Running Ox kicked open the heavy main gate.
Rumble—
The gate collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.
In the blink of an eye, a foul stench wafted toward them.
Even Running Ox, who was of the demon race, couldn't help but wrinkle his nose. "What kind of ghostly place is this? It's even stinkier than the Immortal Cave I used to live in."
Inside the main hall, under the dim lamplight, were pairs of numb and hollow eyes.
Hearing the commotion, those figures mechanically working beside the Pill Furnaces only sluggishly raised their heads before lowering them again, as if all the changes in this world had nothing to do with this group of walking corpses.
Zhou Xuan hurriedly pushed aside the obstructive Running Ox and walked deep into the main hall.
With every step he took, his heart grew heavier.
The once high-spirited Pill Cauldron Sect, the Sect famous in the Eastern Region for its Dao of Alchemy, now... only this room full of despair remained.
"Who... who is it?"
From the depths of the main hall came an old and hoarse voice.
A ragged, skeletal old Man tremblingly rounded the corner from behind a Pill Furnace.
He squinted his cloudy old eyes, trying to see the visitor's face clearly by the dim firelight.
Zhou Xuan stopped in his tracks.
Thud.
This Man, who was now an Ascending the Tower great Cultivator, knelt heavily on the hard stone floor.
"Your unworthy Disciple, Zhou Xuan..."
"...has returned late."
The old Man's body jolted violently.
He stared fixedly at Zhou Xuan on the ground, his withered lips trembling violently, and tears actually welled up in his cloudy eyes.
"Zhou... Zhou Xuan?"
"You are... Zhou Xuan?"
With that call, the deathly silent atmosphere in the main hall was instantly broken.
Countless gazes converged upon him.
On those numb faces, an unbelievable glimmer of hope finally emerged.
"It really is Senior Brother Zhou!"
"Senior Brother Zhou is here!"
"Are we... are we saved?"
Several Elders, equally aged and frail, supported each other as they gathered around.
They were all surviving Elders of the Pill Cauldron Sect.
"You... how did you get here..."
The leading old Man reached out a hand like a withered branch, wanting to help Zhou Xuan up, but then seemed afraid of dirtying his clothes; his hand hung in mid-air, trembling incessantly.
"Where is the Sect Master? Where is the old Sect Master..." Zhou Xuan looked up and scanned the surroundings, but did not see that familiar figure.
Upon hearing this, the light in the old Man's eyes instantly dimmed.
He sighed deeply and shook his head.
"The Sect Master... passed away more than a hundred years ago."
"If it weren't to protect us, how could the Sect Master... have suffered such torture and died of exhaustion?"
Zhou Xuan's body stiffened.
Although he had expected it, hearing the news with his own ears still caused a sharp pain in his heart.
When a person dies, their lamp goes out.
That old Man who was always smiling and saying that the Dao of Alchemy was the Dao of humanity had, in the end, failed to see this day.
"Then now... who is in charge of the Sect's affairs?" Zhou Xuan took a deep breath, suppressing the grief in his heart.
The several Elders looked at each other, and finally, all gave a bitter smile.
"In charge?"
"In this current Pill Cauldron Sect, where is there anyone in charge? We old bones are merely lingering on the brink of death."
"In that case."
Zhou Xuan stood up and patted the dust off his knees.
His gaze swept across everyone, his eyes gradually becoming firm. "Then let this Disciple take charge of the Sect for once."
The Elders were stunned.
"Little Zhou, you are..."
"Junior Martial Uncles and Senior Martial Uncles," Zhou Xuan said in a deep voice, "this Disciple has returned this time to take everyone away."
"Away?"
The old Man smiled bitterly. "Away to where? Outside this Qingluan Mountain is the territory of Spirit Mountain, where demons run rampant. We people have lost all our cultivation; going out would just mean death."
"Moreover..." A flash of fear crossed the old Man's eyes. "That Azure Fox Demon Emperor has heaven-reaching methods..."
"The Azure Fox is dead."
To the side, Running Ox, who was boredly picking at the wall, suddenly interjected.
Everyone looked toward the source of the voice.
