“Master…” Mo Xuanli called out hoarsely.
Gu Baiqing did not turn back, but said with a solemn expression, “Xuanli, I said before, behind you, there will always be me. You are not allowed to evade. And…”
Gu Baiqing looked at the people below, whose expressions were gradually changing, and smiled. “And… there is no way back anymore. Maintain your state of mind, recover quickly. We are leaving.”
Mo Xuanli’s gaze flickered.
The seal shattered, the origin bone returned; the beautiful future he had always hoped for shattered like bubbles. It was as if he had been hollowed out entirely, as though he were about to be pushed into the abyss of demonization. Yet his master still appeared to pull him back, telling him that the most important part of his world was still supporting him.
Like a beam of light in the darkness, forever illuminating his world whenever he lost his way.
A firmness gradually flashed through Mo Xuanli’s eyes. That one black eye that had been wavering gradually stabilized. He slowly closed his eyes and began to adapt to his new body, a soft radiance gently spreading from him.
The origin bone was the source of power, a powerful secret. Mo Xuanli detested its existence, but at this moment, he had to adapt to it as quickly as possible and regain control of his body.
He could not become a burden to his master.
And to the side, seeing this, Li Xiuran instantly understood Gu Baiqing’s intention to throw caution to the wind, and immediately said, “Big Brother Gu, things aren’t beyond all salvage. We can still explain this clearly.”
Gu Baiqing glanced at Li Xiuran and said, “Thank you for your help just now, Xiuran. Xuanli having a brother like you, his life has been worth it. This matter has nothing to do with you. Later, I will strike you down, don’t get involved.”
It was enough for him to accompany Mo Xuanli; he could not drag others down, especially when this one was still the protagonist, if he dragged him down, who knew what degree of impact it would have.
Li Xiuran immediately said, “Senior, if you leave like this then it really will be…”
“See clearly, right now, they want Xuanli’s life. This is no longer something that can be settled with just a few words,” Gu Baiqing said.
Li Xiuran was upright in character and valued acting with a clear conscience, but most people were not like that.
Their stubborn resentment, ignorant fear, blind following, whether forced by circumstance or done with genuine intent, standing in their own positions, they would not feel they were wrong, and naturally there was no longer any need for argument.
But there was one thing he needed to ask clearly, who exactly had injured Mo Xuanli.
Li Xiuran had no choice but to explain the scene from just now once again.
And the people below were also digesting everything.
Dao companions, Gu Baiqing and his own disciple had formed a dao companion bond. It should have been a scandal, a joke, yet now it was news that made them afraid.
His disciple was a mixed-blood, the b*stard left behind by Immortal Baili Jin, the special mixed-blood that had caused the previous immortal–demon war.
Gu Baiqing’s meaning was already very clear: he was determined to stand on the mixed-blood’s side.
In an instant, people continuously began to reveal spiritual weapons toward the midair center, aiming at Gu Baiqing. Everyone feared Gu Baiqing’s cultivation; the atmosphere was tense, a great battle on the verge of breaking out.
Gu Baiqing, however, struck first. Everyone thought he was going to flee, but Morning Snow shot straight out, instantly arriving before He Jingyuan’s face, only millimeters away from his eyeball. He Jingyuan’s pupils shrank as he barely managed to react. When he saw the tiny flickering lightning before his eyes about to drill into his eyeball, he was instantly frightened into wanting to retreat, but the arcs of electricity spreading from Morning Snow wrapped around him, as if any retreat would anger Morning Snow and trigger an instant attack.
“Gu Baiqing, are you going to betray the cultivation world together with Mo Xuanli?” someone roared angrily.
“Betrayal? What is betrayal? Did Mo Xuanli kill anyone? Did he harm you? Let me ask, how many people here can stand alive because of my disciple? Have you all forgotten? Since my disciple entered my sect, he has never committed a single evil deed, and he has done countless meritorious things for the cultivation world, each and every one. Dare to speak them out, and we will confront each other with clear consciences. It was you… who first betrayed Mo Xuanli, who sincerely devoted himself to the cultivation world. It was you… with wolfish hearts and dog lungs, ungrateful, unable to distinguish right from wrong, blind to kindness!!”
Gu Baiqing simply cursed to his heart’s content, he had long been fed up with these sanctimonious people.
