38: Fifth disciple – Gu Qiuyue

Zhao Gang had been sitting stiffly for three whole hours in a side hall of the Master-Seeking Alliance.

His Jin Yang Sect, though not a top-tier Sect, could at least be considered second-rate.

Yet, in this Tongtian Treasure Pavilion, it seemed utterly insignificant.

There were no maidservants offering tea, no stewards inquiring; he was like the most humble prisoner, awaiting his final judgment.

He dared not show the slightest impatience or anger.

In this Empire built on money and information, his cultivation and status were simply not enough to matter.

The Master-Seeking Alliance's Alliance Leader, the mysterious woman rumored to control the continent's economic lifelines, would decide whether to see him purely based on her mood.

Just as his mind was in torment, a clear, melodious jingle of countless Spirit Stones colliding, sounded from far to near.

The large door of the side hall, carved from a single piece of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual wood, silently slid open to both sides.

A figure, surrounded by dozens of maidservants, all of whom were at the Body Integration Stage or above, slowly entered.

Zhao Gang abruptly looked up, and the moment he saw who it was, his breathing involuntarily hitched.

It was a woman in a golden long dress.

The dress was simple in style, without intricate patterns, but the fabric itself shimmered with a soft luster, indicating its immense value at a glance.

Her appearance was perfect; her long hair was neatly tied back with a simple jade hairpin, not a single strand out of place.

Most striking were her eyes: pupils as black as ink, yet with flecks of golden light deep within, calm and sharp, as if capable of discerning the value and secrets of all things in the world.

She possessed neither Mu Qingxue's chill nor Luo Ximei's allure, but rather an absolute calm and sense of control, as if the entire world in her eyes was merely a business deal to be calculated.

She was Su Lin's Sixth Disciple, the supreme ruler of the Master-Seeking Alliance—Gu Qiuyue.

"Jin Yang Sect Revered Master, Zhao Gang?"

Gu Qiuyue slowly took her seat at the head of the table and spoke indifferently.

"To see this Revered Master, you sold off thirty percent of your Sect's assets and mortgaged a hundred years of future mine revenue, just to earn these three hours of waiting.

Speak, your time is precious."

Before her, Zhao Gang felt his Late Stage Body Integration cultivation was like a joke. He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart, stood up, bowed deeply, and said in a hoarse voice, "I seek the Alliance Leader for only one matter! I beg the Alliance Leader to tell me, who exactly is the culprit who killed my son!"

"Your son, Zhao Tianyu,"

Gu Qiuyue picked up the spiritual tea offered by a maidservant, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, her tone as flat as if stating a trivial fact.

"Died outside the Fallen Immortal Ravine, killed by two women, the main culprits named Mu Qingxue and Luo Ximei.

Their Revered Master is named Su Lin."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Gang trembled violently, his eyes erupting with monstrous hatred!

He hadn't expected the other party to reveal everything he wanted to know so easily!

"Thank you, Alliance Leader, for informing me!"

He bowed again, gritting his teeth as he said, "I also ask the Alliance Leader to inform me of the whereabouts of these three people! No matter the cost, my Jin Yang Sect is willing to pay!"

However, Gu Qiuyue put down her teacup, and her golden eyes finally looked directly at him, with a hint of faint mockery in her gaze.

"Cost? It's not that much trouble."

"I'll just send your entire Sect, from top to bottom, to join your son."

As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the entire side hall seemed to solidify instantly!

Zhao Gang's indignation and anticipation instantly froze, replaced by bewilderment and absurdity.

He even thought he had misheard.

"Alliance... Alliance Leader?" He looked at Gu Qiuyue in disbelief, "You... what do you mean by this?"

"Literally." Gu Qiuyue picked up her teacup and took another sip.

Zhao Gang's face instantly turned a livid shade!

He could no longer maintain his composure, and a terrifying pressure from his Late Stage Body Integration cultivation erupted from his body, causing the entire side hall to tremble!

"Gu Qiuyue!"

He roared, calling her by her name,

"I respected you as the Master-Seeking Alliance's Leader, which is why I condescended to come here! How dare you humiliate me like this!

