Chapter 00324: Wronged
# Wronged
Chapter 324
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 324: Wronged
"Using luck to cultivate?" Lan Xiaobu was even more puzzled.
If it was about stripping someone else's spiritual roots to enhance one's own, he could somewhat understand.
He had seen spirit grafting before, where one completely replaces their own spiritual roots with someone else's.
But using luck to cultivate? That was something Lan Xiaobu had never heard of.
Zhao Gongming spoke gravely, "To be able to use the luck of the Mo Xuan Immortal Domain for cultivation, the level of this array disk must be extraordinary, definitely beyond the scope of the Immortal World. As for using luck to cultivate, I've seen plenty of that. But nothing as heaven-defying as this luck array disk. In the cultivation world, anything can be used for cultivation. Not just luck, but even karma, merit, souls, essence blood, and malice can all be used for cultivation."
Lan Xiaobu thought of the Nightmare Demon, which likely used emotions for cultivation.
He never expected Shi Qi to have access to such a high-level array disk.
Zhao Gongming pointed at the large array disk and said, "This thing is remarkable, Xiaobu, you should take it. It's a good item, but the person using it didn't know how to use it properly. Using a luck array disk for cultivation is practically asking for death. That Shi Qi was lucky you took him out early, otherwise, he would have eventually been overwhelmed by the backlash of the luck and perished. The luck of an entire realm is immense; how could a mere Immortal Venerable like him hope to control it?"
"Alright," Lan Xiaobu didn't hesitate.
With a wave of his hand, he threw down several array flags and quickly stored the array disk into his Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
He suspected this array disk wasn't as simple as it seemed.
Given how arrogant Shi Qi had been earlier, it seemed like he had some powerful backing.
After storing the array disk, Lan Xiaobu said, "It seems Yang Cang won't be here. This place is Shi Qi's most secretive location. Someone like Yang Cang, who isn't that important..."
Before he could finish, Lan Xiaobu felt something was off.
He threw out a few more array flags, and another hidden array gate opened, revealing a few prison cells.
All but one of the cells were empty.
In the occupied cell, a white-haired man lay sprawled on the ground.
From the fluctuations of his aura, Lan Xiaobu could tell he had been tortured severely but wasn't dead yet.
Lan Xiaobu stepped forward and pulled the white-haired man out.
A multicolored immortal mushroom turned into mist and enveloped the man, while Lan Xiaobu also took out a nourishing immortal pill and fed it to him.
Zhao Gongming chuckled, "How many of those multicolored immortal mushrooms did you manage to get?"
"A small pile. I'll give you some later," Lan Xiaobu grinned.
The place where the mushrooms grew had been nearly stripped clean by him.
Thinking of the multicolored immortal mushrooms, Lan Xiaobu thought of Liu Li.
He wondered how she was doing.
He'd have to ask the Forbidden Immortal Bureau to look for her when he got back.
"I really don't know anything else..."
The white-haired man woke up under the effects of the mushroom and pill, his eyes still closed as he muttered.
Lan Xiaobu clasped his hands and asked, "Are you Yang Cang, fellow Daoist?"
Hearing this, the white-haired man opened his eyes in surprise and glanced around in confusion.
Before he could speak, Lan Xiaobu quickly explained, "Shi Qi has been crippled by me and is now in the custody of the Forbidden Immortal Bureau. I came here looking for you, Yang Cang. Are you him?"
Hearing that Shi Qi had been captured, the man's spirit lifted slightly, though he still seemed uneasy.
"Shi Qi has really been captured?"
Lan Xiaobu nodded, "Of course. Think about it, if Shi Qi hadn't been taken down, how could I be here? I'm from the Forbidden Immortal Bureau. Shi Qi has committed too many crimes over the years, and now he's finally getting what he deserves."
"Thank you, thank you..."
The man's lips trembled as he muttered his thanks, finally calming down a bit.
"I am Yang Cang."
Lan Xiaobu was delighted, "That's great. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."
Shi Qi had wanted answers from Yang Cang, so he had only tortured him without crippling him.
With the help of the multicolored immortal mushroom and the nourishing pill, Yang Cang had regained some strength.
"Feel free to ask, fellow Daoist. I'll tell you everything I know," Yang Cang took a deep breath and bowed slightly to Lan Xiaobu, expressing his gratitude for being saved.
Lan Xiaobu asked, "Since you saved Shi Yan, and I heard she's from the Five Realms Immortal World, I'd like to know more about it. Can you tell me?"
At the mention of Shi Yan, Yang Cang's eyes reddened, and he immediately said, "Fellow Daoist, since you're from the Forbidden Immortal Bureau, I must tell you that Shi Yan was wronged. Her feelings for her Dao companion were genuine. She never intended to kill him, nor did she have an affair with anyone. It was all a setup, a series of unfortunate coincidences."
Lan Xiaobu was taken aback.
He was familiar with this case, as Ju Xiuruo had personally told him about it.
Ju Xiuruo had been arrested by the Forbidden Immortal Bureau for killing Shi Yan and Yang Bugeng.
According to Ju Xiuruo, Shi Yan and Yang Bugeng had conspired to kill her brother, Ju Chengsang.
Ju Xiuruo claimed that Shi Yan and Ju Chengsang were Dao companions.
