Wei Chengxiang swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and a thought slipped through her mind—what did that mean? Who was going to take care of whom? Was the nameless “divinity” in the reincarnation wood really nearby? Who was he, anyway? Could he be relied upon? 

The Exonerator was waiting outside. There was no time for much thought. She asked, “What should I say?” 

Xi Ping didn’t even think about it. “Say they’re fake.” 

Wei Chengxiang gave a start. “Is that true? How can you tell they’re fake?” 

Xi Ping said matter-of-factly, “You’re real, so naturally they’re fake.” 

Wei Chengxiang: “…” 

No, wait, senior, aren’t you going a little too far? 

You’re a fake who’s run into the real thing, and not only are you not thinking about how to stay away, you also want to seize the nest for yourself! And you assert that they’re fake as if justice is on your side! Who gave you the self-confidence?! 

Wei Chengxiang urgently said, “But what if they see through me?” 

“They haven’t seen through you yet,” said Xi Ping. “We’ll talk about it when they do. At worst you can smear them as traitors.” 

“Miss Sixty?” 

The sound of the knocking on the carriage was as persistent as an ulcer on the bone. In her anxiety, with her head full of “real or fake,” Wei Chengxiang blurted out, “Fake.” 

The Exonerator was stunned. “Fake?” 

Wei Chengxiang: “…” 

She was done for. How could she have said it just like that? 

But at this point…there was no help for it. 

The young girl made a desperate resolution: let whatever the fuck happened happen. She had already gone from a female worker in Jinping’s southern outskirts to a ghost in the Land of Turmoil. It was ten thousand li too far—was this one extra li any worse? 

“The mark is fake.” She licked her lips and heard herself say in an extraordinarily calm voice, “I have not heard that Tai Sui directed an operation for tonight. These must be imposters.” 

She paused. Then fortune seemed to bless her wits, and she outperformed herself: “The true god hides, the demons run wild. Anyone at all will dare to go about as an imposter now. They go too far. I will be sure to notify my companions of this.” 

Through the fire and chaos, Xi Ping praised her from afar. 

He and Pang Jian were hiding high up and looking down on a panoramic view of the Shu encampment’s huge spiritual beast pool—the spiritual beast pool was perhaps as big as Ning’an’s famous Longevity Lake and showed clear traces of being manmade. A long corridor led to a pavilion in the center of the pool that had long fallen out of repair. While it was dilapidated, the elegance of the carved railings still remained. 

Mist curled in the center of the pool, making the figures of the enormous spiritual beasts appear indistinctly. Roars like an elephant’s and also like a lion or tiger’s undulated along with the waves. 

A spiritual beast whose whole body was white as the moon was wrapped in a big net and struggling nonstop. At a glance, it looked like a python that had eaten too many blue jades, but on its head were two azure horns. 

Two groups of cultivators flew high and low, battling fiercely. 

One side had their faces covered and were dressed in black; these must have been the evil cultivators who had come for some illegal fishing. The others hadn’t concealed their faces and all wore Shu-style clothing with tight sleeves and pant legs; these were presumably the spiritual beast herders. 

Pang Jian heard Xi Ping grumble that he “couldn’t tell who was who,” then saw him take a pair of glasses from his mustard seed… Actually, they were pretty well suited to his current vulgar old man disguise. 

Looking at them made Pang Jian’s eyes hurt. He asked, “And what the hell are those?” 

Xi Ping said, “These are called unseen glasses. When I put them on, for anyone below an established foundation cultivator, as long as their cultivation isn’t higher than mine, no matter how they’re disguised, I can see the true name on their spiritual image.” 

Pang Jian was bewildered. He thought, Why do you need to look at their true names? Are you going to set up a marriage interview? 

Only now that he was close up did he find that the sword at Xi Ping’s feet wasn’t any kind of immortal tool. It was purely decorative. The sheathe was covered in completely unnecessary carvings and set with a pair of precious stones Lao Pang couldn’t identify. On the hilt, a sumptuous brocade carp indicated this thing’s nature—this sheath was men’s “jewelry” made by Cui Ji.

