Chapter 991: To Save or not to Save?
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Seeing the Great Void Sect disciples struggle with danger in the center of the spiritual energy turbulence, Tang Jun, Yang Tie and the others couldn't help but stare at each other.
Deep in thought, Yang Tie muttered, "They probably met the spiritual energy tide Master mentioned, which caused them to be separated from that Way of the virtual entity master of the Great Void Sect. Now, the spiritual energy turbulence outside is still very intense; it would be exceedingly dangerous for any cultivator below Immortal Soul."
Staring closely at the figures, Liu Xiafeng could not help but let out a low sound of surprise. "Oh, there's even an old friend."
The others all looked at him. Liu Xiafeng shrugged. "One of them, the short, Advanced Aurous Core man. His name is Wan Zhenglun; not long before, when I left the Sect for my experiential trials, I ran into him."
After a pause, he continued. "Then, we both had our eyes on a Celestial Star Stone at once. Neither of us can claim to be first, so we decided to settle it in a contest of strength; in the end, I won."
"We did not have any bad blood between us. He left; I got the Celestial Star Stone, so I did not pursue him either."
Tang Jun and the others all nodded. Liu Xiafeng said he did not pursue; that means he indeed did not pursue.
Among the second-generation disciples, at the same level of cultivation, Liu Xiafeng was one of the three who were the best in teleportation spells. After he formed his Aurous Core, the mantra he gained from studying the Great Celestial Way of the Eight Trigrams was a rather wonderful teleportation spell named the Heavenly Vein Flowing Qi.
As for the other two, one of them was Han Yang, who was beside Liu Xiafeng right now. After studying mantras known for speed such as Mount Shu's Shaoze Sword, the You Heaven Sword – the fastest of the Great Nine Heavens Holy Sword Technique of the ancient Heaven's Gate, the Grand Escape Spell in his own Sect's Eight Spells of the Heavens and the Earth, et cetera, he meditated on the Heavenly Classic of the Way's Virtues and created a set of Heaven Movement Sword, extremely swift and sharp in attack.
The third, meanwhile, was Ying Luozha, who was not present here now. His Wolf Movement Way had its unique attributes as well, but it was a perfect fit for Ying Luozha himself; if others wanted to cultivate it, it would be harder.
Gazing at the four Great Void Sect disciples – three male and one female – trapped by the spiritual energy turbulence, Yang Tie said, in a deep voice, "We are all humans, after all. Although we are still competing in this Crucible of the Divine Lands, but since we saw them, it would not be good to walk by the other side of the road and ignore them. After all, we are not enemies with the Great Void Sect."
Han Yang smiled. "As for whether the other side think so as well, it would be hard to say."
At the level of Lin Feng, Xiao Yan and co., the situation in the Divine Lands was already rather delicate. The standoff with the Great Void Sect had already been established; under the surface, undercurrents flowed.
However, on the surface, from the perspective of ordinary disciples, even if the two were not exactly harmonious, they could hardly be considered enemies either.
Lin Feng and his disciples would not deliberately teach confrontational ideas to disciples either, but rather, let things work out on their own.
As for the Great Void Sect, although the Sect Leader, Yan Nanlai, and the Supreme Elder Council members have already formed a consensus, but much deliberation was still needed to let the situation develop according to their plans. Right now, it hadn't been communicated to the younger generation disciples either.
Therefore, in general, these years, be it the Celestial Sect of Wonders or the Great Void Sect, the interactions still exist; it was still far until all pretenses were abandoned.
It's just that there was no 'first' in scholarship and no 'second' in martial arts. As the two great peaks of the world of human cultivators, the younger generation of disciples of the two sects would naturally look upon each other not so fondly.
There were no major conflicts between the disciples of the two who entered the mortal world for experience, but no shortage of minor brushes.
"Even if they regard us as enemies, so what? Just let them come." Tang Jun said calmly.
"Yes, so I don't really care. You all can make the decision." Han Yang laughed lightly.
"Facing natural calamity, better to lend a hand," Li Xingfei said. "Although there might be competition afterwards, but when have we feared competition?"
Liu Xiafeng chuckled. "Don't look at me, you all. As I said, I don't have any beef with that Wan Zhenglun; it wasn't me who lost out back then."
"However, it's not much to lend them a hand, but the problem is, what about after that? To save them, we would need the aid of the power of the formation and Junior Han's Yan Heaven Sword; then, they would be received into the formation as well."
With this sentence, the others' eyes flashed simultaneously. Han Yang said, lazily, "Most likely, they will continue walking with us. If we were to ask them to follow our path to where Master and the others are, they would most likely not be willing; or perhaps, even think that we are treating them like prisoners."
Yang Tie said, "Even if they are willing to go to Master and the others, we would not feel at ease either. Master and the rest are busy contending with the turbulence outside, and are in fact less able to sense within the formation. If something happens, it might affect the entire formation."
Tang Jun, calmly, said, "Walk in the same directly, yes. However, each will have to depend on his own ability."
He pointed at the spiritual energy turbulence outside, which had not yet calmed down. "We just have to get them out from the center of that particularly violent turbulence storm. Although the turbulence outside is not calm yet, but as long as they fortify their position and do not move recklessly, at the very least, their lives would not be in danger."
After a slight pause, Li Xingfei asked, "What if they refuse?"
"We aren't compatriots in the first place. If they want to be parasites and suck our blood, they can dream on," Tang Jun said flatly. "Helping them now is minding other people's business on our part. We do not expect their thanks or anything in return; if they could be a little self-conscious, that would be alright."
"If they are not, then we will have to lend another hand and throw them out."
The conflict between the two sides was not intense, so they would not leave them to die or take advantage of their peril.
