Stellar Transformations

B6C6: Uncle Lan, a real expert

In the Silver Claw Cave, one of the 8 caves under the Nine Demons Hall,

At the moment the Silver Claw Cave is putting on a grand show. Various kinds of delicacies and fine wines have been prepared properly. Beautiful girls are also performing dances in the main hall. The 3 brothers, Di Jian, Di Qing and Di Luan, are sitting high in the main hall enjoying the singing and dancing.

It is really too far from the Nine Demons Hall to the Blood-red Cave so these 3 experts cannot be on the move all the time. After rushing every one month or two, they will stop at a cave for a rest.

"My 3 majesties, You Qian would like to drink a toast to you!" A silvery-armored woman raises her cup and says.

The Silver Claw Cave's master, You Qian, is a woman, who has also reached the early Dongxu stage. There is an air of heroism and valor about her, which makes her different from the Blood-red Cave's Yan Qing and Xi Yan, who are seductive. Her manner is very swift and fierce, giving a feeling of ruthlessness.

Perhaps it was only because of this ruthlessness that You Qian was able to become the ruler of the Silver Claw Cave's 9 million li radius territory.

"Qian'er, there's no need to stand on ceremony too much." Di Qing says smilingly. He, Di Jian and Di Luan still raise their cups and drink with her. Even though Di Qing is being very nice to her, he will kill her with absolutely no hesitation if necessary.

To Xiuzhenists, sex appeal is definitely not a determinant of their behavior.

After 3 rounds, Di Jian and his brothers feel very good. They keep drinking while enjoying the singing and dancing. Suddenly Di Qing frowns. A transmitter appears in his right hand. As soon as he makes a sweep with his holy sense, his face changes color.

Both Di Jian and Di Luan look at him.

"What happened, 2nd brother?" Di Luan hurriedly asks. Seeing that Di Qing's face has changed color, he knows that something serious has happened.

Below them, seeing the expressions of the 3 majesties, You Qian immediately makes a wave of her hand to the dancers. They stop dancing at once and go to one side of the main hall. You Qian says nothing either so that she will not disturb the 3 majesties.

Di Qing first waves his hands, setting up a restrictive spell around the 3 of them. He does not want to let You Qian and the others know about their business. He then says with a sigh: "7th brother, your prediction is pretty good. That old turtle Qingxuan has died indeed."

Di Luan's and Di Jian's faces change color.

"2nd brother, then … that fella called Liu Xing or something is highly suspicious. Maybe he's 8th brother's killer." Di Luan's eyes glitter with coldness. During this period of time, they have always been pondering who the killer really is.

Di Jian suddenly stands up: "Let's go immediately. We're going to capture that Liu Xing fella directly. It doesn't matter if he's not the killer, let's capture him first."

"Wait a bit. I haven't finished saying." Di Qing says indifferently.

Di Jian and Di Luan look at him again.

"Could there be something else, 2nd brother?" Di Luan asks doubtfully.

Di Qing says with a nod: "The message sent by the Great Shell Cave's master says that Liu Xing needed just one move to kill Qingxuan. Using only one move to kill an early Dongxu stage expert, his power is simply very frightening!"

"One move!"

Di Luan is astonished.

This time, among the 3 of them, Di Jian is at the late Dongxu stage, Di Qing is at the middle Dongxu stage and Di Luan, the weakest, is only at the early Dongxu stage. Even among the Nine Demons Hall's 9 majesties, Di Luan also ranks last in power.

"He killed an early Dongxu stage expert in one move. That's how powerful he is." Di Luan frowns. "It looks like he's strong enough to kill 8th brother."

Di Jian's face is expressionless but killing intent is surging in his eyes: "It doesn't matter how powerful he is, if he's 8th brother's killer, he definitely won't escape from the palm of my hand." He totally looks like a ferocious god at the moment.

Di Qing slowly shakes his head and says: "That Liu Xing fella was able to kill Qingxuan not thanks to his powerful energy but thanks to … his frightening speed!"

"Speed?" Both Di Jian and Di Luan become doubtful.

Di Qing says with a nod: "That's right, his speed. According to the message, Liu Xing's speed is really frightening. The Great Shell Cave's master guesses that he relied on his speed to close in on Qingxuan instantly, making it impossible for Qingxuan to figure out his travelling path, and in the end penetrated Qingxuan's throat with a sword."

"Being able to kill an early Dongxu stage expert in one move, his speed is very fast. No wonder his name is Liu Xing." Di Jian praises.

Di Qing says with a nod: "Now it looks like that cave master Liu Xing is very likely the killer. He's the prime suspect."

