Chapter Eighty-Six: The Land of a Thousand Rivers
That towering phantom gradually appeared within the Returning Cloud Immortal Sect, illuminating the pitch-black night sky. It rose like a moon over the sea, like the sun blazing atop the mountains, its radiance dazzling and brilliant.
In the heavens, the manifestation of the celestial immortal shattered in an instant, fragments of light drifting across the sky like swirling snowflakes. From afar, Lu Caiwei gazed at the enormous sacred image, nearly as tall as heaven and earth itself, shaken to her core.
“In the hearts of mortals dwell gods; seeing truth and not reality, like gods and saints alike.” At the mountain peak, Liu Shouyi of Kunlun, looking on with a sigh, remarked, “What a splendid display of the Confucian method of revelation—I truly misjudged it. According to our forebears, a saint revealed at ten thousand feet may be called holy, and I never expected this young man to reach such a realm.”
Shen Yu stared into the distance and shook his head. “Not quite. He merely borrowed the feedback of heaven and earth to manifest himself.”
Within the scene, Zhong Shenluo stared, his face drained of color.
“I’m not skilled in combat. I have poured over the sages’ tomes for ages, and I’ve only mastered these minor arts of revelation. I hope they suffice for the Master’s eyes.” The middle-aged scholar coughed softly and stepped forward.
Behind him, the ten-thousand-foot sacred image moved in tandem, and then the ruler tapped lightly. At the zenith, where countless rays of light converged, fissures suddenly appeared in the void.
Jiang Zhouyao continued, “Since destruction begets creation, today I shall utterly shatter the Returning Cloud Immortal Sect and gather it anew.”
The Confucian sacred image closed its eyes and stamped down upon the ground with thunderous force.
Whoever said scholars were useless? In a radius of thousands of miles, countless arrays and restrictions crumbled, cracks snaked and twisted, pavilions and palaces collapsed in an uproar. The once towering mountain gate, tall enough to pierce the clouds, was overturned and shattered, reduced to rubble.
“Scoundrel! Are you courting death?” Watching centuries of foundation ruined in a blink, Zhong Shenluo’s eyes blazed red, hatred pouring forth as he charged the scholar.
Spiritual energy surged, killing intent swept over the sky like a raging tide.
Jiang Zhouyao’s expression remained calm; he pointed lightly with his right hand.
The sacred image above stepped forward once more.
Boom!
A giant footprint several hundred feet deep was stamped into the earth.
Zhong Shenluo was pressed flat, his entire body pinned beneath the massive shadow.
Jiang Zhouyao walked forward step by step, finally standing before Zhong Shenluo’s head, and said quietly, “Today, I will strip you of your cultivation, relieve you of your position as Master, and imprison you for a hundred years. You shall never again practice the Dao.”
Zhong Shenluo lay prostrate, blood streaming from his seven orifices, bereft of his former domineering aura. He howled, “I am the Master of the Returning Cloud Immortal Sect! By what right do you strip me?”
“By the dying wish of the previous Sect Master!”
“By my own name, Jiang Zhouyao!”
“By virtue of being the Return—” The scholar tried to speak further, but suddenly covered his mouth with his right hand; after a moment, he released it, palm stained crimson.
In that dazed moment, Zhong Shenluo erupted with a surge of energy, shaking off the sacred image’s left foot and fleeing desperately toward the horizon.
Jiang Zhouyao’s face paled; he shook his head. “If you refuse repentance, then die!”
All the spiritual force in the sky converged on the sacred image’s right hand gripping the ruler, its brilliance like a blazing crimson sun.
The fiery ruler struck fiercely toward the fleeing figure.
Zhong Shenluo felt the overwhelming aura of annihilation and, unable to think of anything else, cried out to the sky, “Save me!”
High above, far from the Returning Cloud Immortal Sect, hovered a mysterious, dark lotus, eerie and cold amidst the swirling clouds, like stagnant water. At that moment, the black lotus moved, arriving before Zhong Shenluo in an instant.
The strange, shadowy lotus blocked the ruler at the final moment.
The sky trembled violently.
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Boom!
Both sides were forced back.
The Confucian sacred image’s radiance instantly dimmed.
It seemed that the black lotus had gained the upper hand, and the edge of heaven and earth was swallowed by a chilling, murderous shadow.
Upon the lotus appeared a majestic man—black hair flowing, lips crimson as blood, a faintly mocking smile at the corner of his mouth.
Shen Yu raised a brow.
“Sir, your reputation is well-earned. To meet you today is a blessing of three lifetimes, but alas…”
The sudden intruder glanced at the crumbling sacred image and laughed, “Your cultivation is too short; forcibly raising your realm with talent and lifespan leaves you lacking.”
Jiang Zhouyao’s expression was indifferent. “The land of Qianchuan, the name of Mingcao—I have long heard it.”
The majestic man sensed a subtle shift in the world, and raised a brow. “Since you know my name, you still wish to fight? Do you realize that if you reveal your sanctity before men for half an hour, you will face utter annihilation?”
