novelraw Chapter 381 381: 353 Illusion Part 1
Chapter 381 381: 353 Illusion Part 1
The Palace Master of Jade Void Palace personally went to the Great Capital; what does this signify, he did not know.
But he could definitely discern that if there wasn't a significant matter, Elder Jin Yuyan surely wouldn't have gone so far.
"What about the previous talk of coordinating to suppress neighboring uprisings?" Zhang Rongfang snapped back to reality and continued.
"No change as usual, Pavilion Master Feihua is guarding the local area, and this won't affect the current action." The old steward replied.
"Understood." Zhang Rongfang was momentarily weighed down with worries.
He always felt that the Great Dao Teaching seemed to be in a period of transformative outbreak, and because he wasn't truly high-ranking, many actions and messages were unclear.
"A tumultuous season..." he still decided to proceed as usual, to stay here quietly and accumulate power.
No matter how the situation changes, as long as he stays hidden and undercover, there surely wouldn't be any issues.
After inspecting the mansion, he went to see another large estate sent by the Shangguan family.
He had already arranged how to live in both houses. Just perfect for the people coming over from Citong to use this place as a core base.
After lunch in the afternoon, Zhang Rongfang promptly received a notification from the official of the prefecture.
The team responsible for suppressing neighboring uprisings from Jade Void Palace was prepared to depart. It was located at the peach forest in the southern suburbs.
Zhang Rongfang quickly packed up his luggage, preemptively heading to the meeting point.
Outside the city, at the peach forest which had blossomed quite a bit, there was a wide stretch of grassland.
Here, a caravan of teams and horses was gathering at the moment.
From afar, there seemed to be over a hundred in number.
Most of them were tall and strong martial artists.
And the most conspicuous among them was a burly elder standing three meters in height.
A height of three meters was extremely rare even among martial artists.
Most common martial artists were slightly over two meters tall.
Hence, the three-meter-tall white-haired elder attracted quite a few eyes from passersby outside the city.
Zhang Rongfang rode his horse closer from afar, accompanied only by two servants carrying luggage, without any extra belongings.
From a hundred meters away, he noticed the extraordinarily tall white-haired elder.
The elder's presence was overpowering.
At a glance, it was as if he was the only person standing in the large football field-sized area.
The rest of the people seemed to serve as the background.
After regaining focus, Zhang Rongfang took another close look and found two people standing behind the extraordinarily tall elder.
One was a woman with peach blossom-like cheeks, bright eyes, long legs, a red dress, and a noble air.
The other was a stern, orthodox-looking white-haired, white-bearded elder reminiscent of a university scholar.
The three amongst the hundred people seemed like magnets, incessantly attracting a vast amount of attention and stares around them.
Excluding the three, Zhang Rongfang swept his gaze over them, and his sharp vision from dark-sight allowed him to quickly distinguish that this hundred-strong team was extremely elite.
Everyone was of martial rank.
Such a sizable number of martial rank individuals, although not much to look at, if armed with powerful weapons, such as high-caliber guns or crossbows.
The threat they posed on wide areas might easily surpass that of a Grandmaster.
After forming a rough judgment, Zhang Rongfang swiftly galloped closer. He dismounted and then walked forward, clasping his fists towards the three-meter-tall elder.
"Junior Zhang Ying, pays respect to the elders."
"Go stand at the back." The three-meter-tall elder responded coldly.
"Yes." Zhang Rongfang also refrained from saying more.
He led his horse to merge with the rear of the hundred-strong team.
"Pavilion Master Feihua just has this kind of temperament, don't take offense."
The only red-dressed woman lightly approached and said.
"This time, he is leading the main team, and I along with Shang Dingye are assisting, I am Ning Hongli. You must be the disciple Sect Leader Yue just accepted, truly valiant and exceptional."
She lightly introduced with a smile.
"Junior pays respect to Senior Ning." Zhang Rongfang courteously clasped his fists.
"No need to be so formal. Bringing you along this time is for broadening your experience; observe and listen more on the way, act less." The woman Ning Hongli smiled.
