Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Lure Away
Outside, Immortal Venerable Zhe Liu asked Yu Liu Ya what he’d decided.
Yu Liu Ya kept his posture respectful, voice careful. “This concerns the sect’s future. We have to convene the Ancestors and the elders. Once everyone is present, we’ll discuss it properly.”
Zhe Liu’s expression darkened. He mocked Yu Liu Ya as shortsighted and useless, the kind of Sect Master who strangled the future of his own disciples.
Yu Liu Ya agreed with every insult, polite as could be, while holding his ground: he couldn’t decide now.
They went back and forth only a few times before Zhe Liu’s patience snapped. His pale face turned storm-dark, and a formless pressure crashed down on Yu Liu Ya.
Yu Liu Ya’s face went white. He immediately forced all his spiritual power to circulate, resisting with everything he had.
With his back to the hall, Hu Qing and Shui Xin couldn’t see his expression, but they could see Zhe Liu’s clearly—smug, mocking, looking down as if Yu Liu Ya were dirt.
“Fuck—” Hu Qing barely got the word out before Yu Liu Ya doubled over and spat blood in a red arc.
“Master!”
Five voices shouted at once as Yu Liu Ya’s five disciples charged in together, swords out, hand seals flashing. They attacked Zhe Liu without hesitation.
Zhe Liu only snorted.
The five were blasted backward one after another, slamming into the ground around Yu Liu Ya like broken dolls.
Yu Liu Ya rasped, “Do not be rude to Immortal Venerable—”
“Rude, my ass—”
The main hall doors exploded.
A burst of golden-red lightning surged out like a tidal wave. It formed a massive ferocious beast’s head, jaws gaping wide as it lunged for Zhe Liu’s skull.
At the same time, a furious voice roared across Zhaohua Sect, loud enough to shake roofs and draw eyes from every corner.
“Dogfucker Zhe Liu! Zhe Liu the traitor is killing the Sect Master! Zhe Liu the traitor is slaughtering all of Zhaohua Sect! Everyone in Zhaohua Sect, listen up—Zhe Liu betrayed his roots, forgot his sect, repaid kindness with cruelty! That heaven-damned old bastard—!”
Yu Liu Ya stood there, blood on his lips, staring up.
His disciples lay scattered around him, staring up too.
It was too much. It was all too much.
One eye wanted to watch Hu Qing hopping around with a loudspeaker, cursing like her life depended on it. The other wanted to watch the white-robed monk clash with Zhe Liu in midair.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—people poured into the sky from every direction.
That thunder-beast head only held for three seconds against Zhe Liu. Three seconds was all it took to rip off his mask in front of everyone, stripping him of dignity and face alike.
Killing intent rolled off him in waves as his eyes locked on the female cultivator holding the loudspeaker.
Damn ant.
Even Shui Xin, fighting him head-on, barely earned a glance.
But the instant the beast head started to fall apart, Shui Xin flashed to Hu Qing’s side. The two of them released a spirit skiff and shot into the distance like an arrow.
In Yu Liu Ya’s ear, Hu Qing’s voice rang, hard and sharp: No one follows. No one!
His first instinct was outrage. Of course he had to follow!
Then he saw Zhe Liu chasing after them, and his feet halted as if nailed to the ground.
Hu Qing had always been strange. Too many encounters, too many impossible leaps. Who else started cultivating so late and climbed so fast? Who else had survived what she had?
What if she’d gained something in the Immortal Realm—some heaven-defying method that could erase an immortal completely, leaving nothing behind, something that couldn’t be spoken aloud?
Yu Liu Ya shuddered. Blood seeped at the corner of his mouth.
Without Zhe Liu’s pressure, the disciples scrambled up.
“Master, are you okay?”
Yu Liu Ya couldn’t answer. Right now, he was fine. But if his little Martial Uncle died, he might as well start picking a grave plot.
