"The Poison King? The master of Myriad Poison Mountain? With the Dharma gathering at hand, instead of heading to Jinyu Province, he's chasing you in circles through the Southern Frontier. Fellow Daoist, you haven't stolen some priceless treasure of his, have you?"
Su Zinan grew more and more curious about this bunch. Each was more enigmatic than the last.
One had founded his own faction within Tianhao Tower, another harbored a bitter grudge with Myriad Poison Mountain, and yet none of them had made any name for themselves before now.
At last, he understood why the Daoists and Buddhists guarded so vigilantly against the Wuxiang Immortal Sect.
Even though the Wuxiang Immortal Sect had been destroyed so long ago, fallen to such depths, and had its heritage scattered to the winds, it was still capable of nurturing so many experts—and the ones present today were not even all of them.
If someone raised a rallying cry, they could stage a resurgence and vault right back into the ranks of top-tier powers!
All they lacked was an opportunity.
In the present age, the Deity Transformation cultivators' whereabouts were unknown, and the grand Dharma gathering had drawn the various factions away to Jinyu Province. That was why they dared to act so brazenly. Yet that could hardly count as a true opportunity.
The only genuine opportunity was for the Wuxiang Immortal Sect to produce a Deity Transformation cultivator of its own!
Otherwise, no matter how many experts they had, they would never withstand a joint siege by the Daoists and Buddhists.
At that thought, Su Zinan's smile grew even more radiant.
"Aside from poisons and insects, what treasures could Myriad Poison Mountain possibly possess?" The scar-faced man sneered with disdain. "This old man merely slaughtered a few blind fools who got in my way, that's all."
His words drew sideways glances from the others.
To make the Poison King pursue him with such relentless determination, the ones he killed must have been at least elders, and likely more than one.
As they spoke, Zhu Wudao remained unaffected, proceeding with the preparations to unseal the Wuxiang Immortal Sect.
Zhu Wudao took out a stack of yellow talismans.
Densely packed runes were inscribed upon the flimsy talisman paper, drawn with the blood of an unknown creature and giving off an eerie, bloody glow.
At the center of every talisman was the character for 'Seal.'
Next, Zhu Wudao produced a jade seal.
The seal was opaque, its interior cloudy and its surface yellowed and devoid of luster. It looked like an ancient artifact with considerable age, yet possessed no aura of a treasure whatsoever.
Beneath the jade seal was also the character for 'Seal,' written in a script similar to that on the talismans.
Zhu Wudao raised his hand gently, and the jade seal slowly drifted into the air.
In an instant, dazzling treasure light radiated across Tenglong Cliff.
At the center of that radiant light was the jade seal, gleaming like a cold moon. Its chilled glow illuminated every corner of the cliff face, dispelling the darkness. When the ceaseless eerie winds touched this cold light, they actually stalled, their ferocious momentum drastically blunted.
The cold light even surged out of Tenglong Cliff, allowing the surviving disciples of the Taiyue Sect on the main peak to witness the anomaly unfolding there.
"What is that?"
"Tenglong Cliff! Someone has barged into the Sect Master's cultivation grounds!"
...
Just as cries of alarm rang out, a sweeping glare from the Grand Elder silenced them all, forcing them to concentrate on channeling the grand array to repel external foes.
The Grand Elder's Daoist name was Huachenzi. He narrowed his eyes toward Tenglong Cliff, just as shocked as Yue Lingtian had been when he first learned of this.
"It's actually at Tenglong Cliff?"
...
On the border between Nan Prefecture and Man Prefecture.
Treacherous mountains and deep valleys were everywhere to be seen.
It so happened that two great rivers surged through the valleys, converging at an angle ahead.
Curiously, one river was an indigo blue, while the other was pink, with countless brilliant petals drifting on its surface.
Anyone born in Nan and Man Prefectures would know upon seeing the colors of these two rivers that the waters were venomous, and would never step foot near them.
