Chapter 453 52: Return

Main World.

Near the Bright Void Sect's residence.

This place was located in the heart of the Ten Thousand Mountains, near the Earth Abyss. It was riddled with spatial rifts and had always been sparsely populated.

Recently, however, it had become quite lively.

Several ghostly figures darted through the forest, their voices occasionally breaking the silence.

"Second Brother, are you sure disciples from the Bright Void Sect will come out?"

"I'm sure!" a raspy voice replied.

"The Bright Void Sect has over a thousand disciples. Add in the servants and their families, and you've got tens of thousands of people."

"With that many people, the sheer amount of supplies needed for daily food and drink is massive. They have to come out."

"Heh heh..." A man with sharp, monkey-like features poked his head out from the treetops and chuckled. "An innocent man gets into trouble for carrying a treasure. I heard the Bright Void Sect obtained a supreme treasure, something that would tempt even a Nascent Soul True Man."

"A minor sect like Bright Void can't possibly hold on to a treasure of that caliber!"

"Indeed," one man nodded. "No wonder the little Bright Void Sect managed to produce two Golden Core Grandmasters in just a few decades. If they were given another two or three hundred years to grow, I'm afraid even we wouldn't dare to cross them."

"A pity..."

"Two Early-Stage Golden Core Cultivators are far from enough to be intimidating."

"Enough!" an old voice cut in. "Early-Stage or not, a Golden Core is still a Golden Core. They're not people we can underestimate. Besides, the Bright Void Sect still has Fang Zhong holding down the fort. A High Grade Golden Core cultivator who's lived for seven or eight hundred years is not someone to be trifled with."

"Seven or eight hundred years..." someone snickered. "How much longer can he live?"

"Shh..."

"Someone's coming!"

As the words faded, the men each cast a spell to conceal themselves. Before long, they heard a rustling sound approaching.

"Senior Brother, will the people from Ghost Moon Sect really bring us supplies?"

"Of course. The Ghost Moon Sect has always been on good terms with our Bright Void Sect. Besides, they were also entrusted with this by the Hundred Flowers Sect."

"..."

As the low whispers continued, a group of more than ten people appeared in the clearing below.

"This is the place." The leader's eyes glinted as he flicked his wrist, summoning an umbrella-shaped Magical Artifact.

"Looks like we're early. The people from Ghost Moon Sect aren't here yet."

The Treasure Umbrella transformed into a rosy luminescence that enveloped the group, concealing their figures until they gradually vanished from sight.

The men hidden in the trees didn't rush to make a move. Their intelligence said that Dao Foundation Cultivators from the Bright Void Sect would be coming.

Right now, it was just a few Innate Qi Refiners. There was no point in capturing them.

"Something's wrong!"

The old man in the trees suddenly paled. He transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the clearing below.

"We've been tricked!"

"BANG!"

The Spiritual Light exploded.

The Treasure Umbrella wobbled and fell to the ground. The dozen or so people who had been hiding under it had vanished at some unknown point.

"After them!"

The old man's face was grim.

"Don't let a single one get away!"

"Yes, sir."

The reply came from above as several figures plunged deep into the dense forest. They were all Dao Foundation Cultivators.

*

*

*

Bright Void Sect.

Shui Qianning and Xi Chen sat on stone thrones, one to the left and one to the right.

Their expressions were solemn. Without a word, they observed the situation outside through the sect residence's Array.

"There are at least six Golden Core Grandmasters."

Xi Chen said in a stifled voice, "Although they haven't attacked directly, they've had their followers completely surround the Bright Void Sect."

"We..."

"Nearly a hundred of our people have already fallen into their hands."

"Elder Fang," Shui Qianning said, turning her head to look at Fang Zhong, her voice pleading.

"This can't go on. We implore you to intervene."

"I am old and my strength is failing. I may have the reputation and Cultivation of a Late-Stage Golden Core, but my actual power is no longer what it was." Fang Zhong shook his head gently.

"With me holding down the fort, they fear the lingering might of a Late-Stage Golden Core and won't act recklessly."

"But if I were to make a move..."

"...and they saw through my bluff, I fear I wouldn't be able to protect the Bright Void Sect."

It was true he was a Late-Stage Golden Core, and he possessed several powerful Magical Treasures. However, as an Alchemist who had lived for hundreds of years, Fang Zhong was severely lacking in combat experience. It was also a fact that he was old and his strength was fading.

If he really fought, he might not be able to suppress the others.

After all, there were no weaklings among the Golden Core Grandmasters who had come this time. It was even suspected that another Late-Stage Golden Core was hiding nearby.

