A Draw

“And you, Junior Brother Meng—no, Deputy Hall Master Meng—I'm leaving the Mission Hall in the hands of you two.” Dai Bufan felt that he could no longer keep up with the times. He had reached retirement age; it was time to step down, yield his seat to the worthy, and let capable people take the lead. Two years ago, before he met Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, he had thought that being a dignified cultivator at the early Body Integration stage at such a young age meant a bright, boundless future. During his tenure in charge of the Mission Hall, he had been able to deduce the intelligence he needed from all manner of minute, subtle clues, unravel intricate tangles of information to uncover the truth, and assign missions that both punished evil and promoted good while tempering his junior brothers and sisters. It was no exaggeration to call him a pillar of the Dao Seeking Sect. Now, he felt he was a pillar of jack shit—he couldn't handle the sheer absurdity surrounding these two at all! “The first time you two went out, you joined the Immortal Cult, and then the Immortal Cult was wiped out. “The second time you went out, you discovered that Junior Brother Li Haoran was the reincarnation of the previous cult master of the Nine Nether Cult. “The third time you went out, you fabricated the Heavenly Court Cult and forged deep cooperation with the Nine Nether Cult. “The fourth time you went out to attend the Qingzhou Grand Ceremony, you ran into a Tribulation Transcendence stage Great Yu cultivator, prompting Eldest Senior Sister to intervene. “The fifth time you went out, you encountered three Tribulation Transcendence stage Great Yu cultivators in Hanshui City, and all three ended up captured and brought back. “And then came your sixth trip out, where you went right ahead and revived the legendary Ancient Ancestor of the Phoenix Clan, completely upending the Demon Empire's Founding Ceremony! “I clearly heard that you two went along to help Junior Sister Gan Tian with archaeology. How on earth did your digging dig up the Phoenix Clan's Ancient Ancestor? “I dare not even imagine what you two will pull off next time you go out! “A legendary ancient half-immortal! In the time it took for a casual trip out, you actually managed to resurrect her and trigger a battle between half-immortals?!” A clash featuring six Tribulation Transcendence experts and two half-immortals—Dai Bufan had never in his life witnessed a battle of such scale. Yet look at the two of them: not only did they witness it, they were the prime cause behind it! “No, no, no, absolutely not!” Lu Yang waved his hands frantically, declining Dai Bufan's proposal. “Sit down. I’ll speak to Master; he’s sure to agree!” “No, really, no! My status is humble, my cultivation is an eyesore, and I cannot shoulder such great responsibility!” Meng Jingzhou chimed in to back Lu Yang up as well: “Indeed, indeed! He can't be the Mission Hall Master. He's the Young Cult Master of the Heavenly Court Cult and Senior Lianyi's senior brother. Senior Lianyi is currently at our sect; if the venerable elder found out, she'd definitely never agree.” Dai Bufan whipped his head around to stare at Meng Jingzhou, his eyes filled with astonishment and bewilderment, as though he were listening to a myth. *What on earth did you people do in the Demon Domain?* He clamped both hands onto Lu Yang's shoulders and shoved him firmly down into the seat. Senior Brother Dai plastered a wide smile on his face, adopting a warm demeanor and a gentle tone as he personally poured tea and served water to Lu Yang. “Come now, Hall Master Lu, do tell what you experienced in the Demon Domain.” Sentence by sentence, the two filled in the details of their journey in the Demon Domain—glossing over the Immortal Fairy's existence, of course, by simply claiming Lu Yang had gotten lucky, cleared the Ancient Creation Realm by chance, and awakened Jiang Lianyi. Dai Bufan thumped his forehead in agony. Their tale was far too bizarre. “In other words, essentially speaking, the Demon Empire is already the property of the Heavenly Court Cult?” “Putting it that way isn't wrong.” “...” “Senior Brother Dai, if there's nothing else, we'll take our leave,” Lu Yang said gingerly. Taking advantage of Senior Brother Dai smacking his forehead, he and Meng Jingzhou hurriedly slipped out of the Mission Hall. Meanwhile, Senior Brother Dai had yet to recover from the shock of all that intelligence. The two parted ways at the entrance of the Mission Hall and returned to their respective peaks. Once back, Meng Jingzhou