I Failed to Fake My Death After Scumming the Demon Lord [Transmigration] - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Three years later.

Yin-Feng Pavilion, outside the maple forest martial arena.

Qin Gu stood with his arms crossed, leaning against a lush maple tree. The sunlight made his eyes shine. A maple leaf drifted down onto his shoulder, and as he turned his head, his fringe brushed the leaf, causing it to flutter down to the ground.

A disciple walking out of the martial arena greeted him: “Good morning, Senior Brother Qin. Are you waiting for someone?”

The disciple walking with him nudged him with an elbow: “Don’t ask—Senior Brother Qin is obviously waiting for Senior Brother Ji.”

They bowed to Qin Gu together and walked off, laughing and joking.

Qin Gu chuckled. Just then, footsteps reached his ears, accompanied by a voice: “Senior brother!”

He turned his head to see a tall young man emerging from the maple forest. With broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his black hair tied high, and skin as fair as jade, his mere presence made the surrounding sunlight seem much softer.

The protagonist came with his own filter, it seemed.

Qin Gu smiled as he waited for him to approach: “Xiao Yun, have you grown taller again?”

He had truly watched Ji Yun grow like a willow shoot, until he reached the same height as him and now had completely surpassed him.

Ji Yun smiled slightly, his dark purple eyes looking over. “I kept senior brother waiting. I heard them say you were outside the martial arena, and I thought they might have been mistaken.”

Qin Gu’s cultivation had reached the verge of the Spirit Transformation stage, and he had been sent by Qin Rulian to assist the Demon Purging Division in tracking down demonic cultivators, leaving him away from the Yin-Feng Pavilion for several months.

He didn’t see the other disciples very often, but because he and Ji Yun had been very close these past few years, Ji Yun naturally felt this way.

Qin Gu teased him: “So, does junior brother want me to come back, or not?”

Ji Yun hurriedly replied: “Of course I want senior brother to come back.”

Qin Gu laughed aloud, and realizing he had been tricked, Ji Yun shook his head and chuckled along.

The two walked side-by-side through the stone cavern. Qin Gu brought up the matter at hand: “The Ancestral Worship Ceremony is fast approaching. Mother is too busy to handle everything, so she wants us to go down the mountain and retrieve all the weapons that will be used for the autumn hunt.”

The Ancestral Worship Ceremony was the most important ritual in the cultivation world.

Legend had it that a thousand years ago, two Great Ascension stage cultivators had agreed to cross their tribulation and ascend together. However, at the critical moment of ascension, one of them fell into the demonic path and intended to destroy the world. The other could not tolerate such a thing, and the two fought for seven days and seven nights amidst the lightning tribulation. Thunder rumbled continuously across the divine land until they eventually perished together.

However, as Great Ascension cultivators, while their bodies died, their souls did not disperse. The “Fairy Boat” was actually manifested from the spiritual consciousness of the cultivator who had fought the demon. It hovered above the cultivation world, protecting humanity.

Yes, the Fairy Boat was actually a floating island, and that cultivator was regarded as the progenitor of the cultivation world. His spirit tablet was enshrined at the highest point of the Fairy Boat, and he was honored as the “Immaculate Immortal Venerable.”

The Ancestral Worship Ceremony, as the name suggested, was the ritual to worship the Immaculate Immortal Venerable, and it was also the day when all sects of the Immortal Alliance gathered together.

“The Ancestral Worship Ceremony…” Ji Yun nodded. “When are we departing?”

Qin Gu patted the back of his hand: “Now. It will be a good chance for me to test whether our Xiao Yun’s movement techniques have improved?”

With that, he took off first, the tips of his feet touching the ground as he leapt into the air like a red bird dancing through the mountains—graceful and agile.

Ji Yun watched Qin Gu’s retreating figure. He stepped onto the branches and chased after him in three or four steps, trailing just a few meters behind. “Senior brother’s movement technique is superb; I cannot compare.”

In truth, he was restraining his cultivation, willing to stay a step behind Qin Gu.

