Grand Master Lingbao was tied to a tree, with no one answering his cries for help, no matter how loudly he called.
It seemed a spell formation had been set up on the mountain to block spiritual sense. His distress call got through to no one.
A gust of cold wind swept over him, and he shivered, his magic power sealed away.
"If I don't avenge this, I swear I'm no man!"
"Brr, it's so cold..."
"Can anyone come save me...?"
Grand Master Lingbao began to sink into despair.
Whoosh!
A flash of white light streaked past, and a sword of light sliced through the ropes binding him.
"Ah!"
Grand Master Lingbao froze for a moment, then fell from the hundred-meter-tall tree.
He tried desperately to fly, only to realize that his magic power had long since been sealed.
Just as his head was about to hit the ground, an invisible force caught him.
In that moment, Grand Master Lingbao saw the light!
Three beautiful fairies came slowly through the clouds and rescued him from his predicament.
"So it was the three fellow Daoists from the Interception Sect..."
"I thank you for your help!"
Grand Master Lingbao cupped his hands and bowed to the Three Fairies of Sanxiao.
"Pfft... It was nothing, nothing."
Seeing him act like someone who'd thank the people who'd sold him out, Bixiao had nearly blown their cover.
Yunxiao and Qiongxiao glared at her. She had almost ruined Senior Disciple Brother's plan.
Grand Master Lingbao felt rather awkward. Of all the times, he'd run into several fairies when he was at his most wretched.
Even with all the dignity of the Pangu Orthodox Lineage, he couldn't exactly explain himself while bare-chested.
"Fellow Daoist, how did you end up like this?"
"Could you be practicing some secret art of the Chan Sect?"
Yunxiao pretended not to know and asked Grand Master Lingbao.
"Or perhaps you have some sort of peculiar fetish..."
Qiongxiao piled on as well.
A man stripped of his clothes and tied to a tree in the wilderness was certainly hard to explain.
"Uh..."
If he said he'd been robbed, wouldn't that bring shame on the Jade Void Palace?
But if he didn't say anything, they'd surely think he was some kind of pervert.
In an instant, Grand Master Lingbao felt that life wasn't worth living.
If he could choose, he'd rather still be tied to the tree.
The Three Fairies of Sanxiao were practically dying of laughter inside as they watched him struggle to speak.
But they couldn't laugh. They even had to do everything they could to help him.
Yunxiao raised a finger and gently tapped Grand Master Lingbao. A set of clothes appeared on him.
Only, something seemed off about the clothes...
Why was he wearing women's clothing?!
"Ahem... Don't take offense, fellow Daoist..."
"This is all we have."
"But it really does suit you..."
Grand Master Lingbao: ...
He'd taken too many blows already. He'd lost the ability to speak and had no strength left to protest.
Let the Primordial World be destroyed already!
It was too hard to stay alive!
"Our magic power is too weak. We can't do anything about the seal on you,"
Qiongxiao said, circling him several times before finally reaching that conclusion.
"Why don't we take you back to Kunlun Mountain?"
Bixiao suddenly cried out, as if she'd just thought of it.
Pfft!
Grand Master Lingbao spat out a mouthful of blood. His Daoist heart had finally shattered.
If he were sent back to the Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain dressed as a woman, Venerable Primordial would surely expel him from the sect—no, he'd purge him from the lineage.
And to make matters worse, the ones taking him back would be Interception Sect disciples, the very people Venerable Primordial hated most.
"No!"
"Whatever you do, don't take me back to the Jade Void Palace!"
Grand Master Lingbao hurriedly stopped them.
"If you're willing to help, please take me back to my cultivation abode!"
He quickly begged the Three Fairies of Sanxiao.
"Very well."
Bixiao was a little reluctant to give up this chance to get back at Venerable Primordial, but she held herself back.
She reached out with her little hand, and a surge of magic power lifted Grand Master Lingbao and carried him back to his cultivation abode.
Grand Master Lingbao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Once he was back at his abode, he could use other means to contact his master and fellow disciples.
Then he'd make sure to kill those damned bastards!
"I have one more favor to ask. Please help me, fellow Daoists!"
Grand Master Lingbao asked awkwardly.
The Three Fairies of Sanxiao understood what he meant without him having to say it.
He simply didn't want them to tell anyone what had happened that day.
The Three Fairies immediately promised to keep quiet.
Grand Master Lingbao beamed with delight. He hurriedly declared that the Interception and Chan Sects were branches of the same family, and that the Interception Sect's fellow Daoists were truly kind.
Yunxiao and her sisters gave a cold laugh. Naturally, they didn't believe a word he said.
He might look grateful now, but there was another face behind that façade.
If it had been any other living being, he would probably have killed them to silence them as soon as his magic power was restored.
Everyone in the Chan Sect was a hypocrite just like him.
According to what Zhao Gongming had told them when he returned a few days ago, that old Venerable Primordial had attacked their heavily wounded senior brother in the Purple Heavens Palace. It was utterly despicable.
If Senior Disciple Brother didn't still have a use for Grand Master Lingbao, she would have scattered his ashes long ago.
Grand Master Lingbao kept showering them with kind words while trying to break the seal on his magic power.
But those three bandits were far too powerful. He couldn't break it himself.
Unless the Three Fairies admitted the truth themselves, Grand Master Lingbao would probably never learn what had really happened.
How could he suspect the people who'd come to his aid in his hour of need?
Besides, those three were hulking men, while the Three Fairies were beautiful immortals. The difference was simply too great.
Senior Disciple Brother truly was Senior Disciple Brother. That move had been brilliant!
Grand Master Lingbao's thoughts had long since wandered elsewhere. When he finally came back to himself, he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
His cultivation abode was less than ten thousand li from the place where he'd been attacked. They should have arrived in the blink of an eye.
So why hadn't they seen Kongtong Mountain yet?
"Fellow Daoists, haven't we arrived?"
Grand Master Lingbao asked, eyeing the three of them suspiciously.
"You never told us where Kongtong Mountain was,"
Bixiao replied innocently, blinking her big eyes.
"Uh..."
"That's true, actually."
Grand Master Lingbao scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
The Three Fairies of Sanxiao had always lived on the Three Immortal Island in the Eastern Sea. By the time they joined the Interception Sect, the Three Pure Ones had already gone their separate ways, so they'd never been to Kongtong Mountain.
In that brief moment, Grand Master Lingbao's confidence swelled again.
The Three Fairies of Sanxiao were just country bumpkins from the east. They had no idea how many hidden wonders the Primordial World held.
Take his cultivation abode, Yuanyang Cave on Kongtong Mountain. It was one of the most renowned immortal paradises in the Primordial World.
Even the Interception Sect's Golden Ao Island and Azure Palace probably couldn't compare with this place's abundance of spiritual energy.
Grand Master Lingbao now wore the expression of a city-dweller looking down on country folk.
He gave a couple of smug snorts, determined to show them what a difference in status meant!
"Fellow Daoists, Kongtong Mountain is just three hundred li ahead!"
"Please let me play host."
Grand Master Lingbao swept his hand grandly, with the air of a young master declaring that all tonight's expenses were on him.
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