Chapter 459: Taibai, the beginning of the end
Boom…
Boom——
The sound of distant bells spread throughout the twelve peaks of Bai Yujing in the spring of May.
Taibai Pavilion was suspended above the clouds in isolation, with only a ten thousand-step ladder connected to the lower middle peak of Taibai Sect.
After Zu Lingzhi brought Ye Anping with her sword to the middle peak, she took him on foot up the stairs to the Heavenly Pavilion above. Along the way, she also reminded Ye Anping to observe etiquette when he saw Zu Yuan:
“Kowtow three times after entering the door! If Grandpa Zu doesn’t speak, don’t speak. Answer whatever you are asked. Don’t think you are great. You must know your identity. Grandpa Zu is willing to meet you in person. He has given you a lot of face! Grandpa Zu is the most advanced cultivator in the Immortal family today…”
“Probably the oldest…”
“?What do you mean?”
Ye Anping replied calmly:
“Literal meaning. Doesn’t Daoist Sister Zu know that the life of Ancestor Taizu is almost over? This is not a secret. As Daoist Immortal Tianyun’s great-nephew, you don’t know… This is…”
Zu Lingzhi had a look of surprise on her face and questioned:
“How… how is it possible?! My great-grandfather is a cultivator in the Void Stage, how could…”
Ye Anping did not continue to answer her words. Seeing that they had already stepped on the last step, and not far ahead was the door of the Heavenly Pavilion, he interrupted bluntly:
“Oh~ we’re here. Thank you Daoist Sister Zu for leading the way.”
“…”
Zu Lingzhi was stunned for a long time, and when she came back to her senses, Ye Anping had also walked to the door in front of the Heavenly Pavilion with the Yin and Yang jade embedded in it.
Rumble——
The heavy door slowly opened inward, and the mist-like fragrance in the pavilion poured out from the crack in the door.
Ye Anping took a deep breath and looked back behind him. What caught his eye was the twelve ethereal peaks of the Taibai Sect below. Then he stepped across the threshold alone. In just five or six steps, his figure was completely hidden in the clouds and mist in the pavilion.
The pavilion door slowly closed, and Zu Lingzhi, who was standing at the door, suddenly frowned deeply, then turned around and stepped on the flying sword, flying quickly toward the Elder Pavilion at West Peak.
Is Grandpa’s longevity coming to an end soon?
I don’t believe it! I have to ask Elder Liu!
…
————
After entering the Heavenly Pavilion, everything in the eyes was covered by white mist, but after walking forward for about a thousand steps, a ray of spiritual light broke through the spiritual mist around him, and everything around him suddenly became brighter.
The waterside pavilion isolated on the top of the mountain came into view. An old man with a long beard in a black and white Daoist robe was already sitting at the stone table under the pavilion, where tea and cakes were prepared.
Zu Yuan gently stroked his beard, turned to look at Ye Anping who was standing in front of the pavilion, smiled, spread his hands, and said politely:
“Now that you’ve come, let’s make peace with it. Just think of me as a stinky old man, so there’s no need to worry… But looking at you like this, there’s no need to worry…”
Ye Anping nodded in greeting, then walked directly into the pavilion and sat on the stone bench.
“Over the years, many young cultivators have spoken to me, but you are the first to be so calm and sit down without saying a word.”
“After all, you are the one who told me not to worry.”
“It’s nice to be straight-tempered, but you seem to have some confidence.”
Ye Anping shrugged slightly, was silent for a while, and then said in a slower tone:
“I have confidence. After all, this is my first meeting with Daoist Immortal Tianyun.”
“…Why don’t I remember meeting you before?”
Ye Anping did not answer, lowered his eyes, and shook his head. Instead, he picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and continued:
“A few years ago, Li Feng, the master of the Chilong Mansion, turned into a demon because of the end of his life. This led several cultivators from the Heavenly Demon Sect to form a blood sacrifice formation during the Chilong Conference in an attempt to change their fate. The final result was, you should have heard that changing their lives failed, but it was in vain that more than 10,000 cultivators in Chilong Mansion perished under the red lotus.”
Zu Yuan’s eyebrows trembled slightly, he had heard about what happened in the Chilong Mansion.
Although it was rumored that Immortal Li Feng died together with the demon cultivators of the Heavenly Demon Sect after all his strength was exhausted, saving him from a fire spirit disaster in the Western Domain, but he was a cultivator after all. He could guess such a thing after just thinking about it.
