Chapter 552: Different Paths (23)

"To think that old dragon actually managed to run away like that!!?"

Xianglou stomped his foot in anger, the immense force causing the entire stretch of dilapidated architecture to collapse with a boom.

Boom!!!

These ancient Heavenly Court buildings were no ordinary objects; they still possessed powerful strength even after passing through who knows how many years, and even ordinary Earth Realm cultivators had no way to destroy them.

Yet at this moment, under the force of his single kick, they were smashed to pieces by pure violence.

"Wasn't Ao Zhun beaten up quite well by that monk? How did he end up so full of life instead?"

"They weren't just putting on an act before, were they?"

As Xianglou said this, his gaze drifted seemingly unintentionally toward Daliang at his side, a faint suspicion in his eyes.

There were two of us, the opponent was only one, and he was even a weakened Incarnation.

And we still let Ao Zhun run away?

You have to be joking, right?

Could it be that this guy went easy on him?

Xianglou knew he himself had no other intentions; when he struck, he had used his maximum ability and had absolutely no thought of going easy.

But he could not guarantee that the others were the same as him.

The strong are all extremely confident.

Rather than doubt oneself, it is better to question others.

Since it was not my problem, then it must be someone else's problem.

And just as Xianglou was thinking this, Daliang on the other side was thinking the same thing.

"Could it be that this guy is playing tricks in the dark?"

"Tsk, I've felt this guy was unreliable from the start."

Their relationship was not very harmonious to begin with, and it had already begun to gradually fracture because of the previous matter of the leaked information.

By this moment, it had reached the point of almost completely tearing off their masks; the two of them could barely even maintain their superficial pretense.

"Hmph!"

"Ha!"

The two men's gazes happened to meet, and almost simultaneously, they let out a cold laugh of ambiguous meaning.

"If Brother Xianglou has any suspicions, you might as well say them directly; why bother being so roundabout and sarcastic here?"

"How would I dare to suspect Brother Daliang? After all, you entered the Butian Alliance a step before me and are a highly respected senior."

"Heh heh, then I have never seen you show me any respect."

"Pfft, everyone here is hiding their heads and showing their tails; what is there to talk about regarding respect?"

The two of them traded barbs in a snide, back-and-forth manner, but they were, after all, top-tier experts of the world and did not choose to tear off their masks at this time.

The matter had not yet been resolved; tearing off their masks now would not help solve the problem at all, and would instead only make them appear incompetent.

If they let the Alliance Leader think they were not worth cultivating, and they lost out on some opportunities for advancement in the future, that would be far too great a loss.

But the two were already at odds despite their superficial cooperation; continuing like this would not help the mission at all, so rather than continue to suspect each other, it was better to simply go their separate ways.

Thus, Daliang took the initiative to propose: "Since Brother Xianglou has suspicions about me, why don't we act separately? If you can catch that old dragon, the credit will count only for you, and vice versa. How about that?"

"Whoever catches the old dragon first must notify the other, and then we will meet directly at the Dragon Transformation Pool."

"Fine!"

Xianglou had long had this intention and nodded immediately: "Hmph, that suits me perfectly! Then I will take the eastern and northern regions, and you be responsible for the western and southern ones."

At the moment of parting, they even glanced at each other and secretly let out a cold laugh.

Daliang: "Without this brute getting in my way, things won't be so troublesome."

Xianglou: "This guy is in such a hurry to split up with me; he must want to go and help that old dragon in secret! I'll just follow behind him, and when the time comes, I'll catch them red-handed and round them all up!"

Daliang did not expect that Xianglou's lack of trust in him had reached such a degree; after shaking the other off, he began to fly toward the west using his own method.

And behind him, a faint shadow trailed far in the distance, also flying toward the south.

It was only an hour after they had left that an aged head poked out from the underground.

Ao Zhun.

"Cough, cough!" He coughed weakly, fresh blood spilling from the corners of his mouth, but he quickly wiped it away, not letting a trace of the scent of blood leak out.

Ao Zhun had not run off to other places as Xianglou and Daliang had imagined, but had instead hidden underground.

"Both of them went to the west and south, so I can only hide in the east and north for now... No, perhaps they are trying to trick me!"

Ao Zhun could not be sure whether those two were acting or truly at odds, but he had no room for choice at this moment; his weakened body did not allow him to hesitate any longer.

"I have to gamble on it!"

He crawled out of the ground with difficulty, losing quite a bit of blood in the process, all of which he cautiously collected.

"I can feel it; there is something I need here, something is calling to me!"

Ao Zhun did not know exactly what was resonating with his bloodline and constantly sending out calls to him, but since this was the Heavenly Court of the ancient era, it was certainly no ordinary object; it was very likely the inheritance of some dragon ancestor!

Ao Zhun was determined to obtain that inheritance, as this might be his only chance now.

However, this place was fraught with danger; before going to inherit the legacy, he needed to adjust his state to its best as quickly as possible.

"Cough, cough... This body is about to be ruined; I must replenish my life force." The great battle with the two from the Butian Alliance had consumed too much, and in the end, he had even been forced to sever his tail to survive; his state at this moment had reached its worst.

But Ao Zhun had no more pills on him; if he wanted to replenish his life force, he could only plunder it from others.

"There are still many people here; no one will notice if one or two go missing."

Either snatch pills or eat the other person directly, refining them right in his belly.

"That fake monk even tried to persuade me not to commit any more killings... Pfft!" Ao Zhun sneered, a scarlet glint flashing in his eyes, "He speaks so lightly!"

