Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 190 Victim, Suspect, Dead Man Leaves a Letter (5.4 thousand words)

Fang Shu stood calmly in the center of the field, letting out a long sigh of relief.

His original intention in coming to the Gu Hall was simply to reclaim the Gu pit that was rightfully his from Huai Liangxing.

Unexpectedly, the other party bumped into him and wanted to fight him.

He Fangshu naturally couldn't let go of such an opportunity to completely eliminate the opponent once and for all. The best course of action would be to take advantage of the opponent's unpreparedness and end their life first!
To avoid offending this guy even more, so that he might seize another opportunity to hinder his inner sect competition, or even target his life!

As he pondered, Fang Shu felt a sense of relief.

He waved the banner pole in his hand, and the Yin-Yang Gu worms that were scattered all around him were quickly drawn back and wrapped around the banner pole, slowly weaving it into the shape of a banner.

While collecting the Gu worms, Fang Shu also glanced around, examining the poisonous sand Gu floating in the main hall.

This Gu is quite ferocious, not only no weaker than the Yin-Yang Gu worm in his hand, but also surpassing it by many due to its grade, which truly piqued his interest.

But Fang Shu suppressed the thought. He didn't look at Huai Liangxing's corpse on the ground again. Instead, after putting away the Hundred Gu Banner of the Flood Dragon Spine, he bowed in greeting towards the direction where Long Gu was.
“Reporting to Master, I accidentally killed my fifth senior brother. Please forgive me.”

These words reached the ears of the surrounding disciples, and their expressions all turned strange.

What do you mean by "killing someone in a moment of carelessness"?

"Judging from your methods, it's clear that this was premeditated and you're ruthless."

Everyone was secretly grumbling, and even the second senior brother, Hao Junliang, looked at Fang Shu with a wistful expression, remaining silent.

In silence.

The Dragon Maiden finally opened her eyes, calmly surveying the scene before sneering:
"What a fine example of fratricide and killing brothers! Even if this is the way of fighting, how can it be explained away by your 'carelessness'?"

You didn't ask for punishment, but only asked me to forgive you; that's truly remarkable!

Upon hearing this, the second senior brother, Hao Junliang, changed his expression slightly and immediately reprimanded Fang Shu:

"Little Jiu, kneel down and beg for punishment!"

"You killed a fellow disciple in the temple simply because of personal feelings. Even if the dispute over the Dao was initiated by the fifth brother, Master may not take your life, but crippling your cultivation would be more than enough."

Those around them, upon hearing this, snapped out of their astonishment.

Their expressions shifted, revealing a look of anticipation. In particular, Gou Yandi, ranked eighth among them, stared intently at Fang Shu, waiting for Long Gu to severely punish him, secretly thinking that even if he wasn't crippled, it would be best if Fang Shu were kicked out of the house.

Inside the hall, *snap*.

Upon hearing his second senior brother's reprimand, Fang Shu readily complied and immediately prostrated himself in the main hall, displaying his stance.

However, he did not speak, nor did he ask the Dragon Maiden Immortal for punishment.

Once he is punished, his life will truly be in the other party's hands, and whether his cultivation is crippled or not will be entirely up to the other party's whim.

“Reporting to Master, although I have made mistakes, I did not commit evil deeds without cause, nor did I kill my brothers.”

Fang Shu bent down, and with a flick of his sleeve, the storage bag inside opened, revealing Hutang's letter and a recording talisman, which were displayed brightly in front of everyone.

In particular, an image immediately appeared and flickered on the image-recording talisman, showing the words Deng Lixing spoke before his death on the Pan family's ship.

These scenes, witnessed by the second senior brother and others, filled everyone with astonishment and doubt.

"How could this be? How could there be such a traitor in my Gu Hall?"

Others voiced their doubts: "Old Ninth, how can you believe what comes out of the mouth of a dying man? Besides, this guy didn't even say who he was."

