Chapter 81: Chapter 64: After the Dust Settles, I Am True Master Xuanmiao

Jiang Yi was no fool. The Spirit Bird Jerky on the plate had been specially prepared as an offering for the Venerable Supreme.

Xuan Chanzi, the man in the ruined temple, was obviously not the one who was supposed to answer the ritual.

By process of elimination, that left only him and the little cat that had suddenly appeared.

’I would sooner believe that *I* am the Venerable Supreme than accept that five days of ritual have summoned nothing but a cat.’

The corner of Jiang Yi’s mouth twitched. His feelings were too complicated to put into words.

’I’m a Cultivator from a Demon Dao Dharma Lineage. I can’t just turn around and join the Demon Dao, can I?’

Although, throughout the endless ages of the Yanfu Vast Land, there had indeed been True Masters and True Monarchs who cultivated the Demon Dao in human bodies.

But this was not what Jiang Yi wanted for himself.

Though his thoughts were racing, his expression remained placid as he calmly took the Wooden Plate from his robes.

He picked up a long strip of jerky, preserved by an Ice Mirror, and held it to the little cat’s mouth.

Upon seeing the jerky, the pitch-black, grimy-looking cat’s round, amber-like eyes suddenly lit up.

It first drew near to sniff, its whiskers trembling, then extended a tender pink tongue for a tentative lick.

Realizing Jiang Yi wasn’t going to pull it away, the cat grabbed the jerky with its front paws, tilted its head, and began to nibble.

’The Venerable Supreme is just a little glutton,’ Jiang Yi thought, his feelings growing even more complex. The cat didn’t look like a great titan of the Demon Dao; it seemed no different from any other young animal.

While he was inside the temple feeding the cat, the tension outside had reached a breaking point.

“Junior, if you won’t make a move, then don’t blame me for being merciless.”

Xuan Chanzi’s eyes flashed, and a brilliantly bright, round light shot out from the crown of his head.

It started as small as a grain of rice, but in the blink of an eye, it swelled to the size of a jade plate, blowing the roof clean off the ruined temple!

’I knew it! He can’t manifest his Sword Pill, only catalyze his Sword Qi!’

Seeing this, Mu Qiu felt slightly more at ease, his fear of the Fate Shuzi lessening.

’My master wouldn’t have tricked me into serving myself up to Xuan Chanzi on a platter,’ he thought.

He knew full well that the Zhongyi Sect based its arts on the Shao Yang Li Yuan Xianchen Scripture. They nurtured the Sword Pill with the body, refined Sword Intent with qi, tempered Sword Essence with primordial qi, and forged the Sword Heart. Their killing power was simply unbelievable!

This was, after all, one of the few Sword Cultivator Dharma Lineages in the Yanfu Vast Land that still followed the old ways after the fall of the Sword Dao!

About five hundred years ago, the Zhongyi Sect—whether by absorbing the remnant fate of the Sword Dao or through some incredible ancestral luck—produced a prodigy, a potential Sword Immortal.

This person declared his intent to “command life and death with a single sword, to carry Yin and Yang upon a solitary path.”

He sought to ascend to the rank of Shao Yang and reestablish the Sword Dao.

This grand vow nearly provoked the bald-headed monks of the Ximizhou Continent into raising an army to attack them.

The result was predictable. The Zhongyi Sect was annihilated, and that potential Sword Immortal never got the chance to achieve his breakthrough.

But Mu Qiu, hailing from the Taifu Sect, knew better than anyone the terrifying killing power of a Sword Cultivator.

Especially one who had achieved spiritual transformation with their Sword Pill and mastered the art of splitting their sword light. Against such an opponent, a Cultivator of the same level stood no chance unless they were an absolute master of Magical Combat with a vast array of techniques. Otherwise, they wouldn’t last more than a few exchanges.

’He thinks he can cut me down with a single strand of Sword Qi?’

The pride Mu Qiu felt as a Disciple of an Ancestral Sect Dharma Lineage swelled within him. The Profound Light above his head surged skyward like a tsunami, reaching hundreds of feet high. Its terrifying power threatened to shake all of Longhua Mountain!

He cultivated Xin Metal, which was compatible with Kui Water, and so his power manifested in two colors: gold and black.

A torrent of black water swept out in all directions as a golden wheel rose and fell, brilliantly illuminating the sky!

The moment this phenomenon appeared, the great Longhua Mountain trembled. The Heart Spirits of countless Cultivators were shaken, and they were filled with fear and unease.

In the nearby Sanhe District, Song Chou, who was meditating, and the scruffy elder from the True Gu Sect were hit the hardest. Both of them turned pale with shock.

“An Upper Cultivator is making a move? That phenomenon, black water carrying a golden glow… that’s an Upper Cultivator from the Taifu Sect!”

Song Chou rushed out of the Doufa Pavilion, hesitating whether to approach, when suddenly the world turned white and fell utterly silent.

The falling snow froze in midair. An instant later, a tide of countless sharp Qi Mechanisms, as fine as hairs, swept past.

Lower Cultivators were oblivious, feeling only a slight, pervasive chill that seemed to come from within.

