Chapter 2659 — The Past That Once Was
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Master, I truly have not deceived you. This centipede bit Shen Yushu only once—absolutely only once. At the time, besides me, only Gao Xiaofu was present. There was no one else..." Zhong Yongliang said with certainty.
"So then, that Shen Yushu is a fire-attribute cultivator?" Venerable Chunyang asked.
"No—she's definitely not a cultivator. Though I haven't formally crossed the threshold of a cultivator yet, if someone were a cultivator, I would certainly be able to tell." Zhong Yongliang said, "Besides, Naipao can vouch for it too—Shen Yushu is not a cultivator. We've been at school together for three years; I know exactly what she is."
"Not a cultivator?" Venerable Chunyang seemed not to believe Zhong Yongliang's words. Yet then something seemed to occur to him, and his expression shifted slightly. "Wait here a moment. There's something I need to confirm."
"Yes, Master." Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu did not dare say more and hurriedly nodded in assent.
Venerable Chunyang, meanwhile, quickly returned to his quarters and placed a phone call.
Soon the voice of Ancestor Xuanchen came through from the other end: "Venerable Chunyang?"
"Ancestor Xuanchen, it's me!" Venerable Chunyang wasted no words and spoke urgently. "There's something I need you to confirm. In Donghai City, there's a person named Shen Yushu—do you know of her?"
"What, you want to move against her?" Ancestor Xuanchen's tone shifted at once. "You cannot touch this person. She is a piece on my board. Whatever grudge you bear her, you will set it aside for me first. Did you hear me?"
"Ancestor Xuanchen, I bear her no grudge... rest assured..." Hearing Ancestor Xuanchen's tone, Venerable Chunyang felt boundless frustration in his heart, yet he had no choice but to treat him with the utmost deference.
The Five Luminaries Sect and the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect had both been sects of the Primeval tier a thousand years ago. But both had declined and been struck from the ranks of the Primeval sects; when the other Primeval sects migrated to Cloud-Step Island, these two were excluded...
Over the past thousand years, both the Five Luminaries Sect and the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect had schemed to return to Cloud-Step Island, to reclaim their place among the Primeval sects. But the Five Luminaries Sect grew ever stronger, while the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect grew ever more decayed!
So much so that the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect, once an equal of the Five Luminaries Sect, had sunk to something akin to the ancient sects—from a partnership with the Five Luminaries Sect to what was now little more than a subordinate relationship.
Yet Venerable Chunyang could do nothing about it. After all, Ancestor Xuanchen was a generation above him in seniority, and the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect truly had few formidable figures left. Apart from Ancestor Mad Bull, who remained in long seclusion, the strongest was none other than Venerable Chunyang himself—and none of them were a match for Ancestor Xuanchen.
This too was because more than a decade ago a calamity had struck: two consummate external-school masters had forcibly carried off Ancestor Mad Dragon, the senior elder brother of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect's Ancestor Mad Bull, and slain the second elder brother, Ancestor Mad Leopard, gravely crippling the sect's strength.
The Five Luminaries Sect, by contrast, had always kept a low profile—especially during the tenure of Ancestor Xuantian, whose discretion was terrifying to behold. Outsiders even believed that Ancestor Xuantian, an alchemist, was but a lone, unaffiliated cultivator!