Guardians of Mountain and Sea - Chapter 13

Near the Eastern Chaos Sea, a patch of land lay shrouded in a grayish-white mist. The mist drifted with an eerie elegance, its subtle movements sketching out the patterns of a Yin-Yang formation.

Suddenly, the mist grew still. With a sharp, piercing shriek, the grayish-white fog whistled as it contracted, gathering inward until it was completely inhaled into the Dantian of a man with upright features dressed in red.

Beside him sat a black-striped, white-browed tiger as tall as a man. The giant tiger watched him with concern, flicking its tail and letting out a low growl.

“I am fine.”

Wuyanzi shook his head. Just as he was about to speak further, a fierce red light flashed in his eyes. He turned his gaze toward the side in alert. However, upon sensing the approaching aura, his vigilance turned into a smile, and he hurriedly led the tiger forward to greet the newcomer.

“Ah, ah, ah, Sister Wuyanzi, stay away from me!”

The moment the woman’s figure appeared, a bolt of lightning struck down from above. The tiger stopped abruptly, its skin twitching and fur standing on end. Before he could react, Wuyanzi was snatched up by the tiger’s mouth and carried away as the beast scrambled a great distance back.

It was already too late. Sensing two other presences within the range of the tribulation, the thunderclouds instantly sent down two more bolts.

Three arcs of electricity crackled around Lin Pu’s body, hissing and popping before vanishing into her flesh and bone marrow in an instant.

The woman’s long hair flew up, radiating energy. Her skin glowed with a translucent white light, and lightning patterns scurried beneath her surface. Faint thunder rumbled within her body, and her tea-colored eyes flashed with sparks of electricity.

Lin Pu let out a series of startled yelps as she was jolted. Suddenly, a roaring celestial fire erupted from her bones. Tongues of flame lashed out, and with the person undergoing the tribulation at the center, the lightning and fire blazed across a radius of ten feet.

The tiger’s eyes widened in shock. Wuyanzi sighed in admiration. “As expected of a disciple of the True Lord! When ordinary people undergo the Lightning-Fire transformation from Mortal Shedding to The Unreturning, it is usually just fire scorching the body to temper the sinews and blood. Yet, even in this Eastern region where the Heavenly Dao is weakened, the Young Superior’s transformation is so grand. Truly extraordinary!”

Lin Pu was suffering.

Priestess Granny and True Lord Mo were both masters of profound cultivation. Under their tutelage for the past ten years, she had learned a great deal.

When Mo Xianjun had impulsively accepted this disciple for the sect, she had vaguely sensed that the girl was protected by another cultivator. But in the vast world of myriad things, geniuses are many; who hasn’t had a stroke of luck or a fateful encounter?

That was until she met the white-haired woman.

Mo Xianjun’s physical body was gone; like Priestess Granny, she existed only as a Primordial Spirit. By a twist of fate, the two experts were trapped together in the pocket realm.

Mo Xianjun fared slightly better; as long as her Primordial Spirit remained, staying in the pocket realm was simply moving to a different place to continue her cultivation. Priestess Granny, however, had lost her Dao and her techniques; she could only sit in hollow silence, waiting for death.

The True Lord, possessing a compassionate heart, respected this remnant of the Second Era who carried the blood feud of an entire civilization. In between her cultivation, she would often converse and discuss the Dao with the white-haired woman.

Although Priestess Granny had forgotten her lineage, her insight remained. Over the past ten years, the two had conversed happily, becoming bosom friends.

Because of this mutual understanding, Mo Xianjun had given Lin Pu detailed instructions before Priestess Granny sent her out.

“Your skeletal structure is not natural; it was obtained by Priestess Granny through the act of snatching creation from the heavens. She is a remnant of the Second Era. Although the divine civilization was erased, a trace of favor and creation from the world remains upon her. This favor offset the sin of defying the heavens, allowing you to enjoy the results in peace.”

“However, while the sin of snatching from the heavens was cleared, it does not mean the Heavenly Dao will let the matter slide lightly. Your future tribulations will likely be more difficult than those of ordinary people.”

