Volume 5 Chapter 15

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Volume 5 Chapter 15: End and Beginning

Hearing Li Qingwu’s cries of pain, all the elders of Jiuhua were startled. They turned to look and found Li Qingwu trembling all over, slowly collapsing to the ground. At some point, his face had become covered with wrinkles representing the passage of time, and everyone could clearly sense the life force draining from his body.

Li Qingwu’s face was filled with terror as he shakily struggled to rise from the ground. He then sat cross-legged, trying to use his powers to stop the rapid loss of life force from his body, but it had little effect. The wrinkles on his face grew more pronounced, and his body withered. In just a moment, Li Qingwu’s youthful appearance had aged to that of an old man.

Witnessing such a scene, everyone was shocked. Just as they wanted to investigate, two more cries of fear rang out. Turning to look, they saw two more elders who, like Li Qingwu, had faces gradually covered with wrinkles.

These two elders were the ones who had previously followed Li Qingwu into the passage.

In just the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, most of the elders who had entered the passage rapidly aged like Li Qingwu, as if they had lived over a hundred years in that short span.

A sense of despair began to spread among everyone.

The remaining elders were either those whose cultivation had reached the Golden Core Stage or those who practiced a fire-element cultivation method immune to all poisons. They stood there in shock, not knowing what to do.

Xu Qingfan looked at the sudden change before him and recalled the chest tightness he felt when entering the tunnel earlier, his heart sank as he whispered, "There’s poison in this tunnel!"

As he spoke, Xu Qingfan quickly sat behind Jin Qinghan. At that moment, Jin Qinghan was sitting cross-legged on the ground, a rare expression of panic on his face as he tried to stop the loss of vitality within himself, but with little success. Jin Qinghan’s aged appearance was so different that, even though Xu Qingfan had known him for nearly a hundred years, he almost couldn’t recognize him.

Earlier, Xu Qingfan also felt the chest tightness when entering the tunnel, but with the operation of "Withered Qi" and "Flourish Qi" it quickly faded away. Xu Qingfan concluded that his two types of Spirit Qi were perhaps the antidote to the elders’ poison. However, because "Withered Qi" is highly damaging to the body, Xu Qingfan dared not use it carelessly, so he quickly channeled the "Flourish Qi" within him into Jin Qinghan.

He was unaware of the exact nature of the deadly poison affecting Jin Qinghan and the others, as there were no obvious symptoms. After Xu Qingfan channeled "Flourish Qi" into Jin Qinghan, he didn’t feel anything unusual. However, within moments, Jin Qinghan’s vitality loss stopped. Not only that, but the wrinkles on Jin Qinghan’s face also began to smooth out, and his previously withered body started to fill out visibly.

After completing his effort, Xu Qingfan quickly asked, "Junior Brother Jin, is your vitality still fading?"

Jin Qinghan closed his eyes, carefully sensing his condition, then slightly bowed to Xu Qingfan and said, "I’ve returned to normal. Thank you, Senior Brother Xu."

Xu Qingfan, unable to engage in pleasantries with Jin Qinghan, turned towards Dongfang Qingling. In fact, Li Yuhan was closer to Xu Qingfan, but he noticed that Dongfang Qingling seemed to have aged faster, likely due to being less powerful.

Xu Qingfan walked to Dongfang Qingling and was about to use his powers to expel the poison and restore her. However, he saw the elders standing there in a daze, staring at him with confusion in their eyes. Xu Qingfan furrowed his brows slightly and shouted, "What are you waiting for? All cultivators who practice fire-based Taoist techniques or have cultivation methods with a yang attribute, quickly go and expel the poison from those afflicted. Due to your cultivation methods, you are not affected by this deadly poison. Start saving those who are less powerful first; their vitality is fading faster."

As he spoke, Xu Qingfan looked at those elders who, despite not having yang-attribute cultivation methods, were not affected by the poison because they had reached the Golden Core Stage, and shouted, "Help the other cultivators slow down their vitality loss while waiting for others to expel the poison."

The situation was urgent, and no one knew when Elder Jiuhua might die due to his dwindling life force. So Xu Qingfan didn’t bother with pleasantries; his tone was full of commands. Facing those Golden Core Stage elders, he showed none of the usual respect.

At this moment, the elders were all confused by the sudden change. They didn’t pay attention to Xu Qingfan’s tone or have the mind to care. It was only after Xu Qingfan’s repeated shouts that they snapped out of it and followed his instructions, each taking action. Even Jin Qinghan, who had just recovered with Xu Qingfan’s help, didn’t hesitate to aid Lv Qingshang in resisting the loss of life force, disregarding the risk of being poisoned again.

Under Xu Qingfan’s guidance, the poisoned elders began to slowly recover with the help of other elders. Although chaotic, it was much more effective than doing nothing.

Xu Qingfan turned his puzzled gaze towards Zhang Hualing, who stood not far away. At this point, Zhang Hualing should have been in command. But strangely, since the onset of the anomaly, Zhang Hualing remained motionless and silent.

Earlier, the sudden change caught the elders by surprise. It was understandable that they were at a loss, as they usually only focused on their cultivation. However, with Zhang Hualing’s knowledge and temperament, it was unexpected for him to be stunned like the other elders.

Turning his head, Xu Qingfan was startled to see Zhang Hualing’s eyes filled with a blood-red glow, a look of madness and killing intent. His face showed pain and struggle, and his body trembled as if resisting the control of this madness.

Xu Qingfan was shocked, recalling information from the secret arts left by Liu Huaxiang. These arts, if mishandled, could cause one’s mind to be influenced by the powerful resentment of vengeful souls. Zhang Hualing seemed to be affected by this very influence.

