Is Everyone Else's Eldest Disciple Like This? | Chapter 69 | The Truth Revealed | Novela.app

Ming Zhu awoke amidst the thunderous roars of wild beasts. Through a daze, he saw two figures embracing within a formation not far away. He scrambled up from the ground, stumbling forward. When he finally saw the people before him clearly, he froze in his tracks. "Mother!?" Su Yan was covered in blood, cradling in Ming Zhao’s arms. Her face was deathly pale; she had already lost all signs of life. Ming Zhu fell to his knees, reaching out to grasp Su Yan’s cold hand. "Mother? Father, what’s wrong with Mother? Is she sick again?" he murmured. Ming Zhao’s eyes were bloodshot. He felt as though in the split second the formation had activated, Su Yan had suddenly bitten her finger and forcibly ejected his soul from his body. Her physical shell had instantly turned to ash, and the remaining power of the seal at Eclipse Cliff had flooded into him, forcibly turning Ming Zhao into a ghost cultivator. He held Su Yan’s body blankly, his voice hoarse. "Get lost." Ming Zhu looked at him in shock, only to be swatted away by a palm strike from the maddened Ming Zhao. His small body slammed directly into a nearby boulder, rolling across the ground. Ming Zhu spat out a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious. Ming Zhao clutched the cold corpse in his arms, acting like a madman. A frigid, malevolent aura swirled around him, tightly surrounding the embracing pair and forbidding anyone from approaching. "Su Yan..." The man, like a lunatic, called out her name over and over. He called for half a day without a single moment’s pause. Eventually, his despair deepened, and his voice grew lower and lower, finally fading into silence as night fell. When Ming Zhu woke again, it was from a piercing agony. Drenched in cold sweat, he struggled to lift his head, only to see his father—looking like a vengeful spirit—stepping on his wrist and driving a cold, beautiful longsword inch by inch into the back of his hand. He let out a heart-wrenching scream, his body wanting to struggle, but he couldn't muster a shred of strength. Ming Zhu felt his own empty, ruined spiritual veins. Then, as if being subjected to a slow execution, he felt a strange spiritual vein—scorching like rolling fire—being hammered into his bones and blood vessels, leaving only a red lotus mark on the back of his left hand. Afterward, he slept for seven days. Ming Fuhua came to him in tears, saying that after Ming Zhao gave her something, he had directly fallen into the demonic path. At that time, Ming Fuhua was still a child and couldn't distinguish between a demonic cultivator and a ghost cultivator. She only saw that her father’s eyes were crimson and his aura lacked any trace of a Daoist cultivator, so she had mistaken him for a demonic one. Later, they were taken to Sun-Drenched Mountain by Master Gui Ning, and Fuhua received the Frost Spiritual Vein that had been stripped from Ming Zhu. Twenty years later, when Ye Weiyang brought this matter up again, Ming Zhu—whose mind was now far more mature—finally remembered all the inconsistencies of that night. Why would Ming Zhao kill Su Yan? Perhaps he hadn't killed her at all; instead, he had wanted to die with her. But for some reason, he had been intercepted. A path to the Yellow Springs had been laid between them, leaving that arrogant man who feared nothing in heaven or earth unable to even seek death. And why, after that massive formation was completed, did Eclipse Cliff return to a state of calm, to the point where even the roars from the bottom of the abyss could no longer be heard? Ming Zhu had wondered more than once: perhaps the legendary Na Lian, who was said to have fallen hundreds of years ago, hadn't died at all. Instead, it seemed he had been trapped at the bottom of Eclipse Cliff by a barrier created by the great cultivators of the Five Provinces. Ming Zhu met Ming Zhao’s eyes coldly. "...And since demon cultivators possess celestial spiritual power, if Na Lian didn't die, he must have grown into an existence over these hundreds of years that the entire Five Provinces cannot contend with. That is why you all thought to trap him until death at the bottom of Eclipse Cliff." Ming Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly. "Oh? What else?" "To trap Na Lian, whose spiritual power defies the heavens, ordinary barriers are useless. That is why every few