Chapter 307 (2): Underfoot

In contrast with the time when Chen Ping'an had watched him from afar, the old man wasn't bothering to conceal his own aura at all on this occasion, and as soon as he strode over the doorstep, it felt as if a huge mountain had crashed its way into the temple.

He was accompanied by a woman, who removed her veiled hat to reveal a set of stunning facial features. She then also took off her cloak, which was concealing her exceptional figure, and she was wearing a pair of wooden clogs on her fair and delicate feet.

The final person to round out the trio was a tall and handsome young man wearing a loose-fitting dark green robe. He was holding a set of coral prayer beads, which he was gently massaging as he walked.

The woman had a crisp and pleasant voice, and she didn't speak in the dialect of Southern Garden Nation's capital city. She took a seductive glance at the young man as she jibed, "Aren't you supposed to be a devout Buddhist, Zhou Shi?

“Why aren't you kneeling down to kowtow? Once you do, I'll sneak over to the Buddha statue, and I'll be able to proclaim to the entire world that the prestigious Young Master Zhou knelt down and kowtowed to me! I'll become a household name across the entire world overnight!"

Zhou Shi merely smiled and offered no response as he looked up at the three Buddha statues.

It was completely silent in the hall with the exception of the faint sound produced by his rolling prayer beads.

"Don't make fun of Zhou Shi, Ya'er. You're lucky that he's a tolerant man who doesn't anger easily. Otherwise, if he turns on you and insists on fighting you to the death, which of us is going to pay for his coffin?" the old man chuckled.

Despite her youthful appearance, Ya'er had the seductive charm of a mature woman, and an amused smile appeared on her face as she illuminated the dark and eerie hall with her stunning beauty.

A wry smile appeared on Zhou Shi's face as he sighed, "Please don't pick on a junior like me, Sect Master Ding.

"Yu Zhenyi of the Lake Mountain Faction, Zhong Qiu of Southern Garden Nation, Tong Qingqing of Mirror Heart Pavilion, and Lu Fang of Bird's Eye View Peak are all powerful immortals. In particular, Tong Qingqing is from the same generation as you.

“We're far too weak compared to them, is it really a good idea to be doing something so risky? Even if we manage to secure the Golden Arhat Body and that scripture, will we be able to leave this city alive?" the young woman asked in a concerned voice as she turned to the old man.

"While it's true that you're really the one who's most powerful under the heavens, you can't take on all of them at once. Yu Zhenyi has so many disciples and grand disciples, and we're on Zhong Qiu's territory right now in Southern Garden Nation. On top of that, Tong Qinging is an old seductress who loves to win others over with her charm.

“Last time, Zhou Shi returned with those severe injuries and told us that he was almost beaten to death by Tong Qingqing, but who's to say that he hasn't fallen for the old witch and was only putting on an act? Then there's Lu Fang, who's only been in a handful of battles the past few decades.

“Everyone says that he's a grandmaster who walks the righteous path, and that alone is a clear indication of how exceptional his aptitude is. After so many years of cultivation, perhaps he's already surpassed both Yu Zhenyi and Zhong Qiu."

The old man merely ignored her as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, facing the Buddha statues in silence.

The young woman wasn't very pleased, and she stomped her foot, causing the bottom of her wooden clog to clack audibly on the stone ground.

"The bond between those four isn't that strong. When faced with life-threatening peril, I don't think any of them would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good," Zhou Shi consoled.

"You make it sound like one of us would be willing to do that," the young woman countered.

Zhou Shi wasn't bothered by the young woman's confrontational tone, and he continued, "We have my father, Arm Sage Cheng Yuanshan, and Knife Sharpener Liu Zong, so in terms of top tier strength, we don't lose to the four grandmasters. On top of that, this is a secret operation, not a battle between two armies on the battlefield, so there's no need to worry too much about how we match up overall against our opponents."

In reality, the concept of the four grandmasters was one that was only championed by those who walked the path of righteousness, and it intentionally excluded all of the leading figures of the devilish path. Essentially, it was just something that they had made up to boost their own morale. What was taken far more seriously was the all-encompassing Upper Ten Elites, of which the righteous and devilish paths each claimed five spots.

