Yueguang Daoren was getting on in years and adhered to the concept of health preservation. His tastes were not much different from Shaoyang Zhenren’s—the food in the hall was quite bland, even the candies were sugar-free. While such flavors were acceptable for elderly people, they were indeed rather demanding for children.
“Senior Brother Mu asked me to thank you. Little Junior Brother, what did you help him with? He even specially bought you pastries to express his gratitude?”
Mendong grabbed a piece of peanut crisp and stuffed it into his mouth, eating while speaking: “What else could it be? He likes Senior Sister Meng, so I’m helping him pursue Senior Sister Meng. Naturally, he wants to curry favor with me.”
“Pursue Senior Sister Meng?” Tian Fangfang was stunned: “Relying on you?”
Mendong’s chewing motion paused, and he glanced sideways at Tian Fangfang: “If not relying on me, then relying on you? Go ask around the entire sect—how many senior brothers and sisters became dao companions because I facilitated their relationships.” He turned around, walking into the hall while lecturing Tian Fangfang: “Don’t look down on people. Who knows, in the future, when you want to pursue a dao companion, you might have to queue up to ask me to take action.”
Tian Fangfang was speechless for a moment, following him into Xiaoyao Hall and casually asking: “So has Senior Brother Mu succeeded now?”
“Not yet.” Mendong found a long couch in the hall and climbed onto it with practiced ease. There was a teapot on the small table beside him. Without standing on ceremony, he poured himself a cup of tea and also poured one for Tian Fangfang. Finally, after taking a sip of tea and swallowing the crumbs in his mouth, he said: “The future sect leader’s husband of our Taiyan Sect naturally requires careful selection. Although Mu Cengxiao is young and promising with a decent temperament, his background is ultimately ordinary, his family is also common, and he has an unclear childhood sweetheart. Although I’m helping him out of fellowship, the final result still depends on him. To put it bluntly, what kind of man can’t Senior Sister Meng find? If she truly had the heart to look, all the talented men in the entire cultivation world would prostrate themselves at her feet. Senior Brother Mu is utterly ordinary and has no chance of winning.”
Tian Fangfang couldn’t bear to listen anymore. After all, they were fellow disciples in the same hall, so he couldn’t help but defend Mu Cengxiao: “Who says Senior Brother Mu is utterly ordinary? Forget everything else—when we encountered the Liuhuan Grass in the Sacred Tree Spirit Domain of the treasure land, even Grand Uncle lost his chastity under the flower’s fragrance and injured his foundation, but Senior Brother Mu endured it forcefully and maintained his clarity at the crucial moment. Isn’t that impressive? I dare say that on this point alone, those talented men in the cultivation world couldn’t do it.”
This was taking an unconventional approach with a unique angle. Mendong was momentarily unable to refute it and was choked for a while before speaking: “What you say does make sense. He practices at Chuhong Terrace every day without fail before dawn, yet he’s always energetic every day. After the Liuhuan Grass incident, I checked his spiritual meridians and found them quite clear. Young people nowadays have severely depleted bodies… In terms of dual cultivation, perhaps no one does it better than him.”
A mocking voice came from behind the hall: “You’re openly discussing such matters in my hall—do you think it’s glorious? Should I draw a sound transmission talisman to let the entire sect hear your idle chatter?”
Gu Baiying walked out from behind the screen.
At this moment, it was still early, and he should have just returned from sword practice. There was a slight sweat on his forehead, wearing a snow-white tight outfit with his ponytail tied up, looking very refreshing.
Mendong and Tian Fangfang’s idle conversation had been entirely heard by him.
Mendong laughed awkwardly twice: “Master Uncle, we’re also thinking about Taiyan Sect’s future. If Senior Brother Mu has some wonderful method for nourishing kidney essence, we could take it out for research and have all Taiyan Sect disciples take it, which would benefit the sect’s future development, right?”
“Right, right, right.” Tian Fangfang quickly chimed in.
“How do you know his kidney essence is clear?” A harsh expression appeared on Gu Baiying’s face: “Have you tried it?”
“Do we even need to ask? Both Liu Yunxin and Yang Zanxing are deeply infatuated with him. Although Senior Sister Meng hasn’t shown that she likes him, she doesn’t seem to dislike him either. I imagine when he engages in dual cultivation, he must have his extraordinary qualities.” Mendong began talking nonsense.
He shouldn’t have said this. Once he did, Gu Baiying snorted and spoke without thinking: “Who said so? I’m naturally better than he at dual cultivation.”
His competitive spirit came out of nowhere. Before Mendong could figure it out, Tian Fangfang was already laughing: “Of course, after all, Master Uncle, you use a spear.”
“…You’re chatting quite deeply.” A voice spoke faintly. Zanxing stood at the hall entrance, her expression rarely showing any embarrassment.
Who would have thought she’d hear such a conversation in Xiaoyao Hall early in the morning! Truly knowing a person’s face but not their heart.
“Yang Zanxing,” a trace of unnaturalness quickly flashed across Gu Baiying’s face. He coughed lightly and spoke calmly: “What are you here for?”
“The sect leader and the others have returned.” Zanxing said, “Senior Sister Zi Luo asked you to go to Jinhua Hall.”
…
Jinhua Hall was livelier than usual today.
After Shaoyang Zhenren’s group left the sect for the Li’er Kingdom secret realm for more than half a month, they had finally returned. This return was quiet, without great fanfare, so even Gu Baiying didn’t know.
However, some of those who went together had been lost.
Aunt Rongshuang from Xiangling Sect stood in the hall with a cold and solemn expression. Putao, beside her, had her arm seemingly injured and wrapped in cloth strips.
