Chapter Twenty-Nine: Qingming Sword Ancestor
Tang Ruowei glanced at Pei Shan and Pei Dao.
After a pause, he said, "But this time, I really wasn't lying to you. I suppressed my cultivation to break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck, and while keeping myself from breaking through, I truly can't bring out even a tenth of my strength."
Bai Qiuran let go of the old Daoist's collar and stood up. "Normally, that Baiyue Temple disciple just sent out a Spirit Talisman. You should have received the message at roughly the same time. You've been here for quite a while already, so why haven't they come yet..."
The vines seemed to have been damaged and shrank back a little. Then, from within the emerald-green foliage, a woman's voice filled with venom rang out.
"Exactly."
Bai Qiuran lowered his head and thought for a moment, then called to the old Daoist, "Sword Ancestor is too grand a title for me. I'm just a lowly Qi Refining Stage cultivator."
Tang Ruowei glanced at Pei Dao and Pei Shan.
Bai Qiuran tossed aside the iron sword, now reduced to its hilt. He stamped a foot on the ground, shot into the air, and vanished from the old Daoist's sight.
The old Daoist murmured, "I... I was leading my disciples guarding the east. The Sect Master was in the north, and another junior brother was in the west."
"Yeah, it's been a long time."
"I don't know either. But I think it's probably whatever is behind those foxes."
"How strange."
"Qingming Sword Ancestor!"
Just as the four were about to be swallowed by the vast net of vines, Sword Qi suddenly appeared on the horizon. Sword Light streaked through the sky, forming a vast cloud of blades that stretched on for dozens of miles. It hurtled down with a thunderous roar in front of the four, grinding the vine net and the nearby vines—along with the ground beneath them—into dust.
Bai Qiuran glanced provocatively at a certain spot and said, "So, want to give it a try?"
"Here," Zuo Yanfei said. "Look out, it's coming!"
Zuo Yanfei sucked in a sharp breath.
"He's actually my master."
Zuo Yanfei looked at Bai Qiuran, then seemed to realize something. She hesitated, but after a moment, she led Tang Ruowei to a distant spot to hide. Pei Shan and Pei Dao exchanged a glance, then hurried after the two women.
Pei Shan's face turned ashen.
Seeing how well his disciple had taken the hint, Bai Qiuran nodded in satisfaction. Then he called out to the vines covering the mountainside: "Long time no see, Cuiluo."
He opened his eyes. "That fellow's gone completely mad."
Vines writhed across the mountains like tentacles, then suddenly spat something out through a gap in their tangled growth.
The old Daoist hurriedly begged, "Please spare me, senior! I'll make them leave. Our Baiyue Temple doesn't want those little monsters anymore. They're all yours..."
"Y-yes, it's the Sect Master's Baiyue Command."
"Mm."
"How could that be? The Sect Master..."
"Good grief."
"Save it."
"Don't worry about all that!"
"Hey, you guys!"
Elsewhere, Zuo Yanfei, Tang Ruowei, and the two Baiyue Temple disciples stared in horror at the vines covering the mountains.
"I wouldn't know..."
"What?"
The woman's voice was full of hatred. "For two thousand years, I've been thinking day and night about how to tear that hypocritical face of yours to shreds!"
"Hey, are you awake?"
The entire mountain shook. The earth burst open like waves, and countless vines surged up from underground, weaving into a vast net that blotted out the sky and swooped down over Zuo Yanfei, Tang Ruowei, and the other two.
The old Daoist hurriedly answered.
Beneath the stone statue of the founding emperor at Ding Jiangshan, Bai Qiuran strode over, swinging his arms, to the Golden Core old Daoist he had knocked unconscious with a single sword strike. Grabbing him by the collar, he slapped his face.
"Heh."
"Forget about whether he's the Sect Master or not."
The two Baiyue Temple disciples' faces instantly looked as if they'd swallowed a mouthful of century-old shit.
"If I weren't going to spare you, you'd be dead already. You think I'd bring you back to life?"
Bai Qiuran rubbed his chin and said solemnly, "Want to give it a try, then? Right now. To tell you the truth, I've been suppressing my cultivation lately, so I'm only using a tenth of my strength when I fight. This is the chance of a lifetime!"
The old Daoist said, "They might join up along the way and come from the north."
Zuo Yanfei gaped in astonishment.
"Right now..."
Bai Qiuran ignored him, closed his eyes, and spread his Spiritual Sense across the mountains of Ding Jiangshan. Then he saw the Green Vines covering the mountains.
"Stay here and watch over your disciples. Don't go anywhere, and don't touch those monsters. Understand?"
Grabbing him by the collar, Bai Qiuran demanded, "I'm asking you, is there another group from your sect on the way?"
"What level of demon is this?" The four took a closer look and saw that it was a severed hand, still gripping a golden Command Flag.
Bai Qiuran pressed on. "Which direction will the people from your sect come from?"
Zuo Yanfei smiled bitterly. "If we don't think of something, we'll be joining him soon. Ruowei, can you use Earth Escape?"
Tang Ruowei tried and answered, "No. The earth beneath us has been sealed by this demon's power... Ah!"
The woman sneered. "You think I'd believe you? How many members of the Monster Race died because of Qingming Sword Ancestor's schemes in the war two thousand years ago?"
"You beat the young ones, and the old ones show up. But it looks like this old one is beyond anything you could've imagined."
"Hmph."
"Junior Brother Bai Qiuran?"
"Understood."
Bai Qiuran waved a hand. "Come on, Bai Qiuran has always treated people with sincerity. Those monsters just wouldn't believe me. They walked right into the trap themselves—what was I supposed to do? I couldn't drag them back out."
"Ah."
Tang Ruowei took Zuo Yanfei's hand. "Let's go, Sister Zuo. We'd better get farther away. Master can handle things here."
As Bai Qiuran spoke, he took an utterly ordinary iron sword from his Storage Bag, drew it, and swung it at the sky.
"Be right back."
With her scream, the vines covering the mountains reared up. Several nearby peaks burst open at once, revealing a tangle of vines within. The earth in the area had already been hollowed out by this great demon, leaving only a thin shell. The vines that broke through it gathered in the sky, forming a towering Giant. It roared and swung a fist made of bundled vines at Bai Qiuran.
Zuo Yanfei's spear rays and Tang Ruowei's Sword Light were both as tiny and useless as ants before the net of vines.
"What?"
Before anyone could react, a white figure appeared in front of the four. White hair and brows, robes fluttering in the wind—it was Bai Qiuran.
"No, I just remembered. I buried their Senior Disciple Brother underground."
The woman chuckled, then said sharply, "You think I wouldn't dare?!"
The old Daoist's face was streaked with blood. He woke groggily, saw Bai Qiuran in front of him, and instantly came to his senses in terror. He waved his hands again and again. "Please spare me, senior!"
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