"SLAM!" Xi Chen slammed the table and shot to his feet.

"The Immortal Alliance is going too far! The Bright Void Sect is an Immortal Alliance power, no matter what. How can they just stand by and do nothing?"

"Hah..." Shui Qianning shook her head with a bitter smile.

"Among the Golden Core cultivators outside are people from the Profound Clarity Sect and Star-Picking Tower. They covet our sect's treasure just as much."

"The Primordial Spirit Stone Embryo..." Fang Zhong stroked his beard.

"A Heaven and Earth Wonder as rare as this... if I weren't so old, I would certainly be tempted myself."

The path of Cultivation grows more difficult the higher one climbs.

In the current age, there were over a thousand Golden Core Grandmasters, but only a few dozen were at the Late-Stage Golden Core realm. This fact alone made it clear.

But with the Primordial Spirit Stone Embryo, any Golden Core Grandmaster who wasn't too old could reach the Late-Stage Golden Core realm.

And they would have a chance to advance to the Nascent Soul realm!

What's more, according to the rumors, the Bright Void Sect's Primordial Spirit Stone Embryo possessed the might of a Late-Stage Golden Core, and would be a huge asset after Refinement.

"I wonder when the Sect Leader and Master will return?"

Xi Chen sighed and said, "I'd rather they not rush back. Once their Cultivation improves, we'll see who still dares to be greedy toward the Bright Void Sect."

"Don't worry." Fang Zhong, on the other hand, looked relaxed. "Sect Leader Pei is one thing, but Little Friend Zhu is no ordinary Golden Core. Once he returns, he will definitely be able to protect the Bright Void Sect."

'Then again, the only one who could know Little Friend Zhu this well must be that Demoness from the Joyful Sect. They were husband and wife, for a time. To think she would be so ruthless.'

Xi Chen pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Zhu Ju was his master.

As a junior, it wasn't his place to comment on his master's love life.

"A Demoness is a Demoness. Is it any surprise she'd repay kindness with enmity?" Shui Qianning said with a look of disdain.

She was Pei Jingque's disciple, so of course she would side with Pei Jingque, Zhu Ju's "proper wife."

"Back then, Martial Uncle Zhu was trapped in Wind Moon Valley, which led to that ill-fated romance. That Demoness has been clinging to him ever since."

"Heh..." Fang Zhong chuckled. Just as he was about to say something, his eyebrows shot up.

"Little Friend Zhu is back!"

"What?"

"Master is back!"

Shui Qianning and Xi Chen were overjoyed.

The words had barely left their lips when they sensed a terrifyingly vast aura approaching at astonishing speed.

This aura was so powerful that even from a great distance, it triggered the Bright Void Sect's Array into action.

'Late-Stage Golden Core?'

'No!'

'It's even stronger than a Late-Stage Golden Core!'

"SWOOSH!"

Zhu Ju's figure passed through the opened Array, appearing before the three of them like a phantom.

"Master."

Xi Chen subconsciously stepped forward to greet him, but his steps gradually slowed.

"What's happened to you?"

The Zhu Ju before them was nearly twice his former size. His eyes were chillingly cold, his aura was strange, and even the fluctuations of his Divine Soul had changed, making one suspect he was an impostor.

"Little Friend Zhu..." Fang Zhong's expression shifted.

"Your Golden Core?"

"It shattered," Zhu Ju said, his voice deep and muffled.

"But it's no matter."

He lightly raised his right hand, and a dark red Longsword lifted, slashing violently toward the empty space in the distance.

"BOOM!"

The air erupted.

The clouds tore asunder.

The stars were revealed.

A sword scar nearly a hundred li long abruptly appeared in the void, its tyrannical power pressing down in all directions.

"Within one day, I don't want to see a single non-disciple within a hundred-li radius of the Bright Void Sect."

"Otherwise..."

"...you will be killed without mercy!"

Zhu Ju's voice was exceedingly calm, yet it swept across the land in an instant, reaching the ears and hearts of every living thing.

Including the several Golden Core Grandmasters.

"SWOOSH!"

As soon as his voice fell, several streaks of Tunneling Light immediately rose from the mountain forest, wobbling as they fled into the distance.

Golden Cores!

They were so frightened that they were scrambling to escape!

That last sword strike already held a sliver of a Nascent Soul's might!

Fang Zhong, however, fixed his gaze on the Treasure Sword in Zhu Ju's hand, his expression a complex mixture of emotion and astonishment.

"A Spiritual Artifact!"