Indeed, the two rivers flowed through two venomous miasma zones, their waters laced with deadly toxins. The riverbanks were completely devoid of life, the vegetation withered dry.
Strangest of all, after the two poisoned rivers converged, their waters went from distinctly divided to completely transparent.
The toxins in the two rivers seemed to neutralize each other perfectly, restoring the water to normal so that it could be drunk directly, and life once again flourished along the banks.
Such an oddity was by no means unique to Nan and Man Prefectures; bizarre sights abounded here.
Following the river downstream, villages and tribal settlements appeared, inhabited by mortals.
Though they did not lack water, their living conditions remained harsh and filled with hardship.
Cultivators stood high above, rarely casting an eye upon the suffering of mortals. Had anyone bothered to glance down, they would have discovered that many settlements were worshipping a strange statue.
Five multicolored jade plaques were embedded in the crown of the statue—precisely the effigy of the Gu God Cult.
After years of development, the tentacles of the Gu God Cult had quietly reached into every corner of the Southern Frontier.
The villagers did no productive work. As though obeying some command, they had begun gathering almost every night for some time now, ingesting spirit medicines bestowed by the Gu God Cult to seek supreme bliss in hallucinations.
And this was precisely what the Gu God Cult's doctrines preached: only believers could enter the Vacuum Immortal Realm. Clinging to this belief, their lucid hours grew fewer and fewer.
Every one of them looked deranged, exuding an air of madness.
Above that indigo-blue poisonous river, two figures suddenly flashed into view.
One wore an elaborately patterned robe of gorgeous, vibrant colors. The ornaments on the garment were intricate to the extreme, yet did not appear messy in the least, possessing an exotic beauty.
This person's face was exquisitely gorgeous, their gender difficult to discern, with sternness and delicate charm coexisting between their brows.
It was none other than the renowned Poison King, Sect Master of Myriad Poison Mountain!
The other figure walked as fleet as the wind across the river's surface, treading the water as if walking on flat ground, without kicking up a single ripple, no slower than the Poison King.
Standing seven feet tall with an imposing, dignified bearing and ordination scars atop his head, he was actually a Buddhist monk.
The monk and the Poison King stood at opposite extremes.
He wore only a patchwork robe, completely unadorned, lacking even prayer beads. The robe itself was aged and faded.
As he walked, the monk's strides never ceased, his arms swinging naturally without the slightest hint of exertion, appearing entirely casual.
His hands were as large as cattail-leaf fans, the skin rough and the knuckles thick and pronounced—plainly the hands of someone accustomed to hard labor.
Any outsider seeing this monk would surely mistake him for an ascetic.
"Master has accompanied this seat for so long. Tell me, how does the Southern Frontier compare to the harshness of the Western Lands?" The Poison King's voice carried a soft, feminine quality.
The monk's Buddhist name was Huaiyin.
Huaiyin chanted a Buddhist moniker. "Amitabha! The Southern Frontier possesses abundant spiritual energy. In this alone, the Western Lands fall far short!"
The Poison King gave a faint scoff. "The Southern Frontier is inferior to the Central Plains heartland, yet it still surpasses the Western Lands by so much. People say Zhongzhou is the gathering place of all the world's splendors, and it seems that is no empty claim. Had this seat been in your position, I might not have reached my current realm. When I find leisure, I must ask the monastery to send me on a journey to the Western Lands to see the realm beyond."
Seeing that Huaiyin remained silent, turning his head as though searching for something, the Poison King added, "Be patient, Master. The places we have traversed do not amount to one ten-thousandth of Nan and Man Prefectures. Because of this seat's affairs, you have missed the grand gathering. Even if it takes the entire power of my sect, I will help Master find that spirit item."
"I am grateful for Fellow Daoist's trouble," Huaiyin thanked him.
The Poison King remarked with sighing emotion, "A top-tier body cultivator like Master naturally counters poison arts. Once you refine that spirit item, not only will your divine abilities reach great completion, but your resistance to poison will increase as well. This seat will have no choice but to concede defeat."
