With a furious roar, the Martial Warrior Han Wu shattered the restraining formation binding his body!
But before him stood only Master Ming, carrying a lantern that glowed a sickly green.
"Where's that bastard? I'm going to beat him to death!"
Master Ming sighed. "Gone. Saving that idiot Huang Jiu comes first!"
Han Wu shook his head, as though something did not quite add up...
Master Ming carried the Ghost Dao Lantern himself, stumbling across the rocky shoal, his back slightly hunched.
Capital City, midnight.
The bustling outer city teemed with people, fish and dragons mingling in its noisy streets.
Ever since the immortals of the Upper Realm had intervened to mediate, bringing lasting peace to the borders of the Three Great Dynasties... the mortal world had gone far too long without hearing the drums of war.
While the frontier villages grew ever poorer and more desperate, the royal capitals and great cities of the mortal world grew increasingly prosperous.
There were no immortal mountains or cultivation sect compounds within the capital, only four Guardian Office residences positioned around the imperial city, as though observing some unspoken rule.
Yet everyone knew that the Great Jin Dynasty's imperial Sima Clan seemed to be the greatest cultivation sect in all of southern Great Jin!
The Four Great Immortal Sects occupied the mountain ranges in the four directions outside the capital. The Liu Clan of Mount Zhlin held Mount Yuekong to the south, while to the north stood an immortal residence belonging to the foremost Immortal Sect in Great Jin... the Vast Righteousness Sect of Mount Tianmu. To the east and west were the second- and third-ranked sects, Heart Lake Reversed Water Island and the Taihua Sect of Mozi Mountain!
Leaning on a Green Bamboo Staff, Master Ming followed the deaf Han Wu slowly along the official road.
Seemingly tired, the two men, disguised as a blind fortune-teller and his deaf-mute disciple, brushed the dust from their clothes and squatted beneath a roadside willow to rest.
Beside them stood a little tea stall, its owner a middle-aged man with a beaming smile.
Seeing the two shabby, down-and-out men by the roadside, the man kindly brought them a dipper of water to quench their thirst.
After drinking, Master Ming cupped his hands in thanks. The middle-aged man smiled and returned to his work.
Beside him, the deaf Han Wu asked Master Ming through voice transmission, "What did we come here for?"
Master Ming smiled and answered in his mind, Did you get a good look at that stall owner? He's a lookout the Liu planted at the foot of the mountain...
"I noticed. Looks like a third-realm cultivator! He has that Liu stench on him..."
Master Ming lowered his tattered bamboo hat and continued, "There's a deal to be made. If it goes well, the Taihua Sect of Mozi Mountain, the Liu Clan of Mount Zhlin, and the Twelfth Guardian City will all have headaches big enough to fill a bushel... heh heh!"
Han Wu asked in confusion, "The Twelfth Guardian City? The one that has a grudge against us too? What does the Liu Clan of Mount Zhlin have to do with them? And how does the Taihua Sect come into it?"
Master Ming turned to look at Han Wu's utterly bewildered face, then at the scars on either side where his ears were... and sighed. "Forget it. Your brain doesn't work properly. You wouldn't understand even if I explained!"
"You're discriminating against me! You damned blind man!"
"..."
In a towering mountain range southwest of Great Jin, the highest mountain at its heart was none other than Mozi Mountain, home to the third-ranked of Great Jin's Four Great Immortal Sects!
The Taihua Sect's ancestral hall stood atop its summit.
Apart from more than a dozen subordinate halls occupying smaller hills, the sect possessed vast territory on Mozi Mountain alone: Thirty-Two Peaks, Four Halls, and Three Forbidden Grounds!
An Immortal Grotto forbidden ground on the Rear Mountain belonged exclusively to the sect master. At that moment, a black-robed man knelt cautiously beside its boundary stele...
A young female cultivator in white gauze Daoist robes held a horsetail whisk in her arms and told the black-robed man expressionlessly, "Go inside! Before the sect master, you must not raise your head, speak out of turn, or behave disrespectfully! Do you understand?"