Later, Shi Yan had an affair with Yang Bugeng, and the two of them conspired to kill Ju Chengsang.
However, this was all one-sided, and Lan Xiaobu hadn't paid much attention to the case between Ju Chengsang and Shi Yan.
His focus had been on the flames, so he hadn't investigated deeply.
Now that he was looking into the Five Realms Immortal World, this case resurfaced, and Lan Xiaobu decided to settle it while he was at it.
He clasped his hands and said, "In that case, fellow Daoist Yang, please tell me what really happened."
"Alright," Yang Cang nodded.
"This matter goes back twelve years. At the time, I was searching for fragments of magical artifacts in the ancient battlefield of Mo Xuan when I came across Shi Yan, who was on the verge of death."
Lan Xiaobu thought to himself that whether in the mortal or immortal world, survival was equally harsh.
Yang Cang was among the lowest tier of cultivators, forced to scavenge for fragments in ancient battlefields.
If they were lucky, they might find decent fragments to sell for some cultivation resources.
Ancient battlefields were places with scarce spiritual energy, having been picked over countless times.
It was unlikely to find anything valuable there.
"I saved Shi Yan and brought her back. She told me she was from the Five Realms Immortal World. When I asked how she got here, she said she was being hunted and had no way out, so she fled into a void array gate in an extremely cold region..."
At this point, Lan Xiaobu wondered if Shi Yan had fled into the same void array gate he had seen the Nightmare Demon emerge from.
But then he thought it was unlikely, as that gate seemed to be for exiting, not entering.
"That void array gate transported her over an immense distance. Although she had a protective treasure, she was still severely injured when she landed."
Lan Xiaobu asked, puzzled, "She landed in the ancient battlefield of Mo Xuan?"
"Yes, the place she was transported to was the ancient battlefield," Yang Cang confirmed.
Lan Xiaobu's eyes showed a hint of disappointment.
If this was a one-way teleportation, even if he went to the ancient battlefield, he wouldn't find a way back.
Such teleportations were usually unidirectional.
Though Yang Cang wasn't doing well in life, he was quite perceptive.
Seeing Lan Xiaobu's expression, he immediately said, "Shi Yan said the way back to the Five Realms Immortal World is still in the ancient battlefield of Mo Xuan, but that array gate is hard to find. Shi Yan had been searching for it, and though she hadn't found that gate, she did find another one that could teleport directly to the Wu Mu Market. When she found that gate, she was ambushed, and Ju Chengsang saved her. After they met, they hit it off and became Dao companions."
Lan Xiaobu wondered if the Wu Mu Market teleportation gate Yang Cang mentioned was the place where he had taken the flames.
He had always thought that place was discovered by Ju Xiuruo, but it turned out to be Shi Yan.
"After Shi Yan and Ju Chengsang became Dao companions, they were deeply in love. How could she possibly conspire with a scoundrel like Yang Bugeng to kill her own Dao companion?" Yang Cang was clearly still troubled by Shi Yan's fate, his eyes reddening as he spoke, showing how much he cared for her.
"So, Ju Xiuruo misunderstood her?" Lan Xiaobu asked, confused.
Yang Cang sighed, "At the time, Shi Yan was also searching for something else—the Nine-Colored Void Lotus. Coincidentally, Yang Bugeng was the Dao companion of Ju Chengsang's sister. He was the illegitimate son of the Jing King and once casually mentioned that the Jing King's mansion had a Nine-Colored Void Lotus. When Shi Yan heard this, she became interested, as she had always wanted a Nine-Colored Void Lotus. What she didn't know was that Yang Bugeng had been eyeing her for a long time. Once, Yang Bugeng invited Shi Yan to join him in searching an abandoned immortal herb garden for some spirit herbs. Shi Yan, wanting to gather information about the Nine-Colored Void Lotus from the Jing King's mansion, agreed. Little did she know that during this search, she would find a Three-Segmented Sun Fruit. Yang Bugeng knew that Ju Chengsang had issues with his spiritual roots and needed the Three-Segmented Sun Fruit to heal. When Shi Yan found the fruit, she was overjoyed, unaware that it had been tampered with by Yang Bugeng. She took the fruit back and made a potion for Ju Chengsang to drink. After drinking it, Ju Chengsang died immediately. At that moment, Yang Bugeng came looking for Shi Yan. In her grief, Shi Yan hadn't yet realized it was Yang Bugeng's doing and muttered that she had killed Ju Chengsang. Yang Bugeng took the opportunity to place his hand on Shi Yan's arm, pretending to comfort her..."
"Was it at that moment that Ju Chengsang's sister, Ju Xiuruo, arrived and saw everything?" Lan Xiaobu thought to himself, what a twist of fate.
Yang Cang sighed and nodded, "Yes, the moment Shi Yan saw Ju Xiuruo, she knew she had been framed. She didn't explain immediately but instead sent me a message with all the details wrapped in her divine sense... Alas, after that, I never saw Shi Yan again, until I heard that she and Yang Bugeng had both been killed by Ju Xiuruo."
Lan Xiaobu, however, had a lingering doubt: How had Ju Xiuruo managed to kill both Yang Bugeng and Shi Yan at the same time?
(That's all for today's update.
Goodnight, friends!)
(End of Chapter)