Chapter 12: He Knows Everything

An Zhi was busy absorbing the output from Meng Hong, while over on this side, Luo Ling was not idle either.

In the evening, Elder Taiqing summoned Ke Dasheng, Luo Ling, and a group of disciples to the back mountains of the Sanqing Palace. Ke Dasheng personally led the disciples to guard the mountain gate, while he took Luo Ling and the rest of the disciples into the back mountains to clear the area.

After a carpet-style search, the group failed to find any traces of anyone or any demon spirits.

"Elder, I suggest we release a demon spirit as bait; otherwise, this person will not appear." Having learned from previous lessons, Luo Ling had reached a conclusion: there had to be a demon in the back mountains for this to work.

Elder Taiqing frowned deeply in thought. Looking at the forest that blotted out the sky, he muttered to himself in confusion, "Where on earth is this fellow hiding? How does he enter and exit the back mountain training grounds?"

A hundred questions stood before Elder Taiqing. He looked at Luo Ling and asked, "Have you checked every corner of the back mountains? Is it possible you missed somewhere?"

Luo Ling reported, "Elder, every place has been checked. The back mountains have always been the training grounds for disciples to catch demons; even demons cannot get out. Think about it—if there were a loophole, how could the demons not escape?"

Her analysis was thorough. Demons were already omnipresent and could move through any boundary; if even demons couldn't get out, how much more so a human?

Elder Taiqing let out a long sigh and could only nod, agreeing to Luo Ling's plan to continue using bait.

In their view, the best way to quickly find the outsider was certainly to release a demon spirit to lure them out.

Seeing that Elder Taiqing had nodded, Luo Ling turned and headed toward the back mountain training platform.

The back mountain training platform was a place where various demon spirits were sealed; whenever disciples needed practice, they could unseal them directly.

Looking at the demon spirits within the wall of partitioned slats, Luo Ling unsealed a fourth-rank demon spirit.

But after staring and thinking for a long time, Luo Ling gave up.

A terrifying idea suddenly popped into her head: unsealing a fifth-rank demon.

Fifth-rank demons possessed immense magical power and intelligence, and could transform into various forms.

Seeing that no one was around, Luo Ling secretly vowed that tonight, she would let this fifth-rank demon kill this uninvited guest.

Luo Ling closed her eyes tightly and began to gather her spiritual energy. Immediately after, a Bagua pattern appeared in her right palm.

Luo Ling struck the sealing talisman with her palm, and the talisman instantly burst into flames.

*Whoosh...*

*Hahaha...*

As a cloud of black smoke flew from the partition toward the forest, a burst of laughter followed close behind.

Watching the fifth-rank demon fly toward the forest, Luo Ling felt very satisfied.

But very quickly, she sensed danger. She instantly lowered her head, unfurled her long whip, and performed a roll, snapping the whip behind her with a loud *crack*.

Luo Ling's whip was elastic, capable of being both fierce and gentle. The sound of the whip was like ancient war drums, causing the demon to retreat upon hearing it.

A red-clad demon vanished instantly after taking a strike from the whip, only to flicker into existence around her.

"I released you, yet you try to kill me? Are you trying to repay kindness with enmity?" Luo Ling questioned.

The demon replied, "Hahahaha! You shameless people! You only released me so you could use me!"

And so, the duel between the fifth-rank demon and the five-thousand-rank demon hunter officially began...

Indeed, it was quite difficult for Luo Ling to take down this demon. After a period of trembling, Luo Ling saw no chance of victory.

Ultimately, she could only let the demon go and coordinate with Elder Taiqing to arrange a capture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At night,

An Zhi slowly opened her eyes, feeling as though the spiritual energy throughout her body was flowing smoothly.

In her dream just now, Meng Hong had helped An Zhi regulate the spiritual energy within her body.

After the commotion in the Great Hall today, An Zhi secretly vowed to cultivate diligently to make them see her in a new light.

"Sheba, Sheba!" An Zhi searched everywhere in the room for the spirit snake, but it was nowhere to be found.

After a fruitless search, An Zhi had a bold idea: she would go back to the back mountains alone tonight to check again.

Taking a sip of tea, An Zhi picked up the Yuhua Sword wrapped in cloth and headed down from the pavilion, acting sneakily as she prepared to circle around to the back.

"Oh no!"

An Zhi felt a chill down her spine. She turned her head slowly, unable to believe her eyes.

She saw Fan Jin standing under a peach tree like a ghost, leaning on his cane and watching her.

Awkward. It was all over.

"Un... Un... Uncle, why... why didn't you say anything?" An Zhi hurriedly hid the Yuhua Sword behind her back.