Along with Xi Ping’s current appearance, it made him look like a sly old lecher. 

As for the “pulp” inside the sheath, it was probably a piece of scrap metal that had been thrown in for free. 

Pang Jian couldn’t resist saying, “What did you bring from Flying Jade Peak? Is there anything proper?” 

“I brought a piece made by Lin Chi-shishu,” said Xi Ping. 

“Where is it?” said Pang Jian.

“It’s for treating illness. I’m not sick. I gave it away.” 

Pang Jian: “…” 

“I did want to take some awe-inspiring precious sword or bow.” Xi Ping sighed in exasperation. “But immortal tools have their own properties. Each and every one has such a temper. After I took the spirit-winding silk and the abscond…the hither seal, all the immortal tools on Flying Jade Peak avoided me. What could I do?” 

Saying so, he put on the unseen glasses. “You always have to make choices in life…huh?” 

Wei Chengxiang’s racing heart was about to break her ribs, but she didn’t dare to gasp for air and spoil her “lofty” image. After talking nonsense, she had to hold back and keep her face expressionless. 

The open-eyed Exonerator drawled a long “ah” and said, “So that’s what happened. Even I was taken in by them. If not for that, we would have been camping in the Chu encampment tonight.” 

Wei Chengxiang carefully exhaled. 

It seemed she’d muddled through…

The Exonerator said, smiling, “No need to be angry, Miss Sixty. I’ll contact your companions in your stead.” 

What?! 

Wei Chengxiang’s heart stuck between two ribs. 

“It’s a funny coincidence,” the Exonerator said slowly. “I traveled through the south in my early years and got to know an ‘Indignant Cicada.’ Though our beliefs are different, our goals are identical. We’ve stayed in contact. This friend is still in the south now, waiting to hear from me.” 

Perhaps because she had been eating spiritual stone powder lately, Wei Chengxiang’s senses had become considerably more acute than before. Through the carriage, she clearly heard the sounds of the Exonerator folding a piece of paper, and the paper flying away. 

Cold sweat soaked the back of her clothes. 

One of the spiritual beast herding cultivators used some kind of magic power. A bolt of lightning fell from the clear sky. 

Xi Ping pulled the unseen glasses down on the bridge of his nose, his eyes looking out over the frames, then looking through the glasses again. 

“My mouth is truly magic,” he thought. “These people really are fake evil cultivators!” 

The reason Xi Ping had taken the unseen glasses was so he could investigate Tai Sui’s remaining followers in the south—he didn’t know any of those remaining followers. Even if he removed shifu’s mind-clearing spell, he could still only hear a babble of voices. He couldn’t tell who was who. If one of the remaining followers came and personally danced around in front of him, he still wouldn’t necessarily be able to recognize them. 

Not unless Xi Ping could concretely identify that person. 

It was like his shifu using the Bell of Tribulation against Liang Chen—by finding the true name on his spiritual image. 

Many evil cultivators had disfigured faces; their own parents wouldn’t necessarily recognize them. They also used aliases and code names between themselves. If he wanted to know their true names quickly, with his current level of cultivation experience, he had to rely on an immortal tool. 

Xi Ping glanced over and saw the true names of the black-clothed people who were stealing spiritual beasts. But when he tried to fix on these people with reincarnation wood, he found that there were no such people recorded in it! 

Even more bizarrely, there was one among the black-clothed people whose name didn’t appear in full; there was only a blurry character “Lin.”

If he couldn’t see this person’s true name with the glasses, it meant that their cultivation was higher than his…but there was one character, at least, so the difference wasn’t much. It was just a little higher. 

“Pang-shixiong.” Xi Ping tugged at Pang Jian and handed over the unseen glasses. “Can you see for me what the name of the black-clothed person leading the others is? That person has higher cultivation than me, I can only see his surname.” 

Pang Jian was just considering how to reap the benefits from this fight. He took the glasses and casually put them on. His pupils contracted sharply. 

Xi Ping sensed his relaxed body tense and couldn’t resist giving him a questioning look. 

Pang Jian was startled and concerned. He automatically took off the glasses and inspected them, suspecting that these things were broken. 

