Chapter 62: Lighting the Candle

Chapter 62: Lighting the Candle

Upon learning that Chu Jingxi had once again thrown another fit about wanting to die, the Taiqing Sect Master's only thought was that his beloved disciple worried far too much.

Chu Jingxi probably wouldn't be surprised when he heard about this later—and if he was, it was almost certainly an act.

Upon hearing they were headed to the old battlefield, the Taiqing Sect Master cautioned, "Those who died there in the past were all peak-level cultivators and Ghost Cultivators."

Many legends surrounded the old battlefield, the most popular being the one about buried treasure, which drew opportunists in droves.

If he weren't completely swamped—dragging formation masters across the land to break down and refine the Grand Refining Arrays—he'd have gone along to watch their backs.

He had a different philosophy on education. This whole "trials build character" nonsense? In his eyes, it was a load of crap.

Yan Zizhan said, "With the Void-Suppressing Boat, we can escape any danger."

That put the Taiqing Sect Master at ease.

He mentioned another matter: "In the past, I taught a lesson to a certain Liu, a second-rank Heaven Immortal from the Immortal Alliance. That man still has a trace of my sword qi within him. He later volunteered to serve near the old battlefield. If you run into him, watch your step."

"Understood."

The night outside was thick and heavy, like ink that wouldn't move. For hundreds of thousands of miles around the Beast Taming Sect, demonic beasts were plentiful, yet strangely, they didn't run into a single flying one.

It wasn't until they arrived above the Beast Taming Sect that they found the entire area crisscrossed with a dense web of blockades.

In a region devoid of moonlight, an elder appeared out of nowhere to verify their identities.

Chu Jingxi seized the chance to ask about the old battlefield.

After confirming there was no issue, the elder let them through, saying, "Strange occurrences have been frequent there lately. All the disciples and demonic beasts affected are held in a single mine, under heavy guard."

Meanwhile, Chu Jingxi raised an eyebrow as he retrieved his token: "Hasn't the Beast Taming Sect sent anyone to look into it further?"

"We did, but the result was that the number of affected only grew," the elder said. "The mine where they're held belongs to the Immortal Alliance. Our disciples are currently cooperating with them on the investigation—maybe we'll turn up something soon."

From below, cacophonous beast roars drifted up intermittently.

The elder sighed in frustration: "A bunch of relatives of the affected contracted beasts have all shown up, camped out at the gates and demanding answers. I need to go deal with this mess first."

"..."

Before leaving, the elder handed them a more detailed map, covering everything from the old battlefield ruins to the holding area. He also slipped them some specially made treats. "The wild beasts nearby get along okay with the Beast Taming Sect. If you run into any, feeding them these might help you avoid a fight."

The elder hurried off to pacify the beasts' families.

Chu Jingxi had just finished checking his status panel and was now studying the map.

Ever since the system went offline, he had been regularly checking his status bar to ensure his abilities remained unaffected.

According to the map, the Immortal Alliance outpost wasn't far from the old battlefield. The Warship quickly adjusted course toward the new coordinates.

Chu Suye and the others had been here to train before and knew the area well. During the journey, she said, "Strong cultivators often choose to self-destruct rather than die. In the first great war, very few of the dead were ever found. But there's another widely circulated theory—that the old masters actually left behind legacies and vast wealth, just waiting to be discovered."

Many cultivators had come seeking fortune, only to return empty-handed from the treasure mountain.

As she was speaking with Chu Jingxi, Yan Zizhan spotted an outpost tucked away in the mining area. "We've arrived."

The Immortal Alliance's enterprises were everywhere, and this thousand-mile-long mine could support mining for at least another century.

**

In truth, the outpost came first, and the mine was discovered later by chance. Within the Immortal Alliance's upper echelon, some high-ranking members had never given up searching for the old battlefield's treasures.

At that moment, Immortal Alliance people were everywhere, speaking with a visibly agitated demonic beast.

As the Warship landed, Chu Suye let out an "Oh" — "It's someone we know."

Chu Jingxi also raised an eyebrow when he saw the man.

It was the phony from the Immortal Alliance who had tried to force him to hand over his gains back in the Canglan Secret Realm.

The man had powerful backing—he was a descendant of a high-ranking Immortal Alliance official. Later, Chu Suye had gone to extort him, and after Chu Jingxi received the hush money, he let the matter drop.

The man had clearly been tipped off about their arrival. As if nothing had ever happened between them, he smiled and came up to greet them as the Warship touched down.

"We parted in a hurry last time—I am Zhao Gang."

Chu Jingxi had no time for his nonsense. Skipping unnecessary pleasantries, he stated directly that he wanted to see the afflicted cultivators. Zhao Gang obligingly led the way.

