Let Me Help You

After Ling Yunzi finished speaking, no one said a word.

It was as though his words had stunned them all. Elders and disciples alike stood rooted where they were.

The fury in Ling Yunzi's heart subsided somewhat. He tucked away his exposed emotions and resumed the detached, transcendent bearing of a sect master. Just as he was about to say something more, a low laugh suddenly came from behind him.

Ling Yunzi's heart jolted. Turning around, he saw the young man in dark robes carrying a massive black roughstone standing at the entrance to the Spirit Mirror Platform. He was drenched in blood, and the look he gave Ling Yunzi was terrifying. His low voice drifted from his lips, sending a chill through everyone present.

"Is that so? Expelled from the sect?"

Shock flickered in Ling Yunzi's eyes—

He had come out so quickly?

Sure enough, he had been given too much time...

Ling Yunzi truly loathed Chu Zeming.

He was arrogant and unrestrained, never putting Ling Yunzi in his eyes. Again and again, he had made Ling Yunzi lose face, even demeaning him to nothing in front of the Heavenly Remnant Sect. The sect had already drawn plenty of attention because of the Joint Grand Tournament. After word of that day spread, rumors throughout the cultivation world rose on all sides, saying he mistreated his disciples and was unworthy of being a master. They painted him, the sect master of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect, as narrow-minded and selfish—too unpleasant to hear.

Suppressing the disgust in his heart, Ling Yunzi barely maintained his composure. Looking at Chu Zeming, he said evenly, "Since you came out as promised, you may remain in the sect. All right, everyone, disperse!"

He turned to leave, only for the massive roughstone to come smashing viciously toward him. Ling Yunzi's face changed drastically. He barely dodged the stone, then glared furiously at Chu Zeming and shouted, "Chu Zeming! What are you doing?!"

Chu Zeming sneered. "What am I doing? Naturally, I'm smashing you!"

"How preposterous!" Ling Yunzi was beside himself with rage. Terrifying pressure spilled outward from his body. "You have no respect for your elders, arrogant and wicked as you are. I will teach you properly, on Heaven's behalf, what humility is!"

Yet before Ling Yunzi could act, an even more terrifying pressure rose.

Qin Elder stepped forward, his gaze cold and stern. "Sect Master, you may not harbor killing intent toward a disciple of the sect."

Ling Yunzi laughed angrily. "Qin Elder, you have protected Chu Zeming time and again. Have you gone senile? Did you not see him throw that roughstone at me just now?"

Qin Elder replied calmly, "Sect Master, you are at the Out-of-Body Stage. A mere roughstone could never hit you."

Ling Yunzi demanded coldly, "What if it did?"

Qin Elder's expression abruptly changed. "So you know there is a what if?! When you sent Zeming into the sixth level, why did you not consider what if then?!"

Ling Yunzi was left speechless, though his expression remained dark. His eyes returned to Chu Zeming as he said in a low voice, "You attacked your former master at the slightest disagreement. No matter what any of you say today, this child cannot be kept. Get out of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect. This tiny temple cannot accommodate such a great Buddha!"

Looking at Chu Zeming, Qin Elder urged softly, "Zeming, apologize to the sect master."

"Apologize? Impossible." At those words, Chu Zeming suddenly burst into laughter. "Ling Yunzi, you want to expel me from the sect? No. You are not qualified."

Upon hearing this, the disciples guarding the Spirit Mirror Platform were abruptly startled.

What did Eldest Senior Brother mean by that?

Even Qin Elder's brow twitched, a vague sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

Sure enough, in the next instant, everyone heard what Chu Zeming said next—

"Ling Yunzi, you old bastard, remember this: today, it is not you expelling me from the sect. It is I, Chu Zeming, choosing to betray the sect! You disgust me. You fawn on the powerful and curry favor with the noble, using authority to flatter the highborn. Not only are you selfish, but your heart is narrow. This sect has endured for a thousand years, but in your hands, it will one day walk toward ruin. A person like you is unworthy of setting foot upon the immortal path!"

The blood-soaked young man in dark robes stood tall before the Spirit Mirror Platform. His eyes, sharp as swords, fixed on Ling Yunzi, while his flamboyantly beautiful face was filled with loathing.

Ling Yunzi trembled all over with rage at those words. He wanted to strike Chu Zeming directly, but Qin Elder held him down with all his strength.

Qin Elder shouted in a low voice, "Sect Master, you must not!"

Chu Zeming's gaze lingered for a long while among the elders and sect disciples. Only then did he smile and say, "The road ahead is long, and the immortal path is rugged. May all elders and junior brothers... have promising futures. Take care of yourselves."

"Eldest Senior Brother..."

A disciple murmured.

Suddenly, someone began to cry—

"Eldest Senior Brother, don't go, okay?"

"Isn't the sect good? Everyone likes you so much. Eldest Senior Brother, don't be angry. The sect master did not punish you on purpose."

"Eldest Senior Brother, please stay in the sect, okay?"

Qin Elder looked at Chu Zeming's resolute expression and tried to keep him as well. "Zeming, do not speak nonsense. With me here, you will not suffer injustice."

