Chapter 88: 88. Chapter 88

88. Chapter 88

Guan San is currently petting the server, please complete your subscription to defeat him! She turned her head and saw a Beihai Sword Sect disciple flying on a sword right beside them. Taking a closer look, it was none other than Zhao Kuo's old acquaintance, Senior Brother Mu.

To be fair, Bai Tian had never spoken a single word to Senior Brother Mu, but she couldn't help it; Zhao Kuo viewed this person as the number one arch-enemy within the "Worship the Senior Brother" cult, and he held a grudge because this man had once stolen an opportunity for him to speak with the Senior Brother. He complained about it all day long, and she couldn't avoid hearing it even if she wanted to.

Perhaps her gaze was too obvious, as Senior Brother Mu turned his head to look over. Upon discovering Atian, he was clearly startled, "... B-Bai Junior Sister!"

Strangely, after seeing Liu Yan next to Atian, he visibly breathed a sigh of relief, muttering things like "Scared the hell out of me" and "To think I'd run into the arsonist."

Atian had to admit that Zhao Kuo's words were sometimes reasonable; this Senior Brother Mu was indeed very punchable.

As they drew closer to Luofu Mountain, the speed of the Beihai Sword Sect group gradually slowed. The team, led by Duan Xuan, stopped one after another at the mountain gate of the Fangxian Way. Atian nimbly jumped down from Liu Yan's wooden sword; after flying in the air for so long, the feeling of having her feet on solid ground actually made her feel a bit unaccustomed.

The disciples dismounted their swords one by one and gathered behind Duan Xuan to reform their formation. Bai Xinli stood beside Li Ke, while Atian, who should have been at the back of the line, was pulled by Liu Yan. Then, both of them simultaneously stretched out their feet and kicked the obstructive Senior Brother Mu to the very end of the line.

Mu Yi, bullied by both his Senior Sister and Junior Sister, lay on the ground in despair, completely unable to understand why he was being treated this way.

Duan Xuan squatted down at the very front and tentatively reached his palm forward. As soon as it entered the range covered by the golden light, it triggered a flurry of sparks and a crackling sound.

"The Fangxian Way's mountain-protecting array, the Golden Light Soul-Refining Array," Li Ke said matter-of-factly. "It is said that this is an array that attacks the soul. Although it is not as overbearing as the Nine-Bend Yellow River Array, it is still considered rare in this world."

"As for its power, it's alright," Duan Xuan retracted his hand and shrugged. "It's still a bit worse than our Universe Star-Dou Sword Array."

"How about it? Shall we break the array and enter?" Li Ke asked calmly.

"No, no, no," Duan Xuan held up an index finger and shook it. "We are here to attend the Qingtan Assembly; we can't be that rude. We must be polite."

After saying this, he, who had just claimed they "must be polite," raised his foot and kicked the Golden Light Soul-Refining Array fiercely. The vibration produced when the two met made the entire mountain range shake.

"You surnamed Wei! Get your ass out here!" Duan Xuan yelled viciously, then kicked the array again. "If you don't come out, I'll tear down your Luofu Mountain!"

Li Ke sighed, unfazed, with an expression that said, "I knew it would be like this."

With Duan Xuan causing such a scene, Wei Sheren did not appear, but it did alarm the disciples guarding the mountain. Two young acolytes in gray Daoist robes came running down the endless stairs in a panic. Upon seeing the Beihai Sword Sect group, they sternly rebuked: "Audacious! This is the important mountain gate of the Fangxian Way; how can you people be so insolent!"

However, they received no response. As these two acolytes ran down to the mountain gate, the mountain-protecting array naturally developed a gap. Although it was fleeting, Duan Xuan seized the opportunity. He flicked his sleeve, and a sharp Sword Qi enveloped everyone, charging fiercely toward the Fangxian Way mountain gate and rushing inside the mountain-protecting array before the gap closed.

The two acolytes were blown about by the strong wind. By the time they climbed back up, they saw a group of uninvited guests standing swaggeringly on their steps, looking around as casually and loosely as tourists sightseeing.