Deep underground, the cultivators and beasts were held separately. The place was naturally cold and damp, and the air itself was chilly and reeked of something foul. Many beasts were bound with dark iron chains, so tightly that any movement caused their flesh to tear and split open.

To head off any wrong ideas, Zhao Gang explained, "Occasionally these beasts become extremely agitated. To prevent them from harming others or themselves, we have no choice but to restrain them."

Chu Jingxi looked at him out of the corner of his eye: "If you were chained up, wouldn't you try to run?"

Especially since the underground space was practically stinking from the festering wounds.

Zhao Gang said smoothly, "Quite a few beasts have been affected. Talismans are expensive, and they need replacing regularly. These beasts have strong regenerative abilities, so there's no need to worry."

He moved fast—before Chu Jingxi could ask further questions, he handed over a Recording Stone.

The stone recorded a cultivator who had just returned from the old battlefield. After watching for a while, Chu Jingxi's eyes narrowed.

Even without knowing this cultivator, he could tell something was off.

The abnormality was obvious in every action—the way the cultivator walked, cultivated, and spoke was as if following scripted instructions.

Not like a human, but more like... something human-shaped?

"These beasts are the same—as if their souls have been seized," Zhao Gang said. "We deliberately put them through some pain as a way to see how they react emotionally."

Chu Jingxi made no comment. Meanwhile, Chu Suye and Chu Tiannan urged them to go see the afflicted Chu family junior.

Zhao Gang, with his usual fake smile, said, "Follow me."

"I have something to attend to," Chu Jingxi suddenly spoke up. "I've been hitting a bottleneck lately and really need to make a breakthrough soon."

Naturally, Yan Zizhan went with him.

Watching the two walk away, Zhao Gang remarked, sounding impressed, "His cultivation progress is truly remarkable."

Anyone could sense the intense fluctuations of Dao aura around Chu Jingxi, indicating he had grasped a deeper level of the Dao—though it wasn't yet stable.

Chu Suye and Chu Tiannan exchanged a knowing glance. Chu Jingxi was clearly making an excuse—he had been resting during the latter part of the journey, showing he wasn't in any hurry to cultivate.

Besides, the Immortal Alliance's overly friendly attitude was suspicious in itself.

Keeping their eyes peeled as they stepped outside, Chu Jingxi finally took a breath of fresh air.

He turned down the guards' offer of a place to stay in the stronghold and instead went straight back to the Warship: "Did you spot anything?"

Yan Zizhan withdrew his Spiritual Sense without a change in expression: "I didn't see anyone from the Beast Taming Sect among the guards."

The Beast Taming Sect elder had mentioned some disciples were investigating together with the Immortal Alliance, but now not a single one was in sight.

Chu Jingxi had worked with the Immortal Alliance several times to mutual benefit, and not long ago, the Immortal Alliance Leader had even saved his life once. However, the Immortal Alliance as a whole was a mixed bag—you couldn't paint them all with the same brush.

"The situation might be trickier than we imagined." The old battlefield was extremely dangerous, and those who'd come back from going missing were acting off.

Setting that aside, dangers from humans were often harder to control than other kinds of danger, and the Immortal Alliance cultivators here left Chu Jingxi with a bad feeling.

Seeing his grave expression, Yan Zizhan said, "If you suspect someone, just grab them and question them. War with the ghost clan could break out at any moment."

Chu Jingxi caught the subtext—even if the Immortal Alliance wanted to make an issue of it, they'd have to wait until after the war, and by then, who'd even remember the little stuff? The people involved might be dead by then.

He took a light breath—was this a different kind of "death clears all debts"?

Yan Zizhan valued efficiency, and Chu Jingxi wasn't interested in the investigation either, but he didn't immediately nod to the suggestion to seize and interrogate.

Without using soul search, you could only get so much info.

At that moment, Yan Zizhan mentioned the Taiqing Sect Master's reminder—there was an immortal here who had been wounded by sword qi.

"Oh?" Chu Jingxi raised an eyebrow.

Logically, if they really wanted to investigate together, the immortal at the stronghold would've come out to meet them. Yet from start to finish, only Zhao Gang had been dodging the issue.

As the two spoke, Chu Suye sent word.

That problematic Chu family scion, like the other cultivators, didn't feel alive. He could answer any question, but his words often missed the point, like his memories were all jumbled up.

Chu Suye then said, her tone serious, "Before leaving the immortal domain, the clan leader said that among the fallen in the old battlefield, there might be direct blood kin from your branch of the family. That Zhao guy was just now fishing for info about it."

Chu Jingxi pressed his lips together—even the Immortal Alliance had heard about his search for relatives?

Yan Zizhan said, "Legacy stuff usually goes to descendants. With this news out, anyone with an agenda would instinctively think..."

