A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 171 Dust-Covered Robes and a Sword: True Colors

"The skyscraper has fallen?"

Guan Luoyang and his fellow martial arts figures, each with their own backgrounds, were able to meet before entering Chang'an. Naturally, the Demonic Sect, which had been planning this for some time, would also have arranged a meeting place.

After hearing the news from the other two groups, Shao Lingxiao remained silent for a moment, then sighed slightly and said, "It was my oversight that I let Helian Yaohua travel with you. Otherwise, he would at least have had a chance to retreat."

The lights in the hall, though shrouded in gauze, still flickered because of his fluctuating emotions.

The light flickered, and the shadows of the tables, chairs, and people swayed and shifted on the ground. The sounds gradually subsided; it was a July night, and even the normally noisy chirping of insects outside had disappeared.

Shao Lingxiao remained silent for a while, his grief and anger causing him to close his eyes. He raised his hand and said, "You all have your own things to do. Go and make your own preparations."

After the vampire and the evil cultivator residing inside the centipede's shell had left, Shao Lingxiao slowly blew out a breath.

Eight lights were placed in the hall, on eight gauze canopies in different locations, as if thousands of fine needles were simultaneously piercing inwards through the gaps in the gauze canopies.

puff! !

The lights in eight locations were turned off one after the other.

The hall darkened for a while, and the faint light that naturally exists in the night gradually became more prominent.

Bathed in the dim night light, Shao Lingxiao raised his hand, his gaze moving from his palm to his sleeve.

The wide, black silk robe was soft and light, but in the current atmosphere, it seemed incredibly heavy. It even made the leader of the Demonic Sect, a supreme master, appear slow and restrained.

In his eyes now, this garment no longer seems like an inanimate object, a physical thing, or a piece of clothing, but rather something symbolic, so chaotic and restless, containing countless fragments of memories and impurities of emotions beneath its blackness, so difficult to escape.

"Skyscrapers..."

Shao Lingxiao sighed softly.

The veil that prevented him from escaping was now covered with another layer.

A shimmering, ethereal light flowed from his palm, reforming into the shape of a flying sword, while his left sleeve covered it with a black robe.

One corner of the wide robe sleeve seemed to possess a spirit, wandering and wrapping around the sword, binding it tightly in circles, completely obscuring the sword's brilliance.

He placed the sword, which he had been binding ever tighter, across his lap and began to disperse the last bit of five-colored true energy between his meridians.

Outside a few houses, Qiu Ruzui and Zhu Linlang were talking to the vampires.

"That Guan Luoyang is really troublesome. From the time he first appeared at Lao Jun Mountain and made contact with us, until he killed Ye Motian last time, his progress was almost comparable to the route that Su Mu originally planned for himself."

Fuchs rubbed his hands together, from the palm of his left hand to the fingertips of his right hand, and said, "After that time, I actually followed him secretly for a while, using a remote intermittent observation mode. Each time I observed him, I could sense that his vitality and mental strength were gradually increasing."

"Later, he even noticed my remote observation and showed signs of reverse probing, forcing me to completely give up tracking him. According to Zhongtu, I really suspect that if he had been given more time, he would have rushed all the way to the peak of the Grandmaster realm."

Zhu Linlang said, "Actually, he fought with the sect leader a few days ago, and we also mentioned this to the sect leader later. The sect leader said that in order to truly enter the realm of a grandmaster, one needs to establish one's own mindset and find a way of dealing with the world that remains unchanged amidst all changes."

"However, people's hearts are fickle. Even if some people grasp this essence for a period of time and advance to the level of Grandmaster, it doesn't mean they can immediately find a way to continue exploring along this essence. Guan Luoyang must be one of the few Grandmasters. As soon as he entered this realm, he knew how to use this essence to re-examine the martial arts he had previously encountered. In addition, he had many divine weapons by his side, which is why his strength improved so quickly."

