Chapter 388: Battle Challenge

“That’s the fourth one! But there’s no guarantee they can be saved; he said he’d do his best.”

Taishi Yu, with his hands clasped behind his back, sighed, “Initially, I was always wary of him, thinking that the talk of him being the Fourth Divine Son of the cult wasn’t groundless. But his fighting spirit and resolve truly impress me. Facing such a massive mess, even I would want to retreat, yet he confronts it head-on. With such resilience and responsibility, how could he possibly join a demonic cult?”

Jiang Ning offered no comment, simply standing there quietly, waiting. She knew Li Weiyi better than anyone.

After Li Weiyi finished refining and withdrew his spiritual threads, he looked at the exquisite fairy standing in the shade of the trees and forced a smile: “How was your harvest last night?”

“A complete victory, with very few escaping. Tell me, how should I thank you?” Jiang Ning asked.

Li Weiyi replied, “How about breakfast?”

“Great! You pick the place, I’ll pay,” Jiang Ning said.

Taishi Yu didn’t understand their conversation, but he felt completely at ease with them; both were sensible individuals. He said, “Don’t bother picking a place, let’s just eat here at the Grand Secretariat Temple. Fairy Yu, now that you’re in, you might not be able to leave for a while.”

Jiang Ning had noticed the strange atmosphere upon entering and asked, “What did the interrogation reveal last night?”

Footsteps sounded.

Taishi Bai hurried over, his armor covered in blood. He rushed to the Grand Secretariat Temple without time to change, having just checked on Long Xiangcen and learned that she had been forced to drink the Mother-Child Spring.

Seeing his accusatory look, Taishi Yu spoke first: “Just tell me, did I not keep her alive until dawn? She only drank a scoop of the Mother-Child Spring; who knows, you might even get a child out of it next year.”

Taishi Bai replied, “Do I look like I’m joking right now?”

Taishi Yu’s smile faded. “Don’t you want to know what she confessed?”

“I won’t listen to you talk.”

Taishi Bai looked at Li Weiyi: “You tell me; I trust you. You wouldn’t lie to me, right? So, she deceived me again yesterday?”

Li Weiyi sighed, “Sincere and devoted feelings are not wrong, but she wasn’t worth it.”

Taishi Bai was calmer than Li Weiyi had expected. After a moment of thought, he nodded: “What exactly happened at the Grand Secretariat Temple? Since I came in, everyone looks incredibly grim. The elimination of the undead powerhouses should have been uplifting news.”

Li Weiyi offered a bitter smile but said nothing.

Taishi Yu was in a foul mood, feeling that Taishi Bai held too deep a prejudice against him: “Something huge has happened! What your cousin confessed about the Ghost Infant incident is far from simple; the situation is ten, even a hundred times more terrifying. The old man went into the palace to see the Third Palace Master last night and still hasn’t returned.”

Taishi Bai and Jiang Ning were among the new generation of rising powers in the imperial court, known for their courage, tenacity, and strong sense of responsibility. Upon hearing this, both of their expressions changed.

Li Weiyi warned, “Master Taishi has issued a gag order. Violating it could lead to the execution of your entire clan.”

“If he’s going to execute even himself, there’s nothing that can be done about it.”

Taishi Yu, without any hesitation, then revealed Long Xiangcen’s confession without reservation. He then scolded Taishi Bai: “Look at your terrified face; did that scare you? Would she have revealed this secret if we hadn’t forced her to drink the Mother-Child Spring? You can’t blame us now, can you?”

Taishi Bai trembled all over and angrily retorted, “Is this the time to investigate and blame? Can’t you distinguish between what’s important and what’s urgent? Do you have any idea what this means? Something catastrophic has happened, something catastrophic for the entire world!”

Jiang Ning couldn’t believe any of it and looked at Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi nodded slightly.

“I must return to Luan Terrace immediately,” Jiang Ning said.

Taishi Yu said, “You can’t leave! Besides, all the top figures in the city were surely summoned to the palace for discussions last night. Just wait patiently; there’s no point in rushing. Shall we go for breakfast first?”

Taishi Bai asked, “You can still eat after hearing all this?”

