Chapter 622: Great Evil Karma

In the quiet of the night, a disciple resided in his room. His thoughts were a mess, like an ink painting.

Why would Hidden Old Two say that the Five Hidden Gate had been wiped out? Why would it be wiped out? And who was the killer?

That year, when the Five Hidden Gate moved out of the Qian Xue State, was it truly due to poor management and a lack of disciples, or was there another hidden reason?

Ink Painting wrinkled his eyebrows, suddenly startled again. This seemed to have nothing to do with him...

He was just a junior disciple of the Tai Xu Gate. He wasn't familiar with the Qian Xue State and hadn't contacted many sects. The Five Hidden Gate was something he had only heard of.

Even if he wanted to inquire, he wouldn't know where to start... Moreover, he was very busy, with classes to attend, tasks to complete, merit points to earn, cultivation to do, and array methods and spells to learn... Where would he find the time to inquire about such matters?

He had just obtained the Small Five Elements Concealment Technique, which was great. As for the Five Hidden Gate incident, even if it were true, it didn't seem to be a matter for a small cultivator like him to handle...

Ink Painting shook his head.

He took out the diary of Jiang Old Big again, broke the secret pattern, and flipped through the list inside, pondering another matter in his heart: Jiang Old Big was a traitor from the Broken Gold Gate. Hidden Old Two was a traitor from the Five Hidden Gate...

Then, would the others on this list... all be traitor disciples from the sects in the Qian State? Was this list a list of "traitors"?

Ink Painting pondered for a moment, the more he looked, the more it felt like it. So, the inheritance of these sin cultivators originated from the four major sects, eight major gates, twelve streams, and hundreds of minor sects and factions within the Qian Xue State?

The wool came from the sheep's body. They said they were plucking the wool of sin cultivators, but ultimately, they were still plucking from the sects in the Qian State...

Thinking this way... Ink Painting was startled. He was learning spells, eating "hundred families' rice"? Could he inherit from a hundred families, converge into one stream, and master ten thousand laws?

As long as he kept learning, one day, he could integrate the methods of a hundred families, rely on his powerful divine sense, casually pick up hundreds of thousands of spells, and break his opponent's technique with his own method...

Become a true spell master who understood ten thousand laws!

Ink Painting was overjoyed.

Subsequently, he looked at the jade slip in his hand, feeling some doubts again: Why were there so many sect traitors in the Qian Xue State? Why did they gather together? And why did they leave a list in Jiang Old Big's hand?

Were they forming a group for warmth? Or did they feel that although they were sin cultivators, they were once disciples of righteous sects, so they were different from other sin cultivators and should form their own organization?

Ink Painting was a bit confused. Suddenly, his heart moved slightly, and he tried a small divination. But after only a brief calculation, a bone-chilling cold invaded his entire body.

Ink Painting's pupils constricted slightly. In the chaotic haze, he glimpsed a huge, evil causal net, full of tempting desires to fall, like a poppy.

This kind of karma appeared in a black-purple color, clearly extremely ugly, but it also seemed to emit a sweet and rotten smell, teasing one's heart's desires and making cultivators deeply indulge in it.

This was... A great causal network of true evil desires! It had already formed, with the precipitation of sins, evil patterns deeply ingrained, thick causal chains, and a fallen heavenly machine!

Ink Painting only felt his eyes stinging and cold sweat pouring down his back. He hurriedly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, everything had subtly disappeared. The illusory patterns, causal chains, black-purple color, the poppy-like great net of heavenly machine full of sins and desires, had all vanished.

Just like an illusion... But Ink Painting knew that the heavenly machine's hint was absolutely not illusory. This "poppy-like" karma truly existed. Moreover, this powerful and deep causal net full of sins was absolutely not something that his current divine sense ability could see.

This was more like a vague enlightenment. Or... Was someone letting him see...

Ink Painting's mood instantly became heavy. The various events after coming to the Qian Xue State, like a lantern show, floated up from his heart, then turned into broken ripples like a mirror flower in the water.