The most unreasonable thing was the masses. They always stood at the moral high ground, under holy light, unable to see their own faces. They did not even represent individuals, but a force, a force you could never correct or change. And their forgetfulness was often complex: they forgot others’ kindness the fastest, yet remembered others’ mistakes forever. Even if that mistake was not committed by him. They would always take things out of context, pick at faults, and stick them onto you like barbs you could never tear off.
And regardless of what kind of relationship you had in ordinary times, even if someone’s character was decent, they might still, along with this force, become one of them.
How utterly unreasonable.
Because of Gu Baiqing’s tirade, everyone exploded.
After all, when certain people’s sore spots were stepped on, how could they not jump up?
Gu Baiqing cursed with relish, caring not whether they felt relieved or not, using inner power as a broadcast and shouting loudly, “Just because of my disciple’s birth, you act like this, utterly absurd! What right do you have to treat him this way? Look carefully, after being treated like this by you all, he still hasn’t completely fallen into demonic transformation. What is he after? Are you blind?”
“Gu Baiqing, stop spouting nonsense. You’ve been bewitched by a man, pretending to be deaf and dumb, disregarding the greater good. You make it sound nice, leave earlier matters aside for now. Just today, those people disappeared, how do you explain that?”
“Disappeared? Xuanli was with me all night last night, inseparable. We, as dao companions, dual cultivated, could he still go out and commit crimes?!” Gu Baiqing completely let himself go, causing the people below to curse him as shameless.
“You are his master, and also… also his dao companion, your testimony cannot be taken as evidence.”
“Heh heh, fine. Didn’t you just hear? He is the son of Immortal Baili Jin and the Saintess. You should also know that he has an Older Sister, Baili Xuanyue, the current Saintess of the demon race. They already look very similar. Anyone present who has ever been captured as a hostage, those of you who have seen the Saintess, think carefully: don’t they look alike between the brows! And that servant of yours, did he see only half a face, or the entire face?!”
As soon as these words were spoken, He Jingyuan was dumbfounded. The servant… had spoken of wearing a mask… of half a face.
Li Xiuran suddenly reacted, “Right, I remember now, their brows and eyes do indeed look very similar.” So at that time, Ji Chuling had also called out Xuanli’s name because she had seen similar brows and eyes.
Wait… “The Saintess infiltrated here!”
With that said, everyone instantly exploded.
At this time, Baili Jingcheng stepped forward to refute it. “Baiqing, after the last incident, you saw it, we activated all defenses. For the Saintess to get in would not be so simple. I cannot determine whether this matter is related to him, but it is absolutely impossible that someone infiltrated.”
“Then what if there are still traitors!” Gu Baiqing said coldly. “Opening teleportation arrays at both ends…”
“Absolutely impossible! Last time it was also trouble caused by the dream demon, it has all been cleaned up. There is absolutely no way new demons would dare to infiltrate again…”
“Perhaps the traitor was already here to begin with!”
As soon as these words fell, in a corner below that no one was paying attention to, Pei Dai held the child and trembled uncontrollably. The development of events… seemed… seemed not quite right.
“Jingcheng, everything I’m saying now is true, believe it or not is up to you. You know they are siblings, you know how similar they look, you can imagine it. And from a very early time, Baili Xuanyue deliberately targeted Xuanli. She knew Xuanli’s identity, so she kept trying to make him stronger, to make him demonize, but all failed. And now you have become the demon race’s blade, forcing Xuanli to this point. He could have been a great general for the cultivation world against the demon race, but now… you really are foolish to the extreme.”
The Star-Stepping City massacre, Linxun Town brought to ruin, the calamity of the merfolk, the standoff at Taixu Hall, if all of these had succeeded, the result they would have created was for Mo Xuanli to completely fall into demonic transformation, to stand irreconcilably opposed to the cultivation world, to become the Primordial Demon, and to command the demon realm.
“He is a mixed-blood. How could he possibly oppose the demon race? He is merely using us to elevate himself, and at the right moment he will serve the demon race. Those siblings are birds of a feather,” He Jingyuan roared.
Gu Baiqing suddenly turned to look at He Jingyuan, let out a cold laugh, and lightning instantly wrapped around He Jingyuan’s body like ropes.
