Chapter 250: Chu Fan Arrives at Laojun Mountain

Chapter 250: Chapter 250: Chu Fan Arrives at Laojun Mountain

After Chu Fan and Leng Yingxue left Jinzhou, they didn’t stop in any towns. They traveled without rest, sleeping out in the open, and reached Laojun Mountain in just two days.

From a distance, Laojun Mountain looked like an old Taoist master reclining on the earth, holding a duster in one hand and a Tai Chi Bagua Plate in the other.

The Golden Summit of the highest peak, Junhua Peak, resembled the Nine-Beam Hat (a type of Daoist hat) on the old master’s head.

But when you stood at the very edge of Laojun Mountain’s foothills and looked up, the peaks were arranged in a picturesque, overlapping tapestry. One couldn’t help but marvel at the divine craftsmanship of the Celestial Dao.

Laojun Mountain was the heart of the Taoist Sects, a blessed land for the Taoist Sect.

The Celestial Dao Palace was also known as the Orthodox Lineage of the Taoist Sect, the number one Taoist Sect in the world.

Laojun Mountain had a total of seventy-two peaks, each with its own unique shape. If one were to truly investigate, they would find that every peak had its own particular legend.

Among them, thirty-six peaks housed over a thousand halls and temples of various sizes, all belonging to the Celestial Dao Palace.

"So this is the world’s most preeminent Sect. Its reputation is well-deserved!" Chu Fan couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as he gazed at the Golden Summit on Junhua Peak.

Leng Yingxue spoke softly from the side, "Of the three great preeminent Sects, the Celestial Dao Palace is a Taoist Sect. They follow the principle of ’ruling by non-action.’ While grand in scale, it isn’t extravagant. Bodhi Hall, also one of the three great Sects, is a Buddhist Sect, and it’s considerably more lavish than the Celestial Dao Palace. But the most extravagant of all is the Taia Sect, which is a Sword Sect. Of the world’s ten great famous swords, the Sword Tomb holds six, and the Taia Sect holds the other four."

"If the Sword Tomb holds six of the ten great famous swords, why isn’t it ranked among the preeminent Sects?" Chu Fan asked.

"The Sword Tomb isn’t a Sect or a power. It is a burial ground for swords. Legend says the Sword Tomb is located on the site of a divine war where countless Immortal Gods fell. The four great families that guard the Sword Tomb are said to be descendants of those Gods, and they have guarded it for generations. For the past ten thousand years, anyone with great attainments in the Sword Dao has considered it the highest honor to have their sword buried in the Sword Tomb."

"To maintain the purity of their bloodlines, the four families that guard the Sword Tomb only intermarry among themselves. They also don’t recruit disciples with outside surnames, no matter how skilled in the Sword Dao they might be."

"No one really knows the true strength of the Sword Tomb’s four great families. They are also the most mysterious of families."

After hearing Leng Yingxue’s explanation, Chu Fan couldn’t help but feel stirred.

After all, he was truly passionate about swords, and he was naturally eager to see a place like the Sword Tomb for himself.

"Although the Sword Tomb has six of the ten great famous swords, those six don’t all belong to the four families; they are just buried there. It’s said that among the hundreds of millions of Treasure Swords buried in the Sword Tomb, there are likely quite a few that are even more precious than the ten great famous swords. It was a divine battlefield, after all."

Hearing this, Chu Fan’s desire to visit the Sword Tomb grew even stronger. ’Since so many Treasure Swords are buried there,’ he thought, ’if I take the Juntian Sword to the Sword Tomb, could I use the opportunity to awaken its Sword Spirit?’

"If even the Celestial Dao Palace isn’t considered extravagant, then just how lavish must Bodhi Hall and the Taia Sect be?"

"Just imagine, Bodhi Hall contains a total of 108,000 Buddha Statues. Among them, 10,800 are cast from solid gold, and another 36,000 are gilded with gold leaf. The entire Bodhi Hall used tens of millions of jin of gold alone."

Chu Fan was inwardly shocked. He knew about Buddhist Sects; their disciples didn’t engage in production, so how could they be so wealthy? ’It seems this Buddhist Sect’s ’land of tranquil cultivation’ is just a sham,’ he thought.

"What about the Taia Sect?"

"The Taia Sect is named after the Ta’e Divine Sword. They have special towers to guard their four Divine Swords, and it’s said that each tower cost billions of silver taels to build. The Taia Sect occupies an entire state. Besides the Sect’s Inner Sect, there are 540 Outer Sects and vassal Sects. All the people in the entire State City are disciples of the Taia Sect. As for the extravagance of the Taia Sect’s Inner Sect, you can only understand it if you see it with your own eyes. No words in this world can describe it."

