Fierce in appearance, weak within; discerning fortune and calamity

Inside the main hall of the Vast Sea.

After Fang Shu and the Azure Lion Immortal left, the remaining Vast Sea True Immortal all lost their enthusiasm. They nodded to each other and then transformed into streaks of light and departed.

Soon, only the First Elder Bright Moon True Immortal, remained standing in the main hall.

The man watched the True Immortal in the mansion leave, and only withdrew his gaze after a long while.

He flicked his sleeves.

With a clang, all the array gates inside and outside this thousand-foot-tall Golden Bronze Iron Hall were sealed off.

With his back to the palace gate, he vanished into the depths of the hall in a flash.

He walked up to an offering table, and somehow found himself holding a golden incense stick in his hand.

Bright Moon True Immortal lit the incense stick with her Core Qi, placed it on the offering table, and bowed to the rising Jin Yan.

"Disciple Bright Moon humbly requests an audience with Master."

The man shouted, "Profound Teaching True Disciple my Vast Sea. Please, Master, give me your guidance."

As he spoke, he wrote down everything that had happened in the mansion over the past few days on a memorial, then personally held it over the incense smoke and burned it to ashes.

Watching the ash from the talismans rise to the surface, the person waited patiently before the offering table.

After an unknown amount of time, a soft sigh finally rang out, "In just a few short years, something has happened again within the manor. Is the situation truly becoming increasingly dire?"

Upon hearing this, Bright Moon True Immortal steadied himself and immediately bowed towards the incense Jin Yan, saying, "Greetings, Master!"

The voice that suddenly rang out inside the hall belonged to the Divine Immortal from the Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture.

Compared to his last appearance, today's voice was no longer young, but rather exceptionally aged, like that of an old owl.

Seemingly having digested the information reported by Bright Moon True Immortal, Vast Sea Old Immortal clicked his tongue softly. "I never expected this lad to have such fortuitous opportunity. It seems that Mount Lu is truly interesting; I'd like to go and take a look myself."

After muttering a few words to himself, the Divine Immortal casually added, "Since he's here, just treat him well. There's no need to be shy. He's True Disciple of the Profound Teaching, and you are also True Disciple of my Vast Sea Sect. There's no need to be overly obsequious."

Bright Moon True Immortal quickly replied, "Yes."

After a pause, he quickly recounted Fang Shu's request.

Upon hearing this, the Divine Immortal pondered for a few moments, giving it some thought.

However, soon, a light laugh came from inside the hall, "It's just a sea voyage. Since this boy dares to trust us, you should send someone to escort him there personally."

Besides, this boy is now, after all, True Disciple of the Profound Teaching, and we are practically his second family. If he has any other requests, you should consider them as much as possible, according to his wishes."

Upon hearing this, Bright Moon True Immortal's expression completely relaxed.

With the Divine Immortal's words, he felt more at ease.

Then, the two exchanged a few more words across the distance, and the Bright Moon True Immortal respectfully kowtowed, ending the invocation of the gods.

But as he was tidying up the items on the altar...

Unbeknownst to him, in the vast, dark sky above the Unseen Abode of the Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture, an aged figure had already opened his eyes.

His brows furrowed, and he was no longer as composed and at ease as he had been in front of Bright Moon True Immortal.

The other figures sitting cross-legged around the old man also frowned to varying degrees.

Suddenly, a young man's voice rang out. "What a coincidence! He happens to be a direct descendant of my Vast Sea lineage, who has been established as the Profound Teaching True Disciple, and he just happened to return to his residence."

Is this really not something that was meant for me?

The speaker was a man in his early twenties, whose aura was sharp and menacing, clearly not someone to be trifled with.

Beside the young man, another mocking voice rang out. "Since he's come for us, why not just kill him?"

But then a gentle voice quickly rang out. "No, no, they are, after all, Profound Teaching True Disciple. Why be so radical for no reason?"

The old man who had just spoken with Bright Moon True Immortal also shook his head and said, "If we really fight and kill them, and then the elders come after the younger ones, what are we supposed to do? Aren't we just going to sit here and wait to die?"

This question immediately provoked a reaction from those present.

A voice boomed, "Just kill them one by one! Have we forgotten our specialties after all these years as the lord of the manor?!"

That makes sense.

"But if we were to kill even a True Disciple without cause, wouldn't that be a case of bluster and cowardice, needlessly exposing our true strength?"

There were six Divine Sense present, creating a chaotic scene with each person holding their own opinion.

