Chapter 48

Master Liaofan invited Yang Chen to stay at Nanshan Temple for two days, but Yang Chen politely declined the kind offer, citing his urgency to return his late master’s relics to the sect. As the sky was just beginning to brighten, he left Nanshan Temple with the Nine Meteoric Gold Rock on his back.

At the same time, on Wufeng Mountain, which is located on the southeast shore of Poyang Lake in Nanhu Province, Yuqing was directing a group of hired workers from the foot of the mountain. Taking advantage of the cool morning air, they were working hard to cut down the tall bamboo forest that blocked the entrance to Wufeng Temple.

The temple master, Chen Shidong, watched from the side, somewhat worried, and asked, "If the Shangxian Palace sends people to stop us, the conflict might become even more intense... Yesterday, three of us were injured at Wufeng Temple. If anyone gets hurt today, it will be a loss."

Looking down at the slope where a large part of the bamboo forest had already been cut down, Yuqing said confidently, "Master, don’t worry. As long as that old Taoist can’t muster his strength, his few disciples can at most fight us to a draw and won’t gain much advantage!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the buildings on the hillside that were barely visible, and continued, "This bamboo forest is strange. The spirit vein was cut off by the Shangxian Palace, and it’s probably this bamboo forest causing the trouble!"

Chen Shidong agreed with this statement. He nodded and said, "When the spirit vein disappeared from the temple, it was the second year after this bamboo forest was planted... If it wasn’t this bamboo forest causing the trouble, that would be truly bizarre!"

More than a dozen villagers from the foot of the mountain were working hard to cut down the bamboo. They didn’t care about the grudges between Wufeng Temple and Shangxian Palace. The only reason they were working so hard was the 200 yuan they would earn in the morning!

As the bamboo forest fell in large patches, Yuqing could even feel the decades-long eerie atmosphere in Wufeng Temple gradually dissipating with the disappearance of the bamboo forest!

However, as Chen Shidong had predicted, the Shangxian Palace, well aware of the importance of the bamboo forest, would never allow Wufeng Temple to easily destroy this great array! Even after the intense conflict yesterday!

At 6:49 in the morning, nearly a third of the bamboo forest had already fallen.

Inside the Shangxian Palace, the old and emaciated Master Xiang Daoxian was carried out of his meditation room by a group of disciples. Xiang Daoxian, who was barely hanging on by a thread, had lost his former vigor but was still mentally alert.

He lifted his head slightly and looked at the bamboo trees falling one by one on the mountain. With an extremely aged voice, he said slowly, "The Spirit-Intercepting Great Array is formed and sustained by the terrain. This bamboo forest is the terrain of the array and cannot be easily destroyed... Wu Chuan, take some disciples up the mountain to stop them. Under no circumstances should Wufeng Temple be allowed to regain the nourishment of the spirit vein!"

Wu Chuan, Xiang Daoxian’s eldest disciple and acting master of the Shangxian Palace, was a well-known figure in the metaphysical community of Nanhu Province, known as Wu Chuan the True Man!

Wu Chuan, nearly seventy years old, was a short and thin old man with a goatee, wearing a blue yin-yang robe. Since Xiang Daoxian had gradually become less energetic with age, Wu Chuan had already been exercising the power of the master.

Hearing Xiang Daoxian’s words, the 1.65-meter-tall Wu Chuan nodded slightly, his eyes flashing with a faint cold light, and asked Xiang Daoxian, "What if the people from Wufeng Temple remain stubborn and continue to cut down the bamboo?"

"Cough, cough, cough..." After a severe coughing fit, a cold smile appeared on Xiang Daoxian’s wrinkled face. He said, "They think they can act recklessly with just a fourth-stage junior! If they can’t be stopped, I have my own methods!"

Wu Chuan, who had already fought Yuqing yesterday and knew Yuqing’s strength was similar to his own, was waiting for this very statement from Xiang Daoxian!

With Xiang Daoxian’s words as his backing, Wu Chuan became noticeably more confident.

Just as he was about to turn and call some disciples to go up the mountain to deal with Wufeng Temple, a young Taoist, about fifteen or sixteen years old, ran out of the main hall, looking somewhat panicked, and said, "Master, Grandmaster... The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall called and said that the True Man Ke Bingyi’s dantian was destroyed by the people from Wufeng Temple!"

