Minglong

Chapter 457 The Mountain-Moving Bandits!

Two days later, in southern Xinjiang.

Crescent Moon Manor is nestled deep in the mountains, about 400 miles from the border of Ruizhou. There is a small town at the foot of the mountain, and the manor has more than a thousand disciples. The manor is painted white, making it quite conspicuous among the mountains.

As dusk fell, Xie Jinhuan, dressed in a cloak and disguised as an ordinary poisonous rat, walked down the mountain path, explaining things to the Purple Perilla Immortal beside him along the way:
“Three years ago, Coal Ball and I passed through this place and were stopped by the manager of the manor. He said I was good-looking and asked if I was interested in coming up the mountain to learn some skills, saying that their manor owner was exceptionally beautiful. I figured that witches in witchcraft would use sorcery, and I couldn't afford to offend them, so I ran away that very night…”

Lin Zisu is currently the young master of Queyue Manor, but she has never been to Southern Xinjiang before. This trip is a pilgrimage with her grandmaster. Upon hearing the voice, she responded:
"So, does that mean Xie Lang took three extra years of detours?"

"Hehe, more or less..."

Xie Jinhuan knew that Zisu was clever and had already figured out his situation with Sister Bu, so he just laughed it off and didn't say anything more about it, and quickly walked down the mountain.

Since receiving the intelligence from the Imperial Observatory the day before yesterday afternoon, Xie Jinhuan has hardly stopped. After finishing the party, he headed towards the southern border and arrived at the Crescent Moon Manor two quarters of an hour ago.

As an important member of the Dan Ding Sect, Bing Tuozi, who was accompanying them, was going to attend a two-day meeting at the Imperial Observatory. Ling'er had just returned to the capital and couldn't leave the next day, so they would come together in a couple of days.

As for Xiao Biao, she is now a centurion of the Red Scale Guard. The plan was to go south to investigate together, but for some unknown reason, on the morning of the day before departure, she suddenly left a note saying that she had some 'important business' to attend to, and then she disappeared!
Xie Jinhuan didn't know what Xiao Biao was up to when he suddenly ran away from home. He wanted to look for him, but Sister Guo said not to worry about it, so he could only focus on his business and head to the southern border.

After more than a day of flying, the accompanying wings have landed at the resort, and Sister Bu is showing them around her own territory.

The Crescent Moon Manor is divided into several areas. The mountainside is where the outer disciples live, while the core members of the inner sect live in the central manor. There are also medicinal fields, medicine workshops, and the Ten Thousand Snake Cave on the back mountain.

When Zisu and Wanyi first arrived at the sect, the first thing they did was to offer incense at the ancestral hall and acknowledge their ancestors.

However, unlike the ancestral halls at Zihui Mountain that enshrine the tablets of more than ten generations of ancestral masters, Queyue Manor enshrines the ancestral shamans of the shamanistic religion.

For example, Zhu Man, the founder of the Gu Poisoning School; Yin Lun, the founder of the Sacrifice School; Jin Mu, the common ancestor of the Western Rong; Yuan Zhi, the founder of the Puppet School, and so on...

As for the founder of Queyue Manor, there is only one person, Bu Yuehua's grandfather. His life can be summarized as a figure similar to Bao Xiaolin. He took advantage of the great opportunity of the Gu Poison Sect's southward migration and the need for reconstruction to establish a small sect. He didn't have many highlights in his life.

It wasn't until the second-generation Bu Qingya appeared and developed domineering supernatural abilities such as Moonfire, Immortal Burning Gu, and Heart Moon Fox Eye that Queyue Manor truly became its own, becoming one of the three giants of Southern Xinjiang, and even almost succeeding the sect leader to dominate Southern Xinjiang.

Originally, Bu Qingya was enshrined in the ancestral hall, but now that Bu Qingya is still alive, the memorial tablet has naturally been removed.

Bu Qingya's father-in-law is currently still at the Danyang Marquis's residence, and Xie Jinhuan, Bu Yuehua, and Lu Wuzhen all want Bu Qingya to recover as soon as possible.

After all, the patriarch Sikong had too much prestige in the Southern Frontier. Chen Yishan, the only one who could hold some say, had defected to the enemy and died. Bu Yuehua was too young to control the entire Southern Frontier. As a result, how the situation in the Southern Frontier developed depended entirely on the patriarch Sikong's wishes. If the patriarch Sikong died, the South would definitely be in chaos, and no one would be able to clean up the mess.

Bu Qingya was previously recognized as the next leader of the Gu Poison Sect. With the tyranny of the Sikong Ancestor bringing disaster upon himself, he stepped forward to take up the mantle, and nine out of ten sects would follow suit, so there was no need to worry about the aftermath.

