Legend of the Great Sage

Boom!

The wave was smashed to pieces, sending splashes everywhere.

Wan Jianfeng burst out of the ocean and no longer hid his aura, allowing sword qi to rush into the skies, slice through the seas, and execute the clouds. He was like a divine sword placed on Ruan Yaozhu’s slender, fair neck. He did not possess any killing intent, but it was still chilling.

“Junior sister, I don’t want this either. You shouldn’t only focus on your personal feelings of love and ignore the greater good of the sect. You should make a decision soon. Don’t make me waste time here!”

Immediately, bleak sword intent filled the Hundred Herbs garden, kicking up a shivering gust of wind and making the countless spiritual plants and flowers curl up. The bodhi tree rustled in response.

Many disciples were currently working in the garden. They suddenly felt like they were about to face a powerful enemy, which made them straighten up and look around, like rabbits on a prairie searching for the traces of wolves.

“What powerful sword intent!” Li Fengyuan said in praise.

He was the most powerful sword cultivator Li Fengyuan had witnessed in his life. An entire major realm of cultivation separated them. He was not his opponent right now.

However, he was still unfazed and fearless, which made the nine-coloured deer on the side admire his courage. This kid really is that guy’s son. He’s just as bold and daring as him.

With the sword extended, winds rushed past, making the grasses bend. Ruan Yaozhu’s hair drifted in the air too. She shut her eyes and furrowed her brows, murmuring, “Personal feeling of love, the greater good of the sect.”

The ten words were like a bombshell. It was as if someone had divulged the secrets in her heart in a single sentence, which made her tremble.

She was unable to deceive herself and say there was absolutely no personal feelings of love involved at all.

She did not fear Wan Jianfeng’s edge, nor was she fazed by Dai Mengfan’s identity, but she could not neglect the kindness the sect had shown her by nurturing her, the friendship between senior brothers and sisters, and the greater good of punishing the demons and protecting the orthodoxy.

If Li Qingshan really had defected to the Demon domain, everything she did right now would be assisting the demonfolk, not only bringing disgrace to the countless seniors that had sacrificed themselves on the battlefield in the Demon domain, but also harming who knew how many more people.

She was different from Dai Mengfan. She was not so absorbed over the concept of living. She could ignore her personal interests, but she could not ignore the greater good.

She was not afraid of dying, but she was afraid of harming others.

For a moment, she entered an extremely great conflict inside, which made her let go of the nine-coloured deer.

The nine-coloured deer prodded her gently with her antlers as an expression of retaliation before telling Li Fengyuan complacently, “Kid, you can’t leave now!”

“I never planned on leaving.”

Li Fengyuan gazed at Ruan Yaozhu seriously, waiting for her to make her decision, but he paid no concern to his own safety. He also had a decision to make—regarding the greater good, regarding trust, regarding sacrifice, regarding Li Qingshan.

“You, however, can go now.” The nine-coloured deer glanced at Ruan Yaozhu and knew it was impossible to make her capture Li Fengyuan, so she could only tell him to leave.

“Alright.”

Li Fengyuan immediately stood up. Without any hesitation, he turned into a glorious phoenix and soared off with a cry, but he did not flee, instead receiving Wan Jianfeng in battle.

At this moment, Ruan Yaozhu suddenly opened her eyes. She had already made up her mind. She raised her hand high in the air and released waves of jade-green light, illuminating the sky and seemingly turning it into jade. Countless profound glyphs and intersecting networks faded into existence, blocking all of the sword qi outside.

The phoenix rebounded mid-air as well, which made him glance back at her. He was rather shocked too. He was aware that she had already activated the formation and completely sealed up the Hundred Herbs garden. That was equivalent to breaking off from the Myriad sect and confirming her relationship with Li Qingshan, implicating her as well. Even the lightest of punishments would be expulsion.

“Since I promised that I would protect you, I definitely won’t go back on my word!” Ruan Yaozhu gazed at the sky. “And I believe he would never fall as a demonfolk!”

