Ch 59: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

“The Yudao Immortal Sect?”

Mu Xing felt this name was very familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Beside him, Meng Ge knew that he had always been living with Yue Fubai in the human cities and might not know much about the cultivation world, so he explained: “The Yudao Immortal Sect is one of the seven great Daoist sects.”

When Mu Xing heard this, he finally understood.

One of the seven great Daoist sects—the Yudao Immortal Sect.

The very sect to which his parents, who had dug out his spiritual root and abandoned him, had belonged.

He immediately lost interest in speaking with this group of people, waved his hand, and said: “No sect, no clan, just a nobody.”

He looked at the female cultivator before him: “May I ask if you could step aside and let us pass?”

Xu Mengyue, also a daughter of a prestigious sect and a favored child of heaven, naturally felt uncomfortable seeing Mu Xing’s attitude.

But she did not want to cause further trouble, so she said nothing, and moved aside: “Please!”

Seeing Mu Xing and Meng Ge’s departing figures, the white-robed youth snorted: “Doesn’t appreciate others’ kindness!”

Xu Mengyue also said: “Since they don’t accept our goodwill, there’s no need to insist. Let’s go, junior brother.”

But the male cultivator behind them gazed at the now-empty staircase, deep in thought.

Xu Mengyue noticed and asked curiously: “Senior Brother Wei, what’s wrong?”

That Senior Brother Wei came back to himself and smiled: “It’s nothing, I just felt that the cultivator traveling with Meng Ge seemed somewhat familiar.”

Yet he couldn’t remember where he had seen him.

After all, with that appearance and bearing, if he had seen him before, it would be impossible not to have any impression.

Xu Mengyue shook her head: “I’ve also never heard of any sect producing such a genius.”

A sixteen-year-old Golden Core cultivator—even within the seven great sects, such a person would be carefully nurtured as a core disciple.

Up until now, none of them had suspected that Mu Xing was not a Daoist cultivator.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Meng Ge led Mu Xing to a room on the east side of the second floor.

Before they could knock, the door opened from inside.

Standing there was a lively, pretty young girl in red, who smiled brightly when she saw them: “Finally, I’ve been waiting for you two.”

She looked curiously at Mu Xing.

Meng Ge and Mu Xing entered. Inside the room, besides the red-clothed girl, there was also a tall man whose left half of the face was covered with a black birthmark, giving him a fearsome appearance.

Meng Ge gave a simple introduction: “Xu Ce, Xu Jiao. They are siblings.”

Then he looked at Mu Xing: “Mu Xing, a disciple of one of my uncles.”

When Xu Jiao heard the introduction, she was surprised: “A disciple of your uncle? Are there really Daoist cultivators who would be friends with Lord Wuchang?”

Meng Ge shot her a cold glance: “Who said Mu Xing is a Daoist cultivator?”

What?

The Xu siblings immediately turned their eyes toward Mu Xing.

Xu Jiao looked him up and down in shock: “Stone-face, you mean to say, this Brother Mu Xing is a cultivator of demonic Dao?”

Mu Xing nodded, smiling: “That’s right.”

Xu Jiao blurted out: “What path do you cultivate?”

Seeing Meng Ge’s gaze sweep over her, she realized her slip and laughed: “I was just asking casually.”

The four of them were all young. Aside from the taciturn Meng Ge, the other three were open and straightforward, and they quickly grew familiar.

Hearing Mu Xing say that he had always lived among immortals and didn’t know much about the cultivation world, Xu Jiao warmly began sharing with him all sorts of stories and gossip about the world of cultivators.

After an hour passed, Xu Jiao already regarded him as a good friend.

Meng Ge and Xu Ce went downstairs to fetch food.

Xu Ce said: “Although my sister looks gentle, deep down she’s the proudest of all. It’s rare for her to get along so well with Brother Mu.”

Meng Ge thought for a moment, then said: “Not just Xu Jiao.”

Including himself, Xu Ce, and even those disciples from the Yudao Immortal Sect earlier who couldn’t help but approach.

Brother Mu seemed to naturally win the goodwill of cultivators.

Xu Ce understood what he meant, and said with surprise: “Could it be related to the path Brother Mu cultivates?”

Meng Ge shook his head: “I don’t know.”

Xu Ce then asked: “You should at least tell me, which sect Brother Mu belongs to?”

Meng Ge said coldly: “No sect. If you want to know, ask him yourself.”

As soon as the two entered the room, they heard Xu Jiao let out a cry of indignation.

Xu Ce quickly strode inside. Seeing the two sitting there safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked: “What’s wrong?”

Xu Jiao glared at Mu Xing: “Brother, do you know what Mu Xing just said to me?”

Xu Ce asked curiously: “What did he say?”

It turned out that as the two were chatting, the topic had turned to cultivation.

Xu Jiao had said: “It took me a year to advance to Foundation Establishment. Then I was stuck at the Golden Core bottleneck for five whole years, and only succeeded after gaining a fortunate opportunity. You’re so young, how did you progress so fast? Don’t tell me you were nourished with spirit medicine from the womb, and were already at Foundation Establishment the moment you were born, just waiting for your mindset to catch up?”

