Chapter 690: Two-Faced

"What arrogance! The Dao is boundless, yet you dare boast that you have reached its absolute peak? Brother, do not stop me. This person comes with ill intent—let me show him a thing or two first!" Ignoring the Hemp-Clothed Elder's attempts to stop him, Ye Qingqiu rallied the power of the Ten Directions Annihilation Grand Formation to intercept the small boat.

But no matter how he wielded the feng shui formations and the dragon vein's yang qi, he couldn't hinder the man in the slightest.

The lone skiff drifted down the river, ignoring the arrays in its path entirely. It was forcing its way through without hesitation!

"How dare you!" The Ten Directions Annihilation Grand Formation had cost the Five Great Upper Sects countless resources to build. Now that someone was forcing their way in, the sects' Celestial Masters naturally weren't going to just stand by and watch.

It was a matter of the Five Great Upper Sects' prestige. For the sake of their ridiculous banner of the orthodox path, the Qingcheng Taoist Priest and Leng Qingxuan's Master struck together. Yet even with the three of them joining forces, the situation did not improve. None of them could stop that lone skiff.

"Where did this man spring from? Of the hidden Celestial Masters in the world today, the Five Great Upper Sects account for half, and I've at least heard of the rest. But I haven't heard a single whisper about him." Leng Qingxuan's Master offered a bitter smile as he put away the talisman in his palm and turned to the Hemp-Clothed Elder. "Brother, you were in such a hurry to stop us earlier. Do you perhaps know him?"

The Hemp-Clothed Elder's expression was grave. "Huaxia is vast and abundant, and its capable eccentrics are too many to count. I have no impression of him either. I merely felt that his aura was world-shaking, and I didn't want to provoke him."

The astonishment between his brows was impossible to hide. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that the Hemp-Clothed Elder had likely recognized the man, but for whatever reason, did not dare reveal his identity.

As Daoist master Wan's voice echoed across the river, the sect cultivators reacted differently. Among them, the one whose expression changed the most was Elder Chen.

He forcefully drew his foot back mid-step and stood rooted in place, his face abruptly sinking into gloom.

Perhaps due to his cultivation realm, Elder Chen was much sharper than the other sect Celestial Masters. "This person won't be easy to deal with."

Having said that, he shot me a faint glance. "Fortune and misfortune are interdependent? Fated not to die?"

Elder Chen stood at the boundary between the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation and the Ten Directions Annihilation Grand Formation. He was far away from the sect cultivators, so I was the only one who could hear his muttering. Because I knew Elder Chen's true identity, my instincts screamed that something was wrong the moment I heard him utter the word "fated."

From the gap between the two great mountains, I could see a black shadow steadily growing larger on the river. That deafening voice from just now had come from that very gap.

'Speaking so domineeringly, without the slightest scruple... Is the person on that small boat really Daoist master Wan?' My thoughts raced. I didn't relax my guard just because Daoist master Wan had appeared.

The Five Great Upper Sects held the reins of Daoism, and I didn't want to cause trouble for Daoist master Wan. That was my first concern. But compared to that, I was even more worried about the second.

Daoist master Wan didn't know I was a fate usurper. If he found out my true identity, would he still step in to save me?

Even if he was willing to help, for a member of the Daoist sects, aiding a fate usurper was tantamount to making an enemy of every sect in the world!

I was deeply grateful that he had rushed here, and precisely because of that gratitude, I couldn't let him shoulder such infamy.

'I can't have any contact with Daoist master Wan. It's best if I don't say a single word.' Retreating slowly, I realized that Daoist master Wan had drawn all the sect cultivators' attention. For me, this was an opportunity that came only once in a thousand years!

Fumbling in my coat, I secretly pulled out the Nine Palaces Realm-Breaking Divine Talisman. 'The Ten Directions Annihilation Grand Formation has locked down the Three Yin Sect. Earlier, the snake swarm mobilized, forcing the surrounding Five Great Upper Sects disciples to temporarily retreat. That means as long as I can slip out of the Ten Directions Annihilation Grand Formation unnoticed, I can shake off the sect cultivators' pursuit.'

The grand array was still running, and the Five Great Upper Sects had no idea that the people inside had already left. By the time the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation collapsed, the resulting window of time would be more than enough for me to escape their control.

I was an incredibly decisive person; once I made a choice, I acted on it immediately. Hiding the talisman in my palm, I silently ducked toward the wall. I was just about to activate the Nine Palaces Realm-Breaking Divine Talisman when I suddenly sensed something and looked up toward where Elder Chen stood.

That single glance terrified me so much that I broke out in a cold sweat.

Elder Chen was standing with his back to me. I had assumed his attention was also focused on Daoist master Wan, but to my absolute shock, another face had somehow surfaced on the back of the old man's head!

"Two-faced!" I almost screamed out loud. Elder Chen's true face was kind and gentle, looking as if he would never get angry, giving people a feeling like a warm spring breeze. Yet the face now protruding from the back of his head was the complete opposite!

It bore an indescribable, ultimate evil, brimming with cruelty, spite, and a slew of negative emotions. Just looking at it from afar was enough to make a person's entire body feel deeply uncomfortable.

"Completely contradictory faces appearing on the same person—born with two faces!" Overwhelmed by shock, I lost control of my emotions and blurted it out without thinking.

As if it had heard my words, the expression on the face behind Elder Chen subtly shifted. Its lips wriggled twice. If one were fluent in lip-reading, they would have known its meaning: "Heaven wants you to live, but I want you to die!"

Contending against heaven for a life—such words could only be spoken by a fate usurper, and such a deed could only be carried out by a fate usurper!

