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RM 62: Complicated Ties (II)
🕑 Added 2025-06-12 17:40:27 +0000 UTCI am currently checking why the chapters didn't upload on schedule rn. I came online to add two chapters to the schedule, only to see that this one didn't upload.
I hope it doesn't happen again.
Sorry for the wait. Enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you tomorrow..
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Fu Yuzhe hadn’t returned to the Azure Sky Sect since Muchen caught him. The young man had to roam around to different cities, going coast to coast, to gather information and give out commissions to clans and sects proficient in information gathering on the man’s behalf.
Li Muchen didn’t want to bring him back because Zhao Jun would make a move if he did. After the last incident, the haughty man had his eyes on Fu Yuzhe and would stop at nothing to get information out of him if he appeared in the sect. Even if away on his personal matters, the Sky’s Sword’s influence in the sect wasn’t anything to scoff at.
That’s why Muchen had him out of the sect, away from the eyes of spies from the demonic sects and Zhao Jun’s loyalists.
Currently, the young man treaded through a shallow undergrowth, minding rocky pitfalls disguised by coarse sand and the year’s first snow. Snow was all that covered the lands of Jinxiu plains for the past millennia. This land once used to be green with grass and meadows, millions of humans and animals traveled from all over the continent to enjoy the lively trade cities that dotted this vast piece of land.
However, not a single strand of life grew here after the Major Sects leveled the place. In a great battle, the thousands of cultivators eradicated the cesspool of demonic cults that grew like moss beneath the city. The rivers of blood and mountains of flesh cursed the land itself. Making it impossible for it to bear even an iota of life.
Gu Changge had summoned Fu Yuzhe here because he repurposed a secret base in the ruins of Corpse King’s Manor. Yuzhe traveled a vast distance to the north in the arid land, entering a forest of rocky, eroded pillars that seemed to reach the clouds. The musty, pungent smell had him cover his nose as the eerie silence gave him the chills. All of their previous encounters happened in Fu Yuzhe’s house, where he held his younger sister hostage.
However, the hideout had changed along with the abrupt summons. The suddenness of the situation left Yuzhe’s teeth clattering.
He didn’t notice it, did he? Did another one of his spies find something out? I-Is my sister safe? Yuzhe’s fear grew with each step, sending chills much more intense than the waist-high snow through his bones.
After he passed a thousand pillars and walked over a frozen black stream, Yuzhe found the enormous iron double door hidden away in a mountain cleft.
Unlike the usual goons, he met eyes with the two fierce men covered in fur and leather, their entire bodies wrapped in green bandages. Their gray, foggy pupils stood out in the black sclera, the only visible part of the creatures. The shaggy hair and beard smelled every bit as rotten as he imagined.
A man on the right, one with maggots crawling in his sparse hair, handed Yuzhe a black blindfold, and the woman on the left closed the cold shackles on his arms.
A pungent scent rooted in the piece of cloth assaulted his nose, but he held on and wrapped it around his eyes. Although dirty and smelly, the cloth was an artifact that blocked his spiritual sense.
Yuzhe was as helpless as a normal human with a blindfold. He had his strength, but steel chains locked his qi; he had no way to defend himself. He flinched at the slimy, cold flesh grabbing his hand. Yanked forward, he heard the iron door creak open, wailing like ghosts.
Snow vanished as he treaded on an uneven floor, a warmth soaking into his body from the silk shoes. The hand in front pulled him, no matter if he stumbled over the holes and bumps along the way, almost taking him around in circles for a good hour before they stopped in a certain cavern.
Stench of rot subsided as his guide left him and walked away, pushing him through an open door. Yuzhe stumbled a little but found his footing on the smooth flooring, wiping his forearm off the sticky liquid, unsure if he could take off the blindfold or not. Just then, a hand snaked around his shoulder.
It was the touch of the man he hated.
“Long time no see, Brother Fu…” Gu Changge chimed, but his enthusiasm soon died down. “Ugh, have you been too busy to wash?”
He looked Yuzhe up and down. No matter how unwell he seemed, his black clothes seemed of fine silk, and his hair was orderly with a wooden essence. However, the rotten stench persisted with a mix of floral perfume.
“It is from the jiangshi who guided me,” Yuzhe said, going over the script he got before coming here and the information he pieced together so far.
