Chapter 139 Xiaoyue's True Purpose

The company emerged from the tunnel to find themselves surrounded by a mob of armed men with jet-black garbs that indicated that they were the sentinels of the Wuwang Wind Cloud City. Xu Gu muttered an "Amitabha" and was about to greet the guards politely, when Ye Wuhen rushed forward, swinging his sword and immediately drew first blood by killing the first two guards before him.

The rest of the company, equally incensed by their tormenting ordeal in the Cold-billow Labyrinth, too brandished their weapons, charging towards the black guards of the Wuwang City. Despite their greater number, the guards merely possessed strengths of the Foundation Building Realm. Before long, the company made short work of them, with most of the guards either dead or badly injured.

Qin Xinyan pulled one of the guards by the cuffs of his robes, snarling to him, "Where is the master of the city!" A glint of malice flashed in the guard's angry eyes; he produced a dagger hidden in his robes. But Qin Xinyan had anticipated a hidden attack. As a reprisal to the guard's suicidal retaliation, Qin Xinyan smote at the guard with a fiery stroke from his palm, engulfing the man in flames that swiftly burned him to death and reduced him to ashes and soot.

Only after their brief clash, the company realized that they were standing in a large patio filled with beautiful flowers and plants. The scenery and atmosphere would have been tranquil and refreshing if not for the blood-spattered cobblestones due to the fight. But the garden and the guards would mean that the company must have reached into the confines of the fortress.

Xu Gu beheld the aftermath of the fight, the bodies of the dead that laid strewn on the ground. "Amitabha..." He sighed, his palms coming together reverently before his chest. "What have we wrought..."

He had barely finished lamenting the carnage when a cheerful giggle rang from overhead. A figure, fully clad in green, floated down from the sky and landed gently on the ground. Yu Yifeng was the first to recognize the newcomer; his expression the first to change from being surprised to morosed. It was Leng Ningfeng, once known as Wu Nian, Yu Yifeng's formerly junior.

"Yu Yifeng the Eleventh," Leng Ningfeng's frosty gaze first fell on Yu Yifeng and said, "It has been too long."

"Wu Nian..." That was all that Yu Yifeng could manage to say; he was filled with pain and anguish at the sight of his former friend, the one who was once as close as a brother to him. The sudden reunion conjured up myriads of memories, most prominently the day when he ultimately decided to defect to the Devil's Practice.

"Hahaha!" Leng Ningfeng guffawed in response, throwing his head back. But as quick as he was to laugh, he instantly retorted with a chilly glare at his former best friend and sai, "That is a name I am no longer called by." He turned to address Xiaoyu. "And this saintly lady, surely you are Xiaoyue of the Thousand Feathers Sect?"

"So I am," Xiaoyue replied silkily, "Will the City Master meet us now?"

"Come with me then, since you wish so badly to meet him!" Leng Ningfeng boomed with a sarcastic chuckle. He threw the sleeve of his emerald-green robes imperiously and turned on his heels before proceeded to move towards the outer cloisters of the patio.

But a good many of the company were hesitant to follow him. The trials of the Cold-billow Labyrinth and the agonizing night they had suffered made them extremely distrustful and wary if this was another ruse by the City Master.

"Fret not. We'll go together," Xiaoyue said, instilling confidence to the rest.

They filed out of the patio. As they strode on, the company found that the innards of the fortress were a stark contrast to the view of the grim and dystopian monolith from outside.

The company encountered a picturesque scene as they walked: meticulously constructed pavilions and gazebos, bridges that arched over a slow, gurgling stream of crystal-clear water, topped with a gentle breeze that refreshed anyone whose face the wind caressed as it passed, painted the tranquil scene of a lost paradise upon a canvas of lush greeneries and proudly-blossoming flowers.

The company would have wanted to stop and rest while they enjoyed the view and revitalizing atmosphere if not for the uneasy tenseness in their hearts. They followed Leng Ningfeng until they reached an antechamber. Intricately-carven pieces of furniture adorned the little hall with a table encircled by neatly-arranged chairs. Desserts and refreshments were waiting on the table, as if their arrival had been announced. Standing dutifully at the side, were four female stewards, servants of the fortress's staff.

Leng Ningfeng did not stop; instead, he led the company into the main hall, where a partition screen, embellished with a painting of birds paying homage to a phoenix, sat the end of the hall. The phoenix was finely depicted in the painting, its likeness immensely realistic that one could almost feel its grandeur and majesty permeating just by looking at it.

But there was no one else in the hall, aside from the four servant-girls. "Where is the City Master?" Ye Wuhen asked them. But before they could answer, the hollow voice of a man resounded from the other side of the partition screen, saying, "Still, you've come."

"Enough with the theatrics! Show yourself!" Ye Wuhen barked angrily.

But even Xiao Chen could not hold himself from gasping with surprise. He had not sensed the presence of another person when the company had entered the hall despite a quick probe with his Divine Sense. From behind the partition screen came a man completely robed in red with a Chinese straw hat that obscured his face.