But Chu Zeming merely smiled and shook his head, then turned around.

He left without looking back.

"Eldest Senior Brother... he's gone..."

"Eldest Senior Brother doesn't want us anymore."

"...Wuwuwu."

Some disciples wiped away their tears and left the Spirit Mirror Platform on the spot. The atmosphere immediately became heavy and oppressive.

Qin Elder withdrew the pressure surrounding him and looked bitterly at Ling Yunzi. "Sect Master, you... do not know what kind of disciple you have lost. You will regret this."

Ling Yunzi said coldly, "I will never regret it."

With that, he flicked his sleeve and left.

Yet over the next few days, events developed beyond Ling Yunzi's expectations—

Disciples of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect began leaving one after another. In just a short time, twenty or thirty disciples had packed their belongings and departed, including some whose cultivation had advanced rapidly.

Ling Yunzi could not help feeling somewhat anxious.

Did Chu Zeming have such great influence?

He had left, and so many people no longer wished to stay?

Perhaps it was time to cultivate another leader among the disciples.

Ling Yunzi sat at the head of the main hall, contemplating for a long time. At last, he reached a decision. Raising his head, he looked at the disciple standing in the hall and asked quietly, "Are your Sixth Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother both still in seclusion?"

The disciple lowered his head and answered, "Yes."

Ling Yunzi pondered for a moment. He felt that allowing disciples to continue leaving the sect was no solution, so he rose and said, "Send a voice transmission. Have Xuan Mo end his seclusion early and come to the main hall. Tell him I have an important matter to instruct him on."

"Yes, Sect Master."

Seclusion was an extremely crucial matter. Without something of great importance, no voice transmission would be sent to summon someone out early.

Xuan Mo followed behind the messenger disciple. Along the way, he saw that every one of his junior brothers in the sect was absent-minded. The entire sect had lost the fierce spirit of striving to surpass one another in cultivation. It was as though they had suddenly fallen into a valley, unusually dispirited. Xuan Mo could not help wondering what had happened.

When he entered the main hall, he saw Ling Yunzi wearing a worried expression. Xuan Mo lowered his head and asked, "Master, what happened?"

Ling Yunzi looked at his sixth disciple below, who had already reached Golden Core Middle Stage, and satisfaction appeared on his face.

Descending from his high seat, Ling Yunzi came before Xuan Mo. He tried to make his tone as kind and approachable as possible. "I want you to become the Eldest Senior Brother of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect. Are you... willing?"

Xuan Mo looked up in surprise. "Why is Master suddenly saying this? The position of Eldest Senior Brother will always belong to Eldest Senior Brother. Xuan Mo does not want it."

Ling Yunzi's face cooled slightly. "Three days ago, Chu Zeming chose to betray the sect. From now on, you will be the sect's Eldest Senior Brother."

Xuan Mo's expression changed. His voice trembled as he asked, "Three days ago, Eldest Senior Brother betrayed the sect?!"

He suddenly remembered what Chu Zeming had once asked him. Xuan Mo's heart shook... Back then, Eldest Senior Brother had not been joking with him?

He really... was going to leave the sect...

Ling Yunzi was somewhat displeased. "I have said that you will be the sect's Eldest Senior Brother from now on. Do not call that wretch Senior Brother again."

Yet before he could finish, Ling Yunzi saw Xuan Mo suddenly turn around and stagger out of the main hall.

A bad feeling rose in Ling Yunzi's heart. He shouted in a low voice, "Xuan Mo, come back!"

But Xuan Mo turned a deaf ear.

Only one sentence echoed in his mind—three days ago, Chu Zeming chose to betray the sect.

Betrayed the sect...

Eldest Senior Brother had betrayed the sect.

Xuan Mo arrived before Ling Tian's residence and pounded on his stone door again and again. "Ling Tian! Come out!! Get the hell out here!"

The stone door shook as it opened. Ling Tian came out with fury written across his face. "Xuan Mo, are you sick?!"

Xuan Mo looked helplessly at Ling Tian, whose baby face was dark with anger, and murmured, "Ling Tian, Eldest Senior Brother is gone. While we were in seclusion, Eldest Senior Brother... left."

Ling Tian froze abruptly. Then he heard Xuan Mo ask, "Ling Tian, will you come with me... to find Eldest Senior Brother?"

Ling Yunzi had not expected Xuan Mo to be led astray by Chu Zeming as well.

He paced the main hall in a furious frenzy.

Ever since Chu Zeming left, everything seemed to be developing in an uncontrollable direction.

Vaguely, Ling Yunzi remembered what Chu Zeming had said before leaving—the sect would perish in his hands.

A surge of panic and fear suddenly rose in Ling Yunzi's heart.

Would the sect truly collapse because of him?

Impossible.

With Yue Lian here, it could not collapse.

The child of destiny was in the sect. The sect would only grow more prosperous, and by caring for Yue Lian, he himself would receive Heaven's favor and ascend to the Immortal Realm before long.

As though he had swallowed a fast-acting heart-saving pill, the anxiety and panic in Ling Yunzi's heart eased for the moment.

After calming himself, Ling Yunzi decided to see how Yue Lian was doing. Yet when he arrived at Yue Lian's residence, he found it long empty.

