Chapter 1369: Let the Holy Rakshasa Try

Once Sha Rulai had confirmed that the Wuliang Fruit tree truly had blossomed, he no longer wanted to remain at Wuliang Garden. Contacting Niu Youdao from there was inconvenient, especially in such troubled times.

Besides, Luo Fangfei clung to him and was unwilling to remain separated from him for long. Sha Rulai merely hinted that he wanted to return, and Luo Fangfei immediately began pestering her father without end. Luo Qiu was somewhat partial to his daughter, and the assignment at Wuliang Garden did not absolutely require Sha Rulai himself. In the end, he sent someone to replace him.

Who could have expected this to happen not long after Sha Rulai returned?

He could tell that Lan Daolin had shown some restraint toward him because he was Luo Qiu's disciple and son-in-law. Otherwise, Sha Rulai doubted he would still be alive.

Even so, he had been badly injured. He could only watch helplessly as Lan Daolin abducted Luo Fangfei. The disparity in strength was simply too great for him to stop it.

...

"Eldest Young Master, Jia Wuqun has replied. He sent someone to deliver the letter personally. The courier says he's waiting to take your reply back."

At the Imperial Academy, Shao Pingbo was speaking with a group of instructors. Only after the discussion ended and the teachers dispersed did Shao Sansheng approach and quietly remind him. He drew a letter from his sleeve and handed it over.

Shao Pingbo was somewhat surprised that Jia Wuqun had actually sent someone personally. He immediately understood that the contents must be extremely confidential and that Jia feared a leak, which was why he had used a trusted courier.

He opened the letter and read.

In response to Shao Pingbo's questioning, Jia Wuqun offered no explanation. He merely said that none of this had been aimed at Shao Pingbo. Leaving Lan Ming to him was more than enough to demonstrate Jia Wuqun's sincerity. The purpose of the entire arrangement had been to use Lan Ming to provoke conflict among the Nine Saints.

Now Jia Wuqun wanted Shao Pingbo to make Lan Ming surrender the handler above the men who had silenced Hong Yunfa, as well as the handler above the men who had warned Zhuge Chi. Those two links would establish Lan Ming's crimes beyond dispute, prevent matters from being smoothed over, and keep the turmoil spreading.

Jia Wuqun wrote that with Shao Pingbo's ability, making Lan Ming reveal those two handlers should present no difficulty.

After closing the letter, Shao Pingbo's gaze hardened. He ground his teeth inwardly. "This was premeditated from the very beginning. From the moment they first came looking for me, every step was already part of their plan. I hate only that I know absolutely nothing about how deep the power behind them truly runs. I actually became someone else's chess piece. Damn it!"

Shao Sansheng cautiously asked, "Eldest Young Master, are we going to give them those two lines?"

Shao Pingbo fell silent.

...

Tianlan Sacred Land was nearly deserted. After receiving Lan Daolin's warning, almost everyone had fled and gone into hiding.

A large metal cage now held eight prisoners: Luo Qiu's daughter Luo Fangfei, Wu Chang's subordinate Elder Hei Shi, Granny Xue's adopted son Bai Wuya, Consort Yuan from Yuan Se's side, and so on. In short, Lan Daolin had casually seized one important person from each of the other Eight Sacred Lands.

None of the Eight Sacred Lands had expected Lan Daolin to suddenly raid them. They had been caught before they could hide.

At this moment, Lan Daolin stood with his hands clasped behind his back atop the metal cage. Directly beneath his feet were the eight imprisoned captives. He could kill every one of them at any time, and no one inside had any hope of escaping.

Ahead, Du Wuxu and the other seven arrived together.

Once word spread that trouble had struck their homes, they hardly needed to think before coming straight here.

The sight before them darkened all eight faces.

"Father!" Luo Fangfei shouted from inside the cage, the plea for rescue obvious in her voice.

Luo Qiu's cheeks tightened. He merely looked at his daughter a few extra times. Seeing that she was unharmed, he said nothing and revealed no emotion.

