Chapter 369: Enemies Everywhere You Look

Hua Xinfeng returned about an hour later, a hint of delight on her face. “Young Lord, it seems were arrived at just the right time. Tonight, the curtains open on a grand banquet at the Celestial Waters Mountain Villa three miles outside the city.

“The host is the second elder of Secluded Dragon Mountain, Qin Dongxu. He’s invited prominent figures of Shanglin Temple, the Profound Moon Temple, and the Donghua Sword Sect.

“Them aside, there are powerful experts from the Great Qin’s six sword manors and various pre-eminent experts of their respective regions.”

As she spoke, she flipped her hand, revealing a gold-embossed invitation. She said smugly, “And I? I got my hands on an invitation.”

“Are you going to the banquet?” Su Yi arched his brow.

“I’m?not going,” she said.?“We’re?going. They say that Qin Dongxu is going to reveal secrets regarding the ruins of the Immortals’ Sword House and make an important announcement.”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She paused, then laughed. “Of course, more importantly, we can seize this opportunity to get a good look at our competition. That way, when we reach the Sea of Chaotic Spirits and harvest trophies, we’ll be prepared.”

Su Yi thought it over, then said, “That works too.”

After all, he had nothing better to do. Experiencing the bearing of the Great Qin’s cultivators for himself was a decent idea.

Hua Xinfeng’s eyes instantly narrowed into slits, and she said with a hearty laugh, “Young Lord, before we attend the banquet, you’d best disguise yourself. It’d be bad if anyone realized who you were. After all, Shanglin Temple and the Profound Moon Temple both hate you to the bone.”

Su Yi’s brow furrowed slightly, but?then, he?nodded. “Fine.”

Even as he spoke, his bones crackled like beans in a hot wok. His thin frame expanded at speeds visible to the naked eye, becoming taller and broader, while his features went from handsome to unremarkable.

In just a few blinks of an eye, he’d become a completely ordinary, unassuming youth. Even his characteristic calm, detached bearing had vanished without a trace.

Hua Xinfeng’s eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, “Your disguise technique is amazing!”

“Yours is quite good too,” Su Yi said casually.

Hua Xinfeng was stunned, but she didn’t take the bait. She just smiled and said, “Change into clothes that fit, and I guarantee not even keen-eyed, experienced cultivators will recognize you.”

Su Yi laughed.

He was currently using the “Spiritual Embryo Thousand Transformations Incantation.” It didn’t just change one’s appearance; even one’s aura and general “feel” changed.

Only advanced cultivators of the Spirit Dao who’d refined Divine Soul Platforms and condensed divine awareness could see through the Spiritual Embryo Thousand Transformation Platform’s disguise.

….

Dusk.

Lamps illuminated the entire Celestial Waters Mountain Villa, and a throng of attendants and serving girls dressed like butterflies flitted amongst the crowd without pause.

Hua Xinfeng arrived with Su Yi, who’d changed into long white robes. Numerous prominent guests had arrived at the several-dozen-acre villa already.

It wasn’t just the experts of Shanglin Temple, the Profound Moon Temple, and the Donghua Sword Sect. Members of the Great Qin’s imperial family and the six great sword manors were here, as well as prominent, established figures from all across the nation.

The guests included no shortage of martial artists, but even the weakest of them were Xiantian Martial Ancestors. Most had already stepped into the Origin Dao.

It was indeed a grand occasion, a gathering of cultivators.

There was a massive open-air jade platform at the center of the villa, with tables and chairs already neatly arranged on its surface.

The banquet had yet to officially begin, so the guests clustered in groups and chatted among themselves.

Su Yi immediately saw Lan Suo and her master, the Cloudstone Venerate, among the already-seated guests.

Lan Suo currently wore a blue-green dress, and her hair was tied up in a bun, revealing her long, snowy neck. Her features, as exquisite as if they’d been carved by a master artisan, shone with faint luster beneath the light of the setting sun.

She was tall and slender, and even just sitting there casually, she seemed noble, aloof, pure, and enticing. She’d already attracted countless gazes from all across the venue.

The Cloudstone Venerate wore a high-brimmed hat and a wide Confucian Belt. As a high elder of the Great Qin’s Donghua Sword Sect, he was lofty and influential even at an event like this.

This actually makes sense. They’re members of the Donghua Sword Sect; it’s not at all strange that they’d show up here,?thought Su Yi.

There were numerous illustrious figures in attendance, each with their own splendor.

Su Yi quickly saw that the two who’d almost clashed in the skies above the Dongfu Prefectural Capital, Shang Luoyu and Lin Yubei, were here too.

One was the leader of the Donghua Sword Sect’s younger generation, while the other was the master of Red Lotus Sword Manor. They were the most eye-catching figures here.

There were other guests too, but Su Yi didn’t recognize them.

“Young Lord, our seats are over here.” Hua Xinfeng led Su Yi to a remote corner of the jade platform. Those who sat here were of comparatively lower status.

For example, prominent figures of their respective territories. They paled in comparison to those of the nation’s three great cultivation factions.

“This spot won’t attract attention. It’s the most relaxed, too,” laughed Hua Xinfeng.

“Mm.” Su Yi grunted, then reached for a wine jug and started drinking.

“Young Lord, look. That’s Grand Elder Clarifying Truth of Shanglin Temple’s scripture depository. He’s an old monster; he’s been cultivating for three hundred years already,” Hua Xinfeng suddenly transmitted.

Three monks sat in the very first row of seats.

The leader was a venerable old man with willowy whiskers and long, thin white eyebrows. His frame looked as thin and brittle as kindling, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He sat perfectly upright, like an unmovable boulder.