He was startled and concerned on two points: first, for the person Xi Ping had pointed out, he also could only see the character “Lin,” so this person was likely an established foundation cultivator. Pang Jian himself was only one reception order from the inner sect away from an established foundation, so it wasn’t surprising that he would be able to see an established foundation cultivator’s surname while wearing a superior open-eyed immortal tool. But wasn’t Xi Ping a young disciple who had only started cultivating half a year ago? 

Second, among the names he could see, there were many he recognized… If he recalled correctly, these people were mine supervisors from the southern mines! 

Pang Jian’s first thought was: could these be the evil cultivator traitors from the mines? 

But he didn’t say anything. 

Pang Jian turned his head and looked at Xi Ping through the unseen glasses—he could see Xi Ping’s name, but it was very blurry. There was only half of the character “Ping.” “What level is your cultivation at?” 

Xi Ping raised his eyebrows, catching up with startling speed. “So you also can’t see that Lin person’s full name? Is he really an established foundation cultivator?” 

Pang Jian was astonished. “Do you really have innate spiritual bones?”  

Xi Ping met his eyes for a moment. Without blinking, he said, “Sure.” 

Hearing this, Pang Jian truly wished to indulge in some chest-beating and foot-stomping—the chest he wanted to beat was Xi Ping’s. 

No wonder that such an unreliable person could be accepted by Flying Jade Peak without even studying for a full year in the Latent Cultivation Temple! 

No wonder General Zhi had dared to let him leave the mountain and run around when he couldn’t even fly a sword properly! 

Innate spiritual bones—innate spiritual bones that would give you the cultivation level of someone who had worked for a hundred years as soon as you opened your spiritual eyes! 

There hadn’t been an instance in the last thousand years. How could this wretch have been born with them? Where was divine justice?! 

Xi Ping watched his face change color and played it up even more. He casually gloated, “When I just entered the Latent Cultivation Temple, Luo-shixiong judged that I had a first-class spiritual sense.” 

“Bullshit!” Pang Jian said. “With innate spiritual bones and a first-class spiritual sense together, if you didn’t become a demon, how could a mortal body withstand it? If you’d really had both, you would have died in your mother’s womb twenty years ago and wouldn’t be here now to show off!” 

Xi Ping was shameless, anyway. Having overdone his gloating, he brushed over it with a smile and asked, “Shixiong, can’t established foundation cultivators ‘pilfer heaven’s order’? Why would he need to steal a silk dragon’s heart?” 

Pang Jian was silent a moment, then said, frowning, “I think there are deep waters here. You can stop thinking about taking this opportunity to scrounge something—keep away from the established foundation cultivator. Don’t think that having spiritual bones means you’re half a step from an established foundation. The difference between established foundation and open-eyed is like the difference between heaven and earth.” 

Xi Ping was very agreeable. “Yes, whatever you say.” 

“Lend me the glasses,” said Pang Jian. “Look after yourself. Wait here and don’t mess around. I’ll go over and have a look.” 

The established foundation cultivator surnamed Lin hadn’t even gone all out, and the battle in the spiritual beast pool had already gone in favor of one side—Shu’s spiritual beast herding cultivators clearly couldn’t compare. 

The whole Lingyun Sect focused on taming beasts, and the outer sect cultivators were the same. On the battlefield, the better part of their fighting force relied on spiritual beasts. Now, something had gone wrong with the spiritual beasts in the pool. Each and every one was looking sickly, unable to even walk straight. 

Only when Pang Jian came close did he find that the roars seemed more like cries of lamentation. 

Evidently, these black-clothed people had some weapon or drug for subduing spiritual beasts… Pang Jian knew of a few types, but they were all wildly expensive—if they could subdue spiritual beasts, then naturally they were more expensive than the spiritual beasts themselves. 

So the question was, if they could get something so expensive, then why would these rich and overbearing black-clothed people come here to steal a few spiritual beasts? 

Wasn’t this like catching river crabs with a golden net? 

Moreover, since they could control spiritual beasts, why hadn’t they come quietly, taken what they wanted, and left? Why did they have to kick up such a big fuss? 

