"I see! So you"re a disciple of the Heaven and Earth Sect! Wonderful! No wonder I feel such a kinship with you. That explains why you"re the only one whose body is compatible as a host for my spirit. I understand why now."

I tilted my head as I studied him, growing more confident of my speculation. "I"m guessing you"re from the Heaven and Earth Sect?"

"Correct." The old man"s smile spread across his face. "You should address me as Ancestral Master, given how I"m probably the master of the master of the master of your master, ad infinitum. You"re my grand disciple (grand as in grandchild, not majestic grand)!"

Wow. Just wow. Lei Yong Chun was right, after all. I was going to need to confront him and ask him if he knew anything more. Did he know all along about this Heaven and Earth Sect master being sealed under the Spirit Engraved Pillars?

And how did he find out? Lei Yong Chun had always been a mystery, but this was just…

"All right, Ancestral Master." Despite addressing him as such, I remained wary. "Even so, I"m not handing my body over to you. I"m sorry for being unfilial or whatever, but I"m not generous to give away my body to someone else."

"Don"t worry." The old man"s eyes seemed to shine malevolently and I shuddered unconsciously. "Since you"re my grand disciple, I won"t take your body as a host like that. It"s so hard to find competent disciples for our sect, and considering how competent you are and well developed your spiritual qi is, it"ll be a waste to possess you. There"s no use returning to the real world and rebuilding the Heaven and Earth Sect if I sacrifice my disciples and grand disciples to do so."

Suppressing a shiver, I nodded in relief, not trusting myself to say anything. The old man didn"t seem to notice my unease, and he continued to press me for details.

"So how"s the sect? Considering that you"ve managed to get into this s.p.a.ce, I"m guessing the Heaven and Earth Sect has conquered and subsumed whatever sect that has claimed the place where the Spirit Engraved Pillars are?"

He frowned, as if trying to recall something, and then his eyes light up when he happened upon a nugget of information from so long ago.

"If I recall, that sect was called…the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect? But now that you"re here, I take it that it"s now part of the Heaven and Earth Sect."

Taking a deep breath because I was instinctively wary of how the old man would react to disappointment, I pondered for a few seconds and then sought to choose my words carefully. I initially considered lying but doubted that I would be able to deceive this old man.

"No. Uh, actually, the Heaven and Earth Sect has been all but destroyed. I"m the last surviving member."

The old man stared at me in disbelief, and I could almost sense disbelief and denial bubbling underneath his murderous eyes.

"I"m trying to rebuild and restore the Heaven and Earth Sect, though," I quickly added. "But I"m currently not strong enough. That"s why I"m learning martial arts and gathering resources from other sects, like the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect."

"…"

The old man"s thunderous expression softened a little, and he c.o.c.ked his head slightly to the side, watching me keenly.

"Tell me everything," he ordered.

There was a force in his voice that left no room for defiance or disobedience, and despite myself, I was pouring everything out and telling him everything from the time I first met Master, how I enrolled in Wu Ling Academy and then learned Heaven and Earth Formula during my brief sojourn in the underworld, and my eventual admission into Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. I left out the part where I was from a different timeline, or the events in the hospital, though.

After telling him everything, I paused to take a deep breath. Glancing at the old man as he absorbed what he had just heard, I tried to fight the dread that filled my heart. As bound as he was, there was no way he could attack me. He had already attempted to attack me, especially with his shadow tendrils, and failed.

As long as I had Snow Aegis, I would be able to defend myself from what a.s.sault he launched on me. That didn"t mean I could afford to let down my guard, though. Especially not against a being as powerful as him. He might look emaciated, but he was still emanating quite the tremendous and terrifying amount of qi.

"Do you know Sect Lady Zi Da Ji?" I asked cautiously. The old man"s eyes flickered and he glanced at me before shaking hi head.

"No. Never heard of her. The last person from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect that I met was someone named Jiu Wei Hu."

I had never heard of Jiu Wei Hu either, so I presumed it was some extraordinary Nine-Tailed Fox Sect martial artist from the distant past.

"But you"re no less accomplished than Jiu Wei Hu." The old man nodded thoughtfully as he peered at me keenly. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling like a bacteria being observed under a microscope. "I"ve been watching you this whole time. I"ve seen you trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars, and entered three of them."

