Zi Tianjun’s face shifted from green to white and back again. He had just attempted to take control of the Qingzhou Grand Formation, only to discover that the Xuantian Scripture Vault had already been sealed. The jade token in his hand had been shattered on the spot by the formation’s power, and a tremendous force had blasted him straight out of the formation. Now, seeing Bao Gu put the Xuantian Scripture Vault away with ease and hearing what she had said, he felt as though he had walked straight into a carefully laid scheme—as if Bao Gu had known long ago exactly what he would do today.
He asked,
“When did you make your move on the Qingzhou Grand Formation?”
He had been the dignified Sect Master of Xuantian Sect, yet because Bao Gu had returned, he had fallen into this state in a matter of days. If Bao Gu had never returned, who would have dared make a move without permission? Who would have dared show disrespect? Who?
He demanded,
“Was this your scheme all along?”
Bao Gu laughed. Her laughter was utterly bleak and bitterly absurd.
“Grandmaster, do you honestly possess anything I would want badly enough to scheme against you for? The ones scheming against you are the disciples around you whom you trust and favor. You hold nothing I want, but you do hold what they want. Yu Mi, Yu Jianming, and the others merely stood in their way, so they wanted to borrow your hand to clear those obstacles away.
“Why did everything erupt into this situation the moment I returned? Because my return strengthened Lingyun Peak’s position, pushing them farther and farther from the posts they coveted. Why did they disregard the lives of their fellow disciples and use a sacred artifact to blast us? To wipe us out root and branch, leave no survivors, and make sure you had no room left to turn back or change your mind.”
A Peak Master at the middle stage of Deity Transformation, appearing to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with white teeth, red lips, and a face like polished jade, pointed at Bao Gu and shouted angrily,
“Bao Gu, you are the one harboring malicious intentions! You want to install Yu Jianming of Lingyun Peak as Sect Master and force our Sect Master to abdicate. You claim my master has nothing you want? Then do you dare say you do not want Yu Jianming to become Sect Master? Do you dare say you do not want Xuantian Sect under your control? Do you dare say you did not force the Sect Master to step down? Do you dare say you are not greedy for power and wealth?”
Feng Menglong, Hua Sheng, and the others all shook their heads, utterly speechless.
Some of the younger disciples looked toward Bao Gu, their eyes filled with confusion and doubt.
Another disciple echoed,
“Exactly! Just look at how arrogant she is. She doesn’t even put the Sect Master in her eyes. The Sect Master was right to purge the sect!”
A disciple nearby frowned and said,
“Say a little less. She didn’t aim a sacred artifact at you and blast you just now, nor did she hack you with a sword!”
The disciples below erupted into discussion. Some thought the Sect Master was in the wrong, while others believed Bao Gu was in the wrong. Most leaned toward believing the Sect Master was right. After all, Zi Tianjun was the Sect Master and the true person in control of Xuantian Sect. What he said had to be right, didn’t it?
Bao Gu was merely one of the more promising figures from the Lingyun Peak lineage, a person who did not even hold an official position in Xuantian Sect. What right did she have to rebuke the Sect Master? She was even Grandmaster’s granddisciple!
She had been gone for more than five hundred years, and the moment she returned, she caused such a huge disturbance. She clearly wanted to seize power. When immortals clashed, ordinary people suffered. What rotten luck!
Yu Mi took out her command token as Young Sect Master, raised her hand, and threw it at Zi Tianjun’s feet.
Seeing this, Yu Jianming took out his command token as Peak Master of Lingyun Peak and threw it beside Yu Mi’s.
Feng Menglong, Hua Sheng, Lu Lei, Wen Zixuan, and more than twenty other Peak Masters and elders—people who had once emerged from Cloud City and Two Worlds Mountain—also took out their command tokens and threw them at Zi Tianjun’s feet.
As they moved, their true disciples emerged from the crowd, removed their identity tokens as members of Xuantian Sect, and threw those down as well.
Many inner disciples did nothing at first. But when they saw their own masters had joined in, they thought, What the hell was there left for them to stay for? They threw their identity tokens onto the pile at Zi Tianjun’s feet and went to stand beside their masters.
Before long, nearly a thousand people had gathered around Bao Gu and the others. Many disciples, afraid of being mistaken for followers, retreated far away to avoid suspicion. More wavered. Some hesitated and withdrew, while others hesitated, removed their identity tokens, threw them onto the mound of tokens piled before Zi Tianjun, and joined Bao Gu’s group.
Feng Menglong clasped his fists.
“Today, I request that I be expelled from Xuantian Sect. I implore Sect Master Zi to return my soul lamp.”
He did not even address Zi Tianjun as Grandmaster anymore.
