Volume One: Youths Meeting in Obscurity Chapter 166: Before Leaving (3)

Li Yan's words extinguished Li Zhonghong's anger like a bucket of cold water. He snapped to his senses and realized that Li Yan was right. Now that Li Xi'an had already apologized, it was impossible to shut him up or take back his words. The matter was a fait accompli. If he were to stir up another dispute over this, he would completely trample the Li family's dignity into the dust. By enduring it, he could instead help the Li family project an image of reason and propriety.

He glared at Li Yan and said, "You'd better hope this has nothing to do with you. Otherwise, I will punish you according to the clan rules afterward."

Without a word, Li Yan smiled and stepped back, no longer blocking Li Xi'an's path.

Among those whom Li Zhonghong had played for fools, some were mollified by Li Xi'an's attitude and harbored less hostility and hatred toward them. They knew that with their strength, demanding accountability from the Li family was virtually impossible. Therefore, hearing Li Xi'an apologize to them on behalf of the Li family was enough.

However, these people were a minority. Others, such as members of the six major sects and those who had joined the Rogue Cultivators Alliance, merely accepted the apology on the surface. Only they knew that they had deeply buried their internal hatred, waiting for an appropriate opportunity in the future to settle accounts with the Li family.

The departure date for everyone was thus set: they would set off from Tianmen Town the day after tomorrow.

After the crowd dispersed, the Li family members sought out Zhang Jingzhong alone. Li Zhonghong said, "I will not break my promise, but are your Five Great Families willing to leave behind and abandon the influence you have cultivated in Tianmen Town for so many years? Can you truly part with decades of foundation just to leave Tianmen Town with us?"

Zhang Jingzhong had already discussed this matter with the heads of the other families. He replied, "The Elder is right. We cannot bear to abandon our foundation in Tianmen Town, so we wish to discuss something with you. We intend to send our young clan disciples to the Li family to await your commands, hoping they can borrow the Li family's prestige to advance their cultivation further."

Li Zhonghong was very satisfied with this answer, as it aligned precisely with his own thoughts. The Li family was bound to dispatch people to garrison Tianmen Town; they could not possibly let go of such a lucrative piece of meat. Having people from Tianmen Town's Five Great Families would save them a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

Though his face remained impassive, he said to Zhang Jingzhong with internal delight, "Very well. Our Li family will inevitably send people to Tianmen Town before long, and by then, we will still need your assistance with many matters. Your ability to think clearly spares me a round of persuasion."

Both parties exchanged polite yet ambiguous pleasantries, each keenly aware that the so-called cooperation was merely a gathering prompted by mutual benefit, and one that would inevitably dissolve by interest sooner or later.

Their present acting was nothing more than a helpless measure borne of necessity.

The sects and influential rogue cultivators who had originally come to Tianmen Town had already pre-selected the disciples they wished to take with them. Consequently, when the Tianmen Town sacrifice took place, those individuals were not included, and their families were excluded as well. After all, they certainly did not want disciples who harbored hostility and hatred toward them due to the deaths of their parents.

The close friends of Xu Kaijiang were all preparing to leave with those outsiders.

Chen Dahaohu was leaving with the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, Zheng Dafu with a rogue cultivator who called himself the Hermit of the Banzhan Mountains—possessing no sect, but a domain and influence of his own—Luo Gang with the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, and the youngest, He Yun, with the Falling Forgetfulness Peak.

On the eve of their departure, the four of them gathered together, learning to drink alcohol like adults, imbued with a melancholic sense of youthful sorrow. After drinking a bit, the alcohol went to He Yun's head, and he murmured, "I wonder how Third Brother is doing now?"

His words were spoken without ill intent. After all, in their eyes, ever since the upheaval in Xu Kaijiang's family, they had grown increasingly distant from him. Especially after being accepted as disciples by external sects, they felt they no longer belonged to the same world as Xu Kaijiang.

The final turning point came after Xu Kaijiang shattered their past bonds into dust; from then on, they completely ceased treating him as a brother.

Originally, He Yun would not have thought of him, but perhaps due to the alcohol, their defenses and facades had melted away. Remembering the days of playing together in the past brought a trace of sorrow.

Fourth brother Luo Gang remained silent for a moment before saying, "He has his own path to walk. We will probably never cross paths with him again."

Eldest brother Chen Dahao still remembered the days when Xu Kaijiang used to tag along behind him, calling him 'boss'. Because Xu Kaijiang was the very first person to follow him around in their childhood games, his sentiments toward him were somewhat different.

He said, "I actually went to look for him, but after the sacrificial ceremony, he vanished."

Zheng Dafu quickly asked, "He couldn't be dead, could he? I heard that during this time, even though some people didn't die in the sacrificial ritual, they were killed by outsiders while trying to scavenge for fortuitous encounters."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell into a deep silence. Finally, Luo Gang spoke up, "That is his fate. Besides, I don't think our own futures will turn out much better than his. If we don't work hard at cultivation, I'm afraid we'll die even more miserably than him, and our ends won't be any better."