Sure enough, the moment she stepped out of the pocket realm, the Heavenly Dao of the continent immediately sent down this magnificent lightning and fire.

Although she had her Jade Bones as a foundation and ten years of tempering, ensuring the lightning and fire could not harm her core, the pain of the melting and forging of her body was very real.

Sensing her master being scorched, Wanxiang curled into a ball, chirping with worry. Only then did Wuyanzi notice a little yellow chick hidden in the soft fur on top of the tiger’s head.

Feeling his majesty offended, the Tiger Senior roared in anger, raising a front paw to sweep his head and brush it off. But a weak bolt of heavenly lightning struck down. “Cheep!”

The chick and the tiger were both struck until their fur stood on end, and they slumped onto the ground together in a daze.

The thunderclouds dispersed, and the sky over the Chaos Sea returned to its inky color.

Wuyanzi stepped forward, casting a Water-Guiding Spell to wash away the charred ash from Lin Pu’s body.

Lin Pu stood up. She was now a woman in her mid-twenties with glossy long hair, lustrous skin, and red lips against white teeth. Her frame was strong and powerful, her muscle lines supple and resilient. Every part of her was perfectly balanced between fullness and slenderness.

Though her face was merely pleasant rather than breathtakingly beautiful, her tea-colored eyes were bright and spirited. They held a vibrant vitality like morning dew under the rising sun, making people feel as if they had glimpsed the coming of spring in the dead of winter. It brought an instinctive sense of cheer.

How could one judge beauty or ugliness by facial features alone? For a woman so full of life, radiating such spiritual brilliance, who could say she was not beautiful?

Wuyanzi could not help but look down at himself, bowing slightly. He felt a mix of shame and irritation, consumed by self-loathing.

Her dharma robe flew to her skin, transforming into a fitted outer garment. Lin Pu reached out, and little Wanxiang shook its feathers as the crackling lightning dissipated. It fluttered its wings and flew into her palm.

Having followed its master through the Lightning-Fire Tribulation, Wanxiang, who was just a chick moments ago, had changed significantly.

Its wing feathers had grown longer. A tiny blue-purple crest had sprouted on its head. Its three-toed claws were now faintly covered in a layer of small scales, and a sharp fourth toe had emerged at the back. It no longer looked like a newly hatched chick.

Ten years had passed. Lin Pu had grown up, yet the Chaos Sea remained as it was, unchanged except for the water rising by a few inches. The silver, transparent light barrier stood at the shore, firmly holding back the rising tide. The monstrous waves of the black sea crashed against the sword barrier, but the light screen remained motionless.

Wanxiang hopped onto its master’s shoulder. Lin Pu used a straight wooden hairpin to tie up her dark hair and looked at Wuyanzi.

“Sister Wuyanzi, I have been in the pocket realm with my Senior Sister for ten years. Thank you and Tiger Senior for waiting here. Has anything happened since we left?”

Senior Sister?

Wuyanzi was shocked. He had originally intended to hide the void collapse from ten years ago, but he immediately changed his mind. He lowered his gaze and, omitting only the Nine Heavens Demon God, honestly revealed everything.

Lin Pu grew thoughtful.

The restriction set by Priestess Granny was originally meant only for her. If she had opened the Peace Lock herself on the continent, the resulting void rift would have been tiny and would have healed quickly, causing no issues.

However, this place was a land devoid of spiritual energy where the Heavenly Dao was weak. Likely, when Mo Xianjun’s Primordial Spirit triggered the mechanism, the formation expanded significantly to transport the True Lord’s dissipating soul-mist, leading to the void collapse.

Lin Pu was no longer the ignorant little girl she once was; she knew how terrifying void monsters could be.

Once she confirmed no serious consequences had occurred, Lin Pu breathed a sigh of relief. “That is good. I am glad nothing happened to you.”

