A Glimpse into the Hundred Faces (17)
"What are you doing here?" Qin Wenshuang turned around and looked at Yun Yanqiu with some surprise.
"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Yun Yanqiu exclaimed excitedly, "Master's wife, was that thunderbolt summoned by Master? What happened to Master?!"
Qin Wenshuang's expression was solemn as he stared at the dark clouds in the distance, his brows furrowed: "I don't know either, but I can't go back now."
"Why?"
"A sect of demonic cultivators is rampaging through the Northern Continent, slaughtering sword-wielding cultivators and turning them into puppet corpses for their own use. As you can see, I'm hunting down these villains." Qin Wen turned to the side, showing him the puppet corpses bound together. "These guys are utterly lawless, showing no regard for human life whatsoever!"
Her voice was filled with barely suppressed anger, and Yun Yanqiu's Adam's apple bobbed: "What about Master? What about Master...?"
Qin Wenshuang fell silent for once, her fingers turning white as she gripped the whip tightly, as if she were holding back her anger: "Your master's cultivation is enough to protect himself, and as for the heavenly lightning, I think he can distinguish between what is important and what is not. Compared to him, these people outside need my help more."
Yun Yanqiu was stunned, thinking that his master's wife was preoccupied with eliminating the demonic cultivators and had no time to care about his master. So he said solemnly, "Master's wife, those demonic cultivators came for me. I killed their leader's daughter, I..."
"Do you think I don't know?!" Qin Wenshuang interrupted loudly, "Revenge is just a pretext. Demonic cultivators have always acted alone. It's already suspicious that they've gathered together. Now they're indiscriminately killing innocent people, which is even more suspicious. I can't let them continue to run rampant like this!"
No sooner had they finished speaking than another clap of thunder roared down from the horizon. The two of them looked in the direction of the thunder and discovered that it was Xuanming Mountain.
Li Zhoubai, what are you thinking? Qin Wenshuang felt increasingly irritated. She gritted her teeth, pulled out a wooden hairpin from her hair, and stuffed it into Yun Yanqiu's hand: "Take this to him and tell him I'm fine."
"Master's wife, aren't you going back?"
"You go first, I'll be back later!"
Yun Yanqiu put away the hairpin, leaped back onto his horse, and kicked off towards Xuanming Mountain.
Inside Xuanming Mountain, Li Zhoubai's expression was icy. Several sharp swords formed from spiritual energy were simultaneously drawn towards the red-clad man before him. The man had an androgynous face, and despite the sword tips pointing at his brow, he showed no fear. Instead, a sinister smile crept onto his lips: "Brother Bai, why get so worked up? You're at a crucial time for your breakthrough; you can't waste your spiritual energy on me!"
"Enough!" Li Zhoubai roared, his spirit sword trembling. "Lu Jiuzhong, if you try any more tricks to lure me away from the mountain, I'll make sure your head rolls!"
"Oh, what are you saying?" Lu Jiuzhong teased. "Before my Yin'er was killed by your disciple, wasn't he threatened like this by him?" Seeing that Li Zhoubai remained silent, he feigned pitifulness and said, "Brother Bai, I know you look down on my cultivation of demonic arts. But how many people in the world can be like you, without any support, cultivating to such a level on their own?"
"The path of demonic cultivation has always been despised by prestigious families. My precious child had finally reached the Foundation Establishment stage and had just gained some ability to protect himself when he was killed by your disciple." Lu Jiu's face suddenly turned cold as he brought up the matter. "Given your self-centered nature, you would never have taught such a disciple. It must have been your good wife from the Yanqing Sect who taught him, right?"
Li Zhoubai held up his sword, his brows furrowed in a cold and stern expression: "What exactly do you want to say?"
"Didn't I already say? Hand over your disciple and I'll do whatever I want with him." Lu Jiu finally spread his hands out to him, as if inviting him, "As long as you hand over your disciple to me, I will not investigate your wife's massacre of my followers outside."
Li Zhoubai's face turned cold. He immediately raised his hand, and the spiritual swords surrounding Lu Jiuzhong instantly pierced the arrogant demonic cultivator, turning him into a sieve. Lu Jiuzhong had expected this. Instead of being surprised, he laughed. His body turned to ashes and dissipated like smoke, but his sinister laughter lingered in the air like a ghost: "Alright, no rush, we have plenty of time in the future."
Li Zhoubai stared silently at the spot where he had vanished. After a long while, he waved the spirit sword in his hand, looked up at the entrance to the mountain not far away, and widened his eyes in surprise: "Xiao Yan?"
"Master!" Yun Yanqiu rushed towards him in a hurry, with the round blue and white sparrow flying beside her.
Li Zhoubai could hardly believe his eyes. He looked at his disciple, whose clothes were stained with blood, with a mixture of confusion and worry: "What are you doing here? Who hurt you like this?"
"Master, those people outside are looking for me! I killed their men!" Yun Yanqiu was extremely agitated. He was panting heavily, his hair and clothes were disheveled by the strong wind, but his eyes were fixed on Li Zhoubai. "Master's wife is being targeted by them, all because of me...!"
"Don't panic, tell me slowly." Facing his apprentice, Li Zhoubai patiently reassured him, "Have you seen Wen Shuang?"
"Yes." Yun Yanqiu nodded heavily and took out the wooden hairpin from his pocket. "This is what my master's wife asked me to give you."
Li Zhoubai took the hairpin and ran his fingertips over the familiar yet unfamiliar patterns on it, momentarily taken aback.
"Master, what's wrong?" Yun Yanqiu couldn't help but ask.
