The moment the two of them left, an eerie figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the restaurant. He materialized out of thin air as though he had been standing there all along, and strangely enough, the passersby around him seemed utterly oblivious to his presence.
The figure was tall and imposing, with a stern countenance. He wore a dark black robe, and his chin was covered with a thick stubble, giving him a rugged, untamed air. He stared in the direction where the Flowing Cloud Shuttle had departed, his face twisted with anguish. The veins on his forehead bulged and throbbed, pulling his entire expression into something ferocious and terrifying.
After a long while, he swayed slightly, clutched his chest, and let out a heavy sigh.
After the sigh, he vanished without a trace.
This startled the people nearby, and they rubbed their eyes one after another, wondering if they had imagined things.
……
The Wind and Cloud Pavilion was considered one of the top Sects in the Western Region. Its status was comparable to that of the Qingyang Divine Temple in the Southern Domain. The old Pavilion Master, Hua Xing, possessed the formidable cultivation of the third level of the Emperor Realm. He was the very pillar that kept the Wind and Cloud Pavilion steady, and throughout the entire Western Region, he was a figure of great renown.
Such a massive Sect, prosperous and flourishing, with a legacy spanning over ten thousand years. Its Disciples walked through the Western Region, and anyone they encountered would show them a measure of respect.
The Disciples of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion took considerable pride in their Sect.
Yet for such a powerful Sect, someone had actually dared to slap them in the face.
A month ago, the Young Pavilion Master, who had gone out for some leisure, was killed in a city located three hundred thousand li from the Wind and Cloud Pavilion's headquarters! When the news arrived, the entire Sect was thrown into shock. The old Pavilion Master vomited blood on the spot and fainted from the overwhelming fury.
It wasn't that the old Pavilion Master lacked mental fortitude. After all, he was a third-level Emperor Realm cultivator who had weathered countless storms. Ordinarily, he wouldn't so much as furrow his brow even if the sky itself collapsed. But this was something he simply could not bear.
When the old Pavilion Master, Hua Xing, was young, he had been devoted to the martial path. He cultivated painstakingly, traveling through the four great domains of the Star Boundary, enduring countless hardships and tribulations, narrowly escaping death on numerous occasions. It took him two thousand years, but he had finally cultivated to the third level of the Emperor Realm. After realizing that his cultivation had reached its ceiling and that further advancement was impossible in this lifetime, Hua Xing returned to the Western Region and inherited the position of Wind and Cloud Pavilion Master.
With his own martial path having reached its end and all hope for personal advancement extinguished, Hua Xing could only place his hopes on the next generation, praying that his offspring would possess talent far surpassing his own — someone who might have a chance to reach the realm of Great Emperor.
He understood better than anyone that while the third level of the Emperor Realm appeared magnificent and invincible, in the presence of a figure like a Great Emperor, one was still no different from an ant.
A single whim of any Great Emperor was enough to sever the ten-thousand-year legacy of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.
After returning to the Wind and Cloud Pavilion, he set about developing the Sect while simultaneously taking in wife upon concubine. In just ten years, his harem boasted over a thousand women — slender beauties, plump beauties, every imaginable kind of charm.
But the way of Heaven was to diminish the surplus and supplement the deficient. The higher his cultivation, the lower the likelihood of siring offspring. He had guarded his yang essence diligently his entire life, keeping away from women. It wasn't until he reached the third level of the Emperor Realm that he finally began working day and night, yet the seeds he planted showed absolutely no sign of sprouting.
It wasn't until thirty years later that one of his concubines finally gave birth to a baby boy.
Hua Xing treasured the child as though he had found a priceless gem, pouring all his effort into raising and nurturing him.
He had initially believed this boy was his hope, but as the child grew, Hua Xing discovered that his aptitude was incomparably inferior to his own. With the entire Wind and Cloud Pavilion as a backing and with Hua Xing personally overseeing his training, his cultivation still progressed with constant stumbling and difficulty.
With such mediocre talent, reaching the Emperor Realm would be nothing short of a miracle, let alone aspiring to become a Great Emperor.
Upon realizing this, Hua Xing immediately changed his approach. Rather than pinning his hopes on the boy, he arranged for him to marry numerous beautiful concubines the moment he came of age, and enthusiastically encouraged him to frequent pleasure houses and chase after women.
The Young Pavilion Master had never been cut out for cultivation in the first place. The immense pressure the old Pavilion Master had placed on him during his youth had given him an instinctive aversion to cultivation. On top of his insufficient aptitude, every bit of his cultivation had been forced into existence using rare Emperor-grade treasures. Once he had the old Pavilion Master's permission, what was there left to hold him back?
He spent most of his days in the arms of women, and gradually, having grown tired of his own concubines, he naturally wanted to go out and find some fresh entertainment.
The old Pavilion Master did not object. In fact, he even dispatched a second-level Emperor Realm powerhouse to serve as the young man's personal bodyguard.
And on his very first outing, disaster struck.
Disaster, in itself, was one thing. The old Pavilion Master hadn't actually cherished this son all that much. If the boy had left behind offspring of his own, his death would have been no great loss. The critical issue was that he hadn't even left a single heir behind!
This was tantamount to cutting off the Hua family's bloodline entirely.
Hua Xing could not accept this. He cursed his rebellious son for being blind enough to provoke someone he should never have provoked, while simultaneously seething with hatred toward whoever had killed the Young Pavilion Master, swearing to tear them to pieces to appease the rage in his heart.
He immediately issued a bounty, and the reward of twenty million Source Crystals did indeed tempt many powerhouses. However, the reports that trickled back in from the outside left Hua Xing trembling with alarm.
The woman who had killed his son turned out to be remarkably powerful. In recent days, many powerhouses who had gone after the bounty had perished at her hands.
Worse still, judging by the direction the woman was heading, she was coming straight for the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.
Hua Xing was furious. If the woman actually made it to the Wind and Cloud Pavilion, the Sect's reputation would be utterly destroyed. He increased the bounty to attract more helpers while simultaneously sending the Sect's own powerhouses to intercept her. The results, however, were far from satisfactory. Not only did the bounty hunters accomplish nothing, but the Pavilion itself lost several Emperor Realm cultivators in succession.
What's more, intelligence reports indicated that the woman had somehow found a companion. The two of them traveled together, and wherever they passed, they swept everything before them like a force of nature — utterly unstoppable.
Inside the rear hall of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.
The vast hall was suffused with a rosy, perfumed haze. Countless exquisite, beautiful bodies lay strewn about in every direction, their eyes glazed with desire, their breaths coming in soft, panting gasps. The sounds of pleasure that echoed through the chamber were enough to make anyone who heard them flush scarlet and feel their mouths go dry.