Chapter 128 Nine Mountains Eight But You Are Still the Same as Before
Inside the Qingcheng Temple's mountain gate square, the main hall suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a bottomless pit, with smoke and dust still rising.
Di Ba exchanged glances with Ren Qi. She tensed her upper arm muscles and, with one blow, overturned the beam slanting into the hall. While the others tried to block her attack, she grabbed He Wu by the collar and leaped into the pit, disappearing into the darkness. Ren Qi lifted her sanxian and spread her hands, sweeping with all five fingers. The sound blades blocked the attacks of Wang Suqing and the others. In that moment, Tian Jiu's spirit split open, and a thick, murky barrier instantly sealed the entrance to the abyss, like a transparent shield inverted above.
Ren Qi grinned while holding the zither, took a step back, and fell straight down.
"With the main body gone, the spiritual power of the split spirit will also be weakened." Wang Suqing swept the dust whisk and called to everyone, "Forcefully break the barrier, and we will go down too!"
It was a rare occasion for everyone to gather together as one. Rays of clear spiritual light crashed into the barrier's light curtain like nine-day meteors. Just as Wang Suqing said, a crack gradually appeared on it, and the Tianjiu spirit floating motionless in the air also faded a little.
Bai Jingze immediately made a gesture and led the agents of the Abnormal Management Bureau to help.
The third master of the Ying family was aware of the overall situation, and for the moment he put aside his calculations and joined the team to break the barrier with the younger generations. At the same time, there came the Zen disciples headed by Huixin, Lan Huai with the Lan family disciples, Mo Wu, the incense burner of the northern school... Many of them were familiar faces who had appeared at the Qingcheng Mountain Martial Arts Festival, and they were all young people who had voluntarily followed.
Ruan Meng saw this and couldn't help but sigh and think: This is probably the most united the Zhu Alliance has been in the past fifty years.
In the team breaking the formation, the closer to the center, the more dangerous it is. Wang Tianfu was worried and rushed to the front, supporting himself on the barrier with both hands. Gradually, he was running out of strength and was about to be bounced back by the barrier magic. Suddenly, a pair of hands stretched out from the left and right and pressed on the back of his hands. Warm spiritual power continued to flow in. Wang Tianfu breathed a sigh of relief and subconsciously said thank you.
He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Fang Ya and Lan Huai standing on either side. They glanced at each other sideways, then quickly looked away and remained silent.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, the extremely solid barrier trembled violently, and countless ripples spread across its surface. The light curtain dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye. With a teeth-grinding cracking sound, the barrier finally couldn't bear the weight and shattered.
Without saying a word, Wang Suqing flicked his sleeves and activated the Five Elements Wood Technique, grabbing the vines that kept growing and pouring in and escaping into the deep pit. Bai He also closed his eyes and made hand gestures, using the shape of heaven and earth to wrap himself up, and escaping into the ground was a piece of cake. The cultivators also displayed their own unique skills and chased down along the deep and unfathomable passage.
Of course, even people as cunning as Mr. Ying San and Lan Qianhuang of the Lan family, who were afraid of being pawns, deliberately slowed down, wanting to hold back and wait and see.
It wasn't as dark below as I'd imagined.
There is a faint light lingering at the bottom, appearing and disappearing.
Everyone fell to the ground, some hanging on the rock wall, some stepping on the tiles of the hall. Before they could judge what had happened, they were attracted by the scene before them and unconsciously held their breath.
A huge and ancient stone gate stood quietly, with the halo appearing in it. Even though there were no words or introductions, two words emerged in everyone's mind.
"Immortal Gate".
This is the Immortal Gate!
Ruan Mengxiu's eyes were a little moist. Ah Qing's guess was indeed true. The Gate of Xuanpin was the root of heaven and earth, the origin of heaven and earth. It was the place that all living beings in the world dreamed of, and it was right before their eyes!
What will happen if a person steps into the gate of immortality?
Life or death? Become an immortal? Become a ghost?
Before seeing this door, everyone held supreme justice in their hearts, adhered to their own hearts, and guarded the so-called bottom line and righteous path.
However, after seeing the stone gate, no one dared to guarantee that their persistence would not waver. It was not only a door, but also the ultimate pursuit of all practitioners from ancient times to the present. Who dared to say that they had never dreamed of becoming an immortal?
Now, the road is right before our eyes.
Wang Suqing frowned, his eyes only moved around the stone gate before moving to the palace gate.
She gathered her strength to lift up the whisk and used the Five Elements technique to break open the hall door. The Third Judge was standing beside Tian Jiu, while Wang Fengxu was under a spell of immobilization, lying horizontally in front of him. At this moment, he could only twist his neck and shout, "Master's Wife! I, I can't move now!"