'No wonder the shape of his mouth didn't match the words he was speaking earlier. This old man has two faces!' I tightly gripped the Nine Palaces Realm-Breaking Divine Talisman, not daring to use it carelessly. I only had one chance. If Elder Chen moved to disrupt it, I would lose my very last trump card.

My Adam's apple bobbed. I was pinned by the death glare of the face on the back of Elder Chen's head. Worse yet, it was silently chanting a bizarre spell, a wicked smirk plastered across its features.

Fear gripped my heart. Out of everyone present, I was the only one who saw his second face.

As the pitch of the chanted spell shifted, the yang qi that had been slowly pressing down suddenly turned frantic, crashing like a torrential waterfall.

'He can actually manipulate this bloodstained yang qi?! Could he be connected to the person buried in the Jiangcheng Great Tomb?' Bloodstained yang qi was unheard of. Elder Chen's myriad displays were terrifying, forcing my thoughts into overdrive.

'Two-Faced Buddha's schemes have always revolved around Jiangcheng, and his lair, Xinhu City, neighbors Jiangcheng. Could his true target be the person beneath the Jiangcheng Great Tomb?' The sudden twist sent my mind spiraling into chaos. The sky-filling yang qi bore down, the sound of the grand array shattering rang out incessantly, and the Three Yin Sect's fog thinned further and further.

"You can't escape; I'll be taking your life!" The face on the back of Elder Chen's head was dark and hideous, only revealing itself when no one else was looking. His hand brushed past his waist, and the ring on his finger dropped to the ground. Then, amidst curling wisps of green smoke, an ancient ghost crawled out from the ring.

Half-gray, half-white hair dragged across the floor. The ghost's appearance caught me completely off guard.

'The black magician from Henshan Psychiatric Hospital!' This black magician, whom I had killed with my own hands, had now appeared before me in another form. It just couldn't recognize me anymore; it had been reduced to a ghost that only knew how to obey.

'A ghost transformed from Death Spirit Divine Fiends... it's also a Fate Ghost!' A sudden realization dawned on me. No wonder Elder Chen had so many Fate Ghosts in his hands—these ghosts were all refined from people with special fate patterns!

After releasing the Fate Ghost, Elder Chen tapped it lightly on the top of its head three times. The Fate Ghost understood his intent, burrowing into the ground to travel along the Yin Meridian.

'What is he trying to do?' I stayed hyper-vigilant of my surroundings, only to realize that Elder Chen's Fate Ghost wasn't approaching me. Instead, it circled the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation, destroying the array's nodes one by one.

Elder Chen was extremely shrewd. He recognized that the sect cultivators' attention had been drawn away, making this the perfect opportunity to eliminate me.

Since I had previously pointed him out as a fate usurper, killing me with his own hands would raise suspicions that he was silencing a witness. The safest method was to take advantage of the sect cultivators looking the other way to secretly sabotage the grand array and manipulate the blood-red yang qi to accelerate my death.

Driven by Elder Chen, the bloodstained yang qi went berserk. The outer nodes of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation were being continuously destroyed, leaving the situation teetering on the edge of disaster.

'I'm being heavily watched by Elder Chen; I can't find a single chance to escape.' Completely helpless, my gaze jumped past Elder Chen toward the north of the Three Yin Sect.

The gap between the two mountains to the north was where the living water flowed in. It was also the location of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation's life gate, and it held my sole remaining hope.

'I can only rely on Daoist master Wan.' I turned and hurried back to the main hall of the Three Yin Sect. Opening the Embroidered Cloth Bag filled with herbal medicine from behind the shrine, I scattered its contents across the hall's entrance.

The pungent scent of traditional medicine drifted into the air. The smell wasn't overly distinct to the living, but to certain special gu insects, it possessed a fatal attraction.

Propelled by massive waves, the lone skiff accelerated again, shooting straight toward the altar.

"Showing contempt for the Five Great Upper Sects—I don't care what kind of deity you are! Come down here!" Plagued by constant mishaps, Ye Qingqiu was already nursing a belly full of rage. Gripping the Edict of the Three Purities, he directly commanded the great river's water veins this time, intent on suppressing the lone skiff.

He chanted the spell, but to his utter disbelief, the edict in his hand seemed to have lost all its power.

The waves rolled and surged, yet that lone skiff remained as steady as Mount Tai. It was as if all the tides had been raised by the boat itself.

The small boat sailed into the gap between the two mountains. Just as it was about to smash into the altar, someone yelled out, "Stop him!"

Huge waves swept over, the splashing water drenching their Daoist robes. Before the Celestial Masters of the Five Great Upper Sects could even react, a massive boom rang out!

As the spray of water settled and they looked up again, the altar that the sect cultivators had painstakingly built had already been washed away by the tide. The once high-spirited Ye Qingqiu was now clinging to a plank of wood like a drowned rat, his face trembling with fury. The jade crown that had rested on his head was nowhere to be seen.

"You... you!" When had an Upper Sect cultivator ever been treated like this? Ye Qingqiu scrambled up the riverbank. Not even bothering to brush the mud off his Daoist robes, he screamed at the lone skiff, "You demonic heretic! You actually dared to destroy the Profound Truth altar! I..."

Before he could finish, the Hemp-Clothed Elder hurriedly dragged him behind his back and shot a meaningful look at the others nearby. They moved to surround the lone skiff resting on the river.

"Fellow Daoist, we can talk this out slowly. By destroying the altar and shaking the foundation of the grand array, you risk letting the demons escape. Such an outcome would damage your merit."

"You don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Destroying the grand array we worked so hard to set up—do you really think you can stand against the Five Great Upper Sects alone?"

"We are subjugating demons and eradicating devils to protect the peace of a city, yet you attack and sabotage us for no reason. How does such behavior differ from that of evil spirits?"