The Qian Xue State. The top cultivation holy land in the cultivation world for seeking knowledge... Now, in Ink Painting's heart, the impression had completely changed. Although on the surface, it was still a flourishing daoist wind of cultivation, with sects like a forest, and heavenly talents like clouds, a scene of prosperity, what rotten things were hidden behind it...

Ink Painting furrowed his brows, muttering in his heart: "A little dangerous..."

Ink Painting understood in his heart that there was great danger within the karma. The Great Dao is immeasurable, the heavenly machine flows. Heaven and earth are like a chessboard, all beings are like chess pieces. What things were brewing in the darkness...

At this time, these unknown great conspiracies were best not to provoke, if possible. Furthermore, he still had the karma of his master and martial uncle on his body...

Ink Painting sighed, missing his master again... He completely didn't know the great conspiracies that covered his master. Even if he knew, as a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, his heart had more than enough, but his strength was insufficient; he simply couldn't intervene.

And Martial Uncle... Ink Painting still remembered how Martial Uncle, with a demon planted in his dao heart, killed Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators as easily as chopping melons and vegetables. Not to mention, an inconspicuous Foundation Establishment like himself. Without the heavenly machine derivation of his master to check and balance him, Martial Uncle was truly too terrifying...

Moreover, he and Martial Uncle still had some "grievances". He had secretly learned Martial Uncle's strange calculations, secretly eaten Martial Uncle's demon thoughts, and shared a bowl of noodles with Martial Uncle... Although the strange calculations were learned uprightly! The demon thoughts were eaten out of helplessness! The noodles were bought by himself with spirit stones...

But with Martial Uncle's character, he would definitely hold a grudge...

Ink Painting lay on the table, his thoughts wandering randomly, then gradually sorted out his thoughts... There was definitely a great conspiracy in the Qian Xue State. There was also definitely great danger with Martial Uncle.

But whether it was a conspiracy or a danger, it had little to do with his current self. His current task was to find a way to protect his small life and develop steadily. Besides enhancing his cultivation and strengthening his divine sense, he needed to learn as much as possible. Array methods, spells, and other cultivation knowledge, all needed to be learned more. Ensure that he could smoothly graduate from the Tai Xu Gate and steadily form his core...

He also needed to gather some intelligence to prevent trouble before it happened. This way, if he truly encountered danger in the future, he could foresee and prepare.

Ink Painting nodded, and thus, his cultivation and learning became even more diligent...

Qian Xue State, Dao Court Division.

Gu Changhuai finished his busy affairs in the classics division and returned to the Dao Court Division. Although he was covered in dust, his handsome face still exuded clarity and a hint of arrogance. Going out to hunt down sin cultivators meant enduring wind and dew, which was very hard. Returning to the Dao Court Division meant still having tedious procedures to handle.

He was a bit impatient, but he ultimately suppressed his temper and slowly looked at his subordinates' files. Flipping through them, he suddenly thought of something and asked the executive officer beside him: "How is that pile of robbery and murder cases?"

"You mean..." The executive officer was a bit nervous. There were too many cases in the Dao Court Division, and the executive officer didn't know which one Gu Changhuai was referring to for a moment, and was also afraid of not being able to answer, so he was a bit trembling.

Gu Changhuai wrinkled his brow, "Hidden Old Two."

"Yes." The executive officer remembered, flusteredly flipped through the files, and then said: "Reporting to the classics officer, the case is almost concluded..."

"Concluded?" Gu Changhuai's gaze narrowed slightly.

The executive officer swallowed his saliva, not quite understanding the Classics Officer Gu's thoughts, "Classics officer, it, it is almost concluded..."

"Is Hidden Old Two caught?"

"Already sent to the Dao Prison and sentenced according to the crime..."

"How was he caught?"

