Chapter 1235: Qing and Hong Meet Xu Ke
"I... I..." Sun Luyuan stammered for a long time, unable to utter a single word.
Fortunately, Li Ping did not press him.
With a wave of his hand, Li Ping sent a streak of golden light into Sun Luyuan's body. "From this day forward, I'm afraid you won't be able to return to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance," he stated calmly. "You'll stay in our Sage Dynasty for now."
"After some time, I will arrange for you to return to the Alliance under a new identity."
Sun Luyuan looked up at Li Ping, his expression bewildered.
It was then that Li Ping showed him the apocalyptic scene of Ink Death's annihilation of Luoyan Province.
As boundless terror once again surged in his heart, Sun Luyuan instantly understood the purpose of the golden light.
It had erased the mark left on him by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
"Then... our Sun family..." Sun Luyuan's expression changed drastically as a sudden thought struck him.
"That will depend on your luck. If Tian Yin tells the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance what happened to her, the Sun family will undoubtedly be implicated. They will vanish from the face of the earth, and no one will be spared."
Li Ping's words drained all the color from Sun Luyuan's face.
But then, his tone shifted. "However, you need not worry excessively. Tian Yin is formless and intangible. If she doesn't wish to reveal herself, the Alliance will likely never find her. She and the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance are not on the same side."
"Besides, while my final attack before leaving didn't destroy her, it did injure her severely. Tian Yin's state was already unstable. By the time she reappears and regains her senses, she may not even remember us."
Although Li Ping said this, it was not enough to put Sun Luyuan's mind at ease.
The hidden meaning in Li Ping's words was obvious: behind Tian Yin stood another, terrifying existence—one that even the unfathomable Sage Emperor of the Great Qi had to be wary of.
"Damn that Xu Yuanxian! Saying it was just a simple errand. I actually believed his nonsense..."
The thought of being inexplicably dragged into such an affair, with not only his original plans thrown into disarray but his entire family facing implication, ignited a nameless rage within Sun Luyuan.
"That old bastard! Just like the other high-ranking members of the Alliance, he's a real piece of work!" he cursed inwardly.
And when he thought of the various crises his family would face after his disappearance, his mind became a tangled mess.
Just then, Li Ping spoke again.
"Actually, there is a way for you to return without arousing suspicion. If you inform the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance of our existence, you likely won't be punished. In fact, you might even earn great merit."
Li Ping's voice echoed from the Sage Emperor's throne.
Sun Luyuan's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly pledged his loyalty. "How could this humble one ever betray the Sage Emperor?"
Unexpectedly, Li Ping just smiled. "I think you've misunderstood my meaning."
"Return to the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and tell Xu Yuanxian everything about Luoyan Province and my Sage Dynasty. That is an order."
"Ah?" Sun Luyuan was completely stunned. He couldn't understand why the Sage Emperor would suddenly make such an abrupt decision, one that completely contradicted his previous statements.
"Could it be... that he's already prepared to go to war with the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance?" Sun Luyuan couldn't help but wonder.
"When you see Xu Yuanxian, you will say this..." Li Ping slowly transmitted his instructions.
And Sun Luyuan's expression grew increasingly animated.
Not long after, Sun Luyuan, under the escort of Daoist Baihua, quietly returned to the main Xuanhuang Realm.
He hurried to the Myriad Immortals Alliance Headquarters.
At this moment, the Alliance headquarters was in a state of some disarray due to the destruction of Luoyan Province.
But no one would have imagined that the matter was connected to Sun Luyuan, a Dao Integration cultivator from the Law Enforcement Hall.
Thus, Sun Luyuan arrived at the Law Enforcement Hall headquarters without any trouble and met with Xu Yuanxian once more.
"You're back? How did the task I assigned you go?" Xu Yuanxian asked without even opening his eyes.
"Elder Xu, something terrible has happened."
Sun Luyuan seemed utterly terrified, looking as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.
Xu Yuanxian's eyes snapped open.
With a wave of his hand, he set up multiple restrictive barriers before saying in a grave voice, "Don't panic. Tell me everything, slowly and clearly."
Sun Luyuan took a deep breath. "I did as you instructed, Elder. I went to the Qingfeng Hall on Ten Thousand Immortals Island and met with Senior Qingfeng."
