Lu Yang thought it was actually quite fine for Xie An and Qiao'er to join the Qiankun Purple Cloud Palace. The Qiankun Purple Cloud Palace would gain two Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, and no other sect would have to suffer at the hands of these two scourges. A win-win situation all around.
Meng Jingzhou quietly shrank back next to Lu Yang. The chilling aura radiating from Qiao'er—no, Venerable Qianjiao now—was cold enough to freeze his marrow.
"Are Tribulation Transcendence cultivators so common these days that you bump into two just by stepping outside?" Lu Yang muttered under his breath.
Meng Jingzhou gave careful thought to his past outings with Lu Yang. "It feels like every time we go out, we run into someone at the Tribulation Transcendence stage."
Lu Yang: "..."
Come to think of it, that really did seem to be the case.
"Wuji, you old fossil! Why are you pretending to be a kid? And making yourself look so young and tender!" Qiao'er berated Xie An furiously. Had she known Xie An was Venerable Wuji, why would she have wasted nearly half a year hanging around here?
What a complete waste of emotion!
Refusing to be outdone, Xie An spat on the ground. "You have the nerve to talk about me? Back when those bandits were chasing you, you were weeping and bawling to me, crying, 'Big brother, please save me! The bandits killed my parents and servants!' You put on quite the convincing act!"
"Not as convincing as yours! Buzzing around an old beggar all day playing Go, twisting and turning through so many convoluted schemes just to infiltrate a measly Nascent Soul sect!"
"Shameless!"
"You have no shame!"
The two Tribulation Transcendence cultivators traded insults, clashing with their glares until the very space around them seemed to freeze. Watching this, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou felt their hearts pounding in terror, terrified they might actually come to blows.
If a fight broke out, the two of them would be the first casualties.
Back when Lu Yang served as the acting Sect Master to the Acting Sect Master, he had read intelligence reports regarding these two Tribulation Transcendence cultivators.
The two were peers from the same era and had known each other since childhood as childhood sweethearts. Rumor had it they had even been betrothed from infancy. But then Venerable Wuji's family fell on hard times, and Venerable Qianjiao's clan broke off the engagement, so the marriage never happened.
Whether the rumor was true or false, after each of them joined their respective sects, they competed relentlessly—sparring all the way from the Qi Refinement stage up to the Tribulation Transcendence stage. In the process, they even elevated their respective sects into super-rank sects.
In their era, they were the most brilliant prodigies. Peers who witnessed their natural talent felt deeply ashamed, unable to muster even a shred of competitive spirit.
No matter the era, anyone capable of cultivating to the Tribulation Transcendence stage was a genius among geniuses.
Upon reaching the Tribulation Transcendence stage, both assumed the airs of senior figures and stopped fighting at the drop of a hat as they had in their youth. Besides, at their level, any real clash would wreak apocalyptic devastation, making the aftermath an enormous hassle to clean up.
Still, their covert contests were numerous—such as grooming disciples to pit against each other, or disguising themselves as disciples to fight on their behalf.
Seeing the two locked in a stalemate, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou began tiptoeing away, terrified that if they delayed, they wouldn't be able to leave at all.
"Hold on, don't leave just yet. There seems to be a secret realm inside this temple," the Immortal Fairy called out to Lu Yang.
"A secret realm? Where?"
"Right in that temple, behind the lotus dais," the Immortal Fairy directed him.
Driven by curiosity, Lu Yang slipped back into the ruined temple and made his way behind the lotus dais.
The area behind the dais was thick with dust. Lu Yang brushed it away, revealing the entrance to the secret realm: a small indentation.
"Old Meng, get over here. There's a secret realm!" Lu Yang called out to Meng Jingzhou, who was keeping watch at the temple entrance. Hearing this, Meng Jingzhou hurried over.
When the two Tribulation Transcendence cultivators heard that there was a secret realm, they called a temporary truce and walked over. Seeing the indentation, they were quite surprised as well. Both of them had been utterly dedicated to playing mortals and had completely failed to notice that the entrance to a secret realm was right beside them.
"Legend says there is a secret realm outside Nine Dragon City. It must be this one," Lu Yang mused.
"To think there actually was a secret realm here?" Xie An said in astonishment. He had already set up a fake secret realm in the nearby mountains, planning to stumble upon it by chance once he joined the Qiankun Purple Cloud Palace and became their Eldest Senior Brother.
The fortuitous encounter he had prepared was enough to carry him all the way to the Body Integration stage.
"Should we try dripping some blood on it?" Meng Jingzhou suggested.
"All right." Lu Yang pricked his finger and filled the indentation with blood, but it didn't react at all.
Xie An analyzed the situation thoughtfully. "This likely requires a specific token to fill it. As for what kind of token, that remains unknown."
"Why does this indentation look so familiar?" Lu Yang wondered aloud. "Wait, Senior, why don't you try the token the old beggar gave you?"
Taking the suggestion, Xie An placed the purple-cloud-shaped token into the groove. It filled exactly one-third of the space.
"Could it require tokens from all three sects? Do we have to go ask the other two for theirs?"
"No need to make it so complicated."
Qiao'er pressed her palm against the indentation and gave a gentle tug, tearing open a spatial rift. Pointing toward the breach, she said, "Now we can go in."
Lu Yang: "..."
Curious about what lay inside, all four leaped through the rift. The secret realm was not large; its main feature was a lavish palace.
They stepped inside. Enshrined within the palace stood a statue, dilapidated and worn from years without incense or worship.
As if sensing that the secret realm had been opened and people had entered, the statue trembled slightly, and an old man with a graying beard drifted out. He gazed at the four with a look of gratified relief.
"It seems the four of you followed the prophecy, gathered all three tokens, and opened the secret realm.
"This is a strand of divine sense I left behind. I know you must have many questions, but do not fret; listen as I explain everything.
"I wonder if you have heard my name. I am Zhang Dao, once the strongest expert in Nine Dragon City, possessing a peak Soul Formation cultivation. Even the City Lord had to greet me with the deference of a junior.
"Alas, though I lived a carefree life, I ultimately could not escape the limits of lifespan.
"Even the strong do not live forever. Back then, with no hope of reaching the Void Refining stage and my end drawing near, I held no fear of death. However, I had three disciples. All were exceptional, yet rifts grew between them. Each struck out to establish their own sect, giving rise to the three major sects. While I lived, I could still keep them in check, but once I passed, infighting was inevitable.
"Thus, before my death, I left behind a prophecy: 'When three sects unite and three tokens align, beneath the Buddhist gate lies Tribulation Transcendence.' I left behind a cultivation manual that reaches all the way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage. To obtain this manual, one must gather all three tokens, which were entrusted to each of my three disciples.
"Since you have managed to gather all three, they must have reconciled. That brings me immense peace. And deciphering the prophecy's final line to find this place proves your extraordinary wit and intellect."
The old man opened a small wooden chest, revealing a thread-bound cultivation manual resting inside.
"This is a technique I obtained from the Wuji Sect in my youth. Though it is incomplete—only containing the first half—it is guaranteed to carry you to the Soul Formation stage. It was precisely thanks to this manual that I was able to cultivate to the peak of Soul Formation.
"If you wish to obtain the subsequent techniques, you must find a way to join the Wuji Sect."
Xie An clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the old man, asking mildly, "Do you know who I am?"
"Who are you?"
Xie An shifted his appearance, his facial features and build transforming until he reverted to his true form. He looked down coldly at the old man. "My name is Xie Jiu. You may also call me Venerable Wuji."
The old man was silent for two seconds, then quietly sank to his knees.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have stolen your sect's manual."
Chapter 698