Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 720 (Patreon)

Chapter 720: Not Even a Scolding

Faced with Meizu’s accusation, the two of them showed no reaction, only turning to look at Xu Xing.

“Did Gu just come to Qingxu?” Yuanjun asked directly.

Xu Xing paused, then explained, “We did run into him just now.

“But don’t worry. Before he could get close to the present from the ‘past,’ we discovered him.

“We already drove him off.”

In that situation, they could’ve stayed hidden and observed Gu’s next move. Maybe they would’ve gained something valuable.

But that also carried risk.

What if, after arriving in the present, Gu had other objectives?

In this standoff with the Cang race, they already held a huge advantage. From here on, they only needed to avoid making mistakes.

If a risk could be removed, then naturally it was best to remove it.

Hearing that, Yuanjun gave a slight nod. “Good.”

“I told you to relax,” Meizu said unhappily. “We were basically about to wrap things up here.”

It was just Gu. What was there to worry about?

“We still have to take a look to feel at ease,” Yuanjun said flatly. “What if Gu has other motives?”

“Excuses!”

“Say whatever you want.”

Yuanjun’s calm demeanor left Meizu with nowhere to vent, so she shifted her gaze to Bie Xuening.

“You didn’t keep your word either!”

“I came with her,” Bie Xuening said evenly.

Watching the three of them, Xu Xing grew more and more curious about what they’d been chatting about in that little group, and what agreement they’d reached beforehand.

But he also knew this definitely wasn’t the time to ask.

Only after they’d argued enough—

“Anyway, let’s head back first. Things here are basically concluded.” Xu Xing looked toward the dull, gray-black fog nearby.

Faintly, he could hear countless soft, rustling noises—like multitudes of insects vibrating their wings.

From time to time, blurred shadows would flash past in the depths of the thick fog. The eerie sight made one’s scalp crawl.

Back then, Tai’s fall had created this strange land.

The rules inside were chaotic—‘law’ and ‘order’ overturned.

If the Tai Xuan Realm weren’t strong enough to forcibly stabilize Qingxu’s existence, this place would’ve long since become a forbidden dead zone—where countless concepts were mashed together and muddled, impossible for ordinary people to approach.

Xu Xing withdrew his gaze.

“This time, we obtained a piece of true history and severely injured Gu. It wasn’t a wasted trip.”

Even if investigating Qingxu itself hadn’t yielded much.

But from running into Gu here, they could infer that over on Xuan’s side, they likely weren’t certain about Tai’s condition either…

Otherwise, there’d be no need to have Gu risk exposure by approaching Qingxu in the present to investigate.

The Cang race now had only two Dao-attainers left. Getting injured at a time like this was no small matter.

“Let’s go. We’ll study it after we get back—maybe we can squeeze out something useful.”

“Fine.” Meizu didn’t say anything else.

There was no helping it. The two of them were already here; no amount of scolding would change that.

And from another angle, her and her Dao brother’s trip to Qingxu had been almost over anyway. The two of them showing up at the last moment meant she’d actually profited!

Next time it was her turn to break her word, she could just use this as an excuse!

…

…

Ancient Tai Xuan Heaven.

Inside the grand hall standing at the absolute center of heaven and earth—like it had been forged from endless ages—

Atop the black throne high above, strands of seven-colored divine radiance surged in from all directions, from countless time points within the past domain.

They gathered together, forming a towering seven-colored divine figure, a halo behind its head, cycling through boundless light and shadow.

Before the throne, Xuan—his features indistinct—stood suspended in the air, quietly watching.

Only when the final strand of seven-colored radiance flowed into the throne did he look at Gu’s hazy, half-transparent body, as if it might dissipate at any moment.

“Looks like something went wrong.”

Gu kept his eyes closed until his body gradually stabilized.

He opened his eyes and explained calmly, “I ran into Sword Ancestor and Meizu.”

When he said that, he was already prepared to be scolded by Xuan.

“Is that so…” Xuan pondered briefly. “No wonder you were injured.”

If it had been some other human immortal, with Gu’s authority over the past domain, even if he couldn’t win, escaping wouldn’t have been hard.

But Sword Ancestor…

Without paying a price, you really couldn’t get away.

And Meizu was no simple figure either.

“This is on me. I should’ve sent you earlier.”

Huh?

Gu was stunned.

He… wasn’t being scolded?

“Focus on healing. I’ll be careful about what comes next.”

After saying that, Xuan turned to leave.

“Since Sword Ancestor and the others appeared in Qingxu, did they discover something?” Gu quickly asked. “Or did they sense I would go and set an ambush specifically for me?”

“It was probably just a sweep. After all, only a few people are capable of doing that,” Xuan said, not surprised. “Tian and Tai, and even you and I, all have the ability to do it.”