Of course, the four grandmasters were all among the Upper Ten Elites, with Yu Zhenyi ranked second, Zhong Qiu ranked sixth, Tong Qingqing ranked ninth, and Lu Fang ranked tenth.

However, with the passage of time, almost everyone was now convinced that Lu Fang was the one who had the best chance of dethroning the figure at the top of the list.

There were even some who were of the opinion that Lu Fang had already surpassed Zhong Qiu and deserved to rank among the top five.

As for the three people that Zhou Shi had mentioned, Arm Sage Cheng Yuanshan was an extremely formidable martial artist, but all of his battles were to the death. Hence, he wasn't acknowledged by any righteous factions and was denied the title of grandmaster for his terrible martial virtue. He was ranked eighth among the Upper Ten Elites.

Knife Sharpener Liu Zong was a top-tier demonic cultivator, and he was notorious for his bloodlust. He was ranked seventh.

As for Zhou Shi's father, Zhou Fei, he was a devilish cultivator who countless orthodox figures were dreaming of killing someday. He was an exceptional martial artist, but his martial arts ability was matched only by his horrendous character.

He had a Spring Tide Palace where he kept a harem of hundreds of beautiful women from all over the world, and he and his sons were the only men in the palace. Presiding over this palace, Zhou Fei declared himself an immortal emperor.

However, what was most frustrating to everyone was that Zhou Fei was ranked fourth on the list, and he was widely acknowledged as the number one martial artist under the heavens. Some years ago, Lu Fang had successfully impaled Zhou Fei's body thrice with his sword, but Zhou Fei remained completely unaffected, able to continue battling as normal, and in the wake of this, Lu Fang retreated.

On that occasion, Lu Fang had stormed into the Spring Tide Palace on his own, and he had paid a massive price for that rash decision. During a three-year-long journey that he took, all six hundred members of his sect were slowly tormented to death by Zhou Fei in a horrific display completely unbefitting a martial artist of his caliber.

It was said that even to this day, Lu Fang's mistress and over ten of his senior and junior sisters were still forced to serve at the Spring Tide Palace.

As for why Lu Fang didn't challenge Zhou Fei once again after returning from his journey and hearing the terrible news, that became one of the four biggest mysteries of the martial arts world, alongside the questions of just how powerful the first-ranked devilish cultivator in the Upper Ten Elites was, how beautiful Tong Qingqing of Mirror Heart Pavilion was, and what age was Yu Zhenyi going to live to.

All types of strange happenings were taking place on the route from Bull Mountain to the capital city of Southern Garden Nation.

There was a middle-aged man who traveled from afar to the capital city, and he was already severely inebriated upon arriving at the city. In the city, he continued to drink without restraint, constantly laying on the street in a drunken stupor.

In the end, he was forced to pawn his sword to the wine shop for five taels of silver, and that was only because he was quite a muscular man, and the female shopkeeper was able to feel up his muscles a little whenever he was unconscious. Otherwise, he would've only been able to pawn the sword for three taels of silver at the very most.

On the summit of Bull Mountain was a man with a set of pure facial features and a body that looked as if it belonged to a child. Whenever he had some spare time, he would carefully polish a jade and bamboo folding fan. Despite his youthful appearance, he was respectfully referred to as Old Grandmaster Yu by Southern Garden Nation general overseeing the eight hundred imperial guards at the foot of the mountain.

There was a hunch-backed elderly man who served as head chef in the prince's manor. He removed the lid from a large vat of pickled vegetables that still weren't ready yet, and a sour smell instantly spread through the entire room as he murmured about how there was much unrest in the air.

However, out of all of these people, the three that were in White River Temple on this night were the most important.

The old man's surname was Ding, and he didn't have much relation to the young woman and Zhou Shi. Over the past eighty years, he had firmly held down the position of the most powerful figure under the heavens, and he killed purely depending on his mood and whims.

