Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 271: Chapter 271: Grafting

Hearing that Shen Hao almost got robbed by the Celestial Toad Sect, and only managed to save himself thanks to the reputation of Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute, the faces of the three Golden Sword Cultivators turned sour. They immediately snorted, saying they’d have the higher-ups confront Celestial Toad Sect about this.

Confront them how? No one in the crowd, Shen Hao included, cared much. For forces like Celestial Toad Sect, the Jingjiu Dynasty has no easy way to deal with them—any move risks triggering a chain reaction.

The completely unconcerned look on the faces of Celestial Toad Sect’s two men already made the point clear.

Shen Hao didn’t care either. Although his face feigned some indignation, not a trace of anger lingered in his heart. The guy was already dead by his own hand—what’s there to be mad about?

Shen Hao continued, "That Celestial Toad Sect cultivator left and headed toward Caiyuan Village, but seemed to take an interest in the Cloud Swords around. I saw him pause and redirect himself toward a particularly large Cloud Sword."

"Cloud Sword?"

"That’s right. Those mist clusters floating all over, looking like clouds—inside, there’s all sorts of challenges. If you succeed, you get a treasure. Fail, and it’s a dead end..."

Shen Hao carried on, weaving mostly truth with a few made-up lines to steer the conversation. Sure enough, he shifted the focus to Cloud Sword. The two Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute cultivators knew the most about this, while the rest waited, curious, for Shen Hao to go on.

"But the Celestial Toad Sect cultivator picked a Cloud Sword that was huge—a full ten feet in diameter. I’ve seen Deacon Nie take Cloud Swords before, and they were only ten feet around. Deacon Nie is strong, so I didn’t expect that Celestial Toad Sect guy to be so capable. But..." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Shen Hao deliberately paused, face looking a bit hesitant. The three Golden Sword Cultivators understood he probably had some things he couldn’t say openly. So they prepared to have Shen Hao follow them away from prying eyes. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

But the Celestial Toad Sect folks, impatient, frowned and demanded Shen Hao continue. The matter involved the great elder’s great-grandson, so they had reason to be nervous.

Shen Hao, finally, could only reluctantly go on: "That Celestial Toad Sect cultivator ended up surviving. I kept my distance, didn’t dare get close, but judging by the bloodstains, he must have been injured. Not sure how serious it was. After that, he headed off that way.

But..."

"But what? Kid, speak up! Don’t mumble and stutter!"

"Zhang Lin! Hundred Households of Shen is one of our Jingjiu Dynasty’s people—none of your Celestial Toad Sect business. Whether he talks or not is up to him, when did you get to stick your oar in?"

The Celestial Toad Sect folks were anxious, but the Golden Sword Cultivators weren’t pushovers either. One immediately fired back, and another moved to Shen Hao’s side, glare locking onto the two Celestial Toad Sect men.

Shen Hao waited a bit, then spoke with a hint of mockery: "That Celestial Toad Sect cultivator just escaped the Cloud Sword when three more cultivators arrived. One died right after breaking free from the Illusion Array. The remaining two happened to see the injured Celestial Toad Sect cultivator.

Then... chased after him."

Chased after him—plain words, yet, paired with Shen Hao’s gleefully schadenfreude smile, and the tension here, the veteran high-tier cultivators all moved in their hearts, sensing someone was about to get screwed.

Celestial Toad Sect doesn’t have a good reputation. Besides their own, everyone else present wore Shen Hao’s small smirk—each with a bit of gloating in their expression.

"Kid, if you dare spread nonsense, I’ll make you pay!"

After dropping such a vague threat, the two Celestial Toad Sect members hurried off in the direction indicated by Shen Hao, but quickly stopped at the dirt mound not far away. They’d found the corpse site Shen Hao had set up.

Since the distance was not too far, the rest followed along as well.

"Looks like it’s been burned over there... but there’s no lingering smell of bodies."

"Tsk tsk, something definitely happened. Look at what Zhang Lin’s holding—a Jade Slab, the insignia’s a bit damaged but you can still make out the Celestial Toad Sect seal. That wouldn’t just pop up here for no reason. Must’ve been smashed right here."

"Judging by their expressions, that person’s status in Celestial Toad Sect isn’t ordinary?"

"Of course not. Appeared to be twenty-odd years old, handsome, and able to take on a ten-foot Cloud Sword just like Nie Yun. That cultivation—can’t you guess who?"

"Hiss... You mean Yu Shengjue?"

"Who else could it be?"

Because of the special mechanics of Cloud Sword Domain, the best entrants are late-stage Primordial Pill Realm or Perfection Realm. So all cultivators here are in the same tier, and even if they haven’t met, they’ve absolutely heard of each other’s names. Not to mention Yu Shengjue, one half of the famed "Jingxi Double Eagles"—as soon as his name was spoken, everyone nodded, the deduction making sense.

The outsiders still had the mood to enjoy the show and toss out a few taunts, but the two Celestial Toad Sect cultivators already felt ice cold in their veins.

Clearly scorched traces on the ground, and very fresh. There were also signs of cover-up after the fact—shouldn’t be so little ash if it’d burned that much.

Nearby lay shattered Jade Box fragments; the insignia and style made it clear it was for storing Mid-grade Spirit Stones. Such boxes aren’t given to just any disciple in Celestial Toad Sect, but Yu Shengjue definitely had one.

Add in what that Shen Mou from Xuanqing Guard Hundred Households said earlier—tie it all together, and everything points toward the worst possible outcome.

The Celestial Toad Sect cultivator named Zhang Lin couldn’t afford to keep up pretenses, turning to Shen Hao who’d come along with the crowd, and asked in a grim voice, "Hundred Households of Shen, this isn’t far from where you were before, is it? What exactly happened at that time?"

Shen Hao shook his head, "My cultivation is weak, and Deacon Nie warned me to be careful, so I stayed cautious, didn’t dare wander. I only saw the two cultivators chase after him. After that, there was indeed a disturbance of True Qi and sounds of fighting. Also..." Shen Hao paused, then continued, "there was a faint burnt smell drifting afterward. That’s all—I didn’t see more, and don’t dare guess."

Though he didn’t say outright: Your Celestial Toad Sect guy was killed by the two chasing him, taking advantage of his wounds—they burned the corpse, too.

His words, though, painted a vivid enough picture. Combined with the scant traces on site, even if Yu Shengjue didn’t die, he was almost certainly doomed.

"Hundred Households of Shen, you’d better not be making things up. Let’s go!"

Zhang Lin said this, then with his companion, sped off toward Caiyuan Village.

It’s easy to check the truth of Shen Hao’s story. Go to the Sword Emperor’s Tomb entrance and confront the two cultivators from other sects directly. Kill someone, and plunder their goods—just search for items belonging to Yu Shengjue, and the matter will be clear.

The two Celestial Toad Sect people understood this, and so did everyone else.

No one thought Shen Hao was lying—too easy to expose, and it would bring him nothing but trouble. So, even the Celestial Toad Sect duo only clung to hope, but deep down they had already prepared for the worst.