Hidden Moth-Chapter 571 - 327: Wind Stirs on the Path, Banners Cast Chaotic Shadows
Er Ji stood up and bowed: "I will leave you a phone number, I usually cultivate at Jingshe Temple on Qixia Mountain... May I ask if the Sect Leader has any other instructions?"
He Kao: "Since you once became a monk at Nanhua Zen Temple, can you now return to Nanhua to cultivate?"
Er Ji did not ask why, but after a brief moment of contemplation, he replied: "I can."
He Kao: "Then try to go back to Nanhua first, I will contact you in a month."
After giving these instructions, He Kao watched Er Ji leave, his thoughts a bit scattered, feeling as if there was something he hadn’t understood clearly, yet unable to pinpoint what it was.
The matter was to be handled as Elder Li had hinted, but He Kao still felt uneasy. Was there something wrong with Zhang Yanfei? Certainly, and not just a few issues!
First, he used tricks to deceive the Alchemy Sect and didn’t bring out the genuine "Tan Xian’s Walking Stick Painting." But strictly speaking, this didn’t violate any Sect Rules.
Because Zhang Yanfei never publicly claimed that what he presented was the "Tan Xian’s Walking Stick Painting" recorded in the Alchemy Sect’s classics. Wan Zhongle saw it and thought it might be an ancestral relic, so he directly took it.
Zhang Yanfei anticipated this possibility in advance, so he took preventive measures. Moreover, the painting had been scattered for a thousand years, and indeed cannot be considered as belonging to the Alchemy Sect today.
If the Alchemy Sect wanted to retrieve it, Zhang Yanfei couldn’t stop them; not voluntarily offering it doesn’t count as a violation.
But he did conceal the truth, and later obtained the Insect Concealment Skill heritage and the secrets of the Hidden Moth Sect from the painting, which he also did not tell anyone, but wanted to use the painting to draw out the Hidden Moth.
He certainly had a selfish motive for doing so, but who doesn’t have selfish motives? If it were someone else, they might have done the same, just without his advanced imitative craftsmanship skills.
After the painting fell into He Kao’s hands, he did not "return" it to the Alchemy Sect, for reasons even more complex.
Because the painting was not actually an Alchemy Sect artifact but had always been the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven passed down through the Hidden Moth Sect. Only the ancestor of Alchemy Sect, Leidunzi, had added the image of Tan Ancestor and made some disguises on it with Great Divine Power.
However, He Kao could not be indifferent to Zhang Yanfei’s actions, because they indeed posed a threat to the Hidden Moth. Later, many people analyzed that the Hidden Moth frequented Qi Yuan, and the case of Zhang Yanfei became an important clue.
Both He Kao and Gao Xue’e had objectively been victims in the past.
Zhang Yanfei wanted to find the Hidden Moth, but what would he do upon finding it? Did he also have thoughts of replacing it? These were questions He Kao could not ignore, yet he could not judge as they hadn’t actually happened.
Zhang Yanfei also paid the price for his selfishness, not only facing imprisonment but also having to abandon his original identity. As for today’s matter, it was not Zhang Yanfei who found the Hidden Moth, but the Hidden Moth who summoned him.
Of course, He Kao did not have entirely negative impressions of Zhang Yanfei. For example, even in the detention center, he still harbored goodwill, not forgetting to help the innocent Wu Yanjun, and imparting Technique is not a simple task.
This only goes to show how complex human nature can be.
But should such a person be allowed into the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven? The secret of the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven is known only to the three elders, even the other disciples of the Hidden Moth Sect do not know it; could this potentially be a risk?
Even if we don’t mention anything else, let’s consider a hypothetical scenario: Er Ji will not betray the sect, but what if he surpasses He Kao in achieving Tier Six Great Success Cultivation in the future, will he try to usurp the position?
The term "usurp the position" is inappropriate, as at that time they would both be disciples of the Hidden Moth Sect, and there would be no distinction between host and guest, but Zhang Yanfei would be set to become the Sect Leader, and could even request He Kao to relinquish the identity of the Hidden Moth...
