Chapter 490: The Yanghuang Sect Leader with a Conscience, But Not Much

In exchange for the heads of the Shen Family, the two modified Spiritual Techniques were quickly delivered into the hands of the Yanghuang Sect’s Sect Leader.

There was nothing wrong with the content itself; it would be the same even if they went to Zuo Fan to verify it.

However, practicing them would lead to all sorts of messy side effects.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t be practiced, but that they had severe long-term consequences, and these consequences wouldn’t erupt immediately.

Instead, they would manifest based on the individual’s body, erupting at different times and with different side effects. Thus, every person’s symptoms and outbreak stage would be unique.

Some people might have better genes, so their effects wouldn’t be lethal—just paralysis or something similar.

If the Yanghuang Sect didn’t disseminate them further, only the upper echelon would suffer at most.

Afterward, Qi Suian paid it no more mind. In any case, whoever practiced them would pay the price. There was no need to watch them so closely.

Revenge was actually simple, just a matter of finding an opportunity to strike. For now, the Yanghuang Sect was still useful, so Qi Suian didn’t plan to kill them directly, but to torment them slowly.

He would crush them casually once they had no value left.

The existence of the Yanghuang Sect could increase the formation of Zuo Fan’s protagonist’s halo. He’d have to wait until Zuo Fan “changed maps” before killing them.

Otherwise, Qi Suian would have to either give up his research or pay for it out of his own pocket.

Qi Suian was unwilling to do either, so he could only let the Yanghuang Sect sponsor it.

After the two Spiritual Techniques entered the Yanghuang Sect, the first to cultivate them was naturally the Sect Leader, Xu Ziyang.

He had prior experience cultivating the Nine Fire True Yang Red Dragon Skill, so his progress in mastering the basics of the Pure Yang Wuji Heart Method and the Innate Li Huo Sword was also extremely fast.

Zuo Fan hadn’t even mastered the basics yet, but he had.

This was normal. How could one become a Sect Leader without sufficient aptitude and comprehension? Add to that his high status and authority, and it was only natural that he had no shortage of resources.

After mastering the basics, Xu Ziyang didn’t realize anything was wrong. On the contrary, he was ecstatic.

“This Boss Tang from Tang’s Candy Shop certainly knows what’s good for him.”

“Both Spiritual Techniques are authentic, with very few omissions.”

“Speaking of these two Spiritual Techniques, although each one individually is slightly inferior to our Yanghuang Sect’s Sect’s Spiritual Technique, they complement each other and are extremely profound.”

“More importantly, the cultivation difficulty is lower.” Xu Ziyang was only half-truthful with this statement.

The lie, naturally, was that they were inferior to his Yanghuang Sect’s Sect’s Spiritual Technique; in reality, they were much stronger.

But he couldn’t say that. Wouldn’t that be a blow to his own sect’s prestige? He couldn’t disparage them too much either, so he could only take a step back.

“The man is indeed pragmatic,” Shi Hanwen chimed in.

He was the one who had brought the Spiritual Techniques, so he naturally wouldn’t leave until things were confirmed.

“Then should we get rid of him? To prevent him from having memorized it and passing it on to others in the future?” Shi Hanwen added.

Were he and Qi Suian on good terms? What kind of relationship was that? It was nothing more than a few transactions.

“No need. He handed them over so decisively; he has rendered a meritorious service.”

“My Yanghuang Sect has not sunk so low.” Xu Ziyang naturally rejected the idea.

They weren’t some kind of homicidal maniacs. They had already gotten what they wanted, and things hadn’t turned ugly.

There was absolutely no need to kill again.

What’s that? The Shen Family died?

That didn’t matter. Even if they hadn’t died this time, the Shen Family would have lost half its life.

For the absurd things Shen Chen had done, even without Qi Suian’s request, he would have been exiled at the very least.

His death was for the better; he could be made an example of to warn others, lest someone else be so clueless in the future.

