Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Ancestor of the Primordial Spirit Realm

"Chen Mu, don't do anything rash! Otherwise, you and my Azure Void Dao Sect will be at irreconcilable odds." Gu Daoyan said threateningly.

Chen Mu sneered. "Ever since you wiped out my Stargazing Valley, we have already been at irreconcilable odds. And now you come to threaten me? Hah."

Gu Daoyan frowned. "Then what will it take for you to let go of my brother?"

"If you want me to release your brother, then let my big brother and this ape-demon go first," Chen Mu said coldly.

Gu Daoyan refused. "No. If I release your big brother, what if afterward you still refuse to let my brother go?"

"Heh. Then your brother has no value in my hands at all. I'll snap his neck right now," Chen Mu said with a faint smile.

"You!" Gu Daoyan burned with rage. When had he ever been threatened like this? He had no choice but to yield.

At Chen Mu's signal, Yuan Shan carried the dying Chen Feng out of the Azure Void Dao Sect and waited outside for Chen Mu.

"Now you can let go of my brother, can't you?" Gu Daoyan asked tensely.

"Of course. Since you have agreed to my conditions, I should naturally release your sect master."

Hearing this, Gu Daoyan and the others immediately let out a breath of relief.

Chen Mu did indeed loosen his hand from Gu Daozhen's throat. Seeing this, Gu Daoyan and the elders all brightened, but the next instant left them stunned.

After releasing Gu Daozhen, Chen Mu's other hand erupted with a heaven-shaking surge of vital energy. It slammed straight into Gu Daozhen's heart, his hand plunging into the chest and crushing it to pieces.

Gu Daozhen coughed up blood madly, making strangled noises for a long time, yet not a single complete word could escape his mouth.

Seeing Gu Daozhen bleeding out on the spot, Gu Daoyan roared in失control, "Chen Mu, you broke your word!"

Chen Mu put on an innocent expression. "I did let go of your brother, didn't I? But I never said I wouldn't kill him. How can you say I broke my word?"

Gu Daoyan and the others had no time to care about anything else. They all charged toward Chen Mu and his two demon beasts. Chen Mu had originally wanted to use the Soul Suppression Pagoda to seize Gu Daozhen's nascent soul, but the battle was beginning and he had no time to summon it.

Gu Daozhen's nascent soul escaped at once, only to be taken into Gu Daoyan's sleeve and protected. After Chen Mu engaged Gu Daoyan, he immediately suppressed him, battering the other man into a highly passive state.

Meanwhile, Chi Huo and Zong Yu intercepted the elders of the Azure Void Dao Sect for Chen Mu. Chi Huo displayed his immense power while Zong Yu assisted from the side, slaughtering those elders of the Core Realm until they were routed; casualties appeared in an instant.

Gu Daoyan unleashed the Azure Void Three Talents Sword Art in a whistling surge, but Chen Mu was not the least bit weaker. While blasting out baleful vital-energy spheres, he also rammed forward with his body covered beneath the armor of dragon-sinew feathers, leaving Gu Daoyan with a splitting headache.

Chi Huo and Zong Yu coordinated their flame and storm divine abilities. Their might was irresistible, and although the elders of the Azure Void Dao Sect used every manner of spell to resist, the effect was negligible.

Explosions rang out one after another. The great battle turned the sky and earth dark, and even the ground trembled.

The disciples within the sect were caught in the aftermath. Once deaths and injuries began to appear, those disciples of the Azure Void Dao Sect frantically sought cover, but there was little point in looking toward the buildings; almost all of them had already been shattered and collapsed under the force of the battle.

Seeing that he could not defeat Chen Mu, and that the elders were being butchered by those two beasts, Gu Daoyan wondered if Heaven itself intended to doom the Azure Void Dao Sect. With no other choice, he could only use the final measure.

This last resort was something meant to be used only when the sect faced life and death, but now it was nearly that. He took a jade slip from his storage ring, crushed it, and cried out, "Ancestor! Awaken, Ancestor! The sect has been attacked at our gates! If you do not wake now, the Azure Void Dao Sect will be annihilated!"

At that moment, a voice immediately echoed to Chen Mu from within his spirit-beast bracelet: "Bad. The Azure Void Dao Sect's long-sleeping Spirit Soul Realm expert has awakened. Withdraw at once. I still do not have the ability to deal with a Spirit Soul Realm cultivator."

Chen Mu was horrified upon hearing this. Spirit Soul Realm? He had seen the royal family's false Spirit Soul Realm expert in the Bright Moon Empire. A false Spirit Soul Realm was already so terrifying—how much more terrifying would a true one be?

Without another word, he immediately shouted to Zong Yu and Chi Huo, "Get out of the Azure Void Dao Sect. The enemy's Spirit Soul Realm powerhouse has awakened. If we do not leave now, we will all die here."

Gu Daoyan glared venomously at Chen Mu and his two beasts. The Azure Void Dao Sect had fallen to such a state, an utter humiliation.

Yet he sneered inwardly. Once the ancestor makes a move, will these jumping clowns still have any path to survival?

Chen Mu abandoned the wounded Gu Daoyan by the side, mounted Zong Yu directly, and took Chi Huo back into the spirit-beast bracelet before preparing to flee at full speed.

Then an ancient voice rose from beneath the Azure Void Dao Sect: "Young friend, is my Azure Void Dao Sect a place where one may come and go as one pleases? Since you have come, then stay."

A giant hand of vital energy condensed in the sky above the Azure Void Dao Sect's plaza and pressed straight down toward Chen Mu, who sat on Zong Yu's back. The hand had almost become tangible, and its terrifying pressure made Chen Mu tremble with shock. This was by no means something that the false Spirit Soul Realm could compare to.