The old dragon chose not to continue using his human form, but instead transformed into a pitch-black giant python and quickly vanished into the forest.

What he did not notice was that shortly after he left, a figure walked slowly out from the collapsed building that had been kicked over by Xianglou.

"Sigh, obsessed and unrepentant."

The Chijiao monk shook his head toward the north where Ao Zhun had left and sighed, "Since you insist on this, then this poor monk cannot ferry you."

The Chijiao monk had appeared to leave earlier, but in fact, he had been hiding in the shadows, preparing to intervene at the right moment.

Although their Daos were different, they were both of the Demon Race after all, and both were fellow pitiable people trapped before the final step, so there was a sense of shared misery.

If he could save Ao Zhun's life, he was still willing to take action, but Ao Zhun's choice had left him completely disappointed.

"You and I, we truly have no affinity."

The Chijiao monk left; he did not follow either side but instead turned toward the west, as he did not intend to get involved in this mess anymore.

He had come to Zhongzhou not for this small matter regarding Ao Zhun, but because he had important business to attend to.

"I hope the west truly has what I seek."

……

……

"Hm? They have already left?"

Ren Yidao rode the yellow sand tiger to the Bing Ge where he had previously left the couple Dong Rong and his wife, but he still did not find their figures.

The time he had been away was actually not long, not even half a day in total, but after returning, the two of them were already gone.

That could only mean one thing: they did not wish to cause him any more trouble and had chosen to leave on their own after he had departed.

"Quite headstrong."

Ren Yidao sensed the divine intent he had left on them and discovered that they had already returned along the same path toward the north; although their speed was slower, they should not encounter any danger.

"Since that is the case, then I need not trouble myself."

Ren Yidao had ridden the yellow sand tiger specifically so that when he met this couple, he could let them ride on it with peace of mind.

After all, he was not very used to having someone kneeling on his back so tremblingly...

It wasn't that he felt it was uncomfortable, it just felt very strange.

To be honest, that feeling was truly very strange.

"First go to the Xian Fa Lin, then go to that lake in the center. I wonder if that giant beast is still there? Even if it isn't, it should have left something for me, right?"

As for whether his experience of dreaming back to the ancient times was a dream or something that actually happened?

Ren Yidao could not be certain.

But he was more inclined to believe that those things had truly happened.

"If even they did not exist, then I would still be a little sad."

He had been in a hurry when he came, but he was much more leisurely on the way back, taking about twice as long to return to the Xian Fa Lin.

And when Ren Yidao returned to the Xian Fa Lin, Chu Hairen and the others had already left, and he did not know where they had gone.

"Those with different Daos do not conspire together."

Ren Yidao shook his head; he did not feel any sadness regarding Chu Hairen's choice.

Because he was feeling a bit melancholy now.

When he saw these stele inscriptions in the Xian Fa Lin once again, his state of mind had changed drastically from before.

Ren Yidao looked at the steles one by one and fell silent for a moment.

These were the Immortal Scripture steles they had left for future generations, and they were also their tombstones.

This proved that they had once lived.

Upon entering the Xian Fa Lin, one could see a tall stele with a passage left on it:

"The era has ended; we are unwilling to fight anymore, so we have cast aside our prejudices and gathered here."

"Although our bodies and souls are about to decay, we are still willing to leave our Dao to future generations, desiring to attain eternal existence."

"Seekers of the Dao in future generations, I wish you all success."

These were the steles that Ren Yidao's friends had carved with their own hands countless ages ago.

Just to prove that they had once existed.

"As time passes, no matter how peerless your talent, you are nothing but a pile of withered bones."

He no longer had any need to look at the cultivation techniques on the steles; he had already understood them all long ago.

Back in those ancient times when Immortal Gods lived in harmony and all races were without gaps, he had heard them recount these things in person.

Ren Yidao strolled through the Stele Forest.

That stream of flowing sorrow had long since dried up and vanished, but the locations of those steles were exactly the same as the seats they had occupied in his memory.

Finally, Ren Yidao stopped in front of a blank stele.

"This is?"

Ren Yidao counted the number of steles; this one was an extra one.

And this position...

It was exactly the position where he had stood last.

Ren Yidao blinked, seemingly hearing the laughter of those people, and shook his head.

"So, you left one for me too?"

"A blank stele... I am not Wu Meiniang."

Ren Yidao gave a bitter smile, raised his hand with some helplessness, and gently stroked the body of the stele.

"It won't do to have no words."

Ren Yidao was just preparing to write something for himself, but suddenly, characters emerged on the blank stele:

"Gifted to our mutual friend, that nameless traveler of ten thousand ages."

Ren Yidao:!!!

His hand stopped in mid-air, his expression somewhat out of control.

And regardless of his reaction, the inscription continued to emerge line by line:

"I wonder how your concealment technique is coming along?"

It really is them!

They still remember me!!!

"We do not know when you departed, but we still remember you, and we hope you can remember us."

"We only realized later that you are the Traveler of Ten Thousand Ages from the future, so we left this inscription behind."

"If one day you truly return here to visit us old friends and are able to see these words, we shall be satisfied."

"Your appearance told us that even as eras change, there will still be those who come after to walk a path similar to mine."

"Our Daos are different."

"Our path ahead is severed, but you still have hope."

"May you be able to walk a completely different path."

"May we, our Daos being different."

"We bestow our immortal arts upon you."

"May you, in the end, attain immortality."