Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 718 (Patreon)

Chapter 718: Qingxu Meets Gu Again

On the other side.

After leaving Yanjian City, Xu Xing and Meizu first returned to the Sword Sect.

Since they were heading to Qingxu, Meizu said she had to go say hello to Bie Xuening. They couldn’t just leave without a word.

Halfway up the mountain where the Sword Sovereign Hall stood, a lush bamboo grove spread out in emerald green. The bamboo stalks gleamed like jade, and the wind stirred the leaves into a soft, rustling hiss.

Shadows swayed. A narrow path of green bricks wound deeper in.

“If I don’t tell the Sword Sovereign, she’ll think I kidnapped you,” Meizu explained with a perfectly serious face.

Yes. Coming back to inform Bie Xuening.

That was her idea.

“….”

Xu Xing didn’t say anything.

This was obviously something she had arranged with Senior Sister ahead of time.

He just didn’t know what the two of them had been chatting about in that little group of theirs…

Following the green-brick path into the grove, the corner of a bamboo house had just come into view.

Whoom!

A strand of violent, murderous sword light tore through the air, stabbing straight at Meizu’s heart.

“Aiya~”

Meizu spun aside with nimble ease. The sword light skimmed past her front, flew a bit farther, and then slowly dissipated.

She raised an eyebrow and looked toward Bie Xuening, who stood by a pool.

“You’re being way too rude!”

Bie Xuening didn’t care. She slowly lowered her hand.

“Your reactions are pretty fast.”

“I think you’re just jealous of me!”

“Hm?”

Before she could even react, Meizu straightened up and thrust out her chest.

“….”

Childish.

Bigger would ruin my cold, aloof aura anyway!

Bie Xuening couldn’t be bothered to argue with her.

“Aren’t you going to Qingxu? Why are you back again?”

“Obviously to tell you, so you don’t think I ran off with him.”

“You came back to provoke me, more like.” Bie Xuening’s tone stayed flat. “But since I already agreed, I won’t regret it.”

Hearing that, Xu Xing finally couldn’t hold it in.

“What exactly are you two talking about in that group chat?”

Meizu and Bie Xuening exchanged a look, like they’d reached a consensus, and spoke in unison.

“Not something Dao Brother / Junior Brother should know.”

Xu Xing: “….”

From the past until now, he’d always been the one saying that to others. He didn’t expect the tables to turn on him today.

That feeling…

It was complicated as hell.

No wonder that guy Jiu Yu always looked constipated whenever he heard that line.

“When everything settles and you make your choice, you’ll naturally know,” Bie Xuening said.

“I remember Dao Brother saying he doesn’t make choices. He wants them all,” Meizu shot back.

“….” After a pause, Bie Xuening looked at her. “That’s also a choice.”

Huh?

….

….

Evening.

Inside the Sword Sect’s inner sect, at a soul-nourishing cave abode, beneath the soul-nourishing tree.

“This time, the alliance matters will trouble Senior,” Yuan said solemnly.

Qian Xiang looked helpless, but he could only agree.

“I will do my best to cooperate.”

Originally, when he came to the Sword Sect this time, he had made some preparations in advance.

If everything had developed the way he imagined, Yuan returning to the Alliance of Righteousness itself could have helped him achieve certain goals.

But plans never keep up with change.

Not only did none of his assumptions come true, he also got hit with a “show of force plus threat” combo that left his heart pounding…

Aiya~

But there was nothing to do about it.

By Yuan’s account, this “Ascension Plan” was the shared will of the True Immortals!

As a Soul Transformation cultivator who had lived through that era, he understood too well what that meant.

True Immortals were tolerant in many matters, but once they decided to push something forward, it meant it would be accomplished no matter what!

Rather than waiting for a few stubborn mules in the alliance to cause trouble and invite the True Immortals’ harsh suppression, it was better to cooperate now.

“Then I’ll be counting on you, Senior.”

Qian Xiang gave a small shake of his head and said nothing.

A plan that could make the Tai Xuan True Immortals unanimously commit…

There was no doubt it was connected to the Cang race who had fled the Central Continent back then and hidden on the far side of the stars.

On that point alone, he would cooperate with all his strength.

Compared to this, his personal thoughts weren’t even worth mentioning.

He knew perfectly well what mattered more.

“Since we’ve basically discussed everything, let’s head back. The sooner we return, the sooner we can sort out the alliance’s situation,” Qian Xiang said.

Yuan paused.

He was about to say something else.

