Chapter 279 Son of the Human Emperor Who says mortals can't cultivate?
The night wind howled, and the forest rustled.
Lin Feiran sped along the seemingly endless path. She only knew the general direction those people were going, but she didn't know if they changed routes along the way. Fortunately, someone was leading the way.
She looked up at the sky, where a blue-eyed white eagle with outstretched wings circled overhead. That was the eagle that had guided her. After learning the reason, Ru Xian had specially lent it out. It could find its way simply by smelling Gu Buhui's scent on her.
Suddenly, the beast let out a roar similar to a lion's roar, which was a signal. After the roar, it spread its wings and flew eastward. Lin Feiran immediately changed his pace and was several meters away in the blink of an eye.
Gradually, the surrounding trees thinned out, many fallen branches lay across the ground, and mud began to appear on the ground, indicating that a fight had clearly taken place here.
Lin Feiran stepped over the withered branches and puddles in the grass, his gaze sweeping over the fallen leaves, when he suddenly caught a faint fishy smell in the wind.
In an instant, she moved even faster. The swarming creature hovering in mid-air tried its best to flap its wings, but could only see her retreating figure.
...
Only a sliver of moonlight struggled to fall from the sky, not very bright. Away from the city and without the firelight to illuminate it, everything in front of us seemed indistinct, but the spiritual light and sword energy of the spells would become even more conspicuous.
Gu Buhui leaned on his sword, looking across at the other side, trying to see the person's true face through the eerie light of the magic.
That is definitely not a period of depression.
After parting ways with Lin Feiran, it took him quite a while to catch up with the group of eager young people. After exchanging some words and explaining the situation, they left together in a hurry, so he didn't have time to say much to Shen Qi.
On the way, Shen Qi simply wiped his sweat with a grateful expression, while Gu Buhui was led by one of the disciples of the Taiji Immortal Sect, riding on a long sword. He didn't think much of it at first, but when he saw Shen Qi riding the sword by himself out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly realized something.
"Chen Qi, you can use spiritual power again now?"
It was just a casual question, but Shen Qi didn't answer. Instead, she gave him a shy smile and nodded.
Gu Buhui felt strange. Shen Qi's fellow disciples couldn't help but glance at him. Those who knew Shen Qi knew that he was a complete chatterbox. The more urgent the situation, the more he talked.
But from beginning to end tonight, they didn't hear Shen Qi say a single word. The group's expressions hardened slightly, and after making a gesture to the others, they slowed down.
The leading disciple from the Imperial Academy stepped forward, his brow furrowed, and a look of apprehension gradually rising in his eyes: "Why are you so silent? After being locked up for several days, you've forgotten how to speak the words of sages?"
"Chen Qi" looked at everyone, his face obscured by the darkness of the night, but he only smiled and did not speak.
Suddenly, a ray of moonlight flashed by, and those once clear and flawless deer eyes seemed to split open, the pupils wandering uncontrollably in their sockets, only to quickly stop.
"Chen Qi's" gaze swept over the crowd, but their wary eyes and retreating figures were merely accompanied by a smile as he turned to look behind him.
The overlapping shadows of the trees began to change. Upon closer inspection, they were not shadows at all, but rather numerous black-clad cultivators who had been lying in ambush there. They emerged in a surrounding formation, pressing heavily towards the center.
"We've fallen for their trap!"
Just as everyone's eyelids twitched, "Chen Qi" shouted excitedly twice, and a crane's cry suddenly came from the piled-up shadows. The white crane flapped its wings and took off, its wings spread wide, and the eyes on countless feathers all looked towards the center. With just one glance, everyone froze in place.
This is the power of the strange beasts; they can sever spiritual energy with a single glance.
Only Gu Buhui remained unaffected. He decisively drew his sword and leaped up as everyone else fell. The ancient longsword flashed a sharp light in the night and fiercely pierced through the left wing of the white crane!
In an instant, the restriction was lifted, and several teenagers immediately flipped to the ground, summoned their magical artifacts, and swiftly broke through to a certain location.
However, this ambush was clearly well-prepared, and the cultivators who came to intercept them were no ordinary people. Even though those who came to abduct people were all geniuses from various sects, they had not yet gained any advantage and were inevitably caught in a difficult battle.
Gu Buhui had fought with cultivators for many years, and his skills were more proficient than those of the young people, but he still couldn't gain the upper hand in this large-scale attack.
He parried the two men's swords as they swung at him, his eyes sharpening. He spun around and deflected the swords, but was still forced back several steps by the force of their blows.
His peripheral vision shifted to "Chenqi" standing outside the circle again. This time, he saw a dangling tail behind it, and everything was self-evident.
