Chapter 416

：

Shuang Feiyan, the Valley Master of the Seven Emotions Valley, is a top-tier curse master and one of the most dangerous people in the Southern Jizhou.

She has mastered all sorts of bizarre and strange curse techniques that are impossible to guard against; anyone who offends her must be prepared to face all manner of curses.

Several hundred years ago, a sect secretly insulted Shuang Feiyan. Upon learning of this, she caused the gender of every member of that sect to swap, and it took them half a year to return to normal.

To this day, that sect remains a laughingstock in the Southern Jizhou.

Lu Yang does not know the deeds of Shuang Feiyan, but even with his eyes closed, he knows that one must absolutely not provoke a curse master.

Although he is well-versed in the dark history of the ancient era, especially the dark history of the ancient immortals, and will surely shoulder great responsibilities in the future, there is no need to face the wrath of the most powerful curse master right now.

Who could withstand that?

"Don't be afraid. With this Immortal here, I guarantee no curse can harm you!" the source of the curses declared confidently from within the spiritual space.

Lu Yang panicked even more.

Zhao Po was also extremely nervous. Unlike Lu Yang, he knew exactly what the Valley Master was capable of; she was a figure who could make children cry at night. Even though the Corpse-Driving Sect and the Seven Emotions Valley had a long-standing friendship, whether that friendship would hold depended entirely on the Valley Master's mood.

Fortunately, the Valley Master had no intention of bickering with the younger generation. Her expression shifted several times before she finally let out a heavy sigh.

"When Shanshan and I first met, we were about the same age as you are now."

"That day, Shanshan was passing through Cang Mountain and heard cries for help. Bandits were running amok, and he stepped forward to save the people. That was how we met."

Lu Yang nodded secretly. What a classic 'hero saves the beauty' scenario; the Fourth Elder had quite the romantic fortune.

"As the bandit leader, I saw that Shanshan was elegant and refined, his speech and manners extraordinary. I knew at a glance he must be from a major sect or a great family, so I captured him to be my mountain-stronghold husband."

Lu Yang: "..."

Something felt off about this.

When I was a bandit, I always robbed the rich to help the poor; I never even touched the money of the poor.

"The main thing was that I found there were too many bandits in the Southern Jizhou, and they were impossible to wipe out completely. I thought, why not become a bandit myself and expand my influence step by step, squeezing out all the other bandits until there was no place left for them? Then there wouldn't be any real bandits left, right?"

"But I digress. After I captured Shanshan, I wanted to marry him, but he would rather die than submit. I had no choice but to give up for the time being."

Lu Yang thought to himself that he had long heard of the Southern Jizhou tradition of 'snatching a marriage,' and today he had finally witnessed it.

"I didn't give up on Shanshan entirely, though. Shanshan's cultivation was no weaker than mine; I only managed to capture him by ambush. To prevent him from escaping, I placed a curse on him."

"Knowing he couldn't break the curse for a while, Shanshan honestly stayed by my side. When I explained my carefully crafted bandit-suppression strategy to him, he calculated it and found it sound, so he joined me in robbing the rich to help the poor, carving out a great reputation. In the jianghu, we were known as the 'Male-Female Bandit Duo'!"

"Of course, during this time, Shanshan also tried to escape and break the curse, but he failed every time."

"I just love that persistent character of his."

Lu Yang felt that the Fourth Elder's skill in breaking curses must have been forged during that time. No wonder the Fourth Elder only knew how to break curses and not how to cast them; it turned out he was the one being cursed in the beginning.

"Cang Mountain was a good place. We captured many young, famous cultivators who passed by—for instance, the current Sect Master of the Corpse-Driving Sect and the Tribal Chief of the Barbarian Tribe were both captured by us together. Once I explained my plan to them, they also felt it was a good idea, so they swore a blood oath to join our bandit nest and honored me as their Big Sister!"

"With the help of those three, the Cang Mountain bandit force expanded rapidly. Surrounding bandits all submitted to us. I gave the defeated bandits two choices: either be refined into a living corpse or let me plant a curse on them. They all wisely chose the latter, becoming my subordinates."

"We used this method to further expand our influence; we held dozens of mountain peaks."

"By the end, we occupied half the Southern Jizhou. Who in the jianghu didn't know the name of the Four Dragons of Cang Mountain?"

"At the time, the leader of the largest bandit force was called 'Mountain-Suppressing Tiger.' Seeing our rapid expansion, he took the initiative to attack, wanting to cut off our momentum before our wings were fully grown."

"Mountain-Suppressing Tiger had the cultivation of a peak Nascent Soul stage. None of us could defeat him in a one-on-one fight, but the four of us working together could defeat him!"

"After Mountain-Suppressing Tiger was defeated, he fled in a panic, leaving behind a harsh threat that he had a powerful Integration stage rogue cultivator backing him, and that offending him was equivalent to offending that Integration stage expert, so we should just wait for death—or something like that, I don't remember the exact words."

"We realized this wouldn't do. We couldn't beat an Integration stage expert, so we had no choice but to ask our respective elders to step in."

"When that Integration stage rogue cultivator appeared, ready to show off his power before us, the then-Valley Master of the Seven Emotions Valley, the Great Elder of the Corpse-Driving Sect, and the Great Elder of the Barbarian Tribe all appeared."

"At that time, our elders were all in the late Integration stage, and they had long since set a net, just waiting for the opponent to walk right into it."

"He was so scared he turned and ran, but no matter how he ran, how could he outrun our elders? The opponent was only an early Integration stage..." Lu Yang imagined that scene and felt despair. He was only an early Integration stage himself, helping his subordinates clear out rival factions—who could have guessed that behind the rival faction, one big shot after another would pop out?

"That Integration stage rogue cultivator had astonishing escape techniques. Knowing that if he were caught by us, he would surely die, he burned his essence blood to escape the net."

"At that moment, a child blocked the path of that Integration stage rogue cultivator. It was your Master's master, the then-Sect Master of the Congwendao Sect. His combat power was the highest among all the elders. Once he made a move, that Integration stage rogue cultivator couldn't have escaped even if he burned his life away."

"From then on, we unified the bandit forces of the Southern Jizhou, and were subsequently taken back by our elders to be grounded."

"Originally, Shanshan was also going to be taken back to be grounded, but your Master's master said there was no room left at the Cliff of Reflection, so he locked Shanshan and me together in the Seven Emotions Valley's confinement room."

Lu Yang had heard of the Cliff of Reflection; it was a place used by the Congwendao Sect for disciples to reflect on their mistakes. However, he had always been a well-behaved and honest child and had never been punished, so he had never been to such a place.

Originally, the Eldest Senior Sister wanted to lock her Master, who wouldn't cultivate properly, in the Cliff of Reflection, but her Master's cultivation was too high, and he often went to the Cliff of Reflection anyway, so it was useless to reflect there. That was why she locked her Master right at their doorstep.

"Who was locked in the Cliff of Reflection at the time?"

"Your Master and his seven senior brothers and sisters. It seems your Master led his seven senior brothers and sisters to wreak havoc in the Imperial Capital, teaching the disciples of the nobility such a lesson that they were miserable. If you ever go to the Imperial Capital, don't you dare say you're a disciple of the Unspoken Daoist."

Lu Yang: "..."

In other people's families, the elders back them up; how come when it gets to me, the elders just create more enemies for me?