I had a bad feeling as I hurried down Tang Qi Hong"s pavilion and proceeded to the next one. Every inner sect disciple had their own private pavilion or house…well, it was too small to be called a "house". Obviously it was not luxurious enough to be a personal villa too. As powerful and rich as the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was, they couldn"t afford to be giving out inner sect disciples their own private villas. Their resources weren"t unlimited.

However, their small houses were each furnished with immense comfort and expensive furniture, more so than the spa.r.s.e necessities of the tiny apartments the outer sect disciples were provided. And the inner sect disciples had far larger workshops, more advanced furnaces and access to more supplies and their own warehouse to store immense quant.i.ties of spirit materials, tools and other blacksmithing equipment. Not to mention their own personal weapons, armor, artifacts and armaments. They were pretty much the cream of the crop, and their dwellings reflected that.

Of course, Hao Ying was no exception.

Unfortunately, his more than meager home was of no use to him when he was dead.

And dead was how Pang Yun found him. She was standing at the entrance of his pavilion, waving her hands in panic.

"Senior Hao Ying…he"s dead!"

"What happened?" Tang Qi Hong asked when she reached her. Pang Yun whirled around, horror and disbelief etched across her pretty face.

"I…I don"t know. I came to borrow Mist Cloud Stones from Senior Hao, but when he didn"t respond after I knocked on the door…I pushed it slightly. It turned out to be unlocked, and so I opened it, and then…and then I saw…that!"

She pointed inside the house. I craned my neck and looked inside, only to spot Hao Ying lifelessly slumped against the wall, his head lolling about like that of a broken doll"s. His skin had turned completely gray, a tinge of sickly gray spreading across his flesh.

That"s…signs of poisoning from a powerful neurotoxin!

Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou, who were in front of me, pushed past and stared inside, wide-eyed in horror.

"T…those are Venomous Scarabs!"

"What?!"

I immediately barged to the front to shield them from whatever attacks, my frosty qi coming to the fore. The surviving Venomous Scarabs that were still feasting on Hao Ying"s corpse scuttled and turned to launch themselves at me, but I froze them before they could move even an inch away from their original positions.

Of course, that meant freezing Hao Ying"s body as well, but as far as I was concerned I was doing him a favor by preserving the state of his copse for as long as possible.

"How could this be?!"

"I have no idea," I admitted despite knowing that Tang Qi Hong"s question was rhetorical. "For what reason would Liang Shao Yang have for killing Hao Ying? No…in the first place, was this also done by him?"

"…who else would have done it?"

"…I don"t know."

I glanced at the two girls, excluding Pang Yun, wishing that Tong Xue was here. With his insights into espionage and intelligence, he might be able to deduce something.

"For now, we"ll just contact Elder Zhao."

"What"s going on? What happened to Hao Ying?"

A new voice spoke up from outside. All of us turned around, seeing a young man about thirty walk into the entrance of Hao Ying"s pavilion. We immediately made way for him to enter the house and check what was going on.

That"s…

"He"s Di Xuan," Tang Qi Hong whispered. "The current direct disciple of Sect Leader, and is the oldest disciple among the inner sect. he has quite a high status and authority even among the inner sect disciples."

I nodded. In other words, I couldn"t afford to offend this guy.

"First Senior!" Pang Yun greeted him. "Senior Hao is…!"

"He was attacked by Venomous Scarabs," I finished for her when she trailed off, almost breaking down into sobs.

"What?!"

Di Xuan dashed into the room and noted the frozen Venomous Scarabs. After he glanced at Hao Ying"s body and confirmed that he was really dead, he narrowed his eyes and turned to look at me.

"Did you do this?"

"Yeah, sorry. I didn"t have a choice. The Venomous Scarabs were going to attack us, so I froze them before they could reach us. I"m still not very skillful at executing my techniques, so I was unable to control the area of effect and ended up freezing Senior Hao"s body as well."

"No, you did the right thing." Di Xuan shook his head. "I would have done the same if I were in your position. If anything, I should thank you for protecting the juniors."

