Chapter 1399
Speculation
Chapter 1399 Speculation
"strangeness…"
The Jade True Light in the sky was like layers of unfolding clouds, overlapping one another. Wu Qian absentmindedly dispelled the radiance in the sky and slowly shifted his gaze to the other side.
The sky over the desert was calm, without a ripple, and not even a flash of supernatural power.
'Didn't catch up...'
Wu Gan was unsure of what this Master Pingyan was thinking, nor did he know where the old master could escape to, but judging from his current appearance of using Jade True Light to peer into the east, the desert had not yet seen any fighting.
So he withdrew the light of Jade Truth and lost his will to fight.
Although Shan Yin left with Ping Yan, the strength of the forces here was still unequal. Wu Miao was injured, and Shen Sou and Qiu Shenshi attacked from both sides, surrounding Sima Yuanli!
But Master Zhengmu was now also determined. Despite facing two mid-stage Purple Mansion cultivators, he showed no sign of backing down. He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a whole dozen talismans, coldly sneering:
"If you two want to kill him, feel free to try!"
Sima Yuanli was not stingy by nature, but he cherished the legacy left by the old master very much. He knew that each one he used was one less, so he rarely squandered it like this. For a while, he really held back. However, he had exhausted his supernatural powers and had to vomit blood to cast spells repeatedly.
The outcome is decided.
Although Qing Tang had been kind to him, Wu Xun now felt no desire to help that纨绔 (wan ku, a spoiled brat) from within the pass. He was too lazy to bother with him and simply performed his duties. He prepared his supernatural powers and waited, when suddenly, as if sensing something, he turned his head and looked to the other side.
An old woman, appearing to be in her sixties or seventies, with a kind face and many wrinkles, stood in the center of the void. She slowly stepped forward, told Wu Gan to stop, bowed, and said:
"I have met the envoy..."
The old woman clasped her hands together, nodded to him, her expression somewhat strange, and said softly:
"I can't sense her anymore."
These words were spoken calmly, yet they caused Wu Rong's expression to change slightly. He did not ask further questions, but simply said:
"Has something happened?"
The old woman shook her head, seemingly having completely lost interest. She stamped her foot, stepped out of the void, and strode confidently into the world, saying:
"Stop, everyone!"
This sound was like a thunderclap, causing the wind and clouds to change and the entire land to hum with her words. The people of Western Shu naturally did not recognize her, but seeing that the Great Master standing respectfully to the side, they knew that she was an extraordinary person, so they withdrew for the time being.
The Li family, who were already struggling to stay afloat, were now treated as if they had been granted a pardon. They all stepped back, some taking pills, others performing hand seals, and gathered around the golden hall, watching cautiously.
Whether out of arrogance or urgency, the old woman showed no regard for the two supernatural beings who had retreated, but instead took out a small golden jar from her sleeve and tapped it in the distance.
"Boom!"
In the blink of an eye, a buzzing sound was heard, and the great hall in the sky roared. Cui Jueyin immediately spat out blood. After an extremely faint mournful cry, the doors and windows of the great hall suddenly burst open, and a golden scroll was fiercely spat out from it like an arrow released from a bow!
In the next instant, the entire hall had returned to its original form, becoming a tiny Xuan Palace the size of a palm, falling like a bird with broken wings into the vast desert.
The world was completely silent, with only the small scroll floating in the air. The figure of the so-called King of Wei was nowhere to be seen. The old woman sighed softly and said:
"Go back, all of you!"
By this point, both sides' supernatural abilities clearly indicated that something serious had happened. Wu Xun, without saying much, led his men back, ignoring the resounding words of the True Immortal on the gate, who simply said:
"General! Something has happened to Master Pingyan!"
Gyeongjeong's words came to an abrupt end.
The Li family members exchanged bewildered glances. Only Kuang Hong stepped forward, took the scroll, and then looked around before saying:
"Let's retreat a bit further and keep watch for now."
The commotion continued unabated. The old woman leaped into the air, becoming a wisp of mysterious light, and sped away. She then calmed herself somewhat, her usually serene gaze gradually shifting:
'Could this be a scheme orchestrated by Mingyang?'
"I'm afraid it's more than that. It was probably Mingyang who set up the trap first, and Jin Yi conveniently covered for them to vent his anger. This is a show of force... We expected them to make a move, but we didn't expect it to happen so quickly... Jin Yi never sticks his neck out, and he's on our side, so we feel a little more at ease..."
'I never expected... Kim Il is ultimately untrustworthy.'
She leaped forward, as if breaking through some barrier, and finally saw the golden aura rising from the sky in the distance. The old woman narrowed her eyes slightly, but stopped going forward.
There was suddenly another person standing in front of her.
This was a golden body, shimmering with mysterious light, its Daoist robes fluttering. It had no facial features, its hands were empty, and it stood silently in front of her with its hands behind its back.
