“What?!” Yang Hao was shocked beyond measure. “You can’t do anything? Then why did you say you could just now? You’re telling me you’re helpless only now?”
“In a situation like that, how could we admit defeat?” Hun Yuanzi argued vehemently. “Didn’t you notice how the Empress’s eyes changed when you insisted we could do it? She scolded our entire sect just now. How could we let her look down on us? Of course, we had to lie to save face.”
“Damn it!” Yang Hao was so angry his stomach cramped. “Why don’t you go die? At a time like this, you still care about saving face? Do you realize we could die at any moment?” Yang Hao clearly remembered that when the Empress had seen him off, her eyes had only held pity and regret. She had clearly seen him as a man heading to his death. Where was the face to save?
“Oh, my disciple, my disciple,” Hun Yuanzi continued to nag, “today I’ve given you a valuable lesson. You must learn that no matter what, you must protect the reputation of our sect. Even if it means lying, you must do it. As the saying goes, great men don’t get bogged down by minor details… What are you doing? Hey, disciple, what are you up to?”
While Hun Yuanzi was still croaking like a frog, Yang Hao had already swiftly unbuckled his belt. With a quick motion, he tied a noose in a branch, forming a loop with the belt, and gave it a few tugs, clearly satisfied with his handiwork.
“What are you doing? Even if you want to change your belt, this isn’t the time. We should escape immediately. The universe is vast, and our journey is long,” Hun Yuanzi was practically planning Yang Hao’s future romantic adventures already.
But Yang Hao was in no mood. His face was icy cold. “I don’t want to escape, nor am I changing belts. I’m just preparing to commit suicide. Although hanging might leave an ugly corpse, at least it’s less painful than slitting my wrists.”
“Are you insane?” Hun Yuanzi was horrified. “Are you trying to die? Why on earth would you commit suicide? Have you lived long enough?”
“You bastard!” Yang Hao was furious too. “Don’t you realize what time it is? I’ve been falsely accused of killing Emperor Danzhen! The Emperor of Raymon Star! I’m innocent! You and that woman both tell me to run away. If I run, won’t I really become the murderer? Should I escape carrying this false accusation? What about my family? What about my friends and women? You only care about the sect. Now the sect is being framed and sabotaged, and you still want me to run away? You bastard, no wonder the Dan Ding Sect is going to be destroyed under your leadership.”
“Calm down! Calm down!” Hun Yuanzi shouted.
“If you mention escape one more time, I’ll hang myself right now and let the entire sect die here. What Dan Ding Sect? It’ll disappear into the universe like a fart.”
Yang Hao was truly furious today. He had placed all his hopes on Hun Yuanzi, but this old fool had treated it so lightly. Now Yang Hao felt that what he was carrying wasn’t just his own fate or the sect’s reputation. More importantly, there were many people who depended on him.
So he absolutely couldn’t leave. He had to fight.
“You don’t want to leave, huh? You want to stay and protect the sect’s reputation?” Hun Yuanzi was also full of anger. Although his appearance couldn’t be seen, one could imagine his beard bristling with rage. “So you’re determined to fight your way into the Emperor’s palace today?”
Yang Hao sensed a slight softening in Hun Yuanzi’s tone and couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope. “You have a way? Do you really have a way?”
“You’re asking me if I have a way?” Hun Yuanzi was almost exploding. “Of course I do. Let me tell you, if your cultivation weren’t so inadequate, not only the palace, but any corner of the universe would be instantly accessible to you.”
“Blah blah, then why don’t you say I can do whatever I want after becoming an immortal? I’m asking about now. Could you be a bit more realistic?”
“That woman is hiding below right now, but there’s a hundred meters of granite between us. Do you have a way to get me down there? I must do this.”
“Of course,” Hun Yuanzi replied decisively. “As long as you’re willing, I naturally have a way. However…”
“Don’t ‘however’ me!” As soon as Yang Hao heard that it was possible, he was too eager to think of anything else. “How? Tell me quickly!”
“Bore through it,” Hun Yuanzi said. “Granite isn’t invincible. If you just bore through it, you’ll soon get through.”
“Bore?” Yang Hao felt a surge of anger again. “With what? Are you telling me to bore through a hundred meters of rock with my bare hands?”
“With your flying swords,” Hun Yuanzi replied. “Although the Dan Ding Sect primarily focuses on consuming pills, the use of flying swords is also one of our sect’s specialties. You can now control your swords preliminarily, and with them, you can bore through granite. After all, your swords are top-notch treasures.”
“But I don’t have that kind of speed. A good drill bit rotates thousands of times per second. I can’t possibly spin that fast, not even if I use both hands and feet.” Yang Hao had five short flying swords hidden on his body and a long sword on his back capable of releasing laser-like beams, but he felt these were all just decorations. He had treasures but didn’t know how to use them.
“With your mind! Your mind!” Hun Yuanzi shouted in frustration, as if scolding an unteachable fool. “You always think of swords as something you swing with your body. Of course, the human body has limits and can’t be that fast. But your mind doesn’t. Don’t you understand? Your thoughts, your consciousness, have no speed limit. They can be infinitely fast.”
“You want me to control the flying swords to infinite speed?”
“That’s the secret of flying swords,” Hun Yuanzi said. “All sword techniques and moves are just showy stuff. If you can achieve true speed, you’ll be invincible. As the saying goes, any martial art can be defeated, but none can defeat true speed. Although you can’t achieve absolute speed right now, at the very least, you can bore through rocks. If you can’t even do that, then forget about seeking the truth and just run away with me quickly.”
Yang Hao took a deep breath. He didn’t bother to speak anymore. He simply found a relatively open space, focused his mind, and the five flying swords immediately shot out from his clothes, automatically arranging themselves in a circle like gears, drilling into the ground.
Although Yang Hao had used these five flying swords for quite some time, he had only unlocked the attributes of two of them—Frost Blade and Flame Sword. The other three were still used like ordinary swords. In terms of cultivation, Yang Hao actually had some talent. Although the swords initially drilled slowly, gradually, Yang Hao began to understand how to liberate his consciousness. Previously, he had controlled the swords with his body, but now, after Hun Yuanzi’s guidance, he suddenly realized that consciousness had no limits—it transcended the constraints of the physical body.
The swords spun faster and faster, like the world’s best drill bits, slicing through granite like tofu. Yang Hao hardly needed to look at the swords anymore; his entire focus was on them. At this moment, he was the swords.
“Jump!” Hun Yuanzi seized the moment and shouted.
Without hesitation, Yang Hao jumped into the hole.
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