Chapter Sixty-One: Tenth Lady's First Lesson

The old lama considered Zhou Luer to be someone specially favored by the Eternal Sky.

In truth, however, it was simply that those bizarre and terrifying things fell short of what Zhou Luer had seen and heard since childhood.

When playing with a snake, one must first pull out its venomous fangs to avoid being bitten.

Those dead human bones, after all, could not bite.

Chen Tu was utterly speechless at Gu Liubai's reaction.

It took him a good while to recover his composure. "The fourth branch of the Zou family and Steward Wu have both confessed. The people from the fourth branch knew nothing about what happened back then; this time, they were merely acting on orders from the seventh branch of the Zou family. As for why the seventh branch was so insistent that Zhou Luer must die, that remains unclear. In any case, according to their original plan, once they returned, they were to claim that Zhou Luer was an impostor."

Gu Liubai nodded, signaling for Chen Tu to continue.

Chen Tu went on, "Steward Wu's confession is rather interesting. He said that shortly before the incident back then, several Indian monks appeared in the vicinity of the Zou residence. Not long ago, he spotted two Indian monks again in Youzhou City. Moreover, that Black Flood Dragon Swordsman who was beaten to death by He Huoluo was not hired by them; he suspects it has something to do with those two Indian monks."

"Suspects?" Gu Liubai smiled. "You use that word quite well."

"It's not that my methods are lacking; he himself isn't certain," Chen Tu patiently explained. "Steward Wu wasn't dragged into this by the instigation of the Zou family's seventh branch; it traces back to when Zhou Luer was sent out of the pass all those years ago."

"Back then, when he was still a minor figure in the Zou family, someone gave him a considerable amount of silver and asked him some seemingly trivial questions."

Seeing that Gu Liubai was listening intently, Chen Tu felt a surge of pride and became even more meticulous in his account. "That person asked what name the old mistress of the Zou family had given Zhou Luer, what the traveling eminent monk had done during his stay at the Zou residence, whether he had said anything, and other such minor details. Later on, when Zhou Luer was sent beyond the pass, that convoy ran into trouble, leading Steward Wu to suspect he had become entangled in the affair. This time, when his grandson suddenly fell gravely ill, a wandering physician mysteriously appeared and cured the boy with a single dose of medicine. That physician told him that if he wanted his grandson to live a healthy life in the future, he must come out this time to cooperate with Zou Suoyi and do a thorough job. He suspects that this physician is also connected to the Indian monks."

Gu Liubai frowned and asked, "How so?"

Chen Tu replied, "He said that physician carried a scent of special spices, which bore a striking resemblance to the odor on the Indian monks. Whether it was the Indian monks who appeared around the Zou residence in the past, or the two Indian monks he happened to see in Youzhou City this time, they all carried that peculiar, pungent fragrance."

Gu Liubai remarked, "He isn't exactly stupid; he's just too foolish."

Chen Tu glanced at Gu Liubai. "What kind of remark is that?"

"Having stayed in the Zou family for so long, does he still not know what kind of person the old mistress is? When he inadvertently made a mistake, he originally had a chance to make amends," Gu Liubai said with a faint trace of sarcasm. "When encountering such a situation and harboring such suspicions, how much better it would have been to honestly report it to the old mistress, instead of compounding error upon error and sinking deeper into the mire."

"He was probably just hoping to settle the matter once and for all, thinking that would be the cleanest way. Who could have anticipated running into a monster like you?" Chen Tu countered. "The fourth branch holds the lowest status in the Zou family. To put it bluntly, once the old mistress closes her eyes for good, whatever meager business the fourth branch has will depend entirely on the whims of the seventh branch. Besides, they certainly wouldn't want the main branch, whose lineage was abruptly cut off, to suddenly be continued. Yet to the seventh branch, a child like Zhou Luer probably didn't count as any sort of serious opponent. I casually inquired about the situation of the seventh branch, and I believe they simply lack the capability to command that Black Flood Dragon Swordsman."

"The seventh branch must have been used as mere pieces on a chess board."

Chen Tu gave a low chuckle. "When the time comes, starting our investigation from those Indian monks will probably lead us to unearth the old ghosts behind the scenes much faster."

"We must investigate everything—not just the seventh branch, but everyone in the Zou family except for the old mistress," Gu Liubai said calmly. "These noble clans possess a myriad of methods to conceal the truth. What is uncovered by following just one or two clues may not be the truth of what happened back then."

...

"This whole affair is starting to feel a bit bizarre."

Chen Tu was gradually beginning to sense that something was amiss.

The powerful noble clans of the Great Tang were pillars holding up the sky. Historically, it was always the noble clans who dealt with people; no one ever dared to deal with the noble clans. Yet from Gu Liubai's brief remarks, it sounded as though he were fully prepared to sacrifice a few scions of noble families to the heavens first.

The border-crossing passes were delivered very quickly.

The group continued their march toward Youzhou.

Chen Tu's peculiar feeling grew increasingly intense.

Up in the Yin Mountains, their sole purpose was to hunt down unpardonable fugitives.

Naturally, they understood the preciousness of border-crossing passes better than anyone else.

They represented an entirely new identity.

They allowed a person to cast aside all past history and start afresh.

Those fugitive bandits were all highly capable individuals, yet the reason they fled to the Yin Mountains and remained trapped there was precisely because they could never secure a fresh start or obtain such documents.

Yet toward this precious document that had already been acquired, Gu Liubai was not satisfied in the slightest.

Hua Cangming could only offer repeated assurances that before reaching Youzhou, the Zou family would prepare another foolproof border-crossing pass.

