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Chapter 258 Tai She is dead
West side of the inner courtyard of the Heavenly Academy, in front of the main building of the Office of Affairs.

Master Zuo Qiuyang of the Zizai Hall and Master Chai Hu of the Changsheng Hall sat upright in the seats of honor, flanked by three elders from the Elders' Pavilion on their left and right.

The three stewards of the Imperial Household Department stood in front of a wooden board covered with messages from those outside the department and records of the rumors and gossip about Dou Yuankong over the past few days.

The scattered fragments cannot be pieced together into a coherent sentence, making them seem elusive.

"The evil seed is just a mummified corpse of a remnant clan, without any clear markings, making it even more difficult to trace its origin. The only clue at present is Dou Yuankong. We have been investigating along Sanli County for the past few days, trying to confirm the places he might have been before the incident, and we have now made some progress."

Qin Rong hung a map on the wooden board: "The area around Sanli County is barren and not a good place for sightseeing. However, there are several large cities further away, which are much more prosperous. Among them, Anyuan City is famous for its restaurants. Dou Yuankong is fond of wine and women and may have passed through here before."

After listening to Qin Rong's words, Zuo Qiuyang pondered for a while before asking, "Where was the body of Dou Yuankong's old servant found back then?"

Qin Rong then pointed to another location on the map: "The body was found in Bai'ai County, Nanhong County, Qingzhou, just west of Wanhe County."

“It’s quite far away, but it’s still a clue. Let’s include Anyuan City, which you mentioned, and continue searching along these three locations.”

"Yes."

After some discussion, the Imperial Secretariat, having received the imperial order, immediately sprang into action, while Zuo Qiuyang and Chai Hu left the Secretariat.

However, on the way back along the mountain road, Chai Hu couldn't help but frown slightly: "Senior brother, do you really think this matter is related to the Qiling incident?"

Zuo Qiuyang wrapped his wide sleeves around his back: "It's too similar. Back then, the evil seed also appeared suddenly."

"If that's the case, what's the purpose?"

"Naturally, it's for the ancient immortal path within the ruins."

Chai Hu disagreed somewhat: "Everything in the ruins goes against the way of Heaven, so it's impossible to bring it out. Even if it were brought out, it would be annihilated by the way of Heaven. How could you possibly plot anything?"

Upon hearing this, Zuo Qiuyang frowned deeply: "The immortal path within the ruins is indeed contrary to the Heavenly Dao, yet it cannot stop people from being greedy. What if someone would rather be like the Zheng family patriarch and try to ascend to immortality against the heavens within the ruins?"

"Such a large-scale operation could not possibly have escaped our notice, but the Council of Affairs had already investigated and found that the ruins had not been opened, and the feedback from other immortal sects was the same."

"Although the seven immortal sects appear to be on good terms, they are actually each acting on their own. Some of their words can be believed, but not all of them can be. They are temptations from the immortal path. Not to mention the immortal sects, even the aristocratic families might be emboldened by them."

The delicate balance between the immortal sects and the aristocratic families has lasted for hundreds of years, with the immortal sects at the top, followed by the thousand-year-old families and the hundred-year-old families.

Such stability is naturally good for some people, but it is a shackle for some ambitious individuals.

In fact, ever since the Qiling incident, the seven major immortal sects have been on guard against each other, all feeling that someone was secretly plotting against them. Otherwise, the Dan Sect would not have been so eager to form an alliance with the Heavenly Academy.

And the rumors of a chaotic era originated from this.

What is a chaotic world?

This world has no rules, no laws.

If it really comes to that, the first thing that will be broken is the balance between the seven major immortal sects.

In Zuo Qiuyang's view, the seven immortal sects, each wielding a sacred artifact, reign supreme over the world. Only the seven immortal sects themselves could possess such power to break this balance.

Meanwhile, Ji You had already returned from Kuang Cheng's residence.

Because of the appearance of the evil species, the Niu Ma Si (牛马司) where Lao Kuang worked was extremely busy.

Ji You didn't take up much of his time, but just told him to be careful and not to get carried away even if he found out something.

In his view, matters involving the laws of nature are beyond human control.

But Kuang Cheng had been well-read since childhood and was easily impulsive, so he was afraid that Kuang Cheng would get involved in bad things.

