Chapter 178: Qingxiao

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　Chen Jianmei had to admit that Shen Lian was among the students at Qing Xuan who was most qualified to reach the stage of Powang other than himself. It was very possible that he could achieve longevity.

　　He waited for Shen Lian’s response silently. He did not look rush at all.

　　His reaction was predicted by Yanxu. He could not spot an opening in Chen Jianmei’s heart of Dao, but he understood that as long as something existed within heaven and earth, everything left traces behind. One could show no weakness, but as anything is possible, there would always be a chance.

　　Yanxu used Shen Lian as a chance to escape from the bottleneck. He delayed Chen Jianmei too at the same time.

　　Shen Lian laughed softly, “Uncle-Master Yanxu, you gave me the Qi Instrument previously. Do you still miss it? It is an instrument used to warn someone who is generous. Are you having regrets about anything? Even if you don’t think so, your unconscious acts could represent what your heart thinks.”

　　He did not answer but instead, he replied with a question. It was extraordinary.

　　Shen Lian called out to Chen Jianmei using sword will. It did not carry any message, but Chen Jianmei understood him.

　　Yanxu did not expect Shen Lian to reply with a question. He hesitated for that moment. The sword formation around him was activated, and he was engulfed in the blink of an eye. Even the blood-colored film of light could not resist the engulfment.

　　The sword formation was activated by the power of earthquakes. The lights released by the formation could light up half of the night sky into daytime. The Qi could even stir away the clouds underneath the moonlight.

　　All of a sudden, Yanxu had incarnated. He turned into blood smoke, in attempt to escape from the sword formation. Shen Lian had been waiting for this moment – his sword aura split into two, then four, then eight. Even the void was vibrating from this. The sword aura entered the sword formation to patch up any flaws in the formation. When the blood smoke encountered the sword aura, as if ice encountered the sun, it did not have any ability to fight back.

　　While the blood smoke was facing a challenging opponent such as Shen Lian’s sword aura, one could still spot the bits of blood color remained.

　　Chen Jianmei’s cold face showed a smile. There was a long sword in his hand. He jumped in and got rid of the last bit of blood color.

　　The blood color was eliminated and the void was back to a clear state. The moonlight shone on Shen Lian’s light blue Daoist robe.

　　Chen Jianmei was dressed in white, just like a cloud. He looked refreshing, but as the moonlight shone on his face, it was as if the light had encountered snow, the reflection was cold.

　　“Senior Apprentice-Brother Chen, I feel like returning to Qing Xuan,” Shen Lian stared into the sky and said.

　　“What are you planning to do there?” Chen Jianmei crossed his arms and looked up. He was looking at the full moon. He did not seem to feel happy about eliminating part of Yanxu’s primordial spirit.

　　“I want to pay a visit to the headmaster. He said that once I’ve reached the stage of Huandan, I can then return,” Shen Lian answered. He was not too passionate about the battles in the world, unlike Chen Jianmei’s fearless attitude, Shen Lian would rather be free from karma and the secular world.

　　Shen Lian only wanted to do two things subsequently, first to find out where Ruoxi was, and second to find ways to save the life of Zhang Ruoxu. If he could achieve the Daoist immortality during this period, it would be ideal.

　　Chen Jianmei was silent for a short moment and then replied, “You can do whatever you want. You don’t need to inform me.”

　　He formed into a sword ray and left to an unknown place. Underneath the moonlight, there were only a few clouds floating around. One would not know what to say in this situation.

　　Shen Lian roared, and after a while, Qianmo and Xiaoxun flew over from afar. One man, two birds, rode on the wind headed towards one direction.

　　Shen Lian did not intend to return to Jingguang Temple, or to say goodbye to Song Qingyi.

　　Even though the danger in Jingguang Temple remained, Shen Lian believed that Song Qingyi could handle it.

　　If he could not even overcome this small obstacle, how could he be the successor of Lu Jiuyuan?

　　Shen Lian was willing to make friends, but he did not hope that after a few hundred years, these friends were miles apart from him. When Song Qingyi started to call him Senior Apprentice-Brother Shen, it was because of the difference in cultivation level. Only the heart could remain unchanged, and not the world.

　　___

　　Outside the kingdom of Hanhai, where Shen Lian first fought the Mirage Demon in the desert. A Daoist who was dressed in blood-colored robe appeared. Under the moonlight, his face was unclear, or one could say he did not have a face.

　　If anyone paid attention to the faceless Daoist, one could see his face was in fact covered with illusions. He was occasionally adolescent, middle age and all of a sudden he could be old. Sometimes he looked like a bearded man; sometimes without a beard; sometimes well educated; sometimes like a thug.

　　A Jingzhu fell from the sky when he appeared. The desert had no Qi of vitality or water, but as the Jingzhu fell to the ground, a sea of bamboos was born. The faceless Daoist was trapped within.

　　After going through several changes in his face, he turned into a young Daoist dressed in light green robe. He looked rather handsome but had thin lips, which made him look like someone heartless.

　　He looked rather pale, but he did not seem to be worried to be trapped in the bamboo sea.

　　Outside the sea of bamboos, a girl dressed in green Daoist robe appeared. He could feel her cold hard stare even through the bamboo branches and leaves.

　　The girl said, “You can’t escape today, Yanxu.”

　　Yanxu stared at the girl in green. It was his Aunt-Master, Ziling Fairy, who was one of the most powerful Daoist in the world.

　　This girl had been chasing after him for five years in order to kill him. He dared not to relax but to stay hidden in the crowds.

　　It was the worst day for Yanxu in his life. Few hundred years ago, he would not have imagined this could happen.

　　It seemed that even if he could turn back time, nothing could be changed.

　　For anyone who knew Ziling Fairy, when she was dressed in green, it meant she was under the influence another personality.

　　She was not a swordsman, but under the influence of this personality, her swordcraft was incredible, and sometimes even exceeding those of a swordsman. This personality also had a name – Qingxiao. This was told to her by Biyun.