Li Fengyuan suddenly felt rather sorry to see all this, as he understood the origins of the daemon star of misfortune better than anyone else—he had not just fallen as a demonfolk. He was basically a demon among demons, the source of all trouble!

Her hopes were bound to fall through.

“Let me go. You can’t protect me.” The phoenix circled in the air and advised her gently. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

The Hundred Herbs garden was not a dwelling—the master of the Hundred Herbs garden was only the manager, not the owner. The core authority over the formation did not lay in Ruan Yaozhu’s hands. Instead, it was under the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance’s direct control.

And it did not matter even if she possessed the core authority. Could a single formation hold off the entire Myriad sect?

That was unless she used all the plants in the garden as “hostages”, leaving the Myriad sect wary and with second thoughts about breaching the formation, as it would completely destroy the garden if they did not. However, she would rather die than do something like that.

As a result, there would be no change to the outcome. Once the Myriad sect struck, he would still struggle to escape, while she would be dragged down with him for nothing.

However, Ruan Yaozhu said, “Whether I can protect you or not depends on others, but whether I try to protect you or not is up to me. If I can protect you for a day, that’s a day. If I can protect you for a moment, that’s a moment.”

She was like bamboo—thin and slender but would rather snap than bend.

At this moment, the nine-coloured deer leaned over and nudged her gently with her head.

“Jiu’er?”

“Don’t look at me like that. Do you really think I don’t understand you? I just knew it would turn out like this! Sigh, this is a tribulation of attachments! A tribulation of attachments!”

Ruan Yaozhu smiled. “Perhaps it is!”

“So be it. If it wasn’t for him, we all would have died under Black Cloud city already. Let’s just say this is a life for a life! However, if you’re going to tell me to go, I’m really going to get angry!”

“We’ll never leave each other.” Ruan Yaozhu rubbed the nine-coloured deer’s head gently.

Li Fengyuan sighed in amazement from the bottom of his heart. “My first father might be a huge bastard, but he still has an eye for women!”

Ruan Yaozhu did not respond to that verbally. She pressed down with her hand gently, and Li Fengyuan immediately plummeted towards the ground, landing in a bush of thorns, leaving him crying out in pain.

Outside the Hundred Herbs garden, Wan Jianfeng dismissed the sword intent and communicated with Dai Mengfan, “What now?”

“Sigh, we have been senior and junior sisters after all, so let’s give her another three days!” However, Dai Mengfan summoned another direct disciple and ordered, “Junior brother Ren, go and find that Shen Yushu.”

“Shen Yushu!” Ren Aoyou furrowed his brows heavily in complete disdain.

Shen Yushu was similar to Ruan Yaozhu. They both practised the Heavenly Tome of Nature. Before Li Qingshan arrived in the Myriad sect, he had remained in the Hundred Herbs garden the entire time as the head caretaker. Afterwards, he came into conflict with Li Qingshan and had lost his body during their duel, expelled from the Hundred Herbs garden. After Li Qingshan became the first senior brother, he was completely expelled from the Myriad sect.

Dai Mengfan had actually specially summoned someone like that. For what?

Thinking up to there, he suddenly realised something and glanced in the direction of the Hundred Herbs garden. He furrowed his brows even further. “Do we really have to do this?”

“I don’t want to ruin our relationship either, but if junior sister Ruan insists on defying orders, how can I leave a traitor in charge of the Hundred Herbs garden?”

“Traitor!?” Ren Aoyou was infuriated. He glared at Dai Mengfan. He had always treated Ruan Yaozhu as a younger sister, and Dai Mengfan was clearly even closer to Ruan Yaozhu than he was usually. She actually turned against her so mercilessly.

“Do you have a better way to refer to her?” Dai Mengfan also felt like she had overspoken, but she said in discontent, “Are you going to defy orders as well?”

“I would never.”

Ren Aoyou lowered his head deeply, but before he left, he left behind a cold message. “Hopefully, you can be just as imposing if you face Li Qingshan, first senior sister!”