504: Chapter 14 Fate's Will

At the entrance of Caomiao Village, a miraculous carriage was slowly moving.

The reason this carriage was called miraculous was that the ones pulling it were not ordinary horses, but two scaled and horned Dragon Colts; however, they were not living creatures, but artifacts created through Artifact Refining.

Furthermore, the carriage compartment was larger than a normal one, featuring two stories, both adorned with carved beams and painted rafters; it looked more like a small pavilion than a mere carriage.

Most importantly, although the carriage appeared to be moving on the ground, it was actually suspended and gliding forward.

When the carriage arrived at the village entrance, it showed no intention of entering, seemingly just passing by.

Just then, the chaotic commotion and screams from inside the village drifted over.

"Someone is killing people!"

"Help!"

"Don't kill me!"

Inside the carriage, Meng Li, who had been meditating, heard the sounds, opened his eyes, stepped out of the door, and flew to the top of the carriage to look in the direction of the noise.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Xueqi and Tian Linger, who were on the second floor, also arrived at the second-floor balcony.

"Junior Brother, what's happening?" Tian Linger looked up and asked Meng Li.

Meng Li shook his head: "It's a bit far, I can't see clearly. Judging by the sounds, it seems someone in this village is committing murder. Let's go take a look and find out."

As soon as he finished speaking, with a thought, the slowly moving carriage suddenly accelerated and rushed toward the source of the sound.

As the carriage entered the village, Meng Li caught a glimpse of the stone tablet at the entrance—Caomiao Village—in his peripheral vision.

This made him pause slightly.

Caomiao Village?

The village where Zhang Xiaofan was?

While Meng Li was in doubt, the carriage had already entered the village.

Then, he and Lu Xueqi and Tian Linger saw the villagers scattering and fleeing.

Some sharp-eyed villagers spotted them and quickly rushed over, shouting for help: "Great heroes, Immortals, save us! A demon is trying to kill us!"

As soon as the words fell, a figure with red light flashing in its eyes leaped over, intending to strike down the villagers.

When Lu Xueqi saw this, her eyes turned cold. Without a second thought, she drew the Tianya Sword and unleashed a stream of Sword Qi toward the assailant.

The red-eyed Universal Wisdom sensed the danger and quickly changed his move to evade, then stabilized himself and looked toward the trio of Meng Li.

Since the trio was not wearing the standardized uniform of their School, he did not recognize them as Disciples of the Qingyun Sect. However, judging by the miraculous carriage and their extraordinary attire, he presumed they had an uncommon background.

Recalling his plan, Universal Wisdom hardened his heart, intending to silence all three of them.

Before that, he had to eliminate the villagers first, lest any escape when he fought the trio later.

Having made up his mind, he turned and continued his assault on the other villagers.

Lu Xueqi saw that Universal Wisdom still intended to continue his evil deeds, and she was instantly furious. She immediately used the Sword Flight Technique, making one sword transform into several, and struck toward Universal Wisdom.

Seeing several Flying Swords attacking, Universal Wisdom was surprised but dared not be careless. He quickly stopped his actions, pressed his palms together, and channeled his magical power to generate a golden protective barrier for himself.

The Flying Swords commanded by Lu Xueqi struck the golden barrier, only stirring up small ripples before being repelled.

Lu Xueqi's heart tightened. She secretly thought that this person's cultivation was far above hers, which explained why he dared to ignore her attempt to stop him and continue his rampage.

However, she did not retreat in fear. Instead, she recalled the Tianya Sword, preparing to change her approach to deal with the enemy.

The Sword Flight Technique was considered a basic Spell in the Qingyun Sect; its power depended entirely on the caster's strength, without any additional enhancements.

Lu Xueqi intended to switch to the higher-level Spell, the Divine Sword Control Thunder Technique, to test him.

But just as she grasped the Tianya Sword, a streak of blue-white electric light flashed toward Universal Wisdom.

The one who attacked was Tian Linger.

The method she used was the Five Thunder Talisman she learned from Meng Li, the version that could be drawn and used instantly, but instead of using the Heavenly Scroll, she directly channeled her magical power to draw the Talisman.

The blue-white electric light struck the golden barrier, only stirring up some larger ripples, unable to break through the defense.

This was due to Tian Linger's low magical power cultivation.

Judging by the hierarchy of the Taiji Xuanqing Dao, Universal Wisdom clearly belonged to the Shangqing Realm, and a top-tier one at that. Lu Xueqi and Tian Linger were currently only at the Yuqing Realm, separated by an entire major Realm. Naturally, they found it difficult to injure him in a direct confrontation.

