The man who had walked to the dungeon entrance stopped. He turned his head to look behind him, his face revealing an extremely gentle smile: “Truly worthy of being Liuguang Sect—even the bloodthirsty demon who kills without mercy can report information.”
The fox in his arms didn’t dare move. The fur on her body trembled, whether from fear or from being blown by the wind was unclear.
“Your Excellency has come to visit my Liuguang Sect—why the need to hide your head and conceal your tail?” A person walked out from the shadows. It was none other than Liuguang Sect’s sect master, Jinyue.
The man absentmindedly stroked the soft fur on the fox’s neck, as leisurely as if strolling in his own backyard: “The grand Liuguang Sect actually uses such methods to meet with this seat.”
“Evil Cultivator Venerable appears and disappears unpredictably. We could only use this method to respectfully await Your Excellency’s arrival.” Jinyue looked at the rogue cultivator before him called Chi Si—or rather, the rogue cultivator the Evil Cultivator Venerable had disguised himself as—and raised his hand to summon his life-bound sword. “Since Your Excellency has come, why not stay in my humble sect for a while? What does Your Excellency think?”
“This seat has numerous affairs to attend to. Sect Master Jin likely cannot keep this seat here.” Chi Si held the fox with one hand while lazily waving his fan with the other, his beautiful eyes and brows carrying faint mockery.
“Our junior said it right—people who call themselves ‘this seat’ or ‘this venerable one’ are not only wicked, but their final outcomes won’t be too good either.” Flowing light flashed in the air, and a beauty in red robes descended from the sky. Her posture was languid, and the round fan in her hand shimmered with brilliant light. “We haven’t seen each other in many years, Evil Venerable. Your style remains unchanged, but this face…”
Cultivators who had reached the Great Vehicle Stage could change their appearance at will. Though Qiushuang in red robes still smiled on her face, her eyes became serious and earnest. “It seems I should congratulate Evil Venerable on achieving great success in your divine skills?”
The cultivators who came to participate in the exchange meeting had no issues with their identities, including the Chi Si that Evil Venerable had disguised himself as. Perhaps “Chi Si” didn’t exist in the world at all—from the very beginning, he was an identity Evil Venerable used to move through the cultivation world.
Even the tribulation that occurred this morning and sparked countless discussions was something he had faked.
“You’re more intelligent than I imagined.” Chi Si lightly stomped his foot, and powerful spiritual energy scattered everywhere. The low-level disciples residing in Liuguang Sect didn’t even have time to react before coughing up blood and fainting.
Every peak of Liuguang Sect had protective arrays, and the disciples who came to participate in the exchange meeting all carried protective talismans, but these preparations couldn’t withstand Evil Venerable’s casual strike.
Cultivators at the Great Vehicle Stage were great powers who were only one step away from ascending to become immortals. They could destroy heaven and earth, move mountains and shift waters, and could view human lives as worthless as grass.
Jinyue and Qiushuang had profound cultivation and weren’t affected by Chi Si’s strike, but their expressions didn’t look good. With Chi Si’s current cultivation level, taking the life of anyone in the cultivation world was an effortless matter—why would he deliberately use so many methods to make the entire cultivation world anxious and fearful?
Chi Si laughed mockingly. The fan in his hand twirled into a flourish: “Do you know what I most want to see?”
Qiushuang and Jinyue didn’t speak.
“I want to see you struggle painfully in the hope of ascension, only to ultimately walk toward despair.” He sneered, his face full of mockery. “How could the Heavenly Dao possibly let people like you ascend to become immortals?”
As soon as his words fell, a flying sword carrying murderous sword intent shot straight toward him. This sword was extremely sharp, carrying momentum like toppling mountains and overturning seas. Chi Si, who had been lazily toying with his folding fan, swung his fan to block the sword, the relaxed expression on his face disappearing.
Buzz buzz buzz.
