Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Jin Yao was a resourceful man. He had taken a series of measures to conceal the spirit of the Psychic Jade Talisman before he ran away from the Cumulus Star. Just when he thought he was finally off the hook, he bumped into the practitioners who had sold him those celestial devices on this planet. What a small world!
However, though Jin Yao recognized them, they did not recognize him. That was because he had changed his appearance to avoid being tracked down by the Jia Family. But anyway, they probably would not remember what he looked like at all. No one would bother to remember the appearance of a shop owner unless they were going to do business with him on a long-term basis, which those practitioners were certainly not planning to do so.
When he saw those practitioners, Jin Yao’s mind started working rapidly. The reason why he fled from the Cumulus Star was that he feared being hunted down by the Jia Family. But if he managed to arrest some of those practitioners and had them hauled before the Jia Family, the whole thing could be explained clearly. Frankly, he was quite unwilling to give up his estates on the Cumulus Star. Thus, to achieve this goal, he secretly followed this bunch of practitioners only to discover an astonishing fact.
It turned out that they had not lied about the origins of those celestial devices they sold to him—the did discover a Hidden Treasure, but they were not the only ones who found it. Jia Qinghua, the unlucky direct descendant of the Jia Family, who had hoped to succeed the post of Family Head, together with his maids and guards, had also found out about this Hidden Treasure.
Sadly, those practitioners killed Jia Qinghua and his subordinates and took away his Psychic Jade Talisman.
Since those practitioners did not have high-level cultivations, they merely accessed the first level of this Hidden Treasure and obtained some inferior celestial devices. They failed to enter the second level and were trying to find a way.
After he obtained the information, he managed to figure out the specific location of the Hidden Treasure. Jin Yao immediately swallowed a Three Body Divine Elixir and came to this Remote Red Star to find an old friend of his.
What was this Three Body Divine Elixir?
It was an antidote for the Soul Searching practice. As the old saying went, everything had its vanquisher. This Three Body Divine Elixir was an elixir specializing in preventing others from doing Soul Searching on the one who had consumed it. When you took this medicine, once someone started searching your soul, the Three Body Divine Elixir would automatically destroy your spirit, leaving nothing to be found by the person doing the Soul Searching.
Of course, ordinary people would not take this rather bizarre medicine. Usually, the effects of this medicine would last for one year. Since it directly affected the spirit, it was harmful to a practitioner’s spirit. Accordingly, no practitioner would take it unless out of absolute necessity or in desperate circumstances.
After taking this medicine, Jin Yao went straight to the Remote Red Star and searched for his old friend. Why did he do that? Because this old friend had some connections with the Jia Family.
His plan was quite simple: First, he will take the Three Body Divine Elixir to block out any information the Jia Family might discover through the Soul Searching. Next, he would ask his friend to introduce him to a member of the Jia Family and return the Psychic Jade Talisman, together with the truthful explanation about the whole thing. Then, he would lead the Jia Family to the Hidden Treasure and arrest the murderers who had killed Jia Qinghua. In this way, not only would he account for his innocence, but he might acquire huge benefits from the Hidden Treasure. Although the Jia Family was powerful, if his plan was carried out with care, it was possible for him to have a share of the Hidden Treasure. But in order to achieve that, it was crucial for him to find his old friend first. However, to his dismay, that old friend had already left the Remote Red Star to travel around, rendering his plan inviable.
Of course, he could also go straight to the Jia Family on his own. But without anyone’s introduction, the treatment he faced would be totally different. Even his life might be endangered. Thus, faced with this hopeless situation, he had to keep looking for traces of his old friend.
Who could tell where a practitioner would be when he started traveling? How much useful information could one possibly find in his original residence?
Only God would have the answers.
Hence, after several days’ of fruitless searching, Jin Yao was quite dejected. He went to this tavern to drown his worries in liquor, and ran into Zhou Bao, who was also drowning his sorrow in drinks. He recognized Zhou Bao at once as the prodigy from a branch of the Jia Family, who had stepped into the limelight over 10 years ago. That was how he came up with a new plan.
Although Jia Qingping was merely from a branch of the Jia Family and had no influence on the direct descendants of the Jia Family, he was a talent that any family would attach great importance to. Anyway, he was not asking much from Zhou Bao, what he needed was just an introduction by this young genius of the Jia Family. This would have the same effect as being introduced by his old friend. However, after talking to Zhou Bao, he changed his mind. He noticed that Jia Qingping was quite a powerful practitioner. Despite that the spirit emitted by this Jia Qingping was merely showing a strength at Level Two of the Individual Immortal, the air of his comportment was telling him this young man was not that weak. Above all, those practitioners who had sold the goods to him were not very powerful, only at Level One or Level Two of the Individual Immortal. Besides, they were now fully focused on tracking the Hidden Treasure and would not be wary of others finding out their secret. At this point, if he could drag Zhou Bao into this team and call in several friends, they could take down those practitioners with their combined strength and take advantage of all the benefits in the Hidden Treasure. All in all, his gains would not be less than that of cooperating with the Jia Family.