If it were a real ambush, it wouldn’t have been just Sword Ancestor and Meizu.

Those human immortals wouldn’t care whether it was ‘bullying with numbers.’

“But you and I… and Tai shouldn’t have any reason to do that.”

“Perhaps.”

Based on what they knew, there wasn’t. But what if there were details even he didn’t know?

“I just didn’t expect you to be unlucky enough to run into Sword Ancestor.”

“…”

After a long silence, Gu asked again, “Then when do I go to Qingxu to investigate again?”

“After you’ve healed, decide for yourself.”

With that, Xuan left the Hall of Time.

Since Gu had already bumped into Sword Ancestor and the others this time, they might have left some backhanded measures in Qingxu.

In the short term, it definitely wouldn’t be possible to go there.

Very soon, Xuan vanished from within the Hall of Time. Not long after stepping out, he directly left Ancient Tai Xuan Heaven.

Gu sat on the black throne, watching Xuan’s figure leaving the Hall of Time, fading little by little.

Only after Xuan completely departed Ancient Tai Xuan Heaven did a complicated emotion finally seep into Gu’s glass-like, seven-colored eyes.

“Thank goodness…”

It was like a whisper—so faint it was almost inaudible.

…

…

Time moved into deep night.

Sword Sect inner sect.

Chi Jiuyu’s cave abode.

In the living room, someone had set up a simple stand in front of the couch. Wrapped in bandages from head to toe like a mummy, Chi Jiuyu sat on the couch with her right leg propped on the stand.

“Gotta say, Sword Sect really makes their badges pretty damn refined, huh.”

Chi Jiuyu was beaming, smugness impossible to hide.

She’d been like this all day.

Zhao Ruohan sat beside her, staring at the delicate jade box opened on the coffee table, looking a bit dazed.

On the black velvet lay a lustrous, translucent jade badge—white as the base, with a tiny crimson sword in the center, forged from special spirit ore.

A faint spiritual glow flowed over it.

Sword Sect’s third-class Rededge Medal…

Through the ages, very few people had earned this honor at this age.

On the left couch, Ye Zhiwei calmly took a sip of tea.

This girl had been staring for ages.

One was proud, one was jealous and unwilling to accept it.

“Good thing I got hurt,” Chi Jiuyu kept showing off. “Otherwise I’d have to go through a bunch of procedures—so annoying.”

“Senior Sister.”

On the other side, Zhang Yunlu took the medicine that Yue Lan—Chi Jiuyu’s natal spirit sword—handed over.

The pale-green liquid swayed in a white porcelain bowl. A fresh medicinal fragrance drifted up, and hazy spiritual light curled with the steam.

“Stop showing off and drink your medicine,” Ye Zhiwei said flatly.

“Who’s showing off?!” Chi Jiuyu snapped back.

She barely talked today, okay?!

Then she seemed to remember something.

“Wait—does it taste bitter?”

This medicine was mixed by Little Ye. She said it could ease the pain, speed recovery, and wouldn’t delay Chi Jiuyu taking the chance to refine her Sword of Annihilation.

“It’s a little bitter, but you know the saying—good medicine tastes bitter.”

“Can we add some sugar?” Chi Jiuyu asked cautiously.

“No.” Ye Zhiwei set down her teacup. “Drink. If it cools down, it’ll be even more bitter.”

Zhang Yunlu scooped up a spoonful and brought it to her lips.

“Come on, Senior Sister.”

“…”

After a brief hesitation, Chi Jiuyu drank the spoonful.

What?!

Her eyes bulged, then she squeezed them shut. Her whole face scrunched up.

Bitter!

So bitter it went beyond taste, spread through her entire body, and stabbed straight into the depths of her soul!

In a daze, she seemed to see herself training with her master as a child, growing up little by little.

Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul…

From brushings with death in trial after trial, to crushing her peers’ prodigies in the grand tournament with blazing swagger, to advancing to Soul Transformation at twenty-two and becoming, in the truest sense, the number one genius across all heavens and myriad worlds…

Image after image, scene after scene flashed through her mind.

Until, in the end, everything turned into—

“Holy shit!”

Finally catching her breath, Chi Jiuyu stared daggers at Ye Zhiwei.

This is what you call “a little bitter”?!

You almost made my whole life flash before my eyes!

“Forgot to tell you—this medicine is best chugged in one go.” Ye Zhiwei remained calm. “And if you don’t finish it all, the effect won’t fully kick in.”

“Mmph!”

Chi Jiuyu was about to offer a very friendly greeting, when she realized that under that one mouthful of bitterness, she was gradually losing all feeling in her tongue.