But Bu Qingya is not sick; rather, he has been stripped of a part of his soul that contains his memories and self-awareness, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Even if the ghost wife has the ability to communicate with immortals and replenish the soul, this part of the soul is not Bu Qingya's own. Without the memory, the self-awareness is also regenerated. That is, a soul swap and rebirth. It is not the Bu Qingya of the past at all. Bu Yuehua cannot accept it, and the Gu Poison Sect will not recognize such a puppet.

Therefore, Xie Jinhuan had another important task during his trip to southern Xinjiang: to find out the whereabouts of Bu Qingya's soul. In his opinion, this thing was most likely in the hands of the old man Sikong.

After waiting for the Lin family mother and daughter to finish offering incense, Xie Jinhuan had important business to attend to, so he went to the town market to find the contact person of the Blood Rain Pavilion to get information.

It was Lin Zisu's first time traveling far from home, and everything was new and exciting to her. However, she was too shy to leave her mother behind. When she saw Xie Jinhuan was about to go down the mountain to inquire about news, she volunteered to come along.

At this moment, Lin Zisu, adapting to local customs, changed into a dark green cloak to conceal her face, and a sign from Queyue Manor hung at her waist, making her look like a naive young witch. She was currently strolling around the street stalls with a lump of coal in her arms, occasionally peeking out to take a look.
"Huh? You can eat roasted grasshoppers?"

Xie Jinhuan smiled and said, "Like silkworm pupae, it is high in protein and very nutritious. It is a common snack in southern Xinjiang to accompany alcohol. I heard that it tastes particularly good."

"is it?"

Lin Zisu, a typical wealthy and beautiful young lady from the capital, felt that roasted insects might be too much for her to eat. However, seeing Xie Lang praising them so highly, she took out a few coins from her purse, bought a skewer, and held it to Xie Jinhuan's lips:

"Then~"

"?"

Xie Jinhuan had only heard that it tasted good, and hadn't dared to eat it even when he was starving during his last trip to southern Xinjiang. Seeing this, he smiled politely but with a hint of embarrassment, picked up a skewer of roasted grasshoppers, and brought it to the coal ball's mouth:

"Cuckoo~"

"Guji?"

Coal briquettes usually eat whatever humans eat and don't eat random things. But it's only natural for birds to eat insects, and this one does look quite appetizing, so I wanted to try it.

But Lin Zisu was just teasing Xie Lang; she couldn't bear to let the coal ball eat the worms. So she just held it up and examined it with curiosity.

The two people and the bird frolicked around like this, and in no time they arrived at a dilapidated alley in the town.

Fan Hai Nie had already received news of Xie Jin Huan's impending arrival yesterday, and thus arrived in advance near Que Yue Manor to wait.

Seeing Xie Jinhuan approach, Fan Hai Nie quickly stepped forward to greet him and took out a stack of intelligence from his sleeve:
"Lord Xie, you've finally arrived! This is the intelligence my men have gathered recently..."

Xie Jinhuan remained very serious in front of outsiders, carefully examining the intelligence report. It was clear that Fan Hai Nie had written several thousand words, covering every aspect of the Southern Frontier in great detail, but in summary, it boiled down to two sentences: "Order amidst chaos, nothing unusual."

It feels like they're working really hard to write a report to scam a subsidy...

?

Xie Jinhuan blinked and looked at the fawning Fan Hai Nie:

"You mean, with the ancestor Sikong causing such a huge mess, the entire righteous path is preparing to wipe him out, but nothing has happened in the Southern Frontier, and the Chilong Cave hasn't even recalled its disciples who are away?"

Fan Hai Nie knew this information was highly illogical, but he still nodded:

"That's true. There's been absolutely no reaction from Chilong Cave, as if the rebellion isn't happening there at all. But to say there's no sign of trouble isn't entirely true. A couple of days ago, my men found out that Baichongwu secretly hauled a ship full of goods from Phoenix Port..."

He then took out another briefing.

Xie Jinhuan took the goods and examined them. The goods were of unknown origin and purpose. Even the scouts who had infiltrated Baichongwu hadn't found anything. It was indeed quite suspicious. He inquired:
"How far is Baichongwu from here?" "It's in the southwest, more than 700 li away from here, not too far."

Xie Jinhuan glanced at the sky; it wasn't completely dark yet, and the distance of over seven hundred li was, for him at this point, just the distance of going out for a stroll. He immediately responded:
"Understood, I'll go check it out later. Have the men continue the investigation, mainly to find out where the Grandmaster Sikong is currently hiding. Evidence is needed for the investigation, but the court is here to quell the rebellion, so they only need the address."

"understand……"

……

On the other side, Luojing.

The lights of the Imperial Observatory burned all night long. Nangong Ye received the mission from the sect leader and began to arrange all available personnel within the sect to patrol all towns and villages within the territory to prevent evil spirits and heretics from causing sabotage in secret.

In addition, the 'underworld god sect spy' that Xie Jinhuan received information about when he returned was also a top priority for the Zihui Mountain patrol. The sect disciples practically dug up every inch of Danyang City, but still found no clues, making Nangong Ye wonder if the Blood Rain Tower's intelligence was wrong.