Like Han Yang, Tang Jun was completely unconcerned about possible competition, or even future trouble.
However, he was not interested in aiding the enemy actively.
From Tang Jun's perspective, that was not called being tolerant or thinking big. It was being irresponsible and unfair to one's own.
Yang Tie said, "Fighting within the formation will affect the formation as well; better to just bring them along. If they were to make any moves, it would in fact be easier for us to react."
Liu Xiafeng patted Tang Jun's shoulder. "Junior Tang, even if something happens, I believe we will be able to handle it."
At the other side, Li Xingfei also said, "Interactions with other powers are not all confrontational either. After all, the Great Void Sect is different from the others like the Hall of the Dead, the Great Zhou Empire, and the Mount Shu Sword Sect; right now, our Sect and them do not have irreconcilable differences yet."
Tang Jun looked at her and Liu Xiafeng and Yang Tie, and finally nodded.
He was a person with very clear ideas, and would not deviate from them easily. However, unlike his uncompromising style towards others, he was much more amenable to his fellow Sect disciples. Although he had different thoughts, he did not plan to start an argument with his fellow Sect disciples because of them, but only became more alert himself to guard against possible sudden developments.
Zhou Yuncong was silent from the start to the end as he stood where he was, aloof, without agreeing or disagreeing.
His opinion was the same as Han Yang – an unconcerned attitude.
Yang Tie looked at Han Yang. "We will need you to do it."
"No problem," Han Yang smiled, unsheathing the sword at his belt again. "However, this turbulence storm was stronger than those encountered previously. It would not be sufficient to use only this sword; I am going to use the Sword of Fatality, Xiongchong. Everyone, help me keep an eye on things and be ready to stabilize the formation at any time."
Han Yang's sword was not some divine blade, but a Foundation Establishment stage sword. It was a sword he received not long after becoming Luo Qingwu's disciple; relative to his cultivation level now, it was obviously unable to keep up.
Although his Master was Luo Qingwu, his Way of the Sword was not exactly the same as Luo Qingwu. With regards to the Way of the Sword, his talent was not being the companion of the sword like Luo Qingwu either, so he did not forge a natal sword like Luo Qingwu's Xuanche Sword.
However, the reason he used this Foundation Establishment stage sword until now without swapping was not that this sword was still sufficient. Rather, it was because in fact, there was not much difference between swapping and not swapping.
With a thought, on Han Yang's right arm, covered by his sleeve, countless tiny runes and patterns, packed together densely, suddenly surfaced, glowing with black light.
As if they have a life of their own, these runes gushed along Han Yang's arm towards the sword in his right hand, like a massive flood.
On the back of Han Yang's exposed right hand, on his fingers, a swarm of tiny, ant-sized runes flowed. Finally, all of the runes flowed onto the sword in his right hand.
The blade, the rain-guard, the grip…the entire sword was covered by the masses of black runes. The runes merged and disappeared, leaving the entire sword glowing with black light.
Then, tiny cracks opened up on the black blade and grip. In the cracks, blood-red light flashed; black fog hovered on the sword as an evil and murderous air surged. It was unholy to the gaze.
From it, the Mana scent revealed the level of might and strength that only a Nascent Soul stage sword would possess.
Han Yang, his expression relaxed, wielded this black unholy sword and unleashed another Yan Heaven Sword. The sword force was far more intense than previously, and far more ferocious as well.
Relying on the Four Appearances Sky Formation set up by Zhu Yi and the others, Han Yang's sword caused the area of the formation to extend greatly forwards, while also slashing the turbulence storm surrounding the Great Void Sect cultivators apart.
It's just that his sword force was too fierce, causing the sword will of the Yan Heaven Sword itself to become unsteady, and the link with the formation became unstable as well.
Tang Jun and the others were by his side, ready to help deal with the negative consequences if the formation were to splinter.
However, Han Yang's control was rather precise. He seemed to be at the edge of losing control, but in the end, he still controlled the sword force steadily and did not let his sword will break the link with the Four Appearances Sky Formation.
The turbulence storm was broken open, and the four Great Void Sect cultivators entered the inside of the Four Appearances Sky Formation as well.
Although they were engulfed in danger previously, but the expression of the four Great Void Sect cultivators were still calm and collected, demonstrating considerable confidence and experience.
It's just that, seeing that it was Han Yang and other Celestial Sect of Wonders disciples that helped them, they were slightly embarrassed as well.
Especially when one of them, a short teenager, saw Liu Xiafeng, his eyes noticeably darkened.
All four were wearing the normal garb of the Great Void Sect – a white robe, with a white cloud embroidered on the front.
The highest among them in terms of cultivation level was a teenager who appeared gentle and refined, Intermediate Nascent Soul. His gaze when looking at the Celestial Sect of Wonders disciples was rather complex, but was still sufficiently polite and cupped his hands in greeting. "Dan Xiang of the Great Void Sect. I give my thanks to friends of the Celestial Sect of Wonders."
Beside him stood an energetic and spirited teenage girl with a sharp gaze. She also thanked Han Yang and the others politely. "Zhao Mingxiu of the Great Void Sect thanks you, my friends, for your aid."
As for the other two, apart from the short Wan Zhenglun, the other was a skinny, somewhat pale teenager, hawk-nosed and thin-lipped with a cold expression. He cupped his hands in greeting as well, but his tone was noticeably much colder and more distant. "Yang Zhao of the Great Void Sect, greetings."
Wan Zhenglun stared at Liu Xiafeng again, and finally cupped his hands as well. "Wan Zhenglun of the Great Void Sect, greetings."
Han Yang looked at Wan Zhenglun and let out a light chuckle, turning to look at Liu Xiafeng. Liu Xiafeng naturally knew what he meant and smiled, shrugging.