"Think I might actually find the legendary treasure spot."

Because of this, anyone who wanted the treasure wouldn't easily kill him before he found anything.

This was, in a weird way, a protective charm.

Though they could talk from any distance, Chu Jingxi still unconsciously leaned in when he spoke. But when he spoke, he didn't mention the old battlefield again: "Let's cultivate first."

The system was offline, and he needed to whip up another trump card for self-defense.

The faint scent from the person beside him hung in the air, and Yan Zizhan's nod was a beat slower than usual.

...

Three days had passed since Chu Jingxi and his group arrived at the mine, and during that time, he spent most of that time cultivating, with Yan Zizhan standing guard.

Like they'd all agreed on it, no one went to the old battlefield.

Chu Suye knew a bit about medicine and alchemy, tried treating the cultivators and beasts, while Chu Tiannan stuck to the outskirts, helping gather spirit plants and stuff.

"Deeper comprehension of the Dao principles might trigger a breakthrough, and going through tribulation on the old battlefield would be really unsafe. It's normal to want to break through first before heading out." A guard came to report Chu Jingxi's recent activities to Zhao Gang, sharing his guess.

Zhao Gang dropped his usual smiling act, feeling like something was off.

From the way Chu Jingxi's aura fluctuated that day, it didn't seem like he was about to break through.

He had only recently reached the Spirit Transformation stage, and with a string of lucky breaks along the way, he might not even have digested what he'd gained. Anyone with half a brain would know that chasing breakthroughs blindly wasn't smart.

But beyond that, he couldn't think of another reason why he'd be grinding so hard.

Another Immortal Alliance cultivator present said, "Whatever he's plotting, he's not gonna get in the way of our treasure hunt."

They'd put too much into this treasure over the years. They kept luring cultivators to scout the old battlefield until weird stuff started happening there recently.

In the cultivation world, there were no coincidences. Thinking it might be tied to the treasure, they immediately talked the Beast Taming Sect into a joint investigation.

During that time, they set things up so beasts would go deep into the inner area, using the bond between Beast Taming Sect cultivators and their beasts to force the cultivators to follow.

Before that, the defensive artifacts Zhao Gang provided had Recording Stones embedded in them, so whenever someone or a beast made it back by luck, they could glean information about the inner battlefield through the recordings.

"These beasts really are useful," one cultivator said. Just leak a little info, and same-species beasts would come running, volunteering to go into the inner area to save their kin.

Even if you tried to hold them back, they'd beg to go risk it.

The cultivator looked at Zhao Gang and laughed, "Why didn't we think of using beasts to scout earlier?"

Zhao Gang fiddled with the Recording Stone in his hand—now they had some leads.

There was definitely treasure in the old battlefield. He had narrowed down the general area, but he still couldn't find the entrance.

Just when they needed a break, a gift fell into their laps—Chu Jingxi showed up at the perfect time. They could ride this wave.

...

The mountain winds around the mine were strong, and Chu Jingxi, the one everyone had their eye on, continued his daily cultivation, rarely appearing with Yan Zizhan.

Day after day, even the usually patient Zhao Gang started getting antsy, but every time he came looking, a wooden sign hung on the warship: "Cultivating—do not disturb."

Another Immortal Alliance cultivator said it bluntly in private, "You'd think they were dual cultivating."

The level of seclusion was ridiculous.

One day, while Chu Jingxi was deep in cultivation, a commotion broke out outside, with Chu Suye's and Chu Tiannan's voices barely audible in the noise. Chu Jingxi slowly opened his eyes from his meditation.

He and Yan Zizhan followed the noise and headed over, eventually reaching the area near the mine. Not far away, Zhao Gang and the Immortal Alliance cultivators at the stronghold were facing off against Chu Suye and the others.

"We gave you defensive artifacts and pills for free—how's that forcing you?" an Immortal Alliance cultivator said. "Even if the Chu family and the Immortal Alliance don't get along, no need to slander us like that."

Chu Jingxi walked over and asked quietly, "What's going on?"

Chu Tiannan sneered, "Yesterday we took a spin around the outskirts of the old battlefield and ran into a few Rock Antelopes that had tripped a forbidden curse. We saved them on a whim, and today we find them being talked into going back in by the Immortal Alliance."

Chu Jingxi glanced over. Rock Antelopes were creatures that looked like antelopes, named for their rock-hard horns.

They were fast, had a strong sense of direction, and merchant guilds loved using them for transport. He'd seen a bunch of them in Ten Thousand Demon City before.

Now, almost none of these Rock Antelopes had intact horns, blood was oozing from between their hooves, and the defensive artifacts protecting their abdomens looked heavy. A quick sweep with his spiritual sense showed Recording Stones embedded in every diamond-shaped slot.

