Chapter 937: Monastery Overseer

The mirror image’s chest rose and fell, appearing to be angry.

Chu Liang immediately understood. If the copy shared his temperament, then its fury made perfect sense. After all, if someone had been stealing his techniques in the middle of a fight, he would be livid too.

As that rage built up, the divine lightning swirling around the mirror image surged and twisted, gradually taking the form of lightning dragons thirsting for battle.

On Chu Liang’s side, arcs of brilliant lightning flashed and crackled in response. The two sets of lightning dragons twisted through the air and collided above them, unleashing thunderous blasts without either combatant taking a single step.

"You think just having my divine techniques and Dao is enough to defeat me?" Chu Liang spoke calmly, his voice carrying a quiet confidence. Now that there was nothing left to learn from the mirror image, he was ready to end the battle. "But you don’t even know what my greatest strength is."

The mirror image narrowed its eyes. "What is it?"

Chu Liang spread his arms. A streak of light flashed, and a second figure appeared beside him. It was a clone created by his Immortal Art: External Manifestation.

"Hah." The mirror image scoffed coldly. "And what’s so impressive about that?"

In response, the mirror image raised a hand and summoned a flash of light, conjuring a clone with his own External Manifestation.

Now four identical Chu Liangs stood facing one another, enough to make up a full mahjong table.

With a cool smile, Chu Liang drew the ancient cleaver and handed it to one of his clones. "You’ve got that," he said, "but do you have this?"

He then summoned a second clone and placed the Deity Pan’s Bone into its hands. "How about this?"

Finally, he unsheathed the Demon-Slaying Sword, his most familiar weapon, and kept it for himself. With the sword in hand, he looked the mirror image straight in the eye and asked, "And what about this? Do you have this too?"

The mirror image fell silent. After a brief pause, it chose not to answer. Instead, it summoned another manifestation. With three figures assembled, it lunged forward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whooooooooooooosh!

Three Chu Liangs charged at the other three, and a chaotic battle was about to erupt.

Boom!

Divine lightning crashed against blazing earthfire. Legendary weapons clashed with deadly blades. The six Chu Liangs collided with a deafening roar that shook both sky and earth.

This time, it was no longer a one-sided suppression. Chu Liang had come to fully understand what it meant to fight at the eighth realm. He unleashed the Great Dao of Divine Clouds without hesitation, summoning an endless tide of lightning dragons.

Boooooom!

At last, a thunderous explosion tore through the sky, and the divine lightning scattered in all directions.

The mirror image’s body was flung into the water, but it did not sink. Instead, it hovered just above the surface, its eyes brimming with unwillingness.

Blood streamed from countless wounds across his body. He was critically injured and on the verge of death.

During the close combat, he had been unable to break through Chu Liang's defense. Meanwhile, Chu Liang and every one of his clones wielded a legendary weapon capable of cutting through flesh with ease.

It felt unbearably unfair for the mirror image.

"You..." The mirror image glared at him with eyes filled with resentment. "You relied on items to win. You didn’t win with your skills!"

Chu Liang looked down calmly and said, "Looks like you failed to copy my intelligence. If I obtained these items through my own efforts, why wouldn’t that count as part of my skills?"

He paused briefly, then added, "And one more thing. Thanks for the gift."

Before the words had fully left his mouth, a lightning dragon crashed down from the heavens, striking the mirror image with devastating force. Its body exploded into a spray of water that quickly dissolved into the lake.

The moment Chu Liang defeated the mirror image, a rift opened up before him. He was just about to step into it when a figure emerged from the light.

The figure who stepped through the light wore a dark teal Daoist robe. His face was expressionless, and his presence carried an air of ancient stillness.

Chu Liang recognized him at once.

It was Lu Cang, a member of the Divine Ruins Monastery!

Chu Liang’s heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained composed. With a polite smile, he said, "Esteemed Senior Lu? What a surprise to see you here."

Lu Cang ignored the greeting and just said coldly, "Someone wants to see you."

Chu Liang let out a light chuckle and raised his hand in a casual wave. "Ah, what a coincidence. I actually have some family matters to attend to right now. Maybe another day?"

Even a fool could tell that this visitor had not come with good intentions.

...

Lu Cang didn’t waste a single word. He simply raised his hand, and a beam of golden light shot toward Chu Liang in an attempt to imprison him.

The Ring of Confinement?

Chu Liang reacted instantly. He activated the Great Dao of Distancelessness and slipped away before the immortal art could take effect. Yet, something about Lu Cang’s technique felt unusually powerful.

But in the very next instant, another beam of golden light burst from Lu Cang’s sleeve.

Whoosh.

