Chapter 58: True Monarch Taiwu

Longmen Mountain is situated to the northeast of the Great Song, still two thousand li away from the capital, and even further, over three thousand li, from the Taiyuan Sect at the edge of the Southern Border.

In normal times, the two sects mind their own business, and apart from the standard Immortal World alliance exchange held every ten years, they have almost no interaction.

Even if there is interaction, it is at most the occasional visit between Elders with cultivation at the Danyuan Realm or higher to drink tea and discuss the Dao; the interactions between disciples under their tutelage are practically negligible, as each side practices and toils away within their own traditional territories.

Great Cultivators of the Spirit Realm go out even less often, or if they do, it is for long journeys, no longer confined to a corner of the Great Song; the entire Shenzhou and even the Four Seas and Eight Desolations are their range of activity, so they are basically indifferent to what happens within the small Song Kingdom, and all large and small Immortal Sects in Shenzhou with Spirit Realm Great Cultivators are long since no longer limited to national disputes, but are all striving to advance toward higher places.

With different cultivation levels, one's perspective is naturally different; the higher the realm, the broader the mind naturally becomes.

Originally, the deaths of Liang Feng and Guo Ming were not worth mentioning at all to Spirit Realm Great Cultivators like Taiwu Zhenjun, and they usually paid almost no attention to the development of the sect.

But for the Danyuan Realm Elders who manage the main affairs of the sect, the loss of every single one of these Core Disciples is felt with great pain; even if they cannot get to the bottom of it, they still must clarify the cause of death, otherwise the sect's reputation would suffer.

Moreover, this time the Yuqing Hall had almost lost a Danyuan Realm Elder by some strange twist of fate; even if these old fellows did not want to care, such a loss could not be ignored.

Therefore, Yuyang Zhenjun could not help but come to cause trouble for Longmen Mountain, and Taiwu Zhenjun, having suffered a setback, could not help but go to cause trouble for the Taiyuan Sect.

Generally speaking, picking the softest persimmon has always been a tradition.

The stone that is the Yuqing Hall is too hard to squeeze, but the Taiyuan Sect is neither soft nor hard, just right for bullying, and besides, the Taiyuan Sect is indeed deeply involved in this matter.

Of course, Taiwu Zhenjun naturally could not lower his face to go and demand people directly from a small-to-medium-sized Immortal Sect guarded only by Danyuan Realm cultivators, so he arranged for the Second Elder Qingyunzi, who is in the mid-Danyuan Realm, to go, but he did not expect that something would go wrong.

Qingyunzi went for five days without a single word of news, and he could not even sense any information through his Heavenly Calculation.

That is to say, Qingyunzi had gone missing.

Now, Taiwu Zhenjun naturally could not sit still.

A distance of over three thousand li is but half an hour for a Spirit Transformation Great Cultivator.

Therefore, not long after Taiwu Zhenjun left the snow-covered Longmen Mountain, he had already arrived outside the gates of Taiyuan Mountain.

One could see a cold wind rolling in the sky; in the clear, bright sky of early autumn, a flurry of ice and snow swirled and fell from thin air, and a peerless powerhouse wearing grey-white Daoist robes, with snow-white hair and a face like an infant, appeared; his terrifying aura instantly shook a radius of a thousand li, the whistling mountain wind fell silent, and time and space seemed to freeze instantly.

At this moment, everyone in the Taiyuan Sect suddenly felt their souls tremble, and then a fear originating from the depths of their souls welled up, and the hairs on their bodies stood on end instantly.

"I am Taiwu Zhenjun of Longmen Mountain. Where is Danchenzi? Come out and speak with me!"

The old man spoke, his rolling voice penetrating everywhere, permeating the several mountain peaks of the entire Taiyuan Sect like a tide.

Xu Chen and the others naturally knew that disaster was imminent, but no one retreated.

Things had reached this point; sticking one's head out means a blade, and pulling it back also means a blade; they had not run away earlier, and now there was no chance to run.

Therefore, a moment later, more than a dozen figures soared into the air, and soon they all gathered in front of the Taiyuan Hall on the mountaintop.