Di Luan however slightly shakes his head, saying: "2nd brother, now we mustn't make subjective judgements. If you were the killer of 8th brother and Cha Hong and got one of the 9 Swords, what would you do? Could you display your power openly and become the new cave master?"

Di Qing is startled.

After a while, he says in self-derision: "7th brother, I'm indeed not as smart as you. You're right, if I got 1 of the 9 Swords, I'd definitely hide in a place that nobody knows about and train hard. When I'm strong enough to rival experts like Azure Dragon, I'd bring the jade sword out and go with them to open the 9 Swords Immortal Mansion."

"Exactly, is the Blood-red Cave really important compared to the 9 Swords Immortal Mansion?" Di Luan says smilingly.

Di Qing says with a nod: "I understand what you mean. That Liu Xing fella has now become the Blood-red Cave's master so openly so he's unlikely to be the killer, right?"

"No." Di Luan shakes his head.

Di Qing and Di Jian both look at him.

Di Luan says: "I don't know much about his character. What if he can guess our thinking so he intentionally didn't go into hiding and, instead, made himself visible? So, Liu Xing is still a suspect." After he said this, Di Qing and Di Jian are somewhat confused.

"7th brother, a while ago you said Liu Xing was above suspicion, now you say he's a suspect. What's your meaning actually?" Di Qing questions him closely.

Di Luan says smilingly: "2nd brother, 6th brother, I said this to make you understand that Liu Xing is a suspect but he's not the only suspect. We mustn't totally think that he's the killer because if we do, we may miss the real killer."

"Ha-ha, I already get it, 7th brother. Liu Xing is a suspect but we can't focus our entire attention on him. We have to look at other guys too, right?" Di Qing understands this point.

Di Luan says with a nod: "That's right. We have to pay attention to all suspects and can't focus our entire attention on anyone. Any of the suspects can be 8th brother's killer. If we can't find out who killed 8th brother, then … we'll kill them all!"

Di Luan's eyes radiate coldness.

He would rather kill 1000 suspects than miss one!

"Good, then let's go right now. We have to investigate as soon as possible. The longer we wait to begin, the harder it'll be to investigate." Di Luan immediately stands up and says.

Di Jian and Di Qing nods. They then remove the restrictive spell around them at once.

"My 3 majesties, I've prepared very nice rooms for you. Would you like to get some rest?" says You Qian smilingly.

Di Qing says with a shake of his head: "Qian'er, we have to resume our journey now." After saying, he immediately flies out of the main hall with Di Jian and Di Luan. They then rush outwards extremely fast. In just a while, they disappear from You Qian's field of vision.

Only now does You Qian let out a sigh of relief.

When those majesties of the Nine Demons Hall were here, she did not dare to be indiscreet in the least and was really very tense.

"Qiao'er, Lan'er, come here."

She says to 2 dancers not far from her. Her eyes are blazing…

……

In the Blood-red Cave,

Today the number of the Blood-red Cave's guardians has reached 16. Originally there were even more Yuanying stage experts who asked to become guardians but because, firstly, there are only a limited number of courtyard houses in the eastern part, and secondly, if there are too many guardians, the numbers of guards distributed to each of them will be too few, the number of guardians has been fixed at 16.

Moreover, even though those Yuanying stage experts who live in the Blood-red Ridge are not guardians, they will still listen to the Blood-red Cave's orders at critical junctures.

On the balcony of Lei Mountain House's 2nd floor,

This balcony is 6 to 7 m long and 3 to 4 m wide so it has a relatively large area.

"You're still reading books, big brother? This is really boring. Today I gave those guardians a scolding in the main hall. Kaka, it was very interesting. But they actually needed scolding. They only know how to enjoy themselves and lack training!"

Hou Fei sits down on one side of Qin Yu.

Qin Yu puts the old book he is reading down and says smilingly to Hou Fei: "Fei Fei, during this period of time, the Blood-red Cave has been run completely by you. I can see that you're very excited. In the past you said you'd occupy a mountain and become a boss. This means you like to manage subordinates, right? From now on, I'll give the entire Blood-red Cave to you. Xiao Hei and I won't manage it. Only find me and Xiao Hei if something important arises, okay?"

Qin Yu has largely been alone since he was a kid so he is used to solitude. As for Xiao Hei, he is aloof and proud so he does not like to manage a large number of subordinates either.

By contrast, Hou Fei likes the feeling of being followed by a large entourage and being a boss.

"Ha-ha, very good, this is really very good. Anyway, there are 3 positions in the main hall so you 2 can come whenever you like. But I'll come every time you want to have a meeting." Hou Fei is so excited that he makes strange quacks and scratches his head.

Qin Yu gives a smile.