On his way back, he saw another large number of disciples from the academy leaving.

He had only heard from Instructor Cao today that when the evil seed first appeared, the Heavenly Academy had sent out some disciples in charge of affairs, and now another batch had gone out, which seemed to indicate that the search had been expanded.

Ji You did not linger in the outer courtyard, but instead stepped back into the inner courtyard and pushed open the door to enter her own yard.

From the time I left last summer until my return this summer, roughly a year had passed, and no one had lived in this courtyard.

However, the disciples in charge of the academy are quite responsible and often come to clean, so it is not overgrown.

However, due to the continuous torrential rains over the past few months, his clothes and bedding in the room were quite damp.

Ji You had just spent a whole day airing out his bedding when he received several invitations.

There were invitations from He Lingxiu and Xiao Hanyan, as well as some scions of prominent families in the capital, some I knew and some I didn't.

Actually, the banquet wasn't the real purpose; what they really wanted was to see if Ji You was still a Tongxuan (a type of cultivator)...

As Ji You was browsing through those posts, a vast divine sense suddenly swept over from the distant mountains.

The divine sense enveloped it, scanned it several times, and then silently returned.

At this moment, Ji You couldn't help but look up, gazing in the direction from which the divine thought had come.

This divine thought must have come from one of the five great immortal palaces. It seems that even the palace master of the Heavenly Academy is very interested in the fact that he entered the sacred land of the sages but did not break through his realm.

However, things quieted down afterward; there were no more invitations or banquets.

Besides Wen Zhengxin and Ban Yangshu who frequently came to see him, Lu Hanyan would also come back from time to time to say hello and express her desire to continue learning swordsmanship. After that, not many people came back to bother him anymore.

This is probably because everyone has confirmed Ji You's current realm, and they no longer pay as much attention to a Tongxuan Realm cultivator as before, treating him only as a fallen individual who has hit a bottleneck.

Their attention then shifted to the matter of the evil species.

During this time, Ji You received a letter from the Dan Sect.

Yuan Caiwei had also heard the news that he had left the sacred land of the sages, and then learned from the people outside the sect that he had returned to the Heavenly Academy, so she specially wrote to ask him if everything was alright.

In fact, the news that Ji You had not broken through to the next level also affected her.

Previously, various rumors circulated in Qingyun Tianxia, ​​saying that she liked Ji You and wanted to marry him.

Her father and some of the elders in power did not stop her from doing so; they basically turned a blind eye.

But ever since the news spread, her father and the clan elders have been subtly trying to persuade her to change her mind.

Yuan Caiwei is still very important to the Dan Sect, partly because of her extremely high talent in alchemy, and partly because she can influence the decisions of Yuan Chen, the future sect leader.

However, Yuan Caiwei did not mention this in the letter. She only told him about some recent events in the Dan Sect, as well as her own and Yuan Chen's current situation.

She also betrayed Yan Shuyi, saying that after he entered the sacred site of the ancients, she and "Sister Yan" went to Fengzhou together.

These girls are all quite smart; they know to run home.

However, the young appraiser of Lingjian Mountain seemed a bit clumsy; he wouldn't admit it with his mouth, but his actions betrayed him.

While I was at the sacred site of the ancients, he secretly went home again.

Ji You pouted, then picked up her pen and wrote back to Yuan Caiwei, telling her about her experiences over the past six months in a long and detailed letter.

Logically speaking, since Yuan Caiwei knows that he has returned, the young master of Lingjian Mountain should also know.

However, even after Yuan Caiwei received a reply, the letter from Lingjian Mountain still hadn't arrived. So Ji You wrote a letter himself and sent it to Lingzhou.

Lingjian Mountain has been much more peaceful lately. The new disciples who entered the mountain have good aptitude, and due to the influence of a certain actor, they have all entered Xuanjian Peak.

To enhance her prestige among her disciples, Yan Shuyi made three more appearances. Her aloof and beautiful appearance, coupled with her ethereal and otherworldly aura, inspired admiration in many.

And the more this is the case, the more people find it hard to imagine who could possibly be the beloved of such a celestial being.

When Ji You's letter arrived, Yan Shu was listening to Zhuo Wanqiu's report on the matter of the evil seed.