Gone... Yue Lian had gone too...

Chu Zeming had always targeted Yue Lian. Why had Yue Lian followed him away after he helped Yue Lian drive Chu Zeming out of the sect?!

The panic Ling Yunzi had struggled to suppress rose again.

Who, exactly, was the child of destiny?

Who exactly did the child of destiny refer to?!

Ling Yunzi returned to his residence in a panic. Holding the somewhat cracked Tortoiseshell Hexagram, he staggered into the sect ancestral hall and fell to his knees before the portraits of the patriarchs. His face pale, Ling Yunzi tremblingly cast the tortoiseshell once more—

With a muffled ding-dong.

The Tortoiseshell Hexagram fell to the ground again.

Seeing the result displayed on the hexagram, Ling Yunzi could no longer bear the blow. He slid limply to the ground in despair.

Beside him, the cracked Tortoiseshell Hexagram displayed—bright.

Meanwhile, the elder guarding the Spirit Mirror Platform stood at its entrance, brows deeply furrowed. Qin Elder stood beside him.

Qin Elder asked, "The Spirit Mirror Platform still cannot be entered?"

The guarding elder nodded heavily.

Qin Elder sighed and smiled bitterly. "Even the Spirit Mirror Platform has vanished. The fortune of the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect... may have run out."

With that, Qin Elder turned and left.

His back was desolate, as though he had suddenly aged several decades.

Chu Zeming did not know the Spirit Mirror Platform had undergone a strange change. Ever since leaving the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect, he had traveled north. During the Joint Grand Tournament, he had heard people say that an ancient secret realm had been discovered in the Northern Wasteland and would open in six months. Chu Zeming planned to try his luck there.

Along the way, Chu Zeming encountered quite a few Rogue Cultivators traveling in the same direction.

They seemed to be heading to the Northern Wasteland Secret Realm to try their luck just as he was. One of them had even set his sights on Xiao Hei in Chu Zeming's arms and fought him for it. Fortunately, that person's cultivation was not high. Like Chu Zeming, he was only at Nascent Soul Early Stage, and Chu Zeming narrowly defeated him.

However, Chu Zeming suffered a minor injury because of it.

Finding a concealed cave, Chu Zeming set Xiao Hei down and began meditating with his eyes closed to heal his wounds.

That person seemed to have used some secret art, for the injury was extremely difficult to heal.

With his dark robe half removed, Chu Zeming looked at the black aura curling around his chest and felt a headache coming on—Rogue Cultivators truly were a difficult bunch to provoke.

Without a sect's protection, every Rogue Cultivator was a lone wolf, fierce and ruthless.

Pulling his clothes back on, Chu Zeming tucked Xiao Hei into his arms. His gaze fixed directly on the cave entrance as he said blandly, "You've followed me for so long. Have you followed enough?"

The air rippled faintly. Immediately afterward, Yue Lian, dressed in white, appeared within Chu Zeming's sight.

"How did you know I was following you..."

Though he clearly had a storage space, he still carried a huge bundle on his back, as if afraid Chu Zeming would fail to see that he was bringing his entire household to follow his husband.

Chu Zeming felt terrible all over.

He had not been talking about Yue Lian, but he had never expected Yue Lian to be secretly following him too.

Temporarily shifting his gaze away from the other spot near the cave entrance, Chu Zeming took a deep breath and slowly said to Yue Lian, "Ling Yunzi fawns over you like this. Aren't you happy? Why leave the sect? There will be no benefits in following me. I do not like men, and I never will. Even if you are strong, even if your identity is extraordinary."

Yue Lian was silent for a moment.

He put the bundle on his back into his storage space, then smiled brilliantly. "It's all right. Even if you never like me, I will not mind... As long as I can stay by your side."

Across the river of ten thousand years of life, his heart had stirred only this once.

He truly did not want to miss it.

Walking over to Chu Zeming's side, Yue Lian reached out and forcibly pulled open Chu Zeming's clothes.

Chu Zeming abruptly seized his hand and glared up at him furiously.

Yue Lian looked at the dark-robed young man's unyielding attitude. His voice was low, almost pleading. "The wound is poisoned. That man's methods were wrong; he was a demonic cultivator. Let me help you, okay... I will not do anything to you."

Chu Zeming's grip on his hand trembled slightly. Then he turned his head away and said coldly, "Do not be so humble before me. I have never liked you."

"I know."

He knew. He had known from the very beginning.

"In the underground palace, I did not mean to take liberties with you. At the time, I... lost control."

Chu Zeming glanced at Yue Lian, and the strength in his hand loosened slightly. Then he lowered his head, drawing in some of the piercing sharpness surrounding him.

Yue Lian's gaze softened somewhat. He reached out and, with extremely gentle movements, pushed down the clothes at Chu Zeming's shoulder a little.

"Being injured is a necessary road to becoming stronger. Bear with it."

Chu Zeming lowered his head. "Mm."

After a long while, Chu Zeming's voice slowly sounded through the cave again—

"Perhaps we can try being friends."

"Don't mess with me. I'm willing to treat you as a brother."