"Fellow Daoist's poison arts are matchless under heaven; this poor monk's meager craft is hardly worth mentioning. Though the item I require grows in an intensely venomous environment, it remains unsullied by the mire, entirely unrelated to the Dao of poison," Huaiyin explained.
"Oh? Then this seat was making assumptions."
The Poison King was surprised and admitted his mistake. Just as he was about to speak further, his senses suddenly stirred, and his escape art surged, bringing him to the far end of the river in an instant.
The moment he landed, Huaiyin arrived step by step through the void, without wind or sound, only the hem of his robe fluttering lightly.
The Poison King felt a secret chill. Without a word, he flew directly above the river's center, lowered his right hand, and plunged his index and middle fingers toward the water.
Immediately, the colors of the two poisonous streams faded at a pace visible to the naked eye until they vanished entirely. The Poison King's jade-white fingers were stained indigo and pink, but promptly reverted to normal.
At the same time, the river waters surged backward and parted down the middle toward both banks, exposing the riverbed.
The Poison King and Huaiyin dropped down to the bottom.
Looking around, Huaiyin suddenly said, "This person has not left Nan Prefecture! This poor monk was suspicious before; he left behind far too many flaws. Likely, he was pursued so closely by Fellow Daoist that he had no time to make meticulous arrangements, thereby exposing his trail. Since he wished to lure us out of Nan Prefecture, it proves he must still be within it!"
"Master speaks reason! I wonder what in Nan Prefecture holds that scoundrel back. Let us head back and search; perhaps Elder Ming and the others have discovered something."
The Poison King nodded slightly, unsurprised, having clearly harbored suspicions as well.
For figures of their caliber, a suspicion alone was often enough to act upon without needing conclusive evidence.
Skirting the border of Man Prefecture, the two turned back toward Nan Prefecture.
...
Tenglong Cliff.
With a rustling flutter, the spirit talismans flipped open one after another.
As Zhu Wudao drove the jade seal and the talismans, he explained, "If all Five Phase Tokens were gathered, we could pinpoint the location of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect directly. Although this old man replicated two, a vast gap remains between them and the originals. Furthermore, since some of you do not understand the cultivation arts of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect, we must rely on other means."
Even as he spoke, his fingers pointed like lightning. The talismans ignited in bursts at his fingertips, transforming into clusters of fiery light that drifted to every corner of Tenglong Cliff, ubiquitous as stars encircling a silver moon.
The light within Tenglong Cliff grew brighter and brighter, ultimately becoming dazzlingly piercing.
In that brilliant glare, one could no longer distinguish where the flames manifested by the talismans were, yet they had not vanished; instead, they established a resonance with the jade seal.
The beams of light converged into solid, thread-like lines, radiating outward from the jade seal to link every cluster of flame, weaving an intricate web of light that blanketed every corner of Tenglong Cliff.
Standing within this web of light, they could feel an extraordinary power coursing along the filaments, uniting the fiery radiance and the jade seal into a seamless whole.
Zhu Wudao held the jade seal steady and barked in a low voice, "Everyone, activate your Five Phase Tokens!"
With that command, none dared hesitate, instantly casting aside stray thoughts to comply.
By the five elements' alignments, the sword-bearer holding the Earth Phase Token should have stood at the center as the formation core, with the others stationed around him in their respective positions.
However, because the Five Phase Tokens were incomplete—with two being replicas—the array's power was unbalanced. Zhu Wudao adjusted the positions according to the mutual generation and overcoming of the five elements, making himself the center.
Having forged the two replica tokens with his own hands, no one understood the Five Phase Tokens better than he did.
Once the five had taken their positions, they simultaneously activated their tokens.
The five tokens slowly floated above their heads, gleaming with five-colored radiance. The two replica tokens appeared somewhat dimmer. The glow reflected across their faces, revealing varied expressions.
Su Zinan wore a smile.
The white-robed figure showed no expression.
The sword-bearer watched Zhu Wudao's movements.
