The golden light was so sudden and powerful that Zhong Shenxiu could hardly resist.
By the time he realized what was happening, he stood on a deck.
Zhong Shenxiu’s heart stirred, but he did not act rashly. Instead, he feigned an angry surprise, "Who are you? Why have you captured me?"
As he called out, he swiftly surveyed the surroundings and saw that he was in a magnificent sky mansion bathed in golden light, resting atop a floating ship.
From a distance, it looked like a colossal palace-ship leisurely navigating between the blue sky and white clouds.
On both sides of the ship, there were statues of auspicious dragons and tigers, their features so lifelike that it seemed as if they might leap from the ship’s body at any moment.
At this moment, Zhong Shenxiu had been placed on the deck of the palace-ship, surrounded by a group of Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect disciples.
Within the Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect, disciples were divided into categories like True Inheritors, Inner Sect, and Outer Sect... The hierarchy among the different disciples was strict, and their attire was distinctly indicative of their status, making it clear at a glance.
Zhong Shenxiu immediately understood that he was being forcibly scrutinized by a group of Inner Sect Disciples from the Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect.
’Could it be that the killing of Zhang Taiyi has been exposed?’
Each Inner Sect Disciple possessed Divine Power, their Divine Skills vast and wide. Zhong Shenxiu almost detonated the alternate dimension, ready to release the Evil God Talisman he had and fight desperately.
"Elder brother, you seem to have captured the wrong person."
A girl in a red gown, appearing no older than fourteen or fifteen with a lovely naive smile, cheerfully pointed at Zhong Shenxiu, "And you claimed your Innate Eight Trigrams Divine Power was infallible. So where is Zhang Taiyi now?"
Among the group of disciples, a leader, upon hearing this, blushed and scratched his cheek, "Well... my calculations can’t be wrong, but there are just too many experts in this world, like those Primordial Pill Ancestors whose positions greatly influence divination. If we talk about the real Evil God’s influence, even the most skilled Cultivation Experts would be unable to deduce cause and effect, so a slight deviation is inevitable..."
Dressed like a scholar, with a tall, elegant figure, effortlessly handsome and holding a blue ancient book, he exuded an air of literature.
He looked at Zhong Shenxiu with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, we are Disciples of the Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect. You may call me Sima Shu, and this is my junior sister, Lan Ying’er... We apologize for capturing the wrong person earlier, but why do I sense something very familiar about you as if you have significant ties to our Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect?"
"Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect?!"
With a look of surprise, Zhong Shenxiu produced an Identity Token that belonged to Long Hezi.
Upon the appearance of the token, Lan Ying’er’s expression changed, "This is... a Disciple’s Identity Token from the transmission lineage? And a direct lineage... Long Hezi... Could it be that you are the well-known Elder Brother Long Hezi?"
Before she could finish, her forehead was struck by a vengeful smack from Sima Shu, making her cry out in pain, "Elder brother, why did you hit me?"
"Elder sister, since you joined the sect later, you should refrain from speaking recklessly. Putting aside the obvious differences in appearance and cultivation level, Elder Brother Long Hezi has already been confirmed deceased by the sect elders."
With a wave of his hand, the Identity Token in Zhong Shenxiu’s grasp flew into Sima Shu’s.
He fondled the token, a look of reminiscence appearing on his face, "Long Hezi was my elder brother as well, an outstanding figure in the transmission lineage and we of the enforcement lineage had always been on good terms with him... It’s a pity, within our sect, the most powerful influence still belongs to the Zhang Family! Haha..."
The events of that year seemed to have a hidden narrative, but Sima Shu apparently had no wish to elaborate.
He flicked his finger, sending a talisman into the token.
The token glowed, immediately revealing lines of tiny characters.
Seeing Zhong Shenxiu’s ’surprised’ expression, Sima Shu smiled and said, "This is a secret of our Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect. Each Identity Token can store a message, impermeable to outsiders. No, they wouldn’t even know about it..."
