CHAPTER

19

Enemies Meet

I

The Central Light Square sat between the Outer Court and the Inner Court of the Blazing Light Sect, dividing them. Hao Zhen had never seen it before today, but he had heard of it.

As it turned out, however, there wasn’t much to see. The Central Light Square wasn’t all that different from the main square of the Outer Court, except without any halls or divisions, being simply a massive stone platform surrounded by grass, nestled between two mountains. The only structure on it was a large stone gate that marked the entrance of the inner court, much bigger than the one at the base of the residential area of the Outer Court, with intricate patterns carved on it.

Hao Zhen, Tian Jin, and Duo Lan came to a stop just at the edge of the square.

From what he could tell, they were one of the last ones to arrive. There were already thousands of people on the square, standing around, some of them alone, others in groups.

The previous day, right after sunrise, a man’s voice had rung throughout the entire sect, announcing that the Glistening Stone Hunt would start the next day, and ordering all disciples to make their way over to the Central Light Square the following morning, where they’d receive further instructions.

He had later asked Tian Jin where that voice had come from, and Tian Jin explained that there were sound-transmission matrixes spread throughout the sect with the sole purpose of broadcasting announcements. Tian Jin also revealed that the one who had given the announcement was the sect leader of the Blazing Light Sect, Lan Xing, whom Tian Jin had met once before.

“That’s a lot of people,” Hao Zhen said, his eyes on the square. Even in his previous life, as Amyas, seeing so many people in one place hadn’t been a common sight.

Beside him, Duo Lan shrugged, nonchalant. “Most of them are unimportant. Among the outer disciples, the only real competition we have is probably Du Jian.”

Just a while ago, they had been in her residence, going over their plans one last time and taking inventory of what exactly they were taking to the Glistening Stone Hunt in terms of pills, talismans, and magical artifacts.

The three of them had spent the last two days training and making preparations for the hunt. Hao Zhen had dedicated most of his time to improving his ability to exert his will through Ethereal String Puppetry, practicing using it on Tian Jin. Besides that, he had also spent some time testing out the Blazing Light Puppet and even used it in a spar against Tian Jin a few times.

As it turned out, when he was using the Blazing Light Puppet, Hao Zhen managed to put up much more of a fight. He couldn’t do anything to Tian Jin using his own body, as he didn’t know any martial arts, nor could he control Tian Jin using his spiritual skill, but the Blazing Light Puppet was a completely different story. Hao Zhen could move it as he wished, and because of its size and speed, although it didn’t actually pose a threat to Tian Jin, it could at least serve as an annoying and potentially dangerous distraction.

Unfortunately, the Blazing Light Puppet was a trump card of sorts—something Hao Zhen couldn’t easily use. After all, he wasn’t supposed to have Ethereal String Puppetry. Using One String Puppetry on another person was also risky, but not as much as using the puppet. When Ethereal String Puppetry was used on people, there weren’t any physical signs of the skill being used—or any other signs, for that matter. That meant that not only was the target the only one besides the user aware that the skill was being used, but also that the target had no way of telling who the user was, making it much easier for Hao Zhen to keep his possession of the skill a secret. The only exception was if he had to overexert himself to control the target like Ke Li had done back when he tried to control Tian Jin, in which case it'd be much clearer to an outsider what exactly was going on.

The three of them stepped onto the square. In just a few moments, pretty much everyone nearby was sneaking glances at them. Tian Jin and Duo Lan were the two most famous people in the Outer Court at the moment, and both were easily recognizable: Duo Lan because of her unusual height for a woman, and Tian Jin because of both his height and unfairly good looks.

As usual, Duo Lan and Tian Jin took everything in stride, seemingly not even aware of the fact that they had just become the center of attention. Hao Zhen, on the other hand, lacked their casual indifference. Even after walking around the sect with Tian Jin a couple of times, he still hadn’t gotten used to having so many eyes on him. He fidgeted slightly, trying not to pay too much attention to it.