I was more of a junior than any of the girls, but there was no point telling him that, so I just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hmm, I heard that an outer sect disciple had been bitten by Venomous Scarabs as well, a few days ago, and barely survived. Now Hao Ying has also been bitten by Venomous Scarabs. Are the two cases related?"

"The outer sect disciple who was bitten by Venomous Scarabs is him." Tang Qi Hong gestured toward me. "First Senior, this is Fei Wu, my a.s.sistant."

I bowed respectively. "Well met, First Senior."

"First Senior, Elder Zhao has been investigating the origins of these Venomous Scarabs. While there are reports that Liang Shao Yang was the one who used them, it seems that Long He was the one who brought them back from Fei Zhou."

Lian Rou chipped in this time, launching into an explanation when Di Xuan grunted briefly in response to my greeting. Probably to reduce friction or to quickly focus him on the topic. I wonder if Di Xuan might also be aiming for Tang Qi Hong.

"But Long He was also killed. He was stabbed by someone. I don"t know if it"s related, but Elder Zhao and Senior Shen Cha found out that Long He and Senior Hao Ying have been in communication recently."

"In other words, Senior Zhao suspected that Hao Ying was the one who murdered Long He? But why would he do that?"

Di Xuan"s voice was filled with disbelief. I didn"t blame him. The whole thing felt surreal to me as well.

Lian Rou shook her head helplessly. "I don"t know."

"Then who killed Hao Ying?"

"I don"t know either."

Di Xuan gritted his teeth, his frustration growing. "Just what the h.e.l.l is going on in this sect? An attempted murder and two murders in the s.p.a.ce of less than a week? Just who is s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with us?"

While he gnashed in impotent fury, a huge number of inner sect disciples had gathered to see what the commotion was all about. When they caught sight of the pitiful condition that Hao Ying was reduced to, they lowered their heads solemnly.

Lian Rou had knelt beside Hao Ying"s body to find more clues. Di Xuan hovered over her, vowing to get to the bottom of this.

"Junior Lian, are you able to tell when he was attacked?"

"The bites are still fresh, and the Venomous Scarabs have not been feeding on his flesh for too long. I would say…two hours ago at the most."

Tang Qi Hong and I exchanged a look. Two hour ago, we were still in the midst of her frantic blacksmithing process. To think that such a vicious murder took place so nearby, just a few blocks away from her forge.

"Two hour ago…" Di Xuan seemed to be considering something. He glanced at me suspiciously. "Where were you two hours ago?"

"Wu has been with me the entire time," Tang Qi Hong replied in my stead. "He"s my a.s.sistant. I had him help me with blacksmithing and forging artifacts the whole morning. We"ve only just left my place together when we heard Junior Yun shouting."

"That"s right. We were there too."

I almost fell over when Zi Xiao Ji spoke up. I had almost completely forgotten about her and her bodyguards. Apparently Zi Xiao Ji, Zhao Shi and Da Ge had taken up a corner in the exterior of Hao Ying"s pavilion to look for clues. I glanced at Zhao Shi and she shook her head. Da Ge also looked uncharacteristically solemn, his usually genial face devoid of his usual mirth.

"Whoever the a.s.sailant is, he"s good. He covered his tracks." Da Ge turned to look at Di Xuan. "He"s most likely a professional a.s.sa.s.sin."

There was one unspoken suspicion that rang unbidden to our minds. A certain son of the sect leader of the Divine Shadow Sect, who was rumored to have partic.i.p.ated in a.s.sa.s.sinations ever since he was ten was the first person we thought of when it came to professional a.s.sa.s.sins.

"But we have no proof," Di Xuan growled, refusing to believe it.

"I"ve already contacted Elder Zhao," Zhao Shi a.s.sured him, showing him her cellphone for emphasis. "He"ll be here soon."

Her word was as good as gold. Even before five minutes pa.s.sed, Elder Zhao was already there with a cadre of Blood Blades. He stepped through the crowd of inner sect disciples and their a.s.sistants, waving for them to go.

