Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Before Qin Wushuang had walked to the Stargaze Palace, moments of sadness spread through his thoughts. With his current strength, it was easy for him to sense the presence of the Stargaze Palace.
Within the range of the path traveled he could not sense the flourishing presence that once existed in the past Stargaze Palace. This was most likely because the mountain gate of the Stargaze Palace had been destroyed and in complete disorder.
Mu Rong Xu knew this was the path towards the Stargaze Palace. Seeing Qin Wushuang’s sad expression, even though she knew his intentions, she had no clue how to comfort him. Thus, she only held his arm gently.
“Brother Qin, this matter has passed long ago, don’t be to sad.”
Qin Wushuang gave a light “hum” sound, yet deep down inside he felt searing pain. The closer they were to the Stargaze Palace, the more familiar the vegetation had become. Every scene of the past kept surging through his mind making Qin Wushuang feel genuinely heartbroken.
Finally, the two of them arrived above the Stargaze Palace. Qin Wushuang looked downwards and only saw that the external construction had completely collapsed. Although the five major palaces inside also suffered heavy losses, the main construction buildings were undamaged.
Every day Qin Wushuang was concerned for the Stargaze Palace, but now he could finally see the appearance of the Stargaze Palace himself. Although the desolate sight before him revealed past disasters, as nothing remains the same, his mind was somewhat at peace.
He dropped onto the destroyed mountain road and walked slowly up a flight of steps. The steps on this mountain road had wound side to side and were full of potholes. Clearly, someone had deliberately obstructed it.
It could not be called a road. Ruins were everywhere. One place would have a giant pit whereas another would have a pile of hill-like ruins.
After some effort, he arrived before the mountain gate. Several of the giant pillars before the mountain gate had been attacked and brought to the ground, snapped into a few chunks.
Before this mountain gate, Qin Wushuang had many memories triggered. The first time he had followed his teacher, Tan Zhongchi, to enter the Stargaze Palace and the person that had guided them was Palace Emissary Liu.
Before this mountain gate, Qin Wushuang had once resisted an invasion from Zhao Heng, the Deputy Chief of the Nine Palace Faction with his teacher, Tan Zhongchi.
In his mind, everything seemed to have just happened yesterday.
As Mu Rong Xu looked at the desolate Stargaze Palace, she also felt disgusted. The Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect was too dirty. When they made a move against a sect in the human countries, the Heavenly Emperor Gate did not look into their responsibility. As Mu Rong Xu thought of this, she felt it was not fair.
“Brother Qin, since the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect is so ruthless, sooner or later they will suffer the wrath of heaven,” Mu Rong Xu comforted him.
Qin Wushuang let out a miserable laugh. “Xu’Er, you are right. The will of the people can be concealed, but the heavenly law will not shift. The Heavenly Emperor Gate can protect them, but the heavenly law will not!”
“Yes, Brother Qin, let’s take a look inside.”
The two of them walked side by side towards the internal place. Qin Wushuang spread his spiritual perception and started to search through the entire Stargaze Palace.
With this search, something unexpected happened. Within the range of his spiritual perception, two or three people were hidden in the far corners inside the ruins of the Stargaze Palace.
However, the strength of these people were clearly far less than that of Qin Wushuang. Or else, they would not have been so easily discovered by Qin Wushuang.
Qin Wushuang did not expose them, but walked inside with Mu Rong Xu at his side. Along the way, Mu Rong Xu could not refrain herself from asking curiously, “Brother Qin, did you say that when the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect kills people, they also destroy their bodies? How come I haven’t seen a single body along the way?”
Qin Wushuang also felt somewhat confused. At this moment, he stopped before a pile of ruins and said lightly, “Come out.”
Mu Rong Xu did not initiate her spiritual perception and for the time, she did not understand what Qin Wushuang was talking about. Then, she immediately understood that someone was hiding around the ruins.
There were no movements and no one walked out.
