“Goal! Did it go in?” Chen Huaian narrowed his eyes, realizing that this matter was not so simple.
He quickly checked the survival rate of Li Qingran in the game’s main quest and found that it was still at 100%, which allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.
Alright, maybe he was just too sensitive.
Even if that light column filled with violent energy and reversed Daoist resonance had entered the Secret Realm, it wouldn’t have fallen on Li Qingran.
After all, the Secret Realm was also a small world, and the probability of being hit by this light column was no different from finding a needle in the ocean.
Moreover, did Li Qingran have anything worth remembering?
Isn’t she just an exceptional dantian, single Water Spirit Root, single Sword Spirit Root, and Taiyin body…
“Hiss.” Chen Huaian sucked in a cold breath.
It seemed… Li Qingran indeed had many things worth remembering.
As he continued to invest heavily, the already exceptionally talented Li Qingran could no longer be described as merely a genius. With all these good things on her, she was essentially a walking human cheat. Compared to her, the so-called millennium-unmatched talents of the three prodigies of the Sacred Land were somewhat laughable.
“Chen Jianzhun, are you worried about the Sword Pavilion disciples encountering any mishaps in the Secret Realm?” Yun Baiyu glanced over Chen Huaian’s furrowed brows and couldn’t help but comfort him with a smile: “Please rest assured, the Sword Pavilion disciples are powerful and very united. As long as they don’t encounter the prodigies of the Three Great Sacred Lands in the Small Secret Realm, they will be invincible. Moreover, now that you are overseeing the Sword Pavilion, those who wish to harm them will also think twice before acting.”
“Mm, what you said makes sense.” Chen Huaian didn’t want to explain to Yun Baiyu.
As long as Li Qingran was fine, then the other Sword Pavilion disciples should be okay too.
Now that they had come to the Spirit Intuition Valley training ground, he took out Zhao Zhenlong’s skull.
“Daoist friend Yun, do you recognize this object?”
Yun Baiyu stared at the skull in Chen Huaian’s hand, puzzled, and bowed slightly: “May I ask Sword Honorable for clarification?”
“This is Zhao Zhenlong’s skull.”
When these words came out, the blood drained from Yun Baiyu’s face, and her eyes gradually misted over as they focused on the dark eye sockets of the skull.
“Chen Jianzhun, you… you’re saying this is true?”
“Of course it is true.” Seeing Yun Baiyu’s pale complexion and trembling lips, Chen Huaian guessed Zhao Zhenlong’s identity roughly.
“This skull was obtained after a duel with a Cleansing Ashes renegade. This skull was refined by the cultivator into a Daoist tool. Out of curiosity about the identity of its owner, I used secret techniques to divine the heavenly signs, learning that he was named Zhao Zhenlong and was a disciple of Pure Heaven Sect, and also had some connection with your Spirit Intuition Valley.”
“Zhao Zhenlong, he… he is my dao companion, Su Xin’s father…” Yun Baiyu clenched her fingers tightly, her eyebrows drooping as tears fell, “Sword Honorable, may I take a closer look at the skull?”
“Of course.” Chen Huaian handed Yun Baiyu the skull covered with cracks and sword marks.
This skull was already unusable, and even if it could be used, he felt it would make no difference giving it to Yun Baiyu.
After all, it was the remains of her deceased husband, and returning it to its rightful owner was a virtue.
Yun Baiyu’s fingers gently stroked the skull, almost able to see Zhao Zhenlong’s appearance before his death through it. She almost instantly confirmed that this skull belonged to Zhao Zhenlong, and Chen Huaian’s words contained no falsehood. However, Zhao Zhenlong had clearly been a guest elder of the Jade Pool Sacred Land for decades, ignoring mother and daughter, how could they only meet again as a skull?
“Since Zhao Zhenlong is your dao companion, why isn’t he in the Spirit Intuition Valley?” Chen Huaian thought to himself, indeed so.
Although Yun Baiyu looked very sad now, his curiosity was burning fiercely, unstoppable.
“He was exceptionally talented and was noticed by the True Martial, Cleansing Ashes, and Jade Pool Sacred Lands. He eventually chose to study at the Jade Pool for three years, but never returned after three years, leaving only a letter telling me and our daughter that he had become a dao companion to one of the Jade Pool elders, asking us not to disturb him…”
Yun Baiyu took a deep breath, the faint redness at the corners of her eyes resembling the frost on autumn leaves about to fall.
