MtaurNovel Chapter 152 - 132: Jiang Kui Severely Injured
Chapter 152 - 132: Jiang Kui Severely Injured
「Three days later.」
Fang Qingyuan had just chosen a Third-Layer Qi Refining target, but before he could set out, he was interrupted by a letter.
The letter came from Southern Border Yuanling Mountain. When Fang Qingyuan had traveled to Sea Gate Island, he hadn’t hidden his movements from Jiang Kui and Zhang Yuan. He was on a normal tour, not fleeing from some disaster. Shortly after renting a cave residence on Sea Gate Island, he had sent a letter back to Jiang Kui to explain his circumstances.
For over a year, Fang Qingyuan and Jiang Kui had kept in touch, exchanging letters every three months. Jiang Kui would update Fang Qingyuan on the war between the Southern Border Beast Taming Sect and the demonic beasts in the Wilderness Forest, while Fang Qingyuan would recount interesting tales from the Chaotic Star Sea Region.
This arrangement was supposed to continue for ten years, as Fang Qingyuan planned to return only after a decade. However, the most recent letter was written by Zhang Yuan.
This was because Jiang Kui had been gravely injured two months ago. She was now drifting in and out of consciousness, completely unable to manage affairs. Yuanling Mountain was leaderless, and Zhang Yuan was struggling to hold things together on his own.
Reading about everything Zhang Yuan described in the letter, Fang Qingyuan thought, ’I can’t just sit back and do nothing.’
During the year and a half of war against the Wilderness Demonic Beasts, the disciples of the Southern Border Beast Taming Sect had been tempered through hardship. Finally, a Core Disciple at Late-stage Qi Refining had a fortuitous breakthrough in battle and achieved Foundation Establishment.
This disciple was named Shen Wenyan. He was a distant relative of the fallen Shen Wulei and had also migrated from Zongshan with Lechuan.
After achieving Foundation Establishment, Shen Wenyan naturally inherited the influence left behind by Shen Wulei. Then, taking advantage of the war between the Southern Border Beast Taming Sect and the Wilderness Demonic Beasts, Shen Wenyan seized the excavation rights to the Crimson Iron Ore and immediately began mining.
This should have been a good thing. However, Shen Wenyan had set his sights on Jiang Kui, intending to become her Daoist partner. He repeatedly came to Yuanling Mountain to see her, much to her extreme annoyance.
Jiang Kui had never mentioned these matters in her previous letters to Fang Qingyuan, so naturally, he knew nothing about them. Then, two months ago, while leading a team to deliver supplies to the Wilderness Forest, they were ambushed by demonic beasts. The ten Qi Cultivation Cultivators under her command were killed in battle, and Jiang Kui herself was gravely injured, only managing to break out of the encirclement by fighting for her life.
Afterward, when Shen Wenyan saw that Jiang Kui could no longer manage affairs, he brought his men to occupy Yuanling Mountain. His stated reason was to protect the mountain, but his true intention was to seize control. He even spread rumors that even if Jiang Kui never recovered, he would never abandon her and was willing to marry her.
Zhang Yuan had laid out everything that had happened over the past year for Fang Qingyuan. Reading it all made Fang Qingyuan seethe with rage.
Given the situation, how could Fang Qingyuan be in any mood to hunt some wanted sea bandits? He immediately sealed his cave residence, packed his belongings, and took Jinbao and Yinbao. First using a Teleportation Array, then a Tier Three Flying Boat, he spent a month rushing back to Celestial Gate Mountain.
.....
Riding atop Yinbao, Fang Qingyuan flew from the ferry point of the Celestial Gate Mountain Marketplace. After three days, he finally saw Yuanling Mountain. However, just as he arrived, he saw two Qi Refining Disciples guarding the mountain gate.
Upon seeing Fang Qingyuan, the two flew forward and said to him:
"Fellow Daoist, the area ahead is the property of the Beast Taming Sect. It would be best not to proceed."
Blocked, with a fire of anger simmering inside him, Fang Qingyuan—who had deliberately not worn the Beast Taming Sect’s uniform precisely to stir up trouble—angrily shouted:
"Are you blind? I’m returning to my own mountain! Do I need to report to you? Who sent you two? Who ordered you to stand guard here? Don’t you know this is Senior Sister Jiang’s mountain? What gives you the right to show your faces here?"
Berated by Fang Qingyuan’s barrage of questions, the two Qi Cultivation Cultivators grew angry as well. Perhaps realizing that Fang Qingyuan was intentionally looking for trouble, one of them shouted loudly:
"We are stationed here under orders from Uncle Shen! If you have a problem, take it up with him. Why make things difficult for us?"
Fang Qingyuan snorted coldly and then said:
"I’ll find Shen Wenyan myself. As for you two, get out of my way. Now."
Ever since Lechuan had brought people to the Southern Border, those from Zongshan had acted superior. Fang Qingyuan hadn’t been particularly prominent before, so he wouldn’t have registered in these disciples’ eyes. Thus, the two standing before him were not familiar with him. Treated this way, one of the disciples finally couldn’t hold back and snapped:
"You insolent rogue! No need to bother Uncle Shen. I’ll teach you some manners myself!"
After speaking, the disciple commanded a Golden-Horned Flame Rhinoceros to lower its head and charge at Fang Qingyuan, clearly intending to teach him a lesson.
Seeing the charging Golden-Horned Flame Rhinoceros, Fang Qingyuan was pleased rather than angered. He immediately shouted in a voice infused with Spiritual Power:
"Heavens, an attack! Using a beast to assault a senior brother without cause! What a show of power!"
Fang Qingyuan’s words made the disciple’s face flush red. He gritted his teeth and commanded his Spirit Beast to charge even more fiercely. If Fang Qingyuan were hit by this Golden-Horned Flame Rhinoceros, he too would be seriously injured.
