Hidden Moth-Chapter 422 - 234: Untraceable as the Wind, Entering the Shock Sect (Part 2)

Chapter 422: Chapter 234: Untraceable as the Wind, Entering the Shock Sect (Part 2)

This also shows just how much Old Man Jiang treasures Wei Luo. Without this prodigious girl, the Lingxi Sect wouldn’t even have been able to gather three Tier Five Stewards!

Wei Luo is a local from Phoenix Tail Town and was taken by her master to cultivate in the Flower Shocking Grotto Heaven since childhood. Although Old Man Jiang lives in seclusion in Pugang Town, he returns periodically to guide the disciples.

Wei Luo can come and go from the Flower Shocking Grotto Heaven without any requests or approvals, just like entering her own backyard. After all, there aren’t many people in such a vast grotto heaven, and it’s fortunate enough to have disciples scheduled to rotate for duty.

Recently, Elder Jiang returned to the sect, claiming he would personally oversee the grotto heaven for a while, releasing Steward Dong who was responsible for guarding it.

Steward Dong was certainly pleased. He and another Steward Ji used to take turns overseeing the grotto heaven. During summer and winter breaks, Steward Wei could rotate with them, but for the past year, it was just the two of them, which was quite tedious indeed.

The main duty of the steward guarding the grotto heaven is to manage the grotto heaven gate. In the Flower Shocking Grotto Heaven, there are also two stationed disciples whose main task is taking care of the Sect Ancestral Hall.

It’s actually a kind of benefit to cultivate in the Grotto Heaven Blessed Land. High-tier sorcerers from other sects are vying for it, and on a typical day, the number of stationed disciples can reach double digits.

But the Lingxi Sect lacks people. Managing to arrange two people is already good enough, and even Second Uncle Xiao Guangnian, at his age, still comes to take a month of duty each year.

If he really has something important and can’t come, he has to find a fellow sect member to substitute for him, which is a matter of personal favors.

Now that Elder Jiang has sent the guarding steward away, and the two stationed disciples are only in the Ancestral Hall, they can discreetly open the portal and let He Kao in, as long as they are careful, no one will notice.

The location of Jinghua Village is on the Floral Shocking Platform, which is one of the so-called Seven Phoenix Tails. These are basin areas surrounded by mountains, and it wasn’t until the new century with tunnels that they became accessible by car.

Behind the village lie mountains, with a path leading up to a cliff where a turn is necessary. However, Gu Chun didn’t turn but gestured to He Kao and walked directly up to the cliff face.

Seeing the old man hit the cliff and disappear like a phantom, He Kao imitated and followed, stepping in as if the cliff was an illusion, and the view suddenly opened up.

It was approaching six in the morning, mid-December, and while the sky wasn’t fully bright, there was a faint light. Looking out, the scene nearly mirrored what he first saw upon entering the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven.

He stood on a slope, with mountains stretching before him, flanked by two ridges forming an embrace, creating a valley entrance with a winding path.

Gu Chun stood at the entrance, calling with divine thought, "Follow me!"

He Kao quickly stepped forward to follow the old man and replied with spiritual sense gathering sound, "The mountains and terrains here seem identical to those in the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven!"

Gu Chun replied, "The Seven Great Magic Sects’ Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands have the same mountain and river patterns, corresponding to the outside Phoenix Tail Town, within a radius of forty miles..."

Passing through the valley entrance between the two mountains, the view opened again to reveal a river with a stone bridge crossing it and a stone arch at the other end.

The stone bridge and arch here, unlike in the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven, carried the passage of time, and the inscription was not "Hidden Moth" but "Shock Sect."

Beyond the stone arch lay a flat basin valley amongst the mountains, scattered with buildings. Most areas were fields, including medicinal and vegetable patches, and He Kao even noticed corn.

Not all buildings here were residential; there seemed to be chicken coops too, as He Kao could hear roosters crowing from a distance, right on cue with the time.

At the end of the basin by the mountains, there was a large, classical courtyard, likely where the Lingxi Sect’s Ancestral Hall was located. But Gu Chun didn’t cross the bridge, instead turning left along the stream, leading He Kao into the mountains.

