Chapter 26: Bewilderment

“Elder Brother Wang, I secretly checked around and asked quite a few disciples throughout the Sect. I don’t think I left anything out.” This young man was also famous in the Reliance Sect, but in front of Wang Tengfei, he was completely respectful. He had never seen Wang Tengfei like this, and was a bit hesitant. He had begun speaking with a respectful bow. “I even looked around in the Servants’ Quarters and followed up on Zhou Kai, Han Zong and some others. At that time, there were thirty-seven people who weren’t present in the Sect. Of those thirty-seven people, I eliminated twenty-nine as suspects. Among the rest, there are six of whom there is no evidence to suggest they were at the black mountain. Only two were definitely there. Meng Hao and Han Zong.”

Wang Tengfei looked more and more angry. He raises his hard eyes, which caused the young man’s heart to grow cold. He nervously lowered his head.

“Han Zong was also at the black mountain… Meng Hao?” Wang Tengfei frowned. Meng Hao’s name sounded familiar to him.

“Meng Hao is… the person who injured Elder Brother Lu,” the young man said hastily.

Wang Tengfei’s face grew darker, and his heart burned. He had planned for so many years and expended so many resources. For so long, he had taken the whole matter to be concluded before it began. It was his great victory, something he could take back to his clan to refine them. But then, it was snatched away from him. When he thought of the sword, his face twisted in pain. That was his tool to rebuke heaven and earth. And when he thought of the Legacy of the Flying Rain-Dragon, his heart wept.

Before today, he had been fully self-confident, completely assured of his success. Everything belonged to him, that was just his good fortune. Only he was qualified to have such good fortune. Yet he then met an unexpected defeat, a blow he had never imagined he would receive. He found it extremely difficult to accept, as if the heart-rending turn of events had not actually happened.

Breathing deeply, Wang Tengfei opened his mouth to speak, but then suddenly began to tremble as a burning pain arose on his right arm. He lifted up the sleeve and stared at his arm, watching as the Blood Drop slowly disappeared. There was nothing he could do but watch it go away, and after it had left, his beautiful features twisted with fury and defeat. The Legacy was gone. He coughed up some blood.

He knew that at this moment, the person who had snatched away his treasure was now fully connected to the Legacy. He would never again be able to use the Blood Drop to sense anything, because the Legacy had already chosen the other person.

When the young man in front of him saw this happen, he grew frightened. He was about to take a step forward when Wang Tengfei suddenly lifted his head up and shouted, “Beat it!”

His booming voice reverberated, and the young man’s face went white. He had never seen such a succession of different expressions on Wang Tengfei’s face. His body cold, he left.

Within the Immortal’s Cave, Wang Tengfei’s eyes grew red and his mind seethed as he thought of Han Zong and Meng Hao. He could not help but think about the day he had looked down on the Outer Sect ants in the square.

He frowned, his face growing more somber. He thought about how the Blood Drop wasn’t able to sense the legacy, and how it had been wiped out by his opponent. Regardless of if it were Han Zong or Meng Hao, neither of them should have been able to do it.

“Just who are you?!” His eyes shot with blood, he slapped his bag of holding and a flash of silver light appeared and coalesced into a silver, octagonal spell device, which floated in front of him.

He stared at it for some time, then determination filled his eyes. This was one of the spell devices he had prepared for one of the mountains surrounding the black mountain. After being used, it needed to regenerate for several hours, whereupon it could be reused.

He had already decided that he would activate the spell device, and even if it injured him, he would cast his senses inside to see who was present that day in the black mountain region.

Looking at the silver spell device in front of him, Wang Tengfei bit his tongue and spit out a bit of blood. As the blood splashed onto the spell device, his fingers flickered in an incantation pattern, and suddenly his head hummed and his awareness flickered. Amidst the indistinct feeling, he was suddenly able to sense several auras emanating out in waves.

“One, two… nine people that I invited to help me, these are their auras…” Wang Tengfei’s face grew pale; the spell device in front of him began to quiver, and cracks appeared on its surface. But he didn’t give up, and instead continued to cast his senses into it.

A vague outline began to appear in his mind, filled with several dots of light. Ten of the lights were familiar to him, and another one of them belonged to Meng Hao.