But someone immediately retorted: "If it's not this guy surnamed Huai, could it be that you or I want to harm Ninth Junior Brother?"

The Gu Palace was in an uproar.

Seeing that he had attracted everyone's attention, Fang Shu quickly revealed the details of the ambush on the way down the mountain, Deng Lixing's confession, and the events at the Dry Bone Temple.

As soon as he finished speaking, Huai Liangxing went from being a "victim of a moral dispute" to a suspect who hired someone to murder his brother and might be colluding with foreign enemies.

The disciples who had been grumbling inside the hall immediately fell silent, afraid that if they said another word, they would be implicated by Fang Shupan.

When it comes to matters of the immortals, suspicion is always enough; evidence is merely icing on the cake.

In particular, Fang Shu had just been tricked at the foot of the mountain, and as soon as he returned, Huai Liangxing proposed a fight, using the advantage of being bigger to bully the smaller one.

Looking back now, everyone felt that the excuse was rather flimsy, much like a cover-up, killing someone to cover up the truth, so as not to expose the plot to harm a fellow disciple and the secret dealings with other sects.

With this, Fang Shu could be considered to have taken the initiative and had a legitimate reason to attack.

Even strictly according to the sect's rules, he would at most be considered to have a somewhat extreme temperament, and would be severely punished, but not to the point of having his cultivation destroyed.

If concrete evidence is indeed found, Fang Shu will not only be free of trouble, but will also be able to take over Huai Liangxing's entire fortune, and even gain additional merit for eliminating traitors!

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Fang Shu finally bowed deeply with his hands clasped in respect.
“How can someone who colludes with outsiders to harm disciples and disgrace the sect be a disciple’s brother? I hope Master will investigate this matter.”

After listening to his explanation, the usually composed Long Gu Xianjia finally frowned slightly and fell silent.

But she neither said she would investigate thoroughly nor agreed with what Fang Shu said.

As Hao Junliang and the others watched, they gradually figured out what the Dragon Maiden Immortal was worried about.

Even if Huai Liangxing's soul was scattered, Long Gu would still have a way to clean up the remnant soul and directly extract the so-called "evidence" from Huai Liangxing's mind, thanks to the methods of a Foundation Establishment Immortal.

Even if his soul couldn't be retrieved, Huai Liangxing was trapped in the Five Internal Organs Temple and hadn't left the mountain for ten years. As long as Huai Liangxing had contact with Deng Lixing in the temple, there would inevitably be some clues left behind, which could be easily uncovered.

But what's the point of clarifying things so clearly?
Even if the other person is innocent, once they are dead, they still cannot be brought back to life.

On the contrary, once evidence is found of plotting against fellow disciples or even colluding with other sects, the Gu Hall will lose face big time!
Especially not just the people present, but the entire Gu Hall knew that as early as nine years ago, there was already a rift between Huai Liangxing and Fang Shu. Now, nine years later, the former must have schemed against the latter, it was just a matter of degree.

In other words, Fang Shu is bold in his actions, but in reality he is not afraid of investigation at all. Huai Liangxing must have a grudge against him, he is not clean, and may even have embezzled funds from the Gu Pit!

Therefore, Long Gu now only has three ways to deal with the situation.

First, try to smooth things over, characterize today's events as an "unexpected battle of wits," and punish yourself with three drinks behind closed doors;

Second, handing Fang Shu over to the Punishment Hall would confirm the ruthlessness of their own disciples and the possibility of a traitor, thus allowing the Gu Hall to lose face.

Third, in a fit of anger, he also killed Fang Shu to avoid further complications and make things easier.

However, Fang Shu had only been in the mountain for less than ten years and had participated in the inner disciple selection. In that year, his "value" was equivalent to that of an inner disciple. If Long Gu killed Fang Shu in the temple, she would have to pay compensation, and at the very least, it would alarm the Three Capitals. It was making a mountain out of a molehill.

