Gu Changhuai looked at Hua Mei, Hua Mei looked at him, the two looked at each other with nothing but disappointment.
Gu Changhuai spoke righteously. "You can't expect a shadow demon who's on his first mission and has never left the Demon Realm to obtain a cultivation world sect disciple identity."
Hua Mei sneered: "Having you is my great fortune."
His gaze swept around and suddenly landed on the waist tokens hanging at the waists of the people at the next table.
He urgently tugged at Gu Changhuai's sleeve. "Look at the next table. The tokens hanging on their swords are Wuding Workshop identity tokens. Wuding Workshop has wide connections. Look again—their tokens indicate high status. They can at least speak with some authority within Wuding Workshop. How about asking them?"
Gu Changhuai smiled bashfully: "You know, I've been introverted since I was young..."
"Counting on you is worse than counting on char siu!" Hua Mei swept his robe aside.
With a turn of his body, he slid to the next table, saying smoothly: "Oh my, what a coincidence, you two! You're from Wuding Workshop, aren't you, big brothers? What are your names? How old are you? Are you married yet?"
Throwing out a string of questions.
The young man talking with Hua Mei sounded somewhat nervous. "My name is Jin Shuang... Please conduct yourself properly..." He pushed away Hua Mei who was trying to lean against him, stuttering anxiously: "No, no, no, I'm not that kind of person..."
Hua Mei propped his chin, smiling at Jin Shuang. "Meeting is fate. I wonder if Brother Jin Shuang could help us with a small favor?"
As he spoke, he raised an eyebrow at Gu Changhuai.
See, this is skill!
Gu Changhuai smoothly moved over and sat across from the other person. As soon as he sat down, he felt a cold gaze directed at him from across the table.
He looked up. The person across from him wore a veiled hat, long curtains hanging down half their body, concealing their face and figure. Unlike Jin Shuang's displayed youthful nervousness, this person sat steadily there, neither speaking nor moving, only quietly watching. Only the fierce cold aura emanating from their entire body indicated this person was not easy to get along with.
Encountering such an unfathomable person, Gu Changhuai couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle, instantly feeling restless. On second thought, they were negotiating a deal with Wuding Workshop, and not doing anything shameful, so his heart felt somewhat more at ease.
Over there, Hua Mei had already chatted with Jin Shuang to the main point.
Jin Shuang said: "Wuding Workshop welcomes guests from all over the world. As long as our Wuding Workshop can take on this business, we'll naturally do it. Fellow Daoist might as well speak."
"Easy to discuss, easy to discuss." Hua Mei smiled. "I've heard that Xinnan Immortal Sect only accepts exceptional talents. Looking across the world, young elites gather together. Unfortunately, we two wish to observe the outstanding talents within the Immortal Sect. I wonder if Wuding Workshop can obtain two disciple identities?"
"Hmm..."
Jin Shuang looked sideways at the other person.
Clearly between the two of them, the other person was in charge.
Thinking of Wuding Workshop's usual rule of recognizing money but not people... Gu Changhuai paused, then suddenly pulled out a huge night-luminescent pearl from his storage pouch and placed it on the table. "If Wuding Workshop has the means, this is a generous reward."
A night-luminescent pearl slightly larger than a fist, surrounded by spiritual energy, glowing brilliantly. Whether in the cultivation world or the Demon Realm, it was a rare treasure.
"..."
Silence for a moment.
The person across nodded. A low, clear voice sounded in Gu Changhuai's ear. "Acceptable." Then to Jin Shuang: "Take it."
"Yes..." Jin Shuang responded, then tremblingly went to pick up the night-luminescent pearl, his emotions seeming not so much happy as greatly shocked.
Finally coming to his senses, he said to Gu Changhuai in a daze: "Uh... The Hall Master's meaning is, we'll take this business, rest assured."
"This is your reason for giving away a fist-sized night-luminescent pearl?" Hua Mei's eyes were completely dark underneath, his whole body filled with resentment. "You promised when we get rich and noble not to forget each other. How long have you been hiding good stuff?"
A night-luminescent pearl slightly larger than a fist could be exchanged for a thousand top-grade spirit stones—a considerable sum, at least for the two of them it was a considerable sum.
Gu Changhuai said: "Not long, just the other day during the duel. After Xue Number Two sprained his ankle and lost, he said he was sorry and gave me a night-luminescent pearl, saying it's what I deserved."
As he spoke, his teeth clenched. "At the time I didn't understand what Xue Number Two meant, but now I get it."
