Chapter 560: Face-Off Between the Two Factions of Mount Baiyun
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Elegant Cloud Holy Woman looked at Shi Tianyi and sighed quietly. Strictly speaking, Shi Tianyi's mishap was partly her fault too. Her entrance into the Void Battleground was mainly to protect Shi Tianyi.
However, no one would have thought that Wang Lin was that powerful and that Lin Feng would be there too.
"Come with me," said the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman. She left the cave and Shi Tianyi quietly followed behind her.
The two of them walked in Mount Baiyun and the path to the mountain was cloaked by clouds. They could see no further than 10 meters ahead of them.
Shi Tianyi did not look back. Since his first day in Mount Baiyun, he already understood this place. Then, he had used his left eye to visually explore this place and realized that he could not see what the clouds were hiding. It was not because his left eye was too weak but instead, it was because his mastery was too low.
Here, Shi Tianyi's left eye flashed gently. He could feel his pupils hurting again.
He batted his eyelid and retracted his soul while he continued to follow behind the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman.
As he walked, the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman's footsteps stopped. Shi Tianyi, who was following behind her, stopped too. He looked over and realized that a young man clad in green was walking towards them.
He did not look very old. At most, he was about 20 to 30 years old. His expression was calm.
He had an ordinary build and an ordinary external appearance. In every single aspect, he appeared very ordinary.
He came before the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman and bowed and said, "Auntie Elegant Cloud."
He then looked at Shi Tianyi behind her and nodded his head and said, "Junior Shi."
His voice was calm and plain. It was neither low and raspy nor high and clear. It was not piercing to the ear or difficult to hear.
However, everything that he did brim with a mystic secret about
the Tao and its secrets. The deepest workings of the Tao appeared evident from his every action.
This was the first time Shi Tianyi saw this person. However, from the way he addressed the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman, he recognized him immediately.
Amongst the disciples of his generation, only one of them possessed such an aura.
He was the Big Senior to Yan Mingyue, Pang Jie and Shi Tianyi. He was Lin Daohan and the incumbent All-Under-Heavens Strider.
He was the flagship person of the new generation of cultivators from the Great Vodi Sect. He was also the whizz kid who was most likely to take over control of the Great Void Sect.
He was the youngest recorded person in the entire Divine Lands to form his nascent soul. However, since young, he was taught by the Great Void Sect who sought to keep him out of the public's eye. He rarely ventured out and the Great Void Sect tried to conceal him as much as possible, hence few people knew of him.
However, within the core circle of the Great Void Sect, the name Lin Daohan resounded like thunder. Everyone knew him.
He was the only person of his generation of the Great Void Sect who could listen and participate in important conferences made by his seniors. That should be a testament to his importance.
Shi Tianyi looked at Lin Daohan quietly and slowly bowed, "Senior Lin."
The Elegant Cloud Holy Woman looked at Lin Daohan and then at Shi Tianyi and asked, "Daohan, as the incumbent All-Under-Heavens Strider, why have you returned to the mountain?"
Lin Daohan answered serenely, "I am on my back from the Barren Expanses. There are movements in the Demonic World and now, I have to make my report to the Sect Leader. Would you care to join?"
The Elegant Cloud Holy Woman shook her head and said, "Go ahead, I have business with Tianyi."
Lin Daohan nodded his head and bade farewell to the two of them. The two of them walked past each other.
As their paths crossed, the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman asked suddenly, "Daohan, what do you think of the Celestial Sect of Wonders?"
Lin Daohan stopped and thought for a long while before replying, "I don't know."
After a while, he then added, "I thought I had understood them. Then I realized that I was wrong."
His expression was calm and he admitted his mistake straightaway without any doubt.
The Elegant Cloud Holy Woman nodded her head and fell into silence. Then, a bright gaze dazzled from the clouds around them. The gaze encompassed thousand of emotions as a quiet voice said, "How long more do you want to appease Lin Feng for?"
Afterwards, one saw the Xuan Lin Holy Man walking out slowly from the clouds.
As the clouds swirled around them, Lin Daohan's face appeared slightly off. "The rise of the Celestial Sect of Master is not necessarily a bad thing for the human cultivators of the Divine Lands."
"For you members of the Conservative Faction, all you do is to maintain the status quo. By limiting our action and focusing on maintaining the balance of power between the various sects and factions of the world, you think that you are preserving the power of human cultivators. However, what you are doing instead is to delay the inevitable conflicts," said the Xuan Lin Holy Man quietly. "What will erupt will erupt and when it does, it will be immensely intense. You think that you are controlling the world like a chessboard but what you are actually doing is to direct everyone's anger and frustration towards the Great Void Sect."
"Even if that's the case, why not take the initiative and strike? While it may be painful at first, the powers of the Divine Lands will undergo a restructuring and afterward, everyone will become stronger. That's preferable to the current, disunited status quo now."
Lin Daohan's voice did not tremble but he spoke through the white clouds. His voice appeared to fade in and out of existence, "Suppressing the demons take precedent. That was the strict order left to us by the founder of the Great Void Sect. Why would he leave such an order then?"
"Because he experienced the Primordial Age, an unimaginably dark time for us humans. Xuan Lin Holy Man, both you and I had never experienced something like that before. Humans were lowest of the low and enslaved by the demons. There was no freedom or dignity to speak of. Our lives were as worthless as a weed."
"To prevent history from repeating itself, the Great Void Sect has to spend countless eons hiding in the shadow and observing the Barren Expanses," said Lin Daohan calmly. "If we work according to your style, let us not talk about victory or defeat first. It will take a long time to take effect."
