Root of Old Affairs Part 1

Zhang Jingmo actually didn't have a very good temper...

Otherwise, he wouldn't have held a grudge for several lifetimes over what Lu Guijiu did to him. And because of Lu Guijiu, Zhang Jingmo also disliked others touching him without permission. That's why when facing Gu Niancang's malicious teasing, he didn't give Gu Niancang any face.

Earlier at the auction, Zhang Jingmo had felt an oppressive gaze, but the Gu Niancang in front of him only had Foundation Establishment cultivation, clearly not the owner of that gaze.

A mouthful of Zhu Yan's Yang spiritual fire quickly set the entire room ablaze.

Standing in the flames, Gu Niancang looked at Zhang Jingmo with an unusually cold expression and said, "My father actually placed all his hopes on someone like you. I heard you even went to the Kunlun's Peak. I wonder which sect's young master you are."

Zhang Jingmo didn't know what Gu Niancang meant, nor did he care. With a wave of his hand, the spiritual fire in the room became even more intense, instantly threatening to reduce the room to ashes.

Gu Niancang said coldly, "You're courting death." As he spoke, he shook out a long, ink-black ribbon that emitted a strange fragrance. Zhang Jingmo only took one breath before realizing something was wrong and quickly sealed his five senses with spiritual energy.

Gu Niancang immediately attacked with the long ribbon. Zhang Jingmo dodged left and right as the two fought from inside to outside the room.

The auction site of the Giant Devourer was near the sea. It was already dark and there weren't many people around, so the fighting pair went unnoticed for a while.

Zhang Jingmo didn't want to prolong the battle. After all, the Kun Sea where the Giant Devourer was located was their sphere of influence. As an outsider, Zhang Jingmo would be at a disadvantage no matter what.

He let out a low shout, and the spiritual energy on his body surged.

Caught off guard, Gu Niancang was injured on the shoulder by Zhang Jingmo's sword energy. He stared at Zhang Jingmo for a few moments before laughing, "You've actually reached the Golden Core stage."

Zhang Jingmo didn't reply, but his attacks became even fiercer.

Gu Niancang was at the late Foundation Establishment stage. He originally thought bullying a mid Foundation Establishment Chen Baicang would be enough. But he didn't expect the person in front of him to have hidden his strength. Coupled with Zhang Jingmo's rich combat experience, Gu Niancang was actually losing ground under Zhang Jingmo's onslaught.

Zhang Jingmo showed no mercy, seeking to end the battle quickly.

However, the more injuries Gu Niancang sustained, the brighter his smile became, though it was mixed with a vicious flavor. He said, "Chen Baicang - I'll remember you."

As his words fell, Zhang Jingmo's sword was about to pierce through his chest. Gu Niancang's black ribbon blocked Zhang Jingmo's sword, but was directly cut in half. He retreated a few more steps and said ominously, "You're actually so ruthless."

At this moment, Zhang Jingmo really wanted to tell the person in front of him directly: Are you sick? There were many people Zhang Jingmo had wronged, but they definitely did not include Gu Chenshan and Gu Chenjiang.

Not to mention this Gu Niancang, whom he had never met before and who had been causing trouble for Zhang Jingmo at every turn since appearing - and that inexplicable name, Gu Niancang*? Zhang Jingmo was extremely grateful that he hadn't told Gu Chenjiang his real name, otherwise he estimated he would have been disgusted to death.

*T/N: Niancang means 'missing Cang'.

Zhang Jingmo didn't want to respond to Gu Niancang with a single word. He just wanted to hurry up and chop the person in front of him with his sword. But this idea was obviously not practical, because Zhang Jingmo felt the strong gaze he had sensed at the auction again. Moreover, this time, the gaze fixed on Zhang Jingmo as if he were a dead man.

Zhang Jingmo's eyes darkened slightly, but his hands stopped moving. He said coldly, "Come out." As soon as these three words left his mouth, Zhang Jingmo abruptly raised his body. He looked only to see a dense array of spiritual swords stabbing toward the place where he had just been standing. These spiritual swords were no bigger than a finger, but there were over a hundred of them.