The Golden-Horned Flame Rhinoceros was a Profound Lower Grade Spirit Beast. The horn on this particular rhinoceros’s head already had flecks of gold, indicating its cultivation had reached the Late-stage Qi Refining.
The enormous rhinoceros, ten feet tall and wreathed in flames, trod on the air with a deafening RUMBLE. It charged headlong toward the Flying Manta Ray Fang Qingyuan was riding, its power immense.
Facing such a Spirit Beast, Fang Qingyuan continued to shout while steering Yinbao to dodge. In truth, he didn’t even need to be distracted; upon seeing the giant rhinoceros, Yinbao automatically flipped its body and carved a sharp arc through the air, evading the charge.
For a moment, a giant Flying Manta Ray weaved back and forth in the sky, dodging the charges of a flaming giant rhinoceros. The scene looked thrilling, but in reality, Yinbao was doing it with ease. It was deliberately toying with the rhinoceros before it.
After a dozen breaths, the giant rhinoceros, having failed to land a single hit, was panting heavily. Meanwhile, Fang Qingyuan, still on Yinbao’s back, kept up his taunts:
"Looks like this rhinoceros hasn’t been fed properly. How could you treat it like this? Are you that short on Spirit Stones? Want me to lend you some?"
Taunted by Fang Qingyuan, the cultivator who had released the rhinoceros became so incensed he was about to fly up and attack personally, but he was held back tightly by the other, more level-headed cultivator.
"Enough!"
A sudden voice interrupted the rhinoceros’s attack. After the Golden-Horned Flame Rhinoceros retreated, Fang Qingyuan flew over to face the person who had spoken.
The speaker was none other than Shen Wenyan. He was fair-faced and clean-shaven, quite handsome, but his narrow eyes gave off a sinister feeling. At this moment, Shen Wenyan squinted, staring at Fang Qingyuan as he said:
"Fang Qingyuan, you finally decided to grace us with your return?"
Fang Qingyuan raised an eyebrow and asked:
"This is my home. When I choose to return is none of your business."
Before Shen Wenyan could say anything in response, the seven or eight Qi Refining Disciples behind him erupted in anger, shouting one after another:
"Insolent! How dare you speak to Uncle Shen like that! You’re in the presence of an uncle, get off that Camel Beast at once!"
Fang Qingyuan said angrily:
"I haven’t even asked what you’re all doing on my Yuanling Mountain. Cut the crap about etiquette. After we get to the bottom of this, then we can talk about manners."
Shen Wenyan waved his hand, and the disciples behind him fell silent. Then, Shen Wenyan smiled and said:
"Senior Sister Jiang is gravely injured. I was worried demonic beasts might come and disturb her rest, so I came over to check on things and lend a hand."
Fang Qingyuan replied bluntly to Shen Wenyan’s explanation:
"Now that I’m back, your protection is no longer needed here. Red Camp can’t spare the manpower, so you all should head back and continue mining. We wouldn’t want to affect production and have trouble reporting to the sect. Besides, our share depends on you. The more you dig, the better for everyone."
At this, Shen Wenyan’s smile vanished. He let out a cold snort and said:
"You’re just a Late-stage Qi Cultivation disciple. How can you possibly ensure Senior Sister Jiang’s safety? Yuanling Mountain is vast and so close to the Wilderness Forest. What if a demonic beast sneaks up here without my protection?"
Shen Wenyan was clearly throwing all pretense of civility aside. Fang Qingyuan chose to ignore his words and stated forcefully:
"If you don’t want to leave, then I’ll go ask Dean Lechuan for his opinion. We’ll see if he tolerates this kind of behavior."
Shen Wenyan’s expression immediately darkened. He stared at Fang Qingyuan for a few breaths before saying:
"Fine. In that case, we’ll return to Red Camp. But our two places are close. We’ll be seeing each other again."
After speaking, Shen Wenyan flew off toward Red Camp with a grim face. Seeing this, the seven or eight Qi Refining Disciples behind him hurriedly followed.
Only after they had all left did Fang Qingyuan finally relax. ’It seems Lechuan doesn’t support Shen Wenyan’s actions,’ he thought. ’After all, Jiang Kui was injured serving the sect. If she ended up like this, who would be willing to risk their life for the sect in the future?’
Fang Qingyuan held the moral high ground and had forced Shen Wenyan to leave with just his words. But he didn’t know why Zhang Yuan still hadn’t appeared.
It wasn’t until Fang Qingyuan entered Yuanling Mountain and reached the summit that he understood. It wasn’t that Zhang Yuan didn’t want to come out; it was that he couldn’t.
The summit, a small Tier Two, Mid-grade Spiritual Land, was now covered by several Arrays. Zhang Yuan was standing guard with a sword in Jiang Kui’s courtyard. His face was calm, but a murderous intent gleamed in his eyes.
When Zhang Yuan sensed Fang Qingyuan’s aura and deactivated the Array, Fang Qingyuan flew to his side. Only then did the man, who loved wine as much as his own life, pull a jar of fine wine from his storage bag and drain it in one go.
Seeing this, Fang Qingyuan said nothing. He simply clapped Zhang Yuan on the shoulder. Everything was understood without words.
After settling Yinbao and Jinbao, Fang Qingyuan walked into Jiang Kui’s room. He saw her, pale as paper and much thinner, half-reclining on her bed. Hearing the sound, Jiang Kui slowly opened her eyes and looked at Fang Qingyuan. A faint smile appeared on her face, revealing two small dimples on her cheeks, as she whispered:
"Junior Brother Qingyuan, why are you back? Have you resolved your previous cultivation issue?"