Atop the summit of a mountain, four Daoists were standing within a pavilion as they looked around. The rain was pelting down upon the lands. Several large pine trees lined the meandering road down from the mountain. The sounds of the rain was unceasing as wind blew across, causing the robes of the Daoists to flap noisily. From time to time, people would come up the mountain summit before going down again, as though they were checking up on the four Daoists. A short distance away from the pavilion, several other Daoists were trying to erect their own earthen altar.From time to time, the altar would come alive with Dao arts being infused.
A talisman lit up abruptly, as a middle aged Daoist spoke out, "Free Cloud Sect’s Paradise has been attacked. Should we help them?"
"According to what we know, they are were attacked by Dark Altar Sect, it’s best that we go and aid them. However, if Free Cloud Sect gets defeated before we act, we have to destroy Dark Altar Sect’s altar and kill them all. We must not allow them to obtain their Paradise." A Daoist spoke out, his face was concealed by dark smoke.
"I never expected Dark Altar Sect to act so treacherously and use their Earth Immortal’s status to act this way." A refined looking Daoist spoke out.
When the middle aged Daoist heard this, he laughed out coldly, "If that didn’t happen, why should you and I ally?"
"Haha, Dark Altar Sect is to be blamed for inciting hatred and anger towards them. This sect has a proper hierarchy going on, with huge numbers. But which sect doesn’t have their own batch of Patriarchs and their own Dao masters?"
"If those smaller sects were to be conquered and taken over, fine, as long as its done quietly and discreetly n.o.body will bother too much. But to attack a Paradise so brazenly and outrageously, do they treat the rest of us as if we were dead?"
"Even if there’s conflict between the rest of us, as the more powerful sects within the region, we would have to join forces and teach Dark Altar Sect a lesson. Only then will they understand they are not the only sect under the heaven." The Daoist who was shrouded in dark smoke spoke out.
"You are absolutely right. Have you arranged for the necessary? For us to attack this way is not without risks as well." The last Daoist, who was an old man, spoke out uneasily.
"There will definitely be risks involved, but we have to suppress them no matter what, and strip their Earth Immortal status away from them."
Hearing these words, the refined looking Daoist paused in hesitation, "But to attack this way, and to strip them of their Earth Immortal status would mean pitting ourselves against them and causing conflict between us."
The middle-aged Daoist burst out in cold laughter, "Hm, if they even cared about maintaining good relations with the rest of us, would they act this way?"
"What’s the situation like now? Have you checked it out clearly?" The Daoist who was shrouded within smoke asked out, more concerned with the present situation.
"Although we’re unable to check out the current situation, I know that the battle in Paradise is still ongoing. In fact, it seems like Free Cloud Sect managed to turn the situation around as we speak."
"Reporting in, Free Cloud Sect has managed to overwhelm Dark Altar Sect. Almost no survivors remain from Dark Altar Sect." A talisman lit up abruptly.
"What?" Everyone around were stunned. "What’s the reason for that?"
"It seemed like Pei Zi Yun retaliated against them and linked up with his sect to kill off the Dark Altar Sect a.s.sailants."
"That kid…" All the Daoists were thrown into confusion as one of them looked up at the Daoist covered in smoke. Everyone remained silent for a time.
"The earthen altar had been destroyed!" Someone shouted out in shock. Everyone then knew the Imperial Qi had been let loose.
"Hurry, hurry. This is the best time for us. Without the earthen altar to provide power to the Earth Immortal, he wouldn’t be able to last for much longer. How is our own spell coming along?" The middle aged Daoist asked out.
"Don’t worry. We have the spell, and ten other Dao Masters along with us. We should be able to take the Earth Immortal down."
"Additionally, the Earth Immortal had just been to battle and must be injured at this time."
"Hurry, we cannot let go of this opportunity. Once we kill the Earth Immortal’s clone, the Earth Immortal himself would be hurt. At least he won’t be able to recover from this injury for a few years."
"Get ready." The middle aged Daoist ordered. At the next moment, four shadows appeared. In a flash, the four shadows disappeared down into the underworld.