"All of you, leave the scene. This will be under Blood Blades jurisdiction now. We"ll have to investigate the scene, so I"ll ask you not to get in our way."

The inner sect disciples all dispersed, obeying the venerable elder"s instructions. As the black robed investigators inspected the scene, Elder Zhao nodded at Di Xuan as acknowledgement for handling the matter before he arrived, then whispered a few choice words. Di Xuan bowed respectfully and took his leave.

Tang Qi Hong, Lian Rou, Zi Xiao Ji, Zhao Shi, Da Ge and I were amongst those who were about to leave with the rest of the crowd, but Elder Zhao quickly called out to us.

"You guys, remain behind for a bit."

We obeyed and gathered around him. Elder Zhao retrieved his cellphone and dialed a number, contacting someone – most likely Shen Cha. I could hear the senior"s voice from the speaker.

"Liang Shao Yang hasn"t been in his apartment since early this morning."

"Thank you. Please continue with your investigations."

"I will. But Liang Shao Yang is pretty skillful. He managed to evade the vigilance of several of my subordinates a few times, using shadow techniques to sneak away."

"Do what you can."

With that, Elder Zhao hung up and turned to look at us gravely.

"Right now, there is an extremely high chance that Liang Shao Yang is the one who used the Venomous Scarabs both times. However, we have confirmed that Hao Ying was indeed the one who murdered Long He. We found traces of his qi on the weapon used to kill him."

"That can"t be good," I muttered, ill.u.s.trating my penchant for making understatements of the year.

"As you probably already know, Hao Ying was from Divine Shadow Sect before he came to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. he used to train under a renowned a.s.sa.s.sin from Divine Shadow Sect, but the Sect Leader saw his potential in blacksmithing, so he sent him to train under a Shadow Spirit Engraver in the Divine Shadow Sect."

"Shadow Spirit Engraver?" that sounded utterly bada.s.s, if you didn"t mind me saying. Unfortunately, it wouldn"t be appropriate to say that out loud, so I just left it at that, adopting a suitable expression of being impressed.

"That"s right. Three years later, Hao Ying then came to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect to partic.i.p.ate in the entrance exam and was accepted into the sect. he does possess a modic.u.m of talent, which was why he rose to the ranks of the inner sect quickly after being recognized by an inner sect elder. But it was also partially because the Divine Shadow Sect Leader gave a good word about him to that elder, so he has remained grateful to the Divine Shadow Sect Leader ever since."

"Unfortunately, the son of that Divine Shadow Sect Leader doesn"t seem to share that same sort of appreciation for him."

Elder Zhao nodded at my remark. "That"s right. And that very son happens to be Liang Shao Yang."

Er…we already knew that, right?

Zi Xiao Ji exchanged a dark look with Zhao Shi, while Da Ge leaned back with a troubled expression. Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou swallowed nervously, and glanced at me. I merely smiled and shrugged.

"As you probably have already heard, Liang Shao Yang has grown up in the Divine Shadow Sect since young. It is rumored that he had already been sent on a.s.sa.s.sination missions even before he was the age of ten."

Elder Zhao"s expression was complicated and he shook his head with a sigh.

"The Divine Shadow Sect is known for their highly reputed a.s.sa.s.sins. It is said that the moment an a.s.sa.s.sin from the Divine Shadow Sect sets his eye on you, you"re as good as dead."

"Well, he failed. So far, anyway."

Everyone stared at me.

"How can you be so flippant?!" Tang Qi Hong cried. "This is your life we"re talking about, you know?! You"re in terrible danger!"

"Oh, I know," I agreed as I pushed my gla.s.ses up my nose. "But it"s not the first time my life has been targeted. I"ll continue doing the things I"ve been doing up till now. That is, surviving. I"ve survived worse crises and braved more terrifying foes than Liang Shao Yang. If he tries to a.s.sa.s.sinate me again, I"ll have countermeasures in place."

