Chapter 65: Fragrance Of Tree Peony  

Ninetales Editor: Fish_Creek

“Crap, my fourth-ranking official seal!” Qin Feiyue’s expression changed hugely as he immediately searched his waist. The fourth-ranking official seal was gone, causing cold sweats to roll down his forehead!

It was a big deal, losing the official seal. However, since he was the disciple of Imperial Preceptor, he could still keep it under wraps. What made him more terrified was that he didn’t notice when the crippled man stole his official seal. What if the crippled man didn’t steal his official seal and instead, stabbed his heart from behind…

He shivered uncontrollably at the thought.

Seventh young master’s face turned red with embarrassment as he hugged his own chest and ordered numerous palace maids to surround him so no one could pass through.

When Cripple pickpocketed a few treasures from ‘him’, he only discovered that ‘he’ was a female when he stole ‘his’ feminine garment.

Cripple considered touching women a taboo for when he steals. Which was why there was an opening, and why Qin Feiyue had the chance to attack him, giving him only the opportunity to run away.

“This crippled man was the thief god that sneaked into the Imperial Palace to steal the Emperor’s Disk – the Heaven Pilfering Thief!”

Qin Feiyue suppressed the shock in his heart. Seeing that the seventh young master was fine, he let out a sigh of relief, “Y…young Master must have been shocked. Because of my inability…”

Gu Linuan who was in the mysterious ice was even more shocked. The crippled man actually managed to steal the Junior Protector Sword’s sheath from his body!

Not only that, the black banner in his other hand was also stolen by the crippled man!

Being sealed in the mysterious ice, he knew how hard and cold the mysterious ice was. Even?a great expert like him was frozen and had no ability to escape. When Qin Mu swindled him of his sword, he also depleted all his vital qi just to send the Junior Protector Sword out of the mysterious ice.

However, this crippled man just disregarded the mysterious ice and touched it gently. It was like the hands of a ghost that easily swiped his black banner and sword sheath away!

“Lord Gu, this crippled man had ventured into the Imperial Palace back in the days and entered the empire’s treasury in front of the countless number of strong practitioners. There were countless traps in the empire’s treasury but they were all useless. He still managed to steal the Emperor’s Disk and nobody was able to stop him.”

Qin Feiyue said, “Luckily, Imperial Preceptor intercepted him and managed to cut down one of his divine legs. Even so, Imperial Preceptor wasn’t able to stop him from leaving with the Emperor’s Disk. He ended up vanishing without a trace.”

Gu Linuan was dumbstruck. Only after some time did he asked, “With a leg missing, he still managed to vanish without a trace? Was this achieved because of his divine legs or his divine hands?”

Suddenly, the cry of a giant beast echoed from the front of the ship. Qin Feiyue was astonished and immediately ran to the head of the ship. His pupils contracted uncontrollably as he saw a spider web erected in front of the ship, locking several miles of the river in place!

The giant beast, which was pulling the ship, had collided with the spider web and was unable to free itself no matter how much it struggled. The river then split apart and an enormous spider slowly crawled out from under the river, dragging the giant beast onto the spider web. It then spewed out web continuously before sinking its teeth into the giant beast’s body.

Even when numerous soldiers used qi to manipulate swords and to summon divine arts, they weren’t able to force the enormous spider to retreat. Even the spider web couldn’t be cut down!

Very soon, the giant beast shriveled and only a layer of skin was left.

Qin Feiyue’s body trembled. Even the hand that was holding onto the treasure sword was trembling. He wanted to hack the enormous spider to death but he didn’t dare to move.

He saw an apothecary in green as he carried a herb basket on the shore. He looked very ordinary but his face had changed beyond recognition and looked very sinister.

Apothecary waved his hand and the enormous spider on the river started to retracing its web. It then followed a thread and crawled back to the Apothecary while shrinking smaller. It then became a small dot that tunneled into the apothecary’s herb basket.

Without the spider web blocking it, the ship began to float downstream again. Qin Feiyue then faintly heard a voice beside his ear, “Tell Imperial Preceptor to drop any inappropriate thought on touching the Great Ruins. Be careful not to provoke us disabled elderly…”

Surrounded by the mysterious ice, Gu Linuan’s voice trembled, “It’s the Poison King…”

Qin Feiyue also suppressed the pounding of his heart and composed himself, “All soldiers, listen to my command, raise the oars and return to Eternal Peace!”

After sailing a mile forwards, a soldier suddenly shouted with a trembling voice, “General Qin, there’s a man on the river!”

Qin Feiyue gritted his teeth, his face turning charcoal black, “Which demon dares to block my ship? Do they really think I’m easy to bully? Knock him to death…”

Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly noticed that the man on the river only had his upper body. It wasn’t known who had chopped off the lower half of his body.

The weird man was wielding two huge and weird knives as he stood still on the reef.

Suddenly, the knife light tore apart the sky and shook the world. Qin Feiyue looked upwards and saw the clouds being split apart by the knife pressure!

The knife light landed and cut down towards the ship!

