Chapter 180 - 163: Broken Void and Broken Vajra

Chapter 180: Chapter 163: Broken Void and Broken Vajra

In the grave forest on the back mountain of Dao Yi Mountain, the autumn wind was desolate. Everything between heaven and earth seemed frozen within that empty coffin.

Wood splinters and dust flew through the air, yet the coffin was completely empty.

"Where is Master’s body..."

Song Yu, Yuu Miaolian, and Zhang Liting stared at this unbelievable scene, utterly devastated as if the sky had fallen.

Even Zhou Santong’s face was filled with shock and disbelief.

"It’s empty..."

Why was the coffin in the grave empty?

He, along with all the Dao Yi Mountain disciples and even Chen Sha, had clearly watched his senior brother Chen Canxuan be buried and laid to rest here with their own eyes. They had personally witnessed their respected Sect Leader Senior Brother being laid to rest in peace. Why, then, after this mysterious man in black dug up the coffin, was there no sleeping corpse inside?

Just what exactly was going on?!

Meanwhile, upon seeing the shattered, empty coffin, the Chess Master experienced a brief moment of shock before intense terror and suspicion surged in his heart.

If there was no one in the coffin, then where was the person?

He subconsciously scanned all directions around Dao Yi Mountain. Faintly, he felt as though the most majestic and indifferent pair of eyes in the world was watching him from some hidden, unknown place. A terrifying pressure instantly shrouded his mind.

"I cannot stay on Dao Yi Mountain any longer!" he thought.

After only a brief mental struggle, the Chess Master instantly made the most correct choice.

"There is a huge problem with Chen Canxuan!"

Filled with intense unease, he immediately flashed away, fiercely striking out a palm from where he stood.

BOOM!

The dust in the grave forest instantly churned violently. Swept up by this palm strike, it formed a sandstorm that blocked out the sky and the sun, obscuring everyone’s vision.

"He’s trying to escape!" Zhou Santong noticed the Chess Master’s movements at the very first moment and shouted loudly, "Don’t you dare leave!"

Although the Chess Master had opened the empty coffin right in front of them, the fact remained that the coffin was empty, making the man before them the biggest suspect.

WHOOSH!

Zhou Santong immediately charged into the cloud of dust, determined to make the Chess Master stay at any cost. Yuu Miaolian and the other two shared the exact same thought. Chen Sha’s three phantom incarnations simultaneously followed closely behind Zhou Santong, rushing into the dust cloud...

But just two breaths later.

BOOM!

The boundless dust cloud was completely scattered by a single punch, clearing the haze. However, the Chess Master was nowhere to be seen, leaving Zhou Santong and the Dao Yi Mountain disciples looking shocked and furious.

"He got away! Just who is this person!?"

Song Yu and the other two wore expressions of deep resentment. Staring at their Master’s opened tomb, they gritted their teeth. "To be able to suppress our junior master in Cultivation, and even withstand Junior Brother’s three incarnations... someone with such strength, yet wearing a mask, too afraid to show his face... Could it be either Yuan Ruhua or Wang Zaixiang!"

Zhou Santong, however, had already drawn some connections from the Chess Master’s methods. "Those chess pieces bear a striking resemblance to the ones held by that genius Swordsman who invaded Dao Yi Mountain back then. I once told Little Chen Sha about this. Now it seems this person must be connected to the former First-Grade Hall."

Yuu Miaolian chimed in, "First-Grade Hall. It is said that First-Grade Hall has now merged into the Demon Saint Sect. That means this person is also related to the Demon Saint Sect."

But Demon Saint Long Zaitian of the Demon Saint Sect had already been killed by their Sect Leader.

Zhou Santong suddenly remembered something. "Quick, follow me. Two of them came up the mountain earlier, and I seized the opportunity to knock one unconscious first. Perhaps we can interrogate him and get some answers."

He immediately left two people behind to hastily clean up and reorganize Chen Canxuan’s empty tomb. Zhou Santong took Yuu Miaolian and hurriedly sprinted a few miles away. However, when they arrived at the spot where Ma Rulong had been sent flying by a punch, they only found a pool of blood on the ground. Ma Rulong had vanished into thin air as well.

"It seems he came ahead of time to take him away. This person acts meticulously, and coupled with his profound Power, he is an extremely terrifying enemy." Zhou Santong said solemnly, "Hurry and inform Little Chen Sha about this. Tell him to return to the mountain."

The identity of the mysterious man was a minor issue. The fact that the corpse inside Sect Leader Senior Brother Chen Canxuan’s tomb had vanished, leaving behind an empty grave, was the biggest problem at hand.

