Chapter 178 - Qingxiao

Chen Jianmei had to admit that among all the students at Qing Xuan, other than himself, Shen Lian was the most qualified to reach the stage of Powang. It was very possible that he could achieve longevity.

He waited for Shen Lian's response silently. He did not look rushed at all.

His reaction was predicted by Yanxu. He could not spot an opening in Chen Jianmei's heart of Dao, but he understood that as long as something existed within heaven and earth, it would have left some traces behind. One could show no signs of weaknesses, but as anything was possible, there would always be a chance.

Yanxu used Shen Lian as a chance to escape from the bottleneck. At the same time, he delayed Chen Jianmei too.

Shen Lian laughed softly. "Uncle-Master Yanxu, you gave me the Qi Instrument previously. Do you still miss it? It is an instrument used to warn someone who is generous. Do you have regrets about anything? Even if you don't think so, your subconscious acts could represent what your heart thinks."

He did not answer, but instead, he replied with a question. It was extraordinary.

Shen Lian called out to Chen Jianmei with sword will. It did not carry any messages, but Chen Jianmei understood him.

Yanxu did not expect Shen Lian to reply with a question. He hesitated for a moment. The sword formation around him was activated, and he was engulfed in the blink of an eye. Even the blood-colored film of light could not resist the engulfment.

The sword formation was activated with the power of earthquakes. The lights released by the formation could light up half of the night sky. The Qi could also stir away the clouds underneath the moonlight.

All of a sudden, Yanxu had incarnated. He turned into blood smoke in an attempt to escape from the sword formation. Shen Lian had been waiting for that moment – his sword aura split into two, then four, and then eight. Even the void was vibrating from that. The sword aura entered the sword formation to patch up any flaws in the formation. When the blood smoke encountered the sword aura, it was as if the ice met the sun, it could not fight back.

While the blood smoke faced a challenging opponent such as Shen Lian's sword aura, one could still spot the bit of blood color that remained.

Chen Jianmei's face showed a cold smile. There was a long sword in his hand. He jumped in and got rid of the last bit of blood color.

The blood color was finally eliminated, and the void was back to a clear state. The moonlight shone on Shen Lian's light blue Daoist robe.

Chen Jianmei was dressed in white, just like a cloud. He looked refreshed, but as the moonlight shone onto his face, it was as if the light had encountered snow, the reflection was cold.

"Senior Apprentice-Brother Chen, I feel like returning to Qing Xuan," Shen Lian said as he stared into the sky.

"What are you planning to do there?" Chen Jianmei crossed his arms and looked up. He was looking at the full moon. He did not seem to feel happy about eliminating part of Yanxu's primordial spirit.

"I want to pay a visit to the headmaster. He said that once I've reached the stage of Huandan, I can then return," Shen Lian answered. He was not too passionate about the battles in the world. Unlike Chen Jianmei's fearless attitude, Shen Lian would rather be free from karma and the secular world.

Shen Lian only wanted to do two things subsequently. The first was to find out where Ruoxi was, and the second was to find ways to save Zhang Ruoxu's life. If he could achieve Daoist immortality during that period, it would be most ideal.

Chen Jianmei was silent for a short moment, and then he replied, "You can do whatever you want. You don't need to inform me."

He formed into a sword ray and left to an unknown place. Underneath the moonlight, only a few clouds were floating around. One would not know what to say under that situation.

Shen Lian roared, and after a while, Qianmo and Xiaoxun flew over from afar. One man and two birds, they rode on the wind as they headed toward one direction.

Shen Lian did not intend to return to Jingguang Temple or to say goodbye to Song Qingyi.

Even though the danger in Jingguang Temple remained, Shen Lian believed that Song Qingyi could have handled it.

If he could not even overcome that small obstacle, how could he be the successor of Lu Jiuyuan?

Shen Lian was willing to make friends, but he did not wish that after a few hundred years, these friends would be miles away from him. When Song Qingyi started to call him Senior Apprentice-Brother Shen, it was because of the difference in their cultivation levels. Only the heart could remain unchanged, and not the world.

Outside the Kingdom of Hanhai, where Shen Lian first fought the Mirage Demon in the desert, a Daoist dressed in a blood-colored robe appeared. His face was unclear under the moonlight, or one could even say that he did not have a face.

If anyone paid attention to the faceless Daoist, one would see that his face was covered with illusions. He was occasionally adolescent, or middle age or he could be very old. Sometimes he looked like a bearded man, sometimes without a beard, sometimes well-educated, and sometimes like a thug.

A Jingzhu fell from the sky when he appeared. The desert had no Qi of vitality or water, but as the Jingzhu fell to the ground, a sea of bamboos was born. The faceless Daoist was trapped from within.

After he went through several changes in his face, he turned into a young Daoist dressed in a light green robe. He looked rather handsome, but he had thin lips which made him looked heartless.

He was rather pale, but he did not seem to be particularly worried to be trapped in the bamboo sea.

Outside the sea of bamboos, a girl dressed in a green Daoist robe appeared. He could feel her cold hard stare through the bamboo branches and leaves.

The girl said, "You can't escape today, Yanxu."

Yanxu stared at the girl in green. It was his Aunt-Master, Ziling Fairy, who was one of the most powerful Daoist in the world.

That girl had been chasing after him for five years to kill him. He dared not relax and remained hidden in the sea of bamboos.

It was the worst day of Yanxu's life. If it were a few hundred years ago, he would not have imagined that that day would come.

It seemed that even if he could turn back time, nothing could be changed.

For anyone who knew Ziling Fairy, when she was dressed in green, it meant that she was under the influence of another personality.

She was not usually a swordsman, but under the influence of that personality, her swordcraft was so incredible that it sometimes exceeded those of an experienced swordsman. That personality had a name – Qingxiao. Biyun was the one who told her that.