Chapter 385: Chapter 190: You Finish Your Song, I Take the Stage
"Wanyun has misspoken. Please forgive me, Senior."
Zhao Rui grunted. After the two women had been massaging him for several minutes, he saw two more figures approaching from outside their resting area.
He Wenhua and the others hurriedly went on alert.
A few breaths later, Tao Yuansheng and Luo Yunxi, the ones who had just fled, walked out, their faces filled with utter despair.
"You two..."
Everyone was utterly astonished.
Even Su Wanyun looked bewildered.
She, too, had thought the pair had escaped.
Seeing the two return, Zhao Rui pulsed his True Qi, knocking Su Wanyun and the other woman away from him.
He then rose to his full height and announced clearly, "We are all traveling together. Naturally, I won’t leave anyone behind."
His words sounded magnanimous, but a chill ran through everyone’s hearts.
He was making it clear to them: without his permission, they could be caught and dragged back no matter where they ran.
Su Wanyun was horrified. ’He actually had the spare capacity to catch those two while he was fighting me. Just how powerful is he?’
Following her horror, her thoughts took a sudden turn, and the smile on her face grew even more brilliant.
’With such a powerful expert by my side, what’s so bad about being a servant?’
Zhao Rui paid no mind to their thoughts. He looked into the distance and said, "Let’s go. There will be no more trouble on this journey."
"Yes, Senior!"
Everyone answered in unison. Then, with a clear division of labor, they leaped ahead—some to scout the surroundings, some to find places to rest, and some to guide the path forward.
Each performed their assigned duty as they advanced with caution.
The party, which had originally consisted of only Zhao Rui, had now expanded to seven people.
Every one of them was an expert at the Grandmaster Realm or higher, though that didn’t count for much in the Great Shang Realm.
But if they were on Blue Star, they would absolutely be a considerable force.
This realm had no sun. Light and darkness alternated at regular intervals, as if a curtain were being drawn and opened.
It seemed as though the light source was shrouded by something invisible.
"I remember reading phrases in our sect’s texts like ’a rainbow in the morning sun’ and ’a sunset red as blood.’ Thinking about them fills me with such yearning," Tao Yuansheng said with a sigh as they traveled, watching the evening glow fill the sky and flocks of birds soar past.
"Yes, it’s a shame we can’t go to the Central Plains for now. I hear that is our true homeland, a place where the sun, moon, and stars turn, and the seasons change from spring to summer, autumn, and winter."
Zhao Rui didn’t forbid them from chatting; on the contrary, he seemed to encourage it.
So they chatted quite casually.
It was a small freedom that offered some comfort during their "imprisonment."
"Damn the Shaolin Sects for monopolizing the Two Realms Passage and forbidding us from entering..."
"Senior Brother He, even your Quanzhen Sect isn’t allowed through?"
"*Sigh*, the Quanzhen Sect’s influence is weak... It’s better not to talk about it!"
He Wenhua sighed. He had clearly been given a hard time at the Two Realms Passage.
"Things will eventually turn around. Our many sects surely can’t just sit here and wait for death. When the time comes, if we gather everyone’s strength, I think even Shaolin will have to show some restraint."
Cao Yingcai quickly offered words of comfort.
’Her Taihua Mountain couldn’t even compare to the Quanzhen Sect. At least the Quanzhen Sect was qualified to participate in such major affairs.’
’Taihua Mountain had a nice reputation, with its so-called ’Fairies’ and ’swordswomen.’ ’
’But that was all just flattery from others. To participate in truly important matters, you needed real power.’
Listening to their conversation, a disdainful smile touched Su Wanyun’s lips.
’Gather everyone’s strength?’
’Why don’t the six of them band together now to fight this Demon, Zhao Rui?’
’Such wishful thinking.’
’If you want to escape this realm, the only way is to cultivate by any means necessary. Once your strength is great enough, you can naturally ensure your own survival and leave.’
As they were talking, Zhao Rui suddenly said to the group, "Someone’s coming."
After speaking, he used the Spring Breeze and Rain Technique to envelop the six of them, then leaped up into the canopy of a tall tree.
The six of them, long accustomed to being "enveloped" by Zhao Rui, immediately went on alert and looked down.
After a good while, the group faintly heard the sounds of a fight coming from the northeast.
The sounds were gradually moving closer.
’Just how profound is his Power?’
