So What If You’ve Been Reborn? - CH 38

C38. Luring Someone Out of His Hiding Place?

Whack.

The dummy kicked the Enlightened Tianyan in the knees, causing him to fall over and hit the ground face-first.

These new injuries, when combined with the old wounds, made the Enlightened Tianyan’s blood boil, and he nearly passed out again.

“Ahem, where’s my sword?” The Enlightened Tianyan groped about with his empty hands. After getting hold of his lousy peach-wood sword, he began his stern accusations, “You devil, there are demonic beasts ravaging the mortal world, this is a matter of life and death…”

As he spoke, he looked up, and was instantly dumbfounded.

Without the blindfold, he was now able to see the person next to Chen He. This person was dressed in a robe to conceal his radiance, and he had white hair and a white beard. He wore a hair stick of Mt. Mi wood[1], a pendant carved from Mt. Huaijiang langgan[2, 3], and two long brows hung down his face. Surely this could only be the Enlightened Huiji, an elder of the most senior generation of the Heluo Sect, known in the cultivation world as Elder Long-Brows?

The Enlightened Tianyan opened his mouth wide and closed it again.

He looked at Chen He, then at Elder Long-Brows, and was at a loss for words.

—it was like how not all Immortalisation-level demonic cultivators could be grandmasters; they had to have sufficient influence, or the title of Grandmaster would be nothing more than a formality. Similarly, one would not simply call any elder of a major sect ‘Enlightened’. Often, it would be a sect leader or someone whose disciple was a sect leader, and people would address them as such to distinguish them from the rest.

It just so happened that the Enlightened Chixuan, the current leader of the Heluo Sect, was one of Elder Long-Brows’ disciples.

And the Enlightened Tianyan had originally been a disciple of a disciple of a disciple of the sect leader’s martial nephew, which meant that his great-great martial grandfather was in the same generation as the Enlightened Huiji’s grand-disciples. Thus his great-great martial grandfather was barely considered the sect leader’s martial nephew. The Enlightened Tianyan and Elder Long-Brows were six whole generations apart. [TN: If it’s too confusing, drawing a diagram may help.]

This was not his fault. His physique was average, so even though his comprehension ability was exceptional, the senior Golden Core-level cultivators of the Heluo Sect had not been able to tell in the previous life. They picked whoever they wanted from the outer-circle disciples who had completed the Foundation Establishment stage, and he had been among those disciples. Since his master was only Golden Core-level, he could only be so high in terms of seniority.

However, only competent individuals were chosen to lead the Heluo Sect.

After the previous sect leader ascended to immortality or passed on, the cultivator with the highest cultivation level and strongest divination ability in the entire Heluo Sect would become the next sect leader. This gave rise to some strange scenarios unique to the Heluo Sect.

Sometimes, when the sect leader ascended, his successor could be his own master (who was very sad that he could not win against his disciple, the stronger one). The most common scenario was where the position of sect leader was passed from martial brother to martial brother, and occasionally, after a sect leader died, the position would be inherited by a grand-disciple instead of a disciple.

And the Enlightened Tianyan’s promotion to sect leader created an unprecedented case of the largest group of sect elders to ever exist in the Heluo Sect—for anyone in the sect leader’s generation and above would be promoted to sect elder after the sect leader was confirmed—and created a most embarrassing situation where even Golden Core-level cultivators were elders of the Heluo Sect.

Yes, that was right. The current sect leader, the Enlightened Chixuan, would ascend to immortality a hundred and fifty years later. During that time, the Orthodox-Demonic War was raging fiercely, and many of the Heluo Sect’s high-level cultivators died, which left the Enlightened Tianyan as the only possible candidate for sect leader.

No matter how incredulous the Enlightened Chixuan had been, he could only ascend to the celestial realm and leave the whole mess to the newly promoted Enlightened Tianyan.

