24 A Loose end? and News from Ping Xin
------------------------------
Night - Zhu Manor
------------------------------
In the study room, Zhu Wushang is inscribing a formation plate on his hand with the Shoggoth glove he's wearing.
A figure of a goddess-like girl with white-silver hair walking into the study room carrying a tray of a tea set in both of her hand. She's walking beside Zhu Wushang who's turn his face up from what's he working and smiled at her.
"Thank you, Lan'er," Said Zhu Wushang as he placed the formation plate on the table and receive a teacup from a tray that his wife placed it on his desk.
Zhu Wushang sipping a tea that his wife brought and stopped like he just thought of something, as he placed a teacup on his desk and asking his wife.
"Xiao Lan, You said to me last night that you had killed Duke Tian Dong and brought his head here to sacrifice it to me right?"
"Yes husband, Do you want to see it?" Tian Xiulan asked with a smile and brought a cold azure jade box from her storage ring and placed it on the desk. She opens a box cover but frowning at what he saw within the box.
"Impossible!" She quickly picks the head within the box up to examine. She turns the head around to see the face structure of the frozen head that's not the face of Duke Tian Dong at all.
Zhu Wushang frown as he saw the head and call out.
"Blacky! Come here!!"
In a few second a Big Black dog running into the study room and sit down in front of Zhu Wushang desk as it waits for a command from its master.
Zhu Wushang picked the head up from his wife's hand and threw it to Blacky as it opened its jaw wide and gulped down the frozen head in one bite.
"Did you found any strange substance that shouldn't be inside the head?" Asked Zhu Wushang to his dog.
Blacky growled a bit before retching something out as Zhu Wushang quickly produce a white porcelain small plate to contain the blue substance from Blacky mouth.
Zhu Wushang brings the plate that has the blue substance to his face to look at it closely, he touched it with Shoggoth glove, closed his eyes to using spiritual sense to sense it.
In a moment, he opens his eye, Ignites an alchemical fire from the glove and burns the substance away.
"This substance is concise of many substances such as spirit pills like qi condensing pills and all the outside substance that he consume throughout his life that he can't refine it and it stayed within his blood, flesh, and bone." Said Zhu Wushang as he turns to his wife and says.
"The substance that he consume before he died is the flesh transforming pill. According to the books that I had read, It usually uses by the assassin in the ancient civilization to infiltrate into the enemy stronghold by transforming their appearance by consuming a drop of blood from the human they want to transform to." He explained to his wife.
Tian Xiulan closed her mouth in disbelief.
"That means… Duke Tian Dong still alive!"
Zhu Wushang nodded and continued.
"Yes, And from what you told me last night, I bet that he's planning something otherwise, He doesn't bother to use this body double to lure you to that formation." Zhu Wushang silent for a few secs like he thought of something.
"That formation….." He repeated and brought a paper and a set of ink and brush from the desk drawer. He starts to draw a formation on the paper without saying anything. The drawing picked Tian Xiulan interest, and she walked to the side of the desk as she tries not to obstruct her husband work and see what he's been drawing.
The formation in the paper made Tian Xiulan surprised, Its pattern is the same one that entrapped her in the northern battlefield.
"Is this the formation that entrapped you?" Asked Zhu Wushang to his wife.
Tian Xiulan nodded.
"If they are not so desperate. The first rule of the strategist is to not bring himself to be a target in the battlefield unless that strategist had the confidence to come out a victory or had other agenda. And from what you told me, I bet that he didn't seek victory but have other agenda." He explained. Tian Xiulan face paled after what she'd heard. She can't help but panic; Duke Tian Dong is renown because of his intellectual and scheming mind. To be honest, The Great Phoenix Empire would not be one of the five big empires as it is today without Duke Tian Dong plan and strategy in wartime during her grandparent rules.
A lot of great merit causes her grandparent to give him the title of Duke and give him surname Tian, As long as there's no capable heir he would be the one to rule the Great Phoenix empire.
That's why when Duke Tian Dong becomes her parent enemy, He would be a force to reckoned with. That's why for the last two years she couldn't finish Duke Tian Dong off even she had superior strength. Now she blames herself for falling into such a trap.
Zhu Wushang saw her bitter expression, he then smiled and pat his wife's head.
"Don't blame yourself Lan'er, You fight in the prepared battlefield knowing little about the opponent while they know everything about you." He stopped patting her head and continued with his analysis.
