His clear voice echoed throughout the mountain while the main gate lay on the ground, shattered in pieces. Nie Changqing restrained his excitement and the complicated feeling lingering in his heart.
Smoke and dust filled the air.
Nie Changqing walked slowly with the butcher knife floating quietly next to him.
His white robe and black hair were blowing in the mountain wind.
In the distance, a Daoist boy was startled. In a panic, he ran toward the temple of Daoist School.
Nie Changqing did not hurt the boy. He only looked into the distance quietly. The golden sunlight shone through the clouds and spilled on the ancient stone steps of Daoist School.
Nie Changqing did not stop. He kept walking until he saw to the stone memorial gate with three words carved on it, Inner Peace Temple.
Behind the memorial gate was Daoist School’s martial arts practice field. A lot of the legendary martial arts practitioners had trained here.
In the past, Nie Changqing had practiced hard here as well.
With one step after another, he walked toward the martial arts practice field.
He saw hundreds of Daoist priests already sitting on the practice field.
They were sitting either cross-legged on the flagstone-paved ground or straight under the pines or just watching Nie Changqing from the shade.
Some of the Daoist priests were disdainful of Nie Changqing.
Others had a complicated feeling toward him.
All the disciples of Daoist School knew Nie Changqing. After all, what happened to him was a big thing in the school. It was one of the few topics that could be compared to Li Sansui’s experiences in Daoist School.
“How dare he come back…”
“Did he kill Senior Brother Han Lianxiao? He is such a cruel person. He should have been killed five years ago.”
“He did such an illicit thing, and now he came back with such great fanfare. How dare he!”
******
Although the Daoist priests were all smiling sarcastically at Nie Changqing, they were either jealously or coldly talking about him.
Under a long-standing pine tree, an old Daoist priest was sitting with his eyes closed. Next to him were several other old Daoist priests. Some of them were indifferent, some were cold, while others were angry…
They were all staring at Nie Changqing.
The practice field was suddenly eerily quiet. It was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
Only Nie Changqing’s steady footsteps echoed in the still, quiet air.
“Guys, long time no see,” Nie Changqing said slowly.
His white robe was fluttering in the wind.
No one answered him.
The old Daoist priest sitting cross-legged under the pine tree opened his eyes. He fixed his gaze on Nie Changqing.
He suddenly smiled.
He took a torn letter out of his long and thick sleeve and threw it at Nie Changqing. With wisps of Spirit Qi surrounding the paper scraps, they flew toward Nie Changqing.
Nie Changqing lifted his hand and quickly took the torn letter.
After seeing the letter for his wife torn into pieces, Nie Changqing’s unshaven lips trembled. In the end, he only let out a deep sigh.
“Young Master was absolutely right.”
“If you wanted to reason, you would need to beat these people until you have convinced them.”
With Young Master’s temper…
When people were convinced, it would be easy to reason with them.
******
Lake Island, Beiluo.
Lu Fan suddenly felt his nose a little bit itchy, as if someone was talking about him behind his back.
After rubbing his nose, Lu Fan picked up the bronze liquor cup to take a sip. The sour taste of the green plum wine filled his mouth and then lingered on his tongue.
“Ni, call Ning Zhao up here,” Lu Fan said.
“Yes.”
Ni Yu unclearly answered since she had an elixir in her mouth. Then she ran downstairs like a wind.
Meanwhile, Lu Fan looked at Spirit Pressure Chessboard, trying to find out what was happening in the Secret Realm.
The sun jumped out of the thick clouds and spilled its abundant light all over Beiluo Lake. It was as if a golden curtain had been lifted.
He seemed to think of something.
Lu Fan changed the scene before his eyes with his mind.
He fixed his eyes on a magnificent precipitous mountain far away.
A temple stood atop a great peak on the mountain, and in front of the temple were a gathering of Daoist priests.
“Nie went to Daoist School…”
Lu Fan smiled as he took a sip of the green plum wine.