"Junior will remember." Approaching them, Zhang Rongfang felt that the three of them and the rest of the people around were completely disconnected in terms of Qi and Blood disparity.
Compared to the Grandmasters he had encountered before, who were like fiery furnaces, the three before him were at least several times the furnace's size.
Contrasting them with the Grandmaster stationed at Qingchuan Prefecture he probed the previous night, Zhang Rongfang could feel that the three here, even the seemingly weakest Ning Hongli, were much more dangerous.
As for the former Sea Dragon King Kongwu, he still fell short compared to the Grandmaster he witnessed last night.
Aside from these, most crucially, Zhang Rongfang subtly felt a sort of extra sense of threat from the Great Dao Teaching Grandmasters.
It was hard to express what this feeling was.
It's important to note that with his current perception, even if a Grandmaster came, they would have to fight to determine the result.
Yet the mere presence of the three already made him feel as if there was a thorn in his side.
This was quite extraordinary.
Unable to see through the three, he naturally became poised and courteous, maintaining a good attitude.
The team waited on the spot for ten more minutes.
Although everyone had already gathered, the leading Shangguan Feihua still stood there silently, waiting.
No one dared to raise objections, as everyone whispered among themselves, waiting for the team to set out.
"Pavilion Master Feihua is extremely punctual and rules-abiding, he dislikes anyone breaking the rules. You must remember this, little Zhang Ying." Ning Hongli lightly reminded beside Zhang Rongfang.
"Yes, junior will surely keep this in mind." Zhang Rongfang hurriedly nodded with clasped fists.
"Remember that. If there's anything you don't understand or can't grasp, feel free to ask me. Your master had a great relationship with me when he was here. Since you're his disciple, you should get closer to me." Ning Hongli softly smiled.
"Yes." Zhang Rongfang realized the reason why this female Grandmaster was so kind to him was due to connections left by Old Yue's side.
A few more minutes passed.
"The time has come."
Shangguan Feihua opened his eyes, took out a pocket watch from his chest, and glanced at it.
"Set off."
He said in a deep voice.
Behind him, the many leaders responded with loud shouts, the carriages and horses started, and the entire convoy began to accelerate slowly in the direction outside the city.
"This time, there are a total of six places to deal with. They are all chaotic bandits taking advantage of the Zhenyi Western Sect's troublemaking to stage uprisings and disrupt the situation."
Ning Hongli softly explained beside Zhang Rongfang, looking at him with gentle eyes as if looking at his own nephews.
"These wild grasses and insects sprouting from the earth never behave. Cut down one batch and another appears. It seems there is even a hidden expert causing trouble, quietly ambushing several experts sent by the Shangguan family."
"Six places?" Zhang Rongfang listened to these words and felt that something seemed off.
But he quickly realized.
The elites leading troops for the Shangguan family, are they not from local aristocratic families?
It is said that Shangguan Feihua himself is a Spirit Person.
These Spirit Person aristocrats are fundamentally different from the Northern People barbarians classified as lower class by the Great Spirit.
They themselves are powerful families controlling land.
'Disregarding strength and realm, just looking at identity, this is simply a direct suppression of civilian uprisings by powerful families,' Zhang Rongfang quickly understood in his heart.
The interest group represented by the Great Dao Teaching has never been centered on the civilians.
Each region has different communities.
And now, at Jade Void Palace, from the Twelve Sect Mansions, it can be seen that the whole Jade Void Palace is primarily made up of aristocratic families.
Soon, the convoy sped up further, heading along the official road towards the first location—Yude Town.
At this slow pace, they would probably take several days to reach Yude Town.
It was just right for Zhang Rongfang, who also planned to observe how much the Golden Toad Skill, which he had recently advanced to the third layer of Chasing the Sun, could enhance himself.
*
*
*
October, the festival of the Great Spirit royalty begins.
Great Capital, Xian De Palace.
