Chapter 51

Even the phrase "hair standing on end with rage" could not describe even a fraction of Master Xuancheng's current state!

As the head of the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall, a Fifth Stage True Cultivator, and a standing committee member of the Xianhu Province Metaphysics Promotion Association, Master Xuancheng held a revered position in the Xianhu Province metaphysics community and was well-known in the upper echelons of society.

He couldn't even remember how many years it had been since he had suffered such a humiliation. Twenty years? Thirty years? Or even fifty years?!

The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall had a lineage of over three hundred years, producing many talented individuals. Although it wasn't particularly outstanding on a national scale, in the Xianhu Province, who would dare not show some respect to the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall? To put it bluntly, even high-ranking officials in the province would treat him with courtesy!

Yet, the Five Peaks Temple seemed to have eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall, daring to toy with him repeatedly!

This anger reached a boiling point after Yuqing hung up the phone. Master Xuancheng roared in fury, "What a travesty! This is sheer bullying! Come, set the fire and burn down this dilapidated temple!"

Continuing to waste time was clearly not a wise choice.

Moreover, Ke Bingyi had already landed at Shazhou City Airport last night and was now being transferred to the Second People's Hospital of Shazhou City for a full-body examination.

Although he knew that the chances of repairing a damaged dantian were slim, Master Xuancheng was not willing to give up on Ke Bingyi, his most promising disciple, without a personal examination!

With this consideration, how could Master Xuancheng continue to waste time on Five Peaks Mountain?

It was just a dilapidated temple in the mountains. What if it burned down? The people of the Five Peaks Temple didn't even dare to meet him. Would they dare to come to the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall to seek justice after their ancestral temple was burned?

Master Xuancheng was just worried about not finding anyone!

The disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall, who were also seething with anger, perked up upon hearing Master Xuancheng's order and responded in unison. They quickly gathered a large amount of dry wood and spread it throughout the long-neglected Five Peaks Temple.

Hu Youjie, who was locked in a small dark room and couldn't escape, saw through the window the disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall laying out the dry wood in the front courtyard. His face showed signs of anxiety.

He carefully observed the movements of the two disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall guarding him outside the door. Hu Youjie stealthily bent down and removed another phone from his left calf, which had escaped their search.

He quickly sent a text message to Yuqing, who was in the city, detailing the situation.

Yuqing, who was dozing in bed, was woken up by the sound of the text message. He grabbed his phone and read Hu Youjie's message, muttering in disbelief, "They really dare to set fire to the temple? How bold!"

This news immediately woke him up.

Despite the indifferent look he had when Master Xuancheng's disciple, Zhuang Sihuai, called him earlier, the ancestral temple was still the ancestral temple. If it were really burned down by the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall, not only would the Five Peaks Temple lose face in the Xianhu Province metaphysics community, but Chen Shidong would also be furious!

Just thinking about Chen Shidong's stubborn nature gave Yuqing a headache. He could swear that if the ancestral temple were burned down, Chen Shidong would be the first to come after him with a kitchen knife!

Seeing that it was already past three in the morning, Yuqing called Yang Chen, hoping for his help.

Fortunately, Yang Chen answered after just two rings, "What's the matter? Speak."

His voice sounded quite energetic.

Yuqing didn't dare to hide anything and quickly explained the entire situation to Yang Chen, concluding, "The ancestral temple is long overdue for renovation. Whether it burns or not, it would have been demolished and rebuilt eventually... But if it's burned down by the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall, not only will others mock us, but my senior brother will also be hard to face..."

"Is the fire already burning?" Yang Chen cut to the chase, ignoring Yuqing's explanation.

"It hasn't started yet... but the disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall have already laid out the dry wood. With this weather, once the fire starts, it will spread quickly and be unstoppable!" Yuqing said, deeply troubled. "Moreover, Hu Youjie is still in their hands..."

"Try to delay them for an hour and a half!" Yang Chen said without hesitation. "I'm already on the highway and will definitely arrive at the foot of Five Peaks Mountain by five o'clock... No matter what, you must stop the fire!"

"An hour and a half will do?" Yuqing was delighted. He thought Yang Chen would rest in Shazhou City after landing last night and come the next day. He didn't expect Yang Chen to drive through the night.

"An hour and a half will do!" Yang Chen nodded confidently. He was only 130 kilometers away from the city of Binjiang, where the Five Peaks Temple was located. If everything went smoothly, he could arrive in just over an hour!

"Alright, I'll try to delay them!" Yuqing agreed and hung up the phone.

He then went from room to room, waking everyone up. Once everyone was awake, Yuqing said, "Latest news, the scoundrels from the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall plan to set fire to the temple..."

"What did you say?!!" Chen Shidong's wrinkled face immediately showed anger, and he shouted, almost at a loss, "Look at this, look at this! What did I say? What did I say?! How could we just leave the ancestral temple on the mountain and hide down here? What are we going to do now... If the ancestral temple is lost, I don't want to live anymore!"

"Senior Brother, don't panic... I haven't finished speaking yet!" Yuqing, who had anticipated Chen Shidong's reaction, smiled bitterly. "I've already spoken to Grandmaster, who is on his way... We just need to delay the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall for an hour and a half. Once Grandmaster arrives, the matter will be resolved."

"An hour and a half? It takes us forty minutes to get back!" Chen Shidong said, somewhat flustered. "What if the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall sets the fire in those forty minutes? What's the point of us rushing back? To pour water on the fire?!"

"Hu Youjie is with them..." Yuqing rubbed his chin. "To put it bluntly, the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall is here to demand an explanation for Ke Bingyi. They couldn't find us, so they decided to set fire to the temple..."