Just as she tried to channel her spiritual power to offer that friendly greeting—

“If it cools down, it’ll get more and more bitter. If you don’t drink faster, it’ll be even harder to get down.”

“You—damn you—****!”

Chi Jiuyu cursed once, then signaled Zhang Yunlu with her eyes to feed her.

If she didn’t drink, wouldn’t that first mouthful have been for nothing? Wouldn’t she have suffered for free?

Ancestor Jiuyu never takes a loss!

Soon, after the whole bowl went down, Chi Jiuyu fell back into a rigid, frozen state.

This time it took more than ten seconds for her to recover.

“Mmmph mmmph!”

She still couldn’t speak. Even her spiritual power was being guided by the surging medicinal force to nourish her organs—she couldn’t spare even a thread to move.

“This bowl was tailored to your condition,” Ye Zhiwei explained. “With it helping, you should save about half a month.”

“After this, I’ll refine some pills and mail them to you. Remember to take them on schedule. You should recover in about a month.”

Hearing that, Zhang Yunlu couldn’t help asking, “Senior Sister went to Pill Cauldron Pavilion before. Doesn’t normal treatment take at least over a month?”

“That’s your Pill Cauldron Pavilion.” Ye Zhiwei shook her head slightly. “This may sound rude, but some of your Sword Sect Pill Cauldron Pavilion physicians and alchemists are behind the times.”

In this era, the entire Tai Xuan Realm was advancing at breakneck speed—changing with each passing day.

Without exaggeration, a Golden Core cultivator who received a proper modern education and graduated from university would have overall ‘spiritual power, techniques, and foundation’ better than ninety percent of Golden Cores from before the Great Transformation.

“You’ll understand at the next exchange meet.”

Jishi Valley held an exchange meet once every three years. High-tier alchemists and physicians would all receive invitations.

Alchemists without invitations could still watch the live broadcast on the spirit net, and could also send their insights to Jishi Valley’s official email.

Jishi Valley would evaluate the letters they received, select some to reply to, and exceptionally outstanding ones would even receive rewards.

The exchange meet itself was hosted by Jishi Valley’s sect master, with Pill Patriarch watching the entire time.

For alchemists, physicians, spirit-plant cultivators, and many other kinds of cultivators, it was a rare grand gathering.

“I’m sure they’ll have a different understanding by then.”

It was normal for Jishi Valley to be ahead of Sword Sect in this area.

Different environments, different priorities.

Sword Sect was famously good at fighting—and the biggest difference between Sword Sect sword cultivators and Dragon Elephant Heaven-Holding Sect body cultivators was basically just that Sword Sect had slightly better manners and looked a bit more stylish.

“Come on.” Ye Zhiwei stood up. “You two push your Senior Sister. Let’s go out for a walk. The medicine’s down—sitting here doing nothing is pointless.”

Zhang Yunlu looked at Chi Jiuyu.

After getting her eye signal, she immediately understood.

She took the medal from the box.

Zhao Ruohan’s gaze followed it, until the medal was pinned to Chi Jiuyu’s chest—only then did she finally snap out of it.

“Stop staring. Let’s go take a walk.”

“…”

Zhao Ruohan pressed her lips together, then stood as well.

…

…

On the other side, in front of Sword Ancestor Hall.

Xu Xing, Bie Xuening, Yuanjun, and Meizu stood under the moonlight.

Beside them floated a light screen, showing Ning Ruo leaning back in a chair.

That’s right—everyone was here.

“So what happened in Qingxu was most likely an accident?” Ning Ruo asked.

She already knew the entire process.

“Yep.” Meizu rushed to answer. “My Dao brother and I watched Gu sneak toward the present. We were sure he hadn’t noticed us, so we struck.”

“That really is…” Ning Ruo trailed off.

Was it that Xu-ge and Meizu’s group arrived at just the right time…

Or that Gu was simply too unlucky…

“And we clearly agreed, but those two didn’t keep their word,” Meizu added.

“Mhm.” Ning Ruo nodded seriously. “They should be condemned.”

Bie Xuening: …

Earlier you were the one telling me to follow along.

Yuanjun spoke blandly, “If you weren’t unable to leave Lingyin Pavilion, you would’ve followed too.”

“That’s true.”

Ning Ruo admitted it without dodging.

“But in the end, I didn’t go.”

Huh?!

Meizu felt like her whole world was collapsing.

These people! Can they not be even a little reasonable?!

She looked at Bie Xuening.

All of a sudden, she felt Sword Sovereign was better.

At least, after following along, she’d been a little guilty.

Xu Xing stood to the side, looking at the orb of light in his hand. Inside it, the final scene of that last decisive battle with the Cang race kept replaying again and again.

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