Warlock

On the nameless mountain range where the Wind and Snow Temple is located.

A couple stood hand in hand.

The two stood atop a snow-capped mountain peak, gazing into the distance.

"Judging by the time, those two brats, Qingling and Jinyu, should have found Chao'er by now, right?"

The one who spoke was a woman wearing a silver-white mink fur cloak with gold trim, and a gold fox fur headdress around her neck.

"Don't worry, Madam. With Qingling and Jinyu's abilities, they must have found Chao'er long ago."

The man beside her was dressed in a thin blue robe.

These two people were the owners of the Wind and Snow Temple, Jiang Buwen and Yu Wushuang, a married couple.

Yu Wushuang sighed, looking worried, "Yun Yao is really something. She let Chao'er get involved in the court's power struggle. Such a big thing, and she didn't even inform us beforehand. Sigh..."

Jiang Buwen remained calm and gently comforted her, "Madam, there's no need to worry. I've already informed the group of Qi-refining sorcerers in the secret realm near Qingzhou City, and asked them to keep a close eye on Chao'er's movements. They certainly won't give those other old thieves any opportunity to take advantage."

Yu Wushuang glared at him and said reproachfully:

"You make it sound so easy for you. Do you not know what kind of people those old geezers are? They'll do anything to attain enlightenment. Asking them for help is like asking a tiger for its skin!"

  

Jiang Buwen shook his head. "Their roots are here now, and they are all at my mercy. All they want is immortality."

Yu Wushuang was startled: "You agreed to their request?"

Jiang Buwen nodded. "Yes, I agree. However, before I release them to the Eternal Heaven, they must agree to help this world buy more time."

Yu Wushuang remained silent for a long time.

The name Changshengtian sounds mysterious, but in reality... it is the habitat of those evil spirits.

Each abbot of the Wind and Snow Temple, after accumulating merit in the mortal world, will ascend to the Eternal Heaven, a process known as ascension.

Ascension does not equate to immortality.

In Jiang Buwen's description, Changshengtian was a place of purgatory.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for something like external evil to be born.

The reason why the successive abbots of Fengxue Temple went to the Eternal Heaven was naturally not for the purpose of achieving immortality.

Instead, he wanted to use his own merits to go to the lair of evil, find the root of its birth, and eliminate it once and for all.

However, none of the temple lords who ascended to the Eternal Heaven ever returned.

To date, sixty-one temple masters have ascended to the Eternal Heaven.

If nothing unexpected happens, the husband beside her is the sixty-second one.

Thinking of this, Yu Wushuang felt extremely sad, and her eyes reddened slightly.

Her jade-like hand couldn't help but clench Jiang Buwen's large, warm palm.

Feeling the force coming from his palm, Jiang Buwen sighed inwardly.

He knew what his wife was thinking.

But... this has always been the fate of the Jiang family.

Although he wanted to break this rule, if he couldn't break through the shackles that no generation of the Jiang family had been able to break, Jiang Buwen would eventually have to take that final step.

Otherwise, it would no longer be a sign of divine favor.

Instead, it was a devastating, catastrophic event.

It affected the entire clan.

This is also the real reason why all the Jiang family members who served as the abbots of the Wind and Snow Temple eventually chose to ascend to the Eternal Heaven.

They traded an unknown destination for the continuation and future of their entire clan.

However, Jiang Buwen did not say these words to Yu Wushuang.

Because once the truth is known, the lady will probably do everything in her power to prevent him from going to the Eternal Heaven.

They even threatened to kill themselves!

No one would have guessed that Yu Wushuang, the most shrewd and business-savvy woman in the world, was actually a devoted woman who would do anything for love.

……

Misty city.

Within the grand formation set up by the wandering sorcerer.

Jiang Chao roared and headed straight for Chu Ning, Su E, and the others inside the inn.

The boy's first thought was to save people!

However, how can one easily achieve their wishes when they are inside someone else's formation?

Jiang Chao appeared to be rushing into the inn at an extremely fast speed, but in reality, he did not step into any of the inn's rooms.

By the time Jiang Chao noticed the unusual surroundings, it was too late.

In another room of the inn, Chu Ning and Su E, who had been screaming in terror, had changed completely.

The joints of the two men cracked and popped, and a faint, invisible thread meandered across their bodies.

puppet!

Both Chu the Heroine and Su E are puppets controlled by that wandering sorcerer!

Where did the real Chu Ning and Su E go?

Jiang Chao was extremely anxious.

As two puppets, almost indistinguishable from real people, slowly approached him, Jiang Chao took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Excuse me!"

He immediately clenched his fist and lunged forward.

Jiang Chao threw the Moye Sword onto the roof, and it should still be stuck in the ridge.

All Jiang Chao could muster was a pair of fists the size of sandbags.

The fist slammed into the puppet, producing a dull thud.

This suggests that the puppet is no ordinary object; it was likely created by a wandering sorcerer himself.

But a puppet is still just a puppet. No matter how realistic or mysterious it may be, it is ultimately just an inanimate object controlled by a person.

Jiang Chao didn't have to put in much effort to smash the two puppets disguised as Chu Ning and Su E to pieces.

Before Jiang Chao could leave, two more puppets flew out.

These two puppets no longer have facial features.

Only the body of the person is intact; above the neck, there is only a wooden head, which looks extremely eerie.

Jiang Chao, however, paid no heed to any of that. His face was grim, and his fists were already flying in a blur.

He smashed and shattered the puppets one after another, acting like a madman.

"Hiss... This junior is terrifying!"

Having lived for too long, and having only recently awakened, the old man, who only remembered that his surname was He, gasped as he watched the precious puppet that had easily refined him in the illusion array dismantle the boy into pieces. He was also even more excited.

When he was young, he accidentally stumbled upon an ancient ruin and obtained a manual for cultivating a mysterious art from it.

By studying that cultivation manual, he successfully joined a mystical sect as an ordinary martial artist.

However, he joined far too late.

At that time, the world was also one where "heaven does not accept the law, and earth does not accept the elixir book," so even though he showed excellent talent for cultivation, he was destined to miss the true path.

The art of esoteric arts lies not only in technique, but also in the underlying principles.

The old man had only mastered some powerful techniques, but he could never comprehend the Dao.

This is why it became his inner demon.

"Since Heaven has decreed that I can never attain enlightenment, then let me plunge into an abyss of eternal damnation!"

He vaguely remembered that the founder of the Xuanmen sect once said something like this.

So, later, driven by his inner demons, he put those words into action.

From then on, he completely fell into the demonic path.

Centuries have passed, and the world has changed.

Driven by obsession, he once again crawled out from the deep mountain where he had been buried.

One foot stepped back into the human world.

He needs to find a physical body that can contain his undying obsession, and then he can go back to seek his path.