The Hua family of Youzhou was not a top-tier noble clan, falling far short of even the Chenjun Xie clan; nevertheless, a clan of their stature already possessed the power within the Great Tang to grant someone a rebirth.

When Chen Tu thought of that young man from the Xie clan who had casually upended Peshawar, Gu Liubai's casual, commanding attitude toward the noble clans became truly unimaginable to him.

A person's mindset and cognition determine their position in this world.

Gu Liubai understood Chen Tu's confusion very well.

The world Chen Tu had seen was far too small.

Ever since he was born into this world, he had lived beneath the shadow of the noble clans.

Just like Old Third Hu, who merely believed that meddling in other people's business would get one killed.

Yet the rules that decreed his death were nothing more than tools in the hands of those powerful noble clans.

The cultivation and power possessed by these men clearly should not belong to a pack of wolves roaming the grasslands of the Yin Mountains.

Between people like them and the noble clans, the only missing piece was a Gu Liubai.

The only missing piece was a mind not restricted by their limited cognition.

Once placed in the proper position within this world, they would become the very noble clans of Chen Tu's imagination.

Top-tier noble clans at that.

...

When a person demonstrates overwhelming, crushing strength, earnest reminders transform into naked threats.

After Gu Liubai offered Hua Cangming a gentle reminder, Hua Cangming, who had blundered on the border-crossing pass, began to conduct himself with extreme caution.

He didn't even use the Hua family's influence for their next campsite; instead, through the Zou family's connections, they entered the pasture of a wealthy merchant.

Because it was not currently part of the winter pasture, the vast grazing land was completely empty, devoid of even a single head of cattle or sheep.

Food had already been prepared at the camp. After nightfall, when the vast majority of people had drifted into sleep, Yin Shiniang appeared before Gu Liubai.

"Take that saber and follow me."

She led Gu Liubai deep into the pasture and came to a halt beneath a massive pine tree.

Gu Liubai kept glancing around but found no trace of Granny Long.

"Have you figured out why Granny Long gave you this saber?" Yin Shiniang stopped, turned, and stared at Gu Liubai.

Gu Liubai answered earnestly, "I surmise that Granny Long wants me to use this saber to practice controlling my true qi, to become more familiar with it and gain a deeper understanding of it."

"Your understanding is not far off the mark."

Yin Shiniang always spoke briskly, a look of satisfaction crossing her features. "You must understand that almost all cultivators in this world believe they understand their own true qi exceptionally well. How could one not understand the true qi they painstakingly cultivated bit by bit? But in reality, it's just like how every husband believes he thoroughly knows and understands his wife—when in truth, it's merely what you imagine. Many people might look at you while thinking in their hearts that you haven't the slightest real understanding of your wife."

Gu Liubai couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. "Your analogy is quite exquisite, except that I'm still young, have no wife, and can't quite grasp its essence."

Knowing that Gu Liubai understood perfectly well but was deliberately feigning ignorance, Yin Shiniang simply continued, "Out of every ten thousand practitioners in this world who reach the seventh rank, nine thousand nine hundred will die without ever figuring out why they cannot cultivate supernatural abilities and break through to the true eighth rank. Yet at least eighty percent of them never realized that the root of the problem lay in their utterly superficial understanding of their own true qi."

Gu Liubai nodded. "I understand. You mean it's just like how most husbands actually don't understand their wives at all, which is why they can never come up with any new moves."

Yin Shiniang furrowed her brows deeply. "Your analogy is equally exquisite, but you are still young—who on earth taught you such things?"

Gu Liubai laughed triumphantly and declared, "The rough men among the caravans passing through Mingbo Slope talked dirty all day long. I heard plenty of it."

Yet Gu Liubai did not get carried away for long; he immediately turned serious again. "So, only when one's understanding of their true qi is thoroughly penetrating and intimately familiar—to the point where, without even pausing to think, the body and all consciousness naturally know exactly how much true qi to channel to a specific spot—can one truly advance to the eighth rank?"

Yin Shiniang cast a blank stare at him and said, "That is the principle, but the tier of most cultivation techniques is inherently inadequate, and the true qi cultivated through them can never unlock any supernatural abilities."

Naturally, Gu Liubai understood that cultivation techniques themselves varied in grade.

Yin Shiniang then asked, "The saber technique Liang Feng凝 passed on to you is the Unfettered Absolute Slash?"

Gu Liubai replied seriously, "That is correct."

Yin Shiniang continued, "Do not use his saber technique. Use Gu Beixi's sword technique, and execute it for me with this saber."

Gu Liubai knew this must be considered Yin Shiniang's first formal lesson.

Without any further nonsense, his figure flickered as he immediately unleashed a move called "Cascading Mountains and Spitting Snow" directly toward Yin Shiniang.

This was a formidable move within the Canglang Sword Technique, and even with a mere firewood chopper's blade, he managed to manifest the profound spirit of the technique.

A giant wave surged like a mountain, and the sea spray burst forth like wild snow flying among peaks.

Yin Shiniang pressed her hand forward and her entire body flew backward.

Gu Liubai immediately came to a halt.

Naturally, he knew this strike posed no threat whatsoever to Yin Shiniang.

He took a deep breath, cast his gaze down upon the firewood chopper's blade in his grip, and furrowed his brows slightly.

Yin Shiniang seemed to be deep in thought as well. After a silence lasting several breaths, she spoke up, "Liang Fengning's saber technique was meant to build your foundation."

"Build my foundation?"

Gu Liubai's expression swiftly turned rather peculiar.

Why did it seem that no matter what he learned under Yin Shiniang, it was always just building a foundation?