I've Waited for You a Long Time

When the shadow fell over the earth, the divine senses of every immortal slowed for an instant. A colossal pair of eyes opened across the vault of heaven. If placed upon the ground, those terrifying vertical pupils would each span a canyon thousands of zhang across. Under the gaze of those immense, frigid eyes—tinged with a sliver of madness—even the Fifth Peak slowed his motions, only to suffer a vicious blow from Xuanyue for his lack of vigilance. Only then did the Fifth High Mountain realize that Xuanyue was entirely immune to the heavenly pressure and remained single-mindedly bent on fighting him to the death. This drove him into a frenzy of irritation, yet he could not break away. He could only curse inwardly: *Is this Xuanyue a fool? Can he not even sense danger?* Di Ran and Zhang Sheng were equally unaffected; their fierce battle had already reached a crucial juncture. Di Ran constantly attempted to unfold his grotto-heavens, but above Zhang Sheng's head sat a middle-aged Daoist holding a small banner. With each wave of the banner, tens of thousands of golden lotuses blossomed out of thin air. Whenever one of Di Ran's grotto-heavens appeared, those golden lotuses descended upon it, immediately thrusting it out of this realm. Zhang Sheng held Qingping, firmly defending the three zhang around herself, cutting down every spell and magic treasure Di Ran hurled her way. In terms of overall positioning, she was at an absolute disadvantage and in dire peril; were Di Ran to successfully unfold even a single grotto-heaven, she would be defeated. Yet the middle-aged Daoist's ten thousand golden lotuses were extraordinarily miraculous. No matter how Di Ran channeled his might, he simply could not pierce their cordon to draw the power of his grotto-heavens into this realm. The gaze in the sky fell first upon Houtu. She showed no reaction whatsoever, passively continuing to receive the infusion of spirituality and spiritual power from the grand formation. Then, the gaze turned toward Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan raised his middle finger at him. Above the Immortal Heaven, the immortals trembled. None had anticipated that the Venerable Master's true body would actually appear. Could it be that even the Martial Ancestor's contingency had failed to suppress him? At this moment, Duke Yansheng manifested in the Immortal Heaven, clutching a scroll of bamboo slips. His expression was solemn, his voice carrying a strange, ancient resonance as he asked, "Did the Martial Ancestor leave any preparations?" The immortals all pricked up their ears. Over the past several thousand years, they had suffered terribly under the Martial Ancestor's restrictions. In the early days shortly after the Martial Ancestor fell, impatient immortals had ventured out to test the waters, and not a few had perished to the various traps and contingencies he left behind. By now, everyone was like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, constantly feeling as though a pair of eyes watched them from the unseen depths. There was profound craft behind Duke Yansheng's question. By asking while holding a relic of the Sage, he was borrowing the Sage's status while giving voice to the shared concern of all present, effectively drawing the throng of immortals to his side. If the Venerable Master lied, he would incur karmic ties with the Sage. The Academy's most formidable Sage relics had already been exhausted countering the Martial Ancestor's lethal strikes. Most of what remained were small personal articles the Sage had carried in his lifetime—possessing high status, but lacking overwhelming might. Yet Duke Yansheng had no intention of attacking; he merely wanted to draw out the truth. Thus, status was of paramount importance. The higher the status, the heavier the karmic repercussions of deceit. The Venerable Master's silhouette stepped forward from the depths of the Immortal Heaven and came to a halt before Duke Yansheng. Before the Venerable Master's true body, Duke Yansheng was not even as large as the other's palm, appearing like a mere mouse. Yet behind him stood the faint, indistinct figure of the Sage! The Sage looked upon all things in creation as equals; he could stand shoulder to shoulder with an ant, or rise level with heaven and earth. At this moment, the Sage's silhouette stood at the exact same height as the Venerable Master—neither a fraction more, nor a fraction less. The Venerable Master did not look at the Sage's figure. Instead, he lowered his head slightly to gaze upon Duke Yansheng and said slowly, "The Martial Ancestor indeed left behind a contingency. This seat merely exchanged a few words of idle chatter with him before rushing over." Duke Yansheng's expression tightened, and he slowly yielded the path. Only then did the Venerable Master cast a fleeting glance at the Sage's silhouette. "A shadow is merely a shadow," he said impassively. "Even a Sage's lingering legacy will one day run dry. There ought to be a limit to how much a prodigal squanders. If you have not reached the level of an Immortal Lord, do not speak as one, lest you leave behind a laughingstock for posterity." Duke Yansheng's face turned livid. Yet the Venerable Master's aura was perfectly consummate, without the slightest flaw or blemish, showing no sign whatsoever of injury. Within Duke Yansheng and all the other immortals, an incredible thought arose: *Could it be that the Venerable Master can already withstand a strike from the Martial Ancestor?