Chapter 151: Six Keys

Even though that place wasn’t remote, there was only the Qu Mortuary around. Contrary to expectations, there was someone cooking dog meat in a huge pot in such a place.

Back in the days, when Mu Yi traveled the world with the old Taoist Priest, they ate dog quite often so Mu Yi instantly recognized the smell when he arrived.

The person next to the pot was also a Taoist priest. He seemed to be 50-60 years old, or maybe 60-70. His Taoist robe was ragged, his hair was messy, his face was dark, his eyes twinkled as he stared at the pot, he looked impatient to eat.

“What are you looking at, little Taoist priest? Could it be that you’re afraid I, Jiao Hua, could harm you?” As Mu Yi was hesitating, the old Taoist Priest suddenly talked to him. He didn’t turn his head at all, he didn’t glance at Mu Yi, and he called himself Jiao Hua.

When Mu Yi heard him, he smiled and walked forwards, he said: “Greetings, Master.”

Even though Mu Yi didn’t know what his interlocutor was thinking, he didn’t underestimate him.

“Don’t call me Master, it feels awkward. Just call me old Jiao Hua.” said the Taoist priest.

“You are older than me, I owe you respect, I’ll call Master.” said Mu Yi sitting down next to Jiao Hua and glancing at the pot. It smelt so good. He felt hungry.

“Which mountain do you come from, little Taoist priest?” asked Jiao Hua without trying to force Mu Yi to call him Jiao Hua.

“Funiu Mountain, a little mountain. There’s a wrecked temple at the top called Mountain God Temple. Of course, it is my home now.” said Mu Yi honestly and straightforwardly.

“Funiu Mountain? Never heard of it.” said Jiao Hua shaking his head. He glanced at Mu Yi in a strange way.

“What do you think, Master?” asked Mu Yi.

“I think you come from a secret blessed place.” said Jiao Hua.

“Why didn’t you think I was from Mount Longhu or Mao Shan?” asked Mu Yi, he didn’t understand.

“You don’t wear the clothes of Mount Longhu. Regarding Mao Shan, I know people from there and I’ve never heard of you. You can’t possibly come from Mao Shan.” said Jiao Hua shaking his head.

“As expected.” thought Mu Yi when he heard Jiao Hua. Mu Yi had immediately thought there was a problem when he heard Jia Hua. It was strange to see someone in such a place.

Especially that the Earth Walker from the Shangqing School had shown up. And now Jiao Hua said he was familiar with the Mao Shan, maybe that he was even from Mao Shan.

Even if there hadn’t been any surprise on the previous evening, it would have been difficult for Qu Yang to kill those people.

But Mu Yi was curious and wondered how much his interlocutor had seen. Had he seen the great battle in the Qu Yang? and the Bamboo Tree of Life? And Shi Gu?

Mu Yi hadn’t noticed anyone spying on them while he was fighting. There were only two possible options: the first one was that Jiao Hua wasn’t there at all, the second one was that his cultivation level was too high, so even if he had been hiding, Mu Yi wouldn’t have sensed his presence.

“So you invited me to join you, is there anything you would like to tell me?” asked Mu Yi after having thought carefully. Mu Yi was convinced that Jiao Hua hadn’t told him to join him just to chat and have some dog meat, especially that he had close relations to Mao Shan.

“What if I told you I am just happy to see someone do what they love to, it inspires me, and to invite you to have some dog meat, would you believe me?” asked Jiao Hua to Mu Yi.

“I believe you when you tell me those two things, but you can’t have such a simple goal, right Master? If you don’t tell me, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat with you.” replied Mu Yi.

“Alright, I’ve heard you had a key.” said Jiao Hua straightening his spine.

“A key? How do you know that, Master?” asked Mu Yi. He was stupefied. He did have a key and according to Qu Yang, that key was one of the keys which could be used to open the Yellow River’s ancient road. How did Jiao Hua know that though? Was he there when Mu Yi had taken the key from Qu Yang on that evening?

“I know it. But I am afraid that after a short time, all those who need to know will know.” said Jiao Hua slowly.

“Qu Yang?” Mu Yi’s eyes twinkled. He was convinced that the members of the Far Ink Professional Organization couldn’t have told anyone about that. At least, they couldn’t be that stupid. It couldn’t be the one who had assigned them that task as well, if the client knew that key was expensive, they wouldn’t have used such a method. Besides, even if that key was precious and contained some secrets, it was useless to ordinary people.

The why Mu Yi thought it was Qu Yang was that he had had a very difficult battle against Mu Yi and he couldn’t come back to Mu Yi to get his revenge for the time, even if he found him.

