Chương 101: Song Hongchi

A thunderous boom sounded, and Song Hongchi felt a shiver run down her spine. Several divine senses were locked onto her, and she couldn't even take another step forward.

'At least I made it out of the grand hall.' If she was still in that final inheritance room, it would be difficult to explain away. Now that the main formation running this place had been destroyed, it should be difficult to see that her corridor once had its door opened. But then again, Golden Core True People were mysterious, and they might notice something.

"Song Hongchi!" A woman called out. Song Hongchi recognized it as her Peak Master, True Person Sumei. The pressure on her eased, and she kowtowed on the ground.

"Grand-disciple Song Hongchi greets the Peak Master." The ceiling of the tunnel she was in opened up, lighting up the passage. Something took hold of her, and she was taken up into the air. In a flash, she was hovering in the air in front of True Person Sumei. She was indescribably beautiful, with flowing black hair tied with a red ribbon. She looked no older than 20 despite being over 100 years old.

"What happened here? Did you receive the inheritance?" True Person Sumei questioned.

"Disciple is incompetent. I only made it to the ninth puzzle before the formation malfunctioned," Song Hongchi replied truthfully.

"Why were you in there so long?" A man's voice questioned from behind her. Her Peak Master wasn't the only one there. Song Hongchi could make out at least fifteen people all hovering around her. Not all of them were at the Golden Core stage, though. But the man who questioned her definitely was.

"She will be answering my questions, and no one else's," True Person Sumei said firmly.

"She is a member of my Green River Sect."

"Tch!" The man snorted, "Let's search this place." After the man had spoken, he and several other cultivators next to him disappeared.

"Peak Master, should we follow them?" Elder Weng, a peak Foundation cultivator Song Hongchi recognized, asked from behind.

"Go," True Person Sumei said with a nod, "See if you can find the man called Zhuo Zhangye; he should still be here somewhere." Elder Weng flew off with a few other Foundation experts, and True Person Sumei turned her attention back to Song Hongchi.

"I already know the basic situation from the others who made it to the so-called grand hall. Is there anything you have to add? As I understand it, you were the one who comprehended the most of the formations here."

"Er, well," Song Hongchi hesitated. She needed to be careful not to lie, as that could make her end up in all sorts of trouble.

"I indeed figured out that the grand hall was not a test but a lesson. I spent the past year trying to comprehend as much as I could. I would like to believe that the knowledge I gained should have been enough to complete the final trial if I had a few more weeks.

"When I started to feel the tremors, the formations collapsed, however, and I couldn't make any more progress. I felt incredibly stifled not receiving the inheritance, so I stayed behind a bit longer." True Person Sumei nodded. She looked up into the empty space behind Song Hongchi and called out, "It appears your actions indeed interrupted the trial, Fellow Daoist Yasui. I hope your fortune won't be affected."

"As if a Golden Core cultivator's inheritance could affect me," A man, presumably True Person Yasui, answered with a scoff as he appeared in front of everyone's eyes. He appeared to be in his fifties, but was definitely several hundred years old.

"It's not worth gambling with your fortune," True Person Sumei said.

"If you want to make up for it, why don't you assist me in retrieving the inheritance? It was my peak's disciple who would have received it had you not rushed things."

"Fellow Daoist Sumei is joking," True Person Yasui said with a smile.

"Whatever I find, I'll keep." True Person Sumei frowned, "If we don't cooperate, our friends from the Silver Feather Sect will end up taking everything. The Sect Master won't be happy when he finds out."

"Then let's fight them already!" True Person Yasui said, spreading his arms in the air with a nonchalant expression. True Person Sumei ignored him, turning back to Song Hongchi.

"You've done well. You might have missed out on the inheritance, but I'll note down your contributions and make sure you earn merit points for this." Then, without another word, Song Hongchi was lowered down to the ground, and the affairs of the Golden Core cultivators were out of her reach once again.

'She didn't ask anything else?'

'I guess it's normal.' Stolen novel; please report. A Golden Core cultivator wouldn't waste time with someone like her. They took matters into their own hands. And if there was a need to find out something that their divine sense couldn't tell them, they had subordinates that could do the job for them.

'Good. If they had been adamant about questioning me, I would never have been able to hide anything.'

"Hongchi!" A familiar voice called out to her. Song Hongchi sighed inwardly and turned around to see Ding Yilang running toward her.

"You made it out, thank goodness. What happened in there? How far did you make it? You didn't get the inheritance, did you?" Ding Yilang rambled off his questions, looking starved for attention.