However, it had been so long since this happened, and Li Feng was a close confidant who once followed Danyue. No one dared to say this, and there was no evidence.
Looking at Ye Anping’s determined expression at this moment, which seemed to be the narration of someone who had experienced it, doubts suddenly arose in his heart:
——Why are you bringing this up?
“Oh?”
“Master Li is just an insignificant loser among the countless cultivators in the world who want to change their fate against the will of heaven.”
“Why do you mention this so suddenly?”
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes and asked:
“So, Daoist Immortal Tianyun, do you also want to follow in the footsteps of Master Li?”
As soon as these words came out, Zu Yuan’s previously kind face changed instantly, and his eyebrows slightly lowered toward his eyebrows. At the same time, the originally warm blue sky in the cave was also tainted with a touch of cloud at this moment.
The pavilion suddenly became gloomy.
Zu Yuan raised his head slightly, showing some displeasure, and asked:
“Ye Anping, although I am not as narrow-minded as Danyue, you are going too far in insulting me in front of me.”
“It’s true that she’s petty, but I think she’s quite cute.”
“?”
“Tianyun Daoist Immortal, I’ll just tell you the truth.” Ye Anping nodded slightly and became serious, “Spring of Life cannot help you break through the realm and ascend. You are destined to be like this, and the void realm is the end of you.”
“How can you, a young cultivator who has lived for less than half a century in the core formation stage, have the confidence to talk about my life?!”
“You have deduced 22,300 years, and it is difficult to add another stroke to the destiny book. You should know better than me. This spring of life is nothing more than your sustenance, but… As I said, spring of Life cannot help you break through the realm and ascend.”
“Ye Anping, don’t be shameless.”
Zu Yuan raised his right hand and pinched it slightly with his index finger and thumb. In an instant, the dark clouds that condensed in the sky instantly turned into endless void.
Just like when the world first opened, everything in Ye Anping’s eyes turned pitch black at this moment, leaving only the sound of the breeze blowing in his ears and Zu Yuan’s breath across the table.
“If you’re guilty, you have to see how much you weigh.”
Ye Anping’s tone remained calm:
“If I hadn’t known how much I weighed, I would never have taken the risk and come to you, Daoist Immortal. I just want to advise you. You can take away my spring of life, but the result will still be the same… …”
“If you don’t try, how will you know it doesn’t work?”
“Are you sure you want to try? Li Feng killed nearly ten thousand guards of the Chilong Mansion because of one mistake. If Tianyun Daoost Immortal makes a mistake, how many disciples in Taibai Sect will die, do you know in your heart?”
At this point, a golden light spot suddenly appeared in the originally dark cave sky.
Then–
Boom–!
The dragon’s roar spread and nine golden dragons jumped into the air from the seal in the center of Ye Anping’s palm. They illuminated the cave sky again with their own golden brilliance and surrounded the small pavilion from nine directions. The dragons looked eagerly at Zu Yuan at the table opposite Ye Anping.
Zu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, glanced left and right, and gently stroked his beard:
“Nine Dragons Heavenly Seal? This place is Taibai Sect, not the Central Territory.”
Then he raised his hand, wanting to take the Nine Dragons Heavenly Seal from Ye Anping’s hand, but when he stretched out his hand, a layer of black ice blocked the tip of his finger, blocking it three inches away the Nine Dragons Heavenly Seal.
The Snow Spirit Sword flew out of Ye Anping’s storage bag, and the bandage wrapped around it suddenly collapsed, revealing the ice blue sword’s body.
“Yun Tianmi’s sword?”
Ye Anping nodded:
“Tianyun Daoist Immortal, please ask this junior, what is the confidence for me to commit this crime? These immortals are the confidence for this junior to come here to persuade you to turn back.”
“So what if you have immortal objects? These immortal objects are just artifacts left in the world by those cultivators in the void realm. Could it be that you want to say that you are destiny?”
“It is indeed the destiny of the Heavens. Immortal Danyue is my Daoist companion.”
?
Zu Yuan was stunned for a moment, and his serious expression instantly melted away. Three wrinkles appeared on his forehead and he fell silent.