One of the Sect Master’s disciples sneered.
“Those expelled for rebelling against their superiors will have their cultivation crippled. Do you take Xuantian Sect for a place you can enter and leave whenever you please?”
Another disciple saw the situation and had an idea.
“Summon the Punishment Hall Elder!”
He hurriedly sent a disciple beside him to summon Feng Yi. But the moment that disciple moved, he discovered that Feng Yi had already arrived. Feng Yi was standing not far away, with a line of Punishment Hall disciples behind him.
Hua Sheng, Yu Mi, and the others all turned to look at Feng Yi.
Feng Yi’s figure shifted, and he floated over from a hundred zhang away to land before Yu Mi and Bao Gu.
“Senior Brother Chen and I are both staying. A teacher for a day is a father for life.”
His voice rose, and then he sent a voice transmission.
“Let’s go. Any disciple who wants to leave should leave. Bring your identity token to me, and I will release the strand of life-soul bound in your soul lamp.”
The disciple who had called for the Punishment Hall Elder cupped his fists from afar.
“Elder Feng, this is contrary to the sect rules. If this precedent is set, won’t every disciple be able to abandon their master with ease once they have completed their studies?”
Zi Tianjun lifted his head. His gaze moved from the pile of identity tokens before him to Yu Mi and the others, then finally settled on Bao Gu. His heart was overflowing with complicated emotions.
How could he not understand that his trusted disciples had helped push matters to this point? How could he not understand that they had seen Yu Mi, the Young Sect Master, absent from Xuantian Sect year-round, carrying only a nominal title with no real authority? They had seen an opening, set their sights on the Young Sect Master’s position, and pushed Lingyun Peak aside.
He had deliberately turned a blind eye, allowing both sides to restrain each other while remaining under his control. But he had never imagined that Bao Gu would return, that she would shatter this balance, or that matters would spiral completely out of control.
If Bao Gu had not left back then, none of this would have happened. She had been gone for more than five hundred years. Who could have imagined that she would return, much less return with such overwhelming force?
Why had she come back at all?
Now, he could see how determined Yu Mi, Feng Menglong, and the others were to leave. There was no longer any room to persuade them to stay.
Did he regret it?
No. He did not regret it. These disciples’ hearts had already turned away from him.
Yet he understood that, as a result, Xuantian Sect would suffer a devastating blow. Its standing in the cultivation world would plummet, and it would never again possess its former glory.
The people Bao Gu and Yu Mi were taking with them today were the backbone of Xuantian Sect’s combat strength. Any one of them was powerful enough to fight ten opponents. This was an enormous loss.
He wanted to keep them, but what could he possibly use to make them stay?
He let out a heavy sigh and asked in pain,
“Do you truly intend to betray your sect?”
The words struck Bao Gu’s ice-cold heart, and fierce anger rose within her.
“Does Grandmaster want us to stay, and then expect me to invite Grandmaster’s wife back to take charge of the situation?”
Her cold gaze swept over everyone around them.
“There is an old saying: Leave people a line of retreat, and you may meet again someday. If the disciples under you still refuse to rein themselves in, then I will have no choice but to bring Grandmaster’s wife back and have her lawfully depose the Sect Master and purge the sect!
“My master is Zhuo Wangchuan, but I myself was also personally taught by the Xuantian Patriarch. My dual seniority may not convince everyone, but the Founding Grandmistress’s status and authority are weighty enough, and she is certainly qualified, aren’t they?”
If Bao Gu had still been considering their former bond before this, those cold words had now erased every last trace of it. The Grandmaster who had once protected and cherished her seemed to have vanished like smoke. The person standing before her today felt like an entirely different man.
Zi Tianjun’s expression changed.
Bao Gu’s gaze grew even colder.
“I have considered our ties as fellow disciples. I did not want us to turn on one another, much less see any of our fellow disciples die unjustly. But some people clearly do not regard us as fellow disciples at all. They treat us as mortal enemies. We are better off without such fellow disciples.
“Grandmaster, you know how I treat my enemies!”
She paused before continuing,
“I absolutely cannot accept being called a traitor. Xuantian Sect’s orthodox lineage was handed down by the Xuantian Patriarch. Tracing its roots back to the source, it comes from the War King Clan of the Upper Realm. As a direct disciple of the Xuantian Patriarch, my status is recognized by the War King Clan. Xuantian Sect is not qualified to brand us as traitors.
“But since you have brought up the subject, let me remind you of something. When I leave, I will be taking Xuantian Sect’s orthodox inheritance with me. From this day onward, can Xuantian Sect, stripped of its orthodox inheritance, still call itself Xuantian Sect?”