"Plus I bet that this Duke Tian Dong background might not be ordinary because he can invite the upper realm cultivator to oppressed my family back then. Whatever he had planned it should already succeed by now no need to hurry, Let's wait for the news from the upper realm for a week, then I'll go to the Imperial continent with you." He smiled to ensure his wife.
[Duke Tian Dong huh? Interesting.] He thinks to himself as he's looking up through the window to the night sky.
------------------------------
Three days passed - Zhu Manor
------------------------------
It's been three days since the two spies incident. Both of the spies are just people from the information broker that put him on a monitor to get some information on him to be sold in the upper realm. Therefore he made a counteroffer to for the information broker through the two spies now he's waiting for both the news of sect from the upper realm and the information broker.
He even gave two of the jade charm that can bypass the cultivation limit law of this lower realm to them. Because he wants to speak with the leader of the upper realm information broker, So he had no choice but to invest something to pick their interest.
He's very comfortable with his life for the past few days. In the morning he cooks for his wife and reading some more books from the Great Library of the Black merchant, practiced some more skill in the books to master it until noon. Then train fatty with the fighting skill and combat arts, make supper for his wife at dusk, talked about the affair of the imperial continent and her family, and enjoy bedtime activity with his wife at night.
"Husband there's a guest at the entrance." The sweet voice od Tian Xiulan resound from the entrance while he's reading the book from the great library of the Black merchant within his study room.
He stopped what he's doing and drives his wheelchair to the entrance of the manor following closely by fatty.
At the entrance, he saw Ping Xin with two people; their cloth tells him that they come from the same place as Ping Xin.
"Fatty, prepare some tea for our guest. We'll talk at the manor garden gazebo."
"Yes! Young master" Fatty response and follow his young master instruction.
Zhu Wushang then turns to Ping Xin.
"Brother Ping Xin, Please follow me."
"Amitabha, Thank you for your hospitality benefactor Zhu" Ping Xin respectably thank Zhu Wushang and follow him to the garden.
In the green and beautiful garden full of wood and medicinal spirits qi from many precious herbs that plant around the garden, This garden should call medicinal herb farm more than the garden, but the way that the medicinal plant arranged is very artistically beautiful.
Ping Xin group feel that the arrangement of the plant is more than meets the eye, but they didn't quite catch on it. But they don't know that if a high skill formation master came here, he would likely to stay here to study this garden even he needs to pay a hefty fee for that.
After a short while, The tea set comes with a group of manor servant and Tian Xiu Lan who sit beside her husband retreat to the side and play the Zither to lull the guest while her husband is negotiating with them.
"Brother Ping Xin, Please speak, What is the conclusion of my offer last time." Zhu Wushang asks while placing the teacup on the table.
"I'm very sorry benefactor Zhu. After much consideration, We The Enlighten Heart Temple cannot accept your offer." Ping Xin said then bring the sutra book out of his chest pocket.
"This is our sutra; we hope Benefactor Zhu recite it when you find the darkness surrounds you. It'll help you find your ways and answer for your heart and mind."
Zhu Wushang eye shone in discerning before it quickly vanishes and become a sad and disappointing eye.
"I see, then please leave I have something to attend to. Fatty send the guest." He calls fatty and sits still on his wheelchair without looking at Ping Xin Direction.
Fatty knew that his master offer had been refused his face looks like he is smelling some stinking rot meet all the time when he sends Ping Xin, group out of the manor.
Tian Xiulan continues to play her soft and relaxing lullaby in hope to soothe her husband disappointment.
"It's their loss to refuse your offer husband, they'll regret it in the future." She tells him with a relaxing smile while playing her Zither as if this is the truth that set in stone.
Zhu Wushang is looking at the sky and sees that it's nearing noontime.
"Lan'er come I'll cook for you." He told his wife and kept the sutra within his storage ring.
Tian Xiulan sees this, She tilts her neck a little in confusion, but her confusion quickly disappears after that and replace with a calm smile. She kept her Zither and followed after her husband wheelchair.
Not far from Zhu Manor, A small group of black cloth man just confirm what they've seen and recorded it in a book that seems to be the raw data from what they've seen daily from monitoring Zhu Wushang.
What they record is {The Enlighten heart temple refuse Zhu Wushang offer}. And the one whose record has the same jade seal the same as the one that Zhu Wushang got from fatty.
This man is the people from the Eternal Empire, And he smiles in satisfaction with the answer from The Enlighten Heart Temple.
