Glass Lotus (Fanfic Sequel to Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation)

Chapter 17 - The Immortal Cultivator (9) - Why am I paired with him?

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / Mo Dao Zu Shi / 魔道祖师

Original novel written by 墨香铜臭

魔道祖师 同人小说 - 第17章 9 长生不老修者 - 我为什么和他一起？

Fan Fiction - Chapter 17 The Immortal Cultivator (9) Why am I paired with him?

"..."

There was an awkward silence as Lan Qinghui followed behind Jiang Cheng. She was no longer in the disguise of Loose Cultivator Yun. Her cheeks did not show any hint of colour, but they were burning and her ears were tinged pink. The two of them walked through the courtyard in stony silence. Jiang Cheng was emanating an aura so dark one could almost imagine a black smoke surrounding him.

"Um..." Lan Qinghui started uncertainly.

"Not a word." Jiang Cheng snapped without turning back.

Lan Qinghui closed her mouth and glanced out at the garden awkwardly as she continued to follow Jiang Cheng. She had simply wanted to ask him whether she could go and find Jin Ling and the others, but it seems Jiang Cheng had intended for her to follow him. They must have been an odd sight; the younger cousin of the Twin Jades of Gusu following the Sandu Shengshou, neither of them talking to each other. Others who passed them simply scuttled out of sight, clearly scared out of their wits by the Yunmeng Jiang Sect Leader.

After Jiang Cheng found out the truth about Yun, he had been the one, to everyone's astonishment, to suggest that Lan Qinghui continue her disguise. However, his reason was sound; firstly, Lan Qinghui could move about more freely as Yun, as it was known that the Immortal Cultivator only targeted female cultivators. This somewhat ensured her safety that her spiritual energy wouldn't be sucked dry, and although Yun had technically also made himself an enemy of the Immortal Cultivator, being attacked was probably a better option than getting one's spiritual energy and life force sucked dry. Secondly, Wei Wuxian would continue to disguise himself as Lan Qinghui and remain in her place, essentially offering himself as bait. There was no particular concern because Lan Wangji would definitely protect him, and, well, the Yunmeng Jiang folk didn't exactly have the best impression of him.

In the meeting, they had set up a plan to ambush the Immortal Cultivator and seal her as soon as possible. There were already reports of four missing female cultivators in the vicinity, and with the increased crowd as the final rounds of the Gong Ling festival drew closer, it was hard to say whether more had fallen pray to the Immortal Cultivator and had gone unreported due to their lack of affiliation to any of the four major clans. This aroused the suspicion that the Immortal Cultivator either had someone colluding with them within the Festival, or that she was simply hiding in plain sight, and could be disguised as anyone. The latter thought was what everyone feared the most, as that meant that there was literally no one they could trust. As such, they decided to take action as soon as possible to eradicate this threat once and for all.

Finally, they reached one of the guest rooms. Jiang Cheng turned around and explained, "Baoshan Sanren's disciple, Luo Lingxi, stays here. We will need his help for the plan tonight."

Lan Qinghui nodded dumbly.

"Um, why do I need to be here as well?" Lan Qinghui asked. If Jiang Cheng wanted to tell Luo Lingxi about tonight's plan, why would she need to be present? It didn't make sense.

To her surprise, Jiang Cheng frowned and coughed slightly.

"Luo LingXi and I have had a minor disagreement in the past. I may have caught his disciple and mistook him for Wei Wuxian a few years ago..." Jiang Cheng's voice trailed off awkwardly.

Lan Qinghui stifled a laugh. She knew what happened to anyone whom the Yunmeng Jiang Sect Leader caught back then when he was hunting for Wei Wuxian. The poor disciple, he must have had a fright. No wonder Luo Lingxi would find Jiang Cheng disagreeable.

"Alright, I get it. I'll be the one to tell him about tonight's plan and seek his help," Lan Qinghui said, still smiling as she knocked on the door.

That night, they had a final meeting, and Baoshan Sanren's disciple, the illustrious Luo Lingxi, who had been invited to the Gongling Festival as a guest judge, attended the meeting as well after being filled in that afternoon. As much as the Jiang Sect preferred to keep as the matter under wraps with as little people knowing as possible, they needed Luo Lingxi's help as he was the only one who knew Baoshan Sanren's ultimate spirit-trapping array which could incapacitate the Immortal Cultivator while they ended her once and for all. Wei Wuxian, disguised as Lan Qinghui, would go nighthunting in the forest where Jiang Cheng and the real Lan Qinghui had encountered the Immortal Cultivator. The forest was dense and often had fierce corpses popping up ever since a flood had wiped out a village of almost 50 in the low-lying areas. He would be accompanied by one of the Three Sages, Jiang Ziyan. Lan Wangji and Luo Lingxi would trail after them at a safe distance, suppressing their spiritual energy to avoid detection. Jiang Pingyuan and Ouyang Baqiu, together with another high-ranking Jiang sect disciple, would scout the area with the excuse that they were night-hunting. Finally, Lan Qinghui disguised as Yun and Jiang Cheng would also move out as a pair to cover more ground and stay alert in the event of any unexpected development.

"M-me and Sect Leader Jiang only???" Lan Qinghui repeated confusedly.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Jiang Cheng asked, his eyes narrowing in irritation. Clearly, he had misunderstood Lan Qinghui's question.

Lan Qinghui shook her head fervently. "N-no, I was just wondering since we are the only group without a female cultivator,  since I'll be dressed as Yun..."

Jiang Cheng's expression softened slightly upon realising that he had reacted rather defensively. Crossing his arms, he said quickly, "That's because you and I have crossed paths with the Immortal Cultivator previously. Since we had managed to injure her previously, it's possible she may choose to attack us out of spite. If there's less of us, it may give her the false impression that we are alone as well."

Lan Qinghui nodded. She had forgotten about their encounter with the Immortal Cultivator. It was embarrassing to think about it, especially what happened after that.

"If that's settled, we should start getting ready. We will reconvene at the back gate of Lotus Pier in half a period's time," Luo Lingxi interjected.

"Anyone else have anything to add?" Jiang Cheng asked as well. Everyone shook their heads as they got ready to leave.

"Then it's settled. We must end the Immortal Cultivator once and for all tonight!"

-End-