Youth must seize the day; who can remain forever young? Chapter Ninety-Five: An Old Friend Appears

White Light Boat’s words immediately sent everyone into deep thought.

“That is excellent. Very well said,” Nie Fang nodded repeatedly, then turned to the silent Li Xian and asked, “Li Xian, what do you think?”

Seeing everyone’s eyes on him, Li Xian still did not speak. Instead, he slowly raised two fingers.

Silence.

Everyone understood his character and knew he was declaring support for the second plan.

“Good. Li Xian also supports the second plan. Everyone else, share your thoughts in turn,” Nie Fang said.

After that, the others began talking over one another about their own views, and the discussion soon grew lively.

...

“Very well. Aside from Xie Zhongjian, who abstains, with me and Elder Han added, the number of votes for the second plan has reached six. According to our agreement, we will proceed with the second plan,” Nie Fang concluded.

He stood up and said to Han Aoyu, “I’ll go report to Zhang Chao now. You stay here.”

“Go ahead,” Han Aoyu nodded.

After Nie Fang left the room, Han Aoyu sat down before the others, her lips moving as though she wished to speak but hesitated.

Ji Heng had an exceptionally keen eye for reading people. He immediately saw her conflicted expression and stepped forward. “Elder Han, do you still have something you wish to say?”

“Indeed, I do...” Han Aoyu paused and let out a long sigh before slowly saying, “What I want to speak of is the matter of the sect master’s position. Senior Brother Sect Master has passed away, and now we have avenged him as well. But life must go on, and the path of cultivation cannot be neglected. The sect cannot remain without a master for long. I think it is time to decide who will lead the sect.”

Everyone exchanged glances, all understanding the truth of what she said.

Zhang Zhiyan asked softly, “Then what does Elder Han mean?”

“My meaning is naturally to recommend Senior Brother Nie as the sect master,” Han Aoyu said solemnly.

Everyone nodded inwardly. Among those in the sect, only two elders were qualified to take the position, and considering seniority, ability, temperament, and the rest, Nie Fang was indeed the best choice.

Moreover, the fact that Han Aoyu brought this up at this moment showed that she had no intention of claiming the position herself.

After all, when she had lived within the sect, her place of cultivation had always been far from the mountain gate, deep in the mountains, living alone with only a dog, devoting herself to bitter training. She did not seem like someone who coveted power.

“Does anyone object?” Han Aoyu asked gently.

“No.”

“I have no objection either.”

One after another, everyone voiced their agreement. No one opposed the matter.

Han Aoyu nodded. “Very well, then let it be settled thus.”

After a brief pause, she continued, “Ah, and as for the spoils of war, let us wait until Senior Brother Nie returns before dividing them.”

At those words, the room, which had been heavy and subdued for an entire month, finally filled with a trace of joy.

Their great enemy had been slain, and the spoils were plentiful. This was already the best news this journey could have brought.

Seeing the smiles return to everyone’s faces, a faint curve appeared at the corner of Han Aoyu’s mouth as well. She sighed, “You have all worked hard in this battle...”

...

The spirit vessel flew southward all the way.

After a hard-fought victory, the cultivators aboard the ships were no longer burdened with the same worries as when they had come. Smiling and talking, they stepped onto the deck to gaze with pleasure at the majestic mountains and ancient scenic wonders along the route.

Even the people of Xuanyang Sect, who had long been gloomy, often came out onto the deck, letting the breeze wash over them as they discussed the Dao.

And so time passed.

Soon the spirit vessel entered the territory of the Infinite Alliance, and cultivators began requesting to disembark along the way, each leaving separately.

After nearly a month of travel, the spirit vessel finally returned to the vicinity of Xuanyang Sect.

After bidding farewell to Zhang Chao, the vessel’s owner, Nie Fang waited until the man controlling the vessel opened the formation. The others, hearts eager to return home, immediately rushed out of the cabin, activated their flying artifacts, and soared into the sky.

Once assembled, they flew slowly together toward the mountain gate.

As they neared it—

“Senior Brother!” Han Aoyu suddenly cried out, pointing toward the mountain gate. “Look!”

Her voice drew everyone’s attention, and they immediately looked in the direction she indicated.

Below the mountain gate, the town was nothing but broken walls and ruins, devoid of all life, with a strange stench wafting up from it.

At the sight, everyone was struck with alarm.

This town housed the families of servant disciples and the various clansfolk connected to the sect’s disciples. Over years of development, it had grown to more than a few thousand residents. In ordinary times it was like a hidden paradise, but now it was reduced to a scene of utter devastation.

“Quick, go see what happened!” Nie Fang ordered at once.

Everyone altered course and flew toward the town.

The short distance of a few hundred meters was covered in an instant.

The once bustling settlement was now empty of all figures. Houses lining both sides of the streets had collapsed in ruins; several had even been burned black by fierce flames, charred timbers strewn over the wreckage.

The earth had been stained red with blood. The thick stench of gore rushed to the nose, and on the ground and rooftops hung torn limbs and chunks of flesh, as though the place were a hell on earth.

Nie Fang’s face turned livid with rage. Veins stood out on his neck, and his narrow throat sounded like a bellows as he drew harsh breaths, shouting, “What is going on here?!”

