Chapter 527: Do You Dare To Fight?
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng’s tone was plain but his words were as sharp as knives as they cut deep into the faces of the Xuanlin Holy Man and the others with him until they were flowing with blood.
Casting forbidden spells upon disciples from the same sect, and engraving curses and runes on them so that he or she could re-forge those people into his or her own avatar, were hideous acts that were typically seen only in demonic sects.
Even though Chen Gang and the others were willing, committing such acts were enough to cast a long and gloomy shadow over the glorious reputation of the Great Void Sect.
For a long time coming, the Great Void Sect had been the number one holy ground in the Divine Lands’ world of cultivation. At the same time, they were also leaders of the Just Way. In the great battle between humans and the demons, the Great Void Sect took point as they led the alliance to sweep the satanic sects. This directly resulted in the current situation were sects of the Just Way were flourishing as the satanic sects were weak and hidden.
However, who would have thought that disciples of the Great Void Sect could do something so sinister. Furthermore, Pang Jie was not just any normal disciple – he used to bear the mantle of the group leader of all the other disciples in his era, and was also named the All-Under-Heavens Strider.
A person like this was undoubtedly, and irrevocably, one of the destined leaders of the new generation of disciples in the Great Void Sect.
Being exposed like this with such ugly news did not just hurt his own pride and reputation – the Great Void Sect suffered similar humiliation.
An unrivaled reputation that had been accumulated after uncountable years and months was about to take a hit.
Pang Jie stood within the void calmly. His expression revealed nothing as he allowed the judgmental eyes of everyone to rest upon his body.
Before this, he was still one of the more prodigious disciples of the new generation of disciples from the Great Void Sect with a bright future ahead of him.
In the next moment, he was about to descend into an abyss of no return.
Pang Jie was not furious, and neither did he try to deny or reason his way out of it. He was just standing there in silence.
He watched Lin Feng with an extremely weird look.
During the battle at Shazhou City, Pang Jie’s original body was not present. He used one of his avatars to challenge Lin Feng and was subsequently defeated and imprisoned. It was only with Yan Mingyue’s help that he got away. Still, the All-Under-Heavens Strider was completely humiliated.
With regards to Lin Feng’s display of status and powers afterwards, one could say that "humiliation" was a little bit of a stretch. The Heavenly Winds Holy Man, who was in the immortal soul stage, was defeated and subsequently killed by Lin Feng. The Golden Crow Grand Sage, one of the Ten Demonic Saints, was also captured and imprisoned.
Recently, four immortal soul second stage sword cultivators, also known as the stage of the cultivation of the virtual entity, from the Mount Shu Sword Sect were also utterly defeated at the hands of Lin Feng. Even some giants of the era such as Xin Longsheng, who was the leader of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, suffered defeats of some sort; Lin Feng sliced his sword Qi avatar in half.
Pang Jie actually had his own thoughts and intentions during the battle of Shazhou City. In order to break through the bottleneck into the immortal soul stage, he had to give up his title.
After the battle, Pang Jie had been cultivating on top of Mount Baiyun ever since. It was not too long ago that he finally broke through to the immortal soul stage and formed the immortal soul avatar.
Ascension to the immortal soul first level meant he was free and was on his path to greatness.
From that moment on, he was no longer some young prodigy with great potential. His potential had since transformed into real power and standard, and from then on, he became a real legend of the era as he took his first step onto stage that was the Grand Celestial World.
If he continued along the path that he was on, there was no doubt that his name would appear in the history books. All those empty titles before were all like smoke and mist in hindsight.
Pang Jie was like the rising Sun. He was finally going towards the pinnacle of greatness, and was marching forward like the Sun during midday.
However, at this exact moment, he ran into Lin Feng once again.
Subsequently, he suddenly realized that even though he was in the immortal soul stage, he could never compare to Lin Feng.
The gap between the two of them was possibly greater than that which existed during the battle of Shazhou City!
Back then, he was a prodigal talent and a leading disciple of the Great Void Sect as well as the All-Under-Heavens Strider. He was one of the up and coming leaders of the younger generation.
On the other hand, Lin Feng’s reputation paled in comparison. He was just showing the top of his head, and his identity was a mystery. During that time, a great many people did not even know he existed, and the people that did were all guessing his true identity – where did he come from?
