HSSB259: You lack the qualifications
Elder Liu was the one who had directed the devilish qi from the Sand Region to the South Heaven Region from behind the scenes.
After Elder Wang, yet another Essence Talisman Martial Grandmaster higher echelon expert of Broad Creed Mountain had been corrupted by the Decimating Abyss and the Nine Underworlds.
After his identity had been exposed, he had immediately attempted to flee, but had still been unable to flee from the hands of Yan Zhaoge’s father, Yan Di, eventually being captured.
When Yan Zhaoge saw this old man once more, despite his dispirited appearance, his gaze was intractable, holding no fear as he just smiled coldly, looking at Yan Zhaoge and Yan Di.
The old Chief Yuan Zhengfeng, Fang Zhun and Shi Tie included, they all frowned as they looked at Elder Liu.
“For senior apprentice-brother Wang, it was a problem of longevity,” Yuan Zhengfeng said slowly, “What about you, junior apprentice-brother Liu? Why have you come to this stage today?”
Swivelling his head to look at Yuan Zhengfeng, Elder Liu appraised him with a rather strange gaze.
After a time, Elder Liu spoke, “Senior apprentice-brother Yuan…I haven’t addressed you this way for a long time, always calling you Chief ever since you succeeded the position.”
Yuan Zhengfeng’s expression didn’t change, but his gaze was also a little emotional.
Placed in the outside world, every descendant of Broad Creed Mountain was a Heaven’s favoured child. Likewise, for Elder Liu of Broad Creed Mountain, even if he wasn’t one of the strongest experts of Broad Creed Mountain, placed in the outside world, he would immediately be a behemoth-like figure.
Outside of the six great Sacred Grounds, Essence Talisman Martial Grandmasters were extremely few.
Able to cultivate to become an Essence Talisman Martial Grandmaster, Elder Liu’s accomplishments already presided over that of countless people.
It was only that there was always a higher mountain. Even while they were all geniuses, there were also divisions of power amongst them, like how Yuan Zhengfeng and Xin Dongping had been the strongest elites of their generation.
And while compared to others, Elder Wang and Elder Liu could already be considered geniuses amongst geniuses, they dimmed greatly when placed alongside Yuan Zhengfeng.
Elder Wang had entered the clan earlier than Yuan Zhengfeng, while Elder Liu had entered later.
Looking at that white-haired old man before him, that elegant youth who had consulted him on difficult problems on the martial dao in the past seemed to appear before Yuan Zhengfeng’s eyes once more.
However, he heard Elder Liu continue speaking in a strange tone, “…senior apprentice-brother Yuan, I have always felt it to be strange. Don’t you feel in a hurry at all?”
Yuan Zhengfeng’s gaze hardened as he looked at Elder Liu, who looked back at him, “Not speaking of the power and position that becoming a Martial Saint would bring, and also the pressure that it would give to the Sacred Sun Clan’s Huang Guanglie, the main thing is-with your old injuries, senior apprentice-brother Yuan, your longevity should already be nearly up?”
Elder Liu laughed, “While you are a Transcending Mortality Martial Grandmaster, your longevity is shorter than other Transcending Mortality Martial Grandmasters. How many years do you have left? Ten? If more than ten, what about twenty?”
Yuan Zhengfeng’s gaze did not sway whatsoever as he looked calmly at Elder Liu, saying candidly, “By my calculations, if I do not step into the Martial Saint realm, it should be about ten to fifteen years.”
Elder Liu had a slightly sorrowful look on his face, “Right, I only have around ten more years at most.”
“Bringing it up with senior apprentice-brother Wang a few years ago, he mentioned that he didn’t even have ten years left.”
“It is true that his cultivation base is higher than mine, but he is also much older than me, not having much time left now.”
Elder Liu looked at Yuan Zhengfeng, “Senior apprentice-brother Yuan, looking at yourself slowly walk to the end of your life like this-how do you feel?”
Yuan Zhengfeng asked mildly, “That’s your reason?”
