Chapter 159: Old Matters of the Ancient Abyss

As that voice rang out, Yuan felt his perception begin to stretch infinitely upward.

Countless images overlapped, light and shadow interweaving; scenes from the past surfaced one after another within his perception, then converged together.

It was an endlessly resplendent, dazzling halo that laid bare the principles of past and present, suspended behind the head of a towering seven-colored divine figure, slowly rotating.

The cold, indifferent colored eyes made one's heart tremble.

Gu! Borrowing that borrowed power, Yuan had finally glimpsed Gu's true form within the domain of the past.

Their gazes collided, and the force unleashed stirred up monstrous waves in the long river of time.

Isn't He going to say that opening line? Yuan thought to himself.

"Viewing the past, fleeting life is like a dream."

Each word seemed carved into rocks from time immemorial, weathered through countless ages, like a vast, ancient echo from primordial times.

He saw that divine halo blaze with brilliant light, casting out beams of radiance.

Yuan felt as though he were standing naked in a field of snow.

Gu had struck directly!

Stripped bare!

As though every disguise had been peeled away, standing beneath a spotlight, the various experiences of his past were illuminated by that divine halo.

Among them, scenes even appeared of him together with Sister Wan Zhu and the master of Listening Rain Tower.

Damn it!

Only when it involved the Ling Yin Fang, Longxiang Qingtianzong, and other Xian Sects did those images become blurred and unclear.

He had glimpsed his own past! Yuan realized this in an instant.

He saw the images constantly shifting, yet he was completely unable to stop them.

That's not right!

Rather, he didn't even know what method to use, or in what way, to stop it!

That power had briefly granted him the perspective of an 'immortal,' but that didn't mean he could counter techniques from the same level.

Dongzhen could already glimpse the true essence of the world, looking down upon all phenomena of the universe.

But at this moment, the techniques employed by that seven-colored divine figure seemed to him like flowers reflected in a mirror or the moon on water—visible yet untouchable—making it impossible for him to mount any effective counter.

Holy shit!

Was this idiot who only knew how to recite 'heaven gives birth to all things to nourish man' actually this powerful?!

But then, he heard that seven-colored divine figure suddenly let out a muffled grunt, and the images cast by the brilliant divine halo's light were interrupted along with it.

Only now did Yuan notice, at the chest and abdomen of that seven-colored divine figure, a terrifying sword-light that seemed capable of severing everything in the world, even the Great Dao itself.

Hmm? So this was the sword that old neighbor had used to slash him earlier? While he was pondering this, the interrupted Gu did not continue to act; after a deep look at him, He vanished.

Though he had not glimpsed the full picture, he could already confirm this was the technique of the Master Jianzu.

He must have used that piece of green jade he had taken to do something.

It doesn't matter.

At this point, the basic outline was already set; whether he could continue to sustain his spirit, or even whether the Master Jianzu would act, was no longer relevant to the overall situation.

With Gu's departure, that sensation of countless overlapping images and interwoven light and shadow receded like the tide, and Yuan's gaze returned to that elegant waterside pavilion.

A moment of disorientation.

A slender figure sat within the waterside pavilion, with an exquisitely perfect face and calm, indifferent eyes.

Peering into her true essence, two utterly different forces intertwined like a spiral, yet between them there was no mingling whatsoever—clear-cut and distinct.

He wanted to get closer, yet it remained hazy and indistinct, like viewing flowers through fog.

Combined with the Gu who had just appeared…

Something was off! But Xu Xing had instructed him beforehand, so he did not continue to investigate.

"Please come to the meeting room, senior, for a chat."

The gentle voice reached this small space, and the slender figure paused; finally, emotion stirred within those calm eyes.

"Yuan?"

Suddenly, a writhing beneath the skin, as though some terrifying monster were struggling within.

Images flashed before his eyes… the Saber Ancestor swung his blade to cleave the heavens, only to be pressed down by a massive hand spanning the sky, and ultimately perished.

The view pulled back; a figure holding a long sword stood with his back turned, emanating an aura no less imposing than that massive hand, yet merely watching coldly from the sidelines.

A long saber fell, only to be cleaved in two by the long sword…

Images continued to flash, and gradually, that eerie writhing beneath the skin ceased.

The emotion in her eyes subsided, returning once more to indifference.

At this moment, even though Yuan was in the perspective of an 'immortal,' seeing that exquisitely perfect shell gave him a feeling of soul and body trembling, uneasy and restless, as though what stood before him was some terrifyingly extreme existence.

"Very well, I will attend," the slender figure said calmly.

"Thank you, senior."

Hearing her agree, Yuan no longer lingered, and his gaze withdrew from the Secret Realm.

…………

The topmost floor of Speaker Gao Ta.

Apart from that first encounter with Gu, everything afterward went quite smoothly.

Those of the Hetong and Tongxuan realms were directly summoned over.

Those of the Dongzhen realm were notified first, and then came on their own—after all, they were seniors, and respect still had to be shown.

And so more than five minutes passed.

The originally empty meeting room was now full to capacity; all seventy-two seats were occupied, and quite a few people were even standing.

Counting carefully, there were a full one hundred and twenty-one people.

Apart from Chen Yuanlin, who was at the Spirit Transformation Realm, the remaining one hundred and twenty were all at the very least at the Union with the Dao Realm!

A force of such staggering magnitude would have been enough, in the ancient era, to steamroll any great sect other than the Xian Sect.

Moreover, the Righteous Alliance had far more than just these cultivators above the Union with the Dao Realm.

But most of the others held some unimportant sinecure, or else were not on the Central Continent, so they were not among his targets this time.

The meeting room was utterly silent.

Yuan sat at the very head, with Gu Mo — who had rushed back from the Sword Sect — on his left, and a slender figure who had just emerged from the Secret Realm on his right.

Then, according to realm and seniority, they were arranged in descending order below.

In the end, only a small fraction of this generation's council members could actually take a seat; even the Speaker was pushed to a position quite far back.

Looking at the figure seated at the very head, this generation's Speaker now harboured not a shred of doubt.

Gu Mo studied him for a while, and finally could not help but ask: "Yuan, how did you come back?"

Before Yuan could answer, a displeased voice came from the side.

"Gu Mo, from the way you put it, it sounds like you don't want Yuan to come back."

The speaker had hair like a crane's and a child's face, without the slightest trace of aging.

Clad in a Daoist robe, holding a horsetail whisk, he radiated the depth and transcendence of the ages.

The founder of the Wan Fa Dao Sect! Gu Mo frowned: "Naturally I did not mean that."

"Hah! Was it not you who issued the order 'no need to keep searching for Yuan'?"

On this point, the founder of the Wan Fa Dao Sect was deeply displeased — all the more so since this generation's Speaker was his own junior.

"With no progress whatsoever, why waste manpower and resources for nothing?"

Gu Mo himself had not expected that Yuan would actually return at this point in time.

"Then how do you explain Yuan's return at this moment?"

Seeing that the two men's quarrel was on the verge of escalating further…

"Senior Xie, I believe Senior Gu did not mean it that way. Telling people not to search for me was something I had specifically requested before." Yuan spoke up.

His voice was not loud, yet it reached every person's ears with perfect clarity.

The two men glanced at each other, then fell silent.

Even Yuan was somewhat taken aback by this scene. In the past, the two of them would start arguing the moment they met; although they would stop after he spoke, they would still have to bicker a few more rounds afterwards.

How did they stop after just one word today? First update, please subscribe!!

(End of this chapter)