Xue Number Two must have known early on that the Demon Venerable wanted to send the Shadow Clan's number one assassin to kill Qing Lian Immortal Lord. This mission was basically a one-way trip. He wanted to find a scapegoat, and knowing Gu Changhuai was dirt poor, deliberately lost and then sent a night-luminescent pearl.
—As payment for buying his life.
Tch.
Gu Changhuai's eyes were indifferent. He'd remember this grudge for now.
...
Wuding Workshop worked very efficiently.
The day after receiving the night-luminescent pearl, they delivered two Xinnan Immortal Sect disciple tokens and informed them that just a hundred li away at Lengtai Slope, there was a Xinnan Immortal Sect training team.
Xinnan Immortal Sect was divided into thirteen factions, the thirteen factions were further divided into thirty-six routes, with a total of seventy-two elders. Each route also distinguished between inner and outer disciples.
This training expedition consisted of five hundred outer disciples, led by ten inner disciples, divided into five teams. The outer disciples usually buried their heads in cultivation and rarely met each other within the sect, so no one knew anyone. They just needed to take their tokens, wear Xinnan Immortal Sect's sect robes, and blend in.
Gu Changhuai and Hua Mei decided to split up.
Lengtai Slope was very large, divided into outer, middle, and inner layers. The further inside, the more rare treasures, and naturally the more dangerous. Since this Xinnan Immortal Sect training was mostly for outer disciples, they only roamed the outer layer and the edge of the middle layer, hunting some demon beasts or completing some sect missions.
Gu Changhuai changed into Xinnan Immortal Sect's sect robes, casually plucked a tree branch from the roadside to tie up his long hair, and found a training team to temporarily follow and observe the situation.
This team was still in the outer layer of Lengtai Slope. The team of over a hundred people walked scattered and loosely. The outer layer generally had no danger, mostly they were gathering medicinal herbs.
After observing for a while, Gu Changhuai lowered his head pretending to gather herbs, preparing to blend in. His gaze fell on the disciple token at his waist and suddenly paused.
Huh?
He raised his eyes to look at the tokens hanging at the waists of those disciples not far away, then lowered his eyes to look at his own, frowning in confusion... Why was this token different from the others?
The other disciples' tokens only had the four characters 'Xinnan Immortal Sect,' with 'Outer' on the back. But his token, besides 'Xinnan Immortal Sect,' also had a plum blossom branch in the lower right corner. Flipping to the back, there was also a huge character "Qing."
What did this mean?
Gu Changhuai was completely puzzled.
...Did Wuding Workshop give him a bootleg copy?
Just as Gu Changhuai was about to quietly slip away and go reason with Wuding Workshop, a commotion came from the crowd ahead.
Watching excitement is an instinct carved into everyone's bones.
Gu Changhuai hid behind a tree and peeked out to look.
In the void, someone had arrived riding a sword at some unknown time. The scattered disciples gathered forward because of this.
The newcomer was like a shadow of a falling star. As he approached, the vast pressure surrounding him came like a mountain—like an iceberg revealing only a corner, already terrifying enough.
However, the moment the person landed, the pressure dispersed on its own, apparently having been withdrawn.
"Greetings to Qing Lian Immortal Lord." The gathered disciples bowed and shouted in unison to the newcomer.
Hearing this, Gu Changhuai was shocked.
Instantly, he stared intently at the figure standing before the crowd.
From his position, he could see the newcomer was tall and jade-like in bearing, hair black as satin cascading over dark-patterned deep blue robes. From just the side profile Gu Changhuai glimpsed, he could outline how handsome Qing Lian Immortal Lord's face was.
But such superior features were overshadowed by the aloof detachment that kept people at a distance surrounding the Immortal Lord himself. Of course, no one dared to raise their head to look directly.
Just approaching, one could feel a bone-chilling coldness attacking.
This person has almost cultivated into a sword, he thought. The task assigned by the Demon Venerable seems impossible... Someone who's almost cultivated into a sword—no matter how he thinks about it, he can't beat them.
The instant his breathing became unstable, Qing Lian Immortal Lord's eyelashes moved slightly before the crowd, suddenly glancing sideways in his direction, the corners of his eyes especially cold.
Afraid of being discovered, Gu Changhuai urgently pulled his head back to hide behind the tree. Immediately a sword wind swept over, the killing intent undisguised as it flew from overhead, followed by two consecutive "swoosh swoosh" sounds.
Gu Changhuai was terrified, not daring to blink. He raised his head and watched with wide eyes as the sword wind swept overhead—the tree branches there were neatly cut off, and a poisonous snake emitting black energy was severed into two sections like the branches, falling in front of him. Blood splattered three feet away on the ground, its death unsightly.
