“What are you all gathering here for? Get out. All of you get out! Don’t be an eyesore here!” Although Chu Lian sustained heavy injuries, his temper did not decrease at all. As soon as people got near his abode, they could hear him inside, cursing loudly in rage.
Not long afterwards, the Sect Elders, who originally wanted to express their goodwill, all started to come out dejected and dispirited. Only the golden core Elder, Ling Xianzi, who was originally Chu Lian’s shimei, remained to speak a few more words: “Chu shixiong, you are gravely injured at the moment. Don’t try to be too stubborn.”
These words were filled with gentle kindness, but Chu Lian was not the type of person who understood how to be nice to women. He also kicked her out without any remorse or courtesy.
After the crowd completely left, Chu Lian looked at the once again emptied room, furrowing his brows even more.
He shouted at a corner in a displeased tone: “What are you still hiding here for?”
Finally, Wen Xuan walked out from behind the door, looking at Chu Lian with a complicated expression. When he heard that Chu Lian had received heavy injuries before, Wen Xuan was naturally scared and astonished. Without thinking too much, he immediately ran over. Yet he didn’t even enter the room when he heard Chu Lian’s explosive temper. This didn’t seem like a guy who had grave injuries at all. After a long time, he finally mumbled: “Shifu.”
“I haven’t been your shifu for a long time.” Chu Lian huffed coldly, remembering this setting randomly again: “There’s no outsiders here right now. No need to maintain this appearance.”
Wen Xuan sighed and could only agree: “Daoist master Chu.”
Chu Lian frowned, appearing rather unused to it. However, he didn’t say anything in the end, as if he was satisfied.
Then Wen Xuan walked closer a few steps and looked at Chu Lian who was before him. At first glance, Chu Lian seemed his usual, full with ample spirit. Looking carefully again, however, his face was ghastly white. A black aura exuded faintly from his countenance.
When Wen Xuan wanted to move closer, Chu Lian waved two fingers and a spiritual whip immediately whipped past Wen Xuan’s cheek.
“What are you looking at?” Chu Lian was very unhappy.
“Daoist master Chu,” Wen Xuan halted his footsteps in exasperation: “Just what happened?”
Chu Lian’s brows furrowed further, but he didn’t reply.
Wen Xuan continued to ask: “That demon is this powerful?”
“It’s only a mouse who enjoys hiding.” Chu Lian finally sneered, expression full of disdain. But while saying these words, his fists squeezed tightly, making it clear this wasn’t his true opinion.
After a moment passed, Chu Lian waved his hand again: “This time we underestimated the enemy. We knew that its original cultivation might have been higher than ours, yet we assumed that it wouldn’t be a match for us since it’s been trapped for so many years. Who would have thought it would be this good at hiding, and recovered so speedily.”
“Its original cultivation,” Wen Xuan was slightly surprised: “is higher than Nascent Soul?”
“Hmph! Just look at your narrow view,” Chu Lian said: “You should really leave North Ning and go visit Central Sheng. A mere nascent soul, I can find several for you in one sect. Above Nascent Soul, there’s still Dasheng. Beyond Dasheng, now that’s the domain that has yet to be reached.”
However, Wen Xuan’s surprise wasn’t actually over this: “You guys… you and the other Nascent Soul cultivators from the other sects, already knew it was this powerful?”
Having this fact pointed out by someone of the younger generation, Chu Lian instantly felt ashamed.
In actuality, the demon casted the bait originally to lure yuan gathering cultivators over. The demon had been buried in that place for too long; its body had long decayed. It needed to find someone to possess and only late stage yuan gathering cultivators, who were just one step away from golden core, could contain its full power while still being unable to resist its possession. Also, the reason why only cultivators with exceptional water roots were able to see that teleportation array was because that’s the type of body it wanted.
However, what happened was that Wen Xuan and Qin Shiyu informed this place to their Sects, which caused Nascent Soul cultivators to head over. The Nascent Soul cultivators could naturally see through the trap that was set up. Undoubtedly, there was a powerful demon that might have cultivated to Dasheng many years ago hidden under this wonderful pile of treasure. Although that demon has been trapped for many years, it must be less powerful than before. They just didn’t know how much strength it had left.
