Chapter 75: This Venerable One Is Illiterate, Deal With It

The gathered crowd gawked at Jiangui, then looked at the firey red willow vines wrapped around the necks of the murdered, and grew even more agitated.

"You did it! Just like when you killed Eighteen!" "How could you be so cruel?" "KILL HIM!!"   The clamoring hurt the Elder Immortal's head. With a hand pressed against her temples, she said coldly: "Mo Weiyu, I will ask you one last time: did you or did you not kill them?"

"I did not." "Very well." The Elder Immortal nodded. Mo Ran let out a breath, thinking she was going to let him go, and was just about to express his gratitude for her wisdom and righteousness when she lifted a hand in a gesture of indifference and said in an ice-cold tone:

"This person has committed myriad transgressions and refuses to admit to his crimes. Seize him."   When Shi Mei came out after washing up and getting dressed, he saw Mo Ran being restrained with magic by over a dozen high level feathered tribe folks while another tied his wrists with immortal binding rope.

"What are you doing?!" All color drained out of Shi Mei's face as he hurried to Mo Ran's side: "What happened?"   No one replied, but the corpses swaying eerily between the peach blossoms was answer enough. Shi Mei drew in a sharp breath and took a step back,

bumping into Mo Ran's chest.

"A-Ran..."   "Don't panic, calm down." Mo Ran kept his eyes on the Elder Immortal while whispering to Shi Mei, "Go get Uncle and Xuanji Elder." With the situation like this, these feathered tribe folks might not be open to reason, and if they decided to rip him apart no matter what, he had zero chance of winning, not with his current abilities. He needed Xue Zhengyong and Xuanji to step in as soon as possible.

Shi Mei left, and Mo Ran stood alone against those faces twisted by rage,

gaze steady as he glanced them over one by one.

"Puh!" A gob of phlegm suddenly flew out of the crowd toward him. Mo Ran moved to dodge, but the feathered folk who had spit it was too close, and it caught him anyway.

He turned around slowly and came face to face with a pair of scarlet eyes.

"You killed so many people and you dare to call for help? I'm going to put you down right now!!!!" With that, a firey blaze gathered in his palm and hurtled directly toward Mo Ran!

Mo Ran stepped back and to the side, the scorching blaze singing his bangs as it shot past him and crashed into the peach tree behind him, snapping the sturdy trunk in half.

THUD—— The peach tree fell over, flowers scattering all over the ground like snow in the wind.

Mo Ran looked at the tree on the ground, then turned to look at the attacker:

"I've said it already, but I didn't kill them. The truth pills will be ready in ten days,

it won't be too late to seek your revenge then."   "Ten days? You'll have murdered everyone here by then!" That person roared furiously, "Give my zizi's life back!" And threw himself toward Mo Ran.

Dodging his attack once again, Mo Ran's eyes landed on the Elder Immortal looking on from the side with no intention whatsoever of stopping this. Mo Ran felt a flare of rage and raised his voice in a bellow: "Hey! You old bird! Get a grip on your people!" "..." "Fucker." Mo Ran couldn't help cursing under his breath when she still refused to budge, "Pretending to be deaf-mute at this juncture, you wanna watch me get burned to death or something? If I'd known you shitty birds couldn't even tell right from wrong, I wouldn't have come to this shithole place to start with!

Who wants to get wronged like this for no reason!"   The Elder Immortal's expression twitched slightly at his words, and there was a fierce 'thwap!' as she lifted her sleeve in a sweeping flourish—— That landed right on Mo Ran's face.

    The feathered tribe may look like humans, but their way of thinking was quite different.

In the cultivation world, even the head of a small martial hall—much less the leader of an entire tribe—wouldn't jump to conclusions without definitive proof.

But the feathered tribe was half-beast after all, and their blood ran thick with beast-like nature.

The color of the Elder Immortal's hair changed from black to bright scarlet,

with what looked like steam rolling from each strand. Her eyes opened wide in a glare as she said darkly:

"Whom is your master? To produce such an uncouth disciple! Watch your mouth!" At her words, the other feathered tribe folks began to shriek one after the other and close in on Mo Ran with murder written in their scarlet eyes.

Woosh!

An arrow of flame pierced through the sky directly toward Mo Ran's heart.

Mo Ran dared not take the threat lightly, and sparks coursed through the willow vine as he dodged while brandishing Jiangui in a block, but the shot was only a feint, and when he turned to block, a bereaved feathered tribe folk rushed his back with sword drawn!

