Chapter 1004: When Have The Disciples Of The Celestial Sect of Wonders Been Afraid Of Anything?
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The two parties were just there, staring at one another, as the disciples of the Great Void Sect and the Celestial Sect of Wonders were stunned to see each other.
Zhou Yuncong and Chen Xingyu’s gazes met at practically the same time – one was ice-cold and soul-piercing while the other was warm and plain.
Yang Tie, Liu Xiafeng, Li Xingfei and the others surveyed the group of disciples form the Great Void Sect. Their eyes paused on Chen Xingyu, Guo Chaoyang and Mu Xuan before everybody’s eyes became fixated on Yang Zhao.
When they were trapped inside the Spiritual Energy Hurricane, Yang Tie and others were still alert to the happenings in the outside world.
Even though Yang Zhao was not complicit with Wan Zhenglun, he stopped Zhao Mingxiu and subsequently obstructed Tang Jun in his attempt to exact revenge on Wan Zhenglun. Yang Tie and company were highly aware of these facts.
Yang Zhao’s face was unchanging and seemed as indifferent as ever.
Mu Xuan and Guo Chaoyang wore inscrutable expressions as well and said nothing. Chen Xingyu retracfted his gaze from Zhou Yuncong’s body and turned towards Yang Tie and the others before he clasped his hands together in greeting. "I have already heard about whatever happened before from Junior Yang. Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone for helping them out, for helping Senior Shan, Junior Yang, Junior Zhao and Junior Wan to escape."
Yang Tie answered quietly, "You flatter us."
His personality was relatively more stable and casual compared to Tang Jun and others, but that didn’t mean that he was susceptible to praises.
On the contrary, he was a chip off the old block from his mentor, Zhu Yi. He was straightforward, reciprocatively polite and was firm when dealing with hostilities.
Zhou Yuncong’s chilly eyes were still fixed on Chen Xingyu, Yang Zhao and the others. Traces of icy light flickered in his pupils.
Liu Xiafeng glanced at Chen Xingyu and said, "Don’t thank us too soon. It seems as if somebody from your sect wasn’t willing to recognize our help. We tried to help them, and ended up ‘helping’ out a conflict of hatred."
Yang Zhao was about to speak when Guo Chaoyang raised his hand to stop him, and the former immediately closed his mouth.
Guo Chaoyang’s eyes shifted from Yang Tie and then to Liu Xiafeng and the others before he said, "You are right – they should have shown some gratitude. However, whatever happened afterwards can indeed be said to be a conflict of hatred."
Li Xingfei said softly, "It’s a pity that I can’t tell where the rules and discipline of the Great Void Sect are. If they exist, how can Yang Zhao still be standing there like he is now?"
Yang Tie matched Guo Chaoyang’s gaze and chimed in. "If you wish to correct others, you have to correct yourself as well. If not, your words don’t mean a thing at all."
Liu Xiafeng looked at Guo Chaoyang and shook his head. "What did you just say? It didn’t matter whether or not Wan Zhenglun did anything wrong? Is there still a discussion regarding the rightness of his actions? Or are you trying to say that your opinions are in line with Shan Xiang and you believe that Wan Zhenglun was simply trying to help us, except the execution was wrong and everything was just an accident and misunderstanding?"
He laughed coldly and asked rhetorically, "Do you really think everybody on scene were blind?"
Chen Xingyu frowned a little but said nothing. Beside him, Mu Xuan had been quiet all along but she suddenly spoke her piece. "If Junior Wan is still alive, there would have been something to talk about. Now that he’s that, talking no longer serves a purpose."
Liu Xiafeng raised his eyebrows. "You have the balls to do it, but you don’t have the balls to admit it?"
Mu Xuan said softly, "Junior Wan met his end at your hands, and admitting to whatever happened doesn’t make a difference anymore. Both of our sects are here for the Crucible of the Divine Lands, and a violent conflict is bound to come. Since we have just crossed paths, then we might as well begin right here and now."