During the Qiling disaster, she personally investigated the Zheng family's old residence and saw the evil corpses imprisoned in cages. Therefore, she has always had her own concerns about this matter.

She has dispatched her agents from outside the sect who travel in the north to investigate Dou Yuankong's disappearance, but so far, all they have brought back are fragmented pieces of information of little value.

At this moment, Ding Yao came along the mountain, holding a letter in her hand, and walked up to the Cloud Peak of Xuanjian Peak.

"My lord, a letter from the young master."

Yan Shuyi turned around upon hearing the voice: "They really did come out of the sacred site of the ancient sages. What did they say?"

Ding Yao handed over the letter: "Just four words: I'm back."

The young appraiser took the letter and glanced at it, a glint of sword energy rising in her eyes. Since returning from the Heavenly Dao Assembly, her Dao heart had been in turmoil due to some things she didn't understand. To dispel her fear of the unknown, she secretly went down the mountain to buy a secret manual that recorded the art of bloodline reproduction, but after reading it, she became even more confused.

The clothes you change into after showering the night before always need to be changed into new ones the next morning.

Now, upon receiving the letter from the culprit, he couldn't help but feel somewhat ashamed and angry.

She was no longer the same Spirit Sword Mountain Master; she had gained much more knowledge and knew how the Little Heavenly Academy disciples wanted to deal with her.

Although he hadn't been hurt in real life, Yan Shuyi had already experienced it several times in her dreams, so she put all her old and new grudges on his head and was extremely fierce.

She then asked Ding Yao to find paper and pen, and with a flourish of her brush, her strokes were as sharp as swords.

Ding Yao was standing in the hall, carefully observing the appraiser's expression.

She had heard about Ji You's return from the Holy Land but his failure to break through to the next realm before, and she had many questions about it, not understanding why this was the case.

She really wanted to know what the appraiser thought, but the appraiser had never talked to them about it, so they didn't feel comfortable asking.

In fact, Yan Shu also knew that Ji You was on the path of body refinement, and knew that although he had not broken through the realm, he was definitely no longer the same person he was before he went in.

But the more this happens, the more embarrassed the appraiser becomes.

After she finished writing the letter, she folded it and handed it to Ding Yao.

Actually, she and Ji You didn't need such complicated communication; they could meet simply by going to Void Mountain.

However, Yan Shuyi is hesitant to go now.

Mount Void can solidify divine thoughts into colored gas, and many ideas have nowhere to hide within it; they cannot be concealed by mere stubbornness.

Before Ji You returned to the Heavenly Academy, she had tried it several times, and each time the result was yellow...

Ji You received a reply three days later, but calling it a letter wasn't quite accurate, because the envelope contained another stick figure drawing.

The female stick figure, characterized by long hair, wields a 40-meter-long sword and pierces the heart of the male stick figure, characterized by short hair, with an arrow, then impales him on the tip of the sword.

There was a similar painting last time, which was because of the demon princess's tail, but this time it's definitely not.

He lived in the sacred site of the ancients for more than half a year, so how could he have had the opportunity to meet other women?

After thinking it over, he felt that Yan Shuyi still had a feeling of wanting him to come back but also hoping that he would come back slowly, which was why she wrote such a reply.

Holding the little appraiser's reply, Ji You couldn't help but think of a bunch of frivolous matches, wanting to draw them and send them to her.

For example, I also have a forty-meter-long stick. I can strike the belly with one blow, and my stick techniques are endless, whether I'm sitting, lying down, or standing.

But after thinking it over, Ji You felt that if she really sent such a letter, she might get a good beating when they met again.

Then he saw a line of smaller print on the letter: “Stranger, our fate has run its course. I wish to forget you in this world and never see you again in this life.”

Tsk.

Because she was afraid of the pain, she even abandoned her husband...

After that, news from the outside world kept coming into Shengjing.

The Directorate of Immortals has basically eliminated all the evil species that could cause trouble within the Nine Provinces, and those that were not eliminated have been placed under strict surveillance.

However, the Imperial Observatory still hasn't found any clues about their origins.

Although the results of the investigation by the seven major immortal sects into Dou Yuankong's whereabouts have not been made public, rumors continue to circulate back to Shengjing.