Watching Zi Tianjun and the disciples under him press them relentlessly, Bao Gu was no longer willing to leave them even the last shred of dignity. The consequence of showing them consideration would only be allowing them to brand her and the others as traitors.
Yet speaking those words made her feel as though her heart were bleeding. They belonged to the same sect and the same lineage, but they had torn everything apart and brought things to such an ugly pass.
If only she were being targeted, she could disregard her own fate and endure it. Whether people called her a traitor or not, her conscience was clear. But she could not bear to see her Senior Sister, Yu Jianming, Feng Menglong, and the others who had shed blood for the sect in years past shed tears again, carry the name of traitors, be slandered with rumors and false accusations, and be condemned behind their backs until they could no longer hold their heads high.
Some people were like this: Give them face, and they climbed onto yours. Give them an inch, and they took a mile.
Bao Gu had never imagined that Xuantian Sect would reach this day, or that she and Grandmaster would end up standing on opposite sides.
She did not want to say another word, and she no longer had the strength to do so. All she said was,
“We are leaving!”
She withdrew her sword domain and walked toward the teleportation gate not far away.
Qingying hurried over with the cauldron in her arms.
“Master, wait for me!”
She landed beside Bao Gu and called out anxiously,
“Are we really leaving all the rare spirit treasures and precious medicines in the courtyard behind? They’re bullying you, and you’re still leaving those treasures for them? Are you stupid? Leave them to me! I’ll collect them for you!”
She tipped the cauldron over and showed it to Bao Gu.
“Look! It’s empty!”
Only after rattling off all that did she notice how poorly Bao Gu looked.
“What’s wrong? Oh, don’t be sad. How about I avenge you by stewing every one of them? Look at your Grandmaster—he has eaten so many rare treasures and spirit medicines that he has been nourished to perfection. He probably tastes even better than your flesh. Unlike you, whose flesh has fused with the Xuantian Sword and therefore smells delicious but cannot be eaten, he is perfectly edible. I’ve been craving him for ages. I couldn’t bring myself to gnaw on him because he was your Grandmaster, but now that you’ve fallen out, can I take a bite?”
Bao Gu forced herself to steady her mind and suppress her emotions.
“Qingying, stop fooling around.”
Yu Jianming could tell that Bao Gu was in an especially bad state. He hurried a few steps forward.
“Little Martial Aunt, Lingyun Peak is the foundation we have painstakingly built over several centuries. I want to take it with us. Could I borrow Junior Sister Qingying to help me for a while?”
Bao Gu nodded.
“Qingying, do as your Senior Brother Jianming says.”
Qingying shot Yu Jianming a sidelong glance. She was just about to demand why she should listen to him when he spoke again.
“I want to move house, and the rare spirit treasures and medicines in the courtyards need to be moved as well. Would you lend me a hand, Junior Sister?”
Qingying’s eyes lit up.
“Sure! Actually, moving the spirit treasures and medicines one by one is such a hassle. I’ll just use my cauldron to scoop up Lingyun Peak and carry the entire mountain away.”
Yu Jianming said,
“There is a mountain-protecting formation, so moving it may be difficult. I also have many disciples on Lingyun Peak, and I am afraid of startling them. It would be better to handle the relocation carefully. If you are willing to help, Senior Brother will cook something delicious for you afterward.”
Qingying nodded eagerly, her eyes narrowing into happy crescents.
Yu Jianming fed spirit stones into the teleportation gate on Xuantian Square and inscribed coordinates for Youying City. He arranged for the disciples who wanted to leave Xuantian Sect to use the teleportation array first and settle temporarily in Youying City.
Most cultivators carried nearly all their possessions with them. The main things left behind were the spirit medicines they had planted in their herb gardens and medicinal plots. Some disciples, wary that something might happen, did not even bother taking their spirit medicines. They stepped directly through the teleportation gate and left.
Others first sought permission from their masters, then hurried back to their residences, gathered their valuables, and departed.
Hua Sheng, Feng Menglong, and the others organized the disciples who intended to leave. The foundations beneath their peaks had all been established through their own hard work. They asked Yu Jianming to have Qingying move their entire mountains as well, unwilling to leave everything behind as a free windfall for the Sect Master’s disciples.
Now that Qingying had gained a new Senior Brother who was a good cook, she was especially happy. Whenever someone told her which mountain to move, she would throw the cauldron onto its summit and cover the mountain with it.
The cauldron would then transform into something even larger than the mountain, release a tremendous force, envelop the entire peak, and pull the whole mountain inside.
Xuantian Sect was protected by the Qingzhou Grand Formation, so moving the mountains naturally triggered the formation’s defensive power.
