Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Inside the secret chamber, the Yin-Yang Candles in the array suddenly went out as Ren Fengjue coughed up blood and collapsed.
Master Tianji watched it all with cold eyes, a faint sneer rising to his lips.
“Junior Brother, fifteen years ago, you went to such pains to save this child. Did you think you could protect him for the rest of his life this way?”
“Heaven’s will cannot be defied. Not even you can stand against it.”
Yan Zhengchu heard every word from where he lay, and a storm raged in his heart.
All his guesses and suspicions tumbled inside him, impossible to voice and impossible to swallow.
So Master had known everything.
He suddenly remembered the day he descended the mountain. His master had summoned him to his room early that morning and told him that a ghost had stolen twelve Soul-Nurturing Pearls, ordering him to recover them at once.
Before Yan Zhengchu left, his master had deliberately warned him, “I know that all these years, you have never been able to let go of what happened to your Martial Uncle Ren.”
“During this journey down the mountain, I forbid you to go to Renxuan Marquis Manor. Nor may you ask anyone of the Ren Family about your Martial Uncle Ren.”
Now that he thought back on it, realization struck, and cold sweat broke out across his back.
His master understood his nature too well. Once Little Martial Uncle was involved, how could he possibly stand aside?
That warning had therefore amounted to telling him in a roundabout way that he might have to question the Ren Family about his martial uncle.
Rather than a journey to find the pearls, his descent from the mountain had been his entrance into a game of strategy.
A game in which the Soul-Nurturing Pearls were merely the lure.
His master had set the pieces on the board. Yan Zhengchu was only one pawn among them.
Countless accusations surged toward his lips, yet he could not utter a single word.
His eyes reddened. Rage attacked his heart, and the metallic taste of blood suddenly filled his throat.
Master, why would you do this?
You were the master I respected above all others.
I trusted you so completely. How could you use me this way?
In all his twenty-three years, Yan Zhengchu had never known such despair.
He lay sprawled on the icy floor, his body cold and his heart colder still.
On the other side of the room, the immortal-looking, white-haired Master Tianji had lost all his usual benevolence. Arrogant satisfaction covered his face instead.
He suddenly called in a low voice, “Bai He.”
Bai He, who stood nearby awaiting orders, immediately stepped forward. “Master.”
Master Tianji ordered coldly, “Go over there now and use the method I taught you to remove the thing inside him.”
“Yes.”
As Bai He answered, a gleam of wild delight flashed through his eyes.
He eagerly put away his Jade Sword and moved closer to the array.
Then he raised his right hand, sharpened his gaze, and traced a spell in the air.
But just as he reached toward Ren Fengjue, a blinding white light suddenly burst forth and hurled him out of the array.
Master Tianji started slightly.
Ren Fengjue, lying on the floor, suddenly moved his fingers. The next instant, he slowly opened his eyes.
Then he sat up at an unhurried pace, stretched languidly, and smiled faintly at Master Tianji beyond the array.
“Senior Brother. I trust you have been well.”
Master Tianji froze and involuntarily stepped back, seemingly unable to believe his eyes. “You… are Ren Yao?”
Yan Zhengchu, still sprawled on the floor, was instantly both shocked and overjoyed. Had the spell not restrained his body, he might have leaped to his feet.
“Ren Yao” leaned slightly forward, resting his chin lightly on one hand in a casual, relaxed pose.
He looked around and sighed. “We have been apart for fifteen years, Senior Brother, and you… have grown this old?”
Master Tianji’s face twitched faintly. He said with a sneer, “The living naturally grow old.”
“That cannot be right, can it?”
“Ren Yao” feigned doubt. “I remember that you secretly cultivated an evil art back then, borrowing lives to preserve your youth and gain immortality.”
“Even Senior Brother Tianwen, who spent his life pursuing immortality, could not compare to you.”
As he spoke, he casually flicked the hand propping up his chin and sent out a talisman of light.
“Well? Will you not show your true face and let your junior brother have a good look?”
Master Tianji immediately swept out his sleeve. Though he blocked the spell in time, its light still shone across his face and formed a crack.
Like a tongue of fire touching tinder, the crack swiftly spread across his face.
In moments, the false mask was completely “burned” away.
When Master Tianji lowered his sleeve again, he revealed a handsome face as young and flawless as carved jade.
Bai He was stunned. Yan Zhengchu was even more shocked.
“Ren Yao” studied the face and clicked his tongue. “Back then, you knew Senior Brother Tianwen was obsessed with this path, so you deliberately leaked the cultivation method for the evil art to him.”
“Of course, you were not kind enough to let him truly master it. So you replaced ‘borrowing the years of the living’ with ‘borrowing the years of the dead.'”
“Senior Brother Tianwen was expelled by Master because, during the Yin-Yang Fiend in Shangjing fifty years ago, he borrowed the years of those ghosts, and you informed on him.”
“Poor Senior Brother Tianwen. Even now, he never learned that his supposedly ‘mediocre’ junior brother was the one who ruined him.”
At those words, the expressions of both Bai He and Yan Zhengchu changed, while Master Tianji’s entire face grew darker still.
But then he merely gave a cold, sinister smile. “Master has been dead for more than ten years, and Tianwen has turned to ash. It is rather late to speak of this now.”
“And you are nothing but a wisp of a remnant soul. Do you truly intend to fight me?”
“Ren Yao” raised a brow and pretended to be troubled. “You are quite right, Senior Brother. This is indeed difficult.”
“However, your junior brother has always been exceptionally clever. I calculated fifteen years ago that this day would come.”
Watching Master Tianji’s expression, he continued, “I know you secretly overheard the conversation between Master and me that night.”
Master Tianji’s heart sank, and his eyes grew even gloomier.
He suddenly remembered the meaningful look his master had given him before his death, and those words filled with hidden significance.
“Qingyan, the person I still cannot stop worrying about… is you.”
Could he have known even then?
“Ren Yao” continued, “Master knew long ago that your heart was corrupt. Everything he said that night was deliberately meant for you to hear.”
“…”
Master Tianji’s face instantly went deathly pale.
A guest had come to Mount Yunhe that night. After his master emerged from seclusion, he refused to meet the visitor and summoned only Ren Yao.
Knowing that his master’s end was near, he feared that his extraordinarily gifted junior brother might pass over him and inherit the position of sect leader.
Thus, he used a concealment talisman and secretly hid outside the window of his master’s Daoist chamber.
There, he heard…
His master teach Ren Yao a secret art, claiming that while it could help a Daoist improve his cultivation, it was not a righteous method.
To prevent someone with corrupt intentions from using the art to seize another’s cultivation, his master instructed Ren Yao not to tell anyone about it.
To save his nephew, Ren Yao had to draw out his own soul and use the art to condense a lifetime of cultivation, transforming his soul into a Soul Essence that would fill the missing po soul.
That would ensure the child remained impervious to all evil from then on.