------------------------------
Night time - Zhu Manor
------------------------------
In Zhu Wushang bedroom his wife pours the tea for him and walk to close all the window and door gracefully, and Zhu Wushang used his sealing talisman to seal the space around the room. Everything seems normal just like every day but today is different.
Zhu Wushang wave his hand and his deep and profound spirits qi extinguish all the light source within this room then he brings the sutra out of his storage ring.
Tian Xiulan slowly walked to his side and sit beside him and waiting to see what's her husband going to do.
Zhu Wushang opens the sutra and all of the sutra content glowing in light blue within the dark. But the content is not the sutra but its the report and information that he wants to know the most.
"I see, It seems The Enlighten heart temple is fearing someone. or They had the mole inside." He said while reading the content.
{My Apologies for Benefactor Zhu. My Dhamma name is Shi Dao, the Grand Master of The Enlighten heart temple you can think of me as the sect leader. About the offer, we gladly accept it, but we can only tell you in the roundabout way because the Eternal Empire you just offend is the power that we cannot have any hope to fight against them.}
{About the information about your sister. She's training in the Immortal Spirits cave which is the sacred ground of Illusory Immortal sect. This sacred ground time will be faster than the outside world for five-time at the maximum that means if one cultivated within that sacred ground for one year it's equal to cultivated outside for five years. This means you have two years to help her out before her training is finish and they send her to enter the indoctrination ceremony, and it'll make her obey their every word without hesitation even they command her to kill her own parents.}
This paragraph made Zhu Wushang send out the dark, ominous aura unconsciously but the small hand from Tian Xiulan that reach to hold his hand with encouragement makes him jolt back, and those ominous aurae vanish without a trace.
{The Blood Demon sect has been destroyed by the Illusory Immortal Palace, we are investigating their motive behind this action. And The Information broker has double-crossed you they auction one of the two law bypasser and the one who bought it is the Illusory Immortal palace. The other one they gift it to Eternal Empire emissary.]
Zhu Wushang coldly smiles when he read all of its content. It seems like those upper-realm arrogant idiots have some kind of intellectual deficiencies syndrome, so they never learn their lesson and not even bother to study their opponent. Do they really believe that I would give them the law bypasser for them to bite me in the ass later? This made him start to think.
[Is the upper realm has some kind of intelligent degrading plague outbreak?] He starts to wonder about life in the upper realm.
Night - Zhu Manor
------------------------------
In the study room, Zhu Wushang is inscribing a formation plate on his hand with the Shoggoth glove he's wearing.
A figure of a goddess-like girl with white-silver hair walking into the study room carrying a tray of a tea set in both of her hand. She's walking beside Zhu Wushang who's turn his face up from what's he working and smiled at her.
"Thank you, Lan'er," Said Zhu Wushang as he placed the formation plate on the table and receive a teacup from a tray that his wife placed it on his desk.
Zhu Wushang sipping a tea that his wife brought and stopped like he just thought of something, as he placed a teacup on his desk and asking his wife.
"Xiao Lan, You said to me last night that you had killed Duke Tian Dong and brought his head here to sacrifice it to me right?"
"Yes husband, Do you want to see it?" Tian Xiulan asked with a smile and brought a cold azure jade box from her storage ring and placed it on the desk. She opens a box cover but frowning at what he saw within the box.
"Impossible!" She quickly picks the head within the box up to examine. She turns the head around to see the face structure of the frozen head that's not the face of Duke Tian Dong at all.
Zhu Wushang frown as he saw the head and call out.
"Blacky! Come here!!"
In a few second a Big Black dog running into the study room and sit down in front of Zhu Wushang desk as it waits for a command from its master.
Zhu Wushang picked the head up from his wife's hand and threw it to Blacky as it opened its jaw wide and gulped down the frozen head in one bite.
"Did you found any strange substance that shouldn't be inside the head?" Asked Zhu Wushang to his dog.
Blacky growled a bit before retching something out as Zhu Wushang quickly produce a white porcelain small plate to contain the blue substance from Blacky mouth.
Zhu Wushang brings the plate that has the blue substance to his face to look at it closely, he touched it with Shoggoth glove, closed his eyes to using spiritual sense to sense it.
In a moment, he opens his eye, Ignites an alchemical fire from the glove and burns the substance away.
"This substance is concise of many substances such as spirit pills like qi condensing pills and all the outside substance that he consume throughout his life that he can't refine it and it stayed within his blood, flesh, and bone." Said Zhu Wushang as he turns to his wife and says.
