It's All Fate

In the blink of an eye, another two days passed.

The date had reached the fifteenth. As day and night traded places, Chen Luo began cultivating with the Jade Slip as skillfully as ever. By now, he had gathered nearly ten strands of unknown energy inside his body. They lay dormant within him, unseen and untouchable, bringing no benefit for the time being.

After finishing his cultivation, Chen Luo opened his eyes, then lightly leaped onto the highest boulder and looked down over the valley.

"It should be tonight."

Standing at the highest point in the valley, Chen Luo finally pinpointed the mysterious mine shaft. Back then, Prefect Lou had ordered someone to seal it with an enormous boulder to cover up the traces. Now, that boulder could no longer suppress the strange phenomenon. Especially after Chen Luo entered his special state, when he used the Royal Family Brain to 'look' at the mine shaft, he could see multicolored mist seeping out from within.

Yet only those in the special state could 'see' those colors. To the naked eye, the valley was still just a valley, no different from before. The only change was that the temperature had risen considerably, and some of the little flowers in the valley had bloomed for no apparent reason.

"Great Hero, my nephew has mostly recovered. We plan to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

Old Man Tian had caught a pheasant and personally brought it over to Chen Luo.

Although Chen Luo had not accepted a single one over the past few days, Old Man Tian felt that the gift still had to be given. It was a matter of attitude. If they had not happened to run into Chen Luo this time, all of them would surely have been left behind in these mountains.

Let alone those Martial Arts Masters who came and went like ghosts, the wild beasts in the mountains alone were enough to claim their lives. The badly injured Tian Danu was bait, and the bloody scent wafting from him was a deadly danger. Fang Cun and Fang Shan could never hold the line. Don't look at how large the brothers were—they had never cultivated the Martial Dao at all. In the caravan, they merely handled work on the outskirts, making a living by following Tian Danu. That sort of brute strength might work against ordinary people, but before the mountain's ferocious beasts, they were nothing more than seasoning for an extra meal.

"Leave today. Something may happen here tomorrow."

Chen Luo raised his head and looked into the distance.

Not long ago, he had heard the clash of weapons again.

Though it was still some distance away, he could clearly sense the direction in which they were moving.

They were headed for the valley.

The Imperial Court had capable people. Once the strange phenomenon appeared, it certainly could not be hidden from them. Nor was he the only hero under heaven to encounter a fortuitous opportunity. Getting a two-day head start was already taking advantage.

"Something's going to happen?"

Old Man Tian's expression changed.

Seeing that Chen Luo had no intention of saying more, he hurriedly set down the food and went down the mountain to discuss it with his nephew, Tian Danu.

The change came even faster than Chen Luo had anticipated.

At dusk, before the sky had fully darkened, the sounds of slaughter had reached the outskirts of the valley.

Old Man Tian, Tian Danu, and the others had listened to his advice and already left the valley. But judging by the situation, they would most likely run into the people outside. Whether they could escape would depend on their luck.

He could only hope they were not that unlucky.

After concealing his aura, Chen Luo lightly leaped up, stepping on tree branches as he landed in a hidden mountain hollow. He looked down through a gap.

Two figures were chasing and fleeing below. One of them was the Blade-Wielding Strongman Chen Luo recognized. Just that this time, the Blade-Wielding Strongman was the one fleeing, while a Withered Daoist pursued him from behind. Both moved extremely fast, reaching the valley mouth in the blink of an eye.

Perhaps he had detected that he could not escape, for a flash of savagery crossed the Blade-Wielding Strongman's face as he stamped on the ground.

Sand and stones erupted, blasting out a deep pit.

Borrowing that force, the Blade-Wielding Strongman spun around sharply. The Golden Silk Great Ring Saber in his hand whirled in a horizontal sweep, slashing toward the old priest behind him.

Saber Qi soared into the heavens, startling countless birds into flight.

But the old priest behind him seemed to have expected it long ago. The instant the strongman turned around, he stopped. Not only that, his body drifted away as strangely as a falling leaf, evading that fatal strike in an inconceivable manner. At the same time, he extended his index finger and flicked the saber's blade.

Ding!!

With a crisp sound, the two auras exploded on the spot, sending a large area of leaves scattering through the air. Both men took several steps back from the collision.

Grandmaster!

Another Grandmaster.

Chen Luo's heart jolted. After several days of cultivation, his perception had grown increasingly sharp. With a single glance, he recognized the power they used in their exchange—it was precisely Grandmaster Power.

What a powerful priest. What an eerie movement technique.

His gaze swept past the strongman as Chen Luo focused his attention on the old priest.

He had personally witnessed the strongman's strength several days ago. He was absolutely one of the stronger Grandmasters. Yet he could do nothing at all to the old priest and was being beaten so badly that he had no ability to fight back.

At first glance, this shriveled old priest looked no different from an ordinary man, without anything special about him. But once he moved, he was exceptionally fierce. His moves were sometimes fast and sometimes slow, yet every strike landed precisely on the strongman's weakness, beating him until he repeatedly spat blood.

"Old Daoist Lichen, you're forcing my hand!"

After being knocked back in another collision, the Blade-Wielding Strongman's eyes had turned bloodshot.

"You can also give up resisting."

Old Daoist Lichen stopped attacking as well and spoke calmly. Not even the hem of his robes was rumpled. It was clear that suppressing the Blade-Wielding Strongman just now had not required his full strength.

"This world is like this. Many things are decided from the moment one is born. That is fate."

"To hell with fate! Die, damn you!!"

The Blade-Wielding Strongman finished gathering his strength and shot into the air. A bloody aura erupted from the great saber in his hand. Its momentum rose from the earth to the heavens, instantly condensing into a massive blood saber that cleaved toward Old Daoist Lichen with the force of Might Cleave Mount Hua.

"You still don't understand."

Watching the incoming slash, Old Daoist Lichen could not even be bothered to dodge this time.

Clang

Just as the saber's force was about to fall, the Blade-Wielding Strongman's body suddenly failed him. He spat out a mouthful of blood. The saber force that carried the weight of ten thousand jun collapsed into wind, and he tumbled from the air, completely losing the ability to resist.

"You poisoned me?!!"

"This is not poison. It is a technique."

Old Daoist Lichen walked over and picked up the great saber that had fallen to the ground. Then he lifted his head and glanced sideways at where Chen Luo was hiding.

"All things beneath heaven are fate."

He had been discovered?

Chen Luo, hidden in the shadows, felt his heart leap. Instinctively, he dodged to the left. The next instant, his right arm went numb. A diamond-shaped dart had pierced through his arm without him knowing when it had been fired. The dart itself was nailed into a stone, while bloody water dripped down along its diamond-shaped frame.

"Hidden weapon!!"

Chen Luo glanced back, then rolled on the spot without even thinking, dodging to the side.

That was only possible because his perception had improved after several days of cultivation. Had it been before, he would probably already be a corpse.

The gap between the early Bone Forging Realm and a Grandmaster was simply too vast.

Let alone a top-tier Grandmaster like Old Daoist Lichen.

Below, Old Daoist Lichen had already used the strongman's great saber to chop off his head. Blood splashed all over the ground. A dignified Grandmaster had died just like that in this nameless little valley, just like the jianghu wanderer Chen Laosan had buried before.

His name unknown, his origins unknown.

"This is your fate. Why did you dodge?"

After killing him, Old Daoist Lichen raised his head and looked at Chen Luo fleeing afar, speaking indifferently.

This old priest wore the appearance of one compassionate toward all living beings, yet when he killed, he did not spare the slightest mercy.