CHAPTER 32: FRIGHTENED QI YUAN

A clear voice rang out, "Senior Brother!"

Qi Yuan rubbed his sleepy eyes, already dressed. Yawning, he glanced at the black fish in the tank, before stepping out of the courtyard. "It's so early in the morning, what's the matter?"

Outside his room, Jiang Lingsu and Jiang Ran stood side by side—one innocent and sweet, the other graceful and elegant. Qi Yuan felt his mood instantly lift. Indeed, beautiful things always bring joy.

"Senior Brother Qi Yuan, I have good news to share with you!" A smile lit up Jiang Ran's delicate face. "Yesterday, the Black Mountain Sect's disciples that stayed overnight in Rong City were all killed by a mysterious expert! Chu Tianxiong and Black Chicken Ancestor are dead!"

Jiang Ran's face was brimming with delight.

Qi Yuan slapped his thigh. "I didn't expect my fortune-telling skills to be this accurate!"

Then, he rephrased it. "I told you I'm good at divination. At a glance, I could see that brat was doomed by a bloody calamity. See? He didn't listen to me. Now he's dead. Serves him right!"

Jiang Lingsu could only smile helplessly. "I really wonder which great master did such a satisfying deed! I heard a nearby Black Mountain Sect Core Formation realm elder rushed over to investigate today. Last night, our Divine Radiance Sect also sent elders to Rong City. Though the scene was burned, they still found quite a few clues."

Qi Yuan's heart skipped a beat. "What clues?"

Jiang Lingsu, who always kept up with the Divine Radiance Sect's internal news, explained, "A masked man has slaughtered the Black Mountain Sect disciples. According to the elders, this mysterious fellow is most likely a swordsman. To avoid leaving traces of sword techniques, he deliberately used a saber to kill them."

"What kind of saber?"

Jiang Lingsu shook her head. "No one knows."

Qi Yuan pulled out a knife and waved it. "Could it be a vegetable knife?"

Jiang Lingsu covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. "How could that be possible?!"

Even Jiang Ran's innocent face blossomed into a smile, carrying a natural hint of charm. "If they were hacked to death with a vegetable knife, that would be humiliating but satisfying!"

Jiang Lingsu said, "Rumor has it that Black Chicken Ancestor had his protective pill light cleaved apart in a single strike. His Golden Core was shattered and he died instantly. That saber has to be a powerful magic weapon! How could a vegetable knife compare?"

Qi Yuan bristled immediately. "All things are equal. Don't you dare look down on my knife! My knife could take that bastard's dog head in a single strike!"

Jiang Ran only smiled lightly and said nothing.

Meanwhile, Jiang Lingsu quipped back, "Senior Brother, if all things are equal, why would you insult dogs?"

Qi Yuan dropped that line of argument. Holding his vegetable knife, he muttered worriedly, "I have a vegetable knife, and the Black Mountain Sect's disciples died under a saber. Do you think the Black Mountain Sect will suspect that I killed Chu Tianxiong?"

Jiang Ran froze, about to burst out laughing. Despite not being trained in restraint, she still managed to hold it back.

Jiang Lingsu chuckled softly. "Senior Brother, you're overthinking. You should focus on building your Foundation Establishment first!"

"Talk about Foundation Establishment without talking about it! Let's keep things civilized!"

"???"

"???"

Jiang Ran and Jiang Lingsu couldn't keep up with Qi Yuan's train of thought at all.

Qi Yuan still seemed deeply concerned. "I kindly warned Chu Tianxiong yesterday. Still, from an outsider's perspective, it may seem like I had a quarrel with him. Wouldn't others think that I held a grudge and went to kill them all at night?"

Jiang Ran and Jiang Lingsu were completely speechless.

"Senior Brother, don't worry, no one will suspect you!"

"But if someone asks, you two must testify for me and say that I never went out last night. I have been here on Seven-Color Peak, drinking and playing drinking games with you two!" said Qi Yuan.

Jiang Lingsu rubbed her forehead. "Alright, alright!"

Jiang Ran's lips curled into a smile. The gloom on her face had temporarily vanished. Clearly, Chu Tianxiong's death had lifted her spirits.

Qi Yuan still lowered his head, appearing uneasy. "But what if the Black Mountain Sect doesn't believe your testimony and arrests me? Will the Divine Radiance Sect protect me?"

Jiang Lingsu was utterly speechless. "Senior Brother, I don't think you should be worrying about yourself right now. Like us, you should be more concerned about that masked man. After all, he provoked the Black Mountain Sect, and above all, Black Rooster Demon!"

After chatting for a while, Jiang Lingsu and Jiang Ran left.

Jiang Lingsu still wore a helpless look. "Senior Brother is a good person, but as for his personality, well... You've seen it. Obsession cultivators are always so eccentric!"

Jiang Ran's sweet smile blossomed. "Actually, Senior Brother Qi Yuan is rather amusing."

Jiang Lingsu thought of something and couldn't help but sigh. In her heart lay a boulder she could never put down. "Haa... yes, quite amusing.

He carries little weight on his shoulders. So carefree and without worries."

"Senior Brother Qi Yuan is carefree?"

***

Alone in his room, Qi Yuan kept pacing back and forth, full of worry. "I was too careless last night! I knew it, wearing a mask isn't enough! I should've disguised myself as a woman. They would never be able to tell the killer's gender!"

The more he thought, the more frightened and angry he became. "Aah! Now they know the murderer used a saber. What if they connect it to me? The Black Mountain Sect won't come looking for trouble with me, will they?"

Even if his work was nearly flawless, what if the Black Mountain Sect had a hidden Divination Sage who could expose him?

He was already imagining the Black Mountain Sect's elders storming up to the Divine Radiance Sect, laying a siege at his peak. He'd be rendered weak, pitiful, and helpless.

The more his mind dwelled on it, the more furious he became, his face flushing red.

"Beyond the pavilion, beside the ancient road, the grass is green... The Black Mountain Sect is shameless! I was just eliminating evil on the moon's behalf. Now, they all gang up to bully me, a child who's only 229 months old?! Do neither justice nor heavenly law exist?! Intolerable! Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—nothing is fixed in stone. Don't bully a poor youth! No, I must have revenge!"

Qi Yuan fiercely sharpened his knife, then found a hat to cover his head so no one'd recognize him. After a moment of hesitation, he smeared some ash on his face. He felt a little safer when he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He tucked the vegetable knife into his belt and sneaked down from the Seven-Colored Peak.

Not long after, Jiang Lingsu arrived outside Qi Yuan's courtyard. She called out, "Senior Brother, are you there?"

No reply.

"Strange... Isn't Senior Brother always in his house? When did he leave? How did I not notice?"

Having just reached the Foundation Establishment realm, her senses had improved tremendously. She should've been able to sense when her senior brother had left.

"How strange." Her eyes fell on a glass tank where a black fish was swimming. She murmured, "Is this the fish Senior Brother caught last night? It doesn't seem like a wild fish."

Without dwelling on it, she left his courtyard.

***

Meanwhile, in the Divine Radiance Sect's library...

Qi Yuan had climbed to the third floor. He hid in a corner, secretly studying information about the Black Mountain Sect's strength.