Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Chapter 110 – Absence of integrity

"Second brother fell so quickly, without any integrity."

Su Yun looked around and shook his head, "I hope he won't follow Master Lingyue and steal purses or write obscene songs, tarnishing the reputation of Wild Fox Master."

He couldn't imagine the scene of Hua Hu, who was loyal and mature, reciting poetry with Master Lingyue.

In the distance, Qing Qiuyue, Li Xiaofan, and Hu Buping were using their skills to try to capture those spiritual tools. Chi Xiaoyao was supervising and giving instructions on the side, occasionally lending a hand.

But the three little fox demons grew up quickly, and she rarely needed to help.

Su Yun watched this scene with a calm and serene heart, "That night, Buping asked me if I would leave them, and I said I wouldn't. But now, I'm worried that they will leave me. They will grow up eventually..."

He was gratified to take care of Hua Hu and the three little fox demons, which was his promise to the old Gou couple and his repayment to Wild Fox Master's kindness.

But more importantly, it was because he had already regarded Hua Hu and the three little fox demons as his own family.

Seeing Li Xiaofan, Qing Qiuyue, and others being able to stand on their own, finding their own direction and path, he felt both lost and happy.

He scanned the surroundings, and hundreds of scholars were searching for spiritual tools everywhere. There were also many scholars who had subdued spiritual tools. Some were inexplicably excited, while others choked up and cried because they had their own spiritual tools.

"These scholars from poor families risk their lives to enter Thunderstrike Valley for a spiritual tool. Some of them know that this is a trap set by the Lin family and that they may become sacrifices, but they still come. They are not after the spiritual tool, but after the opportunity to improve their strength and get more chances."

Su Yun turned his head and looked at Master Lingyue, who was talking to Hua Hu, and thought, "Master Lingyue is a very unique person, plagued by misfortune, but with great benevolence and kindness, giving them this opportunity."

From the beginning, Master Lingyue's goal was to destroy the Lin family's blood sacrifice and treasure collection.

Using his own characteristics, he led the thunderclouds into the abyss, and then fought with Lin Suyi, taking the opportunity to destroy the seals and restrictions left by the Lin family ancestor.

However, he should have come only with a hot-blooded determination, without a careful plan.

Su Yun accidentally killed Lin Qingyi, causing the Lin family ancestor's alchemy to end prematurely, and the Four-Footed Square Cauldron was destroyed, filling his loophole.

It was only then that Master Lingyue began to take advantage of the opportunity to destroy the Four-Footed Square Cauldron formed by the heaven and earth's vitality in the Thunder Layer, depriving the Lin family of the chance to restore their treasures!At the same time, Master Lingyue was also a generous person. He could have easily kept thousands of spirit tools in his hands, but he intentionally let them go to help the poor scholars who came to this place for experience.

Despite his notorious reputation and bad name, he did great deeds.

"Su Scholar!"

Master Lingyue walked over, trying to control his power and bring the rolling black smoke into his own spiritual realm to avoid bringing bad luck to Su Yun. However, he couldn't completely retract it, causing a black cloud to form above his head.

Hua Hu followed him, also with a black cloud above her head, but smaller.

Master Lingyue had an air of indifference and lacked the scholarly demeanor. He laughed and asked, "As the first place winner of the exam, do you want to join our academy?"

Su Yun showed his respect and said, "Thank you for your kindness, but my spiritual powers are already established, and the academy is not suitable for me."

Compared to Master Lingyue, Su Yun had a more refined demeanor, which he had learned from following Master Wild Fox. Only when his temper flared up did he reveal his unruliness.

Master Lingyue, on the other hand, looked like a street ruffian wearing the clothes of a scholar, without any seriousness.

In the middle of winter, Master Lingyue waved his folding fan and walked with a bow-legged gait while chatting and laughing. "That's right. Your cultivation technique is strange, and I can't see through it. Your spiritual powers are even stranger. I seem to have no rules, but everything I do is within the rules. You seem rigid and follow all kinds of rules, but in fact, you are the most unruly and always want to break all the rules."

Su Yun thought carefully and realized that they were indeed such people.

"Second Brother, why are you black?" Su Yun couldn't help but whisper to Hua Hu.

Hua Hu felt embarrassed and whispered, "He asked if I had ink in my stomach and asked to see it. Then I turned black."