Arrow in the front, sword in the back, there was no way out.

These half-beasts meant to kill him right here; Mo Ran steeled himself,

called to mind how Chu Wanning had wielded Tianwen before, and raised his hand with a flick of the wrist——   Jiangui flung into the air then abruptly pulled taunt, the blood-red willow vine whirling into a blur and creating a massive vortex, the leaves on the vine instantly turning sharp as knives as the maelstrom pulled in everything in the vicinity, even the air itself, and shredded it all into pieces.

One of Chu Wanning's ultimate techniques——"Wind!"   With the vine as the eye of the storm, everything in the surroundings was pulled in by powerful spiritual energy.

Swallowed by the vortex, ground into dust and swept away by the wind until nothing remained!

"AHH!!!!!!" The attacker screamed; her arrow had already been pulverized by Jiangui, and her long sword too was lost in the storm from being too close.

"Clang!" Came the sharp sound of metal breaking, and before anyone could react, she had also been pulled to the edge of the blood-red storm, shrieking:

"Let me go! You lunatic! You fucking lunatic!!"

The Elder Immortal flew into a rage at seeing her own people in danger, red robes fluttering as she rose into the air.

A brilliantly red crystal of high purity appeared in her hand, and her sleeves billowed as she channeled spiritual energy into it. Instantly, a frenzied gale picked up, sweeping clouds along and flattening grass and trees alike.

The image of a fire phoenix blazed into being behind her; her eyes were a deep, unsettling red, and that originally beautiful face was now twisted.

"Bastard." She hissed, "Still not standing down?"   "You've even called out your phoenix, if I stop now wouldn't that just be asking for death?" The phoenix cast a massive shadow over Mo Ran, its fiery reflection dancing across his face, "You stop first, then I will!" "You——" The Elder Immortal rose even higher into the air.

"Have——" Her blood-red eyes stared Mo Ran down as she spit out each syllable.

"No right——" "To make demands——" "Of me!" An explosive sound came from above, then the phoenix dived toward Mo Ran with a screech!

"BANG!!!" Another deafening sound, louder than the last, like the awakening of an ancient dragon from its thousand year slumber, smashing through stone and earth to burst forth from the depths of the ground.

The phoenix was met by a golden light, the force of their impact sending shockwaves through the air. The weaker members of the feathered tribe shrieked as the gales knocked into them, some even spitting blood as they were tossed out dozens of feet away.

The tempest swept through Campsis Pavilion, instantly obliterating trees and buildings alike into level ground!

When the dust settled, there was a slender, familiar figure in the air, blocking in front of Mo Ran.

"Sh-Shizun...?!"   Robes white as snow, sleeves billowing in the wind. Hearing the call, his face turned slightly, expression cold and composed as ever, phoenix eyes sweeping over Mo Ran where he was kneeling on the ground.

Chu Wanning's voice was cold and deep, like clear water from the well on a hot summer's day.

"Are you injured?" Mo Ran was too stunned to even react, eyes wide and mouth opened in shock: "..."   Chu Wanning looked him up and down, didn't find any obvious injuries, so turned back to the Elder Immortal: "Weren't you asking whom his master was a moment ago?" He released his terrifyingly strong spiritual energy, and slowly descended to the ground.

He said, coldly and simply, with not a single word more than he had to say:

"Chu Wanning of Sisheng Peak, show me your best move." "Wh-what?" Chu Wanning frowned.

Looks like these bird people don't understand politeness. Fine by him; he was out of patience anyway.

"I said, I am his master." A pause, "And I don't remember giving you permission to hurt my disciple."   The Elder Immortal may be called an immortal, but it was only because of her noble bloodline—she was far from being an actual immortal. In their exchange just now, her phoenix was shattered by Chu Wanning and her arm was slashed by Tianwen. She wore a sour expression as she held her arm,

black colored blood seeping from between her fingers.

"H-how dare you, a mere mortal! Also, who let you into the Peach Blossom Springs! How did you even get in here!!!" She was almost crazed, "You conceited——"   "THRASH!" Tianwen appeared with a summon and lashed right across her face, splitting the corner of her lips and spilling blood.