With a sneer, he continued, “I recall the Confucians say, ‘A gentleman does not stand beside a collapsing wall.’”
The scholar Jiang Zhouyao laughed aloud. “Our sages also said, ‘Though a thousand men oppose me, I shall go forth!’”
…
Fallen Immortal Peak.
Liu Shouyi, the Kunlun elder seemingly aloof from the world, snorted coldly. “What a bold land, Qianchuan—daring to act so arrogantly in East Ancestral Continent, as if Kunlun were nothing.”
He took a step, and nearly instantly appeared amid the sky.
Now three formed a stalemate.
The esteemed man from Qianchuan raised a brow and smiled. “I never imagined Daoist Liu of Kunlun would be here as well. Surely you’re not planning two against one?”
“Rubbish! You think I am like you?” Liu Shouyi rolled his eyes shamelessly. “We are three against one.”
The air shimmered as a dignified spirit monkey appeared behind the man, cutting off his escape.
Even Mingcao, renowned in Qianchuan, paled at the sight.
In this small expanse, not counting the gravely injured Zhong Shenluo, there were four cultivators above the third realm!
If they fought without restraint, most of East Ancestral Continent would collapse.
The majestic man murmured, “Let’s go.”
Zhong Shenluo glanced at the ruins beneath his feet, a pang of pain flashing in his heart—so much effort, now utterly destroyed. He gritted his teeth and sped away into the distance.
“Trying to escape?” Liu Shouyi thundered and extended his right hand.
“Suppress!”
A sigil of spiritual energy appeared.
The sigil was called Mountain Suppression.
From the Ninth Heaven, a towering mountain descended.
Jiang Zhouyao willed his sacred image, nearly dissipated, to wield the ruler once more.
The spirit monkey radiated ten thousand beams of Buddhist light and threw a fiery punch forward.
Facing the combined assault of the three great cultivators, the powerful man from Qianchuan hid within the black lotus, letting loose a torrent of black mist.
He did not evade; to buy time, he braced to endure their attack.
Boom!
Four forces intertwined, dazzling fireworks of light bursting across the world; touching the shattered stone below, they instantly turned to void.
The rolling black mist of the lotus absorbed most of the attack, a muffled groan emanating from within.
Moments later, propelled by the power of three, he shot backward, instantly a thousand miles away.
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“In days to come, we have time—this time, I’ll remember! Hahaha…” Wild laughter echoed from the horizon.
Liu Shouyi stomped and cursed, “Those turtles—no other skills, but their escape is unmatched!”
The spirit monkey pressed its palms together, silent.
Jiang Zhouyao sighed. “If only there were a sword cultivator of the upper third realm, he would not escape unscathed.”
As he finished, the towering shadow behind him vanished with the wind.
The old Daoist glanced at him. “Are you alright?”
The middle-aged scholar smiled faintly. “I won’t die.”
Liu Shouyi shook his head, finally sighing helplessly.
…
The direction the two figures fled was peculiar, from north to south.
Standing atop the peak, Shen Yu could see those two battered figures streaking past not far away.
Swift as shooting stars.
One was Qianchuan’s Sixth Desk Mingcao, the other the Returning Cloud Immortal Sect’s Master—both considered immortals by mortals, so neither paid any mind to the lowly disciple nearby.
Shen Yu spoke, “Step back.”
Lu Caiwei was taken aback, then realized something, her spirits soaring as she hurriedly retreated.
Shen Yu exhaled softly, spiritual energy rippling through him.
He raised his arm, pointing into the distance.
A jade sword spun lightly at his fingertips.
Sword drawn.
In Sword Immortal City, there is a blade called All Things Void. Long ago, after guidance from a certain master, a female sword immortal witnessed life and death in the world and acquired this sword.
A moment later.
Without a ripple, a thread-thin emerald light shot from the peak.
Zhong Shenluo, thinking he had escaped, suddenly turned, unable to summon his own spiritual force, his face bloodless, murmuring, “No…”
Mingcao, cloaked in the black lotus, raised his hand, but it was futile.
The sword was too swift—impossible to block.
He felt even the reclusive sword cultivators of Sword Immortal City could not wield such a technique.
Of course, the main reason was that the sword’s aura had locked onto the exhausted, grievously wounded Zhong Shenluo.
So, with a flash, a tiny blossom of blood appeared on Zhong Shenluo’s chest, then three, then ten….
Sword energy erupted within him, countless blood blooms scattering like rain.
Zhong Shenluo shrieked in agony, suspended in midair.
Mingcao of Qianchuan shuddered, eyes fixed on the sword’s origin.
“Ascendant realm? Or Immortal realm?”
Renowned across the world, Mingcao of Qianchuan broke into a cold sweat, as if plunged into ice.
In that instant, he felt a terror he’d encountered only among a handful in all heaven and earth.
Moments later.
The killing intent faded; Zhong Shenluo’s body dissolved into a rain of blood.
Only a plain young man in blue stood amidst the bloody downpour, meeting his gaze.
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