Daoist Randeng rode the clouds back to Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain.
He reined in all his thoughts, wearing an expression of relief mixed with lingering fear. He even deliberately made himself look a little more haggard, and his aura seemed weak and unsteady.
As soon as he entered Jade Void Palace, Baihe Boy, the young attendant guarding the gate, was startled by his appearance.
"Teacher Randeng, what happened to you? Did you encounter a powerful enemy?"
Randeng sighed and waved a hand, looking as though he didn't want to say more. "Alas, the tribulation has arrived, and danger lurks everywhere. While traveling outside, I was ambushed by carelessness and nearly failed to return. Is the Venerable in the palace? I have something important to report."
Baihe Boy didn't dare delay and quickly led him inside.
In the main hall of Jade Void Palace, Venerable Yuanshi sat high on his cloud bed. Dao charm swirled around him, and the majesty of a Saint filled the hall.
Seeing Randeng in such a sorry state, even his face, unchanged for ten thousand years, showed a trace of surprise.
"Randeng, what happened to you?"
Randeng dropped to his knees with a thud, his voice sorrowful. "Master! This disciple has failed and nearly brought shame upon the Sect of Explanation! While I was away, Interception Sect demons ambushed me. They surrounded me with the Immortal Trapping Formation, and I was poisoned with a strange toxin. I barely escaped with my life!"
His words were half true and half false.
He really had been surrounded, and he really had been poisoned, but he shifted the blame for the scheme from Shen Zhaochi directly onto the Interception Sect.
Venerable Yuanshi furrowed his brows and made a calculation with his fingers.
The Heavenly Secrets were in disarray, obscured by the baleful energy of the tribulation. He could only tell that Randeng had indeed encountered a calamity, and that it was connected to the East Sea Dragon Clan and the Interception Sect's sword energy.
This basically matched Randeng's account.
"Hmph! Tongtian has some nerve! He actually dared to use such vicious means against the deputy leader of the Sect of Explanation!" Venerable Yuanshi snorted. The Saint's fury lowered the temperature in all of Jade Void Palace by several degrees.
"This disciple has failed. I beg Master to punish me." Randeng lowered his head, adopting an utterly humble posture.
"Enough. This is not your fault. The tribulation is dangerous by nature. You were fortunate to return safely." Venerable Yuanshi waved a hand, then changed the subject. "Still, this incident has served as a warning. The Interception Sect has begun to lose patience."
He looked at the Twelve Golden Immortals below. They were all present, and each wore an indignant expression after hearing what had happened to Randeng.
"Master! The Interception Sect has gone too far! First, they sheltered Li Gen and Shi Ji, who committed murder, and now they've ambushed Teacher Randeng! We can't just stand by!" Taiyi Zhenren, the most hot-tempered among them, was the first to step forward.
"That's right, Master! Please allow this disciple to descend the mountain and confront the Interception Sect disciples, so they'll learn the might of our sect!" True Man Yuding added.
Seeing his disciples' high spirits, Venerable Yuanshi silently nodded in approval.
But as a Saint, he still had to consider appearances. He couldn't simply send his disciples to pick a fight.
Just then, Randeng spoke at precisely the right moment.
"Master, nephews, please remain calm." He rose to his feet, looking like a man with a far-reaching plan. "This disciple believes that Junior Brother Tongtian has shut himself away and recalled all his disciples to Golden Ao Island, clearly hoping to avoid trouble. If we were to march on his island in force now, we'd give them an excuse to accuse the Sect of Explanation of bullying the weak."
"Then, Teacher, what do you recommend?" Guangchengzi asked. He was the foremost of the Twelve Golden Immortals, and his words carried the most weight.
Randeng glanced at him. He sneered inwardly, but his face remained solemn. "Though Junior Brother Tongtian has sealed off his island, the Interception Sect has great influence and countless followers. Innumerable unaffiliated immortals in the Primordial Era rely on them. Take Nine Dragon Island in the East Sea, for example. The four fellows there who style themselves 'Sages' have close ties with the Interception Sect and often act as their accomplices."
"We could start with people like them. Send one of our nephews to reason with them and appeal to their better nature, persuading them to leave the Interception Sect and join the righteous path of our sect. If they agree, all the better. If they refuse and remain stubborn, then we'll simply be acting on Heaven's behalf and cleaning house. No one could blame us."
His words were perfectly respectable, with not a single flaw to pick apart.
Venerable Yuanshi heard him and clapped his hands in praise. "Excellent! Randeng's plan is splendid. It will weaken the Interception Sect's forces while giving us the moral high ground—a double victory."
