Chapter 179: Chapter 179: Slaying the Master at the Wedding Banquet

The main hall was spacious.

Li Ping and Wu Feng entered the hall and quickly found the seats the Meng family had arranged for them.

As it happened, their seats were at the same table.

Aside from them, many other guests were already seated in the hall.

Li Ping glanced around and soon spotted Zhang Tie in the hall, directing waiters to serve Spirit Tea to the seated guests.

Today was a momentous day for Cyan Dragon Mountain. As the Immortal City’s logistics manager, Zhang Tie was in charge of almost the entire wedding banquet. He was so busy he was rushed off his feet.

Li Ping’s lips twitched, and his voice echoed directly in Zhang Tie’s ear.

Zhang Tie paused, then looked up to see Li Ping sitting calmly not far away.

Li Ping had used a voice transmission to ask where his nephew, Xu Guikai, was.

Meeting Li Ping’s gaze, Zhang Tie nodded. His own lips then twitched as his voice sounded in Li Ping’s ear, "Big Brother, Nephew Xu is in the back hall inspecting the purchased Spirit Fruits, Spirit Wines, and other things. I’ll go take over for him now so he can come into the hall to see to the guests."

After speaking, he gave a few more instructions to the waiters in the hall, then hurried toward the back hall.

Li Ping waited patiently.

A short while later, after Zhang Tie had left, a handsome young cultivator in a white robe walked in from the back hall.

Li Ping’s eyes were drawn to him.

Just then, the white-robed young cultivator seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up, his gaze meeting Li Ping’s.

Li Ping was unfazed when their eyes met, but the white-robed youth froze.

With a curious expression, he slowly approached Li Ping’s side and said softly, "I am Xu Guikai. Greetings, Fellow Daoist. May I ask your name?"

Stirred by an impulse, Li Ping stood up. "I am Li Ping."

"Li Ping?" Hearing the name, a dazed expression flickered across Xu Guikai’s handsome face.

A moment later, he waved his hand, conjuring a Magical Power shield to enclose both himself and Li Ping. Once he had done so, he said quietly, "Strange. I don’t believe I’ve ever met you, Fellow Daoist, yet I feel a strange sense of familiarity. May I ask if we’ve met before?"

After a moment of silence, a cryptic, profound look flashed in Li Ping’s eyes.

Although the youth before him looked completely different from his master, Yan Guikai, Li Ping felt the same sense of familiarity from him, just as he had with Xu Pingsheng.

At this thought, he smiled and shook his head. "I have not met you before, Fellow Daoist. However, I feel as if we are old friends meeting for the first time."

"Is that so?" Doubt clouded Xu Guikai’s eyes.

He couldn’t understand why two grown men would feel like old friends at first sight, with a mutual sense of familiarity, as if they were long-lost relatives.

But in his subconscious, he felt the name "Li Ping" was very important to him.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, I have a theory about this, but it may not be accurate," Li Ping said with a smile. "After the wedding banquet, if you have time, perhaps we could go somewhere together. It might clear up our mutual confusion."

Xu Guikai nodded. He subconsciously felt this Fellow Daoist Li was trustworthy. "Very well. I’ll come find you after the wedding banquet."

...

Xu Guikai went to attend to his duties, leaving Li Ping sitting in his spot with a complicated expression.

He murmured to himself, ’Could the tales of reincarnation truly be real in this world?’

It was no wonder he thought so. It was too much of a coincidence, and the inexplicable sense of familiarity the other man gave him made him involuntarily think of his master.

’Xu Pingsheng, Yan Guikai, Xu Guikai...’ Li Ping took a deep breath. ’Whether he’s Master’s reincarnation or not, one test will reveal the truth.’

He planned to return to the Jiang Kingdom with Xu Guikai after the wedding banquet and have him visit the places his master had lived before his death.

Perhaps then, everything would become clear.

Legend said that reincarnation erases the memories of a past life, yet Xu Guikai felt an instant connection with him.

Clearly, if he really was his master’s reincarnation, he must have retained some vague memories after being reborn.

...

「A short time earlier, outside the Immortal City.」

Huang Yunzi arrived alone, ahead of the others. As soon as he arrived, he was immediately welcomed into the city by Fenglan Master.

Not long after his arrival, Huang Yan entered the city with a vast and mighty procession of cultivators for the wedding.

As they were honored guests, and because the city guards had already been replaced with cultivators from the Meng family, their procession entered the city with little to no inspection. They were then guided to the residence the Meng family had prepared for them.

As for Huang Yunzi, after exchanging pleasantries with Fenglan Master, he stayed by himself in Jade Cliff Palace.

Fenglan Master had no suspicions.

After all, this marriage had been arranged under the watchful eye of the Western Wilderness’s number one cultivator, Alliance Leader Xiao, and was backed by the Jixia Academy Palace.

Neither she nor Huang Yunzi would dare cause trouble over this, no matter how dissatisfied they might be.

The Cyan Cloud Secret Realm, controlled by the Academy Palace, had a firm grip on the weak spot of every major power in the Western Wilderness.

If they angered the Academy Palace and were punished by being forbidden from entering the Cyan Cloud Secret Realm to gather Spirit Medicines for Foundation Establishment Pills, the Sect’s cultivators would face a generational gap, and its decline would only be a matter of time.

As for Dai Sangyu, she was in seclusion and didn’t receive Huang Yunzi at all.

Of course, on the day of the wedding banquet, she would emerge from seclusion to see her junior sister off.

...

