The summit of Mount Wuliang, where the wind and clouds shifted color.
Innumerable thunderclaps and lightning strikes enveloped the Golden Crow Palace.
The guests attending the ceremony were all alarmed and rose from their seats to investigate.
Ling Ge and the other two recognized the approaching party by their imposing aura.
It was He Lianying, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Dao Sect, and also the master of their deceased friend, Qing Lan.
This was because only the Heavenly Dao Sect's Level Nine Wind and Thunder Technique could produce such a grand spectacle.
And within the entire Heavenly Dao Sect, only a select few could cultivate the Wind and Thunder Technique to Level Nine.
Aside from Qing Lan, who was already dead, it could only be his master, He Lianying.
The three knew clearly that Ji Shiyou was in Furong Town.
He had slain He Hua and the White Tiger Envoy. Given He Lianying's temperament,
He was here at the Golden Crow Palace to confront the Golden Crow Fairy and demand an explanation.
Today was a joyous occasion for the Golden Crow Fairy's family reunion, and it could not be disrupted.
The three were sworn friends with the Golden Crow Fairy, bound by life and death.
They would not stand idly by and remain uninvolved.
Although He Lianying was Qing Lan's master,
And held a higher generation than them, the three had never shown him respect.
Thus, after exchanging glances, they flashed towards the plaza in front of the Golden Crow Palace.
He Lianying could be said to be the most senior and oldest cultivator in the Moonflower Realm.
However, the immortal sects did not respect him.
Normally, it was only out of deference to the rules and his cultivation that they offered him superficial pleasantries;
Privately, they all referred to him as "the old immortal."
For a Sect Master to receive such a reputation was entirely his own doing.
He had taken over as Sect Master of the Heavenly Dao Sect three hundred years ago.
In the first hundred years of his leadership, he had accomplished many great deeds.
He subdued demons and pacified monsters, upholding justice, and was deeply loved by the cultivation world.
However, after a hundred years, as his disciple Qing Lan began to shine,
Everyone gradually noticed that He Lianying had changed.
He feared that Qing Lan's fame would overshadow his own and suppressed Qing Lan at every turn.
He became petty and vindictive.
Compared to the forthright and honorable Sect Master of the Heavenly Dao Sect he once was,
It was as if he had become a different person. Most disappointing of all was:
When the Heavenly Demon appeared three hundred years ago, subjugating ten thousand demons,
And establishing the Heavenly Demon Valley, which plagued the immortal sects.
All the immortal sects united to fight the Heavenly Demon.
He Lianying, however, had closed the gates of the Heavenly Dao Sect,
And forbade his disciples from descending the mountain, intent on preserving himself and staying out of the conflict.
He showed no regard for the suffering of the common people.
His actions earned him the condemnation of the disciples of the immortal sects.
If not for his disciple Qing Lan, who defied his orders and left the mountain,
And later became a key figure in the fight against the Heavenly Demon Valley,
Everyone would have suspected him of being in league with the Heavenly Demon.
Most infuriatingly, on the eve of the decisive battle between immortals and demons at Mount Tiandu,
He, under the guise of the Heavenly Dao Sect Master and Qing Lan's master, issued an order:
To recall Qing Lan to the Heavenly Dao Sect and forbid him from participating in the immortal-demon war.
If Qing Lan refused to return, he would be expelled from the sect and their master-disciple relationship severed.
Qing Lan did not obey his orders and return to the Heavenly Dao Sect.
Instead, he chose to perish with the Heavenly Demon atop Mount Tiandu.
Everyone believed that it was because He Lianying had expelled him from the sect,
That Qing Lan, disheartened, chose to end his own life.
Thus, everyone harbored ill feelings towards He Lianying and wished for his early demise.
Yet, contrary to their wishes, He Lianying grew more vigorous amidst their curses.
The cultivators of his generation had all passed away, but He Lianying remained as evergreen as a pine and cypress.
He was still vigorous in his old age, and in the past two hundred years,
He had taken on more than a dozen disciples after Qing Lan.
However, his disciples seemed cursed;
As soon as they graduated, they would meet with an untimely death, not a single one surviving.
Therefore, members of the immortal sects secretly called him "the old immortal,"
Meaning he was living off the blessings of future generations and hoping he would die soon,
So that he might leave some fortune for the descendants of the Heavenly Dao Sect.
But this was only a private moniker; they dared not say it to He Lianying's face.
For He Lianying possessed over three hundred years of cultivation,
And with the assistance of the Four Heavenly Dao Envoys, no one was confident of defeating him.
Moreover, during the Heavenly Demon's upheaval, because the sect gates were closed,
Only Qing Lan from the Heavenly Dao Sect descended the mountain.
