The Xiaoyao Formation is a well-known large formation with extremely harsh conditions for its formation. However, the formation talismans added later were not as good as the ones set up by Yan Sen himself, and Cheng Yi, who was in charge of the formation, was too weak, so its power was greatly reduced. Yan Sen was trapped in the formation and seemed to be in a miserable state, but his life was actually not in danger.
Seeing Yan Sen glaring at him, Duan Qingming smiled and said, "It won't be difficult for you to come out."
Yan Sen showed no intention of surrendering, and remained arrogant: "Why, do you want me to let you go?"
"Ah, this condition is too simple," Duan Qingming raised his right hand, his wide sleeves fluttering in the wind, "As a senior, you deserve more suitable conditions."
"Soul Stone!" Yan Sen's face changed slightly after catching the thing he threw. He said grimly, "Boy, what do you mean?"
"Master Duan's meaning is very clear," Xin Ji laughed, looking rather gloating. "You can think of it, as long as you take out a wisp of your soul and serve Master Duan from now on."
"Bullshit!" Yan Sen's eyes turned red, and he crushed the soul stone on the spot, "No wonder you are so obedient. I remember now, you old freak followed Master Wei Feng before. I am not a spineless loser like you. Do you really think you can kill me like this?"
He gathered all his inner energy, causing the sword formation to shake continuously. Xin Ji was so shocked that he took a step back.
Duan Qingming seemed to have anticipated his reaction: "You don't want to?"
“Nonsense!” Yan Sen raised his head and laughed wildly, but his tone was cold, “I have been in the Demon Realm for so many years, I am considered a big shot, you want me to be like a piece of trash and be ordered around… Haha!”
Being called a "waste", Xin Ji's face twitched, his eyes suddenly turned sinister, and he whispered to Duan Qingming: "Sir, if this person doesn't agree, there will be endless troubles. How about..."
Duan Qingming stopped him: "This kind of thing, the senior can't accept it for the time being, let him think about it slowly, let's go."
Seeing that he was about to leave, Cheng Yi hurriedly asked, "What about me?"
"Well, you..." Duan Qingming seemed to remember him just now, "Of course you should continue to trap him, otherwise he will come out and kill me? If I die, who will you follow?"
Cheng Yi thought about it and said "Oh" stupidly: "Then run quickly."
"Silly boy, he is using you!" Yan Sen sneered in the formation, "If this formation can't kill me, how long can you hold on? If he runs away, I will kill you first when I get out, hehe."
Cheng Yi came to his senses: "Yes, what should I do?"
"I believe you have the ability to get out of this situation," Duan Qingming bent down, put his hands on his shoulders, and smiled at him from the side. "If you can't even do this, how can you follow me, don't you think?"
"That's right..."
"He wants you to stay and die!" Yan Sen shouted, "Withdraw, I'll come out and help you kill him!"
"That won't work." Cheng Yi refused without even thinking.
Yan Sen was surprised: "You still listen to him?"
"I'm going to follow him."
Yan Sen said angrily: "Why are you so stubborn, kid? If I don't kill you, you will just follow me."
Cheng Yi said: "I want to follow him, his sword is better than yours."
“…” Yan Sen cursed in his heart.
"Good job. I'll be waiting for you." Duan Qingming patted Cheng Yi's shoulder with a smile, stood up, politely said "please" to Yan Sen, and followed Gu Pinglin.
Xin Ji looked coldly at Yan Sen in the sword formation and deliberately fell behind. But before he could make any move, Yan Sen thrust out a sword, causing the sword formation to sway. Xin Ji gasped and hesitated for a moment, but finally did not dare to move. He rolled his eyes and said kindly to the formation: "Brother Yan, you saw it too. It's not that I don't want to help you, but I can't do anything about it."
Yan Sen didn't give him any face at all: "Bah! You little bastard, do you think you are worthy of being my brother?"
"Brother Yan, you misunderstood me," Xin Ji was not angry. He chuckled twice, turned around and saw Cheng Yi. He couldn't help shaking his head and muttering, "What a pity for that silly boy..." He was really sorry, but if Cheng Yi really withdrew the sword formation, Yan Sen would come out, so he only expressed regret for a moment and walked away.
Gu Pinglin was not worried at all.
In terms of cultivation, Cheng Yi is far inferior to Yan Sen, but he has been in the fairyland since he was a child.
Duan Qingming followed his footsteps: "Junior brother is indeed proficient in formation techniques. He can see my layout at a glance."
"It's an exaggeration to say that you can tell at a glance, but if you look at it a few more times, it won't be difficult to see through it," Gu Pinglin raised his chin slightly, and kept walking. "It's Cheng Yi, if used well, he will be a good helper."
