Chapter 477.1: The Sages Grand Ambition (1)

Chapter 477.1: The Sage's Grand Ambition (1)

After Chu Shaoqiang left Virtuous Adept Peak, the Sage remained in the garden, pacing back and forth while his disciples stood silently nearby.

At last, the Sage stopped and swept his gaze over them. "All of you! What do you all have to say?"

It was not an easy question to answer. If everyone kept quiet, the Sage would certainly lose his temper, and there was no telling whether someone might even lose their life. However, anyone who spoke had to be careful not to overstep. They had to know what the Sage wanted to hear.

One of the disciples, Song Deke, stepped forward and bowed. "Venerable Teacher, I suspect there may be some trickery involved. We should send someone to keep watch on Chu Shaoqiang."

Another disciple, Du Xiangwen, felt that Song Deke's suggestion was wrong. "Junior Brother Song, if we do that, I am afraid Lord Chu will be disheartened. Of all the people who came from the Inner Provinces, Lord Chu has never once failed to show our teacher proper respect..."

"That is his duty as a subject!" the Sage said angrily. "If he did not even understand basic courtesy, what right would he have to stand here and speak to me?"

The disciples lowered their heads and said nothing. The Sage gritted his teeth. "Do you know how much effort I spent to keep Chu Shaoqiang safe? How many connections I used, and how many matters I took responsibility for on his behalf? And now he tells me that the Heavenheart Stone was lost along the way. He dares to brush me off with a few lines of this nonsense!"

Song Deke said, "Chu Shaoqiang has betrayed your trust. We should take this traitor's head to ease your anger!"

"Absolutely not," Du Xiangwen urged. "This is a perfect opportunity for our teacher to reclaim the empire that had once belonged to him. We cannot let a temporary setback ruin the greater cause."

The Sage let out a long sigh and slowly said, "We will wait another three days and see what explanation Chu Shaoqiang gives!"

***

At the foot of the mountain, Li Banfeng repeatedly reminded Old Bull, "Have the men patrol the foot of the mountain. Don't let anyone go up. The local land deity rewards us generously, but if anything goes wrong, the punishment will be severe!"

Old Bull readily agreed. "Don't worry, Master Qi. Whether it's for you or for the local land deity, we will definitely do everything we can."

Cedric finished packing his things and said to Li Banfeng, "It's about time. Let's head up the mountain."

"We?" Li Banfeng shook his head. "I don't want to go up that mountain again."

Cedric looked at the dense forest and the mist hanging over the mountain. He said sincerely, "I know nothing about Ghostblade Ridge. I can't even find a suitable route up the mountain. If I die on this mountain, do you know what the consequences will be?"

Li Banfeng said, "You will turn into a Toilblade Ghost."

Cedric nodded. "Do you know what happens when a Disease Cultivator turns into a Toilblade Ghost?"

"The consequences would be serious. You would bring disaster," Li Banfeng said. He weighed the situation for a moment and came up with a better solution. "If I kill you right now, you won't turn into a Toilblade Ghost."

Cedric sighed. "Saying something like that hurts our friendship. I am asking you to come up the mountain purely as a friendly warning. If I really do turn into a Toilblade Ghost, even if you can't stop me, at least you will be prepared. When I start slaughtering people, you might have some way to deal with me."

Li Banfeng considered it carefully before saying, "I still think the best way to deal with this is to kill you before you turn into a Toilblade Ghost."

Cedric let out a long sigh. "Our friendship began at the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs. Back then, we worked together to fight against a disaster. From that time on, I knew that you had a special attachment to Puluo Province. Now we are joining forces again, and once again, it's to prevent a disaster. In a sense, the Toilblade Ghosts can be considered fellow cultivators of the same Daoist path as me. You should know how Disease Cultivators treat fellow cultivators of the same Daoist path."

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and nodded slightly. That was indeed one way to solve the problem. If all the Toilblade Ghosts were killed, more than half of his problem would then be solved.

The two of them went up the mountain together. The truth was that even if Cedric had not asked him to come, Li Banfeng would have gone up Ghostblade Ridge on his own. Hong Ying had been right. The temptation of improving one's cultivation was simply too great.

"I can sense dark energy," Cedric said as he made his way through the forest with some difficulty. "The dark energy here is too strong. I might not be able to withstand it."