"Wait, before you resort to those countermeasures…" Lian Rou was panicking because a thought had suddenly crossed her head. She turned to Elder Zhao. "Elder Zhao, this Liang Shao Yang is the son of the Sect Leader of the Divine Shadow Sect, right? How do you plan on dealing with this matter? We can"t move too easily or we"ll come into conflict with the Divine Shadow Sect."

"Of course we"ll act according to the rules of our sect!" Elder Zhao turned furious. "I don"t care if he"s the son of the Divine Shadow Sect Leader. Even if he"s the Divine Shadow Sect Leader himself, the moment he breaks the rules of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, we"ll bring justice upon him! This is not the Divine Shadow Sect, do they really think they can do as they like here, kill their fellow sect members and get away with it? We"re on par with the other seven major sects, whether it is the Snow Valley Sect, the Kun Lun Sect, or the Green Dragon Sect, White Tiger Sect, Red Phoenix Sect and Black Tortoise Sect! We"ve earned their acknowledgement not only because of our ability to forge the continent"s finest spirit armaments, but also because we have one of the strongest combat divisions in the continent. The Blood Blades!"

Given how the martial artists of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect were among the strongest in the continent, and that they were also equipped with the finest and most powerful Spirit Engraved armaments that the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect had to offer – in fact, it wouldn"t be an exaggeration to label them as the most well-equipped military force among all the martial arts sects – most sects would think twice…no, think thrice before they dared to invade it.

However…

"I wouldn"t be so sure of that if I were you."

"Huh?" Elder Zhao swiveled toward me, as if he didn"t believe what he had just heard. "Do you doubt the strength of our Blood Blades?"

"No, no. of course I don"t. But that"s not what I"m talking about." sighing dramatically, I turned my gaze to afar. "You claim that you won"t allow anyone to do whatever they like and break the rules of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, but I"m not sure if the other elders share your opinion. They always make exceptions for the most talented individuals and grant them a lot more leeway."

Elder Zhao scowled. "Watch your tone, young man. The Blood Blades will not hesitate to enforce the rules of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect."

"I mean no offense, but…" I shook my head bitterly. "The rules only apply to mediocre people like me and the outer sect disciples. They don"t apply to extraordinarily talented individuals such as Liang Shao Yang."

"What are you implying?" Elder Zhao growled. "That the sect is corrupted?"

"You"ll see what I mean in just a bit." I closed my eyes and sighed. I was almost amused at how predictable this was going to go. I could already guess what would happen in the near future. "It should be happening in about a few minutes" time."

"What will happen?" Zi Xiao Ji demanded, confused.

"You"ll see," I repeated cryptically, much to the frustration of everyone.

Before anyone could yell at me for being inappropriately annoying in the face of such a crisis, one of the hooded Blood Blades rushed toward the gathering. It wasn"t just him. All around us, the inner sect disciples in the surrounding area – as well as their a.s.sistants – were all behaving animatedly and rushing down to the foot of the mountain. The hooded Blood Blade stopped in front of Elder Zhao, trying to catch his breath.

"Elder Zhao! The…the platform in the Lake of Fire! The platform is…!"

"Huh?" Elder Zhao frowned, puzzled. As for me, I gave everyone an I told you so look, but everybody was too busily paying attention to the newly arrived Blood Blade to catch it.

"The Spirit Engraved Pillars are transforming!" the Blood Blade"s voice was terse and anxious. "Liang Shao Yang is beneath one of the Spirit Engraved Pillars, and he has triggered a response from it! Elder Zhao, I think you should go see for yourself!"

The moment they heard that, everyone"s expressions changed (except mine). Without any hesitation, they barreled down, toward the foot of the mountain and headed directly for the Lake of Fire. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed closely.

I knew it. I f.u.c.king knew it. This is so predictable it"s not even funny.

The nine Spirit Engraved Pillars in the Lake of Fire had laid the foundation for the creation and continued existence of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. it was also the greatest evidence for affirming the talent of a Nine-Tailed Fox Sect disciple.