"Yeah, so I'll test him."
"You are taking advantage."
"Oh--" Duan Qingming said slowly and drawn out his voice, "The future headmaster Gu is cherishing talents again."
"It's not that I value talent, it's my advice," Gu Pinglin said, "If you give your sincerity but are trampled upon, even the most sincere people will become cold-hearted after a long time."
"This kind of advice..." Duan Qingming looked at him with a smile, "I am always sincere."
Gu Pinglin said: "How sincere can a person who relies on disguise to gain sincerity be?"
"This person is not as good as me in swordsmanship, battle formation, medicine, poison, and alchemy. If he is not even of any use to me, what is the point of me coming here?" The person next to him said in a gentle and soft voice, carelessly and cold-bloodedly, "Is it true love to pity a waste?"
This fits his personality very well. Gu Pinglin's face changed, but soon returned to normal: "Okay, the matter has been resolved, let's set off now."
"Not tomorrow?"
"Sword Demon Yan Sen is not famous for nothing. Cheng Yi can trap him for six hours at most. If you are not afraid of death, then stay."
There happened to be a Lingxin Sect temple in this area, which kept more than a dozen golden eagles for Lingxin Sect disciples to use when they went out on missions. After confirming Gu Pinglin's identity, the temple master was very attentive and personally picked three of the strongest golden eagles for him. Time was tight, but the two of them were not in a hurry to travel, and walked and stopped as usual. As expected, two days passed, and Yan Sen did not catch up.
"That old monster must have thought we went to Danghun Mountain," Xin Ji said to the two men while sitting cross-legged on the eagle's back, stroking his beard, and smiling, "Many people are running over there, but I didn't expect the two gentlemen to have other plans..." He suddenly saw something and put down his hand, "Hey, is that Yunya?"
There is a dangerous peak in front of us, rising straight up like a sharp sword piercing the sky. There is flowing light on the top of the mountain, clouds on the mountainside, and a thousand-foot waterfall is like a white silk ribbon, hanging between the cliffs. The wind blows, the water vapor is dense, and occasionally birds can be seen flying through it. It is the famous Yunya.
The three of them landed on the mountainside, but the golden eagle could not fly up.
Gu Pinglin looked up.
The discussion of Taoism at Yunya is a grand event in the cultivation world that has lasted for thousands of years. Celebrities from major sects and families gather here. Those who practice magic debate, those who practice swordsmanship discuss sword skills, some talk about it, some compete to gain fame, each showing their magical powers and proving their own way. What a lively scene!
The event in my memory took place several decades later. At that time, I attended as the head of the Lingxin Sect, and Duan Qingming was already famous all over the world...
Gu Pinglin was filled with emotion.
Duan Qingming looked at him for a long while with his hands behind his back, smiled slightly, lowered his head and asked in his ear: "Do you want to go up?"
Gu Pinglin raised his eyebrows: "If you want to go, I will accompany you."
Rare spiritual lands usually have a layer of strong winds, which outer alchemy cultivators cannot go up, but both of them said it very easily. Xin Ji smiled bitterly when he heard it: "Two young masters, please enjoy yourself. I will wait for you in the front." He was unlucky to be honest. In his previous life, he obtained the "Nine Chapters of Refining the Spirit" and cultivated it into a pupil demon. He was so powerful. But now, because of his encounter with Duan Qingming and Gu Pinglin, his path to becoming a demon was ruined. It was really magical.
Yunya is the place where the ancestors ascended to heaven in the past. When the boundary was broken, the space between heaven and earth was distorted, and the spiritual energy of the two worlds remained here. After millions of years, it has not dissipated. The cliffs are extremely hard, and countless exotic flowers and plants grow on the jagged rocks. At the top of the peak, there is another scene. The terrain is wide, and the ground is all uneven white stones. There are more than ten flower trees growing in the cracks of the rocks. The trees are sparsely blooming with red and white flowers, which is also lonely for a thousand years.
Two figures appeared at the edge of the cliff, one after the other.
"You are still one step faster," Duan Qingming straightened his sleeves and bowed first, "Junior brother, you are so outstanding, I admire you."
Gu Pinglin said: "Then should I say thank you? Thank you for giving in so calmly and wisely."
"Here we go again," Duan Qingming gently flicked the flower branch off his shoulder and said with a smile, "We are friendly fellow disciples, shouldn't we give in?"
This kind of arrogance... If the two of them were not no longer hostile, it would definitely be regarded as a provocation. Gu Pinglin raised his eyebrows: "What if they are not brothers?"
"Is it important?"
