Chapter 69
Chapter 69 – In Zhao Hua Temple 2
Wu Wang said, “When one or two people have the same dream, it can already be considered to be peculiar. However, if several hundred people have the same dream at the same time, even the word ‘fantastical’ wouldn’t be able to explain this phenomenon. And this dream is completely out of the ordinary. It was too realistic. When you wake up, you would feel as if reality isn’t even as vivid as the sceneries from the dream.”
The cultivators that were at core formation stage were all in agreement with the experience from the dream, and each of them nodded their heads at each other confusedly, hearts filled of terror. Someone questioned, “This Tianlang-Jun, why exactly was he sealed? If he really is this scary, in the past, how was he sealed?”
Master Wu Chen sighed. “This is another enmity caused by sin. If the Palace Master of Huan Hua Palace was here today, there is no estimate to how much he would sigh with pity.”
There was a woman’s voice full of astonishment. “Huan Hua Palace’s Palace Master? What does this have to do with Luo Binghe?”
The voice was sweet and clear, like the song of a golden oriole. Shen Qingqiu’s gaze followed the sound of the voice.
The one that was speaking was a slender, beautiful nun from the Tianyi Sect.
As for which one, Shen Qingqiu was not able to say, because there were three nuns with the same face and outfit, like they came out of the same mold. When they stood next to one another, they looked like three astonishingly beautiful blue flowers. Even the feeling that they expressed was the same indescribable, peculiar feeling……of excitement. Yes, it really was the feeling of excitement.
It was the three identical sisters in Luo Binghe’s Inner Palace. Long time no see, Inner Palace!
If it was the past, Shen Qingqiu would definitely be overwhelmed with joy. He would then, on one hand, happily push for the scene where the protagonist would chase after a woman while on the other hand, aim a mouthful of complaints towards Airplane Shooting Toward the Sky. But now…..
Luo Binghe’s voice was very deep and quiet, but the smell of vinegar has already drifted for over ten miles.1 “Shizun, are they pretty?”
Ai, fine, they don’t need to bring this up. Shen Qingqiu brought his gaze back. The plot has been changed into a jumbled mess and the three nuns weren’t made into containers for Luo Binghe so they shouldn’t be close to Luo Binghe. However, they still expressed concern when faced with information related to him. Shen Qingqiu automatically explained the excitement on their face as the blossoming affection of a young woman. Luo Binghe’s stallion power was still very powerful!
Master Wu Wang said, “Amitabha. The Palace Master that we are speaking of is the Old Palace Master of the last generation. That Luo Binghe has utilized sinister means to obtain the title. How can he have the ability to serve as the Palace Master?”
Luo Binghe lifted an eyebrow and unhappily slanted his mouth. Master Wu Wang continued speaking.
“However, this situation is inseparable from the Huan Hua Palace. A few decades ago, the Old Palace Master had a chief disciple called Su Xiyan.”
Shen Qingqiu’s spirit was trembling in excitement. Following this development, they are going to unravel the mystery surrounding the birth of Luo Binghe.
“That woman had shocking talent, was intelligent and sensitive when making decisions, and she had the aura of a tyrant. The Old Palace Master loved and cared for this private disciple. He thought of her as a pearl that should be protected in his hands and trained her to be the next Palace Master of Huan Hua Palace. No matter where he went, he would bring Su Xiyan along with him. The importance that he placed in her was abnormal.”
Shen Qingqiu thought back to the Old Palace Master in the Holy Mausoleum with his dull eyes and saliva flowing down his chin. He thought to himself that the Old Palace Master most likely did not think of Su Xiyan as a pearl that needed to be protected. The meat that was exclusively devoured by himself should be more accurate.
In the Great Hall, no one made a sound. There was only the voice of Master Wu Wang.
“On one occasion, the Old Palace Master and Su Xiyan followed the requests of a village and went to exterminate demonic creatures. When they were returning back to the Palace, they encountered an old city downstream from Luo Chuan. In that city, demons and other evil beings were running rampant. There was not many left of the city’s original population. However, Su Xiyan was able to meet a young man that was out alone in a tea house.”
