Chapter 533 – Southern Splendor Radiant Taiji (4)

The sound of grass blades rustling rang out.

Rustle.

An old Taoist with disheveled hair wandered through the blue mountain slopes. The one called Immortal under heaven, the Wudang Sect Leader who received the name Profound Void from Mount Wudang.

At this moment, he wandered aimlessly through pathless land, and whenever he approached, tree branches moved aside of their own accord.

Today he was not a Wudang Taoist.

He had long since put the Tao of non-action and naturalness behind him.

He was merely an absolute master who commanded natural earth energy like a celestial god, and Profound Void also vaguely realized that he was trapped by human emotions.

Even so, he wandered alone through the vast ridges of Wudang like a lost beggar, rambling incoherently.

“Disciple, Profound Principle, Profound Principle… Yes, High Sword you b*st*rd, why didn’t you listen to the end of the Wisdom Sword formulas? When this elder brother said he would change the rules to teach you, you should have listened to me. What was so important about that trivial dignity of Wudang’s Sect Leader that didn’t need protecting…”

The younger brother who had fled to distant skies to avoid his troublesome elder brother.

“Did this master teach you thus? Were your roots so important…? Yes, in the treacherous northern jianghu there must have been other Dream Devil Bodies. But what use is all that? You are already a pine needle of Wudang.”

The disciple who still lived on Mount Wudang but would never return to the past.

Profound Void had to find two people. High Sword and Super Mad Dream Demon. Precisely, he needed the heart to fully embrace what they had become today.

But that vessel of the heart, commonly called a Tao vessel, existed nowhere on Mount Wudang.

Naturally he wandered lost. Racing in all directions without purpose then fading away, suddenly flaring up again like sparks.

That was deviation of mind.

Thud.

Suddenly Profound Void trampled the ground.

At the same time, he began soaring into the sky like an immortal with his hands clasped behind his back, but without leisure.

Thus the old Taoist spent about one period with the long white clouds.

And at some point he stopped, then descended while stepping on the void like stairs for quite a while, when suddenly a grayish-white hemispherical curtain revealed itself like a mirage at his feet.

Rustle—

Profound Void stepped precisely on top of that energy curtain. With the sleeves of his shabby Taoist robe fluttering like wings behind him.

The curtain was Wudang’s formation.

The Infinite Excavation Suffering Formation that blocked all energy wave fluctuations. One of Zhang Sanfeng’s disciples had created it long ago.

Because of an incident where a common citizen of De’an Prefecture in Huguang Province became an idiot after being exposed to energy waves from some factional war.

Now famous as a rare concealment formation under heaven, but the contemporary First Person of Taoism could breathe and comprehend even the energy wave fluctuations composing that formation.

He had no regard for the strength of the energy curtain, said to be like a fortress wall.

Hwaaak!

He simply pierced through and descended.

No breaking technique existed. He had simply naturally assimilated his body into the formation.

It was an instant before he revealed himself beneath the ceiling of the massive hemispherical curtain.

Inside the energy curtain.

The Wudang masters surrounding the bamboo-hatted swordsman suddenly raised their heads. Even though they had maintained a standoff for quite a long time, their reaction was immediate.

“……”

A brief hollow silence flowed among the hundred or so people.

But that too was momentary, as the venue became noisy as if the flames of deviation of mind that Profound Void harbored had flared up. Immortal Profound Void was a being who caused upheaval for all masters of the great sects under heaven.

Even if they were disciples of his own sect.

“What… Sect Leader…?!”

“How is the Sect Leader here?”

“This could certainly happen. Formation! Disciples, do not be agitated and deploy the formation!”

Wuung! Wuuung!

Energy wave fluctuations swayed in all directions.

Among them, the one-armed swordsman standing at the center of the encirclement, the one with the appearance of the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader, slightly lifted the front of his bamboo hat.

It was a slow movement separate from the urgency nearby.

Huuuuuuk!

That alone brought fierce sword winds rushing to the nearby thirty-six directions. This was because tremendous momentum was surrounding the area like a typhoon.

This was also the reason why the Wudang Sect had been unable to make a rash move until now.

With a considerable number of Wudang masters already having crossed beyond the ‘gates’ now. Additional loss of disciples would directly lead to the deaths of twice as many common people.

“I grew tired waiting.”

The middle-aged man in the bamboo hat spoke calmly.

“Both the Sect Leader and that friend Lightning Genius, these days Return to Origin is popular everywhere. It’s difficult to grasp presences.”

“…You’re well-informed about outside rumors.”

When Profound Void, who had been looking down at him intently, spat out, the bamboo-hatted man smiled broadly.

“Unlike the Sect Leader, I’m one who uses all under heaven as a blanket. Moreover, my meddling is as wide as those steps. So I couldn’t simply pass by this Mount Wudang.”

“……”

“About Taoist High Sword, is his head well? I was in no condition in Hangzhou. So now before departing for the north, I wanted to exchange greetings and convey some modest condolences…”

“Enough.”

Profound Void said.

Kugugung—

Behind him.

The atmosphere rippled murkily like dark clouds. All of the bamboo-hatted man’s words had stimulated Profound Void’s heart demons.

In less than a few breaths of time, just from exchanging brief words. The demon’s words and actions were so maliciously naked.

“Disciple, your mimicry is clumsy.”

Profound Void’s voice continued in low tones.

“I become enraged and cut you down, and only then do you reveal your identity as my disciple to complete your plan? Truly worthless. Is that meager thing the northern scheme to trap the Wudang Sect Leader in a quagmire?”

“…How did you know?”