In a low voice, Long Gu spoke again:

"You little brat, are you still thinking about me? Do you really think that just because you know some so-called old mountain lord, I won't dare to kill you?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Shu was stunned, and he prostrated himself even further on the ground. His voice and expression changed, and he finally spoke in a panic:
"This disciple dares not! No matter how bold this disciple may be, he would never dare to plot against his master."

Upon hearing this, Hao Junliang and the others' expressions changed again. They suddenly remembered their ninth junior brother. Although he was only a pseudo-spiritual root, his cultivation progressed rapidly, and he was also very intelligent. It seemed that he also had quite a background.

Is there really a Foundation Establishment Immortal as a backer behind him?
The immortal Longgu calmly sized up Fang Shu, then suddenly chuckled, "Just kidding."

She glanced at Huai Liangxing's charred corpse, showing no pity, and spoke indifferently:
"Let's leave it at that for today. Xiao Wu was just careless and died in the struggle for Dao."

However, Xiao Jiu, you ultimately caused your fifth senior brother's death. The Yin-Yang Gu Pit will be yours, but the punishment you deserve must not be lacking.

After a moment's thought, the other party gave the following instructions:
"From this day forward, you will be confined to the mountain for one year. You are not allowed to go down the mountain or do anything outside the temple."

This decision reached the ears of many and elicited various reactions.

Some people felt that the Dragon Maiden's punishment was fair and just, while others secretly observed Fang Shu and thought that he had shot himself in the foot. Still others thought that the Dragon Maiden's punishment was too lenient.

Fang Shu himself felt a sinking feeling.

He was confined for a year, forbidden from leaving the mountain, and this happened to be the year he was competing for inner disciple status. This directly cut off his path to go down the mountain to do missions and earn Dao merit.

From now on, he can only stay quietly in the temple of the five internal organs and choose the Taoist tasks within the temple to perform.

However, Fang Shu nodded without hesitation and replied, "Thank you for the punishment, Master!"

It only slightly hindered his cultivation quest, but compared to leaving an enemy alive, the former is still more worthwhile. Besides, now that he possesses two Gu pits, he will naturally find ways to earn cultivation points later.

The Dragon Maiden ignored Fang Shu and, after giving her brief explanation, assigned her second senior brother to handle the aftermath of the matter before gracefully departing.

Even after the other party had been gone for several breaths, the Gu Palace remained quiet.

The expressions on the faces of the disciples varied. Some looked at Fang Shu with newfound respect, while others revealed a hint of disappointment, dissatisfied that the Dragon Maiden Immortal had ultimately chosen to compromise. One disciple, with a beaming smile, took the initiative to approach Fang Shu and inquire after his well-being: "Ninth Junior Brother, were you frightened?"

This person was not the second senior brother, but Fang Shu's cheap eighth senior brother—Gou Yandi.

"Thank you for your concern, Eighth Senior Brother." Fang Shu suppressed his thoughts, raised his eyebrows slightly, and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect towards the other person, as if he were meeting him for the first time.

Gou Yandi sensed Fang Shu's slight wariness, but he still shamelessly spoke to Fang Shu: "Senior brother, I only took over the Gu Pit a year or so earlier than you. We are about the same age, so if you have any questions, you can come to me directly. Don't be so formal."

Fang Shu responded calmly and composedly.

Then the other senior brothers, especially the sixth senior brother, also came over and exchanged a few words with him, some calmly and some happily, before they dispersed.

In the end, only the second senior brother, Hao Junliang, remained standing inside the hall.

Fang Shu silently walked to the other person's side.

"Ninth Junior Brother, you've been silent until now, but your words have been astonishing." The Second Senior Brother gazed at the charred corpse on the ground, speaking listlessly.

"Using Fifth Brother's life as a stepping stone, Ninth Brother has truly impressed everyone. I wonder if you, my fellow disciples, are satisfied with your attitude?"