Clarifying Truth.

An Origin Palace Realm cultivator.

He was one of the Shanglin Temple’s three “ancestor” level figures. He practiced the “Meditation of Blooming and Withering”, and he was viewed as holy; his every move could influence all cultivators in the Great Qin.

“A body refiner.” Su Yi glanced at him, then looked away.

Three hundred years, yet he’d only?cultivated to the?Origin Palace Realm? It didn’t matter how strong he was; he didn’t amount to much.

Shang Luoyu and Lin Yubei, the young Earthly Immortals, had far greater potential, and they would walk much further down the path of cultivation.

Of course, that was on the condition that they didn’t die along the way.

Hua Xinfeng transmitted a warning, “Young Lord, you’d best watch out for the old-timer. The chief elder of Shanglin Temple’s Arhat Hall, Lonely River, was his closed-door disciple.”

Su Yi was stunned. He asked with great interest, “Tell me, of those in attendance, who else is most likely my enemy?”

Hua Xinfeng was from the Ten Directions Pavilion, and the information and intelligence at her disposal were naturally far from ordinary.

That was one of the reasons Su Yi was willing to work with them on this operation in the first place.

Hua Xinfeng’s lips curled into a faint smile. “Now that you mention it, you’ve got quite a few enemies here.”

Her gaze shifted imperceptibly toward another side of the platform. “Young Lord, that’s High Elder Gu Qingdu of the Profound Moon Temple. He was the one controlling the Transforming Mountain Tower Ship we saw as we passed through the city’s gates.”

He, too, was seated near the front, and the other cultivators from the Profound Moon Temple clustered around him, like stars gathering around the moon.

Gu Qingdu was big and tall. He was a reserved, powerful-looking middle-aged man with coppery skin. When his eyes opened and closed, they seemed to crackle with electricity, and his gaze was as sharp as a knife. He was extremely imposing.

He was a peak Grain Avoidance cultivator and You Tianhong’s senior apprentice brother. He began cultivating the Dao of the Saber in his youth. A hundred and thirty years had passed since then, and the people of the Great Qin now knew him as the Burning Plains Saber Monarch.

They said that a single swing of his saber could burn plains and set fire to the heavens.

Su Yi nodded. “Is there anyone else?”

Hua Xinfeng then introduced yet another guest.

You Changkong.

He, too, was seated near the front. His hair and beard were as dark as ink, and he wore elegant, scholarly black robes. He was chatting and laughing with those around him, his every gesture graceful and poised.

He was one of the two Origin Palace ancestors of the You Family, the top clan in the Great Qin. By seniority, he was Family Head You Yuandu’s great uncle. His status was so lofty that he could sit side-by-side with the high elders of the nation’s three cultivation factions.

When he heard that this was a cultivator of the You Family, Su Yi naturally understood. This was yet another latent foe.

Hua Xinfeng’s voice suddenly trailed off, and she looked outside. There, she saw a hulking middle-aged man in coarse cloth robes, with long, unkempt hair. He was approaching the jade platform with big strides.

He had two swords strapped diagonally across his back, and his gait was as powerful as a dragon or?tiger’s. His presence was as majestic as a mountain, and he emanated an imposing pressure.

“Sect Head Nie Xingkong of the Great Zhou’s Hidden Dragon Sword Sect!”

“Someone of his status actually came here in person….”

His arrival caused a commotion throughout the venue.

“Fellow Daoist Nie, please, sit with me,” said the withered, brittle-looking Clarifying Truth. His eyes suddenly opened, and he looked directly at Nie Xingkong.

Nie Xingkong promptly strode up to him and sat down.

“Young Lord, yet another enemy has arrived,” said Hua Xinfeng, her expression strange. “Nie Xingkong isn’t simple. Nineteen years ago, he was already one of the Great Zhou’s few Grain Avoidance Realm cultivators, but he’s spent the past nineteen years in seclusion, paying no need to mundane affairs. They say he was preparing to break into the Origin Palace Realm.

“But what you really need to watch out for is that, nineteen years ago, Nie Xingkong ventured into the wilderness of Green Ivy Yao Mountain alongside Shi Fengliu. When he returned, he immediately chose to enter seclusion.”

Su Yi nodded; it seemed he’d anticipated that already. “No wonder I sensed that there was something off about his energy. So, he’s yet another of the Possessed.”

Hua Xinfeng was dumbstruck. A long time passed before she said, “Young Lord, you… You could tell at a glance?”

She’d said all that precisely to tell him that, according to the Ten Directions Pavilion’s analysis of the available information, it was highly likely that Sect Leader Nie Xingkong of the Hidden Dragon Sword Sect was possessed too.

Who’d have thought Su Yi would sense that on his own?

Su Yi said casually, “True cultivation factions all possess secret arts or treasures capable of discovering the Possessed. Only then can they avoid enemies slipping into their ranks unnoticed. It’s naturally not difficult for me to pick up on the distinctive auras of the Possessed.”

Although he said this, the realization that the leader of the Great Zhou’s top holy ground of cultivation had been Possessed surprised him too.

According to Hua Xinfeng, it was highly likely that an otherworld cultivator had taken over Nie Xingkong’s body nineteen years ago, when he and Shi Fengliu ventured onto Green Ivy Yao Mountain.

After all, Shi Fengliu had been one of the Possessed too, and it seemed to have happened on Green Ivy Yao Mountain. Perhaps he’d deliberately targeted Nie Xingkong? The man the sect master had once been stood no chance of overcoming such a calamity at all.

Hua Xinfeng’s eyes sparkled, and she asked curiously, “Then can you tell if there are any other Possessed here at tonight’s banquet?”