Chapter 5420: The Two Chus
The red-haired woman suddenly thought of something and waved her hand.
The space behind her distorted and formed a spirit formation gate. This was no ordinary spirit formation gate, for it was infused with tremendously powerful teleportation energy. An old man walked out of the spirit formation gate.
The old man was astonished to see the bloodshed around him.
The Death Starfield was one of the most feared places in the Immemorial Domain of Gods due to its countless powerful ferocious beasts, such that few cultivators dared to step in there. This massacre was a huge event that would shake the entire Immemorial Domain of Gods.
However, when the old man noticed the red-haired woman, the shock on his face faded. He didn’t seem to be shocked anymore upon learning that the culprit behind the massacre was this red-haired woman.
He hurriedly bowed to the woman and asked, “Milord, you called me?”
“You previously mentioned that someone of the current era named Chu Xuanyuan invaded one of your territories. What happened afterward?” the red-haired woman asked.
“Milord, I have already dispatched a few subordinates to curb him. There should be news very soon,” the old man replied.
Weng!
A middle-aged man walked out of the spirit formation gate. He had a haughty look on his face, as one would have expected from one of the strongest experts in the world of cultivation, but he nearly fell to the ground when he saw his surroundings.
He had come here in search of the old man, not expecting to be brought to the midst of a vast space with countless tattered carcasses around him. When he noticed the red-haired woman, his face turned ghastly pale.
“M-m-milord! I was looking for Lord Chen Mie. I saw a spirit formation gate in Lord Chen Mie’s palace, so I came in. I wouldn’t have dared to do something this insolent if I had known that you were here too. Please spare my life!”
The middle-aged man got to his knees and pleaded for his life despite being a powerful expert himself.
“Am I that terrifying?” the red-haired woman asked.
“Calm down. Don’t be an embarrassment here.” The old man walked up to the middle-aged man and patted his shoulder. Then, he pulled the middle-aged man up to his feet and asked, “Do you have updates from the territory?”
“Y-yes! The three elders reported that they have managed to encircle Chu Xuanyuan. It shouldn’t take long for them to capture him alive,” the middle-aged man reported.
“Milord, how should we deal with Chu Xuanyuan?” the old man asked.
“Ordinary people couldn’t even hope to step into your territory, but that fellow discovered the treasures lying there and even managed to steal them all alone. It shows that he’s a competent person. Don’t hurt him. Just take back the treasures and wipe his memories,” the red-haired woman said.
The old man nodded. He turned to the middle-aged man and asked, “Did you hear what milord said?”
“I understand.” The middle-aged man bowed before hurriedly escaping through the spirit formation gate.
“I called you here for a reason. Someone has destroyed my medium of connection outside the Immemorial Domain of Gods, but there’s one item that just might allow me to communicate with the outside world. I need you to retrieve it,” the red-haired woman said before handing a map over to the old man.
The old man was initially confused why the red-haired woman was entrusting this matter to him instead of carrying it out herself, but he understood the reason as soon as he opened the map. “I’ll get it done right away.”
“Go on. I’d like to talk to Luo’er about the situation outside the Immemorial Domain of Gods,” the woman said.
Just then, the middle-aged man who had previously left re-entered via the spirit formation gate. There was a terrible look on his face. “Milord…”
“What happened? Get straight to the point,” the old man said.
“The three elders have reported that they have been wounded,” the middle-aged man replied.
“Wounded? They aren’t a match for Chu Xuanyuan? What’s the use of cultivating for tens of thousands of years when they can’t even curb a single present-day cultivator? Useless!” the old man roared angrily.
He quickly suppressed his anger and bowed toward the red-haired woman. “Milord, I’ll go deal with Chu Xuanyuan first before retrieving the item.”
Just then, the middle-aged man spoke up once more, “M-milord… you don’t need to head there anymore… You see…”
“Stop stuttering and get on with it! You’re embarrassing me!” the old man bellowed.
“Chu Xuanyuan has self-exploded! It was the force of the explosion that wounded the three elders!” the middle-aged man hurriedly reported.
“Self-exploded?” The old man was taken aback. While he was still infuriated, he looked both disappointed and crestfallen by the turn of events. He thought that it was a waste for Chu Xuanyuan to have died just like that, especially when he had heard a lot about the latter.
In truth, he wouldn’t have hurt Chu Xuanyuan unless the red-haired woman issued a direct order to get rid of the latter. The current situation was not one he had liked to see.
“Didn’t the three of them express their intent to capture Chu Xuanyuan alive? Why was Chu Xuanyuan forced to make such an extreme decision?” the old man roared angrily once more.
This time, his anger was directed at the three elders for forcing Chu Xuanyuan to self-explode.
“Milord, it was not Chu Xuanyuan himself but his clone that had exploded,” the middle-aged man replied.
“Clone?” The elder was initially taken aback before a faint smile formed on his face. “You do know that it’s annoying how you’re speaking in small bits, right? If I’m getting the situation right, you’re saying that Chu Xuanyuan had his clone self-explode to block the three elders while he made his escape?”
