Chapter 111 - 73: Daoist’s Might

Chapter 111: Chapter 73: Daoist’s Might

At the peak of Bamboo Forest Peak, within the Array’s central hub.

Meng Yu had just finished her daily maintenance of the Array and was resting with her eyes closed. Surrounding her were four disciples clad in the Daoist Robes of Jade Altar Temple, each standing before a human-sized crystal pillar. These square, four-edged pillars were entirely translucent, each reflecting a perfect projection of Bamboo Forest Peak within. Occasional runes flickered faintly across the projections.

"Senior Sister Meng, a demon with over forty years of cultivation has intruded upon the southeast corner. Should we notify the Demon Extermination Team?" a Cultivator standing by a crystal pillar asked.

"Notify them," Meng Yu said. "Also, tell the nearby patrol teams to steer clear."

"Yes!" the Cultivator replied.

This was the Grand Array used by Bamboo Forest Peak to guard against demons. It could expel overly weak demons and detect those with more than forty years of cultivation, prompting the Demon Extermination Disciples to dispatch them. It could even serve as an early warning system against intruding Great Demons, alerting the resident experts to prepare themselves. However, demons of middling strength could resist the Array’s expulsion without being strong enough to trigger detection; hence, Patrol Disciples were needed to sweep the area with Compasses. These crystal pillars were one of the keys to monitoring the entire mountain via the Array. Only Jade Altar Temple disciples knew how to decipher the information by sensing the Array Patterns and fluctuations within them.

"Senior Sister! Senior Sister! To the north... slightly west... there’s... there’s..." a Female Cultivator from Jade Altar Temple stammered.

"A powerful demon approaching?" Meng Yu kept her eyes closed. "Don’t panic. Just check its years of cultivation and notify Vice Temple Master Liang and the resident experts."

"No, Senior Sister! It doesn’t look like a demon, but it’s definitely not from the Orthodox Dao either! And its cultivation is so, so, so high..." The Female Cultivator trembled all over, her words stumbling as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

"Regardless of what it is, determine its cultivation first, then notify Vice Temple Master Liang. Do I really need to teach you that?" Meng Yu asked, slightly impatient. "Exactly how high is its cultivation?"

"M-More than a hundred years, at least..." the Female Cultivator whimpered.

Silence instantly fell over the central hub. Meng Yu’s eyes snapped open. In a flash, she shoved the Female Cultivator aside and pressed her hand against the crystal pillar, sensing it carefully. Three breaths later, she opened her eyes again, the color completely drained from her face.

"Hurry! Activate every Defensive Technique in the Array, regardless of the cost!"

The Cultivators froze for a second before frantically forming hand seals, each acting as if they desperately wished for an extra pair of hands. Having issued the order, Meng Yu immediately whipped out a Sound Transmission Talisman and shouted, "Vice Temple Master Liang! A Daoist from the Heterodox Dao is heading straight for Bamboo Forest Peak from the north! He isn’t hiding his aura at all! His intentions are unknown, but it’s highly likely to be malicious!"

Inside the peak’s meeting hall, Meng Yu’s voice echoed continuously from the Sound Transmission Talisman. Liang Qiwu, who had been drinking tea with Qi Jiushan, grabbed the talisman and shot to his feet. "Meng, this is no joking matter!"

"It’s absolutely not a joke!"

Liang Qiwu’s expression shifted multiple times in a single breath. He then turned to Qi Jiushan, practically roaring, "Martial Junior! Have everyone evacuate to the peak immediately! Hurry!"

A pale-faced Qi Jiushan snapped to his senses, taking out a Magical Artifact to issue the orders one by one.

Liang Qiwu rushed out of the hall and retrieved an emerald Talisman from his Qiankun Bag. Instead of forming seals or chanting incantations, he bit his fingertip and smeared his blood on it. The emerald Talisman instantly transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the southern horizon. Only after doing all this did he let out a breath and look toward the northern sky. At the moment, he couldn’t see anything, but Meng had said a Heterodox Daoist was coming from that direction.

"Perhaps he’s just passing by..." Liang Qiwu muttered to himself. "Damn it, who am I kidding? He’s already entered the territory of the Dharma Vein. A Heterodox Dao villain entering the Zhengyang Dharma Vein and heading straight for us... there’s no way he’s just passing by. Patriarch... Patriarch, please hurry..."

"Even if he comes, I am not afraid! Hehehe..." a dark, chilling laugh echoed from directly above Liang Qiwu.

Pale-faced, he abruptly looked up. A pitch-black cloud, dozens of feet across, was hovering right above the peak. It was expanding at a visible rate, accompanied by countless piercing buzzes. As the dark cloud spread to cover a two or three-mile radius, it faintly morphed into a gigantic human face looking down at Bamboo Forest Peak. The once sunny mountain was instantly cast into gloom, as if shrouded by rain clouds.

Stared down by that massive face, Liang Qiwu felt as though ten thousand pounds were crushing his body. His Magical Power seemed to stagnate, and his feet sank ankle-deep into the dirt.

"Junior Liang Qiwu of Huang Bamboo Temple greets Senior," he managed to say with difficulty. "May I ask what brings Senior here?"

"Hmph. Huang Bamboo Temple... I’ll admit defeat this time," the piercing voice descended from the sky like rolling thunder. "Fellow Daoist who intervened, return my Mother Insect and Magical Treasure, and I will leave immediately. I promise never to step foot in Huang Bamboo Temple’s territory again. What say you? Furthermore, if you seek any compensation, we can negotiate. Cultivation is not easy for either of us; avoiding a battle of arms would be for the best, wouldn’t it?"