The relationship between the same disciples was not special to him. Gu Pinglin pursed his lips, raised his hands to separate the branches, and walked towards the middle.
When we reached the center, the ground suddenly became flat. There were ten strange large stones on each side, shaped like chairs and of the same size. They were truly a masterpiece of nature.
At the Millennium Dao Conference, only the top masters of the big sects and families could compete for a stone chair, so everyone wanted to have a seat. Before the Dao lineage was abolished in the previous life, Gu Pinglin did not have the Creation Art. At that time, he was limited by his talent and worked hard. After Yue Songting passed away, he took over the Lingxin Sect. When he participated in the Dao Conference, he had just formed an inner elixir. However, at that Dao Conference, Gu Pinglin won a seat in the middle for the Lingxin Sect, allowing the Lingxin Sect to officially enter the ranks of the big sects.
The ninth person on the left is... this position. Gu Pinglin found the stone chair from that year, lowered his head, and stroked the back of the chair with his fingers.
There was nothing special about the cold stone chair, no trace of its past.
After a moment, Gu Pinglin raised his eyes and looked across.
That time, Xuanming Sect occupied two seats, and the extra seat belonged to the youngest and most dazzling great sword cultivator in the cultivation world. The seating order was related to the strength of the discussion, and that person's seat happened to be opposite him. It would be too deliberate to say that it was a coincidence. The two of them were fighting openly and secretly at the time, so it would be more credible to say that it was intentional.
The young man in white was leaning on a chair, holding Gu Yingjian casually, with a leisurely posture, witty words, and chatting and laughing with the seniors on both sides. There happened to be a short tree next to the stone chair. There were no leaves on the tree, but the flowers were blooming. The branches reflected his handsome face, and the red flowers fell on his hair, shoulders, and scattered on his snow-white clothes. The enchanting red and cold white were just like the man's disguised perfect smile.
Bu Shuihan stepped back, and just as he sat down, nine bright red flowers floated over, fresh and dewy, floating in an orderly manner in front of him. What carried them was the highest and strongest sword intent, which was released without any murderous intent and was perfectly controlled.
On the opposite side, Mo Mou seemed to be smiling.
"Master Gu is finally here," the leisurely and calm voice sounded particularly hateful, "Duan Liu has been waiting for a long time, so I'm offering you flowers to show my gratitude."
Faced with provocation, he did not back down and immediately used his sword to crush the flowers: "It is rude not to return the favor, Master Duan, please."
"What a pity for such a beautiful flower," the man said with regret, "Does Sect Leader Gu dislike it?"
"No, I won't accept gifts that are insincere."
…
The verbal exchange seems like yesterday. The stone chair opposite is empty, with no one there. Only the tree full of red flowers remains.
Suddenly, a figure came into view.
"Are you tired of standing?" Duan Qingming sat down on the stone chair opposite. "Sit down."
His heartbeat suddenly quickened, and Gu Pinglin asked calmly, "Why are you sitting there?"
Duan Qingming was leaning sideways on the chair, raising his hand to flick the flower petals above him. Hearing this, he patted the back of the chair and said, "Nothing special, I just feel this seat is familiar." Speaking of this, he seemed to be thinking about something.
Gu Pinglin suppressed his emotions and spoke as naturally as possible: "It's good to be familiar with each other. I will fight for a seat at the discussion meeting."
"You want to fight?"
"The Lingxin Sect must fight for it," Gu Pinglin said calmly, "Don't you want to?"
Duan Qingming glanced around, clearly not very interested: "Why should we discuss the doctrine based on seating arrangements? This kind of boring game is something that people in the world never tire of."
Gu Pinglin deeply agreed that this seating arrangement was just a means for the sects and families to show off their strength. The path of Taoism was not about fame and fortune, and if the Lingxin Sect did not need it, he would not bother to compete for such fame.
If that’s the case, why did he fight for a seat in his previous life
Gu Pinglin raised the corner of his lips imperceptibly: "Since it's boring, let's go."
The two men descended the cliff one after another, and did not ride the golden eagle again, but walked leisurely along the road.
"Is it about time?" Gu Pinglin asked casually.
"Yeah." Duan Qingming obviously knew what he was asking.
"Is there a way to deal with it?"
"without."
"You really are not afraid of death."
"I have you," Duan Qingming said with a smile, "We brothers share the joys and sorrows, and I have no regrets in dying if I can have you accompany me."
As the two were talking, a large group of people suddenly came from the road nearby. They all looked frightened and their clothes seemed to be ordinary people.
"The tongue again!"
"They have been buried for days."
…
As the sound of discussion drifted over, Gu Pinglin's eyes moved slightly and his steps paused.