Despite sensing that he was about to fall into the nine cycles of reincarnation again, the Old Ancestor Jiuyan still refused to believe it.
“This can’t be possible, I must be dreaming.”
“It makes no sense! I’ve been so cautious, how could I still be facing the nine cycles of reincarnation?”
“Moreover, that Mu Kui is the reincarnation of a Martial Emperor. If he falls into the nine cycles of reincarnation, it would trigger the seal that the Martial Emperor had set against the Heavenly Dao!”
“That seal was meant to defy the heavens, its purpose was to prevent Mu Kui from being influenced by any external forces.”
“If it detects interference, the memories of the Martial Emperor will unseal themselves, causing Mu Kui to enter a state of madness without any regard for consequences.”
“If this still can’t stop the invasion of external forces, then Mu Kui will simply explode!”
“That Martial Emperor was a madman, unwilling to be controlled by anyone! He would rather die than compromise! This force from the unknown is trying to kill Mu Kui!”“And it’s trying to kill me too…”
He muttered incessantly, whispering to himself.
As his last words fell, his vision began to distort, becoming illusory.
At the same time, he could feel that his already limited lifespan was being completely depleted!
“So be it.”
The Old Ancestor Jiuyan gave a bitter smile.
This time, his lifespan was insufficient to witness the nine cycles of reincarnation even once more.
And before he completely succumbed to retrospection, he would likely vanish from life and death.
He was a man already on the brink of death, merely delaying the inevitable.
Although he died earlier in this life, he had done many things he wouldn’t have dared to do in a lifetime and had also understood the truths of this world, so it wasn’t a loss.
His only regret…
“I won’t be able to see Hongyi get married.” The Old Ancestor Jiuyan closed his eyes.
As his voice faded, his heartbeat abruptly stopped, his life force completely dissipated, and he lay like a lifeless corpse devoid of any vitality.
And at the moment of his fall…
“Boom—”
“Boom—”
“Boom—”
The bell of the Second Peak tolled nine times, its sound melodious, echoing through the universe.
The bell’s sound rose and fell, rippling out like a mournful tune.
Upon hearing it, all the disciples of the Jiuyan Sect became panicked.
They did not know what had happened, but they knew that the bell of the Second Peak was special and would not be rung unless there was a major event.
In the thousand years since the founding of the Jiuyan Sect, even during great battles, the bell of the Second Peak had never tolled nine times!
At this moment, a question arose in the minds of all the Jiuyan Sect disciples.
Could it be that the sky is falling?
Indeed, the sky had fallen, but it was the sky of the Jiuyan Sect that had collapsed.
At the base of the Second Peak, Twelve Supreme Elders and various Peak Masters gathered together.
Supreme Great Elder Xiao Ting, holding the jade coffin of the Old Ancestor Jiuyan, wept bitterly, “Old Ancestor, Old Ancestor, you can’t leave us! The Jiuyan Sect cannot be without the Old Ancestor, and my Xiao family even less so!”
The sound of crying was heart-wrenching.
Sect Master Gu Changqing stepped forward, supporting the nearly fainting Xiao Ting, and said, “Supreme Great Elder, let the Old Ancestor go. In life, we could not share his worries. At least in death… Ah! Old Ancestor, why did you have to go!!”
As he spoke, Gu Changqing himself began to cry.
“At least in death, we should let the Old Ancestor rest in peace,” another Supreme Elder continued.
Hearing this, everyone began to wipe their tears.
“If the Old Ancestor had not broken out of his coffin to save us and the Jiuyan Sect, his lifespan would not have depleted so quickly,” Xiao Ting continued to cry.
Upon these words, everyone burst into even louder wails.
It was their incompetence! Their lack of filial piety! If they had been of any use, the Old Ancestor would not have fallen so quickly! Now the Jiuyan Sect was invaded by the Demonic Path, infected with demonic seeds, and the Old Ancestor Jiuyan had fallen along with it.
From now on, the days of the Jiuyan Sect would be difficult! Everyone cried for a while with hoarse voices.
Once their emotions had somewhat calmed down, Xiao Ting said, “The matter of the Old Ancestor’s demise must not be leaked! Otherwise, our sect will face great disaster!”
“Alright, how about we close the sect for a hundred years?” a Supreme Elder asked.
“No!”
