Chapter 399: The Recorder of Ancient and Modern Times (Part 10)

Within the Tianyuan Sect
Dong Qiang was over seventy years old.
Over the years, he had recorded the lives and deaths of many disciples and elders of the sect.
He had also witnessed a sect's rise from decline to rebirth.
With a sect's growing strength, new conflicts were inevitable... Now, the recorder position was no longer limited to Dong Qiang's lineage; a powerful figure had set his sights on this responsibility.
After all, with the sect's expansion, Tianyuan Sect was no longer confined to the Mu Jing Dynasty; it had even ventured beyond it. Dong Qiang alone was already overwhelmed, not to mention his cultivation was only at the Qi Qi Realm... and he was getting old.
The sect proposed establishing a History Pavilion to compile the deeds of all disciples and elders. This meant that the recorder would transform into a position of power, and power meant struggle.
Dong Qiang looked at the arriving person, his eyes calm.
Throughout his life, he had never participated in sect struggles, only diligently fulfilling his duties. However, this didn't mean he was unaware of the sect's affairs.
Some seemingly "unexpected" events were not actually unexpected.
"Dong Qiang, this is a Qi and Blood Pill bestowed upon you by the sect. You are old, your Qi and blood are declining. The sect sees that you have worked hard, even without merit, and this is a reward for you."
Dong Qiang looked at the pill in the disciple's hand; it was bright red, still shrouded in a thin red film.
The pill was indeed a Qi and Blood Pill, a rare second-grade pill, refined from the essence of a second-tier demonic beast, greatly beneficial to a martial artist's cultivation.
But... the Qi and Blood Pill's medicinal properties were extremely potent. Dong Qiang was already old; how could he possibly suppress its effects? He would likely be torn apart by its violent nature.
Clearly, the disciple hadn't given Dong Qiang a reason to refuse. Seeing Dong Qiang's lack of response, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he directly reached out, rendering Dong Qiang immobile.
So young, yet already a Spirit Pattern Realm martial artist. Dong Qiang knew this was an elite inner disciple; he couldn't resist. The difference between the Awakening Spirit Realm and the Spirit Pattern Realm was simply too great.
Seeing Dong Qiang give up resistance, the young disciple finally smiled: "If you had known this would happen, why resist so stubbornly? Otherwise, you wouldn't have suffered so much."
The violent medicinal properties tore through Dong Qiang's meridians. As blood seeped from under his mask, Dong Qiang's eyes widened, his breath gone.
The young disciple wiped the bloodstains from his hands with a white handkerchief, then picked up a pen and made a simple record:
Recorder: Dong Qiang purchased a second-tier Qi and Blood Pill, hoping to use this opportunity to break through to the Gathering Spirit Realm, but ultimately failed, suffering a backlash and dying.
A simple sentence, sealing Dong Qiang's fate.
"Old man, you can only blame yourself for living too long. If you had died earlier, you might have died a natural death."
After Dong Qiang's death, the young disciple intended to leave, but then he noticed that the mask on Dong Qiang's face was radiating a brilliant light.
"This is actually a high-grade magic artifact!"
The young disciple was intrigued. High-grade magic artifacts weren't much to him, but... this was worth at least a hundred low-grade spirit stones.
No one would risk harming spirit stones. The young disciple, Zhu Hao, was an inner disciple of the Tianyuan Sect. Even so, earning a hundred low-grade spirit stones would take him more than half a year. This unexpected windfall was a huge fortune for him.
Zhu Hao reached out and peeled off Dong Qiang's mask. To his surprise, the mask was spotless; the bloodstains slid off, leaving it looking brand new.
"A good find!"
Zhu Hao clicked his tongue. He hadn't expected this impoverished old man to have such a treasure hidden away—a high-grade magic artifact. It was a pity... Dong Qiang hadn't broken through to the Spirit Gathering Realm before his death, and thus couldn't fully utilize the artifact's power.
Zhu Hao decisively put the mask back on and circulated his inner energy. He discovered that Dong Qiang's aura had vanished, becoming undetectable.
This made him even more excited. A treasure capable of concealing one's aura, even if only a high-grade magic artifact, was worth as much as some low-grade spiritual artifacts. He had truly struck it rich this time.
Zhu Hao, unaware of anything amiss, donned the mask. He removed it and carefully stored it away.
Dong Qiang was dead. No one would delve into the cause of his death; a mere Qi-Awakening Realm cultivator, his life and death were insignificant. The recorder was quickly replaced by the History Pavilion.
The disappearance of the mask from Dong Qiang's face caused no stir.
With no one paying attention to him now that he had the mask, Zhu Hao breathed a sigh of relief. He touched the bronze mask in his hand; its cool touch brought a smile to his face.
Several days later, Zhu Hao left the sect, donning the mask he had acquired, and left silently.
"It's you?"
Zhu Hao looked at his former enemy, his eyes filled with ruthlessness. Upon learning that the mask could conceal one's aura, Zhu Hao's first thought was to eliminate this formidable foe.
His former enemy was completely unaware of Zhu Hao's presence. By the time he realized it, it was too late; Zhu Hao had already slit his throat with a single strike, looted his body, and then summoned demonic beasts to carve up the corpse and clean up the scene.
"What a treasure!"
Zhu Hao's eyes lit up with delight. Even his former enemy couldn't detect his presence and was ultimately killed by his cunning. There were no signs of a struggle at the scene; even if the sect sent people, they wouldn't find anything.
Was he, Zhu Hao, destined for success?
Back at the sect, Zhu Hao was overjoyed to find that no one had discovered the cause of his former enemy's death. With the stolen cultivation resources, he could quickly advance further.
Zhu Hao continued his crimes, gradually becoming more reckless than cautious at first. As long as he didn't harm any powerful disciples, he could perfectly erase all traces.
In less than a year, eleven inner sect disciples had been killed or injured.
Zhu Hao discovered that the mask was far more powerful than he had imagined; even some of the inner sect's true disciples couldn't detect his aura.
Over the past year, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, and his greed had grown rapidly as well.
Zhu Hao wanted to be promoted to a true disciple... the one behind him had already agreed, but unfortunately, a competitor had appeared out of nowhere.
"As long as I kill him, the sect's true discipleship will be mine."
The mask was Zhu Hao's trump card.
However, this time Zhu Hao miscalculated.
"You...how were you able to detect me?"
Zhu Hao didn't succeed as easily as usual. His confident strike was easily dodged, which greatly puzzled him.
The man didn't waste words with Zhu Hao. Zhu Hao, flustered by his missed attack, was instantly killed, his flesh torn apart.
"Fool...taking advantage of his good fortune, he even attacked his own fellow disciples one after another."
Such ruthless methods were simply stupid in Li Zhiyuan's eyes, stupid to the point of being unaware of his own stupidity.
Zhu Hao's transformation had long been observed by the sect elders. Some elders had already linked the deaths of inner disciples over the past year to Zhu Hao's rise, but the elders behind Zhu Hao wielded immense power...and he was merely bait.
Zhu Hao took the bait, and so he died.