"This humble one understands! Sorry for the trouble, fairy..."
"Follow me!"
The black-robed man raised his head to look at the graceful, ethereal female cultivator ahead of him, a flicker of excitement passing through his eyes...
He was actually the eldest martial uncle among the group of Martial Warriors and cultivators who had attacked the Taihua Sect's mine that night!
Halfway up the mist-wreathed mountain within the forbidden ground, an old cultivator with a lean face and the bearing of an immortal sage sat on a Purple Wisteria Cushion atop a white jade terrace.
A handsome man stood solemnly beside the old cultivator, holding a treasured sword that shimmered with radiant light. He frowned as he studied the coarse Martial Warrior following the female attendant up the mountain to pay his respects.
"Master, why lower yourself to receive this two-faced Martial Warrior?"
The old cultivator exhaled a breath of turbid air and answered with his eyes closed, "He's not merely a coarse, two-faced Martial Warrior. The southern mine belonging to our Taihua Sect was swept clean and destroyed by his group just a few days ago..."
"It was him?"
A trace of icy killing intent suddenly seeped from the treasured sword in the young man's arms...
"Master! We cannot keep a man like that, even if he surrenders! Let your disciple slaughter his entire sect instead..."
"Hahaha... merely a swarm of ants trying to overturn the heavens and a few creatures harboring sinister motives. How could they be worth unsheathing my Immortal Sword? Settle your mind and calm your spirit... just nurture the Immortal Sword properly for your master. You need not concern yourself with anything else..."
"Your disciple understands. I will follow all your instructions, Master..."
"Mm..."
Wearing a bamboo hat, Huang Jiu stood silently atop a low hill.
An empty sleeve fluttered in the wind.
In the distance, eight puppet strongmen carried an immortal palanquin on their shoulders, clouds and mist shrouding its sides... then it rose into the air, soared into the clouds, and vanished beyond the horizon.
Looking toward the Jinhu Immortal Abode, Huang Jiu's eyes flashed with cold killing intent. Then he transformed into a streak of sword light and vanished along the valley.
Outside the Jinhu Immortal Abode, a woman of peerless beauty sat listlessly on a newly built white jade dock.
She wore a thin gauze dress, and despite her scant makeup, she remained breathtakingly beautiful. Only her gaze seemed dull, her eyes filled with numbness.
A white-clad child approached quietly and said with lowered head, "The immortal has already departed with the two young ladies. He told me to tell you... if you still haven't unlocked your mind yourself when he returns, he'll take all of you back to Mount Zhilin for a visit!"
A desperate struggle flashed in the woman's eyes, and she pressed her lips tightly together...
"I understand..."
Her voice was unbearably hoarse and anguished.
The white-clad child sneered, then turned and left.
Pain! Boundless pain and shame tore and gnawed at the woman's heart...
Death? As an immortal's plaything, how could I die so easily? And there are my birth family and my husband's family... my son and daughter, so many people! Can I afford to die? Would dying be worth it?
The woman raised her head, a little life and anguish returning to her eyes. She had already sealed away her spiritual perception and most of her mind, letting that immortal torment and sexually humiliate her however he pleased... she even had to submit alongside her own daughter and niece to serve him!
Is that still not enough? Is he still not satisfied?
The woman staggered to her feet and slowly walked toward the wooden building wreathed in ethereal immortal mist.
A koi turned beneath the water and swam toward the lakebed, swishing its tail.
Across the entire lakebed, obscure, mysterious runes flickered faintly, pulsing like that man's breathing.
Two pieces of a broken sword lay silently in the mud at the bottom of the lake, their divine radiance utterly lost, lifeless and still.
A streak of sword light flashed from the koi's belly. Then it rolled over and died...
The sword light slipped between the flickering runes, cautiously approaching the two pieces of the broken sword.
An old man in a straw rain cape suddenly appeared by the lake. Holding a fishing rod, he sat cross-legged on a large rock.