Just as Li Ping was pondering whether Xu Guikai was the reincarnation of his master,

Meng Qingyi, dressed in a bright red wedding robe, arrived at the mountaintop palace to pay respects to her master.

"Disciple pays respects to Master." As soon as she entered the hall, Meng Qingyi immediately knelt before Fenglan Master.

Fenglan Master smiled and nodded. "Rise."

"Yes, Master." Meng Qingyi stood respectfully in the hall.

Fenglan Master smiled and inclined her head. "Qingyi, you are to be married into Purple Cloud Valley. Master has little to give you, but these two ’Jade Heart Needle’ Talisman Treasures were specially refined for you recently. Please accept them."

With that, she flicked her fingers, and two talismans exuding astonishing Spiritual Power fluctuations floated before Meng Qingyi. A vivid depiction of a Jade Cone was drawn upon them.

It was Fenglan Master’s Lifebound Magical Treasure, the ’Jade Heart Needle’.

Meng Qingyi paused for a moment, then a smile touched her lips. She reached out, placed the two Talisman Treasures into her Storage Bag, and said respectfully, "Thank you, Master, for this gift."

Fenglan Master sighed. "Ah, Qingyi, Master knows you have been wronged. I hope you do not blame me."

As the one in power in the Celestial Profound Sect, she had a responsibility to ensure the sect’s legacy continued. Senior Brother Xu had personally handed the entire sect to her before he went to his death.

And among everyone in the Immortal City, only Dai Sangyu, with her Core Formation cultivation, could bear this heavy responsibility.

Therefore, when Dai Sangyu had proposed that Meng Qingyi marry in her place, Fenglan Master had not objected.

But in her heart, she knew she was being partial to Dai Sangyu and had wronged Meng Qingyi.

"You are too kind, Master. Qingyi feels no grievance." Meng Qingyi sighed inwardly, but her face remained a mask of respectful smiles.

Fenglan Master smiled and nodded, very satisfied with this sensible disciple. "Alright, Qingyi, go and prepare for the upcoming union ceremony. Master hopes you will remember that even after you are married, the Immortal City will always be your home."

"Yes, Master." Meng Qingyi respectfully withdrew.

What Fenglan Master didn’t notice was the look of grim determination that flashed in Meng Qingyi’s eyes as she left.

...

「In the main hall.」

Li Ping was chatting with his friends Wu Feng, Ning Wuxu, and a few others.

As fellow artisans from Immortal Peach Mountain, the Meng family had arranged their seats in roughly the same area.

While chatting, Li Ping noticed that the couple, Wang Xingwei and Cheng Yao, had also entered the hall.

The Wang family and the Meng family had a good relationship, their ancestors having been friends for several hundred years. It was a given that they would send someone to attend the Meng family’s banquet.

Seeing her Big Brother in the hall, Cheng Yao was very happy and quickly sent a voice transmission to congratulate him on breaking through to the Mid-stage and taking another step on the Immortal Dao.

Li Ping also smiled and exchanged a few pleasantries with her via voice transmission, while also nodding to Wang Xingwei beside her.

Gradually, as time passed, the seats in the main hall were almost all filled.

This also meant that the start of the wedding banquet was drawing ever closer.

The Qi Refining Stage waiters in the hall, under Xu Guikai’s direction, began to clear away the tea from the tables and replace it with delicious Spiritual Food, Spirit Fruits, and Immortal Brews. In an instant, an enticing aroma of delicacies filled the hall.

However, everyone waited patiently, and no one touched the delicacies on the tables.

After all, the Core Formation Masters hadn’t spoken yet, and the distinguished couple to be wed had not yet appeared.

Starting to feast now would only earn them the ridicule of the other fellow Daoists.

Everyone here was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; who could afford to lose that much face?

But just as everyone in the hall was waiting patiently—

RUMBLE—

A sky-shattering roar suddenly came from outside the hall. The terrifying force of it seemed as if it could tear heaven and earth asunder and smash the entire Cyan Dragon Mountain to ruins.

Following that, more earth-shattering commotions erupted from outside.

Everyone was terrified, and Li Ping was no exception.

In that moment, the delicious food on the table no longer seemed appetizing.

"What’s going on?"

"What happened?"

...

The hall instantly erupted in an uproar. A few Foundation Establishment Cultivators sitting near the entrance even stood up and walked outside, attempting to see what was happening.

But before they could do anything more, it suddenly fell silent outside, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

The next moment—

The Meng family’s Ancestor and Meng Qingyi walked in from outside, one after the other.

"Fellow Daoist Meng, what happened?"

"Fairy Meng, what was that noise?"

Seeing the two arrive, the Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the hall all began to ask questions.

The Meng family’s Ancestor wore a sorrowful expression. He paused for a moment before saying in a heavy voice, "My apologies for the disturbance, fellow Daoists. Dai Sangyu went mad and attempted to murder her own master. Fortunately, Senior Huang from Purple Cloud Valley was also on Cyan Dragon Mountain today. He acted decisively and killed Dai Sangyu. But unfortunately... Fenglan Master, along with her Spirit Beast, the little cyan dragon, died during Dai Sangyu’s final, desperate counterattack."

Hearing the Meng family Ancestor’s words, the hall immediately broke into an uproar.

They couldn’t believe what he said. Fenglan Master, who had presided over the Immortal City for over two hundred years, had been killed by her own disciple?

"COUGH, COUGH..."

Accompanied by the sound of coughing, a short, stout old man in a green shirt walked into the hall. The Spiritual Pressure of a Late-stage Core Formation master instantly filled the room, forcing all the cultivators present to fall silent.

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