Hong Ying had once said that thirty-three Daoist paths could gain obvious benefits on Ghostblade Ridge, but she had never mentioned Disease Cultivators because she did not know what a Disease Cultivator was.

Cedric's deduction was probably correct. Ghostblade Ridge might be the origin of the Disease Cultivator path, which would explain why Cedric was reacting so strongly.

"There's no need to go any farther. Let's start the first round of investigation here," Cedric said and sat down beneath a tree. From time to time, a swelling bulged on his face and moved back and forth near his cheekbone.

"It is getting a little hard for me to suppress the disease given to me by the Toilblade Ghost," Cedric said as he massaged his cheeks. "This disease gives me a different feeling than what my founding cultivator gave me. Most of the diseases that my founding cultivator gave me existed in the form of bacteria and viruses. To explain it using Outer Provinces science, the disease the Founding Cultivator can control are all forms of life based on deoxyribonucleic acid. Is what I'm saying too technical?"

Li Banfeng smiled. "Aren't you just talking about genes? What's so complicated about that?"

Cedric continued, "What's really complicated isn't the concept, but how it actually works. Nucleic acids carry the information used to make proteins, and that's something everyone can understand. But what if there are no nucleic acids? Can proteins still propagate themselves? Prions can, in a way. A misfolded protein can cause other proteins to take on the same structure, so the process keeps spreading without a nucleic-acid template. That's where things get interesting. So which came first, nucleic acids or proteins? And which one really plays the leading role in life?"

"Just like you and me. We are both Dark Ability Users. Dark energy is changing the protein structures in our bodies, giving us abilities beyond those of ordinary people. So could dark energy also be changing the very nature of our lives?"

Li Banfeng frowned. "You are using science to study cultivation?"

Cedric smiled. "Countries throughout the Outer Provinces are conducting similar research. Science and cultivation aren't contradictory in the first place. Every cultivator, no matter their Daoist path, is affected by dark energy. Spycraft Cultivators have exceptionally sharp senses because dark energy has caused orderly changes in their bodies. That's what a Daoist path is all about.

"Toilblade Ghosts are also affected by dark energy, except the changes they undergo are violent, destructive, and disorderly. And those changes don't just affect their appearance. They affect their senses too. What kind of effect would these disorderly changes have on a Toilblade Ghost's perception? I have thought about that for a long time. Yesterday, I even experimented on myself.

"Why do Toilblade Ghosts always appear during thunderstorms? Everyone says it's just their natural behavior, but where does that behavior come from? It wasn't until I was infected by a Toilblade Ghost's Disease Nidus that I really understood. The prions damaged some of my nerves and messed with my senses. I became extremely thirsty.

"However, the prions also affected my vision. I couldn't tell which object was a water bottle. I couldn't even recognize water when I saw it. When I was desperately thirsty but unable to recognize water, the sound of thunder became extremely important to me.

"Thunder means rain. And when it rains, all I have to do is open my mouth and I can drink. That's why Toilblade Ghosts are bound to appear during thunderstorms. To them, the sound of thunder and rain is the sound of something that can save their lives. It excites them and makes them extremely aggressive. That's where this so-called natural behavior comes from. As for where Toilblade Ghosts go when it isn't raining, that's something we will have to keep studying."

Li Banfeng praised him. "You can explain your research in such an easy-to-understand way. Just how much effort have you put into researching the origins of your Daoist path?"

Cedric gave a bitter smile. "All roads lead to Puluo, but some people are born in Puluo Province. I have to rely on hard work to make up for the disadvantages I was born with."

He took out two seeds and scattered them into the soil. "These are crops that possess the traits of Spycraft Cultivators. I bought them from a friend nearby."

The seeds had clearly come from Zhang Wanlong. Cedric knew quality when he saw it, and he knew exactly who to buy good things from.

He dripped some potion onto the seeds, and they rapidly began to grow. Two minutes later, a morning glory bloomed before them.

Cedric pressed his ear against the trumpet-shaped opening of the flower and listened for a moment. "There's a Toilblade Ghost down below. Judging from its breathing and heartbeat, it should be sound asleep."

Li Banfeng asked, "Are you planning to dig it out?"