The executive officer immediately flipped through the files again and replied: "According to reports... it was in Canglang Mountain, following traces, they found Hidden Old Two, saw through Hidden Old Two's concealment, and several disciples from the Tai Xu Gate, Tai Yi Gate, and Hundred Flowers Valley jointly captured him and sent him to the Dao Court Division..."

"Is it confirmed to be Hidden Old Two?"

"We have verified his bloodline, spirit root, techniques, and cultivated spirit power, all are correct, it is indeed Hidden Old Two..."

Gu Changhuai didn't understand, "Were there no other cultivators helping?"

"The files don't say, so probably not..."

Gu Changhuai's gaze sank, his mood fluctuating. It shouldn't be ah... The files recorded followed the sequence of events, but not the reason for the events. How were the traces found, how was the concealment seen through, and how was he jointly captured?

He was a classics officer of the Dao Court Division; how could he not know how difficult it was to capture a sin cultivator who was good at concealment and proficient in assassination? Several disciples with shallow experience apprehended Hidden Old Two in one or two days. No matter how he looked at it, it felt fishy...

"Take me to see Hidden Old Two," Gu Changhuai said.

"Yes," the executive officer nodded.

The executive officer led the way into the underground Dao Prison, and Gu Changhuai also saw Hidden Old Two. Hidden Old Two was locked in a spirit-sealing prison, bound by second-grade chains, and was still suffering punishment. His four limbs were disabled, his teeth had fallen out, and his appearance was miserable.

Gu Changhuai wrinkled his brow, "Is our Dao Court Division's punishment so severe?"

The executive officer smiled bitterly, "No... he was almost like this before he came..."

"Four limbs broken, hand tendons severed, teeth shattered, and his knees... not sure what evil thing he knelt on, completely disabled..."

Gu Changhuai was stunned for a moment and asked: "Who did it?"

"Probably those few sect disciples..."

Gu Changhuai's brows furrowed tightly. The executive officer said: "Classics officer, this, doesn't it violate the rules?"

Gu Changhuai snorted coldly, "What doesn't violate the rules? This is a sin cultivator. If you're not ruthless to them, they'll be ruthless to you. However..." Gu Changhuai looked at Hidden Old Two's eyes, his eyelids twitching, "This method is too skilled..."

Were sect disciples so ruthless now... "Were those few disciples injured?" Gu Changhuai asked again.

"When they escorted this Hidden Old Two here, I saw them; they were all lively and energetic, not showing any injuries..."

"Hmm."

Gu Changhuai nodded and turned to leave, but before leaving, his gaze caught sight of a burn scar on Hidden Old Two's face, and his gaze froze. "Did you all use fire punishment?"

"No," the executive officer said in a low voice, "We only used Thousand Jun Spirit Wood to hit him a few times..."

Gu Changhuai looked at the fire marks on Hidden Old Two's face, "This is... a five-element fire spell..."

It wasn't like a sword, not like a blade, nor did it have the needle marks of a fire burn... It was like a cluster of fire, the burn marks after an explosion, that was...

"Fireball technique..." Gu Changhuai murmured.

Fireball technique was nothing; it was an entry-level spell, and in the cultivation world, any cultivator with a fire spirit root could perform a fireball technique. Everyone could...

Gu Changhuai was startled, his gaze suddenly sharp. A past event involuntarily surfaced in his mind. He remembered that more than half a year ago, outside Qing City, in that food stall, the dozen or so human traffickers who robbed Yu Er were mostly killed by fireball technique.

Gu Changhuai quickly thought in his heart... They had a total of five people on this trip. Ouyang Feng practiced the Ouyang family's sword techniques. Shangguan Xu also used a sword. Hua Qianqian cultivated the Hundred Flowers Valley's white flower spirit array. Murong Caiyun cultivated the Tai Xu Gate's five-element spirit light spell. None of them were accustomed to fireball technique, nor did they use fireball technique for attack.

Calculating this way, only one person was left. Gu Changhuai's gaze narrowed. That small cultivator with a five-element spirit root, who was said to have just passed by and saved Yu Er by chance... Ink Painting!

