Plundering the Dao of the Immortal Journey - Chapter 29

Chapter 29

- Black Wind Sect Stronghold

Zhu Wei decided to return to the hall inside the bandit’s stronghold as it was getting noisy outside . There were thirty corpses belonging to women and children on the floor and they were piled up on each other as blood covered the ground . Why should he be afraid of dead bodies or vengeful spirits? He did not let them affect him one bit .

He lit a candle and entered the hall, playing with the silver in the chest . All of a sudden, he heard a “woosh” and felt the room turn cold . The flame on the candle and in the fireplace were extinguished as the entire room was thrown into darkness .

“Wooo” the cold wind blew as an indistinguishable shadow formed on the chest . This was followed by the sound of someone wailing, as several shadows of fallen people started taking shape from the smoke emitted from the candles .

“Who is it?”

Even after seeing the shadows of these ghost, Zhu Wei was unperturbed . He whipped out his blade and said indignantly “I am a military official and you are rebels and bandits . It is the will of heaven that I’ve murdered you . Besides, you have no rights to any justice . I have killed you once and you can be sure I will kill you again . ”

He slashed down ferociously at the air as soon as he was adone speaking . Strangely, the wailing sounds and shadows dissipated instantaneously . Zhu Wei started laughing maniacally . He was just about to sheath his blade when a black fog welled up and loomed over him for several seconds before rapidly transforming into a huge snake . With a hiss it parted its jaws and bit down hard on Zhu Wei’s chest

“Ah!” Zhu Wei shouted, clutching his chest as his body dropped to the ground with a dull thud . His face had turned black as he gritted his teeth in pain, before reaching for his knife and throwing it in the direction of the snake .

The blade sliced through the air before a “pop” was heard, indicating the knife had met its target . A blurry shadow started taking shape as the man bent down, paled face . “This is bad, my disguise has been broken now that I am bleeding . ”

“Your excellency, your excellency!” The archers outside realized that something untoward had happened and ran in . They glimpsed the shadow of someone escaping and were immediately alerted to the situation . Zhu Wei was spotted, body slumped on the floor .

“Not good, his excellency has been murdered . ”

Cao San was immediately informed of the situation . With bloodstained clothes, he dropped his meat and wine and ran into the stronghold . He divided his men into groups of three to five and ordered them to search the area thoroughly .

Pei Zi Yun and his village men were looking on with passivity at the commotion unfolding from outside . Pei Zi Yun was the only person among them armed . He slung his hunting bow across his shoulders and looked around intently . He suddenly noticed a shadow from afar . Without any hesitation, he unslung his bow, notched an arrow and aimed .

“Woosh” The arrow flew across and hit something in the darkness . The shadow started to take actual form as he screamed in unbearable pain .

“Who is it, who is it?” The brave village men shouted .

Pei Zi Yun did not advance but watched from where he stood . A man in white revealed himself with an arrow stuck in his shoulder . He was writhing and screaming from the pain coursing through his wound . The bowstring was pulled back once more before the sound of the arrow slicing through the air could be heard once more . This time the arrow connected with its victim squarely in the chest . Another scream could be heard before the man went rigid and fell to the ground dead .

“Fantastic!” The people around were cheering his marksmanship and applauding . Even Zhang Dashan could not help but be amazed by his remarkable accuracy . Who would’ve expected Elementary Scholar Pei Zi Yun to have such archery skills… .

Pei Zi Yun approached the corpse and affirmed that it was indeed the rogue cultivator . He muttered silently under his breath “If only you weren’t blinded by rage and turned impulsive, I would not have been able to kill you . ”

In actuality, this was not true . Even if he had not killed Zhu Wei, Pei Zi Yun would’ve organized a party to seek out the rouge cultivator . He knelt down and started searching his pockets and the folds of the rogue cultivator’s clothes . His hands were trembling as he hoped with all his might “Please let it be there!”

Just as he was searching, his fingertips touched something . In exhilaration, he hurriedly pulled it out . Just by touching it, he felt something and was certain that this was indeed what he had been searching for . He had found the spiritual legacy .