"That would be too barbaric. It would be like tearing someone's bed apart. If we dig him out, he will definitely be in a foul temper, which would make any further communication very difficult."

Cedric leaned toward the trumpet-shaped flower, vibrated his throat, and made a very strange sound. "Grrrrrglglgl..."

It sounded as though some unidentified liquid had been pushed up into his throat by a rush of air. Just listening to it made Li Banfeng want to cough.

Cedric explained, "I am imitating the sound of thunder."

Li Banfeng did not think it sounded anything like thunder.

Cedric said, "To a Toilblade Ghost's ears, this sounds exactly like thunder."

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "You are talking about it like you are a Toilblade Ghost."

"I can be!" Cedric exclaimed. The moment he said that, his forehead and cheeks swelled up, distorting his features until they were barely recognizable.

He let out several more roars into the morning glory's trumpet, and the soil on the ground began to stir.

Li Banfeng quickly moved farther away, while Cedric also kept his distance.

After a while, a Toilblade Ghost crawled out of the soil. She tilted her face toward the sky and opened her mouth. She was trying to catch rainwater to drink.

Indeed, this Toilblade Ghost was a woman. The signs were obvious.

After waiting for quite some time without catching a single drop of rain, she felt thirsty and disappointed. This thirst and disappointment led her to look over at Cedric.

Li Banfeng stood some distance away. He really wanted to know how Cedric planned to fight the Toilblade Ghost.

If Cedric really could find a way to eliminate the Toilblade Ghosts, the threat posed by Ghostblade Ridge would be greatly reduced. That would give Li Banfeng more options when it came to dealing with Ghostblade Ridge.

Cedric's swollen face seemed to have some effect. The Toilblade Ghost across from him did not immediately spit poison at him, seemingly mistaking him for one of her own kind.

Cedric did not rush to use any abilities either. Instead, he took a picture out from inside his coat. Strictly speaking, it was not really a picture. It was a geometric pattern made up of curved lines of varying lengths.

At first, it looked like nothing more than a still image. But after staring at it for a while, it began to seem as though something in the picture was moving.

It was an optical illusion caused by the direction of the lines. Li Banfeng had learned about this kind of thing at school.

He looked over at the Toilblade Ghost to see how she reacted.

The Toilblade Ghost walked up to the image and repeatedly rubbed her fleshy, stump-like arms across its surface. After doing this for quite a while, her lips opened and closed a few times. She wiped her mouth, then went back into the soil.

Cedric let out a long breath. The swelling on his face subsided, and his features went back to normal.

Li Banfeng was very surprised. Just what method had Cedric used to subdue the Toilblade Ghost?

Cedric held up the scroll of art in his hand and said, "If I told you right now that I was a Brushwork Cultivator, would you believe me?"

Judging by how often the tattoo on his chest updated, that actually seemed entirely possible.

Cedric rolled up the scroll and smiled. "I am not a Brushwork Cultivator. I just drew some water for that Toilblade Ghost."

"Those things you drew were water?"

"Of course it doesn't look like water to you. But to a Toilblade Ghost, that's exactly what it is. Their visual systems have been damaged by prions, so they don't see things the same way we do."

Li Banfeng still did not understand. "Those lines you drew just now look like water to a Toilblade Ghost? They have seen real water before too. How could they mistake lines like that for water?"

Cedric took out a sheet of paper, pulled a fountain pen from his breast pocket, and drew a few gentle wavy lines across the page. "This is the simplest way to draw a river. Why do we look at lines like these and think of water?"

Li Banfeng had no answer.

Cedric put the paper away and smiled. "A Toilblade Ghost's vision works differently from ours. In the same way that we can look at a few lines and see river water, other creatures might not be able to do that at all. When these lines enter our vision and reach our brains, our brains produce the corresponding amines and enzymes, then the corresponding proteins. Those proteins become fixed in our cognition, making us recognize the lines as water. But what if I told you that this was a disease? Would you believe me?"

"What kind of disease?"

"An infectious one." Cedric pointed at the lines in the picture. "People from different places have different languages, cultures, and customs, yet they all look at these lines and see water. Doesn't that sound like a plague? Proteins have infected every human in the world with the same plague. That's why I have always believed one thing. Proteins are the true masters of life."

Li Banfeng thought about it for a long time and, surprisingly, could not come up with a reason to refute him.