Chapter 164 – Varying Thoughts

“A terrifying weapon?” Gu Suihan had a disdainful smile on his face as he held the saber in his hands. This was far from it.

“Young master, the sect leader, and the elders heard that you’ve regained consciousness, and they’re all waiting for you in the living room,” whispered Taohua stiffly into Gu Suihan’s ear.

It was obvious that the sudden appearance of all these people with high levels of cultivation and held high positions in the sect had frightened the two maids.

This situation was like a farmer busy working the fields when someone tugged at his shirt, and he turned around only to find himself face-to-face with the king of his country.

“So, they’ve finally come.” Gu Suihan patted Taohua’s tiny trembling hand as if to assure her, then got up weakly and walked toward the living room with a pale face.

He had already predicted this would happen, so he wasn’t the least surprised. After he altered the memories of the two girls, they were only left with very vague memories of what really happened. If these people wanted to know exactly what happened, they would have to ask him.

“Gu Suihan greets the Sect Leader and the elders.” Gu Suihan bowed politely. His thin body was so frail he looked like the wind might blow him away.

“Sit down. Tell us what happened in detail,” said Zhou Lingfeng in a kindly voice. His expression was friendly, but he simply couldn’t get rid of the grim look in his eyes.

Gu Suihan sat down, picked his words carefully, and slowly recounted what happened to the people in the living room.

Everyone’s faces were solemn, and they seemed depressed after hearing his story. Nobody spoke for a long time.

Zhou Lingfeng stared unblinkingly at Gu Suihan’s face as though he was trying to find answers from the young man’s expression. After a long while, he finally broke his silence, “Could that cultivator really be the great Qingming?”

“According to Suihan’s description, that cultivator carried a strange sword, and the legendary evil ghost that was supposed to be with him wasn’t there. But a secret technique that could shake up the laws of nature had been used. There’s a 60% chance that cultivator was Qingming,” said an elder quietly.

Another elder stroked his white beard and said, “But we’re not sure if this was the work of other wandering cultivators or some mysterious faction. This man fought with the laws of nature yet did not kill Suihan and the other two girls. That alone is very puzzling.”

“Perhaps he doesn’t want to fight us for the time being..” said the first elder with a frown on his face.

“Perhaps..it’s not that he doesn’t dare to kill, but he cannot kill them.” Zhou Lingfeng rapped his knuckles noisily on the armrest of his chair as a faint smile spread across his lips. “He might be a cultivator at Divine Soul, but..he’s nothing but a fugitive now and has to go into hiding. If he kills disciples from any of the major sects, he will leave traces of karma behind, and we’d have no problem tracking him down.”

“But if that’s the case, he would have thought of that when he massacred all those smaller factions earlier on,” argued one of them.

Zhou Lingfeng had a sharp glint in his eyes as he said, “That’s not necessarily the case. You must know that the scariest thing in the world is the hearts of humans. While it’s true that he did massacre those smaller factions, he’s never attacked us directly. At the end of the day, we’ve become enemies only because of the instructions we have from the empire in the Upper World.”

“And because of that, we’ve never had any interaction, good or bad. Using all sorts of techniques to track him down will never be able to fully succeed in locating him. And because he’s never attacked us directly, there’s no way we can go out in full force against him either. Instead, we’d be forced to retreat and be wary if he does things this way. We’re not willing to go all out against him for nothing, so we have no choice but to keep suffering losses like this.”

At the end of the day, it was just human nature rearing its ugly head. Even an idiot knew better than to take the first move and make themselves an easy target, never mind these scheming cultivators who had outlived so many before them.

Since Qingming didn’t attack them directly, it meant that it was possible for them to remain status quo. And if they continued to maintain this implied relationship, nothing would move.

The Falling Star Sect was an expert at divination and could make some predictions about where Qingming could be. But they weren’t obliged to give it their all either. Even if Qingming were found and killed, all the sects would share the credit equally, and the Falling Star Sect wouldn’t get anything extra for all their work. Why would anybody want to go out of their way to do something that cost them so much only to share the spoils? That wouldn’t make sense.

“Why wasn’t that ghost with Qingming? If they were together, they’d have a higher chance of surviving. It would save us the trouble of having to hunt it down as well,” grumbled one of the elders with an upset look on his face.

