White-Robed Chief

The sound of footsteps approaching could be heard as Fu Qingya slowly entered the room, glancing at Chu Li.

Chu Li sat up on his bed and gave a fist salute. “Sect Leader.”

Fu Qingya sized him up and then shook his head. “I never thought you’ll be capable of making such great progress. It’s impossible to reach your current cultivation level by relying only on the Heavenly Demonic Spirit Devouring Technique. You had a fortuitous encounter, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Chu Li replied with a nod. “I suffered a blow from an Enlightened Master.”

“An Enlightened Master.” Fu Qingya stared at him with a frown. “How did that happen?”

Chu Li shook his head and replied, “I assumed the identity of another person and went into the Inner Mausoleum of the Ji Dynasty’s Imperial Mausoleum to absorb an Enlightened Master’s energy. That’s how I managed to achieve my current cultivation level.”

“You’re very bold,” Fu Qingya muttered gravely.

Fu Qingya secretly sighed at how crazy Zhe Ying had become. This guy was willing to do everything in his power to enhance his capabilities and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Zhe Ying seemed to treat his own life as a game and was harder on himself than on anyone else. He was indeed a formidable figure.

It was all because of the obsessive state of mind he was in that Zhe Ying had succeeded in achieving such a high cultivation level in a short amount of time.

The Inner Mausoleum of an Imperial Mausoleum was one of the most heavily guarded places in the world. Those who were allowed to enter an Inner Mausoleum were the most reliable and trustworthy people who would never pose a threat to the security of the place. Even if they turned out to be a threat, it would be almost impossible for them to get out alive.

Nonetheless, Zhe Ying was able to utilize Heavenly Demonic Power to enter an Inner Mausoleum. This could be considered an extremely impressive accomplishment compared to the achievements of other Heavenly Demonic Sect disciples from previous generations. In fact, it was impressive enough to make Heavenly Demonic Sect world-famous and induce fear in others since this would prove to outsiders that the disciples of Heavenly Demonic Sect were truly capable of going anywhere they wanted.

Chu Li said, “I realized that it’s impossible to achieve perfect mastery even with my current cultivation level. I thought that perhaps the answer lies within the Heavenly Demon Statue, so I wanted to come back to check and see if I was right.”

“You should never toy around with the Heavenly Demon Statue. This statue is capable of restraining the powers of an Enlightened Master,” Fu Qingya replied, shaking his head. “At your current cultivation level, you’re nothing more than an ant in front of the Heavenly Demon Statue, and yet you had the nerve to touch it. You could have died because of your recklessness!”

“Indeed,” Chu Li admitted in resignation and laughed bitterly. “I know how powerful it is now. I have a splitting headache, Sect Leader. May I have a Heavenly Demonic Stone?”

“I’ll have someone bring it to you later,” Fu Qingya said with a frown. “The sect is running out of Heavenly Demonic Stones, so use yours sparingly and don’t lose it.”

“Understood.” Chu Li smiled.

Fu Qingya paused for a moment before saying, “Zhe Ying, to this day, the disciples of Heavenly Demonic Sect still can’t move around openly in society. Doesn’t that upset you?”

Chu Li was taken off guard for a moment but gradually nodded and put on a smile. “Maybe it has something to do with our Heavenly Demonic Power. Many people out there are too afraid of our Heavenly Demonic Power because it allows us to keep changing our appearance. It’s impossible for them to defend themselves effectively against us, so we can’t exactly blame them for keeping their guard up.”

“The Heavenly Demonic Power isn’t the main reason here,” Fu Qingya replied and shook his head. “The key lies in the fact that Heavenly Demonic Sect has never produced an Enlightened Master before!”

Chu Li asked, “Our sect founder wasn’t an Enlightened Master?”

Fu Qingya slowly nodded.

“Sect Leader is aiming to become an Enlightened Master?” asked Chu Li.

“Of course,” Fu Qingya replied.

Chu Li shook his head. “If even our sect founder wasn’t capable of becoming an Enlightened Master, I’m afraid there might be something wrong with the Heavenly Demonic Power itself.”

“I believe so too,” Fu Qingya muttered with a frown. “Since we’re both roughly at the same level now, you should keep cultivating using your method while I carry on with my method. Let’s see if it’s actually possible for us to achieve perfect mastery in the Heavenly Demonic Power and become an Enlightened Master.”

Chu Li said, “Sect Leader, I heard that the best way to become an Enlightened Master is by cultivating Spirit Beast heart techniques.”

“Humph, that method is even harder.” Fu Qingya laughed scornfully. “It’s just a legend anyway.”

“Which type of Spirit Beast heart technique should one cultivate in order to become an Enlightened Master?” Chu Li asked.

Fu Qingya glanced at him and asked nonchalantly, “What, you’re thinking of cultivating Spirit Beast heart techniques?”

Chu Li nodded. “If I can find out which heart techniques are needed, I can just secretly learn them from other sects. I’m sure it’ll be easier to become an Enlightened Master by doing this than by cultivating Heavenly Demonic Power.”