Now, Pang Jie had ascended to the immortal soul stage and was formally introduced into the inner circle of the Great Void Sect. At the same time, he became someone whose words actually mattered in the Divine Lands.
His resilience, perseverance, determination and planning all bore fruit and he was well on his way on the path to success.
Yet, the Lin Feng in front of him was already at a status that was similar to the elders in his own sect; his status was in fact at the same level as Yan Nanlai, the leader of the Great Void Sect.
Even though Pang Jie had always been clear-headed and had always been unwaveringly determined, at this point he could not help but feel a little lost.
Once upon a time, Lin Feng was nothing to him – like the clouds floating around in the skies. It came to a point where Lin Feng became something of an arch-nemesis, an adversary of equal ability.
However, in hindsight, everything was like a joke.
The female cultivator beside him remained silent, while the Xuanlin Holy Man’s brows furrowed up once again. A look of true disappointment seemed to flicker in his eyes as he turned around to face Pang Jie. "You have erred."
Pang Jie replied quietly, "Every disciple of the Great Void Sect has benefited from its glorious reputation. Naturally, we have to contribute to the sect in one way or another."
"The descendants will determine right and wrong."
He raised his head and met the Xuanlin Holy Man’s gaze. Their eyes were both charged with sincere and true passion, yet betrayed an equal measure of indifference at the same time. Both states existed simultaneously.
"The Great Void Sect is also the reason why I am standing here where I am today. If Chen Junior and the others can make such sacrifices, then I can also do it." Pang Jie let out a long and painful sigh. "Master, just do it. I am willing to do anything to wash away the blemish upon our reputation."
The Xuanlin Holy Man watched Pang Jie closely. Pang Jie was one of his direct disciples, and he had personally nurtured Pang Jie effortfully all this while. Yet, he was about to shut him down with his own hand.
He raised one hand and uncountable streaks of white light flashed from within the void. A giant stone plaque descended from the sky, with two words engraved on the front surface –"The Commandments"– while the nine great commandments of the Great Void Sect were imprinted on the other side.
The fifth commandment that read, "No jealousy and mutual killing between disciples of the sect," was flickering with brilliant light.
This stone plaque was the magic treasure that enforced law and order within the Great Void Sect. It had been a while since the last time it was used. The stone plaque crashed down from the sky and immediately overpowered Pang Jie.
Entities imprisoned by the Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone would not perish. Rather, they would be forever held down by the power of the stone plaque, and if the stone remained intact then these individuals would never escape from their predicaments. It was akin to lifelong incarceration.
Pang Jie’s body was directly under the white light that came from below the Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone. Moments passed as the shadow of his body gradually disappeared – even in his last moments, his eyes were fixated upon Lin Feng.
Lin Feng’s expression was calm, but he was not looking at Pang Jie. His eyes were trained upon the Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone that was hovering in the sky as he watched on with slight curiosity.
His gaze ultimately landed upon the Xuanlin Holy Man as he nodded faintly.
There was not a single trace of hesitation as the Xuanlin Holy Man made his judgment decisively – he overpowered and imprisoned Pang Jie, who was his direct disciple and also one of the successors of the Great Void Sect’s inner circle, in an instant.
It seemed as if Lin Feng forced him into a corner and he was being skinned, but in the end it presented an opportunity to display a sincere, just and decisive attitude that great individuals of the Great Void Sect should possess.
No matter how big a tree was, there were bound to be wilted branches. Pang Jie’s actions would probably affect the Great Void Sect’s reputation in some way, but the way that the Xuanlin Holy Man handled the issue would probably also minimize the negative impact.
In this case, the tables turned around on Lin Feng and it seemed as if he was deliberately trying to target the Great Void Sect and harbored ulterior motives.
The Gambling Holy Man voice-projected a message to Shi Zongyue. "The leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders could have resolved this in private with the Great Void Sect. The way he poured everything out in front of everyone is such an unforgivable act of humiliation for the Great Void Sect."
"It’s such an obvious display of hostility. Even though the Great Void Sect settled Pang Jie and have served the justice he deserved, they are bound to feel extremely unsettled and displeased with what just transpired. Is the Celestial Sect of Wonders trying to completely antagonize the Great Void Sect? That’s not a very smart thing to do."