The Third Elder's injuries had not yet healed, but he was the only Elder still able to move, so he had to bite the bullet and fly near the mountain gate, bowing deeply to the Taiwu Zhenren standing in the high sky, saying:

"Third Elder of the Taiyuan Sect, Li Xuanfeng, leads the disciples to pay respects to Taiwu Zhenjun."

Taiwu Zhenjun nodded slightly and said: "Li Xuanfeng, five days ago, Elder Qingyunzi of my sect came to your Taiyuan Sect to inquire about the cause of death of my Longmen Mountain disciple Guo Ming, but he has not yet returned; do you know his whereabouts?"

The Third Elder's face turned pale instantly, and cold sweat rolled down.

Although he is in the True Essence Late Stage and already seems unreachable and profound in cultivation to ordinary cultivators, and might be able to steady his mind in front of Danyuan Realm cultivators, in front of a Spirit Transformation True Monarch, any slight disturbance in his heart would be magnified a thousand times under the resonance of the Soul, and he simply could not control his emotions.

Seeing the Third Elder lose control of his Soul, Taiwu Zhenren naturally understood that something was wrong, so he raised his hand and grabbed; the Spirit Qi rolled and turned into a giant hand, grabbing the Third Elder within it, and he shouted sternly: "Speak quickly, where is Elder Qingyunzi of my sect? Is he alive or dead?"

"Taiwu Zhenjun, release our Third Elder quickly, otherwise Qingyangzi will surely die!"

In the secret chamber at the back of the mountain, the Eldest Senior Brother soared into the air, still holding a person in his hand, with one hand pressed against the person's forehead.

Taiwu Zhenjun scanned with his Divine Sense, and his expression changed drastically.

The person in the Eldest Senior Brother's hand was Qingyunzi, but he was already in a deep coma, and his dantian had been locked tight; if not for his normal breathing, he would be exactly like a dead person.

"You have such great gall, actually harming people from my Longmen Mountain!"

Taiwu Zhenjun was furious, his beard and hair bristling, and the rolling Spirit Qi turned into a sky-filling tide and pressed down from the air; instantly, the mountain peak collapsed, and the trees and houses on Zhaoyang Peak crumbled like rotten wood.

Xu Chen and the group of disciples instantly lost control under the impact of this terrifying aura; not only was their Divine Sense crushed to ashes, but even their vital energy could not be controlled at all, and under the impact of the violent Spirit Qi and Divine Sense, they screamed, rolled, and vomited blood one by one, piling up in the ruins of the collapsed Taiyi Hall.

The Eldest Senior Brother bore the brunt and was the most severely injured; because his realm was too low, everyone had underestimated the terror of a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator, and he had no room to struggle or fight back at all before his Sea of Consciousness was breached by Taiwu Zhenjun's Divine Sense, and then, rolled by the Spirit Qi, he fainted completely.

Taiwu Zhenjun raised his hand and grabbed, pulling the unconscious Qingyunzi before him, and tapped his finger lightly on his dantian; one could see several rays of array light shatter, and the Locking Yuan Array was instantly destroyed.

However, Qingyunzi did not wake up; Taiwu Zhenjun tapped his finger on his brow again, and after a moment his expression became extremely ugly; he stared at the Taiyuan Sect disciples lying all over the ground in front of the Taiyi Hall and roared: "Who, who hurt him like this?"

Everyone remained silent.

Taiwu Zhenjun turned his head to look at the Third Elder, who was still being restrained in the air by the giant hand of Spirit Qi, and said with a livid face: "If you do not give this old man a reasonable explanation today, then the Taiyuan Sect can be removed from the Immortal World starting from today."

The Third Elder, with blood flowing from his nose and mouth, said with a pale face: "Since Longmen Mountain is unreasonable, what else is there to say? Kill or carve as you please; the Taiyuan Sect will accept death, but in the future, Longmen Mountain will surely suffer the same crime. The Dao of Heaven is a cycle, and you cannot escape it."

