Chapter 2859 — The Reason for the Rampage

Of course, spirit beasts possess intelligence as well. To overawe human cultivators, the Five-Sha Dragon had its kills follow a strict pattern: each day, only two cultivators of Earth rank or above were slain, as a warning.

Whenever a spirit beast brought down a cultivator of Earth rank or above, the nearby flying beasts skilled in sonic transmission would soar into the sky and broadcast the news by sound wave. Once both cultivators had been killed, all the spirit beasts ceased hunting those of Earth rank and above, turning instead to pursuit and intimidation—and at two o'clock every night, they all rested as one.

Ge Xian could not understand the language of spirit beasts, so this earlier pattern had escaped him; it was only the beasts' subsequent rest schedule that he had noticed.

In truth, this pattern was itself the fruit of the Xuandan Sect's many years of groping in the dark—and it was also the basis on which Tianbian had once estimated their numbers.

"I am not sure either. I had made every preparation to receive the inheritance of the origin power, when the Five-Sha Dragon suddenly returned. After it and I traded a few exchanges, the inheritance began..." Tianchan said. "After that, I fell into a most mysterious state, and so did the Five-Sha Dragon. The two of us left each other in peace and attacked no more..."

"In that case, the origin power must have been devoured by the Five-Sha Dragon. If a human cultivator fails to receive the inheritance of the origin power, then the Five-Sha Dragon will inevitably swallow that power. Spirit beasts differ from humans: so long as no one contests it, it will absorb the origin power!" Ancestor Xuanchen nodded, somewhat disappointed. "After the Five-Sha Dragon received the origin power, did it fall into a deep sleep? And then you left?"

"That..." Tianchan was slightly taken aback. Would the Five-Sha Dragon fall asleep after successfully receiving the origin power? She did not know either, but this way, her smooth and safe departure could at least be explained—otherwise, how could she have left that cave of the Five-Sha Dragon's alive and unharmed? She did not wish to speak of Wei Zhao, and this gave her an excuse. "I left shortly after. But the Five-Sha Dragon did not chase me out, so I cannot say for certain whether it fell asleep..."

"Never mind. None of that matters now. You failed to receive the inheritance..." Ancestor Xuanchen's brows knitted tightly. At this moment, in his eyes, Tianchan had also ceased to matter so much; the dark pawn's purpose had lost its use!

The origin power of the Five-Sha Mountains could be stirred at most once every five hundred years. This time, Ancestor Xuanchen had calculated the timing precisely, using the pretext of the Xuandan Sect's trial to send Tianchan to receive the inheritance of the origin power!

Another five hundred years would come, and who could say what things would look like then? Even if Tianchan was a formidable expert at the peak of the late Heaven rank, whether she would still be alive in five hundred years was uncertain. And if he, Ancestor Xuanchen, failed to set foot upon the Heavenly Dao within this century, he might well be dead himself.

So Tianchan was now utterly useless. But at this moment, the bright pawn had also been crippled by Wei Zhao and could not be used for the time being—which drove Ancestor Xuanchen nearly mad! The two most important chess pieces he had cultivated could not be used at all!

Was all the painstaking effort of so many years to be wasted? He would not accept it! In his heart, he loathed Wei Zhao with a passion, wishing he could strangle him, flay him, and drink his blood! Of course, he did not yet know that it was Wei Zhao who had snatched Tianchan's inheritance of the origin power; had he known, he would likely have been so enraged as to charge straight into the Five-Sha Wilderness.

Even so, in his heart he secretly resolved to do Wei Zhao in—once the white leader had outlived her usefulness, he would destroy the two of them together!

"Tianchan, you need not be too grieved. Matters of inheriting the origin power are, after all, left to the will of heaven; there is nothing we can do about them. You need not be too sad." Seeing the look of utter loss on Tianchan's face, Ancestor Xuanzhen consoled her.

Tianchan did not know whether she ought to be glad or sorrowful. Glad, because she would no longer be used as a chess piece and made to sacrifice herself; once that plan failed, she would no longer need to disguise herself as Tian Canbian, nor need those pretexts about taking wives and concubines—she could restore her identity as Tianchan.

In the past, Tianchan had not much cared whether she was male or female. Man or woman, she was the young sect mistress of the Xuandan Sect; so long as she could serve the sect's development, that was enough. But now she found herself wishing more and more that she were a girl...

This shift in feeling had come about overnight. Since returning from the Xuandan Sect's trial, the thought had grown stronger and stronger in Tianchan! Of course, reason told her that the time was not yet right—even though she had not received the inheritance, it still would not do!

So long as Taganlong lived, there was still hope. She must maintain the lie that she was Tian Canbian the man, and maintain the lie that she was a lecher who wished to take wives and concubines.

And what grieved her was that Tianchan did not know where her future lay. Even if she restored her identity as Tianchan, what then? If that plan failed, the Xuandan Sect would remain a vassal of the Five Luminaries Sect. Even if Ancestor Xuanchen died, his disciples would carry on his dying wish and strive for that goal, and the Xuandan Sect would still have to render full assistance...

"Yes... I am sorry. But I will continue to devote myself to alchemy," Tianchan sighed and said.

"After all these years, it seems alchemy will not do. Yours was an inheritance of the origin power, which is fundamentally different from an inheritance of insight passed to a successor. You cannot obtain the inheritance of the origin power from wood-element herbs, and an insight inheritance has no effect on you." Ancestor Xuanchen waved a hand. "Within your body, four true attributes form a cycle, lacking only the wood attribute. I used the Ten-Thousand-Year Spring Wood Pill to supply your wood attribute, and the Marrow-Cleansing Bone-Transforming Pill to refine your wood constitution—and yet you still did not receive the wood-element inheritance within the Five-Sha origin power. It seems this is the will of heaven!"

Among the five elements and seven attributes, six had a place of origin for their inherited power; only the wood attribute had none. The legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Spring Wood Forest was gone, and even the Ten-Thousand-Year Spring Wood had become extinct. So to become a wood-element inheritor, one had to take another, substitutable approach—this was the fruit of Patriarch Zhang Liju's years of devoted research: by daily contact with herbs, one might possibly gain insight into the wood inheritance.

But the origin power itself could no longer be obtained. Insight was but a moment of realization; it did not require truly gaining anything! RS

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