Chapter 1269 - Cut It Out Already!

“Come on, let’s keep going.”

This light, airy sentence echoed throughout the deathly silence of heaven and earth.

When they looked at the blue-robed man outside their gates, none of them spoke, but all of them felt immense pressure assailing them in the face.

The Primordial Unity Divine Formation wasn’t enough to stop him.

The three Cosmic Enlightenment ancestors weren’t either.

Now, even the immortal sword formation... wasn’t enough?

An indescribable chill coursed through the crowd’s hearts.

As the sovereign of the Thousand Opportunities Star Realm, the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect had never, ever been pushed this far before!

One man, sword in hand, had completely routed them!

Now, every member of the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect understood on a visceral level that although the Temple Master’s era had ended a long time ago, his glorious legend would continue now that he'd returned!

“Temple Master, we’ve already let the hostages go. Can we end this here?” Li Xunzhen took a deep breath and said gravely.

Everyone in the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect felt stifled and grief-stricken following this declaration. They’d paid such a grievous price. Did they have to lower their heads to the Temple Master now too?

But Su Yi shook his head. “I already gave you a chance. Before the battle, I said that if you let the hostages go, I’d give you a fair fight. It’s a pity, but... you didn’t treasure the opportunity.”

Li Xunzhen froze, then grimaced. Before the battle began, who could have imagined that the reincarnated Temple Master would leave them completely unable to fight back?

“Su Yi, will you really only be happy if this ends in mutual destruction?” Weng Pu said in a rage.

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh dryly. “Mutual destruction? Even if Deng Zuo were here, the old charlatan wouldn’t dare say such a thing.”

He stepped forward, raised his right hand, and swung his sword at the distant sect gates.

Boom!

Sword qi emblazoned with the aura of the sword of the nine hells arced through the air.

Weng Pu circulated the power of the immortal sword formation. Although he neutralized Su Yi’s attack, Primordial Unity Divine Mountain shook violently.

By now, Weng Pu was fully aware that even after trapping Su Yi in the immortal sword formation, they couldn’t kill him!

He went all out, not daring to hesitate.

Boom!

Dense and imposing sword qi, resplendent immortal light, and the indomitable power of the formation blanketed heaven and earth, sweeping explosively toward Su Yi.

Su Yi never attempted to dodge. He swung his sword and clashed with it head-on.

He’d already confirmed that the aura of the Sword of the Nine Hells could resist the formation’s power!

Moments later.

Weng Pu breathed in ragged gasps, beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

When he saw that Su Yi was still entirely unharmed, his dignified face couldn’t help but reveal a hint of despair.

The formation’s power was on the verge of running out.

If things went on like this, Su Yi wouldn’t even need to attack the formation; it would break on its own. When that happened...

No one on Primordial Unity Divine Mountain would be able to halt Su Yi’s advance! The atmosphere was so stifled that they almost couldn’t breathe.

A dark cloud enveloped everyone’s hearts and minds.

Meanwhile, Su Yi was already within a thousand feet of their gates!

Suddenly, Li Xunzhen proffered a talisman with both hands and bowed. “Ancestor, please, help us slay our enemy!”

Boom!

The talisman lit up, then shattered with a bang.

A streak of firelight soared into the firmament, weaving into a resplendent rain of light before condensing into a tall, thin figure.

He was dressed in worn-out Daoist robes, and his hair was tied up in a Daoist topknot. His temples were graying, and he had striking, elegant features. His hands were hidden in his wide sleeves and placed behind his back.

He stood there casually, auspicious light surging around him and pouring onto the world below. Blue flowers condensed out of the Laws, bloomed, and circled above his head.

It was like the descent of a divine sovereign, a scene straight out of a Daoist legend!

Heaven and earth changed, becoming peaceful and auspicious. It was faint, but the sound of the Grand Dao echoed through the air, like the music of the heavens.

Outside the sect gates.

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose, and he silently stopped his advance.

And the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect seemed to have found its pillar of support. Everyone was overcome with excitement.

“Greetings, Ancestor!”

“Greetings, Ancestor!”

“Greetings, Ancestor!”

The sound of their greetings shook both heaven and earth. Everyone in the sect bowed, their expressions fervent.

This only further offset the thin old Daoist’s majesty and prestige.

This was Deng Zuo!

The most ancient expert of the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect, a living fossil. Even by the standards of the Eastern Profound Star Domain as a whole, he was a peak expert.

A legend!

In the modern era, only a tiny handful of experts were capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

Like the Supreme Leader of the Nine Heavens Pavilion, the Painter of the Studio of the Heart, and the Fisherman of the Church of the River of Stars.

Following his appearance, the stifled atmosphere disappeared completely. The heavens lit up, and all of creation was solemn, like ministers welcoming their sovereign.

This prestige was enough to make even most Cosmic Enlightenment World Kings ashamed of their own unsightliness.

“Temple Master, given your status, why must you make trouble for the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect’s juniors?” Deng Zuo stood in the sky, disregarding his sectmates. His gaze locked onto the distant Su Yi.

Su Yi said slowly, “Your juniors are in need of a beating. If I don’t pummel them properly, they’ll never learn to tuck their tails between their legs and act like human beings.”

Weng Pu and the others were instantly ashamed.

Deng Zuo fell briefly silent. “What exactly happened here?”

Weng Pu’s heart shook. He lowered his head and explained everything that happened in full detail.

Even after learning about Qing Xiao’s death and the destruction of the Primordial Unity Divine Sovereign Formation, Deng Zuo’s expression never wavered. It was as if he didn’t care in the slightest.

