Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
It was a weird sensation. The black and the white jewel weren’t dazzling, but Fang Zhengzhi felt like he was surveilled after he looked at the two jewels.
“I guess I’m really walking right into a trap this time.”
Fang Zhengzhi’s original plan was to sneak into the 1000 Herb Hall and look for a chance to sneak up on Dao Hun. However, after he made his way here and discovered the 1000 Herb Hall, he had a strong feeling that this was all part of Dao Hun’s plan.
Of course, he could walk away, but would he be allowed to leave? Or rather, could he really do that? He clearly couldn’t!
In that case, he had no other choice.
Even if he knew that Dao Hun was waiting for him in the 1000 Herb Hall, he had to go in, because this was his only chance.
Fang Zhengzhi moved swiftly under the dusky moonlight and he came before the 1000 Herb Hall in the blink of an eye. He then leapt into the air and landed on plaque inscribed with the hall’s name. It felt good to step on the 1000 Herb Hall’s plaque, but that wasn’t why Fang Zhengzhi did that. He was actually after the two jewels. Since he spotted the jewels, he wasn’t going to leave without them. The jewels must be valuable, or they wouldn’t be placed at Dao Hun’s residence.
“Crack, crack!” Fang Zhengzhi removed the two jewels and checked their quality against using the moonlight.
“Shiny and clear, these jewels are great!’ Fang Zhengzhi complimented the black and the white jewel and kept them inside The Vast World.
There was a spacious bedroom in 1000 Herb Hall. The man sitting cross-legged on the bed suddenly trembled and opened his eyes as if he was slapped on the face.
“Damn bastard, how dare you steal my jewels!” The man scolded Fang Zhengzhi subconsciously, but he tidied up his clothes and closed his eyes shortly.
He was inviting Fang Zhengzhi into his trap, so that he had no chance of escaping. If he tried to catch the shameless thief now, the chance of success was 80%, which was high. However, that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted it to be 100%.
If he could wait for Fang Zhengzhi to enter the 1000 Herb Hall… The chance of success would increase to 100%. Therefore, he was waiting for Fang Zhengzhi to step into the 1000 Herb Hall and sneak up from his back. Since Fang Zhengzhi was already about to enter the hall, he had to give him more time.
While the man was engrossed in his thoughts, he heard an inappropriate voice coming from outside the hall.
“Dao Hun, you scum, come out and fight me if you dare!”
“…” The man’s lips moved, but he didn’t know what to say. However, he calmed himself down quickly and said, “This kid is pretty smart. He knows that this is a trap, so he chose to give up. This saves me the trouble anyway.”
He decided to stop waiting. Since Fang Zhengzhi had announced his arrival, he wouldn’t enter the 1000 Herb Hall. Hence, the man exited the bedroom and walked toward the entrance of the hall.
The stone gate of the hall was already opened from the outside. The man wasn’t surprised to see this, because he knew that Fang Zhengzhi was already here.
“Fang Zhengzhi, since you’re here for revenge, then… Eh?” The man glanced around the surrounding area, but Fang Zhengzhi was nowhere to be seen.
He was caught off guard, but that soon turned into speechlessness.
This was because he heard a sharp snap on his feet.
“Bear trap?” The man stared at the shiny trap on his right foot, and he couldn’t help but be speechless.
The mighty Hallmaster of Yin Yang Hall, Dao Hun… Was actually ‘ambushed’ by a bear trap. This was definitely an insult. After all, it was such a stupid plan. This was as laughable as a person trying to kill an elephant with a half-inch nail.
Yet, this was happening to Dao Yun at the moment.
However, as a mighty ruler in the Holy Region, Dao Hun didn’t not burst into laughter. He knew that it might cost him his life if he underestimated an enemy in the Holy Region.
This ambush couldn’t be as simple as it appeared to be.
Hence, Dao Yun looked up as soon as he saw the bear trap on his right foot and discovered a sky-blue ray of light above his head.
“Boom!” A loud bang was heard throughout Yin Yang Hall, alerting all the disciples on patrol.
“He fell for the trap!” The disciples of Yin Yang Hall obviously knew where the noise came from. They glanced at each other after hearing the bang and started rushing towards 1000 Herb Hall.
The patrolling disciples weren’t the only ones heading towards 1000 Herb Hall. Many other people from all over Yin Yang Hall were zooming toward the hall as well. They were going to surround Fang Zhengzhi.
Although the night was passing slowly, and all the disciples of Yin Yang Hall couldn’t fall asleep, everyone opened their eyes when they heard the noise.
“Hurry up, don’t let that guy escape!”
“We’ve to catch him this time!”
“We need to avenge the Ninth Elder and make him pay for the 10 acres of herbs!”
All the disciples were extremely energetic. They bolted across the night sky like a bunch of shooting stars.
It didn’t take long before almost 1,000 disciples of Yin Yang Hall gathered in front of 1000 Herb Hall. Apart from them, the eight elders were here as well.
