VHSTS CH22.2

The red-clad man laughed heartily and said, “Judging by that appearance of yours, you must be the legendary Eldest Shixiong of Taihua Mountain, Xuanlingzi… Zunzhe’s closed-door disciple, Luo Jianqing?”

Ignoring the remark, Luo Jianqing asked in return, “May I ask Your Excellency’s name?”

“Mo Qiu.”

Luo Jianqing froze slightly. Leaning casually against a nearby table, the red-clad man added, “Mo Qiu of the Mo Clan.”

Luo Jianqing turned his head to look at Wei Qiongyin, who shook her head lightly: “Our Wei Clan has never had much interaction with the Mo Clan. Shixiong, I’m not familiar with members of the Mo family.”

Ranked directly beneath the One Mountain and Four Sects were the Eight Great Clans: Bai, Yun, Cang, Mo, Que, Yu, Wei, and Geng.

The Bai Clan possessed the greatest strength with two Mahayana ancestors, while the Mo Clan also ranked among the upper four clans, boasting a mid-Mahayana ancestor. Although Luo Jianqing knew the names of the top young talents among the Eight Great Clans, he had never once heard of this Mo Qiu, and even more astonishingly, the man was actually a late-stage Golden Core cultivator!

Judging by his spiritual bones, Mo Qiu couldn’t possibly be over fifty years old, making him an absolute top-tier genius in the cultivation world.

Seeming to read Luo Jianqing’s thoughts, Wei Qiongyin whispered softly, “Shixiong, the Mo Clan has numerous branches. I heard one branch of the Mo family committed a grave offense long ago and was exiled to the Cold Desert Wasteland, forbidden from returning to the main clan until reaching the Nascent Soul realm. Perhaps this Mo Qiu hails from that branch.”

Luo Jianqing nodded lightly, turning back to face Mo Qiu with complete nonchalance as he asked calmly, “And Your Excellency’s apology?”

Mo Qiu blinked in momentary surprise, blurting out subconsciously, “I have to apologize?”

Luo Jianqing replied icily, “Since you struck first with a lethal move, you must give our Taihua Mountain a proper explanation. If you refuse to apologize, then we fight.”

Mo Qiu curved his lips into a smile: “Little beauty, you want to fight me? You’re only at the mid-stage of Golden Core.”

Luo Jianqing raised an eyebrow. “So Your Excellency refuses to apologize?”

Mo Qiu sneered coldly: “What a joke. Anyone who dares comment on my appearance deserves to be sliced into a thousand pieces. Out of respect for Taihua Mountain’s face, I’ll spare that brat today, but the next time we meet, I swear I’ll flay his skin off and make him…”

A streak of blue-green sword light erupted from the ground!

Mo Qiu’s voice cut off abruptly as a blood-red long whip materialized in his hand, swinging upward to block Luo Jianqing’s strike.

Sword gleams and whip shadows flickered relentlessly inside the small inn as vast waves of spiritual power collided, sending shockwaves rippling through the hall.

The moment Luo Jianqing and Mo Qiu had begun arguing, several sensible rogue cultivators had already slipped away to the sidelines. The disciples of the other four sects watched closely from their tables; four late-stage Golden Core cultivators in particular scrutinized Luo Jianqing and Mo Qiu with calculating eyes, narrowing their gazes intently once the two actually came to blows.

While Taihua Mountain’s younger generation suffered from a generational gap, the top young talents of the other four sects and great clans had nearly all reached the late stage of Golden Core, and these four were the eldest shixiong and shijie of the Four Great Sects.

The blue-green sword light radiated a bone-chilling aura, while every flick of the blood-red whip struck with lethal intent.

Locked in an evenly matched clash, Xie Zizhuo nevertheless remained completely relaxed. He knew full well that although his Eldest Shixiong was at the mid-stage of Golden Core, he was invincible beneath the Nascent Soul realm! Cultivation realm mattered, yet true combat strength was a cultivator’s foundation. Haoxingzi Zunzhe had stated long ago that one of the only two sets of Transcendent-grade spiritual roots under heaven endowed Luo Jianqing with combat prowess unmatched by ordinary cultivators, allowing him to slay foes across major tiers!