Su Mu spoke up, "Judging from your tone, it seems you don't believe he can smoothly rise to a level comparable to the Lingxiao Sect Leader?"

Zhu Linlang nodded and said, "Because his rapid progress is essentially just transforming his previous foundation into actual combat power. But a person's foundation is ultimately limited. After this stage, he will have to accumulate it all over again."

"The leader said that although his learning was diverse, he used the still immature Wuwei Zhenjing as a vehicle, which shows that his previous foundation could not exceed the boundaries of Wuwei Zhenjing. This period of vigorous progress will stop at a level that is slightly inferior to Yu Tu."

Qiu Ruzui leaned against the wall and tapped the brick with the tip of her short sword, saying, "The sect leader's original words were that even if his martial arts could improve beyond expectations, it wouldn't matter. Adding Shao Lingxiao, who is on the enemy side, still wouldn't stop us."

Fu Kesi exclaimed "Ah!", paused for a moment, and then laughed, "Yes, after all, Shao Lingxiao on the enemy side doesn't have four attendants he's trained over ten years, and he has no idea how much the sect leader has prepared. But if we want to successfully complete the whole thing, our efforts are still indispensable."

Zhu Linlang cupped her hands and said, "It is indeed my pleasure to trouble you all."

"The compensation has been agreed upon. How can we not do our best for a pleasant collaboration?"

A ruthless glint appeared on Fuchs's alluring face. "Besides, we've already made several enemies with them."

Both the mission and personal grudges destined the members of this reincarnation team to do their utmost from now on.

In fact, part of the reason they made certain adjustments to the timing of the demons' arrival in Chang'an was due to considerations from the perspective of the mission.

After all, Guan Luoyang and his group were so idle that they bought those potentially unreliable enemy combat data, so who knows if they might have purchased some other services.

The requirement to arrive in Chang'an before August and stay for a full month is easy to exploit for shady dealings.

In order to avoid this disadvantage as much as possible, they decided to push the whole plan to the final stage before August.

Fux is going to complete one of her tasks tonight, but before that, there are a few things she needs to discuss with Su Mu.

"Our mission, besides team battles, was originally to collect three thousand volumes of books, disrupt the existing order of Tang, and promote all members."

"Hongmei's death was unexpected, but Sun Ling should have been taken into your care. The original plan was that after you advanced to the fourth star with Baiyang magic power, you would use righteous magic restrictions to help him refine himself into a guardian deity. If this path doesn't work, how do you plan to help him complete the advancement?"

Su Mu calmly said, "I fed him all the corpses I had collected by mixing all my magical artifacts."

Fuchs asked, "Are you planning to guide him down the path of the Abyss?"

The demon flesh-stitching and modification surgery in the Claymore world has a unique characteristic: although the humans who have undergone the modification are far less capable of infecting and assimilating than the original demons, once they lose control and transform into Awakened Ones, their combat power will far surpass that of the demons that provided the flesh and blood.

Among the Awakened, there are some known as Abyss Beings. Not only are they much larger, but their demonic aura is also like that of an abyss. They even have the ability to control other demons. Each Abyss Being is a mid-to-high-level four-star being.

When Su Mu and his team were in that world, almost everyone was in a support role. They used the strange methods that the Reincarnators had from other world systems to help the local forces eliminate those Abyss Beings. Some important head-on battles were basically completed by the strongest members of the native population.

After arriving in this world, Su Mu was eager to rise to the top in one step, which was also due to the psychological frustration caused by being suppressed for too long in the other world.

The problem is that if Sun Ling successfully transforms into an Abyss Being, her original personality is very likely to collapse and reorganize. Putting aside whether Su Mu's actions can be considered as killing his former comrade-in-arms, the bigger trouble would be if the new personality were completely out of control.

"Don't worry, as I told you, I've completely calmed down."

Su Mu shrunk the flying centipede's body to only a few feet long. The upper body, formed by the condensation of smoke and yin energy, was the size of an ordinary person. The black and red Taoist robe hung down to the ground, revealing only a small section of the centipede's tail.