The Stellar Holy Man also frowned slightly. "Grinding it out with the Great Void Sect for a mere disciple under his wing – is it worth it?"
"If both sides are unwilling to compromise, then that’s still acceptable. The Great Void Sect is also adamantly protecting Shi Tianyi – however, this time it seems as if the Great Void Sect is in the wrong," Prince Anliang, Shi Zongyue replied slowly. "However, the Radical Faction of the Great Void Sect have always been overbearing and domineering. If not for the Conservative Faction holding them back, they would have started forcefully expanding since a long time ago."
His gaze swept across the Celestial Sword Elder beside Lin Feng and said plainly, "However, the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders was not trying to completely antagonize the Great Void Sect. In fact, it’s just…"
The Xuanlin Holy Man’s eyes also landed upon Lin Feng in a similar manner. The intimidation in his eyes was extremely overbearing.
This great senior elder of the Great Void Sect was one of the main figures of the Great Void Sect’s Radical Faction. For a long time coming, he had taken the initiative to nurture the leaders of the Great Void Sect and became an individual with powers of supreme dictatorship.
Even though the Great Void Sect was currently anchored by the Conservative Faction, the Xuanlin Holy Man firmly believed that every single obstacle they currently faced would ultimately disappear.
The Radical Faction of the Great Void Sect would naturally come forward strongly with wariness and pressure as they were faced with the unprecedented rising of the Celestial Sect of Wonders as a superpower.
At the same time, the act of humiliation that Lin Feng just dished out against them led the Xuanlin Holy Man to categorize him entirely into the group of people that constituted the ‘obstacles’.
This caused the Xuanlin Holy Man to perceive him as a foe rather than a friend.
Lin Feng’s expression was still as casual as always, and he glanced at the Xuanlin Holy Man calmly.
It was true that he deliberately tried to embarrass the Great Void Sect in front of everyone. Typically, they could associate without conflict. Lin Feng had always been in possession of Chen Gang, but never did play out this card.
Yet, there were some things that just had no room for negotiation or compromise.
If the Xuanlin Holy Man, Pang Jie and the others wanted to protect Shi Tianyi to the point where they bent reason and logic, and attaining the moral high ground at the same time to shoot one back at Lin Feng, then Lin Feng would not hold back against them.
The only way that nobody could find out about what you had done was if the act was not committed at all in the first place. People would not slander and frame you, but if the act had already been committed when all you could do was stand upright in the face of accusation and humiliation.
"The Great Void Sect will always be the Great Void Sect. Even though there is a black sheep amongst you, your glorious reputation will remain unfettered." Lin Feng continued quietly, "But you should take note of what Pang Jie has done."
"Some people may be prodigious along the road of cultivation, but their personalities can be rotten. Nurturing them becomes a real challenge."
The Great Void Demon-Crushing Stone flickered with white light beside the Xuanlin Holy Man. His gaze pierced through the void as he stared directly at Lin Feng, "Uninvolve individuals shall not interfere with what happens within the doors of the Great Void Sect."
Lin Feng laughed it off casually. "Uninvolved individuals? All right, now I am involved."
"Since you guys believe Shi Tianyi to be the main descendant of the Great Void Sect, then I propose a practice battle between my disciple and one of yours. The question is: Do you dare to fight?"
Lin Feng extended his fist subtly and the void behind began to ripple with clear light as a humongous mystical amount flickered into view.
A shadow of a person flew down from the top of the mountain. He was wearing purple clothes as clear black hair hung down to his shoulders. His lips were blood red and his teeth were white and he had a handsome look. He seemed like he was only twelve or thirteen, but vast and immense mana rippled around his body. Boundless aurora light circles enveloped his body as he descended unto the ground.
It was Xiao Budian, Shi Tianhao!
He had shut himself in all this while, and was finally out and about.
Shi Tianhao arrived beside Lin Feng and stared fearlessly at the Xuanlin Holy Man. He asked calmly, "Shi Tianhao, disciple of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, requests to battle Shi Tianyi of the Great Void Sect."
"My older brother, do you dare to fight?"