Seeing everyone looking over.
Running Ox blew the dust from his fingernails with an indifferent expression.
"My Highness killed him."
"..."
The main hall instantly fell into a deathly silence.
The Elders' eyes widened as if they were listening to a fairy tale.
The Azure Fox Demon Emperor... is dead?
"How... how is this possible?"
The old Man said tremulously, "Little Zhou, is what this brave warrior... says true?"
Zhou Xuan nodded.
"It is absolutely true."
Hiss—
The sound of people drawing in cold breaths rose one after another.
Everyone felt their heads buzzing; happiness had come so suddenly that they found it hard to believe.
"Then... then we..."
"Don't celebrate too early."
Zhou Xuan interrupted the crowd's cheering.
He looked at these former Elders before him, a flash of complexity in his eyes.
"In order to exchange for this glimmer of hope, this Disciple has... agreed to a condition on behalf of the Pill Cauldron Sect."
The old Man's heart tightened, and he tentatively asked, "What condition?"
Zhou Xuan was silent for a moment.
He slowly uttered a sentence.
"From this day forward, the entire Pill Cauldron Sect shall submit to the Great Tang and never betray it."
"Great Tang?"
The Elders looked at each other with bewildered faces.
"Great Tang... which Dao Lineage is that? Or which hidden Immortal Cave?"
In their view, to have the strength to come to Spirit Mountain to rescue people, it must be a top-tier entity of the Eastern Region.
Zhou Xuan shook his head.
"Neither."
"Great Tang... is a Mortal Dynasty."
"What?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was in an uproar.
"A Mortal Dynasty?!"
A hot-tempered Elder immediately jumped up. "Absurd! Simply absurd!"
"Although our Pill Cauldron Sect has fallen to this state, we are still an immortal Sect with a Legacy of thousands of years! How can we bow our heads to a mere Mortal Dynasty?!"
"Exactly! If word gets out, how can we face our ancestors after we die?"
"Little Zhou! You are confused!"
Although the others didn't speak, their faces all showed expressions of displeasure.
But just as Zhou Xuan was about to explain that this Mortal Dynasty was no ordinary Mortal Dynasty, Running Ox said indignantly, "You've been stoking the fires as slaves for those smelly foxes for five hundred years, tethered like dogs, wagging your tails and begging for swill every day. Now that someone has come to save you, you don't even need to kowtow in gratitude, you're just moving to a different place to live, and yet you're putting on airs?"
"Now you remember your ancestors? Where were you before? If you truly had that kind of backbone, why didn't I see you bash your heads against those Pill Furnaces to preserve your so-called reputation?"
These words were like a dagger to the heart.
Everyone's faces flushed red, their lips trembling. They wanted to argue, but felt as if their throats were stuffed with cotton, unable to utter a single word.
It was true.
If they really had that unyielding character, the Pill Cauldron Sect would not have lingered on until now.
A miserable life is better than a good death.
Everyone understood this logic, but having their fig leaf stripped away so bluntly made them lose face.
The leading old Man took a deep breath, suppressing the shame and indignation in his heart, and said hoarsely, "This brave warrior's words are harsh, but they are reasonable. It's just..."
He looked at Zhou Xuan, lingering doubts still in his eyes.
"Little Zhou, it's not that I, your Senior Martial Uncle, don't trust you. It's just this condition... permanently submitting to a mere Mortal Dynasty is unheard of in the cultivation history of the Eastern Region."
"Just what kind of sacred entity is that Great Tang? To actually have the confidence to snatch food from the tiger's mouth of Spirit Mountain?"
"You must know that deep within Spirit Mountain, there are several Denglou Demon Emperors! Those are true heaven-reaching great demons! What does a mere Mortal Dynasty have to block them? Are they going to use the flesh and blood of millions of Mortals to fill the gap?"
Not only this old Man, but everyone else also had a look of incomprehension.
In their deep-seated perception, a Mortal Dynasty was nothing more than a nest of ants in the eyes of Cultivators, a resource site for providing offerings and Disciples.
Since when could ants, in turn, protect elephants?