https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-560-The-Eternal-Primordial-Flame/12542614/
Chapter 559: Master's Sect
Chapter 559: Master's Sect
Guidao's expression remained as indifferent as ever.
He looked at Mr. Zhuang, his centuries-old junior disciple, his black pupils revealing a hint of wariness and solemnity. But soon, his gaze turned vacant once more.
There was nothing here.
No schemes, no murderous intent.
And this junior disciple, worn out and on the brink of death, was a far cry from the arrogant and untamable genius he remembered.
A surge of inexplicable anger rose within Guidao, and his voice carried a chilling frost:
"Where is your Heaven's Secret Art of Divination?"
"What of your Immortal Celestial Array Path?"
"And what of your cultivation, skills, means, and schemes?"
Mr. Zhuang offered a bitter smile. "At the end of my rope and powerless to change my fate, why bother expending any more energy..."
Intense emotions stirred in Guidao's eyes. "So, you plan to just wait for death here?"
Mr. Zhuang fell silent for a moment before heaving a soft sigh. "All beings are born, and all beings will die..."
"In life, we think we can overcome the heavens, but in death, we realize our powerlessness against fate..."
"...I am no different, senior brother," he added.
Guidao's black pupils reflected a rage born of disappointment. "Even in death, you could have held on longer. Your Heaven's Secret Art of Divination couldn't possibly fail to calculate even a glimmer of hope."
"And what if I did calculate it?" Mr. Zhuang countered.
Guidao was taken aback.
Mr. Zhuang smiled faintly, his tone revealing deep exhaustion, and his breath was exceedingly weak. "It would only be a matter of dying sooner or later..."
"The Great Dao has fifty levels, and Heaven's Evolution has forty-nine..."
"I am the forty-ninth patriarch. The Heavenly Dao is absolute, and with the sect's end, so too does my life."
"No matter how I calculate, the outcome is the same."
"Heaven's Secret Art of Divination is the inevitable truth, unchangeable..."
Guidao's expression grew increasingly stern, but after a moment, all emotion faded, and he returned to his indifferent demeanor.
In a calm tone, Guidao said, "Very well, then I shall grant your wish."
Guidao's pale right hand clenched, and a simple and ancient longsword appeared out of thin air. The sword's body was of ancient bronze, adorned with mottled and abstruse patterns that alternated between solid and void.
"The Sumeru Sword..." Mr. Zhuang murmured, his face reflecting nostalgia and acceptance of his impending death.
Just then, the nearby array patterns trembled, and the barrier shattered. Bai Qingcheng, who had been concealing herself with the Brocade Mountains and Rivers Parasol, revealed her presence.
She saw Mr. Zhuang, his face as white as paper, resigned to his fate.
And she saw Guidao, his face filled with murderous intent, brandishing a longsword.
Bai Qingcheng's heart skipped a beat as she called out, "Senior Brother!"
Guidao's sword tip hovered before Mr. Zhuang, and he turned his head to glance at Bai Qingcheng, his eyes cold and enigmatic. "Our master is dead, and the sect has fallen."
"I am no longer your senior brother, and you are no longer my junior sister..."
Bai Qingcheng's heart twisted with bitterness. "Please, Senior Brother, show mercy..."
The coldness in Guidao's expression gradually faded, and a mocking smile appeared on his enigmatic face.
This smile was extremely odd, as if it had been plucked from the faces of numerous people and stitched together.
Guidao's voice also became chaotic, as if countless people were sneering and speaking in unison.
"Show mercy..."
"At this point, what's the use of talking about showing mercy?"
Guidao's gaze remained fixed on Bai Qingcheng as he said, "If I don't kill him, how can I obtain the Ruins Map?"
"If you don't retrieve the Ruins Map, how can your Bai family obtain this map? And without this map, how can you find the Burial Ground of the Heavens?"
"Before you came here, didn't the elders of your Bai family ask you to 'stand by and watch'?"
"They don't want you to interfere. They are content to let things unfold."
"They also want me to kill my junior disciple!"
"And what about you?"