Seeing that this evil disciple was still intact, Wang Suqing breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Tianjiu: "You have seen it too. Even if you searched for all the soul fragments and put them on my disciple, he would still be himself. Your master can no longer come back."
Tian Jiu was unmoved: "As long as we enter the Immortal Gate, everything will be different."
At this moment of dead silence, Master Ying San, who had arrived late, suddenly had uncontrollable enthusiasm and greed in his eyes. As soon as he landed, he found that the gate to immortality was within reach, and the temptation of the imminent avenue was eroding his sanity all the time.
Fortunately, this old fox who had lived for eighty or ninety years was not short of cleverness. He did not dare to openly become Tianjiu's target. He just secretly put his hands behind his back, raised one eyelid and muttered something. There was a loud noise under the stone gate, and it seemed that something rushed out from below and went straight into the gate!
"Old bastard, what tricks are you playing!" Ruan Mengxiu sneered. After dealing with the Ying family last time, he knew that the old man in front of him loved to do things insincerely. This time, he obeyed the call to come to Qingcheng Temple, probably with the intention of taking advantage of the situation.
But I didn't expect that this old guy had so many tricks. He even summoned ghosts to explore the way into the door first. He was really cautious.
Mr. Ying San was smiling just now, but suddenly his face darkened and fell, just like the old man in the pond.
"There's something behind the door!"
Only two screams were heard, and after a moment of silence, a severed head of a servant fairy was thrown out and rolled to the feet of Master Ying San, whose face was ashen.
This sudden change chilled all those eager thoughts in an instant. Everyone seemed to have just woken up from a dream, and took a half step back in horror, staring straight at the door.
In front of the Immortal Gate, everything was silent for a moment.
Tian Jiu raised his hand expressionlessly and waved it twice. In an instant, the dense starlight inside the door gradually dissipated, and a figure was walking out of the chaos step by step.
When the figure was still just a misty shadow, Wang Suqing was suddenly stunned, as if she understood something, and her eyes were momentarily blank.
It was not until the man completely walked out the door that the onlookers gasped.
The man was leaning on a broken sword, wearing a cloth Taoist robe, with a gaunt face. His facial features were definitely not handsome, and there was not even anything to recommend them. However, when put together on this face, they looked very suitable.
Wang Suqing was speechless: "...Senior Brother."
Bai He was also a little surprised. He turned around and exchanged glances with Bai Jingze: "Master Lingxuan?"
"Meng Bujiu?" Third Master Ying's frown relaxed. "What on earth is going on? Didn't you die together with Zhao Fu? How come... you appeared behind the Immortal Gate again? Who on earth are you now..."
Is it a fairy?
Is it a ghost?
"Nothing," Meng Bujiu twirled the hilt of his sword, seemingly unsurprised by the crowd's presence. His voice was still as light and chilly as in his memories, as if he were casually chatting about the weather. "I'm just guarding here."
He raised his head, his eyes wandering around before finally settling on Wang Suqing's face. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just sighed, "Junior sister, you are so old."
Wang Suqing was just like him. He seemed to have a lot to say, but he couldn't utter a single word. Finally, he replied helplessly, "Brother, you are still the same as before."
After a hundred years, no matter how powerful a person is, he is no longer young.
Third Master Ying interrupted their reminiscing in a sarcastic tone, pointing the finger at Meng Bujiu: "Why did you leave without saying goodbye? What on earth happened?! Don't think that because the Alien Management Bureau is keeping it a secret, we don't know that you secretly adopted Zhao An's son! The Meng family's reputation for generations has been ruined in your hands!"
Meng Bujiu didn't react to this question, as if he had expected it. When he heard the second half of the sentence, he raised his eyes and asked himself, "Where is Chengyin now?"
Seeing Bai Jingze, Wang Suqing and the others all bowed their heads in silence, he understood and whispered, "So that's how it is."
"Brother, I don't understand," Wang Suqing sighed. "What is behind that door that would make you abandon your family, teachers, and friends, and leave without saying goodbye for hundreds of years? Is this really worth it?"
Meng Bujiu pondered in silence.
Wang Suqing asked, "Did you really kill the Song brothers who followed you back then?"
Meng Bujiu said frankly, "It's me."
"I still don't understand how someone who, out of a moment of compassion, could raise the son of his enemy would turn around and take the life of his fellow Taoist. Brother, I still don't understand."
Meng Bujiu was silent for a while, raised the sword in his hand, and said "sorry" to someone unknown. Then he suddenly turned sideways and threw out a sword energy, blocking Tianjiu.
His expression remained calm, as if he had no emotions at all: "I swore an oath not to let anyone pass through this door."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tianjiu flashed forward, holding a weapon condensed from spiritual energy in his palm, which clashed with Meng Bujiu's sword with a clanging sound.