But when he learned that his closed-door disciple, Gu Lingyun, had been killed, this ancient Daoist whose name shook the stars frowned. Within his sleeves, his fists silently clenched.

And when he learned that even the immortal sword formation he’d placed wasn’t enough to halt Su Yi’s footsteps, he sank even deeper into silence.

The crowd couldn’t help but be anxious.

After such grievous losses, they dared not meet Deng Zuo’s gaze.

Outside the gates, Su Yi said, “Ol’ Charlatan, now that you know the full story, do you still consider this bullying the weak?”

Deng Zuo had been silent this whole time, but now, he subtly shook his head.

His gaze remained as tranquil as the waters of an ancient well as he looked at Su Yi. “Every debt has its debtor. It ought to have been up to us to resolve our grudge. But now, my Primordial Unity Daoist Sect has already suffered massive losses. How about we let this end here?”

The crowd was flabbergasted. They almost couldn’t believe their ears.

The ancestor is here, so why is he trying to smooth things over?

Su Yi shook his head and refused. “No.”

Everyone felt downright flabbergasted.

It was already hard for them to accept Ancestor Deng Zuo’s decision to let this end peacefully.

Who’d have thought Su Yi would refuse his offer?”

“I knew you’d say that.” Deng Zuo sighed, then muttered to himself, “It’s a pity that my true body isn’t around. If it were, I could seize this opportunity to test your reincarnation’s abilities.”

Here, he seemed to reach a decision. “I’ll take full responsibility for what happened today, and I guarantee that going forward, no one in the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect will dare interfere in our enmity.

“Furthermore, neither of the hostages will have to fear for their safety any longer, nor will their sect need to fear any form of reprisal.”

His tone was calm, with an incontrovertible air.

Finally, he looked at Su Yi. “What do you think of that, Fellow Daoist?”

Su Yi sighed with admiration. “If your disciples conducted themselves as well as you, how could this tragedy ever have happened?”

This was Deng Zuo, an opponent even the Temple Master took seriously.

But this still wasn’t quite enough.

Su Yi said, “Want me to let this end here? Sure. But I have conditions.”

Deng Zuo’s gaze shifted, but he didn’t find this strange. They were old enemies, and he understood the Temple Master’s disposition far too well. You couldn’t just fob him off casually.

This wouldn’t end peacefully unless he paid through the nose!

Deng Zuo took a deep breath and subtly inclined his head. “I’ve washed out my ears, and I’m ready to listen.”

Su Yi said casually, “I need compensation. That immortal sword formation of yours is rather decent.”

The crowd was instantly frantic.

Weng Pu, Li Xunzhen, and the others practically coughed up blood.

This demand isn’t just excessive. It’s highway robbery! He’s trying to bleed us dry!

Even Deng Zuo’s lips twitched imperceptibly, and his face stiffened.

But in the end, he nodded and feigned calm. “In recent years, fortune and opportunities relating to immortality have started cropping out throughout the stars. Although this immortal sword formation is a treasure, if you like it, it’s yours.”

Although he said this, his heart ached.

This immortal sword formation was undoubtedly a rare stroke of good fortune, the type that could only be happened upon by chance. Furthermore, he’d paid an enormous price to acquire it.

Even placing it had practically exhausted the sect’s treasury’s supply of divine materials!

And now he was just giving it away. Of course it hurt!

His sectmates were completely dumbstruck. Even if you’d hit them over the heads, they would never have guessed that the ancestor would be willing to part with the sect’s strongest sword formation!

Weng Pu and the others’ complexions couldn’t have been any worse.

“That’s my first condition,” said Su Yi.

“...” The crowd fell silent.

There’s more!?

All of them felt on the verge of going insane with anger. How could they fail to realize that the Temple Master saw them as a fatty pig ready to be slaughtered?

Deng Zuo’s brow furrowed. He felt the urge to jeer.

Look at yourself! Since when was the lofty Master of the Temple of the Human Realm so greedy?

But in the end, he held back. “Fellow Daoist, how about you speak directly? List all of your conditions at once!”

Su Yi smiled and stuck up his thumb. “You know, that straightforwardness is the thing I admire most about you.”

Deng Zuo’s eyelids twitched, and he snorted coldly but said nothing.

Su Yi didn’t hold back. He launched right into his conditions. “I want three thousand Primordial Unity Dao Crystals, eight hundred Fortune Spirit Aperture Pills, nine thousand catties of Xiantian Qingyi Spirit Liquid...”

He went on to list dozens of rare and precious treasures including divine materials, spirit medicines, and all manner of rarities without even pausing to breathe.

By the time they heard the full list, the crowd was stunned. They felt as if a knife were twisting in their hearts; the pain left them feeling suffocated.

Is the Temple Master seriously planning to empty out our coffers!?

Deng Zuo’s eyelids shifted. His face, typically as tranquil as the waters of an ancient well, twitched repeatedly, and the veins bulged subtly on his forehead. A burst of anger rushed toward his head.

For a moment, he longed to cast all concerns aside and fight his longtime enemy with everything he had.

Who ripped people off like this!?

But Su Yi laughed and said flatly, “Do you think this is too much? It’s supposed to be. I have no intention of letting you buy your way out of this, old man.”

Deng Zuo took a deep breath. “These treasures are nothing but external items. If you like them, why should I be stingy? I agree to your conditions!”

The entire area was deathly silent.

The crowd felt stifled to the brink of explosion. They felt incomparably aggrieved.

If word got out, the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect was sure to become the greatest laughingstock in the Eastern Profound Domain!

“Also...” Su Yi opened his mouth once more.

This time, Deng Zuo was the first to be unable to take it. He shouted in a rage, “You bastard! Aren’t you done already!?”