Villainous Junior Chapter 46
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 46: Break
Meng Chen went to Qingzheng Hall. He omitted the complicated entanglements and only told the Taixuan Sect leader about Yin Chi entering the ghost path.
After listening, the sect leader's eyes were full of indignation and sorrow. "One after another, clearly having better paths, why do they become obsessed and choose to walk the wrong path!"
Meng Chen seemed to sense something and looked up.
"I've been investigating the suspected appearance of demonic cultivators in the sect," the sect leader spoke with some difficulty. "Now I have some clues."
"It's your senior brother...Pei Yuze."
Meng Chen's expression remained unchanged.
The sect leader sighed heavily, looking at the young man with some reluctance. "He has probably been corrupted for some time. It's just that your master is rarely at Tianji Peak, and Pei Yuze is cunning and extremely good at pretending, so no one noticed for a long time. Come to think of it, this is also my negligence."
"He has been secretly in contact with demonic cultivators, and the demonic cultivators at the border town were also summoned by him, but the purpose of his collusion with demonic cultivators is still unclear."
Meng Chen wasn't surprised that Pei Yuze had turned to demonic cultivation. However, he didn't expect that the demonic cultivators at the border were also brought by him.
He remembered that in his previous life, Pei Yuze had once said to him, "I didn't expect Yin Chi would make a move first."
So Pei Yuze had this plan too?
Using demonic cultivators to confuse everyone, then seize the opportunity to secretly take him away and lock him up somewhere no one could find. Knowing Pei Yuze, he might even go to extremes, possibly creating the illusion that Meng Chen had been killed by demonic cultivators, then find a chance to destroy his life tablet in the Taixuan Sect, making everyone believe that Meng Chen had completely disappeared from this world.
It was only because too many unexpected things happened that he couldn't achieve his goal.
But the tragedy of his fate was indeed initiated by this person.
Meng Chen closed his eyes briefly and asked, "Where is he now?"
The sect leader was silent for a moment. "He's gone."
Meng Chen's heart sank heavily.
"He's too sensitive and cunning. After realizing he was suspected, he immediately disappeared from the sect," the sect leader's face also looked grim. "However, I've already issued an arrest warrant in the cultivation world. As long as he dares to show himself, he won't be able to escape even if he grows wings."
But Meng Chen shook his head. "He won't stay here anymore."
Pei Yuze was a true hypocrite. He had no morality or righteousness in his heart and despised worldly rules. He wouldn't care about cultivating immortality or demons, he would only make choices that maximized his benefits.
At this moment, he might have already completely infiltrated the demon realm.
"Everyone has their own fate. Since he and Yin Chi have chosen such a path, they must bear the consequences and price themselves," the sect leader sighed and said, "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Go report to your master that you're safe first. Earlier when we couldn't find you anywhere, he summoned the Fentian Sword and was about to personally split open the Netherworld to rescue you."
"Although both Pei and Yin have gone astray, you and Xue Lang are good children," the sect leader patted his shoulder encouragingly. "In the future, study well under your master, and everything will get better."
Meng Chen looked at the sect leader's kind face, slightly parted his lips, but in the end said nothing and bowed to leave.
He walked out of Qingzheng Hall and saw Xue Lang waiting outside the door.
Xue Lang saw him, his gaze flickered slightly, but quickly returned to seriousness. He asked in a low voice. "Are we going to Tianyin Pavilion now?"
Meng Chen nodded. "Yes. Do you want to come with me?"
"Of course," Xue Lang lifted his chin. "You promised me that no matter what happens, you'd let me accompany you."
Meng Chen smiled faintly. "Then let's go."
Regardless of the outcome, it was time for everything to come to an end.
He and Xue Lang arrived at Tianyin Pavilion and went in to see Zhongli Jing. Seeing the two coming together, the lofty immortal lord showed no sign of surprise. He slowly raised his eyes, his gaze falling only on Meng Chen.
Meeting Zhongli Jing's gaze, Meng Chen knelt on the ground, properly kowtowed three times to Zhongli Jing, then took off the wooden tablet symbolizing his identity as a Taixuan Sect disciple from his waist and placed it on the ground in front of him.
Watching the young man's actions, Zhongli Jing's gaze finally showed some turbulence.
"Disciple Meng Chen apologizes to Master, ashamed of failing Master's teachings," Meng Chen looked directly at Zhongli Jing and said clearly. "Today I voluntarily withdraw from Taixuan Sect, hoping Master will allow it."
