Chapter 1248: Sunlao Taijun

“Not good!”

As soon as the Taoist of Sleep finished speaking, alarm bells abruptly rang in Old Man of Zhi and Sunlao Taijun’s heads. They immediately jumped backward—or at least, they tried to until one man suddenly appeared between the two of them and grabbed their shoulders.

Both Great Truemen let out a muffled groan, suddenly pinned in place and unable to move a muscle.

“What are you doing, Cloudfacing?” Old Man of Zhi exclaimed in shock.

Sunlao Taijun actually managed to slip away from Cloudfacing’s grip because he was grabbing the dead man’s shoulder, not her. At the same time, she cried out, “He’s not Cloudfacing!”

It was at this moment “Cloudfacing” increased the force in his arm and shoved both Old Man of Zhi and the dead man into the ground, leaving only half of their bodies out in the open.

The next moment, the mountain shook violently, and countless cracks spread across the dead man’s body like porcelain. At the same time, what looked like an infinite amount of death qi gushed out of his wounds.

Old Man of Zhi fared worse. He outright exploded like a balloon of water.

He wasn’t dead though. Instead of flesh and blood, his body scattered into countless insects that filled the entire space instantly.

Amidst the sea of insects, what looked like a shadow let out an ear-piercing howl, “Who are you?!”

The reason Old Man of Zhi got his moniker was because he was a master at piloting insects and zhis. He even transformed his body into an unkillable body of insects. He was the insects, and the insects were him. So long as even one of the insects were still alive, he would live.

Anyone else would have died or at least suffer a crippling blow after enduring “Cloudfaring”’s palm strike. However, Old Man of Zhi only lost some zhis and insects.

Of course, this did not stop Old Man of Zhi from feeling furious and shocked.

“Who am I? I’m the man you’re looking for!”

“Cloudfaring” let out a chuckle before ignoring Old Man of Zhi and ordering the Taoist of Sleep, “I leave him to you and the others. I’ll handle Sunlao Taijun.”

As soon as he finished, he threw out a punch that warped space, scattered the black fog, and exposed Sunlao Taijun.

“You’re Ye Qing!”

Sunlao Taijun exclaimed in utter shock and disbelief, “How are you here?”

“Why don’t you guess?” A devilish smirk spread across Ye Qing’s lips.

“Taoist of Sleep, you betrayed Taisui?!” Sunlao Taijun immediately put two and two together.

The Taoist of Sleep did not answer her. Or rather, he answered through his actions, not words. He was currently fighting against Old Man of Zhi with Warflight and Ironface.

“So, everything that happened today is your conspiracy.”

Sunlao Taijun stared at Ye Qing with bright, childish, hateful eyes.

“Correct.”

Ye Qing smiled back. “You are planning to kill me, aren’t you? Naturally, I’m going to take you out first.”

This was Ye Qing’s plan, and it wasn’t complicated in the slightest. It was, in essence, divide and conquer.

First, he divided the enemy by having Taoist of Sleep invite the other three Great Truemen and Great Grandmasters out on different times using whatever reason. Since the trio had no idea that the Taoist of Sleep had been subverted, they were completely unguarded against him. As if that wasn’t enough, they were all weaker than him. Naturally, the Taoist of Sleep was able to defeat them and take control of them without any risk or effort.

Now, only Old Man of Zhi and Sunlao Taijun were left. Unfortunately, they were much more formidable foes than the three warriors he defeated, and he would be alerting them to his betrayal if he made even a single mistake.

So, Ye Qing stepped into the fray.

Ideally, the best way to deal with them was to divide and conquer them one by one just like the trio. Unfortunately, Old Man of Zhi and Sunlao Taijun had been inseparable for the past two days because they were busy thinking of a way to deal with Ye Qing. There just wasn’t a good way to split them up without drawing their suspicion. So, unwilling to waste anymore time on these chuckleheads, he ordered the Taoist of Sleep to invite them both to a meeting where he could deal with them all at once.

He hadn’t dealt with the thirty or so Truemen and Grandmasters that were part of the welcoming party Taisui Mountain had prepared for them, but he didn’t need to. Once he had subverted Old Man of Zhi and Sunlao Taijun, they would all naturally fall under his control.

As for why he asked Taba Xuanwu to keep his departure a secret and conceal his tracks for a day or two, that was to avoid alerting the group beforehand and facilitate his and Taoist of Sleep’s plan.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Logically, Sunlao Taijun and Old Man of Zhi would muster their forces as soon as they heard of his departure. They might even contact Westwind Inn to set things up and get ready for him. Without the deception, it would have been a lot harder to subvert them without being detected.

Besides, convincing Sunlao Taijun and Old Man of Zhi that he was still in Cloud Hue Pass was beneficial for the next steps of his plan as well.

“What on earth did you promise Taoist of Sleep that he would go so far as to betray Taisui?” Sunlao Taijun glared at Ye Qing hatefully.

“Does it matter? What matters is that none of you are escaping today,” Ye Qing replied.

“And you’re that confident you can handle us?” Sunlao Taijun growled unkindly.

“Of course I am. I am the number one under Half-Sage, am I not? It makes sense that you are no match for me,” Ye Qing declared confidently. “By the way, don’t bother trying to run or buy time for reinforcements to show up. Care to guess why we chose here of all places to ambush you?”

Sunlao Taijun did not answer, though her ugly expression betrayed her real feelings.

Ye Qing continued without waiting for an answer, “We chose the Nether Mountain because its black fog possesses the strange ability to isolate vitality and spirit. You cannot contact anyone outside Nether Mountain, nor can anyone outside realize what’s going on here because of the black fog. We can literally fight until this mountain is no more, and still no one would find out about this.”

“Of course, just in case I was wrong, I specifically commanded Cloudfacing to stand guard at the foot of the mountain. Therefore, no one will come and save you.”

“Having said all that, I’m offering you a chance to surrender. It would save both of us the time and effort, don’t you think?”

Sunlao Taijun still said nothing. Instead, a strange, thick aura washed out of her. It was old, lethargic, and stank of decay. It very much did not fit Sunlao Taijun’s childlike appearance.

“Fine. If you won’t surrender...”

Ye Qing sighed, and his gaze turned as sharp as razor. “Then I’ll beat you until you do.”

Before he even finished, Ye Qing flickered and dashed straight toward Sunlao Taijun.

In the air, Sunlao Taijun pointed a finger at him, firing a dark beam that felt anomalous and deadly.

Ye Qing felt uncomfortable long before he made contact with the beam of energy. He could feel that his lifespan was decreasing.

“The Lifespan Diminishing Finger...”

Ye Qing’s eyebrows knitted slightly as recognition hit him. A technique that diminished an enemy’s lifespan and increased the practitioner’s, it was one of Sunlao Taijun’s ultimate arts.

Ye Qing did not fear it though. The Profound Yellow Mother Qi protected him from all evils and arts. In response, he unleashed a Break Hammer and destroyed the finger beam instantly.

“What?”

Sunlao Taijun was surprised. This was the first time she encountered someone who didn’t fear her “Lifespan Diminishing Finger”.

Next, she thrust her hands forward. What were a pair of smooth, young hands instantly became filled with wrinkles, signs of old age and decay. Somehow, the aura of decay was able to erode Break Hammer into nothing and even cause his Profound Yellow Mother Qi to turn a little dim.

Ye Qing could also feel some sort of aura of decay and rot eating away at his body and mind.