"The transformation of the Abyss Ones into their original personalities is such a huge oversight that I could not possibly overlook it. But I am a Taoist priest, after all. The evil path of Heshan cannot achieve immortality through the righteous means, but they are experts at manipulating souls."

"When he begins to transform into an Abyss Being, I will extract his soul, allowing the instincts of the demonic genes within that body to run rampant to their fullest potential, and then I will inhabit it with my own divine soul."

The chilling tone remained unchanged, only a faint crimson light flashed in Su Mu's eyes, "Since the path of using righteousness to overcome evil has encountered such a great obstacle, then in order not to waste time, I have no choice but to completely abandon humanity."

Fuchs raised an eyebrow, a familiar feeling rising in his mind.

Not bad, not bad. This is the Taoist priest who, when he first became a reincarnator, had no magical power whatsoever, but relied on a Taoist book to perform rituals, kill and steal souls, and refine magical artifacts.

The person who perfectly disguised his refined appearance and seemingly weak-willed kindness to gain the trust of the Forging Blade family in the world of "One-Armed Swordsman," and then used poison to incapacitate everyone at the crucial moment, cutting them down one by one, trying dozens of times before finally completing the ritual.

His hands were trembling from chopping, but facing his savior who was covered in blood, his face remained cold and indifferent. The only warmth he showed was probably his fanaticism for power.

At that moment, Fuchs, who was sitting on the wall watching, thought: Really, even less human than himself, a useless urban vampire.

She really enjoyed this feeling, and couldn't help but smile slightly: "What about Sun Ling?"

"He will enter the body of this flying centipede and be refined by me into a spirit and a new magical artifact. He will be able to retain his original personality and successfully possess four-star power."

Before Su Mu could finish his answer, Fux flew away from him, seemingly no longer caring about the rest of the answer and showing a level of trust he hadn't shown in a long time.

Su Mu didn't look back. The centipede's body could smell the fading fragrance around it, so it knew that Fu Kesi had left.

He took a deep breath, and the five fingers made of smoke dug down from his forehead. The face, also made of smoke, was scratched with slanted grooves, from his eyes and the bridge of his nose to one side of his cheek. His voice was as forceful as his fingers.

"An old monk, a drunken woman, and those other people..."

"Ha! Try killing me again, but it has to hurt even more than last time to barely pass!"

The bat that Fux transformed into entered a state of invisibility in the night sky and flew into Chang'an City, arriving at a place with carved beams and painted rafters, and windows painted with gold powder, where halls and houses of various sizes were arranged in an orderly manner.

The buildings here are enclosed by square, high walls, which also encompass small bridges, flowing water, lush forests, and tall bamboos.

She knew the way well; it wasn't her first time here.

As the invisible bats flew across the rooftops, conversations could be heard coming from a brightly lit house not far away.

"Pingdong, according to you, we should continue to be on good terms with Guan Luoyang, never mentioning our past coveting of the divine weapon at the Sword Casting Manor, and do everything in our power to show our unwavering loyalty in the face of the remnants of the Demonic Sect's attempt to destabilize Chang'an."

"Brother, this time the righteous masters of the world have gathered. Although it may not be as tragic as the war ten years ago, the number of first-class figures is actually greater than ten years ago. This battle is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our Lu family to restore our family reputation and bring glory to our family."

"All the Lu family members and retainers who have made significant progress in martial arts and show promise for becoming top-tier masters have been bestowed with the Moon Essence Elixir, resulting in remarkably rapid healing of their injuries. Even if we exert all our strength, our losses will certainly be less than those of other major families, while the rewards we receive will far exceed those of the others."

"Hmm, you're not so easily confused when it comes to important matters. Since you want to make a name for yourself and do good deeds for others, why not make more of those elixirs, even if you use them as healing pills, and then distribute them to the heroes from all sides who have the potential to learn from you?"

