Chapter 372

Lu Yu stopped his form.

Gently stepped upon a tree branch.

It was clearly the way back, yet after several attempts heading in one direction, he ended up back at the starting point.

Ghost wall!

He ceased rushing forward, clasping his hands within his wide sleeves, letting the fabric sway gently with the wind.

The sky darkened once more, fine rain weaving like a net, blurring heaven and earth.

Yet the rain never touched Lu Yu—as if afraid to stain him, it automatically parted around him.

He gazed at the dense forest around him, knowing that once he crossed this mere dozen li of woodland, he would reach the official road.

Yet!

This place had been sealed by an unfathomably mysterious array—he had cultivated for years but had never encountered such a thing.

Like being lost in a maze, unable to escape.

He could not tell whether the trees had been moved or the land itself sealed off.

In any case, it was no mortal art!

The one behind this meant him harm—or rather, had come specifically for him.

Lu Yu decided to stop futile efforts; he knew his brother's instructions at the tavern carried deep meaning.

Since he could not leave for now, he might as well deal with this immediate threat first.

With this thought, his restless mind gradually settled into stillness, like the still waters of a deep pool, sensing his surroundings.

Not long after!

A soft patter of footsteps, stepping through the forest's puddles, slowly drew near.

Lu Yu opened his eyes, gliding lightly down from the branch—yet he did not touch the ground, hovering two zhang above the earth as if standing on air.

He looked down at the five figures!

An old Daoist and a middle-aged monk stood side by side.

Behind them stood three figures clad in black robes, their faces hidden, their genders indiscernible, heads bowed in silence.

The old Daoist was tall, draped in a hemp robe, wearing a lotus crown, his hair, eyebrows, and beard all white, yet his face still flushed purple-red.

The old Daoist slowly lifted his gaze toward Lu Yu above, his eyes filled with surprise and awe.

The middle-aged monk was thin, one shoulder exposed, bald-headed; his features were ordinary, but his sunken eyes gave him a profound air, like a common ascetic.

"Amitabha," he chanted, his voice hoarse.

One Daoist, one Buddhist!

These two were Xuantianzi, the patriarch of Taiping Dao, and Wanyan Yunshan, the Wolf King of Beifeng.

Wanyan Yunshan had once met Lu Yu, but they had never fought.

As for this Wolf King, it was said he had been abandoned as a child in the wild, raised in a wolf den, feeding on raw flesh and blood, accustomed to walking on all fours.

Later, he was taken in by a high monk of Lingxi Temple, who taught him martial arts and literacy, setting him on a different path.

Wanyan Yunshan gradually shed his beastly nature, thanks to the monk's careful guidance.

Seeing his unyielding will and ability to subdue his own heart, the monk broke Lingxi Temple's centuries-old tradition and bestowed upon him the temple's secret scripture, the Yi Sui Jing.

Yet someone noticed Wanyan Yunshan; the matter was exposed. The monk warned him to abandon greed, then took his own life to atone.

Wanyan Yunshan fled back to Beifeng, joined Zangcang Miao, one of the secret Buddhist sects, and cultivated the Xiu Luo Xue Shen.

Eventually, he slew the sect's Grand Master abbot and entered the Jiang Jingzhe List as one of the Ten Great Masters of the Jianghu.

Afterward, he drove away all the monks in the temple and vanished for a time.

Some claimed to have seen Wanyan Yunshan's final appearance before the grave of that high monk from Lingxi Temple in Jiangnan.

He was a figure in the Jianghu, neither wholly good nor wholly evil.

In the Jianghu, people called him the Wolf King, for wherever he walked, wolf packs followed behind him.

At this moment, Wanyan Yunshan clasped his hands together and said gravely: "Ling'e True Person, it has been a long time."

Lu Yu's title in the Jianghu was Ling'e True Person—meaning "Dream of Dread" in the martial world.

In the martial world, names may be mispronounced, but titles are never wrongly chosen.

Lu Yu lifted his eyes toward the forest and felt dozens of green eyes glowing in the dense trees.

Those were wolf eyes!

The Wolf King's name was indeed no empty boast.

As for Xuantianzi, one of the Five Supreme Masters, Lu Yu had never met him before.

Though both were among the Five Supreme Masters, Xuantianzi had not stepped outside Shousui Guan for nearly twenty years.

This meeting was undoubtedly their first encounter.

The tall Daoist's expression grew slightly agitated as he murmured:

"It's like him—so incredibly like him!"

He stared at Lu Yu's youthful face, then gazed toward the horizon, filled with profound emotion:

"It seems this world truly holds the cycle of heaven's Dao!"

Neither Xuantianzi nor Wanyan Yunshan's words affected Lu Yu; his gaze remained cold as starlight.