"In that process, if the demons were to have any new movements, the human world, which would have sunk into a civil strife caused by us, would have been completely and utterly destroyed."
Lin Daohan quietly stared at the Xuan Lin Holy Man.
"Ever since the Primordial Age and the Battle of the Two Worlds, the Emperor of the Ancients was killed by the Emperor of Violence. Afterwards, many powers came together to kill the Emperor of Violence. However, it caused the Divine Lands to lose a massive amount of resources and hence, we lost the Battle of the Two Worlds. Till now, the Ancient Desolate Galaxy is still controlled by demons."
Lin Daohan's voice was steady throughout, "I hope you will learn from the experience of our forebears. The barbarity of the Emperor of Violence is right before your eyes. Please reconsider, Uncle Xuan Lin."
The Xuan Lin Holy Man was not vexed by the fact that Lin Daohan spoke out against him. His emotions did not change. In fact, while their views may be different, he kind of liked him.
"In the Antiquity Age, why did humans overthrow the demons and rise up in the Grand Celestial World? That was because our power was concentrated and there was a clear leadership," said the Xuan Lin Holy Man quietly. "The reign of the Emperors of Man concentrated every single power into one position. The emperors may have their prejudices and some of them may behave irrationally."
"However, the Great Void Sect is different. For us, even the Sect Leader cannot make his own call."
Hearing these words, Lin Daohan slowly lowered his eyes and replied quietly, "Uncle just said that while the heaven and earth are eternal, the hearts of man change easily."
Once one had risen to the supreme position, how could one ensure that he would not deviate from his original goal?
The Xuan Lin Holy Man looked at Lin Daohan and said quietly, "For us cultivators, the reason why we cultivate is not to lose ourselves in the heavens and earth but rather, to surpass our mortal existence. I am still me and if I cannot control my desire, then what right do I have to cultivate?"
"For us cultivators, the Tao in our hearts must be eternal and it is exactly because of that, our hearts are eternal," said Lin Daohan, whose voice had turned light as wind. "Our hearts can never be satisfied and we will always crave for better. We will always want more. That is us."
"This is humans."
Lin Daohan gently shook his head and his expressionless face slowly broke out into a smile, "The Tao in our heart will not change but our own heart may go wild. Since time immemorial, how many people actually succeeded in controlling themselves?"
The differences between the Conservative Faction and the Radical Faction of the Great Void Sect were not just limited to the paths they should take.
He looked at the Xuan Lin Holy Man and the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman and clasped his hands together. He then nodded at Shi Tianyi before walking away.
In the short exchange between Lin Daohan and the Xuan Lin Holy Man, the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman and Shi Tianyi stood by the side and said nothing. Looking at Lin Daohan's disappearing outline, Shi Tianyi's eyes flashed slightly as he walked the green-robed youth disappear in the clouds.
Regardless whether it's him, or the Marquis of Jinghuan, Liang An, or the many talented individuals the Radical Faction had at their disposal, their common target wast that young man who appeared so normal.
Shi Tianyi retracted his gaze and sighed, "First of all, my brother. Then, Wang Lin. Now, him..."
The Xuan Lin Holy Man and the Elegant Cloud Holy Woman looked at him and then nodded.
In the battle against Wang Lin, the fruits of Shi Tianyi's many years of cultivation had been affected. However, it made him more determined and certain mentally. They could feel a change coming.
If he could defeat Shi Tianhao in the Heavenly Dragon Ancient Land, then the change would be complete. He could ascend to the next level.
The Elegant Cloud Holy Woman clasped her hands and bade the Xuan Lin Holy Man farewell. The Xuan Lin Holy Man did not say much as he led Shi Tianyi onwards. The two of them came before a cave and upon entering it, they noticed two people sitting opposite each other.
One of them did not possess a corporeal body. He used his mana to project his appearance over. Evidently, he was the guest. However, he took the main seat.
Behind him was the outline of a person completely covered with white clouds. No one could see him clearly.
He sat there calmly as two types of mana, one Yin and one Yang, swirled around him. It resembled the two ends of heaven and earth.
That was the incumbent Sect Leader of the Great Void Sect, Yan Nanlai.
Opposite Yan Nanlai was a child, but his expression was calm and serene. His eyes brimmed with a certain timelessness.
Upon seeing the child, Shi Tianyi bowed immediately, "Master."
The child-like person was the Shi Tianyi's immediate master when he first joined the sect, Kuang Heng.
Together with Yan Nanlai and the Xuan Lin Holy Man, they belonged to the same generation. Like the Xuan Lin Holy Man, he too was a member of the Supreme Elder Council and an Immortal Soul Third Level cultivator.
Shi Tianyi bowed to both Yan Nanlai and Kuang Heng. Then, Kuang Heng said, "Stand and listen."
His expression resembled that of a child but his voice was old. Together, it created an odd, twisted feel. One could feel that something appeared off.
With Kuang Heng's mastery, his Immortal Soul would have merged with the Tao and left the constraints of the earthly realm. Everything he did should have been perfectly harmonious.
However, it was the exact opposite for him. The twisted and torn feel accompanied his every action, However, if one were to observe closely, one could paradoxically see perfection in it, making it a truly marvelous experience.
After the Xuan Lin Holy Man sat down too, Kuang Heng looked at Yan Nanlai and said, "During the Heavenly Cart Peak Sword Conference, everyone saw how the Master of the Celestial Sect managed to conjure an image of a fusion of black and white and the unity of Yin and Yang on his forehead. Do you have any thought, Sect Leader?"