“Oh, so he’s a faithless man.” Chen Huaian suddenly understood.
“In fact, the Spirit Intuition Valley didn’t originally prohibit male cultivators. It was because this incident caused great psychological trauma to Su Xin, and she also tested herself, hence her strong aversion to men, to the point of forbidding Spirit Intuition Valley disciples from forming dao companions to avoid similar pain.”
Chen Huaian expressed understanding upon hearing this.
After all, there were few men like him in the world, who remained loyal to one person.
In the cultivation world, where the law of the jungle prevailed, it was even more so. Here, unlike modern times, desires weren’t constrained by chains.
Strength equaled lawlessness.
“Chen Jianzhun, do you know where that Cleansing Ashes renegade fled to?” Yun Baiyu wiped away her tears, her expression turning serious as she seemed to have recovered from her grief, her brows slightly furrowed: “Although Su Xin and I hate him, we still hope to understand the reason for his tragic death.”
“He’s dead.” Chen Huaian patted his sword scabbard: “I killed him with a single stroke when I overpowered him.”
Yun Baiyu was stunned.
That was the Cleansing Ashes renegade.
His strength was certainly not limited to the realm of transformation.
An old monster at least at the Dao Convergence stage was killed by Chen Jianzhun with a single stroke.
The casual tone was akin to casually killing a stray dog on the road.
Then, how much power did this Sword Pavilion ancestor actually hide?
…
Previously, Chen Huaian’s ruthless strike made her choose to step back and let the situation calm down instead of taking more radical actions. Now, she realized that if she had taken a more radical approach back then, the Spirit Intuition Valley might have been erased from the Cangyun Realm.
Seeing Yun Baiyu silent, Chen Huaian thought she was blaming him for erasing crucial clues, so he suggested: “Although that old dog is dead, Zhao Zhenlong went to the Jade Pool Sacred Land, right? You can find out which elder he became close to. Since he is the dao companion of a female cultivator of the Jade Pool, the Jade Pool should know some details.”
Yun Baiyu nodded, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of her mouth: “There’s nothing else we can do…”
How difficult would it be to ask female cultivators of the Jade Pool Sacred Land?
She wasn’t unaware that during the years Zhao Zhenlong sought new love, she had brought Yun Suxin to look for him, but they were mostly turned away at the Jade Pool.
Furthermore, the Jade Pool elders warned them, saying Zhao Zhenlong had become a guest elder of the Jade Pool and was in love with another Jade Pool elder.
Although Zhao Zhenlong’s actions were unethical, he was still a guest elder of the Jade Pool.
If they kept coming to the Jade Pool to look for him, it would tarnish the Jade Pool’s reputation, and the Spirit Intuition Valley would suffer.
After being warned twice, regardless of how Yun Suxin protested, Yun Baiyu never went to the Jade Pool to look for him again.
Plus, she had once been injured and had to recuperate at the Jade Pool for a while.
Upon personally entering the Jade Pool Sacred Land, she discovered that the much-admired sacred land wasn’t as beautiful as it appeared on the surface.
Almost no fellow practitioners had any sense of camaraderie; the relationships among cultivators were extremely selfish and cold.
The female cultivators of the Jade Pool Sacred Land were nearly obsessed with advancing their realms and extending their lifespans, resorting to any means to improve their cultivation. They frenziedly competed for spirit stones, elixirs, magical artifacts, and various resources issued by the sacred land, even competing for powerful dao companions…
Every time she thought about those female cultivators’ crazed behavior, Yun Baiyu felt a chill run down her spine.
This was one of the reasons she didn’t want Yun Suxin to enter the Jade Pool Sacred Land for cultivation.
She didn’t want her daughter to become a madwoman obsessed solely with cultivation.
Now that Zhao Zhenlong is dead, she feels she should be able to ask the Jade Pool Sacred Land for answers.
Although she might encounter many obstacles, she doesn’t want to trouble the Sword Pavilion ancestor.
Chen Jianzhun, obtaining Zhao Zhenlong’s skull and using secret techniques to divine his identity, gave the skull to her immediately upon learning his identity…
This was already a great favor.
How could she ask for anything more?