Su Yun was surprised.

"One hundred and fifty years ago, the Dragon fell in the Tian Shi Yuan. At that time, there was heavy snow, and the entire Shuo Fang was covered in ice and snow. The people suffered from the snow disaster, and many starved to death. There were corpses on the roadside."

Master Lingyue looked up at the sky and said absentmindedly, "When I read the Shuo Fang Chronicles, I learned that Emperor Yuan received news of the snow disaster and sent officials to deliver food and money for disaster relief. However, what was not recorded in the Shuo Fang Chronicles was that the official who came to deliver relief changed his name and surname to Lin and is the ancestor of the current Lin family. It was also during that time that he discovered the treasure in the Thunderstrike Valley and planned to refine it with the valley's lightning."

Su Yun was slightly taken aback and didn't know why Master Lingyue was telling him this. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Master Lingyue, what was the result of the Lin family's disaster relief efforts?"

"The people were displaced, and some even resorted to cannibalism."Master Lingyue casually said, "Look at these thousands of spiritual weapons, most of them are bronze-colored, but they are not actually made of bronze, they are made of Qing Hong coins. To forge so many spiritual weapons, we need a four-legged cauldron as a treasure of the tribe, how many Qing Hong coins do you think we need? The disaster relief funds are here."

Su Yun stopped and remained silent.

Master Lingyue sniffed Lin Suyi's bellyband under his nose and said, "Since Lin's generation of Lin Qinchai, they have gone through three generations and finally became a prestigious family with their own treasure land. They still want a treasure of the tribe. Where can such a cheap thing be found? In addition to the Lin family, there are also the Zhou family, Lu family, Wen family, Tian family, Wu family, and Tong family, all of whom benefited from the snow disaster and later became prestigious families."

He walked away and said leisurely, "Some things, their descendants do not remember, but someone remembers for them. Hua Hu, let's go!"

Hua Hu waved at Su Yun, who smiled and waved back, silently thinking, "Some prestigious families occupy the best resources, have power, money, eat people, seek benefits, fame, and still want to take more."

"Some people bear a bad reputation and the misunderstanding of the world, but they still work tirelessly, not asking for anything in return, doing the dirtiest and most dangerous work, and carrying the heaviest burden. People are really different!"

He walked towards Chi Xiaoyao and Qing Qiuyue, thinking, "One hundred and fifty years ago, the ancestor of the Lin family was a relief envoy who came to help during the disaster, but that snow disaster was caused by the summoning of the Dragon Spirit by the leader Xuege and others."

His mind turned faster and faster, thinking, "The human-demon Wu Tong fell into the Fallen Dragon Valley after a battle with the true dragon. Leader Xuege and a group of Tian Dao Academy disciples came to Ge Long by order of the Emperor, but only Xuege survived and sealed the human-demon and Dragon Spirit in the Burial Dragon Tomb. The ancestor of the Lin family came to Shuofang for disaster relief and found that the Flame Dragon flew out of the ground, so he embezzled the disaster relief funds to build the Thunder Strike Valley treasure land, trying to forge the treasure of the tribe."

"Master Lingyue said that the prestigious families in Shuofang, such as Zhou, Lu, Wen, Tian, Wu, and Tong, all originated from one hundred and fifty years ago!"

"One hundred and fifty years ago, after Leader Xuege sealed the human-demon and Dragon Spirit, he left Tian Shi Yuan. His first stop should be Shuofang!"

"There must be some connection between them, a crucial connection! He must have some connection with the seven prestigious families of Lin, Zhou, Lu, Wen, Tian, Wu, and Tong, and he may even be the ancestor of one of them!"Su Yun's eyes suddenly became extremely bright, and he was overjoyed: "When Left Protector asked me, I told him that the Hei Jie case, the Ren Mo case, and this Thunder Strike Valley case are all the same case. Can this excuse fool him? Can it delay for a while?"

The more he thought about it, the happier he became: "If Left Protector is still not satisfied, let me investigate other cases. I will tell him that the Snow Disaster case, the Duo Long Valley case, and the Zang Long Ling case are all the same case as the Ren Mo case, Hei Jie case, and Thunder Strike Valley case. This way, we can definitely delay for half a year! Left Protector will have nothing to say!"

He had a smile on his face as he approached Chi Xiaoyao, Qing Qiuyue, and the others, asking, "Xiao Fan, Bu Ping, did you get any spirit weapons?"