Fang Shu could hear the reproach in Hao Shixiong's tone.

He did not remain silent, but instead looked up and sized up the other person, his gaze finally settling on the charred corpse on the ground. He calmly said:

“Senior brother, if I were lying down instead of standing here, you would have to say these words to someone else, or I don’t know who you would be able to say them to.”

These words made Senior Brother Hao choke on his words. He turned to look at Fang Shu's calm face, and after a long while, he finally managed a bitter laugh:
"Since you already knew about the murder-for-hire scheme, why didn't you say so sooner? There are rules within the temple and its halls that can help you handle the situation. Why go through all this trouble..."

These words gave Fang Shu a much better understanding of his senior brother Hao's character.

So it turns out that my second senior brother is indeed a gentleman, and the kind of gentleman who can be deceived?

Fang Shu did not explain, but said directly:
"No need, it's fine if Junior Brother handles it himself."

"You..." Senior Brother Hao smiled bitterly, many words were on his lips, but he could no longer say them.

Then Senior Brother Hao changed the subject and began to speak:
"Ninth Junior Brother, do you know that when Fifth Brother entered the temple, he was younger than you were when you came? Moreover, he came from a peasant family at the foot of the mountain and had not yet been tempered by the Immortal Town before directly becoming a disciple of the temple?"

The True Qi notebook in your hand was compiled and supplemented by him before being handed over to me. I still remember the resentment he felt when he had to switch to cultivating True Qi. At that time, he cautiously asked me if he had disappointed his master…”

Senior Brother Hao sighed, "It was from that time that Fifth Brother's foundation was damaged. He was originally a middle-level spiritual root with great potential for Foundation Establishment, but he became just an ordinary person. Later, he was even caught up in cultivation by Sixth Brother and the others. The resentment on his body became more and more intense."

"Because he was in charge of two Gu pits, the fifth brother's relationship with the other brothers and sisters was not good... If it were before, he would never have committed such a disaster." After rambling on and on, Senior Brother Hao was about to tell the whole story of Huai Liangxing's life.

Fang Shu, who was listening nearby, suddenly felt that what he had heard was enough to write a eulogy for his fifth senior brother.

Suddenly, while he was distracted, his senior brother Hao asked:

"Having heard all this, Junior Brother, is there anything you wish to say to Hao or Fifth Brother?"

Fang Shu snapped out of his daze and immediately replied, "Yes."

Hao Junliang became interested and cupped his hands in greeting: "Junior brother, please speak."

Fang Shu bowed and said earnestly:

"Senior brother, since this is a struggle for the Dao, can I, your junior brother, collect the body of our fifth senior brother?"
Also, may I ask where Fifth Senior Brother's cave is located, lest some unscrupulous person get there first?

Hao Junliang's expression froze on the spot.

He never expected that Fang Shu would so directly and openly demand the remains of the fifth brother, even going so far as to say something like "getting there first." Did he really think there were no rules in the temple?

For a moment, Hao Junliang felt lost, unsure whether he should scold Fang Shu.

........................

finally.

Fang Shu ultimately failed to collect his fifth senior brother's body, and nothing in Fang's cave was something he could touch.

According to Senior Brother Hao's instructions, although their conflict was a struggle over the Dao, it was not a "fight to the death." Only a "fight to the death" agreed upon by both parties would result in the winner taking all, including the corpses, cave dwellings, servants, and furnace cauldrons.

Aside from the "fight to the death," there are also struggles on the Dao.

To prevent disciples from deliberately using the pretext of a Daoist dispute to kill someone, apart from things agreed upon beforehand, if a death is accidentally caused during a Daoist dispute, the remains of the deceased should be collected by relatives or the sect.

The winners not only do not receive more benefits, but often have to pay a large sum of money, and are also subject to additional punishments depending on the severity of the offense.