Tian Jin was the son of a clan leader, and Duo Lan was probably related to someone in the upper echelon of the sect, so it wasn’t too surprising that they were used to this kind of attention. His sister had also been rather famous in his previous life, but her fame hadn’t been the kind that attracted stares from the general population, so even though he often hung out with her, it was only now that he was around Tian Jin and Duo Lan that he was experiencing something like this.

“Tian Jin!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Hao Zhen caught Duo Lan tensing up a little.

The crowd parted, and Bao Yun appeared, walking over to them as she waved. A step behind her was a young man wearing unadorned, plain white robes, walking with his hands behind his back.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Hao Zhen narrowed his eyes. Was that…

Tian Jin leaned in and whispered, “That’s Du Qing.”

It was as Hao Zhen had guessed, then.

Du Qing was handsome—not quite on Tian Jin’s level, but still enough to draw the eye. They were handsome in different ways, however. Du Qing was tall, but not to the same extent as Tian Jin, standing only an inch or two taller than Hao Zhen, and he had shoulder-length brown hair, which he wore in a bun.

Hao Zhen had actually been expecting someone like Tian Jin—tall, broad-shouldered, and heroic. Instead, Du Qing looked… scholarly. Then again, Du Qing’s reputation was that of someone refined and saintly, so his appearance still fit the bill.

If they had a number of eyes on them before, now pretty much everyone nearby was staring at them. Duo Lan, Tian Jin, Bao Yun, and Du Qing—any one of those four alone would have already been enough to turn heads. All of them together? Even if someone had set off a spiritual beacon, they probably wouldn’t have drawn as many eyes.

“Senior Sister Bao,” Tian Jin said, taking a step forward and greeting her with a smile. He then nodded toward Du Qing, still smiling. “Senior Brother Du.”

Hao Zhen stole a glance at Tian Jin, impressed by the other boy’s self-control and skill at lying. Hao Zhen had already noticed that Tian Jin was an amazing actor back when he was giving his report in the Mission Hall, but right now he once again found himself surprised by Tian Jin’s ability to lie and keep his cool. It was a pity he didn’t have the perceptiveness and astuteness to match it, though. Hao Zhen certainly wouldn’t mind if Tian Jin were a bit sharper. A little bit of wit went a long way in keeping trouble away.

“Tian Jin,” Du Qing said, smiling back. He shifted his gaze to Duo Lan, then to Hao Zhen. “Are these your friends?”

“Yes,” Tian Jin said. “They’re Duo Lan and Hao Zhen.”

Hao Zhen glanced at Bao Yun and saw that she was glaring daggers at Duo Lan. Duo Lan, in turn, was trying to burn holes in Du Qing with her eyes.

Bao Yun’s reaction pretty much confirmed his suspicion that she had feelings for Tian Jin—she was clearly looking at Duo Lan as if she were some kind of threat. Duo Lan’s reaction, similarly, confirmed another of his suspicions—that she had some kind of feud with Du Qing.

“Ah.” Du Qing nodded his head. “I take it you two are the other outer disciples that took part in Tian Jin’s last mission?”

Not trusting Duo Lan to stick to the script, Hao Zhen hurriedly said, “Just the ones, yes.”

“I see,” Du Qing said, nodding. “Well, what happened to Ke Li is a tragedy. Thankfully, you three managed to make it out unscathed.” Just for a moment, Hao Zhen caught a crack in Du Qing’s mask—the prime disciple’s expression briefly darkening.

“It’s all because of Senior Brother Ke’s sacrifice,” Tian Jin cut in, drawing Du Qing’s attention back to him, much to Hao Zhen’s relief.

“Right.” Du Qing returned his attention to Tian Jin, the look on his face already back to normal. Hao Zhen wondered whether there was such a thing as acting classes in this world. Probably not. “Such is the life of a cultivator, however, so it isn’t a good idea to dwell on such things.”

Over the next few minutes, Du Qing, Tian Jin, and Bao Yun talked about the Glistening Stone Hunt. Hao Zhen and Duo Lan silently stood to the side, minding their own business.