In addition to those, there was another light. Wang Tengfei concentrated for a moment, then was certain it was Han Zong. Unfortunately, the spell device could only keep a record of who was in the region of the seven or eight mountains surrounding the black mountain, not their specific location.

Wang Tengfei frowned, and then suddenly noticed that the outline in his head contained… another light!

It was faint, and if he had not looked closely he would have missed it. Without pushing the spell device to the breaking point, to the limits of its power, he wouldn’t have been able to sense it.

“This is…” His heart trembled, and he concentrated, but even as he did so, his body shook and he coughed up blood. The spell device shattered. Pieces of it shot out, hitting both him and the walls of the Immortal’s cave.

His face white, he coughed up more blood, looking incredibly afraid. When sensing that last light, his mind had begun to tremble, as if whoever it belonged to could crush him to death with a single thought.

The spell device could only give him an approximate feeling regarding aura level, not the target’s Cultivation base. But for the aura level to cause such a reaction left him frightened beyond belief.

“Who was that?!” said Wang Tengfei, shaking. His fear left him certain that this fearsome person was definitely the one who could so easily rip away his Blood Spot sense.

His heart cold, he lifted his head and breathed deeply. After some time passed, he had recovered his senses. But the memory of that faint light pressed down on him with the weight of a mountain.

“How did this person know about the black mountain affair…? Could it be that they have been following me in my search…? Who was it…?”

***

Time passed, and eventually the dream ended. Meng Hao opened his eyes, unsure how many days had passed, nor of how his Cultivation base had changed. He felt as if he had been dreaming for a very long time.

When the dream concluded, Meng Hao felt as if he had more memories than before, memories that were vague and ancient, and couldn’t be recalled. But that thirst to fly in the sky still flickered powerfully in his mind.

He felt certain that if one day he could really fly through the sky, then the memories in his head would become clear.

After some time passed, Meng Hao took a breath, his vision slowly returning to normal. As his senses returned, he felt his Cultivation base, then stopped, dumbfounded.

“The sixth level of Qi Condensation?” His eyes glittered fiercely, and after thoroughly examining his Cultivation base, he nearly went mad with joy. He sensed the majestic Core lake, and the Demonic Core floating within, and an amazing feeling began to overcome him.

“I actually reached… the sixth level of Qi Condensation!” He shook as he stood up, then laughed heartily. His laughter echoed throughout the Immortal’s cave.

Excitedly, he sat back down cross-legged, closing his eyes and casting his senses about. It seemed as if he could feel everything around him in complete detail. In fact, he suddenly heard Fatty’s voice outside.

“Meng Hao, you were cursed with ill luck. You took the pill, but I didn’t want that to hurt you. Please don’t come haunt me…

“Poor old Master Fatty, I’m actually more cursed than you. Did you know that our business is gone? It was stolen away.” Fatty squatted outside the Immortal’s cave in front of a small fire, his face pained as he burned yellow paper money.

“Meng Hao, when you become a spirit, you have to come back and help me. Look at how much paper I’m burning for you.” Tears streamed down his face as he continued to burn the paper money, weeping and wailing.

“You come from a poor family, but don’t worry; I, Master Fatty, am here to take care of you. I’ll come burn paper for you every day so that in the next life you’ll be able to buy a house and get a wife. You’ll finally achieve your goal of being rich.

“Oh, Meng Hao, how could you leave like this…” Fatty’s wails grew even louder, as if he were completely heartbroken.

Upon hearing this, a strange expression appeared on Meng Hao’s face. He opened his eyes. This was the first time anyone had ever burned yellow paper for him, and he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. He stood and pushed the main door open with a long creak, then walked out.

As soon as he stepped out, Fatty’s loud wails suddenly ceased, and he looked up in astonishment. He straightened, his eyes filled with fear. Then he recognized Meng Hao, and he leaped up, gaping.

Meng Hao looked at Fatty with a strange expression, then gave a light cough and walked over to the nearby stream and began to clean himself off. He had never been so dirty in his entire life. After cleaning off, he put on a fresh green robe, then used a flying sword to trim his hair. Now he felt, and looked, like his old self. He turned and smiled at Fatty.