Chapter 442 - 230: Unexpected Change, Food Delivery

Chapter 442: Chapter 230: Unexpected Change, Food Delivery

’A letter?’

Xie Yuan frowned instinctively. ’Where did this letter on my desk come from?’

’If someone sent me a letter, an attendant should have accepted it and given it to me when I got back, not come into my room without permission to leave it here.’

’The attendants here don’t just enter rooms without being summoned, especially not when I’m away.’

He had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He walked slowly to his desk and examined the letter first.

The letter itself looked normal, and nothing else in the room seemed to have been disturbed.

After a moment’s thought, Xie Yuan picked up the letter and opened it. Inside was a single sentence.

"On your trip to Jianzhen Lake, be careful."

He raised an eyebrow and instinctively scanned the room once more before looking back at the letter.

’Be careful?’

Xie Yuan was lost in thought.

Exploring ancient ruins always required caution, no matter how stable or well-documented they were. That much was obvious.

Qin Zhenyang had already made the dangers of Jianzhen Lake perfectly clear. It was certainly not some peaceful haven where one could relax and cultivate casually.

’This mysterious letter, left on my desk, surely wasn’t just to remind me of something so obvious.’

’So, what am I supposed to be careful of?’

’Other people?’

’The Yao family, who control Jianzhen Lake?’

’Or does Jianzhen Lake itself hold other, unknown dangers?’

Xie Yuan’s brow furrowed. He had no way of knowing.

’If this person wanted to warn me, they could have been a little clearer. Acting all mysterious like some kind of riddler...’

’It couldn’t be Huie Jue, could it?’

Xie Yuan’s thoughts immediately jumped to the monk from Prajna Temple, who seemed to enjoy playing pranks but had an air of mystery about him.

’But that seems unlikely. Huie Jue and I have already gotten to know each other through our little scuffle. Though his mind is hard to read, his pranks aren’t usually so bland and deliberate.’

’If we hadn’t met yet, a stunt like this might have made more sense.’

’Then who could have sent this?’

Xie Yuan examined the perfectly standard script and the plain stationery. He couldn’t find any distinguishing marks. The sender clearly didn’t want their identity known.

He stepped out of his room and called for an attendant.

"Has anyone entered my room in the last two days?"

"Replying to Senior Brother Zhang, no one has. To avoid disturbing our guests’ cultivation or invading their privacy, we only enter rooms to tidy up when summoned. We would never go inside without your permission."

The attendant explained fearfully, as if worried Xie Yuan was about to accuse him of theft.

Xie Yuan nodded and then asked, as if it were an afterthought, "Have any letters been delivered for me in the past two days?"

"Uh... I’ll go ask."

A moment later, the attendant returned and shook his head.

"Senior Brother Zhang, there are no letters for you, nor have any guests come looking for you."

Xie Yuan nodded slowly.

"Thank you for your trouble."

After a moment’s thought, he picked up the letter and went straight to find Qin Zhenyang.

"’On your trip to Jianzhen Lake, be careful?’"

In Qin Zhenyang’s room, the senior-most disciple of the Sword Sect stared at the abrupt letter, his brow furrowed.

Xie Yuan had no intention of keeping the letter to himself.

Qin Zhenyang was his main support for this trip into the ruins.

’Since I don’t know who sent it, I should definitely show it to my companion. Hiding it for no reason would just be screwing over both myself and my teammate.’

"Any ideas who sent it?"

Qin Zhenyang asked.

Xie Yuan shook his head.

"That’s the problem. I have no idea."

"Those two friends of yours... they wouldn’t send a letter like this either."

Qin Zhenyang dismissed his own speculation, then said slowly, "But sending a letter to warn you means they’re a friend, not a foe. Perhaps this person knows something but can’t say it outright, so they sent a reminder instead."

Xie Yuan nodded.

"That’s what I suspected as well, which is why I wanted to get your thoughts, Senior Brother Qin."

Qin Zhenyang knew Xie Yuan was sharing information, and his expression softened.

"Junior Brother Zhang, I’ll keep this in mind. Since we’ve received a warning, this trip might have some unexpected complications. We’ll need to be extra cautious. When we enter the lake, we’ll stick together. It goes without saying, but entering the lake-within-the-lake doesn’t shift our positions, so we can watch each other’s backs in there."

Xie Yuan put the letter away and cupped his hands in a fist-and-palm salute.

"Yes, Senior Brother Qin."

’Now that Senior Brother Qin is taking this seriously, the potential danger is greatly reduced.’

Qin Zhenyang was a top-ten expert on the Hidden Dragon List, a true prodigy just a hair’s breadth away from the Grandmaster Realm. He was also Li Xingtuo’s eldest disciple and the all-but-confirmed successor to the position of Cloud Mountain Sword Sect Leader, possessing the direct lineage teachings of the sect’s main peak. Compared to him, Xie Yuan’s current cultivation was still far behind.

Last year, Qin Zhenyang had already displayed cultivation at the peak of the Third Transformation Realm. He had spent the past year in focused cultivation, with his teacher, the Sect Leader, providing careful guidance and ample resources. Though he hadn’t fought anyone recently, one could only imagine how much his strength had grown.

Everyone in the Sword Sect speculated that their Senior Brother’s strength might be enough to climb even higher on the Hidden Dragon List. They all wondered when he would finally break through and become a Grandmaster!

The Cloud Mountain Sword Sect had been in the spotlight all year, regarded as a strong contender to join the ranks of the world’s top Major Sects. There were two main reasons for this.

The first was their Sect Leader, Li Xingtuo. He had faced Wei Dong, the Pavilion Master of the Sword Storage Pavilion, and fought him to a standstill, earning him the sixth rank on the Flying Dragon List.

This rank placed him above the leaders of many prominent families and top-tier sects, including the Yao family of Jinling. Although the Yaos were one of the eight great families, they had been so severely weakened that they no longer had a single Grandmaster with the power to make the Flying Dragon List. It wasn’t that such masters didn’t exist off the list—the world had plenty of powerful recluses—but the Yao family, at least publicly, had none.

Furthermore, Li Xingtuo was still young and possessed a great chance of breaking through to the Great Grandmaster Realm.

Any single Great Grandmaster could be considered a top-tier power in their own right, and the Cloud Mountain Sword Sect was already a large organization to begin with.

If Li Xingtuo managed to take that next step, then this generation of the Cloud Mountain Sword Sect would indisputably become a top-tier Sect.