The sword emitted a humming sound. Sword and fan were evenly matched—for a moment, they couldn’t determine a victor. With Jinyue and Qiushuang also present, Chi Si couldn’t let these two find an opportunity for a sneak attack. He dodged to the side and used spiritual energy to force the sword back. This way, the lofty and superior momentum he’d just created was destroyed in an instant, which made his mood somewhat foul.
“Master, Qiushuang Zhenren.” Huan Zong recalled his flying sword and stood beside the two. Qiushuang glanced behind him and frowned: “Why did you bring Kong Hou over?”
Huan Zong also hadn’t anticipated that Kong Hou would rush over. After a slight pause, he said: “Evil Venerable’s cultivation has already reached the Great Vehicle Stage. If he wants to commit evil, hiding anywhere won’t escape him. With her beside us, we might feel more at ease.”
“Grand-Master Uncle, I came over on my own.” Just now, seeing her two martial nephews Li Rou and Gui Lin unconscious, Kong Hou realized the situation was somewhat bad. The phoenix hairpin in her hair also kept trembling, as if urging her to do something.
Although the phoenix hairpin was her life-bound magical artifact, Kong Hou rarely sensed such strong emotions from it.
Her sect elders had told her that her life-bound magical artifact was an extremely rare divine artifact with powerful sensing abilities when danger approached.
Gripping the phoenix hairpin in her hand, after entrusting her two martial nephews to Senior Sister Linghui, Kong Hou immediately rushed over on her flying sword. Seeing Chi Si confronting Huan Zong and the others, Kong Hou wasn’t surprised at all. She jumped to stand beside Huan Zong, bowed to Jinyue and Qiushuang, and the phoenix hairpin in her hand transformed into the largest phoenix-headed konghou. The phoenix talisman patterns on it floated in the flowing light, as if alive.
The fox in Chi Si’s arms saw Kong Hou and suddenly bared its teeth and roared several times.
“Hong Mian, this seat doesn’t like women who are too noisy. Do you understand, hmm?” Chi Si lowered his head and patted the fox’s head once. The fox’s entire body stiffened, and she sat quietly with legs properly folded. Although her eyes looking at Kong Hou were full of hatred, she didn’t dare make a single sound.
“Such a fresh soul. It’s been a long time since this seat has seen such a spirited female cultivator.” Chi Si smiled as he looked at Kong Hou. “Although you insulted this seat’s fiancée, this seat is reluctant to hold it against you.”
“That’s truly your fiancée’s misfortune.” Sweat seeped from Kong Hou’s palms, but her face remained calm. “My man is different from you. If anyone treats me badly, he’ll seek justice for me.”
Qiushuang and Jinyue both turned their heads to glance at Huan Zong. Huan Zong… Huan Zong blushed and tried hard to keep his face straight as he cupped his hands toward the two, but his upturned mouth corners betrayed his good mood.
“You mean this seat should kill you to avenge her?” Chi Si spun the folding fan in his hand, graceful and unparalleled. “What should this seat do about this?” His tone was as gentle as if whispering to a lover, but there was no affection in his eyes—only coldness and killing intent.
“Amitabha. Benefactor Chi Si, please don’t rashly harbor thoughts of killing.” Yuanchen appeared in a burst of Buddhist light. He looked at Chi Si. “Cultivation is not easy. Why must benefactor create such karmic sins? Please leave.”
“Someone like you actually speaks of Buddha with every breath.” Seeing Yuanchen, the killing intent in Chi Si’s eyes grew heavier. “You speak of benevolence and compassion with every word, but you’re nothing more than this.”
Yuanchen lowered his eyes and recited a Buddhist prayer, not refuting Chi Si’s words.
Kong Hou faintly felt there was an old grievance between these two, because the way Chi Si had looked at them earlier was like looking at obstructive stones, but the way he looked at Yuanchen was truly like looking at garbage that must be eradicated.
