A Conspiracy

As Li Zhu thought about what he had just heard, he decided to investigate further. The people he had overheard had talked about an inheritance, which was when a great expert left behind their treasures to future generations, that were usually accessible after passing specific trials. It would be a lie to say Li Zhu was not interested in treasures, and as far as he was concerned inheritances did not belong to anyone, and were fair game.

Intent on finding out more, Li Zhu placed the sect founder's memoir back on the shelf, before fusing with Buddy and entering Shadow Lurk. Buddy followed him most places he went, and since Li Zhu was a summoner, no one mentioned the small black dog.

Once in Shadow Lurk, Li Zhu slowly followed the two men he had overheard, bu he tried to look at them as little as he could. Although Shadow Lurk made him completely invisible, experts at cultivation realms much above his could still sense his presence if he was not careful, and if he stared at them intently they would without a doubt sense the fact that they were being watched. Once they sensed him, it would still be difficult to hurt him, but at the very least they would not speak of confidential matters, which was the whole reason Li Zhu was following them.

As he quickly glanced at the two men, Li Zhu noticed that he was familiar with one of them. The elder who had wrongly sent him to Solitude Peak was surprisingly one of the two men, and the other one was about the same age.

Although he was surprised to see the elder here, Li Zhu tried to be sneaky, as the two men lead him into the fifth floor of the library, where only elders could enter.

Just as he was traveling across the steps, in the shadows, Li Zhu suddenly felt a chilling aura, as he struggled to even breathe. Turning around, Li Zhu noticed an old man, reading on a rocking chair, staring him straight in the eyes.

'Can he see me!? He is the elder guarding the fifth floor!' realized Li Zhu, suppressed by the old man's aura.

The old man, with short white hair, looked at Li Zhu for a while, before turning his gaze towards the two men who had just walked into the fifth floor.

After a short pause, the old man turned his attention back to his book, and the pressure on Li Zhu instantly vanished, as though it had never been there.

Slightly shook, Li Zhu traveled to the fifth floor, wondering if the old man had actually seen him, and if so, why he had let him go anyway.

The two men he had been following walked into a small room to talk, and sat down at a table. The fifth floor did not have many books at all, so most of the floor was composed of rooms and cultivation facilities for elders trying to learn new skills.

At the moment, there were no other elders on the fifth floor, since generally elders found their own skills to practice, or had already learned the skills in the library a long time before.

"Yin Shing, what are we going to do about the Myriad Soul palace and the Divine Water clan? You and me both know we cannot defy them!" the man on the left began to speak, talking to the elder who Li Zhu had recognized.

"Song Xiu, we both know that I needed to spread the news to those forces, since us two do not have the strength to take something from the Flaming Saber sect! All we need to do is send someone in to get the inheritance, and after it has been retrieved we can take it for ourselves!"

"And you think those forces are just going to let us go with all the treasures?!" Song Xiu was starting to get annoyed, as he feared that their plan may very well fail.

"We will escape the moment we get the treasures, and go to the Heavenly Dragon Empire to hide! If given enough time with the treasures of that old man Ts'ui Ru, I promise you we will be able to stand up to anyone in this continent!" Yin Shing said, confident in his capabilities.

"And how can we ensure that our entries in the inheritance trials will actually win the treasures?" asked Song Xiu, still unsure of the plan.

"Song Xiu, you are disappointing me! It does not matter if our grandsons actually get the inheritance... they are only there to make it seem like we are happy with our part of the deal. Whoever gets out of the inheritance trials alive and with treasures is our target. Do not worry, although those forces know about the inheritance, they in no way have as much knowledge as us about it, and we can use that to predict the place where they will exit the trials from!"

"Okay, Yin Shing, I am sorry I doubted you, but we have been dreaming of these treasures for decades, and I fear if we do not succeed, we shall die full of regrets!" said Song Xiu, sighing. Everyone in this continent had great dreams, yet most people would never achieve them, and live with endless regret.

As Li Zhu listened to the two elders, his expression kept changing. The more he heard the more confused he got, but the one thing he understood was that the inheritance they were seeking was that of Ts'ui Ru, the founder of the Flaming Saber sect. Furthermore, as he himself had already noticed with Yun Mei and Yun Huan, other forces were getting involved.

As Li Zhu was pondering about the significance of what they were saying, the two elders kept talking, this time in a much sadder tone.

"How cruel fate was to us, Yin Shing! Had we not found that memoir so many years ago, we would not have stayed here, in this tiny kingdom. Ts'ui Ru was a cruel one... to write about his inheritance even though he knew it would only be available at specific moments in time! Had we been able to go through the inheritance trials back then, we would now be at the peak of the continent, and ready to travel beyond! Alas we were held down by our greed, and even though the inheritance was not fated for us, we researched for years and years, all for this moment... yet now I feel as though it wasn't worth it." said Song Xiu, his head low.

"Do not worry, my friend... all this time we have waited will pay off, you just wait! The ambitious young men we used to be are still inside of us, and not even the cruel ways of fate can take that away from us!"

As he heard the two elders talking about their past, and the wasted years of their life, seeking something not meant for them, Li Zhu felt bad.

At that moment, though, due to his carelessness, he realized he had been staring directly at the two elders.

"Song Xiu, someone is watching us! Use your divine eye to find them, we cannot let the information we talked about be exposed!"

The moment Li Zhu realized his mistake, he had already begun running down to the fourth floor, but at that point he felt like he could not move, as though his body would not listen to his commands.

Li Zhu's body began to heat up, a burning sensation spreading across his body. At that moment, he felt as though he was being burned alive, by some mysterious force.

"It cannot end like this! I just need to reach those stairs, and the guarding elder will save me!" yelled Li Zhu, as he fought through the pain, slowly walking forward.

Song Xiu was staring directly at him, his eyes glowing bright, creating the flames which were now surrounding Li Zhu's body.

Even as elders Song Xiu and Yin Shing did not have many methods of killing Li Zhu when in Shadow Lurk, which was why he was still alive, despite the difference in their cultivation.

Fire raged around Li Zhu's body, as his vision began to blur, sign that he was falling unconscious.

"NO!" he yelled, knowing that if he fell unconscious now, his end would be near.

At that moment, though, a cool energy suddenly flowed in Li Zhu's body, gradually erasing the pain he was feeling, and returning him to a conscious state.

As he wondered what had just happened, Li Zhu was suddenly forced out of Shadow Lurk, his fusion with Buddy having been somehow interrupted.

All he could see in front of him was the old man, who had been guarding the fifth floor. The man looked at Li Zhu with a cold expression, before asking, "What did they say!?"

After a short moment of confusion, Li Zhu realized he was talking about Yin Shing and Song Xiu, so he relayed all the information he had heard. As far as he was concerned this elder had saved his life, and the information he had heard could potentially save the sect from disaster.

The old man stood there listening to Li Zhu, and when he had heard everything, he simply said, "You're still young, kid, don't waste your life getting involved with other people's business. As for what you heard, I'll deal with it!"

And with that, the old man disappeared, leaving a speechless Li Zhu on the floor, exhausted. At first he feared that Song Xiu was going to finish him off, but he then realized that the old man was probably chasing the two elders, who had already escaped.

'I better not get involved for now!' thought Li Zhu, not wanting to risk his life for the treasures that he had just learned about. Still, he would pay attention to what happened in the sect, and if he was fated to enter the inheritance trials, who knew what would happen.