“That’s not it either…” The middle-aged man shook his head.
“It isn’t?” The old man was confused. “What happened then?”
“I-i-it has been his clone all along. The real Chu Xuanyuan has never been there from the start to the end!” the middle-aged man reported.
“What?” This time, the old man was truly shocked.
Even the red-haired woman revealed a look of interest.
“Are you telling me that the one who trespassed on my territory, defeated my subordinates, stole my treasures, and wounded the three elders was nothing but Chu Xuanyuan’s clone all along?” the middle-aged man asked.
“Y-yes, that’s what the three elders reported,” the middle-aged man replied.
“That Chu Xuanyuan…” The old man looked terribly conflicted.
The red-haired woman chuckled.
“We have a Chu Xuanyuan inside the Immemorial Domain of Gods and a Chu Feng outside. Who was the one who said that the present-day cultivators are lacking talent? Just those two Chus are already formidable in their own rights,” the red-haired woman said.
“Milord, who is that Chu Feng you speak of?” the elder asked curiously.
He was interested in Chu Feng whom the red-haired woman was talking about on the same terms as Chu Xuanyuan. After all, he did know how formidable Chu Xuanyuan was, especially after the news he had just received.
“Chu Feng is much younger than Chu Xuanyuan; he’s still a junior. Didn’t I just mention that someone has destroyed my medium of connection outside the Immemorial Domain of Gods? It was Chu Feng’s doing,” the red-haired woman said.
“Audacious! Who dares to meddle with milord’s possession?!” the old man roared.
“It’s not what you think. He didn’t do it intentionally. That medium I was using was no ordinary medium; it is the Immemorial Black Crystal containing the Immemorial Era’s Dao of Absolute Darkness,” the red-haired woman replied.
“How did he destroy that treasure?” The old man was surprised, for he knew that the Immemorial Black Crystal was an indestructible object.
“My consciousness was returned to my body after the medium has been destroyed, so I don’t know what happened afterward. However, I think that he might have taken the chance to grasp the final Dao of Absolute Darkness,” the red-haired woman said.
“The final Dao of Absolute Darkness?”
Those words further shocked the old man. That was the dao that even the red-haired woman was unable to grasp! There was no need for any further words; that in itself was enough to show just how terrifying Chu Feng was!
“That being said, it won’t be an easy feat to grasp the final Dao of Absolute Darkness. I’m curious to know whether he succeeds or not,” the woman said.
“What’ll happen if he fails?” the old man asked.
“He would have survived if he had failed earlier, but after how far he has progressed, he would only be consumed by the Dao of Absolute Darkness if he failed right now,” the red-haired woman replied.
“That’d be a huge shame,” the old man lamented.
While he had never met Chu Feng before, he could imagine just how talented the latter was if the red-haired woman had such a high opinion of him. As someone who cherished talents, he wouldn’t want to see a prodigy lose his life just like that.
Unfortunately, he was powerless to interfere in affairs outside the Immemorial Domain of Gods. Even the red-haired woman was only able to interfere with the outside world through the powers of the Immemorial Black Crystal.
“Milord, Chu Xuanyuan might have already learned about our existence. With your permission, I’ll personally wipe away his memories,” the old man said.
“Forget it. There’s no need to pursue him since he has already gotten away,” the red-haired woman replied.
“But…” The old man was still concerned about the matter.
“No worries. It’s almost time. The world was bound to find out about us anyway,” the red-haired woman replied.
The old man looked at the red-haired woman with words at the tip of his tongue.
“Is there anything else you’d like to say?” the red-haired woman asked.
“Yes, I do.” The old man nodded.
“You want me to take Chu Xuanyuan under my wing?” the red-haired woman asked.
“Milord, Chu Xuanyuan is a rare prodigy. His talents are outstanding even by the standards of the Ancient Era. It’s only a matter of time before he surpasses me. If we can bring him into our faction, he’ll become milord’s greatest aide in the future,” the old man said.
“Have you met him yet?’ the red-haired woman asked.
“I have not. I dare not to carelessly meet him without milord’s permission. However, I have been keeping an eye out for him. While Chu Xuanyuan can be vicious at times, he is a reasonable person,” the old man said.
“He is also a highly ambitious person. I doubt that he’ll willingly come under my command. We’ll talk more about this in the future,” the red-haired woman said.
“Understood.” The old man was overjoyed despite not having received the red-haired woman’s approval, for he could tell that the latter had a high opinion of Chu Xuanyuan too.
…
Outside the Immemorial Domain of Gods, Chu Feng had finally escaped from the black crystal and returned to the forest. He was floating in mid-air with his eyes closed. He was trying his best to maneuver the black aura around him through his hand seals, but there was a pained look on his face.
Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and held on, knowing that he was in a crucial moment of taming the Dao of Absolute Darkness!
