Chapter 311
Chapter 311
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 311
Chapter Title: Chapter 311 Eleven years ago, the battle to seize the Taoist fetus
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Chen Shi's gaze met Zhuang Wujiu's eyes. Zhuang Wujiu gave him a faint smile and took Chen Shi's dossier from the hands of Venerable Lord Guangxiao.
Chen Shi withdrew his gaze and left the Hanlin Academy.
"This Zhuang Wujiu... who exactly is he?"
His heart was unable to calm down for a moment. Zhuang Wujiu had only said a few words to him, but they revealed a great deal of information!
First, Zhuang Wujiu had seen Chen Shi eleven years ago!
Second, when Zhuang Wujiu saw Chen Shi, his Innate Dao Embryo was still intact, and Chen Shi had not yet died!
Third, Zhuang Wujiu knew that Chen Shi's Innate Dao Embryo had been cut away, plunging him into death! Fourth, Zhuang Wujiu's status was above even that of the Heavenly Listeners!
The first three points indicated that Zhuang Wujiu very likely knew who had taken Chen Shi's Innate Dao Embryo!
It was even possible that the person was Zhuang Wujiu himself! And his relationship with the Heavenly Listeners was also highly suspicious.
The Heavenly Listeners were already extremely mysterious, like people from another world.
Though they lived in the West Ox New Continent just like everyone else and looked human, they did not fit in with ordinary people at all.
Their movements were elusive, their habits a complete enigma. No one had ever seen them eat, sleep, piss, or shit!
They seemed not to need any of those functions! And yet they could be seen everywhere.
Around the residences of high officials, Heavenly Listeners often appeared. Flapping their large ears, they floated in the air, hung upside down from trees, squatted on rooftops, stood amid crowds, listening to their targets' words and monitoring their actions, faithfully recording it all.
They also surveilled those they deemed dangerous. There were often such Heavenly Listeners around Chen Shi.
They appeared at sites of major events to record them. They even took direct action, strangling those they saw as threats.
Their intelligence was far more accurate than that of the West Capital court. They knew everything happening in the world, everything in the West Ox New Continent.
Even stranger were their abilities. Even the spells and divine powers of the lowliest Heavenly Listener Apostle surpassed many juren scholars and could rival numerous clan experts.
They could transform their vital energy and blood into multiple arms—a rare and precious combat technique known to only a handful of cultivators. But they used it merely to make recording easier.
Their ears could grow to any size, a feat in the realm of creation arts. Most cultivators had little understanding of such arts. Fleshly transformations were limited to evil methods like beast-creation techniques or Buddhism's thirty-three-foot golden body.
Stronger Heavenly Listener Deacons even possessed abilities akin to the Ghost God Domain, causing ears to sprout all around to aid in their surveillance.
Where did the Heavenly Listeners come from? Were they truly human or some other creature? Who gave them their orders? Where did they send the intelligence they gathered?
Chen Shi had no way of knowing.
Now, Zhuang Wujiu's appearance made him realize that the Heavenly Listeners were likely commanded by figures like him.
But where had Zhuang Wujiu come from?
"Still, if Zhuang Wujiu thinks he can get accurate information about me from the Heavenly Listeners, he's dreaming."
Chen Shi let out a breath. There were indeed many Heavenly Listeners outside the Chen Manor, and they often appeared around him during his daily travels, eavesdropping and spying on his every word and deed. But what they saw and heard was only what Chen Shi allowed them to see and hear.
Because Blackie Pot was always by Chen Shi's side, everything the Heavenly Listeners perceived had been tampered with by Blackie Pot.
In the Hanlin Academy's scholarly palace.
Zhuang Wujiu sat upright when suddenly his neck emitted a series of cracking sounds. In the blink of an eye, heads sprouted one after another from his neck, arms burrowed out from under his ribs, unfurling the dossier and flipping through it at high speed.
He still found it too slow. One head struggled outward, actually growing a full body from within, which stood up and separated from the main body.
The other heads followed suit, each emerging from the main body. Eyes grew in their foreheads, palms, and even the tips of their ten fingers. Eyeballs spun, rapidly scanning Chen Shi's dossier.
The Heavenly Listeners had compiled a dedicated volume on Chen Shi, recording his daily meals and routines, who he encountered, what he said, and which matters warranted vigilance.
The dossier flipped on its own, pages rustling by. Soon Zhuang Wujiu had gone through a tenth of it. He frowned slightly. The other three Zhuang Wujius walked over one by one, merging back into his flesh, their heads successively vanishing into his body.
