Chapter 3443 — The Secret of the Broken Map
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"So does that mean wandering cultivators have no chance at all?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. Didn't this amount to shutting all wandering cultivators out at the door?
"Not at all—wandering cultivators have their chance too. To keep things balanced, a rule was laid down many years ago allowing wandering cultivators to take part in the trials: any wandering cultivator who possesses a fragment of the Cloud-Tier Island map may use a single piece as their qualification to register for the Heaven Tier trial!" Song Lingwei said. "Of course, those map fragments were hidden away very cleverly back then, so I doubt many wandering cultivators ever got their hands on one!"
"A fragment of the Cloud-Tier Island map?" Wei Zhao's heart gave a faint stir. Could it be... the very fragment he had collected? He hadn't known what it was before, but now it seemed quite possible!
"Yes—though of course it isn't the real Cloud-Tier Island map, but a copied map that the Five Luminaries Sect duplicated back in the day, then cut apart and scattered abroad, all so that wandering cultivators might obtain a piece and have the chance to enter the trials!" Song Lingwei said.
So it was an admission ticket! Wei Zhao nodded. That made sense. If it had truly been a treasure map, then missing even one piece would have ruined it—gathering them all would have been far too difficult! But if it was a ticket, a single piece was enough to get you in!
That also explained why the pieces had been scattered so secretly.
"Then if I don't have a map fragment, does that mean I can't go?" Wei Zhao asked, betraying nothing in his expression.
"In theory, yes. But this time, in order to let me kill you, the Overseas Cultivators' Association arranged for me to have a qualification to enter the trials—and you, brother-in-law, will be permitted to take part as well," Song Lingwei said.
"Why is that? Does the Overseas Cultivators' Association really have such influence that it can sway the Five Luminaries Sect's decisions?" Wei Zhao was slightly startled. "But that doesn't add up—the Five Luminaries Sect is working with the Center now, so it should be opposed to your Overseas Cultivators' Association. How could it possibly be swayed?"
"The one it's opposed to is me, and me alone!" Song Lingwei smiled bitterly. "Actually, I know a secret. The chairman of our Overseas Cultivators' Association, He Dantou, is the younger brother of Ancestor Xuanchen—the Five Luminaries Sect's current acting sect master!"
"What?!" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide. He had never imagined such a hidden truth lay behind all this! These two were actually brothers? The ties involved really were tangled beyond belief!
"That's right. Ancestor Xuanchen's true name is He Qianting. They are blood brothers, and in his early years, He Dantou was a member of the Five Luminaries Sect too—only he drifted overseas very early on and founded the Overseas Cultivators' Association!" Song Lingwei said. "Only a handful of the Association's higher-ups—my second grandfather among them—know these secrets!"
"I never would have guessed..." Wei Zhao said with a sigh. "So then, to let you kill me, He Dantou would have Ancestor Xuanchen arrange a place for me in the Heaven Tier trial?"
"He should." Song Lingwei nodded. "But whether he will now, that's hard to say. After all, if the two of them talked it over, it could expose the relationship between you and me..."
"I understand." Wei Zhao did not much mind. Even if no place was arranged for him, he had a map fragment to serve as his ticket into the Heaven Tier trial, and when the time came, Ancestor Xuanchen would have no say in it. Having publicly announced the rules, the Five Luminaries Sect could not very well change them midway—that would be a slap in the face too humiliating to bear!