Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 233: This World Isn’t Just About Fighting and Killing; There’s Also Swindling and Conning

While Qin Meran departed with a hint of regret, already plotting how to contact the owner of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion to forge a connection with the Ink Chill Tower, events were unfolding elsewhere.

In a secret stronghold of the Four Seas Gang.

Accompanied by a swirling radiance, the gray-robed man whom Qin Meran had lost track of stepped out of a hidden array. He dared not delay, striding immediately into the main hall.

Inside sat Yu Sihai.

The Leader of the Four Seas Gang had only returned from the Azure Mystic Sacred Land a few days prior.

The gray-robed man bowed slightly, offering a respectful salute, before presenting the items retrieved from the dead spy.

“Are the loose ends cleaned up?” Yu Sihai asked, his voice devoid of emotion.

“Reporting to the Gang Leader. Everything has been handled. The Manager Feng of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, currently residing in the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion, detected nothing.”

Yu Sihai nodded and waved his hand, dismissing the subordinate.

Once the gray-robed man had withdrawn, a cold voice echoed from the shadows of the room. “You should have killed him. Leaving him alive risks a trail that could lead back to us and ruin our grand plan.”

“You are meddling too much,” Yu Sihai replied indifferently.

“I am helping you.”

“Helping me? Or helping yourself?”

The figure in the shadows fell silent. Finally, he stepped into the light. Dressed in scholarly robes, it was none other than Qin Meran’s teacher, Yin Wenshu.

“Gang Leader Yu, you seem to harbor a deep prejudice against me,” Yin Wenshu said, observing Yu Sihai’s frosty expression. “I know you believe I am merely using you to investigate whether Gu Xiu is alive or dead…”

“Is that not the case?” Yu Sihai sneered.

“Of course not!” Yin Wenshu shook his head emphatically. “I do indeed wish to borrow your strength to ascertain Gu Xiu’s fate. But tell me, has our path been wrong so far?”

He paced slowly. “It is precisely because of our partnership that the news of Gu Xiu abandoning the sect spread so rapidly, exposing the injustices he suffered at Azure Mystic. If not for that, would we see this current situation—experts from all over swarming toward Azure Mystic?”

Yin Wenshu paused, meeting Yu Sihai’s gaze. “Taking a step back, if not for me, Brother Yu, could you have gained the Supreme’s trust so quickly? Could you have navigated the politics of the peaks and secured meetings with the various Peak Masters?”

“But that is not what you promised initially,” Yu Sihai retorted coldly.

Back when Qin Meran had seized the Earth Cloud Sprout, the elite experts of the Four Seas Gang had been slaughtered by the Supreme, and the gang itself had teetered on the brink of annihilation. Yin Wenshu had arrived then, and the two had formed an alliance based on a single shared goal: Revenge.

At the time, Yin Wenshu had been a convincing actor. Yu Sihai had truly believed this scholar possessed some heaven-shaking method to destroy Azure Mystic once Gu Xiu’s death was confirmed.

The reality, however… was that this man was a charlatan.

“I once heard that reading the books of sages doesn’t necessarily make one a sage, but it should at least make one a decent human being,” Yu Sihai remarked with mild sarcasm. “But after meeting you, Brother Yin, I feel that saying is somewhat biased.”

Yin Wenshu’s old face flushed red, and he found himself at a loss for words.

“Enough. Since we are grasshoppers tied to the same rope, bickering is useless.” Yu Sihai did not press the humiliation further. He picked up the red threads presented by the gray-robed man.

“The Night Illuminating Nail has been successfully embedded. We can now use it to inspect the interior of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion. Let’s see if this ‘Manager Feng’ is truly the expert from the Ink Chill Tower as you suspect.”

As he spoke, Yu Sihai produced a large bronze mirror. He wound the red threads around its handle and performed a series of hand seals.

Hum.

The bronze mirror shimmered with a faint light. Ripples cleared to reveal a crisp image of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion’s courtyard.

Using the Night Illuminating Nail to silently hijack the target’s formation, and then using that very formation to spy on its master—it was an ingenious, if insidious, method.

Yin Wenshu pushed aside his embarrassment and leaned in, his eyes full of anticipation.

He had never given up on the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion. It was the suspected epicenter of the “Homage of Ten Thousand Rhymes.” He had tried to investigate it before, only to have his plans ruined by Qin Meran.

Now, he was being cautious. Instead of acting rashly, he used the Four Seas Gang as a proxy to probe the unknown.

From “Feng Bugui” to the “Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion Offering,” everything about this place reeked of mystery. After consulting numerous ancient texts, Yin Wenshu had begun to suspect that this Feng Bugui might actually be an envoy from the Ink Chill Tower.

The Ink Chill Tower was a sacred land of the Talisman Path. If it had re-emerged after centuries of silence, it would be a heaven-sent Fated Chance for any talisman master. If he could obtain its legacy, he would no longer need to fear his past oaths, nor would he need to hide from Gu Xiu.

Yu Sihai’s motives were simpler. The Four Seas Gang had stirred up a storm in the Eastern Wastelands, but survival in the coming tempest was not guaranteed. If a transcendent force like the Ink Chill Tower existed, discovering it early and forging an alliance would be a lifesaving anchor.

However…

When the image in the mirror finally stabilized, the two expectant conspirators froze.

They did not see Manager Feng.

Instead, they saw two strange, powerful beings in the courtyard… dueling?

“Today, I, Ximen Suixing, have come to challenge you, Dugu Dahei! We shall decide who is superior, and who shall live or die!”

“Squeak squeak!”