But to experts like Song Chou and the scruffy elder, both at the Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer, it felt like a thousand needles pricking their skin, a faint, persistent ache.

The two of them froze on the spot, not daring to move an inch, afraid that taking even half a step would cause their Furnace Cauldrons to shatter and send blood gushing from their bodies.

“Are Sword Cultivators really this terrifying?”

Song Chou and the scruffy elder, who had just arrived, stared at each other. Their hands and feet were ice-cold, and they stood frozen in the snow like a pair of statues.

…

…

“I have severed twenty percent of your Profound Light Magical Power as a warning! Seeing as your master and I go way back, I will spare your life today. Consider that head of yours to be on loan!”

Xuan Chanzi stood with his hands clasped behind his back. The ghastly white, silver-bright Sword Qi pulsed in the air, then wheeled around gracefully before transforming back into Magical Profound Light and returning to his Primordial Inner Mansion.

Outside the temple, Mu Qiu felt a chill on his face, as if a cold blade had grazed past. A lock of hair drifted down before his eyes.

Then, the Daoist Crown that held his hair in place shattered, and his long hair tumbled down, leaving him in a disheveled state.

He wasn’t discouraged, though he couldn’t stop complaining to himself.

’I knew it! A Fate Shuzi is not to be trifled with! Why did I have to act so tough and force him to use his Sword Qi?’

’And I was naive enough to think I’d have an opening just because he didn’t manifest his Sword Pill!’

’This fate power of his messes with your mind! It clouds a Cultivator’s heart with Tribulation Qi at the drop of a hat. The whole game is rigged!’

Mu Qiu cursed his bitter luck, his head throbbing.

Even after my master stripped away Seventy Percent of his Cultivation, Xuan Chanzi was still this terrifyingly powerful. How was I supposed to “hunt him down and capture him”?

He was in a bind, caught between a rock and a hard place. Just then, several streaks of Escape Light shot across the sky, scattering the night’s darkness.

Several figures arrived at once, hovering in midair. Some rode on waves of water, others on clouds of fire. Angry shouts echoed one after another.

“Xuan Chanzi! The Zhongyi Sect attacked my Dharma Lineage long ago! It’s time you paid for that!”

“More than six hundred members of my Celestial Cauldron Sect died by the swords of the Zhongyi Sect! Not even all the water in the three great rivers could wash away this blood debt!”

“Exactly! The Yinhe Sect is here to settle scores as well…”

Mu Qiu swept his gaze over them and had a realization. ’So these are the small fry lured here by the Fate Shuzi.’

He immediately shouted out.

“Fellow Daoists of all Dharma Lineages! I am a Disciple of True Master Jieyun from the Taifu Sect! This fiend’s crimes are beyond pardon! We don’t need to bother with the rules of the Demon Dao—let’s get him together!”

As soon as Mu Qiu finished speaking, he once again activated his Profound Light, its power surging like a mighty tide.

The Cultivators who had rushed over from all sides, most of them between the eleventh and Twelfth Layer of Qi Cultivation, immediately unleashed all manner of Magical Artifacts, blasting them toward Xuan Chanzi.

“A disorderly mob.”

Xuan Chanzi’s thick eyebrows shot up like two bold, calligraphic strokes. He glanced back at the rubble of the ruined temple, then enveloped himself in Sword Qi and roared with laughter.

“The thousand and seven hundred souls of the Zhongyi Sect, its five hundred years of destiny—it all rests on me alone!

Where I stand, the Zhongyi Sect stands!

If you have the guts to test the edge of my Slaying Sword, then step forward and die!”

His bold words shook Longhua Mountain, rolling across the sky like thunder.

The dragon-like Shao Yang Sword Qi transformed into a blazing sun, tearing through the twilight as it sped away from north to south.

’Good, good. I haven’t been bewitched by the Fate Shuzi…’

Though Mu Qiu made a show of charging forward, he secretly slowed his Escape Light, letting those Cultivators who held a grudge against the Zhongyi Sect rush to their deaths.

’Since Master has lifted the seal, the Little Ancestor has probably fled far away. I doubt I could find a trace of him now.

According to the Gold Talisman, the Little Ancestor’s last appearance was indeed on Longhua Mountain.’

As these thoughts flickered through his mind, Mu Qiu unhurriedly fell behind the others, casually tailing Xuan Chanzi from a distance.

The great disturbance finally subsided.

After about the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Jiang Yi walked out from the ruins, holding the little cat as it nibbled on the jerky.

“This…”

Having witnessed that spectacular show of one expert taking the stage right after another, Jiang Yi’s thoughts were a tangled mess.

’The master I was supposed to find, the lineage I was supposed to inherit… where did they go?’

’The Taifu Sect! The Zhongyi Sect!’

’Either one of them would have been fine!’

“Meow.”

The little cat nestled in his arms suddenly looked up, its perfectly round eyes studying the young man’s face as if in deep thought.

A moment later, it spoke in a clear, youthful human voice.

“I am True Master Xuanmiao. A thread of fate connects us. Are you willing to enter my tutelage?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep