The night was cool as water.
In a secluded courtyard, Daoist Fufeng sat quietly sipping tea. It was premium immortal tea presented by the Red Tide Sect, yet Fufeng tasted nothing of its flavor. Only a few names turned over and over in his mind. And now, another name had joined them—one that should never have appeared in his thoughts: Wei Yuan.
At the thought of Wei Yuan, Daoist Fufeng felt uneasy. Irritably setting his teacup on the table, he prepared to take a walk in the courtyard. Minor sect though it was, the Red Tide Sect had arranged its courtyards with considerable elegance.
Just as he set the cup down, Daoist Fufeng's body suddenly stiffened. He stood up slowly, squeezed out a strained smile, and said, "Junior Brother... Zhang! If Junior Brother needed anything, a simple word would have sufficed. I would have paid you a visit myself..."
Zhang Sheng stepped into the room. As if he had not heard Fufeng's greeting, he walked straight over and took a seat.
Just then, Sun Yu appeared at the doorway as well, saying in rapid succession, "Don't be rash! Everything can be discussed!"
Seeing Sun Yu's panicked look, Daoist Fufeng's heart gave a leap. Stealing a glance at Zhang Sheng, he was startled. "Junior Brother, your Dao power has returned?"
Zhang Sheng said calmly, "Though Senior Brother and I have had little contact, you should know what kind of person I am. I came this time only to know one thing: how Yuan'er's score was decided."
Daoist Fufeng's expression shifted several times as he inwardly cursed his luck. What he feared most had truly come to pass. Although he had cultivated far longer than Zhang Sheng, sitting beside him now felt like sitting beside a peerless immortal sword; the hair on his entire body stood on end. He suddenly recalled Zhang Sheng's past deeds, and his heart skipped another beat.
Daoist Fufeng forced a smile. "Why are you suddenly concerned with this, Junior Brother? This evaluation was quite fair..."
Halfway through, Fufeng could not go on. Looking at the composed Zhang Sheng and Sun Yu standing to the side, his expression gradually turned solemn. He asked, "Junior Brother, must you know?"
Zhang Sheng said flatly, "This is a struggle for the Great Dao. I will not yield an inch!"
Daoist Fufeng sighed and recounted the evaluation process for both the Daoist test and the literary test one by one. He held nothing back, admitting in full that he had graded Wei Yuan slightly below what he deserved to prevent him from placing in the Palace of Grand Beginning's top three.
Hearing this, Sun Yu stamped his foot and sighed. "The real villains are those two scholars! But Senior Brother Fufeng, you... sigh!"
Having heard it all, Zhang Sheng finally said, "Thank you for telling the truth, Senior Brother."
Zhang Sheng rose and walked over to the writing desk. Smoothing out paper and dipping his brush fully in ink, he said, "Over the past six years, my Dao power was sealed, allowing me to view the world with a quiet mind. Though I often gained insights, it is also thanks to what the noble clans did today that this piece could come to be."
Zhang Sheng put brush to paper. The moment the tip touched the sheet, the world outside the window turned stark white as a streak of lightning slashed across the night sky!
Zhang Sheng seemed oblivious. His brush danced like dragons and snakes, inscribing a sweeping incantation in the blink of an eye. With each word he penned, his face paled another shade, turning white as paper in moments. Halfway through, another thunderclap split heaven and earth. A thick bolt of lightning crashed from the void, striking straight against the mountain-protecting array of the Red Tide Sect. The entire Red Tide Sect shuddered; the protective array was nearly shattered by this display of heavenly might!
Zhang Sheng grunted, and a trickle of fresh blood ran down from his nose.
"Junior Brother! Your injury..." Sun Yu cried in shock, reaching out to support him. But halfway there, his hand recoiled as if shocked by lightning.
Zhang Sheng acted as if he heard nothing, his brush never pausing. After what seemed an eternity, he made a final press and hook, completing the very last character.
A drop of blood fell, blooming into a blossom of crimson upon the paper, flecked with shimmering starlight.