"Y-you people!" The acolytes' faces flushed red with anger, their little fingers pointing at them, trembling non-stop.

"Is this the Crane Acolyte? It's my first time seeing one," Mu Yi said, squatting down in front of the two little beans and pressing down hard with one hand on each. "Let's catch a few to take back? That way we'll have cranes too!"

This remark made the other Beihai Sword Sect disciples' hearts flutter with excitement. Duan Xuan, however, glanced at him and scoffed, "No ambition. Why would you need to snatch such a thing? We must make the Fangxian Way cry and gift them to us!"

If the two Crane Acolytes couldn't tell by now that this group of fierce-looking people was here to cause trouble, they would have to be brain-dead. Their little faces turned deathly pale in an instant, yet they were pinned down by Mu Yi and couldn't run.

"According to my deduction, looking at the flashy nature of these bastards from the Fangxian Way, the scale of the Qingtan Assembly definitely won't be small. This suits me perfectly; it'll be easier to find them," Duan Xuan rubbed his own smooth chin and pointed his other finger at the end of the stairs. "All disciples of the Beihai Sword Sect, listen to my order: fight your way up from here. It's time to let those guys who drink tea and chat see the style of us Sword Cultivators."

Having said this, he added: "Of course, at the end of the day, we are still guests, so we must be po-li-te."

"However, I will climb up step by step right here. If I catch up to you, I won't guarantee what kind of treatment you'll receive after returning to the sect."

This sentence immediately made many people's scalps tighten.

"Don't listen to the Grandmaster scaring you," Li Ke said with a grin, pulling out his usual small notebook from his robes. "At most, I'll just leave a heavy, colorful mark in my records. Don't be afraid, perform as usual!"

Upon hearing this, Mu Yi's legs went soft, and he almost couldn't suppress the two cranes. Many disciples also turned pale, looking at the notebook in Li Ke's hand as if they were seeing a flood or a wild beast.

"Junior Uncle Li, stop messing around."

A hand pressed down on the hand Li Ke was using to hold the notebook. Bai Xinli's voice was like a calming pill, causing the disciples, who had been thoroughly frightened by their two elders, to calm down instantly. He walked to the front of the team, stood on the stairs, and scanned downward. He said to Mu Yi, "Junior Brother Mu, let them go."

As a senior member of the "Worship the Senior Brother" cult, Mu Yi naturally followed the Senior Brother's every word. His body acted before his brain could even react. The two Crane Acolytes, having regained their freedom, were stunned for a moment before turning back into their original forms the next instant, flying away while screaming.

Following their escape, the cranes' panicked warning cries soon echoed over Luofu Mountain. It was foreseeable that someone would soon come to intercept them.

Bai Xinli looked up at the mountain peak and called out, "Junior Sister Bai, you take the lead."

Everyone's gaze fell squarely on the named Atian. The latter, upon hearing this, was neither panicked nor nervous, but gave a shy smile and said, "Okay."

She lifted her skirt and nimbly passed by the other Senior Brothers, arriving in front of Bai Xinli. She unhooked Wanjie from her back and held it in her hand.

At this moment, faint footsteps and shouts were already coming from the end of the stairs, and the cranes in the sky were circling round and round while crying out.

Holding the blade with her left hand and the hilt with her right, Atian slowly drew Wanjie from its scabbard. Tiny sparks of flame spilled out from the scabbard with her movement, and lotus flowers of flame with black edges gathered around her body. The temperature gradually rose, and waves of heat struck. By the time Wanjie was completely drawn, fire lotuses were blooming everywhere, making one feel as if they had returned to that day the dormitory was burned.

Atian carried the sword and began to advance step by step. Wherever she walked, fire lotuses bloomed. Her body trembled slightly, but it was out of excitement. It wasn't that Bai Tian didn't know her strength was low; she was at the bottom of this Beihai Sword Sect group, let alone compared to the Fangxian Dao, which possessed countless talents.

