Chapter 1033: Smashing the Door

The moment Taishu Shanhai heard the voice outside, he knew who it was. He gave the two kneeling men a cold laugh. "See that? The fine mess you caused has come knocking at the door!"

Taishu Xun and Taishu Li had no defense. The Elder was right. This truly was a consequence of what they had done. If the two of them had refused to admit anything no matter what, the charge could never have been pinned on Taishu Shancheng. Taishu Shancheng would not have died, and Myriad Beasts Sect would have had no evidence with which to come after Qiyun Sect.

Now it had been established that Qiyun Sect had violated the rules and killed someone—and the man they killed had been an Elder of Myriad Beasts Sect. How could Myriad Beasts Sect possibly pretend nothing had happened?

"Why are you still kneeling? Planning to kneel and confess to them? Move!" Taishu Shanhai threw down the words, turned, and strode out without the slightest sign of fear, head high and chest out.

The three stepped outside and stood beneath the eaves. Facing An Shougui, who stood below the steps looking furious, Taishu Shanhai barked, "What are you shouting about?"

An Shougui snapped, "Your Qiyun Sect killed an Elder of my Myriad Beasts Sect. What do you think I'm shouting about?"

By now he had already learned what happened. With so many sects trying to draw allies to themselves or deliberately stir up conflict, how could he possibly have remained ignorant?

Taishu Shanhai did not dispute Misty Pavilion's judgment. "The man who committed the offense has already been executed by Misty Pavilion. What more do you want?"

An Shougui said, "Your Qiyun Sect must give Myriad Beasts Sect an explanation!"

The shouting once again drew people from the various rooms to watch the spectacle. Niu Youdao came out as well, standing in his doorway with one hand on his sword as he watched from afar.

Ke Dingjie shifted as if to move closer and investigate, only for Niu Youdao to stop him. "Where are you going?"

Ke Dingjie pointed toward the commotion, surprised. "To see what's happening."

"Do you really need to? They'll trade words, but no one dares actually start a fight. Our own affairs with Myriad Beasts Sect are tangled enough already. Right now they're looking for a chance to burnish their prestige. They may not dare touch others, but bullying you would be no problem. Don't go over there looking for trouble. This isn't the time to stir things up."

"Yes!" Ke Dingjie could only obey and remain beside him, watching from a distance.

Across the courtyard, Taishu Shanhai laughed. "An explanation? I have nothing on me. What explanation do you want? Want to fight? An Shougui, I'll stand right here and let you make the first move. Do you dare?"

An Shougui pointed straight at his nose. "Taishu Shanhai, Myriad Beasts Sect is not a sect anyone can provoke at will. Listen carefully. If Qiyun Sect does not give Myriad Beasts Sect a satisfactory explanation for this, don't blame us for intervening in the affairs of Wei and Qi. Do you believe Myriad Beasts Sect has the ability to help those two states destroy your Jin? I can't be bothered wasting more words on you. Qiyun Sect can decide for itself!" With that, he flung his sleeve and left.

The crowd behind him opened a path. People from Qi and Wei exchanged glances, then unexpectedly followed after him, almost as though they were beginning to rally around Myriad Beasts Sect.

Anyone with an eye for politics could see what An Shougui was doing. He was using the opportunity to send a message to Qi and Wei. His purpose was to draw the sects of those two states to his side so they could weather the dangers here together.

Standing on the steps, Taishu Shanhai's expression shifted between light and dark. He no longer offered any hard retort.

Myriad Beasts Sect truly was no ordinary sect. It had always been forced to maintain neutrality. Now that it had found a pretext to intervene, if it truly entered the struggle among Jin, Wei, and Qi, the consequences for Jin would be extremely unfavorable.

Meng Shanming was certainly no poor commander during the Yan-Song war. Yet the moment Myriad Beasts Sect intervened, the Yan army immediately suffered grievous losses.

There was one matter Taishu Shanhai knew clearly: Jin was secretly preparing to attack Wei. If Myriad Beasts Sect truly intervened, it would pose an enormous threat to Jin.

Misty Pavilion might already have passed judgment on the present affair, but if Myriad Beasts Sect insisted on using it as leverage and refused to let go, then for the sake of the larger situation, Qiyun Sect would probably have no choice but to give Myriad Beasts Sect a satisfactory explanation.

...

Niu Youdao raised an eyebrow. An Shougui of Myriad Beasts Sect was striding toward him now, looking every bit as aggressive as before.

Niu Youdao could more or less guess why. What else could it be? Moments ago, he had stopped Ke Dingjie from going over precisely to avoid trouble. Who would have thought An Shougui would come looking for him instead?

"Let's go." Niu Youdao turned and called to the other two. After bringing Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie back inside, he added, "Close the door."

Creak.

The door shut on the spot. Even the windows were closed tight.

"Niu Youdao, get the hell out here!" An Shougui roared from outside.

Inside, Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie looked at each other. Niu Youdao said, "Pretend you didn't hear him. Ignore him."

The two could only obey.

"Niu Youdao, what are you hiding in there like a turtle for? Guilty conscience? Get out here!"

An Shougui cursed outside for a long while, yet there was not the slightest response from inside. The people gathering to watch found the spectacle secretly amusing.

"Knock on the door!" Feeling that his shouting was beginning to resemble a shrew cursing in the street, An Shougui waved to his men.

The two Myriad Beasts Sect disciples immediately jumped up beneath the eaves and began pounding on the door with both fists.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The racket inside went on without end. Niu Youdao, who had been sitting cross-legged in meditation, opened his eyes and looked toward the door trembling beneath the blows.

Qin Guan asked, "Elder, they don't seem willing to stop. What do we do?"

