When Da Xing the Mad Monk finished speaking those words with an extremely forceful tone and attitude, his heart was filled with immense panic, and his spirit couldn't stop trembling.
To say he wasn't afraid would be a lie.
After all, in previous encounters, Da Xing the Mad Monk had suffered great losses at Cang Yan's hands. He knew this woman had many schemes, high-level methods, and formidable strength.
Even if Da Xing the Mad Monk didn't want to admit it, he couldn't deny that whether it was scheming, employing methods, or comparing strength, he was no match for Cang Yan.
Yet, even so.
Da Xing the Mad Monk did not regret it.
He figured that since he had already decided to throw caution to the wind and be tough this once, he absolutely could not back down or show weakness this time. Even if a blade were held to his neck, even if Cang Yan threw him into the Life-Death Reincarnation Cauldron, he would not admit defeat.
He had truly had enough—enough of Cang Yan's threats, intimidation, and torment, and enough of the causal fate Genggu Wuming had arranged for him.
He had thought Cang Yan would directly attack, and Da Xing the Mad Monk was already prepared to fight to the death. But what he didn't expect was that within the pavilion, neither Genggu Wuming nor Cang Yan showed any intention of making a move—at least, not on the surface.
Genggu Wuming still sat upright on the stone platform, head bowed, flipping through an ancient tome. She neither looked up at Da Xing the Mad Monk nor seemed angered by his words.
Similarly.
Cang Yan still leaned lazily against the Azure Dragon pillar on the stone stool, her peerlessly beautiful face perpetually wearing an inscrutable smile. She raised the white jade cup in her hand, drained the wine in one go, and said playfully, "Little monk, it's been a few days, and you seem to have grown some backbone. No wonder they say one should view a person with new eyes after three days apart. Thinking about it now, there really is some truth to that."
Throughout the ancient and present heavens and earth, whether in the skies above or the lands below, the only one who dared call Da Xing the Mad Monk 'little monk' was probably Cang Yan, this equally righteous and demonic Immortal-Demon Empress.
"No respect for your elders!
This Old Monk was cultivating when a junior like you was still playing with mud in the mortal realm. In terms of seniority, not to mention you, even Xuehe would have to respectfully address This Old Monk as 'Senior'."
Da Xing the Mad Monk's words weren't an exaggeration. He truly began cultivating in the early Primordial Era. At that time, the Nine Swords of Taixu and the Nine Immortals of Xuanmiao were probably still playing with mud in the mortal realm. As for Demon Emperor Xuehe and Cang Yan, they were overlords who rose during the middle and late Primordial Era.
"Heh!"
Cang Yan gave a light, elegant laugh, picked up the wine jug to pour herself another cup, tilted her head slightly, and gazed at Da Xing the Mad Monk with a smiling expression. "You really start huffing and puffing when someone says you're fat."
Da Xing the Mad Monk, while remaining on guard, stubbornly retorted through gritted teeth, "This Old Monk has always been fat. I don't need you to point it out!"
"Is that so?"
Cang Yan drank again. "It seems your so-called courage has blinded you. You can't even see clearly whether you're fat or thin anymore. Fine. In a moment, I'll make you open your eyes wide and take a good, careful look at whether you're fat or thin."
Hearing this, Da Xing the Mad Monk's face changed drastically. He instinctively took a step back. Though his heart was panicking intensely, he still pretended to be calm. Moreover, his tone didn't weaken; instead, it grew louder.
"Cang Yan!
Stop trying to scare me! This Old Monk wasn't raised on threats!"
"I have never tried to scare you."
As she spoke, without any visible movement from Cang Yan, an extra wine cup appeared on the table.
This cup wasn't made of white jade. Rather than a wine cup, it more closely resembled a small cauldron.
The cauldron's body was black and white intertwined, like the shifting of yin and yang. The wine within resembled black water and also black fire, even like burning chaos.
Seeing this small cauldron, Da Xing the Mad Monk was so frightened his scalp went numb. He kept backing away because he recognized this object. It was none other than the Life-Death Reincarnation Cauldron.
The last time he met Cang Yan, he had specifically used his divine sense to probe it. Inside this cauldron was a door—a door of yin and yang, a door of life and death, and a door of reincarnation.
He was certain this small cauldron was the legendary Life-Death Reincarnation Cauldron.
"Who are you trying to scare by summoning the Life-Death Reincarnation Cauldron?!
Do you really think This Old Monk is afraid of this thing?"
Although Da Xing the Mad Monk's words claimed he wasn't afraid and his demeanor showed extreme toughness, his heart and this incarnation were honest. His heart trembled incessantly, and this incarnation kept retreating.
"Little monk."
Cang Yan toyed with the Life-Death Reincarnation Cauldron, saying with a smile, "You should remember what I told you last time, right?
I warned you that if I saw you here again, I would definitely send you into reincarnation."
Of course he remembered.
How could Da Xing the Mad Monk forget? He gnashed his teeth and shouted, "You despicable, shameless, cruel, and vicious madwoman!
This Old Monk was just about to settle this score with you!"
If Cang Yan hadn't brought up the last incident, it might have been fine. But mentioning it made Da Xing the Mad Monk's anger blaze to the heavens. Pointing his Great Compassion Great Mercy Fan at Cang Yan, he roared fiercely, "Speak!
