Chapter 1408: Wait

"What is it you want to find?" The Chaotic Devil Elder withdrew his gaze and settled it on the Precept-Keeping Sage.

The Precept-Keeping Sage was momentarily taken aback before realizing the elder meant the treasures within Pure Sea Sect. The Chaotic Devil Elder's eyes were clouded and placid, yet for some reason a chill crawled up the Precept-Keeping Sage's spine.

He clenched his fist, feeling the Nine-Precept Ring, and chose his words carefully. "My greatest wish is to fulfill my master's dying will, obtain Pure Sea Sect's complete inheritance, and revive the Buddhist path. Also, owing to the nature of my cultivation art, I have never had an astra that truly suited me, so I hope to find a protective Buddhist treasure or two..."

The implication was clear: beyond those two requests, everything else could go to the Chaotic Devil Elder. Having said his piece, the Precept-Keeping Sage lowered his head slightly.

He had made peace with this arrangement the moment he decided to use the Chaotic Devil Token. Inviting other Daoists would have come at a gentler price, but they would likely be no match for Valley Master Mu's group, and the prize might slip away.

Better to ask the Chaotic Devil Elder to act directly and leave nothing to chance. Even if his own share of the treasures shrank, it beat coming away empty-handed. So long as he behaved himself, and with his master's old ties counting for something, the Chaotic Devil Elder was unlikely to turn on him over spoils this small.

After a moment, he felt the elder's gaze shift away, and his mind eased a little. Then the Chaotic Devil Elder asked, "How many are they, and what are their origins?"

Delighted, the Precept-Keeping Sage knew the elder had agreed. He answered quickly. "One is Qi Huanyu, who cultivates on Gui Spirit Island in the southern Ethereal Sea. He and I have an old grudge. The female cultivator surnamed Wang is his lover. She broke through to the Spiritual Infant Realm only recently and is nothing to worry about. The third is a helper they brought in from outside, a middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator with peculiar abilities who excels at commanding insects. From what I've learned, he may be the current valley master of Hundred Flowers Valley in Crescent Moon Realm."[1]

"Only three?" The Chaotic Devil Elder was unimpressed. "Two early-stage and one middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivators. They're in the open while you're in the dark. With any helper you cared to find, plus your knowledge of Pure Sea Sect, how hard could it be to work something behind their backs?"

The Precept-Keeping Sage voiced his assent, then replied respectfully, "Were it only those three, I would not have dared to disturb you, Senior. But their attempts to break the array went poorly, and rather than give up, they found another middle-stage Spiritual Infant helper from somewhere. His origins are a mystery, he has considerable skill, and he seems to have made progress soon after arriving."

"Oh? Two middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivators..." The Chaotic Devil Elder's interest was piqued. He asked in detail about Qin Sang's appearance, then pondered for a moment. "Not one of those troublesome old fossils, then! Take me there for a look."

Chaotic Devil Island's name shook Boundless Sea, yet the Chaotic Devil Elder had always come and gone alone, more like a rogue cultivator, without even a single Spiritual Infant follower under him.

Still, on the standing of Chaotic Devil Island alone, every power in Boundless Sea owed him face; had he wanted helpers, finding them would have been no trouble at all.

Seeing that the elder apparently meant to go alone, the Precept-Keeping Sage hesitated briefly but asked nothing, taking it as confidence enough to handle two middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivators.

Before long, the two entered Ethereal Sea. Restricting their evasion lights, they skimmed low over the water in silent flight until they reached the Precept-Keeping Sage's previous hiding spot. He took out the yellow bead to spy.

At the edge of the array, an altar suspended in the seawater was already seventy to eighty percent complete, on the verge of taking form.

"So fast!" the Precept-Keeping Sage breathed. They would likely make their move soon; calling for helpers now would be too late.

The altar was square, narrow at the top and wide at the base, and its entire surface was carved with countless patterns like scribblings. On close inspection they proved to be spiritual insects of every kind, some of which even the Precept-Keeping Sage and the Chaotic Devil Elder had never heard of.

The image in the bead was blurry. The Chaotic Devil Elder gave it one glance, lost interest, and flashed forward, closing in on the array. He had not gone far when he suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise and stopped, a gleam flashing through his clouded eyes.

He ordered the bead brought to him, swept his gaze across the four figures, and nodded with a half-smile. "Interesting."

He paused, then tapped his black bamboo staff lightly. "They must have some brilliant secret technique of detection. Were I not vigilant by habit, with spiritual consciousness far beyond the likes of you, we might already have been exposed."

The Precept-Keeping Sage was alarmed, silently grateful for his own caution. "What now?"

"We wait!" the Chaotic Devil Elder said flatly. "Do you really think Pure Sea Sect is so easy to breach? They're opening the array for us. Why refuse a favor? And we'll see what they're capable of while we're at it."

The Precept-Keeping Sage marveled inwardly. He and his master had cultivated Pure Sea Sect's arts, yet knew very little about the sect itself. But it seemed like the Chaotic Devil Elder knew it very well.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side, Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu were refining the final portion of the altar.

Amid the work, Qin Sang sensed the Sky-Eyed Butterfly in his Qihai give a faint tremble of its wings before settling quiet again. He split his attention to probe around, found nothing amiss, and soothed it. Until he uncovered the secret behind Hundred Flowers Valley, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly could not be revealed.

Before dawn on the third day, the eastern sky over Ethereal Sea had yet to lighten. The bright moon still hung high, scattering cold moonlight across the water.

The altar was finally complete!

As the last rune was carved, the altar lit with azure light that swiftly coursed over its entire body. Its whole bearing transformed, becoming seamless and whole, like a single bronze platform.

On its surface, the spiritual insect patterns grew even more lifelike, as if they might come alive at any moment and crawl off the altar.

Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu exchanged a smile, then sat down cross-legged to regulate their breathing. Two hours later, the two awoke one after the other and, after a brief discussion, decided to set up the insect array at once, lest delay breed complications.

Qin Sang summoned the Fire Jade Centipede. Over the past few days he had fed it a Fire Smelting Pill, and Valley Master Mu had spared nothing either, gifting several bottles of spiritual herbs beneficial to a spiritual insect's cultivation, raising the Fire Jade Centipede as far as possible.

Valley Master Mu then summoned his own spiritual insects. The first was his life-bound spiritual insect, a Tide-Drawing Horseshoe Crab at the early stage of its fourth metamorphosis. The other was a Black Devil Ant at the late stage of its third metamorphosis.

The Tide-Drawing Horseshoe Crab was shaped like a crab, about the size of Valley Master Mu's palm, its whole body the blue of seawater, so translucent one could even see the blue blood flowing within.

From its rear extended a long, sword-like tail that quivered faintly with a strange, wondrous rhythm.

Qin Sang knew little about the Tide-Drawing Horseshoe Crab, but no fourth-metamorphosis spiritual insect was ever simple.

As for the Black Devil Ant, it looked like an ordinary black ant except for a pair of miniature bat-like wings, and its life-bound supernatural ability was said to hold a certain restrictive power over devilish cultivators.

With all three spiritual insects assembled, Qin Sang looked down at the Fire Jade Centipede, stroked its back with a finger, and gently set it on the altar.

Valley Master Mu placed his own insects alongside it, then flashed down to the very center of the three, sat cross-legged, nodded to Qin Sang, and closed his eyes.

1. The "Gui" in Gui Spirit Island has a few definitions and can represent different things. It is not clear what it actually means in this context, so it was left as "Gui". ☜