Patriarch Xue Pao might have had something to do with the blood ghost that attacked Lin Jin at Heavenly Spiral City. If that was the case, Patriarch Xue Pao was probably acquainted with Corpse Taoist.
If so, why didn’t he seek Corpse Taoist out?
No doubt, despite his efforts to show sincerity, Patriarch Xue Pao was still hiding something. Perhaps it was his ill intentions.
Even so, Lin Jin chose not to call him out on it. He chuckled. “Patriarch Xue Pao, if you don’t tell me the truth, I won’t help you. I’m giving you one last chance. If you still insist on keeping your mouth shut, I’m destroying this psyche of yours.”
Lin Jin would never believe Patriarch Xue Pao, but he did want to know what the latter was planning. If he could clarify that, eliminating this guy in the future would be much easier.
Patriarch Xue Pao wore a hesitant expression before he finally ‘let the cat out of the bag’.
“Curator, you really can’t blame me for hiding the truth, as my life is at stake. However, since you are insisting on hearing the truth, I’ll tell you. To be honest, I am taking refuge there. Since you hail from the extraterritorial area, you should know about the immortal devouring beast…”
Patriarch Xue Pao began to talk about his past.
Back then, he was born in the extraterritorial area as a uniquely rare blood monster. Later on, after receiving guidance from Mystery Dao Sect’s Immortal Miao Yan, he officially embarked on a cultivation path.
Once he had achieved significant cultivation, he left the extraterritorial area and ventured into the main continents.
After that, he went on to do something grand with his monster and demon friends. Their deeds were known as Chaos of the Five Patriarchs by the inhabitants of the continents they terrorized. It went without saying that Patriarch Xue Pao was one of the five patriarchs.
Then, they were defeated by the human emperors.
“I don’t know what those human experts did, but they managed to imbue human immortal aura into our bodies that ultimately lured the immortal devouring beast over. My brothers and I were instantly killed by that beast. Thanks to a stroke of luck, I managed to hide away by using a secret art. Since then, I have remained hidden.”
Then, Patriarch Xue Pao revealed a helpless expression that seemed to be genuine.
Leaving aside the concern of whether his story was the truth or pure fiction, Lin Jin had already heard it. In any case, he would take it with a grain of salt. The general outline of his story was probably accurate, but Patriarch Xue Pao must have deliberately left out key details.
Being no fool, Lin Jin asked, “Again, if you won’t tell me what you need moving, or if you’re still hiding something, you can find someone else for this task. I won’t let you keep this psyche of yours.”
Patriarch Xue Pao reacted immediately.
“Please don’t do that! I’ll talk, Curator. I’ll talk, alright?”
He pondered before saying, “It’s a corpse. Help me move this corpse away and I will never forget your grace.”
“What corpse?” Initially stunned by his reply, a strange thought arose in Lin Jin’s mind.
“Fine. I won’t keep anything from you. I’ll tell you everything. It’s an immortal’s corpse. Back when we were facing the human experts, they resorted to underhanded tactics because they couldn’t fight us head-on. They fused an immortal’s corpse with my body, so that’s where the human immortal aura came from. It lured the immortal devouring beast to me.”
There were hints of resentment in Patriarch Xue Pao’s tone.
“Simply put, because of that immortal corpse, I haven’t been able to come out all this while. Once I do, I’ll surely be killed by the immortal devouring beast. That is unless someone moves that corpse away for me.”
Lin Jin was finally able to view the whole picture.
This answered many of his previous confusions too. After all, the humans from back then weren’t immortals, so how could they defeat the five patriarchs? So they ended up using this trick?
Simply put, they killed the enemy with the strength of another.
What a commendable strategy.
After he finally said the truth, Patriarch Xue Pao started acting sincerely. He proceeded to reveal many other truths. For instance, he explained that the immortal corpse fused to his body had been enhanced with a powerful restriction spell so he couldn’t remove it on his own.
Other mortals couldn’t remove it too. It had to be done by an expert who was near an immortal’s standard.
Hence, according to this theory, Patriarch Xue Pao asking for Curator’s help made perfect sense.
However, Lin Jin knew he must still be hiding something.
Though, it seemed quite clear that he would not be able to squeeze any more information from Patriarch Xue Pao, nor was there a valid excuse for him to exploit. Patriarch Xue Pao had reasonably answered all his questions.
What’s more, Patriarch Xue Pao even promised that he would benefit from this deal.
When considered as a whole, this was a deal Lin Jin could not refuse.
Curator paced back and forth, seemingly in deep thought about the decision. Meanwhile, the fake Lin Jin continued glaring at Patriarch Xue Pao.
Everything was perfect.
After purposefully waiting for a moment, Curator said, “Even if I were to help you, I’d like to know the location.”
This implied that Curator had agreed to help Patriarch Xue Pao.
Delighted, Patriarch Xue Pao responded at once, “My body is hidden somewhere in Grassy Continent. If you allow it, I can show you the way. Fret not, regardless of whether this plan succeeds or not, I will present you with the treasures I have kept all these years as my token of appreciation. I will never go back on my word.”
Lin Jin already knew the exact location where Patriarch Xue Pao was hiding, but he remained silent about it. After all, Patriarch Xue Pao must be keeping his own secrets too.
“Alright. I can try helping you out but I can’t guarantee success. This will have to wait until tomorrow. Too many things have happened today and I’m exhausted now,” said Curator.
“Of course.” Patriarch Xue Pao grinned, musing, ‘So long as you agree to help.’
“Patriarch Xue Pao, you’re a guest so I can let you stay afloat here. Just rest inside this cave and I will come for you tomorrow.” Having said that, without waiting for the other’s response, Lin Jin invoked a spell to pin Patriarch Xue Pao on the wall with his Psyche-Refining Needle. This way, Patriarch Xue Pao wouldn’t be able to move a single muscle, let alone leave the room.
Then, Curator and the fake Lin Jin left.
When the room was finally empty, a savage expression appeared on Patriarch Xue Pao’s face. That happened only in a flicker of a moment before his psyche closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.
For Dark Wind Monster Sect, Curator was the face of their sect, their grandmaster. Going by convention, there was no need for a figure like him to constantly oversee the sect’s development. In other words, Curator need not stay at Dark Wind Monster Sect all of the time.
Forget Curator, even Lin Jin wasn’t required to do so.
Since the sect rules have been established, the students of the sect need only obey them. They had a team to enforce these laws and Tiger Taoist to watch over them so the sect should be fine.
After informing Tiger Taoist about his departure, Curator led Patriarch Xue Pao’s bloody face out of the cave and traveled to Grassy Continent on a cloud.
Lin Jin’s mastery of Carrier Cloud was more than profound now, especially after refining the Four Ocean Gourd.
Still wearing Curator’s iconic mask, his long robes swayed against the breeze as they soared through the air. He stood tall with his hands behind his back, and when coupled with the Four Ocean Gourd and the Clear Wind Sword that hung around his waist, he looked just like an immortal.
