The Abbey Dean entered Chang"an.
Faced with the most powerful people of the Academy and Huang Yang, he extinguished the essential blood fire on the Buddha Beads with just one glance, and he waved his sleeves to break the Divine Demon Realm. He waved and the Haotian Initiation fell on him immediately; with one single stroke of the sword, he had crushed the millennial city wall.
Alongside the streets there was nothing but ruins. In the sky, there were snowflakes burning. Raindrops kept falling. All these could only prove one thing: how powerful he was.
The cultivation in this world had five states, and to go beyond the Five State was what most people could only dream of. In all ages, cultivators reaching beyond the Five States were less than rare. Attaining one of the Five States was enough for being a qualified as a legend, such as the Haotian Initiation State.
However, on the snowy street today, the Abbey Dean applied the Boundless, the Quietus, Haotian Initiation and the Limitless State in a series, and he did it quite casually and easily.
The state the Abbey Dean had shown was beyond the records in the West-Hill Scripture or any other cultivating Cla.s.sics. It had touched the ceiling of ordinary cultivators" imagination; it was just too absurd to be true.
Rain kept falling, and he walked to the north of the Vermilion Bird Avenue calmly and peacefully.
The overwhelming power falling from heaven above poured into his body.
Every step of his broke the stagnant water and dimmed the daylight, making his aura grow powerful.
Chilly rainwater dripped down off Yu Lian"s face.
She looked at the Abbey Dean coming from the rain and said, "Rumor has it that 18 years ago, you exiled Wei Guangming to the mortal world, and kicked him off the throne of the Divine Priest of Light."
The Abbey Dean then answered, "So I did."
Yu Lian said, "At first I didn"t believe you had the ability to abolish the cultivation of a powerhouse who had reached the Haotian Initiation State. But now I see that you"re more powerful than the legend tells."
The Abbey Dean walked forward slowly, saying, "Being powerful is just a relative concept. I may be more powerful than you and Wei Guangming, but that doesn"t mean that I am powerful. Like you"re more powerful than Xiong Chumo, but you"re not genuinely powerful, either."
Yu Lian asked, "What is genuinely powerful then?"
The Abbey Dean said, "To turn the relative into the absolute. That"s genuinely powerful."
Yu Lian asked, "So being genuinely powerful is to be more powerful than everyone."
The Abbey Dean said, "That"s right. Being invincible in the world is genuinely powerful."
Yu Lian asked, "Are you saying that you"re invincible?"
"Crazy Ke is dead, and the Headmaster has left."
The Abbey Dean looked up at the rainy sky, saying, "I had no choice but to be invincible."
He answered the question calmly and peacefully, making himself sound quite reasonable like he was making comments on the dishes of the neighborhood.
Yu Lian said, "Then why did you learn my skill of the Enlightenment Doctrine? You"re the leader of Haotian Taoism, but you learned things from your enemy, have you no shame?"
By that, she meant the greying eyes of the Abbey Dean, as she saw before she punched out.
That was the Grey Eyes adapted from the Practice of Taotie from the Devil"s Doctrine.
The Abbey Dean said, "Everything in the world belongs to Haotian. And what"s more, you must be clear that the Enlightenment Doctrine still wors.h.i.+ps Haotian, so why couldn"t I learn it?"
The burning snow above Chang"an City was nearly running out.
So the rain on the Snow Street gradually started to cease.
The Abbey Dean walked into an alley, at the entrance of which there was a well. Around the mouth of the well was acc.u.mulated snow which had yet to be melted by the rain. It looked like an adorable white mushroom.
Yu Lian finally loosened her grip.
She had been clutching on to Eldest Brother"s cotton jacket hem.
Eldest Brother didn"t join the conversation between her and the Abbey Dean because he had been coughing and bleeding. His wounded body seemed extremely weak.
Yu Lian kept holding on to him because she knew Eldest Brother would apply the Limitless State forcefully and fight with his life if she let him go.
Now she had let him go because he needed time to rest. And more importantly, because the Abbey Dean was standing in front of them. The life and death between the victor and the loser were evident.
Just at that moment, a man crawled out of the house ruins on the side of the street.
It was a young man in a straw hat.
He ran desperately away from the West-Hill to go back to Chang"an, and to the Academy.
The moon and clouds, the dust and dirt on the thousand-kilometer journey made him look thinner.
Now he could no longer be described as chubby, he was more like burly now.