The bait that the demon had casted was really attractive. Divine weapons, cultivation methods, medicinal pill formulas, anything one can think of, all passed down from ancient times. Even the leaders of the two big Sects found it hard not to covet these items. They couldn’t abandon this bait and disregard it, yet they were also afraid of really breaking through the last barrier and letting the demon out. That’s why they’ve been in a stalemate for so long, waiting until all the surefire plans are set up properly.
Chu Lian continued to say stubbornly: “We were already careful enough. Who would have thought this would happen?”
The accident that occurred was, a yuan gathering Elder couldn’t resist the enticement and passed through the barrier secretly. Immediately, he became possessed by the demon.
Hearing to this point, Wen Xuan couldn’t help but sigh.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Wen Xuan looked at the blood, heart sinking abruptly.
Chu Lian didn’t care at all however, only wiping the back of his hand clean. “Another senseless fellow is coming up.” Then he ordered: “Go drive them away.”
Wen Xuan nodded. He can only follow Chu Lian’s instructions.
A mere moment later, that person still remained on Daiyun Peak. Instead, it was Wen Xuan who ran hastily back and said urgently: “Shifu, the person who came is Elder Qi.”
“Who cares? Drive……” Saying this, Chu Lian paused and asked back: “Which Elder Qi?”
“Elder Qi from the Alchemy school, Qi Jibai.” Wen Xuan answered.
Ordinarily, Chu Lian naturally wouldn’t pay attention to any elders. However, Qi Jibai was Water Cloud Sect’s most outstanding alchemist.
Chu Lian paused for quite a moment. In the end, he still said: “Drive him away.”
“Daoist master!” Wen Xuan said anxiously: “At least let him take a look!”
“Don’t waste your breath!” Chu Lian said angrily: “If I have to do this myself, it definitely wouldn’t be as courteous as you!”
Words coming to a halt, Wen Xuan couldn’t do anything. When he attempted to persuade Chu Lian some more, Chu Lian waved his sleeve and threw him directly out of the room.
After that, Wen Xuan found Qi Jibai and explained Chu Lian’s attitude with a bitter and pained expression. Qi Jibai didn’t look surprised at all.
“I’ve also heard of Daoist Master Chu’s temper.” Qi Jibai said with a smile: “He’s really quite an obstinate and prideful man. It’s expected he’d act like so. Since it’s like this, I’ll head over to the Sect Leader to take a look first.”
The Sect Leader, Jizi Ang, also received heavy injuries. Qi Jibai naturally had to go visit.
Therefore, Wen Xuan sent Qi Jibai off while explaining the situation he saw just now. Then, he asked carefully: “Daoist…… How is my shifu’s state currently?”
“From your descriptions, it doesn’t seem good.” Qi Jibai said.
Wen Xuan’s face color changed.
“But since he’s so stubborn, us bystanders really can’t do anything.” Qi Jibai said, then smiled: “And speaking honestly, I’m not a miracle healer. Perhaps Daoist Master Chu just doesn’t trust me enough. Maybe he has his own plans?”
Hearing these words, Wen Xuan felt somewhat comforted. Then, he asked a bit about Jian Yi’s cultivation progress. Ever since Jian Yi went into seclusion, it’s been months since he came out.
On the other hand, Wen Xuan had no choice but to put his seclusion on hold temporarily.
Then about two months passed. In these two months, there was still unrest outside. The demon continued to breach several small sized Sects. Even some medium sized Sects were also starting to suffer. It seemed like only the seven big Sects were safe in their big protection arrays. Several small and medium sized sects proposed to merge into these seven clans, coming up with all sorts of plans to squeeze into the safety of the big protection arrays.
Because the trap previously failed, many people had criticism towards Chu Lian. However, because of Chu Lian’s injury, no one brought forth these criticisms.
Throughout these days, Wen Xuan ran over to Chu Lian’s place every few days. Yet Chu Lian wasn’t appreciative at all, always throwing him out in the end. Wen Xuan couldn’t see any of the so-called ‘his own plans’ and only felt Chu Lian’s complexion looked worse and worse by the day.
A day two month later, Wen Xuan walked into Chu Lian’s abode once more. He saw Chu Lian sitting by the bedside, one hand falling by his side, clenched into a fist, as if he was thinking about something. He was unusually quiet. Normally, whenever Wen Xuan arrived, it wouldn’t take long for Chu Lian to express exasperation. This time, Chu Lian only sat quietly for a long time.
After a long time, Chu Lian sighed: “That Elder Qi you talked about the other day…… call him over.”