"You keep pleading for mercy, but what are your true intentions?"
"Aren't you also calculating against him?"
"You want to obtain the inheritance of the Innate Array Path from him, and you want to steal the secrets of the Burial of the Heavens for your own gain, to bring glory to the Bai family and pave the path to immortality for your children with dual celestial roots."
"You call him senior brother, but have you ever truly regarded him as such in your heart?"
Bai Qingcheng's face paled, and she wanted to say, "No, that's not true..." But when she opened her mouth, the words wouldn't come out, and a deep sense of guilt welled up within her.
Guidao glanced at Mr. Zhuang once more, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "I've pursued you for centuries..."
"This junior sister of yours, whom you treated as a beloved younger sister, has schemed against you her entire life..."
"You've taken in countless disciples, each one a pride of the heavens, yet in the end, they all betrayed and abandoned you, not one willing to stay by your side..."
"The Dao Court wants to kill you and extract your Dao bones."
"The Demon Sect wants to kill you and seize your Dao map."
"And what of your revered master..."
A cold smile played on Guidao's lips. "How did your qi sea shatter? And how did your consciousness sea dry up?"
"Who could have plotted such a heaven-shrouding conspiracy against you?"
"It was... Master..."
Bai Qingcheng's pupils shook with shock, and her face reflected her disbelief. She had never heard of such a thing.
Guidao's gaze turned sharp as he continued, "It was Master who used you! From the very beginning, from the moment he accepted you as his disciple, it was all part of his scheme."
"Master... following the sect's legacy, had been searching for a person with a natural Dao bone from the start!"
"He searched his entire life and finally found you.
"The secret of the Burial Ground of the Heavens is hidden within a drop of the 'Heavenly Man's Blood,' which has been passed down since ancient times, tens of thousands of years ago."
"This drop of blood is eternal and indestructible."
"Thus, it must contain the opportunity to ascend to immortality."
"For countless years, no one has been able to unravel the mysteries of this drop of blood."
"But, our master... he figured it out," Guidao said, his expression turning solemn, and his eyes flickering with emotion.
"This drop of Heavenly Man's Blood is imperishable and impenetrable, containing profound mysteries that cannot be comprehended. The only option is to infuse it into a person's bloodline and incubate it..."
"And the one qualified to merge with this Heavenly Man's Blood is none other than someone with exceptional talent and an innate Dao bone..."
Guidao looked at Mr. Zhuang, his voice calm as he said, "In other words, you, junior disciple..."
"From the very beginning, our master never saw you as a disciple, nor even as a 'human'..."
"In his eyes, you were merely a pawn in the heavenly scheme, a tool to incubate the Heavenly Man's Blood and unravel the secrets of the Burial Ground of the Heavens."
"Do you know how this Heavenly Man's Blood is incubated?"
"Yes, you know..." Guidao's eyes held a mocking glint. "Even if you didn't know before, you should know now..."
"The master imparted the sect's legacy to you, making you an unparalleled cultivation genius. But it was all a scheme to kill you once your cultivation reached its peak!"
"First, he shattered your Qi Sea, causing your cultivation to dissipate."
"Then, he shattered your Consciousness Sea, severely damaging your divine sense."
"Usually, when a cultivator's Qi Sea or Consciousness Sea is shattered, they would perish. But not you, because you possess an innate Dao bone and carry the Heavenly Man's Blood."
"After your Qi Sea and Consciousness Sea were destroyed, your innate Dao bone became your new source of life force, sustaining you."
"This is a case of 'forcing growth before its time'..."
"By depriving the innate Dao bone of the support of the Qi Sea and Consciousness Sea, it rapidly absorbs the Heavenly Man's Blood, leading to excessive growth and accelerating the fusion of the Dao bone with the Heavenly Blood."
"Once the fusion is complete, the Heavenly Man's Blood will be refined."
"And on your Dao bone will appear the secrets hidden within the Heavenly Man's Blood—the secrets of the heavens—which is none other than the Burial Ground of the Heavens map!"
"At that moment, they will kill you..."
