The Husky and His White Cat Shizun

Chapter 169: Master, The First Forbidden Spell

"Nan Gongxu!"

Among the crowd that remained, an elder, startled, exclaimed, "Is it him?"

"It's Nan Gongxu..."

"But didn't he die a long time ago?!"

"He was killed by Luo Fenghua himself back then... How... How could he still be alive?"

Ye Wangxi was utterly stunned. His handsome face paled, and his lips quivered as he murmured, tears welling up in his eyes. He shook his head and stepped back, "Foster Father..."

Xu Shuanglin glanced at Ye Wangxi and smiled warmly, "Little Ye, come to your foster father. I won't hurt you."

"You dare not touch her again!!" Suddenly, someone roared. Ye Wangxi's wrist was seized, and she turned around to see endless pain in Nan Gongsi's eyes, his hands stained with fresh blood. "Ye Wangxi, come behind me."

Xu Shuanglin chuckled, "My dear nephew, why don't you have any of your father's temperament? You only resemble your mother?"

"Silence! You have no right to mention my mother!"

"How dare I not?" Xu Shuanglin replied leisurely. "Do you know who your mother truly loved the most? It wasn't your father, but me."

"!"

Seeing the young man's contorted face, filled with rage and disgust, his eyes flashing with madness and torment, Xu Shuanglin found it pleasurable. He felt nourished by this profound hatred and burst into laughter.

"Your father ruined my reputation, took everything from me, but so what? The Confucian Wind Sect... The Confucian Wind Sect – is still in his hands, staggering towards its twilight. Hate me, Si'er, hate me – Elder Brother! Hahahaha! Did you think that the pitiful Nan Gongxu from those days just died? That I would obediently lie in my grave, watching you two revel in this mortal world?"

His smile twisted fiercely, and he spat out.

"Daydreaming!"

As he spoke, he circled around to Nan Gongliu, who was on the verge of death yet unable to pass away. He grabbed the front of his elder brother's robe as if lifting a pile of mud.

"How could the glorious Confucian Wind Sect end up in the hands of such a good-for-nothing? The Sect Leader... ha, what a joke! As the Sect Leader, you were still toyed with by me for all these years. Whatever I demanded, you obediently scrambled to find it for me like a dog with its tail between its legs," he chuckled, slapping Nan Gongliu's bloodied cheek playfully. His smile was intimate, but his eyes gleamed with a sinister light. "Big Brother, you're truly a cowardly weakling, a useless piece of trash."

At the side, the Sect Leader of Solitary Moon Night, Jiang Xi, commented, "Is your sole intention to destroy the hundred-year foundation of the Confucian Wind Sect?"

Xu Shuanglin turned around, blinked, and said, "A hundred years of foundation? That means nothing. Foundations can be rebuilt from scratch. Even if the seventy-two cities were burned to the ground, they could rise again. But once a person's heart is dead, it turns to dust, scattered by the wind—only then will it truly be over." He paused, then smiled radiantly.

"I'm going to shatter the hearts of every single one of you."

His words were delivered with an eerie calm, coupled with his beaming face, which sent chills down their spines. Before anyone else could react, Nan Gongsi couldn't hold back any longer.

His eyes burned with the flames of karma, filled with the smoke of despair. His gaze was consumed by hatred and madness, devoid of any desire to live. The sound of a jade flute echoed as a three-meter-tall demonic wolf howled through the forest, leaping towards Nan Gongsi. Nan Gongsi vaulted onto its back, barely seated when he was already in motion.

"Mandara, come forth!" With a fierce cry, a divine bow shimmering with brilliant light appeared in his hand. Nan Gongsi tightened his grip on the demonic wolf, riding atop its back with his upper body straight. He drew the Mandara bow with his arms, his face twisted with maniacal hatred. In an instant, he loosed three arrows in quick succession, aimed at Xu Shuanglin's vital points.

Xu Shuanglin chuckled. "Di'er, you're being quite mischievous."

He dodged two arrows, but as the third one was unavoidable, he didn't panic. Instead, he grabbed his half-dead elder brother's limp body, using it to block the arrow.

After all, this was his biological father. No matter how callous he might be, the bond of blood was still deeply ingrained in Nan Gongsi's nature. He couldn't help but tense up, feeling his temples pulsate violently. His teeth had pierced his lips, leaving them bleeding.

"Do you want to keep playing with your uncle?" Xu Shuanglin asked warmly, smiling. "Uncle will stay with you."

"Nan Gongxu!!! I'll kill you!!"

"What are you, a child, shouting about fighting and killing for?" Despite the casual tone in Xu Shuanglin's voice, his actions were swift and relentless as he exchanged moves with his nephew.

