After Faking My Death, I Became the Male Lead's White Moonlight - Chapter 8

Of course, Song Lianzhou had no idea that in just a short span of time, the rumors had morphed into something so utterly absurd. The root of all this stemmed entirely from his momentary pity toward Ye Xisheng.

Lately, he had been diligently devoting himself to cultivation, wishing to fully master the powers left behind by the original host.

Two days later, Song Lianzhou was already capable of wielding wind-attribute spiritual energy with effortless perfection.

“Not bad, not bad.” Floating off to the side to observe Song Lianzhou’s performance, the system nodded in satisfaction. “As expected of the host I chose; your learning capacity is truly formidable. You’ve already cultivated this manual, Elegant Winds, to the realm of great mastery.”

Song Lianzhou’s cyan robes fluttered gracefully as unwithdrawn wind-attribute spiritual energy coiled around his fingertips. A gentle breeze from his surroundings affectionately burrowed into his sleeves, brushing caressingly against his cheek.

Before him, a boulder of irregular shape had already been carved into the likeness of an exquisite flower.

Withdrawing his spiritual energy, Song Lianzhou felt the surrounding wind linger and rub affectionately against his face for a moment longer before finally drifting away.

“The wind around here seems to really like me.”

“Yes, Host. I’ve noticed that even though you’re a modern individual, your affinity for nature actually surpasses that of the original host,” the system remarked. “This is a good thing; it allows you to utilize wind spiritual energy much more effectively. The only trouble is that the original host wasn’t particularly fond of using wind, traditionally relying almost exclusively on water-attribute spiritual energy instead.”

“Then I’ll practice water-attribute techniques as well.”

Just as Song Lianzhou was about to proceed, he suddenly heard a tremendous roar erupting from not far away, followed immediately by a rolling wave of intense heat.

Song Lianzhou gazed toward the source of the sound and asked in puzzlement, “It sounds like it’s coming from within the inner sect. What’s going on?”

The system immediately probed the area: “It’s Feiyi and Qiamiao; they’ve gotten into a fight with a bunch of strangers.”

“Junior Sister and Junior Brother?” Song Lianzhou drew his sword. “Let’s go take a look.”

“Are you worried about them?”

“I’m worried about their opponents.”

When Song Lianzhou and the system hurriedly rushed to the scene, they found that the skirmish was taking place within a courtyard that had already been scorched pitch-black as far as the eye could see, with residual flames still licking at the trees on either side.

Feiyi’s whip was still wreathed in roaring flames. Brimming with fury, she barked at the people standing opposite her: “Are you going to hand the item over or not?”

Qiamiao’s palms crackled with bolts of lightning, making rare common cause with Feiyi: “Don’t push your luck!!”

Those individuals on the opposing side were clearly no match for these two little tyrants. Shielded by protective talismans, they could only cower behind a tree that was still mostly intact and jeer: “This is something given to us by our master in the first place why should we hand it over to you?”

“What is going on here?”

The moment Song Lianzhou’s voice dropped, even the leaping flames around them seemed to freeze slightly.

Floating down gracefully right into the midst of the group, he deliberately positioned himself to shield Feiyi and Qiamiao behind him, flicking his sleeves to extinguish the burning fires: “Might I ask all of you what could possibly warrant such a violent brawl?”

“Senior Brother, you’ve finally arrived!” Catching sight of an authority figure who could back her up, a wave of aggrieved emotion welled up inside Feiyi instantly. “These people are simply going too far!”

The opposing disciples shouted back unconvinced: “Clearly it’s you guys who are being unreasonable!”

Song Lianzhou refused to agree with that statement. Though Feiyi was somewhat spoiled, she was by no means an unreasonable person. Dismissing those disciples’ words entirely, he turned his head and asked Feiyi, “What happened?”

Feiyi explained, “Over these past few days, young maidens have been disappearing frequently around the Qishan region, and the cultivators who went to search for them all suffered from varying degrees of amnesia. A few days ago, the local townspeople came to our Cangling Sect, hoping to enlist our help in investigating this matter.”

As one of the five major sects, the Cangling Sect wielded considerable influence and routinely accepted commissions from all corners of the cultivation world to serve as experiential training tasks for its disciples. However, the Cangling Sect possessed its own mineral veins and industries, meaning it did not rely on offerings from the common folk down the mountain and thus bore no binding obligation to govern local territories.

Yet, speaking of the Qishan region…

“I recall that the territory of Qishan is governed by a sect called the Taizhen Sect, isn’t it?” Song Lianzhou asked. “Could this missing persons case be so for that sect that they actually came to ask us for help?”

“I’m not too clear on the affairs of the Taizhen Sect,” Feiyi said with an unsightly expression. “However, they manage things in chaos and accomplish nothing; no doubt the common folk around Qishan received no help from them either and ultimately turned to the Cangling Sect instead. Along with their plea, they also delivered an official travel permit granting entry into Qishan City.”