The difference between humans and beasts is not their appearance, but their speech; beasts can never learn to speak human language.
It noticed his gaze, chuckled, and suddenly raised its hands, causing the layers of robes to fall to the ground. A strange beast with a monkey's head and a human body emerged from under the robes, its posture resembling that of a human, yet also quite bizarre.
It had no interest in mortals like Gu Buhui, but instead stared intently at the young people. It fixed its gaze on one of them and imitated his hand gesture. In an instant, a golden-red flame shot out, illuminating the dark night!
Gu Buhui watched helplessly and couldn't help but spit out a curse.
These days, even monkeys seem to be more intelligent than humans.
Among the many young people who came here, five were specifically there to deal with it. However, they were all currently occupied by the cultivators and had no time to spare. With the addition of this strange beast, the previously evenly matched situation began to tilt.
It swung and swayed through the woods, mimicking this and kicking that, displaying its mischievousness. Its strange laughter was also chilling. But when it swung to a certain tree, a foot flew out from nowhere and kicked it heavily to the ground.
It glared at Gu Buhui, who was perched on a branch with a long sword on his shoulder, and laughed, "Why do you only learn from them and not from me? Is it because you can't learn?"
He wore a smile on his face, but his heart was filled with deep sorrow.
Although the monkey was not a threat, it couldn't withstand the constant stream of reinforcements arriving. With such a relentless battle, who could possibly survive?
Not only him, but everyone present had the same idea: they had to break through the encirclement as soon as possible. However, they were outnumbered and powerless. Every time they worked together to create an opening, other masked cultivators would fill in the gap.
At first, it was cultivators at the Mind-Asking Realm who came to surround them. Gradually, it was cultivators at the Free Realm who took action. Before long, even cultivators at the Ascending Realm began to join the battle.
More and more trees around were broken, like falling leaves. Long marks appeared on the rocks used for shelter. The spiritual light of the magical artifact began to dim, and the puddles on the ground gradually turned dark red.
One of the Imperial Academy disciples was knocked back several meters, and the old brush in his hand cracked, the ink dripping from the tip no longer being ink, but rather drops of congealed blood.
He immediately formed a hand seal and raised his hand, drawing a crimson landscape. Just as the objects in the painting were about to break free, a long rope came from the air, looped around his right wrist, broke the stroke, and then the rope turned, binding him in place in an instant!
Two masked cultivators rushed up from behind. They used their magical artifacts to pierce through the long rope and forcefully nail it into his wrist. The old pen immediately slipped from his hand and rolled into the mud.
Everyone then realized that the ambush was not to stop them, nor to kill them on the spot, but to capture them!
The "sinking period" is just bait from beginning to end; they are the big fish that are meant to be caught!
During the battle, more and more disciples were bound by long ropes, or nailed into their arms or legs by magical artifacts, severing their spiritual power. The masked cultivators, well aware that delay could lead to unforeseen changes, subdued one person in twos and threes, and then left without hesitation, disregarding the battle situation behind them.
Gu Buhui was no match for two fists. He had to save one person and then put down the other. Before he could protect the person, the strange beast that he had beaten black and blue charged at him, and the two started fighting again!
Swords of the Taiji Immortal Sect danced in the air, ink from the Miaobi Dao Sect swirled, and talismans of the Langhuan Sect spun. Disciples from other aristocratic families also displayed their skills. However, the battle was already in a stalemate, and everyone was on edge.
The branches rustled all around, and pebbles rolled down the cliff. Amidst all the muffled rumbling, a series of splashes came from the puddles, the sound of footsteps treading on them, light, urgent, and steady.
Everyone looked at the raised sharp needles. With a cry of a crane, hundreds of needles were fired at once. Just at this critical moment, the sound of footsteps approaching from afar suddenly stopped behind them. An even more powerful spiritual energy spread out from behind, like a hurricane, instantly holding all the sharp needles in place!
The masked cultivators in the arena immediately looked over and saw a tall, slender figure in black. The person wore a veil, and if it weren't for the several streaks of lightning swirling around her feet, which accentuated her figure, she would almost blend into the night.
"who!"
Finally, someone spoke up in shock and anger.
Lin Feiran did not answer, but looked at the shadowy figures around him. Knowing that he could not withstand such a number, he turned around and all the hundreds of sharp needles exploded back.
While the masked cultivators were busy trying to stop her, she immediately raised her hands to form a hand seal. A vortex of sand and white mist suddenly rose up, turning into a thick mass in the night, obscuring the view.
"Stop them!"
After a loud shout, the others immediately dispersed the crowd. Under the silence of the sand and fog, apart from the masked corpse lying there, there was no trace of the remaining teenagers.