Elder Liu said, “Asking me to face sabres and swords directly, engaging with other martial practitioners in battle, I wouldn’t shrink back in the least. Even if the enemy is stronger than me, however small the chance, I also have a chance against them. While defeating the strong as the weak is tough and rare, it is still something that does happen.”
“Before the final second, who the victory goes to is still an unknown!”
Elder Liu’s expression turned severe, “But now, my opponent is the heavens!”
“Having cultivated painstakingly for so long, I can clearly see that under normal circumstances, there is already no longer any hope of making any further breakthroughs in my cultivation base.”
“This battle of longevity against the heavens, I cannot win it. I have already lost, having no chances of victory whatsoever!”
Looking at Yuan Zhengfeng, Elder Liu laughed tragically, “Senior apprentice-brother Yuan, your old injuries make it such that you are not sufficiently confident in breaking through to the Martial Saint realm. Yet, it is because you are the current Chief as well as strongest expert of Broad Creed Mountain, with strong enemies abound in the outside world, that you do not dare to lightly take the risk. Because so long as you fail, the heavens of Broad Creed Mountain may collapse.”
“But at least you still have hope. You still can give it your all, having a chance of victory. Just like in a battle against powerful enemies, you could be killed, but you could also obtain victory.”
“What about me and senior apprentice-brother Wang? We can only silently wait to die!”
Elder Liu hissed, “Dying was originally not scary, but with no single bit of hope at all, seeing it drawing near bit by bit, yet whatever I do being helpless, what was originally not scary gradually turned into boundless fear, enveloping the heart.”
Yuan Zhengfeng looked straight at him, “Therefore, joining the Nine Underworlds solves your difficult problem?”
Elder Liu chuckled strangely, “Even Martial Saints have limited longevities, while the true Nine Underworld Evil Devils are existences that forever cannot be extinguished!”
Yan Di said mildly, “In the Earth Domain, I occasionally slew Nine Underworld Evil Devils that emerged.”
Elder Liu’s smile turned very mocking, “I do not know if what you killed were truly pure Nine Underworld Evil Devils, but if they really were those, do you think you truly killed them?”
“Even if they are killed, true Nine Underworld Evil Devils will also be reborn in the deepest depths of the Nine Underworlds, being inextinguishable existences.”
Pointing at his heart, Elder Liu smiled strangely, “As long as the stubbornness, evilness and desires of the human heart are not extinguished, devils will never die out. Not only humans, as long as there are lifeforms in this world who hold desires and stubbornness within their hearts, even if they are temporarily killed, devils will also be reborn.”
Having been listening silently by the side, not interrupting, Yan Zhaoge now suddenly laughed, “Then do you know that having been reborn, devils are actually equivalent to whole new existences? If you place your hopes in this, having gained eternity, do you think you would still be you?”
Glancing at Yan Zhaoge somewhat venomously, Elder Liu let out a cold snort, “You are not an Evil Devil, also never having been to the Nine Underworlds. What position are you in to speak of them?”
Yan Zhaoge spread out his hands, “Right, let’s first not speak of something so complicated. Let’s first talk about something simple and crude.”
“Elder Liu, since you know that devils are reborn upon death, you should also know that this does not apply for all devils. So-called true Nine Underworlds Evil Devils are related to their levels of strength.”
Looking at Elder Liu, Yan Zhaoge said neither hurriedly nor slowly, “With your current cultivation base, having fallen to the dark side, you would not reach the benchmark for being reborn.”
Flames of fury arose in Elder Liu’s eyes as he glared hatefully at Yan Zhaoge, his breathing rough, “Falling will give me a boost in strength, allowing me to break through that bottleneck that has long hindered me, my strength successfully increasing by another level, obtaining greater longevity, rising towards even higher levels!”
“Very quickly, I will gain the chance to attain eternal life, while all of you-even if you become Martial Saints, so what?”
Yan Zhaoge said mildly, “Oh, too bad then. Now, you no longer have a chance.”