Seeing Chu Jingxi appear, Zhao Gang casually stepped forward to smooth things over, saying, "The imprisoned beasts have started showing signs of agitation and self-harm. They want to find a way to save their kin—surely the Immortal Alliance can't be expected to foot the bill and do all the work."

Chu Tiannan nearly blurted out "Bullshit."

The underground demonic beasts suddenly became unstable, and it must be related to these people.

The demonic beasts couldn't speak human language, and the leading Rock Antelope walked over to the Immortal Alliance, clearly hadn't changed its mind and was agreeing to go with them.

Chu Jingxi didn't waste time at the scene distinguishing right from wrong. He looked drained, rubbing his brow.

"Enough. Take them to the warship to get their wounds bandaged. I've also got some questions about the old battlefield. After that, these goats can go wherever they like."

Zhao Gang didn't like arguing face-to-face either, so he took the out.

Before leaving, he sent a mental message to the Rock Antelope, hinting: "Your clan finally produced a prodigy who might grow into a great demon someday. Its condition isn't great right now—don't drag this out."

The storm blew over for now.

After boarding the warship and bandaging the wounds, when they found the Rock Antelope still wouldn't budge, Chu Tiannan was speechless.

It wasn't that he gave a damn about the demonic beasts' lives, but watching a bunch of simple-minded beasts get jerked around, with their old rival the Immortal Alliance holding the leash, pissed him off.

"These Rock Antelopes just don't know what's good for them."

Chu Jingxi just smiled and waved the lead Rock Antelope over. The beast hesitated, then stopped about ten feet away.

Chu Jingxi studied the ring patterns and teeth, then said: "These Rock Antelopes are all past their prime."

It wasn't surprising they'd risk the old battlefield to look for clues.

Demonic beasts could understand the common tongue, but until they became true Demon Cultivators, their spiritual minds weren't fully awakened—so they were simple-minded and couldn't speak human speech.

Zhao Gang's parting words had them antsy, itching to get out of there.

Chu Jingxi watched the scene quietly. Chu Tiannan wanted to say more but was stopped by Yan Zizhan's wave. He knew damn well that Chu Jingxi, even if he wouldn't say it out loud, didn't want to see these demonic beasts walk to their deaths.

But even if they forced this batch of Rock Antelopes to stay, the Immortal Alliance could just find new demonic beasts to work with. And then, to the Rock Antelopes, they'd just become roadblocks on the path to hope.

Yan Zizhan offered a middle-ground solution: "I'll take them to the outskirts to scope things out first."

If more demonic beasts wanted to go, they just had to choose—team up with them or work with the cultivators at the stronghold.

With an immortal tagging along, even the dumbest beast would figure out that sticking with them was the better bet for saving their kin.

A bigger team would also make exploring the battlefield easier down the line.

Chu Jingxi shook his head. "We don't need extra teammates."

The old battlefield was a death trap, and these demonic beasts were in a hurry. If something went wrong, they'd have to waste time saving their asses.

As his words landed, the faint spark in the Rock Antelope's murky eyes died out.

For Chu Jingxi, practicality came first.

"Demonic beasts make shitty pathfinders. I need people with real brains. Their only use is to play a role in my little show."

The lead Rock Antelope was about to lead its herd away when its hooves froze.

Chu Suye caught on that something was up and asked, "Who've you got your eye on?"

"The Immortal Alliance." Chu Jingxi figured they shouldn't write off Zhao Gang's skills just because of his character: "He's smart, decently strong, and willing to stick around this stronghold. Isn't he perfect as a pathfinder?"

Then everyone would just feel their way across the river.

Even the Rock Antelope could sense the danger in that admiring tone.

To make a candle fully burn in devotion, one must know both the enemy and oneself. Chu Jingxi took out a Message Talisman and asked directly: "Do you know Zhao Gang? I want to learn about his family background and specific abilities."

"Zhao Gang is a direct descendant of the main Zhao family line. His father holds a high position in the Immortal Alliance. He carries a protective blood talisman given by the Zhao family's ancestor..."

After roughly explaining, the other party skipped over why Chu Jingxi was asking and gave a very cold reminder: "The Zhao family contributed significantly to the Alliance in the past. Remember to frame the Ghost Clan."

With that, they cut off the connection.

The air was somewhat quiet. Finally, Chu Tiannan broke the silence: "Just now... who were you communicating with?"

Chu Jingxi: "An Immortal Alliance Executive from the alchemy factory."

The surroundings fell silent again.

Author's note:

The Immortal Alliance Executive's attitude toward unfamiliar, low-value colleagues is like:

Whatever, just don't die in front of me.