Lu Yu slowly descended, hovering three cun above the ground, not touching the grass or mud, meeting their eyes levelly.

Compared to the paper-thin Grand Master Ouyang Ouyang Huangquan, these two were worlds apart.

Wanyan Yunshan's qi was overflowing, his cultivation profound—Lu Yu had rarely seen such depth.

Xuantianzi's aura was utterly concealed, returned to simplicity and purity—he had truly reached the pinnacle of the Tianren realm.

As for the three figures behind them, wrapped in black robes, their qi was dead still, like corpses.

Neither dared to underestimate him—nor could they.

This famed Ling'e True Person possessed the power to match his reputation.

Even before spiritual energy had revived, he had already reached the Grand Master realm.

Xuantianzi asked slowly: "Lu Yu, don't you wish to know why we've come for you?"

"Old Daoist has never met you, holds no grudge or debt."

"Why did I summon Wanyan to kill you?"

"Does this not strike you as strange?"

Lu Yu merely curled his lips slightly: "I don't know—and I don't care."

Xuantianzi pressed: "Then don't you wish to know why, though you're past fifty, you still retain such youthful vigor?"

"Don't care!" Lu Yu's reply remained crisp.

Xuantianzi said gravely: "Or don't you wish to know who you truly are?"

He stared at Lu Yu, as if trying to read something in his expression.

Yet he found nothing.

"You're a strange man—speaking nothing but nonsense!"

Lu Yu smiled lightly: "I am myself—why must I be someone else? I know only this: I am Lu Shenzhou's younger brother, Lu You'an."

Xuantianzi shook his head, praising:

"Truly, a heart of pure sincerity—born for the Dao."

Lu Yu crossed his arms, expression calm.

"First kill you, then slay Lu Chen—then old Daoist's merit will be complete."

"Taiping Dao preserves eternal peace!"

The usually composed Xuantianzi spoke with a mad fervor.

Hearing this!

Lu Yu's expression changed, his voice turning icy as frost.

"You seek death," he said coldly.

Lu Yu unleashed his full Tianren realm aura—in the eyes of Wanyan Yunshan and Xuantianzi, the surrounding trees began to lose their color.

Only black and white remained.

Even their own bodies turned black and white.

Only Lu Yu retained other colors.

Wanyan Yunshan frowned, wary—he knew this was a technique only a true Tianren could wield.

"Tianren Waijing!"

Influencing the outer world through the inner realm.

Only a Tianren who has forged his own martial path can manifest it.

In Daoism, this has a special name—"Daochang," or "Dao Domain."

It is a unique space where the user stands in perfect harmony with heaven and earth, gaining strength from it.

Different Tianren produce different effects within their inner scenes, varying in power.

Xiao Yue's outer scene manifested as a monstrous bird with four wings, one eye, and a dog's tail—named "Xiao."

Once he activated it, those around him felt their spirits seized, as if bewitched by the monstrous bird.

This outer scene's formation was intimately tied to Xiao Yue's foundational martial art.

Though Wanyan Yunshan did not know Xiao Yue's exact martial art, he could discern its close connection to birds.

Xiao Yue's origins remain mysterious.

Yanyunshan felt that within this black-and-white external realm, his movements had grown sluggish, as if bound by some unseen force.

Moreover, his spiritual energy drained far more rapidly, causing him to frown deeply.

The area encompassed by this external realm was simply too vast—nearly seven to eight zhang in diameter, truly absurd. After all, even Xiao Yue's external realm could not fully cover the entire tavern.

Indeed, there are differences even among the Five Extremes.

With Xuantianzi's aid, Yanyunshan finally entered the supreme realm of "Heaven and Human."

But the cost was this—he must join forces with Xuantianzi to jointly kill Lu Yu.

At this moment, within Lu Yu's Dao domain, Yanyunshan barely managed to summon a blood-red "pool of blood" beneath his feet, allowing his body to regain its original color within Lu Yu's domain.

Yet even so, his original one-zhang-wide blood-red external realm had shrunk under Lu Yu's pressure to barely a chi in size.

Lu Yu glanced at Yanyunshan, but paid him little heed.

His attention was focused far more on Xuantianzi.

Xuantianzi did not rely on an external realm as Yanyunshan had.

With his left hand forming a seal, he gently lifted three figures clad in black robes behind him, as if with invisible threads.

He abruptly tore open their robes, revealing the true faces within.

Two of them were hunched and emaciated, dressed in the Daoist robes of the Taiping Sect, their bodies resembling dried corpses.

They possessed nothing but skulls, their eye sockets sunken into two black voids, revealing rows of teeth, crowned with lotus hats—grotesque and chilling.

