Reverend Insanity: The Goody Two-Shoes System

Earlier that day...

A few members of each clan had gathered near a clearing to discuss future business. The Gu Yue clan was placing great pressure on the Bai clan, to the point that they had even roped in the Xiong clan successfully in this endeavour.

From the Bai clan, other than the clan head, Bai Ning Bing was the only one with any real fighting spirit. The others had already felt that they were going to be trampled on by the other clans, but Bai Ning Bing did not care.

'The sunrise over the mountains is truly beautiful...' he mused. 

Fighting so desperately with Fang Yuan had broken all of the seals placed on the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique, and he could feel death at his aperture's door. 

Today would likely be the final day of his existence...

He turned to the other Gu Masters squabbling over things like rights, territory, primeval stones, etc. 

All so tedious and boring. The only one who interested him was Gu Yue Fang Yuan, and he was not present here.

"Are all of you idiots done yapping?" Bai Ning Bing asked, interrupting the gathering.

"Bai Ning Bing you...!"

"Can't you see the grown-ups are talking?"

Bai Ning Bing snorted and beheaded a Xiong clansmen.

"Why you!?"

"Bai Ning Bing, we were negotiating with each other under a flag of truce. How dare you strike one of our clansmen!"

"Bai Ning Bing, your death anniversary will be one year from now!"

"Bai Ning Bing killed my cousin, let me take revenge for that day today!"

"Gather around and strike him with all that you have, he can't fight all of us at once!"

'Finally, a grand death,' Bai Ning Bing thought, preparing himself for one last, glorious battle.

That is until there was a scream from some distance away.

The fighting paused then- Bai Ning Bing had not even made a move, and yet someone was dead, their body having been pierced by the beak of a crane. 

"A crane?"

"Where did that come from?"

Large cranes were a beast that existed in this world, however, they were not native to Qing Mao mountain. As a matter of fact, they were not seen in many places in the Southern Border. 

Before they could consider this matter further, another one dropped from the sky. A Xiong clansmen tore it in half with his strength, only for a dozen more to descend.

"So many cranes?"

Thinking this was just an aberration of sorts, they began fighting.

Only the number of cranes did not stop.

Thousand beast king!

Even a myriad beast king!

"Why are there so many, and why so strong?"

The clouds overhead parted, to reveal the sight of nearly ten thousand cranes. 

"This isn't just some kind of migration, someone is controlling these cranes!"

"An enslavement Gu Master? Why would-" 

The Gu Master in question got no further as they were killed. 

Soon, the fighting with Bai Ning Bing was forgotten entirely as the Gu Masters began scrambling for their lives. 

'I suppose this is as good a death as any!' Bai Ning Bing thought, taking down several cranes in a whirlwind of ice.

Above the clouds, a Rank 5 Gu Master was riding an Iron Beak Flying Crane King- a myriad beast king which could command ten thousand cranes with ease.

This Rank 5 Gu Master was Lord Sky Crane- and there was a good reason that the villagers below had not expected to be attacked by an army of cranes. These cranes had come all the way from the Central Continent, far away from the Southern Border. 

He was a member of the Immortal Crane Sect, and he had a singular purpose for coming all this distance to this place.

"Senior brother... are you really hidden here...?" he wondered.

The man who called himself the first gen Gu Yue used to be a compatriot of his, until he betrayed him and stole an extremely valuable gu worm from the man.

He had harbored a grudge for a long time, but had been unable to find his enemy. Naturally first gen Gu Yue had not stayed around after stealing from him, and had migrated elsewhere while changing his name and altering his identity. 

The world was massive- any of the regions was several times the size of earth. Lord Sky Crane had no real hope of finding first gen Gu Yue and could only harbor the resentment in his heart, preserving his lifespan through means other than Lifespan Gu in the vain hope that he would find an answer one day.

That is to say, it was a vain hope- until he had been awakened from his slumber as news had reached him that someone in the Heavenly Lotus Sect had found a clue to the thief who had stolen his inheritance. 

The Heavenly Lotus Sect was another one of the Ten Great Sects of the Central Continent and had been founded by Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable. Lord Sky Crane had had basically no contact with them other than some inter-sect competitions, so the fact that they of all the sects had information on the thief who had stolen what was rightfully his greatly surprised him.

To deepen the mystery further, they had only asked for a sum of primeval stones for the information. If they had truly known what first gen Gu Yue had stolen, they would've undoubtedly asked for a portion of the inheritance. So, it could only be inferred that they were ignorant of the matter, but how did they know where to find the thief in the first place?

No further information could be pried from them, and as it was, Lord Sky Crane's lifespan was coming to an end despite all of the measures he had undertaken. Being a member of the Ten Great Sects, he did not have the option to become a zombie like first gen Gu Yue did. 

It was a pity that he was so close to death- that was why he had to come here in such a hurry. Otherwise he could've arranged for some valuable pawns in the Southern Border- either the Shang clan or the Tie clan would be possible candidates for people he could work with.

But he did not have time, and did not trust anyone else in his sect. As it was he had been betrayed once already, and betrayal was so terrible particularly because it came from someone you trusted.

He had been somewhat skeptical of the information that the Heavenly Lotus Sect gave him given they just gave him a location and no other information on how they had deduced the same, but it looks like they were correct.

He took out a gu worm which looked like a cicada dipped in blood, although its body was translucent given it a very odd appearance indeed. It was emanating a faint light- he had refined this gu worm after killing both of first gen Gu Yue's children. Since they had been so young, not even seven years old, he had not gotten enough blood to refine this gu, turning them both into living sources of blood which he farmed for decades to refine the Rank 5 gu worm. They died soon thereafter, but a Rank 5 gu worm's detection ability was naturally limited.

Right now though, it was vibrating and letting out a loud noise. 

Without a doubt, he had managed to finally find him!

Before that though, he would do good to kill as many of the Gu Yue descendants that he could. As for the other two clans on the mountain- they could all go to hell for what he cared. It was better to get rid of them as well. 

Ultimately, he was a righteous path cultivator. Best to leave no witnesses.