As he said this, Chu Lian opened his tightly closed fist, revealing a crumpled talisman inside. Wen Xuan could tell, this was a message talisman that hasn’t been used yet. This kind of talisman normally had the destination marked already. With a little magic, it’d spontaneously fly to the hands of the targeted person.
This unused talisman, however, was splattered with plenty of bloodstains.
Wen Xuan’s heart jumped in alarm. The elation he felt just now because Chu Lian was finally willing to see Qi Jibai instantly dissipated. Hastily turning around, he flew over to the Alchemy School in a rush.
Before he left, Wen Xuan heard Chu Lian laugh at himself.
Chu Lian laughed at himself, saying: “It’s already to this point, yet I actually still don’t want to go accompany him.”
Qi Jibai very quickly came over and helped examine Chu Lian carefully. When he left, Qi Jibai furrowed his brows tightly as he said he can only do his best.
After that day, Wen Xuan would bring over medicinal pills from Qi Jibai daily for Chu Lian to take. He could very clearly feel that as the time elapsed, the amount of medicinal pills grew more and more, the smell became heavier and thicker. Yet, Chu Lian’s state didn’t really get much better.
Every few days, Qi Jibai would come over himself to look over Chu Lian’s injury personally.
Once Wen Xuan just happened to bump into this accidentally. Qi Jibai had opened the front of Chu Lian’s robe and was examining the injury on his chest. The sinister and terrifying looking wound was far beyond what Wen Xuan had imagined. The inner flesh flipped outward, like scalding hot water had been poured over it. There were also thin threads of black smoke circling above it.
Wen Xuan had once seen how Murong Feng looked after suffering years of assault from the extreme fire poison. Chu Lian’s injury looked even more dreadful than that. No wonder Qi Jibai could only say he can only do his best.
“Actually, the wound is not the most troublesome part. Instead, it’s the demonic energy that entered Daoist Master Chu’s body.” Qi Jibai told Wen Xuan: “That demonic energy is not something I can solve with my cultivation level. I also don’t know anyone in North Ning who could do it. However, as long as the demonic energy remains, there’s no way for Daoist Master Chu’s wound to heal.”
Understanding the situation clearly, Wen Xuan knew immediately what this meant. However, this was something that the entire Sect couldn’t deal with. Naturally, Wen Xuan was also helpless. He could only pray Chu Lian can neutralize that demonic energy himself.
In comparison, although Jizi Ang also received heavy injuries, treating him was much easier than Chu Lian.
This kind of situation persisted for several more months.
Pretty much all of the small and medium sized Sects found big Sects to rely on. The Water Cloud Sect’s strength expanded several times. Jizi Ang also started to show hints of recovery. Because of this, the entire Sect had a slightly cheerful atmosphere. Pretty much no one noticed the heavy clouds over at Daiyun Peak.
Nascent Soul cultivators normally should have been the entire Sect’s patron saint. To end up in such a state, Chu Lian was the only one. Occasionally, Wen Xuan recalled his current treatment in the sect, despite being head disciple, and felt that perhaps misery loves company.
He still went to Chu Lian’s abode everyday to take care of him, watching the white hair slowly growing out from the top of Chu Lian’s head.
Sometimes, other than the white hair on his head, Chu Lian didn’t look much different from before. But more often than not, Chu Lian would lay drowsily in bed.
In his sleep, Chu Lian would sleep talk, mumbling Ye ShengGe’s name in his mouth. When he was awake, Chu Lian would pull out many old objects, spread them out before his eyes and look at them with rapt attention, face full of fond reminiscence.
Occasionally when he looked at Wen Xuan, his face would no longer contain the loathing from before, but carry the same kind of fond remembrance.
“You found that thing already, right?” Chu Lian asked him: “Inside your body.”
Wen Xuan immediately thought about that ice block he saw when breaking through yuan gathering and nodded.
“Then you should have already seen him.” Chu Lian sighed.
This should be talking about that divine memory left inside Wen Xuan’s body. After seeing Ye ShengGe’s appearance in the illusionary past, Wen Xuan was already able to confirm that the figure created by that divine memory was exactly Ye ShengGe himself.
“How nice.” Chu Lian said, his tone even carrying a tiny hint of grievance: “I also want to see him.”
For a moment, Wen Xuan didn’t know how to answer.
“Are you still going to continue down this path?” Chu Lian asked him.