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“About these two Spiritual Techniques, for us Peak Masters…” Shi Hanwen watched with eager eyes, the meaning clear: they wanted to learn them too.

Judging from Xu Ziyang’s cultivation progress, the difficulty didn’t seem as high as their Sect’s Spiritual Technique.

It wasn’t that Xu Ziyang, the Yanghuang Sect Leader, had forbidden them from practicing the Sect’s Spiritual Technique, but that they simply couldn’t succeed in cultivating it.

The difficulty was too immense. Even Sect Leader Xu Ziyang had only managed to master the Nine Fire True Yang Red Dragon Skill at his current age, and he was powerless to even attempt the other technique.

But now, being able to master the basics in such a short time meant there was a high probability that they could do it too.

In terms of aptitude and resources, they were indeed inferior to Xu Ziyang, but at worst, they could just spend a little more time on it.

“I have already made copies. You can just make your own transcripts from them.” Xu Ziyang was not one to hoard things for himself.

He knew full well that the entire Yanghuang Sect was held together not just by bonds and relationships, but also by shared interests.

Otherwise, if you just made empty promises without giving any tangible benefits, everyone would start feigning compliance over time.

Besides, a thing like a Spiritual Technique was valuable to the mid and low-level members who had to work hard to obtain one, but for the upper echelon, it wasn’t really worth much.

It wasn’t something that disappeared after one use; it could be used repeatedly. If it could be used to win people over, that was all for the good.

Hearing this, a look of joy appeared on Shi Hanwen’s face. “Thank you, Sect Leader.”

He hurriedly took the copies of the two Spiritual Techniques and began transcribing them, finishing in short order.

He then returned the copies to Xu Ziyang. If the other Peak Masters wanted them, they would definitely have to come get them themselves. It wasn’t as if Shi Hanwen was going to deliver them.

They were all equals; why should he be the errand boy?

“Exquisite, truly exquisite.”

“But these two Spiritual Techniques… they seem to bear traces of the Blazing Flame Sword Qi. Could it be that they were derived from that technique?” Shi Hanwen quickly noticed some familiar elements.

This made Xu Ziyang chuckle. “You, you’ve got it completely backward.”

“I believe that Yanghuang Zhenren must have had some interaction with the ancestor of Tang’s Candy Shop back in the day. He must have observed these two Spiritual Techniques, which led to the creation of the Blazing Flame Sword Qi.”

“It should be that our Yanghuang Sect’s Blazing Flame Sword Qi was derived from these two Spiritual Techniques.”

Xu Ziyang seriously corrected Shi Hanwen’s mistake and offered his own speculation.

“That’s true. There’s no saying that the grandfather resembles the grandson,” Shi Hanwen heard this and thought it made sense.

What right did the Yanghuang Sect’s Blazing Flame Sword Qi have to be the origin of these two techniques?

“However, Sect Leader, we must alter their origin story. We don’t want to bring harm to Boss Tang; he’s just a candy shop owner.”

“How could he possibly bear the fame of these two Spiritual Techniques? If word gets out, I fear he will meet with a disaster.”

“How about we claim they are lost Spiritual Techniques left behind by the founding master of our Yanghuang Sect, which have now been recovered?” Shi Hanwen offered another suggestion.

Taking something that belonged to another family would always be a stain on their reputation. If a truly capable person were to emerge among the other family’s descendants in the future, it would become a troublesome matter.

It was better to just claim them as their own.

Mainly, these two Spiritual Techniques were just too compatible with their Yanghuang Sect. Even if they added the name “Yanghuang” to them, no one would be suspicious.

After hearing this, Xu Ziyang didn’t answer immediately but seriously considered its feasibility.

After a long moment, he finally said, “To do this, we need to resolve two issues.”

“First is the owner of Tang’s Candy Shop. But the man is pragmatic; you just need to compensate him generously.”

