Chapter 645: Countermeasures Against the Righteous Alliance

Not long after.

Chi Jiuyu, face stiff and expressionless, returned Yi Ming Zhenjun to the Sword Ancestor Hall.

She had gone to deliver a message for her uncle, representing his dignity—she could not act as casually as usual; she had to be serious.

“Uncle, Yi Ming Zhenjun has arrived.”

After bowing, Chi Jiuyu stepped aside, each step precisely measured, not the slightest deviation.

Finally, she stood still in the corner, motionless as a statue.

She was now emotionless Fish!

Xu Xing: “...”

This guy is as abstract as ever.

“Alright, now that he’s here, you may leave. Don’t just stand around.”

Chi Jiuyu blinked: “Huh?”

He’s already kicking her out!

She still wanted to see what kind of connection this Yi Ming Zhenjun—the founder of [Seeking Truth]—had with her uncle.

Cross the river and break the bridge...

Yes, yes, yes!

Uncle, this is crossing the river and breaking the bridge!

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, a flash of light descended before her.

Chi Jiuyu fumbled to catch it.

Upon closer inspection, it was a storage ring, identical in design to the ones Xu Xing had given her before.

She probed it with a thread of spiritual sense—her expression instantly turned serious.

“Uncle, then I’ll take my leave.”

Next time there’s something like this, just call me!

Silently adding that to her thoughts, she turned and swiftly left the training ground.

Only when her figure vanished completely from view did Yi Ming Zhenjun take a deep breath, step forward, and bow deeply:

“Zhu Er, pays respects to the Sword Ancestor.”

Yes, Yi Ming Zhenjun’s real name was Zhu Er.

“Sit.” Xu Xing said.

“Yes.”

He did not refuse, sitting directly on the lotus cushion that suddenly appeared.

“How did your negotiations with the Sword Sect go?” Xu Xing asked.

“...” Yi Ming Zhenjun paused. “Fine.”

Since the other immortal sects had not yet been spoken to, and the cost [Jingyue] had paid to gain support from the Divine Mechanism Alchemy Pavilion remained unknown,

he could not judge whether the Sword Sect’s current terms were lenient or harsh.

“Try more. Choose the one with the best terms.”

The cooperation between [Seeking Truth] and the Sword Sect...

He naturally would not interfere in such minor matters.

He mentioned it only to ease Yi Ming Zhenjun’s concerns.

“I understand,” Yi Ming Zhenjun said without surprise.

He had anticipated this before coming.

If the Sword Ancestor’s vision had been limited to the Sword Sect, he would never have raised his sword against it after learning of his past.

“Having met the Sword Ancestor, I have a question I wish to ask.” He spoke up.

“Ask.”

“What is your opinion of Yuan?”

Since he had joined no immortal sect, his information was scarce—far less than even the Righteous Alliance’s.

Even when Xuan broke into the Central Continent to take the “Will of Heaven,” he only knew that a great enemy of humanity had intruded—he knew nothing of the details.

What was his opinion of Yuan?

Xu Xing felt a flicker of oddness.

“He did well. He accomplished many things I never did.”

Yi Ming Zhenjun smiled:

“If Yuan knew you said that, he would surely be pleased.”

“From your tone, you and Yuan are acquainted?”

“Yes. Yuan is indeed my friend.”

When Yuan was first a Nascent Soul, still very weak, he had already seen great potential in him and aided him multiple times.

“Not to hide it from you, when I first met Yuan, I had some intentions of testing him.”

His talent and character were both exceptional.

To say he never entertained the thought of taking him as a disciple would be false.

“Oh?” Xu Xing grew interested. “Then why didn’t it happen?”

Remember, since the purge, Yi Ming Zhenjun had ascended to Tongxuan—he was now a powerful figure.

Even if Yuan’s cultivation advanced rapidly later, at that time he was still weak, precisely when he needed to cling to a strong ally.

Yet it never happened...

That was strange!

“Actually, nothing much. Yuan later joined the Listening Rain Pavilion, and I couldn’t compete with them for a disciple.”

He had gotten along well with the previous head of the Listening Rain Pavilion.

“Besides, as a friend, one is freer than as master and disciple.”

Not to mention Yuan’s later cultivation advancement was terrifying—he surpassed him completely in just over a thousand years.

If they had become master and disciple, and the disciple surpassed the master in realm, how awkward would that be?

“Did he later invite you to join the Righteous Alliance?”

“No,” Yi Ming Zhenjun shook his head slightly, then paused. “But he did explain this to me.”

It was some time after Yuan founded the Righteous Alliance and became its chairman.

“He said he had acted on a momentary impulse, earning the favor of many elders, and thus founded that odd, ill-formed Righteous Alliance.”

“But the Alliance was too idealistic from the start. Even if he remained within it, he could not guarantee it would not veer off course.”

“So he hoped to keep some elders outside the Alliance, so they could warn it if it ever strayed.”

Here, Yi Ming Zhenjun smiled:

“According to him, this is called ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket.’”

Besides him, several other high-level cultivators he was close to had also received the same request.

“By the way,” Yi Ming Zhenjun seemed to recall something. “I remember Yuan mentioned that if the Alliance ultimately headed toward a future he did not wish for, a certain elder—eccentric in temperament, whom he preferred not to deal with—would use his arrangements to correct it.”

This was what Yuan had mentioned after getting drunk during their last meeting.

Hearing this, Xu Xing’s eyes flickered with something inexplicable.

Eccentric temperament, preferred not to deal with...

If he guessed correctly...

Tsk tsk.

To escape his harassment, he went to great lengths to find solutions—yet his final trump card turned out to be himself.

Yuan was indeed a heartless one.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

The Sword Sect’s outer gate training ground.

Because Lin Changsheng had recently arranged for his sentient sword to deliver the batch of spirit herbs he had traded back to his cave to Qing,

and because many areas of the Sword Sect imposed speed limits—especially on uncontrolled flying swords...

Lin Changsheng, despite being a swordsman, ultimately chose to spar barehanded with Zhu Feng.

Zhu Feng was deeply resentful of this.

He believed Lin Changsheng was looking down on him, and insisted on waiting for his sentient sword to return with the herbs.

Only then would he engage Lin Changsheng in a proper, honorable duel!

Even though Lin Changsheng explained that his results were identical barehanded or with a sword, Zhu Feng refused to accept it.

Only after Yue Chongfeng grew impatient and urged him did Zhu Feng reluctantly agree.

For some reason, even though he already knew Yue Chongfeng was a Celestial cultivator, he still wanted to show off...

Of course, this was only his own thought.

Ding!

In a clear clang of metal, the sharp battle knife plunged into the arena’s stone tiles.

Zhu Feng’s face flushed crimson; he knelt halfway, his body sliding backward as if gliding, the knife’s tip sparking brightly against the arena floor.

Across from him, Lin Changsheng appeared utterly at ease, his pinched fingers glowing with a thin layer of white light.