“There are two possibilities. One is that they deliberately went separate ways because they were hoping to distract us and tire us out while they regained momentum. The second possibility is that..he and the ghost are not on good terms.” Zhou Lingfeng stroked his chin. His eyes glinted as he smiled sinisterly.

After Zhou Lingfeng and the elders were done analyzing how true Gu Suihan’s words were and what they could possibly mean for them, they got up and walked out.

But one of them stopped to say very deliberately to Gu Suihan, “Suihan, the inter-sect exchange is coming up very soon. You need to take every opportunity you have to cultivate. All the major sects have suffered great losses, so..”

“Don’t worry, I will not disappoint the sect,” said Gu Suihan confidently. His expression was resolute, and he exuded a charismatic charm.

“Very good.” The elder gave him a pleased smile, then walked out with the rest.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Suihan was the only one standing in the living room. There was a flicker in his gaze as he fell into deep thought.

“Evil Ghost, you’ve got to leave the Youthful Clarity Sect grounds right now. Don’t let them suspect me again at this time,” said Gu Suihan all of a sudden. He spoke softly and calmly, yet it carried a domineering tone that did not allow anyone to question his instructions.

“Huh? Why?” came the Huangquan Evil Ghost’s voice from an unseen corner of the room.

“They..have already begun to suspect me.” Gu Suihan narrowed his eyes and said frostily, “Those parting words from that elder. He was trying to test me, or warn me, or even..threaten me.”

“I don’t understand.”

The Huangquan Evil Ghost used to be a cultivator and had lived for centuries now, but it was still too na?ve compared to the cautious and crafty Gu Suihan.

There were so many signs pointing at Gu Suihan. A rare talent like Gu Suihan had appeared so mysteriously, while Qingming and the Evil Ghost had disappeared. And now, Qingming had reappeared with such fanfare, yet the Evil Ghost was still nowhere to be found.

Even though the sect leader and elders couldn’t figure out how Gu Suihan and the Evil Ghost were related or what happened between them, these were seasoned cultivators who were constantly suspicious of everything. As long as there was a possibility, they would not ignore it. There was no evidence to prove anything, but the seed of suspicion had already been planted.

The elder’s words before leaving Gu Suihan’s residence had been to test Gu Suihan’s reaction.

His other intention was to warn Gu Suihan. The sect had already spent a lot of time and money on grooming Gu Suihan, so if the young man’s performance at the inter-sect exchange did not match the effort poured into him, he wasn’t going to meet a good end.

His third intention was to threaten Gu Suihan. If Gu Suihan turned out to be Qingming, he had better seize this chance to escape or come clean and fight. If he were to continue playing hide and seek with the major sects, they were definitely going to kill him.

In short, if Gu Suihan were not Qingming, then the sect would have gained a genius with a high level of aptitude for cultivation. If Gu Suihan were Qingming, the sect would still want to use him to gain power at the inter-sect exchange, then kill him afterward.

“Such greedy, greedy little ants,” spat Gu Suihan disdainfully after explaining the situation to the Evil Ghost.

If the elder hadn’t said those words, Gu Suihan didn’t mind being made use of one last time at the inter-sect exchange. There was nothing he cared for here, anyway. He would just take it as repaying the sect for taking care of him.

Unfortunately, Gu Suihan was one who changed his plans depending on the situation.

“Since that’s the case, don’t blame me for repaying good with evil then,” uttered Gu Suihan flatly.

He had no intention of adding the Youthful Clarity Sect to the Evil Ghost’s list of targets. Once they were gone, the major sects would suffer great damage on top of the damage they were still recovering from now. That way, the Youthful Clarity Sect would have made it to the top three sects. He had gone to check out the formation eye of the formation protecting the sect earlier on only as a precautionary measure.

But now..things could change.

“Once I leave, the first target will be the Youthful Clarity Sect.”

Gu Suihan rapped his knuckles on the table, then passed the Huangquan Evil Ghost a jade slip. He shut his eyes to hide the icy glint in his eyes.

He waved the Evil Ghost away, then called for Taohua, “Taohua, call Yan Hua to come over.”

After Yan Hua delivered the saber, he decided to move into a residence very close to Gu Suihan, thinking that he could take this chance to get closer to Gu Suihan.

“Yes, young master.”