"Something's wrong. What the Heavenly Listeners recorded is completely off."
Zhuang Wujiu waved his hand, and the dossier on the table instantly burned to ashes.
The Heavenly Listeners' records contained some useful tidbits, but most were fabrications. Finding the truth amid the flood of fakes was next to impossible. He didn't even know if the so-called truths were traps deliberately left by Chen Shi, so he might as well ignore it all.
"That Child Scholar is quite interesting. As expected of someone granted an Innate Dao Embryo by the True God—truly extraordinary. Even without the Dao Embryo, he's no ordinary man."
Zhuang Wujiu praised him, murmuring, "I'd love to know how strong you'd be now if you'd survived with the Dao Embryo. I'd love to see you again. But business comes first."
Chen Shi returned to the Chen Manor, where Zhang You was already waiting at the gate. Blackie Pot lay under a wooden cart nearby.
Zhang You smiled and asked, "Young Master Chen, have you already met Zhuang Wujiu?"
Chen Shi glanced in surprise at Blackie Pot and asked, "How did you know I'd meet him, Brother Zhang?"
"Because I met him first."
Zhang You said, "I should have notified you ahead of time, but Zhuang Wujiu's background is too great. I could only come here to see you after your meeting. And I had to borrow Blackie Pot's power to hoodwink the Heavenly Listeners' perceptions."
Chen Shi gestured for him to enter the manor for a detailed talk and smiled. "Brother Zhang knows about Blackie Pot?"
Zhang You laughed. "A few days ago, my clan elder was in the West Capital and sensed a mysterious expert by your side trying to alter people's perceptions around you. He knew it was Blackie Pot's doing. As for coming to the Chen Manor to talk... no need. The Chen Manor has already been infiltrated by the great clans like a sieve. Better to chat a bit right here on the street."
He hesitated, then said, "I can't tell you much, but everything I can say, I will. Eleven years ago, my Zhang clan's former sect master was awakened upon hearing of the Innate Dao Embryo's birth. He took me—only eight at the time—straight to Xinxian County."
Chen Shi's body trembled slightly. He couldn't help shivering, knowing what he was about to describe. Blackie Pot suddenly perked up, crawling out from under the cart onto the street, warily scanning all around for eavesdroppers.
"The Zhang clan has influence across all fifty provinces of the West Ox New Continent, with eyes and ears everywhere. So we learned of the True God's granting of the Innate Dao Embryo right away."
Zhang You stood by the wall, reminiscing. "Because it was so important, the clan elders awakened the former sect master. By then, I was being groomed as the next sect master, having obtained a first-grade Divine Embryo at eight—the Violet Jade Divine Embryo. But all the elders agreed the Innate Dao Embryo was superior. Since a severed Divine Embryo couldn't be preserved long, the former sect master had to bring me along. When I arrived in Xinxian County, I found no shortage of children brought by their clan elders."
He spoke leisurely, recounting his memories of that incident in Xinxian County.
At the time, only eight, he had no idea what the Innate Dao Embryo everyone was fighting over signified. He didn't know anyone or where the other children came from, but the former sect master was familiar with the elders behind them. They'd exchange jokes upon meeting, everyone laughing heartily and teasing each other.
In hindsight, those children must have been prized seedlings from other clans, escorted by sect master-level figures to Xinxian County in a bid to seize and transplant the Innate Dao Embryo on the spot.
"Though I don't remember the details clearly, I can say for sure that basically all thirteen great clans had a hand in it."
Zhang You said, "Besides the thirteen great clans, the former sect master was also very respectful to one child. That was the Young Master in his youth—the former sect master called him 'Young Master' too."
Chen Shi raised an eyebrow. The Young Master had taken part in that struggle back then too?
"The Young Master was a bit older than me, already twelve or thirteen—like you now."
Zhang You said, "Aside from the Young Master, the former sect master was also deferential to a few oddly dressed people, chatting and laughing with them. While the adults talked, us kids gathered to play. None of us were of age yet, so we were all innocent and had a great time. As for the clashes and fights among the adults, we didn't meddle or hold grudges, even against rivals. Zhuang Wujiu was among them."
Chen Shi lightly raised a brow. "The Young Master once said he knew exactly who took the Innate Dao Embryo. Could it be Zhuang Wujiu?"