“The second is Zuo Fan. With his aptitude, as long as he doesn’t perish prematurely, he will become a Peak Master at the very least.”

“In the future, I can’t play favorites and prevent him from seeing these two Spiritual Techniques, can I?”

“If he sees them, he’ll surely harbor resentment. It’s better to resolve this in advance.” Xu Ziyang laid out the two difficulties.

One was the copyright holder, the other was one of their own, so it had to be handled properly.

As for killing them to solve all problems? One could only say that being a Spirit Master wasn’t about killing, but about navigating human relationships.

If they solved everything with slaughter, the Yanghuang Sect would have been annihilated long before it could become the world’s number one sect.

“Leave this matter to me.” After a moment of thought, Shi Hanwen took responsibility for the task.

Zuo Fan was a disciple of his Azure Flame Peak. If he didn’t go, who would?

What if someone else poached him?

After thinking it over, he felt he could only be at ease if he went personally.

There was competition within the Yanghuang Sect as well. A genius like Zuo Fan was naturally a pillar of his Azure Flame Peak.

But many other Peak Masters had their eyes on Zuo Fan. If even he didn’t show that he valued him, it wasn’t impossible that Zuo Fan would be poached.

As for Qi Suian, that was just a matter to handle along the way.

“Good, but there’s no rush,” Xu Ziyang said. “Zuo Fan has not yet returned from his training. Go and placate the owner of Tang’s Candy Shop first.”

“This way, even if it doesn’t halve the effort to get twice the results, it will at least make things easier.”

In Xu Ziyang’s eyes, the fact that he was willing to give these two Spiritual Techniques to Zuo Fan meant there was an emotional connection.

So as long as they handled it well, placating Zuo Fan wouldn’t be difficult either.

“What the Sect Leader says is true. Then I will make a move first.” Shi Hanwen didn’t even need Xu Ziyang’s reminder; he already had a similar plan in mind.

But since Xu Ziyang had spoken, he naturally had to show his agreement.

—————–

‘How should I put it? These two have a conscience, but not much of one…’ Qi Suian had, of course, watched the entire conversation between Xu Ziyang and Shi Hanwen.

One could say they were relatively fair, not resorting to murder at the drop of a hat.

A darker character would not only take your Spiritual Techniques, but your life as well.

As the number one sect in the world, they had the expected magnanimity, just not a lot of it.

However, if Qi Suian were in their shoes, he wasn’t sure he could resist such greed either.

Understanding was one thing, but Qi Suian had no intention of letting them off the hook.

‘All the higher-ups are cultivating it together. What a pity.’

Qi Suian’s original plan was for a total wipeout, but now it would just be a case of the dragon losing its head.

The mortality rate would drop significantly.

Actually, this development was normal. How could such powerful Spiritual Techniques be spread on a large scale? They would only be circulated within a small circle.

Even if they were passed down, the mid and low-level members wouldn’t be able to cultivate them.

Without sufficient resources and experience, they couldn’t even master the basics.

Just because the difficulty was lower than the Yanghuang Sect’s Sect’s Spiritual Technique didn’t mean there was no difficulty at all.

The threshold was there. Not everyone was blessed with fortune like Zuo Fan.

Even if they were given the techniques, they wouldn’t be able to achieve anything with them.

Then, Qi Suian turned his attention to the Fei that was still roaming the cosmos.

‘Besides this planet, there were many others that once possessed life and civilization, but they have all been annihilated.’

‘The end result was always the same: they were all drained dry.’

‘Don’t tell me this plundering species has already starved to death,’ Qi Suian muttered.

Qi Suian couldn’t help but think of the mixed blood within Spirit Masters. He suspected that the other half of these humans’ bloodline might be the very cosmic species responsible for the death of those planets.

He just had no proof. Moreover, these bloodlines seemed more like scattered nodes or avatars, not the source.

The truth, he estimated, could only be found by advancing Zuo Fan’s growth. After all, he was the protagonist; he had that function.