Chapter 1448 An Enormous Lie

Second Master Ji was no doubt an expert at storytelling.

This was a skill that he had trained and thoroughly polished through countless lies and his usual glib tongue. When told through him, this whole story was practically a history of blood and tears of the martial world!

No one who heard the story would ever doubt the authenticity of any aspect in the story at all!

Especially when Second Master Ji wept as he narrated the story. That sort of silent sobbing, that mix of grief and indignation that could drive one crazy, and that despondency as if he had lost all hope in life… He really portrayed it into his soul and beyond.

The entire plot was more capable of moving one to praises and tears, and was entirely worthy of being recorded into a book.

How honest his family was, how powerful they were, how inexperienced they were in terms of the ways of the martial world, how they were deceived by others, how they had neglected and overlooked certain things, how they had been careless, and how they had fallen victim to their enemy’s secret plot…

How despicable the enemy was, how intricate their plotting was, how strong and powerful they were, the sort of moves that the other party tended to use, the identity of the enemy’s think-tank and their top expert, and how vicious, brutal, ungrateful and disloyal the other party was…

How the family had gotten into trouble, how fire had broken out in the family, how he had rushed out of the place, how many loyal experts had sacrificed themselves to cover for him while he made his escape, how they were killed, how they acted without any regret, and how brave and heroic they were…

As he spoke, Ji Mo himself was so touched that tears streamed down his own eyes.

At the side, the seven to eight Xiao Clan experts listening also sighed repeatedly. The eyes of some of them even turned red…

“…My poor flying Spirit Beast…” Ji Mo sighed to the heavens. Thumping his chest and stamping his feet in sorrow, Ji Mo was in so much grief that it was as if he wanted to die. “It was such a precious, obedient, adorable, beautiful and loyal tenth-grade Snow Eagle… It… it self-destructed just like that in mid-air so that it could buy me enough time to escape all the way here…”

“Oh, my Snow Eagle… oh, my Snow Eagle… The way it looked at me right before it died… Even though it was just a Spirit Beast, I… I could totally understand what it was trying to express. It wanted me to live on no matter what…”

Ji Mo burst into loud wracking sobs, overwhelmed by grief.

From the initial indifference and impatience, the Xiao Clan experts were gradually sucked bit by bit into the story, hot tears brimming in their eyes.

They automatically imagined this scenario in their own minds — After being pursued by countless enemies, a Snow Eagle covered in wounds resolutely threw its owner out into the far distance. Then, it turned its head back and cast a look of deep devotion at its owner, before charging toward the enemy without ever looking back again…

With an earth-shattering explosion, it turned into an eternal legend in mid-air, becoming a soul of loyalty in the universe…

All of them sighed deeply.

A flying Spirit Beast like that…

How rare in this world!

“… Towards the end, only one bastard from the enemies caught up to me. This bastard is precisely that ungrateful bastard! This person’s surname is Luan; he’s ranked second. I’ve always addressed him as Old Second Luan! This goddamn Old Second Luan, he just kept coming after me without giving up… Driving me into a corner and not giving up until I’m dead…”

“If not for all of you lending me your assistance, I, Jiang Ye, would not have been able to survive this calamity. The Jiang Clan’s deep blood feud… That Snow Eagle of mine…”

Hot tears brimmed in Ji Mo’s eyes as he looked at all of them with deep gratitude. “Thank you very much! All of you are such good people! All of you are really such good people…”

All the Xiao Clan experts were rather ashamed of themselves.

We’re good people…

We’re just waiting to slaughter you like a pig after digging out all your secrets. Yet now, we’ve actually been given such a great honor of being called ‘really good people’…

We’re truly too ashamed to accept this praise.

“To think that I, Jiang Ye, was also considered a genius of a lifetime.” Second Master Ji tooted his own horn, his expression full of grief and pain. “Ever since I was a baby, the meridians throughout my body have been opened up to flow smoothly by the Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal. I was already a Revered Martial Artist when I was three and an Emperor-level when I was ten. By fifteen years old, I had broken through to Martial Saint and now, at twenty-one years old, I’m already a second-grade peak-level Supreme Martial Artist!”

