Just when everyone was at their wit's end, a clamorous noise suddenly came from outside the temple, faintly discernible as the wailing of the common people, accompanied by the clanging of metal from the marching army.
From outside the door, a shouting voice could faintly be heard: Prince Huai is rebelling!
The few of them looked at each other, utterly baffled as to why Prince Huai would plot a rebellion. Firstly, he lacked the support of the local noble families and clans, and secondly, he didn't have sufficient troops. Where did he get the courage to raise an army and rebel?
"Xue Wuyi, your heart is truly ruthless, to actually demand the lives of these innocent townspeople!" the Old Taoist said furiously, his anger boiling over.
Lu Yu carefully pondered the name Xue Wuyi. In the Old Taoist's mouth, it seemed to be the mastermind behind Prince Huai's rebellion, but the connection between the two was unknown.
"There's no point in hiding it now. My nephew risked his life to send a secret message, which said that Prince Huai is colluding with Xue Wuyi, and a great disaster is feared!"
"Xue Wuyi was once a friend of mine; it's a pity he didn't possess the right principles to join our Zhengyi Sect. I don't know where he learned an evil technique and established the Blood Cult, proclaiming himself as the Sect Hierarch."
"Because his technique was harmful to people and was besieged by the righteous path, he disappeared from then on. Who would have thought he was hiding here, in league with Prince Huai?"
"This man is extremely cruel and ruthless, stopping at nothing to achieve his goals. His technique requires human blood as a base, to nurture a River of Blood, which grants him immortality as long as the river does not dry up. If I'm not mistaken, he probably wants to use the lives of tens of thousands of Wan City's citizens to refine his evil technique."
Hearing this, Lu Yu's scalp tingled, and he was secretly shocked in his heart. Xue Wuyi was truly ruthless, sacrificing tens of thousands of lives for his own technique—a total disregard for humanity.
The shouts and killing outside the door were relentless; He Yinglian and her brother also had looks of realization on their faces. Great Chen had long been at peace, and war was a distant memory, but the noises outside told them how close the war actually was to them.
Before they could sigh about the unpredictability of life, several dozen men dressed in red appeared on the walls of the Taoist temple.
Although there were several dozen of them, when they spoke, it was eerily in one voice.
"Liu Peiran, it's been almost thirty years since we last met, hasn't it?" It was then that Lu Yu and the others learned that the Old Taoist was named Liu Peiran.
"You've finally learned this technique too. Have you gone mad? To use so many people's lives for your own ambition?"
"You're still the same as before, too kind and soft-hearted. Heh, if you weren't like this, how would you have fallen to such a state, dying alongside your stubborn and decaying sect? I still remember how spirited you were thirty years ago, and now you're just an old man!"
"The sect has treated me with enormous kindness, so what if I give my life for it? My only regret is that I should not have let you go out of old affection back then. Now, all the calamity suffered by the townspeople is my fault!" the Old Taoist said angrily.
"Good, it's best not to think of the past. I'm not going to hold back today. Today, you and I will settle this once and for all, with either you dead or me alive!"
No sooner had the voice fallen than the dozens of Blood-robed People suddenly launched an attack at the Old Taoist. However, an invisible wall seemed to rise up on the temple's walls, blocking all their attacks from outside.
The Old Taoist was muttering incantations, with his right hand's index and middle fingers joined together and pointing forward, a Fire Dragon appeared out of nowhere, roaring as it charged towards these eerie foes.
These people suddenly lined up to block the Fire Dragon's roar, but their defense was as weak as paper. In an instant, they were incinerated by the Fire Dragon.
Lu Yu and the others watched, dumbstruck. Whether it was the Old Taoist or the Blood-robed People, their strangeness and strength were like nothing Lu Yu and the others had ever seen.
"Is this person really dead?" Lu Yu questioned, feeling that this supposed mastermind had died too quickly.
"Dead? It's not that easy. He just sent a few incarnations to cause some trouble. This guy has countless avatars, so this loss is just a triviality to him!"
Following the departure of the eerie incarnations, the rebels from the city came next. They slaughtered the innocent people of the city as if they had gone mad.
