Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Chapter 608: Chapter 297: Zhenwu Jade Scroll, the Five on Dragon Tiger Mountain! The Correct Sequence of Time_2

Rumble rumble rumble...

Suddenly, those specks of starlike radiance trembled violently, surging and gathering, like a flood in reverse, sweeping up everything around.

Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit’s expression abruptly shifted; like a lone skiff adrift on an unmoored river sea, he was swept into its depths.

Immediately, streaks of light and shadow rose and fell, like waves pouring sideways into his Primordial Spirit.

”This is...”

Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit quaked, beholding an unbelievable sight.

Cang Mountain soared high, imposing as Dragon and Tiger, Celestial Light dimming, only a blazing conflagration illuminated the endless darkness, nearly lighting up the long, black night.

”Dragon Tiger Mountain!?”

Zhang Fan recognized it: this mountain was the Daoist Ancestral Court, unrivaled in the world, rising above Dragon Lake.

At this moment, Dragon Tiger Mountain appeared sunken like an abyss, neither Heaven to descend nor Earth to join, all was blurry and muddled, chaos engulfing all, only flames stretching on, thunder roaring— as if it had become a place of exile.

”All things, changed by tribulation, transformed by change...”

”The Dragon Tiger Zhang Family is finished!”

A strange voice echoed from the mountain, wailing like the wind, resonating like forests trembling, hardly like the voice of man.

Then, a tall figure slowly appeared, seeming to merge with the dusky night behind him, ceaselessly writhing and shifting, at once uncanny and unreal.

”Zhang Tai Xu— worthy as the last Celestial Master, he even preserved one thread of the Zhang Family’s incense, truly interesting.”

That figure seemed to glance back, peering toward Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Rumble rumble rumble...

Fire scorched the sky; a human figure descended from above, as if thrown from the mountain, crashing heavily onto the ground.

It was a young man, long hair disheveled, resembling a madman, body stained in blood and filth— in his arms a severed hand, that mangled hand clutching some kind of object.

”Zhenwu Jade Scroll!?”

”Chu Chaoran, you truly are an anomaly! Have you met someone named Li? No wonder you could suppress the Divine Demon Holy Embryo.”

The uncanny figure writhed ceaselessly, its eerie gaze seemed to emanate from the abyss, fixed on the grievously wounded youth before it.

In this moment, Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit resembled only a passing traveler, watching the flickering shadows.

His breath grew heavy, thoughts roiling madly.

He could hardly fail to guess, just what this shattered vision truly was.

”Eighty years ago— the Great Daoist Tribulation!”

At that time, Chu Chaoran had only just entered manhood, the trend just begun, hints of sharpness glimmering, yet he still seemed young and naive.

”Pity— you weren’t yet worthy to wait together with me.”

”You...”

The young Chu Chaoran held the severed hand close, cold glint in his eyes as keen as knives and blades.

”Thousand-Year-Old Demon!”

Just then, a furious roar shook the world, thunder collapsing, true flame dimming; a horrifying figure strode forth from afar— separated by ten thousand fathoms, yet only a step away, coming to bar Chu Chaoran’s front in a single stride.

The man wore a wide robe and cloak, beard unkempt, visage weathered, eyes deep as if having witnessed life’s vicissitudes; such fearsome bearing, proud and towering, that even Dragon Tiger Mountain at his feet seemed to shrink before him by threefold.

”The trend is set, dominance unrivaled— Three Corpses Daoist, at last you sit atop the world’s number one seat, worthy to wait together with me.”

The uncanny figure writhed on, gaze like the abyss landing on the world-defying man before him, suffused with deep admiration and gratification.

”Wait?”

”Wait for what?” Three Corpses Daoist asked in a firm voice.

”The correct sequence of time!”

In the chaotic dark night, the uncanny voice gently condensed, uttering five words.

”The correct sequence of time!?” Three Corpses Daoist’s gaze narrowed like a blade, as if cleaving the boundary of Heaven and Earth, pinning that uncanny figure in place.

”The correct sequence of time hasn’t begun... We all must wait...”

As he spoke, the writhing uncanny figure seemed to react, turning instinctively to look back.

Just then, another silhouette descended from Dragon Tiger Mountain...

She was a young girl, short hair brushing her shoulders, skin pale and luminous, eyes ethereal, her whole body streaked with blood, chest pierced through by some unknown force, nearly half her body gone.

Yet even so, there was not the slightest human emotion on her face; she walked forward, quietly meeting the uncanny writhing figure’s gaze.

Rumble rumble rumble...

Heaven and Earth as if collapsing— on Dragon Tiger Mountain, chaos plunged, universe riven, countless shadows flickering.

The Daoist Ancestral Court of millennia sealed its doors from this day, incense forever ended.

On this day, the ninth of September, the Great Daoist Tribulation.