"Get to the point!!" Chen Shidong, whose face was turning green with anger, had no patience for Yuqing's rambling. If the ancestral temple burned down, he wouldn't know how to face the ancestors of the Five Peaks Temple after death!

"My point is, can we use Hu Youjie's phone to tell the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall that we are on our way back to Five Peaks Mountain to resolve this?" Yuqing said. "After all, burning someone's ancestral temple isn't a glorious act. The Ten Thousand Immortals Hall wouldn't be so low, right?"

"Now that's the only option!" Chen Shidong gritted his teeth. "What are you waiting for? Go make the call!"

...

"Master, Master... That old ghost Yuqing is calling!" Zhuang Sihuai, who had been carrying Hu Youjie's phone, ran over to Master Xuancheng and asked, "Should I answer?"

The Five Peaks Temple was already covered with a thick layer of dry wood, waiting for Master Xuancheng's order to set the fire.

Zhuang Sihuai didn't dare to make a decision on his own, so he came to seek Master Xuancheng's instructions.

Master Xuancheng, who had already made up his mind to return to the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall after taking some revenge, was taken aback by Yuqing's call. What could he want now?

He said coldly, "Answer."

"Hello..." Zhuang Sihuai answered the call boldly, "Speak quickly, and get to the point!"

"May I ask your surname?"

"I am a Daoist named Zhuang."

"Zhuang Brother, hello..." Yuqing, who had changed his arrogant tone, said with a forced smile, "Our Five Peaks Temple's head, after much consideration, feels that dragging this on isn't a solution. If there's a problem, it should be resolved, don't you agree?"

"Eh?" Zhuang Sihuai, who had braced himself for Yuqing's sarcasm, was taken aback. "What do you mean by that?"

"Here's the thing, our head said that regardless of who is right or wrong, the conflict is out in the open... We are on our way back to Five Peaks Mountain. Let's sit down and calmly discuss the matter, resolve any misunderstandings, and everything will be fine. Why make things so tense? How can we live in harmony in the future?"

Yuqing said earnestly, "This is not good, don't you think? Isn't that the right way to handle it?"

Zhuang Sihuai's head was spinning from the roundabout talk. He covered the microphone with one hand and the receiver with the other, turning to Master Xuancheng with a strange expression, "Master... He says they want to sit down and talk with you..."

"Sit down and talk with me? Talk about what? What's there to talk about?!" Master Xuancheng, who was seething with anger, asked, but then his eyes lit up, "Are they planning to come back?"

"It sounds like it... Their tone is much softer now." Zhuang Sihuai said with a hint of disdain, "But their head is quite proud, saying he wants to resolve the matter face-to-face with you."

"Sit down and talk with me? Does he deserve it?!" Master Xuancheng sneered, "But this is an opportunity... Pretend to go along with them. If we can lure them out, we can resolve this matter sooner!"

With Master Xuancheng's approval, Zhuang Sihuai nodded and put the phone to his ear, "Your request has been accepted by my master... But you must appear at the entrance of the Five Peaks Temple within one hour, or we won't give you a chance to reconcile!"

"Oh... One hour is too short, we can't make it in time!" Yuqing said, "We need at least an hour and a half. We can't fly back, can we?"

"An hour and a half is fine." Zhuang Sihuai said sarcastically, "You've run quite far in this short time!"

"Old age, my legs aren't as agile..." Yuqing pretended not to understand, laughing, "In the past, I would have taken them to Shazhou for some water shrimp..."

"Hmph!" Zhuang Sihuai coldly hung up the phone.

He turned to Master Xuancheng, "Master, it doesn't seem fake... What should we do now?"

"An hour and a half, they won't cause much trouble!" Master Xuancheng said with absolute confidence, "Let's wait for an hour and a half. Whether the fire starts early or late, it doesn't matter! This way, we won't be laughed at for lacking tolerance!"

At the same time, Yuqing, with a satisfied grin, put down his phone and turned to the dozen or so disciples of the Five Peaks Temple, "It's settled, they will wait for us for an hour and a half! Everyone, pack your things... I'll go see if there's any food. Let's fill our stomachs first!"

Chen Shidong angrily said, "Eat, eat, all you think about is eating! No eating! Pack your things and leave immediately. Want to eat? Wait until we drive away the Ten Thousand Immortals Hall!"

Chen Shidong, the head of the Five Peaks Temple, hadn't used his authority in many years.

But when he was angry, Yuqing could only shrink back, smiling awkwardly and not daring to speak.

In the past, he could ignore Chen Shidong, even treating him like a fool, but after enlightenment, his mindset had changed. Moreover, Chen Shidong was still the head of the Five Peaks Temple, and Grandmaster Yang Chen was watching from above!

Yuqing didn't dare to act rashly, only nodding silently and submitting to Chen Shidong's authority...

The disciples quickly packed their belongings under Chen Shidong's urging. When Chen Shidong himself went to pack his things, he suddenly noticed that one of the ancestral tablets brought down from the mountain seemed to be missing...

Feeling the weight was off, Chen Shidong quickly opened the package and, upon closer inspection, was furious.

"Yuqing, come here!"

Yuqing, who was packing in the next room, was startled by the shout and quickly ran over.

He saw Chen Shidong, with a livid face, pointing to an already opened package on the ground, and asked coldly, "Where is the ancestral tablet of our grandmaster?!"

"It's not in there?" Yuqing asked reflexively, then shuddered and said with a mournful face, "I remember... In the rush to leave the mountain, I left the grandmaster's tablet in the incense hall..."

"You..." Chen Shidong almost spat out a mouthful of blood! He roared, "Yuqing, listen to me! If the grandmaster's tablet is damaged in any way, I will not forgive you!!"

"Senior Brother, please forgive me..."