And so the Heluo Sect ushered in a new, glorious era, where there were sect elders everywhere as far as the eye could see. Where there were eight generations of disciples in the inner circle, and six of those generations were sect elders. Where their disciples could claim that their sect had more elders than the whole cultivation world did. It was an era where, as some said, sect elders were so common that being a sect elder was no better than being a dog, although Grandmaster Tunyue strongly objected to that last saying. Even so, the Heluo Sect were unashamed of this, and they even took pride in it. They had so much more things to say when they were arguing with others, after all.

“You over there, what did you say? I’ll have you know, I’m one of the Heluo Sect leader’s great-great martial granduncles!”

“How dare you say we of the Heluo Sect haven’t been trying? We even sent our sect leader’s great-great-great-great-great martial granduncle out to fight in this war, why don’t you Hanming Sect cultivators try sending one too?”

Immortalisation-level cultivators could live for up to a thousand years. Six generations ago, many sects had yet to exist!

Who the hell would know who this great-great-great-great-great martial granduncle was!!

Whenever the demonic cultivators came to gather information on their enemies before the battle—“How many people did you bring this time?”

Other sects would say something like, “The Juhe Sect has brought XX Immortalisation-level cultivators, XX Demigod-level cultivators, XX Nascent Soul-level cultivators…”

Only the Heluo Sect would say it this way: “Two hundred of the Enlightened Tianyan’s martial uncles, one hundred of the Enlightened Tianyan’s martial granduncles, thirty of his great-great martial granduncles, eight of his great-great-great martial granduncles…”

It became especially troubling for the whole cultivation world after the Enlightened Tianyan became the leader of the orthodox faction.

Seniority was something that only mattered within a sect, and everyone was equal when they were out in the world—this had never been a concern, but what was the deal with the Enlightened Tianyan?!

If not for the raging war between the orthodox and demonic factions, none of the other sect leaders would have wanted anything to do with the Enlightened Tianyan.

No one could stand hearing things like this every time they visited the leader of the orthodox faction—

“Sect Leader, dear martial nephew, have some tea.”

“Sect Leader, my great-great-grand-martial nephew, this doesn’t sound right.”

“Sect Leader, my dear great-great-great-great-grand martial nephew, the demonic cultivators are making many moves.” [TN: *puts head in hands*]

When the Enlightened Tianyan became sect leader, Long-Brows had still been alive.

Naturally, he knew the Enlightened Huiji, who was one of the oldest cultivators of the sect. He even went to Sky-High Cliff to pay a visit during the latter’s final days.

But he met someone unexpected at Sky-High Cliff.

On the wooden walkway, there stood a man. The soul of a black pheasant spirit was trapped in the folds of his robe, set afloat by the winds in the smoky mountains. He wore a hair cap shaped like a crimson hornless dragon winding around his hair bun twice, inlaid with a gold phoenix-stone orb. His expression was icy.

Pale skin, frost-white hair, and those three tiny red moles above the left brow that especially stood out.

Grandmaster Liyan.

The Enlightened Tianyan took three steps back at once, raising his duster in preparation to fight. Unexpectedly, however, that person did not spare him a single glance, simply standing at the edge of the cliff, as if he were part of the mist rising from the valley.

The reason why they did not fight was because Elder Long-Brows, the elder who was six generations apart from him, was speaking with Grandmaster Liyan, his expression unreadable.

There was a barrier in place, thus the Enlightened Tianyan could not hear anything.

He saw Elder Long-Brows speak non-stop, while Grandmaster Liyan kept his silence throughout. Finally, Elder Long-Brows sighed and shook his head wearily, and that temperamental demonic grandmaster turned and left. The Enlightened Tianyan had been anxiously preparing to rush in to help, but nothing happened at all.

“The Heluo Sect is in your hands now, Sect Leader. Amidst tribulations and karma you must not forget your roots.”

Having said this, Elder Long-Brows returned to Black Depths Valley, leaving the Enlightened Tianyan full of doubts after his long journey from afar. He had never known about a demonic grandmaster having any sort of acquaintance with a retired senior cultivator of his sect.

He had even tried to divine the heavenly secrets, but to no avail.

