Chapter Eighty-Nine: Though life may be as fragile as paper, the heart must still remain unyielding!

Outside Clear River Valley, several sturdy young disciples of the Five Poisons Sect took turns carrying the unconscious Xiang Shao as they fled. With their inner power exhausted, all of them were panting hard.

Yet whenever they thought of that figure in a moon-white robe, a chill crept into their hearts, driving them to run even harder for their lives.

Just as they were switching bearers, one of them seemed to notice something and stopped short, glancing past the backs of his fellow disciples.

He asked with a sneer, "Sixth Brother... where's the bundle?"

"The bun..."

The young man called Sixth Brother blinked in confusion, reached back to feel behind him, and said blankly, "I... I had it on me when I came out just now..."

"You..."

The others all went green at the face. They were about to scold him and send him back to look for it when a feathered arrow came slicing through the air, piercing several trees in succession before quivering to a stop, lodged in the trunk before them.

Then more arrows followed, sticking into the surrounding trees.

By the time they saw the government soldiers closing in, their legs went weak, and they collapsed onto the ground together with Xiang Shao on their backs.

Similar scenes played out at every exit of Clear River Valley.

The men of the Western Depot and the local authorities had originally been ready to use force to wipe out the bandits. But when the criminals emerged, they were shocked to discover that the other side showed not the slightest intention of resisting.

Even those who were captured among the elders and protectors of the Five Poisons Sect were the same; in fact, they behaved even less spiritedly than the ordinary disciples.

Jiang Jin, Kong Qing, and the others soon sensed that something was wrong. They found the spot where Xiang Shao was being held and regrouped there, only to discover that this bandit chief looked nothing like a martial artist in the prime of his powers.

He was utterly like an old man on the verge of death.

Afterward, they seized some disciples of the Five Poisons Sect and interrogated them separately, learning that they had been stripped of all inner power by a demon in a moon-white robe through some sort of evil sorcery.

Once the heads of the Western Depot realized that the "demon" they spoke of was the Chief Steward, they were shaken, delighted, and fearful all at once.

Since the bandit leader had already been taken...

What was there still to fear?

After some discussion, they left part of their force to guard the various exits, while Jiang Jin and the others, with antidote pills in their mouths, led a group of elite men straight into Clear River Valley.

Along the way, everyone they encountered had their inner power "dispersed" and was reduced to decrepitude. They saw it with their own eyes, and felt it in their hearts, growing all the more awed by the Chief Steward's mighty power.

Not long after entering the valley, they suddenly saw a voluptuous woman hurrying anxiously out of the inner valley.

Seeing this, Kong Qing grinned and was about to capture her as usual, when unexpectedly the woman still had inner power and her poison arts were exceedingly formidable. He nearly suffered a setback.

After subduing her, they discussed the matter and decided to treat her as one of the Chief Steward's remaining fugitives, to be handled in the ordinary way.

The leader's wife of the Five Poisons Sect was a clever woman by nature. Hearing them speak of the "Chief Steward," she seemed to think of something as well, and her eyes lit up.

Recalling her earlier experience eating beef offal, she cried out as if seizing a lifeline, "I know your Chief Steward!"

"Hm?"

Several heads of the Western Depot cried out in surprise. After exchanging glances, Jiang Jin went over to her and asked, "You know the Chief Steward?"

The leader's wife of the Five Poisons Sect hurriedly described Xu Boqing's appearance, as well as what had happened in the council hall.

Seeing the eunuchs nod again and again, their expressions seeming to ease somewhat, she grew even more certain of her guess.

So she hatched a plan.

She began to speak again of how she had eaten his beef offal.

But the expressions of the heads of the Western Depot became strange—very strange indeed.

Jiang Jin's face changed. Before she could finish, he barked furiously, "How dare this vixen slander the Chief Steward!"

With that, he surged his inner power and struck her directly on the crown of the head with a palm.

The leader's wife of the Five Poisons Sect stared at him dumbly, and even as she fell, her eyes were filled with bewilderment.

She died without ever understanding why the man who had just seemed perfectly fine would suddenly erupt into violence.

"Spouting evil lies to confuse the masses!"

Only after she lost all breath did Jiang Jin snort coldly. He then glanced at his colleagues and said in a grave voice, "The Chief Steward is the Chief Grand Steward of the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility; this is known to all of us.

As for this woman, ignorant of the Chief Steward's identity, she dared to spread such evil lies here. She deserves death!"

Kong Qing was the first to react. Muttering curses under his breath, he said, "Damn it, trying to fool me? If you don't die, who will?" As he spoke, he spat disdainfully and drew his blade to strike the woman's corpse again.