On Dragon Tiger Mountain, the elite perished, all sects extinct— yet five figures walked down from the mountain nonetheless.

Rumble rumble rumble...

All visions vanished— Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit withdrew from Inner Scenery.

He gazed at his chest, the mark fading away, sinking into the boundless sea unseen.

Yet everything he had just witnessed still shook Zhang Fan’s heart: he had glimpsed back eighty years, seen a corner of the Daoist Tribulation.

”Five people...”

”There truly were five survivors on Dragon Tiger Mountain...” Zhang Fan’s eyes grew somber, recalling a post the Thousand-Year-Old Demon once wrote, in which he’d mentioned it.

No wonder he knew so much; turned out, on the day of the Great Daoist Tribulation, he too was on the mountain.

Of those five...

There was the world’s number one Three Corpses Daoist, the sharp-edged Chu Chaoran, the unfathomable Thousand-Year-Old Demon, the elusive Zhang Tai Xu, and one mysterious unknown...

”Jiang Lai!”

Zhang Fan murmured, the image of that short-haired, ethereal girl surfaced in his mind.

...

Night had fallen.

Mountain Water International Hotel, Room 3201.

”Zhixia, was the guy you introduced in the daytime actually your college boyfriend?”

A faintly indifferent voice sounded ghostlike in the room.

Xu Zhixia had just come in, and saw the man sitting on the edge of the bed— long hair shining black past his ears, bare upper body sculpted with sharply defined muscles.

”Brother Shan, that’s my private business.” Xu Zhixia’s delicate brows knit slightly.

Xu Banshan curled his lips in a light smile: ”I watched you grow up, Zhixia— you can’t hide those little secrets from me.”

”Even an ordinary guy like that, you can keep him on the side if you get bored— just toss him away.”

”Our Xu Family can afford to raise a pretty boy like him.”

”He’s not an ordinary person, and not a pretty boy either.” Xu Zhixia’s face darkened with displeasure.

This cousin of hers was good to her in every respect, except that he was domineering, his mind stuck in feudal times, full of family caste ideas.

He always felt that cultivators, after Primordial Spirit Awakening, were no longer the same species as ordinary people.

Being a Pure Yang Family, Xu Family was meant to stand above, rank as princes.

”I know, the little pretty boy you’ve taken a liking to is a cultivator too, but pity— unless he becomes a High Skill, he’ll never set foot in the core circle,” Xu Banshan said calmly.

After the Zhang Family’s Old Mansion incident, Xu Zhixia had reunited with Zhang Fan— all news which Xu Banshan naturally knew.

In his intelligence, Zhang Fan hadn’t even attained High Skill at that time.

That bit of cultivation, not enough for a Pure Yang Family to consider.

”It’s precisely because he’s not just some ordinary guy that I let you keep him— otherwise, a real outsider couldn’t even qualify to carry your shoes.”

At these words, Xu Banshan lifted his gaze, seeing Xu Zhixia clearly.

”Your relationship with him can go no further— keep him as a pet, that’s already the upper limit...”

”You should know, your marriage is beyond your control; someone with no background can’t even qualify as a son-in-law in our Xu Family,” Xu Banshan reminded her.

”That’s my own business,” Xu Zhixia bit out, silver teeth clenched.

”Fine, your affairs aren’t my concern.”

Xu Banshan shook his head gently, saying, ”We’re here for a job this time.”

”Is Li Changgeng really in Guixi Province? I’ve heard that this Bai He Temple prodigy rarely ever leaves Shangjing,” Xu Zhixia’s eyes flashed with curiosity.

As one of Shangjing’s elite, she’d naturally heard of Li Changgeng’s name.

In fact, the Xu Family was closely connected to Bai He Temple.

”Of course, or why would we come?” Xu Banshan said gravely.

Li Changgeng never acts lightly; once in motion, it’s grand. This time, he’s out in Guixi, and has summoned many powerful figures.

”I hear heirs of Sanqing Mountain have come too.”

”Yu Xuanji!?” Xu Zhixia exclaimed in shock.

The Sanqing Mountain heir is a woman— she’d heard many rumors, and to her, that person was truly terrifying.

”Our Xu Family was also invited,” Xu Banshan finally revealed their real purpose.

”Li Changgeng— such a person, why such a show of force?” Xu Zhixia asked, puzzled.

”It’s said, he encountered a mighty enemy in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, that’s why he’s mobilizing everyone, aiming to trap and finish them.”

”A mighty enemy? For someone like him, what kind of enemy could that be?” Xu Zhixia couldn’t help but look uncertain.

Li Changgeng was already peerless among men, young and supreme; if even he counted someone as a mighty foe, how dreadful must they be?

”It must be some inhuman existence— we’ll see when the time comes.”

Xu Banshan let out a long breath, a hint of awe hidden in his eyes.

Anyone Li Changgeng counts as a mighty enemy— he couldn’t help but feel awe as well.