Chapter 99: Stirring Up the Winds and Waves, Only We Can Do It

The morning breeze carried a chill from the river water. It was somewhat cold, yet it swept over and cooled the fevered mind of Luo Yuzhu. She asked, “You came not only for this. Is there something else that required you to summon me to such a remote place?”

Cao Chengyu scratched his chin with obvious awkwardness and spoke without evasion. “It is for Xiao Yan. I heard he escaped from the region Miaodan Zhenren is searching, and the shortest distance between them was less than three li. I… suspect your master colluded with the Xiao family.”

Luo Yuzhu frowned slightly. “Collusion is too strong a word. I am more inclined to believe Miaodan Zhenren changed his mind at the last moment and no longer wishes to join the higher-level plans. Perhaps he discovered something important.”

“Times have changed,” she added.

Luo Yuzhu had always been exceptionally intelligent. Her master’s strange behavior and the recent Blood Slaughter Incident in the two troubled provinces of Grand Yue were obvious signs of conspiracy to anyone who cared to notice.

She continued at once. “I also believe the true culprit of the Blood Slaughter Incident is not the Xiao family, but I still do not see the connection to my master.”

“From what I have heard, rumors in the capital say the emperor was bewitched by demonic beasts and that Jian Tian Tower has already been half-infiltrated by those people. The Blood Slaughter Incident was almost certainly their doing.”

Cao Chengyu furrowed his brows and thought for a long while. He wanted to tell her the truth, yet he feared involving her. Her master, Miaodan Zhenren, had shown two completely different faces in the past and left him uneasy.

After a long silence he sighed. “Yuzhu, Miaodan Zhenren deliberately released Xiao Yan. I believe he knows where the boy is right now. I need to obtain certain information from him.”

“Two of Grand Yue’s five provinces have already fallen. The Dan King Manor in Dan Province is still holding firm and no large-scale deaths have occurred. Yun Province lies south of Grand Yue and still hosts the Guard North King’s residence. Both sides have Golden Core cultivators, but the key point is Xiao Yan himself. The heavenly offering he stole is of vital importance to those behind the scenes. As long as he remains at large, the other three provinces are safe.”

“I do not know what your master is plotting, but he has almost certainly been secretly aiding Xiao Yan. I hope you will act as a messenger and arrange a meeting between us.”

Luo Yuzhu pressed her lips together and said nothing.

One side was her little lover, the other her master who had raised her from childhood. After a long moment she sighed. “I can only deliver your message. I cannot guarantee my master’s reaction.”

“No problem.”

The serious discussion ended. They exchanged a few words about old times, then parted. Before leaving, Luo Yuzhu asked curiously, “Why are you involved in the struggles among Golden Core cultivators?”

Cao Chengyu offered a bitter smile. “There are so many reasons. People live to accomplish something meaningful. Besides, I also have reasons that compel me to act.”

She nodded and vanished in a flash of light.

Cao Chengyu touched his chin, helpless. The root of everything still lay in the Little Six Ren Palm Technique. Had he not feared the unknown and feared Wanxiang Zhenren, the Golden Core cultivator, he would never have become involved. Especially the traces he had left behind in Jian Tian Tower. When Chi Jiu Xiao’s plan was thwarted by Xiao Yan, the boy would definitely investigate why he knew the truth. There was a sixty-percent chance the search would lead back to him. After all, he was the only one who had exchanged the Little Six Ren Palm Technique inside Jian Tian Tower and who also joined the Five Elements Sect, making him connected to Xiao Yan.

When the truth was revealed and Chi Jiu Xiao’s plan completed, there would be no escape from the aftermath. As for hoping some powerful figure from the Five Elements Sect would shield him? Do not make me laugh. Life only holds value when grasped in one’s own hands.

He clenched his fist. A surging feeling of stirring the wind and clouds, of the entire world lying in his grasp, filled Cao Chengyu. As a transmigrator, no matter where he stood, he would always remain the central figure of events. A true man must live like this!

The meeting had ignited something inside him.

During their parting, he had given Luo Yuzhu a secret contact method. As long as they remained within Grand Yue territory, they could reach each other.

With that arranged, Ning Wenjun’s affairs also demanded attention. A competent time-management master must remain fair to every one of his romantic confidantes. The Ning family had recently fallen on hard times and had withdrawn into the ancestral mansion outside the city. Ning Wenjun had heard that he had resigned from his post and returned home to stay with his family. The injured Golden Core Ancestor would almost certainly refuse visitors, yet there was still Que’er.

Cao Chengyu chuckled and rode the clouds to Ning’s ancestral mountain.

A hundred li outside the capital rose a spiritual mountain thick with qi, its formations majestic and its very foundation the bedrock of the immortal realm. Around the mountain spread pavilions and terraces of every size. Two palaces stood on the summit and two at the foot. Immortal cranes, self-bred for transportation, wandered through the air heavy with immortal energy.

He took out a communication jade slip. Spiritual power surged; the numbers recorded inside were washed clean, replaced by a letter full of affection. It expressed warm regard for Ning Wenjun and a courteous greeting to Que’er, his cheap nephew.

With a gesture of his hand the jade slip transformed into a tiny spiritual crane carrying a strong scent of Ning Que’s presence. It slipped safely through the array and delivered the message.

This jade slip had been taken from Ning Que’s storage bag the day he defeated him. Of course the entire collection had been swept clean by him; he had simply left a shell for the owner. At this moment only the jade slip remained, yet it had proved useful beyond expectation. Good nephew of uncle. Maintaining the bond between aunt and uncle rested with you.

Cao Chengyu did not linger. He turned and left. He could not appear in person; a letter would suffice. When he learned the truth he would return to meet again.

Because he needed to wait for news from Luo Yuzhu, he chose a barren mountain and carved a cave into its cliff face. There he would deduce every technique he possessed to a higher level and, by the way, complete the first stage of the Floating View of the World Law.

Time passed quietly. Seven days later.

Cao Chengyu suddenly opened his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling dizzy. Three days earlier he had begun practicing the first stage of the Floating View of the World Law. A thread of divine sense had left his body and attached itself to a mantis egg. He became the mantis completely, viewing the world through an insect’s eyes. Everything was fresh and strange. The only shortcoming was that he could not control the mantis’s body; he could only experience its life from the first perspective. Breaking from the shell, spreading wings, first hunt, first meal, time itself seemed to lose meaning as everything rushed forward. Until, after mating, it was devoured by another mantis and the cycle ended with one final float through life.