However, as time wore on, the four watching sect leaders knitted their brows tightly, eyeing Luo Jianqing and Mo Qiu with growing wariness. Xie Zizhuo was even more astounded. Never had he imagined that someone from a banished branch of the Mo Clan could fight Luo Jianqing to such a standstill!

Crack!

Bang!

Luo Jianqing’s figure jolted to a halt, a thin whip mark appearing across his cheek.

Panting slightly, the red-clad Mo Qiu also bore a bleeding gash across his left arm.

Both stared coldly at each other. After a long silence, Mo Qiu let out a low chuckle and said, “In all my years alive, this is the first time anyone has tried to force me to apologize to someone else.”

Luo Jianqing raised the Shuangfu Sword, pointing the tip straight between Mo Qiu’s brows: “Do you wish to keep fighting?”

Mo Qiu narrowed his eyes dangerously, staring at the white-clad youth before him. Half a beat later, he let out a cold snort, turned his head toward Xie Zizhuo, and said, “Using poisoned needles this time was my fault. However, kid, the next time you see me, you’d better take a detour. No one who has ever crossed Mo Qiu has walked away alive. Don’t force me to make a second move.”

With his voice still sealed, Xie Zizhuo could only curse furiously inside his head: Why act so arrogant when you didn’t even beat my Shixiong!

As his words fell, Mo Qiu turned around to leave, only to hear Luo Jianqing speak calmly behind him: “Mo-daoyou, since the misunderstanding has been resolved, why not let bygones be bygones? You seemed unable to find a room earlier. Our Taihua Mountain happens to have one spare room left, which I can yield to you.”

Nineteenth Shidi gasped in surprise: “Shixiong, didn’t we already run out of spare rooms? You…”

Luo Jianqing replied, “I can simply share a room with someone else.”

Hearing this, Mo Qiu looked back at Luo Jianqing with an amused expression, saying nothing.

Maintaining a serene face, Luo Jianqing asked, “What does Mo-daoyou think?”

Mo Qiu asked in return, “Are you trying to win me over?”

Luo Jianqing sidestepped the question without answering.

Mo Qiu burst out laughing: “Taihua Mountain really is fascinating, and the people of Taihua Mountain are even more fascinating, hahahaha! Fine, I accept your invitation. However, there’s no need for you to squeeze into a room with anyone else; I’ll just share a room with you.”

Hearing this, a dark glint flashed briefly through Luo Jianqing’s eyes, though he uttered no objection.

Once the meal concluded, Luo Jianqing called Wei Qiongyin aside to a quiet spot and inquired carefully about the Mo Clan. Listening to Wei Qiongyin’s account, Luo Jianqing’s eyes darkened gradually before he smiled faintly and remarked, “So that’s how it is. I never knew the Mo Clan was once the head of the Eight Great Clans in ancient times,” before returning to the inn.

That night, Luo Jianqing laid out bedding on the floor to sleep, prompting Mo Qiu to chuckle weirdly from the bed: “Little beauty, are you afraid I have terrible sleeping habits, or afraid I’ll harass you in the middle of the night?”

Luo Jianqing’s expression remained indifferent as he replied coldly, “It is this humble one whose sleeping habits are poor.”

Mo Qiu let out a soft laugh.

In the dead of night, Luo Jianqing had not fallen asleep. Lying fully clothed upon his floor mat with his eyes open staring at the ceiling, his thoughts drifted back to an event from long ago.

In his previous life, after learning of the tragic deaths of his two shidi, Luo Jianqing had risked every danger to return to the Far North in search of them. He not only found nothing save Zuo Yunmo’s sword tassel, but also walked straight into an ambush by numerous righteous path cultivators. Already wounded beforehand, Luo Jianqing was no match for them then and fled in dismal defeat, escaping into a secluded mountain valley.

Entering the valley had been easy; leaving it proved nearly impossible.

Lacking Li Xiuchen’s absurd luck, Luo Jianqing found no magic treasures or spiritual herbs after falling into the valley, only a skeletal corpse and a letter written in blood. The blood letter stated that the skeleton belonged to a Mo Clan cultivator who knew that after his failure, his entire branch of the clan would inevitably face ostracization, or even slaughter, at the hands of the main family.