Yue Dewen slowly walked out of the palace gate, watching the palace maids and guards busily transporting various items needed for the festival, shook his head, and walked outside with a protruding belly.
These days, because he was in charge of organizing the festival, he was quite exhausted, so much so that he hadn't had time to go back to fishing or drinking tea.
He felt like he had lost a lot of weight, eating vegetarian every day, not having enough meat for even one lamb leg, which made him a bit discontent.
What made him frown even more was that His Majesty was becoming increasingly obsessed with entertainment.
Night after night of revelry. Even a few days ago, on the eve of the festival, he was still holding a Celestial Demon dance party with a Western Sect group at night.
It's said that every night dozens of beauties were sent away, exhausted from the festivities.
This has strayed far from the diligent Emperor Lingzhi of the past.
He sighed.
Yue Dewen left the palace, chose not to take the carriage, and instead utilized his body technique, heading to the Yuqing Fish Farm in the suburbs of Great Capital where he usually frequented.
'Haven't gone fishing in a while. Also, the rice wine there... Haven't drank for half a month, this time I might as well enjoy dozens of pounds of it. Soon I'll be taking Xiaozhi to the countryside... I don't know how long it'll be before I can drink again.....'
Yue Dewen thought simply about eating, drinking, and having fun.
But in the eyes of others, he still donned the attire of a Sect Leader, exuding luxury and majesty.
The Yuqing Fish Farm was an old haunt where he often spent leisure time, run by an old acquaintance, a large household with the surname Li.
That old man Li also enjoyed fishing, sometimes joining Yue Dewen and others in their pastime.
Familiar with the route, he arrived at the entrance of the fish farm, and as he pushed open the gate to enter the courtyard, he casually asked in a low voice.
"Hey, when will your Pavilion Master return? It's boring without talking to anyone here, without the Pavilion Master I feel quite unsafe."
The elderly protector of the Snow Rainbow Pavilion remained silent, pretending not to have heard.
Such inquiries weren't meant to be answered, in fact, unless it was due to the Pavilion Master's unique personality, most of the other protectors didn't engage in much conversation. Some would even deliberately keep their distance to avoid affecting their judgment or diverting their attention.
"Boring." Without getting a response, Yue Dewen muttered a complaint and entered the courtyard, where several attendants were dragging out newly repaired fishing nets, greeting him respectfully as he entered.
Skillfully grabbing his own set of fishing equipment, Yue Dewen strolled out of the courtyard towards the stocked fish pond.
He looked up at the sky, the sun was scorching.
He sighed, feeling like he was sighing more often lately.
His health was deteriorating, which was part of why he increasingly felt weak.
This time, taking Xiaozhi to avoid the turmoil was a plan he had long set.
One cannot remain strong forever....
At a certain point, some things must be let go.
To gain, one must first give up...
"Do you think your Pavilion Master plans to stir up trouble upon returning this time? The Snow Rainbow Pavilion has a couple of commanders who are quite ignorant... thinking they've found someone to back them up and are trying to go against their former superiors, tsk tsk.... even a dog knows to guard the house..."
Reaching the lakeside, Yue Dewen skillfully attached the fishing line to the rod, baited the hook, and cast it out.
"Hmm?"
No one answered.
Not only was there no answer, but even the faint noises from before had vanished.
Yue Dewen furrowed his brow slightly.
Something didn't feel right.
He looked around.
The green little lake, the clear sky.
The hot wind blew across his body, the surrounding grass swayed, there was no sound of insects, no birds.
"Heh heh heh... Which friend is joking with Old Yue? This joke is not funny at all." A gleam flashed in Yue Dewen's eyes. He straightened up, putting down the fishing rod.
"Just when I was planning to completely retire and stop meddling in worldly affairs, you pull this trick at the last moment?" His expression slowly turned serious.
As a Grandmaster, still one of the most formidable figures, his perception of hostility and murderous intent was far sharper than an ordinary person could imagine.
Moreover, the sudden murder intent surrounding him was so intense that even insects and birds didn't dare make a sound.
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