"Stop right there!"

This Qi Sea Realm mid-stage cultivator, addressed as Senior Brother Tian, shouted loudly at the departing figure in the tattered gray daoist robes.

But he received no response whatsoever. The figure merely continued walking into the distance as if no one had spoken.

"I said stop!"

Seeing this, Senior Brother Tian shouted again, but was still met with complete disregard.

This Qi Sea Realm mid-stage cultivator began to grow irritated. He tossed aside the torch in his hand, his toes tapping the ground in rapid succession, and within just two breaths he had flown forward dozens of feet. Then he launched into the air, soaring swiftly to position himself directly in front of the figure in the tattered gray daoist robes, blocking his path while drawing the sword at his waist:

"Stop! Who are you? Don't you know that the ruins of South Yu Lake are a forbidden zone of Du Cang Mountain?"

Senior Brother Tian barked this loudly. At the same time, the other young cultivators all hurried forward, surrounding the ugly, degenerate-looking figure in the ragged gray daoist robes, whose hair was sparse and disheveled.

The torches in everyone's hands illuminated the face of the "cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes who stood surrounded in their midst.

Withered. Sallow. Eyes utterly devoid of life.

Like a dead fish.

This blocked "cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes finally came to a halt. His dead-fish eyes swept once over the young Guardians of the Dao from Du Cang Mountain before him, then he resumed walking, attempting to brush past these cultivators who had barred his way.

The result was predictable. He was stopped once again.

"Why must you?"

His hoarse voice finally sounded:

"Why must you go to such lengths, making things so difficult for a mere passerby?"

"A passerby on what road?"

The Qi Sea Realm early-stage female cultivator to the side spoke up, interrogating this "cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes:

"This is South Yu Lake, a forbidden zone of Du Cang Mountain. Under the current circumstances, what kind of person would be passing through here?"

"Then what do you all want?"

The hoarse voice continued.

"Hmph. I say this fellow must be one of the outer ways!"

As she spoke, the Qi Sea Realm early-stage female cultivator's voice grew louder and louder. She then stepped forward and slammed a palm strike toward the "cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes.

Bang!

Her palm landed squarely on the figure in the tattered gray daoist robes. Immediately after, this Qi Sea Realm early-stage female cultivator's face began to rapidly turn pale.

The true qi that seeped from her palm had not harmed the "cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes in the slightest. Instead, it caused her wrist to twist at a grotesquely exaggerated angle.

As a Guardian of the Dao of Du Cang Mountain, although her current cultivation realm was only Qi Sea Realm early-stage, her strength and ability still ranked within the top hundred among all Qi Sea Realm cultivators on Chenping Continent.

Otherwise, she could never have obtained the opportunity to cultivate on Du Cang Mountain.

Yet even someone like her, when striking a palm at this "outer way," had nearly crippled her entire right hand.

This could only mean one thing.

The outer way's cultivation realm was above Qi Sea Realm.

The Qi Sea Realm mid-stage Senior Brother Tian, regarded by the group as their leader, had clearly also realized this. Amidst his shock, a flicker of the urge to retreat crossed his mind.

Why would an outer way cultivator of Spirit Connection Realm appear in the forbidden zone of Du Cang Mountain?

If that were the case, he probably truly could not stop this man...

Just then, the "outer way cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes shifted his gaze toward this Qi Sea Realm mid-stage cultivator who led the group.

Senior Brother Tian's breath caught for half a beat. As if by reflex, he swung a sword strike toward the "outer way cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes. Tremendous sword qi erupted along the long sword in his hand.

And the "outer way cultivator" in the tattered gray daoist robes simply unhurriedly raised the scabbard of the black long sword hanging at his waist, holding it against the sword qi that the Qi Sea Realm mid-stage cultivator had slashed toward him.

With his physical body's toughness, even taking that slash head-on would certainly have left him completely unharmed.

A single sword strike from a Qi Sea Realm mid-stage cultivator could not even scratch the surface of his Protective True Qi.

Raising the sword in his hand to block that blow was purely an instinctive reaction.

"May I leave now?"

Amid the wails of the female cultivator over her broken wrist, and the tension and panic of the other young cultivators, the hoarse voice sounded once more.

"..."

The Qi Sea Realm mid-stage disciple who led the group could no longer summon the courage to stop the other party.

And just as the figure of this cultivator in the tattered gray daoist robes, regarded as an "outer way cultivator," was about to step forward once more, a voice he knew all too well suddenly came from behind him:

"Just returned, and already planning to leave, Senior Li?"

Li Haowen paused his steps. He slowly turned around to look at the figure of the young woman in Xuan Sheng Sect daoist robes who had appeared behind him at some unknown point.

He Qingling.

"Disciple Tian Baowen pays respects to Elder He!"

The Qi Sea Realm mid-stage cultivator at the group's head, addressed as Senior Brother Tian, caught sight of the young woman in Xuan Sheng Sect daoist robes. A flicker of joy passed through his eyes, and he felt somewhat reassured.

If there was an upper three realm cultivator from Du Cang Mountain present to hold the fort...

Wait. Senior Li?

Tian Baowen, suddenly coming back to his senses, wore a slightly dumbfounded expression. He truly could not imagine who Elder He would address as "Senior Li."

Li Haowen. To the present-day cultivation world of Chenping Continent, those three words belonged to a figure from over a hundred years ago.

The so-called "Li Dog," "Li Godslayer," were remembered only by those cultivators who had been active in the same era as him.

Li Haowen's various deeds were not enough to make later generations of cultivators engrave him in their hearts.

Or rather, Li Haowen had been completely forgotten by time.

Except for many Yuanhua Mountain disciples of Kongshan Sect who still remembered this person. After all, Yuanhua Mountain's two peak swords had also vanished along with Li Haowen's disappearance.

"For a great power of the Unity realm to call me 'Senior' is perhaps far too much for this Li."

Li Haowen's hoarse voice sounded as he continued speaking.

He Qingling did not speak. She merely watched quietly as this man before her, who had been tormented to the point of being barely recognizable, with sparse hair and ragged clothes, only the one black and one white long sword at his waist still shining brightly, the former Offering Elder of Kongshan Sect.

Tragedy.

From Li Haowen, standing before her in tattered gray daoist robes, the only thing He Qingling could see was those two words.

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