“Still, as Senior Brother knows, the task hall has always been managed by the Fourth Elder, Meng Xu. He accepted this commission back then, claiming he would dispatch his own disciples to handle it. Who would have thought that nearly ten days have passed, and those people haven’t even let out a single peep!” The more Feiyi spoke, the angrier she grew, the flames on her whip flaring up with a tendency to reignite. “It wasn’t until today when Master descended the mountain and was stopped by the townspeople waiting below who begged him in tears that he finally found out about this whole ordeal!”

“Elder Meng truly puts on quite an impressive display of authority. Have the internal affairs of the sect now reached a point where he can arbitrarily make unilateral decisions all by himself without even needing to notify the Sect Master?!”

Feiyi raised her voice sharply, frightening those few opposing individuals into cowering back like a bunch of quails. It took them a good long while before they dared to muster the courage for a weak counterattack: “The Sect Master is busy with myriad affairs; there’s no need to report every single trifle to him…”

Qiamiao could barely suppress his fiery temper either: “Then since you accepted this commission, go get it done! Why have you dragged your feet for nearly ten days without making a move? The missing people’s lives hang in the balance; every day you delay adds another layer of danger. Do you treat human lives like a child’s game?”

“We! … We aren’t like you guys, all possessing strength at the Golden Core stage or above. Naturally, we have to make thorough preparations before setting out!”

“A bunch of good-for-nothings! Since you don’t dare to go, then we’ll go instead! Hand over the transit permit!”

“No way, this is something given to us by our master. Do you intend to take it by force… Whoa!” A streak of lightning flashed swiftly, striking right in front of them and scaring those disciples into scrambling away with shrieks. “What are you doing?! Don’t forget the sect rules dictate that Cangling disciples are strictly prohibited from harming fellow sect members!”

“Enough,” Song Lianzhou intervened.

He had already grasped the full picture of the situation.

However, this matter wasn’t simply a case of one side wanting to hand something over while the other refused. These disciples were holding the permit with complete impunity and even knew to invoke sect rules to pressure others, meaning someone must have instructed them behind the scenes.

Fourth Elder Meng Xu had always been at odds with Sect Master Gu Qingci. Regardless of his reasons for dragging his feet and preventing his disciples from departing earlier, there was only one underlying motive for withholding the transit permit now: to exert pressure on Gu Qingci.

The common folk had sought help repeatedly to no avail, which would inevitably breed disappointment toward the Cangling Sect. As sect leader, Gu Qingci would naturally bear the brunt of the condemnation.

Pondering for a moment, Song Lianzhou stepped forward: “You lot are you truly unwilling to hand over the transit permit?”

Among those disciples, the ringleader was Meng Xu’s personal disciple, Zhao Xian. Clearly somewhat intimidated by Song Lianzhou, he shrank his neck back a fraction: “We won’t give it! If you dare to take it by force, my master will definitely not let you off!”

“Fine, keep it then.” Song Lianzhou spun around. “Junior Sister, Junior Brother, let’s go.”

Zhao Xian was left dumbfounded, while Feiyi and Qiamiao were equally stunned: “Senior Brother?”

“They merely accepted the mission; that doesn’t mean we can’t go investigate ourselves. Senior Brother will accompany you both, and we’ll certainly get to the bottom of this matter,” Song Lianzhou said.

Feiyi hesitated. “But the place we need to investigate is the Fanggu Village within Qishan City. Without a transit permit, we won’t be able to enter the city at all…”

“Rest assured, I have a way.”

In some nameless deep forest, winds and clouds churned turbulently.

Ye Xisheng stood alone in that expanse, the ground beneath his feet littered entirely with the carcasses of fierce beasts, while everything within a radius of a hundred miles had been scorched into a desolate wasteland.

He rotated his wrists slightly, sensing the flow of spiritual energy within his body as it continuously integrated with the meridians of his current self.

He was truly recovering… even better than he had anticipated.

Following his rebirth, he hadn’t yet fully exerted his own power. Today, acting upon his memories from that era, he located the lair of a demonic beast on the verge of berserking and wiped it out with a casual wave of his hand.

Initially, he assumed his current self could only command six or seven tenths of his peak cultivation level; now, it appeared he had underestimated himself.

As he was deep in thought, a small paper figure suddenly rode the wind, flying over to plant itself thwack right against his forehead.

Following that, the little figure gradually dissolved into points of light that streamed directly into Ye Xisheng’s body. Closing his eyes, all of Song Lianzhou’s whereabouts and movements over the past few days flashed through his mind.

“Qishan, is it…”

A certain young maiden suddenly surfaced in his memory.

At first, he had believed this to be nothing more than an ordinary experiential assignment. It wasn’t until he stood at the ultimate edge of life, looking backward, that he realized the mission had foretold his ending from the very beginning.

Controlled and bound.

Although he had already resolved to distance himself from worldly affairs once and for all, that girl resembled him so closely, yet was met with such tragic plight.

Ye Xisheng let out a soft sigh.

“So be it, then. I shall go take a look.”