Seeing this sword formation, Zhang Jingmo's heart stirred as he guessed the identity of the person coming.

Having guessed the identity of the arrival, the originally tense expression on Zhang Jingmo's face calmed down. He said, "Dayan Sect?"

A moment later, a woman appeared in front of Zhang Jingmo. This woman's features were somewhat similar to Gu Niancang's, clearly indicating a blood relationship.

She didn't expect Zhang Jingmo to immediately call out her identity and her expression was not pleasant.

Zhang Jingmo put on a fake smile, bowed to the woman in front of him, and said, "Baicang didn't know Dayan Sect's senior was here. It's just that Baicang is a little curious, even the esteemed Dayan Sect has produced a demonic cultivator?"

The woman said coldly, "What nonsense are you talking about? Who is a demonic cultivator? Boy, be careful with your words, or watch out for your tongue."

Zhang Jingmo said expressionlessly, "Oh, perhaps Baicang was mistaken."

Gu Niancang's body was full of wounds inflicted by Zhang Jingmo. But at this moment, he wasn't complaining, but smiling. He said, "Great-grandmother, how about you chop off his limbs and give them to me?"

Hearing this, Zhang Jingmo's eyes grew even colder.

The woman Gu Niancang called great-grandmother looked at Gu Niancang with an especially doting gaze. She said, "Not this time, next time okay?"

Gu Niancang seemed a little dissatisfied, "Great-grandmother, you promised me before."

The woman said, "Be good." Previously, in her eyes, Zhang Jingmo's cultivation was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. With her late Golden Core cultivation, killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator was no different from crushing an insect, so she readily agreed. But now Zhang Jingmo had revealed mid Golden Core cultivation. Although she was still unafraid, for some reasons, she didn't want to start a war on the shores of the Kun Sea at this time.

Zhang Jingmo's expression was somewhat of a wry smile, but the look in his eyes towards Gu Niancang was icy cold.

Gu Niancang said, "Great-grandmother, are you going to let him go? He already knows that I..."

The woman interrupted Gu Niancang, "He doesn't know anything." Then she turned her head and said to Zhang Jingmo expressionlessly, "Right?"

If it were normal times, Zhang Jingmo would definitely mock the woman. With his current cultivation, unless it was a Nascent Soul old monster, he had the strength to fight. After guessing the woman's sect, he estimated he had a 70% chance of defeating her.

But now he had more important things to do. Temporarily swallowing this anger was not impossible.

Zhang Jingmo pretended to be angry and said, "You say I didn't see it, so I didn't see it?"

That woman seemed to have great disdain for Zhang Jingmo. She said, "What do you want then?"

Zhang Jingmo mumbled for a while but couldn't say a word, perfectly portraying the image of someone who wanted to save some face but was afraid of making promises he couldn't keep.

Seeing this, the woman's eyes showed even deeper disdain. "Speak."

Zhang Jingmo hesitated for a moment again, but suddenly seemed to remember something. He deliberately said, "I came to Giant Devourer to buy something! The Dunhuang lamp I won at the auction before, you haven't given it to me yet. If you give it to me, I... I will pretend this never happened."

The woman said coldly, "I can give you the item, but you have to make a karmic vow that you will not spread what you saw today."

Zhang Jingmo nodded dissatisfiedly.

The woman said, "Give him the lamp."

Gu Niancang was injured, his face slightly pale, but he was perceptive enough to see that his ancestor was in a bad mood. So although he was resentful, he still called someone to bring over the Dunhuang lamp.

Zhang Jingmo took the lamp from the servant's hands, made the karmic vow, and then turned and left without hesitation.

Gu Niancang stared at Zhang Jingmo's back, his eyes extremely gloomy.