“How perceptive of you, Brother Fu.” Gu Changge forgot about the smell and circled Yuzhe. He worked together with his associate demonic cultivators and bought corpse soldiers for himself. He had kept human contact to zero ever since moving to this base, unless the person was of great importance to his plan.
A fast heartbeat, sweat trickling down his forehead, clenched fists, and a shaky voice. He could feel the fear radiating off Fu Yuzhe. It pleased him very much.
“So, do you have what I asked for?” Changge asked, taking a seat in that empty but cold cavern.
“Yes, we know who will lead the disciples from each major sect for the Eastern Martial Meet, aside from Frozen Flower Holyland.” Yuzhe conjured a scroll from his storage ring and handed it over. Muchen had given him answers to questions Gu Changge would likely ask in advance.
How Muchen predicted this? He didn’t know.
However, his primary job was something else. It was to lead the conversation in a certain direction.
“Those bitches always like to be mysterious.” Changge clicked his tongue. He never had pleasant memories of the people from Frozen Flower Holyland.
His eyes slid over the names, some he scoffed at, while at others he smiled.
The scroll had the names of the elders who would lead teams from their respective sects for the Eastern Martial Meet and their cultivation levels. The information belonged to the Azure Sky Sect’s information vault, so it had credibility, along with the information Changge gathered from his network.
“The person with the highest cultivation is in the middle of the Golden Core Realm. Haha, this bunch of trash.” Gu Changge couldn’t contain his laughter. The righteous sects had shown such an enormous gap because of their complacency. However, one name caught his attention in the nameless rabble.
“Li Muchen? He is attending?” His brow furrowed a bit as he tried to recall the information he had on him. He had heard of the name once or twice during his time in the orthodox faction. More than that, he was a top priority target given to him.
The man had a unique reputation because of a few feats he pulled off in his younger days, but overall, he was only below average. The only noteworthy thing he could remember about Muchen was his travels across the continents for sword training before he became the first Peak Master of Azure Sky Sect, the third highest seat of authority in Azure Sky Sect after the Sect Leader and Grand Elder.
Gu Changge never put the man in his eyes because of his mediocre talents. The guy was a well-known recluse who rarely saw the limelight. But this news was good for him; the tortoise was finally leaving his shell.
“He is the ugly duckling of Azure Sky Sect’s upper echelon…” Gu Changge flipped through the information with a cocksure smirk. “I heard he only got the Peak Master position because his Master insisted? I bet most of the sect hate his guts.”
Why wouldn’t they? Anyone would get pissed if someone weaker than them jumped ranks based on connections alone. The cultivation society was one where the bigger fist ruled. In such a world, Muchen had no hands. He was stuck in the third realm of Gold Core even after 250 years. If it wasn’t for his status, he wouldn’t even be a mid-level elder in the Major Sects, let alone a Peak Master.
Gu Changge knew how famous each disciple of Sky Mending Saint was, each more talented than the last, aside from Li Muchen, of course. With overwhelming talent came confidence, and with that, friction between talented people to see who would stand at the peak.
Li Muchen, even if the first disciple, wouldn’t exert much of a presence in front of his talented juniors. Since he got an easy road to a position of power, the others were bound to hate it.
“Everyone in the sect respects him from what I have seen.” However, Yuzhe gave the opposite answer. Starting the script handed to him.
“They do?” Gu Changge’s smirk dropped.
“Aside from a minority of elders, everyone from the Peak Masters to the servants who sweep the roads holds him in high regard. Everyone from the Major Sects knows it.” Yuzhe said, unsure of what the purpose of this was, but he dared not deviate.
“Wait… you are telling me those aren’t just fake rumors the sect spread to sugarcoat suppressing Li Muchen into seclusion?” Changge tossed the scroll; his eyes narrowed.
“They are real. The Peak Masters hold him in high respect and even ask his advice, especially the Grand Elder, who Peak Master Li raised as his little brother.” The more he spoke, the more confused Yuzhe became.
Why was Li Muchen giving this information away? Even if people knew that Li Muchen and Li Xianquan were like brothers despite no blood ties, the former even giving his surname to the latter, what was the point of painting this picture in front of his enemy?
However, Yuzhe couldn’t notice the red in Gu Changge’s eyes. Each line of how many respected the man was sent blades right through him.
“Ridiculous…” Changge muttered, massaging his temple. “How can a pathetic little bastard like that be…”
No one knew this yet, but there were people Gu Changge hated more than those who outclassed him in cultivation talent.