“Can I stop?” Wen Xuan asked back.
“That’s right. It’s already too late to stop now. I once prevented you before, but you chose this yourself.” Chu Lian smiled somewhat mockingly.
But because of the long period of agony from his wound, Chu Lian’s temper wore down somewhat by now. Very quickly, he withdrew that sneer and said with a sigh: “From now on, you can only keep walking. As fast and as urgent as possible, continue onward. Then, you have to pray. Pray when that day comes, you can retain more of your human side. Pray that by that time, the human side of you is strong enough.”
Saying this, Chu Lian shook his head.
This meant he was kicking his guest out. Today, for Chu Lian to say all of these words with Wen Xuan in a tranquil and even-tempered manner, it was already a groundbreaking thing.
When Wen Xuan left, his heart felt rather heavy thinking about the words Chu Lian spoke just now.
Suddenly, he saw a message talisman fly past in the sky.
That was a somewhat familiar looking message talisman, looking like it was already very old. Maybe something that’s been around for several dozen years. It already had crumpled marks from being held, and even had plenty of bloodstains covering it.
Wen Xuan stood frozen where he was momentarily, dazing off. Suddenly, he violently turned around and dashed off towards Chu Lian’s abode.
Inside the abode was already completely deserted, only leaving behind an opened window swaying in the wind.
After this day, no one saw Chu Lian in the Water Cloud Sect ever again.
Some people say that Chu Lian’s conceitedness made him unwilling to die in front of others. Other people say that he only wanted to find a chance of survival out there. Wen Xuan felt the latter was more likely. He was willing to believe this because Chu Lian once said, despite his current state, he still wanted to live.
This thing seemed like just another incident in the Water Cloud Sect. After Chu Lian left, everything remained the same.
Wen Xuan also resumed his cultivation in seclusion.
He closed both eyes, mind sinking deep into his own body. Very quickly, he found that ice block. His cultivation was even stronger than before, faintly already reaching midstage yuan gathering. And every time he came to look at this ice block, he could discover some small cracks along the surface.
This was because of the spiritual energy circulating turbulently in his meridians. No matter how careful he was, it battered against this ice block. As his cultivation became stronger and stronger, this impact also increased in strength. But he couldn’t stop just because of this. The moment he chose to continue onward, everything had been set. When he returned back to yuan gathering, he lost the chance to regret. Even if he stopped cultivating, the spiritual energy would continue to batter nonstop. That day will come eventually. Stopping would make him lose the ability to contest when that day came.
Wen Xuan looked at the floating person next to the ice block and softly called: “Daoist Master Ye.”
Ye ShengGe’s divine memory never spoke. He only looked at Wen Xuan with a faint smile. However, Wen Xuan knew that he’d been silently protecting this place all along. That’s why every time Wen Xuan came back once more, the crack that he saw previously would look a bit smoothed out.
Wen Xuan bowed respectfully to this divine memory, then shifted his mind elsewhere to start today’s cultivation.
As the matter stands currently, he can only walk faster, and even faster.
At the same time, inside a mountain cave behind the Alchemy school, Jian Yi opened his eyes. In front of him were a lot of spiritual stones that had been shattered to pieces, the dust practically piling up into a small mountain.
Two years, this seclusion of his, lasted a total of two years.
There was a hint of a smile at the corner of Jian Yi’s mouth. The cultivation method that he ultimately deciphered was extremely unreasonable and eccentric. However, the advancement speed was also extremely rapid. Everyone usually needed to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth. He, however, could absorb them directly from spiritual stones. Why wouldn’t it be quick? Even if doing this would bring all sorts of drawbacks, Jian Yi accepted them gladly.
The current him was only one step away from yuan gathering.
This step was frequently the most difficult step. Many people spent a lifetime and were still unable to cross it. However, Jian Yi must cross it. And it has to be as soon as possible.
In order to deal with what’s to come, becoming yuan gathering was the easiest threshold he needed to cross.
Thank You for the chapter ♡ (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
Sigh i feel sad for Chu Lian
sobbing. tears running down my face. legs quivering. Y’ALL. I by Taeyeon is playing loudly through my head right now. can’t deal. bae’s dead y’all. my chu chu is DEAD.
Gosto do Chu liam…
I wonder if we will see his shifu in the future.
F
Glad he’s dead actually. Hope he stays that way.
Also what is homeboy doing to his body ?? I’m so worried