Seeing that Zhang Sheng had no intention of concealing it, both Sun Yu and Daoist Fufeng looked toward the blood-stained manual on the desk. At a glance, Sun Yu's eyes stung from the four large opening characters:
*Outlaw of Heaven and Earth!*
Daoist Fufeng possessed higher cultivation and read on. Every character and every line struck his mind like wild thunder and shocking lightning. After reading less than half, Daoist Fufeng could not help but exclaim, "A karmic destiny secret art? But it is so overwhelmingly fierce and domineering—who could possibly use it?"
"Yuan'er can."
Sun Yu said, "That... surely he cannot?"
Daoist Fufeng added, "I have seen Wei Yuan. He is indeed exceptionally gifted, but he is likely still short of being able to command a secret art of heaven and earth like this. Junior Brother, this secret art is unprecedented, but precisely because of that, if one's karmic destiny falls even slightly short or if one errs in the slightest while wielding it, the result will be total destruction—death and the extinguishing of one's Dao!"
Zhang Sheng extended a finger. From his jade-like fingertip, a wisp of black qi slowly drifted upward. The moment this black qi emerged, both Sun Yu and Daoist Fufeng paled drastically, as though witnessing the instantaneous doom of their own annihilation! The sensation was so visceral that despite their steadfast Dao hearts, they shuddered instinctively.
Zhang Sheng said, "This is what sealed my Dao power for six years. With it, Yuan'er will naturally be able to wield the art."
Gazing at the wisp of black qi at Zhang Sheng's fingertip, Daoist Fufeng felt both envy and dread. "What kind of karmic destiny is this? How have I never heard of it?"
Sun Yu countered, "This is a supreme treasure of heaven and earth! If you kept it for yourself, Junior Brother, your cultivation would advance at lightning speed for at least three years, and achieving a Dharma Idol in the future would be as easy as reaching into your pocket! To use it just so someone else can wield a karmic destiny secret art is far too great a waste!"
"It is merely an external thing. What is there to regret?" Zhang Sheng picked up the manual and vanished into the night in the blink of an eye.
Sun Yu felt his waist lighten; the waist token granting free passage was already gone. Gazing in the direction where Zhang Sheng had vanished into the night, Daoist Fufeng said thoughtfully, "Junior Brother truly cares deeply about this disciple."
Sun Yu asked, "What does Senior Brother intend to do tomorrow?"
Daoist Fufeng offered a bitter smile and said, "I was hesitant before, but now that I have seen the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth*, I shall naturally do everything in my power tomorrow."
"Aren't you afraid of incurring blame from those families?"
Daoist Fufeng spread his hands and said, "At worst, I return the immortal silver and treasures I took, and throw in everything I own—just losing some money, that's all. But on this side, one is the man who wrote the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth*, and the other is the one who can wield it. This old Daoist still has a long immortal path ahead. How could there be any question of what to choose?"
Sun Yu sneered mockingly, "You folks from the Hall of Heavenly Secrets truly are slick to the last man, masters of fence-sitting!"
Daoist Fufeng laughed heartily, utterly shameless. "I call it following the will of heaven! There's no explaining it to you geomancy idiots from the Hall of Xuanming anyway—those of different paths cannot make plans together!"
Sun Yu could truly do nothing against Daoist Fufeng's thick skin, so he could only say, "Then I leave tomorrow in Senior Brother's hands."
Daoist Fufeng said, "Rest assured, Junior Brother! The martial test depends most of all on the evaluators' leeway. Tomorrow, just watch this senior brother's craft!"
Yet having said that, Daoist Fufeng suddenly remembered the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth*. His expression turned peculiar, and he murmured, "Or perhaps... I won't even be needed tomorrow."
Sun Yu suddenly sighed. "What a pity!"
Sharing the sentiment, Daoist Fufeng felt an ache in his very flesh. "A pity indeed!"
Inside the dormitories, many examinees were still hurrying to and fro, forming alliances and making pacts to give their all for tomorrow's martial test.
