Chapter 60 – Elder
Huang Long looked at the bottles and snorted. “The river water from the back mountain isn’t allowed to be taken. I’ll take these two bottles. You guys can go and rest. Remember to come find me tomorrow, and I’ll take you to the scripture library to find a suitable cultivation technique,” he said.
After Wang Lin heard this, he became extremely excited. As he left, he respectfully bid farewell. Although his current cultivation base was high, the only technique he possessed was the Attractive Technique.
After Wang Lin left, Huang Long turned around. He bowed respectfully and said, “Elder Shangguan, do you think what Wang Lin said is true? And how should we deal with him?”
A thin old man wearing a blue robe walked out into the main hall. His face was extremely gloomy. “How much of it is true? Huang Long, can’t you see that little fellow isn’t saying a single word of truth?”
Huang Long showed an embarrassed expression. He was one of the ten Foundation Establishment elders. In the cultivation world, strength was paramount. His position as the sect head and fellow martial brothers as elders was merely a facade for the outside world.
The Heng Yue Sect’s rule was that if one reached the Foundation Establishment stage, they could become an elder and enjoy the privileges of that role. If one reached Core Formation, then they would become one of the Heng Yue Sect’s true elders, and if one reached the Nascent Soul stage, then they would be considered an ancestor of the Heng Yue Sect.
Normally, the ten Foundation Establishment elders were in closed-door training, but, after hearing the shocking news from the Xuan Dao Sect, Huang Long immediately found the ten elders to inform the two Core Formation true elders of this matter.
Wang Lin’s appearance was completely unexpected for Huang Long, so he took the opportunity to bring Wang Lin here to question him and ask the Foundation Building elders to question him as well.
Elder Shangguan saw the bottles in Huang Long’s hands. He scanned them with his divine sense, then said, “This little boy said one thing right. This is indeed river water from the back mountain, and, if drunk every day, will help cultivation.”
Huang Long hesitated for a moment. “Elder Shangguan, do you think the technique Wang Lin used is truly an interesting one?” he asked.
Elder Shangguan looked at Huang Long and said, “I saw his match and I can confirm that the technique he used was definitely an attention-grabbing technique.”
Huang Long’s expression changed drastically. “Is that really a fascinating technique? But how can it be so powerful that it can capture magical treasures?” he asked.
Elder Shangguan snorted coldly and said, “Any technique, after long-term practice, will have special effects, even if it’s nothing to Foundation Building cultivators. This attraction technique is the most basic technique in the cultivation world. Don’t you still understand that the more basic a technique is, the longer its history is?”
Huang Long immediately nodded in agreement.
Elder Shangguan pondered for a moment, then said, “This child’s cultivation is indeed at the 3rd layer, but he has too much spiritual energy in his body, so I can’t check everything clearly. My guess is that his strength is at the 14th layer of Qi Condensation, so he should be able to reach the Foundation Building stage soon. It’s okay for a disciple like this to have his secrets, since the sect is in such a precarious state. Hmph, the Xuan Dao Sect truly deserves to be called a small sect. Sending a few Qi Condensation juniors as elders and daring to try to win over Wang Lin in front of us with voice transmissions!”
Huang Long was stunned. He didn’t inquire further about the voice transmission, but instead asked, “Huang Long obeys. Elder Shangguan, regarding the matter of the ancestors…”
Elder Shangguan sighed. His face was sullen. He shook his head and said, “The ancestors haven’t sent a message for 30 years, I’m afraid… Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can do. If the Xuantian Dao Sect truly wants Heng Yue Peak, then there’s nothing we can do. The State of Zhao is vast and will have a place for our Heng Yue Sect. Once the two true elders reach Nascent Soul, hmph, all this humiliation will be repaid.”
Huang Long smiled bitterly and nodded silently.
As for Wang Lin, after he left the main hall, all the core disciples made way for him and were full of respect. This treatment was completely opposite to the previous day.
“Strength, in the world of cultivation, strength is the only thing that matters.” Wang Lin felt a little emotional as he walked back to Sun Dazhu’s garden.
As soon as he entered, he saw Sun Dazhu walking over with a smile. “Good disciple, Master has been waiting for you for a long time. Here, make some high-quality healing tea for you. It will make you feel much better after drinking it.”
With that, he took the cup from the stone table in the garden and handed it to Wang Lin.
Wang Lin’s facial expression became a little strange. Sun Dazhu’s behavior changed too quickly, leaving Wang Lin momentarily stunned.
Sun Dazhu saw Wang Lin’s expression. He smiled awkwardly and said, with a sincere look in his eyes, “Wang Lin, as your teacher, I haven’t been very kind, and we’ve often had misunderstandings.”
Wang Lin did not take the cup. He observed the tea with his divine senses and found fluctuations in spiritual energy. He said, “This disciple is tired, so I will not drink this tea.”
Sun Dazhu immediately said, “Tired? Then you should rest. The place you were staying in before was too small. From today on, you can stay in my room.”
Wang Lin’s expression remained calm, but his heart was extremely cautious. It had to be said that, within the sect, Sun Dazhu was the one most suspicious of him, so Wang Lin shook his head and said, “It’s fine. I won’t stay long. I’ll return to the back mountain for closed-door training in a few days.”
Sun Dazhu opened his mouth to say something, but Wang Lin quickly said goodbye and left. Sun Dazhu stared at the tea in his hand. His eyes were filled with a cold light.
Wang Lin suddenly turned around with a faint smile on his face and looked at Sun Dazhu seriously.
Sun Dazhu’s face suddenly stiffened and he said, “Good disciple, is there anything else?”