"The substance that he consume before he died is the flesh transforming pill. According to the books that I had read, It usually uses by the assassin in the ancient civilization to infiltrate into the enemy stronghold by transforming their appearance by consuming a drop of blood from the human they want to transform to." He explained to his wife.
Tian Xiulan closed her mouth in disbelief.
"That means… Duke Tian Dong still alive!"
Zhu Wushang nodded and continued.
"Yes, And from what you told me last night, I bet that he's planning something otherwise, He doesn't bother to use this body double to lure you to that formation." Zhu Wushang silent for a few secs like he thought of something.
"That formation….." He repeated and brought a paper and a set of ink and brush from the desk drawer. He starts to draw a formation on the paper without saying anything. The drawing picked Tian Xiulan interest, and she walked to the side of the desk as she tries not to obstruct her husband work and see what he's been drawing.
The formation in the paper made Tian Xiulan surprised, Its pattern is the same one that entrapped her in the northern battlefield.
"Is this the formation that entrapped you?" Asked Zhu Wushang to his wife.
Tian Xiulan nodded.
"If they are not so desperate. The first rule of the strategist is to not bring himself to be a target in the battlefield unless that strategist had the confidence to come out a victory or had other agenda. And from what you told me, I bet that he didn't seek victory but have other agenda." He explained. Tian Xiulan face paled after what she'd heard. She can't help but panic; Duke Tian Dong is renown because of his intellectual and scheming mind. To be honest, The Great Phoenix Empire would not be one of the five big empires as it is today without Duke Tian Dong plan and strategy in wartime during her grandparent rules.
A lot of great merit causes her grandparent to give him the title of Duke and give him surname Tian, As long as there's no capable heir he would be the one to rule the Great Phoenix empire.
That's why when Duke Tian Dong becomes her parent enemy, He would be a force to reckoned with. That's why for the last two years she couldn't finish Duke Tian Dong off even she had superior strength. Now she blames herself for falling into such a trap.
Zhu Wushang saw her bitter expression, he then smiled and pat his wife's head.
"Don't blame yourself Lan'er, You fight in the prepared battlefield knowing little about the opponent while they know everything about you." He stopped patting her head and continued with his analysis.
"Plus I bet that this Duke Tian Dong background might not be ordinary because he can invite the upper realm cultivator to oppressed my family back then. Whatever he had planned it should already succeed by now no need to hurry, Let's wait for the news from the upper realm for a week, then I'll go to the Imperial continent with you." He smiled to ensure his wife.
[Duke Tian Dong huh? Interesting.] He thinks to himself as he's looking up through the window to the night sky.
------------------------------
Three days passed - Zhu Manor
------------------------------
It's been three days since the two spies incident. Both of the spies are just people from the information broker that put him on a monitor to get some information on him to be sold in the upper realm. Therefore he made a counteroffer to for the information broker through the two spies now he's waiting for both the news of sect from the upper realm and the information broker.
He even gave two of the jade charm that can bypass the cultivation limit law of this lower realm to them. Because he wants to speak with the leader of the upper realm information broker, So he had no choice but to invest something to pick their interest.
He's very comfortable with his life for the past few days. In the morning he cooks for his wife and reading some more books from the Great Library of the Black merchant, practiced some more skill in the books to master it until noon. Then train fatty with the fighting skill and combat arts, make supper for his wife at dusk, talked about the affair of the imperial continent and her family, and enjoy bedtime activity with his wife at night.
"Husband there's a guest at the entrance." The sweet voice od Tian Xiulan resound from the entrance while he's reading the book from the great library of the Black merchant within his study room.
He stopped what he's doing and drives his wheelchair to the entrance of the manor following closely by fatty.
At the entrance, he saw Ping Xin with two people; their cloth tells him that they come from the same place as Ping Xin.
"Fatty, prepare some tea for our guest. We'll talk at the manor garden gazebo."
"Yes! Young master" Fatty response and follow his young master instruction.
Zhu Wushang then turns to Ping Xin.
"Brother Ping Xin, Please follow me."
"Amitabha, Thank you for your hospitality benefactor Zhu" Ping Xin respectably thank Zhu Wushang and follow him to the garden.
In the green and beautiful garden full of wood and medicinal spirits qi from many precious herbs that plant around the garden, This garden should call medicinal herb farm more than the garden, but the way that the medicinal plant arranged is very artistically beautiful.
Ping Xin group feel that the arrangement of the plant is more than meets the eye, but they didn't quite catch on it. But they don't know that if a high skill formation master came here, he would likely to stay here to study this garden even he needs to pay a hefty fee for that.
