Chapter 573 - 53: Zi Luan
Jinhuai City.
Just as Wang Ping had said, it hadn’t suffered a major blow. It was, after all, the nation’s capital and the headquarters of the Daoist Palace. After dealing with the issues on Hai Zhou Road, Zhi Gong Daoist had maintained a low profile at the Daoist Palace in recent years. Plus, there was a Core Formation Realm demon lurking in the shadows.
However, while there were no major losses, some minor ones were unavoidable. The incident had been far too sudden for anyone to anticipate.
An invisible, grayish-blue array now floated above the Imperial Palace, cutting off most of the city’s Spiritual Qi. Meanwhile, the Daoist Palace had deployed its own Magic Array Barrier. This barrier was a precaution put in place after the lessons learned from the Shangjing City incident, designed to withstand direct assaults from the Third Realm and block all teleportation and corrosive techniques.
In the southern Outer City District.
In a marketplace at a crowded residential crossroads, vines that had appeared from nowhere were being devoured by a massive fire. Two groups of people stood on the fire’s perimeter: one group was cultivators from the Daoist Palace, the other, cultivators from the Court.
In the very center of the blaze stood a locust tree covered in white blossoms, untouched by the flames. Its massive roots had pierced through the stone bricks of the ground and were coiling around the nearby homes. The blooming white flowers released streams of Wood Spirit Qi that neutralized and consumed the spiritual essence of the surrounding area. Some of the roots were entangled with the corpses of civilians.
Both groups seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move, hoping to preserve their own strength. They completely ignored the civilians trapped within.
WHOOSH—
A sound suddenly tore through the sky. As the two groups looked up, all they saw was a flash of green sword light, its trajectory impossible to follow. By the time they could react, the locust tree in the center of the fire had been sliced clean through its trunk by the light.
It was a Bronze Sword, its edge gleaming with a cold light and its blade intricately carved with complex Array Runes. As it severed the locust tree, the runes on the sword flared, forming a dark green Array. This Array created a powerful suction force that pulled the tree and all its subterranean roots into it.
Eerily, upon contact with the Array, the tree and its roots disintegrated into a granular white powder—the telltale sign of a Spirit Vein that has lost its vitality.
Then, a streak of light flashed across the sky, and Zi Luan, clad in a blue, Narrow-sleeved Daoist Robe, appeared hovering at the edge of the fire. In an instant, the Bronze Sword annihilated all of the locust tree’s residual spiritual essence before transforming back into a beam of light and disappearing between Zi Luan’s brows.
"Greetings, Zi Luan Zhenren!"
Whatever thoughts were running through their minds, neither group would dare show any disrespect in this situation.
Zi Luan extended a finger. A dense cloud of Wood Spirit Qi emerged and instantly extinguished the massive fire. Two figures then appeared beside him—his disciples, Hongyuan and Qin Zifeng.
"Are you still not going to help anyone?" Qin Zifeng said to the two groups, his tone laced with scorn. "The common folk in the distance and the Court’s Imperial Censors are all watching, you know!"
The members of the two groups fumed inwardly at his words but didn’t dare to retort. Some were already planning to go to the nearest True Monarch Temple and report Zi Luan for the crime of interfering in the affairs of the Mortal World.
Zi Luan, however, had already landed in the spot where the locust tree once stood. He reached out, grasping at the empty air, and a single white locust blossom floated down into his palm.
"Did you two feel anything?"
There was a hint of irrepressible joy in Zi Luan’s voice. He tried to suppress his smile, causing his expression to twist slightly.
Hongyuan glanced at his junior martial brother. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, Hongyuan cupped his fist and replied, "I felt nothing."
"Hahaha!"
Zi Luan’s loud laughter drew the attention of the cultivators who had begun treating the civilians, but they quickly turned away as if they had heard nothing.
After his bout of laughter, Zi Luan gazed at the chaotic energies swirling elsewhere in the sky and said, "Senior Wan Zhi has authorized me to deal with this mess. With her backing, no one will dare to touch me right now. You two don’t need to follow me around like you’re guarding a thief. And if there were real danger, it’s not as if you being here would make a difference."
"Master, shouldn’t we first notify Changqing Zhenren and Senior Wu Quan..."
"There’s no need. I will handle this alone!"
With that, Zi Luan transformed into a streak of light and flew northwest, toward the most intense concentration of chaotic energy.
Hongyuan and Qin Zifeng had no choice but to stop.
"What’s wrong with Master? I’ve never seen him in a state like this before!" Hongyuan murmured under his breath.
"What did Master ask you just now?"
"What did he ask?"
"He asked if you felt anything from that locust blossom."
"And what was there to feel?"
"I couldn’t feel it, but I know what it represented. It’s the very thing Master fears facing most, and also the thing he most desires to face!"
It was a moment of sudden enlightenment for Hongyuan. Though usually quiet and reserved, he was by no means a fool. He had always known that his master was plagued by an inner demon—the deep-seated suspicion that he himself was merely a puppet of his own master, Xiao Shan Lord.
This current uprising in the south was, by all appearances, caused by the sudden breakdown of the puppets Xiao Shan Lord had left behind. Yet his master was completely unaffected. This, at the very least, proved that his master was not one of them.
He suddenly understood his master’s feelings, because he harbored the same fear. He glanced discreetly at his junior brother, then looked up toward the horizon where his master had vanished.
「Northwest.」
In a small town near the Five Divine Rivers, a grotesque, bloated figure with skin oozing a yellowish-brown fluid was shrieking as it battled a humanoid figure wreathed in flames.
The two fought from the ground into the sky, laying waste to the small town in their struggle.
"SKREEE—"
The bloated monstrosity let out a piercing shriek as the swollen skin on its face peeled back in layers, revealing a gaping maw filled with black teeth. Immediately after, the Earth Spirit Qi in the area harnessed the pull of gravity, creating invisible waves of pressure that crashed downward in an attempt to extinguish the flames.
The humanoid figure within the fire began to distort, twisting in an instant into a four-legged beast. It resembled a Fire Salamander, but with strange horns and a human-like face. After its transformation, the temperature of the flames cloaking its body skyrocketed, warping the surrounding space and causing the very ground to bubble up into magma.
It silently withstood the crushing force of gravity, then opened its mouth, apparently preparing to spew fire.
Just then, a streak of light descended from the sky, followed by the flash of a sword. It was Zi Luan. Wielding the Bronze Sword like a wandering Jianghu Traveler, he sliced the flame-engulfed monster in two. Sparks set his Daoist Robe alight and even seared his skin, but he paid it no mind whatsoever.
TZZZ—
The wave of gravitational force struck him from above, peeling away a layer of his skin and revealing the Wood Spirit Vein beneath, which pulsed with a dark green light. Yet, he just grinned, a grin that quickly broke into wild, unrestrained laughter. He then raised his Bronze Sword and sliced the bloated monster in half at the waist before swinging again and again, hacking it to pieces.
He paid no attention to the lifeless fragments, his gaze already turning toward the chaotic energies further north with an insatiable look in his eyes. He then transformed into a streak of light and sped away.
Meanwhile, the Ascension Platform at Qianmu Temple received a special guest.
It was Dongcan, the very person Wang Ping had been waiting for. He had promised to help Wang Ping assassinate Xiu Yu after the incident in Shangjing City, but no word had come back, and he himself had vanished without a trace.