The news that spiritual practice is tedious and boring is naturally quite appealing.

The first to find clues was Shan Hai Ge.

Based on the location where Dou Yuankong's old servant was found, they searched eastward and discovered that he had been drinking in a nearby city called Anfeng.

It is said that he also hired three songstresses and spent the night with them.

When the three songstresses were investigated, they were subjected to extremely detailed questioning. Even what they wore and carried, and what songs they sang that night, were meticulously recorded.

This is not surprising, because in casual conversations like this, there might be clues that Dou Yuankong casually mentioned.

For example, did he mention where he was going next, or where he wanted to go, or what people he met along the way?

The three songstresses were just ordinary mortal women, so when questioned by the immortals, they immediately told them everything.

They even said that Dou Yuankong only thrust into one of them thirteen times before finishing, and then insisted on asking the other person if they felt comfortable.

As for the other two singers, they sat idly the whole time, looking rather helpless.

Other things didn't spread widely, but this one was spread so extensively that people kept clicking their tongues in amazement.

"I can't believe such a thing exists. I'd love to hear it."

"If Dou Yuankong were still conscious, he would probably be dead already..."

"That's right, if it were me, I'd rather just die out there. What's the point of living like this?"

"Brother Dou probably never imagined that so many people would be keeping track of his whereabouts."

"It's alright, since Brother Dou is already mentally challenged, we don't need to worry about saving face..."

"To be honest, I knew Brother Dou was doomed when I saw him peeing and wetting his shoes, but I never expected this..."

The young men from prominent families in the capital were discussing the matter animatedly, and a hint of emotion appeared on their faces as they spoke of their old friends.

Dou Yuankong did not stay in Anfeng City for only one day, but for seven days. During those seven days, he went to the restaurant again.

They drank the same wine, but unlike last time, this time Young Master Dou hired five singing girls.

Once this news spread, it immediately drew countless comments about his "bad skills but great addiction".

Two out of three were wasted, yet next time I had the audacity to ask for five. I don't know if I'm fooling others or myself.

However, this investigation was not without its gains. The gains were not just in Dou Yuankong's ability to cause trouble, but also in his methods of action.

When Dou Yuankong was forced to leave Beijing, he was simply wandering around aimlessly.

According to the three courtesans, Dou Yuankong was always entertained by local friends whenever he went to drink and frolic.

This also explains why Dou Yuankong, despite being a complete novice, always orders three or five items.

When you're out and about, your reputation is something you earn yourself.

But if we think about it another way, Dou Yuankong's route was very likely to be a visit to a friend, so there would be a clue to follow.

Of course, many people were puzzled by the fact that the seven major immortal sects were investigating Dou Yuankong's whereabouts so meticulously.

Although a large portion of them did enjoy hearing the story of Dou Yuankong being crippled after a few tries, they felt that the Seven Great Immortal Sects shouldn't be that bored.

"Dou Yuankong has injuries caused by the evil seed, and recently evil seeds have been appearing in various parts of Kyushu. Could there be a hidden story behind this matter of the evil seed?"

"Judging from the actions of the seven great immortal sects now, it is probably not a natural disaster, but a man-made one. Otherwise, why would they need to conduct such a detailed investigation, stripping Brother Dou bare of all his dignity?"

"If it was man-made, what was the purpose?"

"Perhaps it's related to the Qiling incident, after all, the last time the evil seed appeared was like this?"

"If it's really related to Qiling, then it's a huge problem. Quite a few people died there before. Who knows what might happen this time..."

The scions of prominent families had their own sources of information and were not truly foolish; they easily sensed the strangeness of the situation.

After all, the appearance of the evil seed is easily linked to the incident at Qiling.

This is actually not a good thing, because it involves the Heavenly Dao and the Immortal Dao, and could easily cause turmoil in the Qingyun world, especially since the demon race and the barbarian race are still eyeing us covetously from beyond the borders.

As a result, the major immortal sects gradually began to suppress news about this matter.

Even so, many powerful families have their eyes on Dou Yuankong and have secretly sent their members to the Qingzhou area.

This feeling is quite similar to when rumors of a divine destiny appearing in Qiling spread back then, and countless people flocked there, unwilling to be left behind.

(End of this chapter)