Chapter 38: Assimilation

“Junior Brother, are you alright?”

A white-robed Senior Brother arrived riding a crane; his face was very young, but two streaks of frost-white hair hung from his temples.

Upon his arrival, the thunder in the sky regained its calm and slowly grew silent.

The crane hovered in mid-air. Bai Yuchuan saw the longsword in Qin Wu’s hand and said with a smile in his eyes, “To still have the courage to draw your sword against an invincible enemy is very good.”

“…”

Qin Wu silently sheathed his sword, acting as if this Senior Brother hadn’t seen his attempt at self-harm.

“Thank you for saving me, Senior Brother!”

He put on the appearance of a survivor, his eyes full of gratitude as he looked at Bai Yuchuan, while inwardly, his vigilance continued to rise.

From the first moment he saw this Senior Brother, he felt a strange sense of closeness and dependence toward him.

This was definitely not right.

Bai Yuchuan saw that although he was in a sorry state, he was largely unharmed. His gaze swept over Consort Lian’s beautiful head before landing on the Thunder Beast, which was eager to strike at him.

“I will have someone help ripen your thunder spirit flower for you. Once you Breakthrough to the Golden Core stage, you can go to the Startling Thunder Platform. Take care of yourself from now on.”

After hearing Bai Yuchuan’s words, the Thunder Beast stared at him for a long time. Gradually, the hostility on its body vanished, its form dispersed, and it turned back into a sky full of blood-colored thunder.

Bai Yuchuan then collected the thunder spirit flower into his sleeve.

“Let’s go.”

He flicked his sleeve, and Qin Wu was wrapped in a gentle breeze and brought onto the crane. With a slight flutter of wings, the two were taken outside the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley.

“The Thunder Beast has completely awakened and reached the Foundation Establishment Stage; it’s no longer suitable as a mission location.”

Bai Yuchuan looked at the thunder that no longer returned to its blue-purple color and shook his head slightly. He formed a hand seal to seal off the area to prevent anyone from entering by mistake.

“Once it ascends to the Golden Core stage, the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley will be no more.” He sighed.

Qin Wu looked at Bai Yuchuan in confusion.

Speaking of which, he had arrived with such a fierce Aura that Qin Wu thought he was going to slay the Thunder Beast on the spot, but instead, he helped it ripen the thunder spirit flower without any punishment.

Although the two who died were his enemies, was this Senior Brother just going to ignore it?

The crane was already flying back, but he didn’t know where they were going. Bai Yuchuan saw Qin Wu’s questioning gaze and said, “This riot in the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley has alerted the Law Enforcement Disciples. We are heading to the Discipline Hall.”

Qin Wu’s body stiffened for a moment. Come to think of it, if he hadn’t cut down the Stone Lotus for that damned mission, the Foundation Establishment Stage Thunder Beast wouldn’t have awakened.

So, one could say he was the culprit behind it all; what punishment would he face?

Bai Yuchuan seemed not to notice Qin Wu’s heavy mood as he asked, “Do you know the cause of the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley’s creation?”

Qin Wu was stunned for a moment. Coincidentally, Sun Qiankun had mentioned it before he died. “I know. I heard it was caused by the sword wind from a certain Senior Brother’s practice.”

“That Senior Brother’s name is Xuan Ting. His residence is the Startling Thunder Platform, which is shrouded in terrifying thunder year-round.” Bai Yuchuan nodded, revealing this as if in casual conversation.

Consort Lian also crawled onto Qin Wu’s shoulder, listening with great interest.

“Those powerful experts are very terrifying.” Bai Yuchuan chuckled in a heavy tone.

“As long as they don’t exercise control, their every move will assimilate their surroundings. The Startling Thunder Platform is like that, and so is the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley.”

“It was merely a sliver of Aura unintentionally leaked by Senior Brother Xuan Ting that created the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley. The thunder there has developed intelligence; once it reaches the Golden Core stage, it can enter the Startling Thunder Platform and become a Disciple under Senior Brother’s tutelage.”

Bai Yuchuan seemed to be explaining why he didn’t punish the Thunder Beast—the backer behind it was simply untouchable.

“Is all the thunder in the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley a part of that Thunder Beast?” Qin Wu asked.

He was already well aware of this ‘Assimilation’ by powerful experts.