Qin Wushuang said lightly, “Behind the breaking wall on the west side, inside the weeds on the north. You two people, come out.”
Qin Wushuang had exposed the other party’s whereabouts and in spite of wanting to hide, they could no longer conceal themselves. They could only come out from the dark corner. The two of them exchanged a glance. Although they were nervous, they were not fearful.
Although these two appeared to be elite warriors of the Upper Sky, they were all at the Initial Stage. Naturally, such little strength would not form any threat to Qin Wushuang.
Upon seeing their shabby clothing, Qin Wushuang felt they did not dress as martial artists at all. He had no idea what to think of them, yet he did not act carelessly and asked with an indifferent tone, “Are you two disciples to the Stargaze Palace?”
“Humph, who are you? Do you intend to interrogate us?”
Qin Wushuang knew that more than just these two people were hiding in the surrounding Stargaze Palace. Although he was almost certain that these two were disciples to the Stargaze Palace, he was not certain of the other people hiding in this area. Therefore, he did not plan to expose his own identity for now.
Now that he was wearing a mask and had slightly changed his appearance, certainly no one would recognize him.
When Qin Wushuang saw the ample hostility from the other party, he knew that he would not get anything out from them. With this, he shook his head with a bitter smile and did not force them. He could not torture his own fellow disciples, right?
He continued to spread his spiritual perception to search the surroundings. Suddenly, Qin Wushuang felt something. It was a familiar presence, a presence he definitely recognized!
He had found Tong Yan!
That’s not right, there was also Xi Men Xing! Tong Yan and Xi Men Xing were hiding in a corner close to the Five Elemental Palace. This truly made Qin Wushuang burst with happiness.
In the aftermath of a disaster, finding old friends felt like true happiness. Qin Wushuang did not yet reveal his emotions. Like a surge of wind, he shifted his body and floated away.
The two disciples of the Stargaze Palace only saw a blurry image shoot before their eyes, as the person before them had disappeared. Initially, they were prepared to face death and fight this strange visitor. Unexpectedly, the other party disappeared like a ghost without touching a single hair on their heads.
Seeing Qin Wushuang leave, Mu Rong Xu also floated over without hesitation.
Xi Men Xing and Tong Yan who were hiding in the corner had clearly observed that an invited guest had entered the Stargaze Palace. Just as their nerves were building, they felt a gentle pat on their backs.
Next, before they had a chance to look back, they were already being pulled with power as they shot towards the inside of the Five Elemental Palace.
Qin Wushuang had also summoned the Moon Palace Jade Hare and the Sky Pilfered Mole along the way. In the human countries two spiritual beasts were enough to be sentries. They didn’t need to worry about anyone else invading their territory.
Dragged by Qin Wushuang, Xi Men Xing and Tong Yang did not have the slightest power to resist. They were frightened stiff as they only felt that something had completely restrained their bodies to prevent them from struggling.
Upon entering the Five Elemental Palace, much less of the main building was destroyed. Qin Wushuang took these two and returned to the Green Cloud Palace. As he saw the entire Green Cloud Palace was a mess, sadness filled his heart.
He put the two down and walked to the lobby of the Green Cloud Palace. Qin Wushuang flicked his sleeve lightly and swept away all the dust on top of it.
Next to the censer he saw some incense sticks.
Qin Wushuang took three of the sticks and made a gesture, drawing a fire spirit to ignite the incense from his hand. He bowed a few times to pay his respect and stuck the incense sticks into the censer.
Xi Men Xing and Tong Yan looked at this person with a stunned expression. Their hearts were beating as if a dear had bumped into them. Filled with sadness, Qin Wushuang turned around and asked, “How many disciples are left at the Stargaze Palace?”
As soon as he spoke these words, the expression on these two had changed drastically. They looked at Qin Wushuang with astonishment.
“Wu… Marquis Wushuang?” Xi Men Xing was the first one to react.
