Watching the Mountain

Chapter 275: Chapter 168: Enlightenment Dao, Midsummer

Xu Ran looked at their shocked yet amused expressions and said slowly, ”So, you see, what you see isn’t always the truth. Everyone has their own way of facing the world. Wuchen True Monarch has his, and you have yours.”

”And Senior Brother Ye Shan, of course, has his true self as well. He’s obviously not good at speaking, yet he’s a total chatterbox who talks way too much. That’s the real him.”

Luo Qianxue bent over with laughter. When she finally managed to stop, she wiped the corners of her eyes and said:

”Honestly, Senior, in just a single day, you’ve completely shattered the image I had of Sword Dao Ye Shan and Wuchen True Monarch—two legends of the Cultivation Realm.”

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath, her fair little face filled with genuine emotion as she added:

”But, for some reason, I think I like them even more now.”

Li Daoyi’s surprise gradually faded. He said in a gentle tone, ”This also shows how mentally resilient Uncle Wuchen is. No matter what he feels inside, he can still project a convincing demeanor. That level of composure is truly extraordinary.”

As the Chief Disciple of his sect, he often encouraged his fellow disciples, so he was always able to see the positive side of things from a different perspective.

Chu Lingxiao was silent for a moment before speaking a single word: ”Impressive.”

It was unclear if he was impressed by Shen Wuchen’s skill at ”disguise” or by the truth behind it.

Before they knew it, the conversation had shifted from the legends of their seniors to themselves.

Luo Qianxue stood up, stretched languidly, and looked up at the night sky where the first stars were appearing. ”Who cares how brilliant and talented our predecessors were?” she declared, her voice filled with heroic ambition. ”The future belongs to us.”

She brandished a small fist and shouted fiercely, ”I heard those so-called Young Demon Saints from the Demon Court have come over to our side, acting all high and mighty everywhere they go. And apparently, no one’s been able to put them in their place yet. I’m not happy about that. I want to go knock them down a peg. You guys in?”

The five Young Demon Saints from the Demon Court had arrived in the Immortal Ancient World over two months ago.

After the incident where the Evergreen Sword Saint Zhang Zhentian and his group had spied on the Demon Race for intelligence, the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm had been on high alert, bracing for the Demon Race’s retaliation.

However, events took an unexpected turn. The Demon Race didn’t use this as a pretext to launch a war against the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm.

Instead, they took the initiative to send those five Young Demon Saints to the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm for a ”Dao exchange.”

The five Young Demon Saints were around the same age as Li Daoyi and the others—in their early twenties, with cultivation at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

In the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm, cultivators typically begin their training at the age of twelve. To reach the Foundation Establishment Stage in one’s early twenties meant you were considered a prodigy, marked by the Major Sects for focused development in the future.

The five Young Demon Saints from the Demon Court first arrived in the Immortal Ancient Eastern Domain.

In just two short months, they had already fought in over ten battles. Their opponents were all prodigies from the current younger generation of various sects, and so far, the saints remained undefeated.

When news of these victories spread, it caused a huge uproar in the Cultivation Realm.

Those who had fought the five Young Demon Saints of the Demon Court were all prodigy disciples from the top sects in the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm. Leaving aside the Upper Three Sects, seven of the Ten Major Sects had sent disciples to face them, yet all were defeated.

This was an unacceptable outcome for the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm. Many couldn’t help but wonder, ’Does our Cultivation Realm truly have no one left?’ The entire Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm was being so thoroughly dominated by five young demons that they couldn’t even hold their heads high.

A disgrace. This was a disgrace for the entire Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm.

And yet, more than two months had passed, and still no one from the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm had stepped forward to defeat them.

Of course, this was also related to the rules of engagement.

This ”Dao exchange” with the five Young Demon Saints from the Demon Court wasn’t a series of one-on-one duels, but a team battle where all five of them fought together.

Generally speaking, young prodigies were used to acting alone and rarely cooperated with others. The five Young Demon Saints from the Demon Court, however, had exceptionally seamless coordination.

Each one of them was already incredibly powerful on their own. Combined with their seamless teamwork, they were practically invincible.

This was also the disadvantage for the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm. The prodigy disciples from the various sects were all incredibly prideful, each more so than the next. Getting them to cooperate with one another was, frankly, asking a bit much.

It was said that the various sects were now urgently training their disciples in teamwork, but achieving the same level of coordination as the five Young Demon Saints of the Demon Court was certainly not something that could be done in a short amount of time.

The fact that no one had yet stepped up to the challenge was a huge blow to the morale of the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm.

And it was precisely because she had heard this news that Luo Qianxue had stood up so fiercely and invited Li Daoyi and the others to go with her.

After the grand tournament between the sects of Changqing County, their cultivation had also broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, the same as the five Young Demon Saints of the Demon Court.

”I’m in,” Chu Lingxiao said concisely, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as fighting spirit ignited in his cold eyes.

Li Daoyi smiled, but his tone was just as firm. ”In the struggle for the Great Dao, how can our generation fall behind? Only by joining forces and advancing together can we live up to our youth.”

After hearing Li Daoyi and Chu Lingxiao’s replies, Luo Qianxue let out a mischievous laugh and turned her gaze to Lu Mingchen.

When Lu Mingchen saw her look his way, he shivered and quickly waved his hands. ”I, I don’t think I’ll go. My cultivation is only at the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer. I’ll just drag everyone down if I go.”

A crafty smile appeared on Luo Qianxue’s face. ”Didn’t I tell you before, Fellow Daoist Lu? You’re an indispensable part of our team. Without you, how could we possibly highlight how extraordinary the rest of us are?”