The Quest for Immortality

Gui Tao’s people had an expression as indifferent as ever.

He looked at Mr. Zhuang, at this junior brother he had not seen for hundreds of years. His dark pupils showed a trace of vigilance and solemnity, but then they became blank again.

Here, there was nothing.

No arrangements, no murderous intents.

And his junior brother, burnt out and exhausted, was utterly different from the unrivaled, untamed genius he remembered.

...

In Gui Tao’s heart, a sense of anger welled up for no reason, his voice also carried an eerily chilling coldness:

“Where is your Heavenly Secret Calculation?”

“Where is your Immortal Sky Formation Flow?”

“All your cultivation, abilities, methods, and strategies, where are they?”

Mr. Zhuang gave a bitter smile, “I’m at the end of my path and powerless to return to the heavens, why would I bother wasting those efforts…”

Violent colors surged in the eyes of Gui Tao’s people.

“So, you are just waiting here to die?”

Mr. Zhuang was silent, then let out a light sigh, “All beings are born, and all must die…”

“Alive, we believe we can triumph over heaven; dead, we finally realize how powerless we are to return to the heavens…”

“I am the same, big senior brother…”

In the dark pupils of Gui Tao’s people, a hatred for his lack of struggle showed, “Even if you have to die, you can certainly die later. Your Heavenly Secret Calculation can surely foresee some chance of survival…”

“Foresee it, then what?” Mr. Zhuang countered.

Gui Tao’s people was stunned.

Mr. Zhuang smiled, his tone revealing deep weariness, and his breath was extremely faint, “It’s just a matter of dying sooner or later…”

“Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Dao leaves one behind…”

“I am the forty-ninth Sect Leader, destined by the Heavenly Dao’s limit, the sect ends here, and so does my life.”

“No matter the calculation, the result is the same.”

“The Heavenly Secret Calculation is an inevitable number, unchangeable…”

The expression of Gui Tao’s people became more and more severe, and after a while, all emotion settled again, his demeanor returning to indifference.

Gui Tao’s people said indifferently:

“Fine, then I will fulfill your wish.”

The pale right hand of Gui Tao’s people clenched, and an ancient sword appeared out of nowhere. It had a bronze-colored body with mottled and obscure patterns, a blend of reality and illusion. ꞦäΝòВÈ𝙎

“The Sumeru Sword…”

Mr. Zhuang murmured, a look of reminiscence on his face, as well as a calm acceptance of death.

Just then, nearby Formation Patterns trembled, the barrier broke, and Bai Qiancheng, who had deployed the Brocade Mountain and River Umbrella, revealed her figure.

She saw Mr. Zhuang, pale as paper, resigned to his fate.

She also saw Gui Tao’s people, his face full of murderous intent, holding the long sword.

Bai Qiancheng’s heart trembled, “Big Senior Brother!”

The sword tip of Gui Tao’s people stopped in front of Mr. Zhuang. He turned to look at Bai Qiancheng, his expression cool and enigmatic as he said indifferently:

“The master is dead, the sect is gone.”

“I am not your big senior brother anymore, and you are no longer a junior sister…”

Bai Qiancheng’s heart was bitter, “I beg big senior brother to show mercy…”

The indifferent expression of Gui Tao’s people gradually faded, replaced by a sneer on his enigmatic face.

This sneer was extremely strange, as if it had been taken from many faces and pieced together on one.

The voice of Gui Tao’s people also became noisy.

As if many people were sneering and speaking together.

“Mercy…”

“At this point, what talk of mercy is there?”

Gui Tao’s people looked at Bai Qiancheng and said indifferently:

“If I don’t kill him, how can I get the Back Ruins Picture?”

“Without taking the Back Ruins Picture, how can your Bai Family seize this picture? Without seizing this picture, how can you find the Heavenly Burial Ground?”

“Before you came here, did the old man of the Bai Family tell you to ‘watch from the sidelines’?”

“They don’t want you to intervene, they would be happy to see this happen.”

“They also want me to, kill my junior brother!”

“What about you?”

“You keep asking me to show mercy, but what about your heart?”

“Aren’t you, too, calculating against him?”

“You want to seize the inheritance of the Innate Formation Flow on his body, you want to steal the secrets of the Back Ruins Heaven Burial to make merits for the Bai Family, to pave a path to immortality for your children with Heavenly Spirit Root.”

“You call him brother with your lips, but have you ever truly seen him as a brother in your heart?”

Bai Qiancheng’s complexion turned pale, she wanted to say “No, it’s not like that…”, but the words wouldn’t come out, and a deep sense of guilt arose within her.

Gui Tao’s people glanced at Mr. Zhuang again, his eyes complex, and said calmly:

“I have pursued you for hundreds of years…”

“This junior sister of yours, whom you treated like a real sister, has also been planning against you all her life…”

“Previously, you took in many disciples, all of them prodigies, but in the end, all deserted you, not one wished to stay by your side…”

“The Taoist Court wishes to kill you, strip your Innate Taoist Bone.”

“The Demon Sect wants to kill you, take your Dao Picture.”

“There’s also the master whom you always greatly respected…”

A sneer appeared on Gui Tao’s people’s face.

“How was your Qi Sea shattered?”

“And how did your Sea of Consciousness become exhausted?”

“Who could have laid such a heaven-defying conspiracy to scheme against you?”

“It was… the master…”

Bai Qiancheng’s pupils shook violently, and her face showed disbelief at something she had never heard of before.

Gui Tao’s people looked fiercely at Mr. Zhuang and continued:

“It was the master, exploiting you! From the very beginning, from the moment he took you in as his disciple, it was all his calculation.”

“The master… in accordance with the sect’s ancient teachings, from the very beginning, was looking for someone with Innate Taoist Bone!”

“He searched his whole life, and finally found you.”

“Do you know why?”

Mr. Zhuang’s expression was indifferent.

Gui Tao’s people sneered, talking to himself: “Because the Innate Taoist Bone is the key…”

“The secret of Back Ruins Heaven Burial is hidden in a drop of the ‘Blood of the Heavenly Man’, passed down since the ancient times tens of thousands of years ago.”