Chapter 399 - 282: Qi Baiyu Falls to Demonhood, Gu Zhan Seeks to Kill Danyang
But, she knew very well,
that Qi Baiyu’s method would not work,
Fuling could not take her place,
and Qi Baiyu was just making a last-ditch effort, holding onto a sliver of hope.
In the end, Qi Baiyu would surely choose to resolve it himself, unwilling to harm her.
Since one of them must die,
how could she bring herself to let Qi Baiyu die?
Liu Baishi lay in Qi Baiyu’s arms, extremely weak, yet carried a faintly triumphant smile as she said, "In the end, I won, didn’t I? I realized we were in love before you did!
Qi Baiyu, I want to hear you say you love..."
She couldn’t finish her sentence,
Liu Baishi’s hand fell to the ground,
and she slowly closed her eyes.
Clusters of snow flew down, pouring down at that moment, enveloping the entire world, as if drowning memories of the past and concealing the traces of a journey walked in the rainy season.
Snowflakes fell upon Qi Baiyu,
upon Liu Baishi’s peaceful cheek.
Qi Baiyu held Liu Baishi tightly, choking up as he said, "I said it, I said it, Liu Baishi, listen to me, I said it, I love you, I loved you from the first moment I saw you at the Sword Trial Tournament, really, are you listening, Liu Baishi..."
Amid the swirling snow, with mountains and rivers silent,
Qi Baiyu, holding Liu Baishi’s body, slowly disappeared into the blizzard, heading toward the distance,
between heaven and earth, a surge of energy shot to the sky,
the flying snow solidified, the Primordial Qi was disturbed,
on this day,
Qi Baiyu became a Fallen Demon, and ascended to the First Realm,
standing as a Grandmaster!
...
...
Dragon King Mo Jingzhou passed away,
which was a significant event for the martial world of Yunzhou, even amid current undercurrents, it still caused quite a stir in the martial world.
After all, Mo Jingzhou was the greatest expert in Yunzhou at the time.
He faded away amidst a final grandeur,
for his life,
it was a perfect ending.
For Beidou Bang, his existence was an era, a belief.
With the news of Mo Jingzhou’s passing spreading,
even with Gu Zhan in charge, Beidou Bang experienced quite an upheaval.
The most noticeable change was after Mo Jingzhou was buried,
Gu Zhan became even busier,
previously, even with Mo Jingzhou not managing affairs, his mere presence allowed Gu Zhan to proceed step by step, but now with Mo Jingzhou gone, everything fell directly onto Gu Zhan’s shoulders.
As the saying goes, with each new emperor comes new courtiers,
such is the case with large factions, a new leader means a shift in power.
And Beidou Bang’s legacy issues were quite evident,
the Beidou Bang had exploded in size, bolstered solely by Mo Jingzhou’s strength, and now with his fall, a lack of foundation was starkly revealed.
The older generation was too old,
the middle generation was unfit for heavy responsibilities, and the younger generation was too immature to bear the burden.
All these problems fell to Gu Zhan.
Thus, he became very busy during this time,
on one hand, he had to settle the matters of the older generation, many chose to resign without waiting for Gu Zhan’s arrangements.
Gu Zhan could not persuade them as they had followed Mo Jingzhou for a lifetime, and his departure signified the end of their era,
bodies aged and hearts weary.
Meanwhile, Gu Zhan himself preferred to employ new talents,
his approach differed from Mo Jingzhou’s.
Mo Jingzhou had maintained the status quo for years, causing Beidou Bang to become bloated, but now that Gu Zhan was in charge, he had to address these issues, he couldn’t continue Mo Jingzhou’s method of guarding Canglan Dao, developing bit by bit.
Moreover, the current situation was entirely different.
Additionally,
the cooperation with the Astronomical Bureau had begun.
The Astronomical Bureau acted swiftly,
sending a large batch of Martial Arts Secret Manuals and dozens of renowned masters right after Mo Jingzhou’s funeral.
After verifying the quality of those Martial Arts Secret Manuals and masters, Gu Zhan immediately started selecting young disciples within Beidou Bang for systematic training, distributing those masters and Secret Manuals throughout Beidou Bang.
This decision caused quite a stir at the upper levels of Beidou Bang.
The masters were external support, that was expected,
but Gu Zhan not only opened up the Secret Manuals sent by the Astronomical Bureau, he also compiled and categorized Beidou Bang’s own collection of Secret Manuals for open access to Beidou Bang’s disciples.
This decision led more senior members of the leadership to decided to retire, as Gu Zhan’s approach genuinely contradicted their generation’s principles, though it stirred mixed emotions, not endorsing it yet admiring it.
Since ancient times,
Martial Arts Secret Manuals were a faction’s most vital legacy, disciples were fully vetted through various tests before gradually accessing advanced Secret Manuals, and top-notch Martial Arts Secret Manuals were valued even above life itself.
However, Gu Zhan decided to fully open them up, even though some restrictions were made, compared to before, the threshold was significantly lowered.
At the most basic level, each sub-branch,
previously the highest Secret Manuals available at sub-branches were Earth Tier Lower Grade, accessible only to a select few, but now, any sub-branch could apply to Canglan City’s headquarters, and the Squad Leader or four or more Hall Masters could apply for Earth Tier Upper Grade Secret Manuals, and once a Secret Manual reached a sub-branch, it could be freely handled by the sub-branch, requiring only a report.