As mentioned before, any outer sect disciple who could trigger a reaction from the Spirit Engraved Pillars and comprehend the mysteries behind the Spirit Engravings inscribed into their marble surface would immediately be promoted into the inner sect, and be treasured and revered by every sect leader and all the elders. They would be seen as the future of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and raised as such, the sect leader and elders not sparing any expense in nurturing them and providing any Spirit Materials the sect had to offer.

For over nine hundred years, ever since the creation of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, there were only thirty-eight people who had successfully triggered a reaction from the Spirit Engraved Pillars and comprehended their arcane nature.

Every single one of these thirty-eight people had become the pride and treasure of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, at least in their corresponding period, anyway. The reason why they deserved such treatment was because they would literally become the central pillar of the sect, the pillar of strength that would support the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and bring them great success. Just look at how spoiled Tang Qi Hong was and you would get the idea.

Speaking of which, over the last couple of decades, Tang Qi Hong and Elder Hai Mo were the only ones who had achieved enlightenment from the arcane Spirit Engravings on the pillars and provoked a response from one of them. Elder Hai Mo was currently the number one elder in the sect, recognized by everyone throughout the Middle Continent as the top blacksmith. Tang Qi Hong had also demonstrated her incredible talent in blacksmithing and Spirit Engraving, and everyone raved over how immeasurable her potential was.

Sure enough, Liang Shao Yang had finally reached the same pedestal as the two, becoming the third person in as many decades to achieve enlightenment from the pillars and trigger a reaction from at least one of them.

Oh wow, I was so jealous.

Tang Qi Hong, Lian Rou, Zi Xiao Ji, Zhao Shi and Da Ge still seemed to be carrying a fair amount of disbelief as they dashed down the mountain, disappearing to the front. Even more impatient than them, Elder Zhao literally disappeared into a blur and streaked toward the foot of the mountain. He didn"t bother waiting for us.

Not that he was obliged to, of course. But it would be nice if we could all go there together, you know?

By the time we reached the floating platform atop the Lake of Fire, we were greeted by a magnificent display of light. Despite night having fallen not too long ago, the platform was illuminated brightly as if it was still day, with floating b.a.l.l.s of light hanging in the air. Countless inner sect and outer sect disciples had gathered to watch the spectacle, their jaws hanging open in awe. Their amazed gazes were transfixed upon a single glowing Spirit Engraved Pillar.

Beneath that single Spirit Engraved Pillar, Liao Shao Yang sat cross-legged, his back straight and his eyes closed as he remained deep in concentration. He was obviously communing with the Spirit Engraved Pillars, or at least the single one where he was seated beneath.

Above the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, despite eight of them remaining silent and unmoved, the seals depicting demons and monsters came to life. The pictures writhed and moved animatedly across the surface, bulging and exuding signs of life so forceful I could feel chilling terror claw its way into my heart despite being at such a vast distance. The foul creatures bellowed soundlessly, squirming and twisting violently in the marble surface as if they were trying to break free and erupt into the materium.

That"s…

I frowned when I saw the astronomical number of golden qi chains that were wrapped around the monsters and demons, restraining them and preventing them from breaking free. The more the demons struggled, the tighter the qi chains would wrap around them, arresting any progress they might have made.

It was only fitting that Liang Shao Yang should sit underneath that specific Spirit Engraved Pillar, which depicted all those malicious monsters and malevolent demons. He was just as ruthless and murderous as the mythical beasts chained to that pillar. I wasn"t surprised that he was able to quickly establish a spiritual connection with those monsters, and even now he was mercilessly leashing them to his will as he squeezed the arcane secrets out of them to gain enlightenment. No doubt he was learning how to engrave malicious Spirit Patterns.

"I see…so he really did comprehend the mysteries of the Spirit Engraved Pillar. That"s how he triggered a response from it so suddenly."

Elder Zhao stopped and stared at Liang Shao Yang"s luminous figure in shock, still deep in disbelief. The demons and monsters continued to cast eerie lights and shadows onto Liang Shao Yang"s still form, gnashing their fangs impotently.

