Chapter 105: Return to the Clan (Part Three)

“Junior sister, do not be deceived by his appearance. Among the four of us, he is strongest in combat. In black-hearted scheming, he is the most practiced. In lofty words and righteous discourse, he is also the most fluent. Can you picture it? When a man has a big enough fist, he uses that fist to argue. When it isn’t big enough, he uses hollow virtue to crush others like dung.”

“Have you ever seen a man who talks morality while secretly burying someone, and the victim still thanks him for it?”

Feng Chengying seized Ji Mo by the arm, his face flushed with anger, and pointed at Suye as he spoke.

“Junior sister, you— you really are lovely, absolutely your taste, absolutely my taste,” Suye laughed helplessly. He produced a folding fan from nowhere, chuckling as he swayed it in his hand. He was so at ease, even the sight of him made Ji Mo clench her teeth, half wishing to step forward and beat him there and then.

“Stop that. Trouble has arrived.” Lei Wei had been smiling through the antics of his disciples, but now his expression darkened. He had expected this moment, and with a silent sigh he finally ordered the students to calm down.

“Oh? Is it that the others are coming to cross-question the junior sister now that she has returned safely?” Suye’s expression sharpened. His proud brows lifted a little, and his voice turned calm though his eyes went cold. At first glance he looked like a refined and gentle gentleman, yet when his brows arched and his gaze cooled, an inescapable chill radiated from him.

“No one need speak. This matter will be handled by your teacher. Ji Mo returning alive is cause for joy in any case, and I doubt they will press her too hard. Let us return to the peak.” Lei Wei said, his tone firm.

“Peak Lord? I heard Ji Mo has returned?” As soon as Lei Wei and his disciples came back to the main summit, a voice carried through the air. The five Great Elders of Thunderclap Peak had already arrived.

“Correct,” Lei Wei answered.

“Ji Mo. Truly you? How did you come out of Blue Moon Lake?” When the Five Elders entered the main peak, they all froze at once upon seeing Ji Mo standing beside Lei Wei. Mu Jinhong, the eldest among them, broke the silence.

This was not because they had rushed to harass her merely for having returned alive. The situation itself was too implausible. Blue Moon Lake has existed since the founding of Moon-Watching Sect. Across its tens of thousands of years, no one in the sect annals has ever reported someone falling in and returning. Ji Mo had broken precedent, so anyone would be struck with astonishment and unease.

“Wait. All the other peak lords have already arrived. Once everyone is here, Ji Mo will answer your questions together.” Lei Wei lifted a hand to quiet them.

Not long after, the heads of the other four peaks reached the main summit. Lei Wei’s gaze passed over them briefly before he spoke.
“Brothers, sisters—please come in. Follow me into the hall.”

The four glanced once at Ji Mo by Lei Wei and said nothing as they entered. In the hall, Lei Wei took the main seat. The lords of the other four peaks, with Cold Fengyang of Spirit Sword Peak—the current sect leader—as first, sat down in order to his right. The Five Elders of Thunderclap Peak took seats to his left. Ji Mo and her four senior brothers and sisters stood beneath them.

By right, the central seat ought to belong to the sect head, but here on Thunderclap Peak, Lei Wei was host. The other four peak lords accepted it without discontent. Once everyone sat, Lei Wei spoke.
“Ji Mo, come and greet your senior masters and uncles.”

“Ji Mo pays her respects to everyone—senior uncle, senior uncle.” Ji Mo stepped forward and bowed on one side. Of the four, she recognized only Yun Shuilan of Cloudmist Peak; the other three were strangers.

“Brothers and sisters have come together, surely for this disciple of mine,” Lei Wei said. “Surely?”

“We bear no malice, Younger Master. Blue Moon Lake is both sanctum and forbidden ground for our sect. It is our greatest support; without it, Moon-Watching Sect could never have grown as it has. Yet it is also our greatest secret. Every hundred years, the Blue Moon Lake sends endless resources to the sect, and yet since our founding, no one has ever discovered where it came from or what lies hidden in it.” Cold Fengyang spoke plainly.
“According to the records, several Nascent-Embryo Immortals entered the lake to uncover its truth, and none returned. In time Blue Moon Lake became an absolute forbidden zone. We came only to ask how Ji Mo emerged and what, exactly, is in it.”

