Chapter 2532: A Good Assist

In the hall, fresh blood flowed, staining the copper pillars red.

Ah!

Many elders sighed, feeling both resentment and sorrow. After all, he was a supreme elder of their sect, and now he had died in such a way.

Hua Shan Zhen Ren remained silent. He knew his grand-uncle well—a man who lived with unyielding integrity. Defeat to him meant death, never a cowardly survival.

"Put down your weapons and cripple your own cultivation."

Hua Shan Zhen Ren spoke calmly, looking at Hua Shan Da Zhang Lao and the others. His words carried the full authority of the sect leader, with no trace of pity in his eyes.

As Ye Chen had said the night before, the current situation was all due to his past mercy. Over countless years, factional struggles had led to the senseless deaths of many elders and disciples—a bloody history.

Today, as the leader of Hua Shan, he was determined to act with iron resolve.

Surrender meant life; resistance meant death.

This would be his standard from now on—no more mercy as in the past. It was not only for Hua Shan but also for the next generation's leader, which would be Ye Chen. He needed to clear all obstacles for him.

Hua Shan Da Zhang Lao sneered disdainfully, his body already disintegrating inch by inch.

It was hua dao.

He was another man of unyielding spirit. Defeat was defeat, with no thought of survival—it was simply death.

Hua Shan Zhen Ren did not stop him. He understood the supreme elder, just as he understood Hua Shan Da Zhang Lao. Back in the sect leader's contest years ago, he had lost, and even after a thousand years, he would not cling to life.

Many like him were unyielding. Filled with resentment, they walked the path of hua dao, turning into ashes one after another.

Naturally, most of the elders knew when to advance and retreat. Without a second thought, they crippled their own cultivation. Better to live on as an ordinary person than die—after being immortals for centuries, they wanted to experience life as mortals.

Before long, aside from those who had disintegrated, the elders from the opposing faction lay collapsed on the ground, their cultivation completely gone, each one more aged than the last.

This scene was somewhat tragic.

Yet, though people sighed, most wore indifferent expressions. Such was the way of the world, much like mortal dynasties. Those who rebelled either became kings or bandits. Compared to mortal emperors, Hua Shan Zhen Ren was already merciful—he did not implicate their entire clans.

"Send them to the mortal world."

Hua Shan Zhen Ren said, slowly turning his back. One could see his figure slightly hunched, a bit more aged.

The four hall masters nodded and waved their hands, sweeping the elders away.

As they left, many glanced back, looking at Hua Shan Zhen Ren and the elders in the hall. Among them were their senior brothers, junior brothers, grand-uncles, and mentors. This farewell was eternal.

In that moment, they all felt a touch of absurdity. So-called power was not as important as they had imagined. Why fight over it?

Unfortunately, they had realized this too late and were destined to pay the price.

The hall fell into silence once more.

Seeing Hua Shan Zhen Ren with his back to everyone, the elders said nothing and quietly turned to leave the great hall.

"Waste, a bunch of waste."

In the Ba Tai Zi palace of Tian Ting, Yin Ming raged like a mad dog, roaring wildly. Upon hearing about the Hua Shan incident, he was furious. He had sent so many experts, and the plan had been meticulously arranged, yet it ended in failure. How could he endure it?

"I heard a powerful expert assisted them in secret."

The elder in purple robes said, "And their combat strength was terrifying."

"Investigate! Get me that information."

Ba Tai Zi howled in anger, "I want to see who dares to provoke me like this."

"Yu Di will emerge from seclusion soon. At that time, you can submit a memorial, using the pretext of recruiting talents to invite the Little Stone Spirit to Tian Ting. Once Hua Shan no longer protects him, that dao jing will be easily obtained."

"Do I need you to tell me that?"

The Hua Shan rebellion, both political and military, ended in complete failure.

Hua Shan remained Hua Shan, though without mountains of corpses or seas of blood, the losses were still heavy. Too many had crippled their cultivation, and too many had been exiled. The sect's foundation was severely damaged, its vitality wounded to the bone.

For several days, Hua Shan was unreservedly, with heavy troops stationed everywhere.

Hua Shan Zhen Ren acted with iron fists, reorganizing the sect and the nine sub-halls, using great means to purge the opposing factions.

It was not until nine days later that this upheaval truly came to an end.

That night, Ye Chen sat cross-legged on a mountain peak, quietly refining his weapon. The divine iron and artifacts he had seized that night had all been shattered, their essence fused into the Ding Hai Shen Zhen. The divine weapon was taking shape, glowing with golden light and buzzing intensely. It was as heavy as a great mountain, capable of smashing through ten thousand rivers and mountains with a single swing.

"Still tinkering with your stick."

Hua Shan Shen Nü arrived, spotting Ye Chen refining from afar. She couldn't help but roll her eyes, feeling inexplicably irritated for some reason.

"Keep complaining, and I might use it to hit you."

Ye Chen said casually.

"I'm not bothering with you."