"I certainly know, sorry... this set of tokens was still developed by the Zhang Family..."
Zhong Shenxiu quietly rolled his eyes, watching as Sima Shu’s expression shifted from alert to relaxed, and finally looking at himself with a faint sense of closeness, "So you’re the inheritor of a message from elder brother Long Hezi, who died in the wilderness. I should also thank you for laying him to rest."
"So Master Long had already made arrangements?"
Zhong Shenxiu ’acted shocked’, then with a face full of excitement bowed to the crowd, "I am Su Daoshi, a person from Fufeng Protectorate, on official business traveling the Central Plains. By a twist of fate, I laid elder brother Master Long to rest and incidentally became his successor!"
The tampering he had initially done to the tokens finally reaped results.
"Indeed, since you were chosen to be a disciple as a last wish, you are also predestined with our Supreme Dragon and Tiger Sect. With your Gang Sha Power, you can be an outer sect disciple."
Lan Ying’er said with a smile, "All of us here are your uncles and grand-uncles in the sect..."
Sima Shu interrupted her before she could finish, "Even though this Su is almost certain to join our sect, we still need the elders’ decision. Don’t just babble nonsense here..."
Lan Ying’er held her head, but stuck out her tongue cutely, unable to hide her playfulness.
"Come, let me take you aboard the building ship. This Supreme Nine Heavens Golden Light Earth-Piercing Mysterious Shuttle is a strategic treasure of our sect. If it weren’t for the discovery of Zhang Taiyi’s whereabouts, and fearing that us disciples would be no match for him, the sect wouldn’t have lent us this Earth-Piercing Mysterious Shuttle for use."
Sima Shu led Zhong Shenxiu into the loft on the building ship.
The loft was resplendent with gold and jade, built in an extremely magnificent manner.
Right in the center of the main door was an embedded Eight Diagrams Mirror.
Upon entering, the light from the mirror fell upon him, and Zhong Shenxiu felt a powerful and secretive divine sense sweep over him, attempting to peer into his core.
This was Sima Shu not yet fully trusting him, using the opportunity to probe Zhong Shenxiu’s sea of consciousness!
Luckily, this scrutiny was not barbaric, only peeking into the nature of talismans and spells within a cultivator’s sea of consciousness.
This is also the foundation of a cultivator, normally impossible to change.
Zhong Shenxiu sneered in his heart, as the talisman seeds of Earthly Fiendish 72 Transformations and the Gang Sha 36 Transformations in his sea of consciousness transformed, becoming two mediocre spells.
The few others, he did not hide clumsily but revealed them openly.
"As expected, it’s the inheritance of the Dragon Tiger Pill Book, but it’s a pity that it’s not complete, and even the Gang Sha Realm is much lacking..."
Sima Shu first sighed, then his eyes reflected disbelief, "Is this... Taiching Demon Refining Immortal Light? You actually had such a fortune to cultivate this Yin Evil Skill?"
He sighed to himself, this Su Daoshi’s ambitions were truly grand.
This combination of spells aimed for the protective Great Divine Power of the Nine Heavens Immortal Light. Once this Divine Power was achieved, no spell could penetrate, automatically placing the cultivator in an invincible position during battles of magic.
However, the required Gang Sha Qi was extremely precious and rare.
Especially those two Yang Gang Skills!
Sima Shu had initially marveled at Su Daoshi’s courage and luck, then he spotted the talisman seeds of Earthly Fiendish 72 Transformations and Gang Sha 36 Transformations.
At this point, these two talisman seeds had become heterodox patchwork spells, causing Sima Shu to shake his head repeatedly, "It seems that Long Hezi ultimately understood the rules, not daring to pass on the Yang Gang Skill from the Dragon Tiger Pill Book to Su Daoshi. But this Su Daoshi is too self-destructive, isn’t he? Using these two useless spells as a substitute? It seems he aims to break through to the Yang Gang Realm too quickly, a bit too eager for quick success."
With this thought, he felt a pang of pity for this little nephew.