Chapter 120: Jiang Bufan’s Threat, Gongsun Huaiyu Injured
Chapter 120 – Jiang Bufan’s Threat, Gongsun Huaiyu Injured
After visiting over a dozen factions, the long night was finally drawing to a close.
Jiang Bufan had sat quietly in the pavilion for the entire night.
Just as the eastern sky threatened to crack with pale dawn, Chen Changsheng finally arrived.
“My deepest apologies. Holy Master Jiang extended the very first invitation, yet I arrive as the final guest.”
“I truly deserve ten thousand deaths!”
Observing Chen Changsheng’s abrasive, half-hearted acting, Jiang Bufan offered a faint smile. “If we cannot admire Mingyue, watching the sunrise is a fine substitute. Please, have a seat, my young friend.”
He brewed a fresh pot of spirit tea, and the two men fell into a tacit silence, their gazes fixed upon the distant horizon.
After a long while, Chen Changsheng casually broke the silence. “Holy Master Jiang, do you not plan to state your price to recruit me?”
Hearing this, Jiang Bufan smiled faintly.
“You misunderstand, young friend. I never harbored any intention of recruiting you. I invited you here simply to reminisce.”
“The others attempt to buy your loyalty because they lack absolute faith in their own strength.”
“They doubt they will be the ones laughing at the end of this epoch, so they anchor their hopes upon the shoulders of others.”
“But I have never entertained such weak thoughts. It was true seven centuries ago, and it remains true today.”
“Is the Holy Master truly so confident?” Chen Changsheng asked, watching the gathering light. “In an era where peerless geniuses emerge like rain, carving a blood-soaked path to the peak…”
“…is an endeavor as difficult as scaling the heavens. I wonder, from where do you draw such boundless arrogance?”
Faced with Chen Changsheng’s blade-like directness, Jiang Bufan showed no anger. Instead, he let out a jovial chuckle.
“My confidence stems from my own Dao, just as it did in my youth.”
“Back then, not a single soul believed that a mere quasi-Holy Son like myself could usurp the true heir.”
“Nor did anyone believe I could seize the Holy Master’s throne while facing the unified opposition of the entire sect.”
“I vaguely recall the aftermath of my victory over the Kunlun Holy Land’s true Holy Son; the entire Holy Land still looked upon me with disdain.”
“They convinced themselves I had won through treacherous tricks. There was even a certain Elder who boldly proclaimed…”
“…that as long as breath remained in his lungs, I would never sit upon the sovereign’s throne.”
“Yet, as the wheel of time turned, I ascended to that very seat. And the man who placed the crown upon my head was none other than that exact Elder.”
“The resentment bleeding from his eyes was profound, yet he was forced to plaster a fawning, obsequious smile across his face.”
“You cannot fathom how utterly clownish he looked in that moment!”
Reaching the climax of his tale, Jiang Bufan slapped his thigh, roaring with laughter.
A passing observer would have sworn he was recounting a delightful tavern joke.
But beneath that breezy tone, Chen Changsheng heard the silent echoes of countless slaughtered rivals and a sea of flowing blood.
After a long bout of laughter, Jiang Bufan smoothed away his mirth and spoke again.
“While my ascension to the Holy Master’s seat required my own blood and sweat, there is one individual whose supreme contribution can never be erased.”
“Do you know who this person is, my young friend?”
Meeting Jiang Bufan’s expectant gaze, Chen Changsheng stated a single name with absolute calm.
“Wu Li!”
“He is the greatest stepping stone on your path to the Holy Master’s throne.”
“When you crushed the original Holy Son, Jiang Feng, and usurped his status, the ancient powers backing him refused to accept the outcome.”
“To firmly secure your seat as the Holy Son, you had to continuously accrue martial merits. Thus, you became the secret, primordial patron of the Seventy-Two Wolf Smokes.”
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Jiang Bufan slowly applauded, genuine admiration burning in his eyes as he looked at Chen Changsheng.
“A strike directly to the fatal pressure point. Your vision is viciously sharp, young friend.”
“Selecting Wu Li to play the role of my nemesis was simultaneously the most brilliant and disastrous choice of my mortal life.”
