Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 716 (Patreon)

Chapter 716: Testing a True Immortal

A dignified Integration realm cultivator couldn’t remember something like this?!

This Sword Sect Master…

Was he deliberately picking a fight?

Even after realizing that, a thread of anger still rose in everyone’s chest.

Even Qian Xiang faintly furrowed his brow. But when he saw the token in Du Ruoheng’s hand, a guess surfaced in his mind, and he forced himself to calm down.

“Then please, Sect Master, change to a route that actually works.”

“Of course.” Du Ruoheng put away the token. “Please follow me again.”

Everyone was unhappy, but since Qian Xiang didn’t say anything, they could only follow obediently.

They circled around for a long while. Only then did Du Ruoheng finally bring them before a cave abode carved into the mountain, preserved in the style of ancient times.

There was not the slightest trace of mist here. A spirit spring flowed, and auspicious herbs stayed evergreen.

In the spirit pool formed by gurgling spirit liquid, a spirit tree grew. Its half-translucent branches were clear and lustrous like jade, with golden threads drifting within.

Between its golden leaves, spirit fruits bathed in auspicious glow hung thick on the branches, swaying and shining as a light breeze passed.

The Soul-Nourishing Tree.

The name sounded ordinary, but its true origin was anything but. In the remote past, it had been the sacred tree worshiped by a great true-cave clan.

They had once been subordinates of Tai, and one of the major clans hostile to the human race. After they were destroyed in antiquity, this sacred tree fell into Xu Xing’s hands.

For many years now, Sword Sect’s Pill Cauldron Pavilion had come every few years to collect some samples.

For example, the Soul-Nourishing Pills that Sword Sect distributed every year—meant specifically for children age seven and under across the states under its rule and across the life-bearing planets in the starry sky—contained diluted components from Soul-Nourishing Tree leaves.

All because of the Soul-Nourishing Tree’s special effects.

The reason Xu Xing arranged for Yuan to stay here was that he hoped the natural spirit resonance radiating from the tree might help him recuperate his injuries.

“Senior.” Du Ruoheng cupped his hands and bowed.

Yuan was standing beneath the tree. Hearing that, he turned and returned the bow.

“Sorry to trouble you, Sect Master.”

“You’re too polite, Senior.”

As he spoke, Du Ruoheng even turned his head and shot the others a look full of open disdain.

Then, without another word, his whole body scattered into points of spirit light and vanished, leaving only a streak of sword light wrapping the token as it flew away.

Everyone: “…”

Far away.

Inside the Sect Master’s Grand Hall—where outsiders could never窥 see—

Du Ruoheng stood by the window and let out a quiet breath. He raised a hand and caught the sword light that tore through the air, taking the token from it.

What a pity. This time, the “performance” was still a bit stiff.

Even if he was the Sword Sect Master, he had always treated people kindly.

With a body full of righteous energy, playing a petty “bully who leans on power” was naturally harder than expected.

Du Ruoheng sighed to himself, then looked at the “Sword Ancestor Token” in his hand.

Still…

He had to admit…

This feeling was pretty damn satisfying.

…

…

Meanwhile, beneath the Soul-Nourishing Tree.

With Du Ruoheng gone, Qian Xiang walked up to Yuan.

He first lifted his head to glance at the Soul-Nourishing Tree, then finally turned to look at Yuan.

“Yuan, long time no see.”

“With Senior Qian Xiang’s cultivation, fifty-plus years is but an instant. How can it be ‘a long time’?” Yuan said calmly. “Besides, didn’t you see the soul-split I left in the Alliance a few years ago?”

“…” Qian Xiang fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “What the Sword Sect Master just did—was that on your instructions?”

“Senior is joking. That was the Sword Sect Master.” Yuan shook his head slightly.

“If you ask me, Senior would be better off thinking about whether you ever clashed with the Sword Sect Master before, or whether you offended Sword Ancestor Senior in some way.”

“I’ve never met the Sword Sect Master. As for Sword Ancestor…” Qian Xiang trailed off.

Back in antiquity, he had known Sword Ancestor, but their relationship had never gone beyond “acquainted.”

As for conflict…

Because of Lord Hong, there truly had been some conflict.

But those matters were already in the past.

Sword Ancestor had no need—nor any reason—to deliberately send a junior to embarrass him.

And they had come today because of Yuan. To say what happened today had nothing to do with Yuan at all—he didn’t believe it.

“I never offended him.”

“Really? Not at all?” Yuan suddenly smiled. “Senior doesn’t remember the incident back then, when the Alliance clashed with the Hehuan Sect?”

Qian Xiang stiffened, shock flashing in his eyes, but he quickly steadied himself.

“There was indeed an accident like that back then, but what does it have to do with Sword Ancestor?”