The others seemed to have realized something as well. After exchanging looks, they followed suit and copied him with perfect seriousness.

At that very moment, Xu Boqing stood in the Sun and Moon Hall, frowning slightly as he studied a painting placed within the hall.

It seemed to be a scene of worship: in the painting, a middle-aged man knelt in reverence, bowing before an old man with a pitted scalp and a hunchback, who held a walking stick.

In the corner of the painting were the words "Image of the Immortal's Instruction."

Earlier, when he had used the Heavenly Eye to search for any fugitives, he had been drawn here by a strange aura. Only after arriving at the Sun and Moon Hall had he discovered that the source of that aura was this very painting.

"Image of... the Immortal's... Instruction?"

Xu Boqing murmured with narrowed eyes.

To him, it was merely an ordinary painting, but the old man with the pitted scalp, hunchback, and walking stick seemed almost alive, with a unique and compelling spirit.

Moreover, around the old man's image there seemed to linger a kind of aura very similar to worldly mortal qi.

Was it merit?

Or faith power?

He reached out to touch the painting, but just as his fingertip made contact and before he could even feel whether the paper was unusual, flames suddenly burst forth from the picture.

He instinctively withdrew his hand.

Then the painting, like a tuft of cotton, was instantly reduced to flying ash in the fire and vanished.

"This..."

Xu Boqing stared blankly at his own hand, not even knowing how the painting had ignited of its own accord.

Just then...

Lu Yue came running in with a bundle in his arms. Seeing his benefactor with furrowed brows and deep in thought, he quickly said, "Benefactor, this lowly one found a treasure and came especially to present it to you."

"You found a treasure?"

Xu Boqing let out a surprised sound. Coming back to himself, he saw the young man holding out a censer and raised his brows. "This is the treasure you found?"

"Yes, yes. It is a priceless treasure of the Five Poisons Sect."

Lu Yue nodded and introduced it. "It's called the Divine-Calling Furnace, a sect treasure handed down from the ancestors of the Five Poisons Sect!

As long as special incense is burned in this furnace, it can attract nearby poisonous creatures.

What's more, the venomous beings drawn here will fight one another beside the furnace, and only the strongest one gets to enjoy the incense within it.

The poisonous creatures used by the Five Poisons Sect to assist in cultivation, such as the ice silkworm, green serpent, ghost spider, and others, were basically all drawn here by this Divine-Calling Furnace!

For someone practicing poison arts, with this treasure furnace, cultivation will surely be twice the result with half the effort!"

"That does sound like a good thing..."

Xu Boqing took the Divine-Calling Furnace and played with it for a moment.

Only then did he notice that the censer felt neither metal nor jade, and gave off a faint fragrance of sandalwood. Similar to the hairpin he had bought on Jade Purity Street, it was likely made of some special wood.

Under the gaze of the Heavenly Eye, he could even faintly discern the scene of hundreds of insects battling one another. It was clearly no ordinary object.

He looked at the boy, who barely reached his chest, with a half-smile and asked, "You found this?"

"Yes."

Lu Yue nodded, then added a little shyly, "It should be that the benefactor drove the people of the Five Poisons Sect away, and when they fled with their things, they accidentally dropped it, and I just happened to pick it up."

"Heh, then it seems you were lucky."

Xu Boqing smiled. "Do you know poison arts?"

"A little..."

Lu Yue explained, "There are many poisonous mists and venomous insects in Clear River Valley. To survive here, one has to know at least a little poison arts."

"Then why don't you keep it for yourself?"

"Because the benefactor has saved this lowly one's life. Such a grace cannot be repaid, and since this lowly one has not long to live, I naturally want to repay as much as I can while I am still alive."

"Repay as much as you can..."

Xu Boqing nodded slightly, then handed the censer back to him and smiled. "Since you were the one who found it, then it is your fate and your fortune. Do not waste it."

"But..."

Lu Yue looked at the returned censer, looking somewhat anxious.

"I do not cultivate poison arts, so this item is of little use to me."

Xu Boqing soothed him, then looked straight into his eyes and said solemnly, "Born as an ant, one should still have the ambition of a swan; life may be as fragile as paper, yet one should still possess an unbending heart.

I saved you...

because I saw that unbending heart in you."

After saying this, he no longer wished to linger. Shaking his head, he turned and walked away, leaving only one last line as he stepped out the door:

"Take care of yourself."

Lu Yue gripped the censer in his hands and stood there in a daze.

Watching his benefactor's back gradually disappear from sight, he murmured under his breath, "Born as an ant, one should still have the ambition of a swan; life may be as fragile as paper, yet one should still possess an unbending heart..."