The sounds gradually faded into the distance, and the invisible bat chuckled to itself as it flew into a rockery in the garden.

Several large artificial rocks surround the area, leaving a sliver of sky in the middle. The gap is so narrow that it can only fit an arm, but it is quite spacious for a vampire.

Passing through the artificial hill and venturing underground, after several twists and turns, the bats flew out from between the iron bars used for ventilation and arrived at an underground stone chamber.

The underground place was cold and damp. Even in July, the walls were covered with fine woolen felt, and there was only a couch, a low table, writing brush, ink, paper, and a solitary lamp. That was all.

The person who lives here is a hunchbacked old woman.

Elder Jinghong, the chief pharmacist of the Demonic Sect.

This unassuming old woman was once a fearsome figure in the remote mountains of Southwest China, known for concocting countless rare poisons and medicines. When facing the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty, she repeatedly used poisonous smoke and miasma, and even developed a disease that could be spread artificially.

At that time, many skilled physicians of the Tang Dynasty, including the Lu family and the Immortal of the Pot, under the guidance of Master Wanshi, spent countless hours working on this preventative measure, their hair turning white with exhaustion.

Probably no one could have imagined that the Lu family, a family with a long tradition of medicine, would dare to defy the world and secretly capture the seriously injured Jing Hong after the collapse of the Demonic Sect, cripple her martial arts, imprison her here, and exploit her expertise in medicine and poison.

"Grandma, I've come to visit you again."

The bat transformed into a beautiful woman with an appearance unlike any in the Central Plains, and sat smiling on one side of the couch.

The sleepy old woman turned her head and rubbed her eyes hard before she could vaguely see the scenery. In fact, she didn't need to see anything; she knew who it was just by the sound.

"You've finally arrived. When you left last time, you seemed to say that your arrival this time meant that the leader..."

"The leader of the Lingxiao Cult is outside Chang'an City."

"Phew, okay, okay, so when are we going to make our move?"

"How's the preparation going, Mother-in-law?"

"Those idiots, if they were completely ignorant, that would be one thing, but they're all half-baked, self-righteous, and have no idea what they're concocting. The Lu family's ancestors followed the Medicine King and had connections with several generations of my sect's founders. They fought against poison and medicine, caring for the common people. Although their benevolence bordered on foolishness, it was a foolishness that commanded respect. If they knew their descendants were like this... hehehehe. I've subtly inquired about their progress, and they've prepared enough."

"In that case, let's do it tomorrow night."

Fux bent down and brushed aside the old woman's pale, disheveled hair. "It's a good thing that all your martial arts have been destroyed. For a mystical vampire like me, if I want to transform a strong person into a descendant, I will be weak for a period of time. Someone like you, who has lost all your martial arts but is still rational and wise, is a rare find."

She opened her mouth, revealing sharp, white teeth, and took a bite.

………………

In the manor outside the city.

Guan Luoyang rubbed his forehead with one hand and couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Hahaha, it's really true! He really dares to dream!"

The abbot's face still held a look of shock and bewilderment. The prayer beads in his hand spun faster and faster as he said, "This kind of thing is, after all, just a vague possibility. But if it really is possible... Young Master Guan, even if it is possible, there is nothing we can do to stop it."

The old monk slowed his prayer beads, a look of enlightenment appearing on his face. With a solemn and dignified expression, he spoke as if chanting a sutra, "We can only place our hopes on the end, and fight with all our might and everything we have."

After all, we have so many heroes on our side; surely we can thwart his schemes. Uprightness and righteousness prevail; Heaven will not forsake us!

Guan Luoyang's smile faded. He turned his head to look at the old monk. When his eyebrows twitched slightly, his usually dashing and upright demeanor inexplicably revealed a hint of sharp, unyielding rebellion, as if he were asking a question, or perhaps asking himself, "Heavens... is that so?"

(End of this chapter)