"Yeah."

I remembered this old man being present as well, when I was in the Heavenly Snow Terminus Pillar, as well as the other times I went to the plaza to meditate and commune with the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars and stuff.

If it wasn"t for the upgraded spiritual defense of my Snow Aegis, he would have taken over my body in all those accounts. I had a lot to thank both Tang Qi Hong and Sect Leader Zi Shou De for. Before this old man realized I was from the same sect, he had no qualms about attacking me mentally and trying to hijack my body.

"What about Lei Yong Chun?" I asked carefully. Maybe Lei Yong Chun had met Ancestral Master, which accounted for the former"s knowledge of the latter.

"…who?" the old man frowned, and then shook his head. "Doesn"t ring a bell."

"Of course not," I muttered, determined to get to the bottom of this. But that was for later.

The old man was nodding excitedly as he stared at me, rays of terrifying light spilling from his golden eyes.

"Kid, let me out and I"ll reward you handsomely!"

"Let you out?" I repeated incredulously. For obvious reasons, I was apprehensive about obeying him and unshackling him from the spiritual restaints that chained him to the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars.

For one thing, I had totally no idea who trapped the old man here, in this abyss below the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, and I also didn"t know how many years he had been held captive in such a baleful place. I wondered why they even sealed him beneath the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars in the first place – probably for a very good reason.

If I wasn"t careful, I might end up unleashing a terrifying demon on the world.

Honestly, the old man was too dangerous. I couldn"t take the immense risk of unsealing his restraints. There was no telling what he would do in the material world once he was released, and furthermore I didn"t trust me. I wouldn"t be surprised if he would kill me once he exited the abyss, or if he suddenly went back on his word and forcibly possessed my body.

Of course I was too tactful to say such a thing, so I merely tried the more diplomatic approach. I mean, seriously, if you know how much of a monster the other party was, the last thing you should do is p.i.s.s him off.

"How can I release you?" I shrugged as he made a show of studying the chains helplessly. "I have no idea how to undo the seal. Do you?"

The old man grimaced. "You joined the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect to be a Spirit Engraver, didn"t you? You tell me."

"Unfortunately, I flunked as a Spirit Engraver." I wasn"t exactly telling the truth. I was average, or slightly above average as a Spirit Engraver, which was why I could easily copy Spirit Diagrams like the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l and inscribe other Spirit Formations, but according to Nine-Tailed Fox Sect standards, I was pretty much considered an amateur in that area, not when there were geniuses like Tang Qi Hong being practically commonplace (admittedly Tang Qi Hong was at the top of even those geniuses). "Right now, I"m serving as one of the Blood Blades…uh, basically I"m a member of their military branch."

"Well, that makes more sense, considering that you"re a disciple of the Heaven and Earth Sect, after all." The old man nodded, convinced. I inwardly exhaled in relief. "You"d be better in martial arts than blacksmithing and Spirit Engraving. Come to think of it, when I watched you enter the Spirit Worlds of the three Spirit Engraved Pillars, I saw you only leave with the martial arts concepts and Spirit Diagrams, not the ones of actual Spirit Artifacts."

"Yeah, I"m a little better at martial arts than blacksmithing." I scratched my head in embarra.s.sment. This time I was telling the truth.

"Well, I"m sure you"ll find a way!" the old man was looking at me, his golden eyes filled with antic.i.p.ation. "And when you let me out, I"ll give you everything you want! Since you"re a disciple of the Heaven and Earth Sect, even something like world domination is not beyond your reach!"

"Unfortunately, I"m not interested in world domination." The old man"s expression fell when he looked disapproving of what he perceived to be my lack of ambition. "And it"s no use talking about this. We"ll discuss this after I actually succeed."

"I"ll be waiting." The old man smiled, almost as if he was too impatient to wait for me to free him. I didn"t have the heart to tell him that I most likely would just leave him here to rot while placing yellow tape around the plaza to keep people out.

"Uh, yeah. I"ll leave first and go do some research in the real world. Once I find something that might be useful, I"ll be back." I bowed apologetically and withdrew from the Spirit World as quickly as I could, leaving the old man to his own devices.