The huge shock during the battle between the two almost knocked the bystanders over. Wang Suqing swept the whisk and deflected the impact, which hit the beam of the distant hall. In an instant, most of the wall collapsed again.
Tian Jiu stared at the person in front of him and suddenly said, "You already have the qualifications to enter this door, why are you still standing there?"
Meng Bujiu smiled, a hint of sarcasm on the corner of his lips: "You can be the mountain guardian ghosts, why can't I be the gatekeeper?"
The two exchanged several moves in a short time. Wang Suqing and his men watched from a distance, his expression growing increasingly serious. "Senior Brother's abilities have advanced even further than before. He has far surpassed our level and can be considered an 'Immortal'."
No, that's not right.
Tianjiu said that he had never gone in at all, and he could only be considered a half-immortal.
What does the so-called becoming an immortal mean?
Wang Suqing turned his gaze to Wang Fengxu, who was being held hostage by the three judges, and a vague guess gradually arose in his mind.
Tianjiu and Meng Bujiu fought fiercely. Finally, he raised his eyes and waved his hand to recall the distracted mind that remained above. Meng Bujiu blocked with his sword, but was still pushed into the rocks by the opponent's sudden surge of spiritual power.
After retracting his palm, Tian Jiu turned his gaze to Wang Suqing and others without saying a word. When he raised his hand again, the move was delayed and his arm was caught by something that fell suddenly.
Everyone looked closely and heard a slight gasp.
What completely blocked Tianxiao's attack was actually a shiny silver mop!
"Long Zhu!" Bai He also opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Tianjiu slowly narrowed his eyes and suddenly made a counterattack against the opponent, but the short-haired woman in front of him with messy hair and unkempt clothes keenly caught his trajectory and used a mop to unleash the power of Fang Tian Huaji, chopping, blocking, sweeping and slashing. Tianjiu didn't know whether his attention was diverted by the mop or he was thinking about something else, and he took a few steps back vaguely, with a confused expression.
"Why are you here?" He said in a familiar tone, "They asked you to come."
"How do you know?" Long Zhu asked him back.
Tian Jiu frowned, said "Ah" coldly, and concluded: "You must have forgotten everything, otherwise you would have come to me a long time ago."
Long Zhu's eyes widened. He pulled the dehydrated gear lever and "clamped" Tian Jiu's arm against the cliff next to him. He asked suspiciously, "Did you know I came to see you?"
Tianjiu didn't rush to resist, allowing Longzhu to hold him hostage. The only two eyes that were exposed actually looked somewhat innocent. He said calmly: "I guessed."
Long Zhu couldn't help but ask, "What will happen when the ninth person is found? What will happen when the new nine demons are gathered?"
Tianjiu looked at her and said, "You should help me because that's what you want."
After a moment of silence, Long Zhu understood the meaning of the other party's words: "Sure enough..."
Someone in the crowd couldn't stand it any longer. Third Master Ying shouted, "What does the ninth person mean? What does the new Nine Ghosts mean? Could they be immortals?"
"To become an immortal is to become Xiao." Ruan Mengxiu took over the conversation in a resounding voice, a look of relief on his face: "Xiao was once a cultivator who entered the immortal gate!"
There was an uproar all around. All those who came here were senior masters who were highly respected by Zhu Mengde. Now that the truth about the destination of the great road had been revealed, no one was willing to easily compare "Xiao" with "Xian" for a while.
"It doesn't matter if it's a Xiao or an immortal, it's just a name!" The corner of Master Ying San's eye twitched slightly, and he looked eagerly at the stone gate: "As long as you enter that door, the great way will be achieved! Isn't this the wish of everyone in the Xuanmen?"
"You despicable old thief, you instigated us to go up and explore the way. If you wanted to go, why didn't you go in by yourself?" Someone ruthlessly exposed his thoughts.
"Haha, I have already lost two servants, and I can't figure it out for the time being. Don't you all have unique skills? It's time to stop hiding!" Master Ying San sneered, turning a deaf ear to the sarcasm around him.
Tianjiu looked over Longzhu's shoulder and glanced at the three judges behind him. Diba understood and grabbed Wang Fengxu, as if ready to push him into the stone gate at any time.
Wang Suqing coldly threw away his whisk, and his white beard wrapped around Wang Fengxu's ankle, refusing to loosen even a little.
Just when the parties were about to reach a stalemate, another figure took the opportunity to emerge from the darkness and quickly headed towards the stone gate.
Meng Bujiu just happened to escape from the crack in the mountain wall. He staggered a few steps and saw the newcomer clearly. He flicked his wrist and pointed his sword at the man's back.
"You haven't given up yet..."
"Zhao Fu."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