After a few chats with Zhang Hualing, seeing his clear mind and bright eyes, Xu Qingfan held a naive hope that Zhang Hualing had not been changed by the secret arts he secretly practiced. But the current scene showed that Zhang Hualing had inevitably been affected by the arts’ influence.

On the other side, Gongsun Huasa stared in fright at Zhang Hualing, whose eyes glowed red. Always following Zhang Hualing’s lead, Gongsun Huasa was more shocked by Zhang Hualing’s transformation than by the mass poisoning of the Jiuhua elders.

After Xu Qingfan quickly finished removing the poison from Dongfang Qingling, he didn’t pay any attention to Dongfang Qingling’s words of gratitude that were about to be spoken. He briskly walked over to Zhang Hualing, channeling a large amount of "Flourish Qi" into Zhang Hualing’s body. With the help of Xu Qingfan’s "Flourish Qi," the redness in Zhang Hualing’s eyes gradually faded, and his gaze became clear again.

Seeing that Zhang Hualing had recovered, Xu Qingfan didn’t say much. He simply gave Zhang Hualing a deep look before turning away to quickly move on to the next elder who needed detoxification.

Once Zhang Hualing returned to normal, his eyes first revealed a look of bewilderment and contemplation. Then, as if he had thought of something, he turned to look at Xu Qingfan, who had already left. His gaze was filled with complexity, holding emotions that no one could understand.

※※※※

Compared to Xu Qingfan, Zhang Hualing had much more experience. After recovering, he acted as if nothing had happened, directing the elders who were not poisoned or had already recovered to help detoxify and heal the others. The chaotic scene gradually became orderly, and efficiency improved significantly.

Finally, with everyone’s concerted efforts, all the poisoned elders were healed, and fortunately, no one died. However, the elders who had been helping with detoxification looked fatigued, their Spirit Qi nearly exhausted.

After expressing gratitude to the elders who helped detoxify them, the elders who narrowly escaped death collectively approached Zhang Hualing and Xu Qingfan. They bowed deeply and said in unison, "Thank you, Sect Master and Deacon Xu, for saving our lives."

Although they addressed "Sect Master and Deacon Xu," their eyes uniformly turned to Xu Qingfan. Earlier, the situation was perilous, and everyone was at a loss. It was Xu Qingfan who first reacted, directing everyone to heal and detoxify. Without Xu Qingfan’s timely guidance, given how quickly the poisoned elders were losing vitality, many might have died or been severely injured.

After this incident, some of the Jiuhua elders who were initially dissatisfied with Xu Qingfan as the "negligent deacon," even those from the older generation who had direct conflicts with Xu Qingfan, began to change their attitude toward him.

Although Zhang Hualing was a bit slow to react, his later performance was noted by everyone, and he managed to redeem himself, leaving no room for complaints.

However, for Gongsun Huasa, who was just staring blankly from beginning to end, this incident left everyone feeling disdainful of him. Even the older elders who usually centered around Gongsun Huasa began to doubt his abilities.

Only Xu Qingfan and Zhang Hualing knew that Gongsun Huasa was not staring blankly due to the poison affecting everyone, but because he suddenly noticed something unusual about Zhang Hualing.

Gongsun Huasa was unaware that this accidental incident would leave him with no ability to contend with Xu Qingfan in the future, as he had lost the trust of his usual supporters.

Nevertheless, this event led the elders to fully support Zhang Hualing’s decision to destroy the tunnel.

After everything ended, everyone returned through the tunnel to Jiuhua Mountain, but unlike before, this time the elders were much more cautious, their surroundings secured with various fire barriers to prevent further poisoning.

During this time, Xu Qingfan and Zhang Hualing continued to direct everyone as usual, as if everything between them was normal. Some found it strange that despite the changes, the three leaders of Jiuhua, Zhang Hualing, Gongsun Huasa, and Xu Qingfan, had not spoken a single word to each other.

The strange equipment and materials from the hall beneath the tunnel were carefully transported to Jiuhua by everyone.

Once back in the Jiuhua back mountain and finding nothing unusual, everyone heaved a long sigh of relief. Although the return journey was uneventful, the tension made everyone feel as if they had just fought a great battle.

After returning to the back mountain, several powerful spells were cast to collapse the Jiuhua tunnel, and then several barriers were placed to completely conceal it.

Even though everyone knew the tunnel was full of deadly poison, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss as they watched it collapse. The rock of Jiuhua Mountain is extremely solid, and digging a tunnel from here to outside Jiuhua, a length of dozens of miles, was an enormous task. Even a master at the Condensed Core Stage would need decades to complete it. More importantly, in order to avoid detection by the "Nine Pole Array" that covered the skies around Jiuhua Mountain, the digging required great caution and a rare type of stone to hide the work. The special stone alone used in constructing the tunnel was worth a hundred thousand spirit stones. Destroying it was indeed a pity.

Then, Zhang Hualing publicly announced that Feng Qingtian had defied authority and betrayed Jiuhua Mountain, but he did not mention the specific reasons, which caused a stir among the elders.

Once everything was over, everyone went their separate ways. Xu Qingfan flew back to his dwelling but did not exchange a single word with Zhang Hualing.

Opening the barrier outside his dwelling, he saw Ting’er, Zhang Ningmei, and Bai Yu playing with Little Green. Despite the many events that had taken place at Jiuhua in recent days, they knew nothing of it, remaining as innocent and carefree as ever.

Judging by the expressions between Ting’er and Zhang Ningmei, it was clear that during this time, Ting’er had resolved her issues, and their closeness had been restored, likely due to Zhang Ningmei’s guidance.

Seeing Xu Qingfan suddenly return after being away for more than half a year, the three of them were surprised and delighted, approaching him respectfully to greet him.

After the recent upheavals, Xu Qingfan found this scene exceptionally heartwarming.