Chen Xingyu’s brows furrowed again as he glanced at Mu Xuan, and Mu Xuan turned around and shot him a plain look.
Fan Xuefeng tugged on Chen Xingyu’s sleeve and passed a voice-projected message, "Senior Mu has been holding back for a long time."
Chen Xingyu heaved a sigh as he understood the meaning of Fan Xuefeng’s words.
Mu Xuan was in the nascent soul advanced stage, but she wasn’t all that old. Her master was the previous All-Under-Heavens Strider of the Great Void Sect, Pang Jie, who was eventually imprisoned under the Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone.
When Pang Jie was still young and when his level of mastery was relatively low, he brought Mu Xuan back to Mount Baiyun when she was still a young girl serendipitously, and this eventually led to Mu Xuan joining under his mentorship as his disciple. It was rare for someone in the Great Void Sect to have a disciple at such a young age, like Pang Jie did.
Everybody in the inner circle of the Great Void Sect who knew about the two of them took pity on them. When Mu Xuan grew up, the feelings she had towards Pang Jie started to overtake that of their original mentor-disciple relationship.
When Pang Jie was silenced under the Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone, Mu Xuan displayed a strange and sinister indifference and there was no overreaction.
However, she started to practice the Mantra of the Great Oblivion, and her progress was cracking and she advanced at breakneck speed.
This prospect fell into the eyes of the Great Void Sect, yet those who witnessed this were full of worry instead of feeling happy for her.
The Mantra of the Great Oblivion pursued the act of leaving love behind rather than the state of heartlessness. The core was about forgetting love, and in some sense, there was a little emotion within all the indifference.
The deeper the emotion, the greater the returns once it was forgotten.
Those who held themselves back did not have pure love in their hearts, but had far too complicated love that he or she could not untangle themselves from. The more boats they were stepping on, the worse their situation might end up.
However, if one could grasp the concept of developing passion from a state of heartlessness, and forgetting about it once it was obtained, then the speed of progress would be alacritous and the power of the mantra would be equally breathtaking.
At the very least, the progress of cultivation and mastery would be a lot faster than the Yin Yang Mantra of the Void.
When Pang Jie was imprisoned under the stone, Mu Xuan was not as emotionless and heartless as she seemed and was not completely without reaction.
It was quite the contrary – she was releasing the feelings she had for Pang Jie in their entirety, as they could not be held back any longer.
However, there was still an existing problem. Cups would overflow when they were full, and everything that’s good would come to an end once it had reached its peak, and it would start turning bad. If she was perennially mired in her feelings and never found her way out, she would end up in a situation like walking to the peak of a mountain without a path back down; she would fall straight down, over the cliff.
In most cases, this problem of the mind was not independently manageable by these cultivators. While they needed to work it out by themselves, they also needed some luck and opportunity from the outside world.
Under Mu Xuan’s ice-cold appearance, she had practiced the Mantra of the Great Oblivion to something that was charged with extreme emotion. While she enjoyed skyrocketing progress in her mastery, it became harder and harder for her to understand the true meaning of ‘forgetting love’, and she could no longer do it by herself.
They key to unlocking this knot in her heart was Pang Jie. However, it was not about whether or not he could come out from under the Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone. Rather, it was up to the people of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, who indirectly led to Pang Jie’s sentence.
There was nothing she could do about Lin Feng, but this knot in her heart could be transferred onto Lin Feng’s disciples and his grand disciples.
If she could break through his tough obstacle successfully, she even had a chance to ascend to the immortal soul stage.
However, if this dragged out too long and if it stretched beyond the limit, she would start to degrade and this had unimaginable consequences. Many seniors of the Great Void Sect who practiced the Mantra of the Great Oblivion served as perfect ‘examples’ for Mu Xuan.
The Yin Yang Mantra of the Void was relatively more stable, but cultivation was a little more difficult and progress was naturally slower as well. However, there was not much hidden side effects or problems that one had to be concerned about.