“Save your breath! You and I are both Immortals from the Upper Realm, hailed as the Four Ancient Sages. We descended to this mortal plane to temper our hearts in the red dust. Since we meet, we must compete openly and honestly to determine the victor!”

“Squeak!”

“Make your move, Dugu Dahei!”

“Squeak squeak squeak!”

To be fair, the Star Shattering Forging Platform and the little black monkey in the bronze mirror carried themselves with the undeniable swagger of Peerless Experts.

Yu Sihai and Yin Wenshu exchanged a shocked glance.

The Four Ancient Sages!

Upper Realm Immortals?!

Could the background of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion be this terrifying?

Although… why did these Upper Realm Immortals look like a floating anvil and a monkey?

Neither man dared to voice their confusion. They held their breath, glued to the mirror, desperate to witness a duel between Immortals and perhaps glean some enlightenment from their divine techniques.

Unfortunately…

Just as the two “experts” were about to clash, Ximen Suixing suddenly turned his “head.”

His gaze seemed to pierce through the bronze mirror, locking directly onto Yu Sihai and Yin Wenshu.

“Have you seen enough? Two little ants?”

The words struck Yu Sihai and Yin Wenshu like a physical blow. Their hearts seized in terror.

“How dare mere mortals spy on the duel of the Four Ancient Sages?” Ximen Suixing’s voice thundered.

“Hmph!”

With a snort of disdain, the image in the bronze mirror shattered into static. Simultaneously, the red threads wound around the handle snapped with a sharp crack.

“This…”

Yin Wenshu trembled. “He… he discovered us? He forcibly broke the connection of the Night Illuminating Nail?”

“Once the nail is set, it fuses with the formation,” Yin Wenshu stammered, his face pale. “Ordinary people can’t even detect it, let alone destroy it so effortlessly. How did they do that?”

“Could it be… they really are Immortals?” Yu Sihai gasped, sucking in a cold breath. His eyes flickered with wild speculation.

“That’s it! That has to be it!” Yin Wenshu realized, his voice rising in hysteria. “Only Immortals could produce so many Perfect Dao Talismans every single day! It defies all logic otherwise!”

“Only Immortals could trigger a phenomenon like the Homage of Ten Thousand Rhymes!”

“The resident of Listening-to-Rain Pavilion isn’t the Ink Chill Tower… it’s a group of Immortals! The Four Ancient Sages, down here to temper their hearts!”

“This is a Fated Chance! A heaven-defying Fated Chance!!!”

As the realization hit, their expressions shifted from shock to horror.

“Damn it!” Yu Sihai suddenly shouted. “This is an Immortal’s dwelling, and we just used a spy tool on them! Did we just… provoke a catastrophe?”

Yin Wenshu froze.

Right! They had driven a Night Illuminating Nail into an Immortal’s home. Strictly speaking, this was a grave offense.

Just as panic began to set in, a voice suddenly drifted into the room, echoing directly in their ears.

“You two little guys… you do have some affinity with us. We will not pursue today’s matter. But if you dare to offend us again, it will not be resolved so easily!”

The voice appeared out of thin air, rolling like thunder.

It scared Yu Sihai and Yin Wenshu nearly to death. They were deep within their own secret stronghold, protected by layers of formations, and the Night Illuminating Nail had already been destroyed. How could this voice still reach them?

And the tone… it was identical to the Immortal “Ximen Suixing” they had just heard!

Did he… convey his voice across the city, penetrating our defenses effortlessly?

Hiss—!

If this wasn’t an Immortal’s technique, what was it?

While the two men were paralyzed by shock and rapidly spiraling into awe-fueled delusions, they failed to notice a crucial detail.

A nearly transparent longsword, having silently bypassed their restrictions to deliver the message, was now quietly turning to leave.

Its mission was complete.

As it flew away, drifting out of earshot of the two victims, it continued to emit a few low, pre-recorded mutters—fragments of a playlist prepared by Suixing in advance:

“You little one, you do have some affinity…”

“You three little ones, you do have some affinity…”

“You group of little ones, you do have some affinity…”

This was no Immortal Voice Transmission. It was a meticulously planned scam from the very beginning.

It wasn’t sophisticated.

But…

“This is an Immortal’s dwelling… a supreme opportunity,” Yin Wenshu whispered, his eyes burning. “That Immortal said we have ‘some affinity.’ Do you think… was that a hint?”

“Very likely,” Yu Sihai agreed, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Should we visit tomorrow to apologize? To carry thorns on our backs and plead for punishment?”

“We must go! We might even get to know the Immortals and obtain an Immortal Destiny!”

“No matter the cost, we must befriend them!”

“Prepare the heavy gifts!”

The two hit it off immediately. Without waiting for dawn, they began frantically packing, raiding their treasuries to prepare the most lavish apology gifts possible. They planned to be at the door of the Listening-to-Rain Pavilion the moment the sun rose.

They wanted to touch the hem of the Immortal’s robe.

However…

At this exact moment, the two of them would never have imagined that they had vastly overestimated a certain unscrupulous forging platform.

Back in the pavilion, “Ximen Suixing” was currently bobbing up and down, lecturing Little Ping’an with the air of a street-smart hustler.

“Little Ping’an, Uncle Sui is going to teach you a principle of life.”

“This world isn’t just about fighting and killing. There’s also scamming and deceiving.”

“A horse cannot fatten without midnight grass, and a man cannot get rich without ill-gotten gains.”

“When you encounter a windfall dropping from the sky, you must seize the opportunity immediately. Scoop it up! Scoop up enough Spirit Stones to fund your cultivation for the rest of your life in one breath!”

“Understand?”