Chapter 300: Bad Signs
The voice seemed to have come from somewhere very far away, and it was reverberating incessantly in the sky.
Xue Han and Lu Ji both faltered slightly upon hearing this, and right as everyone was scrambling to see where the voice had come from, a streak of silver light came flying in from afar, dragging a fiery silver tail behind it, much like a comet.
A myriad of emotions welled up in Yun Ni's heart upon seeing this, and Bai Fengyi was slightly dazed for a moment before a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.
Within the streak of silver light was a silver gourd that was around 70 to 80 feet in size, and it was covered with glowing spirit patterns, giving it quite a remarkable appearance.
A long red rope was tied into a love knot around the tapered section of the gourd, and the two ends of the rope were hanging down and swaying in the wind.
An daoist priest who appeared to have been in his forties was standing on the gourd in a pristine white daoist robe that was flapping in the wind, giving off an air of grace and elegance that was similar to Lu Ji's disposition.
If Han Li had been on the plaza at this moment, he would've been stunned by the sight of the newcomer as the person who was standing on the silver gourd was none other than the seemingly perpetually drunk Elder Hu Yan.
On this day, he had made a drastic change to his usual sloppy appearance. His graying hair had been combed impeccably and arranged into a tall bun under a brand new purplish-golden lotus flower crown, beneath which was a slightly jaded face.
His facial hair had also been carefully groomed, and what was particularly noteworthy was that his normally sleepy and murky eyes were incredibly clear and bright at this moment, giving off a sharp gleam that was completely uncharacteristic of the usual Elder Hu Yan.
Tied around the waist of his pristine daoist robe was a green jade belt, hanging from which was a red wine gourd that had also been restored to brand new condition.
A cold look appeared on Lu Ji's face as he cast his gaze toward Daoist Hu Yan, and his longsword, which had already been returned to its scabbard, was drawn out by several inches once again, with its blade reflecting a bright white gleam.
Xue Han's expression changed slightly at the sight of Daoist Hu Yan, and he laid a hand onto Lu Ji's arm to stay his sword. "I know this man. He's one of the 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords of the Blaze Dragon Dao, and he's referred to as Daoist Hu Yan."
Daoist Hu Yan was renowned for being an avid wine enthusiast, as well as a master in the arts of pill refinement and puppetry. In his younger days, he would often leave the sect to go on long journeys, but it had been a very long time since he had last left the Ancient Cloud Continent, so Lu Ji didn't recognize him.
However, as an elder of the Ubiquitous Pavilion, Xue Han knew all of the important figures in the entire Northern Glacial Immortal Region like the back of his hand, so he was naturally able to identify Daoist Hu Yan right away.
However, he wasn't wary of Daoist Hu Yan for his identity.
The Ubiquitous Pavilion had records on all 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords of the Blaze Dragon Dao, and those records included their history, cultivation arts, cultivation, and even their personalities and likes and dislikes. He clearly recalled all of the information that the Ubiquitous Pavilion had on Daoist Hu Yan, and when it came to the assessment of his combat prowess, the Ubiquitous Pavilion's records only contained one word: "Unknown".
Given how incredibly proficient the Ubiquitous Pavilion was at gathering information, there were definitely no more than 10 people in the entire Northern Glacial Immortal Region that had such a status in their records, and Daoist Hu Yan was one of them.
This was a clear indication that he was definitely not someone to be easily messed with.
"If you're going to retreat just from a Golden Immortal's verbal threat, then your Ubiquitous Pavilion is hardly worthy of its status in the Northern Glacial Immortal Realm," Lu Ji said in a cold voice.
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Lu Ji. The fact that he's come here on his own indicates that he's most likely made some preparations, so let's watch the situation unfold for now. If he's unwilling to settle this matter peacefully, then we can examine his power together," Xue Han communicated to Lu Ji through voice transmission while also informing him of the Ubiquitous Pavilion's appraisal of Daoist Hu Yan.
Lu Ji's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but he didn't immediately lash out, either.
As for the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, they didn't know who Daoist Hu Yan was, but they could tell that he was on the Holy Puppet Sect's side, and he wasn't making any effort to conceal his immense Golden Immortal Stage aura, so everyone knew that he was no to be messed with.
At the moment, it appeared that the Ubiquitous Pavilion held the upper hand in the battle, but the ones that were truly going to decide the battle were still the Golden Immortal cultivators, and now that both sides had two Golden Immortal cultivators each, the situation had naturally taken a drastic turn.
In fact, many of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were already contemplating retreat.
At the center of the plaza, Yun Ni withdrew the disguise of her Transient Guild mask, and there was a slightly dazed look in her eyes as she looked up at Daoist Hu Yan.
After staring at him for a while, a warm smile appeared on her face.