The mountain gate soon appeared in sight. Qin Gu landed and stood still, turning to look at Ji Yun, who had landed perfectly behind him: “Holding back is also a form of cheating.”

Ji Yun looked calm, his gaze cast into the distance: “Where to?”

This kid—three months without seeing him and he’s already learned to change the subject.

Qin Gu raised a finger and pointed the way.

Qing County was located in the northern part of the He Kingdom. It was a vast territory, wealthy, and the number one trading city in the He Kingdom. As such, the city was filled with shops and interconnected alleys.

The blacksmith shop that provided training equipment for the Yin-Feng Pavilion was hidden in the deepest part of an alley because its nature meant it had to remain inconspicuous.

Flying on swords was prohibited within the city. Qin Gu flipped the map back and forth for a long time before determining the specific location. He joined his hands together, pointed, and walked forward.

They wove through the alleyways, Qin Gu feeling dizzy from all the turns, until he finally spotted the small characters “Chen’s Blacksmith Shop” in a hidden corner.

The door of the blacksmith shop was disguised by immortal arts; to a mortal, it looked no different from a wall. One had to knock on three specific bricks in succession and inject spiritual energy before the door would open.

Qin Gu stepped forward, his knuckles ready to knock.

“Wait!”

As his movement stopped, Ji Yun’s voice sounded simultaneously.

Qin Gu frowned and stepped back: “The barrier is broken.”

The blacksmith shop, which should have been covered by a barrier, now had a dim golden-red shield with a crack that spread to the center of the formation.

And on the barrier, there was only this one crack.

Which meant that this person had used a single strike to aim directly at the formation’s core, shattering the barrier the Yin-Feng Pavilion had set up.

Qin Gu placed his hand on the side of the barrier and channeled his spiritual energy, then shook his head: “No traces of demonic energy. The attacker must have already left.”

However, he felt a faint sense of unease. At the very foot of the Yin-Feng Pavilion, their weapon warehouse had been attacked without a sound…

And it was on the eve of the Ancestral Worship Ceremony.

Qin Gu thought of the plot of the original novel. In the story, to suppress Ji Yun’s growing reputation, the original body had found an excuse to lock him in a firewood shed, causing Ji Yun to miss the chance to board the Fairy Boat.

No one expected that a massive turn of events would occur during that year’s Ancestral Worship Ceremony. Someone in the Immortal Alliance had colluded with demonic cultivators, and the blame was inexplicably placed on Ji Yun. Although he eventually cleared his name, it made him even more disillusioned with the cultivation world, planting the seeds for his fall into the demonic path—

That was a story for another time; the current situation was just as dire.

The book didn’t mention how the original body handled this, but for Qin Gu, the priority was saving people.

Making a decisive choice, Qin Gu quickly tapped three spots on the wall. The secret door opened, revealing a deep passage leading downward.

He held his sword hilt and stepped cautiously into the passage.

The blacksmith shop was quiet; forged swords and blades hung neatly on the walls, with no signs of an intrusion at first glance.

Further in was a corner. Turning it, one would find the forging workshop.

Qin Gu didn’t rush forward. He picked up an iron-striking stone and threw it at the wall. The stone hit the stone wall and ricocheted, flying right into the workshop.

A wisp of his spiritual consciousness was attached to it; spiritual energy spread from that point, permeating every corner of the workshop.

Qin Gu closed his eyes to focus for a moment, then withdrew his consciousness and signaled for Ji Yun to continue.

He hadn’t detected any traces of demonic energy, only pitch-black darkness.

And indeed, the lamps inside the workshop had been smashed and the wicks pinched out, leaving the room shrouded in boundless darkness.

Qin Gu used his spiritual energy to ignite a flame at his fingertip, finally seeing the scene inside.

Several blacksmiths were lying on the ground, their status unknown. Weapons that hadn’t been fully forged lay on the workbenches. On the innermost wall, a twisted poem was written in blackened blood:

“Meeting you again at the time of falling flowers”

At the end of the line, a bright, cheerful smiley face was drawn in blood.

