Chương 1221: Chapter 12: Do You Still Remember Xia Mingming?

The bald elder stood frozen, his face a mask of utter bewilderment. In his shock, he gave his own beard a sharp, reflexive tug, wincing as the pain flared, yet his eyes never left the burly man, now filled with a profound, trembling reverence. Nearby, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators who had previously harbored ill intent toward the stranger exchanged a frantic, pale-faced glance.

Seeing that the chaos of the battlefield had drawn all eyes away, they didn't hesitate; their forms blurred into streaks of light as they fled in opposite directions, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and the slaughter as possible.

"Who is this man? Why would such a master intervene on behalf of our Xuanxiao Sect?"

"He is terrifyingly powerful... to extinguish the Three Xuan Elders as if they were mere candles... With his strength on our side, we can surely uproot the Qingyan Sect and rescue Elder Reyn!"

"It matters not who he is! So long as he is a friend and not a foe, he is a guest of honor to the Xuanxiao Sect!" While the Xuanxiao disciples were buoyed by this sudden surge of hope, the cultivators of the Qingyan Sect felt as though a bucket of glacial water had been poured over their heads. They shuddered in unison, their gazes toward the burly man shifting from venomous hatred to an all-consuming, primal dread.

"His cultivation is unfathomable. If I were to cross paths with him, I would be dead before I could even draw breath!"

"Ancestor Ming Diao has fallen. Even if Sect Master Tiandaozi can hold his own against two opponents, he cannot win a war of attrition. Our sect... our sect is doomed."

"Why throw my life away for a lost cause? If defeat is inevitable, I must find a way to slip away and preserve my path." Calculative glints flickered in the eyes of the Qingyan elders. Those who walk the path of cultivation enjoy lifespans far beyond mortals, and precisely because of this, they feared the cycle of reincarnation and the loss of decades of bitter cultivation. Almost instantly, the Qingyan Sect's offensive began to wither.

Several elders and protectors began to subtly drift toward the periphery of the battlefield, their eyes darting about, ready to vanish at the first sign of total collapse. With the Xuanxiao Sect's morale soaring and the Qingyan forces crumbling without the leadership of their fallen Foundation Establishment masters, the tide turned into a rout. The Qingyan disciples were driven back, step by bloody step.

"Disciples of the Qingyan Sect, hear my command! Fight to the death!" A thunderous roar erupted from the heart of the Golden Core struggle. Tiandaozi's voice was a shard of jagged ice, cutting through the din.

"If any man dares harbor thoughts of desertion, I shall hunt him to the ends of the earth! I will flay your soul and refine your spirit, ensuring you never taste the mercy of reincarnation!" The threat chilled the Qingyan cultivators to the bone, their backs instantly drenched in cold sweat. Tiandaozi had ruled the sect for nearly a century with an iron fist; his prestige was absolute.

Though a few still looked uncertain, over a dozen elders turned back to the fray, throwing themselves into the fight with desperate ferocity, barely managing to stabilize their crumbling lines.

"Who is this brute? Why does he harbor such enmity toward my sect?" Tiandaozi's brow was furrowed into a deep, jagged knot. He had planned for the Three Xuan Elders to slaughter the Xuanxiao Foundation Establishment cultivators while he kept Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi occupied. That move should have forced a retreat, breaking the siege. Now, that entire strategy lay in ruins, crushed by a single interloper.

A surge of murderous, primal rage bubbled in his chest; he wanted nothing more than to tear the man limb from limb. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"His prowess rivals a False Core cultivator, and his Divine Sense has already touched the threshold of the Golden Core realm. With that magic treasure in his hand, none of my subordinates can stand against him. If this continues, the Qingyan Sect falls today!" Even with his mid-stage Golden Core cultivation, Tiandaozi felt the cold prickle of panic.

"I am Tiandaozi, Sect Leader of the Qingyan Sect!" he bellowed, his voice rolling across the sky like thunder.