“What a shame that the heavens don’t wish to bestow upon me a life long enough to accomplish much, actually letting me encounter such a huge calamity during my rapid advancement!”

“All the bones in my body… are broken…” Second Master Ji howled to the heavens, so filled with grief and indignation that he wanted to die. “How am I to avenge all those blood feuds!”

His words made all the Xiao Clan members shiver involuntarily.

From excitement.

The climax was near!

To think that the Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal could actually achieve such an effect? Clearing his meridians when he was still a baby and reaching second-grade peak-level Supreme Martial Artist at twenty-one years old?

With a loud whoosh, Xiao Chenlei appeared next to him. He asked indifferently, “Jiang Ye, let me ask you, what exactly is that Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal? What can it do?”

Everyone’s ears perked up.

Xiao Chenlei calling him ‘Jiang Ye’ instead sounded as if he was calling him ‘Master Jiang'1. However, none of them took any notice at all.

Ji Mo replied hoarsely, “That Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal… It is said to be the core of a gigantic Purple Crystal mine in far ancient times. Countless Souls of Purple Crystal can be derived from this Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal…”

Countless Souls of Purple Crystal could be derived from it!

Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air, fervor burning in their eyes!

“Other than Souls of Purple Crystal that can supplement one’s cultivation, one needs only to place this Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal at the Dantian position for a day and guide it using skill techniques, and it’ll improve a person’s aptitude and clear all blockage in a martial artist’s meridians. With this, he’ll never suffer any obstacles and bottlenecks in his pursuit of the martial arts in the future. There won’t be any fear of inner demons either…”

Hissss~~~~

Gasps could be heard from all around. With the way the Xiao Clan Supreme Martial Artists had gasped, the place almost turned into a vacuum!

Clear all blockages throughout all the meridians in one’s body!

No obstacles and bottlenecks!

No fear of developing inner demons!

What the f*ck… This is practically the legendary celestial elixir that could send one straight up the Nine Heavens!

Oh my goodness…

Xiao Chenlei’s eyes narrowed. “Is this really true?”

Reaching out, he placed his fingers on Ji Mo’s wrist and circulated his energy to check his body condition. At once, he discovered that even though this man was gravely injured and his meridians blocked in several places, all of the blockages were caused by his injuries. The meridians throughout his body were indeed smooth and clear.

He couldn’t help but sink into contemplation. After a long while, he asked impassively, “Where is the Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal at this moment?”

Everyone’s expressions immediately turned anxious, each of them staring at this ‘Jiang Ye’ with fervent eyes. They held their breath as they waited for his response.

Ji Mo fell silent upon his question.

After a long while, he finally replied hoarsely, “Although I don’t know who all of you are, since you’ve saved my life, this kindness is already worth me offering up that Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal to you with both hands… It’s just a shame that the enemy is simply too powerful… If the Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal falls into your possession, I’m afraid… you’ll bring trouble to yourselves.”

The corners of Xiao Chenlei’s lips curled upwards. He said impassively, “You don’t need to worry about that. You just need to tell me where the Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal is!”

With much difficulty, Ji Mo replied, “That’s fine too… Since I have no hope of taking revenge anyway, I’ll fulfill your wishes. You could count this as me repaying all of you for saving my life too.”

Seeing that he knew what was good for him, a rare smile appeared on Xiao Chenlei’s face.

“That Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal is hidden in the secret grounds of my clan… in the boundless mountains. As long as someone of direct bloodline of my clan cuts his wrist when he is in good health and spirits, and extracts blood essence and smears it on the surface, the secret grounds will automatically detect it and activate. After it is activated, you’ll be able to see the Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal!”

Second Master Ji had taken reference from the way Ao Xieyun’s Dragon bloodline activated the secret grounds. Describing that at this point made his story flawless.