He had not been called Marquis Wushuang for a long time. Qin Wushuang gave a long sigh and nodded. “I didn’t expect that with this departure, things would remain the same, but people would change.”
Tong Yan was surprised. “Marquis Wushuang, is it really you?”
Initially, they had addressed each other as brothers. However, after experiencing the great disaster, severe damage inflicted their hearts. Plus, it has been many days since they had parted, to them Qin Wushuang seemed to be a distant memory. Therefore, unconsciously they addressed him as Marquis Wushuang. Their tone had shown full respect.
“It’s me, you guys should just call me Wushuang.” Qin Wushuang took off the mask. At this moment, Mu Rong Xu also floated to enter.
“Brother Qin, are these two also your fellow disciples?” Mu Rong Xu asked.
“Xu’Er, these two have come from the same place as me and my colleagues, so we are much closer.”
Xi Men Xing and Tong Yan appeared somewhat cramped. Especially when they saw Mu Rong Xu’s restored fairy-like appearance, they grew more uneasy.
“Hello, my name is Mu Rong Xu.” Mu Rong Xu was rather natural and unrestrained.
The two of them all nodded with hesitation and revealed a forced smile.
“Wushuang, you are really back?” The rim of Tong Yan’s eye sockets had turned red, as his voice also choked with emotion, “In our Stargaze Palace, besides a small portion of disciples that were not present at the palace, most were killed. They also destroyed the Stargaze Palace. Those people are too powerful. They just waved their hands and destroyed the entire building. Our people cannot even get close to them.”
Inwardly, Qin Wushuang’s heart ached. The elite warriors sent by the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect were all at the Void Martial Stage. How could it be possible for the martial artists from the Stargaze Palace at the human countries to resist them?”
“Brother Tong, continue.”
Tong Yan nodded and repeated the entire calamity. The devastating situation from his words made Qin Wushuang’s heart burst with sorrow.
“Did those people say anything?” Qin Wushuang took in a deep breath to calm his emotions before asking.
“They… they did. However…” Tong Yan felt somewhat embarrassed, for clearly it was inconvenient for him to speak some of the words.
“It’s alright, surely it must have to do with me. Tell me, I will listen.”
Tong Yan was surprised. “Wushuang, you already know?”
“I know who has done it.” Despite speaking with a calm tone, the raging anger displayed by Qin Wushuang’s eyes was igniting without control.
Tong Yang nodded and said, “These people were massacring without restraint and said that you had offended people you were not supposed to offend at the Forbidden Spiritual Zone Xuan Yuan Mound. You caused the extermination of the Stargaze Palace. They said that they will let you become a figure condemned by history That you will be spit on and cursed by people of the human countries for all ages. Your name will go down in history as a byword for infamy.”
Upon hearing this, Mu Rong Xu could not help but speak, “This Luo Tongtian is utterly shameless. Not only is he using despicable methods, he is accusing you, Brother Qin…”
Qin Wushuang waved his hand. “Xu’Er, sooner or later I will be calculating this debt with him. Let’s not talk about the Heavenly Luo Daoist Sect now.”
He turned to ask Tong Yan, “How many disciples are now left at the Stargaze Palace?”
“In a great abundance, only a total of less than two hundred are left. The majority of them already left the Great Luo Empire and went to seek shelter somewhere else. About a few dozen are left to guard here.”
“A few dozen?” Qin Wushuang frowned. “How come I only discovered about ten?”
Tong Yan was utterly astonished. “Wushuang, you knew about us?”
Qin Wushuang gave a long sigh. “Did you guys think you were concealing yourselves well?”
Tong Yan scratched his head. “A few dozen of us have divided into six groups. We took turns to guard this place to prevent all of us from getting captured if enemies return. The other people are in hiding at the Virtuous Cloud Mountain Range.”
In the end, there were still a few dozen. Although Qin Wushuang still felt sad, he had some hope.