At that same moment…

SCREECH!

A roaring noise thundered from above, and a hovercraft swooped down, unloading its pa.s.sengers.

"It"s the Sect Leader! Sect Leader and Sect Mistress have returned!"

The inner sect and outer sect disciples couldn"t help but yell when they saw the hovering hovercraft, and the people calmly disembarking from within. One of them looked like a handsome young man with his long, black hair tied back into a stylish ponytail, and he was accompanied by a beautiful woman of the same age, her long, auburn hair flowing gently in the night breeze. The couple dropped into the ground not far from the platform, accompanied by a set of bodyguards. Not long after their arrival, the elders of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect arrived as well. I remembered Elder Ying Bi and Elder Tong Pan amidst them.

"Sect Leader and Sect Mistress have finally returned," Tang Qi Hong murmured in a low voice. She was the one who told me they would be back today, so she wasn"t surprised. It was just that so many things were happening at once that she couldn"t help but be taken aback.

"Father! Mother!"

Zi Xiao Ji looked elated at their return, but at the same time, she had a complicated expression on her face at their timing.

I glanced around and noticed that almost every inner and outer sect disciple, master and elder had all emerged from their residences to witness this history-changing event. It had only been a little past evening, shortly after dinnertime, and everyone abandoned whatever they were doing to see what the commotion was about. It didn"t matter if they were cultivating, eating or practicing Spirit Engravings. Everyone could sense the changes in the Spirit Engraved Pillars.

"History has been made."

"I don"t believe it…"

"Of course it had to be Liang Shao Yang…"

The Sect Leader and the Sect Mistress, the six great elders of the sect, the eighteen normal elders, the twenty-seven masters, the fifty-four inner sect disciples (well, fifty-three, now that poor Hao Ying was dead) and over ninety outer sect disciples, were all present. I caught sight of Tong Xue, and he moved over to join us, even as his attention was mainly riveted on the unbelievable scene before him.

"Looks like Liang Shao Yang succeeded after all," he muttered darkly. I shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah."

Despite my nonchalant response, I was impressed by the turnout. The moment Liang Shao Yang triggered a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillar, the entire sect turned out in force to witness it. I glanced as the six great elders dropped in. First Elder Hai Mo was absent, having been away on a mission, and even Sect Leader and Sect Mistress would have missed this phenomenal event had they been even an hour later in their return back to Tushan City.

Sect Leader Zi Shou De and his wife, Da Ji, strode to the front of the platform, sweeping past the overawed disciples. The disciples immediately regained their senses at their presence, and they began bowing and saluting.

"Greetings, Sect Leader! Sect Mistress!"

"Elders!"

Be it inner sect or outer sect disciples, there was no difference in the manner they reverently deferred to the elders and the Sect Leader and his wife. Zi Shou De acknowledged their greetings with a nod, and exchanged a brief glance with Zi Xiao Ji. Remarkably, Zi Xiao Ji exercised restraint and didn"t run over to talk to her parents. Knowing her, she would put aside some time to do that later. For now, this grand occasion was far more important.

Zi Shou Ji"s gaze gleamed as he swept his eyes across the crowd, a smile spreading across his handsome face. After nodding at Zi Xiao Ji and exchanging a father-daughter silent communication, he then acknowledged Elder Zhao"s presence, smiled at his adopted daughter, Tang Qi Hong, and finally rested his gaze upon Liang Shao Yang. I noticed that his wife, Zi Da Ji, also did the same, favoring both Zi Xiao Ji and Tang Qi Hong with a ravishing smile.

"Excellent!"

Zi Shou De was nodding excitedly as he stared at Liang Shao Yang.

"I don"t believe it! To think that we"ve been blessed with another prodigy for the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect! Amazing!"

While he spoke, the monsters and demons finally ceased their struggles and reverted back into inanimate pictures on the marble surface of the pillar. A few seconds pa.s.sed before they completely stopped, the colors and arcane magic in the air fizzling out without a trace.

