Star Sky Professional
Chapter 340 - 277: Rooting Out Traitors (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 340: Chapter 277: Rooting Out Traitors (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Late at night.

A secret chamber.

An elder in the Foundation Establishment was stuffing Elixirs into his mouth frantically while channeling all his mana into a cyan Talisman.

The Talisman paper was clearly made from the skin of a High Rank Demon Beast, with cyan Dan Sand runes drawn on it to form the vivid shape of a green bird.

It was indeed a High Rank Talisman—the Green Bird Talisman!

It was of considerable value, certainly not something a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could possess.

Moments later, accompanied by the elder’s chanting, his face turned pale from the exhaustion of his mana, and the "Green Bird Talisman" was finally stimulated and activated.

The green bird on the Talisman seemed to come to life and suddenly flew out of the paper, transforming into a cyan Mysterious Light Mirror.

A Green Bird Talismans came in pairs and were used for sending messages.

Because its grade was high enough, even a Quasi Fourth Rank Array would have difficulty blocking it.

In fact, if it were a High Rank Attack Talisman, even depleting all of the elder’s mana would be of no use; it might even backfire and kill him.

But Communication Talismans had much lower requirements in all respects, and he, a Cultivator in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, was able to activate it, barely, with the help of the power of Elixirs.

Within the cyan Mysterious Light Mirror, ripples flowed, and suddenly, an image of a white-browed Cultivator dressed in a crane robe appeared—it was none other than the Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect!

That unfortunate soul who had planned an ambush on the Mu Family Cultivators, only to have his Third Rank Top Grade Lifebound Spirit Crane slaughtered by Fang Xing.

"Mu Qingbai..."

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect furrowed his brows, "Green Bird Talismans are pricey and scarcely available; even our sect doesn’t have many in stock... You’ve rashly activated this talisman, could it be that old thing is already dead?"

For the Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect, Mu Wanlong was a nemesis with a deep hatred as vast as the Blood Sea!

Whether it be his previous Lifebound Spirit Beast or the immense benefits of the Mu Family, he wished nothing more than for his enemy to drop dead on the spot and to immediately take his revenge.

"That’s not the case..." said Mu Qingbai: "I wanted to see my children and grandchildren..."

Truth be told, he had been wholeheartedly loyal to the Mu Family before. It was only after meeting a lady on a trip outside that things changed; he even had a child with her.

Since Mu Qingbai was already arranged in marriage by the Mu Family to a fierce woman from an Immortal Cultivation Family, he dared not bring his beloved back, and had to secretly keep her within the Immortal City.

But he had never imagined that this secret would be uncovered by the White Crane Sect, and even used to hold his entire family hostage.

Mu Qingbai had no choice but to become an inside agent.

"Hehe... Your children and grandchildren have decent talents, I’ve decided to take one of them as a Disciple."

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect chuckled, "I hope my young friend will not mistake himself."

"Of course not..."

Mu Qingbai sighed, "Today, Mu Qingshi’s Core Formation ended in failure, eventually resulting in a Fake Core... It was I who used the ’Reputation Gu’ to covertly influence the outcome... Isn’t that enough to prove my loyalty?"

"Oh? That boy failed his Core Formation?"

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect laughed heartily: "Good, good..."

For a True Core Cultivator, a Fake Core was basically not considered a Core Formation Cultivator, especially a Great Cultivator in the late stage of Core Formation, who wouldn’t even take an early Core Formation Cultivator seriously.

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect had intentions to annex Baihua Mountain and was, naturally, extremely concerned about the future of the Mu Family: "A mere Fake Core is no longer a threat, haha... You have done a great job, especially in making good use of the Gu Insects’ tactics."

The Reputation Gu was a type of obscure Gu Insect, which was not only harmless to Cultivators but could even somewhat improve the atmosphere within a family.

Mu Qingbai secretly used the Reputation Gu, often displaying a concerned attitude about the family in front of Mu Qingshi, covertly stimulating his discontent and generating the idea of taking a risk for the family’s sake.

Core Formation was a critical moment, and if one harbored a heart willing to risk danger, failure was naturally more likely.

Moreover, this matter was done without leaving a trace, as elusive as the horns of a flying antelope, and no amount of checking the Cave Mansion or Core Formation Spirit Items would reveal anything.

Even if he were caught, Mu Qingbai had his defense ready—could loyalty to the family ever be a fault?

Indeed, he had sabotaged Mu Qingshi at the first attempt, wasting all the previous effort.

"This time, we also went to visit the Supreme Elder..."

Mu Qingbai continued: "I sensed covertly with the ’Bloodline Plate’... In that Cave Mansion was indeed Mu Wanlong; your previous thoughts, elder, were somewhat biased..."

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect had been waiting for Mu Wanlong to die a natural death.

After all, according to his knowledge as a late-stage Core Formation Cultivator, a Forbidden Technique that could burst forth in an instant, enhancing one’s Cultivation by a small Realm, was surely a death sentence for a severely injured Core Formation Cultivator!

However, he had been waiting for ten years, and still no news of Mu Wanlong’s death had come.

He immediately suspected Mu Wanzhang of trickery, thinking that Mu Wanlong had already died and been replaced by a switched Soul Lamp, then impersonated by someone else.

It was precisely for this reason that the Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect had Mu Qingbai secretly spread the rumor of Mu Wanlong’s death, while also covertly forging the ’Bloodline Plate’ with his own blood relative.

This kind of Demonic Magic Artifact was generally used to annihilate a clan and could track down the locations of close blood relations.

Although the sensing was somewhat vague, it was still confirmable within the range of a Cave Mansion.

"That old rascal is not dead yet!?"