So the best method was to find someone to hunt Mu Yi, and to make everybody look for Mu Yi. And people would be willing to hunt Mu Yi because he had the key.

Qu Yang initially intended to leave the key to Mu Yi and then to come back to him to steal it back. But now he couldn’t get it from Mu Yi so he didn’t intend to let him off.

There were many dangerous people in the world. Besides, some influential groups were also looking for the six keys. If they knew Mu Yi had one of them, they wouldn’t hesitate and send people to him.

It could be troublesome for Mu Yi.

When Mu Yi understood, he frowned. He was facing someone who wanted that key and who could maybe be dangerous.

“Should I hand it over?” thought Mu Yi. Actually, he wasn’t that interested in the Yellow River’s ancient road, he was looking for the old Taoist Priest, so the keys were not indispensable for him, especially that Mu Yi didn’t like trouble.

But deep inside, he was proud too so handing the key over because of one sentence was impossible.

“Do you want that key, Master?” asked Mu Yi straightforwardly.

“No, no, no…” said Jiao Hua shaking his head, against all expectations.

“What do you want then, Master?” asked Mu Yi. He didn’t understand. Was the Taoist priest just warning him?

“To open the Yellow River’s ancient road, you need six keys. Do you know who have the different keys now?” asked Jiao Hua suddenly without replying to Mu Yi’s question.

“I don’t know. Please tell me, Master.” said Mu Yi humbly.

“The first key is in Baidi town, in Fengjie county.” said Jiao Hua slowly.

“Baidi town, in Fengjie county? It’s a legendary place for people who practice martial arts. The White Emperor rules over Baidi town, right?” said Mu Yi. His eyes were wide open. The old Taoist Priest had told him about that. Mu Yi had never forgotten those stories.

Back in the days, Mu Yi was captivated by those stories but he was way too weak to learn more about them. He hadn’t thought he’d hear about it from someone again.

“Indeed. But now it’s his son who rules over the town, but there’s no much difference. Even though well-traveled people know one key is there, nobody dares go and steal it.” said Jiao Hua nodding.

“What about the second key?” asked Mu Yi.

“The second and third keys are in Mount Longhu and Mao Shan.” said Jiao Hua smiling. Same thing, if anyone knew about that, nobody could possibly go and steal the keys from them.

Mount Longhu and Mao Shan were both extremely famous. Earth Walkers of the current generation had already reached the second difficulty, so they probably had extremely strong people.

Mu Yi didn’t say anything. He just looked at Jiao Hua.

“The fourth key is in Dunhuang, in the Northwest. The Godly Mother has it.”

“Dunhuang’s Godly Mother?” It was the first time Mu Yi heard about that but he could imagine how strong she was, being able to keep a key was the proof that someone was strong enough.

“The fifth key is in the Forbidden City, the woman who has the most power and influence in the world has it.” said Jiao Hua smiling in an ice-cold way as if he didn’t like that woman at all.

Mu Yi perfectly knew whom Jiao Hua was referring to.

Mu Yi felt under pressure already.

The one in Baidi town, the two schools Mount Longhu and Mao Shan, the one in Dunhuang in the Northwest or the woman in the Forbidden City were all incredible people who had power and influence. A little Taoist priest like Mu Yi couldn’t compete with them.

Mu Yi initially had the impression it was just an ordinary key, he thought that if people knew he had it, it didn’t matter because he could do what was necessary but now he thought differently, he didn’t have such ridiculous thoughts anymore because he had the last key, the sixth one.

It meant that if people knew he had that key, it’d draw people’s attention. And people were maybe competing to obtain the five other keys, and if someone managed to obtain some of them, then everybody would watch him, and it’d be the same as if a child had had much money in a busy town.

Then, Mu Yi would be in trouble.

“Does Qu Yang know I have the sixth key?” asked Mu Yi suddenly. .

“Of course he doesn’t know. He’s too weak so he’s not qualified. But now you stole the key from him, he’s not lucky.” said Jiao Hua.

“You say he’s unlucky, I think he’s lucky. If he had the key, people would have found out and the Qu Mortuary would have been destroyed already.” said Mu Yi laughing at his own self. Qu Yang wasn’t qualified? Well, what about him? Mu Yi wasn’t qualified either.

If Qu Yang knew that, he would be extremely happy, he wanted to cause trouble to Mu Yi after all.

If Mu Yi was greedy and wanted to keep the key, he would get killed sooner or later.

“You’re right, if you’re not strong enough to protect such a treasure, then it’s not a good thing to have such a precious treasure.” said Jiao Hua nodding.

“So what you mean is that you want me to hand the key over?” said Mu Yi looking at Jiao Hua.