Two Saints Outside the Old Residence
"I'll give you two choices. One, turn around and leave, and I can pretend nothing happened. Two, die at the hands of the old senior."
The situation had changed in the blink of an eye. Gu Baishui shrugged innocently and returned Lu Ziyou's threat to him word for word.
The night rain was cool, and Lu Ziyou's face looked like an eggplant struck by frost.
This Yin-Yang Saint Son hadn't expected this to happen so suddenly. Li Shiyi's tomb was clearly right before his eyes, practically within his grasp.
Mingque was already negotiating with the old red-haired man beside Li Shiyi, deep inside the Old Courtyard. If nothing went wrong, he should soon gain the old Red-Haired Monster's recognition and inherit the legacy of the Decaying Great Emperor here.
But who could have expected an old beggar to appear out of nowhere?
Wasn't tonight Ghost Festival? Wasn't this the day of the funeral, when ghostly Qi filled the air?
Why would a reckless old Saint dare come to the entrance of the Old Courtyard at a time like this?
Was this old beggar really not afraid of being tainted by death Qi and encountering calamity when he crossed the Saint Tribulation?
Just as Lu Ziyou was caught between advancing and retreating, hesitating uncertainly, the disheveled old beggar silently shook his head again.
"That's not very reasonable, young man. The world's treasures go to those with the fortune to find them. How can you threaten someone so unfairly?"
Lu Ziyou froze for a moment. A glimmer lit his eyes, and he looked at the old beggar with a trace of hopeful anticipation.
The old beggar lifted his eyes and smiled kindly at the naive young man, his face full of benevolence.
"The two of us are the ones with the fortune. He's a shameless interloper. Why... give him the first choice?"
"Wouldn't it be cleaner and more decisive to take him out directly, with no trouble left behind?"
The old beggar's voice was even and calm. Gu Baishui raised his eyebrows and clicked his tongue, a little surprised.
"I've learned something, Senior."
Only Lu Ziyou's face drained of color. His expression froze in a somewhat comical grimace, and he unconsciously took half a step backward-only for his body to lock in place the next instant.
The old beggar tapped the porcelain bowl in his hand. A terrifying Saint's pressure swept over them, vast as the sky, and bore down on Lu Ziyou like a mountain and the stars, pinning him in place with no chance to resist.
The old Saint wasn't joking. He truly meant to kill Lu Ziyou.
The rain grew heavier. Lu Ziyou's Adam's apple bobbed as he could no longer tell whether what trickled down his face was rainwater or cold sweat.
The threat of death crept closer, like an invisible little knife pressed against his fragile throat.
"Pfft~"
It wasn't the sound of a neck breaking. The old beggar's Saint's pressure suddenly vanished instead.
Lu Ziyou's legs weakened, and he heard unhurried footsteps behind him.
"Senior, you really are an unreasonable person."
A dignified middle-aged man in a brocade robe emerged from the shadows. He looked at the old beggar with helplessness and sighed softly.
"Why must you involve yourself in disputes between juniors? Wouldn't it be better to let the young people settle their own affairs?"
The old beggar met the middle-aged man's gaze and narrowed his eyes, cool and detached. "Head of the Ji Clan? I didn't expect you to come tonight. Didn't that old fellow from the Shaking Light Holy Land dare to come?"
Ji Changsheng shook his head. "My second uncle is too old. Tonight's situation isn't suitable for him."
The Old Holy Lord of the Shaking Light Holy Land was Ji Changsheng's second uncle. This was a little-known secret on the continent, but the old beggar wasn't surprised.
"That old thing, your second uncle, is nearly dead of old age just like me. And he's still such a coward?"
The old beggar smiled with a trace of mockery. "Once you're old, you have to accept that you're going to die. He doesn't dare risk everything himself, so he sends a promising junior to take the danger in his place? What a spineless old man, Old Yaoguang."
Ji Changsheng didn't agree with the old beggar's view. He earnestly defended his second uncle. "It's simply a matter of different choices."
"Some people cherish what little time they have left even more as they grow older. Others, like Senior, become unconstrained and free-spirited instead. But people as carefree as you are few and far between. There's nothing wrong with my second uncle cherishing his life."
The old beggar silently nodded. In truth, he rather admired Ji Changsheng, a comparatively young junior.
To seize control of the entire Ji Clan from the collateral branch through his own efforts, then build it into such a flourishing and prosperous clan in only a thousand years-Ji Changsheng truly was a promising talent that made people envy the Ji Clan.
"What about you? You're so young. Why are you trying to snatch a fortuitous opportunity from old things like us, who are risking our lives?" The old beggar looked at Ji Changsheng a few times, puzzled. "Didn't you only enter the Saint Realm recently? Have you already run short on lifespan?"
"Not at all. I have plenty."
Ji Changsheng sighed helplessly. "It's just that my second uncle is nearing the end of his lifespan. I thought I'd bring him out to try our luck, see if he could break through a realm and extend his life."
"You're quite considerate of him."
The old beggar was quiet for a moment, then asked, "But you're going to such lengths just to extend Yaoguang's life? Aren't you trying a bit too hard?"
"I thought I was the only one who'd dare come to Old Ye Residence tonight. I didn't expect all the old things in the city to be hiding in their shells like turtles, while you, a young junior, dared to stand here and risk your life alongside me."
"But Senior, you were the one who broke the rules first, weren't you?"
Ji Changsheng smiled. "At midnight on Ghost Festival, the one inside Old Ye Mansion leaves. Outsiders like us shouldn't offend it, and we wouldn't dare to. I just can't understand why you couldn't wait even one night and had to enter the mansion first."
"If the one inside the Mansion gets angry, I think even you, Senior, won't be able to withstand their retaliation, will you?"
The old beggar's eyelid twitched. After remaining silent for a long while, he said ruefully, "I'm too old."
"Too old to have much time left to scheme and struggle against the old things in the city. This is my last chance to look upon the Emperor's path. If I fail, I can only pass away in meditation. An old man with no way back naturally has the right to go wild one last time."
The old beggar paused, then looked at the refined and dignified middle-aged man. "But you, junior, still have a long road ahead of you and countless possibilities. There's no need to risk your life alongside a dying old man like me."
Ji Changsheng understood the warning in the old beggar's words, but after thinking it over briefly, he only smiled without a word.
"Senior, you don't know me. I'm an adventurer, and I'm a madman."
The old beggar narrowed his eyes. Ji Changsheng thought for a moment, then continued, "In this junior's humble opinion, why don't we do this? If we Saints enter the Mansion tonight, we'll face certain death, but these two little fellows in the Immortal Platform Realm might not be harmed by the one inside."
"You and I can wait right here at the entrance to Old Ye Residence and see which of them gets this heaven-sized fortuitous opportunity. If your friend wins, I can swear on the Ji Clan's bloodline, passed down for ten thousand years, and call on my second uncle to join forces with you to deal with the old Saints in the city who'll be green with envy, then escort you out of Luoyang."
"After you leave the city, we'll part ways and forget each other."
Ji Changsheng smiled warmly. "If Lu Ziyou wins, then this junior has one more unreasonable request."
The old beggar frowned, unsure what this young Ji Clan Head was plotting. "Let's hear it."
"Senior should know that our Ji Clan has a Dragon Blood Immortality Herb, passed down through the generations. It can cleanse and temper the marrow, extend one's life, and ward off calamities."
Ji Changsheng shrugged with a carefree air. "This season, it's grown two Dragon Blood Longevity Fruits. I want to use one on my second uncle, and the other Longevity Fruit... can be given to Senior."