Chapter 1751: Friends
Xuanyi was happily chatting with Lu Zhou in his Dao hall, and he asked for advice on many matters regarding cultivation.
In truth, there was not much advice Lu Zhou could give on the cultivation of supreme beings. He could only vaguely point Xuanyi in the right direction. The rest was up to Xuanyi. Cultivation for supreme beings often involved comprehension of the laws and their state of mind.
Some people were like naughty children all of their lives, refusing to grow up. With that, their state of mind would not change. Some people would mature as they grew, and their state of mind would become steadier. In any case, everyone was different, and consequently, their cultivation paths were also different.
Xuanyi asked tentatively, “You revealed your avatar so early… What if Ming Xin leads the temple and the other halls to fight you?”
The battle from 100,000 years ago was too intense. It shocked and left an indelible mark on most people.
Lu Zhou replied calmly, “If I was afraid, I wouldn’t have shown my avatar.”
Although Lu Zhou was not yet a divine emperor, he still had a small amount of energy left in the Unholy One’s painting.
The Great Void’s biggest problem now was not the Unholy One, but its impending collapse and how to survive.
Ming Xin ignored all the chaos for so long. It was clear that he no longer cared about such trivial matters.
At this moment, a Dark Guard walked into the hall and said, “Your Majesty, Holy Maiden Xihe has arrived.”
“Lead them in,” Xuanyi said.
Soon enough, the Dark Guard led Lan Xihe and Ouyang Ziyun into the Dao hall.
When the duo saw Lu Zhou, they wore different expressions on their faces. Lan Xihe looked slightly anxious and troubled while Ouyang Ziyun’s expression was one of excitement and surprise.
“Pavilion Master Lu, I finally met you,” Lan Xihe said.
Ouyang Ziyun greeted Xuanyi before he said to Lu Zhou respectfully, “Greetings, Pavilion Master Lu.”
“Please take a seat.”
After the duo sat down, Lu Zhou asked calmly, “Why has Holy Maiden Xihe been looking for me?”
“Too many things have happened since we last met. After you left Xihe Hall, the pillar corresponding with Xihe Hall began to show signs of collapse. My Heaven Suppressing Pestle has been taken away by those shameless people from the Nihilist Congregation so the cracks couldn’t be repaired,” Lan Xihe said. After a pause, she asked, “Pavilion Master Lu, did you manage to recover the Heaven Suppressing Pestle?”
Xuanyi thought to himself, ‘What kind of status and ident.i.ty does my teacher have? Why did he personally help Holy Maiden Xihe to retrieve the Heaven Suppressing Pestle?’
Xuanyi’s eyes darted back and forth between Lu Zhou and Lan Xihe as he carefully looked for signs of abnormalities. Alas, there was nary a ripple in Lu Zhou’s expression.
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Xihe Hall’s Heaven Suppressing Pestle is with me.”
Lan Xihe was overjoyed. “That’s great! Thank you for your help, Pavilion Master Lu!”
Alas, Lan Xihe’s joy was short-lived.
Lu Zhou said, “However, I can’t return the Heaven Suppressing Pestle to you yet.”
“Why?”
“The Heavens Suppressing Pestles are like a divine rod that can calm the sea when the sky collapses. In the coming 300 years, they’ll be very important. Until then, I have to make sure they don’t fall into the hands of wicked people,” Lu Zhou said.
Lan Xihe said with a smile, “Thank you for your concern, Pavilion Master Lu. I’m capable of protecting it.”
“Although you’re a supreme being, you don’t have the capability to do that. Could it be that you don’t trust me?”
Lan Xihe thought about the Nihilist Congregation and the various things that happened recently. She said with a sigh, “You have a point, Pavilion Master Lu. I do trust you. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to trouble you.”
‘It’s fine,” Lu Zhou said.
Lan Xihe continued to say with a worried expression on her face, “Apart from that, there have also been rumors of the Unholy One’s return to the Great Void. The Unholy One is a taboo in the Great Void. Everyone must unite to kill him. The owners of all ten Great Void Seeds are your disciples. He surely won’t let you off. Pavilion Master Lu, you must be careful. The Unholy One’s cultivation is profound. 100,000 years ago, he was the most powerful cultivator in the Great Void. Everyone was afraid of him. If he really returns to the Great Void, I’m afraid it’ll be the end of the world as we know it. None of us will have a good life.”
Xuanyi: “?”
Ouyang Ziyun: “?”
Lu Zhou asked curiously, “Do you know a lot about the Unholy One?”
“Not particularly. When I was born, the Great Void was already flouris.h.i.+ng. When I was young, I was curious about the Unholy One, but I was reprimanded by my elders for asking too much. Mr. Ouyang also told me not to ask about the taboos in the Great Void. The more the elders forbade me from asking, the more curious I became. Hence, I secretly read a few ancient records from the Great Void’s Treasure Trove. He was the Master of Grand Mystic Mountain and the former teacher of the Four Supremes of the Sacred Hall. It was said that Great Emperor Ming Xin had a very good relations.h.i.+p with him,” Lan Xihe said.
Ouyang Ziyun could no longer endure it so he said, “Holy Maiden, stop talking about Lord Unholy One’s matters.”
‘Lord?’ Lan Xihe furrowed her brows slightly. She noticed the way Ouyang Ziyun had addressed the Unholy One using a respectful t.i.tle.
Lu Zhou raised his hand and said, “It’s alright.” Then, he asked Lan Xihe, “Then, do you know why those four suddenly switched allegiance and attacked the Unholy One?”
