Hidden Intentions
Translator: Cinder Translations
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Evening.
After finishing his work at the Secret Pavilion, Kang Jiang returned to his cave dwelling in the Nine Palaces Sect. He took out a Communication Jade Slip and sent a message through it.
A short while later, a male cultivator at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment arrived at his cave dwelling.
"Senior Brother Kang, why the urgency? What couldn't wait until tomorrow? Tonight, I'm supposed to be on duty at Purple Cloud Peak," the cultivator said, clearly displeased.
Kang Jiang took out a formation disk and activated all the arrays in his cave dwelling before speaking.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Junior Brother Jiang Chang."
Seeing Kang Jiang being so cautious even in his own cave dwelling, Jiang Chang couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"What is it?"
"Deliver a cultivation jade slip to Elder Yan and convey a verbal message to her," Kang Jiang said.
Jiang Chang shook his head. "Senior Brother Kang, you know as well as I do that Elder Yan is in seclusion most of the time. It's hard to even get an audience with her. How am I supposed to fulfill your request?"
Kang Jiang replied, "This matter was entrusted to me by someone else. That person gave me forty mid-grade spirit stones. If you complete this task, we'll split the stones equally."
Jiang Chang's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Kang Jiang said, "We've been close friends for years. Would I lie to you?"
Jiang Chang extended his hand. "Where's the jade slip?"
Kang Jiang smiled and handed over the cultivation jade slip, then relayed the message that Song Wen had asked him to pass on.
After receiving the jade slip, Jiang Chang suddenly thought of something and asked, "There's nothing wrong with the contents of this jade slip, is there?"
"Don't worry, I've checked it thoroughly. It's indeed a body tempering technique. However, it's missing some key information, so it can't be practiced," Kang Jiang assured him.
"That's good," Jiang Chang said.
His duty shift was about to begin.
After learning from Kang Jiang about the relationship between 'Elder Xing' and Yan Yiwen, Jiang Chang didn't dare to delay. He left Kang Jiang's cave dwelling and flew on his sword toward Purple Cloud Peak.
Upon reaching the foot of Purple Cloud Peak, he glanced toward a cave dwelling halfway up the mountain—the dwelling of Yan Yiwen.
Then, he looked up at the summit, where a stone palace stood—the residence of the patriarch, Tai He.
He had to deliver the jade slip and the message to Yan Yiwen without alerting Patriarch Tai He.
Jiang Chang didn't linger for long. He walked straight into a cave at the foot of the mountain.
Passing through a narrow passage, he arrived at a vast underground cavern, about a thousand feet wide.
This cavern was a massive corpse pit, filled with bodies.
Most of the corpses were highly decomposed, their flesh rotting away to reveal white bones.
The air was filled with an indescribable stench—the smell of decay that was almost unbearable.
However, Jiang Chang was accustomed to the foul odor in the cavern.
Without changing his expression, he flew toward the center of the corpse pit, where a stone platform stood.
The platform was inscribed with intricate formation patterns—a formation designed to refine corpse energy.
Above the platform, in the cavern's ceiling, was a vertical shaft about half a zhang wide. This shaft led directly to Yan Yiwen's cave dwelling halfway up the mountain, providing her with a continuous supply of pure corpse energy.
Jiang Chang's task was to operate the formation.
The Nine Palaces Sect had assigned two Foundation Establishment cultivators to operate this formation, each responsible for six-hour shifts.
Thus, when Jiang Chang arrived, another Foundation Establishment cultivator was already on the platform, controlling the formation.
After a brief exchange, the other cultivator got up and left the corpse pit cavern.
Jiang Chang sat down at the center of the platform and took control of the formation.
Operating the formation wasn't particularly complicated, and after years of experience, Jiang Chang had mastered its intricacies, handling it with ease.
Time passed, and soon it was deep into the night.
Jiang Chang raised his hand and tossed a jade slip upward, sending it flying into the vertical shaft.
The jade slip ascended through the shaft and flew into Yan Yiwen's cave dwelling.
Yan Yiwen, who was in the midst of cultivation, noticed the jade slip flying out of the shaft and frowned in confusion.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators in the corpse pit below had always been respectful and never dared to disturb her.
This sudden action was indeed unexpected.
Yan Yiwen took the jade slip and probed it with her spiritual sense. She discovered that it contained a fragmentary body tempering technique related to poison.
It was a technique she had never practiced or even seen before. Yet, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with it, as if she had encountered it in some forgotten corner of her memory.
This sense of familiarity left her deeply puzzled.
At that moment, another jade slip flew out of the vertical shaft.
This jade slip contained only a few short sentences:
"Elder Yan, I was entrusted by an old acquaintance of yours to deliver this cultivation jade slip. Your old acquaintance also asked me to convey this message: 'The outer sect disciple who took inventory of the Rainbow Herb has returned.'"
Yan Yiwen read the contents of the jade slip, her brows furrowed as she tried to recall memories related to the Rainbow Herb.
Eventually, she realized that in her long memory, there was no recollection of a Rainbow Herb and an outer sect disciple existing together.
Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had encountered an outer sect disciple who took inventory of the Rainbow Herb somewhere.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck "Yan Yiwen's" mind.
She remembered the source of her familiarity with the technique and recalled the outer sect disciple who had taken inventory of the Rainbow Herb.
These memories didn't come from her own mind but from the memories of Yan Yiwen.
After Xue Mei had formed her Golden Core, under Tai He's tacit approval, she had taken over Yan Yiwen's body and inherited most of her memories.
A sharp gleam flashed in Xue Mei's eyes.
"It's that person named 'Ji Yin'—he's back. He's returned to the Tianyuan Continent from the Chaotic Sea!"
"But why is he contacting me? No, he's not contacting me—he's contacting Yan Yiwen."
"Why would he contact Yan Yiwen? Isn't he afraid that Yan Yiwen would ask Tai He to hunt him down again?"
"Unless..."
Xue Mei's eyes suddenly widened in disbelief, as if she had thought of something shocking.
"Could it be that he's trying to lure us out? Is he back for revenge—to settle the score with Yan Yiwen and Tai He for hunting him down?"
"That's impossible! Back then, he was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment. How could he possibly be a match for Tai He in just a hundred years?"
As Yan Yiwen was lost in thought, she suddenly remembered something else.
Ji Yin still had a bronze key coffin in his possession.
"If I can get my hands on his bronze key coffin, I won't need to risk staying in the Nine Palaces Sect for the one in the Yin Soul Hall. I can seal the 'Soul-Locking Curse' and escape from the Nine Palaces Sect."
Xue Mei's spirits lifted.
The reason Tai He hadn't yet taken her Yin essence wasn't because her Yin essence was insufficient or because Tai He's cultivation hadn't reached the bottleneck of mid-stage Nascent Soul.
It was because Yan Yiwen, in order to save her own life, had told Tai He that there was a bronze key coffin in the Yin Soul Hall. She had promised that when the Yin Soul Hall opened eight months later, she would enter and bring out the bronze key coffin.
To obtain the bronze key coffin, Tai He had postponed the time for absorbing Yan Yiwen's Yin essence.
And Xue Mei wanted to claim the bronze key coffin in the Yin Soul Hall for herself. For this, she was willing to risk her life and remain in the Nine Palaces Sect.
TL/N: In this chapter there were a lot of typos, especially with Yan Yiwen and Xue Mei's names. I corrected most of what I could and this is how I think those names should have been. In the raws, a lot of times where it should have been Xue Mei, it was written as Yan Yiwen.
(End of the Chapter)
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