In a place like this Xiuyao world, a cave master's main role is to rely on his individual intimidation to occasionally give orders and not to manage his subordinates every day. Of course, it will be much better if the subordinates are managed every day.

"Fei Fei, this black stick of yours is made of a very strange material. What grade is it?" Qin Yu asks Hou Fei.

Hou Fei is startled. After a while, he says with a shake of his head: "I don't know either. But I feel that this stick is at least not lower than top-grade holy weapons. Master gave me this black stick when I was little. I've been carrying it with me all the time. It has also never disappointed me."

Qin Yu nods.

It is not strange for him to have asked so. He has seen all kinds of holy weapons, low-grade ones, middle-grade ones, high-grade ones and even top-grade ones, but he has never seen a weapon like Hou Fei's black stick. Judging by appearances, it is like a normal black stick.

But this black stick is definitely not inferior to top-grade holy weapons.

"You said Uncle Lan gave you this black stick?" Qin Yu suddenly thinks about what Hou Fei just said.

Hou Fei says with a nod: "I started to follow Uncle Lan when I was little so of course all of my stuff was given to me by him. If he hadn't, then who would have given me?"

"Right, do you know how powerful Uncle Lan actually is? When I was in the ravine, I felt that he was unfathomable. You're his disciple so you should know about his power, right?" He made a certain decision long ago. Now he is only collecting some additional information related to it.

Hou Fei says with a glare: "Don't doubt my master's power, big brother. He's so strong that you simply can't imagine it. In the past I once entered berserk mode and felt that I was too strong in that state but … he knocked me out with just a palm strike."

Qin Yu's heart skips a beat.

A knockout palm strike!

Qin Yu certainly knows well how powerful Hou Fei is. He is a divine beast so even without using berserk mode he is already extremely strong. Once he enters berserk mode, he will be terrifying. Qin Yu even thinks that, in that state, Hou Fei can be a worthy adversary for Di Long of the Nine Demons Hall.

However, even in that state, Hou Fei was knocked unconscious by Uncle Lan with a palm strike.

"Right, after regaining consciousness, did you feel unwell in any way?" Qin Yu asks again.

Hou Fei says smilingly: "No, I didn't. Master is much more powerful than me so his palm was just enough to knock me out and didn't harm me at all. Heaven knows how many times more powerful than me he really is." Hou Fei cannot help marveling.

This is also the reason why Hou Fei never dares to complain when Uncle Lan tells him to do something.

"So strong." Qin Yu is delighted.

When he was pondering what would happen if he killed Di Tong, he thought that in the worst-case scenario the Nine Demons Hall would want to hunt him down. Just before he got into action, he remembered Uncle Lan, a real expert who is totally unfathomable to him.

Qin Yu felt that Uncle Lan was very strong, extraordinarily strong. At least he could not even sense a clue about Uncle Lan's power.

Therefore, he dared to kill Di Tong and to occupy the Blood-red Cave with his 2 brothers.

If in the end the Nine Demons Hall really hunts for him, he and his brothers will fight an exciting battle against it. Given their abilities, they can certainly shake the Nine Demons Hall. Even if they suffer a defeat, they can still run to Uncle Lan and ask him to help them.

Qin Yu is totally confident about his speed.

……

2 days later,

Qin Yu is saying goodbyes to Hei Yu and Hou Fei. According to his calculations, there are several months left before the Nine Demons Hall's members arrive. But he has still decided to take a trip back to the ravine in advance. The 3 brothers therefore have to part even though they do not want to.

"Xiao Hei, these are 2 top-grade crystals. Your awl is only a high-grade holy weapon. If you think they aren't enough, I still have another chunk." Before leaving, Qin Yu gives Hei Yu 2 chunks of crystal.

"One chunk is enough." Hei Yu receives a chunk and does not touch the other. Qin Yu takes back the other chunk without saying anything. There is already no need for reserve between them. On one side, Hou Fei is discontented.

"Big brother, you gave that hairy bird a top-grade crystal, but why didn't you give me one?" He says resentfully.

"Your black stick is already not weaker than top-grade holy weapons. If you still want top-grade crystals then give me that black stick." Qin Yu says smilingly. Hou Fei immediately hugs his black stick then fuses it with his body.

"Alright, let's stop chatting. I'm going now. You two can tell the guardians that I'm doing closed-door training. Get it?" Qin Yu looks smilingly at his 2 brothers.

Hei Yu and Hou Fei nod.

The dark blue Flaming Sword immediately appears under Qin Yu's feet. His golden stellar energy then flows through his body and the sword. In an instant, his entire body turns into a golden beam of light and disappears in the distance. His speed is really frighteningly fast.

End of b6c6.