Chapter Fifty-Three: Senior Brother Has Arrived

“Ding!”

The piercing sound jolted everyone awake.

Wrong guess?

The ten cultivators stared in disbelief.

No one was dead!

A streak of silver light had cut down precisely, sending the golden flying sword tumbling from the void.

Su Yizhao stood firmly on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his right arm bare. Opposite him, Chi Xiangdong’s eyes had regained their vacant look, as if he was either pretending or truly scared senseless.

Su Yizhao sighed, “Body cultivators really are formidable. It seems I truly do need to practice the Profound Body Technique!”

Had it been anyone else, they’d have likely been killed just now.

Curiosity truly is the downfall of cultivators! Going toe-to-toe with a body cultivator is never a good idea.

Bare-armed, he clasped his hands and said, “Fellow Daoist Chi, shall we call it a draw? Or perhaps, let me send you on your way.”

Chi Xiangdong jerked his head up in alarm.

No matter how high one’s cultivation, no matter how adept at cultivating qi, body, and soul, what use was it if you simply couldn’t hit your opponent?

Suddenly, sorrow welled up in his heart, a bitter expression on his face.

So be it!

To persist would only add to his humiliation.

He steadied himself, the bloodlust fading from his eyes, ready to meet death with composure, when suddenly a shout came from behind:

“The forest! We’ve finally reached the forest!”

Everyone snapped out of their daze and turned. In the distance, ten cultivators were rushing toward them. Moments later, they stood face to face.

The two groups sized each other up.

“Fellow Daoist Chi? They haven’t arrived yet?” the leader of the other group asked.

Chi Xiangdong’s arms hung limp at his sides as he cast a glance at Su Yizhao.

Su Yizhao gave no response.

His gaze, however, was fixed on one of the newcomers—a tall cultivator with a broad forehead. That cultivator stared back at him.

Seeing that Su Yizhao gave no signal, Chi Xiangdong dared not speak, nor did anyone else in their group.

With such a terrifying presence among them, none dared act without his lead.

“Fellow Daoist Chi?”

Chi Xiangdong slowly lowered his head, as if he hadn’t heard.

Su Yizhao noticed the tall cultivator nodding at him, which pleased him, and he was about to greet him, when the man shook his head, looking troubled.

It was Senior Brother Shi Feichen.

Su Yizhao shook his own head, understanding Shi Feichen’s worry.

He cupped his hands. “Greetings, Senior Brother!”

His tone and bearing were exactly as they had been in years past.

Shi Feichen sighed inwardly and replied helplessly, “Junior Brother, what a coincidence!”

A coincidence, indeed! Su Yizhao had gone out of his way to avoid him, yet fate had brought them together after all.

“Enough chatter, you two. Can’t you see I’m talking to someone?” the leader of the other group snapped, angered by Chi Xiangdong’s silence, and shouted at the pair.

A trace of pity flickered in the eyes of Chi Xiangdong and his group.

As expected, a green blur flashed, and Su Yizhao moved!

He seemed to slip through the void, appearing twenty yards away in an instant. His right hand clamped around the man’s throat.

Crack!

With a squeeze, the man’s throat emitted a dreadful sound. Then Su Yizhao hoisted him up and slammed him into the ground.

Bang!

“I’m talking to my senior brother. Who are you to interrupt?”

Bang! Bang!

The hard ground split and dust flew with each impact.

Shi Feichen’s eyes went blank with shock.

The nine cultivators beside him all stared, stupefied.

This was a cultivator at the Sixth Divine Realm, yet in the blink of an eye, he had been reduced to little more than a dead dog.

The two standing closest to Shi Feichen gaped in disbelief.

Chi Xiangdong and his companions merely looked on as if this was only natural.

“You—who are you? If you’ve got the guts, just kill me!” the battered man, barely conscious, shouted in humiliation and rage.

Chi Xiangdong raised a hand to stop him, but it was too late.

A soft crack sounded, and the man’s screams ceased instantly.

He was dead.

Shi Feichen stared in horror at the corpse, its neck twisted grotesquely.

A cultivator of the Sixth Divine Realm, slain so easily, like a dog.

Suddenly, Shi Feichen lifted his eyes and met Su Yizhao’s gaze.

In that instant, he understood everything.

Showing his strength so decisively—he feared hurting the bonds between brothers.

“Senior Brother, go back and admit your mistake, will you?” Su Yizhao tightened his grip on the gold medallion in his palm.

As a Gold Medallion Enforcer, he could not shirk the sect’s tasks, and had to complete them—unless he died in the line of duty. If Senior Brother returned, the two traitors could be executed at once.

“Gold Medallion Enforcement—truly lives up to its name. Brother Shi, I hadn’t wanted to see you and your fellow disciples turn against each other, but with things as they are, I doubt Su Yizhao will simply hand over the gold medallion,” said a cultivator beside Shi Feichen.

Su Yizhao glared at him in astonishment.

How could he still provoke him after witnessing such strength?

The other cultivators were even more shocked.

Not even a Sixth Divine Realm cultivator could lift a hand against him—who did this man think he was?

To everyone’s surprise, Shi Feichen nodded.

He’s lost his mind!

A flicker of delight flashed in Chi Xiangdong’s eyes.

“Senior Brother, was it them who led you astray?” Su Yizhao asked.

Shi Feichen drew himself up. “Junior Brother, give the gold medallion to me. Didn’t you once offer it to me yourself?”

“Was it their instigation?” Su Yizhao pressed, his tone hardening.

When he was ten, on his first enforcement mission with Senior Brother, he had only gone to observe—he hadn’t taken any action. Yet on that mission, it was Senior Brother who had saved his life.

A man must never forget a debt of gratitude.

Shi Feichen’s eyes brightened. “Junior Brother, you don’t understand. This is no place for cultivation. The sect is merely using us!”

“Was it their doing?” Su Yizhao’s voice rang out, echoing into the distance.

From the time he was ten until twelve, he had accompanied Senior Brother on enforcement missions. In those two years, he never had to act himself; yet he faced six brushes with death, and it was always Senior Brother who saved him.

“To cultivate qi, body, and soul together—that is the true path to strength. Junior Brother, if we stay here, we’ll never reach the pinnacle, nor attain immortality!”

Attain immortality!

Su Yizhao was momentarily stunned.

So Senior Brother’s goal was to attain the Dao of immortality?

“Junior Brother, the gold medallion is yours only because I failed that one time. But that failure was deliberate,” Shi Feichen’s mind seemed to drift back to the past.

Su Yizhao suddenly understood.

Deliberate?

So there was a hidden reason why Senior Brother never wanted the gold medallion.

“Was it because of them?” Su Yizhao asked with difficulty. From that time, Senior Brother had evidently begun practicing the techniques of the other two sects—he had already left the order.

Shi Feichen nodded. “That’s right. The three of us met through conflict, but now we share and verify our understandings of the Dao and cultivation. Since then, my insight has progressed by leaps and bounds. This is what I truly seek!”

“Brother Shi, it’s getting late,” urged one of the companions.

Su Yizhao saw that, though the three were only at the early Sixth Divine Realm, when they stood together, they seemed as one, without a single flaw between them.

“Brother Shi, if you cannot bear it, we’ll spare his life. What do you say?”