The two of them continued walking toward the mountain as they spoke.

When they reached the mountain gate, Chu Fan was once again stunned by the memorial arches at the foot of the Celestial Dao Palace’s mountain.

There were thirty-six memorial arches in total, lined up one after another along the path to the gate. Eighteen of them were made of Han White Jade and stood fifty to sixty feet tall, while the remaining eighteen were still over forty feet high.

Besides the arches, there were eight stone statues lining the sides of the road between every two arches.

Next to the first arch was a stone hall, with two sword-wielding Mountain Guard Disciples standing at the entrance.

Just as they were about to step past the arch, the two disciples flew out and blocked their path.

"This is the sacred ground of the mountain gate. State your name and purpose."

"I am Chu Fan. I have come to the Celestial Dao Palace to visit a disciple of your esteemed Sect, Yan Ying."

Chu Fan spoke very politely, cupping his fist to the two Mountain Guard Disciples before him.

When the two disciples heard Chu Fan was looking for Yan Ying, their expressions turned a bit unnatural.

"The Sect’s disciples are in the middle of their semi-annual assessment for the next few days. No disciples are permitted to receive outside guests. Please turn back," one of the Mountain Guard Disciples said.

Chu Fan frowned slightly. At that exact moment, the White Fox in his arms suddenly straightened its hind legs and stood up on his arm. It stared in the direction of a certain mountain peak and let out a shrill cry.

Chu Fan was a little confused. "What’s wrong?" he whispered to the White Fox.

"I sensed a familiar aura. I don’t know why, I just felt like crying out," the White Fox whimpered, giving Chu Fan an even more baffling answer.

Chu Fan nodded, then turned his gaze back to the Mountain Guard Disciples. "Since you aren’t allowing visitors, I won’t go up the mountain. Could I trouble you two senior brothers to pass a message to Yan Ying? Just say that Chu Fan requests to see him at the foot of the mountain."

The two disciples looked Chu Fan and the woman behind him, Leng Yingxue, up and down.

"Wait here!" one of them said rudely, then turned and walked toward the stone house.

Chu Fan released his Spiritual Power and saw more than a dozen disciples inside the stone house. They were sitting together in small groups of three and five, boasting and joking around.

As the Mountain Guard Disciple walked into the stone house, someone asked him, "What’s the situation?"

"A couple of young people, said they’re looking for Yan Ying."

"Looking for Yan Ying? What do they think the Celestial Dao Palace is? A place just anyone can come?" a man with a handlebar mustache said disdainfully.

"Exactly. So I used the disciple assessment as an excuse to tell them to scram and go back where they came from."

"Then why haven’t they left yet?"

"Who knows. The guy refused to leave and asked me to pass a message to Yan Ying, asking for a meeting at the foot of the mountain. Utterly clueless."

"Just go out in a minute and tell him Yan Ying refuses to see him. That’ll make them leave," said the man with the handlebar mustache.

"That’s the plan. He asks me to pass a message, and I’m just supposed to do it? Who the hell does he think he is?"

"Right, right! We follow the Saint Heir, and the Saint Heir is on bad terms with Yan Ying. If we can cause a little trouble for Yan Ying, maybe the Saint Heir will even reward us with something!"

Chu Fan and Leng Yingxue overheard every single word of their conversation.

After boasting with the others inside for a while, the Mountain Guard Disciple walked back out. He said to Chu Fan, "I’ve already spoken with Yan Ying. He says he doesn’t know anyone named Chu Fan and that you should go back where you came from. The gates of the Celestial Dao Palace aren’t for any random riffraff."

Upon hearing this, Chu Fan gave a cold smile and shook his head.

"To think that in a Sect like the Celestial Dao Palace, the Mountain Guard Disciples would act in such a manner. Heh!"

"Who do you think you are? The Celestial Dao Palace is not for you to question!" the Mountain Guard Disciple immediately pointed at Chu Fan and rebuked him angrily.

Chu Fan was originally planning to make a move, but Leng Yingxue stepped forward and stopped him.

Then she raised her head and said, "Master Yunchen, an old friend has come to visit. Are you not coming out to greet them? If these disciples continue to obstruct us, I will not hesitate to lower myself to discipline them properly for you."

Seeing this, the Mountain Guard Disciple shouted angrily, "How audacious! This is the Celestial Dao Realm! How dare you rabble shout and cause a commotion here?"

Leng Yingxue didn’t even spare him a glance, merely keeping her head raised, a cold light glinting in her eyes.

Just then, the figure of Master Yunchen truly did appear before everyone. When the two Mountain Guard Disciples saw that the Palace Master had actually arrived, their legs immediately started to tremble with fear.