"The treant named Ah Liu has gone completely mad. Senior Qingfeng was willing to leave with me, but she refused to come to the Alliance headquarters. Instead, she wanted to go to Luoyan Province..."
Hearing those words and connecting them to the recent catastrophe in Luoyan Province, Xu Yuanxian's expression couldn't help but shift.
"What exactly happened in Luoyan Province?!" he demanded, his usual composure gone.
"Just as I was about to bring Senior Qingfeng to our destination, she suddenly grew distant and began muttering something like, 'There really are so few in this world who are good to me...' Then, I felt my body become ethereal, as if I were about to disappear from this world entirely," Sun Luyuan recounted, his voice laced with lingering fear.
Xu Yuanxian was clearly aware of this habit of Qingfeng's, as he showed no surprise.
"Just when I felt I was about to die, a golden figure suddenly descended. And then..."
"He started fighting with Senior Qingfeng."
Sun Luyuan projected the image of Li Ping's struggle with Qingfeng.
"Power of heaven and earth, lend me your strength."
The towering figure in the image was seen uttering a low command.
Xu Yuanxian stared intently at the projection, his expression growing progressively more solemn.
It wasn't until the silver needle appeared that he completely lost his composure.
The image came to an abrupt end.
"The other senior took me away. It was only when I returned that I learned Luoyan Province had been destroyed. Senior Qingfeng was nowhere to be found..." Sun Luyuan said, feigning utter panic.
"Elder Xu, what in the world is going on? Who exactly is Senior Qingfeng?" he asked in return.
Xu Yuanxian did not answer.
He frowned in thought for a moment before finally speaking. "The cultivator who saved you—do you know his name?"
Sun Luyuan nodded. "He called himself the Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor. But he didn't say much to me and sent me back shortly after."
"Oh, right, Elder Xu, the small world where the Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor resides seems a bit... strange..."
But Xu Yuanxian paid no mind to the second half of Sun Luyuan's sentence, instead muttering to himself, "Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor."
Sun Luyuan did not interrupt, waiting patiently for his reaction.
"Do not ask any more about this matter. Just pretend it never happened," Xu Yuanxian suddenly declared.
Sun Luyuan was stunned.
This time, he wasn't pretending.
"Elder Xu..."
Xu Yuanxian raised a hand, cutting him off. "It was my oversight. We haven't seen each other for many years... I never expected things to escalate to such an irreconcilable point."
"I will find an opportunity to compensate you for this. But you must keep this matter a secret." Xu Yuanxian's cold gaze locked onto Sun Luyuan.
A shiver ran down Sun Luyuan's spine, and he quickly swore an oath to comply.
"You may leave for now. If anything comes up, I will contact you."
"Remember what I said."
Before he left, Xu Yuanxian didn't forget to add one last reminder.
He never expected that what he thought would be an incredibly dangerous affair would be resolved so smoothly.
While Sun Luyuan felt a great sense of relief, he was also filled with a feeling of unreality.
"Still, that old bastard's reaction was almost exactly as the Sage Emperor predicted."
"Irreconcilable? What does that even mean?"
Sun Luyuan couldn't make heads or tails of it.
But this turn of events had not only saved his life but also earned him a favor from Xu Yuanxian. It was an unexpected boon.
Sun Luyuan shook his head slightly, temporarily suppressing the gloom in his heart.
"Since I'm at headquarters anyway, I might as well go see my son."
With that thought, Sun Luyuan soon arrived in the space of the Deduction Jade.
Sun Ang seemed pleasantly surprised by his arrival and peppered him with questions.
Sun Luyuan answered in great detail.
"It's truly been hard on you, my son."
"As long as the family is safe, that's all that matters."
Sun Ang's words sent a sudden pang of guilt through Sun Luyuan's heart.
He didn't feel right staying any longer and departed in a hurry.
Sun Ang, who was in fact Li Fan, watched Sun Luyuan leave with an inscrutable expression.
Naturally, the conversation between Sun Luyuan and Xu Yuanxian had reached his ears, word for word.
The Sage Emperor's sudden change of plans had been his doing.
"Just as I thought. There are people within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance who know the true situation of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"The Xuanhuang Realm is being dismembered, transformed, and fused."
"Xu Yuanxian is one of them, and Transmitter Jiang likely is as well. But as subordinates of the Dharma Spreader, they are undoubtedly on his side."