"You came, after all..." she murmured to herself with a mixture of elation and displeasure in her voice.
In her eyes, Daoist Hu Yan's figure was gradually blurring and overlapping with a younger version of him.
At the time, Hu Yan had been a handsome young man with a perpetually impeccable lotus flower crown on his head, and his white daoist robe was also always pristine, giving him a clean and refined appearance.
Back then, he hadn't been such a heavy drinker, and in the place of that red wine gourd, he had a crimson longsword strapped to his waist, giving him the appearance of a sword immortal more than a daoist priest.
However, later on, that red wine gourd had appeared on his waist, while the crimson longsword was casually strapped to his back, and the sword immortal had turned into a drunken sword immortal that had a more casual and unrestrained flair about him.
He had never been good in matters related to love, and in the love triangle between the three, both he and Bai Fengyi had chosen to run away, while Yun Ni was the only one left actively pursuing an outcome, and she had already lost count of how many years she had been waiting for him.
However, her waiting had finally paid off, and now that he had arrived, he wasn't going to be running away any longer.
Meanwhile, Bai Fengyi was also looking up at Daoist Hu Yan, then turned her gaze to Yun Ni, and a faint smile appeared on her face. In that instant, all of the pent-up guilt and internal conflict in her heart had washed away.
Xue Han took a step forward as he declared, "Dao Lord Hu Yan, need I remind you that your actions are pitting the Blaze Dragon Dao against our Ubiquitous Pavilion?"
"You sure talk big for such a cowardly bastard! There's no need for the sect to intervene, I can take care of this matter on my own," Daoist Hu Yan said in an indifferent voice as he took a disdainful glance at Xue Han.
After that, he removed the wine gourd from his waist and took a swig of wine before sweeping his gaze across the plaza down below.
His brows furrowed slightly as he caught sight of Bai Fengyi, and he murmured to himself in a confused voice, "They don't seem to be as big as I recall..."
Yun Ni couldn't hear what he was saying, but she had a rough idea of what he was referring to judging from the look in his eyes, and her expression immediately darkened slightly.
As for Bai Fengyi, she was feeling a little uneasy under Daoist Hu Yan's scrutiny and unconsciously averted her gaze.
Bai Suyuan had noticed the subtle silent exchanges taking place between the trio, and given what she already knew, she was able to quickly come to some conclusions.
The bastard and coward that Yun Ni had been referring to was most likely none other than Elder Hu Yan.
He's a little old, but he's definitely way more handsome than Elder Li...
As soon as this thought occurred to her, a faint blush immediately appeared on her face, and she couldn't understand why her mind had automatically drawn a comparison between Daoist Hu Yan and Han Li.
Daoist Hu Yan strapped his wine gourd back to his waist, following which he cast a cold gaze toward Lu Ji and Xue Han as he asked, "Are you the ones trying to lay your hands on those fine ladies over there?"
At the same time, the giant silver gourd rapidly shrank down to its original size before returning to his grasp.
"If you want to fight, then let's not waste any time with unnecessary words!" Lu Ji countered as he sprang up into the sky, facing off against Daoist Hu Yan from over 10,000 feet away.
"There's no hurry. It looks like you're enjoying quite a nice numbers advantage here, so how about I give you a taste of your own medicine? I just so happen to have to air out my beans as well. Otherwise, they're about to grow mold," Daoist Hu Yan said with a smile, then made a hand seal with one hand while tipping the silver gourd in his other hand upside-down.
The spirit patterns on the silver gourd began to glow brightly as a burst of white light emerged from the opening of the gourd, following which countless pea-like black beans were poured out onto the ground below.
All of a sudden, close to 1,000 black beans had appeared in the sky, producing a sound that resembled falling rain.
As soon as each bean landed on the ground, it immediately began to glow with black light while swelling rapidly in size, transforming into a giant black Dao Warrior that stood at around 10 feet in height.
These Dao Warriors were far taller than the average person, and they weren't clad in suits of armor. However, each of them was wielding a huge black ax, giving them a very formidable appearance.
These black Dao Warriors were far outnumbered by Xue Han's azure-armored Dao Warriors, but their auras were significantly more powerful, and as opposed to the dazed and wooden expressions on the faces of the azure-armored Dao Warriors, the faces of these black Dao Warriors were far more expressive.
A grim look appeared on Xue Han's face upon seeing this, and thoughts of retreat instantly crept into his mind.
It was clear to him that these Dao Warriors were of a far superior caliber to his own, and at this point in the battle, most of the azure-armored Dao Warriors had already perished, so there was no way that they could contend against their superior adversaries.
Furthermore, with the arrival of Daoist Hu Yan, they had also lost their advantage in Golden Immortal numbers, so there was no point in continuing this battle.
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com