But then the person beside her looked blank and asked: “Bottleneck? What’s that?”

Mu Xing truly didn’t know what a bottleneck was.

“Isn’t it just cultivating all the way—when you reach Foundation Establishment, you advance to Foundation Establishment, and when you reach Golden Core, you advance to Golden Core?”

Xu Jiao: ???

She looked at Mu Xing like he was a monster: “When you advance in cultivation, your spiritual power is already full, but you’re still just one step away from breaking through. That’s the bottleneck every cultivator experiences.”

She carefully asked Mu Xing: “Every cultivator has to go through this. So… just now, you were only joking with me, right?”

“……”

He didn’t want to lie, so he simply stayed silent. And he thought to himself, My master never told me either.

Then Xu Jiao let out a cry filled with both shock and indignation—that was the very sound Xu Ce and Meng Ge had heard.

After hearing Xu Jiao explain the reason, the two of them: “……”

At that moment, six eyes turned toward Mu Xing in unison.

Mu Xing blinked innocently: “Don’t look at me, I don’t know either.”

Xu Ce cautiously asked: “Brother Mu, may I ask, under whose tutelage do you study?”

Mu Xing replied: “My master’s surname is Yue, his name is Yue Fubai.”

The Xu siblings were a little confused, for Yue Fubai was enigmatic and mysterious, and even his true name was rarely known.

Meng Ge added expressionlessly: “His master is Lord Lianhua of the Demonic Sect.”

The Xu siblings gasped and looked at Mu Xing with strange expressions: “So he is a personal disciple of Lord Lianhua.”

Mu Xing pointed at the food boxes they had brought back: “Let’s eat first.”

The two of them set the food out on the table.

Mu Xing tasted a few bites and felt the cooking was a bit rough, but since he wasn’t someone to dwell on food, he said nothing.

The four of them had each reserved a room upstairs. After dinner, they returned to their own rooms.

With nothing else to do, Mu Xing meditated for a while, then took out a storybook from his full storage ring.

The author of the storybook was named Hanjiang Diaoxue—the very same Tian Can Tudou official bookseller.

The works of Hanjiang Diaoxue were wildly popular. Who would have thought that a grand figure of the Demonic Sect would indulge in such leisure?

Hanjiang Diaoxue was none other than Yue Fubai.

In the past, he had loved writing romantic and erotic storybooks and was very famous in that world. Many guessed he was a scholar who enjoyed amorous pursuits.

But from nine years ago, Hanjiang Diaoxue’s style had changed drastically. The stories were still about romance and flirtation, but now there was always an adorable little child character.

At first, when he wrote like this, people disliked it. But the little children in his stories were always so smart, cute, and lovable—sweet and endearing.

Very quickly, readers couldn’t resist and were hooked.

From then on, he created a whole new genre of romance storybooks.

Mu Xing’s storage ring was stuffed with dozens of such storybooks.

He flipped through one slowly. For some reason, he felt a vague unease tonight.

After half an hour, Mu Xing stood up, opened the window, and flew to the roof of the inn.

The moon was round tonight. Unlike the silence of a mortal city’s night, this cultivator city was ablaze with lights everywhere.

Lying on the roof with his hands under his head, the gentle night wind brushed against him, and his heart gradually calmed. Closing his eyes, his consciousness blurred, and he drifted into sleep.

—

Thousands of miles away, atop a snow mountain.

The mountain was covered in eternal snow, and there was no road from the foot to the peak. Mortals could not find a path up, and even cultivators rarely ascended lightly.

For this was the Heaven’s Secrets Pavilion.

The most mysterious place among all the immortal sects.

On the cold cloud platform, a white-haired, white-robed man—the Master of Heavenly Secrets—opened his eyes: “Found you.”

Sixteen years ago, he had arranged for that child to be abandoned by the Yudao Immortal Sect.

For the next seven years, that child’s whereabouts had always been under his watch.

But starting from the seventh year, all traces of that child’s fate and destiny seemed to have been erased by some unfathomable force.

For nine whole years, he had lost all information about the child.

Now, he had finally sensed him again.

Yet what he “saw” surprised him greatly: the stars connected to that child were shrouded in auspicious purple qi—clearly an extremely favorable omen.

In those nine missing years, what on earth had happened to the child?

Lowering his eyes, he pondered for a long time, then lightly shook the golden bell on his wrist.

Soon, someone ascended the cloud platform, eyes lowered, bowing: “Pavilion Master.”

“Yun Hua, I have a task for you…”

Moments later, the figure departed silently.

The Master of Heavenly Secrets looked at the starry image in the water mirror, swept his hand, and the mirror shattered, leaving nothing behind.

—

The next day, Mu Xing, along with Meng Ge and the Xu siblings, ate and drank their fill, then came to the entrance of the secret realm outside Dongling City.

Meng Ge said: “According to estimates by powerful seniors, the secret realm should open around noon.”

He took out several talismans and handed them to Mu Xing and the Xu siblings: “Once we’re inside, we may get separated. With these sensing talismans, we can regroup quickly.”

Mu Xing realized that although Meng Ge looked cold, spoke little, and wasn’t easy to approach, he was thorough in all things and indeed a very reliable teammate.

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