Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 162

Chapter 162: Entering the Formation

Elder Bai sneered coldly, “Does the Sect Master intend for my Wuqing Dao Gong’s Dao-proving formation to be exposed to the prying eyes of so many outsiders?”

It was only after Elder Bai said this that the Sect Master remembered: to kill one’s wife to prove the Dao, the Dao-proving formation had to be set up first. It had been so many years since this formation was last used that he had practically forgotten about it entirely.

“This… Where do you suggest setting up the formation?” the Sect Master asked.

“The Wuqing Dao Gong, naturally!” Elder Bai declared fiercely.

The Sect Master hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Very well, we will do as you say.”

Rong Xie returned to the Wuqing Dao Gong once again.

He hadn’t expected to be back so soon, though this time, an immense, imposing crowd returned with him.

Elder Bai, Lu Yingqi, and Xiao Zhi aside, the Sect Master of Xuantian Zong, all the Elders, Shang Qian, and a massive throng of cultivators followed close behind, instantly packing the open square in front of the Dao Gong completely full.

Elder Bai told them to wait outside and only called Rong Xie, the guide, and a few other trusted disciples inside to set up the formation together.

Among them, only Rong Xie knew that they were actually setting up two formations: the Dao-proving formation, and the Spirit-Locking formation.

The Spirit-Locking formation could anchor the soul, preventing the newly deceased ghost from dissipating. This way, the person sacrificed to prove the Dao could still return.

Rong Xie helped Elder Bai set up the Spirit-Locking formation, secretly memorizing the steps in his heart. Who knew, he might need to use it himself someday.

An hour later, the formations were complete. Everyone was somewhat low on spiritual energy, their complexions not looking entirely great.

Elder Bai stood up and let out a long breath. “It’s done!”

His expression solemn, he looked at Rong Xie and praised, “Rong Xie, thank you for your help this time. Although your cultivation is meager, your memory is excellent, and your technique in drawing the formation was incredibly proficient. It truly is a pity. If you had joined our Xuantian Zong’s Wuqing Dao Gong, you wouldn’t be limited to your current achievements.”

Rong Xie smiled. “Elder Bai flatters me.”

Pausing for a moment, he added, “If Elder Bai truly wishes to thank me, please introduce me to Elder Hong.”

“You,” Elder Bai choked, “Why are you still so stubborn?”

Rong Xie gazed at Elder Bai with persistence.

“Fine. If this succeeds, I can tell you Junior Brother Hong’s whereabouts. However, a formal introduction is out of the question, unless you want to forge a blood feud with him the moment you meet,” Elder Bai sneered.

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Rong Xie nodded. “Whether it’s news or a path to meet Elder Hong, as long as you can help me see him in person, I will keep it in my heart.”

With the formation fully prepared, the main doors of the Dao Gong opened. The Sect Master and the Elders walked in first, followed by Lu Yingqi and Xiao Zhi. Shang Qian trailed closely behind with his massive crowd of cultivators.

“Elder Bai, can we begin now?” asked the Elder in charge of Penal Law.

Elder Bai snorted. He raised a hand, and upon the previously empty ground, clusters of light spots appeared. They spun and dispersed, revealing a complex, intricate formation flowing with abundant spiritual energy.

Rong Xie felt a heavy weight pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe. He looked at Lu Yingqi and Xiao Zhi. They stood at the edge of the formation. Behind them was the massive, suffocating horde of Xuantian Zong cultivators. There was no retreating; they could only move forward.

Lu Yingqi turned his head to look at Xiao Zhi, and Xiao Zhi looked back at him. Xiao Zhi gently shook his head, while Lu Yingqi gazed at him with a comforting look.

Just then, Shang Qian, who was behind them, approached Lu Yingqi, whispered something to him, and then let out a gleeful, mocking laugh.

Lu Yingqi’s face remained completely devoid of emotion, but Xiao Zhi seemed provoked. He spun around, a burst of red light blooming from his palm and striking straight toward Shang Qian’s face.