Xue Lang quickly knelt beside Meng Chen, symbolically kowtowed once, and also said loudly. "Disciple Xue Lang wishes to withdraw from Taixuan Sect, hoping Master will allow it!"
Time seemed to freeze. Sunlight slanted through the window, illuminating fine dust floating in the air.
Meng Chen held his breath, sweat slowly seeping into his palms at his sides. He waited for what seemed like a hundred years before finally hearing Zhongli Jing speak.
"I do not allow it."
Meng Chen's blood slowly cooled with these three words. He took a light breath and said to the man before him. "I swear I will never appear before you again in this life. Even so, you still won't allow it?"
He didn't speak plainly, but believed the other understood.
From now on, you cultivate your Heartless Dao, I'll walk my own path. I promise I'll never appear before you again to hinder you, yet you still won't let me go?
Do you really need to kill me to feel at ease?
Zhongli Jing didn't answer him, but his gaze said everything.
Meng Chen's heart sank to the bottom, then he slowly stood up from the ground.
"If that's the case," he said, "then please forgive this disciple for offending you."
After speaking, he and Xue Lang tacitly retreated from Tianyin Pavilion. At the same time, he quickly formed an extremely complex hand seal and said in a low voice. "Rise!"
As soon as he spoke, the ground began to tremble faintly. Suddenly, dozens of golden beams of light shot out from around Tianyin Pavilion. The golden light pierced straight into the sky, forming a complex formation in the air, enclosing the entire Tianyin Pavilion inside!
Sensing the unusual phenomena, the Taixuan Sect leader in Qingzheng Hall immediately walked outside and looked at the golden formation in the sky with shock. "The Immortal Sealing Formation!?"
The Immortal Sealing Formation could seal anyone below the Tribulation Crossing stage.
As the power was terrifying, the conditions harsh, and the difficulty of casting extremely high, this sealing formation was nearly lost in the cultivation world. Only a few sects with long histories and deep foundations had records of it. When Meng Chen went to the eighth floor of the library after his rebirth, he borrowed the book "Record of Heaven's Cover and Earth's Support" with the purpose of finding this formation.
He was clear from the beginning that although Pei Yuze and Yin Chi were vicious and cruel, they could be dealt with after seeing through their facade and preparing in advance.
The biggest obstacle in his path had always been Zhongli Jing.
The gap between him and Zhongli Jing was simply too great. Even if he could miraculously break through to the Refining Void Realm in a short time, let alone when he had only Nascent Soul cultivation at the time of his rebirth, he would still be no match for Zhongli Jing.
How many peak Mahayana Realm experts were there in the entire cultivation world? Defeating Zhongli Jing was simply a fantasy.
So Meng Chen never thought about confronting Zhongli Jing directly. After his rebirth, he had been repeating one thing every day: perfecting the Immortal Sealing Formation around Tianyin Pavilion. Although this formation was said to be able to seal all powerful cultivators below the Tribulation Crossing stage, how much power it could actually exert still depended on the caster's own cultivation. Even though he had put in his utmost effort, with Meng Chen's God Transformation Realm cultivation, he could at most trap Zhongli Jing for a few decades or even just over a decade.
But this was the best method he could think of. If the formation succeeded, he could escape from the sect and then use the time gained to cultivate as much as possible, striving to break through to the Refining Void Realm or even Mahayana. This way, if one day Zhongli Jing broke out of the formation and still wouldn't let him go, he would have the ability to fight against him.
This was the only way he could think of to find a glimmer of hope to survive from his master's hands.
The ground's trembling grew stronger, howling winds arose in the air, even tearing apart the clouds in the sky. Zhongli Jing stood in the center of the Immortal Sealing Formation, his snow-white Taoist robe fluttering violently. Even as a supreme expert standing at the peak, he appeared somewhat small and thin in front of this enormous formation reaching to the heavens.
However, he didn't look at the golden formation gradually surrounding and engulfing him, but gazed distantly at the figure outside the formation.
Sustaining such a terrifying, heaven-defying formation, Meng Chen's power was rapidly depleting, causing his face to gradually lose its color. But his gaze remained firm and sharp, almost carrying a hint of killing intent.
Zhongli Jing was momentarily lost in thought. He couldn't help but recall when he first brought Meng Chen back, the child was still very small, not even reaching his waist, his strength was also very little, holding a sword with both hands, he could barely grip it steadily.