“I might as well tell you then,” Fu Qingya said. “You need four types of Spirit Beast heart techniques to become an Enlightened Master. These four types of heart techniques should correspond respectively to the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Black Tortoise, and the Vermilion Bird (TN: In ancient Chinese astronomy, these four creatures are widely known as the ‘Four Mythological Symbols’ and are viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions, namely the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Black Tortoise of the North, and the Vermillion Bird of the South). As long as you can cultivate these heart techniques, you’ll be able to become an Enlightened Master.”

“The Azure Dragon, the White Tiger…” Chu Li frowned. “Which sects do these heart techniques belong to?”

Fu Qingya replied, “The Azure Dragon heart technique refers to the Dragon Taming Technique of Goddess Attraction Mountain. As for the other three types, it doesn’t necessarily have to be any three heart techniques in particular. Just keep in mind the elemental attributes of the other three creatures. The Black Tortoise represents earth, the White Tiger represents metal, and the Vermilion Bird represents fire. It’ll be fine as long as the Spirit Beast heart techniques correspond to these attributes.”

Chu Li slowly nodded.

Fu Qingya exhaled sharply and went on, “You’ll have to acquire the full legacy of these Spirit Beast heart techniques in order to cultivate them to perfection. There must be no mistake or error in the heart techniques you learn. Besides, not all sects have managed to perfectly preserve the entirety of their martial arts, so this can be a very challenging thing to accomplish.”

Chu Li smiled. “Will it be that difficult for us disciples of Heavenly Demonic Sect?”

“Humph, you shouldn’t think that you’re capable of doing anything and everything just because you’ve cultivated the Heavenly Demonic Power. You better not cause any huge trouble!” Fu Qingya warned coldly.

Chu Li replied, “Don’t worry, Sect Leader.”

Just then, his expression turned grave.

“Bang!” The ground shook as though there was an earthquake.

Fu Qingya was alarmed and vanished instantly before reappearing in front of the Heavenly Demon Statue to shout, “Activate the Heavenly Demon Statue!”

“Understood,” Elder Bai and the other three Grand Elders replied.

The five of them went to their respective positions and pressed their hands on the four limbs and the forehead of the Heavenly Demon Statue.

Chu Li circulated the Heavenly Demonic Power and appeared in the basilica as well. Unfortunately, he still could not use the Omniscient Mirror, so all he could see was the Heavenly Demon Statue’s eyes glowing as if it was coming alive. Then, the statue’s head actually started turning, as though the statue was looking through the basilica and staring directly at the sky.

Two white beams of light suddenly shot out of the statue’s eyes. These two light beams looked incredibly pure, almost transparent even.

Two holes soundlessly appeared at the top part of the basilica, as though the white light had melted those holes through the wall.

“Bang!” An explosive noise echoed from the sky. Soon after, an angry voice spoke, “Heavenly Demonic Sect!”

Chu Li recognized it as the voice of the Ji Dynasty’s Emperor, Leng Wufeng, and smiled to himself. It seemed like his misdirection strategy had worked. He had finally managed to shift the attention of the Ji Dynasty’s Emperor from Snow Lunar Pavilion to Heavenly Demonic Sect.

It felt as though Heavenly Demonic Sect was in the middle of a raging sea as the Enlightened Master’s powerful aura surged toward them like turbulent waves. An invisible force surrounded every disciple in the sect and tried to crush them into dust.

Fu Qingya and the Four Grand Elders had grave expressions on their faces as white steam started to appear above their heads. The Heavenly Demon Statue turned its head again and looked at the sky.

Two light beams shot out of the statue’s eyes once more.

Everything standing in the path of the light beams dissipated soundlessly.

“Bang!” An explosive sound echoed from afar.

The Enlightened Master’s monstrous and powerful aura withdrew and vanished abruptly.

Chu Li let out a long sigh in relief. It seemed like Leng Wufeng was unable to defeat Heavenly Demonic Sect and had left in the end. As expected, this Heavenly Demon Statue was very powerful. Those light beams that had shot out of its eyes had made his heart tremble in fear, and his intuition had been warning him to stay away from it.

Even Enlightened Masters were incapable of defending themselves against this Heavenly Demon Statue’s terrifying gaze.

He stared keenly at the Heavenly Demon Statue.

The other five men seemed like they had just been pulled out of the water as they released their grip on the statue and gasped for breath before turning around to glare at Chu Li.

Fu Qingya asked, “Zhe Ying, it was you who led him here, right?”

Chu Li looked embarrassed as he replied, “I definitely shook him off my tail though. How did he manage to chase me all the way here?”

“What did you do to offend an Enlightened Master?” Fu Qingya had a grim look on his face. If it had not been for their formation and the Heavenly Demon Statue, Heavenly Demonic Sect would have been completely wiped out this time. That would have been a great disaster!

Chu Li replied, “I disguised myself as Du Feng and went to the Ji Dynasty to have some fun. I happened to kill a Prince during my time there, but the Emperor has so many sons, so it shouldn’t be a big deal for him to lose one, right?”

“You killed a Prince?” Fu Qingya asked grimly.

The Four Grand Elders’ expressions fell as well once they heard Chu Li’s reply.