Han Aoyu cried out, “The mountain gate!”

“Right!” Nie Fang reacted at once, panic flashing across his face. “Back to the mountain gate!”

The two elders immediately drove their flying artifacts toward the gate.

The others had long been too shocked to speak upon seeing such a horrifying scene. Hearing the elders’ warning, they were awakened at once and hastily controlled their artifacts to follow.

White Light Boat was stunned beyond words. The town ordinarily supported several thousand lives; how could it vanish in a single stroke?

He quickly followed the elders and arrived outside the protective formation.

“Elder! You’ve finally returned!” A crying voice suddenly came from within the formation.

White Light Boat looked over in haste and saw that an elderly cultivator had already fallen to his knees before Nie Fang. It was Dai Ba, the Deacon of the Hall of Merit.

“Deacon Dai, what happened here?!” Nie Fang asked urgently.

“Waaah... Elder Nie...” Dai Ba was in floods of tears, so choked with sobs that for a time he could not get the words out.

“Dai Ba! Calm yourself!” Nie Fang barked.

Hearing the rebuke, Dai Ba hurriedly wiped his tears away with his sleeve, then opened the mountain-protecting formation and said bitterly, “Elders, please come in first.”

After everyone entered the mountain gate, Dai Ba immediately manipulated his spiritual energy to close the great formation again.

The sight made everyone increasingly anxious. Nie Fang hurriedly pressed, “What on earth happened?”

“It was like this...” Dai Ba, having regained some composure, let out a heavy breath before saying, “Just a month after the elders left, three cultivators suddenly came to attack us. The leader was a Foundation Establishment cultivator!”

“A Foundation Establishment cultivator?!” everyone exclaimed in shock. Nie Fang quickly asked, “Why would a Foundation Establishment cultivator suddenly attack us?”

Dai Ba shook his head. “I don’t know... and that man was at the late Foundation Establishment stage.”

“Late Foundation Establishment?! How could we withstand that?” Nie Fang’s expression changed.

Xuanyang Sect’s mountain-protecting formation was called the Nine-Twisted Yellow River Grand Formation. In principle, it could withstand the attacks of several mid-Foundation Establishment cultivators, but against a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, it would still be terribly strained.

What was more, Xuanyang Sect did not have a Foundation Establishment cultivator to control the formation.

“Could it be that everyone in the sect...” Han Aoyu guessed in a tragic voice, her expression bitter.

Dai Ba waved his hands hurriedly. “No, no, they never broke through. At the crucial moment, it was Junior Brother Xiao who successfully established his foundation and took over the formation, blocking the attacks of those men.”

Hearing that Xiao Feichen had already established his foundation, everyone was both shocked and delighted.

Nie Fang’s expression turned uncertain, and then he asked, “Feichen had only just achieved Foundation Establishment. How could he possibly withstand a late Foundation Establishment cultivator’s attacks for an entire month?”

“That is because heaven itself favored our Xuanyang Sect!” Dai Ba cried, tears streaming down his face.

“How so?”

“At the critical moment, a patrol team from the Infinite Alliance happened to pass by us! And among them was a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator. With his help, we managed to hold out for a long time! In the end, they even drove that man away!”

“So that is how it was...” Nie Fang nodded slowly.

This time, the Infinite Alliance had nearly launched a full-scale deployment, but in order to prevent petty villains from taking advantage of the alliance’s temporary emptiness to cause trouble, they had specially formed patrol teams to circle the region and guard against wrongdoing.

Unexpectedly, this policy had saved Xuanyang Sect’s life.

“Then were there any casualties within the sect?” Nie Fang asked again.

Dai Ba quickly shook his head. “Because those three never broke the formation, not a single disciple was injured. It’s just that...”

His face turned miserable, and his mind could not help but replay that scene of hell. Tears fell once more as he said through grief, “Only... only that beast, unable to vent his rage, actually went down to the town below the mountain and slaughtered every last one of the more than eight thousand people there!”

At those words, everyone’s worst fears were confirmed, and all eyes filled with fury.

Nie Fang’s face went deathly pale. Clutching his chest, he asked miserably, “Not a single survivor... not one?”

“None...”

Everyone’s faces darkened.

Among those present, many had family in the town, and some had relatives bound to them by blood. To think that those beasts had slaughtered them all.

Zhang Zhiyan’s gaze turned ice-cold as she snapped, “Who exactly were they?!”

“Among the three, two had accents from outside the region. They should not be from our Lands of Li. As for the third, I have seen his portrait before...” Dai Ba said after a moment’s recollection.

“Who?!” Nie Fang barked.

Dai Ba looked up at Zhang Zhiyan, opened his mouth, and said, “This man once killed one of our Infinite Sect disciples, and he was also one of the men Zhiyan had once posted a wanted notice for in the provincial city...”

Zhang Zhiyan’s thoughts snapped back at once. She suddenly remembered what had happened in that small mountain stronghold that day, and quickly turned to look at White Light Boat, who was standing among the crowd with a face full of shock.

Dai Ba’s voice went on. “That man—I later looked through the records and learned his name...”

“What was it?” Nie Fang asked.

Dai Ba gritted his teeth and said fiercely, “That animal is called Qin Feng!!”

At those words, White Light Boat’s face instantly turned ashen.