Then three streaks of light appeared on the horizon, racing closer. In moments, they landed nearby and became three figures.

Ning Wanzhu, Mingyu, and Yin Ling.

Seeing them, Yuan finally nodded.

“Then let’s go.”

Qian Xiang glanced at Yin Ling, then at Yuan, his expression turning a little strange.

In the end, he still made no comment about Yuan’s private life. He only sighed.

“We’ll go on ahead. After you pack up, come over.”

With that, he turned and left with the Integration cultivators who had been standing there for a while.

Only after their backs completely vanished from sight—

“How was it? Smooth?” Ning Wanzhu asked.

“Very smooth.” Yuan stared in the direction they’d gone, almost murmuring. “So smooth it was a bit beyond my expectations.”

In the past, Senior Qian Xiang had always been extremely stubborn.

But today he compromised so quickly that Yuan didn’t even get to use most of the lines he’d prepared…

“I’m almost wondering if he’s just playing me.”

Mingyu shook her head slightly. “It’s normal. Even Sword Ancestor Senior supports you. Senior Qian Xiang also knows what that represents.”

“…True.”

Looks like he’d underestimated that fellow townsman.

That title of his was really useful. He should use it more in the future!

Yuan made the decision again in his heart.

“Let’s go.” His gaze swept over the three of them. “First to the alliance. After things are sorted out there, I’ll find a way to finish the Ascension Web connection node setup work in the Third Heaven as soon as possible.”

Yes, Ning Wanzhu was going to the Alliance of Righteousness too.

Because the Third Heaven Ascension Web connection node wasn’t urgent, and the alliance’s situation was more important right now.

Also, since Ning Wanzhu herself had a certain influence in the Alliance of Righteousness, Ning Ruo gave her leave to follow Yuan and handle the alliance matters first.

After the alliance situation ended, they would go complete the connection node setup.

….

….

Qingxu.

As evening arrived, rainbow clouds blazed across the distant sky, like molten gold in a furnace.

A nearly vertical cliff stretched without visible end. Ahead, heavy gray-black fog churned in rolling waves, rising and sinking as it exuded an unsettling, eerie feeling.

Gales howled, occasionally whipping up sand and dust.

Farther from the cliff edge, within a safe zone protected by formations, stood purchase points run by major conglomerates, the Alliance of Righteousness, and the official stations of the great immortal sects.

If you brought back heavenly treasures and earthly wonders from exploring Qingxu but couldn’t use them yourself, you could come here for appraisal and sale.

The major conglomerates offered higher prices, but they insisted on strict cash-for-goods. Once you sold, there was no going back.

The Alliance of Righteousness and the sect officials didn’t have that rule.

Within one month, you could buy back what you sold by paying five percent extra.

Within two months, it was an extra tenth.

Within three months, an extra fifth.

After three months, it could no longer be redeemed.

Also, if you were sure you wouldn’t redeem it, the sects could provide an “escort” service.

The disciples responsible for escorting weren’t high in cultivation, but they carried sect-issued dao seals. If they were attacked, they would immediately report back to the sect.

It was extremely safe.

Nearer to the cliff edge, some expedition teams used artifacts to descend bit by bit, constantly stabilizing themselves with法力 as they gradually sank into the surging gray-black fog.

Recently, there had been fewer ferocious spirit beasts inside Qingxu, but spatial turbulence had been appearing more frequently.

To avoid entering Qingxu and immediately smashing into a spatial turbulence stream, even cultivators with sufficiently high realms wouldn’t rashly go in without relying on artifacts.

Meanwhile, in an unnoticed corner.

Two figures appeared without a sound.

“Qingxu…” Meizu gazed at the roiling sea of fog ahead. “If I count it up, it’s been many years since I’ve come here.”

The spot they chose was relatively low. Some of the gray-black miasma even spilled up over the cliff edge, flowing sluggishly in dark sheets that made the skin crawl.

“Didn’t you come not long ago when we went to the Realm of Earthly Immortals?” Xu Xing exposed her on the spot.

Meizu froze, then said with a straight face.

“That was inside Qingxu. I meant the edge of Qingxu, okay!”

Aside from that Realm of Earthly Immortals trip, the last time she personally came to Qingxu was back during the final battle with the Cang race, when everyone teamed up to beat Tai to death.

“Thinking about it now, Tai was pretty unlucky back then.”

Everyone else got one-on-one fights. Only Tai got jumped, one versus many, and was beaten to death without ever mounting any effective resistance!

After all these years, the only one to get that kind of treatment was that “Heaven’s Will Immortal” in the Realm of Earthly Immortals.