The golden body laughed:
"Senior!"
The old woman's expression became somewhat strange. She didn't attack immediately, but instead looked up at the golden storm in the distance, saying with some incomprehension:
"What are you doing?"
He stood with his hands behind his back, silent.
The old woman sneered and said:
"What, are you unhappy? You're only allowed to do it on the first day of the month, but not on the fifteenth... Back when the Sun Dao lineage was in the south, wasn't it you, Jin Yi, who was stammering in the middle? Whenever there's an order from the north, who's the one with a different face, carrying a divine decree down?"
"What do you mean by 'today'? I, Changhuai, have already shown my sincerity. Do you expect me to say whatever you want, good or bad?"
Her words were not polite. Clearly, at least in Changhuai's view, the Sun Dao lineage might criticize the decision their True Lord had made, but Jin Yi absolutely did not have the face to jump out and interfere.
The golden body laughed and said:
"What are you saying? This is Qingxuan's private matter, a grudge between the Sun cultivators. How can it be related to the Northern lineage?"
The old woman watched coldly, and for a moment she really didn't know how to respond to him, so she could only sneer:
"This is taking advantage of my long-standing disdain for wearing two faces!"
"Hahahaha!"
The golden body laughed loudly and said:
"Come on! You don't even want to wear it? You guys are way too eager to wear it!"
He flicked his sleeve and said calmly:
“Senior… Even setting aside the lineage, the desert is part of Jin Yi’s plan, and no one else is allowed to interfere. Now that you have come here, I am eager to fight you and will not let you leave easily.”
The nun narrowed her eyes, her expression shifting more and more dramatically. How could she not know that the person before her was plotting something far greater? But she couldn't fathom why Jin Yi would choose to oppose her. She made another hand seal and whispered:
"Jin Yidao is highly skilled and naturally has a way to stop me, but why bother? If you want to test your sword, why must you use someone from my family?"
His golden body stood between heaven and earth, a small plate now appearing in his hand. Above, sand and stones flew, and various temples could be vaguely seen. In an instant, the plate enlarged, enveloping the two of them, and only then could their laughter be heard.
“Ziyang is certainly a good thing, but we’re not happy right now. Why not kill one of your close associates to vent our anger?”
He turned his head slightly, his blank face staring at the old man, and said:
"How come your family didn't kill enough? There was one in Wuchuan, why are you short one more?"
The old woman then lowered her guard slightly, realizing that this was Jin Yi's act of venting his anger, and that she herself had indeed acted too hastily. She sighed and said:
"She is Pingwen's junior sister... Pingwen is a descendant of my family's Dao lineage!"
Her words were quite clear: if Jin Yi's dissatisfaction could be appeased, even sacrificing a Great Immortal would be harmless. But the person in front of her was different; he could very well affect the divine elixir seed that her family was cultivating in seclusion!
"Even if we can keep it a secret for now, what if he achieves success and comes back to settle scores? Wouldn't that create unnecessary karmic entanglements? Daoist, don't bring trouble upon yourself..."
"Playing the field? Ridiculous... Ridiculous!"
These words seemed to enrage the person before him, and the golden-bodied figure let out a cold laugh:
"Only your family's is a Dao Seed? It's true that you can obtain the Five Metals without fruit, but does Pingwen have the qualifications to prove fruit? A mere thing that hasn't even formed a Divine Pill, neither human nor ghost, dares to say it's asking for trouble!"
……
The southern part of Sichuan is vast, but it is mostly mountainous and forested, with continuous mountains and dotted with waterways, hence the name "Qize" (meaning "lacquer marshes").
In the land of Qize, there are few common people but many cultivators. The central tomb is where sword immortals reside. Heading north, crossing countless mountains and forests, one reaches the edge of this lake. There, one can see a large prefecture called [Hanjia], with a Xuan Mountain that serves as the southern gateway to Shu.
At this moment, the void was exceptionally calm, but in the distant east, an imperceptible aura was rapidly approaching.
"The matter between Wu and Shu is a matter of right and wrong, and I will decide the truth."
The void was gloomy, and darkness constantly moved around him like a dark fog. Li Zhouwei's gaze was calm, his hands were behind his back, and he did not say a word.
'Changhuai bowed to the North, but did not completely surrender to the North. That True Lord abandoned his plans in the human world, but could not afford to offend so many of his fellow practitioners there.'
Chang Huai's methods were actually quite sophisticated, the key being to sacrifice the Shu Emperor to nourish Li Zhouwei!
Based on Kim Il's attitude in the previous events, the advice Li Ximing heard in the water town in the south, and the news he obtained from Yanhua in the north, Li Zhouwei could basically conclude that Kim Il and he, Li Zhouwei, actually had a considerable overlap of interests.
