Shaking Up the World of Cultivation
The white ape fiend king’s getaway to Third Heaven shook up the world of cultivation. All the adepts present at Pill Cauldron Sect desperately attempted to apprehend him. In the end, the fiend king restored his core in their presence and froze them in place. Pill Cauldron Sect’s best formations were unable to restrain him.
The white ape fiend king’s return added to the stress of the elemental demons’ recent harassment, forcing humanity to carefully plot their next turn. Sects did everything in their power to investigate the reason behind the fiend king’s emergence and sent another group of disciples to Second Heaven to verify the reports.
Mu Yu’s name was the target of attacks again for turning his back on his fellow disciples. Various sects demanded Pill Cauldron Sect lynch Mu Yu. Pill Cauldron Sect explained they would need to wait for another decade as Mu Yu sacrificed his jade piece.
The fiend king inflicted serious injuries to several elders and killed several young cultivators prior to strutting away with a girl. Of importance was he only targeted Ghost Gate and Life and Death Sect’s disciples. There, of course, were reports it was due to Gui Xuanyue and Si Wusheng’s one-sided ambushes that aggravated the fiend king.
In a turn of unexpected events, the two loathed sects were elevated to a respected status. People labelled the death of their elders and disciples valiant and glorious sacrifices. In the same vain, humanity was told Mu Yu was public enemy. The ignorant jumped on the bandwagon and cursed out Mu Yu while praising the “heroic” members of the two questionable sects. The snowball effect naturally took its course thereafter.
Tian Ran rushed to meet Lian Tianyou upon returning to Third Heaven. “Brother Lian Tianyou, is it true?”
Lian Tianyou nodded. “I never expected Brother Shi Minghui to die to Mu Yu.”
“That’s impossible. I know Mu Yu’s character. There must be something else to it. He’s the last cultivator to take a life. He wouldn’t kill Shi Minghui.”
“I didn’t personally witness the deed. Tian Yun was with Shi Minghui at the time. Tian Yun came back with grievous wounds and insists Mu Yu was the culprit. As Celestial Star Sect’s young master, I don’t need to tell you how much weight his accusation holds. Tian Yun was lucky he escaped in time.”
Lian Tianyou was known for being an upright character, so he was a trustworthy news outlet. In addition, Xing Gao supported the testimony that Mu Yu admitted to killing a Ghost Gate disciple. Still, Cai Lie argued, “Tian Yun might be slandering Mu Yu for all we know. He pestered Tian Ran when we were at Mist City. Mu Yu stepped in and whacked him after we left, apparently. We all know Tian Yun is petty. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s just going with the flow of events to malign Mu Yu.”
“Brother Cai Lie, bear in mind Mu Yu’s position now. You need to keep your distance from him. You can defend him in my presence, but you are not to defend him in the presence of others. Words are a scary weapon. They could very well lynch you, as well.”
“Before the truth is out, we have no right to incriminate him. For all we know, the fiend king could’ve brainwashed him, and the murder could be unfounded.”
“Are you saying I was wrong? Even if you dismiss my testimony, Ghost Gate, Life and Death Sect and others also bore witness to Mu Yu’s actions. Indeed, I have no evidence to establish Mu Yu did kill Shi Minghui. Regardless of what the reasons may be, Mu Yu did let the fiend king go. Every bad rumour about Mu Yu is credible to cultivators.”
Lian Tianyou had a point. Even if Mu Yu could shirk off the crime of killing Shi Minghui, it wouldn’t reduce the hatred directed toward him for letting the fiend king abscond.
“I refuse to believe them. Brother Mu Yu will return. When he does, I will ask him for his side of the story,” asserted Tian Ran, weeping.
Tian Ran blamed herself for not arriving in time when she heard the fiend king escaping his detainment. She told herself she could’ve helped him if she had been there for him.
Cai Lie queried, “How is Elder Ku Mu?”
Lian Tianyou pursed his lips. “Everyone is taking their anger out on him due to Mu Yu’s absence. For safety’s sake, Patriarch has put him under protection.”
“Protection, yeah, more like house arrest.”
“Cai Lie, don’t forget you are part of Pill Cauldron Sect. You are in no position to question Patriarch’s decisions. Disrespect him again, and I will not turn a blind eye.” Lian Tianyou left in a huff.
Ku Mu was missing from the public eye ever since the fiasco. Elder Frost was charged with “protecting” Ku Mu until Mu Yu returned. It obviously wasn’t protection. Who or what was going to threaten Ku Mu?
“What should we do, Brother Cai Lie,” Tian Ran weakly asked.
“I don’t know. He’s already stuck there for a decade. We don’t even know if he’ll last until then. Moreover, unless he’s not touching his cultivation whatsoever, he’ll have ascended beyond Primordial Infant Realm the next time we can activate the formation. How is he going to return? In the case that he can return, he’ll be ostracised in the best case scenario.”
Meanwhile, Mu Yu was still dealing with two stubborn elders.
“Ol’ Deer, talk it out. I won’t attack this time.”
“I apologise, Elder Turtle. Would you be able to find it in your heart to let me in?”
Ol’ Turtle slammed his shell, raising the water up and down again.
“Let us talk, instead. If you keep this up, the ocean will be no m-.”
The walking stick and turtle shell hammered down at the same time, raising the water again.
Over the last half a year, Mu Yu would cultivate, visit the island and repeat. Unfortunately, the two guardians refused to grant him an audience, unless smashing the ocean counted. The time he spent at Second Heaven allowed him to expedite his progress, reaching Primordial Infant Realm’s Ninth Layer already. On the flipside, he couldn’t push any further, or he’d be stuck there for eternity.
“What do you want?” questioned Ol’ Deer, crankily.
“I just want to go back to Third Heaven.”
“Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
“That was among the first thing I said to you!”
“Don’t you know old people’s memory is b-“
“Bad, I know. Important things need to be mentioned thrice. I want to return to Third Heaven. I want to return to Third Heaven. I want to return to Third Heaven. Happy?”
“We could let you use our teleportation formation. That said… you need to wait another ten years, I reckon. We shut it down the day before. I thought we wouldn’t need to use it again.”
“You what? You son of…”
Ol’ Deer sat down on a rock and scratched his ear. “I thought you were after one of our treasured artefacts. You should’ve said so sooner. That would’ve saved me the trouble of driving you away every day.”
Mu Yu: I can’t even tell if they’re messing with me or what now…
Ol’ Turtle thumped his shell. “You do realise you don’t need our teleportation formation to leave, right?”
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