Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Not everybody was aware that the Immortal Tan had arrived.
When Jing Jiu saw him, the Immortal Tan was still in the high sky, merely a dark speck in the eyes of the people on the ground.
Bringing Jing Xin with him, the Immortal Tan couldn’t enter the Empty Realm, so they didn’t travel very fast, instead passing by the small green-curtain sedan of the Water-Moon Nunnery.
Even though his Escape Method of Heaven and Earth was quite amazing, the Immortal Tan was not known for traveling at a high speed, similar to how Liu Ci was.
As the Immortal Tan was making his descent to the ground, more and more people noticed his arrival, with many yelling in surprise. Some chancellors strode out of the grand hall, and the divine crossbows changed directions automatically. The Great Formation of the royal palace had responded the fastest and gave off a dark green glow, as if it would turn into something as tangible as a ceramic ware.
The Great Formation of royal palace hadn’t responded so dramatically even when more than ten cloud boats of the Center Sect were approaching; one could easily imagine just how powerful the Immortal Tan was.
The cloud above the Yintian Gate grew thicker, enveloping the Immortal Bai completely.
The Immortal Tan was coming with a gentle wind and the morning sunlight.
Standing in the sky, the Immortal Tan questioned Jing Jiu, “Do you know whom it is the Great Formation of royal palace can’t stop?”
More than six hundred years ago, the Green Mountain Sect and other major Cultivation sects had designed and constructed this Great Formation of the royal palace together. If these sects couldn’t break through the Great Formation of royal palace themselves, it was equivalent to binding their own hands, and the system of the Plum Meeting would be unworkable. Moreover, during the design and construction of the Great Formation of royal palace, the Center Sect had played an important role.
The Immortal Tan took out a jade board and showed it to all direction of heaven and earth before saying imperturbably, “It’s the Cloud-Dream Decree; heaven and earth must obey it.”
No sooner had he said this than an exceedingly powerful and profound energy came out from his body. The faint green circle of light covering the palace halls expanded a few times larger abruptly, and the invisible shield grew thinner and frailer, quivering slightly amid the wind, as if it were a bubble that could burst at any moment.
The Immortal Tan intended to dismantle the Great Formation of royal palace of Zhaoge City by employing the Cloud-Dream Decree!
The cloud boats of the Center Sect resumed moving forward, and they were prepared to take over the whole royal palace the instant the Great Formation was dismantled.
Jing Jiu lifted up his head and looked at those huge cloud boats in the sky; he flicked his fingers lightly.
Pah!!!
The holy stone posts in the palace suddenly shot out countless green lights, which were like huge arrows, heading toward the cloud boats.
Seeing this, the chancellors and guards were all stunned. They were quite familiar with the royal palace, but they had no idea that these stone posts had stored such a destructive force.
Sir Jin and Sir Niu sat on the opposite sides of the slowly rotating jade plate deep under the royal palace. All of a sudden, the jade plate gave off an extremely bright light, its powerful energy knocking the two of them backward to the walls. They eyed each other, and could see the shock and helpless in other one’s eyes.
It wasn’t until now that the two of them had realized that the Great Formation of royal palace was actually controlled by someone on the ground; so it was meaningless for them to watch over the jade plate.
…
…
The Great Formation of royal palace had grown strong again. The Cloud-Dream Decree was intercepted by a green bamboo board in Jing Jiu’s hand. The cloud boats of the Center Sect retreated again.
One of the cloud boats had a few large holes on its bottom. A dozen immortal masters were busy repairing them while hovering in midair.
“I didn’t expect that the late emperor had given the control of the Great Formation of royal palace to you,” said the Immortal Tan, feeling surprised.
Jing Jiu stood up and said, “Though I wasn’t in Zhaoge City back when this Great Formation was constructed, I’m quite familiar with this palace.”
The chancellors in the grand hall and the Cultivation practitioners in the surroundings had recalled that he was the uncle of the late emperor; but the Immortal Tan didn’t know about it because he was not present when Jing Jiu’s identity was revealed. He said while looking at the stone posts, “As far as I know, the initial Great Formation of royal palace didn’t have these. They should be something plotted by your Big Brother.”
“I only learned about them in his diary,” said Jing Jiu. “He called them the ‘Twelve Yuanqi Cannonballs of Broken Air’. It is said that each cannonball can kill a swordsman in the Broken Sea State.”
Upon hearing this, the scholars on the Boat of Diligent Study showed a worried expression on their faces; the elders of the Center Sect, especially those swordsmen in the Lianxu State like Yue Qianmen, also wore terrible expressions. If what Jing Jiu said was true and the cloud boats of the Center Sect had charged into the formation after it was dismantled, how many of them would have died?
The Immortal Tan remarked with a bitter smile, “Swords hailing from Green Mountain. The people have respected your honesty and integrity; but who could have thought that you people would have concealed so many secret methods?”
“We’re alike,” Jing Jiu returned.
What he said was true. The Center Sect had concealed the Cloud-Dream Decree from everybody else, and the other Cultivation sects like the Fruit Formation Temple and the One-Cottage House had perhaps concealed some secretive methods as well. The only difference was that nobody knew about them yet.
“But you still can’t stop me.”
Having said that, the Immortal Tan walked down from the sky.
He had actually used his feet to walk down one step at a time as if descending invisible stairs.
He had suppressed all of his energy, and looked like a regular old man at the moment; in other words, he looked like a part of the sky.
The Great Formation of royal palace had gradually quieted down, and its green glow had also vanished without a trace, so no intersection could be detected.
When the Immortal Tan came to a spot a few thousand feet from the ground, his white hair and the rims of his clothing suddenly flailed backwards, as if a gust of wind blew at him.