“That young man had an extraordinary aura coupled with a top grade appearance. Sitting under a weeping willow, he was singing poetry overlapped by music. This type of character should not have appeared at such a place at such a time. At that time, Su Xiyan thought that it was strange. She had a brief conversation with that stranger and immediately deduced that this person had a goal and was definitely not ordinary.”
Shen Qingqiu listened eagerly.
Tianlang-Jun really was an artistic youth who loved the literary arts in the realms of humans since childhood. And what kind of artistic youth is the scariest? One that looks handsome who is also intelligent. If it was like this, then what happens next can be easily determined. As long as his singing didn’t make people feel too sorry for their ears, then the possibility of love at first sight was definitely possible.
Who would have known that the plot would take a sharp turn for the worst?
Su Xiyan immediately reported back to her shifu. As the Old Palace Master thought more on the subject, he also became more wary. When he noticed that the young man was affectionate towards Su Xiyan and that they were friendly enough to enjoy a conversation, the Old Palace Master decided to use this. He ordered her to get close to the other to get more information. Su Xiyan had quite a set of skills━she easily discovered that the young man wasn’t an ordinary person. He was the current ruler of the great demons that dominated the north and the south, Tianlang-Jun.
Originally, many would think that in the meeting, the man had feelings while the woman had intentions; however, it actually pertained the internal affairs between the righteous and demonic sects.
This wasn’t the common dramatic story of a nefarious Sacred Ruler of the demonic sect meeting a pure white flower. Instead, it was a story of an innocent king who didn’t know that human hearts were filled with evil intentions that met with a tyrannic flower with a heart that was both cold and dark.
Shen Qingqiu finally understood the meaning behind the smile-yet-not-quite-a-smile that gave off the impression of being “cold and ruthless,” along with the odd tone of voice that Tianlang-Jun had when Shen Qingqiu mentioned Su Xiyan.
“The Old Palace Master continued to let Su Xiyan pretend to get closer to Tianlang-Jun while he sent out other people to monitor the situation in the dark. Who would have known that the disciples that he sent out would all be avoided? The Old Palace Master had to personally head out. Finally, all the efforts had not been wasted━they finally discovered the reason Tianlang-Jun was staying in the Human realm. One day, Su Xiyan and Tianlang-Jun had a meeting on Bailu Mountain. They sat together on the head of a gigantic green snake as they talked quietly.”
That giant green snake, if he didn’t guess wrong, was probably Zhuzhi-Lang. No matter how he thought of it, only Zhuzhi-Lang came to mind. Either as a nephew or as a subordinate, to be brought out on a date to be a seat cushion━no matter how you hear it, it sounded like Zhuzhi-Lang was way too pitiful!
“The Old Palace Master, for fear of being discovered by Tianlang-Jun, hid nearby without daring to get too close and listened to their barely audible conversation. Su Xiyan patiently guided their conversation and took an indirect approach, coaxing Tianlang-Jun until he temporarily forgot himself enough to reveal his true purpose for sneaking into the human world: a massacre of the cultivation world in which every sect and faction’s treasures will be looted to strengthen the demon race’s power!”
At the last sentence, there was the sound of the crowd gasping as one while Shen Qingqiu sighed.
Frankly speaking, this type of typical and cliche BOSS-like reasoning wasn’t Tianlang-Jun’s style. He wasn’t the type of person who would come up with that kind of grandiose plan. Furthermore, as the Supreme Ruler, Tianlang-Jun could enter the demon race’s Mausoleum, a source of inexhaustible treasures, whenever he wished. This was a person who could arrange vendors’ stalls that were full of treasures in a circle on the ground to play with when he had nothing to do.2 Would such a person really bother with the four sect’s few treasures?
Shen Qingqiu had a lot of doubts about this story but Great Master Wu Wang continued: “The Old Palace Master immediately informed the sect master of every great sect about this matter. Tianlang-Jun met Su Xiyan twice a month at Bailu Mountain. All the sects agreed on a plan: on their next meeting, the sects would all join forces to encircle and suppress3 Tianlang-Jun.”
“As for what happened then, regarding the Battle of Bailu Mountain, it would be better for Sect Master Yue, who was present at the battle, to narrate the events of that day.”
Yue Qingyuan said: “There’s not much to say about the situation on the battlefield that day. Tianlang-Jun didn’t expect that instead of Su Xiyan, he would encounter an attack from all sides.4 There was only one demon general, Zhuzhi-Lang, with him who also got caught in the encirclement.
