Lizhou, the Implement Sect.
The little town at the foot of the mountain was packed to bursting, most of the faces unfamiliar. Pick out any one of them at random, and you’d sense a faint, forbidding aura leaking off them.
Every last one of the Division’s runners had been deployed, straining to keep order. The cloud-patterned black robes that demons and jianghu brawlers alike held in such dread meant nothing to this crowd of strangers.
What truly kept them quiet was the formless divine spirit hanging in the heavens. Invisible to the naked eye, the dense pressure of an upper-tier Martial Immortal had long since blanketed the entire Implement Sect.
“We would like to go up and observe the ceremony.”
Cultivators of profound realm gathered at the foot of the mountain, and the Implement Sect disciples received them courteously into the mountain.
Hou Wanshan watched the place in silence.
The stir made by a treasure coming into the world was simply too great. One told ten, ten told a hundred, and in the end everyone knew. Great Qian had no shortage of cultivators traveling through from abroad, and hearing the news, they had all gathered here.
The War Temple of old would have needed only a single word to scatter them. But now… to just barely overawe the crowd, keeping things from breaking into disorder, already counted as a fair outcome. The various powers were too tangled and mixed, Great Qian’s decline was becoming plain, and it could no longer afford to offend so many people.
“The Implement Sect has prepared lodgings for you all, but the summit is forbidden ground. We ask that you not trespass upon it.”
The Lin couple stood guard on the narrow mountain path, longswords in hand, in their capacity as War Temple disciples. The gathered out-of-town cultivators glanced at the heavens; their thoughts differed, but they nodded all the same. “Our thanks for the Implement Sect’s hospitality.”
At the summit, dense white mist gathered into cloud, plunging the whole small mountain into the depths of winter. Frost coated the treetops, and a bone-cold wind howled, whipping up leaves of ice.
“To think a mere backwater within the Great Qian dynasty would possess the means to forge a treasure.” One cultivator shook his head in wonder.
The remark seemed to remind the others, and at once other cultivators began genially making small talk with the Implement Sect disciples beside them.
“…”
Among them were a few whose bearing was clearly extraordinary — powerhouses of renowned birth. They spared it only a glance before returning their gaze to the summit.
Winning over the Implement Sect took more than courtesy. Besides, whether a treasure could truly be forged at all was still an unknown. Once it was made, its ownership would have to be settled first; the wooing could wait until afterward.
“If not for the Implement Sect, I’d never have known Lizhou held a Mixed Origin Grandmaster.”
Hou Wanshan slowly clenched his palm, feeling a touch of pressure. His realm was high, but pressing down the assembled heroes by force was no easy thing.
This was only because it was still early. Drag it out another month or two, and there might well be Spirit-Transformation powerhouses coming in person — Xuanguang Cave above all…
The War Temple, by contrast, was sitting quite still.
Say what you would, they ought at least to bring a golden body over to hold the scene. Give the Implement Sect no pressure at all, and this pack of blacksmiths might really carry the treasure off and throw in with some other power.
Just as Hou Wanshan expected, he soon caught a few whispered exchanges.
“Brother Qingyang, has Sect Master Lin ever considered settling the Implement Sect somewhere more suitable?”
“Backing yourself against a great tree like the War Temple sets your heart at ease, sure — but they’re divine spirit cultivators, after all. They won’t necessarily value your kind.”
“I know you’re a War Temple disciple, but what can they give you? Golden Body methods? You can’t even use those. Better to…”
Lin Qingyang listened to the murmuring at his ear, watched powerhouses of higher realm than his own address him as “brother,” and though his expression didn’t change, an inexplicable satisfaction welled up in his heart.
At the same time, he silently began to mutter to himself. If the War Temple truly were a great tree, this crowd wouldn’t dare say such things to his face. They all knew how things stood with Great Qian now — this was mere flattery, nothing more.
He fended them off absentmindedly. “What’s the use of talking to me about this? What becomes of the Implement Sect is still my father’s call.”
The man wanted to say something more, but Madam Lin raised a courteous palm to bar him. “Senior, please raise it no further. The Sect Master has his own arrangements.”
“Very well, very well.”
The man gave a sullen smile and withdrew back into the crowd, gaze returning to the summit. The Implement Sect had come by a bit of fame at long last; any blacksmith with half a wit knew how to ride this wind. Whether to become a great clan in its own right, or to keep company with a rotting log, slowly decaying and waiting to die — the choice really wasn’t a hard one.
Then, abruptly, before every watching eye —
The white mist in the sky drew swiftly downward, until it vanished from sight. Yet everyone felt a stab of bone-piercing cold.
Those few powerhouses of extraordinary bearing showed a flicker of pleased surprise on their faces, then exchanged a glance, gave their separate cold snorts, and slapped their palms toward their waists.
The mood on the field turned instantly taut.
The treasure was complete! Which meant it was time to name a price.
Every eye fixed on that narrow mountain path. A moment later, a thoroughly disheveled old man came trotting down, a jade box clutched to his chest.
Just as they were preparing to go up and meet him, they saw Lin Jingyi duck his head and wave a hand. “Make way.”
Then he scurried off down the mountain in a streak, leaving a crowd of stunned cultivators behind.
Even Hou Wanshan, hanging up in the heavens, was somewhat taken aback. “…”
This old man had thought of nothing but the Implement Sect’s rise. Since when had he grown so meek and biddable?
“After him!”
A middle-aged powerhouse spat with a frown, then strode off down the mountain.
So many people had waited so many days. The Implement Sect not so much as giving them a chance to bid was one thing — but to grudge them even a look at what the treasure looked like was another. Did it take them for monkeys to make sport of?
The small loft on the mountainside.
Lin Jingyi patted the door, and only pushed it open and stepped inside once he’d gotten a response.
Looking at the black-robed young man seated in quiet meditation on the mat, he squeezed out a smile and held forth the jade box. “Commander Shen, this old man hasn’t let you down. It’s done.”
“You’ve worked hard.” Shen Yi opened his eyes and gave a slight nod.
“Not at all, not at all — only what I ought to do.” Lin Jingyi shook his head hurriedly, then said, “You have a look first; I’ll go out and send them off.”
With that, the old man retreated from the loft with soft, easy steps.
The moment he turned, he came face to face with a crowd of out-of-town cultivators wearing ugly expressions. Even Lin Qingyang was staring at his father in bafflement.
Such a fine opportunity, wasted just like that? Had the blacksmithing knocked his brains loose?
“Everyone — there’s nothing worth seeing here. I’ll send someone at once to prepare a banquet, and I promise you’ll all enjoy yourselves to the full.”
Lin Jingyi squeezed out a smile, his gaze sweeping quickly across those few powerhouses.
Mixed Origin Grandmasters… not worth a damn. Those two or three — if they dared follow Commander Shen out of Great Qian, it’d be a matter of two hours, no more. The old man had no wish to hear Shen Yi say to him, “Might I trouble you to step aside for a word.”
“Enjoy ourselves?”
Most of the cultivators there for the spectacle said nothing, but the few Mixed Origin Grandmasters standing at the front all had gloom in their eyes. One of them had already clenched his palm into a fist.
Under so many watching gazes, Lin Jingyi looked utterly at ease, standing in the doorway of the loft without a trace of worry on his face.
“…”
A Mixed Origin Grandmaster raised his eyes and glanced at the heavens.
Few who could cultivate to such a realm were fools. An upper-tier Martial Immortal could never possibly lend the Implement Sect this much backbone.
Just who was in that little loft?
Could it be someone had really hauled one of those corpses out of the War Temple and brought it here?
(End of Chapter 252)