Wei Yuan kept his door firmly shut as always, concentrating on studying the Southern Vermilion Bird Pre-Dawn Formula and occasionally standing up to circulate it. Although the manual stated that karmic destiny secret arts should not be used often, Wei Yuan discovered that no matter how much he channeled it, that formless mass within his body—the karmic destiny spoken of in the art—remained entirely unaffected. Whatever amount had been there before was still there now, leaving him clueless as to what the Southern Vermilion Bird Pre-Dawn Formula was actually drawing upon. The manual specifically noted that the consumption was immense, which only made Wei Yuan even more baffled as to what was being consumed.
As he was practicing, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a premonition. Turning around, he saw that Zhang Sheng had appeared in the room at some point.
He hastily bowed and asked, "Master, why have you come?"
Zhang Sheng had actually been watching him for a while. He said, "You have practiced the Southern Vermilion Bird Pre-Dawn Formula well, but circumstances have changed. You must switch to this manual now."
Zhang Sheng handed the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth* to Wei Yuan. Then, as a wisp of black qi drifted from his fingertip, he said, "This strand of otherworldly karmic destiny once sealed my Dao power for six years. It is overbearing and tyrannical, making it nothing short of ideal for initiating the Outlaw of Heaven and Earth. I give it to you now. Soon, you will experience the agony of your divine sense tearing apart, various fires incinerating your body, and heavenly demons throwing your mind into chaos. You must endure it."
Wei Yuan nodded. "This disciple is not afraid of pain."
Zhang Sheng naturally knew Wei Yuan's character, so he pressed a finger to the center of Wei Yuan's forehead, sending the wisp of karmic destiny inside.
Wei Yuan felt only a cool sensation enter his mind, which then dispersed into his limbs and bones like a drop of water falling into the sea, vanishing completely.
Under Zhang Sheng's watchful and anxious gaze, Wei Yuan simply stood there. Nothing happened.
"Is your divine sense tearing apart?"
"Are karmic fires burning your heart?"
"Are delusions rising in your mind? Are heavenly demons dancing?"
Zhang Sheng asked in succession, but Wei Yuan shook his head each time.
Zhang Sheng had anticipated countless possibilities, and had even prepared to protect Wei Yuan's nascent spirit at all costs in case of crisis, but he had never imagined that absolutely nothing would happen.
Regardless, nothing happening was always a good thing. Though puzzled, Zhang Sheng put his doubts aside for the moment and began explaining the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth* to Wei Yuan.
This karmic destiny secret art incorporated all that Zhang Sheng had seen and felt during the six years he had walked the mortal realm as an ordinary man. Provoked by the injustices he had encountered, it fused the heartlessness of heaven and earth with wild, raging violence into a single crucible. Its demands on karmic destiny were extraordinarily high, and it easily influenced the practitioner's temperament and mind.
Zhang Sheng explained it in detail until Wei Yuan understood it in its entirety.
Wei Yuan had awakened his wisdom early. Hearing Zhang Sheng say that circumstances had changed without specifying how, he had refrained from asking. Only when Zhang Sheng finished teaching him the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth* did Wei Yuan finally ask, "For tomorrow's martial test, what should I do?"
Zhang Sheng stood with his hands behind his back and declared, "Level them for your master!"
"Who are 'they'?"
"Everyone!"
When he left the dormitories, Zhang Sheng's face was as pale as paper, and the faint scent of blood rose in his nose again. He had already sustained injuries from breaking out of seclusion prematurely, and creating the *Outlaw of Heaven and Earth* had stirred the secrets of heaven, worsening his condition to the point where he could barely hold himself up. Having instructed Wei Yuan, Zhang Sheng returned immediately to his room to cultivate in silence. Come tomorrow morning, master and disciple would each face their own battle.
In the early morning, the immortal mountain grew bright and radiant once more. Several immortal cranes ten zhang in size wheeled around the distant immortal peaks. The crowd of examinees had emerged from their dormitories, urged along by the Daoists toward the examination hall.
Inside the grand hall, hundreds of prayer mats had already been laid out. Around each of the massive pillars at the four corners coiled a great serpent, its glaze-like eyes lazily watching the examinees enter.
As before, every examinee saw their number and took their seat one after another.
The elderly Daoist stood at the head of the hall. Striking the small bronze bell beside him with force, he called out in a drawn-out voice: "The martial test begins!"
Chapter 14