Sending the Divine

送神

sending-the-divine

One Arrow

The news of the Jianchen Temple spread quickly, and the Ku Mountain Sect became the focus of attention in the martial arts world.
Chen Qianfan's magic weapon once again saved everyone's lives. There was still a lot of "fuel" from the demon corpses left on the wooden boat. Although the speed could not compare to that of an Arrow Horse, the five of them traveled day and night, and it would only take seven days to return to Zongwu Mountain.
Who could have imagined that the Ku Mountain Sect would escape so quickly? The defenses in the southern part of the Central Plains were not yet complete, so the possibility of exposure was small.
Sect Leader Shi was extremely aggrieved about having to hide his precious flag. Apart from that, he was abnormally well-behaved on the way, to the point of being a bit abnormal.
When the wooden boat stopped, he would rise from the snow and practice martial arts in a proper manner. When the wooden boat did not stop, Shi Jingzhi would study Chen Qianfan's notebook - the Living Puppet Spell was not a true initiation technique. Once the technique was withdrawn, Chen Qianfan's experience and knowledge would flow away like water.
Fortunately, Shi Jingzhi had the ability to remember everything he saw, so although he could not retain a hundred percent of the other person's strength, thirty or forty percent was still possible.
However, just the two words "retain" required Shi Jingzhi to strike while the iron was hot, working tirelessly day and night.
Seeing Shi Jingzhi like this, Yin Ci felt somewhat at ease. Shi Jingzhi had not been disturbed by the hint of emotion that day, so no matter how he planned to deal with those feelings, he only needed to stand by his side and act according to the situation.
Even if Shi Jingzhi emphasized "cooperation", he had been his mentor after all, and had an emotional advantage. If he were to make a move for his own desires and willfully guide this person's emotions at a critical moment, it would be no different from "using" him.
And in this world, the only person he didn't want to use again was Shi Jingzhi.
With his mind made up, Yin Ci's actions did not change at all. The two remained as close as ever, but occasionally there was some ambiguous teasing. That delicate heartbeat was spread out to bask in the sun. After a few exchanges, not to mention Shi Jingzhi, even Yin Ci himself was almost fooled by himself.
It was as if that day under the lantern, Shi Jingzhi was only joking, not flirting. And he was only startled, not moved.
This was also good. Wandering the world for a hundred years, he was probably the most indifferent person in the world. Even if he returned to the world, his heart was covered with thick soil, unable to grow any vivid love or hate. Just a wisp of lingering yearning was able to shine a light on his heart, which was already an unexpected joy.
As a result, when they reached a small town near Zongwu Mountain, Shi Jingzhi quietly crept up to Yin Ci's side again.
The group specifically chose desolate and remote places to walk. Now that they were about to return to the "human world", Shen Zhu took the lead to go out and investigate the situation.
Yan Qing fought with Su Si as usual, with a desperate stance, and was now able to fight with Su Si in a realistic manner - since the battle of the secret scriptures, this descendant of the Yan family had become even more silent than before. Yin Ci could see that this person had a mental knot, but Yan Qing was a straightforward person who couldn't come up with any vicious or dangerous tricks, so he just let him be.
After all, he was more worried about the other person.
Yin Ci flipped the rabbit on the grill and glanced at the "other person" who had come close. Shi Jingzhi was covered in sweat from practicing martial arts. Before he arrived, the sound of his stomach growling came first.
However, Sect Leader Shi's top priority was not to ask for food. He took advantage of the fact that no one was around and asked a question with a heavy mind -
"Ah Ci, how many years have you actually lived?"
Yin Ci stuffed a roasted rabbit leg into his hand: "A little over three hundred years, I can't remember clearly. Why?"
Shi Jingzhi didn't mind the heat and took a bite of the crispy and oily rabbit meat, mumbling in relief, "That's still quite young."
The question was abrupt and the answer was inexplicable. Yin Ci glanced at Shi Jingzhi suspiciously, feeling that this person's definition of young must have gone seriously wrong: "Boy, are you mocking me?"
"I was just thinking, if you had lived for a thousand years, what would we do - even Senior Chen hadn't investigated things from so long ago. More than three hundred years ago, during the founding of the Dayun, there should still be a lot of records left."
It seemed that this person had not yet learned how to prioritize. Yin Ci didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "As for the matter of the immortal body, it won't be too late for you to study it with me after you survive this year's winter."
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in Shi Jingzhi's tone: "I want to know about you, it has nothing to do with the immortal body."
"Don't waste time, for now, food should still be the priority." Yin Ci's hand that was roasting the meat paused, and the knife tip picked up another piece of meat.
"Before the seal was lifted, I spent nine hours a day trying to survive, two hours resting, and one hour being afraid. Now that I remember everything, it's still nine hours trying to survive, two hours resting... and the remaining hour thinking about you, how can that be considered a waste?"
Shi Jingzhi leaned against Yin Ci, using the action of biting the meat as an excuse.
Sect Leader Shi's movements were too big, and Yin Ci hurriedly put away the knife, fearing that this boy would cut his mouth. His heart softened at what this person said, and then he inwardly said it was not good - it seemed that recently he had been teasing back and forth without restraint, and this boy's thickness of skin was increasing day by day, completely mastering the art of tit-for-tat.
The flames rolled over the cut raw meat, and the dark red meat slowly turned pinkish-white, the bloody smell turning into an enticing aroma.
Shi Jingzhi seemed to have sensed Yin Ci's wavering, and his tone became even more serious: "The past few days on the wooden boat, everyone was there, and you and I couldn't talk at ease. I specially spent ten hours a day trying to train, and now I've accumulated a lot of time to be alone with you. People always need to rest. Ah Ci, give me some more meat."
