Chapter Ninety: The Strong Are Revered

At that moment, everyone was so frightened that their palms broke into sweat, their grips on their magical implements tightening as they stumbled backward several paces.

The gap they left happened to be where the fiend had rushed to Jiang Lan.

"Why are you the only one?"

Jiang Lan frowned.

"They all refused to come."

Jiang Lan let out a soft sigh. The situation should have been overwhelmingly in their favor; how could they possibly give up the siege on the manor and the chance to capture Gu Chengwu? At this point, they could only take things step by step.

Sword in hand, Jiang Lan stood her ground, while the fiend retreated behind her.

The sight enraged every Taoist present. Their fear and wariness from moments ago were thrown to the winds, and they began pressing in on all sides.

Jiang Lan retreated with her sword, soon backing against the outer ring of light.

Then a sharp blade cut through the air and stabbed directly into the waist of the great monster Lingling.

"Who is it? Which old fossil is sneaking attacks on me?"

As the blade was withdrawn and flew away, it vanished from sight. Soon after, a white-bearded old man arrived upon his sword and appeared overhead.

"Look, it's the ancestor!"

"Wow, it's the Master of Strange Gates!"

"The ancestor has come!"

...

Jiang Lan looked up and saw the white-bearded elder manifesting over two thousand sword shadows, all of them striking at Lingling's weakest point, the waist. The already wounded beast was dealt yet another crushing blow.

"It's him. What rotten luck."

The fiend trapped within the array had also been weakened by more than half, and was now being driven into a desperate corner by the increasingly aggressive Taoists.

"Lure them over here. I will help you get out."

"Yes, Immortal!"

Jiang Lan glanced at the white-robed Taoist who had been guarding the array in midair. "I hadn't noticed before, but now that I look, he seems to resemble the old man."

Jiang Lan sent out the sword in her hand. The talismanic power erupting from it forced back the ring of Taoists trying to force their way in, and the blade shot straight toward the white-robed Taoist in the air.

Still protecting the array, Rong Mu suddenly sensed danger. He dodged, but in that instant lost his balance and fell awkwardly toward the center of the formation.

Without his spiritual power sustaining it, the great formation began to destabilize. Outside, Lingling seized the chance and its attacks grew fiercer and fiercer.

Jiang Lan punched the array's ring of light. The entire formation shook violently; a huge crack instantly split across the smooth surface, then another, then a third... more and more.

The violent tremor in the formation drew everyone's attention.

"It's that fellow. Interesting," said the white-bearded old man, stroking his beard as he looked at the figure that had not yet withdrawn its fist.

Looking at the surface covered in cracks, Jiang Lan pressed her fingertip lightly against it, and it instantly collapsed into a hole large enough for eight or nine people to pass through.

"We're coming, Immortal!"

Jiang Lan nodded and shielded them, allowing them to retreat as quickly as they could.

At first, Jiang Lan had been guarding against the white-bearded old man outside, fearing he might strike at the spirits and fiends. Unexpectedly, the old fellow gave them no heed at all.

That spared Jiang Lan quite a lot of trouble.

She raised her sword again and, with one strike, held the crowd of Taoists at bay three zhang away.

Once all the demons and spirits had been withdrawn, Jiang Lan leapt out of the formation's ring of light.

The white-bearded Taoist outside descended as well. "What a coincidence. We meet again."

Jiang Lan pointed to the beast-shaped illusion behind her. "Release it. Today's matter was only a misunderstanding. I'll compensate for the injured Taoists."

With that, Jiang Lan poured out a number of treasures she had obtained during her previous midnight visit to the Observatory.

The Master of Strange Gates twitched at the corner of his eye.

"You demonic Taoist! These are the treasures stolen from our Observatory. So you're the thief who broke in that night!" shouted a disciple beside Wei Li.

With the fiendish spirits dispersed, Rong Mu withdrew the eye of the formation, and all the Taoists came out. The blood-colored ring of light vanished in an instant.