Wang Lin showed a sarcastic expression. He took a few steps forward and said, “Teacher, you look very nervous.”
Sun Dazhu’s heart pounded. He took two steps back and calmed himself. “Master is indeed nervous. You, disciple, are much stronger than me. I’ve only reached the 5th layer of Qi Condensation,” he said.
Wang Lin looked at the tea and said, “Master, drink this tea for your student.”
Sun Dazhu’s expression suddenly changed, and he forced a smile. “What’s this? If you don’t want to drink, I’ll just throw it away.” After that, he threw the cup to the ground and took a few more steps, until his feet were at the gate.
“Teacher, drink it.” Wang Lin’s expression remained calm. He activated his attention-getting technique. The cup that had fallen to the ground stopped and floated toward Sun Dazhu. Wang Lin sighed. He knew Sun Dazhu had malicious intentions. There was indeed something wrong with the tea.
Sun Dazhu’s expression became uneasy. After pondering for a while, he suddenly frowned and said, “Wang Lin, it seems you still misunderstand your teacher. Are you sure there’s something wrong with this tea? Alright, I’ll drink it.”
Sun Dazhu took the tea and drank it. Then, he threw the cup on the ground and said, in a displeased tone, “Isn’t it all right? The sect master asked me to speak with him. It would be bad if I’m late. If there’s anything else, let’s talk about it later.” After that, he turned to leave.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he moved his body. Sun Dazhu’s expression changed and he quickly retreated, but how could his 5th layer cultivation compare to Wang Lin’s?
In an instant, he arrived beside Sun Dazhu. His eyes lit up and he patted Sun Dazhu’s chest. Earlier, when Sun Dazhu was drinking tea, he realized that Sun Dazhu wasn’t actually drinking tea, but rather enveloping him with spiritual energy.
With that slap, Sun Dazhu’s spiritual energy dispersed and the tea quickly dissolved into Sun Dazhu’s body.
Sun Dazhu’s expression suddenly turned slightly angry. He immediately said, “Wang Lin, what are you doing? You want to kill your master? If you kill me, the Heng Yue Sect will not forgive you!”
Wang Lin remained silent. He sent out his divine sense and discovered that the tea had completely dissolved within Sun Dazhu’s body. Then, he sensed tiny wires running from the tea to Sun Dazhu’s head.
Sun Dazhu also sensed something was wrong, but before he could speak, the wire-like object had already reached his head. Instantly, his gloomy expression began to calm.
Wang Lin looked at Sun Dazhu and immediately noticed something was wrong. Sun Dazhu’s expression seemed somewhat listless.
He pondered for a moment, then asked, “Teacher, that disciple wasn’t trying to kill you, but you were trying to fight me. However, if teacher had really drunk that tea, I wouldn’t have done this.”
Sun Dazhu’s expression remained impassive. He immediately said, “The tea is not for drinking.”
Wang Lin was stunned. He studied Sun Dazhu carefully for a while, then asked, “Why can’t I drink it?”
Sun Dazhu said with a deadpan expression, “There is Three-Thread Nematode Grass in the tea.”
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. “What are the effects of the Three-Thread Nematode Grass?” he asked.
“The ability to control the person who drinks it for a short time. It’s a key ingredient for making puppets.”
Killing intent flashed in Wang Lin’s eyes. “Why do you want me to take it?” he asked.
“Ever since I found out you had that gourd, I started to have doubts, so I accepted you as my disciple. Originally, I wanted to take you to the first layer so I could use my soul-searching technique on you, but I already gave you the Spiritual Energy Dispersing Grass, so I thought it would take you more than ten years to reach the first layer and gave up on that idea. In the competition, you suddenly displayed extraordinary strength, so I thought you must have more of those gourds, and even other secrets. I wanted to improve my cultivation as well, so I thought I’d give you this tea.”
Wang Lin took a deep breath and asked, “What is the Spiritual Energy Dispersing Grass? Also, have you told anyone else about me? And why didn’t you use this Three-Thread Nematode Grass on me before?”
“The Spiritual Energy Dispersing Grass is used to help dispel all your cultivation. Regarding your matter, I never told anyone. I didn’t want anyone other than me to steal the gourd, and, after that, things changed too suddenly, so speaking now would only hurt me, so I decided to act.”
“As for the Three-Thread Nematode Grass, I didn’t have it before. I obtained it from another cultivator when I left the mountain last year. That cultivator said that if used on cultivators below the Foundation Establishment Stage, the success rate was 90%. I originally wanted to use it on Lun Yunjie, to extract some pills from him.”
Wang Lin became angry and sneered. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll find out?”
“To find out the secret you’re keeping, I can’t worry too much. I’m already old. If I don’t improve, I’ll never reach the Foundation Building stage in my lifetime. Actually, I wasn’t sure if you’d return today, so I decided to take a gamble and prepare this tea. If you do, I’ll offer you some tea. If not, I assume you’ll be with the sect head and will be staying in the back mountain most of the time, so I won’t have any more opportunities to act.”
A cold light flashed across Wang Lin’s eyes. He asked coldly, “Earlier, you said that the sect head was looking for you. Is that true?”
“NO.”
As soon as Sun Dazhu’s words came out, Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he slammed his hand onto Sun Dazhu’s head. Blood began to pour out of Sun Dazhu’s orifices, and he fell to the ground.
Wang Lin stared at Sun Dazhu’s body. He felt an indescribable feeling. This was the first time he had killed someone, and that person was his teacher.
After pondering for a long time, Wang Lin put away Sun Dazhu’s body. He walked out of the Heng Yue Sect with a blank expression until he reached a mountain, then threw the body down.