Sect Leader Shi's words were extremely skillful, mixing sweet talk with a straight face while asking for meat to eat. Yin Ci didn't know for a moment whether this teasing was intentional or unintentional. He couldn't think of an appropriate counterattack, so he could only cut a piece of meat for Shi Jingzhi and feed it to him with the tip of the knife.
As a result, Sect Leader Shi happily took a bite of rabbit meat and almost choked to death on the spot -
With a swoosh and a miserable howl, an arrow came from nowhere and landed on Shi Jingzhi's head, trembling. It couldn't stand steady and slowly fell to the ground. Shi Jingzhi was caught off guard, and before he could swallow the rabbit meat in his mouth, a thin stream of blood flowed down from the top of his head.
There was also a note tied to that unlucky arrow.
Sect Leader Shi wiped away the tears that had choked out and untied the note. A "scram" written in a vigorous style came into view, giving him a taste of the feeling of "sitting at home and being scolded from the sky".
The hard-earned affection was shattered, and Yin Ci's face turned ugly: "A master."
This arrow was definitely accurate, but it had no killing intent or true qi. It came fiercely, but it couldn't even stab Shen Zhu's sparrow to death, so neither of them noticed it, allowing it to have the honor of scraping Sect Leader Shi's head.
Compared to the power of this arrow, the "arrow from the sky" itself was the shocking part.
Beneath Zongwu Mountain, the wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see. There was not a single person in sight. Apart from his own people, Yin Ci could not sense even a hint of human presence. Who knew from how far away this arrow had been shot? Based on Yin Ci's experience, he could only determine a relatively accurate direction.
This arrow came from Zongwu Mountain.
Yin Ci and Shi Jingzhi exchanged a glance, and the relaxed atmosphere from before instantly vanished.
After the news of the "Jianchen Temple Tragedy" spread, who in the jianghu world didn't know that the Ku Mountain Sect had found clues at Jianchen Temple? The major sects naturally wouldn't give up at this point.
Compared to the tiny Ku Mountain Sect, they could still play the numbers game - Jianchen Temple was related to Kongshi, and Kongshi's whereabouts ended at Zongwu Mountain. Without any leads, they would just have to search the hard way.
Unfortunately, while Zongwu Mountain was vast, it was not truly a land without an owner.
The Ling Sect's headquarters was located on the southern side of Zongwu Mountain, guarding their territory using the remnants of the ancient formation on the mountain. Although the Ling Sect didn't manage to snatch many treasure maps or Buddha beads, when it came to frustrating the jianghu people, they never tired of it.
Now, with the advantage of terrain, they took the concept of harming others without benefiting themselves to the extreme, just short of shouting at the entire jianghu, "If I can't find it, no one can!"
According to Shen Zhu, as soon as the Ling Sect received news about Jianchen Temple, they decisively activated the "Fog Tomb Formation". The demonic fog was thick, covering all the mountains near the Ling Sect. Back then, Yan Budu and Kongshi had their decisive battle near the Ling Sect's main altar. No matter where Kongshi died, he must have been within the coverage of the fog formation.
The other sects naturally wouldn't give up so easily, especially Taiheng, who held the most maps. Taiheng's forces constantly clashed with the Ling Sect, and the Red Hook Sect was on the side fanning the flames. The area around Zongwu Mountain was quite lively.
It was just unknown which group shot this highly insulting arrow.
Shi Jingzhi, who had finally filled his stomach, resentfully picked up the arrow. He wiped some of his own blood and smiled sinisterly, "These past few days, I've been researching techniques but haven't had a chance to use them. Perfect, this even saves me the trouble of finding materials - Ah Ci, let's go for a post-meal stroll."
Using his own fresh blood as a material, he drew a formation in the air above the arrow. The arrow floated up unsteadily, its shaft emitting a faint layer of blood light. After a moment, it finally stabilized itself and shot towards Zongwu Mountain, leaving a dazzling crimson light trail.
Master and disciple stepped on the wind and rose, exerting their qinggong to closely follow the arrow.
This chase actually took them six or seven li away. The sect leader's new tracking technique was quite useful. That arrow was like a dazed hunting dog, mercilessly rushing towards its master -
With a sigh, a large hand caught the arrow and effortlessly snapped it in two.
"This is not a place for small sects to come, even if you know some techniques."
Coincidentally, the culprit was also wearing a mask. He had a tall and sturdy build, a deep voice, and wore plain, ordinary clothes like a rogue cultivator without any sect affiliation. However, judging solely from his steady bearing, this person was probably in his early forties, not yet fifty, with martial arts still above Shi Zhongyu.
Just based on his control over that arrow earlier, this person's skill level might even be a notch above the current Shi Jingzhi.
"The situation at Zongwu Mountain is tense. I've lost count of how many little guys like you trying to ride on luck that I've driven away - stay out of the fights between the major sects. Lest you get caught in the crossfire and lose your little lives."
Although caught red-handed, the archer's tone was still not very polite, and he seemed to be in a bad mood.
Shi Jingzhi wiped the blood from his forehead and didn't directly respond, "May I ask for the hero's name?"
"Nameless, sectless. Alright, hurry up and leave. If I see you again, I'll... hiss!"
Before he could finish speaking, Yin Ci had already thrust out with his sword. This strike was not heavy with killing intent, but extremely fast, carrying enough momentum to draw blood. The two were not far apart, and the archer's expression changed drastically. He twisted his body and narrowly dodged, leaving a shallow cut on his abdomen.
"You little..."
"Master, we may not know his name, but his sect is quite obvious."
Yin Ci neatly sheathed his Hanging Shadow Sword, his eyes fixed on the archer.
"Those few steps just now were the Taiheng Footwork."

Sending the Divine

Sending the Divine

Chapter 90 - One Arrow

Skye