Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 350 - 297: I Absolutely Will Not Live Off a Woman_1

Chapter 350: Chapter 297: I Absolutely Will Not Live Off a Woman_1

Meanwhile, in an air battleship in the clouds, the former Heavenly Master, Zhang Guanlan, hurriedly entered Li Zhetian’s cabin.

Inside this thirty-foot square room, Li Zhetian was sitting with his knees up, his body filled with silver needles nearly a foot long. His face was twisted and his body was shrouded in black air.

Dark brown blood dripped from the tips of the silver needles, spreading a pungent smell.

Upon sensing Zhang Guanlan’s entrance, Li Zhetian couldn’t help but frown and open his eyes, "What are you planning now? You know I’m healing and can’t be disturbed."

Zhang Guanlan had already started pulling the needles out of him, "Our plan may have to start ahead of schedule. Zhang Shenye intends to pass the heritage holy artifact to his niece, Xue Yunrou."

"So you mean, the person you chose has been ruled out by Zhang Shenye?" Upon hearing this, Li Zhetian was surprised, "Didn’t you say it was foolproof?"

"Which is why we have to make our move sooner and eliminate this lady or Zhang Shenye directly."

Zhang Guanlan finished pulling the needles out of Li Zhetian, and with a slight wave of his sleeve, presented an elixir to him, "Take this elixir, it will ensure your injuries do not affect you for two hours."

However, Li Zhetian sneered, "Even at the expense of such a fierce medicine? Taking this elixir, how much lifespan would I lose! Besides, Zhang Shenye is already seriously injured. With so many of your old followers and insiders in Tianshi’s mansion, how hard could it be to solve a spell cultivator from the Third Door?"

"If I could handle it, I wouldn’t come to you." Zhang Guanlan stood with his hands behind his back, "Currently inside Longhu Mountain, there’s also the Master of Yangtze River and the newly sealed Immortal Master Shuide, Ao Shuying."

"Ao Shuying? She’s just been unsealed? That’s strange."

Li Zhetian couldn’t help asking in surprise, "Didn’t the one behind you predict ten years ago that Taoism would be rampant for the next fifty years and that the fate of the Jin Dynasty was exhausted? But now the situation doesn’t seem like Taoism is rampant."

"Indeed, that’s what the divination says, but there may be changes we don’t know about."

Zhang Guanlan shook his head, "Take the elixir, it may not accord with our previous agreement and will further harm your lifespan. However, I can assure you that within a month, your injuries will heal, your yuan qi (vital energy) will be restored, and even better than before. In addition, there is another matter—"

Zhang Guanlan paused, "That Hufa of Neo-Confucianism, Li Xuan, who severely injured you, has also arrived with Ao Shuying. They are both currently inside Longhu Mountain."

"Li Xuan?"

Li Zhetian’s eyes hardened immediately, revealing a fierce glow.

※※※※

When Zhang Shenye brought Li Xuan to the Ancestral Master Hall, he signaled Xue Yunrou to come forward and kneel in front of the prayer mat of the incense table. Then he lit an incense stick and bowed to the portraits and plaques of various previous generations of heavenly masters.

"Ancestors above, your unworthy descendant, Zhang Shenye, is here to report. Today because Longhu Mountain is in danger and Tianshi’s mansion is in a state of emergency, I have decided to select the outer sect’s direct disciple Xue Yunrou to inherit the mantle, adopt the surname Zhang, and inherit both the ’Zhengyi Talisman’ and the ’Zhengyi Demon Slaying Sword’."

Next, Zhang Shenye cast a spell. From his brow, a golden-red talisman that radiated a sun-like light was extracted and shot directly into Xue Yunrou’s forehead, revealing a golden ’Xuan’ character symbol on her brow.

He then drew two black and white swords from his sleeve and placed them in front of Xue Yunrou.

"Blood refinement!"

Xue Yunrou didn’t hesitate, immediately cutting her finger and evenly smearing the blood on the back of the sword.

As a result, the male and female bodies of the ’Zhengyi Demon Slaying Sword’ began to emit a faint glow, then suddenly rose into the air and circled around Xue Yunrou’s delicate body.

"Recite!"

Following Zhang Shenye’s words, Xue Yunrou began chanting "The Emperor’s Talisman".

"Observe the way of heaven, adhere to the conduct of heaven, that’s it. So heaven has five thieves, those who see it will flourish; five thieves in the heart, to be implemented in heaven; the universe is in the hand, all changes are born in the body—"

With each verse she recited, a golden-red rune on the two swords responded. Gradually, she and the swords began to resonate and integrate on the spiritual level.

Seeing this, Li Xuan couldn’t help but find it odd. Why had Zhang Shenye called him to witness the inheritance of the immortal artifacts?

Immediately following this, Zhang Shenye turned to look at him.

"By my calculation, Zhang Guanlan will not wait for Yunrou to inherit these two immortal artifacts. He’s sure to arrive before Yunrou finishes her consecration and kill either me or Yunrou. And now, the Array in Taiqing Palace means nothing to him."

Li Xuan’s mind darkened slightly, "Isn’t Immortal Master Shuide still overseeing the Taoist Palace?"

Zhang Shenye then shook his head: "The magisterial ability of Immortal Master Shuide is indeed unparalleled among the sub-heavenly ranks. However, Zhang Guanlan, too, is a man of exceptional talent. Furthermore, his attainment of heavenly level was earlier than Immortal Master Shuide’s. After accumulating this over three hundred years, can it be considered insignificant? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been injured to this extent by him."

