Chapter 1094 - When a Lord Returns, the Populace Trembles
Martial Heaven Peak.
The Abstruse Force Alliance.
“Reporting in, Your Excellency. The Nebula Sword Sect has announced that they’re leaving the Abstruse Force Alliance.”
“Reporting in, Your Excellency. Cloudy Dome Spirit Mountain, the White Arc Daoist Sect, and Crouching Tiger Temple have announced that they’re severing their ties with the alliance and that they’ll no longer have anything to do with us.”
“Reporting in, Your Excellency. We’ve just received word that the House of the Seven-Star Sword has cut ties with us.”
“Reporting in…”
As news poured in, the elderly servant standing outside the hall entered to report it.
However, as the number of such reports increased, the servant’s back bent, and his voice grew weaker and weaker. The back of his clothes was drenched in cold sweat.
Pi Mo sat alone at the seat at the center of the hall, his expression overcast. He didn’t say a word.
But the suffocating, oppressive atmosphere only intensified as time passed.
A while later.
Pi Mo woodenly raised his head and looked in the direction of the elderly servant. “Is there anything else?”
“For now…. No.” The servant’s heart shook.
Pi Mo’s expression was calm. “Go call over the representatives of the Six Great Daoist Sects.”
“Yes, sir!” The elderly servant rushed off to carry out his orders.
Within the grand hall, Pi Mo clenched the fists hidden within his sleeves. The veins bulged on the backs of his hands, and his joints were white. A patch of blood spread from the flesh of his palm, dripping between the gaps between his fingers.
But he just sat there in silence, as if he didn’t even notice.
“I long since anticipated that these factions were nothing but a pack of motley riffraff. Still, I didn’t expect that a single rumor would leave them pissing themselves and scampering to draw a line between us.” A mocking jeer tugged at Pi Mo’s lips.
He’d long since anticipated that when word spread of the grand battle in the Ten Directions Yao Mountains, it would have a powerful effect on the Abstruse Force Alliance.
He just hadn’t expected all of this to happen so quickly, or with such intensity!
Even though he’d long since been prepared, when so many of their subordinate factions sent word that they were severing their ties with the Abstruse Force Alliance within a single day, Pi Mo was nonetheless enraged. It seemed unspeakably absurd.
The Abstruse Force Alliance was enormous, and it could command everything beneath the heavens and intimidate the four seas. It was like the Wilds’ fifth apex. Yet now, it was crumbling, all because his master had returned!
This was the prestige of the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force!
Even after five hundred years of dormancy, the moment he returned, the Wilds descended into upheaval, and the world trembled!
“Fortunately, I never entrusted my hopes of defeating Master to that riffraff,” muttered Pi Mo.
He silently relaxed his grip, looked down, and saw the blood dripping between his fingers, and the gaping wound he’d cut into his palm. He couldn’t help but shake his head.
It was then that the higher-ups of the Six Great Daoist Sects arrived.
Strictly speaking, it was the Five Great Daoist Sects, because Su Yi had recently crushed the Levitating Sword Hall’s base, executing its leader and many of its Imperial Realm experts.
“Your Excellency Pi Mo, the situation is dire. Might I ask if you’ve prepared any countermeasures?” someone said with deep concern.
Pi Mo swept his gaze across the group. “Do you… regret what you and I did together?”
The group fell silent, their expressions shifting and uncertain.
Five hundred years ago, when word spread that the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force passed away, the Six Great Daoist Sects fought their way into the Grotto of Abstruse Force under Pi Mo’s leadership. In the bloody, violent struggle that ensued, they seized unimaginable benefits.
But that came at the price of irrevocably offending the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force! Pi Mo covered up their misdeeds years prior, obscuring the truth of how they’d invaded the Grotto of Abstruse Force by pinning the blame on Qing Tang.
All of them were keenly aware that now that the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force had returned, he was certain to settle the score with their factions, one by one.
Thus, they could only stand beside Pi Mo.
Even if they regretted it, it was too late!
“Whether you regret it or not, we’re all in the same boat,” Pi Mo said with a sigh. “Given the circumstances, this can only end in one of two ways. Either all of us die, or my master dies. There’s no other possibility.”
Everyone’s expressions were instantly overcast.
All of them were influential experts who commanded entire regions, but in the face of the newly returned Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, they lost their typical composure and contemptuousness. None of them were at all confident. No, they were terrified!
“Damn that Su Xuanjun. Why didn’t he die properly five hundred years ago!?” A white-robed elder cursed hatefully.
Whap!
A resounding slap left the white-robed elder staggering back. His butt hit the floor, and half of his face swelled up.
The crowd was instantly in uproar. All of them were flabbergasted.
It was Pi Mo who’d struck. He now stood before his chair, his entire body emanating a terrifying majesty.
“It’s true that Master and I have long since become estranged, and that we’re now bitter enemies. Even so, I hate nothing more than old dogs who don’t know how to do anything but bark, especially when they insult my master to my face!”
His cold, indifferent voice echoed throughout the grand hall. The others were instantly as silent as cicadas in winter.
Pi Mo’s gaze was distant and heavy. “Since we’re all in the same camp, we ought to work together and overcome the wind and waves. Cursing and complaining will only make us seem tragic and pathetic. Got it?”
The crowd sank deeper into silence.
