Chapter 57 — To Sea
劍問蒼天 · Page 3 of 6
Xiaowan whispered, "That was close. We nearly ran into an old enemy." She shot Zhou Yixuan a glance. "It's all your fault, Grandfather. Wherever you go, you're liable to bump into someone you've cheated. I suppose the most wronged person in the world is me."
Zhou Yixuan gave Xiaowan a blank look and ignored her. Manager Wang, seeing the old immortal come out, had naturally hurried to greet him, diligently serving tea and dishes and entertaining him warmly. Zhou Yixuan did not stand on ceremony either, sitting down casually with Xiaowan and chatting with Manager Wang in a desultory way.
Manager Wang said, "Old Immortal, did you know? Last night, outside our Changhe City, I hear something big happened."
Zhou Yixuan started. "What happened?"
Manager Wang said, "I'm not too clear myself, but I heard that the righteous cultivators who have gathered here these past days ran into people from the demon cult last night over to the west of the city, and the two sides fell to fighting with spells. It was fierce, they say. People from the west of the city said even the city walls were shaking."
Zhou Yixuan said in surprise, "The demon cult and the righteous sects have already come to blows?"
Manager Wang shrugged. "The news all came this morning, but it's probably not false." Then, with some concern, he said, "Old Immortal, the righteous path is all cultivators, and I hear the demon cult generally doesn't trouble us common folk. But you have deep cultivation—if anyone asks you to take action against the demon cult, you must be careful."
"Pfft"—beside him, Xiaowan had just taken a sip of tea and could not help spraying it out.
Zhou Yixuan glared at Xiaowan. She struggled to hold back her laughter, and seeing Manager Wang look over with concern on his face, she managed with great effort to keep a normal tone: "Ah! Manager Wang, I—I'm fine, it's just, haha, I choked on my tea, haha, choked..."
Liubo Mountain in the Eastern Sea (Note 1) lies seven thousand li out into the sea, the easternmost reach of this world; beyond it lies the vast ocean, boundless and without end.
This place was utterly remote, and naturally had been deserted from the first. Yet just days after Zhang Qingyue and the others entered Kongsang Mountain, people of the demon cult suddenly appeared from every region, and within a few days dozens of cultivation sects had been wiped out by them, shaking the world. After eight hundred years, the demon cult had risen again, its power and prestige greater than ever.
Among the righteous path, the great sects—led by the Canglan Sect, the Fanyin Temple, and the Fenxia Valley—hurriedly took counsel together.
Just then word came suddenly from Fenxia Valley that a great number of the demon cult's people were gathering at the desolate place that was Liubo Mountain in the Eastern Sea, for reasons unknown.
When righteousness is at stake, the two sides cannot coexist. The righteous cultivators burned with indignation. Before long, led by the three great sects, they sent forth their finest disciples, headed by elders of profound cultivation, and marched in mighty array toward Liubo Mountain in the Eastern Sea. Along the way, many more righteous cultivators joined them, intent on sweeping away the demon horde and bringing benefit to all living things.
Along the road, Zhang Qingyue made a point of inquiring and learned something of what had happened; his blood ran hot, and his resolve to go to the Eastern Sea only grew firmer.
Yet this easternmost land was exceedingly far away. The demon cult had chosen that place, no doubt because they saw that although the Central Plains were rich and fertile, they were also where the three great sects had deep roots; so they were willing to flee to a remote island at the frontier. What they never expected was that the righteous path was now flourishing, and that in the hearts of all righteous folk, righteousness came first—they would charge all this way to destroy them and be done with it.