He killed renowned scholars, emperors and generals, evildoers in the martial arts world, random elders, women, and children, and he passed down his position of sect master to his only remaining disciple that he hadn't killed, then vanished into thin air.

However, during the evaluation that took place twenty years after he faded from the public eye, he was still the undisputed most powerful figure under the heavens.

There was a very amusing rumor circulating in the martial arts world pertaining to the Reverence Pagoda, which specialized in gathering intelligence and ranking the powerful figures of the world.

Close friends of the past two pagoda masters had asked them why they hadn't removed the old man with the Ding surname from the top of the list, seeing as it wasn't clear whether he was even still alive, and both of them had replied in an identical fashion: "If he's not dead, then I will be if I do that."

Inside the hall, the young woman smiled as she asked, "Your father is the one who's making the biggest contribution to the cause, yet all he asked for is Celestial Maiden Zhou. Does he really not feel like he's getting the short end of the stick?"

A wry smile appeared on Zhou Shi's face as he sighed, "You know what my father is like. If you want to paint him in a good light, then you could say that he's an appreciator of beauty, but if you want to be blunt about it, then he's really just obsessed with beautiful women. If it wasn't for the fact that Zhong Qiu is living right next to Southern Garden Nation's imperial palace, I wouldn't put it past him to storm into the palace to abduct Empress Fan."

The young woman rubbed her own face as she sighed, "Zhou Shuzhen and Fan Wan'er... One of them is the current most beautiful woman under the heavens, while the other held the title twenty years ago. Your father really does have high standards. It's no wonder that I haven't been able to catch his eye. Even when we meet and have tea together, he remains so polite and professional."

A wry smile appeared on Zhou Shi's face upon hearing this.

"Why isn't your father going after Tong Qingqing?" the young woman asked with a smile.

Zhou Shi was looking up at the Buddha statue with the furious expression, and he continued to massage his prayer beads as he replied, "My father says that if a meal is sufficiently delectable, then even if it's so hot that it would burn his mouth to the point of blisters, he would still be willing to scarf it down. However, if a meal is going to kill you, then you must resist it no matter how tantalizing it is."

A mocking sneer appeared on the old man's face, and he took a glance at his surroundings, then said, "Let's go. The godly body is no longer here."

The young woman and Zhou Shi had no objections to this, nor did they dare to raise any. Despite how she affectionately referred to the old man as grandteacher, she was actually extremely fearful around him, constantly worried that the old man would smash her head open at the slightest transgression, and the same applied to Zhou Shi as well.

Being Zhou Fei's son, he had some form of protection, but he knew that if he were to irk the old man, then he would still be killed without any hesitation.

Every single one of the old man's movements seemed to comply with the natural order, and as he was about to stride over the doorstep, he suddenly paused ever so slightly.

It was a seemingly trivial gesture, but it was enough to make Zhou Shi and the young woman begin sweating profusely, and they instantly stopped in their tracks.

The old man sped up a little as he strode over the doorstep before making his way down the stairs.

Zhou Shi and the young woman were both martial arts prodigies who had earned themselves a great deal of renown in the martial arts world, but at this moment, they were trailing along behind the old man like a pair of puppets on strings.

The old man took a glance up at the moon, then smiled as he remarked, "This city is a far more interesting place than it was sixty years ago."

Zhou Shi and the young woman exchanged a glance, and both of them felt like there was more to that statement than met the eye.

Following the trio's departure, Chen Ping'an got up into a seated posture on the horizontal beam, then brought his palms together as if he were apologizing to the three Buddha statues for his disrespectful gesture.

The old man with the Ding surname was quite formidable, so he had no choice but to hide.

All of a sudden, Chen Ping'an laid back down again as two more figures entered the hall like a wisp of smoke.

It was a man and a woman, and the woman was even more stunning than the young woman from earlier, while the man appeared to be in his early thirties.

He was extremely handsome, dressed in refined attire, and there was an air of regal authority intermingled with graceful elegance about him.