Having spotted the phenomenon from the air during their return, Zi Shou De and his wife had completely dispensed protocol and rushed to the Lake of Fire with all haste, recognizing the importance and significance of this event. They knew what a historically-changing moment this would be, the Spirit Engraved Pillars having identified another prodigy.

As for me, I remained disturbed when I sensed the deep, dark, abysmal presence stir. It was probing outward, looking for a potential host, and to my pleasant surprise it recoiled in disgust when it came into contact with Liang Shao Yang, having deemed him unsuitable and unworthy. On one hand, I would find it amusing if he actually ended up being possessed by the dark, malevolent ent.i.ty that dwelled beneath the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, but my humor would not last long if the ent.i.ty – whatever it was – intended to ma.s.sacre everyone present.

The dark ent.i.ty seemed to notice my presence, and reached out with creeping, qi tendrils, but I quickly isolated myself, weaving my spirit behind a fortified mental defense. If I was in direct contact with any of the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, that malicious ent.i.ty would have broken through my spiritual barriers and taken over my body near instantly, but the distance proved to weaken its attacks tremendously. Nonetheless, the effort caused me to break out in cold sweat, and my knees slightly buckled.

Refusing to display any sign of vulnerability in the face of Liang Shao Yang"s grand ascension, I forced myself to remain straight. Fortunately, everyone was so transfixed with Liang Shao Yang"s success that they didn"t notice me trembling.

The sect leader, his wife, and the six elders had approached Liang Shao Yang, even as every single inner and outer sect disciple gathered to witness the event. Everyone"s eyes were riveted o Liang Shao Yang"s proud, magnificent figure, filled with envy and longing. I noticed Hu Mei Er, in particular, beginning to fidget restlessly. Liang Shao Yang was now the center of attention, and her intuition that he might be the one for her had proven to be right. A pity that he chose to be the a.s.sistant of Hao Ying instead of following her.

But there was no longer any need for Hao Ying. Having triggered a response in the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, Liang Shao Yang was immediately elevated into the top position among disciples, his path in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect looking to be paved with success and fame. No one would be able to stop his climb upward.

Even as everyone continued to watch him enviously, Liang Shao Yang ignored their gazes and continued to quietly commune with the Spirit Engraved Pillar for a long while. After minutes had pa.s.sed, he finally opened his eyes. Initially, he seemed dazed, but then he finally understood what was going on. With a cold smile, he rose to his feet confidently and turned to sweep his steely gaze over the crowd, the sect leader, the sect mistress and the elders.

That b.a.s.t.a.r.d…

I was suddenly aware of the reason for the triumphant smile. The guy had planned everything. The timing was too perfect, too coincidental. Liang Shao Yang wouldn"t have murdered Hao Ying if he wasn"t confident that he would be able to trigger a response in the Spirit Engraved Pillars. He must have realized that he was coming close to comprehending the intricate mysteries behind the arcane pictures after over three months of meditating and communing with the Nine Spirit Engraved Pillars, and chose his timing very carefully.

For, the moment he became an inner sect disciple and gain recognition for triggering a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars…

"Hurry and greet the sect leader, the sect mistress and the great elders," Elder Tong Pan whispered hastly to the smiling Liang Shao Yang. He nodded and cupped his hands respectfully, all the arrogance from earlier erased.

"Greetings, Sect Leader, Sect Mistress, and Elders…"

"Let"s skip the formalities," Zi Shou De interrupted with an impatient wave of his hand. He grinned as he approached Liang Shao Yang enthusiastically. "What have you learned from the Spirit Engraved Pillar?"

"A single Spirit Engraving…the Divine Demon Seal." Liang Shao Yang paused as he tried to recall more details from his communion, then he shook his head. "I apologize. I have yet to reach a deep enough comprehension…"

"That is fine, that is fine!" Zi Shou De brightened up, delighted. "The Divine Demon Seal! Impressive! Excellent! From today onward, you"re an inner sect disciple. We"ll make arrangements for you to move into the core of the sect!"

"Thank you very much."