People who had lesser talents than him, but did better than him. Those were the people he couldn’t stand the most.
Li Muchen was the prime example of that. He had bottom-of-the-barrel cultivation talent for the Major Sects. However, he received the position of Peak Master, equivalent to a major family patriarch in the Purple Cloud Sect, with everyone’s respect and acknowledgement in the truest sense. Muchen knew the notions Gu Changge had of him, so he used that against him.
What Changge ignored was that Li Muchen was the first disciple of the Sky Mending Saint and Azure Sky Sect. Seventy percent of current elders in the sect started as disciples and learned under him. He was also present or had a hand in the recruitment of the other thirty percent.
If the current disciples, elders, and Peak Masters were the building blocks of Azure Sky Sect, then Li Muchen was the foundation of the sect alongside the Sky Mending Saint. That’s how big his presence was, but the man had kept himself hidden because of it.
But Li Muchen knew Gu Changge more than Gu Changge knew himself. It was thanks to mind games and plots that the two had designed to rope the other party in. A deadly game the two shared over a century.
“A fucking lucky bastard…” Gu Changge’s eyes turned red, his aura flaring. He abhorred such an existence the most. “His disciples are also joining the Martial Meet, right?”
“They are. They won first and second place in the new disciple trials.” Yuzhe added.
“First and second place, huh? Seems like they have a bright future.” Gu Changge chuckled, twirling his dark crimson token in his hand. “It’d be a pity if something happened to them, wouldn’t it?”
“…” Yuzhe’s lips pressed into a hard line. Sweat trickled down his forehead as footsteps neared.
“This is usual business, Brother Fu. If something happens to the kids. They have their incompetent master to blame.” Changge said.
“…Indeed.” A knot formed in Yuzhe’s stomach. He couldn’t understand anything. Why would Li Muchen do this?
But he didn’t have to wait long to get the answer.
“Brother Fu, I can rely on you, right?” Gu Changge asked. The weight of the aura alone was crushing the young boy.
“I’ll try to fulfill any orders,” Yuzhe answered, fighting back his turning stomach.
“I knew you’d always be on my side,” Changge smirked. “The task isn’t too hard, so it won’t put you in any real danger.”
The other spies in Azure Sky Sect have either stopped responding or been silenced. He is the only one who is doing his tasks right now. Although Gu Changge had his reservations, he couldn’t afford to be picky in the current situation.
He had something to prove. Above all, he had to make up for the losses. And he could never see someone like Fu Yuzhe defy him.
I have his lifeline in my hands. Fu Yuzhe was his only choice till he found more useful pawns. So, he planned to squeeze every ounce of use from him.
“Get me in contact with someone in Azure Sky Sect who hates Li Muchen to the core. Their rank doesn’t matter.” Gu Changge said.
“I think…… I might know someone who fits the bill.” Yuzhe swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke the lines given to him. “Elder Ling of Sky Peak. They recently had a dispute because of Peak Master Li’s second disciple.”
“Aren’t you a well-prepared guy, Brother Fu? I’ll keep your hard work in mind.” Changge said, guiding Yuzhe to the cavern entrance. “I hope you continue to show the same enthusiasm at the next task.”
After Fu Yuzhe left with the corpse, Gu Changge slouched in his chair, drinking wine from a porcelain cup. He looked at the jagged roof of the cavern without murals in disdain; however, his lips curved up in a smile. This sudden meeting netted him a lot of information he didn’t expect.
The Elder Ling Yuzhe mentioned knew Gu Changge as well as he knew him. The cunning old fox had quite a few deals with him over the years, but he never gave away his hidden ambition. Thanks to Yuzhe, it all unraveled like a roll of silk.
Li Muchen was a priority target he planned to take down after the Eastern Martial Meet; now he sat at the top of the list. His death would not only shake Azure Sky Sect’s Foundation but also help Gu Changge set up a pawn in the sect’s upper echelon. All this while clearing the important task given to him by the leaders of the Demonic Cultivators. It all fell right into his lap.
It’s nothing personal, but at this Eastern Martial Meet, I am going to tear you and your disciples apart, Li Muchen. A grimy smirk splayed his face as thousands of cloudy red eyes dotted the darkness behind his chair.
Everything was in place for him. All he needed to do was wait for the perfect time to pounce.
Comments
Gabriel Melnik
Any news on new chapters?
андрей ткач
Thanks for the chapter!