Although this wasn’t the first or second time it had happened, they found Zhao Rui’s strength to be unfathomably deep every single time.
After another short while, the combatants finally came into view.
It was a group of Song Realm Martial Artists besieging an expert from Great Shang.
This expert was immensely powerful. Despite being surrounded by six opponents, he handled them with ease, showing no sign of impending defeat.
In fact, it was the six attackers who were gradually finding themselves outmatched.
"Do you know them?"
Zhao Rui asked via voice transmission.
"They look like the Cloud Cave Six Demons. What are they doing here?"
"The Six Demons?"
"These six have bizarre and unpredictable temperaments. They often slaughter innocents over a single disagreement. But because their Martial Arts are so powerful, no one dares to interfere..." Zhou Moshu explained in a cold voice.
"Mm."
Zhao Rui nodded without saying more. His gaze was fixed on the young Great Shang Martial Artist.
"Senior, which side should we help?"
Cao Yingcai asked in confusion. On one side were Song people, but on the other was an enemy from Great Shang.
’Logically, we should help our fellow Song people.’
’But these particular Song people are evil men of the Demon Dao who slaughter innocents. Wouldn’t saving them be abetting evil?’
"Hopelessly stupid," Su Wanyun sneered. "Help? Why help anyone? Just kill them all and be done with it."
"Ah! Oh, right."
Cao Yingcai’s cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment.
Zhao Rui ignored their conversation, quietly watching the fight below.
A faint, indifferent smile touched the lips of the Great Shang Martial Artist below. "Looks like you’re just nobodies," he murmured. Then, his figure blurred. A plume of black flame erupted from his forehead and, like a great fan, swept directly toward the six men.
"Watch out! It’s Beast Soul Smoke!"
The six were worldly enough to recognize it. They immediately rolled away, trying to create distance.
But as fast as they were, the Great Shang Martial Artist was faster.
Before anyone could see how they dodged or struggled, just a few breaths later, the six men were all clutching their throats as they collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Up in the canopy, He Wenhua and the others were horrified. Each of those Six Demons had been no weaker than any of them.
Moreover, the six were masters of a Combined Attack Skill that would force even a Divine Void Realm Martial Artist to retreat.
Yet now, in the span of just a few breaths, they were all dead.
This man from Great Shang was terrifyingly powerful.
"Since you are mere passersby, leave at once! This is not a place to linger."
The Great Shang Martial Artist glanced toward the canopy, made his loud pronouncement, and then leaped away, speeding into the distance.
"He discovered us?"
Su Wanyun and the others were stunned. This man was unbelievably powerful. They had traveled so far and encountered many enemies, but this was the very first person capable of detecting Zhao Rui’s concealment technique.
"Patience," Zhao Rui said with a faint smile.
The group waited quietly, their curiosity piqued.
About seven or eight minutes passed.
From a tree right beside them, a handsome, black-clad man suddenly leaped down with a SWOOSH.
The man held a long saber, its blade crimson as if it had just drunk blood.
"There was someone else?"
Su Wanyun felt numb. To think that before, she had arrogantly believed that by reaching the Dharma Realm, she could go anywhere in the world.
Who would have thought that in such a short time, she would encounter three people whose Martial Arts were far superior to her own.
"When did he hide there?" Su Wanyun asked, bewildered.
"Before we came up here."
"What?!"
Everyone gasped in unison, a sense of absurdity washing over them.
"So there really was a rat!"
Just as the group was marveling at the fact that the handsome man had been there before them, the Great Shang Martial Artist, who had supposedly left, suddenly returned.
Seeing him return, the handsome man in black narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice, "Does Great Shang intend to declare war on the Holy Lotus Sect?"
"You’re not important enough to ask that!"
The Great Shang Martial Artist sneered. With a flicker of his body, he charged the man in black.
Neither man was ordinary. Every move they made contained immense power. As they clashed, True Qi radiated outward, pulverizing every tree within a hundred-meter radius.
Zhao Rui had already led the group in a leap backward, switching to a more distant tree to watch the battle from above.
"Pay attention and learn!" Zhao Rui said, shaking his head at the looks of terror on their faces.
A duel between top-tier experts was not a common sight. If they weren’t going to observe carefully now, what else was there to think about?
"Yes, Senior!"
The group quickly composed themselves and began to watch intently.
Even Su Wanyun, who had always prided herself on being a Dharma Realm expert, put on a serious expression and drew closer to observe.