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect instantly became livid with rage, then snorted coldly, "He must be using some Secret Technique or Elixirs... barely clinging to a thread of life, probably with no power to act anymore."

There were many Secret Techniques in the Cultivation World for keeping someone barely alive against the odds.

With the Mu Family’s resources, having one or two such Treasures was quite normal.

But this made the Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect quite uncomfortable.

After all... he dared not bet!

Once he lost the bet, what he would lose was his own life.

Therefore, even though they had gathered some treasures capable of breaking arrays, before Mu Wanlong was confirmed to have passed away from sitting in meditation, the White Crane Sect still did not dare to launch a large-scale attack on the Baihua Mountain of the Mu Family.

"Although he’s not dead, he’s close... Mu Wanlong summoned us today to say that he wants to use the ’Heavenly Demon Transformation Technique’ to purge Mu Qingshi of his Fake Core and rebuild his foundation..."

Mu Qingbai thought for a moment before speaking.

He knew in his heart that once he revealed this information, it would be a complete betrayal of the Mu Family.

After all, Mu Qingshi was the Mu Family’s greatest hope!

But what choice did he have? His previous actions using Gu insects had already turned Mu Qingshi into an irreconcilable enemy.

Now, even if the Mu Family weakened further, he had to ensure Mu Qingshi was completely destroyed!

"Heavenly Demon Transformation Technique?"

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect was taken aback before saying, "I have indeed heard of this demonic secret technique’s great reputation, but it requires the dignity of a Nascent Soul True Monarch to perform it... Even after the technique has been improved, I fear that at least a Golden Core Late Stage Great Cultivator is needed... How could a dying Mu Wanlong have such ability? This is not good..."

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect, after all, had some insight: "This is probably that old man’s trickery, you’ve been exposed!"

"What?"

Mu Qingbai was shocked and about to say something when he saw a light burst into the secret chamber.

A beam of Five Elements Polar Light descended, turning into chains of various colors, firmly binding him.

The multitude of Five Elements radiance all came from a small mirror.

And of course, it was Mu Wanzhang, a False Core Real Person, who deployed this Magic Treasure.

With his Fake Core power and the use of a formidable Magic Treasure passed down through his family, dealing with a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator was as easy as catching a turtle in a jar.

Fang Xing cleared his throat and stepped out from behind Mu Wanzhang.

"Family Head... Supreme Elder?"

Upon seeing this scene, Mu Qingbai’s face turned ashen.

"Cough cough... I only thought that with Qing Shi’s Spirit Root Talent, and having consumed the Golden Core Formation Pill... even if there were mistakes during his Core Formation, the consequences shouldn’t be so severe... So I simply played a little trick, never expecting someone was actually sabotaging."

Fang Xing coughed again, looking emaciated, then turned towards the green Mysterious Light Mirror: "Old Ghost Baihe..."

"Old Ghost Mu..."

The Supreme Elder of the White Crane Sect was no longer as carefree as before, his eyes red with rage, as if longing to bite off a piece of Fang Xing’s flesh: "You win this round today, but there are many days to come, we’ll play slowly... Heh heh... but perhaps you, Old Ghost Mu, won’t have a future."

The moment his words ended, the green Mysterious Light Mirror vanished with a bang, turning into a green Talisman Paper, which then quickly burned away.

"What’s happened?"

By then, the commotion here had attracted more and more Mu Family Cultivators.

Even Mu Qingshi, who was in closed-door cultivation, was disturbed.

"Mu Qingbai... you colluded with the White Crane Sect, attempted to assassinate our family prodigy, and betrayed familial intelligence... A capital offense!"

Mu Wanzhang announced Mu Qingbai’s crimes: "Not only will you die, but your direct descendants will be entered into a separate registry, never to be employed again!"

In Immortal Cultivation Families, it’s very normal for one person’s betrayal to implicate the whole family.

Of course, it would only involve three generations of direct descendants and not extend to all relatives unless the entire family wished to end themselves.

"Mu Qingbai, you truly deserve death!"

In the end, Mu Qingshi personally executed the punishment, turning Mu Qingbai into pulp with a spell.

As it turned out, he was the one who suffered the most from this incident.

Not only had he been schemed against by Mu Qingbai, transforming from True Core to Fake Core.

But he had also been shown a grand illusion by Fang Xing.

The result told him... the demonic alchemy technique was fake?

This undoubtedly left Mu Qingshi feeling extremely depressed and frustrated, and with no way to reason with the Supreme Elder, he could only vent all his anger on Mu Qingbai.

He even tolerated the infamy to ensure the other died a terrible death just for the satisfaction.

’Hmm... Once a False Core is condensed, the future is dim... It really does cause a change in character as well.’

Fang Xing glanced a few times, not bothering to deal with these trivial matters. Instead of going straight back to his Cave Mansion, he went to the Mu Family treasury and took out three Fourth Rank Dan recipes, also packing up a set of the herbs he was missing for himself.

Helping the Mu Family expose the traitor, he certainly wasn’t doing it for nothing.

To casually take some things as a reward was completely reasonable.

’This time when I return, I’ll first practice with the Fourth Rank Dan recipes...’

’Then, focus entirely on cultivation, aiming for Perfect Core Formation, before immediately concocting the Nascent Condensing Pill...’

’I won’t come out of seclusion until Nascent Soul formation.’

Although the Mu Family was currently in a dire state, relying on the family’s foundation, they could slowly waste away for decades or even a hundred years.

If Mu Wanlong suddenly became proactive and took risky ventures, it could possibly lead to the family fortune being squandered overnight.

Therefore, sometimes having a mediocre or even an incompetent person at the head of the family might be beneficial for the family’s wellbeing.

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