With Wolan's sharp shout, a surging frigid current suddenly erupted. Immediately afterward, the temperature within the area plummeted instantly. In the blink of an eye, the entire manor froze solid, as if transformed into an ice sculpture.
Opposite her, Wolan glared fiercely at Gu Qingfeng, her beautiful eyes flashing with boundless fury, yet also mixed with countless traces of shock and curiosity. Beside her, the old matron with earth-immortal cultivation waited for an opportunity to act. It seemed that as long as Wolan gave the order, she would not hesitate to strike.
"Let's talk things out properly," Gu Qingfeng said casually as he sat in a chair, crossing his legs and holding a wine cup. He appeared completely unaffected. Glancing at Wolan, he spoke unhurriedly, "Why get so worked up? What do you say, sister?"
Wolan simply stared at him, as if hesitating about something. After a long while, she finally spoke coldly, "I don't know who you are, and I don't want to know. However, I advise you to be smart. Don't provoke us at Canyang Mountain, and don't even think about trying to investigate the Life Vein we guard. That is not something you can casually inquire about."
"Is that so?"
As for what exactly this so-called Life Vein was that Wolan mentioned, Gu Qingfeng truly didn't know. He didn't even know where the thing was located. Forget about the Northwest Life Vein—he didn't even know where the Nine Elders Cave-Estate of Canyang Mountain was hidden.
He was rather curious, unclear about what methods the Nine Elders Cave-Estate of Canyang Mountain had used to conceal themselves. How could there be not a single clue?
Just as he was pondering this, Wolan issued an order for him to leave.
"Take care, I won't see you out."
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng shook his head helplessly. After a moment of contemplation, he drained the wine in his cup. Without another word, he vanished in a flash.
After Gu Qingfeng left, the frozen manor disintegrated in an instant, the ice shattering. Remarkably, the manor remained completely intact, undamaged by the ice.
"Miss, didn't you say you wanted to test his depths?" the old matron asked, puzzled. "Why didn't you make a move just now?"
"This person's existence is truly mysterious and bizarre," Wolan said, gazing in the direction Gu Qingfeng had departed, her willow-leaf eyebrows deeply furrowed. "Even my Cloud-Cold Aura couldn't budge him in the slightest. If I had taken action again, it would have been meaningless."
"Although the Cloud-Cold Aura couldn't affect him, if Miss were to employ the Setting Sun True Force, it's not certain you couldn't kill him."
"Setting Sun True Force..." In the past, Wolan had always believed that no one in this world could withstand her Setting Sun True Force. Truly, whether it was earth-immortals, loose-immortals, true-immortals, or celestial-immortals, she had never regarded them with concern. It wasn't until she encountered the first person impersonating Monarch Chixiao that she realized her Setting Sun True Force was not an indestructible existence.
But was that all?
No.
Afterward, she encountered the second person impersonating Monarch Chixiao.
The third. The fourth.
Over so many years, she had already met eight individuals who claimed to be Monarch Chixiao. Each one left her helpless and caused her to doubt her own strength more and more.
She hadn't expected to encounter another one this time. She had originally wanted to use today's opportunity to test him, but remembering the previous impersonators, she truly lacked the confidence to dare make a move again. If she were to unleash her Setting Sun True Force once more and still be unable to do anything to her opponent, she felt she would surely break down.
"Sigh!" Wolan looked utterly exhausted, her face clouded with worry as she said, "Why are these impersonators of Monarch Chixiao each more mysterious and bizarre than the last? What kind of people are they?!"
This question not only perplexed Wolan but also the old matron. It perplexed not only the two of them but the entire Nine Elders Cave-Estate of Canyang Mountain.
Over these years, every so often, someone claiming to be Monarch Chixiao would appear. And every single one of these Monarch Chixiaos would come to Canyang Mountain, all to investigate the reason why they had been targeted for elimination back then. If that were all, it wouldn't be enough to perplex everyone at Canyang Mountain. The reality was that every time a Monarch Chixiao came, they would stir up Canyang Mountain, causing chaos among both chickens and dogs, all in search of the Northwest Life Vein.
What was particularly infuriating was that Canyang Mountain was helpless against these self-proclaimed Monarch Chixiaos. These individuals, each more mysterious and bizarre than the last, each more powerful than the last, came and went without a trace, leaving people furious yet utterly powerless.
"Hmph! It's all that Peach Blossom Old Ghost's fault! If he hadn't rescued Gu Tianlang back then, none of these later events would have happened," the old matron said indignantly, then asked, "Miss, this old one has never been able to understand. Why did Peach Blossom Old Daoist rescue Gu Tianlang back then? Later, he repeatedly obstructed us. Could it truly be, as he claimed, that he was acting on someone's commission?"
"I don't know the answer to that question either. Peach Blossom Old Daoist never explained this matter. Ever since he intervened to rescue Gu Tianlang, he has been hiding from us, and it's still the same now," Wolan said, pouring herself a drink. "As for whether he was truly commissioned by someone, I'm afraid only he himself knows. Moreover, I've always suspected..."
"Suspect what?"
"Nanny Lin, do you know why our Canyang Mountain suddenly sealed itself off five hundred years ago?"
The old matron, Nanny Lin, didn't know why Wolan would suddenly ask such a question. Everyone at Canyang Mountain knew that the reason for sealing the mountain was because the Canyang Patriarch divined the ancient cataclysm that would occur five hundred years later. Therefore, Canyang Mountain decided to seal itself off and withdraw from the world, thus safely avoiding the ancient cataclysm.
"That is indeed the reason, but it's not entirely the whole story."
"Oh? What else is there?"
"I only heard about it from my parents not long ago," Wolan said, holding her wine cup and gazing at the Setting Sun Wine within, speaking softly. "They said that five hundred years ago, the Life Vein we guard suddenly and inexplicably underwent a strange transformation. To avoid drawing others' attention, they made the temporary decision to seal the mountain."
"What kind of transformation occurred in the Life Vein?"
"I don't know," Wolan shook her head slightly. "I only heard them say the situation was very dangerous at the time, that the Life Vein was almost lost. As for the specific details of what happened then, I'm not too clear either."
"So serious?" Nanny Lin was astonished. Although she was also a member of Canyang Mountain and her cultivation had reached the earth-immortal realm, she wasn't too clear about many of Canyang Mountain's affairs. For so long, she didn't even know what the Life Vein that Canyang Mountain guarded was, or why they guarded it.
The true masters of Canyang Mountain were the Canyang Clan, and Wolan was one of them. At best, Nanny Lin could only be considered an ordinary person cultivating at Canyang Mountain.
"Miss, you said earlier you suspected... suspected what?"
"Five hundred years ago, the Life Vein underwent a strange transformation. And five hundred years ago, Gu Tianlang just happened to be born in the Northwest."
"There's nothing suspicious about that, is there? Didn't the master say that whenever a Life-Vein Person appears, the Life Vein is always affected? Gu Tianlang was a Life-Vein Person. When he was born, the Life Vein was certainly affected. That's why our Canyang Mountain had to eliminate him."
"The strange thing is precisely here. Over the years, quite a few Life-Vein Persons have appeared. Many of their appearances had significant impacts on the Life Vein, but it was only an impact. It has never been so great as to cause the Life Vein itself to undergo a strange transformation."