The same elderly man, looking helpless, could only gently make a hand seal and say, "Silence."

The other figures froze instantly, their voices falling silent.

The old man stood up and walked hunched over among the crowd.

His gaze swept over the other five figures, from youth to middle age to old age.

The old man's eyes were filled with emotion, and his thoughts shifted from excitement to composure. Finally, he sighed softly, "Too much of a good thing is bad. So be it, let's find a middle ground."

In case this kid was really sent to test us, I'd better take some action.

"Let alone those reptilian lackeys and hawks of the Profound Teaching, even these younger members of the sect, once they see through the truth, probably want to rebel too."

Seeing that the old man had made up his mind, the other five figures pondered for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

Suddenly someone said, "Perfect! According to what that brat Bright Moon said, there's a boy in the manor who happens to have a grudge against that boy surnamed Fang."

Let these few test the waters. Whatever the outcome, we can eliminate them to keep them out of the way.

Upon hearing this, the old-looking Vast Sea Divine Immortal slowly nodded.

Then, he casually waved his hand.

With a whoosh, a Golden Light flew out from his hand, splitting into three, and disappeared into the unknown along the chains in the void.

Outside the main hall of the Vast Sea.

Suddenly, a beam of Golden Light appeared simultaneously within the three Immortal Prefecture.

Its appearance caused the nearby True Immortal to feel a sudden flash of light in their eyes, and then the three Golden Light rushed into their True Immortal.

The three True Immortal, who had previously looked conflicted, suddenly revealed a hint of ferocity on their faces.

An inexplicable rage rose within them. "How hateful! A mere child, not even a hundred years old, dares to act so arrogantly towards us!"

"Hmph! If it weren't for the support of my Iron Clan back then, how could you, a mere brat, have established yourself in the city?!"

"Fang Shu, is it? If I had acted sooner back then and turned you into a medicine slave, I'm afraid my cultivation level today would be much higher."

These three were none other than White Dust True Immortal, who had a past karmic connection with Fang Shu, and the two patriarchs of the Iron Clan and Chang Family.

If Fang Shu were here, he could probably see at a glance that the chains of cause and effect on the heads of these three True Immortal were swaying, as if they had been deliberately manipulated.

It was precisely the disturbance in the causal chain that caused these three True Immortal to be plagued by distracting thoughts, even leading to the formation of inner demons on the spot.

Whoosh!

The three True Immortal could not contain their anger and either used magic or took action, causing great damage to the beams and pillars of the hall they were in.

After venting their frustrations, instead of calming down, they were filled with fear and resentment.

Especially that White Dust True Immortal.

He thought to himself in surprise, "This boy was repeatedly humiliated by me in the past, and he even ran away from the mansion because of me."

With his vengeful nature, he will definitely not let this go now that he's back at the manor!

After much deliberation, the idea of striking first stirred within White Dust True Immortal's mind.

However, if he were to make a move within the Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture, he would be asking for trouble, like an old man eating poison.

A suitable idea naturally arose in his mind.

After some deliberation, White Dust True Immortal gritted his teeth and immediately took the initiative to send a telepathic message to contact the other two individuals.

The people he contacted were the ancestors of the Iron Clan and Chang Family.

These two men had wanted to join forces with him to deal with Fang Shu back then. Now they are his natural allies, and even if they don't agree, they shouldn't be able to leak the news.

Really.

Upon receiving the message from White Dust True Immortal, both the Iron Clan and Chang Family patriarchs showed a hint of joy on their faces.

Although they didn't have any major grudges against Fang Shu on the surface, they were still fearful because of their actions back then, afraid that Fang Shu would find out and bring up the old grievances.

Now that White Dust has taken the initiative to step forward and see if he can resolve this matter, it's exactly what they wanted.

"Excellent!" The patriarchs of the Tie and Chang families exclaimed inwardly.

And so.

The two did not respond to the telepathic message, but instead left the mansion in person and quietly headed towards the residence of White Dust True Immortal.

A conspiracy suddenly unfolded within White Dust's residence.

What these three guys didn't know was that just as they were getting together and having a heated discussion...

Fang Shu, who was quite far away, suddenly felt a pang in his heart.

Fang Shu was currently discussing matters with the Immortal cultivator from the branch temple of Five Villages Abbey, and the Tang Family mother and daughter were also present.

He hadn't expected that these two would also join the Five Villages Abbey branch. Of course, only one of them was an elder of the temple, a true disciple, while the other was a nominal retainer.