To highlight the horror and eeriness of the world’s background, the game company had referenced some eldritch gods when setting the abilities of the Cultivators.

Rather than calling it Assimilation, he preferred to call it Pollution.

High-level Cultivators unconsciously emit an Aura that distorts everything around them; whether living or inanimate, everything gradually tends toward the characteristics of the Cultivator themselves.

Leaving no will of their own.

This was also why there were so many red locations in the Taixu Holy Land that were inaccessible; those places likely harbored some kind of Pollution that they could not resist.

Bai Yuchuan thought he would be curious about the powerful experts, but he hadn’t expected him to ask this. He nodded and replied, “Correct. Once it leaves, the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley will become an ordinary mountain peak.”

Qin Wu wanted to ask more, but he saw the disciple jade talisman hanging at his waist turn a ghastly red.

The spiritual energy within him began to boil, and small bumps kept bulging on his skin, as if something were about to sprout.

Bai Yuchuan immediately formed a hand seal with one hand and placed a protective shield over Qin Wu. “We have reached the Foundation Establishment area. Your cultivation is too low. To prevent you from being assimilated, I’ve put an isolation shield on you; you’ll be fine for a short while.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother.” The abnormality on his body vanished, and Qin Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

The physical symptoms were nothing; he was only afraid of his consciousness being distorted.

Actually, meeting a single Foundation Establishment Stage wouldn’t be an issue, but unfortunately, there were too many of them here.

The two arrived at the Discipline Hall.

The scene inside was much as Qin Wu had imagined: the architectural style was cold and harsh, the atmosphere solemn and murderous. The Law Enforcement Disciples within were all solemn and brimming with killing intent, making the gentle Bai Yuchuan stand out exceptionally.

“I brought you to the Discipline Hall mainly to ask what exactly happened in the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley.”

Bai Yuchuan led Qin Wu into a side hall of the Discipline Hall. Inside, there was only a table and an incense burner. He stepped forward and lit the fine incense in the burner, and white smoke curled upward.

Qin Wu twitched his nose, smelling a faint scent of sandalwood. At the same time, the emotions in his heart calmed down like still water.

“Senior Brother.” A Disciple wearing a black, gold-woven law robe walked in. A bronze token engraved with the characters ‘Mingfa’ hung at his waist.

“This is my Junior Brother, Su Yan,” Bai Yuchuan said.

Su Yan held a palm-sized white jade ritual plate. He glanced at Qin Wu and silently stood behind Bai Yuchuan.

Qin Wu cupped his hands toward him and said with a smile, “Greetings, Senior Brother Su.”

Su Yan nodded coldly to him.

“This is the Discipline Hall’s lie-detecting treasure, the Heart-Reflecting Plate. If what is said is false, the crystal bead will manifest black miasma and burn the speaker’s Meridians.”

Bai Yuchuan took the white jade ritual plate from Su Yan’s hand. A pigeon-blood red crystal was embedded in the center of the plate. He lowered his eyes, pressed down on the plate, and lightly touched the crystal bead with his fingertip.

“The Heart-Reflecting Plate is activated. Junior Brother, could you tell me what happened in the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley?”

Qin Wu was silent for a moment before answering, “Not long ago, Senior Brother Sun Qiankun invited me to participate in a mission to collect thunder spirit liquid. I entered the Thunder Fissure Secluded Valley with him and a Junior Sister who also belongs to the Taixu Sect.”

At this point, a visible anger appeared between Qin Wu’s brows. “Who would have thought that he would actually murder me during the thunderstorm, causing me to fall into the Thunder Pool!”

“Why did he want to kill you?” Su Yan frowned and asked subconsciously.

“Su Yan!” Bai Yuchuan’s expression darkened as he scolded rarely, “Shut up! Let him finish!”

Qin Wu didn’t answer Su Yan, as if he hadn’t heard him, and continued, “Later, Sun Qiankun threatened Junior Sister to get the thunder spirit liquid for him and plotted for a Qi Refining Stage Thunder Beast to kill her. Hiding at the bottom of the Thunder Pool, I saw Junior Sister was no match for it, so shortly after, I cut down that Stone Lotus.”

Clearly, every sentence was the truth, but when put together, he became the poor little thing who was forced to awaken the Foundation Establishment Thunder Beast to save his Junior Sister.

“So, did you kill those two Disciples?” Bai Yuchuan asked.