Gu Changhuai wrinkled his brow. This matter seemed fishy. That small cultivator, Ink Painting, said he just passed by and picked up Yu Er by chance. His words were absolutely not believable! If he didn't pick her up, then could it be...

He, alone, used the fireball technique to kill more than ten human traffickers and then saved Yu Er? This seemed... even less believable... Such words would deceive a fool, and even a fool wouldn't believe them.

Gu Changhuai was puzzled. With his intuition as a classics officer of the Dao Court Division, who had handled cases for many years, this small cultivator, Ink Painting, definitely had a big problem. But his cousin was very trusting of this kid, and Yu Er was also very close to him. He couldn't easily investigate. But letting it go like this was definitely a big hidden danger...

Gu Changhuai's gaze flickered slightly, and Ink Painting's eyes reappeared in his mind. That pair of eyes, seemingly clear on the surface, but upon closer inspection, were very discordant, with a depth different from ordinary people... Half good, half evil. As if standing on the boundary of righteousness and evil.

Gu Changhuai always had an intuition that cultivators with such eyes were either astonishingly talented cultivators or world-shattering demon bandits. "Need to find time to investigate..."

Tai Xu Gate.

This day, Ink Painting finished his meal, found a patch of grass to lie down, propped up his legs, and leisurely flipped through an array book. Suddenly, a big guy, a "junior brother," ran over and shouted: "Ink Painting!"

Ink Painting looked up and saw it was Cheng Mo, and asked curiously. "What happened?"

"Elder told me someone is looking for you."

"Who is it?"

"How would I know..."

"Okay." Ink Painting put away the book, patted the grass tips on his dao robe, "I'll go see."

Cheng Mo looked at Ink Painting and said suspiciously: "Ink Painting, why do you seem so busy..."

Ink Painting said: "That's because I cultivate diligently!"

"It's not about cultivation," Cheng Mo shook his head, "I always feel like you're doing other things..."

Ink Painting stood on tiptoe, patted the big guy Cheng Mo's shoulder, and sighed: "You're all still young. Some things are too early to know. Wait until you've been here for a full year, and 'senior brother' I will take you all to play..."

Cheng Mo was a bit ashamed and angry, "You're two years younger than me!"

"Learning is without precedence, the capable are teachers!"

"That's out of respect for Old Mister Xun, I just call you 'small senior brother,' don't get carried away..."

"Who was calling me 'dear brother' before?"

"You..."

The two bickered for a while, and then Ink Painting went to the side hall outside the mountain gate, saw the elder, and then, guided by the elder, saw the person who was looking for him outside the mountain gate. It was Gu Changhuai.

Ink Painting was very surprised. He didn't know many people in the Qian Xue State. Those who could come to the sect to find him were either Wan Yi or the Shangguan family guards who came to deliver things according to Wan Yi's orders. But he didn't expect the person to be Gu Changhuai.

"Uncle Gu?" Ink Painting said in surprise.

Gu Changhuai nodded slightly, "I came to see you, and incidentally... regarding Hidden Old Two, there are some things I want to ask about..."

"Oh," Ink Painting nodded.

And while the two were talking, the distant Tai Xu Gate elder, while seemingly drinking tea, also sent a wisp of divine sense to observe Gu Changhuai.

Gu Changhuai sighed in his heart. This trip might not be easy. His identity was special, a classics officer of the Dao Court Division, his every move branded with the mark of the Dao Court Division. Talking to disciples in the sect would inevitably be guarded against.

Gu Changhuai exhausted his rhetoric, saying he was following family orders to see a younger generation disciple, which got the elder's agreement. But what he asked, and what he said, would still be guarded against by the Tai Xu Gate elder.

Gu Changhuai could only imply, first asking some questions about Hidden Old Two. Since most of it was already in the files, he just supplemented some details. Ink Painting also selectively answered what he could say, and pretended to be ignorant about what he couldn't, saying he didn't know, didn't remember, wasn't clear...

