Chapter 379 - 208: Xu Zhouzi

Cangyun Mountain, Qi Yun Pavilion.

This grand hall, located at the summit of Cangyun Mountain and level with the clouds, was the most central and sacred place in the entire Cangyun Sect.

Within the hall, wisps of green smoke curled up from an incense burner amidst a profound silence.

Sect Leader Xu Zhouzi, dressed in a simple gray Daoist robe, with silver hair and a silver beard, sat cross-legged on the main seat. His face was as ruddy as a baby’s.

His eyes were slightly closed, his expression placid and untroubled, as if he were deaf and blind to the gruesome scene outside that had transformed into an Asura Hell.

Beside him stood a handsome Daoist acolyte, about ten years old.

The boy wore a matching gray Daoist robe. He was exquisitely featured, with red lips and white teeth, and his pair of pitch-black eyes were as clear as water.

At this moment, however, those clear eyes were filled with worry.

Through the open doors of the great hall, he could see the towering flames in the distance and hear the dying screams of the Sect’s members.

Finally, unable to hold back any longer, he looked up and asked:

"Great-Grandfather, why... why aren’t you doing anything?"

Xu Zhouzi did not open his eyes. He merely uttered five words faintly:

"It is not yet time."

"Time?" The young acolyte was puzzled. "What are you waiting for? If you keep waiting... more people will die."

Not a single ripple of emotion showed on Xu Zhouzi’s face.

It was as if the lives being continuously lost were nothing more than insignificant numbers in his eyes.

"The price... is not yet high enough."

"The price?"

"Mm," Xu Zhouzi nodded slowly, his voice so calm it was almost cruel. "The price... of preserving the Cangyun Sect."

He paused, seemingly unwilling to elaborate on the topic, and simply let out a soft sigh.

"Enough, Xuan Qing. These things... you wouldn’t understand them now."

"You need only understand that some matters are far more complex than they appear on the surface."

The acolyte called Xuan Qing nodded as if he half-understood and asked no more questions.

He simply turned his gaze back to the blood-soaked world outside the hall.

His clear eyes were filled with profound confusion.

A deathly silence once again descended upon the great hall.

Only the curling green smoke drifted slowly upward.

An unknown amount of time passed.

As if sensing something, Xu Zhouzi, who had been sitting motionless, slowly opened his eyes.

"Xuan Qing," his voice was still calm, but now held a trace of imperceptible weariness, "you stay here. Don’t go anywhere."

"I’m... going out for a moment."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Qing’s head snapped up, and he asked in surprise:

"Great-Grandfather, is the price high enough now?"

"It is..."

Xu Zhouzi looked at him, a complicated smile on his face.

"It’s enough."

With that, he slowly rose from his meditation cushion.

The moment he stood, his seemingly frail body appeared to become immeasurably tall, as if he were holding up the very heavens!

Calmly, step by step, he walked out of Qi Yun Pavilion.

Watching his Great-Grandfather’s retreating back, Xuan Qing, in that instant, seemed... to understand something.

...

Xu Zhouzi stood on the White Jade Plaza before Qi Yun Pavilion, his gaze calmly fixed on a point not far ahead.

There, a figure suddenly began to materialize from the darkness.

The person was completely shrouded in a wide black cloak, their face obscured.

A sinister and terrifying pressure emanated from him, sending shivers down the spine.

"Mo Wuhen," Xu Zhouzi began slowly, "it’s been sixty years. You, the rat who’s been hiding in the gutter, have finally decided to show yourself."

Hearing this, the black figure let out a hoarse, dry chuckle.

"Heh heh... Xu Zhouzi, you old bastard. We meet again."

The Shadow Demon Mo Wuhen slowly raised his head. His eyes, hidden in the shadow of his hood, glowed like two ghastly will-o’-wisps, locked onto Xu Zhouzi.

"Hand it over."

"What?" Xu Zhouzi feigned ignorance.

"You know what I’m talking about," Mo Wuhen said eerily. "The thing you snatched from my hands sixty years ago... Looking at you, with one foot in the grave, I doubt you ever figured out how to use it. Such a waste of a treasure... But no matter. Today, it will be returned to its rightful owner!"

"Heh heh..." A derisive smile spread across Xu Zhouzi’s face. "You demon from the Demon Sect! How utterly shameless! The Celestial Heart Order is a wonder of heaven and earth, belonging to the fated. Since when was it yours? Besides, how do you know I haven’t figured it out?"

"You’ve deciphered it?" Mo Wuhen’s voice suddenly tightened, the words tumbling out of his mouth.

"But of course. The wondrous uses of this item are beyond the ken of ordinary people..." Xu Zhouzi stroked his beard and smiled, looking profound and mysterious.

"Hmph, impossible!" Mo Wuhen’s voice instantly turned cold. "If you had really deciphered it, there’s no way you’d look so decrepit, your Qi Blood in decline! You’re bluffing!"

"It seems you’ve chosen to do this the hard way!"

"Believe it or not," Xu Zhouzi replied in an equally cold voice.

Mo Wuhen stared at Xu Zhouzi, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.

Though he feigned disbelief, doubt had already taken root in his heart.

Suddenly, he sneered:

"Xu Zhouzi, I admit you are a rare genius, breaking through to the Seventh Layer of the True Master Realm before I did. But..."