“Ji Mo, can you tell us why,” Lei Wei said. He could scarcely ask otherwise. His gaze fell on Ji Mo. If it were any ordinary person, he would hate to press this. Who walking the path has no secrets of their own? But Blue Moon Lake belonged not to one person, but to all of Moon-Watching Sect.

“Returning to Master, and to my senior brothers and uncles: when I fell into Blue Moon Lake and my body was on the point of being dissolved by its waters, it was the dragon spirit within my White-Jade Serpent-Dragon Whip that saved me.”

“Dragon spirit in the White-Jade Serpent-Dragon Whip? You mean the whip’s core spirit is a dragon soul? If I remember correctly, wasn’t this whip found by your master by chance more than three hundred years ago?” Cold Fengyang pressed.

“You are right. I obtained it three hundred years ago during my secret-realm descent, but I could never make it accept me. In my hands it was only a sharp dead thing. Eleven years ago I gave it to Ji Mo. The moment it touched her, the whip spirit awakened; this object was destined for her.” Lei Wei said this and gave a slight nod. Cold Fengyang did not question further, merely signaling Ji Mo to continue.

“There is an old saying in our sect about the waters of Blue Moon: their source is one with the heavenly drowning waters. No bird may cross; even a feather cannot float. This can be confirmed at each century’s tide. Yet in those waters there is one form of life that can endure: the dragon race.”

“Though the spirit in the White-Jade Serpent-Dragon Whip is but a dragon soul, by nature it is still a dragon. Once it accepted me as master, when my body was about to dissolve it suddenly manifested and carried me to the bottom of the lake.”

“What did you see there?” Cold Fengyang almost rose, stirred by her words. As sect head, he knew more of Blue Moon Lake than most.

“Master, I beg your pardon. Of all that is inside, I cannot disclose everything to all of you. Yet I did bring out something of great benefit to the sect.” It could not be denied she had seen something; had she seen nothing, how could she have survived there for more than ten years? And if nothing lay there, from where did the hundred-year tides draw their gifts?

“What did you bring back?”

“I brought back the complete method of the Mysterious Thunder God Technique. It is sufficient for one who practices it to cultivate all the way to the He Dao realm.”

“What? What you say is true?” Great Elder Mu Jinrong’s breath stalled, and his fist clenched involuntarily. Not only he; even Lei Wei’s breath slowed for a moment too. As a practitioner of the same art, he knew exactly what those words meant.

“No other thing besides the Mysterious Thunder God Technique?” Yun Shuilan and Cang Muxin, lord of Purplewood Peak, asked together. Ji Mo shook her head.

“How could that be? You spent over ten years at the bottom of the lake and can only bring out the latter half of its manual? Are you saying there was nothing else at all? Or that you thought only of Thunderclap Peak and nothing of others?” Cang Muxin frowned and spoke sharply before he could stop himself.

“That is enough, Brother Cang. Be careful with your words. For Ji Mo to bring out the Mysterious Thunder God Technique is an extraordinary fortune for our sect. One should know contentment. Excessive greed only invites ruin one cannot bear. Younger Brother Lei, you have taken in a worthy disciple. This matter ends here. Let no one ask one more question.”

Cang Muxin’s breath faltered. He opened his mouth to speak again, then stopped under Cold Fengyang’s hard stare. Yet his resentful eyes still betrayed him.

Cold Fengyang gave him a brief glance and then turned back.
“Also, apart from those present today, I do not wish this to spread any further. Anyone who leaks it will be punished for treason against the sect.”

“By your command, O Sect Head.” Everyone present, Ji Mo included, rose at once. Their agreement was silent and exact.

After the matter was settled, Cold Fengyang did not linger. He departed quickly with the four peak lords. The Five Great Elders of Thunderclap Peak remained, and one after another their eyes burned toward Ji Mo.

To be continued.