**Elder Gu Pov**
The moon falls short. The sun rises too soon. Ti is a thief, and I am its victim. The path of cultivation is long and laborious.
Currently, the Tang clan seems to still be searching for Tianmo, but pity, they can’t find him.
The world is a ga of chess, and I am the only player who sees the board. The Tang Clan are re piece, moving blindly, driven by arrogance and rage. They believe they are the hunters, but in truth, they are the prey, stumbling into a trap set by fate itself.
Sitting within the bamboo chair in front of , the Tang Clan Patriarch seed to be worried. He seems to be a man on his late three hundred years, while, his wife, beside him was a Young and fresh, with youthful skin and strong vitality.
"Patriarch, the search for the Devil heir would be hard for us righteous cultivators, singing the glory of the heavens, this old man fears, that the sinister devil heir possesses a private world. It is a space cut off from the laws of our realm, a fortress of solitude where even your divine sense cannot penetrate."
"Oh, Old Man Gu... What you said has so logic to it, but you see my father is greatly enraged, also that day, mysterious forces shattered the array causing that devil to escape, we haven’t even been able to find them," Patriarch said. Well, I wonder what he will think when he realizes it was , who shattered the array. Anyway, for now I am a righteous cultivator, who stands against the devil taboo.
"Patriarch Tang, this old man understands your situation, it’s hard to explain to your old man, but it is also unwise to burn resources aninglessly to seek the Devil who isn’t even living in this world. I believe you are wise..."
Hearing my words, he raised his eyebrows and looked at suspiciously. Those eyes... I hate it. I hate the feeling where, it feels like soone can read through . But I know for a fact, the man standing before isn’t that wise yet, to read the unreadable.
However, that brat, Young Master Tianmo. He is the real deal, fully capable of reading the situation, able to distinguish Silver from dust.
"Hmm, that look, perhaps Patriarch doesn’t believe in , or is it simply that your heart is unsettled by the previous failure?" Asking with a calm and composed tone, asured, like water flowing over smooth stones. I took a sip of the tea. It was a little bitter and dicinal, capable of calming one’s mind.
Patriarch Tang’s expression darkened, his hand tightening around his cup until the porcelain groaned under the pressure. "Failure is a bitter pill, Old Man Gu. My father is a man of absolute judgnt. If I return without the head of that devil boy, my position within the clan will be compromised. You speak of wisdom, but in the cultivation world, results are the only currency that matters."
"Indeed," settling the cup down with a soft clink, I looked at him.
"Results are currency. But spending a fortune to find a penny is not an investnt; it is folly. The boy possesses a private world. Unless you have an artifact capable of tearing through the void itself—a treasure worth more than your entire clan’s combined assets—you are chasing a shadow... Don’t be offended by my harsh remarks but truth are hard to swallow, you are a grown-up man, act like one."
"Think about it? Why would he co to die? He is a youth with a life ahead, if I were in his shoes, I would cultivate diligently and only return to take revenge, with the very first target being your Tang Clan."
Saying that, I took the kettle and refilled my cup, the steam rising in lazy, translucent spirals. The aroma of the tea was sharp, cutting through the thick, cloying scent of incense that perated the Tang Clan’s main hall.
I watched Patriarch Tang’s face closely. It was a canvas of conflicting emotions—pride warring with fear, ambition clashing with caution. He was a man standing on a precipice, staring down into the abyss, yet refusing to believe that the fall was inevitable. How laughable. If I have to be honest, I don’t think the Tang Clan can even stand a chance against soone like Young Master Wang. Unless, I decided to favor them and support them wholeheartedly.
A day passed, is a day closer to the end of the Tang Clan.
Alas, righteousness is rely a facade. I love myself and that’s the only truth for .
"You speak of him as if he is a peer, a rival," Patriarch Tang said, his voice small yet vibrating with suppressed anger. "He is a child. A devil-spawn who got lucky. To suggest he possesses the patience and foresight to wait... to bide his ti... is to give him too much credit."