The atmosphere at the banquet was harmonious, and Fang Shu learned more about the city from these people.

He was feeling quite pleased, so this sudden palpitation immediately alerted him.

Fang Shu carefully sensed it, but found nothing amiss, as if the palpitation he had felt earlier was merely a coincidence.

But he sneered inwardly, and immediately closed his eyes slightly, looking up at the sky from the perspective of Dao Insect.

In an instant, Fang Shu clearly saw that three Karma Thread above his head were trembling simultaneously.

Although he couldn't sense who these three Karma Thread were related to, he could tell that the causal relationship was most likely not with the Moral Profound Teaching Sect, but rather within the Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture.

"Three paths of cause and effect—" Fang Shu frowned slightly for a moment.

He has now achieved the Golden Core, and anyone qualified to form Karma Thread with him must at least be False Core Immortal cultivator.

Within this Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture, the only person who harbored a grudge against him was White Dust. Why then were there two more?

Fang Shu thought to himself, "Could it be that the Mingyu family, who defected, have returned?"

Upon closer examination, this is indeed quite possible.

If White Dust wanted to harm him, the best way would be to collude with the Mingyu family, who had defected, and work together to attack them.

Realizing this, Fang Shu suddenly relaxed.

If that's the case, it means that he can still live a peaceful life for a while within the Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture.

As for the various schemes and plots that follow, they will only come after we leave the city, or even go out to sea.

Although he didn't take the matter seriously, Fang Shu still followed his family's custom Hand Seals some calculations to see what White Dust was relying on.

He hadn't had high hopes for this divination. After all, his expertise lay in the art of suppressing Curse, not in numerology or divination.

Suddenly, a sense of disorientation flashed through his mind, causing his heart to race again.

Through the causal Fang Shu of the Moral Profound Teaching, the Unseen sensed that White Dust and the others were not part of this causal fluctuation.

Source.

The originator is even above these three!

This discovery astonished Fang Shu immensely.

His expression betrayed his fatigue, which was noticed by the Tang Family mother and daughter in the audience. "Is the Abbot tired?"

Fang Shu quickly composed himself and said calmly, "Seeing so many old friends today just reminded me of old stories."

After exchanging pleasantries with them, he made an excuse and left, disappearing into the quiet room of the temple.

The people in the branch temple were somewhat puzzled by his actions, but they dared not ask anything. They were even more surprised that someone would dare to scheme against their own abbot, who had already become Profound Teaching True Disciple.

The atmosphere at the table cooled down for only a moment before the guests resumed their lively conversation.

Fang Shu entered the meditation room alone. He activated an array to isolate the inside from the outside and took out various talismans to stabilize his own Fortune.

Following his earlier the Unseen, he performed another divination.

No matter how many times he tested it, he couldn't recreate the feeling he had just experienced, making him doubt that it was just an illusion.

However, Fang Shu quickly dismissed such an absurd idea.

Only when inner demons arise can True Immortal be so unsettled, even to the point of having illusions.

Fang Shu, protected by his own Dao Register and blessed by the Fortune of Mount Lu and the Profound Teaching, has hardly ever encountered any inner demons, let alone experienced them.

He calmed himself down and carefully calculated the results several more times.

Finally, once again, he sensed something unusual about the causal chains of the Profound Teaching Sect.

And this time, he was certain that the anomaly did not originate from within the Profound Teaching, but from outside of Profound Teaching!

Fang Shu stood in the quiet room and suddenly opened his eyes.

He raised his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the quiet room. "One who can use three True Immortal as chess pieces is definitely not True Immortal —I never expected that I, Fang, could actually attract the attention of this Divine Immortal."

This situation made him feel as if a stone was pressing on his heart.

Divine Immortal are beings who live forever.

Compared to this, all beings below the level of Divine Immortal are like ants.

For example, the Five Sects of Mount Lu back then, all five of them had Golden Core Perfection and were also blessed by the Fortune of Mount Lu for a hundred generations.

But even after they died and their souls were destroyed, they could only barely keep the Goose Divine Immortal imprisoned in the Secret Realm.

As a result, although the Goose Divine Immortal was trapped, she unexpectedly encountered a fortunate fortuitous opportunity.

Now that Fang Shu, has been targeted and schemed against by an uncontained Divine Immortal, it would be pure self-deception to say that he is not flustered.

But amidst his anxiety, Fang Shu suddenly realized something. "Even a junior like me is being secretly plotted against. Could it be that Goose Master's words are true, and that the Vast Sea Old Immortal is nearing his end?"