Meng Li looked at Universal Wisdom's face, which reminded him of Song Da Ren, and he was then attacked by memories of his past life.

In one version of the heavily modified Heavenly Immortal pairing from his first life, all seven celestial maidens descended to the mortal Realm for romance; even the Queen Mother had a pairing, which was a sibling romance plus a love triangle.

In that drama, the current Universal Wisdom and Song Da Ren were cousins and brothers-in-law—Fish Day and Dong Yong!

Ah, a throwback to youth!

Muttering a sentiment internally, Meng Li raised his hand and pointed at Universal Wisdom.

Instantly, in front of the golden barrier, three Five Thunder Talismans appeared in a line floating out of the Void—One Thought Into Talisman: Five Thunder Talisman: Trio!

The next second, the power of the Talismans was unleashed. The triple layer of lightning stacked and merged, the blue-white electric light transforming into silver-white, easily shattering the golden barrier, and then striking toward Universal Wisdom.

Universal Wisdom was greatly alarmed and hastily dodged away.

As soon as he moved, the ground where he had stood was blasted into a large pit.

Seeing this scene, Universal Wisdom's eyelids twitched in shock.

If he hadn't dodged that attack, he would have been severely injured, if not killed.

Looking again at Meng Li, his face was calm and his breathing even. Clearly, this astonishingly powerful Talisman-Lightning technique was something he had done casually, without effort.

For a moment, deep apprehension appeared in Universal Wisdom's eyes, and he even felt the urge to retreat.

However, thinking of his long-cherished wish, he was unwilling to leave just like that.

Universal Wisdom's long-cherished wish was simple, just three words—Seek Immortality!

This was the ultimate goal of the vast majority of Cultivators, yet no one had achieved it so far. After research, Universal Wisdom felt it was an issue with the Cultivation Technique, so he wanted to try cultivating a technique from another School concurrently.

To this end, he visited the Qingyun Sect, intending to Fuse the Cultivation Techniques of the Tianyin Pavilion and the Qingyun Sect.

However, the Head of the Qingyun Sect, Mysterious Dao, did not agree.

Universal Wisdom had to leave in disappointment. Unexpectedly, just after descending Qingyun Mountain, he was ambushed and targeted by men in black due to the Demonic Path Magic Treasure, the blood-devouring pearl, which he had obtained by chance.

Now, he did not have long to live, but he persisted in his idea, placing his hope of verifying the concurrent Cultivation Technique for seeking Immortality on Zhang Xiaofan: first, teach him the Tianyin cultivation method, and then find a way to send him into the Qingyun Sect to cultivate the Taiji Xuanqing Dao.

To get Zhang Xiaofan into the Qingyun Sect, Universal Wisdom conceived an evil idea: slaughter all of Caomiao Village and then find a way to let people from the Qingyun Sect discover the incident and Zhang Xiaofan.

Caomiao Village was not far from Qingyun Mountain. If compared to a Dynasty, it was practically under the direct jurisdiction of the Emperor.

Under such circumstances, the massacre of Caomiao Village would have a huge impact.

Zhang Xiaofan and Lin Jingyu, as the only surviving orphans, would very likely be accepted as Disciples by the Qingyun Sect.

This plan was feasible, but it had many uncertain factors.

However, Universal Wisdom had taken the Three-Day Certain Death Pill and only had a few days left to live. Simultaneously, influenced by the blood-devouring pearl, he was somewhat mad and could not afford to worry about so much.

It was just that he did not expect the timing to be so unfortunate: precisely when he was brutally killing the villagers of Caomiao Village, Meng Li, Lu Xueqi, and Tian Linger had just finished their training and were planning to return to the Qingyun Sect, passing by Caomiao Village and being drawn by the commotion within.

What he expected even less was that Meng Li, though young, possessed extremely astonishing strength.

With Meng Li blocking him, he could no longer proceed with his plan to kill everyone in Caomiao Village.

Without the bonus of being the orphan of the Caomiao Village massacre, given Zhang Xiaofan's Aptitude, the probability of being accepted as a Disciple by the Qingyun Sect was extremely low. Thus, he would certainly be unable to concurrently cultivate the techniques of the Tianyin Pavilion and the Qingyun Sect, and verifying whether 'Fusing Cultivation Techniques can lead to Immortality' would become impossible.

And in Universal Wisdom's current state, he had no extra time to make new attempts.

Could it be that this was a matter of Heaven's Will, preordaining that he could not have his way?