The golden light shot forward like a spirit snake, swiftly coiling around Chu Liang. It wrapped around him over a dozen times, binding him tightly and severing his connection to the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. With his powers sealed, Chu Liang plummeted to the ground.

Lu Cang extended a hand and lifted him up with ease.

"The Demon-Restraining Rope?[1]" Chu Liang muttered, quickly recognizing the enchanted artifact.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A treasure with that shape and such formidable power could only be one thing. Chu Liang immediately thought of the Demon-Restraining Rope that the Mount Shu Sect had once lost within the Divine Ruins.

Even though the Demon-Restraining Rope was ranked among the top items in the Catalog of the Mortal World’s Ten Thousand Treasures, it should not have displayed such overwhelming might unless it had been infused with spiritual energy specifically designed to counter demons. Chu Liang currently possessed cultivation power at the eighth realm thanks to the Great Dao Puppet. It made no sense for someone like him to be bound so completely, as if he were a helpless child.

This was not a matter of Lu Cang's cultivation being too strong. Instead, it seemed the rope had been enhanced with a peculiar spiritual qi, one far more concentrated and potent than ordinary foundational qi.

When they had been fighting Lu Chengchou and Young Noble Xunyang earlier, Chu Liang had been puzzled by how they managed to wield such powerful enchanted artifacts despite only being at the seventh realm. Looking back now, it seemed likely that their strength had also come from this same strange spiritual essence.

This spiritual essence felt cleaner and stronger, capable of things that foundational qi alone could not achieve.

Just then, a mass of dark clouds surged around him. Chu Liang realized that Lu Cang had used the World Within One’s Sleeve and sealed him inside.

Now that he was tightly bound, there was little room for resistance. For the time being, Chu Liang had no choice but to go along with it.

Fortunately, it did not seem that Lu Cang had come seeking revenge for his son. The Divine Ruins Monastery also showed no intent to kill him. If they had, Lu Cang could have ended his life on the spot.

The wind howled throughout their journey. After some time, Lu Cang finally came to a stop.

When Chu Liang’s vision cleared, he found himself inside an old-fashioned tower. The furnishings were sparse and clearly aged, yet the room had been meticulously maintained. Not a single speck of dust could be seen.

The air was thick with spiritual qi. He instinctively took a few deep breaths and at once felt his mind grow clear and refreshed.

"Esteemed senior..." Chu Liang began, intending to ask a question.

But Lu Cang spoke first. "Is Lu Chengchou dead?"

"It wasn’t me," Chu Liang blurted out.

"Haaaaaaaaa." Lu Cang sighed. His face showed no grief, only a faint trace of resignation. "In the end, no one can escape fate."

It seemed he had no particular concern over who had killed his son.

Sensing the caution in Chu Liang’s expression, Lu Cang said coldly, "You don’t need to worry about me taking revenge. His fate was recorded in the Celestial Tome long ago. I held onto a sliver of hope, so I brought him to live outside the Divine Ruins Monastery, thinking he might avoid worldly entanglements. But in the end, it was all for nothing."

"I’m glad to hear you can take it so calmly, senior," Chu Liang said, letting out a quiet breath of relief. "After all, you’re still full of vitality, and the Lu Family’s bloodline—"

"Wait here. Someone will come to see you," Lu Cang interrupted, casting him an annoyed glance before turning away with a flick of his sleeve.

Chu Liang quickly asked, "Esteemed Senior, may I ask who it is?"

Just as Lu Cang reached the doorway, he paused and replied slowly, "The Monastery Overseer."

The overseer of the Divine Ruins Monastery? The person who ruled over this mysterious and hidden land?

Chu Liang’s heart tensed. He was about to meet someone who might be one of the most enigmatic and powerful figures in the world. The weight of that realization made it difficult to stay calm.

The moment Lu Cang departed, the door creaked open as a pair of hands was seen pushing the doors to the room open.

Standing against the light, a figure stepped inside.

As soon as Chu Liang saw his face, his pupils constricted.

The figure wore the same dark teal Daoist robe as Lu Cang, along with cloth shoes and white socks. His build was average, slightly broad and solid. His head and face were both square-shaped, and three long strands of beard hung neatly from his chin. His expression was cold and composed, yet his features struck Chu Liang as strangely familiar.

"Square—" he blurted out, then froze, and corrected himself in disbelief. "Senior Brother Yuan?!"

1. Previously thought that the author had made a typo when writing about the Six Demon-Eliminating Treasures and that this should be the Demon-Binding Rope that we are all familiar with...the one that can do the bondage thing... But it turns out that it is a completely different thing. This is actually a very righteous tool! ☜