The second my spiritual consciousness departed from the Spirit World, the old man suddenly roared madly in laughter. He was so delighted that his body buckled and shuddered from the spasms of joyful laughter.

"After so long…has it been a few centuries? A thousand years? Maybe more?"

He shook his head, smiling broadly.

"It doesn"t matter. All that matters it that I"ll finally be free! This kid shows a lot of promise. Even though he only comprehends three out of nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, it"s possible that he"ll find a way to release the sealing technique performed upon me!"

For the first time in centuries, his eyes blazed with the fires of hope.

The chains tensed as the old man subconsciously pulled against them, his body coiling from the excitement.

"I"ll definitely get out of here, no matter the cost!"

While the old man was performing his soliloquy to himself, I opened my eyes in the material world, only to find Tong Xue staring at me.

"Whoa!" I almost toppled over. "I thought you went to the frontlines!"

"No. I thought it would be more sensible to watch over you, in case you overwork yourself and collapse, like the last time you were meditating under the Spirit Engraved Pillars."

I snorted. "That never happened."

"Yeah, but it almost did. If we didn"t force you to return to your room and rest, you will surely have keeled over."

Tong Xue then turned to study the glowing Spirit Engraved Pillars, but the light was slowly fading away.

"What happened? Did you gain enlightenment from a fourth pillar something?"

"No." obviously I couldn"t tell Tong Xue that I encountered an old man who claimed to be an ancestral master of my Heaven and Earth Sect, so I omitted that detail. "Just checking the Spirit Engraved Pillars for any threats."

"Now that you"ve mentioned it, it"s giving off quite the chilling sensation," Tong Xue agreed and shivered uncontrollably.

Watching him, something occurred to me.

"Tong Xue, have you ever heard of someone named Jiu Wei Hu before?"

"Who?" Tong Xue blurted out in bewilderment, evidently not having heard of the name before. I guess there were intelligence that even the former Smart Shadow Sect espionage agent wasn"t aware of. "Jiu what?"

"Jiu Wei Hu," I repeated. Tong Xue shook his head.

"Doesn"t ring a bell."

I didn"t expect it to. Rising to my feet, I herked my head toward the walls. There was no reason to ponder over this matter, and it would be more conducive to search in the library later than spend too much time dwelling on the obscure name.

"For now, let"s just go help the others."

We hadn"t gotten very far when Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou appeared.

"Oh, you guys are all right!" I was relieved when I caught sight of them. I knew they were well and recovered after hearing from the others, but it was quite another thing entirely to see the both of them in the flesh.

"Don"t give me that!" Tang Qi Hong snapped. "You should take better care of yourself!"

"What makes you think I didn"t?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. Tang Qi Hong groaned and slapped her face with a palm.

"Never mind."

"They might know about it. Why don"t you try asking them?" Tong Xue nudged me.

"Ask us about what?" Lian Rou asked, puzzled. I took a deep breath and turned to face the two girls, my voice nearly caught in my throat.

"Have either of you ever heard of sometone named Jiu Wei Hu before?"

Tang Qi Hong"s expression abruptly turned sharp. "Where did you hear of that name?"

"Umm…while commnunng with the Spirit Engraved Pillars." I gestured vaguely in the direction of the plaza. "The name came up for some reason while I was searching them for some threats."

Tong Xue quickly filled them in on what I was doing before we ran into them, and the two girls nodded.

"Well, Jiu Wei Hu was the founder of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect." Tang Qi Hong frowned disapprovingly. "Aren"t you a history buff? Why haven"t you studied the history of our sect?"

"I haven"t had the time, what with trying to balance school, blacksmithing and Spirit Engraving, martial arts and Blood Blades duties." It might sound like a feeble excuse, but it was the truth. Honestly, try balancing that many activities and responsibilities all at once. I bet you would find it difficult.

Tang Qi Hong sighed. "Jiu Wei Hu was the one who first located the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars and was the first person known to have triggered a response from them – and a few of them, even. Thus he established Nine-Tailed Fox Sect with these nine Spirit Engraved Pillars as the base, and built our sect from here. He eventually expanded our sect into a city, and it has been growing and prospering ever since, for over nine hundred years."