"What did you say?!" Xiang Daoxian, who had just been calm and confident, suddenly changed his expression.

Wu Chuan was also shocked and turned around to ask, "Is the information reliable?!"

The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall and the Shangxian Palace had always been on good terms, and the two temples were known for their frequent exchanges in Nanhu Province!

Ke Bingyi’s position in the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall was identical to Wu Chuan’s in the Shangxian Palace, and Wu Chuan himself had a very good relationship with Ke Bingyi, so he was well aware of Ke Bingyi’s movements.

He said instinctively, "But wasn’t Ke Bingyi invited by a family in Tianjing City to attend the Long Mengze Trade Fair in Nanhe Province? He left Nanhu Province a few days ago and hasn’t returned yet, right?!"

The young Taoist looked distressed and ran up to Wu Chuan, saying, "The people from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall said that the one who destroyed True Man Ke Bingyi’s dantian was not the old Taoist Yuqing, but a young man named Yang Chen... They say he’s no more than twenty-five years old..."

"This is impossible!" Xiang Daoxian and Wu Chuan reacted identically, both shouting, "Nonsense! Ke Bingyi is at the peak of the fourth stage. How could a young man in his twenties be his match?!"

"This..." The young Taoist hesitated for a moment before saying, "But that’s what the people from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall said... The call hasn’t ended yet. Grandmaster, would you like to go in and ask personally?"

"Move aside!" Wu Chuan, not daring to delay, immediately pushed the young Taoist aside and rushed into the main hall.

After a short while, Wu Chuan came out of the main hall, his expression strange, neither happy nor sad.

"Brother, what did the people from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall say?"

"Brother, is what the people from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall said true?"

Wu Chuan’s several junior brothers gathered around, and Wu Chuan nodded slightly, saying, "Wufeng Temple does indeed have a young man named Yang Chen, and Ke Bingyi’s dantian was indeed destroyed by him... He is already on his way back to Nanhu Province, so it’s not fake."

"But Ke Bingyi is at the peak of the fourth stage. How could he be defeated by a young man in his twenties?"

"According to the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall, this Yang Chen... is also a fourth-stage cultivator."

"How is that possible!" The junior brothers were shocked, their faces changing, and they shook their heads instinctively, saying, "A fourth-stage cultivator under twenty-five? That’s impossible!"

If the information from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall was true and Wu Chuan hadn’t misunderstood, it would mean that Wufeng Temple had gained two fourth-stage true cultivators overnight. Yuqing’s advancement to the fourth stage wasn’t hard to explain, as he already had the strength of the initial third stage when he left the mountain years ago. Over the years, with good fortune or accumulated effort, it was understandable that he had broken through to the fourth stage.

But this young man named Yang Chen... had never been heard of before! Could he be a new disciple that Yuqing had taken in over the years? That seemed impossible... What kind of strength did Yuqing have to train such a disciple?!

The disciples of the Shangxian Palace were all shocked by this news, feeling as if the sky was about to fall.

With just one fourth-stage Yuqing, Wufeng Temple could immediately break free from the pressure the Shangxian Palace had been exerting on them for years. If another powerful figure who could destroy a fourth-stage peak cultivator appeared, how could the Shangxian Palace survive in the future?!

Only Xiang Daoxian was looking at Wu Chuan with a thoughtful expression. After a while, he asked softly, "The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall is known for its extreme protectiveness. If Ke Bingyi’s dantian was destroyed by Wufeng Temple... the old Taoist Xuancheng won’t sit idly by."

"Master is right..." Wu Chuan couldn’t help but smile. "The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall called and said that True Man Xuancheng has already led forty-nine disciples and grand-disciples down the mountain and is heading towards our Wufeng Mountain!"

After a pause, Wu Chuan continued, "It’s said that True Man Xuancheng gave the order last night to cut off the lineage of Wufeng Temple and avenge Ke Bingyi!"

Xiang Daoxian couldn’t help but laugh when he heard this...

"Heaven is helping us!"