As dusk fell, Nangong Ye sat in his office atop the Zihui Mountain, dealing with the last of his tasks. His sword case, veil, and other travel essentials were all prepared, and once he finished, he could head south to join the main force.

But just as Nangong Ye was anxiously rushing out to find her lover, she suddenly realized that the sky had fallen!
"Sect Leader! Junior Sister Nangong..."

stomping on...

The sound of hurried, stumbling footsteps echoed from below the Book and Sword Pavilion.

Nangong Ye frowned, quickly put down his pen and paper, and went outside. He saw Vice Sect Leader Zhang Guan rushing into the hall, urgently saying:
"Something terrible has happened..."

This was the first time in all these years that Nangong Ye had seen Senior Brother Zhang so flustered, as if facing a formidable enemy. He said:
"The Corpse Ancestor has emerged from seclusion?"

"No……"

"Has the Old Demon Shang made his way to the capital?"

"nor……"

"?"

Nangong Ye was puzzled: "What other big thing could it be? Has Sikong Tianyuan established a sect and proclaimed himself patriarch?"

"It's not..."

Zhang Guan didn't know how to describe it, he just pointed to the back mountain:
"Come quickly and take a look at the back mountain..."

Upon seeing this, Nangong Ye quickly followed Zhang Guan to the back of the main peak of Zihui Mountain, only to find the trimmed mountain path filled with Zihui Mountain disciples.

The courtyard where Master once lived was now filled with lush, century-old osmanthus trees, but the three small courtyards were gone.

Instead, a magnificent, towering pavilion, with its carved beams and painted rafters, reached straight into the clouds...

?

Nangong Ye was taken aback, thinking he was under an illusion. He went to the vicinity and touched it, only to find that the Tongtian Pavilion was indeed connected to its base and placed in the original location of his master's courtyard. In terms of both scale and design, it was exactly the same as the Valkyrie's residence in the Yanjing Imperial Palace...

No, this is the Valkyrie's cave!

Nangong Ye opened his mouth, and after confirming it wasn't a hallucination, he turned his head and asked blankly:

"What...what's going on?"

"I do not know!"

Zhang Guan slapped his thigh, his eyes wide with disbelief:

"I was just about to go down the mountain to take a look when I suddenly noticed a rooftop appearing on the back of the mountain. When I ran over to check, I found that there was a new building. This building is even taller than the Eight Directions Bright Pagoda. It was moved here without a sound. Can the sect leader tell which old demon was responsible?"

"..."

Nangong Ye felt that the only person in the world with such extraordinary abilities was her white-haired master, who had already gone into seclusion!

But why did Master move the Valkyrie's residence to Zihui Mountain?
It is said that when the Heavenly Pavilion was built, countless manpower and resources were spent. Even now, the Northern Zhou court officials are complaining that it is a waste of manpower and resources. Moreover, it is not only a tall building, but also has thousands of formations set up inside, which can be regarded as a defensive tower that can resist the Shang Demon's revenge.

Now that such a large pagoda has been moved from the highlands of Northern Zhou to outside Danyang City, the Valkyrie will have nowhere to stay when she returns. Wouldn't she be furious?

Moreover, she dared not even imagine how bewildered the entire court of civil and military officials, palace maids, and eunuchs of the Northern Zhou Dynasty must have been...

At this critical juncture, the North and South urgently need to work together. This act of stealing a vital national asset is clearly a major diplomatic incident that could potentially trigger a North-South conflict.

Nangong Ye grew increasingly panicked, realizing that his master had likely caused a great deal of trouble, and quickly said:
"This item cannot remain in the Southern Dynasty, or the North will surely be in an uproar. Instruct your disciple to keep quiet and find a way to send it back as soon as possible..."

"Send it back?"

Zhang Guan gestured towards the towering building:

"With this scale, even sending it to Luoyang would exhaust Sect Leader Lu half to death, let alone sending it to Yanjing. Who would go and send it?"

"..."

Nangong Ye thought about it and it seemed to make sense. With such a great supernatural power comparable to 'moving mountains', and the ability to carry the weight across two countries intact, probably only the three immortal demons, Shang Lianbi, Huang Lin Zhenren, and Bai Mao Shizun, could do it. As a martial artist, Ye Sheng would have a hard time doing it, to be honest.

Shang Lianbi would definitely not help, and it would be a bit embarrassing to ask a master from Northern Zhou to clean up the mess. Therefore, Nangong Ye could only quickly search for his crazy master who had a flash of inspiration...
-
(The words below are added after the text and do not count as points.)

My sleep schedule is getting increasingly chaotic. I was supposed to take a day off, but there's a big event for my growth period tonight at 8 PM, so I can't take the day off. I'll just update this chapter now, and I'll finish the other chapter as soon as possible... or 2...

(End of this chapter)