Hao Zhen concerned himself with the sleeves of his robe, straightening them and checking them over and over. Duo Lan, on the other hand, had her head turned away, pointedly ignoring the ongoing conversation. She had thankfully quit glaring at Du Qing. Had she kept it up, Du Qing would have probably noticed it, and since he wasn’t sure what exactly Duo Lan’s real identity was and what relationship the two of them had, it was probably for the best he hadn’t.

Hao Zhen paid as much attention to Du Qing as he could without being obvious about it.

He soon picked up on the fact that whenever Bao Yun said something to Tian Jin, Du Qing’s expression tightened slightly. He also noticed that, at the start of their conversation, Du Qing and Bao Yun had been standing a good four or so feet away from each other, but now their shoulders were almost touching. Bao Yun hadn’t moved at all—it was Du Qing who was edging closer and closer the longer the conversation went on. Hao Zhen was no expert, but as far as he could tell, Du Qing was pretty possessive of Bao Yun.

Another suspicion confirmed—for a total of three, all in one conversation.

That was pretty good, Hao Zhen reckoned. Now he just needed to put them to good use—or at least some use. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as if he had done much scheming in his previous life, so nothing came to mind immediately, but he believed he’d get better at it with time. He wasn’t sure how he felt about all of this plotting business, but right now, the only thing he had going for him was his knowledge of cultivation novels, so he had no choice but to find some way to apply it.

A little while later, Hao Zhen noticed some of the people nearby looking up. Upon doing the same, he saw a magical cloud slowly approaching the square from above, coming from the Inner Court. About two dozen people stood on top of it—two at the front, with twenty or so standing behind them. The ones at the back wore elegant golden robes, whereas the two at the front—a man and a woman—had white robes with golden motifs.

“The elders at the back, in gold, are inner elders,” Tian Jin whispered. “The two at the front, in white, are prime elders.”

“Anyone you know?” Hao Zhen whispered back.

Tian Jin gave a subtle shake of his head.

The female prime elder took a step forward. “The Glistening Stone Hunt will be starting shortly,” she announced. She wasn’t shouting, but Hao Zhen could hear her clearly despite the distance between them. Some kind of spiritual technique, maybe? “Prepare yourselves for departure.”

With that, the woman sat down and closed her eyes, all the other elders following suit.

“We should get going,” Du Qing said, turning to look at Bao Yun. He had also been observing the elders on the cloud like everyone else.

“Ah, that’s right.” Bao Yun nodded her head. Turning to Tian Jin, she said, “We must be on our way now, Junior Brother Tian. Good luck!” With that, she gave Hao Zhen and Duo Lan a polite nod before turning around and walking away, her steps a little hurried.

Du Qing, on the other hand, lingered behind a little longer. Now that Bao Yun wasn’t here, his expression turned cold as he gave Tian Jin a long, deep look, his eyes narrowed and his lips tight, pressed together. Tian Jin stared back at him, frosty.

Du Qing then smiled: a condescending curl of his lips. “Best of luck, Junior Brother Tian, Junior Brother Hao, Junior Sister Duo,” he said, his voice sickeningly saccharine. “And be careful—accidents happen, so be sure to watch out for monsters. We’ve already lost Ke Li, so it’d be a real pity to lose you three, too.”

Without waiting for a reply, Du Qing turned around and walked away in the same direction Bao Yun had gone in.

Hao Zhen, Tian Jin, and Duo Lan silently watched him go. Duo Lan was back to glaring at him, even more strongly than before, whereas Tian Jin kept his frosty stare fixed on Du Qing’s back.

Hao Zhen, on the other hand, was glancing around, trying to ascertain whether anyone nearby had noticed the little exchange just now. Unfortunately, everyone either had their attention on the cloud or was talking with the others near them.

The one time Du Qing revealed his true colors, nobody was paying attention—even though they were in the middle of a crowd and just a while ago had had more than a hundred eyes on them.

Hao Zhen let out a sigh. He really should have come to expect this kind of stuff by now.