Do you really think my Jin Yang Sect is a soft persimmon to be kneaded by anyone?!"

"Humiliate you?" She gently shook her head, "Zhao Gang, you seem to have misunderstood something.

The moment you decided to go against my Revered Master, the fate of you and your Jin Yang Sect was already sealed."

"You... what did you say? Revered Master?!"

Zhao Gang's anger was like a bucket of ice water poured over his head, instantly extinguishing most of it. That man named Su Lin was also her Revered Master?!

Gu Qiuyue no longer paid him any mind, simply speaking faintly to the shadow beside her.

"Ying Yi."

"Your subordinate is here."

A ghost-like figure appeared silently beside her, kneeling on one knee.

The person was entirely shrouded in a black robe, wearing a silver mask without a face, and showed no trace of spiritual energy fluctuations, yet Zhao Gang felt a shiver from the depths of his Soul.

"Go to the Jin Yang Sect."

Gu Qiuyue's tone was flat, "Leave no one alive."

"As you command." Ying Yi respectfully responded, and his figure transformed into a wisp of black smoke, dissipating in place.

Afterward, Gu Qiuyue's jade finger lightly tapped in the Void Realm in front of her.

A giant water mirror appeared out of thin air.

The scene in the mirror was precisely the location of the Jin Yang Sect's mountain gate!

Zhao Gang stared blankly at all of this, his mind in chaos.

"You... you..." He pointed at Gu Qiuyue, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

Gu Qiuyue, however, simply made a "please" gesture, inviting him to enjoy the show.

In the water mirror, above the Jin Yang Sect, the black-robed figure named Ying Yi appeared out of nowhere.

Without any superfluous words, he slowly raised a palm and gently pressed it down towards the impregnable mountain protection array below.

The sky instantly darkened.

A colossal hand, condensed from pure shadow power, obscured the sun and moon, descending with the destructive might of doomsday, crushing down!

"Enemy attack!"

The Jin Yang Sect's mountain protection array was instantly activated to its maximum, but the light barrier, capable of withstanding the combined assault of several Body Integration Stage cultivators, was as fragile as glass before that giant shadow hand, shattering with a "crack"!

The giant hand continued its descent with undiminished force.

Zhao Gang let out a heart-wrenching roar.

He watched helplessly as his magnificent palaces and centuries-old foundation were silently obliterated beneath that ruthless giant hand, turning into dust that filled the sky.

The moment the Jin Yang Sect was annihilated, Gu Qiuyue's cold voice, like a final judgment, slowly resounded.

"Zhao Gang, do you really think my Master-Seeking Alliance's intelligence is just for show?"

She stood up and slowly walked to Zhao Gang, who had collapsed on the ground, looking down at him.

"Eighty-seven years ago, you secretly colluded with the Blood Demon Sect, massacring over three hundred people of the Qingyun Sect, just to seize their Spirit Stone mine, and afterward framed a group of wandering Loose Cultivators."

"Sixty-four years ago, to help your son Zhao Tianyu build a perfect Dao foundation, you secretly abducted ninety-nine male children with Pure Yang Constitutions, extracting their Origin with secret techniques, causing all of them to die prematurely."

"Thirty-five years ago, under the guise of an exchange, you invited the Flowing Cloud Sect Master as a guest, but secretly poisoned him, stole his Sect's treasure, the [Flowing Cloud Mirror], and publicly announced that he had died of Qi Deviation during his seclusion."

With each sentence, Zhao Gang's face grew paler.

These were the deepest, darkest secrets behind the rise of his Jin Yang Sect, sins he believed he had committed flawlessly, which no one could possibly know!

He looked at Gu Qiuyue in horror, as if she were an omniscient demon god.

"You... you..."

"These debts, my Master-Seeking Alliance recorded long ago; we were just too lazy to settle them with you."

Gu Qiuyue's tone remained flat, "But you should not, under any circumstances, have let your useless son provoke my Revered Master."

"Insulting my Revered Master simply gave me the best reason to clean up the trash."