“You monk want to save the world’s people, but you can’t save yourself, and you couldn’t save one woman.” Chi Si tossed the fox to the ground. “Which of these younger generation in the cultivation world now still knows that the eminent monk Yuanchen once developed worldly desires for a woman?”
“Past events—why mention them again?” Yuanchen looked at Chi Si, his eyes calm and waveless. “If I can save others, this poor monk is willing to enter the sea of suffering.”
Chi Si asked in return: “Why didn’t you save her?”
Yuanchen looked at him quietly. This gaze spanned many years, to when he was still the most promising and handsome junior in the Buddhist sect, called the reincarnation of Buddha.
Footsteps sounded—very slow, very light. Kong Hou turned her head to look and saw the woman on the bluestone path.
She wore a dark red dress and skirt. On the skirt were the sun, moon, mountains and rivers—the trajectory of the Heavenly Dao. Kong Hou’s gaze met hers. Her appearance was still young, but her eyes were already like deep twilight—no joy, no sorrow, no love, no hate.
For some reason, Kong Hou felt that the “she” in Chi Si’s words was this female sect leader of Yuexing Sect, Hongyan Zhenren.
Hongyan met Kong Hou’s eyes without dodging or avoiding. She pushed open the gate outside the dungeon courtyard. The night wind lifted the shawl on her body, and the shawl wrapped around her neck with a coldly beautiful indifference.
Seeing her appear, Qiushuang sighed and sat down cross-legged. Being old, she least liked watching these faded old stories.
The fox lying on the ground saw Hongyan and seemed to receive a tremendous blow. The entire fox collapsed to the ground, as if losing all vitality.
Hongyan looked at this strange man called Chi Si in the courtyard, summoned her star disc to hold in her hand, and said coldly: “Are you Jiu Su?”
“How rare. After not seeing each other for hundreds of years, Hongyan Zhenren still remembers this name. Even this seat has almost forgotten these two characters.” Chi Si looked at the star disc in Hongyan’s hand. “Has Zhenren come today to repay a debt?”
“Debt?” Hongyan unconsciously curved her lips. “Was my junior martial sister killed by you?”
Chi Si sneered: “If she hadn’t suspected my identity, why would I have moved against her? I gave you my whole heart, and you discarded it like trash. Hongyan, do you truly think that after so many years have passed, I would still be the same as back then?”
“You concealed your identity and harmed so many cultivators, yet you speak to me of love?” Hongyan looked at him coldly. “Don’t use romantic love as an all-purpose excuse. Is your love so remarkable? More important than other people’s lives?”
“I knew long ago that you woman have no heart. I gave you precious medicinal materials, gave you the most cherished magical artifacts. My sincere heart was discarded by you like a stubborn stone.” Chi Si suddenly laughed. “You want to protect these cultivators, so I’ll make them live in fear. I want them to know that because of you, they suffer so much hardship.”
“Although I killed your fellow sect members and killed your Daoist friends, I was sincere toward you, so you should fly away with me—isn’t there something wrong here?” Kong Hou hid behind Jinyue, Huan Zong, and Qiushuang, saying quietly, “Your love is so remarkable, huh? Other people should just be stepping stones for your love?”
“For a junior to be so bold, why hide behind others to speak?” Chi Si turned his head to look at Kong Hou. “You come out. This seat won’t kill you.”
“She’s right. Your sincerity is worth shit.” Hongyan sneered. “Where is there any true feeling of eternal vows? It’s nothing more than everyone having their own calculations. What you came to the cultivation world to claim this time isn’t a debt of love either, but an opportunity to ascend, right?”
Chi Si narrowed his eyes looking at Hongyan without speaking.
“Whether Buddha or demon, nothing more than this.” Hongyan threw the star disc in her hand toward the sky. The star disc resonated with the stars in the sky, producing a powerful aura that imprisoned all of them in a barrier.
“Who wants you men’s disgusting and cheap feelings? And you still want to ascend to become Buddha?!”
**Author’s Note:** Hongyan has entered berserk mode. Please be mindful to use evasion skills.