Hua Shan Shen Nü replied grumpily, tossing over a storage bag. "The sect leader sent me with this dao pao. It's the leader's robe. Choose an auspicious day for you to succeed as the sect leader."

"I want to go to Tian Ting and become a high official."

Ye Chen coughed.

"Is the Hua Shan sect leader position not as good as an official rank in Tian Ting?"

Ye Chen let out a dry laugh and accepted the storage bag. There was no point arguing with this woman—he'd have to discuss it with Hua Shan Zhen Ren. As for ranks and positions, he didn't care about them at all. Everything was just for finding reincarnated people. Once he carved the divine position, he'd make time to return to Da Chu and check on his homeland.

Hua Shan Shen Nü glared at him one last time before turning and leaving.

Ye Chen continued refining the weapon. He had a feeling that people from Tian Ting would come soon, so he needed to make his stick as strong as possible for the fight.

It was not until late at night that he stopped. The Ding Hai Shen Zhen hummed and vibrated, incredibly heavy—a perfect divine weapon for smashing enemies. Tian Ting would rely on it.

After putting away the iron stick, he descended the mountain peak and reappeared at Qian Kun Peak.

Hua Shan Zhen Ren was not asleep; he was quietly brewing tea. Whenever such scenes occurred, Hua Shan Xian Zi was always present, but the two of them just sat there brewing tea, with no other activities.

"What a waste of this beautiful moonlit night."

Ye Chen couldn't help but sigh. Such a lovely woman, and all they did was brew tea. Wasn't it more straightforward to go to bed and chat about ideals?

"Sit."

Seeing Ye Chen arrive, Hua Shan Zhen Ren smiled warmly.

"Senior, I'll be going to Tian Ting soon."

Ye Chen got straight to the point, also glancing at the nearby xian ling flower, which had fully matured. Its petals and leaves were crystalline, radiating immense immortal energy.

"Then return and take over as sect leader."

Hua Shan Zhen Ren laughed. After several great battles, he knew Ye Chen was mysterious and must have some mission. The matter of the Hua Shan leadership could wait.

Ye Chen smiled in response and went straight to the xian ling flower, not standing on ceremony. He found a high-quality treasure box and sealed it away.

"Senior brother, are you really letting him go?"

Hua Shan Xian Zi glanced at Ye Chen, then at Hua Shan Zhen Ren.

"In this San Xian Realm, if he wants to leave, who can stop him?"

Hua Shan Zhen Ren shook his head with a smile.

Hua Shan Xian Zi smiled and said no more. With hundreds of quasi-emperors wiped out in an instant, no one in the entire San Xian Realm could handle Ye Chen. With his level of combat strength, he could roam the realm freely.

But the two still felt a faint worry.

The upper immortal realm was different from the San Xian Realm, with no suppression of cultivation. Ye Chen could instantly kill quasi-emperors below, but up there, it was uncertain. They knew all too well how deep Tian Ting's foundations ran, and with Ba Tai Zi that demon causing trouble, things would not be peaceful.

By now, Ye Chen had returned, holding two items: an ancient scroll in one hand and a small bag in the other.

These were treasures—one a specialty from Da Chu, the other a collector's edition.

"This is a unique gift from my old friend, for you two seniors."

Ye Chen said in a deep voice, his words full of meaning. Anyone listening would think it was some great treasure, and indeed a big one.

The two great immortals were baffled, curious about Ye Chen's homeland and what kind of immortal land could produce such a prodigy.

However, when they opened the storage bag and unrolled the ancient scroll, they were both stunned, as if struck by lightning. Hua Shan Zhen Ren felt a rush of heat in his nose, while Hua Shan Xian Zi's cheeks turned completely red. The illustrations in the ancient scroll were extraordinarily explicit—hard for anyone to handle.

In an instant, Ye Da Shao had vanished without a trace. After thinking it over, he decided to play this matchmaker role. Otherwise, those two great immortals would just keep brewing tea and never experience anything more wonderful.

Qian Kun Peak became awkwardly silent because of him.

It was a long while before Hua Shan Zhen Ren raised his hand to wipe his nosebleed. He was the Hua Shan leader, yes, and had lived for millennia, but when it came to matters of men and women, his experience was far behind Ye Da Shao's.

Not to boast, but a certain emperor from Da Chu could look at such collector's editions without batting an eye—after seeing enough, one just got used to it.

As for Hua Shan Xian Zi, pure and elegant as she was, she had never seen such explicit images. Her mind was spinning.

Who would have thought that little stone could be so bold as to pull off something like this? It was outrageously direct. If not seen with their own eyes, they would never have known what Ye Chen's sense of propriety was like.

In the end, Hua Shan Zhen Ren reached out his hand.

And Hua Shan Xian Zi did not refuse. This was the first time Hua Shan Zhen Ren had taken the initiative to hold her hand—it felt wonderfully intimate.

Who said immortals were emotionless? This long-overdue collector's edition had shattered the invisible barrier between them.

The night grew deeper.

The small stone table no longer held Hua Shan Zhen Ren and the fairy.