“…”
“This is the fact. After the junior forms the Nascent Soul, Immortal Danyue promised to be the junior’s Daoist companion.” Ye Anping shrugged slightly, showing a little helplessness, “Immortal Danyue has been pretending to be a member of the Xuanxing Sect these years. If this disciple has nothing to do, she would come to see me as a double cultivator and ask me to sleep with her. In fact, I knew her identity from the beginning.”
“…”
“However, Danyue doesn’t seem to know that the junior has known about it for a long time. Because she is quite petty, the junior has no choice but to accompany her to continue acting, alas…”
After a sigh, the pavilion suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
But then, Zu Yuan’s laughter broke the silence:
“Haha… Hahahaha…”
“Why is Daoist Immortal Tianyun smiling?”
“Haha… I just think your jokes are quite funny. With all due respect, I can’t imagine that girl Danyue would become a Daoist couple. Ridiculous! How can a cultivator in the void stage do that? To be treated like this by you…”
Ye Anping held up the Nine Dragons Seal in his hand and interrupted with a shrug:
“The truth is not a joke.”
Zu Yuan looked at the Heavenly Seal in his hand, then glanced at the Snow Spirit Sword beside him, and finally returned to Ye Anping’s face, raised his eyebrows and asked:
“Really?”
“Do you need a junior to swear?”
“That stinky girl was actually deceived by a cultivaor in the core formation stage today? Tell me about this. If she finds out, aren’t you afraid that she will bury you in the ground?”
“She couldn’t bear it.”
“Reluctant to give up…”
Zu Yuan lowered his eyes slightly, and suddenly smiled disdainfully.
“Snort…”
Then, he closed his eyes, let out a long breath, looked at Ye Anping’s now calm face again, shook his head slightly and said:
“Destiny?”
“Yes.”
“How are you sure?”
“There is a book in the world, which has been written since the beginning of time. On the front page, the name of the younger generation is written.”
“Scroll of Heavenly Dao… I want to listen to what you have to say…”
Ye Anping lowered his eyes and thought about it for a while, then calmly stated:
“Born in Tianhe Town, Southern Domain, the parents are a pair of Daoist couples in the Foundation Establishment Period. Your father’s name is ‘Zu Qinghe’ and your mother’s name is ‘Lin Zhiruo’. When you were seventeen years old, you encountered a demonic cultivator in the forest and were rescued by an elder from the Taibai Sect. You entered the Taibai Sect to practice cultivation the following year. You formed a core at the age of 320, and you formed the Nascent Soul at the age of 600. The Daoist Patriarch of the Taibai Sect thought that you had stopped at the Nascent Soul, but you turned into a god at the age of 1,200. At the age of 1,700, you began to cross the void…”
“Haha, that’s enough.”
Zu Yuan raised his hand to stop, then stood up, walked out of the pavilion, waved his hand to disperse the nine golden dragons back to the Heavenly Seal in Ye Anping’s hand, and said:
“Yun Tianmi, Nangong Cheng, Danyue, and then me?”
“And a big fox.”
“Demon Emperor… Haha.” Zu Yuan shook his head and sighed, “Ye Anping, how could I not know that I can’t ascend? Don’t think that I have become so old that I can’t distinguish right from wrong, and I will judge myself by the fate of others. I can’t do anything about the calamity yet.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
Zu Yuan walked back to Ye Anping, looked at him slightly, and said with a smile:
“The so-called destiny is just a cultivator with two spiritual roots, and his qualifications are even worse than my qualifications.”
“Irrefutable.”
“Did you attract Liu Yan’er from the Gu Poison Sect and that old demon from the Hehuan Sect?”
“The Empress of Han Tian Kingdom has said that the younger generation has the spring of life. How can they sit still?”
“Sun Juehu… Let me see what the final outcome will be of being an enemy of your ‘destiny’? I can afford to wait for the remaining few hundred years of my life.”
Zu Yuan raised his hand as a sword finger and pointed it at his forehead. He closed his eyes and pulled slightly, and a golden thread that looked like hair flew out from his forehead and landed on the table.
“Nangong Cheng gave you the Nine Dragons Heavenly Seal, Yun Tianmi passed on his spiritual sword to you, and Danyue gave that stinky girl to you… Pfft… Then I don’t think so? You want my spiritual root?”
Seeing Zu Yuan peeling off his spiritual roots and giving them to him without any hesitation, Ye Anping was stunned for a moment. He had originally thought that he would only give it to him after Zu Yuan returned from fighting with the masters of the Gu Poison Sect and the Hehuan Sect.