Looking through the unseen glasses, Pang Jian’s eyes once again fell on those familiar names. 

The waves in his mind had calmed. He considered carefully and only thought that this matter was increasingly odd: assuming that these people really were the cultivators he knew from the mines, they would also all be nobility. How could they associate with destitute evil cultivators? That didn’t make sense. 

Just then, a Shu cultivator missed his footing and fell into the spiritual beast pool. A spiritual beast wearing a dragon-taming chain was dizzy and actually took a swipe at the cultivator with its tail. A chilly gleam flashed over the dragon-taming chain. The cultivator flew away, and the beast let out a dying wail. 

Seeing that things were going badly, the Shu cultivators blew another long whistle. 

The whistle circled in the air over the encampment. Dozens of figures arrived on swords. After landing, they quickly formed an array. 

The established foundation cultivator surnamed Lin gave a long cry and stopped holding back. The net that had been holding the silk dragon suddenly expanded, as if it wanted to scoop up the whole spiritual beast pool. 

Pang Jian hid nearby and counted the Shu cultivators: thirty-seven, thirty-eight…

How many cultivators could there be in the whole spiritual beast pasture? 

He understood: these black-clothed “evil cultivators” hadn’t come to steal spiritual beasts. They had come to make a commotion and gather together all the Shu cultivators in the spiritual beast pasture. 

Luring them away to attack their base? 

Wei Chengxiang leaned against the carriage, nearly collapsing, and seized the reincarnation wood. “Uncle, this Exonerator actually knows one of the Indignant Cicada evil cultivators. I’m going to be exposed!” 

Xi Ping was just sitting cross-legged on his precious sword, narrowing his eyes and wondering why Pang Jian had borrowed his unseen glasses. He himself had the hidden bones left by Tai Sui and needed them to see the true names of Tai Sui’s remaining followers. 

So what had Pang-shixiong wanted to look at when he borrowed the glasses? 

From his reaction just now, there were certainly names he recognized among the black-clothed evil cultivators. 

Then there was the established foundation cultivator whose name he couldn’t see clearly…surnamed Lin. That was one of Xuanyin’s great surnames. 

Could it be…?

Xi Ping said to Wei Chengxiang, “You won’t be exposed. These evil cultivators really are imposters.” 

“Why didn’t you say so earlier if you knew that? I was scared to death…” Wei Chengxiang grumbled. Then she quickly said, “No time for that now. Uncle, the Indignant Cicada he’s in contact with wants to see me!” 

Xi Ping said, “Nothing strange about that. ‘Tai Sui’ has kept silent for half a year, so they’ve all turned into headless flies. You’ve suddenly appeared saying you’ve received orders from Tai Sui, so naturally they want to come interrogate you.” 

“Should I see him?” said Wei Chengxiang. 

“Can you run?” said Xi Ping. 

“No, the Exonerator watching me is an open-eyed cultivator.” 

“Then what the hell are you talking about? See him,” Xi Ping said. “Hang the reincarnation wood around your neck. I’ll keep an eye out for you.” 

He had conspired at the death of Tai Sui himself, so what did his remaining subordinates count for? The young master was open to all comers. 

Wei Chengxiang felt that this senior was sometimes reliable, sometimes not—it had taken him ages to get a single sentence out when he was teaching her how to alter the arrays, as if he were having birthing pains, and he had kept getting flustered. He had nearly scared her to death. When urging her to join him in deception, his voice was as strong as if he had been doing this all his life. 

She focused, hung the reincarnation wood around her neck, and got out of the carriage. 

The Exonerator had already drawn an array on the ground and placed a jade stamp spiritual stone at each of the four corners. In the middle of the array, which flashed green, a very ordinary man’s face appeared. He had the kind of features you would forget as soon as you saw them. This was a common means of disguise for cultivators concealing their faces. 

The man greeted: "The conflagration burns on, the cry of the cicada is without end.”

Wei Chengxiang cleared her dry throat. “Better to die in frost than to forsake one's convictions.”

