Chapter 130 - 129: The Old Monk Martial Venerable! Body Decayed, Still Able to Fight
These special lamps were called Soul Lamps!
Each Soul Lamp represented a Martial Arts Strongman of the Great Xia Dynasty. They were all high-ranking individuals, with the weakest among them at the Spirit Transformation Realm.
If one of them died, their Soul Lamp would naturally be extinguished.
When a person dies, their lamp is extinguished!
It was as simple as that.
Yan Qingyue still remembered that the last time she came here, more than forty Soul Lamps were burning.
But now, only about thirty remained.
The ones that had gone out had mostly burned through their oil and wicks.
Washed away by the river of time, they had died of old age.
’Once, the Great Xia was prosperous beyond measure,’ Yan Qingyue thought. ’Within this Emperor’s Guard Hall, over a hundred Soul Lamps once burned, as bright as day!’
Suddenly, a hoarse, aged voice came from behind her.
"COUGH, COUGH..."
Hearing the voice, Yan Qingyue immediately turned around. A look of reverence appeared on her face as she bowed her head slightly and said, "Yan Qingyue pays her respects to Lord Wu!"
A moment later, a person appeared before Yan Qingyue.
He wore a green official’s robe from some unknown dynasty and was bald.
His eyes revealed a deep exhaustion, and his face was so old that his features were nearly unrecognizable.
If Su Bai were here, he would have gasped in shock. This man was several orders of magnitude more decrepit than that old codger Longbo Hai!
He was like a wine jar that had been aging for an unknown amount of time, covered in layers upon layers of dust...
Dressed like a monk, the decrepit old man hobbled out from the gloom of the great hall.
In his hand, he held what looked like a rag—or something—and as he slowly approached Yan Qingyue, he listlessly wiped at the oil lamps in the hall.
To use a common phrase, this bald old man already had one foot in the grave, with only his head still above ground, gasping for air.
It looked as if he could kick the bucket and drop dead at any moment.
But upon seeing the old man, Yan Qingyue dared not show the slightest disrespect. The reverence she displayed was even greater than what she showed Emperor Xia!
Ever since she was a child, Yan Qingyue had heard the legends of this old man.
Wu Tianming. It was said that he had been the former emperor’s Scholar’s Attendant. He later became a monk, but his aptitude for the Martial Dao was unremarkable.
Later, it was unknown whether he had a fortuitous encounter or received guidance from an Immortal.
Wu Tianming spent over a hundred years in the Scripture Pavilion, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching a level the former emperor could not even have imagined!
It was nothing short of astonishing!
If one were to look through the Royal Family’s records today, one could still find accounts of that legendary battle.
According to the legends, a Young Sect Master from the Soul-devouring Demon Sect possessed a peerless talent not seen in the Demon Sect for ten thousand years.
Having just broken through to the Dao Palace Realm, he became arrogant and conceited, believing himself to be invincible!
He even coveted the former emperor’s three thousand consorts and planned to seize them all to serve as his Furnace Tripods!
However, not long after this Young Sect Master entered the Imperial Palace, he encountered a mysterious expert.
This person only made seven moves in total.
After those seven moves, the Young Sect Master of the Soul-devouring Demon Sect fled three thousand miles from the Imperial City with a ruined body. His Daoist Palace Dharma Aspect was shattered, and his physical form was nearly destroyed!
If not for a few trump cards he had, he would likely have perished on the spot.
When news of this battle spread, both the righteous and demonic paths were utterly horrified!
Only then did they learn that the Great Xia Imperial City was home to a Daoist Palace Great Power!
Wu Tianming earned his title in that single battle and was bestowed the honorific "Martial Dao Divine Venerable" by the former emperor!
Compared to such a peerless figure, Yan Qingyue, despite her esteemed status as the current National Preceptor, was like a novice meeting a grandmaster.
She was merely a junior, a child.
"So, it’s the little girl from the Yan Family!"
The old monk swayed as he came to stand before Yan Qingyue. His gaze fell upon her, and he let out a soft sound of surprise. "Strange! Why do you still look the same as before?"
Yan Qingyue gave a wry smile. "Lord Wu, you must be thinking of my aunt, Yan Luoxue!"
"Right, right!"
The old monk seemed to finally see her clearly. He nodded and said, "I was wondering why, after so many years, the girl from your Yan Family hadn’t aged at all."
"By the way, how is your aunt, Yan Luoxue? How is that girl doing now?"
Yan Qingyue lowered her head, her voice somewhat subdued. "My lord, my aunt Yan Luoxue already passed away fifty years ago."
Hearing this, the old monk fell silent.
’I must be getting truly senile.’
A moment later, he spoke, his gaze distant. "I was the one who personally watched her Soul Lamp slowly fade before my very eyes. Why would I ask such a question now?"
"Sigh..."
A single sigh, carrying the weight of unspoken history.
Suddenly, the old monk asked again, "That girl, Luoxue... was she married before she passed away?"
Yan Qingyue shook her head. "No, my aunt was never married!"
"Never married... never married..."
The old monk murmured softly, his voice so faint that it seemed only he could hear it.
After a long while, he sighed deeply and lamented,
"That girl, Luoxue, was a pitiable soul as well."
Then, his gaze shifted back to Yan Qingyue, a sad expression on his face. "Your Yan Family has served Great Xia for a lifetime, but you’ve long forgotten yourselves."
Yan Qingyue listened obediently, not offering any rebuttal.
’The older people get, the more they ramble and reminisce.’
The old monk began to ramble on to Yan Qingyue about the past.
Some of it she could understand, but some of it was beyond her comprehension.
When he had more or less said his piece, the old monk finally got to the point. "Why have you come to the Emperor’s Guard Hall today?"
’Finally, the important part!’
Yan Qingyue took a deep breath before speaking in a grave voice, "Qing Yue has recently been troubled by a matter, leaving my Heart Spirit in turmoil and my mind full of questions. I have come here specifically to ask for your guidance, Lord Wu."
Then, Yan Qingyue told the old monk about how the Great Xia Dragon Qi had been severed in two.
After Yan Qingyue finished her story, a long moment passed without a response from the old monk.
Curious, she focused her gaze on him.
She saw the old monk with his eyes closed and head bowed, as if he had entered a state of meditation, completely motionless.
"Lord Wu!"
Yan Qingyue called out.
This was enough to pull the old monk out of his state of "meditation."
"Are you finished?"
The old monk let out a breath and asked.
"I am."
Yan Qingyue felt a little helpless. This was a monumental event concerning the life and death of Great Xia. Ever since she learned of it, she had been unable to eat or sleep in peace.
She hadn’t even dared to inform the reigning Emperor Xia, rushing here to the Emperor’s Guard Hall instead.
’And yet... after hearing about it, this man actually fell asleep?’
She was truly at a loss for words.
"The Dragon Qi is broken, calamitous energy is surging, and a great tribulation is upon us!"
"This old man finally understands."
"Lord Wu, is there a way to deal with this?"
Yan Qingyue asked hastily.
"This old man is about to die. What way could I possibly have?"
Wu Tianming smiled casually, then said softly, "It’s nothing more than using these old bones of mine to suppress this calamitous energy for a while!"
His weary gaze swept across the many oil lamps in the hall, landing on the few that were placed highest but burned the dimmest.
"There are still a few fossils like me left over from the battle that founded the dynasty."
"If one of us goes up to fight one tribulation, we can probably get through them all one by one..."
"We are just a group of dying men. Though we possess powerful cultivation, our bodies have long since decayed."
The old monk shook his head.
Then, he spoke softly with a smile.
"However, now that the great tribulation is here, we can still fight."