Chapter 156

At nightfall, a faint vibration suddenly came from Wang Yu's bosom; he opened his eyes, reached in with one hand, and pulled out a white circular disc, pulsing softly as it dimmed and brightened intermittently.

Wang Yu's gaze flickered briefly; he tucked the disc away and stepped out of the wooden hut.

Though it was deep night, shadows still moved about the encampment, groups of three or five gathered together, speaking in low tones.

Clearly, because the Dharma Assembly was about to begin, some disciples had rested only briefly before leaving their huts to continue exchanging information.

Wang Yu ignored the others, strolled casually out of the encampment, and entered a nearby patch of forest.

After walking a short distance, he arrived before a tree thick as a man could embrace, casually pressed one hand against its trunk, withdrew his hand, and walked out of the woods alone, returning to his wooden hut.

The entire process seemed casual, as if he had merely stepped out for a stroll.

Half an hour later, in the same forest, Gu Lian appeared beneath the large tree, scanned the trunk with his spiritual sense, then slapped it with one hand.

A muffled "thump."

From a recess in the trunk, two objects shot out: a white circular disc, and a blue sphere the size of a fist.

Gu Lian rejoiced, swept them into his sleeve with one motion, and turned to leave.

…

The next morning, as dawn barely broke, many disciples from the four sects had already risen and begun preparing.

Wang Yu, too, opened his eyes in his wooden hut; after a night of meditation, his spirit and physical strength were at absolute peak.

He flipped his hand, and three storage bags appeared in his grasp; he began organizing their contents.

One storage bag held several of his magical artifacts.

Another contained items of great importance to him, which he must carry on his person.

The last bag held talismans, vials of medicine, and a dozen spare mid-grade spirit stones.

These talismans were either spoils from past foes he had slain, or purchased from the General Affairs Hall for various uses.

The vials contained healing or detoxifying medicines, while a few held poison so potent it killed on contact.

Wang Yu took out the "Wind-Fire Chant" and the Mother-Son Floating Mirror, inspected both thoroughly, and, finding no flaws, felt reassured.

These two artifacts differed from ordinary ones—they were sets, and if any single component failed, the entire set would become unusable.

Just as Wang Yu was about to put the two artifacts away and retrieve others for inspection, the ground lurched violently; the temporary wooden hut collapsed.

Wang Yu startled, snatched up his storage bags, punched the air with rapid blows, and sent a massive falling beam flying, then his body was wreathed in white clouds as he shot straight upward.

"Whoosh." "Whoosh."

A fierce wind had suddenly arisen in the sky.

The moment he rose into the air, multiple gales slammed into him, tossing his form wildly; had he not quickly dropped back to the ground and driven his feet deep into the earth, he would have been swept away.

The violent shaking had not ceased; everywhere he looked was a yellow haze of sand and dust, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Other disciples from the Four Symbols Sect who had just burst from their huts were also staggering and falling in the quake and sandstorm, cries of alarm echoing everywhere.

"Overclock."

Wang Yu, stunned and furious, immediately activated Overclock Sync Mode; his eyes glowed with crystalline light, piercing through the swirling sand to see a strange sight high above the four encampments.

Hundreds of zhang above, a massive white halo had appeared, as large as a pavilion, emitting waves of astonishing power; wherever the waves passed, gales roared and the ground thundered.

Beneath the giant halo, four figures stood facing each other across the void.

One was an old man in golden robes, a golden miniature toad perched on his shoulder—it was Lao Zu of Tianchan; beside him stood an old monk in a yellow kasaya, gaunt and with snow-white eyebrows, a golden bowl floating above his head.

Opposite them, one figure was shrouded in rolling black mist; within the mist, a shadowy figure loomed behind a faint, colossal black banner.

The other was a beautiful woman seated in a crimson sedan, with two sturdy bearers in front and two behind, plus a slender maid—all six dressed in festive red, yet each with blank faces and lifeless eyes, like puppets.

The four said nothing, merely stood beneath the white halo, staring at each other across the distance.

Yet Lao Zu of Tianchan and the yellow-robed monk both wore grim expressions, while the beautiful woman in the sedan smiled faintly, calm and at ease.

"Two Golden Core masters of the demonic path—and they've appeared at once!"

Wang Yu, seeing this, instantly understood what had happened; he sucked in a sharp breath.

Why hadn't the four moved? Where were the elders of the Sunset Sect and the Thousand Bamboo Sect? And what was this white halo in the sky?

Wang Yu's mind reeled, but he pushed off the earth with his legs, leapt free of the soil, and with a single motion, rode a gale straight toward the nearby forest.

As he flew, he murmured incantations; wisps of white clouds drifted over his body, and he vanished from the air.

No matter what was happening, he knew well the principle: a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.

If a Golden Core battle might erupt, he must flee the encampment as swiftly as possible and find a safe place to hide.

Many disciples from the four sects shared Wang Yu's thought; as he barely slipped into the forest, a series of "whooshes" erupted from the Four Symbols encampment—over a hundred figures shot skyward in all directions.

Wang Yu, seeing this, felt a pang of exasperation; he concealed his form, sprinted over a hundred zhang, then landed softly atop a giant tree, his eyes glowing with crystalline light as he gazed upward at the white halo, his ears twitching slightly, using his enhanced hearing to filter out the roaring sandstorm and listen to the Golden Core elders' conversation.

But strangely, these four demonic and orthodox elders simply hovered in midair, silent, ignoring the chaos below as if they could stand like this until the end of time.

Wang Yu, puzzled by this, noticed a change.

From the Sunset Sect and Thousand Bamboo Sect encampments below, two other white lights suddenly shot upward like meteors, streaking straight toward the giant halo in the sky.