intended to make his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage. Returning to his cave abode, Meng Jingzhou saw Old Horse chewing grass listlessly in front of the entrance, completely at leisure. “Old Horse, I'm back from the Demon Domain. It really was your loss not coming along this time—we gained so much on this trip!” Without caring whether Old Horse wanted to hear it or not, Meng Jingzhou recounted their past six months of experiences in the Demon Domain. After listening, Old Horse was filled with immense regret, cursing only its own timidity for missing out on witnessing a clash between half-immortals with its own eyes. Had it known they had the Phoenix Clan's Ancient Ancestor backing them, what was there to fear? It could have strutted across the Demon Domain uncontested! This wouldn't do anymore. Next time—next time it would definitely tag along with this kid to see the world! *** “I wonder if Senior Lianyi has met Eldest Senior Sister yet,” Lu Yang murmured with a touch of worry. Ascending the mountain, Lu Yang made his way to the summit with familiar ease. At the peak, he found only a worried Third Senior Sister; Eldest Senior Sister and Jiang Lianyi were nowhere to be seen. Third Senior Sister sat beside a stone table, her hands clasped together as her thumbs twirled around each other. She was restless and ill at ease, deep worry etched between her brows. “Third Senior Sister, where are Eldest Senior Sister and Senior Lianyi?” “Ah, Little Junior Brother. I don't know what got into her earlier, but the moment Senior Lianyi saw Eldest Senior Sister, she asked to test Eldest Senior Sister's skills, and Eldest Senior Sister gladly agreed.” “Considering that their clash would cause too great a commotion, they went into an alternate space Eldest Senior Sister opened up to fight. I've been waiting here ever since.” Lu Yang sucked in a breath of cold air. *Senior Lianyi, you really are fearless—challenging Eldest Senior Sister right off the bat.* “Third Senior Sister, are you worried Eldest Senior Sister might lose?” Third Senior Sister sighed and gestured for Lu Yang to sit as well before sharing her concerns: “I'm worried Senior Lianyi's Dao Heart will collapse from getting beaten so soon after re-emerging into the world.” “In the past, Eldest Senior Sister never knew how to hold back. From what I know alone, several senior figures had their Dao Hearts shattered by her and took hundreds of years to pick the pieces back up.” “How did they pick them back up?” Lu Yang asked curiously. This was the first time he had heard that a Dao Heart could be mended—though the price was steep indeed, requiring several hundred years. “Basically, they suppressed their cultivation realms and disguised themselves as juniors to throw their weight around among the younger generation. Typically, they'd start by letting others mock them—saying things like their realm was low, their talent was garbage, and they had no prospects in this life. Then they'd rise up in defiance, unseal a portion of their strength, and strike back.” “They would start from the Qi Refinement stage, first joining a small sect. When their realm rose to Foundation Establishment and the small sect limited their growth, they'd join a mid-sized sect to cultivate, then reach the Golden Core stage, Nascent Soul stage... repeating the process I just mentioned over and over throughout their cultivation.” “And you'd be surprised—this method actually worked quite well! A few venerable seniors even met female confidantes along the way, then robbed the cradle, tied the knot, rekindled their youth, and ended up with a mindset far younger than before. With the empowering force of love, some even advanced their strength to greater heights.” Lu Yang: “...” *So those senior figures spent centuries playing weak just to flex and slap faces, is that it?!* As they were speaking, the space overhead distorted, and Jiang Lianyi—in human form—plummeted from the sky, crashing onto the ground in a billow of dust. Lu Yang and Third Senior Sister rushed forward to check on her. They saw that Jiang Lianyi's aura was completely cut off, with not a shred of vital signs remaining—she was plainly as dead as dead could be. “Senior Lianyi, are you all right?” Hearing Lu Yang's concern, Jiang Lianyi revived once more and bolted upright, lingering fear in her chest. “Close one! Truly close! To think that later generations could produce such a powerful junior.” “Fortunately, right before being defeated, I took the initiative to commit suicide and abort the battle, so it barely counts as a draw!”