One of them immediately walked towards a certain direction: "Master, should we give chase?"
The man shook his head: "This person's cultivation level is extremely high. If we want to pursue him, we can only fight him head-on. We have already captured more than ten people, so there is no need to throw more lives away."
“Master, don’t you think this person looks familiar? He looks a lot like…that person.”
Today, Lin Feiran's name can no longer be mentioned in the esoteric Buddhist community; when people want to talk about her, they can only refer to her as "that person."
"She's dead." The leader looked into the distance. "This time we weren't allowed to capture them all. A few escaped, but mentioning her to the Holy Maiden would be like touching her sore spot. Go back."
After a whistle blew, the shadowy figures in the dense forest receded like the tide.
Meanwhile, Lin Feiran, along with the other five people, traveled several miles before finally stopping near Luoyang City. She put down the seriously injured ones, fed them pills, and then looked at Gu Buhui, handing him the spiritual medicine.
"Senior, what exactly happened?"
Gu Buhui took the medicine and applied it to the bloodstains on his body. He was unable to speak for the time being, but the young man beside him explained the whole story in a few words.
Lin Feiran was quite surprised: "Why would they arrest you?"
The disciple of the Taiji Immortal Sect shook his head: "I don't know, but they must be from the Secret Sect. When I was fighting with someone just now, I saw a red mole on his back. That's a 'merit book' that Secret Sect disciples would put on."
The Langhuan Sect disciple on the other side sat up, inserted a few silver needles into himself, and said in a hoarse voice, "During the battle just now, I heard them say that they wanted to use us to hold the sacrificial ceremony to heaven."
Lin Feiran had just heard Fu Xia mention it, so it wasn't unfamiliar to him. But this grand ceremony was held to retrieve the Revolving Pearl, so what did it have to do with these disciples?
Gu Buhui finally caught his breath and, pressing on Lin Feiran's arm, spoke haltingly.
"The person we saw in the palace earlier was indeed Shen Qi. Later, when we were fighting with the strange beast, the monkey took advantage of the situation and rescued the person it had transformed into. The bead and Shen Qi are still in their hands."
Lin Feiran lowered his eyes and said, "I know. If I hadn't sensed something was wrong, I wouldn't have come. But what exactly is their purpose in setting this up?"
None of them had any clue. Just then, a deep, resonant bell rang out from Luoyang City, the sound of the Yellow Bell of Heaven and Earth.
This bell was once rung by Lin Feiran, who used it to spread the medicine prescription. It was also rung by others, who spread the news that she had murdered the emperor.
Now the bells ring out once more, their sound echoing across the five continents.
"The grand ceremony will be held in three days. Invitations have been sent to all sects. Please attend the banquet. On the day of the ceremony, the Dao Lord will descend to meet you all."
Lin Feiran recognized it as Bi Sheng's voice.
After that sentence, a light suddenly shone in Luoyang City. Lin Feiran noticed it and immediately jumped to the top of the tree. The others, disregarding their injuries, climbed up to the air to look.
In Luoyang, a somewhat unclear image appeared atop the Yellow Bell of Heaven and Earth.
The scene depicts a spacious, unguarded chamber where several cultivators sit cross-legged, all silent with their heads bowed, in utter stillness.
Gu Buhui looked over and exclaimed in surprise, "These...these are the teenagers who were just taken away!"
The young men remained silent, but among them, the truly calm one looked ahead with his head held high, his lips slightly pursed, his face no longer showing any fear.
As the bell rang again, Bi Sheng's voice drifted out leisurely.
"Everyone, this is the son of the Human Emperor, Shentuqi."
Everyone knows that the lineage of the Human Emperor consists of mortals with blocked spiritual veins, just like all the unfortunate people in the world. But with the help of my esoteric sect, he can now cultivate, and has even reached the state of freedom.
Even from this distance, Lin Feiran could hear the commotion and disturbances coming from Luoyang.
Who says mortals can't cultivate themselves?
What is the difference between mortals and cultivators?
For the Dao Lord, granting mortals the power of cultivation is merely a matter of turning his hand.
Anyone can be like him; all they need to do is join the esoteric sect, offer a wisp of vital energy to the Daoist master, and everything will be resolved.
Lin Feiran looked quietly. Shen Qi seemed to have heard these words as well. He did not close his eyes, and anger gradually filled his eyes as he stared straight ahead.
Bi Sheng's voice was dignified and deep, yet it also carried an indescribable fervor.
"The heavens are about to collapse, the old world is about to perish, and a new world is about to emerge. The Dao Lord is the one who will carry the ship!"
Author's Note: [Heart emoji]
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