"It’s possible, therefore, that Immortal Master Shuide can stall Zhang Guanlan, but it’s uncertain if he’ll have any strength left to look after Yunrou. I’m also in a similar predicament; now I can barely afford to fight with either Li Zhetian or Zhang Guanlan."

Li Xuan understood: "The Heavenly Master is worried about others?"

Zhang Shenye nodded slightly: "In three hundred years, Zhang Guanlan would surely have cultivated some capable subordinates. Otherwise, how could he control those five gigantic airships? Previously, over twenty people from my Tianshi Mansion have defected to him. Even within our own Mansion, the risk remains. As you saw in the Shangqing Hall just now, more than half of them have distanced themselves."

Li Xuan was dumbfounded. On one hand, he thought the Heavenly Master was quite a failure, but on the other, he clung to a shred of hope: "Actually, before I came here, I had sent a message to Uncle Jiang. He might be on his way here already."

However, he wasn’t sure if it would be in time, because there were no talismans or communication tools in this world that could cover a thousand miles quickly.

Li Xuan could only use the Court’s courier station to pass the letter to Jiang Yunqi’s hand, which would take some time.

"The Uncle Jiang you’re referring to, is it Jiang Yunqi?" Zhang Shenye shook his head hopelessly: "I also hope he could come in time, but before that happens, I have to prepare for the worst. Fortunately, Zhang still has good luck, there are both you, Earl Jingan, and Immortal Master Shuide to assist in these dire circumstances."

"Strong aid?"

Li Xuan thought he was overestimated by the Heavenly Master and couldn’t live up to this praise.

He was still self-aware and knew his current Zhenyuan and sword cultivation. With the assistance of the ’Sacrifice’ magical instrument, his fighting strength was indeed formidable.

Especially the presence of ’Shenyi’ and the original "The Song of Integrity" could give him a certain chance of winning when facing the cultivators of The Fourth Gate.

But if he were to face two or three individuals from The Fourth Gate, most probably he would be overwhelmed.

Due to the nature of the ’superconductivity’ technique, he is destined not to withstand a direct confrontation.

But not long after, Li Xuan showed enthusiasm: "If the Heavenly Master has any instructions, please state them clearly. Anything I can do, I will not refuse!"

"I need to rely on your strength, Earl Jingan, to guard this Ancestral Master Hall for me!"

Zhang Shenye pointed to the door outside: "Later, no matter who tries to break in, or how many there are, Earl Jingan, you should just cut them down! Everyone should be relentless."

Li Xuan was taken aback, then he couldn’t help but chuckle: "I would love to have such capability too, but unfortunately, my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak."

"Earl Jingan, you are too modest. You had dealt a heavy blow to Li Zhetian in the past. Now, why should you fear a group of minor figures below heavenly rank?"

Zhang Shenye gestured to stop Li Xuan’s explanation: "I know there were five thousand students of Guozi Bureau at that time, but now, inside and outside Longhu Mountain, there are slightly more than thirteen thousand Taoists. I have always been kind to them, and I believe more than half of them would be willing to follow my commands at this moment."

Li Xuan inherently doubted, thinking that even within your own Mansion, you are almost universally desert, let alone those Taoists outside, how many of them would be willingly to follow your orders?

Furthermore—

The Heavenly Master, as you’ve mentioned, those were five thousand students of Guozi Bureau, united by the Broad and Righteous Intent, able to follow my command."

After hearing this, Zhang Shenye sneered: "So what? The practice of the Confucian students and our Taoist practitioners are actually interlinked. Hasn’t Earl Jingan heard the phrase ’Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist are interlinked, the three religions have always followed the lineage of a common ancestor. Red lotus, white lotus, green lotus leaf, the three religions originally belong to one family’?

"Although the phrase ’three religions originally belong to one family’ might be exaggerating, our Taoist spell cultivators can modify slightly to simulate Hao Qi. Although it may not be as pure as Guozi Bureau’s, it should be sufficient to support Earl Jingan to suppress the minor figures."

Knowing that Li Xuan was skeptical, Zhang Shenye asked back: "Earl Jingan, have you ever thought that there are so many officials in this world, and all of them come from the lineage of Confucianism. If they could cultivate the Broad and Righteous Intent, theoretically there should be countless honest officials in this world, and we should stay in a place where lost items could be found on the road. But why are there still so many corrupt officials and pseudo-confucianists in the world?"

Li Xuan was indeed familiar with this piece of history, he blinked and said: "It is rumored that during the Warring States period, there were demonic cultivators endowed with great divine skills who were widely spreading secret techniques. It allowed those with impure hearts to simulate the Broad and Righteous Intent of Confucian cultivators by cultivating with left-handed techniques, thus ruining the Saint’s Way."

His ’Tao-protecting Eyes’ can to some extent differentiate pseudo-Confucianists, but only those above The Third Door.

This is because the stronger the cultivation of pseudo-Confucianists, the more flaws they show when simulating Hao Qi. Those with lower cultivation, ’Tao-protecting Eyes’ was unable to discern.

"That’s the case!" Zhang Shenye sneered: "Since those corrupt officials and pseudo-workers could simulate Hao Qi, why couldn’t our Taoism achieve this?"

After finishing his words, he reached out his hand to Li Xuan: "Please lend me your Wenshan Seal for a moment."

Without hesitation, Li Xuan removed Wenshan Seal from his waist and passed it to Zhang Shenye.

He thought if this man could really transform five thousand Confucian students for him―no! Even if there were only five hundred, he would have the confidence to sweep out those below the heavenly rank.