Qin Gu cursed “Damn it” and took two quick steps to kneel beside a blacksmith. He placed his fingers against the man’s neck, felt a pulse, and felt relieved.

The rest were the same; it seemed they had only been knocked unconscious and their lives were not in danger.

After checking the blacksmiths, Qin Gu and Ji Yun worked together to move them to the wall.

Just as they were about to examine the blood writing on the wall, Ji Yun called out to him: “Senior brother, there seems to be something in the blacksmiths’ palms.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Gu looked at the blacksmith’s tightly clenched hands, where a wisp of black was leaking from between the fingers.

His heart began to beat uncontrollably. He carefully pried open the blacksmith’s fingers, and the black object was revealed in its entirety.

A crow’s feather.

That nightmare-like crow from three years ago seemed to break through his memories, letting out a shrill cry.

Yan Baishu!

Qin Gu scanned the workshop. If the intruder was Yan Baishu, then everything that seemed unreasonable was explained.

A demon cultivator with profound power could easily break the formation.

He had entered the heart of the sect, yet only knocked out the blacksmiths without harming them—his purpose was simply to leave behind this provocative poem.

Meeting you again.

For so many years, the Demon Purging Division had never stopped tracking his trail, but they had returned empty-handed every time.

This time, Yan Baishu was telling them: I am returning; get ready to welcome me.

How arrogant!

“It’s pig blood,” Ji Yun had already examined the blood writing on the wall. He rubbed his fingertips and walked over. “Senior brother, what should we do?”

Qin Gu fished out a soft handkerchief from his robes and handed it to him, his expression grave: “We must report this to the Immortal Alliance and prepare early.”

However, the Immortal Alliance had been preparing for the Ancestral Worship Ceremony for a long time; they would not postpone the ritual just because of one Yan Baishu.

If that was the case, they could only strengthen their defenses, starting with the Yin-Feng Pavilion, layering the security, and reporting immediately upon discovering any suspicious activity.

Qin Gu furrowed his brows. These past three years had been a rare period of peace in the book. He had seized the time to build favor with Ji Yun, and his cultivation had not slacked for a single moment. Now, facing Yan Baishu again, he would not be as helpless as he was three years ago.

Moreover, at the Ancestral Worship Ceremony, the sect masters of all factions would be present—it would be a gathering of great experts. Even if Yan Baishu’s cultivation was powerful, he would not be a match for these people.

The fear was that this matter involved more than just Yan Baishu.

The two stood guard by the unconscious blacksmiths for a while until they slowly began to wake up.

They didn’t provide much useful information, only saying that while they were forging, the lights suddenly went out, then they smelled a strange fragrance, and they didn’t know what happened afterward.

The blacksmith shop had forged for the Yin-Feng Pavilion for generations and had never seen such a thing. Seeing how panicked the masters were, Qin Gu comforted them: “Don’t worry, masters. For today, pack up the important things and follow me back to the Yin-Feng Pavilion to take shelter.”

So, they packed their things. Qin Gu had them leave with the Yin-Feng Pavilion disciples who had arrived upon hearing the news, while he and Ji Yun took another lap around the shop.

Except for the provocative poem in the workshop, there were no other signs of intrusion anywhere else in the shop.

Either Yan Baishu hadn’t used spiritual energy, but given the crack in the barrier, that was ruled out.

Or…

Yan Baishu had come prepared and knew the layout of the blacksmith shop perfectly.

Qin Gu stopped abruptly, his hand forming a fist and slamming against the wall.

Qin Gu’s brows were tightly knit, his eyes filled with surging anger. The air around him grew heavy under his influence.

He finally realized why a subtle sense of unease and dissonance had been lingering in his heart since a moment ago.

The location of the blacksmith shop was known only to the inner disciples of the Yin-Feng Pavilion, and its internal structure was a guarded secret—how did Yan Baishu know?

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