Caught entirely off guard, Shang Qian took the hit head-on. However, he didn’t panic.

After all, Xiao Zhi was merely a lowly attendant. How powerful could his attack possibly be? Shang Qian was a recognized adjudicator of the Mirror Palace; his protective spiritual energy’s automatic rebound would be more than enough to make Xiao Zhi suffer.

Seeing the red light hurtling toward his face, Shang Qian even raised his eyebrows slightly, a smile playing on his lips as he prepared to watch a good show.

Bang!

The red light smashed viciously into Shang Qian’s face. Shang Qian let out a bloodcurdling scream, was sent flying backward, and landed flat on his back. For a long time, he didn’t move an inch.

Deathly silence fell.

It happened so suddenly that none of the cultivators had time to react.

The first to snap back to his senses was the Sect Master. Surprised and enraged, he hurled an incredibly overbearing spell toward Xiao Zhi.

The Sect Master possessed the strength of the Soul Split stage. If this strike landed, Xiao Zhi’s soul would undoubtedly be shattered into oblivion.

As the golden light roared forward, a streak of silver abruptly rose to meet it. It was a slender, narrow blade, yet it steadily blocked the Sect Master’s attack, locking the two forces in a stalemate mid-air.

The crowd watched in utter shock. It was Lu Yingqi.

Lu Yingqi had actually drawn his sword to block the Sect Master’s spell!

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Lu Yingqi was clearly only at the late Nascent Soul stage, yet he could casually block the Sect Master’s attack. The higher one’s cultivation, the more monumental the gap between stages. The fact that Lu Yingqi could hold his ground against the Sect Master could only mean one thing: his strength far exceeded that of an ordinary late Nascent Soul cultivator.

It was true that Wuqing Dao cultivators were inherently stronger than others, and with the added boost of being a sword cultivator, it wasn’t surprising that Lu Yingqi was stronger than his peers of the same level.

But no one had expected him to be this powerful!

To clash evenly with the Sect Master! It was terrifying to consider whether anyone present could actually stop him if he decided to fight with everything he had.

As for Shang Qian, no one was paying him any attention anymore.

“Sect Master, what are you doing?” Elder Bai questioned furiously.

The Sect Master’s face was dark. He shifted his gaze from Lu Yingqi to Xiao Zhi. “What spell did he just use that could actually shatter the protective spiritual energy of a Golden Core cultivator?”

Only then did the crowd, whose attention had been solely focused on the sword strike Lu Yingqi used to block the Sect Master, snap back to reality and recall Xiao Zhi’s attack on Shang Qian.

Indeed, it didn’t make sense. Say what you will, Shang Qian was a late Golden Core cultivator and a personally appointed adjudicator of the Mirror Palace. How could he be defeated so casually by a lowly attendant?

Everyone’s attention focused on Xiao Zhi once again.

Right at that moment, Shang Qian was helped up. His nose was smashed crooked, his teeth were knocked out, and one of his eyes was a terrifying, blood-red mess. Xiao Zhi’s attack had landed entirely on his vitals.

Two medical cultivators frantically cast spells on Shang Qian’s face, barely managing to save his eyesight.

Frantic with rage, Shang Qian pointed at Xiao Zhi, his words slurring through his missing teeth as he roared: “Witchcraft! It’s witchcraft!”

Xiao Zhi himself seemed stunned, as if he hadn’t expected his casual strike to actually heavily injure Shang Qian. He took a step back, wanting to hide behind Lu Yingqi.

However, Lu Yingqi didn’t offer him shelter as he usually did. Instead, he stared deeply at Xiao Zhi.

Xiao Zhi silently hid his hands behind his back and averted his gaze.

At this time, the cultivators aligned with Shang Qian surged forward, drawing various magical artifacts to encircle and attack Xiao Zhi.

Rong Xie simply couldn’t watch this any longer. “Elder Bai, are you planning to let your beloved disciple prove his Dao or not?!”

Elder Bai hesitated. “But that attendant…”

“Forget about where his spell came from for now! If he’s captured by outsiders right now, it will only give them another piece of leverage against you!” Rong Xie reminded him.