Liang Shao Yang bowed respectfully. I wondered how much of it was an act, and how much of it was genuine.

Nodding in satisfaction, Zi Shou De turned toward his wife and the elders.

"Our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect has been truly blessed by the Heavens indeed! In just ten years, two prodigies have appeared in the sect! This is a sign that we"ll prosper and grow stronger! Spread the news and tell every major sect in the Great Zhou Empire that we have another genius who has shown up within our ranks!"

"Dear, don"t get too excited."

Despite the reprimand, Zi Da Ji"s eyes were shining just as excitedly as her husband"s. Zi Shou De laughed.

"Of course, my beloved. But this is truly an occasion to brag about! Who cares about the Five Star Const.i.tution Bai Ning Xue in the White Tiger Sect? Now we have two prodigies!"

Zi Da Ji continued to smile, but she said nothing. She was not the only one who was delighted by the news. The elders, the masters and all the disciples were all bathing Liang Shao Yang in gazes of admiration and jealousy.

"Follow us to the Flame Volcano immediately," Zi Shou De instructed Liang Shao Yang, who was still acting modest. "We"ll need to speak about this, as well as expand on what you"ve learned from the Spirit Engraved Pillar."

"Understood. I shall obey Sect Leader." Liang Shao Yang nodded deferentially. "I look forward to your teachings."

"Of course, of course. You deserve every bit of it." Zi Shou De"s smile expanded further, and then he swept another gaze across the gathered crowd. "Any outer sect disciple who attains enlightenment from any of the Spirit Engraved Pillars shall immediately be promoted to an inner sect disciple! Our sect will spare no resources and do our best to nurture them!"

Even though they were already aware of that, the outer sect disciples couldn"t help but turned to stare at the Spirit Engraved Pillars, their longing intensified. If only it would be that easy. I shook my head, knowing the odds of another prodigy appearing would be near zero.

If you would just place your hand on these pillars…if you would just open your heart to them, you"ll be able to immediately understand them. You"re similar to the spirits imprisoned within these tombs, little friend. If it"s you, you"ll surely…

I cut off the insidious voice that whispered directly to my mind. The malevolent ent.i.ty was still lurking, tethered to its abysmal cage beneath the floating platform. It had found me and was whispering seductively in hopes of convincing me to let down my guard, commune with the Spirit Engraved Pillars aand in doing so become an unwitting host to it.

Like h.e.l.l I would do something as stupid as that. As much as I desired power, it would be pointless if I lost my physical body and became a slave in the process.

But still, I had to hand it to Liang Shao Yang. That was one heck of a stunt he pulled. He really had impeccable timing, having planned everything out from the very beginning. As I suspected, he probably wouldn"t have dared to boldly a.s.sa.s.sinate a senior from the sect if he didn"t have the confidence to decipher the Spirit Engravings on the pillars shortly.

And he was rewarded for it…

I nodded grudgingly in respect. As much as I hated him, I had to acknowledge his strength and cunning. To achieve enlightenment and capture the spotlight in front of every disciple, master and elder in the sect, and receive praise personally from the sect leader…n.o.body but he could pull it off. Well, if someone else could trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars, he would too, but the chances of that happening were near zero. I could try, but I probably would end up triggering the worst response possible – unleashing the malevolent ent.i.ty imprisoned beneath the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars and becoming his host.

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d probably would ma.s.sacre everyone in sight, including my friends in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. I absolutely couldn"t allow that to happen. While I toyed with the idea of trying that out so that I could kill Liang Shao Yang, it would be meaningless if I ended up killing everyone else as well.

Resisting the urge to sigh, I watched resentfully as Sect Leader Zi Shou De, his wife Da Ji, and the six great elders personally led Liang Shao Yang up the volcano. Most likely they would discuss what he had learned from his communion with the Spirit Engraved Pillar. Everyone else who had remained behind to surround the platform were now animated chatting with each other, their voices filled with envy and awe.

"You guys, come with me," Elder Zhao suddenly spoke up, addressing the motley group of me and my friends.