Chapter 132#

The Disciple’s Rebirth and Revenge#

When the Sect Master rushed to the location of the array, all he saw was the devastation left after a great battle.

The dense demonic energy lingering in the air alone made him frown, not to mention the sword marks on the ground. The Sect Master could even imagine the scene at the time—this master and disciple truly fought each other fiercely!

“Xiao Nian, oh Xiao Nian…”

He stood in midair, sighing for a long time, not knowing what to say.

After all, Xiao Nian was thinking for the Cloudsoaring Sect and the people of the world. Even if his methods were a bit aggressive and cruel to Lin Xiaodong, from his standpoint, it was naturally not appropriate to criticize him.

But now that the fight was over, where were these two?

Who won?

The Sect Master landed on the ground, looked around, and was about to go to the eye of the array to check, when suddenly a familiar voice came from behind him: “Don’t disturb them.”

He turned his head sharply, looking at the white-robed Immortal Venerable behind him, who seemed completely unharmed, not even a speck of dust on his clothes. He asked in disbelief, “You’re actually not injured?”

Lin Xiaodong, as their Cloudsoaring Sect’s senior disciple, even if he was a disciple personally trained by Xiao Nian, shouldn’t be so useless, right?

“He didn’t strike hard,” Xiao Nian, or rather, Xiao Nian’s android, said indifferently.

This was the android 2.0 version that Gu Xi had specially applied to headquarters to leave behind for damage control. For this, he had argued with the research institute for a long time, because officially, headquarters had already prohibited related experiments and applications.

But there was no other way. According to the original plot, if no one solved the problem of the array, even if a sacrifice was made every hundred years, it would ultimately only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

After he and Lin Xiaodong left, this world would quickly collapse completely.

Hearing Xiao Nian’s words, the Sect Master blinked, revealing an indescribable expression.

You two fought so fiercely here that you almost flattened the terrain, and you call that “not striking hard”?

But he didn’t pursue this point further, only glanced at the refilled earth at the eye of the array from a distance, and asked with a sigh, “So, you’ve resolved the array issue?”

Xiao Nian slowly nodded.

“…Is that so,” the Sect Master murmured, “It’s good that it’s resolved, it’s good.”

Although the two realms gained another hundred years of respite, yet, thinking that behind all this, all the suffering and blame of the world were borne by an innocent soul, he felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on his heart, and he couldn’t be happy at all.

“Let’s go back,” he forced himself to cheer up and patted Xiao Nian’s shoulder.

But the man didn’t move.

“I said,” he said indifferently, “I won’t return to Cloudsoaring Sect.”

The Sect Master’s eyes widened in surprise: “Why?”

If not to Cloudsoaring Sect, where else could Xiao Nian go?

“I’ll stay here,” Xiao Nian looked at the distant green mountains, his gaze indifferent and empty. “For the next hundred years, and the hundred years after that, there will be no need for sacrifices like Lin Xiaodong to appear again.”

The Sect Master frowned: “You want to be a tomb keeper? But even if you are an Immortal Venerable, this array can only operate with sacrifices.”

“I have my own way.”

Xiao Nian said no more after that. He stood there silently, like a pre-programmed entity, with a human appearance but an inner cold, empty void.

The Sect Master looked at him for a moment, his gaze complex: “It seems your Path of Ruthlessness has reached its peak.”

Androids have no souls. Even if they smile, sensitive people can detect a sense of incongruity, let alone close acquaintances. This was also why Lin Xiaodong immediately noticed that the person beside him had been replaced.

“If you can truly resolve this matter, then your merits will be immeasurable,” the Sect Master said. “I trust your abilities… Xiao Nian, if you need any help, come back to Cloudsoaring Sect to find me.”

He didn’t take Xiao Nian’s words to heart, because in the Sect Master’s view, Xiao Nian didn’t have much time left either.

Perhaps it wouldn’t even take a hundred years, or even decades, for the man to ascend to the upper realm. In such a short time, how could he find a permanent solution?

After leaving the array site, the Sect Master returned to Cloudsoaring Sect and once again announced Lin Xiaodong’s death.

But Lin Xiaodong’s return this time still served as a warning to him. To prevent ill-intentioned individuals from interfering with the array’s operation, he also announced to the world that Xiao Nian had ascended to the upper realm, and Cold Maple Peak would be permanently sealed. From now on, it would be a forbidden area of the Cloudsoaring Sect, and no one without the Sect Master’s token could enter.