Granny Xue spoke first. "Lan Daolin, what do you want?"

Lan Daolin answered indifferently, "I don't want anything. I'd rather ask what all of you want. If you intend to turn hostile, I'll accompany you at any time. I may not be a match for all eight of you, but if I want to leave, you may not be able to stop me either."

His meaning was obvious. If they tried to force the issue, he would kill the hostages first.

Mu Lianze said heavily, "Release them."

"Release them?" Lan Daolin sneered. "You started this trouble. Now one light sentence telling me to release them is supposed to settle everything?"

Zhangsun Mi said, "You ran through our territories and killed quite a few of our people. I advise you to know when enough is enough. Don't go too far!"

Lan Daolin said, "You seized on an excuse and tried to put me to death. Which side went too far?"

Granny Xue asked, "Then how do you want to settle this?"

Lan Daolin said, "Any settlement works for me. It depends on your attitude."

Du Wuxu asked, "You don't still intend to protect your son, do you?"

Lan Daolin said, "Rules are rules. Once it's confirmed that he did it, you may deal with him however you please. I failed to teach my son properly and am willing to accept punishment. I can also surrender control of Boundless Pavilion."

The others found that last part nauseating to hear. Boundless Pavilion had already been destroyed in the fighting. What the hell was there left for him to surrender?

The eight exchanged looks, then glanced toward their own people inside the cage. In the end, they reached a silent consensus through their eyes.

Granny Xue struck her cane lightly against the ground. "Fine. We'll settle it that way. Release them."

Lan Daolin said, "Easy enough. My place is empty now, so I'll keep them here to keep me company for the time being. Once all of you settle down the disturbance you've caused, someone will naturally send them back."

There was nothing more worth saying. The eight did not argue further. They left separately and returned to their own territories.

A struggle that had seemed ready to become a fight to the death ended in a simple mutual compromise.

The Eight Saints no longer pursued the matter of Lan Daolin being surrounded and attacked. Lan Daolin's killings among the Eight Sacred Lands were likewise written off. The two sides treated the matter as even and returned once more to the previous balance among the Nine Saints.

The Eight Saints did not want to let the matter end there, but they had no choice. Since they had failed to kill Lan Daolin before, they were forced to accept this outcome.

Which of the Nine Saints did not want to eliminate all the others and reign supreme alone?

The difficulty lay in actually succeeding.

There had once been many Nascent Soul cultivators. There was a reason that, after the great waves washed away the sand, these nine were the ones left standing. Whatever differences existed in their individual strength, each possessed his own means of preserving his life. The clearest proof was that eight of them had joined forces earlier and still failed to keep Lan Daolin from escaping.

Even now, they could not be certain of killing him. If they forced the matter without confidence of success, not only might the outcome remain unchanged, but they would also lose the lives of their trusted subordinates. Worse, they might drive Lan Daolin into the desperation of a cornered dog leaping the wall and make him roam everywhere creating trouble for them.

If all eight had truly been certain they could join hands and kill Lan Daolin, they might not have cared about the hostages' lives at all.

Conversely, if they failed and Lan Daolin escaped, only to begin raiding their territories from time to time, no one could say whose life would become more miserable.

The present structure of the Nine Saints, along with the existence of Misty Pavilion, was itself a malformed product of this reality: none of the nine could truly do anything to the others.

Before leaving, Wu Chang looked back at Lan Daolin.

He knew his attempt to incite everyone into joining forces for the attack had failed.

...

At Maolu Annex, Yun Ji hurried into the secret chamber and handed a secret letter to Niu Youdao. "News from the Sacred Realm."

At last!

Niu Youdao, sitting cross-legged in meditation, abruptly opened his eyes and quickly took the letter.

Too many people had witnessed what happened at Boundless Pavilion. The Nine Saints had fought openly, with eight joining forces against Lan Daolin. By now it was no longer a secret. The event had shaken all beneath Heaven.

Some of the sects controlled by Niu Youdao also maintained shops at Boundless Pavilion, so news had reached him almost immediately after the incident.