Now that time had been turned back, in this tiny kitchen with water boiling on the stove, as a young, impoverished Daoist monk, the Enlightened Tianyan blinked as he lay in a pile of firewood. He felt that he had answered the questions he had in the previous life.

—Elder Long-Brows and Chen He really did know each other!

Three hundred years ago, before Chen He became a demonic grandmaster! There was something very suspicious about this!

“Elder Huiji, didn’t you already go into seclusion? How are you here?” the Enlightened Tianyan blurted out.

Chen He almost went looking for a fourth person. Thankfully, he had realised soon enough that this Daoist monk was speaking with Elder Long-Brows. Of course, none of the major sect’s elders would have a title like ‘Long-Brows’. If that really was the case, what would his senior and junior brothers’ titles be like?

“Hmm, you recognise me, young Daoist?” Elder Long-Brows was also confused.

Though he had said ‘young Daoist’, Tianyan was still much older than Chen He. To Elder Long-Brows, however, this difference was as good as nothing.

“Ten years ago, I was accepted into the Heluo Sect’s outer-circle abbey, and later on I was lucky enough to go sweep some stairs in the inner grounds. It was there that I caught a glimpse of you, noble Elder,” the Enlightened Tianyan answered cautiously.

Elder Long-Brows thought about it carefully. A few years ago, he had indeed gone back to the Heluo Sect’s grounds once. It had been when one of his younger disciples failed to advance from the Demigod stage to the Immortalisation stage and was on the brink of death, and he went back to help save his disciple.

There were countless young Daoists tasked to sweep the Heluo Sect’s grounds, and they were not allowed in any further than the gates. He could not possibly have noticed back then.

“Hm.” Elder Long-Brows stroked his beard. Before he could speak, a great commotion sounded outside the walls, and the three cultivators with their sharpened senses could hear every word of it.

“Noble Elder, there are demonic beasts wreaking havoc. I must catch them!” The Enlightened Tianyan struggled as hard as he could.

As if in response to his words, a thick stream of demonic beast energy wafted over.

Chen He’s expression changed. Before he could ask what demonic beast was being so arrogant, he heard two voices shout at the same time: “An eight-tailed fox spirit!”

“…”

Chen He looked at the Daoist monk he had brought home. This fellow was pale with horror.

Then he looked at Elder Long-Brows, who looked both shocked and furious.

“This creature has been cultivating for at least a thousand years. In order to gain its ninth tail, it has come to the earthly world to harm mortals.” Elder Long-Brows dissolved into a ray of light and gave chase, following the demonic beast’s energy.

The Enlightened Tianyan felt very uncertain about all this.

How could this eight-tailed fox spirit be in Yuzhou City? In the previous life, it had been running around near the north seas.

“You seem to know a lot of things.”

This sentence, spoken with a leisurely tone, made the Enlightened Tianyan shudder. He did not fear Chen He, but he had grown used to seeing no emotion on the face of his former opponent, Grandmaster Liyan. Right now, this expression where he could not distinguish if the other was smiling was making him very nervous.

“Yes, of course. I have much experience with catching demonic beasts, this I can promise you.” The Enlightened Tianyan could only put up a calm front as he spoke.

Chen He nodded.

“A Foundation Establishment-level cultivator who can recognise an eight-tailed fox spirit?”

The Enlightened Tianyan had sweat on his forehead.

Just then, Elder Long-Brows returned. He flicked his duster, saying disappointedly, “This creature’s quite cunning. It retracted its aura and hid itself, now it can’t be found anywhere. I’m afraid someone might be using this fox spirit to lure us away from our stronghold.”

“If the fox spirit didn’t appear here by coincidence, this isn’t luring us away from our stronghold, but luring us out of our hiding places.” Chen He glanced at Elder Long-Brows. “With such intense demonic beast energy, no cultivator would be able to sit still. They’d expose themselves by going out to search.”

Elder Long-Brows was dumbfounded.

“Of course, Daozhang has a high cultivation base. Unless the person on that end has a similarly high cultivation base, they’ll only know at most that there are cultivators within the west side’s thirteen lanes. They won’t be able to follow you all the way here.”