“Pretty unlucky,” Xu Xing agreed.

Back then, choosing to target Tai was also out of necessity.

Xuan was the strongest, and even if he died he could revive through other members of the Cang race. Unless the entire Cang race was wiped out, he simply couldn’t die.

Tian was similar. He wasn’t as strong as Xuan, but as an incarnation of Heaven’s Will descending into the world, he was also hard to kill.

As for Gu…

That went without saying. He wasn’t strong and he was a bit stupid, but since he governed the domain of the past, he was almost impossible to kill.

Those three were all “mechanic monsters,” and Xuan was the worst kind: both “mechanic” and “numbers” overtuned.

No matter how they thought about it, the one who symbolized “Law” and “Order,” Tai, was the easiest to solve. They had to concentrate power and kill him first.

“Let’s go. First, we’ll take a look at what’s going on.”

Back then, they personally witnessed Tai fall here.

His origin became the present Four Great Star Territories, creating Qingxu, the weakest point of the Tai Xuan Realm.

Afterwards, humans and the Cang race fought for years, and no one ever saw Tai again…

But now their cultivation was far higher than before. Maybe they could notice something this time.

“Mm.”

Meizu nodded slightly, then vanished together with Xu Xing at the cliff’s edge.

….

….

The Past Domain, eternally expanding without pause.

Above the endless river of time that ran through past and present, a majestic seven-colored divine figure strode forward step by step, a radiant halo behind his head turning through infinite light and shadow.

No matter how the river surged and scoured, he did not waver in the slightest.

Gu.

Within his glassy seven-colored eyes, light and shadow flickered.

It was an endless cliff, and beyond it, roiling gray-black fog.

Qingxu!

Every moment, every instant of “Qingxu” across the past was being summoned, dissected, and observed for anomalies.

And Gu himself was also moving little by little from the “past” toward the present world.

Not long ago, Xuan had finally explained his speculation to him and asked him to find a way to look into the Qingxu of the Central Continent.

“When Tai fell back then, he did not use that one chance to steal authority. There may be something there we do not know.”

That was Xuan’s exact wording, and the reason he suspected Tai.

Only…

“Suspecting Tai…”

Gu lifted his head, looking forward along the endless river of time that ran through past and present, the flickering light in his eyes gradually settling.

He had already seen all of “Qingxu in the past,” and found nothing unusual.

But that did not mean there was no problem.

Those who attain the Dao hold supreme might; even time struggles to preserve their traces.

The rank of the Tai Xuan Thirteen True Immortals was so high that even though he governed the past, all he could do was carve out a few fragments of action from true history.

And the power within those historical afterimages was far, far below the true bodies themselves…

If someone deliberately concealed it, and acted in circumstances he had never witnessed, he might not even be able to find any trace of their action within the Past Domain.

A Tai Xuan True Immortal could do that. As the innate source of Law and Order, Tai could naturally do it as well.

If the anomaly during the earlier process of proving the Dao was his handiwork, leaving no trace in the past would be guaranteed…

While he weighed these thoughts, Gu had already drawn close to the present along the river of time.

Looking out, the gray-black fog churned, and human adventurers were gathering spirit materials within…

Spatial turbulence raged. One after another, poisonous beasts and venomous insects, polluted by Qingxu’s abnormal environment and carrying toxins enough to kill Integration and Soul Transformation cultivators, moved through the gray fog—yet even an ordinary person with no cultivation could stomp them to death with a single foot.

Tai, as the innate source of Law and Order, had fallen and turned this place into a perilous land that could not be measured by common sense.

Gu’s gaze followed the cliff edge and drilled into the depths of the gray-black fog, sweeping across Qingxu inch by inch.

Just as he finished examining a tenth of Qingxu—

“Gu?”

A voice he absolutely did not want to hear sounded beside his ear, startlingly clear.

Huh?!

His eyes locked onto the source instantly. When he saw who it was, the towering divine body striding upon the river of time stiffened.

Within the gray-black fog, two figures stood atop a relatively flat boulder.

One was peerlessly dazzling, seductive beyond measure, yet carrying the tyrannical aura of countless Daos and laws bowing before her.

The other wore black, tall and straight, holding an unrivaled immortal sword that was crimson from hilt to tip, its blade flowing with divine radiance.

At this moment, faint red light shone in his eyes, especially striking within the surging gray-black fog.

He looked straight over, his gaze seeming to pierce the boundary between present and past, sending a chill through Gu’s heart.

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