Upon further searching, he had acquired a mountain pearl and a diary . The pages of the diary were still intact as Pei Zi Yun flipped it open and took a look at the contents . It contained many accounts and techniques of his own cultivation experiences . As he was reading through, he felt the plum blossom tingling . This diary was soaked with his feelings and encounters while cultivating the Dao Arts and thus became a legacy in which spiritual knowledge and energy were being stored .

Pei Zi Yun kept the mountain pearl and the diary in his pockets and saw an enraged Cao San approaching . Without a word, he started slashing and stabbing the lifeless corpse on the ground . After his anger had been vented he then asked in between ragged breaths: “Elementary Scholar Pei, what should we do now?”

“What else can we do?” Pei Zi Yun straightened his body and said blankly . “With a problem as big as this we can only wait for the chief patrol officer to come and resolve . ”

Pei Zi Yun then swept past Cao San indignantly and walked away, completely ignoring his dissatisfied expression .

…………

The next day

As soon as the chief patrol officer had received the letter, he hurriedly made his way to the mountain stronghold . He was greeted with the sight of numerous bodies and blood trails all over the area . There were also several piles of corpses with heads severed from their bodies .

The chief patrol officer noted that most of these bodies were dressed in servant’s garb and were soaked in blood . A prominent black wolf marked their clothes in the middle, clearly distinguishing them as members of Black Wind sect . The blood on the floor had dried up and had solidified, yet he paid it no attention .

What’s the big deal with soldiers killing some people?

Cao San hastily stepped up and spoke in hushed voices to the chief patrol officer . When he had finished, the chief officer’s face turned grim and spoke harshly to the corpse on the floor . “You idiot! You had managed to wipe out the entire Black Wind sect without a single death . This was supposed to be a huge victory . But your greed for money has caused you your life . What a disgrace!”

The chief patrol officer proceeded into the stronghold and walked into the room where the chests lay . Upon laying eyes of the wealth before him he sighed and finally understood the greed that indirectly drove Zhu Wei to his death . These were accumulated by the Black Wind bandits over years . In killing them, they had gained much wealth for themselves .

The patrol officer’s heart skipped a beat all of a sudden `and his lips quivered . Laughing he asked “Elementary Scholar Pei, how do you think we should solve this problem?”

Pei Zi Yun glanced back at him and smiled . “Chief officer your excellency, in annihilating this sect and killing their leader, we have done a great service to the county and nation . Cao San was fearless and was the first to rush forward and killed many bandits . And his excellency Zhu led the charge last night, but died in battle . ”

“As for these… . ” Pei Zi Yun stepped forward and scooped up a handful of white silver pieces . With the other hand he waved over the chest and said “I’ve taken my share . ”

He then spun around and walked away .

Seeing a scene like that before him, the chief officer sighed and said “He is indeed a scholar . ”

Seeing that Cao San did not understand what was happening and appeared lost, the chief explained to him . “We soldiers are really no match for these scholars . If he did not take some of this money, we would not feel at ease . So he took a small amount from the chest, as a sign that he had taken his share, and left the rest for us as a reward for our hard work . ”

“He is so young, yet is already so graceful and talented . The only other person I know with such elegance is his excellency Xu Men . Come, bring this chest back . We must also clean up this scene . ”

Snail Village, Pei Household

Pei Zi Yun made his way home as soon as he could . He reached his destination around noon and made it in time for lunch with his mother . He ate and chatted with her for some time before eventually returning to his room .

His newly refurbished room had a very clean and neat layout to it, with a screen dividing his room into two sections . The inner section contained a bed and the outer section had a bookshelf and a table for his studying efforts . The bookshelf contained more than a thousand books given to him by Zhao Ning . On the table lay his writing materials .

Only after sitting on his bed did his heart eventually settle down . The entire incident that had taken place yesterday left him reeling in fear, yet he did not show it . These patrol officers were really cruel and heartless .

