Zhu Xian Vol 3 Chapter 7

Conspiracy

Ashh=Xiao Hui (also means Little Grey)

To view Qing Yun again.

When Zhang Xiao Fan once again set his eyes upon Qing Yun Hill, since the time when he left the mountain together with Lu XueQi, QiHao, Zeng ShuShu, it had already been several months.

That still as before majestic towering peak, reaching directly into the clouds, the usual magical misty breath, solemn and sacred, but Zhang Xiao Fan’s situation, had totally changed.

After Tian BuYi, Taoist Cang Song and Xiao YiCai’s discussion, Zhang Xiao Fan was brought back by Tian BuYi temporarily to Bamboo Peak, while Taoist Cang Song and Xiao YiCai went on to report the details to the Sect Head, Reverend DaoXuan, before making a decision.

And Zhang Xiao Fan, as he had lost the firestick, on this journey, he was unable to use his spell to fly, therefore it was big senior brother Song Daren, who flew him all the way back.

Bamboo Peak stood tall and erect, reaching into the clouds, with steep cliffs on all of it’s four sides, to Zhang Xiao Fan who had lost his firestick, it seemed like he was placed under house arrest.

Streaks of light flashed by in waves, the Bamboo Peak generations, finally returned to the long awaited Bamboo Peak.

Zhang Xiao Fan expressionlessly walked down from big senior brother’s Ten Tigers celestial sword, which had came to a stop, and silently stood aside, Tian BuYi even more so did not even cast a glance at him, with a stony expression, entered the “Observed Silence Hall” directly.

Coming down to greet them, the ones who were left to guard Bamboo Peak, Wu DaYi etc were stunned momentarily, and looked at SuRu and Song Daren with confused gazes.

SuRu sighed softly, shook her head, and also did not feel like saying more. She turned her head to speak to Song Daren, “Daren, I leave here to you.”

Song Daren quickly acknowledged.

SuRu turned her head to look at Zhang Xiao Fan who was silently standing aside, his face was haggard and within the last several days he had already lost a lot of weight. Looking at him, she could not help herself and stepped forward but stopped almost immediately. She shook her head and sighed, turned around and left. Tian LingEr turned to glance at Zhang Xiao Fan, and immediately followed after her mother without saying a word.

Song Daren gave a dry laugh, with an odd expression on his face, he spoke to Zhang Xiao Fan, “Little junior brother, since we have already come back, go back to your room and rest! But, you….you better not wander unnecessary.”

Zhang Xiao Fan raised his head, nodded slightly, said, “Big senior brother, I understand.”

After speaking, he walked alone towards Bamboo Peak disciples’ residences, he had not gone far when he heard low voices whispering behind him. Obviously, Wu DaYi and the rest were filled with curiosity; they were now questioning Song Daren and Du BiShu, in earnest.

Although he did not see it, but those invisible stares behind him, were like needles, stabbing into his back.

Just when he had walked a short distance, suddenly two happy barks sounded in the Bamboo Peak, Zhang Xiao Fan was moved, he lifted his head to look ahead, and could not help but stared blankly for a moment. After not seeing each other for so long, the monkey, Xiao Hui, grinning and riding on the big dog, Da Huang,’s back, both hands clutching tightly onto Da Huang’s glossy fur. And Da Huang, with half of it’s tongue rolling out, barking loudly and excitedly all the way, dashing forward.

Zhang Xiao Fan suddenly felt his eyes became warm, even his body was also slightly shaking.

Soon, Da Huang arrived in front of Zhang Xiao Fan, Xiao Hui [Zi Zi] gibbered constantly, a sound of [whoosh] and it had scurried up onto Zhang Xiao Fan’s shoulder, laughing merrily, both claws accustomedly started to grope everywhere on Zhang Xiao Fan’s head. As for Da Huang, it was also extremely affectionate towards Zhang Xiao Fan, a big dog’s head ceaselessly stroking Zhang Xiao Fan’s leg, rubbing here and there. 

Was it because he was missing Zhang Xiao Fan’s meat bone again?

Zhang Xiao Fan felt a surge of emotion in his heart, squatted down, and used his hand to gently caress Da Huang’s head, Da Huang whined softly twice, both ears obediently drooped down, rubbed against Zhang Xiao Fan’s palm.

And Xiao Hui [Zi zi] laughed randomly, it’s tail swished here and there, wrapping tightly around Zhang Xiao Fan.

Wu DaYi, who was standing afar, muttered a few words in a low voice, “These two bastards. I, your father, take such good care of them for these few months, and have never seen them that enthusiastic towards me before!” 

After a while, under everyone’s attentive gazes, Zhang Xiao Fan stood up and walked towards his residence. Xiao Hui sat on his shoulder and Big Huang followed behind.