The air was quite still in the sky; so where did this wind come from?
It must be the edge of the Great Formation that the wind rose from.
But the Immortal Tan didn’t stop; he took another step forward.
Now a violent wind whipped up, blowing his hair and clothing. Each of his hairs was as straight as a brush pen, giving off a crispy sound that was as pleasing as the fairy music.
Soon after, the wind stopped, and the Immortal Tan had arrived inside the Great Formation of the royal palace, and he had also brought a regular man, Jing Xin, with him.
Like the Great Formation of the Water-Moon Nunnery, the Great Formation of the royal palace also couldn’t stop him.
Though the Center Sect had enough time learning about the Great Formation of royal palace and the secretive methods concealed by other sects since they had many disciples in Zhaoge City over the last six hundred years, it was still rather unbelievable that the Immortal Tan could simply walk into the formation in a leisurely manner. This was probably the effect of the highest state of the mysterious Dao style.
Seeing the Immortal Tan who had just landed on the ground, a commotion occurred in the palace. Dozens of officials rushed out of the grand hall and knelt on the ground, addressing him, “Immortal Sect master.”
Some old chancellors bowed to Jing Xin in the distance, tears running down their cheeks; they seemed rather sentimental at the moment.
Jing Yao got up slowly and left the throne. He came to the outside under the gazes of the Prime Minister Qin and the others, and looked at Jing Xin in the distance.
The two brothers eyed each other without exchanging a word.
Ignoring those chancellors running past him, Jing Jiu said to the Immortal Tan, “Your Step of Heaven and Earth is the best in the world; and it’s perhaps the best of the past one thousand years.”
“Thanks for your compliment, Immortal,” said the Immortal Tan, “but I know something about this method because I like walking about in heaven and earth.”
Jing Jiu said, “No matter how wide heaven and earth are, it is still too narrow for you.”
“Though the human world is small, it’s beautiful enough,” the Immortal Tan returned.
These two statements had a deep meaning, but few people could fully understand them.
Jing Jiu suggested that the Immortal Tan shouldn’t pay so much attention to the human world and the matter of inheriting the position of emperor and he should aim higher.
Yet, the Immortal Tan advised that Jing Jiu shouldn’t act against the intents of most people, that it was not a good thing to cause turmoil in the human world since Jing Jiu couldn’t turn the situation around.
A dreadful bird’s chirp came over from the western sky.
The Cold-Signal Bird of the Kunlun Sect had arrived, and so had some other Cultivation sects, though they were much less than expected. Judging from the situation in Zhaoge City today, the Center Sect and the Green Mountain Sect, the two leaders of the orthodox Cultivation sects, might be engaged in a heated battle, so those sects that didn’t think they were powerful enough opted not to watch the event on the side, afraid of being hurt when the battle got out of control. Strangely enough, none of the southern sects had come; though the Cultivation practitioners were used to the absence of the Mirror Sect, the Hanging-Bell Sect and the Great Marsh, why didn’t the Green Mountain Sect send anybody here?
Though the Green Mountain Sect was not allowed to interfere with the inheritance of the royal family according to the rules of the Plum Meeting, but everybody knew what Green Mountain had done lately.
Even if the sword boats of Green Mountain wouldn’t come, what about Yuan Qijing and Fang Jingtian?
Jing Jiu was the only one from Green Mountain in the royal palace at the moment.
Some people remembered that Jing Jiu had been expelled from Green Mountain even though he thought he was still the sect master of Green Mountain himself. Was it possible that the Green Mountain Sect had never considered waging a war with the Center Sect?
“You can take the Prince Jing Yao and the Royal Concubine Hu away with you. The three of you can either go to Green Mountain or the West Ocean. I swear in the name of the sect master of the Center Sect that I won’t pursue you and I can guarantee their safety,” the Immortal Tan said calmly while looking at Jing Jiu. “I can also promise that the Plum Meeting will remain the same, without any alteration to it.”
What the Immortal Tan said expressed the intent of the Center Sect, which was the initial ideal of the Plum Meeting, controlling the whole of Chaotian by means of controlling the Jing imperial court. What happened in the Jing imperial court lately had veered away from this ideal, and the Jing imperial court had gradually loosened the control from the Center Sect and gained the same status as other major Cultivation sects.
“It’s not my intention of causing a great turmoil in the world and destroying Zhaoge City and many lives.”
Looking at the Cultivation practitioners surrounding him, the Immortal Tan continued, “All these Cultivationists are my witnesses.”
His expression was as imperturbable as before, and his voice was as boring as ever; but somehow he made the others feel he was trustworthy.
Bu Qiuxiao remained silent because the scholars on the Boat of Diligent Study had said something.
The Lotus Sedan in the distant south under the morning sunlight was quiet as well.
The Young Zen Master had come here for the sake of Jing Jiu. As long as Jing Jiu was safe, he wouldn’t do anything.
The action style of the Center Sect was evidently different from before; it was unclear if the Center Sect had learned their lesson a few years ago or if the person in charge this time was the Immortal Tan other than the Immortal Bai.
As Tong Yan had predicted, the Immortal Tan acted honestly and with integrity.
In the folk dramas and the minds of the common people, the behavior of the Center Sect could be regarded as rebelling against the imperial court, which was the worst offense; however, the Cultivation circle didn’t think this way. The major Cultivation sects were always the rulers and the order keepers of Chaotian, and the emperors didn’t have the highest authority, except that the situation had changed a little over the last several hundred years. In principle, and according to the rules, the Center Sect only needed to discuss the matter with the Green Mountain Sect and other Cultivation sects if they wished to give the throne to a certain royal member.
It was deathly quiet in the palace.
Countless gazes were fixed on Jing Jiu, waiting for his answer.