Whoosh—

The water of Surging River halved, becoming two rivers with one slash!

“Seven Stars Divine Treasure, awaken!”

Qin Feiyue roared in anger. The divine treasures in his body opened up one by one, causing his frightening vital qi to burst forth into two huge dragons by the ship side, moving it horizontally for three hundred yards!

The knife light grazed the side of the ship’s body. It continued to split the river and only closed it back after reaching the back of the weird man of the river.

“Hehe, it’s not fun fighting the Imperial Preceptor’s disciple. It’s only interesting fighting the Imperial Preceptor…”

The weird man on the reef sheath his knife and with both of his hands propped onto the reef, he exerted force and jumped into the sky, vanishing without a trace.

Qin Feiyue restrained his legs from trembling and shouted, “Stabilize the ship, stabilize…”

His voice trembled and even he couldn’t hear himself clearly. He could only sit down first to recompose himself. However, his thoughts were in a whirl.

Gu Linuan was even more frightened than him as his voice quivered, “Heaven Knife! That’s Heaven Knife who once raised his knives to the heavens and died at the hands of a god, he’s actually still alive…”

Qin Feiyue’s expression couldn’t remain calm, “Why would so many old demons gather in such an unremarkable little village in Great Ruins? Spear God, Heaven Knife, Thief God, Poison King… Other than those people, what other frightening beings still remain in the village…”

He looked at the topographic map of Great Ruins. Then, he let out a sigh of relief as the map he had painstakingly drafted was still on the ship. Those fiendish people didn’t destroy the topographic map of Surging River.

“That’s not right!”

He suddenly came to a realization. These fiendish people didn’t destroy the topographic map of Surging River not because they couldn’t, but because they didn’t think it was worth destroying.

These old monsters believed that even if he took this topographic map away, Imperial Preceptor wouldn’t dare to enter Great Ruins!

“Why didn’t they kill us?” asked the seventh young master who was crossdressed as a boy.

“They didn’t think we are worth killing.”

Qin Feiyue replied roughly, “They didn’t think we were worth killing because our abilities were simply too weak…”

His heart was sour. As a disciple of Imperial Preceptor, he had always viewed himself highly. His reputation was also extremely high among all levels of society. He never expected to meet so many powerful beings after just one trip to Great Ruins. The conceit he previously possessed disappeared without a trace.

When he had first met Blind, he still had a trace of arrogance with him. Despite being shocked by Blind, he still had a lofty and unyielding character. However, as he continued to meet the elusive Cripple, the sinister Apothecary, the savage Butcher, his lofty and unyielding character was reduced to nothingness from the shocks he received. Only fear remained in his heart.

“There’s nothing that can stop Imperial Preceptor. There is nothing that can scare Imperial Preceptor!”

Qin Feiyue thought about his master, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, and his uneasiness subsided. His gazed hardened as he muttered, “If the old fellows in Great Ruins want to be mantises who try to stop the chariot, they will only die horribly!”

The ship continued to sail downstream when Qin Feiyue was suddenly stunned by what was before him. There was originally an oasis here and an ancient temple on the oasis. But the entire oasis had vanished without a trace!

He had originally thought there was something strange with the ancient temple but he didn’t go in to inspect. However, he marked it on the map. Never did he think that when he came back, the temple would be gone.

“Eyes awaken!”

Qin Feiyue gave a low shout and light shot out from his eyes. Looking into the water, he was dumbstruck. The oasis was still there but it had been flattened by some powerful strength. Now the ancient temple had sunk into the water!

“Great Ruins…”

He composed himself and commanded the soldiers to rouse their vital qi to row the ship, leaving this place as soon as possible.

Not long after they sailed away, the river split apart and a copper Buddha rose from under the river with the chains still on him. Even though the copper Buddha was extremely heavy, it seemed to be weightless as his feet stood on the surface of the water.

“The old monsters of Disabled Elderly Village are actually this strong. They won’t be easy to handle…”

The copper Buddha looked in the direction of Disabled Elderly Village before exerting force in his legs as he ran ashore and continued sprinting.

“Stealing my merit! I will not let this matter rest! However, since Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor is beginning to stir and wants to enter Great Ruins, I shall let them fight each other first! When they are in a life and death struggle, my Thunderclap Monastery will just reap the benefits!”

In Disabled Elderly Village, Qin Mu met Cripple walking over and throwing something at him. Qin Mu received it and it was a sword sheath which was a match with Junior Protector Sword.

Qin Mu was stunned for a second and wanted to ask where Cripple got it from when Cripple suddenly stuffed another item into his chest.

Qin Mu took out to have a look. It was a milky white garment embroidered with a tree peony. It was one foot long and had stripes like ribbons, along with it was a sweet scent.

“Grandpa Cripple, what is this?” Qin Mu asked puzzledly.

The smile on Cripple’s face froze as he resentfully said, “A sweat towel for you to wipe your sweat with. How unlucky, why do I have to touch something like this. Touching it once leaves you with three years of bad luck…”