Thus, in a manner of speaking, it could be said that their side won the battle. He spoke calmly, not making the slightest effort to whitewash the truth. There were many who had heard their seniors in the sect boasting about the Battle of Bailu Mountain since their childhood. When they heard the real story of the battle for the first time, they felt somewhat embarrassed.
Yue Qingyuan said: “Because Zhuzhi-Lang protected his master, he was struck head-on by my master’s ‘Heaven’s Wrath’5 technique. The spell wrapped around him and turned him back to his original, half-serpent form. He then fled. Tianlang-Jun was suppressed under Bailu Mountain.”
So it turned out that the reason why Zhuzhi-Lang was in his half-serpent form at Luzhi Cave was because of the previous generation’s Qiong Ding Peak master’s heavenly thunderbolts. Based on Zhuzhi-Lang’s logic in which gratitude and grudges are clearly distinguished and the smallest grievance must be avenged… Shen Qingqiu didn’t have enough time to think about it because the System’s notification sound blared in his mind:
[Mission Released: Please help “Luo Binghe” complete the Zhao Hua Temple secondary story arc. Objective: The increase in reputation points6 must not be less than 200 points!]
Reputation points?
Shen Qingqiu suddenly remembered what the secondary story arc of Zhao Hua Temple was.
At this point, Shen Qingqiu remembered Sha Hualing’s father Jiuzhong-Jun. This unfortunate demon noble had fallen on hard times when his selfish daughter, who didn’t know right from wrong and harmed her own family,7 lost his territory. He spent some time roaming the southern lands gathering a motley crew, hoping to stage a comeback and take revenge on Luo Binghe. However, when he encountered the protagonist’s unbreakable halo (plot armor), he couldn’t make either of his two glorious wishes come true…
Since Jiuzhong-Jun’s plans were repeatedly foiled, he was nursing many grievances in his heart. What could he do about it?
Of course, it was to vent his anger on someone else!
And that “someone else” was none other than Zhao Hua Temple…
This behavior was similar to Sha Hualing’s attack on Qiong Ding Peak. Having an exaggerated opinion of one’s abilities, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, they courted death. When Shen Yuan read that part of the novel, he mentally scoffed at this pair of father and daughter whose brain circuits seemed to wired in the same way.
In the original novel, thanks to Jiuzhong-Jun sending a motley group of demon soldiers in the vicinity of Zhao Hua Temple to disturb the people and monks there, Zhao Hua Temple held a meeting, not to discuss the problem of Tianlang-Jun, but to sort out this troubled and depressed group of demons who were looking for others to notice their existence.
However, the exact purpose for this meeting wasn’t important. What was more important was that this secondary story arc was indeed a way for Luo Binghe to improve his reputation.
Jiuzhong-Jun’s tribe of demons mixed in with the crowd waiting for a chance to “teach those Buddhist monks8 a lesson” (in the original novel’s words). Just a few seconds after they attacked, they were beautifully overwhelmed by Luo Binghe’s domineering pressure. Like this, his reputation was somewhat raised from “absolute evil” to “neither good nor evil.”
Shen Qingqiu remained silent and looked around. Sure enough, among the crowd were some “people” who had a sinister look. Very well, the stage was set9!
Three beautiful Taoist nuns had an important role in this part of the original plot. These harem members were supposed act together10 so that the efficiency of increasing reputation points was higher but now they have been relegated to the role of onlookers.
Conclusion: The female lead’s roles were once again given to him, right?
Wu Wang solemnly said: “In that dream, Tianlang-Jun rebuilt his body and bathed the human world in blood until the humans were in a terrible situation. This old monk thinks that this was his way of demonstrating his strength to us and a forewarning of his revenge for the Battle of Bailu Mountain.”
Someone asked: “Since Tianlang-Jun’s original body has been damaged, even if he wants revenge, there’s nothing to be afraid of, right?”
Wu Wang said: “You mustn’t underestimate Tianlang-Jun. He’s known as the Ancient Demon race’s most powerful heir, without equal among all the previous members of the past ruling dynasties. Moreover, in addition to his loyal and capable general Zhuzhi-Lang who has been restored to his original condition, he also has a son.”