“But I am an Elementary Scholar, and by taking a small part of the money, I should be safe now . In fact, it seems like they owe me a favour even!

He had taken about ten taels of silver worth from the chest . In the past, that would have been a considerable amount for the Pei household, but was small money to him now .

“Actually, with Zhu Wei’s death it would’ve been hard for them to cover the issue up . If I really wanted more, I could’ve asked for at least two to three hundred taels of silver . But would it be worth it?”

“Although the money I have taken is not much, I managed to exact my revenge on them . Everything that happened there will now be the responsibility of the chief patrol officer, even the death of Zhu Wei . I shall have nothing to do with that scene . ”

“Moreover, I have gained quite a fair bit from the incident!”

Pei Zi Yun took a drink from the bowl before placing it on the table and giving a sigh . He took out the two objects and took a look at them carefully . He scrutinized the mountain pearl first . The original owner had been a member of a sect and knew something . “This mountain pearl could actually be a spiritual weapon, but was of low quality . The rogue cultivator did not have anything exceptionally good . ”

“But if I were to sell it, it would be worth at least a thousand silver taels . ”

“Let me take a look at this diary . ”

As soon as the diary was flipped open, Pei Zi Yun observed the details meticulously . The words were written in red ink and resembled blood . There were several drawings of Dao Symbols, and of men and women naked which made him giggle out loud . As he flipped on, he noticed there were ancient seals and many lines of notes and annotations written by the rogue cultivator .

Since the original owner did not have much knowledge of magic arts, Pei Zi Yun read on . As he got to the end of the notes, he shivered . It seems like there were details of a certain sect making their moves and this rogue cultivator was just a pawn in action . It was also written that a particular government official was among the masterminds of the sect, and his surname was Zhang . Pei Zi Yun sighed and said “It seems like I now have proof that Zhang Jie Yu is responsible . ”

As he read on, he felt a sense of curiosity yet was amused . “This rogue cultivator had very shallow roots and practised crooked dark arts . It is very similar to the Dao Arts practised by Holy Jail sect and seems like there is some sort of relation . ”

“If one were to learn Dao Arts like these, bad endings would be in store for them . ”

“Thankfully I do not have to learn any of these . All I need is a thread of spiritual root . ”

As he gathered his thoughts, he picked up the diary and could feel the powers in his hands, the powers invested into the legacy by the rogue cultivator . It was a strong feeling, unshakable that almost seemed to say: “While a mistake had been made in cultivation, and the wrong path had been taken, as long as the pursuit for Dao is still there, it makes no matter . ”

He placed the diary under his pillow and gently lowered his head onto the pillow and waited for the dream to envelop him . Once the dream phase has passed, he would be able to obtain spiritual wisdom and Dao Arts and everything will change .

Due to his fatigue from the day before, and with the help of the plum blossom, he fell asleep almost instantly .

It was a sunny afternoon, different from the last dream he had . It was late spring and the cold had almost completely dissipated . The sunlight entered the room through the window and Pei Zi Yun woke up .

Pei Zi Yun rolled off the bed and stood before the window . The flowers and lake were glistening under the sun and made for a beautiful sight . He looked up at the sun and realized that he had not been asleep for very long . He did not feel very much of a difference and crinkled his brows .

When he fell asleep, he did dream . But it was different from the previous two dreams . This time it was blurry and very unclear . When he woke up, he could only remember that the dream was about a person’s life, but the details could not come to him .

This was not right .

Did the legacy fail to work?

“System!” Without needing to imagine, a small white plum blossom appeared before him . It gradually got bigger until it had become a transparent white interface with faint light perception . As it came into his sight, it vibrated .

“What? My authority now is just a single petal, and in order to absorb Dao Arts, even the most basic Dao Art, I will need to have at least two petals?”

“So in order for the second petal to blossom, will I need to fulfil my family’s dream and reach High Scholar?”

As he was deep in thought, there was a change in the information interface . And a line of words appeared before him .

Mission Five : Reach High Scholar to fulfil mother’s desire (Incomplete)