Chapter 190: A Cuckoo Takes Over the Nest

Chapter 190: Crows Taking Over Magpie's Nest

“Xiong Ji. Li. Yin. Hui., finally over half, hurry, a bit faster!”

Zou Si Jiu stood at the edge of the cloud sea, muttering to himself.

At this moment, the rushing breeze had already taken on a wild and unruly momentum, whipping Zou Si Jiu’s robes into a fluttering sound as it swept across the cloud sea in all directions.

All those touring the upper reaches of the cloud sea sensed the anomaly.

The afterglow of the setting sun gradually darkened, and the clouds beneath their feet grew increasingly sparse. Waves surged violently on the rivers, and trees swayed within the mountains.

An inexplicable panic spread through their hearts.

“Dao friend uncle, is the sky going to darken?”

A timid voice echoed behind him.

Zou Si Jiu caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye—Xiao Qiang, the boy, had somehow appeared behind him, tugging at his robe hem, his face etched with unease.

“I want to go home.”

“Little Dao friend, don’t rush. Uncle will take you home right away.”

Zou Si Jiu whispered softly, but his body did not turn. He remained facing the ‘invisible wall,’ his right hand’s five fingers pinching with rapid frequency.

“The progress has reached Wu Ji. Once this wall is broken, I can reclaim the permissions of Qixing Cave Heaven!”

The advancing wind finally collided with the figure seated high in the clouds, smiling serenely—Liu Zu.

Frost-bearded, white eyebrows fluttered.

Suddenly, the smile on the immortal’s lips faded, and a chilling glare flashed in his otherwise peaceful, hollow eyes!

A surge of fury contorted his face, finally dragging this immortal down from the ‘cloud realm,’ transforming him back into human form!

“How dare this reckless madman disturb Qixing Cave Heaven?!”

Liu Zu—or rather, the Divine Mist Daoist Wang Wenqing—rose tall, his large sleeves billowing, his furious shout echoing like thunder across the cloud realm.

The believers on this acre of cloud sea all felt a vast celestial might pressing down upon them, and they staggered unsteadily.

“Where are the guarding spiritual officials? Show yourselves and arrest this demon!”

Wang Wenqing roared, but only scattered clouds whipped by the gale flew past rapidly, with no spiritual officials revealing themselves.

At this point, the sky within the cave heaven grew darker, and the eternal sunset hanging over the undulating mountains showed signs of setting!

Seeing this, the Daoist’s expression changed drastically.

The shifting of mountains and rivers—this was the sign that the cave heaven’s permissions had been stolen more than half!

What made him even more uneasy was that the spiritual officials guarding the cave heaven showed no reaction.

Even he had only realized it after the permissions had been stolen so extensively.

From these signs, one could discern how masterful the ‘thief’s’ methods were.

Such a person could only be those yellow millet rats! Yin-Yang practitioners!

Wang Wenqing’s face darkened with rage, his eyes like blades sweeping across the cloud realm.

Soon, he locked onto the only figure still standing upright.

“Back then, sparing your lot of millet rats was already an act of grace from the Dao Ancestor. Now you dare steal from my cave heaven? You’re courting death!”

The Divine Mist Daoist flicked his sleeve, producing a clang of metal and iron.

The drifting clouds before his sleeve suddenly reversed, condensing into a white ‘flying sword’ at a visible speed, shooting forth.

Where the flying sword passed, the cloud layer already ravaged by the harsh wind split open a deep fissure. The snow-white cloud waves rolled away from the fissure’s center.

Any believer swallowed by the cloud waves had their limbs stiffen like they’d been shocked, their bodies flickering in and out of sight.

The many mouths agape in terror made no sound.

Yet the next moment, as their mouths closed, the cloud sea suddenly erupted in piercing cries and screams.

The misalignment of image and sound created an abrupt, jarring sense of dissonance.

This was because they were being expelled from Qixing Cave Heaven.

“Damn it, this old bull-nose noticed it after all.”

Watching the flying sword shooting from afar, Zou Si Jiu’s face grew grim.

He had used the ‘backdoor’ to bypass all the guarding spiritual officials, but in the end, he couldn’t evade this seventh-grade golden elixir cultivator.

However, Zou Si Jiu knew it wasn’t Wang Wenqing’s strength that mattered, but the ‘backdoor’ preset by the Yin-Yang sequence of old was gradually failing.

Perhaps in a dozen years, these ‘backdoors’ would be completely sealed by the Daoist sequence.

By then, he, a member of the Yin-Yang sequence, might lose even the right to be a millet rat!

“It’s my own house I built with my own hands, and now I’m about to be swept out. How damn ironic.”

Zou Si Jiu sneered coldly, “Ingrateful and unjust, crows taking over magpie’s nest, forcing the owner to become a rat. These Daoist bastards—I, Zou Si Jiu, won’t leave a single tile for you today!”

The words had barely fallen when the flying sword arrived.

Between life and death, Zou Si Jiu’s eyes flashed countless divination symbols like a cascading waterfall, and his right hand pressed forward with a seal.

“Yin-Yang practitioner, master of yellow millet. By my permissions, subdue the cave heaven’s spiritual officials—appear!”

A sudden gust of wild wind howled, stirring up cloud mist into a condensed form, forming a armored spiritual official behind Zou Si Jiu, his beard bristling, his aura imposing.

Boom!

The spiritual official clasped his hands, pinching the sword’s tip with his fingers.

An invisible wave swept across, hurling all the believers on the cloud sea into the air, vanishing without a trace.

“The progress has reached Ji, just hold on for half a moment, and I can seize all the cave heaven’s permissions!”

Zou Si Jiu’s eyes burned red, staring at the equally malevolent Wang Wenqing in the distance.

“Look, how dark it is in this cave heaven, like the sky’s about to change.”

“You know nothing. Isn’t weather manipulation a basic operation? If you can’t simulate it, how can it be called a cave heaven?”

“But if the sky darkens, can it still be called Qixing Cave Heaven? Or does this cave heaven have another name?”

“Could it be a special program prepared by the Qixing Group?”

On the square, not only were the onlookers whispering, but even the Qixing Group members were murmuring.

As insiders, they had all toured Qixing Cave Heaven and naturally knew its scenery was forever frozen at twilight, unchanging.

Since the viewer and co-owner, the Divine Mist Daoist Wang Wenqing, only favored the sunset’s view, it couldn’t possibly be the so-called ‘special program’ they spoke of.

The clamor grew, and finally, a Daoist-robed member of the group could no longer contain himself, approaching the Qingyi Daoist and asking, “Master, what’s happening with this cave heaven…”

Before the question could finish, the Qingyi Daoist, who had been silently guarding the screen, suddenly raised his hands, eyes wide with fury.

“Are there nobles and generals, or not?!”

“Are there nobles and generals, or not?!”

The Qingyi Daoist’s deafening cry echoed back and forth across the square.

In a fleeting moment, not only the clamor of voices but even the swaying wind and rain seemed to freeze.

Crows and sparrows fell silent, the fall of a needle audible.

All stared, transfixed, at the raised arms, immersed in shock and bewilderment, lost in a daze for a long while.

Just as they were unaware of what had occurred, a series of explosive shouts erupted near their ears.

“Do the nobles and high officials have the resolve?”

“With the ambition of a great bird, fearless of death!”

Those who answered with raised arms suddenly charged toward the dense crowd, the pungent gunpowder smoke slowly drifting from their collars and sleeves.