The old man didn’t forget to use divine thought to explain that Lingxi Sect historically had few disciples, peaking at no more than a hundred, so there weren’t many buildings.

The Ancestral Hall down there still had two stationed disciples, so they avoided approaching and took a detour through the mountain. The choice of the Flower Shocking Grotto Heaven in the Lingxi Sect to call He Kao here was precisely due to its low population.

In contrast, disciples would be stationed at the portal in the Heart Plate Sect’s Feather Realm Grotto Heaven... As for the grotto heaven gate, unless opened, it’s just an ordinary cliff. Today, Old Man Jiang purposely opened it.

They crossed two ridges consecutively, arriving at another basin, corresponding to outside Floral Shocking Platform. Here too was a courtyard.

Made of earth and topped with thatch, similar to homes He Kao saw in the countryside during his childhood, now largely vanished, but unexpectedly still visible here.

A fenced yard encircled the front, as if protected by an array isolating divine sense. Two elders, Jiang Daozhen and Li Xiuyuan stood in the courtyard.

Li Xiuyuan greeted, "Master Gu, why are you so slow?"

Gu Chun replied, "Doing all the errands, and you’re still complaining I’m slow?"

Jiang Daozhen said, "Why don’t you fly then?"

Gu Chun replied, "Isn’t it to avoid being discovered?"

Jiang Daozhen assured, "Those two stationed disciples wouldn’t notice."

Gu Chun worriedly said, "I’m afraid they’ll discover He Kao."

As they conversed, He Kao stepped forward and saluted, "Greetings Master Jiang! Greetings Master Li!"

The two elders smilingly accepted the greeting without offering a hand to support, secretly engaging in a mental banter—

Li Xiuyuan quipped, "Why me second?"

Jiang Daozhen answered, "There has to be an order, right?"

After completing the salute, Jiang Daozhen waved off, "Let’s skip formalities, come inside!"

Once inside, He Kao noticed the interior of the house contrasted its exterior: milky white smooth walls, elegant patterned wooden ceilings, with the interior’s furnishings exuding an ancient charm, more exquisite than his home’s Silver Silk Wood furniture.

In the middle of the hall hung a painting, the very "Tan Xian’s Walking Stick Painting" brought by Gu Chun.

Jiang Daozhen introduced, "This place is called the Banquet Hall, the cultivation ground for successive Lingxi Sect Leaders, but I haven’t lived here much."

He Kao looked around puzzled and remarked, "Did you renovate this? There’re actually modern kitchens and bathrooms."

Jiang Daozhen chuckled, "I’m not a stubborn old fossil, of course I renovated it, just no internet here."

Gu Chun added, "There’s no natural gas either!"

Jiang Daozhen retorted, "As long as we can cook, why need natural gas?"

He Kao pulled out his phone to check, finding he could use it normally but with no signal, similar to the situation in the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven, and interrupted, "Elders, why did you summon me here?"

Li Xiuyuan replied, "To conduct an experiment, does your invisibility ability work here?"

He Kao responded, "With you all watching me, of course it doesn’t."

Jiang Daozhen waved, "We’ll look away, try outside."

He Kao stepped out and returned two minutes later, saying, "I can teleport inside the grotto heaven, reaching places I’ve visited and remembered, but the range is limited within the grotto heaven."

Jiang Daozhen nodded slightly, "As I expected." Then pointing at the wall, he asked, "If you had this painting, could you open the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven gate and bring us inside?"

He Kao nodded, "I think I could."

Actually, just now, He Kao already went to the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven, but in this situation, the outside "lit" map seemed dimmed out, and upon exiting, he had to return to the Flower Shocking Grotto Heaven.

Jiang Daozhen said, "Then try it out, Old Li and I want to see the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven as well."

Gu Chun shouted, "After eating, the meal is ready!"

Li Xiuyuan quipped, "You’ve already been there first, so you’re not in a hurry, but neither Old Ghost Jiang nor I have been."

Gu Chun argued, "What about your willpower, cultivated all these years, and you can’t wait through a meal?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Jiang Daozhen gestured, "Then let’s eat first, Xiao Kao must be hungry too."

**