It seemed that only at this moment, the figure of Zhang Xiao Fan, did not appear to be that lonely.

Somewhere at a distance from the foot of Qing Yun Hill, BiYao and the mysterious black attired lady, YouJi, were standing side by side, looking at the mountain summit hidden beneath the white clouds. 

BiYao’s face looked slightly pale, her brows frowning and she appeared to have lost some weight. She also seemed to be in a trance like daze. After staring blankly for about half a day, she spoke slowly, “I wonder how is he now?”

YouJi’s black veil moved slightly, she turned and looked at this young lady beside her, who was tormented by love, and said softly, “Everything will be alright, BiYao, don’t think so much.”

BiYao bit her lips and suddenly asked, “Where is my dad?”

YouJi replied, “ZhongZhu is going to HeYang City today to meet up with that old monster from Wan Du Clan who has arrived recently.”

BiYao was surprised and said, “What, ‘God of Poison’ also came?”

YouJi smirked, said, “Not only him, according to what I had heard privately, these few days, even the section heads from Chang Shen Hall and He Huan Branch also have to come over.”

BiYao was even more shocked, and spoke only after a long while, “Why is it like this? I knew that dad had already secretly shifted the main forces from Ghost King sect to Qing Yun Hill surroundings, if these three section heads come, their sects’ skilled fighters will also surely come, then is it that our four big….no, basically our Holy Sect main strength are all concentrated here?” 

After YouJi’s face was hidden behind her black veil, her face expression could not be seen, but from her voice, it was still as smooth and calm, and she gently said, “That’s right.”

BiYao suddenly lowered her head, after a while, slowly said, “So it means, the main purpose for dad to come here, is not to save Zhang Xiao Fan.”

YouJi replied drily, “BiYao, don’t brood so much on it, ZhongZhu’s words are worth nine sacred tripods, and you are his only daughter, he will not lie to you. And this time our Holy Sect main branches are willing to meet together, it was all because of your dad who has spare no effort to advocate for it. To wipe away the great shame suffered hundred years ago, the section heads of the four branches stood together under the MingWang throne and swore an oath, to take the advantage when Qing Yun is unprepared and make a surprise attack on them.”

BiYao was silent for a while, said, “If this battle is successful, dad’s reputation within the Holy Sect will naturally increase, and even if he failed, he will also gain a good reputation for trying to erase the seniors’ shame. But…” She suddenly raised her voice, her expression looked agitated and said, “But all these I do not care, and do not wish to care for, I only wish for Zhang Xiao Fan to be well, and not to….”

“BiYao!” YouJi suddenly shouted. BiYao was stunned, looked at her and eventually, kept quiet. She turned her head to look at the white clouds far away, staring blankly.

In a deserted big mansion inside HeYang City, Ghost King and Qing Long unhurriedly stepped in, with someone respectfully guiding them in along the way, straight into the inner parts of the mansion.

The mansion was naturally Wan Du Clan’s stronghold in HeYang City, and on this day too, Wan Du Clan’s Head, the God of Poison, who was the oldest qualified Head among the four main branches in the Evil Faction, had also arrived. 

Hundred years ago, in the big battle between Evil Faction and Good Faction on Qing Yun Hill, fierce fighting took place but the Evil Faction eventually still lost. After the fight, the Evil Faction suffered heavy losses and among the four main branches, three leaders were replaced, and it was also during this time, Ghost King took over the Head position of the Ghost King branch.

But among the branches, only the old monster, God of Poison, of Wan Du Clan, was fortunate to survive, only that in the recent few years, he was not his past style of being arrogant and obtruding, even within the Evil Faction, Wan Du Clan stayed surprisingly low keyed, not to say the ordinary disciples would not even have a chance to see this old monster.

Thinking of this, Qing Long could not help but frowned slightly. The title, God of Poison, had already resounded within the Evil Faction even before hundred years ago. When he was still following the previous Ghost King to conquer the world, this God of Poison was already a capable disciple within Wan Du Clan, and subsequently took over Wan Du Clan’s Head position. Within Evil Faction, he vied fiercely with Ghost King sect. Between them, who would know the number of hidden feuds still unsettled?

Unexpectedly, things had changed with time, and now they would work together with this old monster.

Qing Long had also not seen the God of Poison almost near to a hundred years, he was indeed curious, after all these years, how had the God of Poison turned into? If according to the calculation of his age, this old monster would be nearing to almost five hundred years old already. 

Thinking of which, he suddenly had a thought, looking at Ghost King who was walking half a body length ahead of him, a slight smile on his lips and his expression relaxed, but however he might, he was unable to guess, what was Ghost King thinking in his heart?

After leaving God of Poison’s mansion, Ghost King and Qing Long, the two of them, merged into HeYang City’s crowd.

Ghost King suddenly sneered and said, “This old monster, is really getting harder and harder to deal with.”

