In other words, the cord's power was directly tied to Liu Xiaolou's cultivation. If he ever reached the peak of the Qi Refinement stage and opened every acupoint, then in a one-on-one fight, whoever the cord caught would be bound.
Of course, its power was limited to the Qi Refinement stage. After reaching Foundation Establishment, cultivation shifted to refining the Qi sea, which wasn't connected to the meridians and acupoints.
Having gained this treasure, Liu Xiaolou didn't feel right laying claim to anything else from Hou Sheng's belongings. What he really hoped was that Hou Sheng had been carrying a good stash of spirit stones, gold, silver, or maybe even other magic tools; something that could be split among the brothers who'd risked their lives to help him. Only then would he feel at ease. After all, that was the rule on Mount Wulong.
Hou Sheng really lived up to his status as an inner sect inspector of the Qingyu Sect. He had quite the collection of valuables on him. Just the items he carried included two magical tools, a peachwood sword and an iron square shield, as well as seven spirit stones and a bottle of Heart-Nourishing Pills containing three pills. For most rogue cultivators, these were rare and precious finds.
The peachwood sword and the iron shield were especially noteworthy; both were mid-grade magical tools, one for offense and one for defense, each with countless uses. If Hou Sheng hadn't first inhaled the enchanted incense and then been ambushed, it's hard to say who would've come out on top.
Liu Xiaolou didn't take a share of any of these spoils. He left them all for Wei Hongqing and the others to divide among themselves.
Zuo Gaofeng, with his eighth-layer Qi Refinement cultivation, had the highest level among them. But in the ambush against Hou Sheng, it was actually Wei Hongqing, only at the sixth layer, who played the biggest role. That was thanks to the powerful tool in his hands. For this mission, Wei Hongqing had borrowed a top-grade Rainbow Locust Stone from someone in the inner sect. When Hou Sheng was disoriented from the fragrance and his mind briefly unstable, Wei Hongqing struck first with the Rainbow Locust Stone, hitting him square in the face. The stone was especially effective against cultivators like Hou Sheng who practiced soul arts, and it stunned him instantly. He didn't even get the chance to fight back before the three of them swarmed in and took him down.
Because of that, Wei Hongqing got first pick.
As an outer sect steward of Mount Tianmu, his position was fairly public. Even though the peachwood sword and iron shield were tempting, he didn't dare take them. Instead, he chose the seven spirit stones and the bottle of Heart-Nourishing Pills.
Zuo Gaofeng took the peachwood sword, and the iron shield went to Tan Bajhang. They could either keep the tools for themselves or sell them for spirit stones. Mid-grade magical tools like these could fetch a decent price on the black market; even at half value, each could go for fifteen or sixteen spirit stones, which was equivalent to two years of hard work.
Aside from that, Hou Sheng also had a few miscellaneous items on him: three sect leader tokens and a jade hairpin.
Each of the three tokens was different in appearance. One of them was identical in shape to the ones Liu Xiaolou already possessed from the Sanxuan Sect and the Purple Pole Sect. It was made from some kind of ebony, exact material unknown, and had the words "Xingming Sect" carved into it. The other two were far more refined: one carved from rosewood, the other cast in pure silver. They were inscribed with the names "River Sand Sect" and "Five Tigers Gang," respectively.
Tan Bajhang asked curiously, "What are these even for? Why was Hou carrying them around?"
"I vaguely remember hearing about these sects a few years ago," replied Zuo Gaofeng. "They were all founded by rogue cultivators like us. The Xingming Sect was based down south, and the River Sand Sect and Five Tigers Gang were from the Huai River region, I think."
Wei Hongqing thought for a moment. "Hou Sheng was an inspector for the Qingyu Sect. These sects were probably wiped out by him. Maybe he kept their leader tokens as trophies or proof of merit. Doesn't really matter. We should probably just burn them."
Liu Xiaolou reached out. "If no one else wants it, I'd like to keep the Xingming Sect token."
Tan Bajhang joked, "The one who holds the token becomes the sect master. Xiaolou, you trying to take over Xingming Sect now? What about this Five Tigers Gang token, want that too? If not, I'll take it. Melt it down and I can at least get five taels of silver."
So Liu Xiaolou kept the Xingming Sect token. Tan Bajhang took the Five Tigers Gang token. The rosewood token from the River Sand Sect was left untouched.
As for the jade hairpin, no one claimed it either. Zuo Gaofeng crushed it underfoot and tossed the pieces into the river.
Wei Hongqing lit a fire in the cave and burned Hou Sheng's body along with his leftover belongings. When it was all reduced to ash, he scattered the remains into the Miluo River.
He said, "Hou Sheng often left the sect for months at a time on official mission. It wasn't unusual for him to be gone four or five months, so that gives us at least that much time to cover our tracks. Even if the Qingyu Sect starts to suspect something after that, they'll have nothing concrete to go on. Zuo, Bajhang; if either of you plans to sell those magic tools for spirit stones, now's not the time. Be patient. Lay low until things cool off."
Both of them nodded. "Got it."
Wei Hongqing hesitated, then said, "There's just one loose end... the Green Serenity Courtyard…"
Liu Xiaolou thought for a moment. "I don't think we need to worry. Even if someone did trace things back to Green Serenity, what could they find? That place gets hundreds of guests a day. Who could say what happened three or five months ago? And besides, Sister Qing doesn't know anything about this. She's not the type to bring trouble on herself."
Everyone nodded. No one said more. No one really wanted to suggest the alternative. What, go wipe out everyone at Green Serenity? The women there, including Sister Qing, were practically part of Mount Wulong. All of them had done favors for one brother or another. Who hadn't benefitted from their kindness at some point?
Heroes from Mount Wulong don't look back. What's done is done. Some risk was part of the job. Who here didn't already have a legal trouble hanging over them? One more case meant nothing.
When the heroes of Wulong Mountain take care of business, they own it. Some risks just have to be accepted. Who among them doesn't have a record? What's one more charge at this point?
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