The young songstress left after collecting her tip.
As for Old Master Chu, he stood up and began wandering around his manor with a smile. An old servant followed behind him. As the Chu family was a large family clan with three Connate cultivators, its manor occupied a huge plot of land.
“Young Master, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” A barefooted female slave was running away in horror. Her clothes were tattered and there were signs of damage on her face and clothes, stains of what appeared to be bloody whip lashings.
“You still dare to run? The faster you run, the worse you will die!”
A colorful-robed youth was running behind her while brandishing a whip angrily.
“What’s happening?” When Old Master Chu heard the female slave’s scream, he could not help but frown.
“The eldest son of the Third Concubine, Young Master Meilun, is teaching his servant a lesson,” said the old servant behind him.
“A servant is still a human. How can he act with such impunity?” Old Master Chu walked over to a yard. With that, the old servant immediately shouted first, “Young Master, aren’t you stopping?”
When the colorful-robed youth heard the shout, he looked up and was given a shock when he saw Old Master Chu. Immediately he reverently knelt down and kowtowed, “Old Master.”
“Ridiculous. Is this how you treat your servants? How can you act this way?” Old Master Chu bellowed. “Ground him and make him reflect on his actions for three days. Old Zhong, arrange for someone to treat this lass.”
“Yes.” The colorful-robed youth listened obediently and did not dare refute.
“I’ll see to it,” replied the old servant respectfully.
The female slave knelt down too and said gratefully, “Thank you, Old Master.”
Soon, the female slave was taken away by the other servants. Old Master Chu also left with his old servant.
Only then did the colorful-robed youth stand up as he grumbled. “Here I am on my own ground beating my slave. Yet, Old Master still wants to meddle in my affairs! Seriously… The Chu family is so huge, why must he wander around? He goes wherever he pleases in this manor. By right, each estate can do as they please on their property! Even if he wants to come, he has to at least give word before coming. But Old Master simply goes anywhere he wants. Grandfather is another one. All he does is keep Old Master happy.”
His grandfather was at the Connate True Core realm, and was Li Mountain Sect’s sect master. He was extremely filial and gave Old Master Chu free reign over the premises… Naturally, no one in the manor dared to go against him.
…
“Where is it?” Old Master Chu walked randomly through the Chu household. It caused quite a stir in the various estates as everyone within them knelt down when they saw him.
“I can sense its attraction towards me. I am certain that it is hidden within five hundred meters of this area.” Old Master Chu knitted his brows as he narrowed his eyes while looking casually everywhere. “It’s been more than ten thousand years. I have thought of every method possible! Deep probing with a Dao domain and a carpet search using Dharmic powers have been done. I’ve even flattened several kilometers around this area. I even dug up all the mud, reducing everything to powder! No matter what method I use, nothing changes according to what I can sense. It still hides within five hundred meters.”
“Over the past ten thousand years, I have used all sorts of statuses to be able to keep living here.”
“I can constantly sense it but I just can’t find it.”
“That silly nine-headed bird came to the Great Chang world. Not only did it fail to gain any benefits, it even lost its life. It also lost its treasures. What a silly fool!” Old Master Chu was resentful.
As Qin Yun had swept through Li Mountain City with his Dao domain, it prompted Old Master Chu to walk through the manor and carefully observe with only his eyes. He did not use any special methods. He only used his Dharmic powers once every several years. He usually kept up his facade.
******
After Qin Yun left the restaurant, he opened his Eye of Lightning and walked along the streets.
At this realm, no one could see or discover him despite him walking plainly on the streets.
“Using this spot as a starting point, I’ll sweep the region area by area until I’ve searched the entire Li Mountain City! If Immortal Cloudgrace’s cave abode really is in the city, I might make some discoveries,” thought Qin Yun. Although a carpet search was tedious, it was a very effective method. This method had worked several times over the past fifteen years.
Of course, he only dared to conduct a carpet search only after he determined that the abode was located around Li Mountain City.
After all, he could only afford to take the time if the area was small.
But even so, Qin Yun would probably take five to six days to search through a small provincial city like Li Mountain City.
Hum!
While observing through the Eye of Lightning, Qin Yun could see the karma, merits, sins, treasure halos, light cast from providence, lifespans, auras of everyone… All sorts of things could be observed and at times, they could reveal many secrets.