The Heaven-Refining Cauldron nevertheless tore through the formation’s defensive restraints by force, ripping open a gap. It swallowed one mountain after another, taking twenty-six peaks in a single breath without even panting. Even with the Qingzhou Grand Formation’s defenses fully unleashed, it could not slow the cauldron in the slightest.
Many members of Xuantian Sect were so terrified that their legs gave out.
A great number of people stared at Qingying with their mouths agape, as though they were looking at a monster. Their eyes were filled with awe.
It was literally moving mountains and seas. Even while carrying the resistance of the Qingzhou Grand Formation, it remained completely unhindered.
Bao Gu’s earlier sword strike had already shown them the extent of her strength. Now, with the addition of an even more terrifying Qingying, they recalled Bao Gu’s earlier question about what the Sect Master had that was worth scheming over. In the face of such absolute power, they could only admit that she truly had no reason to scheme against the Sect Master.
Moreover, Bao Gu had claimed that she carried Xuantian Sect’s orthodox inheritance. When those who did not know the full story saw that Sect Master Zi had not refuted her, they understood almost everything.
Naturally, they no longer hesitated. They followed their own Peak Masters and masters out of the sect.
Why stay? Even when their masters had been present, they had suffered the Sect Master’s disciples’ bullying. Once their masters left, they would be nothing but punching bags, given a hard time at every turn.
More and more disciples stepped through the teleportation gate, leaving in an endless stream.
Zi Tianjun’s face was livid.
The Sect Master’s disciples wanted to stop them, but when they saw Qingying, Bao Gu, and Yu Mi standing before the teleportation gate, all their courage deserted them. One by one, they looked toward Zi Tianjun. Seeing his expression, none of them dared make another sound.
Those who had spoken earlier regretted it so much that they could have bitten their tongues off. They had seen how many people wanted to follow Bao Gu and had invoked the traitor accusation and sect rules against them. Instead, Bao Gu had given them a resounding slap in the face, causing a complete split and sending twenty-six peaks away at once.
But looking at it another way, Xuantian Sect had a hundred and nine peaks. The ones leaving were all disobedient branches that had close ties with Lingyun Peak—and they were also the smallest lineages.
Still, they had miscalculated. Who could have expected the other side to possess such a terrifying existence, one capable of taking entire mountains away?
Thinking about the treasuries and resources of those lineages made their hearts bleed, but they did not dare say a word.
The Sect Master’s disciples each had their own thoughts. Those with deeper minds kept silent and concealed their expressions, sitting back to watch the situation develop. Those with simpler minds wore every thought plainly on their faces.
Bao Gu was worried that the Sect Master’s disciples might make things difficult for them again, so she did not leave immediately. She stayed behind to hold the fort.
Standing before the teleportation gate, she watched one disciple after another step through. She looked toward the annual grand tournament, which had been halted halfway through the matches, and then turned back to Zi Tianjun standing in the distance.
She lifted her eyes to the rolling peaks of Xuantian Sect and thought of how the sect had moved from Cloud City to Two Worlds Mountain; how it had fled from Two Worlds Mountain into the Xuantian Mountains contained inside an enormous storage bag; and how it had later planned to move from the Xuantian Mountains to the Ancient Desolation Mountain Range, only for that relocation to fail.
After so many twists and turns, they had finally put down roots here. They had thought that, with the Cleaver Gang’s protection and the Qingzhou Grand Formation, they could finally establish a firm foothold and revive the sect.
They had never expected internal strife to split the sect and bring it to this day.
And she was one of the chief culprits.
Panic, helplessness, confusion, and grievance churned in Bao Gu’s heart. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. The tip of her nose stung, and tears surged in her eyes. No matter how many times she tried to force them back, she could not hold them in.
Yu Mi saw how deeply Bao Gu was hurting, walked to her side, and called softly,
“Bao Gu.”
At the sound of Yu Mi’s voice, all the hurt Bao Gu had been holding inside surged out. She spun around, seized Yu Mi by the front of her robes, and buried her face against Yu Mi’s chest.
Tears burst from her eyes, impossible to stop, growing more and more violent. Bao Gu could no longer control her emotions. A broken cry escaped her, and then she burst into heart-rending sobs.
The dignified Lord of the Cleaver Token, the woman who had split apart a hundred-zhang warship equipped with a sacred artifact with a single sword, was now clutching her own Senior Sister’s robes before the Realm-Breaking Portal, her entire body trembling as she cried like a child overwhelmed by hurt and sorrow.
Yu Mi pulled Bao Gu close and gently patted her back. Her heart ached at the sound of Bao Gu’s sobs, yet she also felt immensely relieved.
Letting herself cry was far better than bottling everything up until it festered inside.