Meanwhile, off the mountain.

When Ma Rulong woke up from his unconsciousness, he saw the scenery around him shifting rapidly. He was being carried by the back of his clothes by the man in black, the Chess Master, and they had already descended Dao Yi Mountain. He only had to look up and see that the Chess Master’s other hand was empty to guess the outcome. His expression changed drastically.

"Chess Master... did you not obtain Chen Canxuan’s Golden Body?!"

The Chess Master said calmly, "There is no Golden Body at all. I was wrong. Chen Canxuan... is highly likely still alive somewhere in this world. Hurry up and let’s go!"

He never expected his miscalculation to be this severe. When he saw the occurrence of "Broken" on Long Zaitian, his first thought had been to associate it with Chen Canxuan. He had mistakenly believed that Chen Canxuan, like Long Zaitian, had experienced a Broken spirit and left behind a Golden Body.

But now, there was no one in the grave. Judging from the expressions of the Dao Yi Mountain disciples, they were completely oblivious as well. That left only one explanation...

Chen Canxuan was secretly planning something unknown.

"I should have thought of this earlier," he thought, his mind racing. "Broken and Vajra are two completely different paths. With Chen Canxuan’s Heart Qi, how could he possibly choose a Broken spirit and abandon the most tyrannical Physique Cultivated through the Great Yellow Court! But how could Chen Canxuan have predicted the timing of the world’s revival and made preparations in advance? Could it be that he is also..."

Right at the same time the Chess Master’s actions and schemes failed on Dao Yi Mountain.

Tens of thousands of miles away, at the entrance of Pine Garden on Shaobai Mountain, Wang Zaixiang watched Chen Sha’s expression slightly change and then return to calm. He asked peacefully, "Your expression tensed and then relaxed. Is there something on your mind?"

Chen Sha snapped back to reality, glanced at Wang Zaixiang, and said, "I sensed some things. Fortunately, it was a false alarm."

He could feel it. Although the True Qi within those Cosmic Light Fragments had been mostly consumed, a tiny bit still remained. This meant that before the incarnations collapsed, whoever had attacked Dao Yi Mountain had either been killed or repelled. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the incarnations to have any power left. But regardless, Chen Sha had already made up his mind to return to the mountain as quickly as possible.

But before that, Chen Sha still had the most important questions to ask this Wang Zaixiang, the second best in the world, who claimed his relationship with Chen Sha’s father far exceeded his imagination.

Before Chen Sha could speak, Wang Zaixiang said, "I can see that you want to ask some things about your father. Why don’t you come inside for a cup of tea, and we can chat slowly."

Chen Sha pondered for a moment. Since the crisis on Dao Yi Mountain had already been resolved, there was no need to rush at this very moment. He nodded and walked into Wang Zaixiang’s residence, bringing the Demon Saint Golden Body with him.

Before long, he and Wang Zaixiang were seated inside the estate. Members of the Wang family served good tea and then voluntarily retreated from the drawing room. In the main hall, Long Zaitian’s Golden Body stood beside the two of them like a statue.

Wang Zaixiang couldn’t help but take a few extra glances at it, then sighed. "A Broken spirit... it actually exists. The deduction your father and I made back then has truly been achieved by someone."

Chen Sha’s eyebrows immediately twitched as he said, "What did you say, Senior? A Broken spirit... your and my father’s deduction? Could it be... the two of you had been discussing the path above the Great Innate Realm all along?"

Wang Zaixiang smiled slightly. "Your father was the world’s Venerable for some thirty years, and I have been the second best in the world for just as long. Yuan Ruhua is merely a latecomer. In the Martial Arts world of this realm, looking back over the past thirty years, who else besides me could have had a true exchange with your father?"

The number one person in the world, standing at the absolute peak of the Martial Arts Dao, was so exceptionally aloof and lonely. The only one capable of conversing with him was the second best, who was relatively closest to his level.

Chen Sha’s eyes flashed. "I didn’t expect the relationship between you and my father to be so deep."

In Jin Country, he was below one person and above ten thousand, advising the Emperor and managing the nation’s harmony. In the Martial Arts world, the only one capable of conversing with the Martial Arts Venerable—a figure comparable to a Dynasty’s Emperor—was him.

Prime Minister Wang, Wang Zaixiang—indeed, a perfectly fitting name.

But Chen Sha only wanted to know more inside details about his father’s exchanges with this man.

