Chapter 181: Cheng Xingchu Travel Notes

On the other side.

After bidding farewell at the deliberation hall, Cheng Xingchu didn't actually go directly to the spiritual grounds to rest. Instead, he took a long stroll around the inner courtyard.

"Strange, why haven't I seen a single soul? Is the inner courtyard of the Heavenly Mulberry Spirit Palace just for show, with so few people around?"

He thought of the distress letter.

"Could it be that everyone has hidden?"

"Hmph, if that's the case, then this Heavenly Mulberry Spirit Palace is nothing special after all..."

Cheng Xingchu sneered, no longer lingering. If there was no one in the inner courtyard, there were still people in the outer courtyard. When he first arrived, he had seen so many people; they probably hadn't received orders to hide and were still happily bustling about outside. The thought of being mocked by those lowly cultivators made him furious. As for why he was mocked... Cheng Xingchu had already selectively forgotten.

He walked past the distant Spirit Repository Pavilion, heading outwards, and soon reached the threshold connecting the inner and outer courtyards.

"Speaking of which, the Spirit Palace's guard force is truly weak. It's bad enough that I haven't seen many disciples; could it be that their enforcement personnel are only those few in front of the deliberation hall?"

"They don't even guard the entrance to the inner courtyard..."

Tap, tap!

From around the corner, a slow, rhythmic tapping sound echoed. Cheng Xingchu turned his head to look, and his whole body recoiled in fright.

"My heavens, what an ugly blind man!"

This was a man whose exact age was hard to determine just by looking at his face. His features were disfigured, as if someone had been hacked at them with a knife... No, not "as if"; this was clearly the case! Cheng Xingchu felt a wave of nausea. Ordinary ugliness couldn't describe the man before him; this was a terrifyingly grotesque ugliness!

His gaze dropped, and he saw the man leaning on a walking stick; the tapping sound clearly came from it. The stick was slender and light purple, with carvings on the handle—the only delicate item on this dusty, ugly blind man.

"How did you get into the Spirit Palace?"

Cheng Xingchu was genuinely curious. Did the Heavenly Mulberry Spirit Palace have no sense of dignity, to recruit disciples like this? Even if a Spirit Cultivator could seize the fortune of heaven and earth and absorb the essence of the sun and moon, it couldn't salvage your esteemed appearance!

The blind youth with the walking stick seemed to hear nothing, continuing to feel his way forward. But the entrance to the inner courtyard was only so wide. Cheng Xingchu took a step and blocked the blind man's path.

He scoffed, "Deaf and blind?"

His gaze fixed on the man's hand holding the walking stick, and Cheng Xingchu raised an eyebrow. Unlike the ash-stained robes on his body, the man's hand was surprisingly clean, with slender, long fingers and well-defined knuckles, as if they had never touched a drop of spring water.

"These are clearly hands a woman would possess, and only if she took extreme care of them. How could such fingers possibly match that face?"

Cheng Xingchu felt a profound sense of incongruity. His long-standing training allowed him to deduce from a few details, like the hands and the walking stick, that the person in front of him was an extreme germaphobe. But such a person... how could he tolerate the grime on his body and the appearance of his face?

"Excuse me."

The blind youth spoke. His voice was surprisingly pleasant, with a rich, resonant quality.

Cheng Xingchu frowned. His masculine sixth sense urged him to turn back quickly, but he stubbornly refused! This fellow had no cultivation whatsoever, clearly an ant just recruited into the Spirit Palace, like the trash outside, who hadn't even begun cultivating yet.

"Excuse me"... Is the inner courtyard a place for you to enter? Do you have no awareness of the rules of this world? Most importantly, this is your attitude when encountering a Half-Grandmaster level expert?

Cheng Xingchu felt extremely annoyed. Ye Xiaotian had thrown his weight around, and he himself had been scared speechless in front of him... What right did this mere ordinary person have to be so calm in front of him? He had been looking for those outer courtyard disciples who had mocked him the most fiercely earlier. Although he couldn't find the main culprits now, this fellow...

Heh heh, consider yourself unlucky; you've run straight into my gun barrel!

"This path is blocked!"

The blind youth finally stopped. If he hadn't, he would have walked straight into him.

"Excuse me."

He tilted his head, his long hair blowing to his lips. The blind man's voice remained unchanged, without even a ripple of emotion.

Cheng Xingchu's eyelids twitched wildly; his rage was almost uncontrollable. What he hated most in life were these types of people who had no strength whatsoever but put on a convincing pretense!