Having these thoughts in mind, he changed his original plan and started enticing Zhou Bao.
After he heard his story, Zhou Bao was dumbstruck. It took him quite a while to grasp the actual significance of what Jin Yao, the shop owner, was trying to tell him.
“Hey, it never occurred to me that this kind of thing could actually happen in reality. But Boss Jin, are you sure you want to work with me?”
“Of course. Apart from you, I will call in some of my old friends as well!” Jin Yao said, revealing a sincere but wry smile. “In fact, if only I had realized it earlier before leaving my spirit on that Psychic Jade Talisman, this matter would not have become so complex. I could merely gather some friends to kill those practitioners and return the Psychic Jade Talisman to the Jia Family. I will just tell them that I snatched it from those practitioners, then, there would be no problem. But now, I have carried this Psychic Jade Talisman for too long, which makes it too hard to explain, so that’s why I was thinking about finding a man related to the Jia Family to discuss this with!”
“A Hidden Treasure? Well, Brother Jin, do you know what sort of Hidden Treasure it is?”
“No clue. I was on my own at that time and had to be cautious. I only knew it was at an Immortal’s Cave from antiquity times. This Infinite Star Sea is peerlessly vast, who could ever know whom the cave belonged to. However, leaving an Immortal’s Cave in a place like this Infinite Star Sea isn’t the style of those large sects, so I guess its owner may not have any intimidating background either!” Jin Yao’s assumption did make sense. In antiquity times, the Infinite Star Sea was a stretch of utterly barren land. No one would want this area even if you gave it to them for free. Thus, the one who built up the Immortal’s Cave was probably a nobody. But even if it was merely a Genuine Immortal’s Cave, it could offer endless profits for a Rank One Individual Immortal like Jin Yao.
“Now that Brother Jin is so honest with me and is offering me a kind invitation that comes with tempting benefits, I certainly cannot refuse!” After giving this some thought, Zhou Bao looked up and said with a smile. “These days I’m having a rough time. Now, I shall just regard this as a chance to go out and channel away my negative feelings. I wonder how many friends you will be calling up, Brother Jin?”
“Three. Their strength is all above mine, and they are all trustworthy!”
The most important thing was the last sentence—they were trustworthy.
The path of cultivation was certainly very bumpy, during which murdering for treasures were common occurrences. If a man was not trustworthy, the higher his cultivation was, the more dangerous he would be. Thus, after having the assurance that those guys were trustworthy, Zhou Bao relaxed visibly. But then, he raised his head and asked, “Excuse me, Brother Jin. Although I am one of the Jia Family, I’ve never seen the Psychic Jade Talisman as I am just from a side branch. I wonder if Brother Jin can let me have a look at that Psychic Jade Talisman and let my mind be totally blown!”
The purpose of this requirement was just to verify Jin Yao’s words.
After all, Jin Yao had no proof of what he had related so far. It called for a further verification to see whether his story was true or not. Since the whole thing was incurred by the Psychic Jade Talisman, then, having a look at it was an easy verification.
“The Psychic Jade Talisman is such a wonderful device that I do not dare to display it openly!” Jin Yao smiled bitterly. “On the third day after I got this Jade Talisman, it went out of control. It took all of my strength to suppress it and cover up its spirit, but this had already attracted the attention of the Jia Family. Though everything appears to be fine now, I believe the men from the Jia Family must have arrived on the Cumulus Star and tracked down my whereabouts!” Speaking of this, Jin Yao seemed a little helpless. “But I don’t blame you for wanting to see this Jade Talisman. Well, let’s find another time and go to a remote place in the hollow. Then, I will show you this thing and let you verify it, is that OK?”
“Don’t bother. It’s just a Pure Yang Celestial Device. And I happen to have some means to cover up the spirit. No need to worry about its spirit seeping out, but it is truly not a good place to take it out here!”
“Oh? Young Brother Jia has some means to conceal the spirit? That couldn’t be better. Well, I shall go and show you at once, the earlier the better. By the way, I could use your help to conceal its spirit better!” Hearing Zhou Bao’s words, Jin Yao was overjoyed. He could not conceal his happiness. “Brother, you should know that to cover up its spirit has made me totally exhausted these days!” While speaking, without waiting for Zhou Bao’s reply, Jin Yao directly dragged Zhou Bao downstairs and hurtled towards the Sea-watching City.
Such bad luck!