With a warm light in his eyes, Wang Zaixiang said, "My friendship with your father goes back to the year he came all the way to Jin Country to find me. By now, everyone in the world knows about this; it is no secret. However, no one knows what we actually talked about when he came to see me."

Chen Sha nodded. After the event, the world only knew that Wang Zaixiang had escorted his father out of the city gates. Following that, Wang Zaixiang publicly admitted that he would never surpass Chen Canxuan in his lifetime, willingly accepting the position of number two in the world.

"Back then, when your father came to find me, he had already reached the Mastery of Creation," Wang Zaixiang continued. "His Cultivation of the Great Yellow Court had reached Perfection, and his Twenty-four Gods had reached Great Success. Under such circumstances, he didn’t seek me out for a martial contest, because he was already invincible in the world. So, what do you guess his purpose was?"

Thinking of what Wang Zaixiang had just said, Chen Sha replied, "For the path ahead?" After speaking, he fell into deep thought again.

But why seek out Wang Zaixiang? Suddenly, a flash of insight crossed Chen Sha’s mind. He looked at Wang Zaixiang and said, "I understand now. What you Cultivate... is not Martial Arts. That must have greatly surprised my father. For someone who doesn’t practice Martial Arts to possess such ability... he was highly curious about your path of Cultivation."

The reason he thought this was because Chen Sha himself was now equally curious about Wang Zaixiang’s path of Cultivation, allowing him to grasp some of his old man’s thoughts from back then.

Wang Zaixiang said peacefully, "Correct. Precisely because what I Cultivate is not Martial Arts, but the path of reading books and nurturing Qi, yet I was still able to Cultivate quite formidable abilities. This path is completely different from Martial Arts. I have never tempered my Physique, but when it comes to the abundance of Qi, no one in the world has more abundant Qi than this old scholar."

He looked at Chen Sha and smiled faintly. "Would you agree with this point?"

Looking at the other party, Chen Sha had already noticed this when Wang Zaixiang helped him suppress Pang Saint just now. Although he currently possessed nearly three hundred years’ worth of Power, he still faintly felt that his Power paled in comparison to this old lord if the man were to go all out.

Which meant... this old reading man was truly the person with the most vigorous Qi Power in the world.

"Just what exactly is the path of Cultivation you practice, Senior?" Chen Sha asked solemnly. He already had a guess in his heart—it might be related to the Confucian Sect of the Ninth Tribulation—but he still needed Wang Zaixiang to tell him personally.

Wang Zaixiang replied, "When I was young, I loved reading all kinds of ancient books. The more obscure and unorthodox they were, the more I liked them. I believe it was when I was thirteen that I accidentally stumbled upon a book titled Yangru’s Notes. At first, I simply treated it as a miscellaneous book and casually flipped through it. Yet, unexpectedly, once I started reading, I went three days and three nights without food or water. My spirit was entirely immersed in the world of the book. In a daze, I could converse and exchange ideas with the author..."

Chen Sha said in surprise, "To be so completely immersed at the age of thirteen."

Wang Zaixiang shook his head, however, and said, "It was not because of my talent, but because of the book itself. That book inherently contained a legacy of spirit and thought."

Chen Sha was amazed. "Such a thing exists?"

Spirit and thought inside a book?

"The author of the book must have perished from the world long, long ago, but he left behind far too many spiritual traces within its pages. When I was young, I didn’t understand the profound meaning, but as I grew older, I finally understood the sayings ’In books, one finds a thousand measures of grain’ and ’Even though the body dies, one’s name can go down in history.’ Though a person may die, the spirit within their writings can remain immortal and benefit future generations. Such was the Realm of the person who wrote that book.

"My path completely stems from the spiritual resonance I shared with that ancient sage in the book. By experiencing his spiritual thoughts at the time he wrote it, I naturally began nurturing my Qi from nothing to something. ’Striving to emulate the wise’ is roughly what this entails."

Chen Sha somewhat understood now. This was absolutely the Cultivation path of the Confucian Sect. He then asked, "So, after my father came, what did the two of you discuss?"

Wang Zaixiang answered, "When your father arrived, I didn’t hide any of what I just told you from him. I even let him read the ancient tome that made me who I am. Yet, unexpectedly, just from reading it, he managed to see a path."

Chen Sha immediately asked, "What path?"

"To be precise, it was two paths," Wang Zaixiang replied. "One was the path of a Broken spirit, much like the immortal spirit in the book. The other was... a Broken physical body.

"He called the Broken spirit the ’Broken Void,’ and the Broken physical body the ’Broken Vajra.’"