"Fellow Daoist, what grievance do you hold against us? If you agree to cease your interference today, I promise you a reward beyond your wildest dreams once this is settled!" Every eye on the battlefield turned toward the burly man. Tiandaozi's words were a blatant plea for a truce—a staggering concession from a mid-stage Golden Core master. It was a testament to the threat the stranger posed. However, the burly man merely let out a sharp, mocking bark of laughter. His lips curled into a cold, predatory sneer.

"Sect Master Tiandaozi... tell me, do you still remember Xia Mingming from the banks of Daming Lake in Spring City, fifty years ago?" The battlefield fell into a stunned silence. Even Tiandaozi looked momentarily lost, his mind racing through decades of memories. Finding nothing, he shook his head.

"What nonsense is this? I have no recollection of such a person."

"Of course you don't! Truly, a heartless man of cold, treacherous blood!" the burly man spat, his voice dripping with icy contempt.

"Fifty years ago, the great Sect Leader of the Qingyan Sect passed through Spring City. In the rain, by the lake, he encountered a woman with a paper umbrella. You claimed to love her, lingering for half a year in a daze of passion. And then, you vanished without a word, leaving her to rot in silence. Six months ago, I stood by Granny Xia's deathbed. She entrusted me with a final task: to slay the man who broke her spirit, so that her soul might finally find peace!" His voice rose to a roar.

"Tiandaozi, Granny Xia lived as a widow for twenty years before she met you at thirty-seven. She gave you her heart, and she spent the rest of her life waiting for a ghost! A man as faithless as you deserves no mercy. Today, I stand with the Xuanxiao Sect to wipe your stain from this world!"

"What?! Is this true?"

"Sect Master Tiandaozi had an affair with a thirty-seven-year-old mortal widow? Unbelievable!"

"Why wouldn't it be true? Look at the man—he's come for blood!"

"The karma of the past is the fruit of today! A just retribution, indeed. But imagine the ancestors of the Qingyan Sect... if they knew their legacy was being extinguished because their leader couldn't keep his robes closed for a lonely widow, they'd die a second time from the shame!" Tiandaozi's face had turned a bruised, sickly shade of purple the moment the man began to speak.

As the whispers of the surrounding cultivators reached his ears, his killing intent became a physical weight, crushing the air around him.

"Silence! My life has been one of honor and integrity! I will not allow a gutter-trash vagabond to defile my name with such lies!"

"If I do not die today, I will hunt you to the ends of the void! I will tear your heart out to cleanse this insult!"

"Heh, you'll have to survive first!" the burly man countered, his expression unmoved. He turned to the Xuanxiao forces and shouted, "Fellow Daoists of the Xuanxiao Sect, let us strike together! Leave not a single Qingyan dog alive!"

"Kill!" With the burly man leading the charge, the Xuanxiao Sect's morale hit a fever pitch. In mere moments, several more Qingyan Foundation Establishment elders were blasted into bloody mist. Tiandaozi roared in fury, but Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi, sensing the shifting tide, redoubled their efforts. Their attacks became vicious and unrelenting, pinning Tiandaozi down. He watched, helpless, as his elders were slaughtered one by one.

"This man must die. If he is not eliminated, the Qingyan Sect is finished!" A ruthless light flickered in Tiandaozi's eyes.

"I have dominated this region for a lifetime; I will not be humiliated by a peasant. Even if I must suffer a soul-shaking wound, I will strike him down!"

"Go!" Tiandaozi was a man of decisive violence. In a heartbeat, his resolve hardened, and he pointed a finger forward. The obsidian short sword, which had been locked in a fierce struggle with Qingxiaozi's vulture-beak artifact, suddenly shuddered. A violent, pitch-black radiance erupted from the blade, its power swelling to terrifying proportions.

"Manifest!" Tiandaozi barked the command, and the black light churned like a boiling sea. Within a breath, it expanded, transforming into a one-eyed monstrosity over thirty feet tall.