Gu Changhuai also had no choice. After asking some questions, Ink Painting's mouth was tight, not leaking a single drop. Gu Changhuai finally couldn't help but slowly opened his mouth and said: "Ink Painting, do you... know the fireball technique?"

Ink Painting was startled. Fireball technique? Why did Uncle Gu ask him this? His eyes narrowed, and just as he was about to answer, a cough came from a distance, and the Tai Xu Gate elder faintly said: "Our Tai Xu Gate disciples can learn whatever they want, no one else is allowed to interfere..."

Gu Changhuai wrinkled his brow, feeling helpless in his heart. This Tai Xu Gate indeed didn't leave him any gaps to exploit.

Ink Painting's eyes rolled, then he turned back, gratefully bowed to the elder, and then said: "Elder, please rest assured, I am very familiar with Uncle Gu, we just have some family matters to chat about..."

The elder raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

"Yes, yes." Ink Painting nodded, and bowed again, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, Elder."

The elder's expression then softened a bit, he nodded to Ink Painting, and said, "You two chat." After finishing, he withdrew his divine sense and drank his tea with peace of mind.

Gu Changhuai looked at Ink Painting in surprise, "You have quite a lot of 'face' in the sect?"

Ink Painting said modestly: "Just average." It was mainly Old Mister Xun's face that was big, and he was just benefiting a little.

And in this short time, he also figured it out. Gu Changhuai was a classics officer, and the matters he worried about were definitely related to cases. At the same time, he was Wan Yi's cousin and was very concerned about Wan Yi and Yu Er. Coming specifically to ask him explained that this matter also had something to do with him. The cases he had "committed"... No. It was that he used the fireball technique to eliminate the human traffickers!

Ink Painting thought about it and concluded that this was the only matter that left "fireball technique" traces and caused Gu Changhuai's suspicion. But Ink Painting was not afraid. He was abducted by human traffickers, then "legitimately defended himself," killed more than ten human traffickers, and even saved Yu Er. This matter was even reported to the Dao Court Division; there would be no problem, and it didn't violate dao laws. It was just that he was afraid of trouble and didn't leave his name after doing good deeds, so he didn't mention it. If he said it, the Dao Court Division might even commend him!

Even telling Uncle Gu shouldn't be a big deal. Most importantly, he had Wan Yi backing him. Wan Yi valued emotion and righteousness and would definitely be on his side. Although Uncle Gu looked majestic, in front of Wan Yi, he was just a younger brother and couldn't do anything to him.

On the contrary... Ink Painting's eyes lit up; on the contrary, he had an idea about Gu Changhuai. Because Ink Painting discovered that following Jiang Old Big's "list," catching sin cultivators, learning spells, eating "hundred families' rice," and walking the path of a spell master who "breaks his technique with his method" still had many inconveniences...

Finding sin cultivators was very troublesome. Finding sin cultivators also didn't guarantee matching tasks. Releasing tasks was also a self-organized system, tedious and troublesome. Therefore, he just needed to have an "acquaintance" to secretly operate a bit...

For example, he could determine which sin cultivators he wanted to catch by the spells he wanted to learn from the list. Then he would need to inquire about these sin cultivators' intelligence from the Dao Court Division. Then, supposing he had a good relationship with Uncle Gu... He could let Uncle Gu send out tasks through the Dao Court Division, let Senior Sister Murong take the tasks, and he would follow along, assisting in completing the tasks...

This way, the inheritance would be obtained, and merit points would be obtained, creating a perfect "closed loop." From beginning to end, everyone involved would be "his own" people! This saved time, effort, and was highly efficient.

With this thought, Ink Painting's eyes shone brightly.

Gu Changhuai saw Ink Painting's eyes suddenly brighten and felt an inexplicable chill in his heart. He always felt that this trip to find Ink Painting was not to "probe" him, but rather like he was "throwing himself into a net"...

(End of this chapter)