The disciples, who were unaware of the truth, mostly reacted very similarly when they heard these two pieces of news.

Senior Brother died?

How could that be? Lin Xiaodong had already told them that Senior Brother was just on a secret mission!

Immortal Venerable Xiao ascended?

That was possible, but when normal cultivators ascended, anomalies would appear in the immortal realm. There was no reason for Xiao Nian to be an exception, right?

So he must have also been sent by the Sect Master to do a mission with Senior Brother!

And with Immortal Venerable Xiao protecting him, they felt completely safe; they no longer had to worry about Senior Brother’s safety!

Looking at the disciples whispering below, Bai Yue, standing at the very front, had a calm gaze. Her face showed neither a heartbroken expression nor the emotional turmoil and drastic change in personality she had experienced when she first heard of Senior Brother’s death.

She was just disappointed.

Although she knew her father and the elders had no other choice and did what they did out of necessity, Bai Yue still scoffed at the immortal realm’s actions.

While feeling sorry for Senior Brother, they also used so-called “affection” to push him to his death. Bai Yue thought coldly, Rather than this, it would have been better to be straightforward from the beginning, to avoid this layer of honey-coated tenderness ultimately turning into a deadly poison.

If it were Senior Brother, he would definitely think the same.

But Bai Yue didn’t believe she could be pardoned either.

She was also guilty, but unlike her father’s hypocrisy, her guilt lay in her weakness, in her powerlessness. Bai Yue had thought her progress over the past decade or so was significant enough, but the competition in the square suddenly made her realize—let alone Xiao Nian, her own level wasn’t even close to that of the Senior Brother back then!

So, to clear Senior Brother’s name and not disappoint his expectations and teachings, Bai Yue decided to set a small goal first.

—She would overthrow her father and become the next Sect Master of Cloudsoaring Sect!

The Sect Master, being stared at by his daughter below with piercing eyes: “…………”

Oh no, it’s over.

He felt uneasy. After two sacrifices, the Sect Master could almost imagine how his daughter viewed him. Although he was pleased with Bai Yue’s growth, the Sect Master also felt bitter inside: My daughter has grown up! She no longer confides in me!

He even felt a touch of empathy for Xiao Nian: Was the feeling of being backstabbed by his disciple in the main hall just like he felt now?

But soon, the Sect Master dismissed this thought.

Definitely not possible.

That Xiao Nian, he and his disciple were simply a match made in heaven. The Sect Master originally thought Lin Xiaodong was a naive and sweet person, but now it seemed this child was clearly better than his master. The two backstabbed each other, not like master and disciple, not like enemies, but they had a very tacit understanding.

The Array Site.

Long after the Sect Master left, Xiao Nian, who had been standing in place, finally moved again.

He waved his hand, dispelling the illusion set on the eye of the array, revealing the true scene below.

Inside the coffin, the white-robed man held the youth in his arms, his eyes closed, but a faint smile on his lips. The two maintained this embracing posture, their cold bodies nestled together, black hair intertwined, as peaceful and serene as if they were just asleep.

Androids have no emotions, so he merely glanced at the scene inside the coffin. After ensuring that the medium would not fail, he re-covered the coffin lid, refilled the earth, and inserted the Cloudsoaring Sword into the eye of the array.

Then, he cleanly disintegrated.

Having abandoned his human shell, this “Xiao Nian” was actually an energy collective created by headquarters!

The android used the immense energy it carried, along with a trace of the laws of a higher dimension, to fill the loopholes in this small world. Under the impact of the immense energy, the array’s range began to expand rapidly, and the barriers between the immortal and demon realms also began to automatically repair and fill, eventually separating completely.

Finally, to ensure foolproofness, at the last moment of the two realms’ separation, the Cloudsoaring Sword’s blade trembled violently, breaking into thousands of fragments and falling apart.

The demonic energy that had lingered for a thousand years dissipated. The sky above the array finally cleared, and warm sunlight shone upon the earth, dispelling the last trace of coldness and bloody aura.

And a hundred years later, by order of the new Sect Master, a temple would be built on this land, worshipped by generations of Cloudsoaring Sect disciples with continuous incense. Their merits would also be passed down and remembered by countless people in this world.