The likelihood of this is very small, but not entirely impossible.
Don’t blame He Kao for thinking so much; in fact, anyone would inevitably overthink because Zhang Yanfei’s appearance was indeed too unexpected! However, from another perspective, with He Kao’s position, he could not intentionally reject Zhang Yanfei’s return to the sect due to these private thoughts.
He Kao really wanted to consult a senior, but Elder Li had already given hints, Elder Gu was stationed at the Immortal Pot Grotto Heaven, and Elder Jiang was secluded undergoing tribulation... inexplicably, he suddenly remembered another elder of the Magic Sect.
Ancestor Master Huailin, Zhao Sanjin’s situation was somewhat similar to Er Ji the Master, Zhang Yanfei, both having abandoned their past identities and completely changed to cultivate in another capacity in the world.
The last time they met, Zhao Sanjin, clearly over a hundred and forty years old, appeared as a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, wearing a middle school uniform with the school’s name on his chest!
At that time, only He Kao noticed this school uniform, which was clearly Zhao Sanjin hinting at something, and he had drawn him into a Divine Thought scenario for a private conversation.
Upon this thought, He Kao suddenly wanted to check on Zhao Sanjin’s situation, without mentioning the Hidden Moth Sect and Er Ji’s matters, asking for guidance on cultivation should be fine, right?
This thought emerged abruptly, yet once it appeared, it couldn’t be suppressed, like a seed long planted finally taking root and sprouting...
He Kao’s character is cautious, not someone who likes to create extra complications, not to mention there are so many things to deal with recently... all right, in fact, they are matters that are neither urgent nor hurried, and with the Invisibility Ability, it won’t take much time.
Regular checks on Zhao Ci’s side are sufficient, Mr. Mi hasn’t shown any movement, Er Ji’s matter will have to wait until a month later, and there are still five days left in Qian Guran’s approved half-month vacation, so it seems like a good time to visit Ancestor Zhao.
Once the decision was made, He Kao’s somewhat disordered mind inexplicably calmed down.
With the school’s name on the uniform, finding Zhao Sanjin wasn’t difficult. Traveling from Qi Yuan to the city where Zhao Sanjin was located required a two-hour flight followed by a one-hour high-speed rail trip, achievable in half a day.
On the surface, He Kao made the trip this way, leaving no trace of compromise. But in fact, the night before he set out, he had already gone to that school, secretly examined student records, and confirmed Zhao Sanjin’s identity as a student there.
Bai Cang is a third-tier prefecture-level city in the southwest border province, with twelve high schools in the urban area, one public, and one private recognized as the best, with two others also considered key schools, while the remaining eight are regular high schools.
Bai Cang Ninth Middle School’s recent years of college entrance examination results ranked between ninth and eleventh out of the twelve schools, categorized as a bottom-level regular high school, with a generally mediocre academic atmosphere except for the elite class, and the other first-year classes have normal dismissal times.
Liu Jingze, a student from the first-year fifth class, walked out of the school gates among the crowd, choosing to walk home instead of taking a ride, as the journey was just over two kilometers and not too far.
He is fifteen years old this year and won’t turn sixteen until two more months. He is about 1.7 meters tall, but his figure is relatively thin, appearing quiet and easy to bully.
His mother has to work overtime again tonight, and he plans to grab dinner on the way home.
There’s a secluded old alley on the way home, as well as an old factory district nearby, which he usually deliberately avoids, even if it means taking ten more minutes to walk.
But today, perhaps he was a bit anxious to go back home and do his homework, or maybe he was feeling lucky, so he took a shortcut into the alley, but he was unlucky and got blocked by three thugs before reaching the alley’s exit.
"Hey, isn’t this little Liu? Haven’t seen you for half a month, right? A rare guest indeed!" The tallest thug stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and pressed him against the wall.
Another bad kid said: "You can dodge the beginning of the month, but not the middle. Last time’s borrowed money, when are you going to repay it?"
Liu Jingze: "I, when did I ever borrow money from you?" As soon as the words came out, he received a punch to the belly, making him hunch over instinctively.