After all…
Zu Yuan couldn’t help but smile happily when he saw Ye Anping’s expression:
“Haha, you didn’t expect me to agree directly, right? Since you joined the cabinet, you have always managed me. Now it’s time for me to regain my face.”
“It’s not that I didn’t expect it, I just didn’t expect it to be so smooth.”
Ye Anping smiled helplessly, stood up, cupped his hands, and said:
“Thank you Daoist Tianyun!”
“It’s just pretending…” Zu Yuan shook his head and looked toward the direction of the mountain with his hands behind his hands, “Since the Six Eyes of the Gu Poison Sect and the witch of the Hehuan Sect dare to set foot in the Southern Domain, how can I let them leave safely??”
Ye Anping thought for a while and realized that Zu Yuan was going to fight, so he cupped his hands and said:
“…Congratulations to the Daoist Immortal.”
Zu Yuan waved his hand and threw a jade talisman into Ye Anping’s hand, saying:
“Guard Bai Yujing, I will come back as soon as I go.”
Seeing Ye Anping take the jade talisman, Zu Yuan turned into a golden light and rushed out of the cave in the blink of an eye.
Ye Anping took a look at the jade talisman he handed to him, then walked back to the stone table where he stopped, and picked up a strand of gold thread on the table with his fingers.
However, that’s about it.
Boom——!
In the cave sky, on the blue sky that returned after Zu Yuan left, thunderclouds gathered together, and the spiritual energy of the entire cave turned into small dots and gathered upward.
Ye Anping looked up and frowned deeply:
——His Nascent Soul Thunder Tribulation is coming.
“Tsk, you really know how to choose the right time…”
…
————
Boom——!
A thunderbolt resounded throughout the Taibai Sect.
Feng Yudie, who was playing mahjong with three people in the main peak’s guest hall, suddenly trembled, and the “Yaoji” she just touched fell from her hands.
Xiao Yunluo next to her glanced at her and said with a look of disgust:
“You idiot, even a thunder can scare you. Look at your ability! In spring in the Southern Domain, the weather is unpredictable. Thunder and rain are quite normal.”
“But…”
Feng Yudie pursed her lips slightly, feeling extremely flustered. She took a deep breath and quickly ran to the window. She raised her head and looked outside, only to see golden lightning gathering like a coiled snake in the sky above Taibai’s Main Peak. At the top of the Heavenly Pavilion.
Xiao Tian, who was helping her peek at the cards, flew over from Xiao Yunluo’s head, squinted at the calamity cloud, and shouted in surprise:
“Feng Yudie!! That is the Nascent Soul Tribulation Cloud! Someone is forming a nascent soul!”
Hearing the word “Nascent Soul”, Feng Yudie couldn’t help but feel her heartbeat stop. Her golden eyes widened slightly and she tightened her collar.
“Young Master Ye…”
However, at this time, there was another loud noise.
Boom–!!
But this time it was not like thunder, but as if the whole mountain was shaken, and dust fell from the ceiling of the guest hall.
“Ouch… What happened?”
As soon as Xiao Yunluo stood up, she couldn’t stand firmly and sat on the ground.
She stroked the hornet’s nest on her head, hurriedly ran to Feng Yudie’s side, looked out the window, and saw twelve spiritual lights shooting straight into the sky from the top of the twelve Taibai Sect peaks, condensing into a Huge yin-yang array diagram.
“Ah? Taibai Sect’s sect formation… Could it be possible…”
Before she could finish speaking, a fireball as big as a mountain peak pushed aside the dark clouds in the sky and smashed toward the Yin-Yang formation.
Boom–!!
The dazzling aura instantly made Feng Yudie and the other two people look away.
When they came back to their senses, they saw dense black spots rushing down from the clouds, sweeping toward the peaks of Taibai Sect like locusts.
The three of them stared into the distance, now realizing what had happened.
——The demonic cultivators are attacking.
At the next moment, Ye Anping’s voice spread from the Heavenly Pavilion above Bai Yujing:
“Disciples from all peaks listen to the order! Tianyun Daoist Immortal has gone to challenge the two sect leaders of the Gu poison and Hehuan sect. Disciples from each peak will stick to the twelve peak formations, each as an enemy, to challenge the demon cultivator!!”
…