Chen He calmly pointed towards the Daoist monk on the floor.

“This fellow Daoist wants to catch demonic beasts, so why not go with him, Elder Long-Brows. The Heluo Sect isn’t far from this place, it would make sense for you to appear here. It wouldn’t cause any suspicion.”

Catching demonic beasts was nothing but an excuse. As long as the Heluo Sect sent cultivators to handle the fox spirit, there would be nothing to worry about.

—however, would that not mean Chen He would be left alone here?

Elder Long-Brows hesitated to speak. How was he to answer to Shi Feng in that case?

“Daozhang’s been living in seclusion for many years, there’s no need to explain where you’re going. It’s not much even if you appear for a bit and disappear,” Chen He said leisurely. “I have tens of dummies with me, and I’d be able to escape even if something happened.”

“Indeed.”

Elder Long-Brows was indeed unable to sit by as the fox spirit wreaked havoc in Yuzhou City. Fox spirits liked to eat people’s livers, and since the Heluo Sect was close by, many lower-level disciples would become victims if they did not defend themselves.

“Furthermore, this man’s so clever, he could recognise it was an eight-tailed fox spirit.” A hint of a smile flashed by in Chen He’s eyes. No matter how strange this Daoist monk was, would he still be able to run if Elder Long-Brows was in charge? He knew full well how troublesome and clingy Elder Long-Brows could get.

“Hold on, how did you, a Foundation Establishment-level young Daoist, recognise this fox spirit?” Elder Long-Brows became wary.

An eight-tailed fox spirit had abilities comparable to a late-stage Demigod-level cultivator.

The Enlightened Tianyan did not become nervous when trouble arose. He began to speak at once, “I once…uh, caught a fox spirit that was close to gaining its second tail. The fox spirit aura in its cave was very intense. When I sold the fox spirit off, someone told me I was fortunate and there was sure to be a high-level fox spirit in the cave. That aura from earlier was ten times more intense than what I remembered, and the legendary nine-tailed fox spirits have not appeared since the Great Calamity Wars, so I thought this powerful demonic beast must be an eight-tailed fox spirit.”

Chen He looked away. Hm, he wasn’t too bad at making things up.

However, Elder Long-Brows was satisfied with this answer. He had seen this young cultivator’s stable cultivation base and high comprehension ability. With those meagre outer-circle practices, he cultivated for a few decades without consuming anything to raise his cultivation base, and now he was already in the later stage of Foundation Establishment. This was a very precious find.

“Not bad, our sect shall have successors in future!”

Elder Long-Brows suddenly felt that Chen He’s suggestion was quite good. Perhaps he could have a secret disciple or something.

He would decide again after observing this man for a few more days to determine the character.

—naturally, Long-Brows had no idea that this decision could save the Heluo Sect, and by extension the whole cultivation world, from the ‘grand spectacle’ of the largest group of sect elders in cultivation history.

“Young Daoist, follow me!” Elder Long-Brows shoved a wound-healing pill into the Enlightened Tianyan’s mouth and set off while grabbing him by the neck. Amidst all this, the Enlightened Tianyan did not even have any chance to protest or object, and the healing pill choked him so hard that his eyes were rolling back in his head.

The courtyard regained its peace and quiet.

Chen He returned to his room. He picked up a brush and slowly wrote a single word: ‘father’.

Then he let out a strange-sounding laugh.

His father, Governor Chen, was but a mortal. However, anyone who was smart enough would be able to uncover things about the Chen family of Yunzhou City. Cultivators who were still bent on obtaining the Stone-borne Flame would definitely tail Governor Chen and wait for him to appear.

Because it was normal for children who had strayed from home at a young age to want to find their families and return home.

Even cultivators seeking immortality would inevitably want to look after their relatives still living among the mortals. Even if they were only watching over from afar—whatever, those ill-meaning fellows would be wasting their energy anyway. The Chen family no longer meant anything to him.

Chen He touched the paper with his fingertip, burning it to ashes in the blink of an eye.