After a short while, The tea set comes with a group of manor servant and Tian Xiu Lan who sit beside her husband retreat to the side and play the Zither to lull the guest while her husband is negotiating with them.
"Brother Ping Xin, Please speak, What is the conclusion of my offer last time." Zhu Wushang asks while placing the teacup on the table.
"I'm very sorry benefactor Zhu. After much consideration, We The Enlighten Heart Temple cannot accept your offer." Ping Xin said then bring the sutra book out of his chest pocket.
"This is our sutra; we hope Benefactor Zhu recite it when you find the darkness surrounds you. It'll help you find your ways and answer for your heart and mind."
Zhu Wushang eye shone in discerning before it quickly vanishes and become a sad and disappointing eye.
"I see, then please leave I have something to attend to. Fatty send the guest." He calls fatty and sits still on his wheelchair without looking at Ping Xin Direction.
Fatty knew that his master offer had been refused his face looks like he is smelling some stinking rot meet all the time when he sends Ping Xin, group out of the manor.
Tian Xiulan continues to play her soft and relaxing lullaby in hope to soothe her husband disappointment.
"It's their loss to refuse your offer husband, they'll regret it in the future." She tells him with a relaxing smile while playing her Zither as if this is the truth that set in stone.
Zhu Wushang is looking at the sky and sees that it's nearing noontime.
"Lan'er come I'll cook for you." He told his wife and kept the sutra within his storage ring.
Tian Xiulan sees this, She tilts her neck a little in confusion, but her confusion quickly disappears after that and replace with a calm smile. She kept her Zither and followed after her husband wheelchair.
Not far from Zhu Manor, A small group of black cloth man just confirm what they've seen and recorded it in a book that seems to be the raw data from what they've seen daily from monitoring Zhu Wushang.
What they record is {The Enlighten heart temple refuse Zhu Wushang offer}. And the one whose record has the same jade seal the same as the one that Zhu Wushang got from fatty.
This man is the people from the Eternal Empire, And he smiles in satisfaction with the answer from The Enlighten Heart Temple.
------------------------------
Night time - Zhu Manor
------------------------------
In Zhu Wushang bedroom his wife pours the tea for him and walk to close all the window and door gracefully, and Zhu Wushang used his sealing talisman to seal the space around the room. Everything seems normal just like every day but today is different.
Zhu Wushang wave his hand and his deep and profound spirits qi extinguish all the light source within this room then he brings the sutra out of his storage ring.
Tian Xiulan slowly walked to his side and sit beside him and waiting to see what's her husband going to do.
Zhu Wushang opens the sutra and all of the sutra content glowing in light blue within the dark. But the content is not the sutra but its the report and information that he wants to know the most.
"I see, It seems The Enlighten heart temple is fearing someone. or They had the mole inside." He said while reading the content.
{My Apologies for Benefactor Zhu. My Dhamma name is Shi Dao, the Grand Master of The Enlighten heart temple you can think of me as the sect leader. About the offer, we gladly accept it, but we can only tell you in the roundabout way because the Eternal Empire you just offend is the power that we cannot have any hope to fight against them.}
{About the information about your sister. She's training in the Immortal Spirits cave which is the sacred ground of Illusory Immortal sect. This sacred ground time will be faster than the outside world for five-time at the maximum that means if one cultivated within that sacred ground for one year it's equal to cultivated outside for five years. This means you have two years to help her out before her training is finish and they send her to enter the indoctrination ceremony, and it'll make her obey their every word without hesitation even they command her to kill her own parents.}
This paragraph made Zhu Wushang send out the dark, ominous aura unconsciously but the small hand from Tian Xiulan that reach to hold his hand with encouragement makes him jolt back, and those ominous aurae vanish without a trace.
{The Blood Demon sect has been destroyed by the Illusory Immortal Palace, we are investigating their motive behind this action. And The Information broker has double-crossed you they auction one of the two law bypasser and the one who bought it is the Illusory Immortal palace. The other one they gift it to Eternal Empire emissary.]
Zhu Wushang coldly smiles when he read all of its content. It seems like those upper-realm arrogant idiots have some kind of intellectual deficiencies syndrome, so they never learn their lesson and not even bother to study their opponent. Do they really believe that I would give them the law bypasser for them to bite me in the ass later? This made him start to think.
[Is the upper realm has some kind of intelligent degrading plague outbreak?] He starts to wonder about life in the upper realm.
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