Yin Ning’s voice cracked. “Little Martial Uncle—”
The air filled with motion. Elders and Perfected cultivators, disciples on swords, disciples on beasts—an entire swarm rushed in, weapons in hand.
Qin Yang shoved to the front and saw Yu Liu Ya standing. He let out a breath.
Behind him, people who couldn’t see clearly yet began shouting over one another.
“Is the Sect Master dead?”
“Really dead?”
“Where’s that bastard?”
“Old thief!”
“Is the Sect Master dead or not?”
Whatever warmth had flared in Yu Liu Ya’s chest died instantly. Not one of them had shouted, Is the Sect Master still alive?
Someone finally did—only to be drowned out immediately.
“Is the Sect Master still alive?”
Yu Liu Ya’s heart lifted.
“Impossible,” someone barked. “That old thief is an immortal.”
The lift vanished.
Qin Yang pushed through again, eyes wide. “You’re not dead?”
“….” Yes. Sorry to disappoint you.
“Then who was cursing? I swear I’ve heard that voice before.”
Yu Liu Ya forced the words out. “Hu Qing.”
“Where is she?” Qin Yang shrieked, voice cracking. “Where did she go? Why didn’t you chase after her? You—are you trying to die?”
Yu Liu Ya didn’t answer. He just looked around.
Hu Qing’s name was famous. Martial Uncle Chan Ming loved to show off. There wasn’t a single person in Zhaohua Sect who didn’t know her now.
And now they all looked at him with the same eyes—regret, pity, sympathy… and something that looked a lot like contempt.
You’re going to die.
“Go find her!” Qin Yang shouted again.
“Martial Uncle, calculate—” Yu Liu Ya started.
Qin Yang was already pinching his fingers, face twisting. “I can’t! I can’t see anything!”
The others didn’t have divination skills. They flooded the surroundings with spiritual sense, but the space was clean and empty. No direction. No trail.
As they stared at one another, everyone thought of the same thing.
Immortals.
But when they looked around, there was no sign of any other immortals at all.
Maybe they were here, hidden in cracks of space, watching.
But their refusal to show themselves was already an answer.
They wouldn’t offend Zhe Liu for Zhaohua Sect—or for someone unrelated to them.
After returning, those immortals had refused the caves and residences the sect offered. They’d claimed they had their own arrangements.
Everyone understood what that meant. Even suppressed by the Heavenly Dao, they could come and go through little li realm freely. They could revisit old ground and even reach places they’d never accessed before, hunting treasure.
In short, they looked down on the sect.
People’s hearts changed easily.
And they weren’t wrong. They’d been gone too long and seen too much. Between them and Zhaohua Sect, only karma remained.
They’d returned to settle karma. Why would they create more?
A heavy sigh rose in everyone’s chest.
They were too weak. Zhaohua Sect was too weak.
Yu Liu Ya swallowed the blood in his throat and hid the hard light in his eyes. Fine. Good.
If you won’t lift a hand, then you’ll have no standing to point fingers afterward.
In that instant, he prayed to the heavens with all his heart.
Let Hu Qing kill Zhe Liu.
Killing an immortal was never that simple.
Hu Qing and Shui Xin fled like mad.
To draw Zhe Liu away, they didn’t dare use Hu Qing’s invisibility aura. They flew their spirit skiff like a chunk of bait, dangling right ahead of him.
Of course, they thought of themselves as bait. Zhe Liu looked at them like filth that needed to be wiped out.
At first, they were so keyed up on fear and adrenaline that they didn’t even check where they were going.
By the time they shot beyond Zhaohua Sect’s territory, they finally recognized the direction.
Thunder Prefecture.
They exchanged a wordless look.
What a blessed place.
They both loved luring lightning onto people.
“Deliver karmic retribution,” Shui Xin said, eyes cold. “Deliver it.”
Hu Qing was already remembering her tribulation in Thunder Prefecture—the Heavenly Punishment Grand Array that had annihilated White Egg’s elders.
If that array still existed, killing an immortal would be easy… wouldn’t it?