Xiao Chenlei’s eyes flashed. “In that case… Outsiders can’t open it at all?”

Ji Mo gave him a tragic smile. “Otherwise, why would our clan suffer such persecution… And why would they pursue me this urgently and relentlessly too…”

Xiao Chenlei nodded. He indeed believed what Ji Mo said somewhat.

Having traveled far and wide and seen a good deal, he naturally knew that mysterious existences couldn’t be judged in a regular light. Methods such as requiring the direct bloodline of a clan to activate and open secret grounds were exactly the one and only, tried and tested solution to strong and powerful races and clans retaining their power and strength for generations to come in the Nine Heavens Continent!

Even the Xiao Clan had secret grounds similar to this, but that was the Xiao Clan’s supreme secret, of course…

Genuine fatal injuries, that fierce and swift sword strike that had split a mountain into two during a fearsome pursuit, a seamless and flawless story, that extreme hopeless and agonized expression, the revealing of raw emotions, as well as Second Master Ji’s current expression that was so sincere to the extent of simple and honest candidness, so much so that even Ji Mo himself was moved by himself…

And those genuine feelings of gratitude…

All these came together to form a malicious, yet entirely convincing, lie!

Nodding, Xiao Chenlei turned to leave.

Before he left, he instructed —”One must not forget vigilance, lest he is harmed by others. Everyone who heard the story is to try their best to get this fellow to repeat the same story for a second and third time and compare the versions… and ensure that there are no mistakes.”

If any hint of doubt was discovered, they were to immediately restrain their greed and kill him!

Should there be nothing questionable or suspicious, they were to treat his injuries immediately. At the very least, they were to let him recover the ability to move, or at least to the extent that it was alright for him to be shifted, rather than his current condition where he did not even dare to shift due to his broken bones.

Then, they were to transfer him to the camp as soon as possible. This was a mine after all; firstly, it wasn’t a place suitable for recuperation, and secondly… this place was already a gigantic trap and would be the venue of impending bloodshed.

This Jiang Ye was linked to something so important. It seriously wasn’t suitable for him to stay here…

The moment his injuries recovered slightly, they were to send people to retrieve that Purple Crystal Soul of Holy Crystal together with him…

Ji Mo’s injuries naturally weren’t something that would recover so easily. As they treated his injuries, he started to ingratiate himself with them.

Calling them elders and his benefactors incessantly, and repeatedly saying that he would hold back nothing to repay them… Second Master Ji’s mouth was the embodiment of honey in this instant.

The Xiao Clan Supreme Martial Artists had very sensitively picked up that the Elder Master seemed to have developed a mild sense of talent appreciation. Thus, they were a lot more civil toward him. After all, even if they didn’t appreciate his talent, they still needed this fellow’s blood to activate the treasure. There was no harm in chatting for the time being, was there?

For a while there, everyone told him their names and they started to become friendly with each other.

People were constantly coming in to sound Ji Mo out, while Ji Mo also repeated his story time and again. There were no inconsistencies in his story at all. Thus, everyone had already firmly believed his story without any doubts and was full of sympathy toward him.

During this period of time, Ji Mo was also taking a headcount. There were really quite a lot of experts here. It looked like the Xiao Clan had really invested a lot in this…

There were close to 30 Supreme Martial Artists who came in before… And those above fourth to fifth-grade Supreme Martial Artist already came up to 17 to 18!

This level of strength was truly alarming and fearsome.

It was only after he had become very familiar with them that Second Master Ji casually mentioned, “This is strange, why are all of you here? I recall that the Xiao Clan isn’t based here…”

Horse Face smiled at him. During this period of time, it was instead this person whom Ji Mo had offended the moment he woke up that ended up chatting with him the most and became closest to him. He replied, “The reason why we’re here is naturally because we have an important mission here!”

“What mission is it that’s so important?” Ji Mo’s eyes shone.

1 The ‘Ye’ in his name sounds similar to the ‘Ye’ character for ‘master’