"So this is the one who robbed the Observatory a few days ago? Wasn't it said to be a demonic phoenix at the level of a great monster?"

"Yes, yes. And now it's actually a demonic Taoist."

"This Observatory really is going from bad to worse. To think they let a demonic Taoist loot the treasures of their institution, then claimed it was a great monster. Laughable, truly laughable."

...

Voices rose from every direction, all of them mocking the Observatory's Taoists.

They had suffered plenty of losses in ordinary times; today, they were finally getting some measure of payback.

Who told those people to look down on them so often, as though they were only wild cultivators?

The Observatory's people were also red-eyed with fury. "What nonsense! Want a beating or something?"

Wei Li stood nearby, watching without intervening. Wen Ren wanted to step forward, but after only two steps, his master pulled him back.

"Don't go. A good fight is better. If they don't fight, they won't know the height of heaven or the thickness of earth. These days, there are far too many people inside and outside our Observatory who love to gossip. As long as no one dies, let them do as they please. You, as the junior disciple, don't go joining in. If something happens later, they'll accuse you of bullying the weak and pin the blame on you."

"But, Master!"

Rong Mu shook his head. "Stay put."

Wei Li, who had been standing beside them, slowly drifted into the shadows.

"So the one who robbed our Observatory was you as well. Good child, you really are talented! I should have thought of that sooner," said the Master of Strange Gates with an expression of sudden enlightenment.

"Better late than never. Let us withdraw," Jiang Lan said, pointing below. "These things are yours again. And I'll even give you a piece of news about a treasure of startling value."

Deliberately, Jiang Lan raised her voice on the last sentence, so that every cultivator present heard it clearly.

"A treasure of startling value? What treasure of startling value?"

"What is it?"

"Unfair! We want to hear too! We can't let the Observatory people swallow it all!"

"That's right! Exactly!"

...

A clamor erupted nearby. Many cultivators, to prevent the Observatory from seizing treasure and killing people, immediately sent secret messages to their sects.

The Master of Strange Gates, who had been looking relaxed and composed, darkened halfway. "Fellow Daoist, we can discuss this below."

The smile at the corner of Jiang Lan's mouth deepened. "A golden blood pearl."

Those four words struck everyone's hearts like a hammer. Even the spirits and monsters hiding behind Jiang Lan were no exception. Every living thing pricked up its ears. This was a supreme treasure capable of reshaping bloodlines.

Even the Master of Strange Gates could not help turning red-eyed as he asked urgently, "Where is it?"

Jiang Lan was just about to answer when, all of a sudden, a poisoned arrow flew straight toward her vital point.

"Watch out!"

"A hidden arrow!"

Jiang Lan reached out and caught the arrow between her fingers, at the same time looking toward the direction it had come from. Though the man had concealed his aura, once one had reached such an extraordinary level, one could not hide the breath of life.

Looking at that cluster of red fortune and the thread of purple vitality entwined around it, Jiang Lan gripped the arrow and, without a word, flung it back.

With a sharp whoosh, the arrow tore through the sky and flew back faster than it had come, by more than three times.

Everyone turned toward the arrow's path. They heard a muffled grunt, then a burst of smoke rose around the corner, and the person disappeared.

"Don't bother looking. At that speed, he's already long gone."

"There was blood on the ground. We can track him!"

"Yes, but the most important thing is still learning the whereabouts of the golden pearl."

"Right!"

By the time everyone came to their senses, only the three from the Observatory remained in front of the richly dressed masked man.

The Master of Strange Gates waved a hand, and a barrier instantly blocked everyone, including the Observatory's own people.

"Fellow Daoist, now you can speak."

Looking at the smiling old Taoist, Jiang Lan silently thought he was truly shameless.

"Wouldn't that be a bit unfair?"

"What of it? Survival of the fittest, the strong reign supreme. So what if those people learn of it? Could they snatch it from this poor Daoist?"

"And these two?" Jiang Lan asked, looking at the man and woman beside her. One large, one small—though Jiang Lan was judging by bone age. From their appearances alone, it was impossible to tell which was older.