"Well, jolly good of him," I remarked a little too casually. Then it hit me. If that was the case, that made the old man sealed underneath the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars at least nine hundred years old! He might be well over a millennium in terms of age!

Oh boy…

At least he didn"t turn out to be the founder of Blood Blades and for some reason being Lang Xie and Hai Rong"s master. Now that would be ripping off Spirit Realm too much, and I was in no mood to engage in a legal battle when our sect was already under siege.

At least we weren"t going to spend a lot of time suddenly launching into the history of Blood Blades out of nowhere.

"Anyway, we"re not just here to check on you." Lian Rou suddenly spoke up, as if to remind Tang Qi Hong of their primary mission. She nodded her head once at me. "We"re here to pick you up. You"re due for briefing at Sect Leader"s villa."

"I thought that wasn"t due until tomorrow morning," I said in puzzlement, consulting my smartphone to make sure. That was what Elder Cheng Ping told me, in any case, and I had no reason to doubt him.

"It was," Tang Qi Hong affirmed, her tone a little frosty. "Until we spotted you lighting up the Spirit Engraved Pillars again. Father reckoned that if you"re well and energetic enough to be triggering responses in them and trying to seek enlightenment in the middle of a siege, we might as well move up the schedule."

"Hey, I wasn"t doing it for fun," I protested. "Like Tong Xue said, we sensed something amiss with the Spirit Engraved Pillars, aand I just wanted to ensure that we didn"t have any threats or nasty surprises waiting to ambush us from behind in our own backyard!"

Tang Qi Hong"s expression softened. "Well, make sure you mention that to Father later," she reminded me."

"Yes, ma"am."

"Well, I"ll just head to the frontlines ahead of you," Tong Xue told me in a low voice as he inched away.

"Oh no, you don"t." Lian Rou glared at him. "You"re coming with us, Mister."

"What for?" Tong Xue looked genuinely confused. "I already submitted my report. They shouldn"t need anything else from me."

"Father wants to collaborate your report with Fei Wu"s," Tang Qi Hong explained. "As an eyewitness, your testimony is necessary. Just as a formality, to make sure that your two reports don"t conflict, and to clear up any discrepencies. If you"re present, you can answer whatever questions they might have."

"Fine." Tong Xue sighed. "Let"s go then."

Without wasting another second, the four of us proceeded up Flame Volcano at a brisk pace. Occasionally, I would glance back downward, but mercifully the ten sects had yet to make another move.

However, the current state of affairs wouldn"t last for much longer. That much I was certain of, at least.

Along the way, I caught sight of stealthily patrolling Blood Blades. If we had been suspicious figures, the Blood Blades would have stopped us and questioned us, but they were familiar with us, and thus let us proceed unchallenged. They probably had visual equipment and other sort of stuff that helped them verify our ident.i.ties from afar.

Tong Xue probably noticed them too, but the girls didn"t look like they did, which attested to the skill of Blood Blades. Only those trained in the same techniques would be able to spot them, and even though I was never the best student at stealth, I was heartened to find that I had learned my lessons well.

After approximately thirty minutes, we finally reached the mountain peak, and caght sight of Sect Leader Zi and the six Great Elders.

To my surprise, they weren"t the only ones present.

"Instructor Hai!"

When we reached the grand hall where Sect Leader Zi had set up his headquarters, we spotted Hai Rong lying down on a nearby bench, her head in Hai Mo"s lap. Her face was dreadfully pale, and despite lying down, she was forcing herself to deliver a report. At the corner, I could see Sect Leader Zi and Sect Lady Da Ji looking at her in disapproval. Evidently they had ordered Hai Rong to go rest and recuperate, but she insisted that this was too important that it couldn"t wait, and thus forced her way into the meeting.

In fact, she was already in the midst of explaining something to the audience present when the four of us stepped in.

"Blood Shadow is Yan Chi," Hai Rong declared as a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her lips. "Yan Chi was Master"s adopted son, and was originally the successor to becoming the vice-commander of Blood Blades." She paused dramatically. "As opposed to Lang Xie. At least until many years ago, when he was reported to have died."

Her expression then darkend.

"But that was a cover-up. Yan Chi never died. Instead, he joined Divine Shadow Sect and even became their Blood Shadow."