48: Chapter 48 The Joyful Union Sect

Three days later. The Hehuan Sect was in sight.

The mountains were not high. They stretched for over ten miles—not just one mountain, but a cluster of them. Every peak was built with structures, featuring flying eaves, upturned corners, red walls, and black tiles. Above the mountainside, it was all clouds and mist—not natural mist, but the mist of the Sect-protecting Array. Mist condensed from Spiritual Qi spread outward from the array eye, wrapping the core area of the Sect entirely within it.

From the outside, one could not see any problems.

Below the mountain gate was a flight of stone steps. It was three zhang wide—enough for ten people to walk side by side. At the end of the stone steps was the mountain gate. On both sides of the gate stood four Outer Sect Disciples. They wore grey robes and were at Qi Refining Stage 2.

"Four," Qin Wu said, standing on a low slope opposite the mountain path, pushing aside branches with his scabbard. "The two on the left are slacking off—leaning against the doorposts and dozing. The two on the right are very serious—they don't look like they're guarding the gate. They look like they're searching for something."

Lu Chen scanned them with his perception robe. The four gate-guarding Disciples—their Spiritual Roots were all normal. They were not Grey Spirit Root. The Qi patterns on their Spiritual Roots were plain—there were no abnormalities. However, in the direction of the back mountain, there were over a dozen stronger fluctuations of Spiritual Qi—ranging from Level 4 Qi Refining to Level 7 Qi Refining. They were not guarding the mountain; they were patrolling.

The guards changed every hour. During the shift change, there was a gap of one incense stick's time—the mountain gate would be empty.

This tension was not against external enemies. It was internal.

"A normal Sect wouldn't guard itself like this," Qin Wu said. "The mountain gate of the Danding Sect—the gate-guarding Disciples are responsible for registration. Not inspection."

"They are not inspecting. They are controlling. Preventing people from running out. And also preventing people outside from seeing what is inside."

Lu Chen remembered what Shen Xi had said—about the Elders who had been replaced. Those Elders were still inside the Sect, wearing their original bodies and carrying their original identities. They didn't need to run. They needed more people to come in.

Someone was coming down the mountain path.

It wasn't a Disciple. It was an old woman carrying a load. In the load were mountain goods—dried bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, and a few bundles of wild herbs. She went out through a side gate—the gate-guarding Disciples stopped her.

"You old hag—you only come out once every three days. Next time, bring more firewood. The kitchen is running out of firewood."

The old woman nodded. She didn't speak. She carried her load and walked downward. When she passed the low slope where Lu Chen and Qin Wu were hiding—she paused for a moment.

"You are—"

"Loose Cultivators," Lu Chen said. "We want to join the Sect."

The old woman glanced at him. Not at his face—but at the position of his chest. The Xuantian Blue Jade Token was placed there.

"Are you from the Xuantian Sect?"

"Someone I know gave me this."

"A Xuantian Sect token can get you through the mountain gate. But after you enter—" The old woman's mouth moved. "After you enter, don't say you want to go to the back mountain. Don't say you came to find someone. Say you came to apprentice. Go to the front mountain. Do not go toward the back mountain. The back mountain—it doesn't belong to the Hehuan Sect anymore."

After she finished speaking, she picked up her load and left. Her steps were fast—not like an old person. Like she was escaping.

Qin Wu watched the old woman's retreating back. "What does she know?"

"She knows a lot. But she cannot say it out loud—there might be something inside the Hehuan Sect monitoring everyone who comes out."

"A shell?"

"Perhaps. Or it could be the people who have been replaced," Lu Chen stood up and straightened his grey robe. "Let's go—we're going in through the front."

In front of the mountain gate, the gazes of the four gate-guarding Disciples all fell upon Lu Chen.

They weren't looking at the grey robe. They were looking at the token in his hand. The Blue Jade Token. The symbol of the Xuantian Sect—three blue patterns wrapped around white jade. The token also carried Fang Jing's Spiritual Qi Seal—Level 7 Qi Refining. It was a world higher than these four Level 2 Qi Refining Disciples.