* The Venerable Master's towering silhouette drifted into the distance. Even though his true body had appeared, the immortals could not make out his features or discern the characteristics of his immortal form; he remained only a blurred outline. Standing in the Immortal Heaven, Duke Yansheng felt a wild rage churning within his chest. How many years had it been? No one had ever dared speak like this to him while he held a prized treasure of the Sage! Even when the Venerable Master's true body could not manifest in the Immortal Heaven, he had always treated Duke Yansheng with polite courtesy, interacting as equals. Who could have thought that after two prized treasures of the Sage were expended, the Venerable Master would adopt such an attitude, even daring to brand him a prodigal squanderer! Though most of the Sage relics had indeed been consumed under Duke Yansheng's watch, he deeply believed he was doing great things. What was the point of merely keeping prized treasures locked away compared to raising the Sage's bloodline onto the throne of the Sovereign of Men? As he was secretly seething in fury, Master Gu appeared beside him and said, "The Sage's silhouette was equal in height to the Venerable Master." "What of it?" Duke Yansheng did not immediately grasp his meaning. Master Gu said, "The Sage looks upon all things as equals. That he could stand equal in height to the Venerable Master means he saw through the Venerable Master's reality. Thus, in truth, the Venerable Master is far inferior to the Sage." Duke Yansheng's first reaction was confusion. Was it not entirely normal to be inferior to the Sage? Even someone as mighty as the Martial Ancestor had never claimed he could surpass the Sage of that era. Yet he immediately realized: the Sage had long since returned to heaven and earth, and the present status came only from a relic, naturally far inferior to the true Sage. That meant the Venerable Master's status was lower than everyone had assumed. Duke Yansheng's eyes lit up, and he whispered, "Was he still injured by the Martial Ancestor's contingency?" Master Gu's expression was grave. "Injured or not, he is still an Immortal Lord." Duke Yansheng fell silent. A walking Immortal Lord was not someone he could contend with, having lost the Sage's supreme treasures. No matter how weakened the Venerable Master might be, crushing him would take no more than a single palm strike. As the Venerable Master walked, shadows gradually crept across the horizon. Wherever he passed, what should have been a bright afternoon turned entirely into a gloomy dusk. At last, the eyes on the vault of heaven faded, replaced by a colossal hand. The hand descended slowly, pressing down toward Houtu. This palm strike was impossible to block and impossible to evade—all the more so because Houtu had not yet awakened her sentience, still a full day away from reaching complete maturity. To slay her on this very last day before her completion was precisely what would plunge the enemy into deepest despair. The Venerable Master clearly understood this well. Yet that inevitable, lethal palm strike actually veered off course midway! Though Wei Yuan was tens of thousands of li away, he was thrusting his middle finger at the Venerable Master while shouting at the top of his lungs, "I'm cursing you to your face, and you can still stomach it? Are you a turtle hiding in its shell? Strike me if you have the guts! If you can manage to beat me to death, I'll take your surname so you won't die without an heir!" These words echoed across tens of thousands of li. Pushed past the limits of his endurance, the Venerable Master abruptly altered the target of his sure-hit palm strike, manifesting tens of thousands of li away in an instant. With a crisp *smack*, Wei Yuan was flattened into meat paste. The Venerable Master's Dao heart instantly cleared; even much of the resentment he had swallowed from the Martial Ancestor dissipated. He then swung his palm back around, continuing his strike toward Houtu. In his mind, who died first made little difference anyway—both were due for a palm strike. The giant palm descended. This time, no crisp *smack* sounded; the great hand never struck the ground at all! Houtu raised her right hand, remarkably propping up the falling giant palm! The stiffness and awkwardness faded from her face, giving way to an incomparably radiant smile. "I've waited for you a long time! I may not have fully grown, but nobody said I couldn't fight. "Do you really think old fogies like us, who have been around since the Yuangu era, would be the kind of pure, adorable, gentle, and harmless little children?" The Venerable Master was thoroughly shocked and attempted to pull back his hand, but Houtu seized it instead. She instantly unleashed all the power she had accumulated; sharing the status of an Immortal Lord, she held the Venerable Master completely immobile! Though such an eruption could only last for a fleeting breath, across a radius of several hundred thousand li, a profound and terrifying power was already churning and surging upward! Ordinary immortals could sense nothing, yet the Venerable Master felt an immense wave reaching to the heavens rolling forward, poised to swallow him whole! At that very moment, a piercing spark of karmic light stung the Venerable Master's eyes. That gleam came from a speck of blood on his palm—a fresh speck of blood smeared there when he crushed Wei Yuan. Both shocked and furious, the Venerable Master whipped his head around, only to see thick, crimson light coursing through the pool of gore tens of thousands of li away. Then, out of the meat paste, a middle finger rose upright. Colossal waves surged from every direction, wild crests surging across hundreds of thousands of li, bearing down upon the Venerable Master with the force to topple mountains and overturn the seas. The Venerable Master's expression turned exceedingly grim. He had seen this terrifying power before, and was thoroughly familiar with it. This was— The Karma Great Curse.