Underworld
Everything was hazy and dark, smoke and dust filled the air. At this point a white lucent beam of light could be seen descending down and landing at a corner.
"This is the monastery and temple."
Somewhere around, a ray of light was hovering over. It was unlike anything most people had ever seen before.
The Earth Immortal’s clone was flying through the Underworld went he stopped all of a sudden, "Who’s hiding in ambush, what’s your aim?"
"Your spiritual energy becomes extremely obvious here in the Underworld, and you won’t be able to hide yourselves for much longer. Show yourselves!" At this point, four rays of light appeared in front of the Earth Immortal’s clone. Each one of them was draped in a unique beam of light, different from each other. Some of them even had black inscriptions around the ray of light.
"Our aim? Don’t you know what it is? You are just a mere clone. Without the support of the earthen altar, along with the fact that you’ve just been through battle, your energy must be thoroughly expanded. We are taking this opportunity to destroy you."
Hearing these Yin Master’s words, the Earth Immortal’s clone laughed out, "That’s interesting. You are mere Yin Masters, and you dare to take me on? You think too lowly of me."
As soon as he spoke out, the Earth Immortal’s clone moved deftly as he disappeared into a red aura. In the next second however, a loud crash could be heard as he collided into a transparent wall which had just been conjured by the Yin Masters.
The middle-aged Daoist gave a cold laughter, "Indeed you’re injured. You can’t even break out of our prison spell at this point. Dark Altar Sect wanted to make themselves powerful, but we were ignorant all this time. Now we know, and now we have the chance to prevent that from happening."
The red beam of light appeared once more as it wrapped itself around the Earth Immortal’s clone. This time, he didn’t speak. Instead, he pointed out and caused a loud sound to resonate all around. The transparent wall seemed to caved in. Seeing that it was about to fall apart, he smiled.
The four of them looked at each other before a pearl appeared right in the middle of the room.
"No! How could you have a Thunder Pearl?" Seeing this, the Earth Immortal’s clone exhibited an expression of utmost fear. Even before he could speak his last words, a loud explosion rang out, causing everything within the walls to tremble as the thunder pearl burst forth in a huge display of force. Even the walls looked shaken.
However, this Earth Immortal’s clone reacted extremely quickly as well. Seeing such a situation, he wrapped himself with a blood red banner. It was unclear what kind of special treasure it was, but it absorbed most of the shock before cracks started to form. The clone had taken some amount of damage as well, although not as severe as expected.
The entire walls surrounding the prison started trembling. Seeing this happen, the clone charged right into the wall, expecting to tear it down.
The minute that happened, a second clap of thunder resounded as another blast rang out. This time, the clone’s left arm was taken off as it turned to powder.
"Friends, please hold it!" The Earth Immortal’s clone shouted out panically. As he opened his mouth, the third Thunder Pearl was released. This time, half of his entire body was crushed by the force into smithereens.
Free Cloud Sect
Pei Zi Yun’s entire body was covered in blood as his robes were torn and tattered. He stumbled around and staggered back towards the sect stronghold. When he looked across, he saw the complete destruction of his sect. What once stood a magnificent monastery had been reduced to less than a third of his former splendour. Only the foundations remained.
Most of the buildings were emitting black smoke as the fire was gradually being extinguished. Several normal disciples were tearing as they collected bodies of fellow disciples.
A Daoist rushed up to greet him, his eyes were swollen. "Brother Pei, you’re finally back. The Sect Leader is waiting for you."
Pei Zi Yun increased the speed of his footsteps to the best of his ability as he walked across fragments of gla.s.s and debris. Many corpses of Dark Altar Sect disciples were completely destroyed. Their corpses had been subjected to the immense anger of the remaining disciples. Their corpses were gathered at this place, and were about to be burnt.
Zhao Ning seemed to be treating his own injuries and Zhang Yun directed disciples and instructed them to gather the dead corpses. Pei Zi Yun sighed. The minute Zhang Yun saw Pei Zi Yun, he rushed to meet him. After pausing for several breaths, he spoke out, "Junior brother Pei, the Sect Leader went into Paradise to help the Patriarchs. As a result, his body is in ruins. He’s relying on pills to survive at this point, and is holding out for you. Hurry go and meet him."
