Chapter 170: Honest Qi’s Schemes
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: - -
Mo Wuji was sure that the shop assistant had something important for him. If not, he wouldn’t rush over so hastily and show Mo Wuji such a worried expression. Putting the booklet in his hand away, Mo Wuji said apologetically, "Shopkeeper Qi, this isn't really useful to me. I think I will take a look elsewhere, thank you…"
"Don't be too hasty, there are still two pages you had yet to see. Perhaps something might interest you within those pages…" It was as Mo Wuji predicted; Honest Qi might look indifferent towards the sale, but as Mo Wuji wanted to leave, he immediately became anxious.
Mo Wuji changed to speak in a solemn tone, "Shopkeeper Qi, honestly, your price is a little too high…"
"The map and this spiritual object manual for just 50,000 Earth grade spirit stones…" Honest Qi hurriedly said. This time, Mo Wuji could even hear his anxious heart pounding.
Mo Wuji discovered that the shop assistant, who was standing by the door, was giving him meaningful glances. Mo Wuji became more puzzled, what exactly was going on?
"20,000 Earth grade spirit stones. If you accept that price, I will immediately hand over the spirit stones. If not, then I'm leaving." Mo Wuji acted a little impatiently.
Perhaps that shop assistant helped Mo Wuji; Honest Qi also saw the shop assistant's expression. He gritted his black teeth and placed the two things in Mo Wuji's hands, "I'll sell, why wouldn't I sell…"
Mo Wuji swiped his spirit stone card and casually threw the two things into his storage bag before leaving.
Just as Mo Wuji left, a gap appeared at the back of shop with a "Jiya" sound and a grey robed woman walked out.
"How was it? What did that little fella want? Was he looking for the Sky Channel Flower?" The moment she appeared, the woman started barraging Honest Qi with questions.
Honest Qi replied with his mouth full black teeth revealed, "I'm not sure whether he is looking for the Sky Channel Flower, this little fella is too smart. Towards the end, I intentionally acted like I wasn't anxious about the deal [1], and I could infer that he truly needed something from the spiritual object manual, it's highly likely that he is looking for the Sky Channel Flower. However, there's also this possibility that he bought it unintentionally."
"Pui!" The woman's spit landed on top of Honest Qi's head, "Idiot! When he turned to the page 6, there was a slight fluctuation in his emotions. Even this old lady could hear it, you old idiot. He bought it unintentionally? Would he have taken out 20,000 Earth grade spirit stones then?"
Honest Qi snickered, " He is definitely a young master not lacking in spirit stones. He had a treasure which masks his spirituality. With such a treasure, would you say that he is lacking in spirit stones?"
The woman went silent; if that person truly had some spirituality masking treasure, then he really was a wealthy young master.
A short moment later, "Did you leave an imprint on his things?"
"Rest assured, I left imprints on everything. Also, that Solitary Dark Pill definitely isn’t blind. If he goes to that place, he would definitely use the Solitary Dark Pill, and I would notice it the moment the Solitary Dark Pill is used," Honest Qi said pridefully.
…
"That Honest Qi you introduced is not honest at all. His things are far too expensive. The moment Mo Wuji walked out of Honest Qi's shop, he lamented to the shop assistant standing outside.
Even though he was satisfied that he found the whereabouts of the Sky Channel Flower, the price he got it for was simply astronomical.
The shop assistant hurriedly said, "Honest Qi’s things might be expensive, but they are definitely worth it. I don't know about his other goods, but another customer I brought to Honest Qi purchased a spiritual object manual. In the end, that customer was extremely satisfied with his purchase, he even rewarded me and praised my astute recommendation."
As he heard this sentence, Mo Wuji suddenly had a strange feeling. There was some fleeting thought which he wished to grab, but he couldn't seem to catch hold of it.
"Oh right, why did you come and find me so anxiously?" Mo Wuji suddenly wondered about the reason for this shop assistant’s hasty arrival.
The shop assistant was also reminded of his initial intention, and he immediately pulled Mo Wuji to the side and whispered in his ear, "Friend, I just saw a wanted poster, and the person looks a lot like you..."
Mo Wuji’s heart started pounding faster; he had expected to go under suspicions for killing Jin Jiuzhen, but he did not expect that a wanted poster will appear so soon. His had just set foot on the Lost Sky Ruins, and the wanted poster also followed him over. Perhaps this wanted poster didn’t simply appear in the Lost Sky Ruins, but all other cities as well.
That Jin Jiuzhen wasn’t bragging; he was truly an important figure of the Dao Gate. The Dao Gate was the number one faction in the Heaven Seeking Palace, it was superior to the Pill Pagoda and the Sword Lake.
"Senior, I will take you out from the back door," The shop assistant said softly.
"Alright, many thanks," Mo Wuji knew that this shop assistant definitely wanted some form of remuneration for this act of notification. More importantly, it was also his six Earth Yuan Pills taking effect. There truly was such a thing as karma, even an insignificant shop assistant would be of such great help to him.
The shop assistant brought Mo Wuji to circle around the underground market for more than ten rounds before pointing to a passage, "Senior can follow this passage to reach the outside of Lost Sky City. I cannot follow you as I need to follow the previous route."
Mo Wuji retrieved a jade vase and passed it to the shop assistant, "This is for you, thanks for guiding me."
With that, Mo Wuji hurriedly rushed into that passage, and soon disappeared. He had already scanned the passage with his spiritual sense and confirmed that this shop assistant wasn’t lying to him. This was a genuine passage to leave the underground market.