Within just a few exchanges, his formidable skills left almost all the cultivators around them stunned. Some couldn't help but think—no wonder when Nan Gongliu took over as sect leader, he must have felt resentful toward his brother—the difference in magical power between these two brothers was like heaven and earth, a chasm too vast for one to even look up to the other.

"Amazing."

"Didn't Nan Gongxu steal his brother's techniques back then? How is it possible for him to possess such skills?"

"He's virtually on par with the first grandmaster..."

A few who had initially intended to join Nan Gongsi in attacking Xu Shuanglin now retreated, and some quicker-witted disciples realized that Confucian Wind Sect seemed doomed; they took advantage of the chaos to flee. Such sentiments spread rapidly, and within moments, those who remained either ran away or scattered, leaving their fellow disciples who had been used as pawns, still in a state of confusion.

In the blink of an eye, only a handful of people were left in the Hunting Forest. Mo Ran turned his head and saw that Chu Wanning, Ye Wangxi, and—surprisingly—Jiang Xi had not yet departed.

That was unexpected. Jiang Xi was the wealthiest man in the world, the leader of Linling Island, the most skilled merchant alive, and also the head of the largest cultivation sect outside of Confucian Wind Sect.

He hadn't anticipated that Jiang Xi would be willing to get involved in such a thankless situation.

" Sect Leader Jiang… "

A quivering voice startled Mo Ran even more. He turned around to find that he had somehow missed the person hiding behind the orange tree. Despite their ashen face and trembling lips, they were still managing to stay put.

Li Wuxin? !

As the leader of the weakest sect in the Upper Realm, Li Wuxin swallowed hard. Beads of sweat formed on his wheatish-yellow face as he looked uncertainly at the remaining people. "Shall we all attack together?"

Jiang Xi didn't answer immediately. His gaze swept swiftly over everyone left, then he made a decisive decision. "Village Chief Li, come with me. I'll rescue those sleeping pawns, and you use your sword to transport them to safety."

"O-okay, yes, yes."

"And as for Grandmaster Chu and Grandmaster Mo… "

Chu Wanning said, "Mo Ran, go assist Nan Gongsi. I'll mend the sky tear. I'll come help you right away."

This sky tear was different from the one in Butterfly Town. There weren't hundreds of vengeful spirits surging forth; only golden-red hellfire flowed from it. Thus, it wasn't particularly dangerous. However, due to the massive size of the tear, it was indeed more suitable for Chu Wanning to mend it.

Mo Ran dispelled the Ghost-Seeing Coffin of Ten Thousand, and the two dozen young cultivators who had been used as pawns fell weakly to the ground. With a wave of Jiang Xi's blue sleeves, countless medicinal powders sprinkled down, stabilizing their weakened states. Then, he turned to Li Wuxin. "I'll trouble you."

Li Wuxin nodded, and a heavy sword shimmering with emerald light appeared at his command. Muttering an incantation, the sword, which could originally only hold two or three people, suddenly expanded to several dozen feet in size and hovered mid-air. Jiang Xi lifted each person onto the blade one by one, until it was Xue Meng's turn. However, Li Wuxin's weapon couldn't support him anymore.

Li Wuxin said, "I can't carry any more. There are too many of you. Let's talk about it when I come back."

Jiang Xi glanced at the nearby battle where sparks flew and spiritual currents became more fierce and terrifying. Surrounding orange trees were falling, crushed like dry grass, indicating that the chaos would soon reach their location.

He had no choice but to look down at Xue Meng with disgust and say, "Forget it. You go on ahead, and I'll take this waste with me."

Then, he called out in a deep voice, "Snow Phoenix, summon."

A silver sword emitting a blue luster instantly appeared beneath his feet. The sword named "Snow Phoenix" was exquisitely elegant, with a slender hilt adorned with intricate patterns. However, it was obvious that it wasn't designed for carrying heavy loads. Fortunately, it could still manage the weight of two people. Jiang Xi held the unconscious Xue Meng horizontally, recalling how the latter had spoken back to him and that he was the son of Madame Wang and Xue Zhengyong. His disdain was evident on his face.

Li Wuxin: "..."

Looking at Sect Leader Jiang's expression, Li Wuxin wondered if he might suddenly throw the young master of Death Peak off the sword mid-air to be crushed into minced meat.

"What are you looking at? Hurry up and go. We need to send them away quickly so we can return to help," Jiang Xi said with a grim face. "We can't just let the Confucian Wind Sect be completely wiped out."

The two divine swords rose into the wind, carrying the young men with faint spiritual currents, flying towards the distance.

Meanwhile, Chu Wanning was in the final stages of sealing Hell's Rift, while Mo Ran and his companions were locked in a heated battle with Xu Shuanglin. Mo Ran's strength was formidable, and Nan Gongsi's resolve to kill was unwavering. Despite Xu Shuanglin's immense mastery over Daoist magic, he found himself struggling to fend off the duo.