“My code name is One.” The man looked A-Xiang over, seemed astonished by her age, and quickly said, “Little Sister Sixty, may I ask who your teacher is?” 

So this was the “Wuchang¹ One” she had heard of. 

Wei Chengxiang lifted her chin and clenched her fists to prevent anyone from seeing that her hands were shaking. As Xi Ping had instructed her, she proudly said, “I have no teacher, although Grand Duke Tai Sui once ordered Mr. Two to look after me for a while, so you could say he initiated me.” 

Mr. Two had long since gone to see the kings of the underworld with his birdcage; a dead man couldn’t testify. Wuchang One said, “So it was him—you say that Tai Sui contacted you. Is that true? Is he doing well?” 

Wei Chengxiang said, with a cold smile, “Thank you for your concern. He isn’t doing very well. He has ordered me to ask you for enlightenment: he left so important a stronghold as the southern mines in your hands, and is this how you all go about your business? Why are Xuanyin’s lackeys from the mines making a sneak attack on Southern Shu’s spiritual beast pasture tonight under our name?” 

The Exonerator maintaining the array was stunned when he heard this. He thought, Those “fake cicadas” attacking the spiritual beast pool were from the Great Wan mines? 

There truly was an oddity every year, and this year there were especially many… Court-appointed officials dressing up as “evil cultivators” and going to a neighboring country’s pasture to pilfer! 

Wait. This little girl had been in the carriage the whole time, not even sticking her head out. How did she know? As expected, the Indignant Cicadas’ mysterious Tai Sui had cunning means. 

After hearing this, Wuchang One was in fact startled. He had no more attention to spare for doubting Wei Chengxiang’s identity. He blurted out, “Shi… Tai Sui, they’re looking for ‘that place’!” 

Xi Ping rubbed his chin. 

Hey, interesting—he’d worked it out. Those fake evil cultivators really were their own people. 

Where was “that place”? 

Apart from putting together a group of believers in the southern mines, had Liang Chen also turned traitor to a foreign nation and made illicit transfers with Shu? 

Then there was this Wuchang One…the first of Tai Sui’s believers. He was indeed different from the others. He seemed to know Liang Chen’s true identity. 

Wuchang One knew that he had been indiscreet. He looked quickly at the Exonerator and went on, “Half a year ago, many of our brothers were exposed, and those people took over the old contact signals for their own use. Of course the lackeys couldn’t make a night raid on Southern Shu in the name of Xuanyin’s outer sect. Presumably they thought passing themselves off as us would be safest…” 

“No.” While A-Xiang was inwardly quaking, mentally pursuing Xi Ping and howling “Senior, have you gone mad?” three times over, she still said as Xi Ping had instructed her to say, “Heaven’s Design Pavilion has kept the truth closely concealed, so it’s normal that you wouldn’t know. Jinping’s wolf dog…has already seen my true body.” 

Wuchang One’s expression instantly let Xi Ping know that he not only knew what Liang Chen’s true identity was, he also knew what condition Liang Chen’s “true body” was in. 

Next, this “Mr. One” closely examined Wei Chengxiang’s physical appearance and suddenly “understood” something. 

He lowered his voice and said, “So Tai Sui is now…here with us?” 

Wei Chengxiang nodded, her expression steady. “That’s right.” 

Inwardly, she asked, “What does he mean?” 

Xi Ping calmly said, “He thinks that rotten old man Tai Sui is possessing you. You won’t have to dig out arrays in the middle of the night anymore. Better get ready to enjoy the treatment of an evil god.” 

“What?!” 

Then she heard Wuchang One say to the Exonerator, “Miss Sixty is a holy woman of my sect. Thank you, Brother Exonerator, for escorting her here. I’ll send someone to receive you at once.” 

Having finished persecuting the evil cultivators, Xi Ping turned his head to look at the spiritual beast pool, which was nearly boiling. He was still hung up on the silk dragon horn. His eyes turned, and his troublemaking heart said: Since these are shixiongs from Xuanyin’s outer sect, then they shouldn’t have any objections to me coming along for the ride and picking up a souvenir, right? 

He had come all this way.