“Heh.” Yuan looked to the side. The auspicious glow around the spirit fruits on the Soul-Nourishing Tree reflected in his pupils.

“In the past, I kept wanting to avoid things. There were many matters where I’d already guessed the rough outline, but I refused to think them through.”

The topic shifted fast, and the sentence felt abrupt.

But Qian Xiang only frowned and didn’t speak.

“But after coming back this time, I realized that some things can’t be dodged just because you want to. And doing that is far too irresponsible.”

“So I think that from now on, I should shoulder some responsibilities as well.”

“What do you think, Senior?”

Qian Xiang’s heart stirred.

Yuan meant…

Could he be preparing to seize real control of the Alliance of Righteousness?

“It can be done, of course,” Qian Xiang said seriously. “But your talent is unmatched in the world, unprecedented through the ages. You should focus more on cultivation.”

Those words were sincere.

Compared to attaining the Dao, everything else was meaningless.

“That step isn’t so simple.”

Regarding his own cultivation, he had asked his fellow townsman, too.

After all, reaching Soul Transformation in under two thousand years wasn’t something mere “talent” could describe.

Everything had a price.

The road he would have to walk to reach that step was even harder than for other Soul Transformation cultivators.

“Let’s talk about real business.” Yuan turned back to him again. “Senior, what kind of people do you think the Supreme Profound True Immortals are?”

Hm?!

Qian Xiang’s pupils suddenly contracted.

He never expected Yuan to have the nerve to ask that kind of question.

Even the people nearby subtly retreated a bit, pretending they hadn’t heard.

“Recklessly discussing True Immortals… probably isn’t a good idea…”

“Then I’ll say it.” Yuan was blunt, giving Qian Xiang no chance to persuade him further. “In my view, the True Immortals of the Tai Xuan Realm aren’t really ‘good people’ in the common sense of the word.”

That was actually something his fellow townsman had said when they chatted.

To slaughter entire races, to wipe out lives, to drench whole regions in blood—could such True Immortals be called “good people”?

At the very least, Xu Xing himself, and the other True Immortals as well, wouldn’t consider themselves “good people.”

“But what can’t be denied is that most of them are very tolerant—especially toward human cultivators like you and me who have already reached the Integration realm.”

“Even if we make mistakes, even if what we do is a test of their tolerance, they’ll still give us a chance to correct ourselves.”

“Senior thinks so too, right?”

Qian Xiang fell into silence and didn’t answer.

Seeing his reaction, the smile on Yuan’s face gradually faded.

“But Senior—did you forget that among the True Immortals, there’s one who doesn’t seem quite so ‘tolerant’?”

“When you pushed the conflict between the Alliance of Righteousness and the Hehuan Sect from the shadows, using their lives to test a True Immortal’s tolerance… did you ever think about why the ‘blood calamity’ happened back then?”

Yes.

Back then, the clash between the Alliance of Righteousness and the Hehuan Sect had been secretly driven by Qian Xiang and the others.

They didn’t dare openly discuss True Immortals, yet they dared to probe them in the dark…

And the purpose was only to see how far the True Immortals would tolerate.

After all, the True Immortals had already allowed the Alliance of Righteousness to be born.

Originally they’d planned to test all Seven Immortal Sects, but they never expected that as soon as they started, the incident’s trajectory would break free of their control.

A True Immortal stepped in.

To avoid being implicated themselves, after the Hehuan Sect incident, they lowered their flags and stopped testing.

“I… didn’t know things would develop that far.”

“No!” Yuan stared at him hard. “You knew. And after everything ended, you were even glad you were Soul Transformation—glad that test didn’t drag you in!”

Looking back with today’s perspective, Qian Xiang and the others’ decision back then was incredibly foolish.

Because the might of True Immortals—how could they not have understood it?

But they still did it.

“Yet did you forget why the ‘blood calamity’ happened back then?”

Blood calamity…

Qian Xiang’s lips moved soundlessly. He suddenly felt a gaze drop from above—flat and indifferent—landing on him, making his whole body shudder.

In a daze, he seemed to see that figure standing in a sea of bloodlight from back then.

Then, in another blink, all the strange sensations vanished, leaving only Yuan beneath the Soul-Nourishing Tree, looking at him.

“…”

A long silence.

At last, Qian Xiang gave a bitter laugh.

“Whatever you want to do, I’ll cooperate with you from now on.”

At this point, how could he not see that Yuan was threatening him.

Clearly, what Yuan intended to do next would drastically reshape the Alliance of Righteousness, and people like him might even become “obstacles.”

“Senior is joking. As a junior, I’ll still need your support.” Yuan smiled.

“…” Qian Xiang was a bit speechless, but he still said solemnly, “I was wrong about what happened back then. But I truly never thought things would develop that far.”