Which was exactly how a usual man should be described.
In many people"s eyes, the Abbey Dean of Zhishou Abbey was a legend.
And the rain and snow in Chang"an City proved that.
For a legendary man, he was still a man after all.
So when he saw his only child standing so firmly opposing him, the first thing he said was no different from the words of a regular housewife.
The Abbey Dean asked, "How did I end up having a son like you?"
Chen Pipi lifted a wooden beam falling on him, and then he walked to the middle of the street. Then he knelt down and said in s.h.i.+vering voice, "Dad, but I am also one of the disciples of the Academy."
The Abbey Dean looked at his son kneeling in the rain, saying, "You"re too weak to choose your side."
Chen Pipi was regarded as the genius in Haotian Taoism when he was young, and he was the youngest cultivator to reach the Knowing Destiny State. However, among the four people standing on the street now, the other three exceeded him too much in both state and power. The Abbey Dean was not wrong on this aspect.
Then he said, "At least I should try."
The Abbey Dean"s eyes pa.s.sed over Chen Pipi"s head and fell on the Eldest Brother at the other side of the street who was soaked in blood, then said, "You did this to buy him some time to rest, do you think it"s worth it?"
Chen Pipi said, "It"s just a token of my regard to him."
The Abbey Dean then asked, "So the Academy is worth your regards while the Haotian Taoism isn"t."
Chen Pipi did not look back at his Eldest Brother and Third Sister.
However, he knew clearly that after the seven-day hard chase and after overcoming the powerful opponent of his, his Eldest Brother was badly wounded and nearly exhausted. Also, his Senior Sister was no better than him.
After a few moments" silence, he said, "Since it is a token of regards, it has to come from the bottom of my heart."
He didn"t answer his father"s question directly, but the answer had been given.
His heart helped him break the tactical array in Zhishou Abbey and helped Eldest Brother to come and go easily. It was also his heart that made him run a thousand miles from the West-Hill to help here and made him stand on the street against his father.
The Abbey Dean"s expression grew more peaceful than ever, and he said, "I can choose not to give you the opportunity."
Chen Pipi said, "Please, father. Please give me one last chance, and I want nothing more from you."
The Abbey Dean then said, "Promise me that your heart will not stray after I allow you to show your regards."
Chen Pipi said, "Of course."
The Abbey Dean then said, "Very well."
Chen Pipi stood up, and wiped the rain and dirty water on his face. Then he lifted his both arms.
His fingers twitched slightly.
Because he was about to use the Natural Stream Magical Finger, and the opponent was his father.
Eldest Brother wanted to stop the fight because it would be unethical for the son and the father to hurt each other.
Yu Lian stopped him by simply saying, "You should at least give Pipi the chance to show his regard to the Academy before it"s destroyed, or how could he live with the regret for the rest of his life?"
Chen Pipi used the Natural Stream Magical Finger with the no-boundary spirit of the Academy.
The aura of his fingers flowed amidst the gentle rain. It was like the young swallows flying back to the forest, so naughty and so untraceable.
He pointed to the east, while the Qi of Heaven and Earth had condensed like sword edge and lunged here from the west.
His fingers flickered like the gra.s.s blown by the wild wind, while the aura of the fingers felt quiet and gentle like the lotus in the lake.
The last time when Chen Pipi performed the Natural Stream Magical Finger, it was a day at the beginning of the year, and Sangsang was standing outside the back garden of the Chang"an Local Government, with bedding in her arms.
This was the second time when he had really attacked.
It was also his most powerful strike.
Seeing the finger aura coming from the rain, the Abbey Dean"s eyes became comforted.
It was a move he had taught Chen Pipi.
He was pleased with the state and power Chen Pipi was showing.
Since he was pleased, he decided not to be too harsh on Chen Pipi.
He reached out his index finger and clicked out.
He decided not to kill his own son.
There was the sound of storm and rain, after which came the messy sound of flute and drum.
The finger aura flowing in the streets was immediately torn into pieces.
Puff, puff.
Chen Pipi fell into the rain water and was covered with blood.
His limbs and joints were all injured by the finger aura. The b.l.o.o.d.y holes on his body looked extremely scary.
The Abbey Dean used the Natural Steam Magical Finger, too.
They were the real powerful Natural Stream Magical Finger.
Chen Pipi was paralyzed, and he was sitting in the rain like a man before execution, wailing.
He wailed desperately.