What he did not know was the final outcome. He urgently wanted to know whether the Eight Saints had managed to kill Lan Daolin.

The report Sha Rulai sent disappointed him.

Even with all eight joining forces, they had failed to kill Lan Daolin. After escaping Boundless Pavilion and returning to the Sacred Realm, Lan Daolin immediately seized hostages from the Eight Sacred Lands. The two sides had compromised again...

Niu Youdao slowly lowered the letter and sat in silence. Discouragement appeared between his brows.

The first time, when the theft of the Wuliang Fruits had been discovered and he learned that the Eight Saints had joined forces to hunt Granny Xue, he had still held some hope. Their failure to kill Granny Xue might have been because all eight were affected by Heart-Bewildering Powder.

But this time, the Eight Saints had joined forces against Lan Daolin and still failed.

That made Niu Youdao understand the root of the problem.

None of the Nine Saints could be killed easily by the others.

Yun Ji saw the sudden drop in his spirits. It was rare to see him like this. She could not help asking, "You succeeded in provoking them exactly as you wanted. Why do you look as though you've lost your soul?"

"Ah..." Niu Youdao sat cross-legged and suddenly tilted his head back with a long sigh. "Can't you see it yet? Every one of the Nine Saints has his own means. Killing them is extremely difficult!"

Yun Ji did not think much of that. "Naturally. If the Nine Saints were that easy to deal with, how could they have stood above all beneath Heaven for so many years?"

Niu Youdao shook his head. "You still don't understand what I mean."

Yun Ji asked, "Then what do you mean?"

Niu Youdao sighed again. "Can't you see it? Eight Saints join forces and repeatedly fail to deal with one man. That alone shows what each of them is capable of. Forget the handful of Nascent Soul cultivators in our hands. I'm worried that even a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators might not be their match!"

He had already done the arithmetic.

If the Eight Saints together could not handle one, then even if he gathered all his own people, could they truly surpass the Eight Saints?

Yun Ji finally grasped the seriousness of the problem and fell silent.

It was entirely possible.

There were enormous differences even among Nascent Soul cultivators. Otherwise, why would she herself not dare face the Nine Saints?

Golden Core cultivators were the same. A hundred ordinary Golden Core cultivators might still fail to defeat one absolute peak expert of the Golden Core Realm.

The Nine Saints had dominated all beneath Heaven for so many years without anyone being able to shake them. That alone already explained much.

Someone like Yun Ji might cultivate in seclusion for years and still never dare face the Nine Saints directly.

After thinking for a while, she said, "The key problem is that apart from the Nine Saints themselves, no one truly knows the depth of their strength. What newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator would dare go test them? The Holy Rakshasa... what if we let the Holy Rakshasa try?"

Niu Youdao had considered that possibility long ago. He had simply been unable to make himself decide.

If that glutton could not handle them either, sending it out would be no different from sending it to its death.

But judging from the situation now, it seemed they might have no choice but to try.

He nodded. "Then we'll let it try. The problem is that the Holy Rakshasa is uncontrollable. I can't be certain whether it's a match for the Nine Saints."

Yun Ji was somewhat worried too. "If even the Holy Rakshasa isn't their match, I'm afraid it'll be very difficult to find another way."

Niu Youdao said, "Difficult doesn't mean impossible."

Yun Ji's eyes brightened. "You already have an idea?"

Niu Youdao shook his head and said nothing more.

He did, in fact, have two possibilities.

One was to wait until his own cultivation broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Perhaps then he could try confronting the Nine Saints head-on.

But with the Wuliang Fruit tree flowering early and disrupting his steady, step-by-step preparations, he had no idea whether the situation would allow him enough time to reach that day.

The other possibility was to find a way to seal the Nine Saints inside one of the Five Domains and keep them there forever.

But for that plan to work, he would first have to obtain the Stellar Command Token, Heaven-Measuring Ruler, Immortal-Subduing Staff, Spirit-Calming Pearl, and Void-Breaking Sword without alerting the Nine Saints.

[End of Chapter 1369]