Chapter 235 — Conspiracy
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 7 of 7
Cangyan Daoren was silent a moment. "Xiaozhu Peak has always admitted only female disciples, and its gates are strictly barred; its head, Shuiyue, is of a hard and violent temper as well, admitting no ordinary person onto the mountain—let alone for a matter as great as the Heavenly Secret Lock. As for Dazhu Peak, I have never gotten on well with that couple Tian Buhui and Su Wan. Tian Buhui is a proud sort too; his disciples are few and good for little, yet he keeps everything hidden away and lets no one know of it."
Jin Pingyue could not help finding this somewhat amusing, but then she frowned. "Then we will have destroyed only four of the Heavenly Secret Locks—will that be too few?"
Cangyan Daoren shook his head. "Not so. From what I know, so long as the spiritual energy of more than half of Qingyun's seven veins is disrupted, the Heavenly Secret Lock's restraint becomes wholly ineffective. For the energy of the chief peak, Jietian Peak, is simply too abundant—it carries even a will to kill and slaughter—and the formation can only be worked when the energy of the other six veins balances it against one another. Losing one or two veins' energy would be manageable, but should four veins' energy fail at once, I fear even whether the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation can be unleashed at all would be in question."
Jin Pingyue looked Cangyan Daoren up and down, carefully, and then suddenly smiled. "Daoist, you are indeed farsighted. These matters have surely been in your mind not for a day or two!"
Cangyan Daoren's face darkened, and he looked at Jin Pingyue, but she still wore her smiling look and showed not the slightest intent of averting her eyes. After a moment it was Cangyan Daoren who first looked away; without a word, he turned and left the earthen pit.
Jin Pingyue withdrew her gaze and let it fall to her feet, where the thousand-year mystic log lay quietly on its side beside the path. She smiled faintly, nudged it with her foot into the thick weeds, and then walked off in the direction Cangyan Daoren had gone.
Behind her, that mysterious and wondrous great pit seemed, as ever, to be nothing more than an ordinary earthen hollow.