"One must put in great effort behind the scenes to appear effortless in front of others."
"There's no such thing as a true windfall—everything is achieved through careful planning!"
The one lecturing stood confidently on a rock, speaking with conviction and authority.
Those being lectured formed a circle around him, nodding repeatedly in deep agreement.
A chain of rumors was being born right before their eyes.
The smile on Song Qianji's face gradually faded.
"Xiao Song, where have you been?" Lu Zhou asked breathlessly. "Wei Wang has been looking for you everywhere."
As he spoke, his Rogue Cultivator teammates surrounded Song Qianji and led him away from the crowd. Instead of heading toward the Silver Armor Squad, they hid behind a large, secluded rock.
"Fellow Daoist, how should we address you?" Lu Zhou asked quietly.
The other teammates watched Song Qianji cautiously, including the usually sharp-tongued and ill-tempered Sword Cultivator, who also appeared nervous and uneasy.
Seeing their expressions, Song Qianji knew they had discovered he left them Protective Talismans during the fierce battle earlier.
"Same as before," Song Qianji said. "I still have some matters to attend to."
Captain Lu Zhou breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you for saving our lives, Fellow Daoist." He glanced at the other teammates and said with difficulty, "We've discussed it—Fellow Daoist Song, being able to draw such powerful Protective Talismans, must be someone of renown. For you to go through such trouble to conceal your identity and join our team, enduring humiliation and taking orders from everyone... you must have something very important to accomplish..."
The Sword Cultivator, impatient with his long-windedness, cut in: "Let me be direct! Fellow Daoist saved our lives, so of course we're on your side! But Wei Wang has also treated us well! I just can't bring myself to kill him! If it were anything else, we'd go through fire and water without hesitation, but this... we really can't do it."
Lu Zhou warned sharply: "Keep your voice down!"
A sudden morning breeze rustled through the trees. Zhang Hou, keeping watch from a tree, turned his head only to see a sparrow fly by.
Under the tree, Song Qianji was utterly confused: "Kill? Wei Zhenyu? Why?"
Lu Zhou smiled bitterly: "We're just a group of Rogue Cultivators with nothing worth scheming for. If you meant us harm, you wouldn't have left us Protective Talismans."
The Rogue Cultivator team's faces uniformly displayed "we know our place."
The plump Formation Master whispered: "So, you're here to assassinate Wei Wang, right?"
First using culinary skills to attract Wei Zhenyu's attention, then coincidentally meeting during moonlit walks, approaching step by step while enduring humiliation—all for the sake of assassination.
Song Qianji choked on a cough, feeling both amused and exasperated: "Why would I kill him?"
If I kill the savior, who's going to save the world afterward?
Wouldn't that just create more trouble for myself?
The Rogue Cultivators stared at him intently, their expressions anxious.
Song Qianji looked helplessly at the sky: "Whether others believe it or not, in this world, I am the last person who would kill him."
The Rogue Cultivators were stunned.
Silence fell momentarily. Song Qianji said: "Let's go."
He signaled for the others to go first, then trailed behind as usual, like an inconspicuous tail.
Understanding his meaning, everyone quickly adjusted their expressions but secretly communicated through voice transmission:
"From his tone, he must be an old acquaintance of Wei Wang's, but doesn't want to acknowledge it."
"Most likely. The Cultivation World is truly complicated."
Lu Zhou: "The Cultivation World is simple—it's cultivators who are complicated."
The Rogue Cultivators nodded repeatedly in deep agreement.
...
"Ji Bianxiu." Li Ciquan stood up, staring intently at Ji Chen. "Are you here to...""Everyone, don't be nervous. Sit, please sit. Continue your conversation, don't mind me." Ji Chen greeted the Silver Armor Squad warmly, "Having fought side by side earlier, I've come on behalf of Thousand Canals to thank Wei Wang!"
"May we speak privately?" Ji Chen looked toward Wei Zhenyu standing behind the crowd.
The man sat on the ground while someone reported urgent matters to him. Others kept their distance about five or six zhang away.
He appeared to be in a foul mood, brows furrowed, gripping his sword scabbard so tightly the veins on his hand bulged.
"I'll accompany Wei Wang." Zhu Sheng stood up.
"Unnecessary." Wei Zhenyu shook his head faintly and said to Ji Chen, "Let's go."
When they reached a secluded spot, Ji Chen hesitated: "Are, are you alright?"
Wei Zhenyu responded sparingly: "Fine."
"Oh." Ji Chen's natural enthusiasm finally ran out. The cool morning breeze carried the bloody scent from the battlefield, and facing this cold expression made him feel even more chilled inside.
The two stood in silence.