decades, you require the great cultivators of the Five Provinces to offer their own blood as a sacrifice to maintain the seal." And the reason Master Gui Ning hadn't allowed him to cultivate was that he didn't want him to become a sacrificial offering for Ming Zhao or Zhou Mingzhong. If that were the case, everything made sense. Ming Zhao’s swinging leg suddenly came to a silent halt. Ming Zhu’s expression didn't change in the slightest. "Am I right?" Ming Zhao looked at him coldly. After a moment, he suddenly burst into laughter. "As expected of my son. Truly clever." Ming Zhu was startled. These were merely his own conjectures based on fragmented clues. When he had reached this conclusion, he felt he must have been half-mad to think such a thing. But seeing Ming Zhao’s reaction now, his heart instantly went cold. "Na Lian really isn't dead? And is that purple lightning now caused by Na Lian? Is he coming out?" To his surprise, Ming Zhao shook his head. "You guessed wrong on that one. That purple lightning is the tribulation for another demon cultivator to reach the Mahayana Realm. Eighty-one bolts of purple lightning will fall to ascend from the Tribulation Transcendence stage to the Mahayana stage. At that time, it will be an existence comparable to Na Lian." Ming Zhu frowned. "The Mahayana Realm?" Ming Zhao sneered. "Don't think that just because Shang Yanfeng is in the Mahayana Realm, it's easy to reach. Ordinary people take decades just to reach the Nascent Soul stage. Your Fifth Junior Brother was also exceptionally lucky, possessing a Sword Spiritual Vein and obtaining a peerless sword from Master Gui Ning, which allowed him to reach the summit in less than thirty years." "Because the constitution of demon cultivators is different from humans, the spiritual power required to break through cultivation bottlenecks is dozens of times higher than for ordinary people. This is also why, if they achieve the Dao, they are far more formidable than any of us." Ming Zhu asked, "But wasn't it said that all demon cultivators perished hundreds of years ago? What’s the deal with this one?" Ming Zhao explained, "Supposedly, it was hidden in a cave hundreds of feet below Eclipse Cliff, so it escaped the disaster. Now, all the great powers in Shou’an City have gone to Eclipse Cliff to watch the show. If that demon cultivator fails the tribulation, its demon core and demon eyes will be snatched away. But if it truly succeeds, the seal that has stood for twenty years will likely be broken by it. At that time, it... along with Na Lian under the cliff, will be able to sweep across the entire Five Provinces." Ming Zhu was shocked and hurriedly asked, "Did my Master and Junior Brother go as well?" Ming Zhao replied, "Yeah, probably to get a demon core for that Little Martial Uncle of yours." "Do you know how my Little Martial Uncle died?" Ming Zhao nearly rolled his eyes. He tapped Ming Zhu’s forehead. "I just said you were clever, so why are you being so dense now? Of the six people at Eclipse Cliff back then, four died. One of them was Gui He." Ming Zhu was getting anxious. "Then what secret method did Master use to revive him?" Ming Zhao shrugged. "Who knows? Probably Life-Sharing. This kind of secret technique doesn't last long. If they don't get a demon core or a Spirit-Settling Lamp, I'm afraid both of them will have their souls scattered." Ming Zhu’s breath hitched. He impatiently tugged at the Concentric Cord wrapped around him. "Can you undo this thing for me?" "You want to go to Eclipse Cliff?" Ming Zhu said, "I'm just going to take a look. Besides, aren't you by my side? I'm not afraid." Ming Zhao was stunned for a moment, then laughed. He cursed, "You little brat, you really know how to order your father around." Ming Zhu sneered. "So you know you're my father? Why have you ignored me all these years, and why did you let me misunderstand you so deeply? Was it fun to lead me around in circles?" "It was fun," Ming Zhao said with total sincerity. Ming Zhu: "..." He grew even more impatient. "Hurry up and let me out!" Ming Zhao sat cross-legged on the table and said with great interest, "Then call me 'Father' first." Ming Zhu: "..." Ming Zhu had resented his deadbeat father for so many years. Although his heart had been unburdened in an instant, it was impossible for him to call him "Father" immediately without any lingering bitterness. He snapped, "You old bastard, don't push it! Let me