After her sect was destroyed, Wuyanzi had spent decades drifting through the mortal world. He was no longer the pampered personal disciple of the Bronze Sparrow Terrace who knew nothing of the world.

He was sophisticated and skilled at reading people. From his observations, he surmised that Lin Pu had entered a pocket realm with the True Lord of the Red Ribbon. Recalling that the Daoist Lord practiced seven paths but had only taken six disciples before ascending, it seemed this mortal girl had found the fortune to become the Daoist Lord’s seventh disciple.

At this thought, Wuyanzi felt a secret pang of envy. He tactfully avoided asking questions and felt no jealousy. The further the Young Superior went in the future, the more hope there was for his sect’s blood feud to be avenged.

The tiger had been caught in the crossfire of Wanxiang’s tribulation lightning. He wasn’t injured; instead, he had gained some benefits in tempering his bones. He shook his frame and returned to his original form.

The majestic tiger crouched on the ground. Once the passengers were seated, he roared and raced toward the inland like a bolt of lightning.

In those ten years, not only had Lin Pu been reborn, but the Tiger Senior’s cultivation had also improved significantly. The journey to the Eastern lands had taken a long time, but leaving took only a few days. Within half a month, the demon tiger had carried them into the Eastern territories.

The Lingqi Continent was vast. Humans mostly lived in clusters, concentrated around cities. Following the rules of the cultivation world, the tiger chose to travel through sparsely populated mountains and forests, avoiding mortal towns and heading straight for the largest city in the East.

Occasionally, they passed the mountain gates or hidden caves of sects and rogue cultivators. The commotion often alerted disciples, who flew out on magical artifacts to investigate, their gazes filled mostly with wary scrutiny.

Lin Pu and the others simply kept their heads down and hurried on, not disturbing anyone. The journey was peaceful.

Another day passed, and the outline of a great city appeared in the distance. Wuyanzi smiled and said to Lin Pu, “That city ahead is the Eastern base of the Huangdao Alliance. There is a teleportation array in the city. From there, we won’t have to travel by foot.”

The Huangdao Alliance, also known as the Imperial Alliance, was a sect formed by a union of mortal imperial powers. In a world where the paths of immortals and mortals were separate, the Huangdao Alliance served as the central hub connecting them.

The disciples of this sect were all members of mortal imperial families. Their cultivation relied entirely on the aura of the mountains and rivers, the dragon veins. Thus, their power was directly linked to the strength of the nations they represented.

Because of this sect’s existence, the cultivation world and the mortal world had signed a contract: since the Great Sects took spiritual energy from heaven and earth, they should not place themselves above the secular world. If there were demons harming the world, cultivators were obligated to slay them; otherwise, the two worlds would not interfere with each other.

The tiger stopped at the city gate and transformed into a cub the size of a kitten, which Wuyanzi picked up. The commoners entering and leaving the city cast respectful glances but gave the cultivators a wide berth, not daring to look them in the eye.

A senior Daoist guarding the gate stepped forward to greet them. His shadow remained on the ground, stood up, and pulled out a black ledger to follow its master.

“Whence do you two Daoists come, and whither do you go? What are your artifacts, and which path do you practice?”

Registering cultivators entering mortal cities was a long-standing rule of the Huangdao Alliance.

Lin Pu looked curiously at the shadow avatar preparing to write. She took a step back to let Wuyanzi take the lead.

The man in red understood. He stepped forward with a smile. “My young lady practices the bow. I am a rogue cultivator. We wish to borrow the city’s formation to travel to a Great Sect for a visit.”

There were far too many rogue cultivators wishing to join a Great Sect, so the old Daoist did not mind. He turned his gaze toward Lin Pu. “Does Fellow Daoist practice the way of the sword?”

The woman waved her hand timidly and manifested a bow out of thin air, which quickly dissipated as if she lacked spiritual power.

Appearing as a shy, pampered young lady, she spoke in a small voice, “It is not the sword of blades, but the bow and arrow.”

The old Daoist apologized with a smile, issued them each a token, and stepped aside to let them pass.

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