A smile appeared on his face as he said in an authentic capital city dialect, "That old man really is rather enigmatic, Celestial Maiden Fan. He clearly noticed us earlier, yet he didn't do anything."

The woman resembled an orchid blooming in the mountain wilderness, and she was so stunningly beautiful that it was downright unfair. The average beauty would instantly be struck by a sense of inferiority upon catching sight of her, while the average man wouldn’t even be able to muster up the desire to possess her, knowing that she was too far out of reach.

"He didn't do anything because he didn't regard us as threats," the woman replied.

The man smiled as he asked, "Are you saying that I wouldn't even have been able to withstand a single attack from him? Surely not! My master is among the small handful of people closest to the Upper Ten Elites, and right now, my chances of victory in sparring matches against my master are as high as 20% to 30%."

The woman shook her head in response. "Of course, you possess exceptional aptitude, Your Highness, but a battle of life and death between master martial artists can't compare with casual sparring matches between master and student. Do not underestimate anyone. Even if you're facing a second-rate opponent, make sure you don't let your guard down until they're well and truly dead."

The man construed the woman's words as an expression of concern, and he was very pleased that she was concerned for him. However, as a prince, he had developed a habit of concealing his emotions from a very young age, so he merely gave a slight nod as he smiled and replied, "I'll make sure to keep that in mind. Whenever I engage in battle in the future, I'll carefully think back to what you said to me before I make a move."

The woman merely smiled and offered no response.

It was clear that the man was flirting very subtly with her, but for a seasoned veteran who had been traveling the world on her own for six years, she paid no heed to his advances, and she certainly wasn't reciprocating his feelings.

All of a sudden, a cold look appeared on her face as she yelled, "Come out!"

The man was quite startled by her sudden outburst. If there were someone hiding here, then the fact that he had failed to detect them up to this point indicated that they were at least on par in power with the two of them.

He and the woman both scoured the hall together, and a moment later, the woman heaved a sigh of relief as she smiled and said, "Pardon me for startling you, Your Highness, but it's always better to be safe than sorry."

The man was very relieved to hear this, and an amused look appeared on his face as he turned and cupped his fist in a salute.

"You've taught me yet another valuable lesson, Celestial Maiden Fan."

The woman smiled in response, and the two of them searched the area around the three Buddha statues, but just like the trio that had come before them, they didn't discover anything worthy of note, so they departed as well.

Shortly after their departure, a burst of ripples surged through the air above a horizontal beam, and a flash of white gradually emerged. As it turned out, Chen Ping'an had expanded his Dao robe so that he could conceal himself within it. It was a rather crude concealment method that Chen Ping'an had thought of himself, and it was quite practical, but it was a little lacking in flair and elegance as he was essentially just hiding in a self-created shell.

Chen Ping'an sat on the horizontal beam and was just about to remove the Sword Nurturing Gourd from his waist to take a drink, but he them realized that he was in a Buddhist temple, so he hurriedly stopped what he was doing, then drifted down onto the ground to leave.

He had only just arrived at the doorstep of the hall when he spotted the woman with the Fan surname from earlier staring coldly at him from afar.

Chen Ping'an stopped in his tracks, and the woman continued to stare at him, but didn't say anything or lash out.

Chen Ping'an was feeling a little disgruntled.

What the hell are you looking at? I already have a girl that I like, and she's better looking than you! At least, that's what I think. You're quite beautiful yourself, but that doesn't give you an excuse to just gawk at me like an idiot!

Chen Ping'an didn't want to waste any more time here with her, and he was worried that it wouldn't be easy to escape this place on foot, so he used an Inch Movement Talisman, abruptly vanishing from the spot.

The woman's mouth gaped open slightly in astonishment, and she began to wonder if she had unknowingly run into some obscure master.

Not long after Chen Ping'an left White River Temple, his attention was drawn to a lively and bustling street. In particular, he was drawn to the rich aromas wafting out of the street, and he went to a stall and ordered a hot and spicy dish.

As he was eating, he noticed that once again, there was a beautiful woman gawking at him.