Chapter 589 - 383: The Fifth Lifetime in the Mortal World! A Modern-Era Elder in Zhongshan Suit?

Chapter 589: Chapter 383: The Fifth Lifetime in the Mortal World! A Modern-Era Elder in Zhongshan Suit?

The night wind whined, and the inner courtyard of the Dongchang was utterly silent.

"Hmm?"

Lu Xuan, who had been immersed in refining a potent medicinal herb, suddenly stopped his actions.

He slowly raised his eyes, looking towards the door.

In the halo of the lanterns on both sides, a shadow stood still like a sculpture.

The two red lanterns hanging under the eaves swayed slightly in the wind.

The candlelight cast the fiery red halo through the white gauze above the door, spilling it on the floor of the room.

Swish!

A streak of blue light suddenly tore through the night!

The blue sword gleam was so fast it surpassed human vision, leaving only a thin, paper-like trace of light on the retina.

The door silently slid down, the cut smooth as a mirror, without a single grain of wood splintered.

Shen Wanbao stepped in under the bright moonlight, and when his boot sole crushed the threshold, the lanterns suddenly dimmed for a moment.

By the time the flames relit, this Jinyi Guard Commander Envoy was already standing inside the room.

The hem of his flying fish robe still swayed slightly, yet he stood as if cast in iron.

"Mr. Lu... it’s time for you to depart..." Shen Wanbao’s voice was exceptionally clear in the deathly still room.

He stared directly at Lu Xuan, his gaze like a knife, cold without a trace of fluctuation, as if the person before him was already a corpse.

"Surely, on that road to the Yellow Springs, my beloved disciple Yuan Qian has been waiting for you for a long time."

Every word Shen Wanbao uttered seemed squeezed from between his teeth, carrying an unbearably biting chill.

Whether it was to avenge his disciple Yuan Qian or to obey the emperor’s command.

Tonight, the Dongchang Grandmaster, Lu Xuan, must die.

Shen Wanbao stood straight as a sword, his right hand slowly pressing on the hilt at his waist.

Between his fingertips and the sword guard, a faint, ethereal blue gleam lingered.

"Zheng!!!" The sword had not yet been unsheathed, but a dragon’s roar was heard first.

The flames within a radius of thirty feet around Shen Wanbao suddenly lowered, as if intimidated by an invisible Sword Qi.

In his eyes, the flames flickered, yet there was not a hint of warmth.

Lu Xuan still sat cross-legged on the practice platform, only his brow tightly locked.

Four hours ago, Cao Er led the elite force of the Dongchang to the palace to receive the decree.

The result was unexpected.

Cao Er and his men vanished without a trace, replaced by Shen Wanbao, the Jinyi Guard Commander Envoy, launching a surprise attack in the dead of night.

Lu Xuan suddenly realized he had miscalculated; he had too much faith in the human instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm.

He thought that the old emperor Qian Dongji, at least, would worry about maintaining the balance of the court and temporarily keep the Dongchang as a tool.

Unexpectedly, the aging dragon was willing to sever his own claws and fangs to get rid of the Dongchang personally.

Of course, the survival of the Dongchang was never Lu Xuan’s concern.

In his eyes, the so-called Dongchang was merely a pawn in his hands.

As long as they could be driven to achieve his purpose, whether they were the court’s hounds or a bloodthirsty cave of demons, it was all the same to him.

Lu Xuan never craved so-called power; rather, he wanted pieces that absolutely obeyed his orders.

As long as it helped him quickly transcend this mundane world, that was the best result.

However, these continuous obstructions were wearing down Lu Xuan’s patience.

Enough, the time was ripe. Even the throne should have a change of owner.

The Great Yu Country needed someone who could control the situation, an emperor who would bow to Lu Xuan.

In the blink of an eye, the world suddenly changed.

The entire wing room erupted in a blinding blue light, countless strands of Sword Qi tore apart the night like a split silk cloth.

Each blue sword scar was as solid as reality, refracting dazzling starlight under the moon, illuminating the sky above the Dongchang as if it were day.

Shen Wanbao’s True Qi erupted completely, the aura of the Grandmaster surged straight into the sky, stirring the clouds above the Dongchang.

The beams, doors, and tiles of the wing room disintegrated silently in the blue sword aura, turning into a rain of wooden debris.

Yet before these fragments hit the ground, they were frozen in mid-air by an extreme cold rushing in—

Crack!

A cutting chill swept through, and all the suspended debris instantly froze.

The moonlight penetrated these ice crystals, casting a myriad of sword shadows on the ground.

And in the center of this crystalline scene of destruction, Lu Xuan finally rose slowly, the black python robe on him unknowingly covered in frost patterns.

Heaven and earth suddenly fell silent.

The wooden pieces sliced by the sword aura remained suspended, each wrapped in a crystal ice shell.

The green sword aura maintained its heaven-sundering posture, yet was forcibly frozen within the ice.

"Ka...ka-cha..." The subtle sound of cracking ice was especially clear in the night.

At this moment, Shen Wanbao suddenly realized in horror that his sword aura could no longer advance an inch.

Not only was the blue sword aura frozen, even the air within a thirty-foot radius around him turned into solid ice crystals.

The most terrifying thing was, Shen Wanbao clearly saw a falling bamboo leaf stop in front of him.

The dewdrop gathered from the moisture of the air at the leaf tip still poised to fall.

The world lost its color, everything froze, as if even time lost its meaning. ℴ

Lu Xuan walked on the frozen sword aura, the crisp sound of his boots touching the ice became the only sound in this motionless world.

Shen Wanbao’s last conscious thought was in this crystalline ice-blue world before him.

His pupils still constricted in shock, through the thick ice, he saw Lu Xuan’s transcendent face.

In the instant before Shen Wanbao’s consciousness faded, countless questions flashed like a revolving lantern.

Why did the Dongchang Grandmaster Lu Xuan possess such unfathomable power?

Could this... truly be a realm attainable by mortals?

"Could it be that he is..."

This thought had not yet fully formed in Shen Wanbao’s mind when his consciousness plunged into eternal night.