Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 147: A Meeting Full Of Bad News
Chapter 147: A Meeting Full Of Bad News
Xuan Zi knocked on the door of the residence politely and waited for a response, something that he hadn’t done ever since becoming the sect master of the Crimson Snow Sect. His posture solemn and his face rather rigid, sect master Xuan Zi looked ready for a serious argument.
"Come in," a tired voice sounded from within the room, and the door swung open by itself.
Inside, a man who looked slightly older than the sect master himself sat in meditation. Strewn across the room were dozens of towels smeared with blood and pus, while the cleaner areas contained numerous precious healing medicines.
Xuan Zi carefully avoided the litter on the floor and sat down on a relatively clean cushion.
"How much have you recovered, Your Excellency?" He then asked the old man sitting on the low bed.
"Another week is enough. I should be able to bear the strain of the returning journey by then. The spatial intersections at the edge of this Solar System are getting more and more polluted by the unidentified energies. I should have been more cautious..."
The old man rambled on for a few seconds, and Xuan Zi nodded along noncommittally.
"I have a rather serious matter to report. The sect may face the wrath of an expert in the near future. It’d be best if your excellency were to deal with it yourself."
The old man gave him a sharp glance and nodded after a few seconds of contemplation.
"Explain."
"A sealed world fragment has surfaced not far from here. The disciples who were nearby at that time investigated it, and their report confirms our suspicions.
"It used to be a subsidiary branch of a law cultivator faction from the Celestial Territories, probably a high-ranking one too. Apparently, some sort of a disaster in the past has turned it into a wasteland surrounded by intricate law seals.
"According to the disciples who visited the world fragment, the threat inside should be limited to the peak of the soul reformation realm... for now."
The old man frowned as Xuan Zi stopped for a moment.
"How is that even a threat? Many of the Elders of this sect are stronger than that," He said in puzzlement.
"What comes after that is the threat. While the disciples were escaping the sealed realm, they discovered that the town adjacent to the sealed realm has disappeared," Xuan Zi explained patiently.
"Disappeared... as in just the superficial elements like the townsfolk and other living inhabitants, or...?"
There was a sense of rising alarm in the old man’s voice.
"The other type of disappearance," Xuan Zi answered gravely.
"Even the non-living elements like the buildings and roads no longer exist. The nearby locals who had prior contact with the town also seem to have forgotten that it existed."
For the first time since Xuan Zi had entered the room, the old man properly straightened up and looked alert. Both of them stared at each other’s faces for a few seconds as a silent conversation seemed to take place.
"Did the clan send in another spy to watch over me? I can’t see who else would be bold enough to undergo their Dao Integration on this planet. If it wasn’t a spy, how come I was never made aware of their existence when I took over this sect?" Xuan Zi asked in a rather displeased tone, breaking the silence.
"It’s too big of a coincidence that someone so powerful would be here on the same planet as me, at the edge of the Neutral Territories."
"Don’t be delusional!" The old man denied the suspicious words immediately.
"Even the least favored cultivators of our clan would avoid these regions at any cost. It might just be another rogue expert hiding from our pursuit. An entire town, you say? That speaks of remarkable expertise..."
The old man started muttering to himself wildly by the end. Xuan Zi’s eyes twitched at his response, his gaze not quite trustful.
"If I may remind you, Your Excellency, something similar happened just one month ago," he pointed out, interrupting the agitated old man.
"That was an entirely different matter! Fang Xie has always been half a lunatic and you know it! Not to mention, he suffered a Qi deviation for real this time!" The old man grew so agitated that blood started leaking out of his nose.
"Or do you honestly believe that Fang Xie’s Dao integration process was hijacked by an entity so powerful that even the best clairvoyants of the clan couldn’t catch a whiff of it?"
Seeing him getting worked up, Xuan Zi restrained himself and tried to steer the conversation away in another direction.
"If Fang Xie’s lunacy is so apparent, maybe you should reconsider moving him away from this small planet of mine. Obviously, he needs a better environment than the barren, chaotic neutral territories this solar system is in. After all, the Nocturna forces might just attack anytime these days."
The old man deflated upon hearing Xuan Zi’s suggestion. His response came as rather lifeless.
"The Clan Governors still do not trust you that much, little Zi. Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to amass power once they think you no longer pose a danger to the interest of the clan. I’m afraid you must bear with Fang Xie until then."
Xuan Zi’s lips pressed together into a thin line. But he didn’t voice his displeasure and let the old man sort his thoughts out.
"Damned rogues... This is of utmost importance. Go make some preparations, prepare some emergency contact methods in case we need the help of a higher branch. I’ll go there and look into it right now."
Xuan Zi nodded in agreement and stood up to leave. But then he remembered another issue that had been bothering him for a while. Hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke up.
"Is the record of ancestry, I mean, the version handed down to distant branch sects like this sect, an incomplete version, your excellency? Can I apply to the patriarch for the full version through you?"
"...Record of Ancestry? Why the hell would it be incomplete? Bloodlines hardly matter in the central realms these days. No one cares about those secrets of ancestral lineage except the Body Cultivation Faction." fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Xuan Zi took out a tiny vial from his robe and handed it to the puzzled old man upon hearing his answer.
"Then how about you explain this? There is no record of that type of result in the archives."
The old man closely observed the vial Xuan Zi had given him. It contained an ashen liquid that gave off a faint stench of rotten eggs despite being sealed. Undoing the seal, he dipped his finger in it lightly and licked it.
"Ugh... Hack... Pthu!"
Xuan Zi watched with schadenfreude as he gagged and keeled over. Clearly, he knew exactly what was about to happen when the old man tried to taste it, perhaps from first-hand experience.
"This is nothing but an outdated ancestry determinant potion. There is not even a speck of ancestral elements mixed within. Maybe I’m getting old, but I fail to see how this is funny, Xuan Zi," the old man said in a thunderous tone after recovering his bearings.
But Xuan Zi stood his ground unabashedly.
"Exactly. During the entrance test this year, a new disciple’s blood was collected in that vial. It matches no record of existing ancestral factors. I ask Your Excellency for guidance on this."
Even a bloodline that had never existed in the distant past or a mutation of a rare lineage would display the results in proximity. For someone’s blood to show no output at all...
How could it even be possible?
Stumped out of his wit for the second time that day, the old man sourly looked at the vial in his hand for a few seconds before sealing it and pocketing it.
Xuan Zi took his leave in silence while the old man pondered over the sudden, troublesome news.
Finally gathering himself, he walked out of the room shakily and cast a glance at the dense forest surrounding his small residence.
This particular branch of the Crimson Snow sect was not doing very well, and the hospitality wasn’t worth a word of praise. But the old man was not bothered.
It was up to Xuan Zi to elevate the sect’s position, and he knew his nephew well enough to gauge his ambitions.
However, even Xuan Zi’s grand ambitions would have to be put on hold if the incident of the disappearance proved to be the birth of another rogue cultivator of their clan.
Xuan Zi didn’t have many paths open ahead of him. He would have to nurture monstrously talented disciples very fast and throw them away; both were an unlikely possibility.
Briefly, the old man couldn’t help but wonder about a certain young man he had accompanied during his journey to this branch sect.
"That cursed kid didn’t seem half bad in terms of aptitude. I wonder if he’s still alive. He’s finished if he steps outside this sect by himself, tsk... But my cunning nephew surely must have made the appropriate arrangements for him."
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