Chapter 1425: The Master of Mystic Heaven Palace

The jade felt cool in Qin Sang's hand. Heavy, too.

What Tan Hao had handed over was not merely a pendant but the hope he had invested in it.

Qin Sang closed his fingers around it.

Though there was no telling how many years would pass before he had any chance of reaching Zhongzhou, and the odds of encountering the Ghost Mother were vanishingly small, he offered his thanks in earnest.

Mute Girl's cheeks held their color and her breathing came steadily. To an outsider she would have seemed merely asleep.

Qin Sang sighed and put the pendant away.

Tan Hao then took up the account of what had befallen them afterward.

"Senior knew a route through the storm belt. We reached the North Sea only to find it was demon race territory, and we were nearly hunted down by a demon king. After a good deal of trouble, Senior finally recovered the contingency she'd left behind long ago. Once her injuries improved and she'd regained part of her strength, she infiltrated Mystic Heaven Palace."

Qin Sang cut in at the mention of the palace. "What was that senior's cultivation?"

He was assessing the Ghost Mother's strength. Having been sealed by Saint Tian Yue, she presumably fell short of the Divine Transformation Realm.

But not fearing Mystic Heaven Palace and running riot through it were two very different propositions.

The Chaotic Devil Elder and a handful of other top-tier middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivators all possessed strength enough not to fear Mystic Heaven Palace, and the palace in turn would avoid provoking them where it could.

Anger such a figure and see the retaliation fall on its disciples, and Mystic Heaven Palace would have its hands full. Yet even the Chaotic Devil Elder could not do as he pleased inside it.

Tan Hao answered with some embarrassment. "My cultivation is too meager. When Senior tore through Mystic Heaven Palace, I only followed instructions and handled a few small matters outside. I never witnessed her strength at its peak with my own eyes..."

He paused, and something came back to him. "Senior did seem to hint at something. That the master of Mystic Heaven Palace isn't quite right, and hasn't appeared publicly in a very long time. I've picked up a few rumors of my own as well. That palace master made his name far earlier than the Chaotic Devil Elder did."

"Isn't quite right." Qin Sang turned the phrase over.

From their brief exchange, the strength the Chaotic Devil Elder had displayed was not that of someone who had just reached the late stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm. It was that of a veteran power who had dominated Boundless Sea for years.

Assume, then, that the palace master was stronger still.

There were countless reasons a cultivator might become abnormal. A failed attempt to break through with a secret technique, and the backlash that followed. Some uncanny method of extending one's lifespan. Grave injury while crossing a tribulation.

Grave tribulation injury seems most likely. Heavenly tribulations grow stronger each time, and a great cultivator who can't break through to the Divine Transformation Realm will eventually fall regardless. Qin Sang narrowed his eyes, mulling it over. Injuries of that kind are the hardest to heal. No wonder Mystic Heaven Palace was first infiltrated by the Ghost Mother and then robbed of a great treasure by the man in white.

He thought of the ice box lying quietly in his Thousand-Jin Ring. Could a nautical chart be inside it?

On reflection he judged it unlikely. The man in white's strength was comparable to an early-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator's, far short of what a journey to Zhongzhou required. To him a chart held limited value.

And if he was a Mystic Heaven Palace cultivator, he would certainly have his chance to see such a chart once his cultivation caught up. There would be no need to run such a great risk.

Setting the palace master aside, the others pose far less threat to me. After a moment's thought, Qin Sang motioned for Tan Hao to continue.

What followed was their time at Pure Sea Sect.

The Ghost Mother had apparently failed to obtain what she wanted from Mystic Heaven Palace, and so had risked damaging the seal to slip into Pure Sea Sect, where she had secured the chart.

"Senior said that in the sect's hour of crisis they poured the strength of the entire sect into forming the seal. The golden roof and the pagoda are something like two pillars supporting it, and even now they barely hold. The herb garden and the other sites affect the seal's stability to greater or lesser degrees as well."

Tan Hao glanced at Qin Sang, knowing he must have noticed already. "Breaking the barriers at those sites accelerates the seal's collapse. Senior opened the pagoda and took the treasures inside, and picked only a few of the most precious herbs from the garden. There are several astras within the golden roof that she left untouched. All of it was meant for me to collect myself after forming my Spiritual Infant. And that day would also be the day Pure Sea Sect is destroyed."

Tan Hao's face was full of resignation, and the loss clearly pained him.

Those treasures amounted to the Ghost Mother's compensation for failing to save Tan Jie and honor their agreement. Once Tan Hao formed his Spiritual Infant and claimed them all, his holdings would have exceeded those of an ordinary sect.

And now it had slipped through his fingers.

Still, recalling the benefits he had drawn from the morning bells and evening drums during his time here, following the Ghost Mother's guidance, Tan Hao found some measure of peace. The opportunity to reach the Spiritual Infant Realm was more precious than any treasure.

Qin Sang nodded at this. He had already noticed the discrepancy. The light of the pagoda's barrier was dimmer than the golden roof's. Now he knew the Ghost Mother had already been inside.

He wondered what besides the nautical chart had lain within, and whether there had been Spirit-Calming Incense. Though the incense was not something he absolutely had to have.

"We shouldn't delay. Let's gather the few most precious herbs and get out of this place," Tan Hao sighed.

Learning that the Chaotic Devil Elder had been drawn here, he had abandoned any thought of the astras beneath the golden roof, and he did not believe Qin Sang had the strength to contest them either. Should the Chaotic Devil Elder discover someone had beaten him to the prize, their position would turn dangerous.

Qin Sang neither agreed nor refused. His expression turned thoughtful.

Throughout the conversation he had been watching the outside through the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet, tracking the Chaotic Devil Elder's movements.

He could now confirm that five Spiritual Infant cultivators had entered Pure Sea Sect. Apart from the Chaotic Devil Elder and Precept-Keeping Sage, every face was unfamiliar. There was no sign of Valley Master Mu or of Daoists Qi and Wang. The worst had likely befallen them.

The distance was too great for Qin Sang to read expressions clearly.

Of the three newcomers, one was a middle-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator and two were early-stage. On the surface there was no friction between them and the Chaotic Devil Elder, though whether from wariness of him or because terms of division had already been settled, Qin Sang could not tell.

So many arriving at once was something he had not anticipated.

It seems like the Chaotic Devil Elder doesn't understand Pure Sea Sect's array as thoroughly as I assumed. Without a Fire Jade Centipede to guide him, that old devil probably sought out help of his own accord and broke the array with them. He guessed at the elder's reasoning.

The Chaotic Devil Elder had ambushed them yet allied himself with others. It made sense enough. The four of them had reached an agreement long before and would certainly have presented a united front. The three newcomers were fewer in number and would not fully trust one another, posing him no threat.

Under Qin Sang's original plan, with only the Chaotic Devil Elder and Precept-Keeping Sage to contend with, he would have lurked in the shadows and waited for his moment. Should a supreme Buddhist treasure emerge, he would seize the opportunity to strike, with a fair chance of escaping afterward.

Under present circumstances, with no opening to divide his opponents, his own safety had to come first. He was not arrogant enough to fight one against five.

He had already accomplished his purpose in securing the Myriad Spirit Fruit, and on balance he would most likely have chosen to withdraw. But the unexpected meeting with Tan Hao had given rise to new ideas.

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