True Man Xuancheng was a genuine fifth-stage cultivator, even stronger than Xiang Daoxian. He was renowned throughout Nanhu Province and even the entire Central China region, and his extreme protectiveness was even more famous than his strength!

The gap between the fourth stage and the fifth stage couldn’t be easily explained in a few words.

A fifth-stage cultivator, in terms of the application of Dao techniques and the accumulation of energy, was far beyond what a fourth-stage cultivator could match. If True Man Xuancheng were to personally intervene...

The master and disciple exchanged a knowing smile. Wu Chuan said, "Since this matter has evolved into a conflict between the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall and Wufeng Temple, there’s no need for us at the Shangxian Palace to overstep our bounds..."

"Pass the order down. Let the people from Wufeng Temple cut the bamboo if they want to... No disciples are to interfere." Xiang Daoxian smiled faintly from his wheelchair. "Send some disciples down the mountain to prepare. Set up a banquet in the backyard tonight to welcome True Man Xuancheng and his party..."

The disciples of the Shangxian Palace all became elated. If the Shangxian Palace could destroy the rising Wufeng Temple without shedding blood or sweat, who would benefit more than them?

Such a good thing, where one could enjoy the fruits of others’ labor without working, didn’t happen every day!

Thus, the second elder, Wu Yuanbing, who was responsible for observing the movements inside the Shangxian Palace from a large rock on the hillside, was puzzled and frowned... because the expected scene of the Shangxian Palace mobilizing all its forces did not appear. Only a few disciples carrying baskets of vegetables went down the mountain.

What puzzled him even more was that soon, several large round tables were set up in the backyard of the Shangxian Palace, and disciples were bustling about, clearly preparing for a grand banquet!

When Wu Yuanbing, unable to understand, reported this to the temple master Wu Shidong and Yuqing, Wu Shidong and Yuqing were also perplexed, completely at a loss.

"Is the old Taoist from the Shangxian Palace senile?" Wu Shidong weakly proposed a hypothesis.

Yuqing shook his head and said, "Xiang Daoxian might be senile, but his disciples are not fools! As the saying goes, when something unusual happens, there must be a reason. They must have their reasons for doing this!"

Guided by the noble principle of "seeking help from the great-grandmaster when in trouble," after much discussion, the three of them decided to call Yang Chen, who was thousands of miles away...

After Yuqing told Yang Chen about all the unusual actions of the Shangxian Palace, he said, "We think they are setting up a trap, possibly to catch us off guard..."

Hearing Yuqing’s words, Yang Chen sneered and said, "How does the strength of the Shangxian Palace compare to ours?"

"Stronger, not weaker," Yuqing admitted reluctantly.

"Right, since they are stronger, why go to such lengths... Oh, I get it!" As he spoke, Yang Chen suddenly realized and asked, "What is the relationship between the Shangxian Palace and the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall on Bishan Mountain?"

"The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall?" Yuqing was taken aback and then said, "The Shangxian Palace and the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall have always had a good relationship and frequent exchanges..."

"Oh..." Yang Chen let out a long "oh" and thought for a moment before saying confidently, "The Shangxian Palace is probably setting up a banquet to welcome people from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall..."

"Why would the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall suddenly visit at this time?" Yuqing was confused.

Yang Chen said, "Because a Taoist named Ke Bingyi from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall had his dantian destroyed by me at the Long Mengze Trade Fair..."

"Things are getting serious!" Yuqing’s body shook violently, and he exclaimed, "True Man Xuancheng, the master of the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall, is known for his extreme protectiveness. He’s a fifth-stage cultivator! The Ke Bingyi you mentioned is his eldest disciple!"

"..." Yang Chen scratched his head and said helplessly, "By the looks of it, the people from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall are probably already on their way to Wufeng Mountain... A fifth-stage cultivator, can you handle it?"

Yuqing was almost driven mad and wanted to bang his head against the wall! He laughed bitterly and said, "Great-grandmaster, at this critical moment, are you still in the mood to joke with me?!"

To ask him to deal with a fifth-stage cultivator? It would be more merciful to just cut him down!

"What do we do now?" Yang Chen asked bluntly.

Yuqing was almost at a loss... Shouldn’t he be the one asking this question?!