She would likely not be able to beat a single one of them.

But so what?

She wasn't standing here to defeat them in the first place.

Winning or losing didn't matter. To her, the act of fighting itself already held sufficient meaning.

Perhaps she was just born a bit abnormal?

No fear, no timidity; what flowed in her veins was less like blood and more like the will to fight.

She was a sword, and a sword must always be unsheathed.

And she, she was going to unsheathe it against the strong.

They were all stronger than her; that was the truly wonderful part of this matter.

With every step Atian took, her aura grew stronger by a fraction, and the number of fire lotuses Wanjie bloomed increased by one. By the time her aura climbed to its peak, the figures rushing toward her also appeared in her line of sight.

"Who goes there! Why do you trespass on our Fangxian Dao mountain gate!" a young cultivator wearing light purple Daoist robes shouted loudly. Responding to him, however, was a sharp blade wreathed in flames.

"Beihai Sword Sect disciple Bai Tian," Wanjie's blade brushed past the cultivator's cheek, leaving a bloody mark. Atian's voice was soft and gentle. "I have come specifically to learn the high-level techniques of the Fangxian Dao brothers."

As she spoke, she stretched out the tip of her tongue to lick her lips, looking at the clearly stunned Fangxian Dao disciple and the people rushing over in an endless stream behind him. "If you don't go all out, you might just die, you know?"

This time, it wasn't just Lady Bai who jumped up.

Having dealt with the Beihai Sword Sect for fifteen years, the Bai family was already very familiar with the behavioral patterns of these reclusive experts. They wouldn't easily interfere in worldly affairs; they usually left once they confirmed a family was safe. This kind of returning after leaving was a first.

As the saying goes, when things are abnormal, there must be a demon; it was truly hard not to overthink it.

However, there was no time left for them to ponder. Shortly after the servant reported, a youth of seventeen or eighteen years old strode in. He was wearing a moon-white robe, with a long sword symbol embroidered in blue silk at the hem of his lapel. He carried a thick, heavy greatsword on his back that was almost as tall as a person. His long hair, tied back with a ribbon, swayed with the owner's footsteps, the tips brushing against the sword hilt.

A standard Beihai Sword Sect disciple's attire.

The person who arrived was, of course, not Bai Xinli. Although the person before them had thick eyebrows and big eyes and could be considered a handsome youth, if Bai Xinli looked like this now, Atian could only conclude that he had grown up ugly.

Sure enough, as soon as the youth spoke, he confirmed her guess: "Which one is Bai Tian of the Bai family?"

Atian did not move, and Lady Bai stepped forward, "May I ask, Immortal Elder, what business you have with Atian?"

"You are Bai Tian?" The youth looked shocked, as if struck by lightning, and he could not help but take a step back, "She is way too old..."

Perhaps because his reaction was too blunt, Master Bai could not hold it in and let out a "pfft" of laughter.

Lady Bai glared at him and replied irritably, "I am Bai Tian's mother."

Whatever awe for the Immortal Elder or fear of the abnormal had vanished along with the youth's dense behavior.

"Oh, oh, oh!" The visitor touched his chest, "That's a relief, that's a relief, you scared me to death."

Atian felt that Lady Bai probably wanted to tear him apart with her bare hands at this moment.

Perhaps quite aware of his own lack of tact, the youth touched his head in embarrassment after realizing what he had done, then straightened his expression and introduced himself, "I am Zhao Kuo, a disciple of the Beihai Sword Sect, sent by my sect to collect Bai Tian of the Bai family to attend the Ascension Ceremony."

Atian's first reaction upon hearing this was that the other party had found the wrong person; she subconsciously looked at Master Bai and Lady Bai, only to see that they also looked suspicious and uncertain.

In the end, it was Master Bai who stepped forward.

"This Immortal Elder Zhao," he bowed, "my daughter is indeed named Bai Tian, but she has never had any connection with the Xiuxianmen; could it be... a mistake?"