"Xuantian Sect—" The dozing Disciple on the left woke up. "Please wait a moment—I will go report to the Administrator."

"No need," Lu Chen tucked the token into his robe. "I want to see the Sect Master."

"The Sect Master—" The gate-guarding Disciple's throat moved. "The Sect Master is currently in seclusion—he is not seeing guests."

"He is not seeing guests, or he cannot see guests?"

The four of them stopped speaking. It wasn't that they didn't want to answer. It was that they didn't dare. All four of them were at Qi Refining Stage 2—they were the lowest-level Disciples in the Hehuan Sect. Whether the people above had been replaced or not—they might not know. But they knew there were some things in the Sect that could not be spoken of.

Passing through the mountain gate, a straight stone path led to the front mountain's main hall. Hehuan trees were planted on both sides of the road—the Hehuan trees in March had not yet bloomed. There were only dense leaves. Sunlight leaked down through the leaves—in beams. It was very beautiful. But there was no one on the road.

Such a large Sect—there was no one on the main road of the front mountain. It was too clean. It wasn't clean because it had been swept. It was clean because no one walked there. Moss had grown in the cracks of the stone slabs—indicating that no one had walked on this section of the road for at least half a month.

"Where is everyone?" Qin Wu lowered his voice.

"In the back mountain." Lu Chen's perception power scanned the entire front mountain through his grey robe—the main hall, side halls, library, and martial arts practice field. All empty. No one. It wasn't that there was no one today—it was an emptiness that had lasted for a long time. "The front mountain is just for show—for outsiders to see. The real Hehuan Sect has retreated to the back mountain. Retreated into the area of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires."

"Has the Sect Master also retreated?"

"The well in the Sect Master's residence was filled in—Shen Xi said so. If the well was filled in, it means the Fake Sect Leader is afraid that someone might find clues from the well. Or perhaps—he is afraid that someone might come out of the well."

At the end of the front mountain was a stone archway. On the gate were written three words—"Hehuan Gate". A middle-aged man stood under the gate. Grey hair. Thin face. Level 7 Qi Refining—not an Elder. He was an Administrator. In charge of the miscellaneous affairs of the front mountain.

"Distinguished guests—Xuantian Sect." The Administrator cupped his hands. His movements were very proper—but his eyes were not right. It wasn't curiosity. It was testing. "The Sect Master has been in seclusion for several months. May I ask, distinguished guest—do you have urgent business?"

"The well in the backyard of the Sect Master's residence—is it still there?"

The Administrator's hand froze in mid-air. It froze for one breath.

Then he withdrew it—the expression on his face did not change. But the pause between that breath just now—was already enough.

"The well has been filled. It was filled three years ago."

"Who filled it?"

"The Sect Master—no. It was—" The Administrator's throat rolled. "It was ordered from above. I don't know specifically who ordered it. I am not the person in charge of that side."

Lu Chen took a half-step forward. He looked into the Administrator's eyes at close range. The pupils were normal. The Spiritual Root was normal. But there was something in his eyes—not fear. It was waiting. Like he had been waiting for this question about the well for a long time. Waiting for three years—and finally, someone asked.

"Have you seen what the Sect Master looked like before he entered the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires?"

The Administrator did not speak. But his hands at his sides clenched into fists. He clenched them very hard.

"I am an old Disciple," his voice was very low. "I entered the Sect twenty years ago. The Sect Master taught me Alchemy. The Sect Master liked to drink tea by the well. He said the water in the well was alive—he could hear the water breathing. Three years ago, he led people into the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires—after he came out, he stopped drinking tea. He said the water had no taste. The water hadn't changed. It was he who had changed."

Qin Wu's hand gripped the hilt of his blade.

"Where is he now?"