“If you can’t eat, then go ask your cousin again and see if she knows any more useful information,” Taishi Yu replied.

“I will then.”

Just as Taishi Bai hurried over, a transcendent powerhouse from the palace arrived and took Long Xiangcen away.

It wasn’t until dusk that Taishi Qingshi returned to the Grand Secretariat Temple, dragging his exhausted body, looking like a walking corpse, as if all his energy and spirit had been drained. Long Xiangcen was also carried back, her condition weak and listless.

Taishi Yu and Taishi Bai immediately went to the main hall to inquire, both brothers deeply concerned about the outcome of the court’s discussions.

Not long after.

Inside the hall, the three engaged in a heated argument.

“Utterly muddled! The imperial court is doomed!” Taishi Bai roared in anger.

Taishi Yu’s voice was heard: “Father, what are you all so afraid of…”

Someone released a psychic energy field, isolating the sound, so the contents of the argument could no longer be heard.

Li Weiyi and Jiang Ning waited at a distance. The main gate and formations of the Grand Secretariat Temple had already been opened; it couldn’t remain sealed indefinitely. After reporting and registering, people could leave.

Shortly after, the hall doors opened.

With a loud boom, Taishi Yu and Taishi Bai were sent flying by a vast surge of spiritual light.

“Get out!”

Inside the room, Taishi Qingshi, having lost his usual composure, bellowed this command.

Outside, Taishi Yu and Taishi Bai were highly respected figures, one a top-ranking official and the other second-in-command, yet at this moment, they were disheveled and filled with resentment.

Li Weiyi and Jiang Ning quickly stepped forward to inquire about the situation.

Taishi Bai’s eyes were red, his fists clenched tight, filled with rage and indignation: “Uncle said the court debated for an entire day and night, nearly coming to blows in the assembly. But there’s an insurmountable force from the Six Thoughts Zen Temple, and the officials ultimately decided to temporarily give up…”

Jiang Ning’s tone was icy: “What do you mean, ‘temporarily give up’?”

Taishi Bai said, “Temporarily giving up means pretending not to know, treating it as false information. Many believe that the Mother-Child Spring couldn’t have been problematic from the start, but rather a trick by the demon race to sow discord. The words of a junior simply aren’t credible.”

Li Weiyi’s eyes narrowed, beginning to understand their anger: “Can pretending to be deaf and mute solve the problem? What if it explodes?”

Taishi Bai said, “Uncle mentioned that the court would deliberate on this matter again in the coming days, seeking a secure solution. They might even organize a special army to preemptively control all individuals associated with the Mother-Child Spring, so that if widespread mutation occurs, they can be eliminated immediately.”

“That’s a solution?” Jiang Ning scoffed.

Li Weiyi said, “If the court can’t pinpoint the exact problem with the Mother-Child Spring, then the possibility of a full-scale outbreak is definitely not small. What was that insurmountable force you just mentioned?”

Taishi Yu had calmed down and sighed, “The Six Thoughts Zen Temple seems to be connected to the Demonic Kingdom, but my father dared not say too much, only that even the Third Palace Master is powerless in this matter. Currently, war is about to erupt in the Western Regions. The cult’s sinister methods have already left several prefectures and thousands of miles of territory covered in tombstones and grave mounds. The ‘Yin Corpse Cultivation’ may soon sweep across the entire Lingxiao Realm. If we were to provoke the Demonic Kingdom again without conclusive evidence, they would surely use it as a pretext to join the war to carve up the imperial court. Who would dare to attack the people of the Demonic Kingdom based solely on the words of a junior? What if it’s a scheme by Luan Sheng Linyou and the demon race?”

Taishi Bai said, “They’re just afraid of offending the Demonic Kingdom, so they don’t even have the courage to storm the Six Thoughts Zen Temple and arrest people. Evidence? At a time like this, they’re still talking about evidence! Are those ghost mothers and ghost infants fake? If the transcendent and immortal realm powerhouses can’t stand tall, how can us juniors live with dignity? How can we survive? I’m going to Liangzhou now to find Grandfather; I’ll bring him back.”

Wearing his blood-soaked armor, Taishi Bai stormed out of the Grand Secretariat Temple gates, his eyes blazing with fury.