"...and take your Dao bone..."
"...thus obtaining the complete Burial Ground of the Heavens map, imbued with ancient opportunities."
Bai Qingcheng's face turned paler and paler as she listened.
She had never imagined that her kind and affectionate master had such deep and venomous schemes.
The master had taken in Zhuang as a disciple and treated him like a son, but his true intentions were akin to a "tiger devouring its own cub."
And in her eyes, Zhuang, a talent unmatched in the world, was merely a "tool" used by the master.
Guidao looked at Mr. Zhuang, his tone carrying a mix of sadness and mockery. "You are a master of heavenly schemes, and in this lifetime, no one could outwit you. But from birth to death, every moment of your life, you were being manipulated by others..."
"They revered you, they feared you, but no one truly cared for you."
"Whether it was the Dao Court or the Demon Sect, everyone wanted you dead!"
"They wanted to kill you, rip open your heart, dismantle your Dao bone, and uncover the opportunities hidden within you!"
Mr. Zhuang's face held a hint of desolation, but he mostly looked resigned.
"Yes..."
He glanced at Guidao once more, as if searching for a trace of the gentle and elegant senior brother he once knew in his sinister countenance.
But he couldn't find it...
He had gradually forgotten what his senior brother used to look like.
Mr. Zhuang sighed softly, a hint of regret in his eyes.
Guidao's gaze at Mr. Zhuang was filled with indescribable anger and disappointment!
Despite all that had been said, he still appeared indifferent, unmoved by life and death.
The myriad of faces on Guidao's countenance converged into one, and his expression became cold and merciless.
Guidao raised the Sumeru Sword, pointing it at Mr. Zhuang.
"Senior Brother, stop!" Bai Qingcheng cried out in alarm, her face draining of color.
She tried to step forward, but Guidao restrained her with his array, binding her with the intricate patterns.
Bai Qingcheng's eyes narrowed as she summoned the Brocade Mountains and Rivers Parasol, causing radiant brocade lights to swirl around her. But these lights were negated one by one by the bizarre array patterns.
Without the use of her Feather Transformation Power, she couldn't break free.
Bitterness filled Bai Qingcheng's heart.
In terms of cultivation, divine sense, arrays, and even divine consciousness algorithms, she was no match for her former senior brother, now known as Guidao.
She could only watch helplessly.
She watched as Guidao's Sumeru Sword pierced Mr. Zhuang's chest, slicing open his heart meridian and extracting a section of the crystalline "Innate Dao Bone" that sustained his depleted Consciousness Sea and shattered Qi Sea.
Not a single drop of blood flowed.
All the blood had been eradicated by the aura of the Sumeru Sword.
The Dao bone was translucent and crystalline.
It seemed to bear incredibly complex, vast, ancient, and profound patterns, naturally formed and fused with blood and bone, imprinted on this "Innate Dao Bone."
This diagram resembled an array.
It was the Burial Ground of the Heavens map that cultivators and powerful beings had longed for!
The moment the Innate Dao Bone was taken from him, Mr. Zhuang's life force began to wane.
Guidao stared at Mr. Zhuang, his mind in a daze.
He knew that this moment would come sooner or later.
But he still seemed unprepared for the fact that it had actually arrived...
He had killed his junior disciple with his own hands...
Mr. Zhuang's aura was already faint, but he still clung to a faint breath, as if he still had some lingering attachments.
However, he didn't seem too concerned about the Heaven's Man's Blood, the Innate Dao Bone, or the Burial Ground of the Heavens map.
"Senior brother..."
Mr. Zhuang murmured softly, "Out of respect for our bond as master and disciple, please spare my few disciples..."
Guidao's expression was dazed, then turned cold again, as if he was about to sneer and mock.
Just then, several golden shackles appeared in the air.
These shackles bore the manifestation of grand and crude array patterns. As soon as they appeared, they formed a cage, seemingly intending to lock up Guidao.
Guidao scoffed, "Old fool, trying to reap the benefits without lifting a finger!"
