Chapter 332: Breaking Out

Anji listened to her brother rant. Mingshen barely rambled unless he was extremely stressed. He had a habit of thinking aloud whenever he was overwhelmed with Anji as a listening ear. Like before, she remained silent by his side. But this time she kept the comments to herself. If Mingshen knew Song Min truly was a ghost, he would probably lose it even more.

"Brother Mingshen," she gently interrupted him before he could spiral endlessly. "I think he’s lying."

Breaking away from his monologue, Mingshen looked at his younger sister in surprise.

"Even you think so?"

Anji nodded. Calmly, she explained what she knew about the palace situation before she was kidnapped. Silently, Mingshen heard her out. Although he had no opportunity to meet royalty in person, he knew from Hong Nian Niang’s testimony about their characters.

"You said your shifu has left the mountain," Mingshen commented. "Many of the elders had also left it to join the final phase of this war. Who is left at your sect?"

Anji hummed. Logically, it would be Elder Shen. Not only was he injured in the confrontation with Pu Jianming at the Crystal Lake Pavilion, but he was also injured and should be recuperating back at the sect.

"Elder Shen is the closest to being the right-hand man of my shifu," Anji added. "He was our sect traitor’s teacher and a master of flag arrays just as Pu Jianming was. Apart from shifu, he would be the next person most knowledgeable about the sect’s array and internal affairs."

It was the first time Anji talked about the Mystical Qilin Sect to anyone outside of it. Although Anji still omitted many details to protect the Mystical Qilin Sect’s secrets, she still gave her brother more information than most other people knew. His reaction, despite being the founder of the Gentleman Club, told her this was new to him.

"I’m not a spell expert, but is there a chance that whatever your sect traitor created at the Crystal Lake Town could be similar to your sect’s main protection barrier?"

Now that Mingshen mentioned it, Anji hummed. Back then, she was only in the Crystal Lake Town briefly. Pu Jianming was very good at flag arrays and was actually interested in researching the ancient array protecting the Mystical Qilin Sect alongside Elder Shen. Not even Yan Ping fully understood how it was done. It was similar to the ancient array Anji repaired in Chang’an. However, that knowledge was only available to those who had visited the soul realm and understood the spirit symbols.

Spirit symbols were a different form of spellcasting, similar to rune writing. They were often relics left behind right before the sages ascended to the next realm. Or in the case of demons like Lady Mang Yuan, they used spirit symbols as the primary form of spell weaving.

Among the living, only Yan Ping and Anji knew about spirit symbols. However, even their knowledge was limited to the tip of the iceberg.

Or not...!

Grabbing Mingshen’s arm in panic, Anji’s eyes widened with horror at her blatant hindsight.

"My sect!" she gasped. "My sect is in trouble!"

The leap from flag arrays to crisis threw Mingshen off. Anji babbled incoherently, and he spent a good amount of time consoling her.

When she finally calmed down to explain the missing pieces, Mingshen felt the dread seep into the marrow of his bones. More importantly, he learned just how many secrets his sister harboured. There were more questions than answers, but he did not pry into what Anji did not wish to reveal.

"I believe you," he reassured her. "Even if you told me Song Min was a fish who walked on land, I would believe you."

Relieved and guilty that she did not tell her smart brother everything at first. Anji apologised. She trusted Mingshen with her life. However, she had duties to uphold and secrets to protect. If they made it through this difficult times, she would kowtow to her shifu and the sect to beg for forgiveness at breaking the vow and revealing their secrets.

From Lady Mang Yuan to Bi Yao’s memories, Anji shared what she knew about the ancient array. She also mentioned how Pu Jianming was duped by Song Min and the reality of those brainwashing hairpins.

"So they were used to fuel Song Min’s evil cultivation by turning the life energy and souls of those possessed into his own like a siphon?" Mingshen frowned, still not quite understanding the complexity of spells.

Anji nodded. Mingshen was already struggling with the concept of regular spells. The idea of spirit symbols only added complexity to things, so she had to summarise it.

In the cultivation world, cultivators were used to seeing strange and unknown phenomena. Zhao Yihao and Bai Dajin’s indestructible bodies were one of them. Yan Ping’s clairvoyance was also a well-established knowledge, and nobody dared question the crazy inventions released by the Mystical Qilin Sect.

However, learning that there were other things like plants, animals, demons, and even ghosts or Gods who could cultivate in the realm past the Divine Core stage was like seeing a whole new mountain after climbing to the peak of the tallest one without understanding what they were.

From the get-go, every cultivator was taught that there were only ten stages of core cultivation, starting with the Initial Core and ascending to the Supreme Core as a sage. Nobody knew what was past the Supreme Core, as the sages who ascended never returned to tell their tale.

And here, Anji was claiming that the Supreme Core was not the end but only the beginning of another terrifyingly difficult journey toward Godhood. That knowledge alone made Mingshen feel insignificant in the works of the world. He had never felt more helpless and overwhelmed in his life.

Setting aside his personal feelings and confusion, Mingshen clung to the only thing he was familiar with.

"What can I do to help?" he asked as the dutiful older brother who loved his younger sister.

Anji bit her lower lip. The chances were slim, but they had to try.

"We have to break out of here while Song Min is away," she told him. "There is something I have to do at the palace while he is attacking the Mystical Qilin Sect."

Nodding, Mingshen listened to Anji’s plan.