1280 The Nine Maids

Tang Xiu patted Long Zhengyu's shoulder and then took a deep puff and blew the smoke out, saying, "If… I mean, if there's someone who wants to deal with you, even Duanmu Lin, go contact two people. These two people will definitely help you, and they are the last card I leave for you."

Long Zhengyu's expression shifted and he hurriedly asked, "Who are they?"

"Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen," Tang Xiu answered.

"I'll keep it in mind." Long Zhengyu nodded.

Tang Xiu lit up a cigarette again before he got up and said, "Please do take care of yourself, Brother. Also, there's a place in this study where I've set up an array to conceal it. If you can find it and crack that concealing array, there are still many things I left here for you to manage, including the shares allocation of the Magnificent Tang Corporation, the ownership of the Everlasting Feast Hall, and… well, shortly put, there're still a lot more. I'll leave them to you to manage later."

"I definitely won't disappoint you." Long Zhengyu nodded and hugged Tang Xiu again before he turned around to leave.

Tang Xiu's figure flickered and then blocked Long Zhengyu's path. With his back facing Long Zhengyu, he spoke again, "This villa is yours later. The documents have been processed in advance and they are also in this study, waiting to be signed by you. You gave me the King Manor Villa in South Gate Small Town, so I give you the documents for this one in return, Brother. I'm leaving now. Farewell."

A long time passed.

Long Zhengyu still looked at the door Tang Xiu had disappeared. Eventually, he let out a sigh and then turned to look around. He finally came to the desk, stood there and grabbed several folders of documents on the table.

South Gate Small Town, House Tang's residence in Beijing, Bluestar Villa Complex, Star City Walled Hill Village real estate…

…

Long Zhengyu kept reading several documents quietly and his eyes turned redder as time passed. Clear tears dropped down from his eyes. Only at this moment did he finally understand how deep Tang Xiu's affection was toward him and how much he trusted him.

"This life of mine was saved by you. I may be alone now, but you'll always be my brother no matter if it's in this lifetime or another…"

He took a deep breath and was about to turn around and walk out of the study. Suddenly, he caught sight of a video recorder in the corner and it was still actively recording. After a short while, Long Zhengyu realized that Tang Xiu had set it up to record everything he said to him previously.

"Tang Xiu… Brother, I understand."

Long Zhengyu went to the window and looked at the scene outside and murmured to himself. He knew that Tang Xiu had long left and would leave this world.

****

On an island somewhere in the South China Sea.

A total of 215,400 people stood straight with their eyes all fixed on the dark sky. Thunderclaps and lightning bolts rumbled and blasted down from the thick dark clouds, making it look like an apocalypse had struck this part of the world.

As Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er stood in the air, Tang Xiu slowly lowered his head before he took a deep breath and then said, "Yan'er, seek and retrieve the remaining zodiac jade carvings! Once all 12 zodiac jade carvings are in place, I can start the array that will send us directly to the Immortal World."

Gu Yan'er replied, "There are still three people left we need to see before we go."

Tang Xiu's expression shifted. He recalled those three spiritual senses from some regions around the world back when he was in Japan. Suddenly, his gaze shifted to the Northwest.

However, the first to appear before Tang Xiu, Gu Yan'er, and more than 200,000 people of the Great Tang Empire, were nine beautiful women in white dresses flying in the air. They looked like immortal maidens descending from the Nine Heavens and appeared above the island nearly in a flash.

"Sis Zhong Ling, my heart is beating fast, so he should be here!"

"Sis Zhong Ling, I feel a pain in my head. It feels like there's something drilling out of my head."

"Ugh… I don't feel well…"

"..."

The stars-like pupils of the other eight females constantly scanned everyone present. Although they also saw Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er standing hundreds of meters high in the air, they were unable to see their faces clearly. It was like there was a space distortion that covered their faces and blocked them from seeing clearly.

The female in white who stood in the middle, Zhong Ling, seemingly endured uncomfortable torment. Even the energy and blood in her body began to stir.

Whoosh…

A figure flickered and instantly appeared in front of the nine women in a flash. Gu Yan'er slightly creased her brows. Her eyes flickered and a strange expression appeared on her face as she asked, "Who are you?"

The nine women exchanged glances and looked vigilant. They could clearly see Gu Yan'er's face at this moment, yet it made them feel more uncomfortable and in pain. They felt that she was very familiar, so very familiar that they felt strange.

"I'm Zhong Ling. Who are you?" Zhong Ling paced forward and asked in a deep tone.

"I'm Gu Yan'er," Gu Yan'er replied.

Buzz…

A ray of light suddenly tore open the darkness in Zhong Ling's sea of knowledge. It was just an instant moment, but Zhong Ling's face was full of disbelief and she quickly shouted, "You… you're Xiao Yan'er?"

Xiao Yan'er? Ah… what a familiar address!

The address made Gu Yan'er recall the days when she accompanied Master in the Immortal World. How many people called her like that? It was definitely… a few.

Suddenly, Gu Yan'er's eyes flashed with coldness and she shouted, "Who exactly are you?"