He focused his gaze, directly swallowing the Innate Dao Bone, and then his entire body was covered in black-gray array patterns. These patterns, starting from the outside and moving inwards, devoured and dissolved his physical body...
And Guidao's figure gradually faded and dissipated...
In the void, a deep and majestic voice resounded:
"Heavenly Scheme Escape... Do you think you can run away?"
The golden light in the air intensified, and the chains layered on top of each other.
However, they seemed unable to stop Guidao's escape technique.
His body slowly vanished, bit by bit, and before he left, he glanced at Mr. Zhuang one last time.
That glance was extremely complex, tinged with some pain, and finally, only determination remained.
Then, Guidao disappeared.
A cold snort echoed in the air, followed by the disappearance of the golden light, as if an unknown powerful being had followed the trail of Guidao's calculations and left in pursuit...
In the Array Pavilion, only Mr. Zhuang remained.
Having lost the Burial Ground of the Heavens map and on the brink of death, no one cared about Mr. Zhuang anymore...
No one cared about his life or death.
Bai Qingcheng walked forward and helped Mr. Zhuang up, but she felt that his body was lighter than willow cotton and thinner than paper, which made her heart tremble.
"Senior brother..."
Mr. Zhuang slowly opened his eyes and looked at Bai Qingcheng. His gaze was gentle, and he smiled faintly, but he didn't speak.
Perhaps he didn't have enough energy left to support him in speaking.
Bai Qingcheng's expression was anxious. "Senior brother, you can't die!"
After a long while, Mr. Zhuang finally spoke, his voice soft and weary:
"I've calculated my entire life, and I'm tired. I just want to rest for a while..."
Bai Qingcheng's heart ached. "Senior brother, you can't die! Isn't there anything you want to do in this world, anyone you want to see?"
Mr. Zhuang hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and murmuring:
"No, there's no one left in this world that I want to see..."
After he finished speaking, Mr. Zhuang slowly closed his eyes. No matter how Bai Qingcheng called out to him, there was no response.
The last bit of color drained from his face, and the faint glimmer of life slowly dried up, like a spring flowing into the desert, gradually disappearing...
Bai Qingcheng looked at Mr. Zhuang, her face filled with bewilderment.
She had never imagined that she would witness this scene.
That she would see her senior brother die before her very eyes.
That was Master Zhuang...
A talent unparalleled in the world, a man of extraordinary beauty, a man who was unmatched.
No matter what happened, he always had a plan. No matter what mistakes she made, he would always forgive her. No matter what she wanted, he would always find a way to make it happen.
The senior brother was right.
She had been scheming against her senior brother as well.
But...
She always thought that no matter how she schemed, her senior brother would still be her senior brother, the one who was adept at heavenly calculations and always had everything under control.
Not someone who was now devoid of blood and life, like the man before her.
"Is senior brother... going to die?"
A tremendous sense of dread spread throughout her body.
Bai Qingcheng trembled.
Death was inevitable for all.
But after living for hundreds of years, she had never realized or even thought that there would come a day when her senior brother, who had always treated her like a beloved younger sister and taken care of her, would... die?
She felt her chest tighten, and her heart twisted in agony.
Two streams of tears silently flowed down her cheeks.
Bai Qingcheng wiped her face and looked at the tears on her fingertips, murmuring, "So, I can still cry..."
Death...
Bai Qingcheng was suddenly startled.
"No, he can't die!"
"Senior brother... he can't die!"
Master is dead...
The senior brother has fallen into madness...
If the senior brother dies as well, then all the people in this world who once cherished me will be gone...
"Senior brother can't die!"
"But... how can I save him? What can I use to save him?!"
With his Qi Sea shattered, his Consciousness Sea dried up, his Dao bone stripped, and his vitality dissipated, no pill could save him in this situation...
Bai Qingcheng felt suffocated, clutching her chest and enduring the pain as her mind raced.
After a moment, a spark of inspiration flashed in her eyes, and she suddenly realized, "Stellar True Man... the Cosmos Pure Light Lantern..."
There will be another chapter later, but it will be a bit later.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