Hearing her voice, Fan Jin took two steps forward. "An Zhi, come, chop these logs. We need them for the bonfire tomorrow."

"Ah!" An Zhi was extremely depressed. Making her chop wood at this hour—was this old man out of his mind?

But having no choice, An Zhi could only hide the Yuhua Sword behind her back and walk awkwardly toward the woodpile behind Fan Jin.

"Put that hunk of iron here and take the axe." After saying this, Fan Jin turned and walked toward a chair.

*Hunk of iron!* An Zhi was certain that Fan Jin definitely knew she had taken the Yuhua Sword, and he knew even better that the cloth-wrapped object in her hand was the Yuhua Sword; otherwise, how would he know it was a "hunk of iron"?

"Hurry up, your Uncle needs to sleep." After saying this, Fan Jin picked up his wine gourd and began to drink.

"Oh, okay, okay." An Zhi snapped out of it and swung the axe to begin chopping wood. While busy with her hands, she asked, "Uncle, does it have to be tonight? Can't I just get up and chop them tomorrow morning?"

Fan Jin said with his eyes closed in leisure, "No, they are needed tomorrow."

...

And so, after an unknown amount of time, the wooden logs were chopped into pieces by An Zhi. Judging by her momentum and the quantity, she was no less capable than the male disciples.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, An Zhi straightened her back to stretch, only to see that Fan Jin was already snoring in his sleep. She muttered, "Whoa, the old man sleeps well."

"When one gets old, sleep must be good to ensure longevity," Fan Jin blurted out.

An Zhi was startled. "Uncle, you can hear me even when I'm whispering that softly?"

"I'm not deaf!" Fan Jin retorted. "Don't stop, keep going."

Half an hour later...

Fan Jin opened his eyes, looked at An Zhi who was currently stacking the wood, and nodded with satisfaction. He then looked up at the moon that had appeared overhead and murmured to himself, "Mm, almost enough, almost enough. The timing is just right."

An Zhi, drenched in sweat and exhausted like a dog, asked, "Uncle, what timing is just right?"

Fan Jin struggled to stand up with his cane, preparing to head toward the pavilion.

Suddenly, An Zhi noticed that the Yuhua Sword was glowing. Even though it was wrapped in cloth, the light inside could not be hidden.

An Zhi suddenly remembered something: the spirit snake had said that the Yuhua Sword actually recognizes its master.

Could this be a test? An Zhi felt she could no longer hide it, so she dropped the wood and stepped forward quickly to support him. "Uncle, the Yuhua Sword..."

"Yuhua Sword!" Fan Jin looked up and blurted out, "Right, it's on the sixth floor."

Before An Zhi could react, Fan Jin continued in a low voice, "Don't run around. There is a book on my table; take it and read it if you have nothing to do."

An Zhi blinked and gave a faint response, "Oh."

To hell with it. Once An Zhi saw that Fan Jin had gone upstairs, she nimbly finished stacking all the wood. She grabbed the sword and tried to squeeze through the back wall of the pavilion, but when she arrived, she was stunned—the dog hole was completely blocked.

The spirit snake had brought her to this dog hole, and she didn't know how long it had existed. Though called a dog hole, it was actually a narrow passage that required one to crawl for a long time to reach a haystack in the back mountains.

Now, the dog hole was blocked; a large chunk of earth was stuck directly inside the hole and had been physically reinforced.

With a sense of disappointment, An Zhi returned to the courtyard exhausted. Looking at the neatly stacked wood, she could only head upstairs helplessly.

Pushing open the door, An Zhi was surprised to find a book sitting on the square table. She remembered Fan Jin saying there was a book on the table for her to read, so she stepped forward and picked it up—*The Method of Spiritual Energy Regulation*.

An Zhi impatiently set down the Yuhua Sword and began to flip through it.

*The Method of Spiritual Energy Regulation* recorded the methods for regulating the spiritual energy within a demon hunter's body and how to balance it through several acupoints.

"This old man..." An Zhi murmured to herself in delight.

"This old man loves you." The spirit snake suddenly appeared at the window. "He just put it in there."

An Zhi said with certainty, "Then he definitely knows about my business and the Yuhua Sword."

"Nonsense. He's not senile. It's precisely because he has accepted you that the Yuhua Sword has accepted you. Otherwise, do you think you could just run around carrying the Yuhua Sword? It would have devoured you long ago." After saying this, the spirit snake jumped onto the table.

...

Late at night, in the back mountains.

Elder Taiqing and his group were lying in ambush in the back mountains, determined to capture the troublemaker in the Sanqing Mountains tonight.

But as time passed, even until the hour of the Tiger, there was still no movement...

(End of Chapter)