The woman explained, "Recently, the sect has discovered signs of a secret realm appearing on the shores of the Kun Sea. It's not suitable to fight here for the time being. Besides, if your cultivation of the demonic path is spread by him, although it won't cause major problems, it will still have some impact."

Gu Niancang said, "Ancestor, when will my cultivation surpass his?"

The woman laughed, "Don't be impatient, my dear grandson. With your cultivation path, in five hundred years, your cultivation will be able to suppress this Chen Baicang." - Provided that Chen Baicang doesn't break through again.

But it seemed that this Chen Baicang was only at the middle stage of Golden Core realm. In five hundred years, it was impossible for him to form a Nascent Soul.

Gu Niancang said, "Five hundred years? That's too long..."

The woman said, "Five hundred years is too short." After saying that, she laughed loudly.

Gu Niancang silently looked in the direction Zhang Jingmo left, who knew what he was thinking.

Zhang Jingmo escaped a fierce battle. After placing the Dunhuang lamp into his Sumeru Ring, he left the seaside and returned to the tavern, where he circulated a thread of spiritual energy to probe the whereabouts of the avatar he had left behind.

However, as he expected, the avatar he left with Gu Chenjiang and Gu Chenshan no longer responded - this was completely different from the previous 120+ lifetimes. In the past 120+ lifetimes, as long as Zhang Jingmo left an avatar, it would return to him decades later, bringing news of Gu Chenjiang and Gu Chenshan's natural deaths.

But in this lifetime, it didn't.

And because of Lu Guijiu, Zhang Jingmo overlooked a small detail.

It really was a chain reaction.

After Zhang Jingmo single-mindedly wanted to discipline Lu Guijiu, many uncontrollable changes appeared in his life.

Being captured by Tianlu of Kuchan Valley was one thing, but a demonic cultivator named Gu Niancang also appeared. Zhang Jingmo knew that this change must be related to him, but for a while, he couldn't grasp the context of the matter.

Unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. Anyway, sooner or later, those two would come looking for him.

Zhang Jingmo set up a formation in the room, and only then did he take out the Dunhuang lamp from his Sumeru Ring.

The Dunhuang lamp was very rustic in appearance, with lifelike celestial maidens carved on it. Although thumb-sized, the expressions and movements of these celestial maidens were all vivid, as if they were about to fly down from the lamp.

Seeing this lamp and thinking that he saved a few thousand spirit stones, Zhang Jingmo's mood finally improved a bit. He let Zhu Yan spit out a ball of spirit fire to light the wick.

The Dunhuang lamp did not need oil. As long as there was spiritual energy, it would continue to burn.

Zhang Jingmo held the Dunhuang lamp in his hand. After its wick was lit by Zhu Yan's fire, he began to exert force, intending to directly crush this lamp made of unknown material.

As Zhang Jingmo exerted force, the wick of the Dunhuang lamp flickered a few times. Seeing this, Zhang Jingmo added a bit more force. After the flame on the wick stabilized again, he began to increase the force.

As Zhang Jingmo's force gradually increased, cracks began to appear on the Dunhuang lamp. Then, with a soft sound, the lamp actually shattered.

However, after the lamp body shattered, the wick of the Dunhuang lamp was actually still burning. Zhang Jingmo gently removed the lamp pieces one by one and quickly obtained what he wanted.

It was a key, a tiny bronze key. A wick was wrapped around the key, and that wick was still slowly burning.

After the lamp body shattered, the wick burned much faster. Soon, the wick was completely burned to ashes, leaving only that small bronze key that didn't seem to have anything special about it.

Zhang Jingmo put the key into his Sumeru Ring, then used Zhu Yan's fire to burn the shattered lamp pieces in one go.

Zhu Yan seemed very interested in the ashes of the burned lamp, directly standing on the ground and pecking at the ashes bit by bit.

Zhang Jingmo let it be and began to think about other things in his mind.

The woman Gu Niancang called "Ancestor" was a disciple of the Dayan Sect. Since she had the cultivation of the late Golden Core stage, her status in the Dayan Sect must not be low.