In this desperate situation, Xu Shuanglin shouted at Ye Wangxi, "Ye-er, what are you standing there for? Do you really want to watch your foster father die at the hands of others? Come help me!"

Ye Wangxi clenched her fists, her face contorted in pain as she trembled violently. Instead of stepping forward, she began retreating step by step.

"You truly intend to stand idly by? Have you forgotten who picked you up from the orange grove when you were a child, raised you, and gave you your name?"

"…No."

On the verge of collapse, she remained resilient due to her upbringing. The sect leader and elders had always treated her as a boy, and in the face of this unexpected turn of events, she instinctively held on, her back still straight and her face flushed red, though she didn't break down into tears like a typical young lady.

Yet, it seemed as if her flesh had been shattered; a gentle touch might cause her veins and skin to peel away from her bones, crumbling into dust.

Seeing her state, Xu Shuanglin cursed inwardly but didn't push her further. Instead, he turned to engage the other two with even greater ferocity.

"Zing!"

The sword in his hand suddenly emitted a piercing metallic sound. The supreme weapon from the Treading Snow Palace of Kunlun, renowned for its quality, could no longer withstand the assault of Mo Ran's willow vine, shattering into pieces and falling to the ground.

Mo Ran said coldly, "What else can you use to fight?"

Xu Shuanglin sensed danger. Suddenly, a distant, ancient roar echoed above his head. He looked up and saw that Chu Wanning had completely sealed the Heavenly Rift. The night sky above the Hunting Forest returned to its original state, and the hellish lava that had lost its connection to the spirit flow of the Netherworld instantly dissipated into golden-red specks, fluttering away like fireflies in the woods.

Amidst the starry sky, Chu Wanning descended gracefully from the heavens. His dark ceremonial robe billowed in the gale, accentuating his porcelain-white complexion and extraordinary, handsome features.

However, no matter how handsome he was, it couldn't conceal the overwhelming killing intent emanating from him.

"Dammit," Xu Shuanglin gritted his teeth.

One Grandmaster Mo was already more than he could handle. If another Master Chu joined forces with him, who in the entire cultivation world would be able to face them in single combat?

Xu Shuanglin took a step back and slashed his palm with a knife, squeezing out fresh blood to smear a curse seal on his forehead. He growled, "Aren't you coming to save me? How long are you going to wait!"

Then, he reached out and grabbed at the air, his nails suddenly elongating several inches. With a loud "pfft," he tore open Luo Fenghua's body floating on the lake, wrenching out his spirit core, dripping with blood, and stuffing it into his chest. He quickly jumped backward, dragging his half-dead brother along, dispelling the barrier beneath their feet, and leaped into the Sweet Spring Lake, diving straight to the bottom...

Mo Ran immediately snapped back to reality—the divine weapon "Never Return," which had been used to open the Hellish Heavenly Rift, was still stuck in the lakebed!

Xu Shuanglin was an excellent swimmer, and without shoes, he moved swiftly through the water. Even with a living corpse in tow, he immediately seized the black, unknown blade in the lake. As he emerged from the surface, a fissure suddenly appeared in the sky once again.

Chu Wanning's brows furrowed deeply. "A Heavenly Rift?"

He didn't sound certain. The crack was tiny, only as tall as a person, and it was different from the usual Ghost Realm's Heavenly Rifts. There wasn't any Yin energy seeping out of it.

Xu Shuanglin splashed through the water, leaped up, and with one hand holding his brother and the other gripping Unreturning, he slashed down fiercely with the Divine Martial Blade, forcing the three people chasing after him to hesitate in their steps. Seizing this opportunity, he soared upward, only for a beautifully slender hand to suddenly stretch out from the narrow fissure and grasp Xu Shuanglin's arm tightly.

"…The Door of Time and Space, Life and Death!"

In an instant, a bolt of lightning struck Chu Wanning's mind, and his eyes widened abruptly. He had always been composed, even when faced with the Jiu Ling Chess Game. But at this moment, all the color drained from his face, and he clenched his fists under his sleeves, stunned beyond words.

Mo Ran felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. He turned his head. "What?!"

How could this be possible?!

This was the most powerful of the three forbidden techniques, a legendary spell that could tear through time and space, allowing people from different dimensions to defy heaven and fate by appearing at the same time – a taboo among taboos, long lost to the cultivation continent –

The Door of Time and Space, Life and Death!

Author has something to say: Some observant readers might remember that Doggy knew two out of the three forbidden techniques in his past life, but not the Rebirth Spell. So why would he be so surprised and skeptical about the Door of Time and Space? Don't worry, this isn't a plot hole; it will be explained later! Muah~