“Relax. All hope is far from lost. Experts of the stars beyond have already taken action, and they’re on their way to take my master down,” Pi Mo said softly. “Perhaps, it won’t be long before news of my master’s death sends the Wilds into uproar once more.”
When they heard that, the gathered higher-ups’ spirits soared.
Experts of the stars beyond?
This thought was like a beam of sunlight illuminating their overcast hearts and reigniting their hope!
“You can leave.” Pi Mo waved for his guests to be on their way.
It was only after the group disappeared from the grand hall that Pi Mo let out a long breath of turbid air and muttered, “Junior Apprentice Sister Song Chai, that Three-Eyed Golden Toad failed. If even the Nine Heavens Pavilion and Church of the River of Stars can’t stop my master… then you’ll be the only one who can help me… I trust that you won’t disappoint me…”
Here, the elderly servant suddenly appeared outside the hall once more. He said frantically, “Your Excellency, we’ve just received word that the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force has announced that he’ll visit Martial Heaven Peak to do some house cleaning in three months!”
Boom!
It was as if Pi Mo had been struck by lightning. His hands and feet trembled uncontrollably, and he stood there in a daze. His typically steely face shifted erratically.
Some time passed before Pi Mo came back to his senses and sighed. “Master, oh, Master. Do you want the whole world to bear witness to my end? Indeed, they say that when you kill a man, you ought to break him mentally too!
“But the outcome is not yet settled, and your disciple won’t admit defeat until the very end. If I did… you’d be disappointed, right? After all, I was your first disciple. If I lose too easily, won’t it make you, my master… seem completely inept?”
The depths of Pi Mo’s gaze flashed with divine light. “The ancients speak of students surpassing their masters. I might be your disciple, but that doesn’t necessarily make me your inferior. The moment that will determine victory and defeat is approaching, and I’m looking forward to it!”
…
Under the Heavensdeath Demon Empress’s orders, the Wilds’ Demonist factions actively spread word that the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force would go to Martial Heaven Peak to execute Pi Mo and cleanse his sect in three months. This news stirred up uproar throughout the Wilds.
Every faction beneath the heavens was watching!
Countless people sighed. That familiar, legendary expert had returned!
And he was as domineering and contemptuous as ever. With a flip of his hand, he sent a storm sweeping across the Wilds!
……
The Grotto of Abstruse Force.
Qing Tang wore a dress as dark as ink, without any embellishments. She wore no makeup as she gazed into the sky, and with her transcendent bearing, she resembled an immortal beauty from the nine heavens.
She carried a jug of wine in one hand as she sat casually before a lake. Her clear, inscrutable gaze reflected the sunlit, glistening surface of the water.
A snow-white spirit sparrow perched beside her.
“Pi Mo attacked first, only to lose out in the end. He thought that with the support of the Studio of the Heart, he could easily capture Master post-reincarnation. Did he ever stop to consider that given Master’s disposition, he would never have returned to the Wilds unless he was completely confident?” whispered Qing Tang. “The grand battle in the wilderness of the Ten Directions Yao Mountains is the best possible proof.”
“My Lady, is Su Yi really the founder’s reincarnation?” the spirit sparrow couldn’t help but ask. It seemed it still couldn’t quite believe it.
“There’s no mistaking it,” Qing Tang said softly, but her voice contained incontrovertible strength. “Throughout the Wilds, even that tiny handful of Imperial Apex old-timers would not dare to offend the Studio of the Heart, Nine Heavens Pavilion, or Church of the River of Stars lightly, but… My Master would!”
Her eyes shone with a strange light. As she spoke, she inwardly added, And only Master’s power can counter those outer-space experts’ supreme Celestial Laws!
The spirit sparrow hesitated, then probed, “My lady, what should we do now that the founder has returned?”
Qing Tang said plainly, “The show has only just begun. Don’t be in such a rush. It’s been five hundred years. My master’s return is sure to stir up an enormous storm. The secrets of reincarnation, and everything else beneath these heavens—all of it’s on the line. Who knows what will happen in the end?”
Here, she raised her wine gourd to her lips, threw back her head, and drank.
That calm, composed bearing bore a striking resemblance to her master’s.
The snow-white spirit sparrow fell briefly silent. “My lady, not long ago, Emissary Qin Feng of the Church of the River of Stars’ Solar Palace led a group of experts away from the Grotto of Abstruse Force. Aren’t you concerned about what they’re up to?”
A hint of a chill appeared in Qing Tang’s expression. “Pi Mo wanted to borrow their hands to kill Master, and they were eager to be the first to throw their lives away. Just let them go.”
Here, she suddenly recalled something. “Has there been any movement in the Little Western Paradise?”
The sparrow shook its head. “Nothing seems at all out of the ordinary.”
“Master and Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart were close friends. Now, everyone knows that my master has reincarnated and returned to the Wilds, but the Little Western Paradise hasn’t reacted in the slightest. They… sure know how to keep their cool!” Qing Tang suddenly laughed coldly, sounding disdainful.
But there was a hint of confusion on her brow.
Is the Little Western Paradise really planning to just sit back and watch, then choose the perfect opportunity to strike?
Qing Tang immediately made a decision. “Keep an eye on the Little Western Paradise. I want to see just how long they can wait!”
“Yes, my lady!”
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