Compared to other sects that lost their elites in the immortal-demon war,
The Heavenly Dao Sect had only Qing Lan perish, with no other casualties.
In terms of the sect's overall strength, the entire immortal realm had no equal.
However, they disdained his character, and when ranking the sects,
They deliberately placed the Heavenly Dao Sect at the very bottom of the five great sects,
While elevating the Sky Sound Sect, the second in overall strength, to the top position.
He Lianying, furious at this, smashed the Divine Mechanism Sect, which was responsible for the sect rankings.
This further cemented his reputation for pettiness.
Everyone wished even more fervently for his early death, so that he would stop disgusting the cultivation world.
Yet, heaven did not bend to their will. Amidst their curses,
He Lianying, over three hundred years old, experienced a late bloom,
Becoming a father in his old age to He Hua.
He Lianying then abandoned taking disciples, focusing all his efforts on grooming his late son
To be the successor of the Heavenly Dao Sect. Overriding all objections, he made He Hua the senior disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect.
However, due to excessive pampering, He Hua was raised into a wastrel.
He did not wish to participate in the treasure hunt at Sifang Mountain this time,
But he could not resist He Hua's pleas, so he sent the White Tiger Envoy to accompany and protect him.
As a result, He Hua's incorrigible nature led him to harass Mingyue.
He was incinerated to ashes by Ji Shiyou's Golden Crow Fire.
It also led to the death of the White Tiger Envoy. This was entirely his own fault.
At the time, many cultivators witnessed the conflict in the marketplace.
The Heavenly Dao Sect disciples who had accompanied He Hua, upon realizing that their young master and the White Tiger Envoy did not return,
And after a brief inquiry, learned of the entire incident.
They then rushed back to the Heavenly Dao Sect to report to the Sect Master.
He Lianying had placed all his hopes on He Hua.
Upon hearing that his beloved son had been slain by Ji Shiyou,
And that the White Tiger Envoy had also perished, He Lianying was consumed by rage.
At this moment, an invitation from the Golden Crow Fairy also reached the Heavenly Dao Sect.
Thus, He Lianying decided to use the gathering of immortal sect masters at the Golden Crow Palace
To avenge his son. He led the remaining three Four Symbols Envoys,
The Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, and arrived in a fury to seek retribution.
Before even approaching the Golden Crow Palace, while still in mid-air, he unleashed his Level Nine Wind and Thunder Technique,
Summoning heavenly lightning and fierce winds. On the plaza outside the Golden Crow Palace,
The disciples responsible for reception were caught off guard. They had not expected
That someone would dare to cause trouble at the Golden Crow Palace on a day when immortal sect masters were gathered,
And their cultivation was not high.
They were immediately struck by the wind and thunder, and the plaza was filled with cries of pain, littered with the injured.
"Sect Master He, have you no shame?
As a Sect Master, a man of hundreds of years,
You disregard your status and bully the young.
You strike at these young disciples, and have disgraced the reputation of cultivators.
Today is Jinwu's family reunion ceremony, and you dare to cause trouble.
Do not blame me for being impolite, I will give you a good lesson!"
Nong Qing, the Palace Mistress of Hundred Flowers Palace, though of lower generation than He Lianying,
Was more than two hundred years older than him.
Furthermore, she had long detested He Lianying's conduct.
Seeing the disciples of the Golden Crow Palace injured, she immediately rose into the air.
Her face contorted with anger, she pointed at He Lianying's nose and admonished him.
"Nong Qing, I am your peer in dealing with your master.
You dare to speak such insolent words before me, disregarding your generation.
Today, I am at the Golden Crow Palace to avenge my son.
It has nothing to do with you. If you continue to obstruct me,
This old man will not hesitate to teach you a lesson, and let you, a creature that violates the heavenly dao,
Understand the rules of being human, and even beat you back to your original form!"
He Lianying, clad in black, placed the peach wood sword in his hand behind his back.
His white hair fluttered with the aura emanating from his body, and he spoke menacingly.
The Heavenly Dao Sect was the orthodox sect of Xuanmen, believing that humans were the spirits of all things.
There was a distinction between humans and demons, and different races.
Any demon that could transform was considered a violation of the heavenly dao.
Thus, he looked at Nong Qing with disdain, his tone laced with contempt.
"Very well, today this Palace Mistress will give you a lesson.
Let you, old immortal, understand.
What it means for all beings to have spirits and for all to be equal."
Though Palace Mistress Nong Qing was delicate in appearance, she possessed a fiery temper.
Seeing He Lianying's contempt for her, she waved her hand, and a rain of flowers descended.
Transforming into a long sash of a hundred flowers, it flew towards He Lianying like a giant python.