The letter did not explain what offense this senior had committed to draw the clan’s wrath down upon his descendants. Yet the hatred imbued within that blood letter was powerful enough to shake the heavens, leaving even Luo Jianqing deeply moved across ten thousand years of time.

“My sins do not implicate my descendants. I hope you will lend my posterity a helping hand; all magic treasures, spiritual herbs, and possessions here are gifted to you.”

Luo Jianqing hadn’t seen a single spiritual herb or magic treasure, only that skeleton sitting before him. Nevertheless, Luo Jianqing still resolved to repay the debt of gratitude. Pushed to the brink of total exhaustion at the end, he had had no choice but to use a demonic cultivation technique to absorb all remaining spiritual energy from the skeleton in order to recover his strength.

That senior had been a Deity Transformation powerhouse whose bones still held vast spiritual power. Once drained completely, however, the ancient skeleton crumbled into a pile of ash and scattered in the wind.

Before departing, Luo Jianqing knelt before the blood letter and kowtowed three times, vowing silently: “Today I, Luo Jianqing, have left Senior without even bones to bury, yet if ever I have the chance, I swear I will find Senior’s descendants and watch over them.”

That senior’s surname was Mo, and one branch of the Mo Clan had been exiled to the Cold Desert Wasteland for tens of thousands of years, according to Wei Qiongyin.

If his deduction was right, Mo Qiu was very likely a descendant of that senior.

Although all of this had happened in his past life, Luo Jianqing could never forget that he had survived solely thanks to that senior’s remains, which gave him the chance to escape that valley alive. Making Mo Qiu apologize to Xie Zizhuo and Taihua Mountain was one thing, yet repaying that senior’s kindness was far more important.

“Still… I wonder who ended up taking all the magic treasures and spiritual herbs mentioned in that blood letter…”

“Little beauty, what are you muttering about?”

Luo Jianqing froze slightly. Lifting his gaze, he saw Mo Qiu sprawled across the edge of the bed, grinning down at him cheerfully. His stunning, alluring face was beaming with smiles, yet something about that grin struck Luo Jianqing as deeply odd, making him feel as though the other man wasn’t looking at a peer, but rather at a junior generation.

Then again, by mortal reckoning, Luo Jianqing was over a dozen years younger than Mo Qiu, placing them slightly apart in age.

Without answering, Luo Jianqing closed his eyes and asked, “Mo-daoyou, are you planning to enter Flowing Flame Valley?”

Mo Qiu grinned playfully: “Why, are you going in too? True enough. With Flowing Flame Valley opening, how could Taihua Mountain possibly stay out?”

Luo Jianqing asked, “Why aren’t you entering together with the Mo Clan? I heard the third young master of the Mo main line, Mo Feng, has arrived as well and will be leading a large group of Mo disciples inside.”

Mo Qiu gave no answer.

Yet Luo Jianqing had already deduced the reason for him.

Exiled for tens of thousands of years, Mo Qiu had likely come to Flowing Flame City entirely in secret on his own. The Mo Clan would never accept him, leaving him no choice but to enter as a rogue cultivator.

At this thought, Luo Jianqing suggested, “Mo-daoyou, why not enter together with our Taihua Mountain team? Even if you don’t obtain many treasures, your chances of survival will be higher.”

Mo Qiu chuckled lightly and suddenly asked, “Luo Jianqing of Taihua Mountain, why are you being so nice to me?”

Luo Jianqing’s throat tightened slightly. Opening his eyes, he saw Mo Qiu leaning half his body off the bed, gazing down at him with curved, smiling eyes, less than three cun separating their faces!

Blue-green light flickered briefly between Luo Jianqing’s brows. After a moment, he said flatly, “If you are unwilling, then forget it.”

Mo Qiu didn’t answer right away, scrutinizing the sword mark between Luo Jianqing’s eyebrows carefully before his gaze settled on the tiny cinnabar dot at its center. Mo Qiu asked, “You even have a cinnabar mole right between your brows?”

Luo Jianqing let out a soft “Mn” without offering any explanation.

Mo Qiu stared at it with great interest for several moments before finally shifting his gaze away and saying, “I’ve grown used to the freedom of being a rogue cultivator, so I won’t trouble you to worry over me. With my late Golden Core cultivation, keeping myself alive inside Flowing Flame Valley won’t be an issue.”