"Yes, go on?" Chu Wanning said with a cold smile as he smoothed down the sleeve that got a little disarranged from brandishing Tianwen, then he grabbed Mo Ran by the collar and dragged him up with one hand, eyes never once leaving the Elder Immortal this entire time, "You were saying, I'm a conceited what?" "H-h-how dare you, you——" "Why wouldn't I dare." Chu Wanning looked at her, unimpressed, "What would I be afraid of?" He paused, then dragged Mo Ran over, "Listen up, this person is mine, I'm taking him." Mo Ran hadn't even recovered from his shock at Chu Wanning's sudden,

god-like descent yet when he was smashed into smithereens by "this person is mine." "Sh... Shizun..." "Shut your trap." Chu Wanning's face was impassive as ever, but Mo Ran could clearly see the anger simmering in his eyes, "All you ever do is bring me trouble, can't do anything right" The lecture was punctuated with a slap to the back of his head, then Chu Wanning took off into the air with Mo Ran in tow, and was already some dozens of feet away in a single leap. By the time Mo Ran realized what was even happening, they were already at the barren outskirts of the Peach Blossom Springs.

"Shizun! My shidi is still back there——"   Chu Wanning glanced at him and let out a cold hmph at the panic on his face: "Shidi? The one named Xia?" "Yeah, he's still at the Campsis Pavilion, I have to go save him..."

Chu Wanning lifted a hand to interrupt: "I already sent him to Xuanji with a spell, there's no need to worry."   Mo Ran finally let out the breath he was holding and lifted his eyes to look at Chu Wanning: "Shizun, why…...are you here?"   Chu Wanning was woken up by the commotion outside his room, and seeing that the situation was dire, quickly took one of Tanlang's pills to temporarily regain his normal form. But he couldn't tell Mo Ran that right now, so he only said coldly: "Why can't I be here." before lifting a hand and forming a golden haitang on the tip of a finger.

"Flowers withered outside the melancholy tower; a spring breeze through the night down to the QianTang River."   Chu Wanning lowered his eyelashes and blew gently at the flower bud,

which bloomed instantly with a flourish of light resplendent. He flicked his slender fingertip and commanded quietly: "Seek." The haitang flower drifted away with the wind and disappeared into the forest.

Mo Ran asked curiously: "Shizun, what spell was that?"   "Flower Toss." "Wha?"   "Flower Toss." Chu Wanning's expression was totally serious, without the slightest hint of a joke, "It didn't have a name, but since you asked, I gave it one just now." Mo Ran: "..." This person cannot possibly be this lazy?

"Sect Leader already told me what happened." Chu Wanning gazed in the direction where the haitang had gone, voice deep and cold as ever like jade in the flow of a stream, "The person behind this is likely the same one behind the incident at Jincheng Lake. I'm afraid that Zhenlong Chess Formation has been set here at the Peach Blossom Springs as well."   "How could that be?" Mo Ran was startled.

He excelled at Zhenlong Chess Formation in the previous lifetime, and when Eighteen was killed, he had already checked for signs of its use; this forbidden technique was always accompanied by the stench of blood—once unleashed,

killing was inevitable—so one only had to look for seemingly unfounded yet intense resentful energy to know if Zhenlong Chess Formation had been deployed in the vicinity. If that mysterious person had indeed used this forbidden technique again, he would have had to pull it off perfectly for Mo Ran to be unable to detect it.

There was a tinge of suspicion in the look Chu Wanning threw him, and Mo Ran hurried to explain: "I mean... they're all half-immortal here at the Peach Blossom Springs, how could they not know if a forbidden technique had been used here?"   Chu Wanning shook his head: "That person had already shown themselves to be capable of controlling all of the ancient spiritual beasts at Jincheng Lake.

Although spiritual beasts are nowhere near holy beasts in terms of strength, they are equipollent to demi-immortals. Since he could control Jincheng Lake back then, he is very likely doing the same at Peach Blossom Springs right now." "I see..."   "Mn."   Mo Ran lifted his head, a bashful grin on his face framed with dimples:

"Shizun, what does equipollent mean?"   Chu Wanning: "..."

Author's Notes:

System hint: Good afternoon, your friend [Little Boy Xia Sini] has gone offline, and your friend [Beidou Immortal Chu Wanning] has come online. If you have any difficulties and require help, you can summon him to your side; if a battle is required, Chu Wanning is not responsible for footing the cost of collateral damage. Please carry out the summoning in an open area, and ensure that the surroundings are free of dangerous character [Taxian-Jun Mo Weiyu] who will nerf Beidou Immortal. We wish you a happy summoning!