Lan Xihe said, “I don’t know. In any case, his era is over. People should move on. His return only brought terrible things to the Great Void. The pillars are collapsing one after another, and chaos has descended on the Great Void. Fierce beasts in the Unknown Land have disregarded the balance agreement and are wantonly killing humans.”
Lu Zhou frowned slightly as he asked, “Do you think all those things are caused by the Unholy One’s return? How do you know it’s not the collapse of the pillars that brought the Unholy One back?”
Lan Xihe was rendered speechless. She looked at Lu Zhou with a complicated expression before she said, “Pavilion Master Lu is actually speaking up for the Unholy One?”
Ouyang Ziyun could not help but raised his voice as he called out, “Holy Maiden!”
Lu Zhou raised his hand again to stop Ouyang Ziyun. If his ident.i.ty was exposed now, he would not be able to hear the truth. He said, “You have too deep a prejudice against the Unholy One.”
Lan Xihe shook her head. “Mr. Ouyang has repeatedly stopped me from learning more. He thinks I don’t know about Emperor Chong Guang, but I… I already know.”
Ouyang Ziyun was shocked.
Lan Xihe continued to say, “I know that Emperor Chong Guang died in the hands of the Unholy One.”
Ouyang Ziyun: “...”
‘It’s inevitable. However, I really didn’t expect her to know so much. This is going to be troublesome…’
Ouyang Ziyun felt as though a thousand ants were crawling all over his heart. He felt anxious and restless.
Xuanyi was surprised upon hearing Lan Xihe’s words. ‘This… Isn’t this a meeting between two enemies? What to do? What to do?’
While Xuanyi and Ouyang Ziyun were wondering about how the situation was going to develop, Lu Zhou said, “The Unholy One didn’t kill Emperor Chong Guang.”
“Are you saying the ancient records are wrong?” Lan Xihe asked.
Lu Zhou said, “The ancient records only contain falsehood.”
“Pavilion Master Lu, are you saying that the ancient records are filled with lies, and your words are the truth?” Lan Xihe asked.
Ouyang Ziyun rose to his feet. Like an elder reprimanding a child, he said, “Xihe, enough!”
“Mr. Ouyang?”
“Apologize to Pavilion Master Lu,” Ouyang Ziyun said.
“???”
Lan Xihe was confused.
Upon seeing Lan Xihe’s expression, Ouyang Ziyun said, “Pavilion Master’s words are indeed the truth.”
Lan Xihe was even more confused. The elder she respected the most, Ouyang Ziyun, who had been silently supporting Xihe Hall, actually supported Lu Zhou. It felt like the sun was rising from the west. She asked, perplexed, “I don’t understand. Why?”
No one spoke.
The Dao hall was awkwardly silent.
After a short moment, Lu Zhou said, “I have no reason to kill Chong Guang.”
“...”
Lan Xihe’s eyes widened immediately as soon the implication behind the words dawned on her. Expressions of bewilderment and astonishment appeared on her face. Her heart raced wildly in her chest as she looked at Lu Zhou and said in a trembling voice, “Un, Unholy… Unholy One?”
Lu Zhou sighed as he said, slightly emotional, “Back then, Chong Guang guarded Chong Guang Hall very well. He was a top-notch divine emperor. He followed me to the Endless Ocean in the east to investigate the mysteries of the world. We were like-minded friends. Later, the earth cracked for the first time. To investigate the truth, he went to a human settlement, which is now the Great Abyss Land, and was ambushed by the Raindragon. Because of that, he spent 100 years in Chong Guang Hall to recuperate. For him, I punished the Raindragon. I fought with it for seven days and seven nights and pulled a few of its tendons out as punishment.”
“...”
This was the most legendary story that the ‘juniors’ present had heard. It was even more exciting when it was narrated by the main character of the story. It was as though they were there to witness it.
“I kept the tendons in a brocade box and carried it with me all the time. I planned to give it to Chong Guang, but I didn’t expect him to suddenly pa.s.s away,” Lu Zhou said.
Lan Xihe looked at Lu Zhou in shock and disbelief. She was bewildered. It was hard to believe that the Pavilion Master of the Evil Sky Pavilion, whom she once looked down on, was the Unholy One whom everyone feared. She felt dizzy from this shocking revelation.
After a long time, when Lan Xihe finally managed to suppress her emotions, she asked, “Was that your projection in the nine domains? Did you use your projection to toy with me at the white tower?”
Lan Xihe was respectful, but there was a hint of dissatisfaction and unwillingness when she spoke. When she thought about how she was defeated with three moves at the White Tower Council, she felt as though a fishbone was stuck in her throat; it was extremely uncomfortable. At that time, she, a daughter of heaven, who had never lost a fight before was defeated by an unknown Pavilion Master of the Evil Sky Pavilion. The feeling of powerlessness when she was defeated was still deeply engraved in her mind. She did not expect that the other party was the Unholy One. How could she have won against the Unholy One?
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “I don’t usually manifest doppelgangers or projections.”
Lan Xihe fell into a trance. The person she had fought, the Pavilion Master of the Evil Sky Pavilion, was the legendary Unholy One, not even his projection. She was at a loss for words. Her mind was filled with the legends and stories she had heard from when she was a child. In her mind, the Unholy One was like Ming Xin or those really powerful ancient creatures and cultivators.
At this time, Ouyang Ziyun finally could not hold back his excitement. He cried out, “Brother Lu, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time!”
Lu Zhou turned to look at Ouyang Ziyun. He recalled their first meeting in the green lotus domain. He asked, “You and Jie Jin’an were my… friends?”
Ouyang Ziyun said excitedly, “Of course, we’re friends!”