"Back mountain—the spirit hall beside the entrance of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires," the Administrator took a breath. "He said he was in seclusion inside. But there are six Elders guarding outside the spirit hall. They have all been replaced. They are not Elders of the Hehuan Sect. They are other things. They are wearing human bodies—but inside the bodies, they are not human."

"How do you know?"

"Because last winter," the Administrator's voice was trembling—not with fear. It was the anger that had been suppressed for three years finally finding an outlet. "A Junior Brother died outside the spirit hall. He had been dead for three days, and no one cared—I went to collect the body. I turned up the Junior Brother's sleeve—the skin inside the sleeve was transparent. It wasn't rotting. It was thin. Thin enough to see the bone. Outside the bone was wrapped a layer of transparent stuff—not blood. It was a shell. His body had been replaced by the shell—after the shell shattered, the inside was empty."

"He didn't die—he was abandoned by the shell?"

"The shell didn't want him anymore," the Administrator said. "It switched to a new one."

The wind of the front mountain blew over—the leaves of the Hehuan trees rustled. It wasn't the sound of spring wind. It was like someone in a very distant place was gritting their teeth.

Lu Chen glanced in the direction of the back mountain. The spirit hall was at the entrance of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires—the Fake Sect Leader was there. Six Elders replaced by shells were guarding outside. The well sealed at the bottom of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires—that thing was inside the shell. The Fake Sect Leader wanted to open all the remaining shells—to replace the entire Hehuan Sect. And then what? Then the Xuantian Sect. And then—

"There is a female Disciple surnamed He in the back mountain herb garden."

The Administrator's eyes widened a little. "He Xiaowan—you know her?"

"Someone asked me to find her. Said she could find the old Disciples."

"She is hiding in the cellar under the herb garden," the Administrator lowered his voice. "The back mountain herb garden—go around from the east side. On the west side of the herb garden is a hidden channel. At the entrance of the channel grows a wisteria—behind the vine is the entrance to the cellar. He Xiaowan knows the rest of the matter."

"You are here—no one has discovered you?"

"No one pays attention to the Administrator of the front mountain," the Administrator gave a bitter smile. "In the eyes of the shells—the people in charge are all trash. What the shells want is not management. It is people."

Lu Chen looked in the direction of the back mountain.

This time, there was no detour. With the Xuantian Sect token—the Fake Sect Leader would not stop him. The Xuantian Sect and the Hehuan Sect were allies. The Fake Sect Leader had to maintain the identity of the Sect Master—so he could not openly break with the Xuantian Sect. But in the shadows—those shells had ten thousand ways to make people disappear.

"I will go see the Sect Master," Lu Chen said to Qin Wu. "You go to the back mountain—find He Xiaowan. Ask clearly about the specific location of the entrance to the bottom level of the Cave of Ten Thousand Desires. Tomorrow night—we will meet under the wisteria in the back mountain herb garden."

"You are going to the spirit hall alone—"

"Fang Jing is listening," Lu Chen interrupted him, his finger pressing on the Blue Jade Token. "The Fake Sect Leader cannot touch me—unless he wants to have a showdown with the Xuantian Sect."

Qin Wu glanced at him. He didn't say anything. His blade hung at his waist—he walked toward the east.

Lu Chen turned and walked toward the back mountain. His grey robe fluttered slightly in the wind—the perception robe amplified all Spiritual Qi fluctuations within a ten-zhang radius.

Outside the spirit hall were six Spiritual Qi signatures. They were not Cultivators—they were shells. Each Spiritual Qi signature was wrapped in a layer of an extremely thin outer shell. Inside the outer shell was the ordinary Spiritual Root of an Elder—but inside the shell was something older and deeper. Hidden in the Elder's Sea of Consciousness.

The six shells looked toward Lu Chen's direction simultaneously.

Not with eyes. With Spiritual Qi—separated by three hundred paces. Separated by a mountain. Separated by a layer of the Sect-protecting Array. That thing still sensed him.

It wasn't that it sensed his cultivation. It was that it sensed—the Grey Spirit Root.