Past Grudges

When mentioning the Old Heavenly Master, Buddha Face's tone carried disdain and disgust, yet he was quite pleased with Zhang Gonglian's predicament.

Because Zhang Gonglian had not received the Heavenly Master's inheritance either, an acknowledgment he had spent his entire life failing to obtain.

The same went for this Heavenly Master in name only standing before him.

"Let me show you what a true Heavenly Master's inheritance looks like."

Saying this, Buddha Face slowly raised his hand, spread his five fingers, and made a grasping motion toward the ritual altar.

The Nine Heavens Divine Pill, which had been quietly floating above the altar, suddenly began to tremble violently. It let out continuous hums, as if cheering and jumping for joy.

Zhang Gonglian watched Buddha Face, forcing himself to stay calm. While speaking to stall for time, he desperately squeezed out the little spiritual energy left in his body, rapidly drawing another talisman in the air before him.

This was his final move.

Budd Face naturally noticed his little trick but didn't care at all. He even watched this futile struggle with great interest.

He methodically guided the Nine Heavens Divine Pill, his voice carrying the leisurely tone of one who had already secured victory.

"You, Zhang Gonglian, have never been a true Heavenly Master! Because from the very beginning, I haven't felt a single trace of the Nine Heavens Divine Pill's power from you."

"From the moment I heard your power was sealed by that guy named Lin Mo, I completely understood."

Buddha Face raised his eyes. His gaze pierced past the restless divine pill and landed on Zhang Gonglian, his eyes full of mockery and satisfaction.

"My good senior brother... he never passed down the true power of the Heavenly Master to you at all!"

Guided by him, the Nine Heavens Divine Pill slowly rose into the air and flew toward him bit by bit.

Feeling that majestic power, both familiar and foreign, Buddha Face's eyes erupted with a fanaticism and excitement he had suppressed for decades.

"This power, this power that should have been mine!"

Buddha Face's voice echoed in the spacious pill tower, carrying decades of suppressed longing and madness.

"After all these years, it has finally fallen into my hands!"

He reached out a trembling hand, as if welcoming a long-lost lover.

The Nine Heavens Divine Pill, its entire body radiating brilliant light and emitting a refreshing elixir aura, slowly landed in his palm.

The moment they touched, a vast and majestic elixir aura, like a burst dam, poured madly into Buddha Face's limbs and bones.

"Yes! This is it! This is the feeling!"

Buddha Face threw his head back and howled, his voice filled with extreme delight. "This final step is complete at last! From now on, I am the true Heavenly Master of Dragon and Tiger Mountain!"

However, just as he was immersed in the ecstasy brought by this boundless power, a calm and familiar voice, seemingly coming from a distant time and space, rang out clearly within the pill tower.

"Sigh, junior brother, I knew you would return."

Buddha Face's laughter abruptly stopped, his body freezing instantly. His eyes widened sharply as he stared fixedly at the Nine Heavens Divine Pill in his hand.

The elixir aura, so dense it was almost tangible, slowly rose before his eyes and condensed into a familiar human silhouette in midair.

But he wasn't surprised; rather, it was as if he had expected all of this.

The muscles on his face twisted as he began to laugh again, laughing even more madly and brazenly than before.

"I knew it! You old geezer are dead too! You should have died a long time ago!"

Buddha Face pointed at the figure formed by the elixir aura and roared hoarsely, "Back then, I was clearly the one with the best talent! Why! Why did that old immortal pass the orthodox lineage to you!"

This sudden scene completely dumbfounded Zhang Gonglian, who was watching from the side.

Master?

Wasn't the figure formed by the elixir aura his master, who had gone down the mountain to wander the world and whose whereabouts were unknown? Why would his master appear inside the Nine Heavens Divine Pill?

"Junior brother, our master had his own reasons for doing so."

The phantom of the Old Heavenly Master spoke in a peaceful tone, yet it carried a sense of persuasion. "The Nine Heavens Divine Pill is not as simple as you imagine. Let it go.

The fact that you didn't die under master's final Five Thunders Orthodox Method back then proves that you are not fated to die."

"Not fated to die?"

Buddha Face acted as if he had heard the world's biggest joke. He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking loudly.

"Right! I am not fated to die!" He violently threw a punch, the furious gale instantly shattering the newly condensed elixir aura figure.

"My fate is to become the Heavenly Master! That is my true fate!"

Following his furious roar, he madly absorbed the elixir aura from the Nine Heavens Divine Pill again. His aura climbed steadily at a visible rate, growing stronger and stronger.

Yet no matter how much he absorbed, the scattered elixir aura stubbornly condensed once more, turning back into the appearance of the Old Heavenly Master to block him from the divine pill.

"Junior brother, stop! You cannot continue like this!"

The phantom of the Old Heavenly Master let out a sigh. Its figure suddenly moved, taking the initiative to crash into Buddha Face.

"Get lost!"

Buddha Face subconsciously raised his hand to block, but he was forcefully knocked back several steps by that seemingly illusory elixir aura.

It was precisely this collision that forcibly severed his connection with the Nine Heavens Divine Pill.

In this split second, Zhang Gonglian finally snapped out of his daze.

Not daring to hesitate for a moment, he immediately took out the second brocade pouch Lin Mo had given him from his chest.

He tore it open and pulled out a talisman from inside.

The material and drawing method of this talisman were extremely bizarre, completely different from the Heavenly Master Mansion's talisman methods he had learned. The runes on it twisted and coiled, exuding a profound and domineering aura.

He recalled Lin Mo's breezy, indifferent face and that unquestionable instruction.

"For the second pouch, don't worry about anything else. Just cast it out."

He couldn't care less now!

Zhang Gonglian's gaze hardened. He poured the little remaining spiritual energy in his body into it without reservation and used all his strength to cast this mysterious talisman toward Buddha Face.

"Old thing, you should have died decades ago!"

Buddha Face had just stabilized his footing. Seeing his senior brother's remnant soul still trying to stop him, his face revealed outright murderous intent.

He raised his hand and summoned it. As his talisman method circulated, the Nine Heavens Divine Pill floating in midair was drawn toward his palm once again.

"Once I refine the divine pill, it will be your time to die!"

The divine pill fell into his hands once again.

But at the exact same time, the talisman cast by Zhang Gonglian had already transformed into a streak of light, arriving in the blink of an eye.

The talisman spontaneously combusted without fire, and a blinding golden bolt of lightning violently erupted from it!

This lightning was purer and more furious than the Heavenly Master Mansion's Five Thunders Orthodox Method!

Boom!

Before Buddha Face could even react, his entire body was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer. He instantly flew backward and slammed viciously into the thick pillar of the pill tower.

The sturdy pillar let out an overwhelmed groan as spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across it.

Had it not been for the array formations reinforcing the pill tower itself, this strike would have likely blasted straight through both the man and the building!