After a moment, he heard the disciples over there seem to breathe a long sigh of relief, saying admiringly: "We detected the presence of demonic energy a quarter-hour ago and didn't dare act rashly. With one sword, the Immortal Lord detected and eradicated this demon creature. Truly formidable."
"..."
Rong Ye lowered his eyes, imperceptibly glancing at the tree whose bark had been scraped off.
Behind the tree, the thick demonic presence rising to the sky appeared like substance in his eyes, constantly spreading outward, practically announcing to the world 'there's a demon here, come quickly to eliminate them.' Rong Ye was silent for a while, then with two fingers forming a seal beneath his sleeve, he silently released a thread of spiritual power. At the same time, the identity token at Gu Changhuai's waist quietly flashed, and the demonic presence was instantly concealed completely.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the small corner of robe peeking out from behind the tree. Rong Ye imperceptibly withdrew his hand, turned back to face the disciples before him, slightly parting his lips in a deep, cold voice: "Even though you all are outer disciples, you should be more diligent and maintain constant vigilance."
The demonic presence had already spread throughout a ten-li radius.
...
Considering the poisonous snake's unsightly death as a warning, Gu Changhuai developed thoughts of retreat. However, as soon as he had this idea, his abdomen faintly ached with stabbing pain, immediately making him grimace.
...The worm the Demon Venerable fed him was still there.
He couldn't leave.
Still had to bite the bullet and continue.
But Gu Changhuai still wanted to slip away for a bit and come back in a couple days. He hadn't walked more than two steps when the tree that had just been cut by the sword wind suddenly made 'crack crack' sounds from inside.
The tottering tree fell toward him. With a "Holy shit!" Gu Changhuai hurriedly leaped up, his figure light and agile as he jumped to another tree. "Crash!"
The big tree hit the ground with a sound.
Gu Changhuai stood on the tree with lingering fear, suddenly feeling it had become much quieter. He silently lowered his eyes to look down below—hundreds of people's gazes were all gathered on him.
The person in the tree wore snow-white disciple's regular robes. The originally simple clothing was particularly eye-catching on him.
His black hair was casually tied back with two tree branches, the majority spreading out like crow feathers behind him. His cold and exquisite face showed a bit of alarm as he patted his chest, his sleeves sliding down to reveal a section of cold, white, jade-like forearm—like an immortal who had fallen into the mortal world, naturally carrying an aloof sense of distance.
But when he turned and looked down with lowered eyes, his lips naturally carried a smile, and his eyes held approachable warmth, suddenly diluting the aloofness around him, making him seem easy to approach.
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere instantly froze.
After a moment, the leading inner disciple's loud shout broke the silence. "What are you doing here? I was just looking for you!"
He flew up and grabbed Gu Changhuai. "I was wondering why I couldn't see the attendant. The Immortal Lord has already arrived, what are you hiding behind a tree for?"
"Ah? I..." Gu Changhuai was bewildered. Having a flash of inspiration, he handed over an herb he'd prepared to bluff his way through. "I was pulling weeds!"
"The Immortal Lord is already here, what are you pulling weeds for? This is a golden opportunity you drew by lot—treasure it." The inner disciple lowered his voice by his ear, speaking with disappointment: "Being able to draw the Immortal Lord's attendant position is your good fortune. During the training period, you'll follow the Immortal Lord. He definitely won't let you suffer a loss."
Just like that, Gu Changhuai was pulled before Rong Ye. The inner disciple bowed: "This is your attendant. Knowing the Immortal Lord would be passing through Lengtai Slope, we assigned him by lot drawing within the sect beforehand."
For Xinnan Immortal Sect's outer disciples, being able to show their face before Qing Lian Immortal Lord was an excellent opportunity. The title of the cultivation world's number one person was so renowned that no one didn't know it. Rather than everyone competing for one position, it was better to randomly draw lots for assignment.
Gu Changhuai understood. So that's it. No wonder his robe hem had plum blossoms, and his token was different from the other disciples'—turns out he'd been assigned to be the Immortal Lord's attendant.
Wuding Workshop really delivered... just a bit too well.
Now Gu Changhuai felt immense pressure. He raised his eyes, his pupils reflecting a handsome, cold face. Deep brows and eyes showed no expression, lowering to look at him with a gaze that seemed to carry sword intent like the person himself—at a glance, clearly someone who never smiled.
...Huh?
No one told him the golden finger was this good-looking, huh?
And getting closer, Gu Changhuai could better sense the faint dao essence surrounding the Immortal Lord, as well as the oppressive feeling that made his hairs stand on end.
Gu Changhuai: "..."
Is there a possibility...
That the Demon Realm sending someone to assassinate is just delivering cannon fodder to the Immortal Lord?