The three little fox demons were excited and immediately showed off the spirit weapons they had obtained.

Li Xiaofan got a dragon-shaped ring, but Su Yun looked at it and felt that the dragon on it was the same dragon horse that had knocked him down and pinned him to the wall.

Hu Buping got a green rainbow dragon-patterned swallowing sword, which was taller than him when he carried it on his back and would trip him if he walked a little faster.

Qing Qiuyue got a Chi Long Xian Wei bracelet, which was very exquisite when worn on the wrist.

However, Chi Xiaoyao did not go to capture spirit weapons. Su Yun asked her, and Chi Xiaoyao shook her head and said, "My family doesn't lack Qing Hong coins, and we have the money to refine spirit weapons. The best spirit weapons are the ones that are tailored to your own needs."

Su Yun suddenly felt overwhelmed by a sense of poverty.

"Su Junior Brother, why don't you get one or two spirit weapons?" Chi Xiaoyao was also a little puzzled.

Su Yun tossed the small wooden box and smiled, "Because I have something better."

The wooden box turned into countless dust and flowed through his fingertips, turning into a small dragon that lay on his shoulder, alive and vivid.

Chi Xiaoyao was very envious and a little inferior, thinking to herself, "Tianmen Town is really rich. Our family and his family are not well-matched. Our family is too poor..."

As the sky turned dark, the number of people near Thunder Strike Valley did not decrease, but rather increased. Many scholars lit lamps and searched for treasures, and more scholars came from farther away.

Su Yun, Chi Xiaoyao, and the others left Thunder Strike Valley and came to the front of Feng Nian. The old bird demon put the broken building aside and was teaching three young birds to read and write.

When they arrived, the old bird demon hurriedly got up, revealed his true form, and drove the three young birds into the broken building. He picked up the building and said, "Several scholars, when I was waiting for you earlier, I caught a spirit weapon, which can be left as a family heirloom for my children."

"Congratulations!" Su Yun laughed.The old bird was very happy and said, "We'll see which of the three can excel in their studies, and I'll pass on the technique to them. By the way, why did the mountains around the Thunder Strike Valley collapse?"

"It was caused by Master Lingyue," Chi Xiaoyao said.

"I see, no wonder it looks like it's been chewed by a pig," the old bird said. He ran a few steps, flapped his wings, and flew towards Shuofang City.

Su Yun looked down and saw that the Thunder Strike Valley below was indeed like a pig's burrow, with broken mountains and uneven terrain.

Shortly after they left, there was a loud noise from the collapsed pit in the Thunder Strike Valley, and Lin Suyi, the second young lady of the Lin family, burst out of the ground. Her clothes were in disarray, and she immediately used her technique to turn into flowing water to cover her body.

"Lingyue! My Lin family won't let you go!" She spat blood and covered her chest with both hands before leaving in a flash.

Su Yun and Chi Xiaoyao first went back to the Xinglin Medicinal Shop, where Doctor Dong checked Su Yun's wounds and drew a bottle of blood. Su Yun and Chi Xiaoyao took Qing Qiuyue and the others to eat in the street until they were full before returning to the Wen Chang Academy.

When they arrived at the academy, it was already late at night, and they had not yet returned to their residence at the Mountain and Water House. Su Yun saw Idle Cloud Taoist and Master Tu Ming standing under the roadside lamp and beckoning to them from afar.

"Su Shizi, Left Deputy has invited you!" Master Tu Ming said with a smile.

Su Yun's heart sank. "The collapse of the Thunder Strike Valley mountains can't be blamed on me, right? Although it seems like I caused it, it was bound to happen sooner or later..."

He asked Qing Qiuyue, Li Xiaofan, and Hu Buping to go back to the Mountain and Water House first, and then followed Idle Cloud and Master Tu Ming to the Wen Chang Palace.

When Su Yun arrived at the Wen Chang Palace, Zuo Songyan was offering incense to the Wen Chang Emperor, showing great respect.

The Wen Chang Palace was dedicated to the Wen Chang Emperor, whom Su Yun had seen in the wilderness before. He was an old man holding a book.

Zuo Songyan took a step back, bowed to the Wen Chang Emperor, and said, "Idle Cloud, Master Tu Ming, please wait outside and don't let anyone in."