The third was tall, his face still clinging to rotting flesh, his features indiscernible.

This sight surprised even Yanyunshan.

Xuantianzi smiled and said: "These three are my Taiping Sect's most renowned three Patriarchs."

"During each of the three Spiritual Energy Resurgences, they reached full cultivation of the Heaven and Human realm."

"Today, I, Xuantianzi, summon them to aid me."

Corpse puppets!

The three founding ancestors of the Taiping Sect had been turned into corpse puppets.

Yanyunshan stared at the scene before him, filled with shock and disbelief.

He had never imagined Xuantianzi would turn two of the Taiping Sect's founding ancestors into corpse puppets.

The crafting of corpse puppets is exceedingly cruel: it requires the dead to be saturated with resentment to preserve their original cultivation.

This method typically employs horrific means—murdering their loved ones, slowly refining them into puppets amid their hatred.

Yanyunshan's heart churned. He knew the Taiping Sect had always preached kindness toward others, and Xuantianzi had long been famed for his chivalry.

This scene clashed utterly with everything he knew of the Taiping Sect and Xuantianzi—he found it unbearable to accept.

Suddenly!

Yanyunshan realized: history recorded only three Spiritual Energy Resurgences—and the fourth was happening now.

He stared at the corpse on the far end, whose build resembled Xuantianzi's, and whose decaying face still bore faint traces of features.

A chilling thought struck him.

Could this one be Xuantianzi himself?

Xuantianzi seemed to sense Yanyunshan's doubt.

With Lu Yu right before him, he no longer concealed his identity:

"Old Taoist am Li Taiping. I have lived seven hundred years. Today, Shoushui Temple shall be your funeral."

Yanyunshan was stunned, yet even hearing it from Xuantianzi's own lips, he could not believe it.

Rumors in Baoyue Tower long claimed that the current Taiping Sect Patriarch, Xuantianzi, had lived over seven hundred years.

This man was the Daoist who, alongside the founding ancestor of the Han Kingdom, established the Han Kingdom—and the founding patriarch of the Taiping Sect.

Li Taiping!

Even now, the revelation shook him to his core.

Mortals live a hundred years, then return to dust—who could possibly live seven hundred?

What cultivation realm must one attain to achieve such longevity?

Yanyunshan inwardly marveled.

He no longer knew whether to call him Xuantianzi or Li Taiping.

Li Taiping smiled calmly, his voice laced with complex emotion: "Of course, these three were also my most accomplished disciples—and they all discovered I was Li Taiping. Some grew greedy; others, terrified."

"They should never have coveted the realm beyond Heaven and Human, seeking enlightenment and ascension."

"As their master, I had no choice but to purge the sect!"

He turned to Lu Yu, his tone carrying neither clear hatred nor satisfaction:

"You must be the destined one recorded in ancient texts. Had you lived before the Heaven's Collapse three thousand years ago, you would have been a celestial master. But this is the End Dharma Age—you, too, are merely at the Heaven and Human realm, no different from us."

Xuantianzi's fingers continued forming seals, sending streams of spiritual energy into the three corpses.

Simultaneously, the "forbidden" talisman in his hand flew upward, hanging in the sky, sealing off this entire area.

This was why Lu Yu could not escape—the space was forbidden to passage!

Lu Yu looked up at the talisman, slowly dissolving into the air.

A new cosmic law now seemed to hang over this place.

Truly, the methods of immortals.

At this moment, red lights flickered to life within the eye sockets of the three corpses. They slowly raised their heads, as if awakened by some unseen force.

A cold, malevolent aura spread through the air, sending shivers down the spine.

The three corpses unleashed their Heaven and Human realm cultivation.

Yanyunshan stared at the three corpses, a sudden, overwhelming fear rising within him.

He stole a glance toward the forest's edge.

But the old Daoist chuckled: "Yanyunshan, too late!"

Yanyunshan's face paled—he realized his limbs were already seized by the three corpses, immobilized.

The corpses opened their maws, eager to bite him.

"Ah—"

"Yanyunshan, this is the price of becoming a Heaven and Human!"

Yanyunshan's body rapidly withered, finally becoming a desiccated corpse.

Dozens of wolves from the forest charged forward, attempting to attack the three corpses—but each was swiftly drained dry.

Lu Yu did not so much as lift his eyelids.

After absorbing their blood and essence, the three corpses reached full Heaven and Human realm cultivation, standing shakily before Li Taiping.

Li Taiping gazed at the three corpses, a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes.

"Lu Yu, today I, Li Taiping, sever you once more from your cycle of rebirth!"

"I, Li Taiping, do not kill you for myself—but for all beings under heaven."

(End of Chapter)