Zhong Ling's hands covered her head and her floating figure seemed to tremble a bit. Her eyebrows creased deeply and she shook her head to shake off the pain. "I can't remember… I really can't remember. Why can't I remember anything? What exactly is our mission? Who exactly is the person we must find?"

At this moment, however, Tang Xiu came. He looked at the nine women in front and slowly said, "You don't know or remember anything, then why did you come here?"

His voice caught the attention of the nine women.

As they looked up, their eyes fell on Tang Xiu's face, and they could clearly see it now. Suddenly, all of them trembled and dazzling lights burst from their eyes.

Buzz, buzz, buzz…

A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from the nine women. The nine auras then merged into one and all of them let out ear-tearing screams the instant after. Along with their screams, their aura streaked up into the sky and a "seal" rune appeared and glittered in the dark sky.

Shortly after, the "seal" rune broke into pieces and the aura of these nine women began to soar violently. In just half a minute, their aura became so strong that Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er became shocked.

"Celestial Immortals?"

Gu Yan'er's lips squirmed a few times and her killing intent instantly filled her eyes. If any of these nine women were to exude the slightest killing intent, she would untie her seal and kill them.

Tang Xiu, however, looked at the nine women in disbelief. His lips slightly opened up as he muttered in a slightly trembling voice that entered the nine women's ears.

"Immortal Forbidden Seal?! A seal on Immortal Spirit and Soul that destroys five senses and five memories… to be used for reincarnation and transmigration, and to follow the fate and soul of the person who cast it on you.

"Don't tell me… you all have injured yourselves and then cast the Forbidden Rebirth in the Forbidden Immortal Seal art?"

Gu Yan'er turned to him and asked, "What exactly are these Immortal Forbidden Seal and Forbidden Rebirth, Master?"

Tang Xiu took a deep breath and shot a complicated look at the nine women. Then, he slowly explained, "The Immortal Forbidden Seal was a forbidden art—a divine ability secret art to banish or exile someone—I've created in the past. Only under some special factors can someone use this type of forbidden art because it will inflict great damage to them once used. The Forbidden Rebirth, on the other hand, is the most damaging forbidden technique in the Forbidden Immortal Seal art. After activating it, you can indeed find the person who cast this seal on you. You'll be able to follow the trajectory of that person's fate and destiny and go to wherever this person is. I'll use an analogy to make it clear. If these people were Golden Immortal Stage Immortals, their cultivation level will be reduced by three levels once they cast the Forbidden Rebirth and they can never go further than that no matter how hard they cultivate in the future."

Gu Yan'er was aghast and asked, "You mean, all of them used to be Perfected Golden Immortal powerhouses before?"

Tang Xiu forced a smile and replied, "If they really used the Forbidden Rebirth technique in the Forbidden Immortal Seal art, then they were likely at the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage given their cultivation level at the Celestial Immortal Stage now."

In the sky, the tribulation clouds bubbled up and rumbled as thunder rolled and lightning flashed.

Just as Tang Xiu's voice faded away, the nine women, including Zhong Ling, finally stopped trembling. Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, two lines of tears streamed down their faces as they knelt in the air, facing Tang Xiu and bursting into tears.

"Master."

Tang Xiu was dumbstruck and stared blankly.

Master?

Countless people did address him as such back in the past because he did have hundreds of thousands of attendants then. Most of them were at the Golden Immortal Stage though there were also hundreds of them at the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage.

Could it be… these nine women were among those hundreds?

Bursting into tears, Zhong Ling sobbed. "It's me, your Immortal Spirit, Master! I used to be your personal maid back then."

Immortal Spirit?

Tang Xiu's body trembled. He instantly dashed to Zhong Ling's front, pulled her up, and carefully observed her face. Although her appearance had changed, he could see a familiar feeling when he looked into her eyes.

That's right. You really are Bell Spirit, Zhong Ling, the maid who served me for thousands of years…

"Then… they are…"

Tang Xiu's lips squirmed a few times, feeling sour and pained deep inside. He used to have a lot of maids back then, but only nine of them reached the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage. The reason why they could become Perfected Golden Immortal Stage experts, on the one hand, was due to his own guidance and teaching, while on the other hand, was thanks to Xue Qingcheng, who often gave them cultivation resources.

With tears flowing, Zhong Ling sobbed. "Master, we heard that you failed to cross the tribulation. It was said that you vanished and your soul scattered. We never believed it then, so we found the scripture of Forbidden Immortal Seal in the secret library. You had cast the Forbidden Immortal Seal on us before, so we just activated it and then came here. We lost our memories of the Immortal World, so we forgot about you. Fortunately, the seal on us was broken when we saw you and reminded us of what happened. We've been looking for you all this time, Master."

Tang Xiu slightly shivered. He could imagine how great the courage and the resolve these nine females must have mustered before they decided to activate the Forbidden Immortal Seal.

Yet… they would never be able to return to the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage again in the future. They were forever barred from getting any stronger again. It was like an indestructible spell that had warranted them to the end-point of their future.

"You all… was it all worth it?"

Tang Xiu glanced over their faces and muttered.