Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 241: Aura

Three days later, on a fine morning, numerous disciples of Crimson Snow Sect’s outer court left their huts with a common purpose.

Two generations of the outer court disciples, older seniors serving under various pavilion offices, and hundreds of mortal servants, none were willing to miss out on the drama that was to follow.

Red, white, and gray uniforms flooded the mountain roads, all heading towards the central plains of the sect. From the mountain peaks, the crowds resembled long, colorful snakes encircling the mountains, moving through the slow vortex of black fog.

Their hearts roared with excitement, and their voices spoke in every kind of tone. Some were uneasy, some whispered their speculations, some were hatching clever ideas...

"A public duel between two senior disciples! I reckon both of them are at the peak of the Physique Transformation realm!"

"I hope they use their Mystic Arts. Brother Han Xuhan’s daily martial duels have made my eyes sore."

"It’s not like he was forcing you to go watch him beat up those unfortunate fellows."

"The duels weren’t very interesting. But the drama was. After all, it’s one guy bullying a whole damn mountain peak. Who doesn’t wish to have a record like that under their name?"

"Yeah, whatever. Han Xuhan’s not going to fight this time. He was beaten so viciously by that random senior disciple! He’s probably lying in the Infirmary right now."

"Even if he finds a way to heal his injuries quickly, he can’t possibly stand against that mysterious senior disciple who responded to the challenge. This time, the lecturer himself will duel him!"

"Are we finally going to learn the identity of both senior disciples? I heard the Elders of the Sect are going to judge the duel!"

"A drama like this just before their farewell... These seniors really must have some bad blood between them."

"Agreed. I don’t believe they’ll hold a public duel with such fanfare just to settle an ugly conflict over money."

"Do you guys know what I think? I think this whole conflict leading up to the duel today was staged! There must be a conspiracy somewhere!"

"I feel like this duel is unjust. That senior brother who was giving us free lessons on an orthodox cultivation method was first targeted by some jealous loser. Now he has to duel that loser in front of everyone to defend himself? Bullshit!"

"Yeah. The Elders’ decision to adjudge the outcome of the duel means that they might be in cahoots with that greedy senior disciple. How can they not see the unfairness in it?"

"Hahahaha! All of you are so gullible! I reckon you’d not survive a day out in the wild world of cultivation. A bunch of fat chickens, being raised in a coop! Even hearing you talk is making me laugh to death!"

"Hey! Who the hell said that? Cripple his legs so that he can laugh to death about being crippled by fat chickens."

"Wait, wait, wait, hear me out first! I was laughing at your speculations because I have some insider information!"

"You just called us gullible. Now you want to sell us insider information? Let me prove with my fists that I’m not gullible, fellow cultivator. Take this!"

Thwack!

"Awoooo!"

Yelping in pain, Yang Kai ran off into another gathering a bit farther away, closer to the dueling arena. Here, senior disciples were scant, and the earlycomers were definitely the sort to get overexcited.

"Perfect targets, these fellows..."

Slipping into the crowd, he began to peddle ’insider news’ once more. His goal was simple. Publicize whatever Chen Yan had ordered him to publicize.

As for the reason behind it, Yang Kai wasn’t sure. Chen Yan hadn’t revealed the entirety of the plan to him, or to anyone, in fact, concerned that a spy might learn of it and warn Han Xuhan.

More than an hour passed as the crowd around the designated dueling arena swelled to an unprecedented size. Yang Kai had never seen so many members of the sect gathered at one place before.

"That fraud is going to be exposed in front of thousands today. The anticipation is killing me..."

His job here was more or less done. A good chunk of the crowd was now whispering and arguing over the news he had just spread.

"What? Han Xuhan is trying to get us all to jump into the same pit he’s stuck in?"

"That’s what I heard! The law cultivation method he’s promoting so aggressively is actually a dead end.

Back when he stepped onto that path, his foundation was branded with an enslavement seal! Cultivating law techniques is most likely to lead us to the same destination."

"But isn’t the path of laws dead? I heard from my clan ancestors that after the destruction of their Holy Land, there are no legitimate law cultivators left in our world. How come someone can still enslave us if we explore those techniques?"