Cultivators had special constitutions. Even when injured, they wouldn’t bandage and care for themselves like mortals. The current situation could only indicate that her injury was not light. Besides this, everyone’s expressions were weary and haggard, as if this journey had been very unsuccessful.
When Gu Baiying arrived at the hall, this was the scene he witnessed.
“Sect Leader.” He walked to Shaoyang Zhenren’s side, his gaze wandering over everyone before slightly frowning.
“Junior Brother.” Yueqin said, “You’ve come.”
“What happened?” Gu Baiying asked: “Many people are missing. What occurred?”
There were also some Taiyan Sect disciples on this journey, but their figures were nowhere to be seen now.
“The Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm has changed. Wudong Mountain almost completely collapsed.” Yueqin said, “We discovered traces of Mo Sha in the secret realm. In the secret realm, we were attacked by the demon clan. The Demon Lord… has been resurrected.”
Gu Baiying was shocked: “How is that possible?”
Back then, Gui Diao Tang was personally slain by his mother, Qinghua Xianzi. His divine essence perished at Jinmen Ruins. For so many years, the demon clan’s decline was precisely because the Demon Lord was absent. There was no art of resurrection from death in this world—dead meant dead, even for demons.
“It’s true,” Putao spoke up. Seeing that Gu Baiying still looked disbelieving, she gritted her teeth and extended her arm, tearing off the cloth strips wrapped around it. On that fair and tender arm, something seemed to have burned it, leaving the flesh grotesque. In the bloody mess, the faint outline of a begonia flower mark appeared.
“The Demon Lord’s Seal?” Gu Baiying’s expression changed.
Putao retracted her arm, rewrapping the wound, and said angrily: “When we were ambushed by Mo Sha in the secret realm, I fought with a Mo Sha and was injured… You also know that after the Demon Lord’s death, the demon clan declined. Mo Sha cannot leave the Demon Lord’s Seal unless someone who has awakened the Demon Lord’s power supplies the entire demon clan with yuanli—only then can Mo Sha produce the Demon Lord’s Seal… Gui Diao Tang has been resurrected!”
Gui Diao Tang has been resurrected!
Back then, when Demon Lord Gui Diao Tang wreaked havoc throughout the mortal realm, how many lives did the cultivation world sacrifice before finally slaying the Demon Lord? Many great masters fell in the process. The great war between humans and demons twenty years ago severely damaged the cultivation world’s vitality. Now the new generation has not yet fully matured. If the Demon Lord truly resurrects and the demon clan makes a comeback, can the cultivation world withstand another attack? The outcome is truly not optimistic.
“Not only that,” Yueguang Daoren’s expression was worried, “Recently, many small sects in the cultivation world have suffered sudden attacks from the demon clan. Some with weak foundations have had their entire sects annihilated with no survivors.” He extended his hand, and a stack of glowing letters appeared in his palm. The letters flew toward Gu Baiying, who caught them and opened them to read. Line after line of writing looked shocking.
“These demon clans appeared suddenly. The small sects had no power to fight back. When they were exterminated, no one escaped, so the news couldn’t spread. Only later, when more and more sects were destroyed, did the cultivation world become aware of this matter. People from Yinfeng Sect were also ambushed by Mo Sha during outdoor training and lost some disciples.” Zhao Mayi stroked his beard: “If I’m not mistaken, after these small sects are destroyed, it will be our turn.”
First, the small sects, then the large sects—these Mo Sha had come prepared and were now, step by step, devouring the entire cultivation world.
“Qinghua Xianzi has already fallen. If Gui Diao Tang resurrects, even if all of us in the cultivation world combined forces, we might not be his match.” Xuan Lingzi’s face was full of sorrow: “This is going to be big trouble.”
“The Demon Lord is already dead,” Shaoyang Zhenren, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. His expression was calm, as if such a crisis couldn’t make him panic in the slightest: “The dead do not return to life.”
“Then the Demon Lord’s Seal…”
“In the end, we should have eliminated the roots back then,” Rongshuang suddenly spoke. She stared coldly at Shaoyang Zhenren: “Gui Diao Tang is dead, but Demon Empress Bujiang is still alive. Perhaps she used some method to inherit the Demon Lord’s power and is leading the demon clan to emulate Gui Diao Tang of the past again.”
“But hasn’t Demon Empress Bujiang disappeared for many years?” Xuan Lingzi was puzzled: “Moreover, she’s not the Demon Lord and doesn’t possess the Demon Lord’s power. That’s why after Gui Diao Tang’s death, the entire demon clan had no source of yuanli supply, causing the demon clan to decline so rapidly.”
“Disappearance doesn’t mean death.” Rongshuang’s tone was unfriendly: “Besides, the Xiaoyuan Pearl hasn’t been found yet. It’s probably fallen back into the demon clan’s hands.”
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but shiver.
The power contained in the Xiaoyuan Pearl was enough to destroy heaven and earth. If it truly was the Demon Lord’s resurrection combined with the Xiaoyuan Pearl, it would be enough for everyone to handle.
“Pass down the order—all disciples are forbidden from leaving the mountain starting today.” Shaoyang Zhenren sat on the high seat, his golden-red robe cascading to the ground. The patterns on it were intricate, but upon closer inspection, they weren’t patterns at all but densely carved talismans.
The white-haired man’s handsome face showed no emotion whatsoever as he said calmly, “Immediately set up the Dragon Flame Formation at the entrance to Gufeng Mountain. The Mo Sha might come to the sect to test us once.”
“Taiyan Sect is in danger.”