Great True Person
When his words fell, there was no response, only the fine rain continuing to pour.
Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi held their Law Artifacts at the ready, their expressions grave.
"Put those Law Artifacts away first."
Hearing Su Yao's words, the two gathered up the Law Artifacts the five had dropped, all the while remaining on guard.
Once they had finished, Su Yao called out urgently:
"Go."
With that, he hurriedly flew off into the distance, and the two followed.
The three flew some two hundred meters before being forced back. A curtain of light suddenly appeared ahead of them, trapping them inside.
Su Yao snorted coldly.
"Back."
So the three flew back to the waterfall. When they arrived, however, they realized something was wrong. The pool water, no longer overflowing, was now spinning rapidly and pouring into the inner pool.
"This is..." Li Siyi asked, her face pale.
Su Yao said nothing. Instead, he activated the prism and used it to look inside. At the center of the whirlpool, a gateway was slowly opening below!
That was right, a gateway.
He looked at the two.
"It's a secret realm."
At his words, their faces turned ashen. Liu Yunhe asked:
"A secret realm? Could he mean to send the three of us in to explore it?"
As if to confirm his words, a figure in cyan appeared before them.
Vast Gui Water Qi swirled around him.
His gaze was cold, as though nothing in the world could catch his eye.
Su Yao was startled to see him, but still said:
"Greetings, Senior. What instructions do you have for us?"
"Bring out that Gui Water spiritual object," the cyan figure said evenly.
"Does Senior know where this place is?" Su Yao asked, still respectful.
He chuckled.
"Nothing but a barren mountain in the wilderness."
He paused.
"Perhaps it will also be the place where you three are buried. What else could it be?"
Su Yao raised his head.
"This place lies within a hundred li of Zhongnan. By the rules, it should be the territory of Qixia Temple on Mount Zhongnan."
He said disdainfully:
"What of Mount Zhongnan? It sealed its mountain nearly ten thousand years ago. What family hasn't taken spiritual objects born in the surrounding area?"
With that, he took a close look at the light, ethereal air about Su Yao and surmised that he was probably a disciple of some immortal sect. He thought to himself:
If this place weren't covered in a dense web of Legalist and Confucian laws, and if it weren't in the Central Plains, with so many immortal mountains and perhaps some great cultivator watching from one of them, I wouldn't be afraid to kill at will. Anywhere else, if these Foundation Establishment cultivators dared say another word, I'd sell them to the demonic path to be refined into blood pills.
He was just about to speak when he caught sight of the magic sword at Su Yao's waist.
That sword looks valuable. Could this brat be a young master from some family nearby?
He looked into the Great Void and saw that no one was there. His mind settled.
Then he spoke.
"Brat, who is your master?"
Seeing him probe for information, Su Yao's heart sank. He could only hope that the True Lord was watching. As for running, how could he possibly outrun the man? Even with Golden Light Across the Land, he could not escape him.
Besides, a True Person could travel through the Great Void, at more than ten times the speed possible in the present world.
He tightened his grip on the talismans in his hand and looked at the man.
"This junior is unworthy, but I am the Dao child of Qixia Temple of the Zhongnan Dao Lineage. This place can be considered Qixia Temple's territory as well."
He paused.
"May I ask where you cultivate, True Person?"
At those words, the True Person burst out laughing.
"Qixia Temple is nothing but dry bones in the mountains. If you want to bluff me, brat, you could at least pick a proper Daoist temple."
He paused.
"I only wanted that spiritual object, but now you can hand over that sword at your waist as well!"
With that, he unleashed his full presence, pinning Su Yao and the other two in place.
The gap between Foundation Establishment and the Purple Mansion was like that between a man and an ant.
Then he raised a hand, and a stream of Law Power reached out to seize Su Yao.
The moment he released his Law Power, a gray figure appeared in front of Su Yao. Gray light flickered around him, and the next moment, he led Su Yao, Liu Yunhe, Li Siyi, Little Red, and Little Orange to safety nearby, avoiding the attack.
The True Person flew into a rage.
"Where did you come from, you scoundrel? How dare you ruin my plans!"
With that, waves of white-brown water rose around him and spread without end. Strange phenomena appeared all around, like fresh water flooding a ford when the waters rose, before forming a clear pool.
Seeing this, the gray figure first looked at Su Yao.
"By the True Lord's command, Dao child, go into the secret realm and retrieve the treasure. Leave this scoundrel to me."
With that, he flashed forward, and raindrops fell and gathered around him.
The raindrops were gray, carrying traces of chill as they collided with the white-brown waves.
The gray figure looked at the cyan figure.
"Let us meet in the Great Void."
The cyan figure looked up at the sky and sneered.
"So what if you're a Great True Person of the Fu Water path? Whatever is in this secret realm, I am determined to have it!"
With that, he headed for the Great Void first.
The gray figure followed close behind.
Both figures vanished.
Only the pale-faced Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi, the grim-faced Su Yao, and the two birds remained.
Liu Yunhe looked at Su Yao.
"Dao child, were those two both Great True Persons?"
Su Yao nodded.
"The first one should be a Great True Person of the Gui Water path. The Divine Ability he used afterward was Submerge the Old Ford, of the Gui Water path. The one who came later should be of the Fu Water path, and he used Dawn Cold Grows, a Divine Ability of the Fu Water path."
Liu Yunhe murmured:
"Then what about us?"
Su Yao gazed into the distance.
"The True Person who came later just told me that the True Lord wants us to enter the secret realm and retrieve the treasure."
Hearing Su Yao's words, Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi's expressions eased slightly. Two Great True Persons were fighting, and even if one of them was protecting them, a Great True Person who truly wanted to kill a few Foundation Establishment cultivators could do so with ease, let alone a Great True Person of the Gui Water path, renowned for appearing and vanishing like a ghost.
Now that the True Lord had made arrangements, the two felt a little more at ease.
Li Siyi looked at Su Yao.
"Dao child, what do we do next?"
Su Yao smiled.
"The secret realm hasn't fully opened yet. We only need to wait calmly."
The two nodded, and the three found a patch of high ground and settled down to regulate their breathing.
In the Great Void, the cyan and gray figures were fighting.
At times, cyan rain drifted through the air and pool water spread.
At others, cold rain poured and the phantom of a great marsh appeared.
The more the gray figure fought, the more alarmed he became. Though he could not claim to be exceptionally talented, he had received Daozheng's instruction for many years, and his strength was not weak.
Yet why was it so difficult to fight this Rogue Cultivator who could not even recognize Zhengji?
Could he really have to use one of the temple's Spirit Treasures?
The True Lord had just instructed him by voice transmission: "Do not use any Spirit Treasures registered to the temple." Back when they moved south, all the Spirit Treasures they could take had been moved to Qixia Mountain. The Dao child recognized them all, and if he used one, the Dao child would surely think Daozheng had arranged for someone to be here.
But both Daozheng and the True Lord had instructed him not to let the Dao child think he had come down from Qixia Mountain.
He had to make the Dao child think he served at the True Lord's side and had been on Mount Zhongnan all along.
Yet without a Spirit Treasure, he really could not defeat this man.
For a time, he wavered in indecision.