"Is it?" I countered, raising an eyebrow. "Or is it simply that you underestimate him because you wish to? The Dao is indifferent to age, Patriarch. It favors the prepared, not the old. If the boy has a private world, he has ti. And in the cultivation world, ti is the greatest weapon of all."
Letting the silence stretch, heavy and suffocating. I could see the doubt gnawing at him, a rat in the granary of his mind.
"Furthermore," continuing from before, in a small tone, I can’t help but add: "This old man has heard rumors. Strange fluctuations in the space around the Wang estate. The boy is not rely hiding; he is preparing. And what is he preparing for? Why, the day he returns to burn the Tang Clan to ash."
Patriarch Tang’s wife, a woman of porcelain beauty and sharp red eyes, leaned forward. Her na was Lady Xueyue, a cultivator at the peak of the Golden Core realm, and her intuition was notoriously sharp.
This woman gives the feeling of sharpness and cunning. But her knowledge isn’t vast and she can’t fully distinguish silver from dust.
"Hmph! You overestimate that devil, if that brat stays within the private world, then it’s a good thing for the world given that, peerless talents can grow. When he cos back, it’s only a matter of ti before he is killed. Or could it be that, you are together with that devil!? Has he returned? Is he within the confines of the Wang clan!?" Patriarch Tang roared, his Qi flaring, causing the tea in the cups to ripple violently.
This fool. Unable to see the mountains above mountains. One could rely sigh, a sound of weary disappointnt, like a teacher whose student has failed to grasp the simplest of lessons.
"Well, you’re free to think as you see fit, but how could this old man, challenge heaven?! I am but a humble Daoist, walking in the path of righteousness, preaching the scriptures of benevolence. I am a man of honor, not a fool who would court death by siding with a devil marked by the heavens."
"Regardless, I have said what I want to say, and I can tell, you understood very well the aning behind it, since further discussion is aningless, this old man shall take his leave."
Leaving the Tang residence, I ca to the valley of setting suns.
The wind here carried the scent of dry earth and withered grass, the opposite of the cloying sweetness of the Tang Clan’s incense. The sky was painted in hues of bruised purple and dying orange, the sun dipping below the horizon like a bleeding wound.
Hiding in the tree, I looked at the old man chopping down the trees.
"System... I need to chop 27 more trees correct?!" He uttered with as minimal sound as possible, a sound that mortals might not listen to.
I have lived long enough, yet I still can’t understand the mystery of this system. Truly, the world is vast and profound.
Luckily this ti, the man was outside the formation, and he was with two of his wives. Ahh, my hands are a little itchy, I guess, I should kill his wives to see, how he would react. Would he cry, pathetically? Would he beg heaven to revive them or, would he simply accept the fact?
How sinister of ... But, this guy doesn’t give the sa feelings as Liu Xiu.
Woosh!
I summoned a fire Phoenix made out of fire Qi, and with a flick of my wrist, I sent it flying toward the old man’s two wives who were resting, in the shade of trees.
Rookie mistake, they should have stayed within the confines of the formation.
Pfft!
"Aghhhhh!"
"Arghhh!"
Since, both won were mortal, they were instantly burned to death.
"N-No, no... No...." the old man, who was chopping trees suddenly froze and fell to his knees.
Haha, perhaps he simply couldn’t believe what he just saw. Hiding within the tree, I continued to watch over him. Despite the cultivation gap, I can totally kill him right now, because I have centuries of battle experience, and multiple trump cards. However, heaven is unfathomable thus, I will probably wait for Young Master to make a move.
Pawns fight, King benefits, that’s the way the cultivation world works.
———————
A/N: Tang Patrairch’s wife’s portrait on Comnt. Fellow Daoist, this scholar is currently facing a bottleneck at scripture writing, be benevolent and donate power stone and golden tickets, so, I can make a breakthrough and write heaven-shaking plot.
Reviews
All reviews (0)