Daoist Chongyun’s voice reverberated across Bamboo Forest Peak. The mountain’s Grand Array had been teetering on the verge of collapse the moment he spoke. By the time he finished his last sentence, the Grand Array was thoroughly destroyed.

On the ground, Liang Qiwu froze in bewilderment. He couldn’t comprehend the Heterodox Daoist’s words at all. He wondered what the man meant by admitting defeat. What had Huang Bamboo Temple even done to make him lose? And who was this "Fellow Daoist" who intervened? If a Heterodox Daoist was calling someone a Fellow Daoist, that person had to be a Daoist too, right? But he had only just sent a plea for help to the Patriarch. Even if the Patriarch rushed over with their temple’s ultimate treasure, he couldn’t have arrived this quickly. And even if the Patriarch had arrived, why would this Heterodox Daoist say he was admitting defeat? Where exactly did he lose? Did Daoists always speak in such cryptic, unfathomable riddles?

Liang Qiwu’s brain felt like it was going to explode. He had no idea how to answer.

Unlike him, back at the Shouyi Temple encampment, Vice Temple Master Zhao and the two Stewards exchanged dismayed glances. This was entirely different from what they had anticipated.

Various forms of confusion surfaced in the minds of everyone on Bamboo Forest Peak.

At the Array’s central hub, Meng Yu’s face was deathly pale. She had been tracking the invading Daoist’s movements through the Array and had ordered the Defensive Techniques to be activated. But facts proved that against a Daoist, detection was inaccurate, and Defensive Techniques were utterly useless. The Grand Array itself was nothing but paper before a Daoist. She couldn’t even understand what the man was saying. The Demon Extermination Disciples, who had just received orders to clear out the intruding demon, now didn’t dare make a move. Fortunately, the demon they were supposed to eliminate was also cowering on the ground, trembling under the massive face.

Halfway up the mountain, Mu Xiaoyu’s four-person patrol team stared blankly at the giant face in the sky, completely drained of color.

"W-W-What is that?" Wu Mingke’s fingertips quivered. Though a Cultivator who commanded Magic that mortals found incomprehensible, gazing at the face above made her feel no different from an ordinary human.

"A Great Demon?" Lu Kuan guessed.

"Shut up, don’t talk nonsense!" the young man from Huang Bamboo Temple quickly scolded, his face livid. "That is likely... a legendary Patriarch-level Daoist."

Even though the giant face didn’t seem to belong to the Orthodox Dao, an entity like a Daoist was not someone he dared to randomly speculate about. Casually debating whether a Daoist belonged to the Orthodox Dao was practically a death wish. If the entity above harbored even a shred of vindictiveness, they would all die without a burial place.

"Is this what a Daoist is supposed to look like?" Wu Mingke had heard of Daoists, but her understanding was strictly limited to the title.

"Will you please shut up..." the young man from Huang Bamboo Temple chided.

"Even if he is a Daoist, he looks like a demonic heretic..." Mu Xiaoyu was holding up the best. Though panicked, at least her hands weren’t shaking.

"Can all of you just shut up..." the young man said in despair.

"Don’t be afraid, Captain," Mu Xiaoyu comforted him. "My Martial Uncle is a Daoist too."

"I don’t doubt your Martial Uncle is a Daoist, but is he here?" he asked.

Mu Xiaoyu shook her head. "My Martial Uncle is still at home."

"Then why even mention it..."

"But my Senior Brother is here! My Senior Brother is super strong!" Mu Xiaoyu puffed out her chest.

"What use is that? Our Vice Temple Master is here too," the young man cried tearlessly. "Unless they’re a Daoist, it’s useless no matter who comes."

"Well... my Senior Brother is so amazing. What if he’s a Daoist too?" Mu Xiaoyu suggested another possibility.

"Heh... hehe..." The young man let out a miserable laugh.

In the sky, Daoist Chongyun’s rumbling voice echoed across Bamboo Forest Peak once more.

"Fellow Daoist, I am Daoist Chongyun, Yan Du. You must have at least heard of my name, haven’t you? I have already taken the initiative to yield on this matter. Are you really unwilling to give me any face at all?"

Another voice, just as loud but entirely distinct from Chongyun’s, rose from all directions. If Chongyun’s voice was the rumble of muffled thunder, this voice was the howling wind through a mountain forest.

"I can’t say I’ve ever heard the name Chongyun."

The giant face contracted and expanded, its buzzing suddenly magnifying tenfold, leaving everyone on Bamboo Forest Peak dizzy and nauseated.

"But since you’ve shown yourself, Fellow Daoist, those insects beneath the Cloud Bamboo must undoubtedly be your handiwork, yes?"

"There’s actually another Daoist on the mountain!" The young man from Huang Bamboo Temple was overjoyed.

Wu Mingke and Lu Kuan also looked delighted. This voice sounded clear and righteous—it was definitely a Daoist from the Orthodox Dao! They were saved!

Listening to this second voice, Mu Xiaoyu raised her hand and said earnestly, "Does anyone else think this voice sounds a lot like my Senior Brother?"

The faces of the other three stiffened simultaneously. It wasn’t because they thought it didn’t sound like him, but rather because her words made them suddenly realize...

It really did sound a bit like him!