As soon as Ning Zhao came in the presence of Lu Fan, she bowed slightly.
“Young Master…”
“Pay a visit to the Dragon Gate in the Secret Realm. Try your best to break through to the Internal Organs Realm. If you fail this time, you’ll probably lag behind forever…” Lu Fan said to Ning Zhao while paying attention to what was happening at the temple in Daoist School.
Ning Zhao was astounded. Then a sharp and serious look appeared on her face.
Biting her plump red lips, she said resolutely, “Young Master, I won’t let you down.”
“Go ahead.”
Lu Fan waved his hand.
Ning Zhao turned and went downstairs.
In the distance, Lv Mudui and Lv Dongxuan, who were both making tea, could not help but look over.
To their surprise, Ning Zhao walked onto Beiluo Lake. Suddenly, a swirl appeared on the lake’s surface, and then a Dragon Gate floated over it.
Lv Mudui was actually curious. He really wanted to go and have a look.
However, since Lu Fan never said anything, he did not have the nerve to go without permission.
Seeing Ning Zhao disappear into the Dragon Gate, Jing Yue took a deep breath.
All of a sudden…
He heard Lu Fan’s calm voice coming.
“You can go into the Dragon Gate too…”
Jing Yue was pleasantly surprised.
The Dragon Gate was a Secret Realm deployed by the Immortal, and inside was an Immortal encounter. If he could get a wonderful Immortal encounter, then his strength would be greatly enhanced, and he would be able to run faster when fleeing from his enemies.
“Thank you, Young Master!”
Jing Yue was extremely excited.
Then he turned and immediately headed for the Dragon Gate.
However, thinking it over, he ran to Ni Yu instead and asked a Gathering Qi Elixir from her.
Ni Yu was kind of generous. She gave him two.
On the second floor of the White Jade City Pavilion…
Lu Fan had stopped paying attention to his cultivators. Instead, he was keenly observing the situation at the temple in Daoist School while drinking his green plum wine.
Nie Changqing had a knot in his heart. It had been there for five years.
For Lu Fan, it did not matter what the knot was. What mattered to him was the fact that as long as the knot was there, it was going to be very difficult for Nie Changqing to break through to the Internal Organs Realm.
That was why Lu Fan told Nie Changqing to visit Daoist School to untie this knot.
“Daoist School…”
Lu Fan was leaning against the vermillion carved wooden rail. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
******
“Who tore my letter into pieces?”
Nie Changqing’s calm voice echoed all over the practice field.
“Me. So what?” said the old Daoist priest who was sitting cross-legged under the pine tree.
The butcher knife was floating in front of Nie Changqing. He grasped the handle and pointed the blade tip at the old Daoist priest…
The look on Nie Changqing’s face gradually became cold. “Nothing. Since you tore my letter into pieces, I’ll cut off the hand you used to tear it.”
“How dare you!”
The old Daoist priest flew into a rage.
He hit the pine tree with the palm of his hand. Pine needles fell to the ground.
The other Daoist priests also shouted in anger, “Arrogant!”
Without uttering a single word, Nie Changqing simply smiled. He started to advance again, walking toward the old Daoist priest with the blade tip of the butcher knife facing down.
On the practice field, azure robes were fluttering.
Six men landed before Nie Changqing to stop him.
“Old Ten, leave. As long as you leave the mountain, we’ll pretend none of this ever happened,” a Daoist priest wearing an azure robe said, though inside he had complicated feelings.
“Old Ten, we used to practice martial arts techniques together. For old time’s sake, leave.”
“It’s different now. You got an Immortal encounter, but now Immortal encounters could happen in Daoist School too… You won’t be able to fight us.”
Some of the Daoist priests also tried to persuade him to leave.
“Leave? Who dares let him go? The philosopher is in seclusion. Today all disciples of Daoist School will follow my orders!” The old Daoist priest said coldly
“Catch him!”
“Disciples of Daoist School, deploy the formation!” The old Daoist priest commanded, waving his hand.
“Yes!”
