“Fellow Daoist, Luo Yuntian is speaking nonsense. While it is true that the Moquan Sect mistakenly kidnapped your disciple, it was not a blood feud. Please do not listen to such slander and misunderstand our Moquan Sect.”
When he heard this voice, Luo Yuntian—whose eyes were covered and whose lack of spiritual energy prevented him from using his Divine Sense—still recognized the identity of the speaker.
“Helian Zhou! What are you doing here?!”
Something was wrong. This youth’s master hadn't forced her way in. Since the outside was so quiet and she had appeared alongside Helian Zhou, this was a negotiation, not a violent resolution!
Unfortunately, no one answered him.
Wen Li stepped forward and pushed Gong Xu, who was still sprawled across Gu Linshu’s waist, aside. She pulled the black cloth off Gu Linshu’s eyes with her right hand and quickly covered his eyes with her left.
Once he had gradually adjusted to the surrounding light, Wen Li finally moved her left hand away.
“How is it? Are you injured? Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
She helped him up, looking her silly disciple over from head to toe. Seeing that his hair was a bit messy, she raised her hand to redo his topknot, pulled out the Cangchen Brush she had been holding for him, and used it to pin his hair back in place.
Wen Li nodded with satisfaction. Indeed, Old Three was her most upright and presentable disciple.
“M-Master, I, I’m fine.”
Gu Linshu was dazed. Why had his master come with the person who kidnapped him? They didn't fight?
This didn't seem like his master’s usual style.
Wen Li glanced at Helian Zhou, who was watching the two of them with a subtle expression, and her eyes brightened slightly.
“Where is the person who knocked my disciple unconscious?”
When she had been fixing Gu Linshu’s hair, she had felt the swelling on the back of his head that hadn't yet subsided.
Helian Zhou frowned slightly. “Fellow Daoist, you only said you wanted to take the boy away, not...”
“I won’t kill him, and I won’t be the one to act. My disciple will handle it himself.”
Wen Li cut him off directly, her eyes devoid of patience. “What? You think a simple 'misunderstanding' can compensate for the bump on my disciple’s head and his mental trauma?”
“Fine, Fellow Daoist, please follow me.”
Helian Zhou pursed his lips. Since she had put it that way—and since the youth was only at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment while the disciple who knocked him out was also at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment—how much blood could really be shed?
“Hey, wait! Fellow Daoist, if you save us, Danfeng Valley will be forever grateful and will surely provide a heavy reward!”
Hearing that the three were about to leave, Luo Yuntian hurriedly spoke up. “And, and I was kind enough to tell your disciple to run! I can be considered half a life-saver to him, right? Let's build a connection; what goes around comes around.”
Wen Li stopped in her tracks as she led Gu Linshu away.
“Kind enough...”
Wen Li turned her head slightly, her expression mocking and her clear voice chillingly cold.
“Your Excellency, at the life-or-death moment of being hunted, you still had the heart to tell my disciple to run? You know best what your intentions were. We are all cultivators struggling against the Heavens for fortune; why play these tricks of framing others and shifting misfortune onto them? This debt will be settled with you ten times over in the future. You’d better remember that.”
She ignored him further and led Gu Linshu out of the dungeon.
“You think others are like you, so accustomed to hypocrisy that they’ve forgotten what kind of person they really are.”
Helian Zhou paused and let out a cold sneer at Luo Yuntian. “And you still call yourself righteous. Luo Yuntian, you really are pathetic.”
Luo Yuntian’s expression darkened. “Hmph, Helian Zhou, do you think you’re any better? After all these years, you’re still just a mere Left Protector, doing all the dirty and exhausting work. You think you’ll be fine after releasing this youth? I’m telling you, his identity is far from simple. Once he returns safely, just wait for the Moquan Sect to face the calamity of extermination!”
Helian Zhou scoffed. “You don’t need to worry about any calamity. You might not even live to see that day.”
Unwilling to stay any longer, he turned and left with the luminous pearl, leaving the dungeon to sink back into darkness.
...
The other five disciples sat in the corner, collectively remaining silent, their hearts filled with their own worries and thoughts.
Luo Yuntian also felt the sting of humiliation. He closed his eyes and stopped speaking, secretly focusing on recovering his body.
Hmph, that Spirit-Dispersing Pill might be effective against other Golden Core cultivators, but for him, it was only temporary.
...
Wen Li and Helian Zhou stood on a training field within the Moquan Sect. By now, the sky was fully bright, the morning sun hanging high between the mountain peaks, and the cool, refreshing mountain breeze brushed against everything.
Gu Linshu stood on a platform opposite a young man dressed in black.