"Debts must be repaid, how dare you default!"
"Send me a two-hundred-bucks red envelope, with ’repayment’ written on it, and I’ll forget this debt."
Liu Jingze: "I didn’t bring my phone."
"You’re fooling ghosts! Nowadays who doesn’t carry a phone?"
Liu Jingze: "Our teacher doesn’t allow it..."
The three thugs didn’t believe him, but he genuinely didn’t have his phone, only thirty bucks in cash was found on him. They beat him up, not touching his face, only hitting his body, finally knocking him to the ground and kicking him twice before swaggering away.
Liu Jingze got up, and in the blink of an eye, all the dust on him was gone, with no sign of being beaten at all. He gently shook his hand, and his bookbag, previously turned upside down, returned to its original state.
Then he picked up the fallen glasses from the ground; the frames were already bent and deformed, with one lens broken. He gently blew it, and the frames returned to their original shape, and the crack on the lens slowly disappeared.
It was an artifact refining technique, used for repairing glasses, and it was truly miraculous.
After putting the glasses back on, Liu Jingze finally spoke: "He Kao, big brother, you must be laughing at me!" After pausing for a while, he said, "Ah, I thought you would act bravely at that moment!"
This title of ’big brother’ made He Kao’s legs feel a bit weak, and it was difficult for him to continue watching the drama as he walked out from the alley’s other end, somewhat awkwardly saying: "I was unsure of Zhao Ancestor’s profound intention in this action, hence didn’t dare to rashly intervene."
Liu Jingze: "Don’t call me Zhao Ancestor, just call me little Liu."
He Kao: "I wouldn’t dare."
Liu Jingze: "I’m not acting, just experiencing."
He Kao: "Then don’t call me big brother, it sounds scary."
Liu Jingze chuckled: "Then let’s just call each other by our names, I am now Liu Jingze, in Grade 10, Class 5 of Bai Cang Ninth Middle School... Why did you come looking for me?"
He Kao replied: "Liu, it’s you who guided me here."
Liu Jingze looked at him thoughtfully and said: "The external wind evil arrives, and the floating desires arise in the heart. If there’s a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land, sect brethren guarding, and Tier Four Cultivation’s perfection capable of peeking through the Breaking Gate Sect pathways, transcending the wind evil to prove Tier Five cultivation isn’t difficult.
But trials of lust, bodily perception, alchemy fire, heart demon, wind evil aren’t something that concludes swiftly. Life’s complexities often yield the unexpected; sometimes knowing the right course doesn’t make it achievable, desires and intentions unclear also are wind evils.
I left you a spiritual guide; when your heart’s uneasy, it will activate, indeed it’s me guiding you here."
He Kao: "May I ask why you wanted me here?"
Zhao Sanjin has several ways to find He Kao; a single divine thought would suffice, but he specifically guided him to Bai Cang City and met in such a manner, it must be related to the identity of Liu Jingze.
Liu Jingze indeed said: "Let’s not talk about other things for now, I’d like you to help with a matter that even an ordinary passerby could assist with."
He Kao: "May I ask how I can help you?"
Liu Jingze: "You saw what just happened to me."
For Liu Jingze to ask He Kao’s help, surprisingly, is to deal with a few punks? Although he’s in a high school student’s identity, his divine techniques and mana haven’t changed; He Kao saw all of it earlier.
Even if Liu Jingze couldn’t openly deal with it like that, taking care of a few thugs secretly would be easy for him, nobody would know he did it, so why employ external aid?
He Kao didn’t speak, just cast a questioning gaze at him. Liu Jingze sighed: "Many means for worldly affairs are beyond what Liu Jingze at present can manage, today’s alley encounter, how should you assist?"
He Kao: "Apologies, I overthought earlier, didn’t timely intervene to assist, but rest assured, I’ll strive for the best solution... Could you tell me about your current identity as Liu Jingze?"
Liu Jingze didn’t answer the question: "My dinner money was taken."
He Kao: "Let me treat you, let’s eat and chat!"
**