The youngest, He Yun, chimed in, "That's right. Instead of worrying about him, we should be thinking about our own futures—that's what's truly important. Big brothers, I feel that no matter how well or poorly we fare in the future, we are brothers, brothers for life. Whoever makes it big in the future must remember to lend a hand to the others."

Second brother Zheng Dafu added, "Fifth brother is right. We are brothers for life. Whoever attains status and power in the future must take care of whoever is struggling!"

Eldest brother Chen Dahao stated directly, "No matter how we fare in the future, as long as you still acknowledge me as your big brother, I will be your big brother for the rest of my life."

Among the four, only Luo Gang had not made a declaration. Without hesitation, he simply said, "If we achieve wealth and honor, let us not forget one another."

No one could tell whether their words were genuine or false, or whose words contained more sincerity and whose contained more pretense. The difficult path of the cultivation world was gradually unfolding before them, silently reshaping their mentalities.

Perhaps bonds existed, but one could not rule out that they were all placing a gamble on the future—betting that if things went poorly for them, the others would still remember their past ties and help them out.

Yet, coming back to it, how could any of them willingly believe that they were destined to fare worse than the others?

There was a stark example right before them: Xu Kaijiang. From the bottom of their hearts, they resolved never to let themselves become useless waste like him.

Yet many years later, they would realize that right from the very beginning, their choices had been wrong. A wrong choice led to results that were worlds apart.

Li Yu was Xu Kaijiang's benefactor—he was now, and he would be in the future.

This was something they would truly understand only years later.

On the side of the demon race, the White Tiger Baitong and the Green Lion Muli, having had half of their cultivation stripped away by the Daoisting Sage, were immediately carried off by Liuguang, who had been closely monitoring the shifts on the battlefield.

That imposing aura made everyone present feel that she was truly worthy of being a descendant of the phoenix. Her mere appearance was peerless and magnificent, yet it left others utterly devoid of any evil thoughts toward her.

It had nothing to do with anything else, except that she was simply too powerful.

Aside from taking away the two demon kings, Liuguang also used this display to deter others, signaling that the demon race still possessed a supreme deity. If anyone thought the demon race was weak and attempted to make a move against them, they had better think twice.

Watching the Daoisting Sage dissolve into the Dao and bringing the others back, Liuguang locked herself in her room and refused to see anyone.

Seeing her like this, Baitong assumed she was angry that they had ignored her warnings, resulting in their current plight. Little did he know that Liuguang's heartache was actually caused by the departure of the Daoisting Sage.

Baitong and Muli waited outside Liuguang's door for a long time, but she never emerged. Worried sick and unable to bear it any longer, fearing something might have happened to her, they considered forcing the door open to call her out. Just as they were about to act, the door opened from the inside, and Liuguang walked out. She said, "I'm fine. Seeing that Daoist's transformation into the Dao simply gave me some insight, so I spent some time in closed-door meditation."

Hearing that this was why she had shut herself in, they finally relaxed. Baitong asked, "Did you gain anything from it?"

Liuguang smiled bitterly. "How could it be that easy?"

Muli, however, was blunt. Viciously, he cursed, "It's all that Daoist's fault! If he wanted to transform into the Dao, so be it, but he had to strip away half of our cultivation and reduce us to this state. If I ever find that Daoist's disciple, I will definitely vent all my anger on his disciple."

To his surprise, hearing these words made Liuguang's face darken instantly. In a chilling tone, she warned, "None of you are permitted to go looking for trouble with that young man."

Muli had not expected Liuguang to take the other party's side. Dazed for a moment, he reacted and asked, "Why not? Clearly, his master is the one who reduced us to this state. Why can't I get payback through his disciple? Don't humans have a saying that a debtor's debts fall on his descendants? What his master owed, his disciple should pay back."

At this, Liuguang completely lost her temper and reprimanded sharply, "Have you no shame? You were defeated by his master because your skills were inferior—it was your own fault, blaming no one else. Now that your cultivation has dropped, you want to take it out on his disciple? Do you think the demon race isn't looked down upon enough by them already? Spreading this would utterly disgrace our demon race! You're a veteran demon lord, why can't you use your brain instead of just growing older?!"

Muli's face flushed alternately red and white under the scolding. He wanted to retort, but Baitong pulled him back. Hurriedly, Baitong said to Liuguang, "Liuguang, he was just speaking rashly out of a moment of impatience. We won't go looking for trouble with the boy. Don't worry, don't be angry. I'll take him away and discipline him properly to help you vent your anger."

With that, he hurriedly dragged Muli away.

Watching them depart, Liuguang felt a surge of lingering exasperation. She still did not know that Li Yu had already perished in the eyes of the world. Nor, for that matter, did Muli.

Once outside, upon hearing accounts of that young man's formidable deeds, Muli was struck with utter dismay and asked, "That boy was truly that powerful?"