Chapter 1270: Heading to East Radiance To Meet A Hero

Thang!

When the first ray of dawn spilled across the world, a bell chime rang out of a small monastery built out of cyan bricks and green tiles.

Like

jingzhe

[1], the melodious sound woke up all life and kicked up mountainous winds that soared for miles and miles.

Creak.

Someone pushed open the old wooden door of the monastery. It was a youngster about seventeen or eighteen years old. He was carrying a backpack and riding a black bull.

After exiting the monastery, the youngster stopped in his tracks and asked hesitantly, “Clear Wind, Bright Moon, can I... stay?”

A pair of Taoist with white hair and beard stepped out of the door and answered the young Taoist respectfully, “Great senior uncle, this is the founder’s decision. We do not have a say in this matter.”

At first glance, the youngster looked no different from your ordinary person. On the other hand, the two old Taoists boasted unfathomable power. They were Half-Sages at the very least.

And yet, the two old Taoists were speaking to the young Taoist like he was their better.

“But... but the world beyond the mountains is beyond dangerous! I’m not strong enough... I’m scared!” The young Taoist complained.

The two old Taoists were speechless. Who was the eighteen-year-old Half-Sage who annihilated every Disaster-class Stranger and horrifying Anomaly that plagued these endless stretches of mountains again? Right. How could he be so shameless as to steal the words of the

jianghu

people who did not yet know about the walking calamity that was headed their way?

“Just relax, great senior uncle. Besides a Sage, no one beyond the mountains is a match for you,” replied Taoist Clear Wind.

“Oh. Okay. But er, can I not go to East Radiance Mountain?” The young Taoist asked hesitantly.

“Why don’t you want to go?” Taoist Bright Moon asked.

“Because... Because I would be outnumbered there,” the young Taoist answered. “Besides, I don’t want the Earthly Sovereign Bell in the first place. I don’t want to be ganged up upon because of something I don’t even want.”

“Do not worry, great senior uncle. You simply need to remember that no one below the Sage-stage is your match,” Taoist Bright Moon said with a helpless expression on his face. “No one, no matter their numbers, can hope to threaten you.”

“But... Senior brother often lectured me saying that there is always a man beyond every man; a mountain beyond every mountain. That it is folly to underestimate the heroes of the world.”

The young Taoist looked real timid as he mumbled, “I am hardly good enough to ignore such sound advice.”

“How about this? Give me a couple more years to practice. I reckon that I will become a Sage in another three, no, two years at most! I’ll leave the mountains then. What do you think?”

Clear Wind and Bright Moon exchanged glances with each other again. They looked like they wanted to say something, but could not due to the sheer insanity of what they just heard.

“I’ll assume that you agree since you’re not saying anything!”

The young Taoist looked delighted as he slapped his bull. “Come on, Blackie! Time to go home.”

Unfortunately, the young Taoist had just turned around when a finger suddenly appeared in mid-air and struck him in the forehead.

“Ow!” The young Taoist cried out in pain before complaining, “What are you doing, senior brother?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” An ancient but kind voice came from seemingly nowhere.

“Why must I go to the East Radiance Mountain, senior brother? I don’t want the Earthly Sovereign Bell,” the young Taoist argued.

“The Earthly Sovereign Bell goes to its destined one. I do not care if you obtain it or not.”

The old voice said, “However, you must travel to East Radiance Mountain. You must beat the crap out of that Mad Lord.”

“What? But why?” The young Taoist sounded confused.

“Why? Because he’s madder than I was back then! I was the maddest piece of shit back in the day, and that

brat

thinks he can surpass me? Unacceptable!”

The old voice harrumphed loudly before ordering, “So you will beat the shit out of him on my behalf! You will teach him what it means by karmic retribution comes from madness!”

“If you’re angry, why don’t you beat him yourself?” The young Taoist asked.

“Are you stupid? If I go, then I would be bullying the weak. I cannot possibly afford to lose face like this,” the old man said matter-of-factly.

“But—”

The young man wanted to say something more, but the old voice lost his patience and yelled, “No buts! Do what I say, or I’ll kick your ass!”

“Fine! Fine!”

The young Taoist relented in the end. “But I’m only going to beat him up, okay? I won’t take the Earthly Sovereign Bell.”

“Like I said, I don’t care about the rest. All I want you to do is to beat him up.”

The old voice clarified, “Remember, give it all you got. If possible, beat him up so bad that his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.”

“The Mad Lord is an orphan. He lost his parents at a young age,” the young Taoist corrected the old voice.

Bang!

All the young Taoist earned for his correction was another flick to the forehead. “You think I don’t know? It’s a metaphor, you idiot! A metaphor!”

“R-Right. Of course!” The young Taoist replied while clutching his forehead with a grimace.

God, it hurts so bad.

“If you get it, then get going!” The old voice commanded.

“Okay. Take care, senior brother. Take care, Clear Wind, Bright Moon.”

After the young Taoist was done rubbing his forehead, he gave the black bull he was riding a pat and said, “Let’s go, Blackie.”

The black bull mooed once and took off toward the horizon.

Every time the black bull took a step, the young Taoist’s aura would grow stronger, and his cultivation would climb a whole level. Seven steps later, the young Taoist had become a Half-Sage. The black bull then grew clouds underneath its hoofs and flew into the sky.

Seven steps, seven levels, one Half-Sage. The wind, the clouds, the world.

......

Deep beneath a bottomless abyss, columns of demonic qi were rising into the air, and a blazing inferno was creating a mirage of countless demons and monsters. It was like a kingdom of demons.

At the center of this kingdom of demons was a bald, naked man. He was sitting on top of the inferno.

The man was hundreds of meters tall and massive like a mountain. However, he also seemed to be dead. The scorching heat of the demonic flames and the erosion of the demonic qi had turned his entire body ashen black. There seemed to be no life in him whatsoever.

Thump...

Thump... thump...

Suddenly, a rhythmic beating came from somewhere in the abyss, fierce and intense.

The beating eventually grew faster and louder. It was like a heavenly being was striking the drum.

The demonic wind, the demonic smoke, and the monsters—anything and everything was scattered by the sound.

For a time, all that could be heard inside the abyss was the drumbeat. Nothing was left inside it.

An indefinite amount of time later, when the drumbeat gradually slowed, both the demonic flames and the monsters were completely gone. The only thing left in the abyss was darkness.

It was at this moment a light shone from the depths of the pitch black darkness. Like a rising sun, it illuminated the entire abyss.

It wasn’t until the light dimmed that it became clear that the round orbs emitting the light were neither the sun nor the moon. They were... a pair of eyes.

The eyes of the charred corpse to be exact.

When did this happen? Somehow, the charred corpse had opened his eyes. Not only that, drumbeats were coming out of his chest. It was the sound of a beating heart.

This meant that the resounding, destroying drumbeat from before was not actually a drumbeat. They were his heartbeat.

As the heartbeat continued, the charred corpse’s blackened flesh began falling off earnestly, revealing flawless, milky white skin underneath.

When the chunks of charred flesh were completely removed, the man’s vigor and vitality filled up the entire abyss until he felt like a blazing sun.

The next moment, the man bent his knees slightly and shot into the sky with a boom.

“East Radiance Mountain... Mad Lord! Wait for me!”

1. The first point where hibernating insects awaken. ☜