On the field, all the Daoist priests—all wearing azure robes—started to move. Then they sat down facing different directions.
All of them pressed their palms together, with their Qi and blood bursting.
Gathering from different directions, their Qi and blood seemed to form a bizarre force that spread across the whole practice field, giving off a very oppressive energy.
Oh?
On Lake Island, Lu Fan, staying in the pavilion, suddenly raised his eyebrow.
He was really curious about what the disciples of Daoist School were doing.
“This is the formation?”
Lu Fan had never seen any formation before. Daoist School had a history of thousands of years, so it was no surprise that they had something valuable after such a long history.
And the formation…
That gave Lu Fan some inspirations and new ideas.
In the practice field at Daoist School…
Nie Changqing’s hair was blowing.
Looking at the six men in front of him…
He used to rank as the tenth disciple of the Daoist School, and these six men were ranked from third, fourth, up to eighth.
Han Lianxiao, ranked as the ninth disciple of the Daoist School, died in Beiluo City. It was an easy death.
“Guys, I only want to reunite with my family. Why are you stopping me this way?”
“It has been five years…”
“It’s time to take my wife home,” Nie Changqing said.
The six men in front of him could do nothing but let out a deep sigh.
“Cut the crap! Go! Catch this ungrateful bastard!” the old Daoist priest shouted in anger while still under the shade of the pine tree.
Nie Changqing was suddenly covered in the oppressive energy from the formation made by the Qi and blood of so many Daoist priests.
Boom!
Gravels on the ground started jumping.
The six men in front of Nie Changqing all raised their weapons—like knife, spear, and bow…
Nie Changqing felt the intense oppressive energy that surrounded him.
He smiled.
Daoist School was still the old Daoist School, but he was no longer who he had been five years ago.
Nie Changqing grasped the butcher knife’s handle tightly.
Then he slowly took a step forward.
“Immortal encounter…”
“The biggest Immortal encounter I got was becoming a disciple of White Jade City.”
Nie Changqing’s voice echoed throughout the practice field.
It was as if there was a sudden thunderclap in the sky.
His white robe fluttering in the wind and his black hair blowing, Nie Changqing’s eyes were as ablaze like torches.
Nie Changqing had looked like a scholar with courtly manners, but in an instant…
He turned into a villain walking out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Wisps of pale blue Spirit Qi surrounded him.
Spirit Pressure was released!
Boom!
Nie Changqing managed to handle the pressure released by the Daoist School’s grand formation with a calm face.
A gale was blowing across the field.
Nie Changqing approached the six distinguished disciples of Daoist School one foot in front of the other.
He was releasing an invisible Spirit Pressure.
The six Daoist School disciples trembled under his Spirit Pressure.
Finally…
The Daoist School disciple, who ranked eighth, could not handle it anymore. His achievements were not as high compared to the others, so he was the first to kneel down…
The sound of his knees knocking the ground was as loud as a drumbeat.
A Daoist priest wearing an azure robe and carrying a bow on his back made an effort to get his bow. He put a sharp arrow on the bowstring and aimed at Nie Changqing with his hands shaking.
It was Miao Renyu, ranked third in Daoist School. He had a beautiful name.
Whoosh!
An arrow was released.
Spinning at high speed, the arrow was powerful enough to penetrate anything.
However, Nie Changqing didn’t try to parry nor fled. He simply kept advancing.
When the arrow was a few meters away from Nie Changqing, it suddenly stopped, as if some invisible barrier was stopping it from moving forward.
Nie Changqing raised his hand slowly and flicked the arrow with his fingers.
The arrow went in another direction.
The arrow tip was now aimed at the old Daoist priest sitting under the pine tree.
Suddenly the arrow started to move again and recovered its speed. It brushed by Miao Renyu’s cheek and left a scratch on his face; a small trail of blood flowed from the wound.
The feather on the tail of the arrow was shaking.
Like a bolt of lightning tearing the night sky apart, the arrow whizzed across the sky toward the old Daoist priest’s face!