Zhang You hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't know. Who actually got the Innate Dao Embryo... even my Zhang clan's former sect master didn't know. He was wounded in that struggle and fled back to the clan with me in sorry shape. The battle at Xinxian killed far too many—elite among elites. Many smaller clans sent their best and lost them all, wiped out entirely. I was just a Divine Embryo Realm child then; I didn't understand much. But Zhuang Wujiu did say one thing to me: he said he came from Despair Slope."
Chen Shi's heart pounded fiercely twice.
The term Despair Slope had once been mentioned to him by Little Five the Creator.
Little Five the Creator had coerced the thirteen great clans with the lives of countless West Capital residents, crushing their ancestors and forcing Li clan's Grand Ancestor Li Yiran and Supreme Ancestor Li Ganfeng to tell him who had killed Chen Shi and taken the Innate Dao Embryo.
At that time, the thirteen great clans' ancestors told Little Five the Creator that the killer who took the Dao Embryo was surely tied to whatever lay behind Despair Slope.
Afterward, Little Five the Creator had vanished without a trace.
And this Zhuang Wujiu was actually from Despair Slope!
"Back then, the people from Despair Slope brought more than just Zhuang Wujiu—two other children, a boy and a girl. But I only got along with Zhuang Wujiu and the Young Master and such. I didn't click with them; I don't know their names."
Zhang You said, "After that, I parted ways with Zhuang Wujiu. The Young Master left the Ren clan for the Zheng Prince's Mansion in Bath Capital. Later I heard about the massive upheaval in the West Capital, with so many deaths, and learned your grandfather had stormed in. Young Master Chen, that's all I can tell you."
Chen Shi looked at him deeply. "What about the Heavenly Listeners? You must know something about them, Brother Zhang. I just saw Venerable Lord Guangxiao among them kneeling to Zhuang Wujiu."
Zhang You hesitated, then said, "I've heard from clan elders that the Heavenly Listeners' origins are ancient beyond measure. Not long after the Great Ming subjects set foot on the West Ox New Continent, the Heavenly Listeners appeared. They surveil the Great Ming subjects' every move, recording their words and deeds."
Chen Shi blurted out, "They're not human?"
Zhang You hesitated a moment. "They might not be the same kind of humans as us. These Heavenly Listeners could come from Despair Slope too, obeying its commands. Young Master Chen, I should go."
He surely knew more but couldn't say. Chen Shi didn't press him.
"Brother Zhang, why are you helping me?"
Zhang You smiled. "Maybe because my Zhang clan owes you from back then."
Chen Shi stared into his eyes. Zhang You hesitated, then decided to tell the truth. "I don't think the Zhang clan owes you anything—after all, we didn't get your Innate Dao Embryo. The reason I'm telling you this is because you pulled me out of that Buddhist hell. You didn't just save my life—you saved my Dao heart. To be honest, I really did plan to roast and eat that Jade Spirit Child back then. I was so hungry..."
He fell silent for a moment. "But I knew that if I ate a person, my Dao heart would be trapped in Buddhist hell forever. Even if I escaped, it would sink there, unable to break free! You saved me."
"At eight, I learned of you—the number one child scholar across the fifty provinces, a peerless talent. I also learned of your death. Later, when I heard you'd come back to life and were taking this spring examination, I wanted to meet you, to see what made you so extraordinary that the True God would grant you a superior Divine Embryo. I came with some competitive spirit at first. But after you saved me, I lost that entirely."
"As the Zhang clan's next heir, I'll one day lead the clan and must prioritize its interests. I might even end up your enemy. So while I'm still young and hold some scholar's pride, repaying your salvation a little is my modest way of showing thanks."
He paused there, then continued, "If we become enemies in the future, Young Master Chen, please remember: for the clan's sake, I won't hold back just because you saved me and my Dao heart. I hope you won't either. Farewell."
He bowed deeply.
Chen Shi returned the bow. By the time he straightened, Zhang You had already turned and left.
Chen Shi watched him go, then smiled. "Blackie Pot, this guy's interesting. I suddenly remember—when I led the juren to the Nine Palaces to kill the Young Master, he was standing right behind me, bolstering my presence. Turns out among the clan scions, aside from Li Tianqing, there are good ones too. Blackie Pot, let's go! We'll tail Zhuang Wujiu and see what the guy's up to!"
His interest piqued, he headed straight for the Hanlin Academy with Blackie Pot. But upon arrival, he couldn't find Zhuang Wujiu. Chen Shi was puzzled when Blackie Pot stared at the ground and barked twice.
"Zhuang Wujiu's in the underworld? What's he doing there?"
Chen Shi was astonished. Blackie Pot stamped its paw, yin winds stirred, and it dragged him down into the underworld!