"They probably anticipated the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao making a move. However, it's beyond their ability to handle, so they've chosen to watch from the sidelines..."
"After all, not everyone has the courage to stand up and oppose the Dharma Spreader. Even those Longevity Celestial Venerables of the Five Elders Council have allowed him to do as he pleases."
Li Fan snorted coldly in his mind.
"However, I believe there are still those in the Xuanhuang Realm whose passion has not grown cold."
The image of Shang Shaojun flashed through Li Fan's mind.
"What's missing now is an opportunity to unite them."
"The Heavenly Mandate Sage Emperor..."
"He's actually starting to live up to the name."
This is partly because the clone has been helping and feeding back to the Heavenly Dao through the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, but it's mostly because the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao has been isolated and helpless for too long. With the sudden appearance of a Sage Emperor, it's as if it's clutching at the last straw.
"With all these fortuitous coincidences converging, the evolution of this clone has become quite interesting."
Li Fan squinted, his thoughts racing.
Although the clone remained under his absolute control, during the period when Li Ping contended with Tian Yin, boosted by the golden source power and the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, the clone's strength had faintly surpassed Li Fan's current power.
This had caused a slight deviation in the path the clone was taking.
It was like driving a car: Li Fan still had full control over all its functions, but the road itself had changed due to the car's own condition.
"But for me, this isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"The more support I get from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, the more I can force the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance—and even the Dharma Spreader—to reveal their hand."
"And then there's that Xuanhuang Evil Thought. It's about time I probed its secrets."
This thought flashed through the minds of both Li Fan's true self and his Sage Emperor clone simultaneously.
Not long after, Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba arrived before the Sage Emperor's throne.
"The Empire Small World. What is its current status?" Li Ping first asked Sun Erlang.
"Reporting to Master. After personally witnessing the power of our Sage Dynasty, and especially after seeing Wang Xuanba's more advanced beast technology, the Emperor's Daughter has agreed to surrender unconditionally."
"Currently, her forces are being gradually integrated. Although their army consists of mortals, with three to five years of reform, they can become a viable force for our Sage Dynasty. The large number of beasts, in particular, will help alleviate our resource shortage to some extent," Sun Erlang reported gravely.
"That's right! Our flesh-and-blood factories are projected to increase their efficiency more than fivefold within three years. And that Emperor's Daughter really has her own unique insights into beast development technology. She's even better than me!" Wang Xuanba praised openly.
After listening to their reports, Li Ping nodded slightly.
Afterward, he told the two of them the location of the small world where the Xuanhuang Evil Thought—Xu Ke—resided.
"You two, along with Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong, will make a trip there. See if you can invite Xu Ke back."
"Be respectful."
Sun Erlang and Wang Xuanba glanced at each other.
They had run errands before, but this was the first time the Sage Emperor had been so solemn.
The two brothers dared not delay. They took their leave of the Sage Emperor and hurried first to the Empire Small World.
They found the Saint Teachers, Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong.
"What? Xu Ke?"
"Are you sure you heard that correctly?"
Upon hearing what they said, Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong were utterly stunned.
Xiao Qing then lost her composure, grabbing Sun Erlang tightly and demanding confirmation again and again.
"Our Master said it, so there can be no mistake. Will you two come with us?"
Though a thousand doubts filled their hearts, Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong could not overcome the yearning of several millennia.
They immediately agreed.
The four of them traveled together and arrived at the entrance to the small world.
"This is..."
"The aura of an Imperial Beast Sect formation," Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong said, their voices trembling with excitement.
Their auras grew chaotic. The person they longed to see was right in front of them, yet they suddenly lacked the courage to take that final step.
It was only at Sun Erlang's urging that they finally entered the small world.
In the lonely world, a single, white-haired old man sat alone on a mountaintop.
"Xu Ke!"
Xiao Qing's trembling voice broke the silence.
The old man's body stiffened slightly before he slowly raised his head.
A green and a red figure were speeding toward him.
Long-buried memories flooded his mind in an instant.
Scenes from thousands of years ago reappeared before Xu Ke's eyes.
But Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong still looked the same as they did back then.
While he, Xu Ke, was now bent with age.
The three of them stood face to face.
There were a thousand words to say, yet none knew where to begin.
"Sun Erlang."
"Wang Xuanba."
"We greet you, senior."
But two voices broke the scene of their reunion at an inopportune moment.
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