Luo Jianqing said nothing further to persuade him. Exhausted from the long journey, he gradually drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, the instant Luo Jianqing opened his eyes, he found that Mo Qiu had already vanished from the room without a trace. Picking up several spirit stones left on the table and reading the note weighed down beneath them, Luo Jianqing smiled helplessly.

Did he really think a few spirit stones were enough to compensate Luo Jianqing for sleeping on the floor all night?

Had it not been for repaying that senior’s debt of gratitude, he would have made Mo Qiu answer for his words and actions yesterday long ago.

The next day, right before everyone was scheduled to enter Flowing Flame Valley, Wei Qiongyin sought out Luo Jianqing to share the intelligence she had gathered the day before.

There was indeed a genius disciple named Mo Qiu in the Mo Clan, hailing specifically from the branch exiled to the Cold Desert Wasteland. As long as Mo Qiu broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, he would be permitted to return to the main clan. He already held considerable renown among the Mo Clan’s younger generation, though having lived his whole life in the Cold Desert Wasteland, he had never once appeared in the Thirty-Six Prefectures before.

Luo Jianqing thought it over and remarked, “Mo Qiu is on the verge of breaking past the Golden Core stage. He likely came to Flowing Flame Valley seeking an opportunity to break through. Moreover, once he advances to Nascent Soul, he can remain in the Mo main clan and never return to that desolate Cold Desert Wasteland.”

Wei Qiongyin nodded in agreement.

Ready and equipped, the Taihua Mountain disciples followed Elder Shan early in the morning to the open plains outside Flowing Flame Valley.

By now, tens of thousands of rogue cultivators had already converged upon the area, alongside countless smaller sects that had sent their finest young disciples, hoping not for heaven-defying treasures, but merely for a single stroke of good fortune.

Led by Elder Shan, Luo Jianqing greeted the representatives of the Four Great Sects, Eight Great Clans, and Sixteen Sects. Upon meeting Mo Feng, Luo Jianqing sized him up carefully for a moment before asking, “Mo-daoyou, might you happen to know Mo Qiu?”

Muscular and imposing, Mo Feng furrowed his brows and replied, “Mo Qiu is a member of our Mo Clan’s branch in the Cold Desert Wasteland. I heard earlier about his clash with Luo-daoyou, and I apologize to Taihua Mountain on his behalf. However, I do not know Mo Qiu personally. He has lived in the Cold Desert Wasteland his entire life, so this is likely his very first time stepping foot in the Thirty-Six Prefectures.”

Luo Jianqing nodded in understanding.

One shichen later, the rift at the entrance of Flowing Flame Valley finally opened wide enough for a single person to pass through. Casting an impassive sidelong glance at Li Xiuchen among the Taihua Mountain disciples, Luo Jianqing narrowed his eyes and shot forward toward the entrance gate.

Simultaneously, every cultivator present bolted toward the gate at maximum speed, each eager to be the very first to enter Flowing Flame Valley.

Luo Jianqing’s speed surpassed everyone else’s by far; with a sharp whoosh, he darted straight through the entrance, prompting Elder Shan to stroke his beard smugly. Beside him, the Soul-Severing Sect elder grumbled in dissatisfaction, “Your Taihua Mountain only got in first because you happened to stand closer. Just watch, the second person inside will definitely be from our Soul-Severing Sect…”

Before he had even finished speaking, a streak of blood-red light shot straight through the gate.

The Soul-Severing Sect elder’s jaw dropped open, completely dumbfounded.

Standing beside him, Elder Shan of Taihua Mountain blinked in momentary surprise before bursting into hearty laughter: “The Xuantian Continent truly hides crouching tigers and hidden dragons! Old Man Liu, I happen to know who that was. He’s none other than Mo Qiu, the guy who just lost to our Taihua Mountain’s head disciple Luo Jianqing and apologized to us at the inn yesterday! Look at that, your Soul-Severing Sect can’t even outrun a single rogue cultivator.”

The Soul-Severing Sect elder’s mouth twitched violently, nearly fainting from sheer rage.

Flowing Flame Valley was officially open, and tens of thousands of cultivators surged inside, all vying for supreme fortuitous opportunities!