"I was already caught up in enough trouble and wanted to keep a low profile for a while. I didn't want to create any more problems. Yet I give them face and they refuse to take it." Niu Youdao's temper flared. He lowered his legs from the couch, stood, and slowly walked to the door with his sword as a staff. He waved Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie away from the entrance.

Then Niu Youdao raised a hand and pressed it against the door panel, silently waiting.

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie watched curiously, unable to guess what their Elder intended.

Crash!

The sudden explosion nearly made both men jump.

With a sweep of spiritual power from Niu Youdao's hand, the entire door burst inward and shattered, fragments flying through the room.

Wood splinters filled the air. Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie stood dumbfounded in the middle of them.

Outside, the two Myriad Beasts Sect disciples who had been pounding on the door were just as stunned. They had somehow knocked the door completely out of existence. Both still had their fists hanging in the air, unsure whether to raise them or lower them.

An Shougui stared as well, mouth slightly open. When he recovered, he almost wanted to roar at his two disciples: I told you to knock on the door, not smash it down!

The surrounding crowd was left speechless.

Then several people quickly moved aside. Someone was coming.

Misty Pavilion personnel had arrived.

Of course they had. With such a tremendous commotion, it sounded almost like people had begun fighting.

Ordinarily, the various sects could exchange a few curses here and no one cared. But actually attacking one another was forbidden. What kind of place was this? How could anyone be allowed to fight at will?

Several Misty Pavilion cultivators flashed down together and stared in unison at the doorway amid the swirling wood chips.

The two Myriad Beasts Sect disciples who had been knocking immediately grew frightened and hurriedly backed away.

What happened?

Taishu Shanhai, still standing beneath the eaves on the other side, was startled by the enormous crash as well. Unable to resist, he flashed over to see what was happening.

"You've smashed down my damned door. What are you trying to do, kill me? Come on, I'll stand here and let you kill me. Let's see who's got the guts to make a move!" Niu Youdao's voice came from inside as he stepped out through the drifting splinters, one hand leaning on his sword and the other waving aside the pieces floating before him.

Then he saw the Misty Pavilion people outside and froze. "You were the ones who smashed my door? I was wondering when the people of Myriad Beasts Sect became so bold. I only just got back and haven't done anything, have I? If you needed me for something, you could have called me over. There was no need to destroy my door."

The Misty Pavilion men stared at him for a moment, then realized what he was doing.

Their leader said heavily, "Who smashed your door? What nonsense are you talking about?"

Niu Youdao turned and looked back at the empty doorframe, then pointed toward it. "The door can't exactly have disappeared by itself, can it?"

The leader turned toward the crowd and shouted, "Who smashed the door?"

An Shougui's expression was ugly. He was not entirely sure what had happened. He wondered whether his own disciples had grown angry while knocking and lost control. For a moment, he did not know how to answer.

One of the two Myriad Beasts Sect disciples hurriedly said, "I didn't smash it."

The other immediately followed. "Neither did I."

Niu Youdao chuckled. "Now that's strange. You didn't smash it, he didn't smash it. Looks like there really must have been something wrong with my door all along."

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie had already come outside. Both were utterly speechless. They discovered that their Elder truly was no good man. There was not a scrap of an Elder's dignity about him. Today, they had gained a new appreciation for him—and learned a trick besides.

The leader's voice turned cold. "I'll ask one more time. Who smashed the door?"

Niu Youdao lifted his chin toward several people in the watching crowd. "Did any of you see who smashed it?"

Hong Gaitian immediately raised a hand and shouted from among the spectators, "Everyone saw it. Myriad Beasts Sect smashed the door!"

The leader instantly turned toward An Shougui. "Why did you smash his door?"

An Shougui hurriedly waved his hands. "We didn't smash it. We were knocking!"

He would have liked to deny any involvement at all, but too many eyes had watched the whole affair. The spectators were not a row of blind men. Claiming it had nothing to do with him would never hold up.

The leader said, "So you admit your Myriad Beasts Sect was making trouble at this door. Knocking can make an entire door disappear? There are plenty of doors here. Knock another one down for me. If you can't produce the same result, I'll knock your head off instead."

An Shougui began to panic. He had only just entered Sacred Realm and had no idea how severe the rules here truly were. Precisely because he did not know where the boundaries lay, he was even more frightened. He immediately beckoned furiously toward his two disciples. "Get over here!"

The two came forward with pounding hearts. An Shougui pointed at them and shouted, "I told you to knock. Who told you to smash the door?"

One disciple said fearfully, "This disciple really was only knocking. I didn't smash it."

The two immediately launched into a frantic explanation.

After listening for a while, An Shougui more or less understood. Nine times out of ten, Niu Youdao had done something from inside and deliberately framed them.

Fuhua and the others looked at one another. From what they were hearing, it genuinely sounded possible that Niu Youdao had done it himself. Their sworn younger brother was entirely capable of such a thing.

The leader turned to Niu Youdao. "They suspect you destroyed your own door. How do you explain that?"

Niu Youdao said, "Meaning I tricked them into coming to my door so I could frame them?" He cupped his hands toward the man. "I won't explain. I trust Misty Pavilion has more than enough ability to investigate such a trivial matter clearly."

At that moment, three more figures flashed in. Huang Ban, the man overseeing the tempering, led them. He glanced at the scene and barked, "What's going on?"

The leader immediately stepped forward and reported the situation.

Huang Ban's gaze locked onto Niu Youdao. "Niu Youdao, why is it you again?"

Niu Youdao sighed. "Steward Huang, I don't want this either. But someone insisted on coming to make trouble for me. If you don't believe me, ask around. Everyone saw who came looking for whom."

Huang Ban looked left, then right, and shouted, "Detain everyone involved!"

[End of Chapter 1033]