'Yuck. Has he gotten used to being around me now? That won't do.' Song Hongchi had many admirers in the sect, but no one had ever caught her eye. The only reason she was together with Ding Yilang was because they were both from Shenchu Immortal City, and would be traveling back there from the sect at the same time. Ding Yilang's uncle would also be going, and since he was a Foundation expert, Song Hongchi had decided to put up with Ding Yilang in exchange for the security his uncle offered.

But who could have guessed they would end up in an inheritance trial and be stuck together for a whole year?

"Same thing that happened to you," Song Hongchi answered.

"Did you see Zhuo Zhangye?" Ding Quang arrived with a whirl of wind and asked. Song Hongchi adjusted her hair and answered, "No. Why? He isn't out yet?"

"No," Ding Quang answered with a frown.

"Perhaps he got buried beneath the rubble," Song Hongchi said, "Things started to fall apart at the end there."

"Ha! Crushed by rocks. I guess that's a suiting end for a swordsman like him. Some things can't be solved by sword intent," Ding Yilang gloated.

"He wouldn't have been crushed," Ding Quang said, looking toward the inheritance site, "He was a body cultivator, probably at the Foundation stage."

"What!?" Ding Yilang yelled, turning to his uncle.

"You think he was really just a low-level Qi Refiner? I would have crushed him even with his sword intent," Ding Quang said.

"How do you know he's a body cultivator?" Song Hongchi asked.

"Just a feeling at first," Ding Quang answered, "Then I gave him a 2nd-grade fasting pill to test him. He swallowed it like it was nothing. That made me certain."

"Did you tell anyone?" Song Hongchi asked.

"Of course," Ding Quang answered.

'That body I placed there is going to be really suspicious now. I told him it was a dumb idea.' Song Hongchi frowned in annoyance. Things would be bad for her too if anyone figured out the truth. She had her own plans. She had not given up on getting her hands on that inheritance just yet.

'But if he's a Foundation expert, that would make things more complicated.' Song Hongchi had suspected something was off with him, but she never thought about body cultivation. It was quite rare, after all.

'Wait? Body cultivator? What was his name again? Shu Yang?'

'Shu! Body cultivation! What are the odds? They have to have some connection!'

"What are you smiling about, Hongchi?" Ding Yilang asked.

"Nothing," Song Hongchi said, shaking her head.

"Senior Ding Quang, are we free to leave? I want to head back to Shenchu Immortal City as soon as possible."

"I'm not sure, but I would guess someone will want us to answer some more questions first. I'll go and ask, see what I can find out," Ding Quang answered.

"Thank you," Song Hongchi said. Ding Quang left again, and Song Hongchi started walking to where she saw a gathering of her fellow disciples.

"You must miss home. It's been a long time since you were back, right?" Ding Yilang asked, walking beside her.

"Four years, yeah," Song Hongchi said with a nod. It actually wasn't that long, but she needed to return home to her family clan to ask for a Foundation Pill. She could get one from the sect, but it would take years for her to earn enough merit points to exchange for one. Song Hongchi definitely didn't want to delay her advancement, though, so she hoped her family could help her. The sect had rules, and it was hard to make an exception for her. But the Song family would look differently on her situation.

She was only 25 years old, and already at the peak of Qi Refining. If she was able to reach the Foundation stage before turning 30, her status would soar within the sect, and she could bring the Song family a lot of benefits.

'But the Golden Core stage will still be difficult. Incredibly difficult.'

'Damn it! I was so close to having it all, but that guy just had to get in my way.'

'Luckily, there is still hope to turn things around.' Song Hongchi had taken a big gamble when offering to take a Blood Oath. She had noticed that while Shu Yang's sword intent and power were very real, he was not much different from an ordinary 2nd stage Qi Refiner in other areas. Calling him completely clueless was an exaggeration, but he definitely had holes in his knowledge. So Song Hongchi had been willing to bet that he didn't actually know how a proper Blood Oath was sworn, and she had been right.

She just boiled her drop of blood and threw a gust of hot wind in his face, and he believed everything was done.

'Someone so gullible thinks he can get away with my inheritance? You wish!' Unfortunately, she still had to swear her oath properly; there was no way to trick him there. And swearing an oath on your bloodline is never without consequences, no matter how it is done. She could still break it; there was no actual restriction on her, but it would make her future path a lot harder. Breaking through to the Golden Core stage would basically be impossible. And that was something Song Hongchi was very reluctant to risk.

'So what? I just need to not harm him or his family and keep my mouth shut about what happened during the final trial.' Song Hongchi wouldn't have revealed anything even without the oath. If she told her Peak Master about Shu Yang, and she went to take it from Shu Yang, that would make things even more difficult. It's much better for a Foundation cultivator to have it than a Golden Core cultivator.

'As for harming him…That's too crude a tactic anyway. I've fooled him once; I can fool him again.'