As for who will inherit Fifth Senior Brother's estate, he is all alone, with only the Gu Hall as his relatives and friends, so naturally it should be the Gu Hall. Or, to be more precise, all his wealth will fall into the hands of the Dragon Maiden Immortal Family.

Knowing this, Fang Shu immediately gave up the idea of ​​trying to claim Huai Liangxing's inheritance.

In addition, he also gleaned another meaning from the rest of what his senior brother Hao said.

Even if this matter within the hall could not be kept secret and attracted the intervention of the Punishment Hall, the Punishment Hall would not allow Fifth Senior Brother's inheritance to be included in the hall.

The Gu Hall also has a hundred ways to prove that Huai Liangxing owed the Gu Hall a lot of money and supplies during his past cultivation. He was in debt all over and had no money or supplies to return to the sect.

These words struck Fang Shu as odd.

He had a vague feeling that many of his previous concerns were unnecessary.

That guy surnamed Huai is just occupying the position without doing anything, and he's even changed his cultivation method, which is useless to the Dragon Maiden Immortal and has damaged his foundation, making it so difficult for him to even break through to the sixth tribulation.

For the Dragon Maiden Immortal Clan, it would only be beneficial if such a fellow died sooner, and there would be absolutely no harm in it.

On the contrary, Fang Shu himself broke through to the fifth tribulation in less than ten years, and he was cultivating Yin-Yang True Qi. To the Dragon Maiden Immortal Clan, he was a true immortal material.

After leaving the Gu Palace, Fang Shu quickly returned to his cave.

In this battle, aside from killing one enemy and gaining two Gu pits for protection, he did not come away empty-handed.

He ascended the altar, flipped his hand, and a book appeared in his palm.

This book is untitled and is only wrapped in cowhide paper, but it is quite thick. It is made of some kind of paper that has been folded into layers. If it were fully unfolded, it would be able to stretch for several miles.

The handwriting on the book is messy, with many scribbles and marks, indicating that it was not printed or made using magic, but rather a private notebook.

This thing is Huai Liangxing's Gu-refining cultivation notes.

The document contains numerous records of his experiences and lessons learned in refining and raising Gu poison since he took charge of the Gu pit.

Senior Brother Hao is a kind-hearted person, but fortunately he is not completely devoid of human feelings.

Before Fang Shu left, the other party secretly handed over these cultivation notes, which were worthless in spirit stones but were of great value to Fang Shu, and allowed him to borrow them for a month.

Dongfuzhong.

Fang Shu flipped through the pages a few times and became interested.

He lay down in front of Huai Liangxing's notebook and read it carefully, forgetting for a moment his original plan to continue studying the major appraisal books after returning to his cave.

This man surnamed Huai, though stingy and petty, was surprisingly skilled at making Gu poison, having worked with both Yin and Yang types.

The other party also included several Gu formulas in their notes and imprinted them into several secret texts, including the method for refining the Poison Sand Gu that they used.

After a few cups of tea.

Fang Shu found it too slow to browse with his naked eyes, so he quickly used a Daoist talisman to store the notebook in his mind. Then, he closed his eyes slightly, his mind working, and he rapidly digested and absorbed the contents of the notebook.

After a long time, he even used the dragon energy in the Daoist talisman to analyze the notebook on the spot, lest the person surnamed Huai leave behind any harmful tricks in the notebook.

Such things happen often; he had seen them many times in your family's library.

Half an hour later, the moment the notes were completely analyzed, Fang Shu's breath hitched and his eyelids twitched in surprise.

This notebook does not contain any malicious intent, but it does contain encrypted content.

Moreover, this content happens to be related to "The Rhapsody on Life, Death, Yin and Yang".

Fang Shu couldn't help but open his eyes, his gaze filled with surprise and doubt:

"This guy surnamed Huai didn't accidentally suffer a qi deviation back then; he intentionally damaged his cultivation and changed his cultivation method!"

(End of this chapter)