“He was terrifyingly capable. With every passing cycle, his strength underwent a qualitative metamorphosis.”
“It was entirely due to the crushing pressure he exerted that I was able to continuously siphon absolute authority within the Kunlun Holy Land.”
“Because in that era, I was the only blade sharp enough to cross steel with Wu Li.”
“But my arrogance soon birthed regret. I realized that Wu Li was not only blessed with heaven-defying talent, but possessed a mind as sharp as a scholar’s.”
“While I used him as a phantom menace to subjugate the Kunlun Holy Land, he mirrored my intent, using my sect’s pressure to gorge himself on power.”
“By the time I firmly gripped the Kunlun Holy Land within my palm, I discovered, to my horror, that I could no longer guarantee his death.”
“Even now, a sliver of that bitter regret gnaws at my Dao heart!”
Observing Jiang Bufan’s performative sigh, Chen Changsheng replied, “Speak your true intentions, Holy Master Jiang.”
“If we continue to dance through these conversational mazes, we will be sitting here until the next epoch.”
“Heh heh heh!”
“I truly adore speaking with a man of your intellect. My goal is devastatingly simple: I need you to scout the path ahead for me.”
“The Yaoguang Holy Son, the Southern Plains’ Batulu, the Northern Desert’s Xuan Xin, the Hateless Pavilion’s Yao Yingying, and a slew of hidden monstrosities yet to reveal their fangs.”
“Even if I marshal all my strength, I lack the absolute might to exterminate them all in a single, flawless strike.”
“I understand the nature of these absolute geniuses all too well. If the fatal blow fails to sever their souls, they will return thrice as lethal.”
“I know this because it is exactly how I crawled to my throne. Naturally, I will never repeat the fatal blunders of my fallen enemies.”
Confronted with Jiang Bufan’s mandate, Chen Changsheng remained silent, staring intently into the sovereign’s eyes.
“And what if I refuse to play this game?”
“Then I shall slaughter you. Whatever ambitions you harbor, I will shatter them to dust.”
“I am aware you have already tethered yourself to powerful allies. They might shield your mortal life, but they absolutely cannot stop my supreme wrath.”
“With my sovereign will breathing down your neck, do you truly believe you can still contest for Heaven’s Mandate?”
Hearing this barefaced threat, Chen Changsheng actually laughed.
“The exact same gambit, deployed in identical circumstances. Are you not terrified of nurturing a second Wu Li?”
“I fear nothing, for a sovereign does not trip over the same stone twice.”
“But the bloody path I carve can be tread by others. What if a predator exactly like yourself is stalking my shadow?”
“If they exist, let them come. Crushing a single tiger is far simpler than fighting a pack of wolves.”
Finishing his words, Jiang Bufan stood and lazily stretched his limbs.
At that exact moment, the first pure ray of the morning sun pierced the horizon, bathing the two men in gold.
“When the war for Heaven’s Mandate reaches its absolute zenith, all mortal schemes crumble into ash. The only absolute truth that dictates victory or defeat is one’s own cultivation.”
“I freely admit that my innate talent pales in comparison to apex monstrosities like Wu Li.”
“Therefore, over these seven hundred years, I have bled and suffered to mend every conceivable flaw in my Dao foundation.”
“Having forged my blade in seclusion for seven long centuries, I am utterly famished to see what devastation I can unleash.”
Pausing, Jiang Bufan turned to look at Chen Changsheng, an amused smile touching his lips. “Your temperament and appearance bear a striking resemblance to an old ghost from my past.”
“That particular ghost once played me for a fool. To ensure our newly forged alliance does not suffer a similar betrayal, I have decided to offer you a token of my goodwill.”
“Cast your gaze over there!”
Jiang Bufan pointed a single finger. Miles away, a massive concealment Formation slowly dissolved into the morning mist.
As the veil of the Formation collapsed, the cataclysmic shockwaves of a desperate battle tore through the air.
A towering “giant” could be seen fighting like a cornered beast, her enormous form drenched in a river of blood.
This titan was none other than Gongsun Huaiyu, who had unleashed the supreme Law of Heaven and Earth.
“You are courting death!”