Taiwu Zhenjun's hair flew in his rage, and he sneered: "You, a mere True Essence Realm cultivator, actually dare to speak of the Dao of Heaven."

The Third Elder said: "Could it be that your Longmen Mountain relies on robbery and murder to become immortals and attain the Dao? Qingyunzi came to the Taiyuan Sect to stir up trouble and demand an explanation, wanting to kill my disciples without distinguishing right from wrong; his outcome is of his own seeking. Even if we are not as good as Longmen Mountain, we will certainly not suffer this humiliation. If you destroy my Taiyuan Sect today, Longmen Mountain will surely face retribution tomorrow; when you die in the future, do not regret the karma you have committed today."

"Hahahaha..."

Taiwu Zhenjun laughed up at the sky and raised his hand to crush the Third Elder, but suddenly a sense of inexplicable fear arose in his heart; he looked up abruptly and saw that in the clear sky above, a mass of purple misty energy had suddenly appeared, and it was rolling and gathering rapidly, forming a cloud mass of over a hundred zhang in size above Zhaoyang Peak in the blink of an eye.

Within the cloud mass, lightning seemed to leap and roll like golden snakes.

At the same time, a terrifying pressure descended from the sky, shrouding a radius of a thousand li.

"Heavenly Tribulation~"

Taiwu Zhenjun's face twitched wildly as he exclaimed in shock.

At this moment, in the back mountain of Zhaoyang Peak, a middle-aged man wearing grey-green Daoist robes rose into the air, hanging steadily a hundred zhang above the peak, right under the rolling purple clouds.

At the same time, a deep voice resounded across the sky: "Brother Taiwu, you came to my Taiyuan Sect today to bully the weak; after I complete my Spirit Transformation, I will definitely go to your Longmen Mountain to ask for a cup of hot tea."

Taiwu Zhenjun opened his mouth wide, his face full of disbelief, and only after a long while did he say: "Danchenzi, you... where did you get the Spirit Transformation Pill? This old man heard that your Soul Returning Wood has not yet borne fruit, and Baiyun Zhenjun also refused to refine the Ziyun Pill for you."

"Hahahaha..." Danchenzi laughed up at the sky and said: "Since you want to know, you can stay and protect the Dharma for me; after I pass the tribulation and complete my Spirit Transformation, I will naturally tell you the truth. If you want to take advantage of the fire to cause trouble, I am sorry, but I will have to drag you along to face the tribulation together, and then life and death will be up to fate."

Taiwu Zhenjun's face twitched wildly, and he gritted his teeth and snorted: "Are you so sure you can drag this old man along to face the tribulation?"

Danchenzi smiled faintly and said: "At least seventy percent sure. If you want to test the power of the Heavenly Tribulation, I can reluctantly drag you along. Besides, to tell you the truth, I am not using a Spirit Transformation Pill to break through my realm, so this Heavenly Tribulation will likely be much stronger than the one you faced when you completed your Spirit Transformation..."

Taiwu Zhenjun looked up and stared fixedly at the rolling purple thunderclouds above Zhaoyang Peak, his heart filled with even more fear.

Although he did not quite believe Danchenzi's nonsense.

But at this moment, the Tribulation Cloud was still expanding; it was only a hundred zhang in radius just now, but in the time it took to say these few words, it had already doubled in size.

However, the lightning tribulation showed no sign of falling yet, which meant that this Heavenly Tribulation was far from reaching its maximum power and was still continuously gathering strength.

Danchenzi stopped speaking as well and likewise looked up at the sky; although his expression was calm, his facial muscles could not help but twitch slightly.

The scale and intensity of this lightning tribulation had already begun to exceed his expectations.

Furthermore, judging by the situation, this was not the end, as the Tribulation Cloud was still gathering continuously and seemed to be about to exceed three hundred zhang very soon.

Up until now, in the entire Great Song Immortal World, it had never been heard of for the scale of a Spirit Transformation Tribulation's Tribulation Cloud to exceed three hundred zhang, because even a two-nine Heavenly Tribulation was only around five hundred zhang.

Therefore, he truly did not have much confidence in whether he could survive the Heavenly Tribulation this time.