"Don’t be a fool! Did your ancestors personally make sure that there are no law cultivators left in our world? Is killing powerful cultivators so easy?"

"Guys, I think I once heard Elder Rong from the Mission Management Pavilion say that Han Xuhan admitted to having a slave seal on his foundation tower. He asked for our Sect Master’s help to remove the seal, but even the Sect Master couldn’t help him!"

"Do you idiots listen to yourselves? If that was the case, wouldn’t the Sect Master stop Han Xuhan from spreading the law techniques into the outer court? How many of us have attended his lectures? Doesn’t the entire sect know about what he’s doing?"

"I heard from a discussion over there that the senior disciple who sabotaged the law lectures is actually supported by all the Elders of the sect. He’s not doing it out of greed or jealousy. He’s just trying to protect us, the unaware outer court disciples, from being enslaved through some elaborate traps."

"If the Elders are supporting that fellow, then he’d hardly need to approach Han Xuhan like a sneaky thief. Can’t the Elders directly order the law lectures to be stopped?"

"Not if the Sect Master himself is opposed to it."

"If the Sect Master doesn’t want the lectures to be stopped, that means there is no such elaborate entrapment scheme hidden within the law techniques promoted by Han Xuhan."

"How can you be so certain of that conclusion?"

"Do you fucking dare to spell out what you just implied? You think the Sect Master wants us all to be enslaved by some remnant expert of the legalist path? Are you saying that our Sect Master wants to destroy the sect?"

"I’m just saying that an outsider like our Sect Master might have motives we can’t fathom. He might not even see it as the destruction of his sect."

"An outsider? Why are you calling him an outsider?"

"Hehehe, looks like you don’t know this secret. Actually, Sect Master Zi has a troublesome past. You see..."

The same argument, the same set of logic, and the same conclusion were mirrored in every discussion buzzing around the dueling arena. In a far corner, standing some distance away from the masses, Chen Yan nodded approvingly at Yang Kai.

"Not bad. You’ve lit the fire and heated the stove properly before the ingredients arrive. For now, keep your mouth shut and wait for the duel. Don’t engage with anyone in those discussions."

Yang Kai nodded and hurried off towards the area where Jiang Chen and the other followers of Chen Yan stood in wait.

"Hey, Chen Yan, won’t this harm the sales of the law manual?" Xiao Mei asked hesitantly from his side. "That’s a lot of spirit stones lost. You could have had it all by simply winning the duel. Was there a need-"

Chen Yan raised a hand to stop her. With a playful gleam in his gaze, he said something that left Xiao Mei dumbstruck.

"Is that what you think of me, your highness? That I, Chen Yan, care for nothing except money? Are a few thousand spirit stones worth sacrificing our futures? Worth endangering my juniors? Worth risking the survival of our people?"

"...Aren’t we short on spirit stones? We need a second ticket to the voidboat, Chen Yan!"

"Not anymore," Chen Yan said with an inexplicably eerie smile.

Xiao Mei, still confused, opened her mouth to ask why.

But her tongue failed her, frozen under a sensation she hadn’t felt in a long, long time; an oppressive aura she had last experienced while facing her father.

It was the aura of a Soul Reformation realm cultivator. And not just any Soul Reformation realm cultivator.

This eerieness, produced by a layer of serenity that shrouded an ancient, primal ferocity;

this sensation of facing a primordial beast that no child of man was supposed to gaze upon;

this mind-numbing, thought-obliterating, consciousness-seizing monstrous intent locked on her, brutally flooding her spiritual world with a red fog, full of bloodthirsty, violent, and malevolent will...

Destroy! Destroy all things under heaven! Claim supremacy over all things above earth!

Scorch the soil! Turn the oceans red! Rampage through the realm and tear apart the skies!

Let order tremble! Let laws shatter! Let reason be ruined for eternity!

Xiao Mei felt every cell in her body roaring in resonance, rejoicing!

After hiding for innumerable centuries, facing utter extinction for over a thousand years, the bloodline of primordial evil Qiong Qi was resurging once more!