Xiao Ting refused, “We can’t keep a low profile! The lower the profile, the more it will attract the attention of other sects. Not only that, but we must be even more high-profile than usual to confuse them! Otherwise, disaster for the Jiuyan Sect is not far off!”
“How should we be high-profile?” another Supreme Elder inquired.
Indeed, how to be high-profile was a problem.
Being too high-profile was not good, as it could lead to real trouble.
Being high-profile without reason was also not good, as it could make other sects suspicious.
The best way was to be high-profile with a reason and not excessively! That way, they could mislead the other sects in the short term, making those sects overthink and act hesitantly.
“Is there any news about Hongyi and Jiang Chen?” Xiao Ting asked.
“There is!”
A Supreme Elder replied, “I’ve been using the sect’s realm-monitoring abilities to keep an eye on both of them. Just now, Jiang Chen was captured and taken to the Buddha’s Six Prisons! Strangely, Hongyi did not stop it.”
“That’s not strange at all. Hongyi has gone mad, and her actions naturally cannot be deduced by common sense,” Xiao Ting shook his head.
Jiang Chen must not come to harm. Otherwise, the Jiuyan Sect would fall into the hands of the Demonic Sect without the need for external enemies.
The matter of the Old Ancestor Jiuyan’s demise must also be covered up.
Thus, there was only one way to do it.
After taking a deep breath, Xiao Ting said solemnly, “Ring the bell eight times!”
“Eight times?!”
Everyone was stunned! The meaning of the bell tolling nine times was unknown to the disciples of the Jiuyan Sect, but the significance of eight tolls was very clear.
Because ringing the bell eight times signified the start of a great war for the sect!
“Isn’t this too high-profile? And who will be the target of this great war?” a Supreme Elder hesitated.
“The target is naturally the Buddha Temple! This is not to actually start a great war, but to use this as a reason to go and rescue Jiang Chen! To show the stance of our Jiuyan Sect! With the Old Ancestor fallen and Jiang Chen captured, only by doing this can we cover up both matters at once,” Xiao Ting explained in detail.
Seeing everyone’s solemn expressions, he added, “Of course, we cannot act under the banner of rescuing Jiang Chen, as his notoriety is well-known, and that banner would not stand. But don’t forget, in the Buddha’s Six Prisons, there is also Lin Feng!”
Lin Feng?
This name struck a chord, and the eyes of all the Supreme Elders lit up.
Recently, they had been focused on the “demonic seeds” and had forgotten about this Son of Destiny!
Lin Feng’s fate-testing day, with a hundred feet tall columns of golden light, could not be concealed and was already known by many sects.
The fate of the Son of Destiny was tied to the sect.
If they used rescuing Lin Feng as a reason to start a war against the Buddha Temple, it would be completely justified!
“Supreme Great Elder is wise! We cannot wait any longer!” everyone saluted Xiao Ting in unison.
Xiao Ting waved his hand, indicating that this was just basic strategy.
The inspiration he had was thanks to the blessings of the Ninth Peak elders and disciples.
After all, it was Great Elder Lu Yang who had originally used this method to directly instigate an internal struggle within the sect with the Ninth Peak disciples!
“We must act quickly!” Xiao Ting said again.
“Alright.”
Gu Changqing agreed, then worriedly added, “I just fear that the situation will become uncontrollable, and once it starts, it cannot be stopped. With the Old Ancestor fallen, we may not be a match for the Buddha Temple.”
“Don’t worry,” Xiao Ting reassured.
“The Old Ancestor’s reputation shook the Central Domain, and those bald monks of the Buddha Temple aren’t fools. They wouldn’t dare to truly fight to the death with our Jiuyan Sect at this time.”
“This time?” Gu Changqing was puzzled.
“Thirty years from now, it will be the grand competition of the sects. All the sects are now accumulating their heritage, hoping to compete for that one and only spot to the Upper Domain!” Another Supreme Elder explained.
“I see.”
Gu Changqing suddenly understood.
After discussing the details for a while, everyone left in tears and sobs.
No one noticed that onside the empty jade coffin, the body of Jiuyan Old Ancestor suddenly decayed rapidly and turned to dust and dispersed in instantly.
Where there should have been an empty jade coffin, the corpse was gone, but a solid soul remained.
With the same appearance and stature as Jiuyan Old Ancestor, this soul lay with eyes slightly closed, as if in deep sleep.
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