out now!" Ming Zhao clicked his tongue but didn't force the issue. With a casual hook of his finger, the Red Lotus Sword that Shen Hongchuan had left in the room flew over. Under his guidance, it slowly merged into the red lotus mark on Ming Zhu’s left hand like a drop of water. After merging the Red Lotus Sword into Ming Zhu’s bloodline, he performed a hand seal, turning the lingering Concentric Knot back into an ordinary red string. Guided by an invisible force, it wound itself around Ming Zhu’s neck. Ming Zhu tugged at it uncomfortably. "Can this be taken off?" Ming Zhao grabbed his arm. "Don't be so troublesome. If you take this off, your Master will sense it immediately. If he finds out I took you to watch the show, he might not buy me candy next time." Ming Zhu: "..." Where is your dignity as a great ghost cultivator? Did you eat it like a piece of candy? Having finished speaking, Ming Zhao grabbed Ming Zhu and jumped out of the second-story window. Riding the wind, he carried Ming Zhu all the way up into the sky. "Aaaaaah—!" A long scream rose into the air along with them. Within a five-mile radius of Eclipse Cliff, great cultivators had already gathered, all staring hungrily at the bolts of lightning striking in the distance. With every strike, a heart-wrenching roar echoed from Eclipse Cliff—a scream mixed with blood that made one's scalp tingle. Master Gui Ning stood upon a Flying Kite with his disciples, his robes fluttering. He gazed at the falling lightning in the distance, his eyes shimmering slightly. Ye Weiyang had already gone to join the people from Evernight Villa. Zhou Mingzhong, perhaps too lazy to stand, had Zhou Fuxue set up a soft couch for him on the deck. He was currently lying there comfortably, napping, while the other disciples looked at him speechlessly. Master Dao had not come this time. The only ones capable of fighting were Master Gui Ning, the newly-ascended Nascent Soul Yi Fuju, and Ming Fuhua. No one dared to approach Master Gui Ning except Ming Zhu, so Lu Qingkong, Shen Di’an, and Younü all hid behind their senior brother and sister, poking their heads out like small animals to peer timidly at the horizon. Shen Di’an carefully tugged at Yi Fuju’s sleeve and murmured, "Second Senior Brother, is that the demon cultivator’s tribulation lightning? Why does it look so much more powerful than Fifth Senior Brother’s was?" Lu Qingkong, who had studied this extensively, explained, "It is said that great demon cultivators are a level above human ones. If you compare a top-tier demon cultivator to a human in the Mahayana Realm, then our Mahayana Realm is, by comparison, as fragile as a Golden Core." Shen Di’an suddenly understood, feeling a bit of envy. "The bodies of demon cultivators are truly powerful, being so much higher than humans." Hearing this, Lu Qingkong instead shushed him and lowered his voice. "I once saw a sentence in an ancient text. It said that the reason the Ghost Fragrance Sect was destroyed hundreds of years ago was because those in power had the same thought as you..." Shen Di’an instantly fell silent. *** | Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 鬼修 | Ghost Cultivator | A cultivator who follows the path of ghosts/spirits. | | 妖修 | Demon Cultivator | A non-human (animal/spirit) who cultivates. | | 魔修 | Demonic Cultivator | A human who follows a dark/corrupted path. | | 渡劫期 | Tribulation Transcendence Stage | The stage of cultivation before reaching Mahayana. | | 大乘期 | Mahayana Realm | The highest stage of cultivation mentioned. | | 寒冰灵脉 | Frost Spiritual Vein | The specific type of spiritual vein Ming Zhu originally had. | | 红莲印记 | Red Lotus Mark | The mark left on Ming Zhu's hand after the new vein was grafted. | | 那帘 | Na Lian | The name of the powerful ancient demon/beast. | | 血祭 | Blood Sacrifice | A ritual using blood to power a seal or formation. | | 分命 | Life-Sharing | A secret technique to share or transfer life force. | | 镇灵灯 | Spirit-Settling Lamp | A magical item used to stabilize souls. | | 同心绳 / 同心结 | Concentric Cord / Concentric Knot | A binding magical item, also known as a Heart-Linking Cord. | | 行鸢 | Flying Kite | A magical transportation vessel shaped like a kite. | | 长夜山庄 | Evernight Villa | The name of a sect or residence. | | 剑灵脉 | Sword Spiritual Vein | A spiritual vein specifically suited for sword cultivation. | | 鬼芳 | Ghost Fragrance | Likely referring to the Ghost Fragrance Sect (鬼芳宗). |