Li Weiyi asked, “Did you ask Master Taishi if they went to the Six Thoughts Zen Temple last night?”

Taishi Yu gently shook his head: “My father is extremely wary of that place and strictly warned me that it’s forbidden territory, not to be approached. Now, can we truly only sit back and wait for death?”

“There is still one way.”

Li Weiyi gazed at the towering Phoenix Pavilion palace complex, thousands of feet high, majestic, imposing, and brightly lit, almost within reach.

Jiang Ning understood instantly: “I’ll find Ge Xiantong; only he can go up the mountain.”

The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, night.

The sky gradually darkened.

Taishi Yu asked, “Given your understanding of Luan Sheng Linyou, do you think this is his scheme?”

Li Weiyi shook his head: “If it were a scheme, he would have publicized it the moment the Ghost Mother and Ghost Infant incidents emerged, quietly waiting for the situation to escalate, instead of concealing it. Luan Sheng Linyou has painstakingly plotted to lure me to the Six Thoughts Zen Temple, intending to use someone else to kill me and ensure my demise. This precisely indicates that he truly knows the inside story.”

“Bang!”

Taishi Yu slammed his fist heavily against the wall, activating countless array patterns: “When it rains, it pours; when a ship breaks, it meets headwind. I feel that Lingxiao City’s fate is truly sealed; it was already destined more than twenty years ago. Li Weiyi, I’ll tell you a cruel truth! The reason the higher-ups are still holding onto illusions and being so timid is that when the imperial court truly falls and all of humanity in the Lingxiao Realm becomes food, playthings, or livestock for the demon race, they can simply flee to other realms. They are powerful, but not every powerful individual possesses responsibility and integrity. That’s why the court argued last night, splitting into two factions: those with responsibility and opportunists clashing. When a war of extinction occurs, it’s often the strong who flee, because only the strong have the ability to escape.”

Li Weiyi fell silent, his mood growing even more somber. Just as Taishi Bai had said, if the transcendent and immortal realm powerhouses lacked backbone, then the common people below would be forced to live lives that were neither human nor ghostly.

The sky grew completely dark.

Li Weiyi and Taishi Yu, shedding all pretense of being powerful figures, sat on the snow, no longer speaking, engaged in a silent psychological struggle.

Until Jiang Ning and Ge Xiantong arrived.

Ge Xiantong sighed apologetically: “I know everything! I just went to the mountaintop, but… the palace gates wouldn’t open, I couldn’t get in, and Master gave no response. I’ve exhausted all my options! Jiang Ning and I also went to pay respects to the Third Palace Master, but she wouldn’t see us at all. One wave just subsided, and another one rises; how did it suddenly escalate to this point?”

“It’s snowing!”

Li Weiyi looked up, caught a snowflake in his palm, and clenched his fingers, as if finally making a decision: “Then let’s overturn the heavens! We’ll force the Third Palace Master to make a choice, sweeping her along with an unstoppable tide to confront this.”

Taishi Yu’s expression changed: “If you spread this news, it will inevitably cause great turmoil. Wouldn’t the demon race and the cult seize this opportunity to launch an attack? At that point, you’ll be pushed forward as the scapegoat.”

“No, I’m going to the Six Thoughts Zen Temple, and I’m taking everyone with me — the entire city will go. I want to see what’s truly hidden inside. What is it that makes all the court officials so apprehensive?”

Li Weiyi took out a brush and ink from his spatial pouch and wrote a challenge letter: “New Year’s Eve, at the Peak of Six Thoughts. Cold stars reflect in snow, life and death determined by fate.”

“Jiang Ning, take this challenge letter and deliver it to Xie Chucai. Tell him that this will not only determine victory and defeat but also life and death. Doesn’t he have a powerful background? Isn’t he working for the Demonic Kingdom? Doesn’t he always want to fight me? Let’s grant him his wish! Tell him if he has the guts, accept the challenge. If not, then immediately get out of the Lingxiao Realm and stop making a fool of himself. A secret Luan Sheng Linyou knows, Xie Chucai definitely knows as well. The person the imperial court dares not touch, I will move.”