Though the hand seemed to advance slowly, in truth it was unimaginably fast, and in an instant it was already close upon Chen Mu.

Just when Chen Mu was consumed by despair, Rou'er suddenly sprang out from the spirit-beast bracelet, forcefully transforming into her full two-meter form as a three-tailed dragon fox. A dragon-fox phantom also manifested as she prepared to collide with the vital-energy hand.

The moment the hand touched the dragon-fox phantom, it shattered it to pieces. However, the vital-energy hand itself also dispersed somewhat. When it struck Rou'er, Rou'er, Chen Mu, and Zong Yu were all heavily injured. Rou'er bore the overwhelming majority of the damage, while Chen Mu and Zong Yu were only slightly affected.

After fending off the strike, Rou'er immediately used a teleportation art to whisk Chen Mu and Zong Yu away from where they stood.

The surviving disciples of the Azure Void Dao Sect, seeing that the enemy had been repelled, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Though they had won, the cost was far too great.

Not only had the sect master lost his body, but the elder council had suffered dead and wounded alike; the deputy sect master had also been seriously injured, and the disciples caught in the blast were beyond counting.

Moreover, this battle had even disturbed the legendary ancestor into appearing. Though they were thrilled that the ancestor of the rumors truly existed, there was no joy to be had when so many had been killed by an enemy attack at the sect's gates.

"I was only taking a brief rest after a few centuries. What? Has my Azure Void Dao Sect become this weak?" The voice of the Azure Void Dao Sect's ancestor, Zhong Tianyao, rang with anger across the entire plaza.

Gu Daoyan cupped his hands and said, "Ancestor, the enemy's strength is most bizarre. Their leader is clearly only at the Foundation Realm, yet he can challenge Nascent Soul cultivators across levels. He also brought a band of demon beasts to wreak havoc everywhere. Most terrifying of all is the little fox by his side—the very one that just blocked your strike. Its strength is no weaker than a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and our sect master was injured by that fox."

"Crossing two great realms in battle? Interesting. I have never heard of such a thing. How did you offend such an opponent? And who is the current sect master of the Azure Void Dao Sect? Why does he not come before me?" Zhong Tianyao asked.

Hearing the ancestor's inquiry, Gu Daozhen's nascent soul emerged from Gu Daoyan's sleeve and said, "Ancestor, this junior is the sect master. It is only that my body has been destroyed, and I therefore have no face to meet you."

"How did you conduct yourself as sect master? You provoked such an enemy, and your body was even destroyed. What exactly happened? Explain everything to me, one by one."

"It was like this. This son's name is Chen Mu. His sect is Stargazing Valley within the Great Xia. On this son I discovered a secret..."

Gu Daozhen recounted the secret of the vital force he had discovered from Chen Mu, then spoke of joining with the other two sects to destroy Stargazing Valley, and finally of chasing Chen Mu only to be revenged upon in return.

After hearing of the secret of this vital force, golden light burst from Zhong Tianyao's eyes. Why had he slept in the first place? Was it not because his lifespan was insufficient? If he could obtain this vital force, perhaps he could extend his life, and maybe even have a chance to break through to the next realm.

For such a blessing to have fallen into his hands—no matter what, he had to seize this youth named Chen Mu and pry the secret from him.

Zhong Tianyao said slowly, "Good. You have provided valuable news, so I will not pursue your guilt. After all, you did act for the sake of the sect. Pass down my command: capture Chen Mu with all your strength! I want him alive. Do not bring me back a corpse."

Seeing that Ancestor Zhong Tianyao did not punish them, Gu Daozhen and the others also let out a breath of relief, though they still said awkwardly, "But our strength is insufficient to capture them. They even dared to attack our Azure Void Dao Sect head-on. Would they still fear our pursuit and capture?"

Zhong Tianyao sighed. "Ai, you useless fools. In that case, you only need to track down their whereabouts. I shall make the move myself. It will not be long before I emerge from seclusion, and when that time comes, I will ensure that Great Xia knows that I, Zhong Tianyao, am still alive!"

On Chen Mu's side, they had already left the Azure Void Dao Sect. Rou'er had expended all her strength to carry Chen Mu away to the place where Yuan Shan had been waiting. Then, without even a pause, she carried off Yuan Shan together with Chen Mu's big brother, Chen Feng.

During the frantic escape, Chen Mu coughed up blood madly, and Zong Yu's aura was likewise feeble. They had both survived only by relying on the strength of their bodies.

When they finally reached a safe place, Rou'er staggered to set everyone down. By then, Chen Mu had already suppressed his injuries. Looking at the weakened Rou'er, he said with concern, "Rou'er, are you all right? You saved me again this time. I clearly said I would never act rashly again..."

Rou'er had already shrunk back to her original form. Her face was pale as she said, "This is not your fault. If I had used my divine sense to probe the Azure Void Dao Sect beforehand, this would not have happened. I thought the strongest in the Azure Void Dao Sect was only Gu Daozhen. Since Gu Daozhen was already heavily injured, I naturally did not take him seriously. I never imagined that there would still be a Spirit Soul Realm expert sleeping soundlessly beneath the ground of the Azure Void Dao Sect..."

Chen Mu immediately sent his vital force into Rou'er to stabilize her injuries, which made her complexion much rosier. Then Rou'er rose and said solemnly, "This is no time for healing. Let us first reunite with your father and the others. Since the Azure Void Dao Sect's ancestor has awakened, he will surely search everywhere for our traces and launch his revenge against us."

Chen Mu nodded. Without another word, he put Zong Yu and Rou'er back into the spirit-beast bracelet, let Yuan Shan carry his big brother, and set off together for the place where Gu Xingyuan was waiting.