"Amitabha..." Xu Gu recited respectfully with his palms pressed together, "This must be the lord of the city. We have two members of our company lost and missing. If you would please, my lord, let us know of their whereabouts."

"The time for it will come when it is due," replied the man in red, revealing a thin smile from under his hat, "Do you Buddhists not preach much about Fate? Why the rush when all things are pre-ordained, dear monk?"

"My apologies for my brashness," Xu Gu muttered.

"So, if you would please, Lady Xiaoyue," said the man in red abruptly, turning to Xiaoyue with his smile still visible, "Let us cleave to the matter at hand: please reveal the true purpose of your visit."

Suspicious and puzzled stares trained upon Xiaoyue immediately. The manner of the man in red's speech seemed to insinuate that she had another hidden agenda rather than the matters of vanquishing evil and the investigation of the Soul-consuming Evil Flowers.

But Xiaoyue remained casually cool and calm. "You have erected the Blood Soul Formation and had caused the death of countless lives." She countered with a silky but harried voice. "I believe it is safe for me to guess that the bones and remains of innumerable dead people in the tunnels that honeycombed this mountain are your handiwork? This alone is reason enough that we of the Orthodox Path can no longer sit by and watch you continue your devilry!"

"Hahahaha!" The man in red roared in laughter. "Countless of lives? Their lives and deaths are no concern of mine!"

"You!" Somebody had snarled angrily from among the company. The red-robed stranger's capricious and lofty declarations angered almost everyone in the company. But no one dared to lay the first strike, fearing his yet unrevealed strength as well as any other hidden contrivances that he might still have.

"Leng Ningfeng, you may withdraw. I'll handle things here myself," the man in red muttered, flashing a thin smile to him. Leng Ningfeng made no response. He spun and began walking towards the exit. But when he brushed by Yu Yifeng's side, he smirked and disappeared, only to reappear once more at the exit of the hall and promptly drifted out of sight.

The man in red shifted his attention back to Xiaoyue. "You have gone through great lengths to muster such a force against this Wuwang Wind Cloud City, Lady Xiaoyue," he uttered with a stiff tone, "Would I be wrong to guess that your true purpose here is for that Earth Spiritual Meridian?"

"You have seized the Earth Spiritual Meridian for your own and have caused great devastation everywhere," Xiaoyue retorted again, her voice calm but tense, "This alone is grounds for us to act against you? You dare question our justice?"

"Amitabha," Xu Gu interjected gently and said, "What you've done, my lord, has indeed caused great damage to both land and lives. Despite being neck-deep in sin, it is still not too late for repentance. The Lord Buddha does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." The Blood Soul Formation must not be activated again, even if the Wuwang Wind Cloud City's former transgressions were to be overlooked, lest more deaths would continue pouring in.

"Hahahaha!" The man in red erupted into another fit of maniacal laughter. "What nonsense! Don't make me laugh!" Immediately, his laughter died the next second as he shot a scathing glare at Xiaoyue. "You have done well to fan the flames of blame upon us, Lady Xiaoyue. But do you dare deny that the Thousand Feathers Sect are also after this Earth Spiritual Meridian?"

Sensing the incredulous and wary glares focusing upon her, Xiaoyue did her best to keep herself calm. "This man is trying to create discord among us," she growled, "Pay no heed to what he says! The millennia-long dignity and history of the Thousand Feathers Sect will never be so easily sullied by mere slander!"

"Say no more, lord." Qin Xinyan stood forward suddenly, his voice steady with resolve. "The Thousand Feathers Sect is the titular leader of the Orthodox Path. That is common knowledge to all."

"As expected of the student of the great Perfected Immortal Su Nian!" The man in red declared, still wearing his watery smile. "Indeed, the resemblance between teacher and student is uncanny..." There was a distinct change in his tone suddenly. "But Su Nian sent you here alone... Is she still in solitary meditation, or it is as I have suspected: the residual magic of the sealing barrier of your stronghold is failing? Is she, along with the other old hags of your order, are now so terribly occupied, so head over heels in this crisis, that she had to send you, a budding youngster to do her bidding?"

If the man in red had been trying to prod Xiaoyue, his attempts have finally borne fruit. The very mention of the failing magical barrier sent a shudder into her, puncturing her composed and serene facade. "I do not know what you're talking about, lord," she hissed and said, her voice now jittery and nervous unlike before, "My teacher has long remained in solitary training; she had long decided to no longer trouble herself in the affairs of the mundane world."

At the back of the company, Xiao Chen continued taking in the entire episode with interest. So everything that he had witnessed about Xiaoyue in her memory was true, he mused. The Universal Mystic-Yin Formation at the stronghold of the Thousand Feathers Sect was failing and Xiaoyue's true purpose, as revealed by the man in red, was to seek an Earth Spiritual Meridian to help replenish the magical powers of the Formation.