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Elder Bai came to his senses. “Exactly! The most important thing right now is for Yingqi to prove his Dao!”

With that, he soared into the air. With a single flick of his sleeve, he dispersed the encirclement of Shang Qian’s underlings, landing firmly in front of Xiao Zhi and Lu Yingqi.

Elder Bai swiftly stabilized the situation. Even though Shang Qian was howling for an explanation, Elder Bai brushed him off using the excuse of “prioritizing the big picture.”

“Sect Master, the Dao-proving formation is ready. Can we begin now?” Elder Bai asked aggressively, acting as if the Wuqing Dao Gong wasn’t the party on the defensive here.

Elder Bai threw the exact same words back at the Sect Master and Shang Qian. The Sect Master was rendered speechless. After a moment, he waved his hand, signaling Elder Bai to commence.

Under Elder Bai’s propulsion, the formation flared with brilliance and began to turn.

The glow of the formation illuminated the faces of Lu Yingqi and Xiao Zhi.

Lu Yingqi stepped forward first, walking steadily into the formation.

Even at this very moment, his expression remained utterly placid, as if what was about to happen was as mundane as eating or drinking.

Standing directly opposite Lu Yingqi, Rong Xie took in his entire expression. For a moment, he didn’t know whether he should admire Lu Yingqi’s profound state of enlightenment, or grieve for Xiao Zhi.

Xiao Zhi stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at Lu Yingqi’s back.

“Monster! He is absolutely a monster!”

Behind him, Shang Qian struggled and roared while enduring agonizing medical treatment.

“I can feel it! He’s a monster! He reeks of demonic aura!”

“Do not activate the formation!”

“They’re trying to let him escape!”

Shang Qian’s roars grew louder and more piercing by the second. Amidst his hollering, the surrounding people also began to show looks of suspicion. They shot glares at Xiao Zhi that were sharp as arrows, as if trying to pierce through him to see whether his true form was human or monster.

“Quick, enter the formation!” Elder Bai urged anxiously upon seeing the Sect Master looking hesitant once again.

As the chaotic noise flooded his ears, Xiao Zhi closed his eyes.

There was no retreat behind him, and an abyss lay ahead.

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The scene of the first time he saw Young Master Qi surfaced in his mind.

It was probably earlier than Young Master Qi even knew; he had been secretly watching him even before becoming his attendant.

How wonderful it would be if I could become Young Master Qi’s attendant, he had thought back then.

And then, his dream had come true. From then on, every single day felt like a dream.

The dream was so beautiful that he didn’t want to wake up. No matter what method it took, as long as it could make the dream continue, he was willing to try it.

Even if the consequence of being discovered meant eternal damnation.

But dreams eventually end.

Xiao Zhi opened his eyes. It seemed his tears had finally run dry.

He gazed at the familiar back in front of him. The time to wake from the dream had finally come.

A voice, one only he could hear, laughed mockingly by his ear.

“You didn’t actually think he could protect you forever, did you?”

“Too naive, Xiao Zhi. Nobody can protect anyone forever. He protected you only because it hadn’t encroached upon his own core interests.”

“Stop talking,” Xiao Zhi murmured.

“Heh, at death’s door, and you’re still defending him?” The voice carried a tinge of jealousy. “What’s so great about a hypocrite like him?”

“He’s not a hypocrite. He just… has his Dao,” Xiao Zhi said, looking at Lu Yingqi.

The voice wanted to say more, but within the formation ahead, Lu Yingqi had come to a halt. He turned back, his gaze carrying a rare trace of worry as he looked at Xiao Zhi.

The surrounding air grew quiet. Xiao Zhi lifted his foot and stepped into the formation, walking step by step toward his Young Master Qi.

If this was the end, at least it would be by Young Master Qi’s hand. Perhaps, one day, when Young Master Qi ascended and became an immortal, he might occasionally think of him in that distant Heavenly Realm—think of the attendant who had walked with him for a time, before disappearing completely without a trace.