Dual Cultivation: Gathering SSS-Rank Wives in the Cultivation World

Chapter 713: Chapter 713 - An Incredible Warrior on His Way to Save His Mommy

The Crimson Peak Academy was in chaos.

The news had arrived an hour ago. The fleet. The ships. The immortal. The headmistress taken. The students, gathered in the main courtyard, were buzzing. Rumors flew. Whispers spread. The teachers, their faces carefully composed, tried to maintain order. They failed.

Lau stood at the edge of the courtyard. His plain academy robes, gray and unadorned, hung loose on his thin frame. His brown hair, unremarkable, was slightly disheveled. His brown eyes, usually dull, usually hidden, were sharp. Alert. The eyes of a young man who was trying very hard to control his temper.

’Can’t she just stay here? Why did she have to go? Why did she have to go and greet the immortal? She’s the headmistress, she had to go, but why I feel worry.... Why did she have to be the one...’

His hands, in his pockets, clenched.

’This is because of that guy. Tian Long. The immortal. The one whose name makes my head split. Every time someone says that name, it’s like a spike driving through my skull. The presence in my head, the hand that shapes, it reacts. It stirs. It whispers.’

’Why? What is he to me? What is he to the presence?’

A commotion at the academy gates drew his attention. The mayor, the town elders, the academy heads, had returned. They walked through the gates, their faces gray, their postures defeated.

Lau moved. His thin frame, faster than it looked, crossed the courtyard. He intercepted the mayor.

"Where is my mother?" he said. His voice was flat. Controlled. The voice of a young man holding back a volcano.

Mayor Chen Hu looked at him. At the plain-faced boy. At the son of the headmistress. The round man’s face, already gray, went grayer.

"Your mother," the mayor said. His voice was careful. "She lost consciousness. The Lord Immortal helped her. He took her into his ship to heal her. He said he would send her back once she is alright."

Lau’s brown eyes widened. Then narrowed.

’Mother. She went to the mountain. To greet the immortal. And the immortal.... did he took her. Into his ship. And no one knows why.’

’It’s because of me. The burn mark. The energy. The forbidden technique. He found the source. He traced it here. And Mother...’

"What?" he said. The word was low. "He took her? Into his ship? And you let him?"

The mayor’s mouth opened. Closed. The round face was helpless. "The Lord Immortal... we could not refuse. He is..."

"I don’t care what he is!" Lau’s voice rose. The volcano erupted. "He took my mother! Where is she? I’m going to see her now!"

"You cannot," a teacher said. The man, a Foundation Establishment instructor, stepped forward. His face was tight. "The Immortal’s soldiers have sealed the mountain. There is an army. Thousands of cultivators. You cannot..."

"Watch me!" Lau yelled. His voice, the thin voice of an eighteen-year-old boy, cracked with fury. He turned. He ran. Toward the academy gates. Toward the road. Toward the mountain.

The teachers reached for him. Their hands, extended, grabbed air. Lau was fast. Faster than they expected. His thin frame, his unremarkable body, moved with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a boy with no visible cultivation base.

"Let him go," a senior teacher said. His voice was tired. "He’s the headmistress’s son. We can’t stop him. And the Immortal’s soldiers will not let him through the barrier."

Lau ran. Down the road. Toward the Jade Mountain. His plain robes flapping. His brown hair whipping. His thin legs pumping.

Behind him, footsteps. Fast. Heavy. The sound of young men running.

"Elder brother!" Xu Ran’s voice, strong and concerned, called from behind. "Wait! We are coming!"

Lau didn’t stop. He ran faster.

Behind him, Xu Ran’s gang followed. Five Core Formation cultivators, young men in their late teens and early twenties, their academy robes marking their rank. They ran after their elder brother. Their faces, determined, carried the righteous fury of young men who had decided to rescue a damsel.

"Elder brother!" Han Bo, the scar-faced young man, shouted. "We will save the headmistress! Those soldiers won’t stop us!"

Zhou Wei, the lean young man, ran beside Han Bo. His face was tight. "There are thousands of them. Core Formation cultivators. Peak Golden Core sect leaders. And an immortal."

"So what?" Han Bo said. His scarred face was fierce. "Elder brother defeated four Core Formation cultivators without breaking a sweat. With him leading, what’s a few more?"

The young men ran. The young blood, the young arrogance, the invincible conviction of cultivators who had never faced true power, carried them forward.

Lau, running ahead, felt nothing but rage. The name, the name that wouldn’t stop echoing in his head, that wouldn’t stop making the presence in his mind stir, that wouldn’t stop making his skull throb.

’Tian Long. Tian Long. Tian Long.’

’Why does that name hurt? Why does it feel like something I should know? Something I should remember? Something that’s...’

’Connected to me?’

They reached the base of the mountain. The road, winding upward, was blocked. The formation barrier, the golden qi wall, shimmered across the path. Beyond it, the plateau. The ships. The soldiers.

Lau didn’t slow down. He ran straight at the barrier.

His body, in the last ten feet before the wall, began to glow. The light, faint at first, intensified. A purple-black aura, the color of the void, the color of the demon he had become in the forest, erupted from his skin. The air around him distorted. The ground beneath his feet cracked.

He hit the barrier.

The formation array, designed to block Core Formation cultivators, shattered. The golden qi wall dissolved. The diagrams on the stone went dark. Lau, his body wreathed in purple-black energy, passed through.

Behind him, Xu Ran’s gang, their eyes wide, followed. The barrier, already destroyed, offered no resistance.

They entered the plateau.

The soldiers reacted. The Core Formation guards, their discipline holding, turned. Weapons were drawn. Formation arrays activated. The perimeter defense, the military protocol, engaged.

"Halt!" a Core Formation captain shouted. His sword, drawn, the blade humming with spiritual energy, pointed at the approaching boys. "You are not permitted! Surrender or..."

Lau didn’t halt. He didn’t slow. His body, wreathed in the purple-black aura, moved toward the main ship.

The captain swung. His sword, Core Formation qi reinforced, aimed for Lau’s shoulder. A disabling strike. Non-lethal. The strike of a soldier following orders.

Lau’s hand came up. His thin, unremarkable hand, wrapped in purple-black energy, caught the blade. The sword, the spirit-forged steel, the Core Formation qi, stopped. The edge, sharp enough to cut stone, rested against Lau’s palm. The skin didn’t break.

He squeezed. The blade shattered. The fragments, glowing with residual qi, fell.

The captain’s eyes widened. His hands, holding the hilt of a now-bladeless sword, trembled.

Lau pushed him. The palm, the purple-black energy, struck the captain’s chest. The Core Formation cultivator, a man who had trained for twenty years, was thrown. His body flew. Thirty feet. Forty. He hit a ship’s hull. The impact dented the spirit-wood. He slid down, unconscious.

More soldiers came. Five. Ten. Twenty. Core Formation cultivators, their weapons drawn, their formation arrays activating. They swarmed.

Lau moved. His thin body, the purple-black aura blazing, moved through them. Not fighting. Not striking. Moving. His hands, his feet, his elbows, his knees, contacted bodies. Each contact, each touch, carried the force of the void. Core Formation cultivators, armored and armed, were thrown. Broken. Their weapons shattered. Their formation arrays dispersed. Their bodies, picked up by the void energy, were hurled across the plateau.

Xu Ran, behind him, watched. His handsome face, his angular features, held awe.

"Elder brother," he whispered. "He’s... he’s incredible."