These words were said without rhyme or reason but Qing Long seemed to understand what he was referring to, nodded his head and said, “That’s right, three hundred years ago when our Ghost King clan with WanDu sect were fighting to death, the old monster was the most malicious and impulsive, he was always the first on the frontline, even hundred years ago, Qing Yun that big battle, it was also him as the Head of WanDu sect, who advocated it strongly. It seemed like that crushing defeat had tone down much of his drive.”

Ghost King shook his head and said, “This is not called tone down, this is called capabilities grown. After going through that battle, the old monster seemed to totally gain enlightenment. His temperament changed completely, concealing his strength and bidding his time. These hundred years, other than our Ghost King clan, WanDu sect was the fastest to recover back their strength. Just that he refused this position, it is indeed very troublesome!”

Saying which, Ghost King frowned and said drily, “Forget it, anyway we have to wait for the other two to arrive before we can discuss the important matter, let’s wait a few more days! Mhm, right, BiYao? It seems like I didn’t see her for the whole day.”

Qing Long replied, “I didn’t see her too, but YouJi has been accompanying her, shouldn’t have any problem, don’t worry”

Ghost King shook his head, softly sighed and did not say anymore.

After watching Ghost King and Qing Long’s figures disappeared, God of Poison, whose expression all along had been gentle and even carried a bit of kindness, gradually darkened, but for half a day, he did not say anything.

As for the young man beside him, his character was even more odd, even if God of Poison did not speak to him, he took pleasure in what he was doing, patiently preparing the tea on the table, there was no hint of impatience on his expression.

After like ages, God of Poison suddenly heaved a deep sigh and said, “The new is constantly replacing the old!”

That young man called Qin WuYan turned his head over, took a look at God of Poison and said coolly, “O! Is that person’s skills powerful?”

God of Poison snorted and said, “His training and skills are naturally high, but even how high his skills will be, we do not fear him, just that this person is too shrewd, you must take precautions in the future!”

Qin WuYan smiled slightly, his tone still calm, and said, “Yes I know, Teacher”

God of Poison looked at him, and exclaimed suddenly, “If only your good-for-nothing senior brothers can have your aptitude, why would I need to wait bitterly for these many years?”

Even when Qin WuYan received praise from God of Poison, his face did not have any conceited expression, he coolly said, “The few senior brothers are all doing their best to work for you, Teacher”

God of Poison snorted, suddenly stretched his hand to pull off the woollen blanket off his lap, and actually stood up from the chair, his physique was in fact quite tall and big, his back straight. Where did it show that he was sick at all? It looked like all of the actions earlier, were all done to deceive Ghost King and Qing Long.

God of Poison paced back and forth in the middle of the house, Qin WuYan instead was much more quieter than his teacher, the only sound heard was God of Poison’s footsteps. 

At this time, suddenly, beside Qin WuYan, a strange sound sounded. It was similar to the ear-piercing sounds made by cicadas in the summer.

God of Poison’s expression changed, he turned to look.

Qin WuYan took out a yellow box from below his seat, one chi (translator’s note: a traditional unit of length) square, the strange sound came from this.

God of Poison walked over, stretched out his hand to gently open the cover, impressively in front of them, on top of the yellow soft silk cloth in the box, lay a magnificent coloured centipede, but the most unusual part was, the centipede’s tail was split into seven.

If Zhang Xiao Fan was to see this thing now, he would be shocked beyond description, because he had seen this thing when he was young, it was one of the world most extremely poisonous ‘Seven tailed centipede’.

Qin WuYan frowned and said, “Ever since we have arrived near Qing Yun Hill, XiaoQi seemed restless, as if it has been agitated.”

God of Poison looked closely at this seven tailed centipede, and took out a small light purple medicine pill from his bosom, placed it inside the box and closed the lid. Very soon, that strange sound that was emitting from the box, gradually lowered down and disappeared. 

After Qin WuYan had carefully put away the box with seven tailed centipede in it, God of Poison calmly said, “This seven tailed centipede is one of the rare creatures in the world, there is only one pair left and they have always accompanied each other until death. If they are separated, but within a hundred miles, they can sense each other. These few days that XiaoQi was being restless, must be because of this.”

Qin WuYan looked at God of Poison, suddenly said, “So it means, now that that person, is at Qing Yun Hill?”

God of Poison laughed and said, “That is right, the seven tailed centipede is one of its only kind in the whole world, it cannot be wrong.”

After speaking, he turned his head around, gazed deeply far away. In the far place, that lofty majestic Qing Yun Hill outside HeYang City, soaring through the clouds, its might and power almost unequaled in the world, white clouds swirling around it with the presence of heavenly aura. 

“One hundred years already, turn of an eye, it’s another hundred years!” This old man, muttered to himself in a low voice.

Chapter end