As he walked, he looked around him.
Qin Yun’s gaze even passed through walls to look into the people behind them.
He mainly looked at the people, followed by buildings and items. Then, he would look at the river flows or deep underground.
“Line up, one by one. Line up!”
“Remember, this is being given to you by Old Master Chu.”
A congee-giving tent had been set up in front. A few beggars and shabbily-dressed commoners were in line. All of them kept muttering, “Thank you, Old Master Chu.”
“Old Master Chu is infinitely merciful and compassionate.”
“Old Master Chu has boundless merit.”
Qin Yun could not help but nod when he saw this scene.
Qin Yun always thought highly of people who did good.
“This Old Master Chu must have been doing good deeds his entire life. He probably has quite a bit of merit. If I get the chance, I should help him and build a beneficial karmic tie,” thought Qin Yun. Powerful experts were willing to help people with great merit because it also brought benefits to the them. In a way… gaining the help of an expert was a way for a person with great merit to be repaid for his good deeds.
Hum!
Qin Yun turned around and looked in the direction of the Chu family.
Using the Eye of Lightning, he rapidly penetrated the obstruction of many buildings. He swept through the people in the manor in search of ‘Old Master Chu.’
He was originally rather impressed and wanted to see how much merit Old Master Chu had accrued but his expression changed into one of shock when he finally saw him.
“This…” Qin Yun found it unbelievable.
From what he saw, not only did Old Master Chu not have any merit on him, there was even a sliver of heinous aura on him. But of course, it was not terribly dense. This was not enough to alarm Qin Yun since there were always people that appeared good on the surface but were pure evil in secret.
“Who is he?” Qin Yun’s Eye of Lightning stared right at Old Master Chu.
The chuckling Old Master Chu did not even appear to be at the Connate realm.
However, his aura was extremely terrifying!
There was a horrifying beast covered in black auras. It entrenched itself in the Chu household and its eyes were blood red. Its aura was even concealed by gray mist, so that only a tiny portion was revealed. Old Master Chu’s methods of converging his aura were clearly brilliant. The average Essence Soul realm expert might not even realize anything was wrong with him when standing in front of him! However, as one of the top three divine powers in the Great Chang world, the Eye of Lightning was able to see through everything, considering how it could influence the lightning tribulations of the Heavenly Punishments…
No matter how much he converged his terrifying bestial aura, the Eye saw him plainly.
Qin Yun was alarmed even though he had only observed a portion of the terrifying bestial aura!
There was also a bit of treasure halo that was partially concealed by the gray mist. Only parts of it were revealed.
“What origins does he have?” Qin Yun was alarmed. “My Eye of Lightning is only able to see a partial truth! Just looking at him makes me feel slightly threatened.”
“His strength is probably already at the peak of the Essence Soul realm,” surmised Qin Yun.
“The number of existences at this level is extremely small in this world. And all of them are famous. Just one of them is enough to establish a lineage similar to the Nine Lineage Fiendish Demons,” thought Qin Yun with a frown. “But this Old Master Chu is extremely mysterious. Even I did not know of his existence with my present status. It’s very abnormal.”
His present status was already something of note.
He was one of the Elders of the Inspector Heavenly Alliance. He had a good relationship with the imperial government, the three Daoist sacred lands, Mahākāśyapa Monastery, the Four Seas Dragon race, Skydemon Palace, and many other factions. Other than new Essence Souls in this world, he should have known all of them. As for a peak third Firmament Essence Soul realm? It was even more unlikely that they would be a mystery to him.
However, he did not know Old Master Chu. He had never heard of him!
This immediately tugged at Qin Yun’s heart.
“What are his origins? What are his goals?” Qin Yun had to be meticulous. He flipped his hand and took out the Inspect Heavenly Token.
“I want a detailed report on the Li Mountain Sect’s Chu family, including every person in the Chu family. And do not let anyone know I’m seeking this information.” Qin Yun instructed with a message. The alliance immediately began gathering the intelligence to obey an order from an Elder of the Inspector Heavenly Alliance.
Qin Yun looked at the mysterious Old Master Chu from afar.
Qin Yun could determine from Old Master Chu’s aura through the Eye of Lightning that he was likely a very wicked and terrifying person.