With their elders chasing after Daoist Buyu, regardless of whether they could catch him or not, none of them would be returning to the Dao Seeking Sect. Lan Ting and the others could not continue fighting either—if they kept going, they would not even be able to find their masters.
Of the four sparring matches, only the one between Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had concluded with a winner, and that was merely an internal squabble.
Taking advantage of the break while watching the scene, Meng Jingzhou pointed to his shiny bald head. "Old Lu, use your Longevity Art."
Lu Yang channeled the Longevity Art and placed his large hand over Meng Jingzhou's head. Hair sprouted out miraculously—truly an instance of "an immortal pats my crown, tying my hair to receive longevity."
The flying swords flew farther and farther away, with Qiu Jin'an and the others pursuing them to the distant horizon until they were reduced to mere specks.
"Then let us part ways here." Bai Ming and the others hastily bid their farewells and dashed off to track down their masters.
The disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect waited at the mountain gate for about fifteen minutes before a disheveled and grime-covered Daoist Buyu flew back to the sect on his flying sword.
It was impossible to tell whether the dirt covering him had come from being caught, pinned to the ground, and beaten, or from narrowly escaping a sky full of attacks.
All in all, it could barely be considered a safe return.
"Hahaha, everyone, no need to give me such a warm welcome. Disperse, disperse." Daoist Buyu waved his hand, acting as if he were not the one looking so bedraggled.
Daoist Buyu was the Sect Master after all; his authority still held. When he told everyone to disperse, they dispersed immediately—not giving him any sort of welcome whatsoever.
"Gan Tian has advanced to Body Integration True Monarch. Not bad, not bad at all. It seems the journey to the Demon Domain was quite fruitful." Daoist Buyu was somewhat surprised by Gan Tian's cultivation speed. According to his estimates, it should have taken her another two to three years to advance to the Body Integration stage.
This showed she had encountered unexpected gains during her trip to the Demon Domain.
"Little Lu has already reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage, and Little Meng has as well." Daoist Buyu clicked his tongue in wonder. Truly worthy of being seeds of the Golden Age. Back in his day, his own cultivation speed had been fast enough, but who would have thought that today's youth were advancing even faster than he had?
"By the way, did the Phoenix Clan Ancient Ancestor visit our sect?" Daoist Buyu asked, causing Lu Yang's body to stiffen.
"Master, why do you ask?"
"A while ago, the Phoenix Clan Ancient Ancestor came looking for me with *Dragon Phoenix Transformation* and gave me a thrashing. I thought to myself, I never signed my name on that book! I reckon someone must have tipped her off."
Lu Yang gave a bashful laugh. "The Phoenix Clan Ancient Ancestor has extraordinary powers that reach to the heavens. Maybe she knows karmic arts and figured it out herself."
"Is that so? I also heard that the Phoenix Clan Ancient Ancestor claims to be a member of our Heavenly Court Cult. What's the story behind that?"
Just as Lu Yang was racking his brain over how to explain this to his master, Meng Jingzhou volunteered, "To put it simply, Old Lu woke up the slumbering Phoenix Clan Ancient Ancestor, and she acknowledged him as her senior brother."
"?"
Evidently, that overly simplified explanation flew well beyond Daoist Buyu's ability to comprehend.
Setting aside what he could not understand for the moment, Daoist Buyu asked eagerly, "What about Patriarch Hanhai? Is he really alive?"
"Not only is Patriarch Hanhai alive, but another patriarch is alive as well."
"Who?" Daoist Buyu ran through the patriarchs in his mind, yet could not think of any other patriarch who ought to still be living.
"Daoist Xiantian. When Old Meng and I were out on a mission, we happened to run into Daoist Xiantian, who had dispersed his cultivation to start anew, so we brought him back."
Daoist Buyu fell silent for a moment. "Is there anything else I don't know about?"
Lu Yang counted on his fingers and pondered. "Nothing much else. Just that when Old Meng and I went out, we ran into the Void Supreme and the Nightmare Supreme. Seeing that we couldn't beat them, we asked Eldest Senior Sister for help.
"And then there was the Great Yu Alliance led by Daoist Lord Wanfa. They set their sights on the immortal sword in my hands and tried to sneak into the sect to rob us, but they were rounded up all in one fell swoop.
"I reckon almost all the Great Yu cultivators are locked up on our Prison Peak now. There aren't many Great Yu cultivators left out in the outside world."
Daoist Buyu remained silent for even longer. He had heard about the Void Supreme and Daoist Lord Wanfa, but he had no idea all these events were connected to Lu Yang.
He had lived for two thousand years, yet the commotion he had caused in his lifetime could not compare to what his youngest disciple had accomplished in a single year.
"Little Lu, have you considered succeeding me as Sect Master right now?"
Chapter 779