Martial Arts Crossover: The Sweeping Monk of Wudang? That's our patriarch!

He longed to rush back to the city and tell his old brothers everything he had seen that day—the blood mist dissipating, the ghostly figures crumbling, and the scene of one man suppressing all directions. But when he opened his mouth, he fell silent: Who would believe him? He, Li Kui, a rough man guarding the gate of Tianyong City, had spent his life touching rusty chains and drinking cold tea from rough pottery bowls. His wife only knew how to sew shoe soles and coax children. His life was steady, but also as bland as dust.

Who would believe such a mysterious and extraordinary encounter? He could only shake his head with a wry smile and turn to walk towards Tianyong City.

After returning to the city, I'll treat everything I've seen and heard along the way as a dream, letting it sink into the depths of my memory and never mention it again.

When we wake up from a dream, it is often the beginning of a new one; life is like walking in the fog, one dream has not yet dissipated before another begins.

Follow up.

When Li Kui stepped into the gates of Tianyong City, his steps were unsteady, his eyes were glazed, and his heart was full of questions and confusion.

On the city wall, several brothers who used to patrol side by side were guarding the gate tower. As soon as they saw him, they immediately shouted at the top of their lungs.

"Hey! Isn't that Li Kui? Why did it take him so long to show up? Everyone thought he'd died in the wilderness!"

The brothers were both surprised and delighted, their faces beaming with the joy of surviving a disaster. Before they could finish speaking, three or four men had already jumped off the horse track and rushed down the stone steps to surround them.

"Brother, where have you been these past few days? We've searched every alley in the west of the city and every abandoned graveyard, but we haven't found a trace of you! We already reported to the captain; in two days, a large force will be storming into Youming Village to search for you—if you hadn't come back three days later, a fight might have broken out!"

Li Kui's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the blue brick ground. Several of his brothers quickly supported his arms.

He looked up blankly at the familiar faces, but what lingered before his eyes was still the breathtaking scene of Lin Daochen soaring through the air on his sword and Yang Kai walking on fire.

In this world, which side is truly real?

"Li Kui! Everyone's really worried! Say something! What's wrong? Tell us quickly!"

Everyone frowned, feeling increasingly uneasy—could he have been ambushed and lost his mind?

He waved his hand, panting as he propped himself up, a dry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Nothing much, just went out for a stroll."

The group exchanged glances, and no one pressed for further details.

Everyone could see that he was carrying something he couldn't talk about. Pressuring him would only reopen old wounds. He had a long time to recover.

And so the matter was left unresolved without a trace.

After that, no one in Tianyong City ever mentioned the name Youming Village again. It was unclear whether the village had truly vanished or everyone had simply kept quiet. As the days passed, even in the casual conversations of the neighbors, the trace of Youming Village gradually faded like dust swept away by the wind.

No one brought it up again, no one asked any more questions, as if that incident had never happened, and even the memory had quietly faded away.

Meanwhile, Lin Daochen and Yang Kai were traversing the desert outside Tianyong City. They firmly believed that the sinister current behind Youming Village had not gone far and was still lurking in the shadows around Tianyong City, but had not yet revealed itself.

The two walked slowly through the scorching yellow sand. As far as the eye could see, the sky and earth were vast and desolate, barren of any vegetation, with endless sand dunes stretching for dozens of miles, a deathly silence like scorched earth and withered bones.

"Master, have we gone the wrong way? This place is completely bare, without even a single tree to provide shade... It doesn't look like a place where evil spirits dwell. At least it should be filled with eerie winds and the cawing of crows."

Lin Daochen glanced at him sideways and said irritably, "Is your brain still stuck in old stories? Do bad guys have to be squatting in muddy swamps or hiding at the bottom of dry wells?"

"The world is vast, where can't one find refuge? Different stances lead to different ways of living. They have their principles, we adhere to ours—forcing them to conform to the same rules only makes one appear petty."

Yang Kai nodded, agreeing that it made sense.

But the surroundings are desolate, and not even a lizard can be found; it doesn't look like anyone is hiding here. If we waste too much time here, the sly hand that the Narcissus planted that day might already be lurking in the shadows, strangling someone.

"Master, tell me... what exactly did we do to offend him? Why do we keep running into him? Is this grudge really impossible to resolve?"

"It's not that it can't be solved," Lin Daochen paused, "as long as you're willing to humble yourself."

"Oh? What method?" Yang Kai took a half step closer, his eyes lighting up—he had thought there was no turning back, but since his master had spoken, there must be a way. This man never spoke empty words.

"Want to reconcile? It's simple—turn around now, head straight for Tianshui Temple, kneel before its gate, kowtow three times, and beg for leniency. Perhaps then, peace will return."

Yang Kai was taken aback, then rolled his eyes: This isn't a solution, it's clearly just making fun of him.

The two walked on in silence, their footsteps crunching softly on the scorching sand. The desert stretched endlessly, the sky and earth merging into a single line in the distance. They trudged on, as insignificant as a speck of dust in the wind.

Their figures gradually sank into the afterglow of the setting sun.

Twilight Quadruple.

The evening breeze was cool and refreshing, carrying a rough, sandy feel as it brushed against my cheeks.

The campfire crackled and popped, the sparks leaping like living things, and the warm light flickered, bringing a sense of relief to everyone's hearts.

The howls of wolves, sometimes near, sometimes far, rose and fell, but instead of being frightening, they made the small campfire feel especially reassuring—in the wilderness, fire, sound, and people were the proof of survival.

"Master, are you really sure that there are demons lurking here? We've been wandering around in this desert for days, and if we don't have a hot meal to fill our stomachs, even if we've reached the Foundation Establishment stage, our stomachs will be rumbling with hunger."