“You… what are you trying to do?!” He Jingyuan could not break free. Someone wanted to step forward, but was blasted back by the lightning.
“Don’t move, or I’ll take your life,” Gu Baiqing said sharply.
“Junior brother!” Fu Zhiyi was genuinely worried that Gu Baiqing would do something too extreme and could only speak up to warn him.
Gu Baiqing, however, spoke, “You say you didn’t become the demon race’s blade, do you know what it was that you just drove into his body?”
He Jingyuan froze. “A spirit artifact… a spirit artifact that could destroy his spirit artifact!”
“Heh… ridiculous. He Jingyuan, you should be the spy sent by the demon race, right? What you just drove into Xuanli’s body was an origin bone. As the head of a sect, you should know what an origin bone represents! You’ve helped the demon race very well. The former Xuanli, even if he demonized, wouldn’t have been very strong, but now Xuanli possesses an origin bone. What will he become? And you still say you aren’t a spy sent by the demon race? Otherwise, why would you help the demon race make Xuanli demonize?!”
Many people did not know what an origin bone was, but most sect masters did. Upon hearing this, their faces all turned pale.
Someone immediately questioned He Jingyuan.
Someone from Wuxiang Temple suddenly spoke up, “Just now, there was our Wuxiang Temple’s seal on him…”
Gu Baiqing simply said directly, “I once received guidance from a half-step immortal senior, who sealed his mixed-blood lineage to prevent him from demonizing. Because of the return of the origin bone, the seal was broken.”
The people of Wuxiang Temple sucked in a sharp breath.
And their reaction indirectly proved that Gu Baiqing was not lying.
A half-step immortal was a figure even more legendary than Immortal Baili Jin.
And such a person had once helped Mo Xuanli, this dealt a shock to everyone’s hearts.
Could it be that they really were wrong, that they truly… truly made things even worse?
He Jingyuan panicked instantly. He refused to admit it and roared, “You say it is, so it is? It’s not like we’ve never seen an origin bone. It’s clearly… a pale red bone. That thing just now was obviously different.”
Of course it was different, how could an origin bone capable of becoming a Primordial Demon possibly be the same. This was probably what was called an innate anomaly. But no one had ever seen it, so no one knew.
He Jingyuan seemed to have found a justification. “Unless… unless you dig it out again and let us see.”
Gu Baiqing’s expression went blank. Looking at He Jingyuan’s crazed, distorted face, and at the intersecting gazes of the people around him, as if they were considering something, he was truly angered into a daze in that instant, accompanied by a low chuckle.
A shrill scream rang through the plaza. In an instant, the people of Tianyuan Sect were both scrambling to rescue He Jingyuan, who was being struck continuously by lightning, and trying to attack Gu Baiqing.
But He Jingyuan was still directly dragged up by Gu Baiqing’s powerful lightning. His entire body had begun to smoke and convulse. Though he was already at the peak of the Immortalization stage, he was still one level lower, and he was not someone particularly formidable to begin with. With Gu Baiqing in a state of raging fury, he naturally had no power to fight back at all.
“He Jingyuan, you really are a fool. If you don’t want to die, speak, who gave you the origin bone!”
Although He Jingyuan was unreasonable, Gu Baiqing knew he was stubborn, not a traitor, so he truly did not know that it was an origin bone. In other words, he had been used. Was it a disguised Baili Xuanyue?
He Jingyuan was subjected to harsh interrogation, extremely humiliated, yet refused to speak.
And the others did not dare to rashly advance either, fearing that Gu Baiqing would truly cripple He Jingyuan.
“Gu Baiqing, if you dare lay a hand on him, you will become someone Tianzhao Sect will hunt down to the death,” an elder below spoke.
Other elders scolded Li Xiuran, who had remained unmoving at the side. They still thought they could order Li Xiuran about. Even He Zixuan shouted, “Xiuran, what exactly are you doing? Don’t forget, you are a disciple of Tianzhao Sect. Could it be that you also want to follow along in making a mistake? Save my father!”
But Li Xiuran, having just listened to Gu Baiqing reconstruct the entire sequence of events, was truly about to go mad with anger. Apart from Gu Baiqing, Li Xiuran was the one who knew best how hard Mo Xuanli had worked to change his fate. To help his brother, Li Xiuran had also secretly resolved to work hard himself, even beginning from time to time to brainwash Ji Chuling, hoping that his lover could also accept everything.