In the distance, several alerted guards of Great Jin's imperial Sima Clan rushed over like madmen, simultaneously activating the emergency Message Talismans at their waists...
At the Prince of Linhe's Residence in Great Jin, the Prince of Linhe abruptly rose and walked to the north side of his study. Frowning, he murmured, "That shouldn't be... the immortal has been gone less than a day, and someone has already gone to cause trouble at the Immortal Abode? Who could it be... why would those people do this? That shouldn't be... prepare the carriage! I'm going to the palace!"
The old man in the straw rain cape whipped his fishing rod, sending a fine line lashing outward. All four imperial cultivators of the fifth and sixth realms were blasted away...
The bare fishing hook dropped into Koi Lake. The old man was none other than Master Ming, all alone! He snorted and said, "This old blind man was bored, so I came to ask that son-of-a-bitch immortal for a carp to taste... you lapdogs can piss off."
A seventh-realm cultivator flew into the air, facing him from afar... "Where did a rogue cultivator like you come from? You dare disturb the Jinhu Immortal Abode! Do you really think our Great Jin Dynasty is so good-tempered?"
Master Ming chuckled. "I'm from Two Realms Village. Your grandpa Mingxin!"
The Sima Clan cultivator froze for a moment, but still gritted his teeth and said, "Then this cannot end peacefully... this time, we must give the immortal an accounting!"
Master Ming shook the fishing rod in his hand... "You talk too much. If you want to die, nobody can stop you!"
A ripple spread from beneath the fishing rod, instantly triggering the restraining formation under the Immortal Abode's lake!
In an instant, the skies above tranquil, misty Koi Lake changed. Immortal cranes scattered with mournful cries as the waves churned, seething with killing intent...
A streak of sword light burst through the lake water and shot upward, revealing a somewhat bedraggled figure in midair...
Huang Jiu shook the lake water from his head and stared at the old blind man by the shore in surprise. "Why are you here? Who asked you to meddle... hurry up and get lost!"
The old blind man thrust his fishing rod into the ground. Formation patterns spread outward, blocking the Great Jin cultivators guarding Koi Lake outside. Then he cursed loudly, "You damned old bastard with a death wish! You fucking came here to die-were we supposed to watch and do nothing?"
Huang Jiu said gloomily, "Hadn't I already succeeded? I could've escaped easily, but now I have to drag along a burden like you..."
"Cut the crap! Take me to the Immortal Abode's wooden building. It took some doing to get here, so I have to leave that son-of-a-bitch immortal something to remember..."
"Are you going to take a shit?"
"If I do, I'll do it on your head..."
On Mount Yuekong, a hulking man stood beside the Investiture Stele of the Liu Clan of Mount Zhlin...
Han Wu raised his head to inspect the enormous stele. Behind him lay a field of fallen Liu cultivators and Immortal Armor Soldiers.
"Heh heh, selling your daughters, selling your wives, selling your consciences, selling your miserable lives... all for this gravestone bestowed by that son-of-a-bitch immortal? Your Liu clan really is a whole litter of ass-selling dogs..."
A fifth-realm cultivator whose meridians had been shattered by the Martial Warrior's Gang Qi struggled to raise his head and said through clenched teeth, "Who are you? You dare provoke Mount Zhilin..."
Han Wu looked puzzled for a moment, then spoke as though realization had suddenly dawned. "Who am I? Oh... right, I'm Han Wu! The Martial Warrior Han Wu, Wei Wuchen's closest friend..."
"What? You're... the Martial Warrior Han Wu from Two-World Mountain!"
The cultivator of the Liu Immortal Sect gaped in horror... this was an eighth-realm peak Martial Warrior with terrifying strength! Wei Wuchen was dead, and the Liu had paid a grievous price for his dying strike... in the end, even the young master's wife and niece had been thrown into the bargain to appease the immortal's wrath!
This Han Wu is a rebel from Two-World Mountain! He's... here for revenge...
Han Wu looked up at the towering stele and murmured, "Shameless... today, I'll test just how hard this immortal's Investiture Stele is for you!"