"This is both an exchange of interests with the North and a compromise with Yanhua, where Kim Il is located. In this grand scheme, the magnanimity of the Shu emperor is being used to gain Kim Il's cooperation!"
Looking at the bigger picture from a high vantage point, it should have been Jin Yi and Chang Huai who joined forces to use the Shu Emperor's personal rule and the resulting losses to force the entire Song court, which was being built by the underworld, to give him, Li Zhouwei, a more profound support!
'Putting everything else aside, this itself aligns with the interests of the highest levels of the underworld!'
But the deeper arrangements go beyond what's currently in place. Once Changhuai releases the Shu Emperor, it doesn't mean he'll be left alone. The Qing clan can use the number of their direct descendants involved to control the emperor's eastward campaigns, varying their strength as needed. This creates the possibility of plotting against the Yang clan...
"And this is actually very likely a form of revenge, a calculated scheme, aimed at Yang Jinxin, the judge of the underworld, who acted opportunistically in the north, overstepping his bounds and unhesitatingly supporting the decisive actions of the Female Water. Perhaps Tianxia, with her high-flying and lofty ambitions, doesn't care, but in the eyes of the other True Lords of Luoxia, it might not be so appealing."
In other words, this is very likely a deal between Taiyi and one of the True Lords under Tianxia's command...
It's not hard to see that the point of compromise between Changhuai and the Southern True Lords was to nourish Li Zhouwei!
'The Shu emperor's inability to conquer was nourishing... The Shu emperor's crushing defeat was also nourishing...'
'Then... what about the fall of Shu?'
If Li Zhouwei wants to break this situation, the Yang family will definitely be more than willing. There is no need to worry. The support the Yang family gives him is enough to give him a great victory, but it is not enough to shake the reaction of a True Lord level figure!
The important thing is Jin Yu's attitude!
Jin Yu's attitude is very likely closely related to Li Zhouwei!
That's why Li Zhouwei wrote that letter to Jin Yu.
"Didn't you, Changhuai, set up a furnace to roast the Shu Emperor, hoping I'd get a share? But do you think I deserve your charity? I'll smash your cauldron in one fell swoop!"
If Li Zhouwei could break through several passes in one go and kill his way to the Shu palace, not to mention whether he could destroy the entire Shu kingdom's foundation, his achievements would be magnificent, wouldn't that be more impressive than the several times when emperors suffered setbacks in their expeditions?
Jin Yu will definitely support him and will also cover for him!
His eyes flickered with a strange light:
'Now... this also proves that the interests of the Golden Feather Sect are indeed highly aligned with mine!'
Putting aside the specifics of this plan, this is definitely a piece of extremely valuable information.
"And this is only in terms of interests; there are also the issues of reputation and the overall situation—Tianxia is so terrifying that even if it suits Jin Yi's interests, he certainly wouldn't want someone to submit to the North. Perhaps Changhuai is of the Earth element and will be the first to comply, but how many people in the world wouldn't harbor resentment and stir up trouble?"
"Nominally, Yinsi Luoxia's stance on the Ji River is one of acceptance, at least superficially allowing Mingyang to advance further. My march on Shudu is something Yinsi can support without hesitation. Even better, the core of Changhuai's appeasement is none other than Tianxia!"
A cold smile slowly crept onto his lips.
'To please Tianxia, you should exaggerate my abilities and share some of the spoils. But if I were to break through the passes and head straight for Shu, making it seem like I'm going to seize a large share, would you support me... or not?'
"If you hesitate even for a moment, I'll smash your desk, take away your job, and steal your most exquisite scenery!"
This was also Li Zhouwei's open scheme!
He slowly lowered his head, his gaze piercing through the vast emptiness and dense primordial energy, landing on the dense forest beneath his feet. His golden eyes traversed heaven and earth, settling upon the mysterious mountain, and he softly said:
"arrive?"
"good."
The voice behind him was somber and chilling:
"Although that person has gone to the north, the cave is still suspended, and the protection of the banished Qi is limited. Once he crosses this mountain and truly arrives in Shu, he will definitely be detected."
'Even the true self is not here; this is all we have to do... The power of the True Lord is truly unfathomable...'
'However... getting past three checkpoints is enough...'
Li Zhouwei slowly raised his eyebrows. This mountain was not high, but it was full of bluish-purple sandalwood and light ochre soil and rocks, which was quite special. At this moment, the great formation was not responding, and there were even supernatural beings moving around outside.
'After all, being in the heart of the territory, no one would be on guard for no reason at this time. The Purple Mansion will still move out of the formation, just like my home island in the lake…'
He smiled and said with interest:
What mountain is this?
The man said:
"Originally a prestigious place, it was later occupied by a group of cultivators who came from the south, and its name was changed to... Tanshan."