Of course, there were two external guests here as well. They were the third and fourth elder of Nine Pinnacles Mountain, dressed in long black robes.
The two elders immediately noticed the man standing in front of the 1000 Herb Hall. He was wearing a baggy black and white robe that was swaying with the wind.
His hair was black and white just like the robe, black on the left side and white on the right. The two hair colours were separated at the middle of his head and combed neatly and secured by a golden crown cap with engraved patterns. It felt like a symbolisation of the union of Yin and Yang.
The most special feature about him was his mask. It was both black and white too, but the two colours were not separated in the middle. Instead, they spiralled together in an unusual manner. The mask was fearsome and respect-worthy at the same time.
This person was the Hallmaster of Yin Yang Hall, Dao Hun!
He was a mysterious yet respected expert that rarely showed his true appearance, and he was also known as the best alchemist in the Holy Region.
“Our greetings to you, Hallmaster!” The third and fourth elder of Nine Pinnacles Mountain also paid their respects to Dao Hun even though they were bewildered by what they saw.
All the disciples and elders of Yin Yang Hall were similarly bewildered.
This was simply because Dao Hun was the only person standing in front of 1000 Herb Hall, and Fang Zhengzhi was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s he?”
“Where did Fang Zhengzhi go?”
“I definitely heard the noise!”
These were the inner voices of the disciples, but none of them dared to ask the question. Everyone simply stood at where they were with a puzzled look at their faces.
“Find him!” Dao Hun’s voice was heard at this moment. It was a simple command, but it shocked the disciples and elders to their core. It basically meant that Fang Zhengzhi sneaked up on Dao Hun, and he seemed to have gotten away. How was it possible that he escaped from Dao Hun?
No one believed that could happen, but Dao Hun’s words proved them wrong.
Although the disciples were stunned, they replied simultaneously, “Understood!”. They dispersed and started searching every dark corner one could hide in. At the same time, they lit up so many torches that the entire Yin Yang Hall was bright as day.
However, everyone was still confused. “Did Fang Zhengzhi escape? How did he get away?”
No one knew why or how, because Dao Hun did not say a word about it.
The light from the torches lit up the darkness and painted the sky red.
However, amidst the red radiance, there was a faint dash of purple which came from the eastern horizon. It was so faint and barely noticeable.
However, as soon as the dash of purple had appeared, Dao Hun’s eyes lit up with a purple flash as well. Following which, he turned around and went back into 1000 Herb Hall.
The entire 1000 Herb Hall was built from a gigantic rock. No one knew about the origin of the rock, but everyone knew that since the Yin Yang Hall was founded, only the Hallmasters were allowed to live in the hall. Dao Hun walked past the lobby quickly and arrived before a stone room.
There were two lifelike animal heads beside the door, but they were actually a part security mechanism. Furthermore, the mechanism was ever-changing. There were less than three people in Yin Yang Hall who knew the order of the changes.
This was simply because this room was Dao Hun’s alchemy room. Dao Hun glimpsed at the two hanging animals and pressed onto the left eye of the animal on the right with his right hand.
“Crack!” The stone door opened up with a faint noise.
Dao Yun glanced at the surroundings and then entered the stone room. Normally speaking, alchemy rooms weren’t too hot. However, Dao Hun’s alchemy room felt obviously different.
It was neither hot nor cold, and it even seemed to be slightly chilly even though it was almost summer time. However, there was no wind at all.
There was a huge purple-gold alchemy crucible burning fiercely at the centre of the room. There were 8 animal heads placed on 8 different sides of the crucible.
This was a top-notch crucible, but what was weird, was that it was almost identical to the crucible Fang Zhengzhi discovered in the attic that he had broken into. The only difference was the jewel embedded on the top of the crucible.
This crucible was embedded with a black jewel, while the one in the attic was embedded with a white jewel.
After Dao Hun entered the room, the stone door closed immediately. At the same time, rays of dazzling radiance lit up on the stone wall of the room. These lights came from the round beads embedded on the wall and lit up the entire room brightly.
Dao Hun, however, was just standing around quietly instead of moving toward the crucible. He seemed to be waiting for something.
“Dao, the source of heaven and earth, the reason for the transformations of all existences, and the secret of the spirits. Virtue, the way of living, the principle to managing relationships, and the key to unlocking longevity!” Dao Hun murmured. He then raised his head slightly, and his black and white mask started shining.
“Extinguish!” With that, the burning crucible trembled, following which, the fire disappeared without a trace.
Dao Hun walked toward the crucible and put his hand on one of the animal heads and lifted it gently.
He lifted the cover of the crucible which was formed by the 8 animal heads and hung it on a black metal chain placed at the top of the stone room.
At the same time, an intense medicinal fragrance started spreading from the crucible, where five jade-green pills lay quietly.
Dao Hun glimpsed at the pills, but his expression remained indifferent. He casually removed the pills and tossed them into a jade box. Afterwards, 7 undeveloped pills appeared in his hand. They were pure as snow, but lacked the intense medicinal fragrance.