"You’re... nearly two hundred this year, aren’t you? A man with one foot already in the grave! With your Qi Blood failing and your True Essence depleted, how much of your strength can possibly be left?"

"Are you sure you can still protect it with that broken-down body of yours?"

Listening to his blunt words, Xu Zhouzi showed no trace of anger.

He just calmly flicked the Duster in his hand.

"Whether I can protect it or not..."

A sharp glint suddenly shot from his eyes, and a terrifying pressure, as vast as an abyss, erupted from his body!

"...we’ll find out after we fight!"

Just as their auras clashed and a great battle was about to erupt, something unexpected happened!

A figure in a purple, cloud-patterned Daoist robe suddenly arrived at the plaza!

It was Xie Songnian!

"Master! Don’t panic! This disciple has come to lend you a hand!"

Xie Songnian’s voice was like a great bell. With a flicker of his body, he moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Xu Zhouzi.

"Songnian, it has come to this. You can... drop the act!"

However, Xu Zhouzi’s words froze him in place.

"Master, what are you saying?" Xie Songnian said, his face a mask of "shock."

"What am I saying?"

Xu Zhouzi’s eyes, once as calm as an old well, were now filled with unconcealed disappointment and sorrow.

"You colluded with the General’s Mansion, conspired with the Demon Sect, betrayed the Sect’s interests, and plotted to usurp the position of Sect Leader... Did you really think no one else in the Sect knew about all this?!"

At these words, Xie Songnian’s expression completely darkened.

"In that case..."

He sneered, his voice bone-chillingly cold.

"Then I must ask you, Master... to be on your way! And make way for this disciple to take the Sect Leader’s seat!"

"Foolish... Songnian..." Xu Zhouzi heaved a long sigh. "This position was always going to be yours. Why did you have to... go this far?"

"Mine?" Upon hearing this, Xie Songnian burst into neurotic laughter as if he’d heard the joke of the century. "Hahaha... Yes, mine! But how long did I wait?! Ten years, and another ten years, and another ten years! Thirty years in total!"

He roared, his eyes bloodshot, "At first, I waited patiently! But you?! You old bastard, how do you just keep on living! I was afraid I would die before I ever saw you kick the bucket!"

"Actually..." A hint of exhaustion crept into Xu Zhouzi’s voice. "I had already decided to step down. I planned to pass the Sect Leader’s position to you next year, then wander the Four Seas for the remainder of my life."

"Enough!" Xie Songnian cut him off abruptly, his eyes filled with contempt and madness. "What’s the use of saying all this now?! The Cangyun Sect’s current plight is all your fault! It’s because you’re a stubborn old bastard! If you had just seen reason earlier and led the entire Cangyun Sect to pledge allegiance to the Lord General, how could today’s disaster have ever happened?!"

"Foolish..." Xu Zhouzi looked at him, his eyes filled with pity. "Did you really think you’d get a good outcome by siding with a fierce tiger like Qin Fuhu? That is no different from asking a tiger for its hide!"

He then turned his gaze to the Shadow Demon Mo Wuhen, who had remained silent.

"And you, Mo Wuhen. Is your Shadow Prison Sect really willing to be Qin Fuhu’s attack dog? Your Demon Sect are, after all, rats that scurry in the dark. Aren’t you afraid that once this is over, he’ll get rid of you once you’ve served your purpose, and you’ll be the first to be purged?"

"Heh heh..."

Mo Wuhen let out another hoarse chuckle. "It’s just mutual exploitation. His purge has nothing to do with me. As long as I get the Celestial Heart Order today, I will immediately disappear. Whoever wants to wade into the murky waters of the Cangzhou Prefecture can go right ahead."

"As for those Demon Sect brats..." His voice from under the hood was full of indifference. "It doesn’t matter how many of them die."

Xie Songnian added, "That’s right! Although the Cangyun Sect has suffered heavy casualties this time, it’s all worth it! As long as the Lord General is satisfied, the Cangyun Sect’s lineage will be preserved! And I will successfully become the Sect Leader! All of this only requires one thing, Master... your death!"

"Don’t you worry! I’ll take good care of your descendants!"

Xu Zhouzi listened to their pronouncements without a hint of fear on his face.

He simply looked at the two of them calmly.

"Are you two so certain..."

"...that you can so easily handle a decrepit old man like me?"

The instant his words fell!

BOOM!!!

An incomparably majestic and terrifying aura erupted from his seemingly withered and scrawny body!

Before their shocked eyes, Xu Zhouzi’s shriveled body began to inflate crazily, like a leather sack being pumped full of air, expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye!

CRACK! SNAP!

Xu Zhouzi’s bones reset with a series of violent cracks.

His muscles bulged like coiling dragons!

His wide, gray Daoist robe was instantly torn to shreds!

In just a few breaths, the scrawny old Daoist who looked to be on the verge of death had transformed into a three-meter-tall behemoth whose muscles seemed cast from steel, brimming with explosive power...

A muscular giant!

But what truly terrified them to their very souls was this!

The aura radiating from Xu Zhouzi now...

...bore not the slightest trace of old age or decline!

It was clearly...

...the Seventh Layer of the True Master Realm at its Peak!!!