Finally, Wei Zhenyu spoke first: "Earlier, someone stole your seal and forged your handwriting to write me letters." He sneered, "That person wasn't very clever. Your handwriting is uniquely terrible—utterly one of a kind in this world. Anyone trying to imitate it would be spotted immediately."
"Such a thing happened?" Ji Chen was shocked.
"You should investigate who could access your seal."
Wei Zhenyu intended to warn Ji Chen that there might be a spy in Thousand Canals who needed timely identification.
But Ji Chen just laughed: "My seal is kept at the Printing Bureau. Anyone who needs it for stamping anthologies can use it. How strange—if that person wanted to write, they should have written in their own name. Why pretend to be me and give themselves away?"
Wei Zhenyu took a deep breath, suppressing his anger as he carefully explained:
"Using your identity to write me letters, after gaining my trust, would naturally lead to luring me to some rendezvous or setting other traps. If something happened to me, they could frame you, creating discord that would inevitably lead to war between Thousand Canals and the Northern Desert. This is a strategy to kill two birds with one stone. Who ultimately benefits? The Huawel Sect from Western Sky Continent, or the Zhao Family from Northern Sky Continent?"
Seeing Ji Chen blinking indifferently, he couldn't hold back: "How are you still so foolish? With you being this foolish, why does Song Qianji even keep you in Song Courtyard?!"
Halfway through listening, Ji Chen thought, truly worthy of steward Wei Ping, more cunning than wheat in Thousand Canals' fields.
But as he listened further, something felt off. He wanted to say it was just a few letters—how could you possibly be fooled by such tricks? Suddenly hearing Song Qianji mentioned, his expression immediately changed: "You may be clever. But you're the one who chose to leave back then, Wei Zhenyu. No one in Song Courtyard owes you anything!"
Wei Zhenyu froze, his face turning pale.
Ji Chen turned to leave: "Foolish as I may be, I can still take good care of my senior brother. Though you're clever, Wei Wang, you're an outsider. There's no need for your concern."
Ji Chen left confidently but returned with a dejected expression.
Meng Heze mocked: "Weren't you delivering warmth? Did you succeed?"
Ji Chen extended his hand from his wide sleeve, clutching a protective Talisman drawn by Song Qianji in his fist.
"You saw it yourself earlier—he has countless Mystic Treasures for protection and doesn't lack such things at all. These past years, he's constantly been targeted, thinking everyone means him harm." Ji Chen suddenly thought of something, "Brother Meng, did you steal my seal?"
Meng Heze choked, immediately retorting: "Only a dog would steal your seal!"
"Good that it wasn't you. Now I need to tell you something—you must brace yourself." Ji Chen's solemn expression only drew more mockery from Meng Heze.After a moment, Meng Heze could no longer laugh. His expression shifted from shock to joy, finally settling on terror as his gaze swept around. "I can be the dog, but you can't deceive me with something like this."
Ji Chen retorted angrily, "If I'm lying, I'll be the dog!"
"Fine, even if Senior Brother saw it, it doesn't matter. We can make up for it later." Meng Heze consoled himself. "Let's follow Senior Brother's instructions and pretend we don't know. Don't ruin his plans."
Just then, a young disciple rushed over: "Senior Brother Meng, the Silver Armor troops are moving—they're entering the Underground Palace!"
Meng Heze grinned. "How could we let them take the lead?"
He shouted, "Let's go!"
...
After the great serpent died, the two mountains collapsed, and the river changed its course.
The hidden entrance to the Underground Palace was thus revealed.
The gate seemed to have been embedded into the former riverbed, twenty zhang wide and entirely black. No one knew what material it was made of or what world lay beyond it.
Once the guiding voice from the sky vanished completely, all the cultivators waited for either Thousand Canals or Northern Desert to take the lead.
"Wei Zhenyu." Song Qianji emerged from the rogue cultivators' team. Wei Zhenyu didn't ask where he had been earlier, as if he hadn't even noticed his absence.
"You called for me, Wei Wang?" Song Qianji stepped forward, letting him scrutinize him, his tone casual.
"I want you to scout the Underground Palace. What do you think?"
"I think it's acceptable," Song Qianji said.
"You take the front. We'll follow behind you," Wei Zhenyu instructed.
Song Qianji: "..."
This bastard is using me as a stepping stone.
He found Wuxiang suspicious and didn't want anything to happen to those exploring the Underground Palace.
But faced with such a blunt demand, Song Qianji couldn't bring himself to feel pleased.
Wei Zhenyu laughed at his change in expression. "Since you think it's acceptable, open the gate."
Song Qianji took a deep breath and finally said, "I hope you won't regret this."
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