A good number of Moquan Sect disciples had gathered around to watch the excitement. Seeing Helian Zhou present, they didn't dare speak too loudly, only whispering among themselves.
“Who is that? I’ve never seen him before. Is he a new disciple of the sect?”
“The one fighting him is Xu Chang, the Left Protector’s fifth disciple. He’s been at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment for over ten years and has a solid foundation. That boy only looks fourteen; he’s just at the age of starting his path. No matter how amazing he is, he can only be at the Seventh Level of Qi Refinement or below at most. How does he have the guts?”
“Little friend, I only knocked you out. Why do you insist on seeking humiliation?”
On the stage, the young man who had knocked Gu Linshu unconscious, Xu Chang, looked on with contempt. Since Gu Linshu’s cultivation was hidden, Xu Chang, being in the same realm, could not tell how strong he was. Having been suddenly called to the stage, he hadn't had a chance to speak with Helian Zhou before the battle began.
Gu Linshu’s expression remained calm as he sent a transmission. “Then I will only knock you out. Why should you be afraid?”
The Cangchen Brush had luckily survived its fall unscathed. It was a Dharma treasure his parents had personally forged for him; no one else was allowed to touch it.
“In that case, let’s see you try!”
Xu Chang’s eyes darkened, and he raised his hands, conjuring pale yellow spiritual energy. He formed a hand seal, and a light shield expanded in front of him, from which a translucent yellow tiger suddenly lunged out.
“Roar!”
The tiger let out an earth-shaking roar that sent tremors through the air as it lunged toward Gu Linshu.
Gu Linshu took the Cangchen Brush from his hair. Without drawing any talismans, he simply made a hand seal with one hand and tapped the air in front of him. A ripple of light immediately spread out, followed by a boom as it transformed into five circles of light. Countless ice blades shot out from them, heading straight for the tiger.
Bang—
“Roar! Roar—”
The cold glint of the ice blades pierced into the tiger, which tried its best to deflect them, but the ice blades were relentless, surging out like water from an open dam.
At the same time, Gu Linshu’s cultivation level was exposed to everyone.
Xu Chang’s pupils shrank. “You’re also at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment?!”
How could that be? He wasn't even as tall as his shoulders!
At this age, he should have just started his cultivation path!
The many young disciples below the stage were instantly shocked.
“He’s at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment at such a young age?!”
“Impossible, right? Senior Brother Xu Chang is at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment and he’s already one hundred and nine years old. Is this boy just short and actually an old man who achieved rejuvenation?”
“If he really reached Foundation Establishment at this age, why would he be here competing with Senior Brother Xu Chang? He should have gone to places like the Central Province long ago! It’s fake. He must have something that allows him to fake the spiritual energy of the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment. This person is too vain; just wait for Senior Brother Xu Chang to defeat him and see how he keeps up the act!”
The crowd buzzed with discussion. It wasn't that they were particularly jealous, but rather that in their understanding of cultivation, reaching the Foundation Establishment realm required over a hundred years of training, or at least seventy or eighty years for those with better talent.
Wanbeiwu was a border region of the Beiqiong Kingdom where spiritual energy and resources were scarce. It was already decent if one cultivator emerged from a thousand mortals, let alone some cultivation genius.
The standard was someone like Xu Chang, who reached the corresponding realm within the tacitly accepted time frame; that was already considered good talent.
To have a fourteen-year-old Foundation Establishment youth suddenly appear was something none of them could believe. Their certainty came from the belief that such a genius could never appear in a place like this.
Gu Linshu ignored Xu Chang’s shock and quickly waved his hand. Ten talismans appeared in the air. Holding the brush in his right hand, he formed a seal with his left and recited an incantation. The talismans immediately expanded several times in size, surrounding the tiger and spinning rapidly.
So what if he was at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment? He had been steady in this realm for over ten years; could he really lose to a wet-behind-the-ears kid?!
Sensing a threat, Xu Chang immediately summoned a deep blue blade and flew toward the talismans to slash them. Ten light arrows shot out in a spinning motion, each corresponding to one of the talismans.
Seeing this, Gu Linshu circulated his full spiritual energy. The ten talismans instantly closed in, trapping the attacking tiger inside and forming the shape of an Inscribed Tripod-Bell. Countless beams of light and violent attacks trapped the tiger to death, and the earth-shaking roars from within became even more frenzied.
“ROAR!!!”
Bang—
“How is this possible?!”
The surrounding disciples cried out in surprise. They hadn't expected this youth to actually be able to trap Xu Chang.
Xu Chang’s gaze turned fierce as he gripped the deep blue blade and prepared to charge at him.
“You’re looking for death!”
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