"It's nothing." Li Zhoubai's eyes darted away. He put away the hairpin and turned to Yun Yanqiu, saying, "You've worked hard. Go and take care of your injury first. I need to trouble you to do something for me later."
"What's up?"
"Protect me, don't let the lightning tribulation spread."
Li Zhoubai was preparing to undergo his tribulation. If all went smoothly, he would be able to join the ranks of the Nascent Soul Realm, truly standing shoulder to shoulder with the powerful figures behind those aristocratic families and sects. This tribulation was of paramount importance, and its difficulty was self-evident. Yun Yanqiu agreed without hesitation.
The master and disciple arrived at a desolate cliff. Dark clouds were close at hand, brewing a muffled rumble of thunder. Lightning flashed among the clouds, appearing and disappearing intermittently. Li Zhoubai sat cross-legged on the edge of the cliff, his plain white Taoist robe fluttering in the strong wind, a perfectly still sword formation forming around him.
Yun Yanqiu stood three zhang away, sword in hand, its blade tracing a bright arc in the lightning. His left knee was slightly bent, his right foot sinking into the mud. When the first bolt of lightning struck, the shockwave ruffled his long, tied-up hair, and black hair mixed with fine blood foam in the air smeared his cheeks, yet he didn't even blink.
Thunderbolts rained down like a waterfall, one after another. Thirty-five, thirty-six… Yun Yanqiu silently counted the lightning tribulations, while Li Zhoubai manipulated the sword formation, constantly changing it, sometimes like a dense net tightening, sometimes like flowing clouds spreading out, forcefully building a barrier for Li Zhoubai. But the power of the lightning tribulations did not diminish but increased, and spiderweb-like cracks on the sword formation were spreading at a visible speed.
Yun Yanqiu's sword-wielding hand was a bloody mess; the talisman his master had given him burned to its last wisp of smoke in his palm. He abruptly plunged the longsword into the crack in the ground, blood seeping from between his teeth staining his lips. Just as his legs trembled, a bluish-white shadow suddenly darted out from his clothes—
"Yingying!"
The round, white sparrow spread its wings amidst the lightning, its body shimmering with a luminous glow. It was several times larger than usual, like a small shield protecting Yun Yanqiu. This little creature had somehow accumulated such profound spiritual power, managing to withstand the fierce attack for him.
The man and the bird thus witnessed the wind and thunder gradually subside and the dark clouds disperse. The blue-white sparrow fluttered back to its original form, then wobbled back onto Yun Yanqiu's shoulder. Its feathers were scorched in several places by the splashing lightning, yet it still affectionately nuzzled his cheek. Yun Yanqiu looked up, and a ray of golden light shone down from the horizon, illuminating Li Zhoubai and even making the cracks in the sword formation appear radiant.
Just as Yun Yanqiu was about to step forward to offer her congratulations, she noticed that Li Zhoubai swayed and fell to the ground.
"Master!" He rushed forward to help the man up, then noticed the blood trickling from his master's mouth. "Master, you're injured!"
Li Zhoubai coughed violently twice, then casually wiped away the blood: "It's alright, it's finally done."
He slowly straightened up, summoning several spirit swords from his palm. Before the swords could even solidify, he swung them all, hurling them towards several mountain peaks opposite the cliff. With several loud thuds, the smoke from those mountain peaks dissipated, and the once sharp summits were instantly leveled.
Such power is truly extraordinary. While Yun Yanqiu was still stunned, Li Zhoubai flicked his sleeves and said calmly, "It's time to go see the guests."
"Guests?" Yun Yanqiu asked, puzzled. "Master, where did these guests come from?"
"Witchman Valley."
The Valley of the Witches? At this time? Yun Yanqiu was even more confused: "Master, what about Master's wife...?"
“Don’t worry, those guys outside won’t bother her for a while,” Li Zhoubai said confidently, but Yun Yanqiu was still confused. Seeing this, he didn’t explain further, but just told Yun Yanqiu to follow him.
When the two returned to their residence, Yun Yanqiu found a blindfolded woman sitting there. As if sensing something, she turned to look at them and said with a smirk, "The busy man has finally found some free time. I almost thought I would be implicated by you and die under the lightning tribulation."
The woman crossed her legs as she spoke, leisurely teasing Li Zhoubai: "But why does it smell of blood? I'll slash you a couple more times later, you won't kick the bucket, will you?"
Upon hearing that a knife was to be drawn, Yun Yanqiu instantly lost his composure. He was about to draw his sword and step forward when Li Zhoubai pressed down on his shoulder: "Master, what are you going to do?"
Li Zhoubai's expression was serious. He pushed the man behind him and walked up to the blindfolded woman. "Don't worry, this little injury won't kill you. Do you still stand by what you said before?"
"Of course, do you think everyone in Witchman Valley is some third-rate swindler?" Facing the pressure of the Nascent Soul Realm expert, the woman remained calm. "This is a deal. I've staked my daughter's life on it. There's no way I'll fail."
Li Zhoubai paused briefly, then said "Okay." He turned to look at Yun Yanqiu, his expression gentle, and whispered, "Little Yan, Master has found a way to leave the mountain. Go back and rest first, and I'll come find you when it's finished."
"Let's go down the mountain together and find your master's wife, okay?"
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting a soft white glow on Li Zhoubai. Yun Yanqiu looked into his master's eyes, and an indescribable power within them made him nod involuntarily.
He didn't know what Li Zhoubai's method of leaving the mountain had to do with the woman's threat to harm his master. But he did know that after that day, his master had been in seclusion alone for a long time and hadn't emerged.
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