On the other hand, the Mantra of the Great Oblivion was a lot easier to practice and progress was a lot faster. If one could see through its important checkpoints, improvement would be even faster. However, if one was not able to get through the hurdle of ‘passion’ and was unable to untangle the knot in the heart, then the consequences would be unpredictable.
This problem of ‘passion’ was not limited to just romantic relationships. Besides love, kinship, friendship and everything that had to do with compassion and empathy in the world and every other sort of passion and emotion could be used to empower the Mantra of the Great Oblivion, but could also become hurdles to cross.
Even though she was Pang Jie’s disciple, Mu Xuan had always been soft-spoken, and had a neutral viewpoint towards the views of the Conservative Faction and the Radical Faction. She was positioned nearer to the middle, and even today, she was not part of the Radical Faction like her mentor was.
Still, this did not affect her hostility towards the Celestial Sect of Wonders. This was both personal and related to her upwards path of cultivation.
If this was a purely personal matter, Chen Xingyu would have attempted to advise her against this decision. However, there was nothing he could say against the latter reason.
Guo Chaoyang, Ding Runfeng, Yang Zhao and the others were not too surprised by her reaction. Guo Chaoyang glanced at Yang Tie and company and said quietly, "If you can still contact your fellow sect members, I suggest you do it quickly."
Yang Tie eyes swept across Mu Xuan, Guo Chaoyang and Chen Xingyu before he said, "Nascent soul advanced stage, nascent soul beginner stage – such high levels of mastery. But, so what?"
They were still young, and they were only a host of aurous core advanced stage cultivators who were faced with a host of outstanding cultivators from the younger generation of the Great Void Sect. Despite all this, Yang Tie was calm and stood where he was and faintly exhibited an elegant and dignified aura.
"Wan Zhenglun had it coming, and you guys can’t tell what’s right from wrong. If you wish to fight, then let’s fight. When have the disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders been afraid of anything?"
Yang Tie clasped his hands together and said, "I am Yang Tie of the Celestial Sect of Wonders – let’s begin."
Before him, besides Chen Xingyu, Mu Xuan and Guo Chaoyang, Ding Runfeng, Fan Xuefeng and a few others were also in the nascent soul beginner stage. The Great Void Sect even had other nascent soul stage cultivators present as well.
Yang Tie’s company had merely four people, and they were all in the aurous core stage. Yet, they didn’t lose out on mannerism against Chen Xingyu and the others.
Even though Liu Xiafeng and Li Xingfei were only in the aurous core intermediate stage, they wore casual looks on their faces with extreme composure and both of them clasped their hands together as well.
"I am Liu Xiafeng of the Celestial Sect of Wonders – let’s begin."
"I am Li Xingfei of the Celestial Sect of Wonders – let’s begin."
There was a faint trickle of black smoke surrounding Zhou Yuncong’s body and was conspicuously menacing and fearsome. Zhou Yuncong had an aura that seemed to surpass that of even Yang Tie.
Even though he was quietly cultivating by himself on Mount Yujing most of the time and did not typically venture outside, Zhou Yuncong’s was known as one of the strongest disciples of the second generation of disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders, and had a ferocious reputation.
He took no prisoners in the battles that he had during his rare expeditions into the outside world. He was not easily drawn into a fight, but he was merciless once he was drawn into one.
Even though Zhou Yuncong never said a single word ever since they met each other, the person who was deemed by the host of Great Void Sect disciples to be the worthiest of attention was this cold-looking youth from the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
Guo Chaoyang frowned a little and was about to speak before Yang Zhao stepped forward from beside him and said softly, "Senior Guo, let me go."
"Good!" Guo Chaoyang glanced at him and his eyes betrayed tinges of approval and contentment while he nodded his head.
Yang Zhao said no more and turned back around to face Yang Tie and the rest.
He clasped his hands together and said plainly, "Yang Zhao of the Great Void Sect – let’s begin."