But this… foolish sect master had destroyed everything Mo Xuanli had worked so hard to build.
They had clearly been just one fragment short. That feeling of having worked so long only for everything to be destroyed, even he felt terrible, let alone Mo Xuanli.
And moreover, one thing Gu Baiqing said was right: even in this situation… Mo Xuanli still had not completely demonized. He always remembered how powerful Mo Xuanli was when he was on the verge of demonizing, yet Mo Xuanli himself had restrained it. Could these people not see right from wrong?
Li Xiuran said in a low voice, “I have seen origin bones. The spirit artifact the sect master held just now indeed resembled the aura of an origin bone. I also very much want to know why the sect master would reinstall an origin bone into Mo Xuanli. I believe the sect master is not a spy, so please, Sect Master, explain it clearly! This matter is of great importance, perhaps the person who gave the Sect Master that item was the Saintess Baili Xuanyue!”
“You vile disciple, you….” He Jingyuan cursed loudly, but the next second, a thicker bolt of lightning wrapped tightly around his neck. He Jingyuan was instantly strangled, gasping for breath. At the same time, dark clouds began to gather in the sky, as if heavenly lightning were about to fall.
“Or would you like to taste what it’s like to be struck by heavenly lightning until your cultivation is completely lost?” Gu Baiqing threatened.
For cultivators, losing all cultivation was even more miserable than death.
They had not expected Gu Baiqing to be able to control heavenly lightning as well, and were instantly intimidated.
“Speak!”
He Jingyuan panicked and blurted out, “It was the young madam of the Baili family who gave it to me, it was her who gave it to me. She said she knew Baili Jingcheng was hesitating, so she was willing to help.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked toward the frail woman holding a child behind the crowd.
Their first reaction was disbelief. Because there was nothing suspicious about this person, no trace of demonic aura at all, not even the slightest sign of being controlled.
But Gu Baiqing’s gaze had already locked onto that delicate woman.
Baili Jingcheng also instantly flew to his wife’s side, wanting to protect her, but lightning was one step ahead of him. The moment He Jingyuan was slammed to the ground, lightning had already coiled around Pei Dai’s neck, but it did not attack, only restrained her.
“Gu Baiqing!” Baili Jingcheng panicked instantly.
Jingzhan, who had been standing there in a daze, also reacted at this moment and immediately shouted, “Big Brother Gu, my sister-in-law absolutely cannot, ”
Gu Baiqing, however, said, “You can confront each other yourselves! If there’s any discrepancy, I don’t mind using severe interrogation.”
Baili Jingcheng looked at Gu Baiqing in disbelief and said, “Baiqing, you really have changed. Have you been affected by demonic qi?”
Gu Baiqing gave a low chuckle and said, “You could do this to my beloved over a mere possibility, why can’t I do the same to your wife? Baili Jingcheng, you can’t be double-standarded as a person. Don’t worry. If she’s unrelated, I’ll apologize. If she’s related…”
Gu Baiqing almost completely threw back at them the very same treatment that group had just used on Mo Xuanli. If they dared lay a hand on Mo Xuanli, then they shouldn’t blame him for not being a good person either!
Seeing that Pei Dai still did not make a sound, putting on a pitiful, delicate appearance and looking to her husband for help,
Gu Baiqing lost his patience. “Not talking? He Jingyuan, could it be that you’re lying!”
“Bullsh*t, what reason would I have to lie? I ran into her right before the celebration banquet started. Young Madam, say it! What exactly was the thing you gave me, where did it come from, say it!”
Seeing He Jingyuan like this, Baili Jingcheng, who was familiar with his character, finally became less firm. He looked at Pei Dai and said, “Madam, speak. Is Sect Master He lying?”
Pei Dai’s body trembled slightly. She knew she couldn’t deny it, because what had happened would definitely still be investigated. She was just foolish in not expecting it to be this hard to force Mo Xuanli away. She thought Mo Xuanli would really leave, why was there still questioning and investigation?
Clearly, as long as Mo Xuanli was exposed and left, everything would return to calm. She wouldn’t need to be threatened anymore and could properly hold onto her current family.