His gaze swept over the Twelve Golden Immortals before settling on Guangchengzi.
"Guangchengzi."
"This disciple is here."
"You are the foremost of my disciples, the most accomplished in cultivation, and the steadiest in your conduct. You shall make this journey. Remember: be courteous first, then forceful. If they refuse to see reason, teach them a proper lesson on my behalf."
"This disciple obeys!" Guangchengzi bowed and accepted the order, a confident smile on his face.
The four wandering immortals of Nine Dragon Island were a mere handful of nobodies. He didn't take them seriously at all. This trip would be nothing more than a formality.
Watching Guangchengzi's confident demeanor, Randeng's lips curled in a barely perceptible smile.
The plan was working.
Inside the Investiture of the Gods Space, Shen Zhaochi saw everything clearly.
"Randeng, you double-dealing rat—you're doing pretty well." Shen Zhaochi smiled triumphantly. "You managed to trick Guangchengzi into coming down the mountain in no time."
He could see that the three characters "Guangchengzi," which he had written on the Investiture of the Gods, now gave off a thick black aura. The energy of calamity clung to him, and a star of death shone above his head.
"The Heavenly Dao is balanced. Every bit more Death Qi on the Sect of Explanation's side means a little more vitality for my Interception Sect."
"Since you're so eager to come and offer up your head, I won't stand on ceremony."
Shen Zhaochi's will locked onto Guangchengzi, who was riding the clouds toward the East Sea in high spirits.
"Let's start you off with a little appetizer."
As Guangchengzi flew along, the immortal crane beneath him suddenly cried out. Its wings went limp, and it nearly plunged from the clouds.
"Hm?" Guangchengzi frowned and patted the crane's neck. "What's wrong?"
The crane gave a couple of aggrieved cries. It didn't know either. One moment, it had suddenly felt weak all over, unable to muster any strength.
Guangchengzi didn't think much of it. He assumed his mount was slacking off, urged his magical power, and continued on.
He hadn't flown for long when, beneath the clear sky, a sharp crack rang out. A spatial rift appeared from nowhere and vanished in an instant, right in his path.
Guangchengzi was startled and hurriedly slammed on the brakes, barely managing to avoid it.
The aura of chaotic spatial currents coming from the rift made his heart skip. If he'd flown straight into it, he might have survived, but he would have been badly battered.
"How strange. What's going on today?" Guangchengzi wondered.
He tried to divine the cause, but learned nothing. He only felt a growing irritability.
He had no idea this was just the beginning.
For the rest of the journey, he either collided head-on with a flock of migrating ferocious birds and got pecked until he was covered in feathers, or flew past a mountain only for a massive boulder to roll down without warning and nearly smash into his head. Even when he stopped for a drink, a fish bone got stuck in his throat.
Though none of these "little accidents" could hurt him, they left him fuming.
He was the foremost disciple of the Sect of Explanation, the eldest disciple of Venerable Yuanshi. When had he ever been so humiliated?
By the time he finally reached the East Sea coast and found Nine Dragon Island, he was on the verge of exploding.
He hovered above Nine Dragon Island. Too lazy even to announce himself, he poured all his magical power into his voice, which boomed across the entire island.
"Wang Mo, Yang Sen, Gao Yougan, and Li Xingba of Nine Dragon Island, where are you? I am Guangchengzi, a disciple of Jade Void Palace of the Sect of Explanation, here by order of my master, Venerable Yuanshi! Come out and meet me at once!"
His words were full of haughty commands, with not a trace of the courtesy one would expect from someone who had come to "pay a visit."
On the island, Wang Mo and the other three were meditating in their cave abode when they heard the voice. All four opened their eyes at once.
They exchanged glances, their brows furrowed.
"The Sect of Explanation? Guangchengzi?" Wang Mo snorted. "What an arrogant display! Who does he think he is? Does being Venerable Yuanshi's disciple give him the right to throw his weight around over us?"
"Come on. Let's go see him!"
The four turned into streaks of light, flew out of their cave abode, and came before Guangchengzi.
Wang Mo, at their head, looked at Guangchengzi's face, which practically spelled out the word arrogance. Suppressing his anger, he cupped his hands. "So, a distinguished disciple of Jade Void Palace has honored us with a visit. Forgive us for not welcoming you sooner. What brings you here, Daoist Guangchengzi?"
Guangchengzi glanced sideways at the four of them, then spoke with his nose in the air. "I've come by order of my master to give you a chance."
"A chance to leave the Interception Sect, abandon the wrong path, and join a new sect!"
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