Lu Yu and his companions were so enraged by the atrocities committed by these rebels that it felt as if their chests would explode with fury. Unable to contain themselves, they had already joined the fray, weapons in hand.
Their martial skills were extraordinary, far superior to those of the slovenly trained soldiers who only knew how to bully men and dominate women. In no time at all, they left a swath of corpses in front of the Taoist temple.
However, what they hadn't noticed was that the blood of all the dead in the city seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force, gradually seeping out from the bodies and converging towards the same direction.
A peculiar aura was spreading through the city, incessantly magnifying the murderous intent in everyone's heart. At first, it was just the rebels killing indiscriminately without any sense of reason.
As time passed, more and more people joined the feast of slaughter; some were martial artists with the heart of a ferocious tiger, others were chivalrous heroes who could not stand to see such tyranny.
But at this moment, they were all participants in this strange massacre, and the slaughter continued unabated.
The sky was completely enveloped by thick, dark clouds, yet within that deep, oppressive darkness flickered a disturbing hint of red, striking fear into the hearts of those who saw it.
Lu Yu looked up at the ominous sky, and with his heightened spiritual senses, he realized that something was amiss. It seemed that everyone was being influenced by a mysterious force that amplified their innate desire to kill.
"Taoist Priest, what is this?" As Lu Yu gazed at the hellish scene before him, he felt a dryness in his mouth and sensed that this might be part of a conspiracy.
"Alas! Xue Wuyi's formation has been set, and at this point, Wan City is doomed to become a hellish graveyard, fuel for his cultivation!" Liu Peiran said with a sense of burnt-out resignation.
"Is there really no way to stop him?" Lu Yu asked urgently, his words betraying a hint of reproach, as he had always believed that the Taoist before him was not without the means to counter.
"Do you think I do not wish to, layman? But look around the Taoist temple!"
As Lu Yu took in the Taoist's words and looked around, he realized, to his surprise, that the temple had been unknowingly surrounded by a group of blood-robed people.
"Zhengyi Sect's Tiantong Taoist, I hope you can stay here quietly. Should you step out of this temple, I fear today you shall perish, body and spirit obliterated," the leading elder said, revealing himself to be the same old man who had previously spoken with Xue Wuyi in the secret chamber.
"What joys does life hold, and what sorrows does death bring? As an old Taoist who has lived nearly sixty years, reaching such an age is not so premature in the mortal world, and it is enough!" Liu Peiran suddenly laughed aloud.
The entire Taoist temple suddenly burst forth with boundless light, drawing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth frantically into the frail body of the old Taoist.
However, at that moment, the seemingly frail body appeared to be forged of fine steel, absorbing the most violent spiritual energy between heaven and earth without missing a trace.
A "crack" like the shattering of porcelain emanated from the Taoist's body, and multiple fractures appeared; dazzling light shimmered through the cracks.
"Forgive me, three laymen, but I'm afraid I won't be able to watch over you shortly. Your lives and deaths will have to depend on yourselves," the Old Taoist said, seemingly enduring immense pain, his voice shaking slightly.
No sooner had his words faded than the Taoist's body turned to ash in the radiant light, and a figure identical to the Taoist, carrying immeasurable light, walked out from the ashes.
Spiritual energy from the surroundings continuously poured into the figure.
"Primordial Spirit?" the blood-robed elder exclaimed in horror.
"No, you've forcefully elevated to the Primordial Spirit Realm, and it won't be long before you die here, your soul scattered to the winds," the elder said, having taken a moment to recognize the truth of the situation.
"Even so, a Primordial Spirit is still a Primordial Spirit!" The old Taoist was not afraid of his soul scattering to the winds. He had borne humiliation for the sake of his sect for a lifetime and decided to shine in the most brilliant light at the last moment of his life. At this moment, he was no longer the shabby Tiantong Taoist, but the once-great talent, Liu Peiran.
With a gentle flick of his finger, Liu Peiran sent the blood-robed elder flying, his aura turning extremely weak, clearly having sustained serious injuries.