Both the scar-faced man and Zhu Wudao looked expectant.
The five shifted their hand seals in a dizzying sequence of changes until the surfaces of all five tokens were wound with glowing threads, the replica tokens carrying the thickest concentration.
Coupled with the jade seal, they finally achieved a kind of balance, stabilizing and hovering motionless in midair.
Zhu Wudao was the busiest of all, clusters of light drifting before him.
These were treasures he had refined from five-element materials, now summoned all at once to assist in driving the Five Phase Tokens.
With practiced movements, Zhu Wudao watched as the treasures flew about and assembled themselves into an altar.
The moment the altar took shape, Zhu Wudao shouted, "Descend!"
The group scattered in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized as they guided the Five Phase Tokens downward. The tokens plunged simultaneously into the altar!
The next instant, the five sat cross-legged around the altar, raised their hands, and pressed them against its rim.
The moment ten palms made contact with the altar, the Five Phase Tokens violently shuddered. Then, an irresistible force surged from the altar, flinging them all toward a cave dwelling on the cliff face.
*Isn't that Yue Lingtian's cave dwelling...?*
The thought had barely crossed Su Zinan's mind when his pupils contracted sharply.
Above the altar, a speck of white light suddenly burst into existence.
*Boom!*
It was not a physical sound, but a terrifying tremor welling from some unknown space, shaking their minds to the core.
In that split second, the Taiyue Sect fell dead silent, and countless gazes turned toward the cliff in unison!
...
Daoist Zilei and the others, having received word long ago, were currently lying in ambush not far outside the Wuxiang Immortal Sect.
At such close range, even through the canopy, they could vaguely sense the disturbance.
While his disciples were being slaughtered, Yue Lingtian had kept his expression dark as water without uttering a word. Now, however, he could no longer hold back. "I will go in first to investigate."
The foundation of the Taiyue Sect's mountain-protecting grand array remained, giving him a way to sneak inside.
"Do not alert the enemy!"
Daoist Zilei did not stop him, watching Yue Lingtian enter the Taiyue Sect. After a brief pause, he suddenly sent a voice transmission to Daoist Suxia: "Junior Sister, return to the sect immediately."
Daoist Suxia was taken aback.
"With me, Fellow Daoist Yue, and Junior Brother here, it will be enough. Though the Wuxiang Immortal Sect once controlled the Immortal Palace, those remnants do not understand that the palace's interior changes constantly and is no longer what it once was. The teleportation array of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect connects to Tiantong Hall, while the Sword Tomb lies in Tianxiang Hall. As long as we can enter the Immortal Palace, I am ten parts certain I can reach the Sword Tomb ahead of them," Daoist Zilei explained.
"One more person means one more measure of strength..."
Before Daoist Suxia could finish, Daoist Zilei interrupted, "The true disciples have all been summoned back to the abbey. If we fail to return, withdraw the abbey from the mortal world, and you shall shoulder the duty of carrying on our lineage!"
Hearing Daoist Zilei speak as if delivering his final arrangements, Daoist Suxia found it hard to believe. "Has the situation deteriorated to such an extent?"
"The human heart is unpredictable; one cannot be too cautious," Daoist Zilei said in a heavy voice. "I am merely preparing for the worst! This matter can be either trivial or grave. If Martial Uncle's disappearance has nothing to do with Saint Huiguang, or if I achieve Deity Transformation, there will still be room to maneuver. Otherwise, we must prepare for the worst."
Daoist Suxia fell silent.
She was already privy to the inside details.
Though Saint Huiguang and True Monarch Danyu had clashed in the past, there was no mortal enmity between them.
Yet the world was unpredictable.
Various signs made them wary of placing their trust in Ganlu Zen Monastery.
To enter the Immortal Palace under normal circumstances required the joint efforts of both sects; Bajing Abbey could not accomplish it alone.
By going along with the tide and drawing out the Wuxiang Immortal Sect, Daoist Zilei could pull off this deception unnoticed.
Chapter 1612