Lin Daochen didn't respond, but tore off a piece of crispy chicken leg and chewed it. Don't ask where the chicken leg came from—a cultivator can hide a live bird in his sleeve more easily than snatching a date.

But Yang Kai wasn't so lucky. Lin Daochen had already said: "Be self-reliant, just make sure you don't starve." That's why Yang Kai pouted and poured out all the grumbling in his stomach as complaints.

"Want some meat? Help yourself." Lin Daochen wiped his greasy mouth and glanced around. "I'm certain this is a spy planted by the Heavenly Water Immortal. Look closely—it's too unusual. Even in the most barren desert, a few stubborn grass shoots should sprout from the cracks in the sand, and there should always be a few wolves patrolling the border at night."

He paused, tapping his knuckles on the scorched ground: "But here, even the chirping of insects has ceased. The sand is dead, the wind is silent, and even the shadows are thin and faint."

Yang Kai was stunned, then nodded. Yes, even the most barren Gobi Desert should have vultures circling and sand foxes leaping, but this patch of yellow sand in front of him was as still as if its soul had been taken away.

The only explanation is that someone forcibly removed the life force.

"I understand!" He slapped his knee suddenly. "Master, this is a smokescreen! A man-made dead zone! No wonder you were so sure that the Celestial Immortal was hiding here—his roots were planted beneath this 'false desert'!"

Lin Daochen nodded, but then he saw Yang Kai's brows furrow again: "But... what if this is a trap? The Heavenly Water Immortal deliberately spread rumors to lure us into a trap, while the secret cave is actually hidden elsewhere?"

Lin Daochen lowered his eyes for a long time, his fingertips slowly stroking his chin, then suddenly shook his head: "It doesn't seem like it. The spiritual energy here is so dense that it's impossible to disperse, it has been accumulating for over a hundred years. Who would be willing to spend a hundred years just to set up an empty shell of a scam? The price is too high, it's not worth it."

Yang Kai nodded silently. A century of painstaking effort to create a sacred burial site is no trivial matter.

Since there was no deception, there was nothing to fear. He tilted his head back and gulped down a mouthful of cold water, then fixed his gaze back on the vast sea of ​​sand—after searching for three more days, he would surely find some clues.

This place is far too complicated: Youmingchun was refined into poisonous soil, villagers were turned into medicinal ingredients, and their essence and blood were boiled dry, all to nourish some kind of evil cultivation technique.

What the immortal of Tianshui is plotting is still unknown, but his chilling and ruthless aura has already seeped into the cracks of the sand.

The master and apprentice extinguished the remaining fire, shouldered their packs, and set off again. This time, the sandstorm could not sway their course, and the scorching sun could not dampen their resolve.

Half a day later, Lin Daochen suddenly stopped—deep in the folds of the sand dunes, a swirling vortex of quicksand suddenly appeared, with dark brown turbid waves silently swallowing and spitting out, like the open throat of the earth.

"Master!" Yang Kai's throat tightened. "This stuff sinks to the bottom the moment it touches us! We'd probably be nothing but bones—if we survive, there will be plenty of other opportunities!"

Lin Daochen, however, had already stepped forward: "How will we know where the cubs are hiding if we don't uncover the tiger's den?"

Besides, although this Heavenly Water Immortal is a level above Lin Daochen, that is ultimately his personal power. How could his shrimp soldiers and crab generals be qualified to harm him? Now he is a genuine Golden Core Realm cultivator at the Ninth Heaven.

By chance, Lin Daochen finally understood why his Golden Core stage was different from ordinary people—while others only condensed a wisp of divine soul when they formed their Golden Core, he had forcibly refined nine primordial gods! Later, he finally understood: what he had stepped on was not the ordinary Golden Core path at all, but the threshold of the long-lost "Nine Heavens".

Ordinary cultivators' Golden Core stage is divided into three levels: early, middle, and late. But beyond that lies a hidden barrier—the Nine Heavens. Ordinary people rarely even glimpse its entrance, let alone ascend to it.

This place is completely different from other places. The pressure alone is enough to make one's spine go cold. The foundation is also completely different: Lin Daochen's golden core is like nine layers of waves, each layer giving birth to a primordial god.

The price is a nine-fold slowdown in cultivation speed, but in return, one gains overwhelming combat power among those of the same level—breaking enemy moves with a mere wave of the hand and severing bones with a single thought.

It was precisely because Lin Daochen understood this that he dared to be so presumptuous. He knew very well that those people wouldn't even be interested in making him draw his sword.

Looking at the churning quicksand pit before him, Lin Daochen jumped in without saying a word.

Yang Kai, who was standing to the side, froze on the spot, his legs went weak, he wanted to follow but was afraid of being buried alive, so he could only stand dumbly at the edge of the pit, his eyes unable to move.

Without hesitating for more than three breaths, and seeing that Lin Daochen's figure had been mostly swallowed by the yellow sand, Yang Kai gritted his teeth and roared as he rushed in.

In an instant, the quicksand enveloped his entire body like a living thing, and in the blink of an eye, only his head was exposed, like a buoy nailed to the sea of ​​sand.

"My dear master... I'm really going to be buried with you this time! If I can breathe a sigh of relief today, I'll serve you tea and water, massage your legs and shoulders in my next life!"

Before the words were finished, a muffled "poof" sounded, the sand closed up, and the person disappeared.

Dark, heavy, damp, and stuffy.

A suffocating sense of oppression pressed in from all directions, making Yang Kai's mind go blank and his body no longer obey his commands.

A sharp pain exploded from deep within his flesh, but just as he tried to struggle, he found that his entire body was completely filled with fine sand, and he couldn't even move his fingertips.

He suddenly remembered the moment he jumped into the pit—it was over, he was really buried alive. Now he was stuck in the sand, unable to move.