Ge Long smacked his lips, then snuck a glance at Lu Yun. There was something even bigger and tastier on his master’s body. If he could eat that, he would become even stronger.
However, Lu Yun ignored both the old servant and the monster spirit corpse.
Inside Jadeite Manor, the Scarlet Ape’s visage appeared upon the iron staff once more, this time with its face contorted in a snarl.
“Brats of the divines! Your overreach goes too far! Don’t think you can do whatever you like just because you saved me once!”
……
Ge Long wasn’t the only one following behind Lu Yun and Qing Han; Mo Chenfeng was bringing up the rear. The four of them were headed for the Mo clan’s accommodations here in Destiny City.
Because of what the old man had done only moments prior, the people around them dared not try their luck a second time. They could only watch as Lu Yun and company strolled through the city streets.
The group soon arrived at a different manor. This one also hovered in midair, but was inferior in many other respects compared to Jadeite Manor.
The Mo clansmen were shocked at their arrival with Mo Chenfeng in tow. After their origin dao immortal had been driven off by Scarlet Ape, he didn’t return to the clan residence. In light of that, Lu Yun’s appearance here seemed awfully condemnatory. Thus, it was natural for the Mos to be nervous.
“Where is Mo Qitian?” Lu Yun demanded, rising into the air.
“Senior brother Qitian isn’t here!” replied a girl. She sounded a little meek, but had nevertheless worked up the courage to respond in person. The Mo Clan was quite extensive, and many families and houses were entwined within. The girl had little blood relation to Mo Qitian, hence her referring to him as the ‘senior brother’.
“The forefather says Mo Chenfeng is a traitor…”
“Chenfeng is no traitor. Let us go inside.” Lu Yun’s voice softened and Mo Chenfeng smiled gratefully.
“Um, I…” The girl looked rather troubled, but in the next moment, the manor’s doors creaked open.
“Please, do come in.” A haggard middle-aged man emerged to address the sticky situation.
“Great-uncle!” Mo Chenfeng cried out when he saw the newcomer.
“Don’t worry about explaining. Inside first, yes?” The middle-aged man swept his gaze around the surroundings before receiving Lu Yun’s group into the manor.
After he stepped over the threshold, Lu Yun plastered a golden talisman on the middle-aged man’s body. The man was visibly confused at this, but hadn’t prevented his visitor from doing so. As an arcane dao immortal, he would’ve been able to easily avoid Lu Yun’s talisman if he’d wanted nothing to do with it.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked.
“This is my great-uncle Mo Qu. He should be…” Mo Chenfeng said hurriedly.
“We’ll talk in a moment.” Waving his hand, Lu Yun strode into the main hall alongside Ge Long and Qing Han.
Mo Qu glanced at Mo Chenfeng quizzically.
“The clan has been infiltrated. The forefather… might be compromised.” Mo Chenfeng shook his head as he transmitted.
His great-uncle paled and looked a bit ill as he plucked the golden talisman from his back.
“This talisman seems like it can deter ghosts and evil spirits… much like a Nineheavens Principal Talisman!” Mo Qu took a deep breath before quickly catching up to his friend.
Lu Yun’s eyes had turned an inky black; no malevolent spirit could hide from his Spectral Eye!
“The Mo Clan isn’t beyond salvation just yet,” he huffed in relief a moment later.
“If I may…” An old man came out from the back. He was the clan’s supervisor and chaperone here in this city, an eight-fruit arcane dao immortal expert.
After giving the old man a once-over, Lu Yun bowed. “Lu Yun of Dusk Province. Greetings, senior.”
“What?!” The old man’s eyes became the size of dinner plates. “You’re Lu Yun? That Lu Yun?”
As soon as he blurted out these words, he pulled back his voice with immortal energy. It was best not to risk someone overhearing if a stray puff of wind carried his words away.
“Please, come in, young friend!” The Mo elder hurriedly brought Lu Yun inside; he hadn’t expected the boy to actually come! If this was Lu Yun, the other youth had to be Qing Han.
At the same time, the reason why Lu Yun was here became clear.
Chenfeng must’ve invited him here! So why did the forefather… The old man’s face shifted through a spectrum of emotions. He turned his hands over, activating the local formation to seal off the space.
The Mo Clan had set it up themselves. As one of the greatest clans in the world, they would hardly entrust their safety to anyone else.
“Look at this, senior.” Lu Yun held a deep blue baby in his hands.
“This is… Chenfeng!” Mo Qu gasped; as Mo Chenfeng’s great-uncle, he knew the boy well. “That’s what he looked like when he was little! I remember—I baptized him when he was born!”
“What in the world is this?” the Mo elder quavered in concern. The baby looked identical to Mo Chenfeng, but it was clearly something much more sinister.
“It’s the shamanic soul planting art,” explained Lu Yun. “A soul seed is refined and planted into someone else’s soul. As it grows, it consumes, and eventually replaces, its host.”
The old man and Mo Qu exchanged deeply worried looks, immensely troubled by what they’d seen, and its ramifications.
“No wonder you stuck a Nineheavens Principal Talisman on me just now,” cried the latter.
“You had a soul seed within you as well, but the talisman has already gotten rid of it,” said Lu Yun.
Mo Qu couldn’t help shivering at the thought.
“Qitian is a friend of mine, I must look into why someone has used soul planting on him.” Lu Yun was very much intent on finding out the truth behind the Sword of Chaos’ owner. Mo Qitian, Zi Chen, and Wu Tulong were the only leads he had.
“So something really has happened to him!” The Mo elder and Mo Qu were appalled. They had noticed Mo Qitian’s abnormalities already, but had initially attributed it to a personality change after his encounter with the Dao Flower.
Reality was often much uglier than speculation.
“Who did he meet with after returning to the Mo clan? Be as detailed as possible!” Lu Yun demanded.
“Forefather Mo Xun! After Qitian returned, the forefather took him away on a journey for further training… the one who went to Jadeite Manor just now was also him!”
“Mo Xun?” The young man furrowed his eyebrows.
“Milord, the old guy from before didn’t have a human soul. He was a ritual divine spirit.” Ge Long piped up suddenly.
“Yes. Forefather Mo Xun is the guardian spirit for our clan. He was born of sacrifice and worship in one of the mortal nations under our rule. However, he already rejected his divinity in favor of kinship with us.”
“Do you mean… impossible! Forefather Mo Xun can’t have betrayed us!” The old man choked up.
“There’s nothing impossible about anything,” advised Lu Yun. “Can you find Mo Qitian for me?”