Clearly everything… was Mo Xuanli’s fault. She had merely taken back a bit of compensation that belonged to her.
Why wouldn’t the heavens stand on her side?
“It was me who gave it.” Pei Dai suddenly spoke.
Everyone immediately stared at her in shock.
“Sister-in-law?!” Jingzhan couldn’t believe it.
“I didn’t know it was an origin bone. How could I possibly know? I just… just saw my husband in difficulty. I knew you valued your friendship with Gu Baiqing, so I wanted Sect Master He to act on your behalf. And that thing was a spiritual artifact I happened to obtain when I once went down the mountain. The person who gave it to me told me it could be used against mixed-bloods. I thought, if Mo Xuanli wasn’t a mixed-blood, then using it would be useless anyway; if he was a mixed-blood, then it would be just right. So I held onto a try-it-out mentality. I didn’t expect… I… I must have been deceived. I really didn’t know it would turn out like this.”
A woman who had just given birth, her whole body radiating maternal light, holding a child, a frail-looking Pei Dai, a low-cultivation medical cultivator, really didn’t look like someone with a problem. She looked more like a pitiful person deceived by the demon clan.
A flicker of suspicion passed through Baili Jingcheng’s eyes, but he quickly looked at his tearful wife and his daughter who had been frightened into loud sobbing, and felt it was impossible. Moreover, there was nothing wrong with what his wife said. So he turned to Gu Baiqing and said, “That’s enough, right? This should be the demon clan’s doing and has nothing to do with my wife. Her body is weak, you know that. Let her go.”
Gu Baiqing didn’t make things difficult for Pei Dai. In his view, Pei Dai might simply have been deceived by Baili Xuanyue.
“So can this prove now that the demon clan deliberately wanted to harm Xuanli? Do you still think Xuanli is your enemy?” Gu Baiqing, though not holding out hope, still couldn’t help asking.
As a result, everyone remained silent.
Gu Baiqing gave a cold laugh. “Then let us leave. You wouldn’t really want to start a war with us. I guarantee that I’ll take Xuanli away, and from now on we won’t appear before your eyes again.”
This meant taking someone away into seclusion. Although Mo Xuanli’s matter indeed still warranted discussion, his identity… no one dared to speak up and make a decision. Baili Jingcheng and He Jingyuan, because of what had just happened, were also somewhat unsure how firmly to insist that everyone take action.
What’s more, if Gu Baiqing truly wanted to leave with Mo Xuanli, and Li Xiuran seemed to be on their side as well, they couldn’t stop them.
Just as they were hesitating, suddenly the entire square began to shake. The surrounding formations also became unstable, and the heavenly fire below started to stir, as if some powerful force was surging upward.
It was… tribulation-stage cultivation, it was…
The people of Tianyuan Sect suddenly all looked up toward the sky.
At the moment Gu Baiqing sensed danger and wanted to defend his back, the person in his arms suddenly leapt out. An umbrella opened, blocking all attacks.
Li Xiuran at the side also used his sword to block, but was still blasted far away by the impact.
Before Mo Xuanli could retract the umbrella, the second strike appeared.
Gu Baiqing pulled Mo Xuanli back and met it with a palm strike. The umbrella surface opened, and a tall man appeared, his appearance was so familiar.
Usually, one couldn’t tell how the Jingcheng brothers resembled Mo Xuanli, but the instant they saw this man, it became very clear that Mo Xuanli shared the Baili family bloodline.
The newcomer was Sect Master Baili, the father of the Baili brothers, the elder brother of Immortal Baili Jin, the tribulation-stage number one cultivator rumored to be second only to Immortal Baili Jin back then.
Because he was severely injured during the Immortal–Demon War, he often remained in seclusion. Rumors said his cultivation had regressed, so the title of number one in combat strength was given to Immortal Venerable Luofeng Gu Baiqing.
But now everyone knew that Sect Master Baili was still at the tribulation stage. These two had indeed never fought since the Immortal–Demon War, and who was stronger or weaker was hard to define.
And Gu Baiqing was also, for the first time, deeply feeling that the other party was a strong expert, an expert that could not be faced lightly, and also an expert that he himself… did not have enough points to face.
But!
The power Gu Baiqing struck out with was not only his own, but also Mo Xuanli’s.
Mo Xuanli had recovered, they were now two people!
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