But in the blink of an eye, that child had grown to this point.
He had grown to the point where he could draw his sword against him.
Zhongli Jing's gaze finally moved away from Meng Chen and fell on the golden formation before him. He slightly narrowed his eyes, reached out a hand as white as jade, and grasped one of the golden beams of light.
The golden beam was gradually enveloped by a terrifying frost-white power, its light becoming increasingly dim. Finally, as if unable to withstand the burden, it let out a wail and was forcibly scattered!
However, the moment the beam dispersed, it suddenly reconverged into a thin golden thread, stabbing back into Zhongli Jing's body like lightning. The man's face turned slightly pale, and a trace of blood slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth.
This scene was entirely within Meng Chen's expectations.
Naturally, Zhongli Jing would not sit idly by and wait for death. But the reason why the Immortal Sealing Formation made countless powerful cultivators change color at its mere mention was that it would "retaliate" against those who tried to break it.
The Immortal Sealing Formation was composed of forty-nine Immortal Sealing Pillars. For each pillar destroyed, the person breaking the formation would have to endure one attack from it. The higher one's cultivation, the stronger the retaliation. Meng Chen had once estimated that with Zhongli Jing's peak Mahayan Realm cultivation, forcibly destroying the Immortal Sealing Formation would cost him at least six hundred years of cultivation, and might even bring irreparable damage to his Dao heart.
In his previous life, the reason Zhongli Jing wanted to kill him was because he had received a prophecy saying that because of Meng Chen, he would destroy his Heartless Dao and bury hundreds of years of cultivation.
Zhongli Jing was someone who valued cultivation above all else. Between being sealed and sleeping for a mere dozen or so years, and forcibly breaking the formation at the cost of hundreds of years of cultivation and possibly damaging his Heartless Dao heart, there was no doubt which Zhongli Jing would choose.
Meng Chen firmly believed this point.
He maintained his hand seal position, but the power within his body was already exhausted. Even with Xue Lang desperately channeling spiritual energy into him from behind, he couldn't stop his body from gradually becoming heavy and powerless.
His meridians screamed silently under the unbearable strain, and tearing pain transmitted from every corner of his body to his brain. But he still gritted his teeth and persevered, desperately pushing the Immortal Sealing Formation to its limit. The golden light was so dazzling it was impossible to look at directly, having already engulfed the entire Tianji Peak. The Immortal Sealing Formation was on the verge of completion—
The light in Meng Chen's eyes suddenly stagnated, then turned into a look of utter disbelief.
Within the golden formation, a sword of silvery-white light gradually took shape. It was none other than Zhongli Jing's natal sword, "Fentian"!
Because Immortal Lord Zhongli was too powerful, there were few opponents in the world worthy of him drawing his sword. Fentian hadn't appeared in the world for a hundred years, but now, it once again saw the light of day!
"Impossible..."
The shock in Meng Chen's heart had expanded to the extreme. He watched helplessly as that silvery-white sword of light, with the momentum of a thunderbolt, resolutely charged straight towards the sky, violently colliding with the golden Immortal Sealing Formation!!
In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains trembled, the weather changed dramatically, and the entire Tianji Peak began to collapse and crumble!
All the people of Taixuan Sect poured out from various peaks, looking towards the direction of Tianji Peak with shock-filled faces. Meng Chen and Xue Lang were violently blown away by the remnant force of the huge collision. Feeling a bout of dizziness, with intense pain in their chests, they couldn't help but lower their heads and cough up mouthfuls of sweet blood.
As the dust settled, a figure slowly walked up to Meng Chen. Zhongli Jing didn't look much better than Meng Chen, his face was deathly pale from severe injury, and his right hand holding Fentian was even trembling imperceptibly.
Meng Chen struggled to open his eyes. Every nerve in his brain detected danger, sending sharp warnings to his body. Meng Chen's fingers twitched, trying his utmost to reach for his sword, but he couldn't muster even a bit of strength.
He had completely reached the end of his rope, without even the strength to move.
Seeing Zhongli Jing stop in front of him, Meng Chen's heart sank completely to the bottom. But Fentian didn't fall as expected. Zhongli Jing put away his sword, coughed lightly twice, then bent down and lifted him into his arms.
"You don't need to fear me so," Zhongli Jing said softly, reaching out with his cold hand to wipe away the blood at the corner of Meng Chen's lips.
"My Dao heart was already destroyed long ago."
