Chapter 42: Escape from the Idle Cloud Sect

“Ancestor of the Idle Cloud Sect!”
Li Zhenyu exclaimed in shock, but immediately returned to his elegant, refined demeanor.
The old man, hearing this, turned his head and glanced over, his gaze lingering on Jiang Ning for a moment.
“It’s him, no doubt!”
Jiang Ning was equally astounded. The old man was the very same who guarded the medicinal gardens, the one who assigned external missions. They were identical.
Some said they were twin brothers, others whispered he was an avatar, a manifestation outside his body.
Now, he stood alone atop the mountain, witnessing all the changing tides below.
“What ancestor of the Idle Cloud Sect?”
Jiang Ning looked at Li Zhenyu.
“Come, don’t ask.”
Li Zhenyu gritted his teeth, turning his back to Lin Qian as he spoke to Jiang Ning.
Lin Qian’s gaze fell on the old man. This was the most enigmatic figure of the Idle Cloud Sect—never intervening, yet rumored to possess power equal to the sect master.
Hearing Li Zhenyu call him the ancestor, her eyes flickered with surprise, as if pondering something.
At that moment, the old man sighed softly and stepped forward, standing in midair just like that.
He appeared utterly unremarkable, without the slightest spiritual fluctuation, yet with that single step, the raging deathly energy across heaven and earth abruptly halted!
The entire world fell into an uncanny silence!
Then, with a casual wave of his hand, he uttered a single word:
“Still!”
The deathly energy that had been billowing forth instantly froze, some of it suspended midair, motionless.
True stillness!
Even the swirling spiritual energy and the darkness filled with deathly aura were locked in place.
Suddenly, in everyone’s eyes, there appeared this ordinary old man.
Even the dazzling lights faded before him, as if he, not the storm, was the center of the world.
“Ancestor…”
Yang Zhengfeng had calmed, as had the elders and the sect masters of the Six Paths Sect and the old man in hemp robes. All eyes turned to the mysterious elder who had appeared so suddenly.
The elders bore complicated expressions. The grand elder, tears streaming down his face, knelt and could not speak a word.
“It’s the one who guards the medicinal gardens…”
The disciples of Idle Cloud recognized him.
“The old man who gives out missions!”
They looked so alike—no one could say if they were one and the same.
“You are not human!”
The man in hemp robes frowned, finally voicing the shocking truth.
The mysterious old man said nothing, his gaze fixed on the now silent Yang Zhengfeng.

“Idle Cloud Sect… It was my fault.”
He sighed, looking truly like an aged, ordinary man as he surveyed the scene.
“This cannot continue. The sect’s downfall is inevitable, but I cannot let these disciples perish in the death array.”
“No!”
Yang Zhengfeng stared straight at the old man. “They must die.”
He pointed at Jiang Ning and Lin Qian, who were watching everything unfold.
“Damn this old bastard!”
Jiang Ning genuinely wished he could tear Yang Zhengfeng apart.
First, he had tried to use him for some blood ritual to refine a pill—thankfully, Jiang Ning had escaped. And now, he still wanted him dead?
From beginning to end, he had been a passive victim.
He hadn’t offended anyone, nor done anything wrong.
“Do I have some sort of magnet for hatred?”
It defied all logic…
He hadn’t even provoked the disciples of the Six Paths Sect, yet they all looked at him as if he were their mortal enemy.
Now, with Yang Zhengfeng’s finger pointed at him, the disciples’ eyes burned with vengeance.
Even some from Idle Cloud, including Zhang Liyan, saw him as a harbinger of disaster, blaming him for their despair.
“Sigh…”
The mysterious old man shook his head. “Though I am but a spirit, I am still the ancestor of Idle Cloud Sect!”
“Have you all stopped listening to my words?”
His voice was soft but carried the weight of profound law—even the man in hemp robes seemed wary.
After all, though he had accused him of not being human, whether man or spirit, anyone who could freeze such a death array with a wave was no ordinary being.
The Six Paths Sect master seemed to recall something, staring at the mysterious elder in thought.
Yang Zhengfeng’s face was grim, speechless.
“Enough. All these mistakes are mine to amend…”
He stepped forward again, drawing everyone’s attention away from Jiang Ning and his companions.
The laws of the great way flowed, and an immense aura of vitality erupted—not in a thunderous crash, but slow and inexhaustible.
The frozen deathly energy began to dissipate, life rising to replace death. The old man’s figure gradually faded into a blur.
“No! Ancestor!”
Yang Zhengfeng was shaken, his complexion changing drastically, all coldness and composure gone.
The grand elder remained mute, weeping on his knees, unwilling to rise.
The other elders looked lost for words. Jiang Ning suddenly sensed an air of impending doom clinging to these people—a look reserved for those at death’s door.
The confounding dialogue, the abrupt turn of events—all sent chills down Jiang Ning’s spine.
“Let’s go!”
He noticed Li Zhenyu’s evasiveness. The two exchanged a glance; the array was immobilized, the deathly energy no longer swirling, and the breach in the formation was right before them.
“Go!”

Jiang Ning was the first to move.
“Traverse!”
In an instant, he was outside the formation.
Li Zhenyu and Lin Qian emerged with him.
They passed through the now-still, dense deathly air, each relying on their own hidden cards.
Li Zhenyu was a special case, and as for Lin Qian, she’d taken a palm strike earlier and emerged unharmed—clearly, each harbored their own secrets and fortunes.
None of the three dared to pause. They were at the formation’s edge, and rode a rainbow arc straight to the deserted mountain woods, landing atop a peak.
“Miss Lin, fate brings us together—it’s a rare thing, to go in and come out side by side.”
Li Zhenyu instantly slipped back into his persona, courteous and debonair, addressing Lin Qian with a smile.
“…”
Jiang Ning was speechless.
“Master Li, perhaps you should change your clothes,”
he quipped, but Li Zhenyu ignored him.
With a swirl of spiritual energy, he conjured a new robe, elegant and ethereal—though for some reason, Jiang Ning found the sight oddly irritating.
“So this is the Death Array…”
Jiang Ning’s gaze returned to the now-dormant formation. The summer wind swept over the mountains, and he realized that basking in sunlight was a rare luxury.
Within the death array, there had been only darkness and peril.
Now, his taut nerves could finally relax.
“The death array, forged from the very laws of heaven and earth, is truly extraordinary. Never did I expect to witness it alongside Miss Qian.”
Li Zhenyu was at it again, now addressing her as Miss Qian directly.
“Master Li, you seem to know something of its mysteries. Care to share?”
Jiang Ning wanted to punch him, but guessed he might indeed know more, and so asked.
Now that they were safe, it was curious that the appearance of the mysterious elder had given them their chance to escape.
“Earlier, it seemed he also helped me in a roundabout way. Who is he?”
Jiang Ning’s mind swirled with questions.
“I cannot say, I cannot say.”
Li Zhenyu put on an air of deep mystery.
Lin Qian, however, smiled and turned to him.
“Master Li, why not tell us? I am curious too.”
“Well…”
Li Zhenyu pondered a moment.
“Very well!”
“…”
Jiang Ning managed to restrain his urge to hit him.