The constant escalation between the two sides pushed it beyond his control.

And the Alliance of Righteousness wasn’t his personal fiefdom. On top of that, because the Immortal Sects tacitly allowed its existence, it had attracted many radicals.

Among those who died back then, the vast majority genuinely believed that together they could wipe out the Hehuan Sect.

If they hadn’t actually stormed the Hehuan Sect’s mountain gate, a True Immortal wouldn’t have personally stepped in.

By the time he wanted to fix it, it was already too late.

“What’s done is done. Just be careful from now on,” Yuan said.

Back then, he had already noticed some problems within the Alliance, but because he was obsessed with leaving, he never corrected them.

From that angle, he wasn’t any better than Qian Xiang.

After that, the atmosphere became much lighter.

The reason today turned into this was because of that meeting with Chen Shang.

Using the information he got from him, and after analyzing the Alliance’s internal situation, Yuan made up his mind to start with Qian Xiang.

With a breakthrough point, everything after became simple.

He just hadn’t expected it to go this smoothly.

“I thought it would take a lot more effort before Senior would cooperate with me,” Yuan said.

Relying on himself alone, reaching this point would definitely have taken a lot of time.

That “fellow townsman” title really was useful!

He’d have to use it more in the future.

As for whether anyone would think he had no backbone…

Those who accomplish great things don’t fuss over minor details.

Back when it was fake, he borrowed power to bluff people all the time. Now that it was real, if he stubbornly insisted on acting lofty and pure, he’d truly just be an idiot.

“…”

Qian Xiang didn’t speak. He only glanced upward.

Anyone who hadn’t experienced the “Tai Xuan blood calamity” would never understand how cruel it had been.

Back then, so many people didn’t know their place. Relying on “friendship,” they tried to persuade Sword Ancestor to stop, or tried to save people from Sword Ancestor’s hand.

In the end, they themselves were beaten to death or crippled.

Whether below the Integration realm or above it, there was no difference before Sword Ancestor.

And the trigger point of the blood calamity had happened at Sword Sect. Sword Ancestor himself didn’t care what others thought—making it all the more terrifying.

Back then, someone even came to him to beg for mercy…

Luckily, he refused, thinking he had no real friendship with Sword Ancestor.

Later, that very person who had begged him was cut down by Sword Ancestor with a single sword.

…

You had to understand: Sword Ancestor back then had only just become an Immortal, yet he dared to stake everything on a deathmatch with Tai, the ancestor of the Cang race. If words didn’t go his way, he slaughtered clans and extinguished lives—an unparalleled butcher whose ferocity terrified all races.

Only after defeating the Cang race did he strike less often, and he also liked to grant opportunities to others, so his reputation gradually changed.

As a cultivator from the same era as Sword Ancestor, Qian Xiang knew certain things all too well.

Thinking about it now, his test back then was stupidity to the extreme.

Years of peace, plus the rise of the Alliance of Righteousness…

Really had made him entertain thoughts he never should have.

Sigh.

…

…

Before the Sword Ancestor Hall.

Watching Yuan achieve his goal, Xu Xing was quite satisfied.

This act wasn’t perfect—if anything, it was stiff—but the effect was still very good.

With Qian Xiang cooperating, it was only a matter of time before Yuan straightened out the Alliance of Righteousness.

“What is Dao Brother looking at?” a voice sounded by his ear.

But only when the person came close did he catch that faint, sweet fragrance.

“Eh? Isn’t that the guy who fought Lord Hong over a Dao companion, and then you all put a sack over his head and beat him up?”

The newcomer was Meizu.

Today she wore a fitted outfit in red, with many dark patterns on it, and her long hair was tied into a high ponytail.

She looked valiant and spirited, yet she couldn’t hide her enchanting, peerless beauty.

“Hm? Where did you hear that?” Xu Xing asked, puzzled.

“I coaxed it out of Sword Sovereign,” Meizu said proudly. “These past few days, I’ve coaxed quite a lot out of her.”

Xu Xing: “…”

No wonder Senior Sister had seemed a little unhappy these past few days.

“Daoist Yuanjun and Daoist Ling tried to coax me for information too, but I saw through them.”

What a pity—aside from Sword Sovereign, she hadn’t coaxed anything useful out of the other two.

“So who exactly created that group?”

“Of course it was me…” Meizu answered on instinct, but then immediately realized something was off. “Dao Brother, you’re actually trying to coax me!”

Then she put on an “injured” expression.

“Senior Sister… she’d join your group?”

“Mm-hmm! You don’t get it, do you?” She said with a smug little tilt of her chin.

She’d used just a tiny bit of trickery to successfully drag the three of them into the group.

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