Was it you, you woman, who spread the news that This Old Monk brought the Gu kid into the Primordial Black Hole until everyone knew about it?"
Compared to the furious yet fearful Da Xing the Mad Monk here, Cang Yan remained ever so dignified and elegant, graceful yet not lacking in charm. She shrugged, adopting an indifferent attitude. "That's right. It was me who spread it."
"It was you after all!
This Old Monk knew it was you!
No one else could do something so despicable!"
Da Xing the Mad Monk was so angry his face turned deathly pale, and his entire body trembled with rage. Especially Cang Yan's indifferent attitude, as if saying, 'What can you do about it?' The hatred in Da Xing the Mad Monk's heart made him wish he could rush forward immediately and hack Cang Yan into pieces.
Da Xing the Mad Monk practically roared at the top of his lungs, "Why!
Why the hell did you do this!
Where exactly has This Old Monk offended you!
Why the hell do you always have it in for This Old Monk!"
"I warned you to leave the Primordial Black Hole. Since you didn't listen, the blame for this calamity can only fall on you."
"You... you...
Your heart is more vicious than a snake or a scorpion!"
Da Xing the Mad Monk was so angry he was incoherent. "You're deliberately trying to ruin This Old Monk!"
"Little monk, I told you, from the moment you brought You Di into the Primordial Black Hole, the cause and effect were already formed, and fate was already sealed. The blame for this calamity—you will bear it whether you want to or not."
Cang Yan still spoke with a smile. "No one wants to destroy you. I don't, and Nameless even less so. The only one who truly wants to destroy you is yourself. Who told you to bring You Di in? If you don't bear his blame, who will?
You should understand that everything requires a price."
"You!
You!
You people..." Da Xing the Mad Monk pointed at Cang Yan, then at Genggu Wuming, who was still bowing her head reading the ancient text, and shouted furiously, "You people are nothing but a pair of colluding madwomen!
This Old Monk...
This Old Monk will risk everything today and fight you to the death!"
"Ah—" Da Xing the Mad Monk couldn't take it anymore.
He finally couldn't endure it any longer.
Over the years, he had suffered who knows how much humiliation at Cang Yan's hands. Although Genggu Wuming had never said anything to him, that didn't mean she hadn't done anything. Da Xing the Mad Monk had long suspected that his muddle-headed act of bringing Gu Qingfeng into the Primordial Black Hole might have been a trap, a setup, a causal snare laid by Genggu Wuming, with the aim of finding a scapegoat to bear the blame for this calamity.
Cang Yan's strength was unfathomable. Forget that the current Da Xing the Mad Monk was merely an External Incarnation; even his true original self had no confidence whatsoever in defeating Cang Yan. Moreover, there was an even more terrifying Genggu Wuming by her side.
However.
He couldn't care about that anymore. If he didn't act now, he would either die of humiliation or die of frustration.
With a furious roar, he summoned his Indestructible Golden Body. As his hands came together in prayer, he prepared to unleash all the knowledge he had acquired in his lifetime, even all his various creation divine abilities, determined to fight Cang Yan to the death and seek justice for all the humiliation he had suffered over the years.
Yet.
Just as he summoned his Indestructible Golden Body and was about to bring his hands together, a bizarre scene occurred.
He stopped moving.
His entire person seemed frozen in the void.
Even the Buddha light radiating around him, the power erupting from within his body, and the great Buddha creation he was in the process of summoning all came to a standstill.
What was going on?
Who made the move?
It wasn't Demon Emperor Xuehe, nor was it Cang Yan.
Although Demon Emperor Xuehe's strength was formidable, with his current abilities, he couldn't make Da Xing the Mad Monk freeze in the void so suddenly and silently, without any warning.
Cang Yan couldn't do it either.
Because they both knew Da Xing the Mad Monk's existence wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface. Even an External Incarnation was extraordinary.
If there was anyone present who could freeze Da Xing the Mad Monk in the void in an instant,
then there was only one person.
Genggu Wuming.
As for how Genggu Wuming did it, Demon Emperor Xuehe didn't know. He didn't even know when Genggu Wuming had acted.
Inside the pavilion.
Genggu Wuming had been bowing her head the entire time, flipping through an ancient text. The text was covered in strange, bizarre runes. Each rune was ever-changing, profoundly mysterious and wondrous, as if containing endless profundities.
After Da Xing the Mad Monk was frozen in the void, Genggu Wuming finally raised her head and closed that ancient text.
Strangely enough, the moment Genggu Wuming closed the ancient text, Da Xing the Mad Monk, frozen in the void, inexplicably vanished.
Similarly without warning, similarly silent, soundless, and traceless, it was as if Da Xing the Mad Monk had never existed. He disappeared completely, without even a trace of residual aura.
The level of this method was so high that even Demon Emperor Xuehe found it unbelievable. Cang Yan beside him, however, seemed accustomed to all this and wasn't surprised.
"Leave him to me. You two chat first. I'll go out for a walk by myself."
After saying this, Genggu Wuming stood up and left the pavilion, walking into the void. With each step she took, her figure grew more ethereal and indistinct. After just a few steps, she had vanished into the void.
Cang Yan asked, "Nameless, how do you plan to...
deal with him?"
From the void came Genggu Wuming's ethereal, drifting voice: "I have my own measure."
"Alright. Later...
I'll come find you."