"It might not be so, Senior." Chen Yilin flashed a knowing smile, "Brother Taixu is quite strong,he will make it out in a shorter time than we can imagine."
The other outer disciple glanced briefly at Gu Taixu and looked away.
Chu Zhou Province,Qin Clan, Capital City.
A heavy-traffic trade city, bustling with people's shouts, haggling over goods and noises from other beasts of burden. Occasionally, high government officials rode past the trade area. This was the capital city of the Chu Zhou Province where it was all managed and administered from. The central market scene was filled with colour and different captions made up the traders to properly promote and advertise their products.
Unknown to the busy traders and buyers, shadows mixed with the crowd, moving while discreetly observing the surroundings which they had done about twice every half-day. They consisted of two men and a woman and at the moment, they emitted an aura of complete nothingness such that people could pass by them without noticing. They wore dark-green robes with yellow colllars and stripes and black boots. They were pretty advanced in age; in their mid- sixties and fifties respectively although the woman looked like a thirty-year old. They had their goods up as they seemed to float in the crowd. Sneaking through alleys, they entered and old and unoccupied building. Holding hands together, they chanted as they circulated their inner energies,
"Huang Nan Emissary! Huang Nan Emissary! Huang Nan Emissary!"
At the 3rd chant, a projection of a young man in his late-twenties appeared . Just the projection emitted a boundless power unknown to many in this area. With the personality at the center focus, the trio chanted in an unknown language simultaneously. Slowly and steadily, the boundless power receded till it was completely blanketed.
"Report!" The youthful voice commanded.
"It's the same thing we always say, High Emissary. Everything is and...seems to be going on normally. There is no reaction from the Qin Clan to their losses so far." The woman replied.
"Probably, they must have truly lost connection with other distant clans that could help them, just as we thought."
"Qin Pinghuo is still doing nothing?" The young man queried with a narrowed gaze.
"Unperturbed, I think, sir. Everything will go according to plan."
"Don't underestimate the intelligence of Qin Pinghuo. Also he is assisted by Qin Shihuang, the renowned strategist. He wouldn't sit and let his territory fall into shambles on his watch." The Emissary queried.
"But, High Emissary, there are no defence measures in the city, no extra powerhouses,we can..."
"I repeat!" The youth cut in, "Don't underestimate them. You are only revealing your incompetence in the duty assigned to you!"
"We apologize, High Emissary. We will do better."
"Hmph." He scoffed as he disappeared out of sight.
The trio breathed a sigh of relief,
"I think this is beginning to be frustrating. Over the past year, our different spy groups have not given us the latest info on the Qin Clan's movement, it's just so absurd." The man on the right said,
"No, Bai Zhong, I think I see this clearly now," the other man shared, "the Qin Clan is purposely trying to make us uneasy by not acting. They are planning to destabilize us before they actually make a move."
"But that is proving quite costly, they have lost 3 clans to us." The woman reasoned.
"But, it's working isn't it?"
"I don't think it's that way, Jing Fan. The Qin Clan might be setting us up to fall into their net..."
"You guys may just be overestimating these guys. They might not be that smart, you know." The woman cut in.
There was silence that lasted for a while.
"No matter what their plan is," the woman added at last, "it will reveal itself sooner or later."
They nodded and parted to different directions.
In the secluded building in the capital, thousands of kilometers away from the previous scene, a figure covered in white light exited the door of the secluded room. He seemed to exist in an ethereal realm. As the light dimmed around him, a figure of a man clothed in a white robe was visible. His old eyes seemed very wise and twinkled from time to time. His face painted many images of the vissitudes of human existence. His long white hair wa properly tied in a pin and his white beard was shaped. He carried the aura of a high emperor. With a thunderous voice that shook the four walls, he called,
"Shihuang, summon the provincial elders to meet me on the Xueming mountain within the next half month. There should be no excuses."
Without waiting for an appearance, his luminous personality split into different directions at supersonic speed and left nothing behind. Few seconds after a corner of the large hall, a lazy looking bald old man manifested. He wore a long black robe with a white collar. He looked scholarly apart from his lazy expression. One of his eyes seemed blind as it was totally white. He snickered as he went back to previous invisible state.
Heaven Profound Martial Academy, Wu Chou residence,
On a normal day, the Wu Chou residence is usually lively as his cohorts are usually partying and drinking but today seems odd.
A tall slender young man with stark resemblance to Wu'An looks on as Wu Chou moves about with a physician wearing the uniform of the Depository of Scriptures. A closer look shows that the physician is the first male person that Gu Taixu met in the Depository.
"Their bodies only suffered minor injuries but their shock and fear of death during the event was at a very high level: it affected their Martial spirits." Fan Gui gave his diagnosis, observing the three unconscious people before him.
"You intervened just in time," he continued, "a little later could've been fatal." He concluded pointing at another person lying few meters away.
Wu Chou gave a deep sigh.
"So how about him!"
"Hong San is heavily injured up to a point of being temporarily crippled," the physician answered shaking his head, "he had a weak constitution and foundation from the start and that will worsen his condition."
"Quite unfortunately, he might remain in this state for a least six to eight months." He said finally.
Hearing this, Wei Chuan sucked in a deep breath. Wu Chou, now mad, banged his head on the wall, yelling,
"Gu Taixu!! Gu Taixu!! You bastard, stupid egg! How could you grow so fast? I knew I had to kill you the first time I met you. F**k Fu Jian, bloody egg!"
The tall slender young man finally spoke, crossing his arms.
"Junior Brother, what is the cultivation Level of this kid?"
"Senior Shangxie, I perceived him as an Upper Tier lad, the first time I met him, a couple of weeks ago, but now...I can't tell because his Martial power cancelled out mine."
"What level?"
"A Level 1." Wu Chou replied with an unsure expression himself.
"Impossible!" Wu Shangxie and the physician chorused.
Wu'An currently nursing an internal injury suggested.
"He might have concealed his actual cultivation until the last moment because as he fought with me, his level rose rapidly to the Level 2 Upper Tier."
"But even so," Wu Shangxie said, furrowing his eyebrows, "he is someone by himself because his performance is above expectations. A Level 2 Upper Tier to match a Level 3 martial artist is no small feat, more so, Wu Chou who is an experienced Level 3 martial artist. That's almost a Level's difference!" He exclaimed.
"Could it be one of those one in a half-century geniuses, like the historic Liu Taiching?" Wu'An muttered. There was a grave silence, during which the same thought passed through their minds. Fan Gui finally spoke,
"I refuse to believe so," he said, squinting, "there could be another method, he did that, a fake method. Although the academy does not have a supply of those pills, I know of pills that can increase individual cultivation for a short time. They also have adverse side-effects after use because that's the price to pay."
"He may have used them." Wei Chuan chortled belligerently, finally seeing a alternative.
"How could he get his hands on them? He has no background and no family known. From what I hear from the higher-ups, the war has not only escalated to the Gu Clan. It has almost wiped the Clan off the map."
All four pairs of eyes turned towards him,
"Are you serious?" Wu Shangxie whispered.
"That's what I heard from my dad but the information is confidential at the moment. Gu Taixu doesn't even know that his family might have been wiped out."