The bamboo-hatted man asked, tilting his head.

“Were my transformation and disguise not perfect? They even personally obtained the martial arts of Empty Full Self-Mastery from Hangzhou for me, and I studied what the Heaven Conquering First Sword’s character was like for quite a long time…”

A face melting away like water as the words continued.

The middle-aged man’s features instantly took on the appearance of some beautiful youth. First came skin dyed pale like a Blood Flame Cult noble.

Soon after, a bewitching temperament flowed along extremely thin facial lines, and the thick right sleeve of the leather robe filled with an arm that hadn’t originally existed, accompanied by a creaking sound.

Haaa—

White mist soon leaked from the youth’s mouth. It was the backlash of the suddenly released transformation technique.

Super Mad Dream Demon.

The joint successor of the Wudang Sect Leader and Divine Theft.

“Disappointing.”

He muttered naturally while shaking his head back and forth.

Gasps erupted from various places. Wudang masters who had been deploying vast sword formations stopped one by one.

“You… you are…!”

“How did you dare impersonate the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader in our sect?!”

“…Original Eye Formation.”

But Super Mad Dream Demon didn’t even glance at them. He had a temperament emanating from his whole body.

The confidence that he could escape sufficiently if he set his mind to it. Indeed, he looked up only at Profound Void Immortal and asked again.

“I asked how you noticed. I was certainly infinitely close to the Heaven Conquering Sect Leader… except for non-action.”

“A martial artist who seeks to make himself noble does not mock corpses. Remember this. That heretic swordsman would be the same. Whatever his conduct was before laying down his sword.”

The answer of Profound Void of the Five Greatest Swords under Heaven was calm.

But the air in the venue was not. Rather, it trembled uneasily. As if something might explode at any moment.

It was a precursor to deeper deviation of mind.

“Of course!”

Super Mad Dream Demon shouted excitedly.

“It would be too much stimulation for a senile old man! By what means could you endure that appearance? The one who dishonored High Sword grand-uncle and disappeared mysteriously… you must be mad with desire to kill him somehow!”

Kureurung!

The air surrounding Profound Void rapidly distorted. Acting Sect Leader Jade Cliff, who had anxiously glanced at him from afar, shouted at Super Mad Dream Demon.

“Shut up, you northern spawn! Are you truly human? With what bitter resentment do you so exploit the Sect Leader Immortal’s emotions! If you don’t wish to die by my hand today…”

Suddenly Jade Cliff’s body was explosively flung away and crashed into the rear energy curtain with a bang!

It was because of Profound Void’s gesture.

Supreme tension that crossed the void in an instant. He had mixed the mysteries of Striking Air Palm with Wudang Cotton Palm. The speed made response impossible.

“A disciple’s death…”

Soon after, Profound Void muttered quietly.

“Do not speak lightly of it. Please. That is an extremely tragic and terrible thing. What I saw in the north is sufficient, so I beg you thus…”

It was rambling.

Meanwhile, his eyes were filled with whites. His pupils had rolled up above his eyeballs.

The Wudang Sect Leader who had entered deviation of mind from being unable to sever emotions. At this moment, he would be one of the most dangerous beings under heaven.

—Disciples, firmly guard your upper dantians with internal energy, and do not make eye contact with that northern spawn… the expelled disciple! You will be bewitched by his demonic eye techniques!

Jade Cliff sent out mental transmission from his position thrown backward. And he glanced behind him.

An extremely smooth and semi-transparent wall. The energy curtain of the Infinite Excavation Suffering Formation had completely absorbed even the shock from the cotton palm.

Cough!

After spitting up blood once, he filled his throat with energy again. It was to send a question to the disciple waiting outside the formation.

—You said seventeen li?

—Yes, Acting Sect Leader. From the Lower Sheath Pavilion where the guest stays to here is approximately close to seventeen li. We will open the formation as soon as you signal. Please take care of yourself…!

A distance of one li repeated seventeen times. For a lightness skill master, it had to be extremely short. Moreover, they said Lotus Nezha Jeong Yeon-shin’s lightness skill was purely straight-line.

A sprint with absolutely no act of twisting feet to supplement propulsive energy waves. Naturally, the wait of Jade Cliff and other Wudang disciples would also be brief.

But would it be so even with another of the Five Greatest Swords under Heaven before their eyes?

Moreover, Profound Void was clearly a name placed above Jeong Yeon-shin in the world. The difference in age and years was distinct.

Far.

Seventeen li was too long a distance.

“Let’s go. I must teach you once more.”

It was Profound Void’s voice.

Jade Cliff quickly raised his head. The sight of the expressionless Wudang Sect Leader descending to take away Super Mad Dream Demon once again. A smile formed on the face of the expelled disciple protected by his mad master.

How on earth.

Had it come to this?

Jade Cliff’s brow furrowed deeply.

“Not this time!”

He shouted.

“Not this time! Sect Leader Immortal! Please reconsider! That demon is no longer the infant that the Sect Leader raised and carried! Rather, he is a dam blocking Wudang’s streams! Do you intend to let our sect wither and die like this?!”

“Wudang is naturally verdant. This child is nothing. Just a disciple who straightforwardly resembles a poor island lacking everything.”

Profound Void was still indifferent. And harmless to his disciple. Enough for Super Mad Dream Demon to casually interject from beside him.

“I did stray a little. But if the Sect Leader meets Divine Theft directly, your thoughts will change. The grand master of Dream Devil Bodies under heaven, the one given a place beside the northern Fighting God. My roots are with her… also in the north…”

His eyes grew cloudy. As if mist had settled.