Pei Zi Yun hesitated as many thoughts filled his head. All the memories from his current life and previous life welled up in his mind. He sighed deeply, "I know, I shall go now.’
Just after taking several steps, Chu Xia ran into his embrace, "Junior Brother, I thought I would never get to see you ever again."
"Little Xia, allow your unior brother to see the Sect Leader. Sect Leader wishes to speak to me." Yu Yun Jun then came out from the hall and looked at Pei Zi Yun. Her expression was sullen, and revealed a look of agony. "The Sect Leader actually couldn’t wake up, but he insisted on returning. His life is hanging by a thread now, and is waiting to speak with you."
Hearing Yu Yun Jun’s words, Pei Zi Yun hasted his footsteps once more as he strode into the hall. He saw a flame burning within the burner, as thin wisps of smoke drifted from it.
His eyebrows puckered as an offensive smell perforated his nose. It was the pungent stench of rotten blood coupled with the smell of burning incense. Just a whiff was enough to cause anyone to retch.
Pei Zi Yun looked up and saw a person whose flesh was pink and mangled and reeked heavily of incense. He was seated just beneath the state in the middle of the hall. At this point he was breathing raggedly.
When he heard footsteps, the person seated there, whose flesh had been stripped from his body raised his head and called out to Pei Zi Yun, "You’ve finally come."
Only after hearing his voice did Pei Zi Yun recognize him.
"Sect Leader? You.. How did you end up like this?" Although Zhang Yun had already warned him beforehand, he was still taken aback. He almost looked like he was burned alive by seething fires, causing his skin to fall off.
"You… You’ve come. This is the result of having my blood and spirit burnt." The Sect Leader spoke out, "You’ve contributed a great deal to the sect. However, I paid too much attention to my master, who reincarnated to Song Zhi, and undermined you the entire time. I even drove you out from the sect. Do you hate me?"
Pei Zi Yun looked at the Sect Leader before him, who was in such a pitiful state and didn’t know how to react. He paused for sometime and looked up at the huge statue before him. There were many cracks along the statue. The Sect Leader sighed and looked at Pei Zi Yun, "Do you still hate me?"
"No." Pei Zi Yun paused before replying.
The Sect Leader looked up and smiled, "You say no, but I don’t believe you. With everything that happened, it would be strange if you didn’t hate me. But all this has already pa.s.sed."
"Your huge contributions to the sect, and you speeding back to save the sect. This is the whole picture I’m seeing."
"With such a difficult situation our sect finds itself in, and you being the only Core Disciple of your generation, I shall pa.s.s the leadership on to you."
"In light of such a precarious situation, I wouldn’t dare to refuse." Pei Zi Yun stepped up and spoke out.
The Sect Leader stretched out a hand and handed a red jade tile over. This jade tile was actually a talisman as well, as had red streaks and red aura looming over it. It had the words Free Cloud written over it.
"Pei Zi Yun, I proclaim you as the Sect Leader of the sixth generation. The Patriarchs have already agreed to it." The Sect Leader exclaimed.
Pei Zi Yun received the tile. The second his skin came into contact with it, spiritual energy which surrounded the statue fell upon him.
"The authority of Paradise will only be a.s.sumed by you when you’ve formally attained the role of Sect Leader." As soon as he spoke this, his head went limp and he stopped breathing.
Seeing the lifeless body of the Sect Leader, Pei Zi Yun went silent.
Of course Pei Zi Yun understood it all. The reason the Sect Leader insisted on returning was to pa.s.s the authority of the Sect Leader to him. Only with a formal proceeding such as this would it ensure a seamless transition.
"It’s all for Free Cloud Sect." Pei Zi Yun couldn’t help but clenched the tile tightly in his hands. He finally understood how it felt to accomplish what his previous life failed to. The hopes and dreams of the original owner was in his hand.
It’s just that apart from elation, he was somewhat anxious as well.
‘Original owner, look. This is the Free Cloud Sect Leader’s tile. This is for Free Cloud Sect!’