Emerging from the underground market, Mo Wuji did not return to the crowded and bustling Lost Sky City. Instead, he picked a direction and started running.
As he ran, he opened the map he purchased from Honest Qi.
Half a day later, Mo Wuji stopped. In front of him was a barren wasteland; it was a desert with no end. According to his map, this desert was within the boundaries of the Lost Sky Ruins.
Mo Wuji kept his map and discovered that he did not bring any water. However, he was already in Channel Opening Stage Level 12, he would not die of thirst right?
Someone was hunting him, all the way to the Lost Sky City. He definitely couldn’t go back to get water.
Mo Wuji simply entered the desert, and soon disappeared within the yellow sands of the desert.
...
Thousands of miles away, in the Heaven Seeking Palace Dao Gate Hall, Jin Yu, a Dao Gate elder, had an especially ugly expression on his face. His most favoured clan member, Jin Jiuzhen, was actually killed. Furthermore, he was killed on his way to the Heaven Seeking City.
How could this not anger him? One must know that he had specially brought Jin Jiuzhen from his clan to Heaven Seeking Palace.
"The person who killed Jiuzhen must definitely be from our sect. Others wouldn’t act on him there, nor would they even dare. I wish to investigate on all cultivators from the Spirit Building Stage and above, and I hope that the Dao Lord can support me in this," Jin Yu clasped his fists and said towards a clean shaven man sitting at the head chair. His words were firm and resolute.
The clean shaven man was the Dao Lord of the Heaven Seeking Palace Dao Gate, Qu Jiangyuan. He was different from the Pill Pagoda’s Granny Linglong. The various pill refiners in the Pill Pagoda had no control over one another. But the Dao Lord of the Dao Gate was the number one person in the Heaven Seeking Palace Dao Gate.
Qu Jiangyuan glanced around at the other elders; at this moment, no one stood forward to speak for Jin Yu. This was because that clan member of Jin Yu was too domineering. Because of Jin Yu’s position and his exceptional spirit roots, he had always walked around the sect belligerently and acted as he wished.
If such a person were to depart from the sect, he would definitely suffer. Unexpectedly, before he even left the sect, he was killed.
Seeing that no one was willing to stand forward, Qu Jiangyuan helplessly said, "The Dean definitely wouldn't agree to this request. Even with Jin Jiuzhen's superb spiritual roots, he's merely a Channel Opening Stage disciple. After all, in the Heaven Seeking Palace, there are as many geniuses as there are clouds. However, if Elder Jin really believes vehemently in your case, I can help bring it up."
"Brother Jin, didn't you leave imprints on Jin Jiuzhen's storage bag?" The female cultivator sitting by Jin Yu's side asked quizzically.
Jin Yu sighed, "Why would I not? I didn't only leave imprints on his storage bag, I left imprints on Jiuzhen's spirit stones, pills, magic treasures… everything! Clearly, his murderer must be a skilled hand. He didn't even take any of those things."
In actuality, Jin Yu's proposal definitely wouldn't be approved by the Dao Lord. Even if the Dao Lord did agree, the dean wouldn't. Investigation the entire Heaven Seeking Palace? Jin Yu wasn't that big a deal. His words were simply used to make his later request seem much more moderate.
"Dao Lord, then I wish to release a wanted poster under the Heaven Seeking Palace's name…" After answering the female cultivator's question, Jin Yu continued. This request was what he truly wanted.
Qu Jiangyuan asked doubtfully, "You know who killed him?"
Jin Yu shook his head, "This I do not know. But before Jiuzhen died, he had a clash with an outer sect disciple. Thereafter, Jiuzhen and his two guards were killed outside. Coincidentally, that outer sect disciple had also left the sect at that time."
In his investigation, Jin Yu also found that Jin Jiuzhen had sent people to occupy Mo Wuji's residences. However, he naturally wouldn't reveal it. Such matters could be known privately but not divulged.
"Oh, is that outer sect disciple’s cultivation very high? What's his name?" Qu Jiangyuan asked interestedly.
Jin Yu replied reluctantly, "His name is Mo Wuji. He just joined the Heaven Seeking Palace not long ago. As to his cultivation, it couldn't be considered high. He should only be at the Great Circle of Channel Opening."
In reality, Jin Yu's mind was also filled with questions. He had investigated on Mo Wuji and verified that Mo Wuji was truly in the Channel Opening Stage. He also did not find any clue of Mo Wuji advancing into the Spirit Building Stage. Ostensibly, Mo Wuji was still in the Channel Opening Stage. An ant that had yet to build his spirit actually killed two Spirit Building Middle Stage cultivators and a Channel Opening Stage Level 9 cultivator? Was that even possible?
"Keke, Elder Jin, did your frustrations cloud your mind? An outer sect Channel Opening Stage disciple killed two Spirit Building Stage cultivators? And isn't your clan member Jin Jiuzhen also in Channel Opening Stage Level 9? Tell me, how did that cultivator do it?" A Dao Gate elder who had always been dissatisfied with Jin Yu did not hesitate to deride him.
Since it wasn't an important inner disciple of the Dao Gate, this elder did not see the need to continue discussing about such pointless matters.
Jin Yu replied coldly, "Maybe he had some helpers."
With that, Jin Yu clasped his fists once more, "Dao Lord, I just wish to catch that person in question and interrogate him."
[1] What lies HAHA