"What if I don't move?" Cheng Xingchu asked, his gaze scornful.

"Then, death."

The evening breeze blew softly, stirring the blind youth's unpinned long hair. If one didn't look at his disfigured face, it would have been a truly beautiful scene. Cheng Xingchu, however, was amused. He burst into laughter, "Death? Who gave you the courage to speak to me like that?" His eyes narrowed, as if possessed by Ye Xiaotian, and an oppressive aura immediately bore down. In that instant, he could already imagine the man before him being crushed to his knees.

*Whoosh*

Yet, this heavy, murderous aura merely ruffled the blind youth's clothes, like a heavy punch striking empty air, powerful but finding no resistance.

Cheng Xingchu: "..."

His eyes narrowed again!

*Whoosh*

Another gust of wind swept by.

"How is this possible? How could this fellow have no reaction at all?"

He narrowed his eyes again... He couldn't narrow them any further; his eyes were already slits, and any more would close them completely.

The atmosphere became awkwardly stagnant; the silence was a deadly poison, slowly spreading through the air. Cheng Xingchu twitched the corner of his mouth, realizing he suddenly didn't know what to say.

The blind youth waited for a long time. When he realized that the man before him was all bark and no bite and made no move, he tapped his walking stick.

Tap, tap!

It wasn't an attack; it was him feeling his way. He said nothing more. Since the person in front of him wasn't going to act, he simply treated him as a passerby. Leaning on his walking stick, the youth changed direction and walked past Cheng Xingchu.

"Damn it..."

Cheng Xingchu's fury almost made his scalp explode. Being ignored like this was even more unbearable than being toyed with by Ye Xiaotian, especially since the blind man before him was an ordinary person with no cultivation!

"You're looking for death!"

A low, suppressed voice squeezed through his teeth. Cheng Xingchu, consumed by rage, unleashed a punch imbued with spiritual energy toward the youth's back. In the blink of an eye, the blind youth didn't even turn around. He suddenly crouched, causing Cheng Xingchu's punch to miss, merely grazing his shoulder.

As Cheng Xingchu realized something was wrong, the man's shoulder gently shifted forward, using the momentum to throw him ahead.

"He's not an ordinary person!"

Cheng Xingchu's pupils constricted. Even though he had entertained similar suspicions before, having them confirmed still sent a shock through him. How did this fellow manage to evade the Sacred Divine Hall's secret "Spirit-Gazing Technique"? He had meticulously examined him several times earlier and confirmed that he truly had no cultivation. How was this possible...?

There was no time to think further; leaving one's back exposed to an enemy was certainly not advisable. After steadying his stumble, Cheng Xingchu instantly spun around. A slender, light purple walking stick was pressed against his chest. Cheng Xingchu's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, as if the walking stick before him had lost its true nature and transformed into a narrow, long sword. If he were to apply force...

"Uh..."

Before he could utter an apology, the walking stick was already lowered, and the blind youth resumed his tapping, feeling his way as he left.

Cheng Xingchu was stunned.

"What's going on?"

"He's not killing me?"

"...Pah! He probably couldn't kill me anyway!"

Cheng Xingchu felt a chill in his heart. This blind man was so eerie, almost like a passing grim reaper, yet he was inexplicably uninterested in him? Is he really a Spirit Cultivator...? But if he had no power to strike at him, how could he evade, or even counterattack? And if he had the chance to kill him, why would he stop?

Cheng Xingchu stared blankly at the blind youth's retreating back. He desperately wanted to step forward and shout a few words, to salvage some dignity. But his feet felt as if they were filled with lead, rooted firmly to the spot.

Just then, a spiritual tree a dozen yards away exploded, sending a chill down Cheng Xingchu's spine. That tree had clearly stood directly in the blind man's line of attack after he had raised his walking stick!

—Was he trying to give him a warning?

Just then, a faint cracking sound came from his waist. Cheng Xingchu looked down in horror, finding that his protective spiritual jade had cracked open. This was a protective spiritual jade capable of withstanding a full-force attack from a Grandmaster-level expert!

"This..."

*Thump*, Cheng Xingchu collapsed onto the ground, staring in disbelief at the blind youth gradually disappearing into the distance. He wasn't foolish; he had already realized that the man might possess the power of a Grandmaster! But looking at his age, he couldn't be more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight!

"Are the people of the Heavenly Mulberry Spirit Palace all this powerful?"

His whispered question held unconcealed shock. Cheng Xingchu felt his heart run cold as he picked up the shattered pieces of jade from the ground, lost in a daze.

So, I... had already died once?