Chapter 788: Xiao Fan's Master is...
"Master, my kidneys…"
After leaving the Hangzhou Special Department headquarters, Xiao Fan had driven deep into the mountains without stopping. He sought an audience with his Master, his last hope for a solution to the Curse of Black Light, a way to restore his cultivation, and—most critically—a way to reclaim his virility.
The mountain valley was a secluded paradise, a landscape of stunning beauty where birdsong echoed and the air was thick with the fragrance of wildflowers. Under normal circumstances, Xiao Fan would have reveled in the tranquility.
But today, he was in no mood to appreciate it.
He was about to marry his young girlfriend, Xia Mengmeng. Did the world know how difficult it was for a man in his thirties to find a beautiful, twenty-year-old campus belle? If he couldn't perform his duties as a husband, Xiao Fan felt he might as well be dead.
A tall, slender, white-haired old man listened to his disciple's desperate plea. He gestured for Xiao Fan to sit, then placed two fingers on his wrist. A wisp of pure white light, cool and ethereal, surged from the old man's fingertips into Xiao Fan's body. It circulated through his limbs and meridians before the old man withdrew his hand, stroking his long beard as his brow furrowed in silent contemplation.
"Master… you… you don't have a way either?" Xiao Fan's heart plunged into an icy abyss. A knot of pure panic tightened in his chest.
His Master was an expert of unfathomable depth. Even after reaching the Heavenly Human realm, Xiao Fan wouldn't dare claim to understand the true extent of the old man's power. His Master was a polymath of the esoteric arts—proficient in spells, martial arts, and medicine. He was even versed in the ninja arts of the Sakura Country and the dark sorcery of Southeast Asia. He was, in every sense, like a living deity. If he hadn't yet reached the legendary world of a Land Immortal, he couldn't be far from it.
If even his Master couldn't resolve the Curse of Black Light and restore his health, then his happiness for the rest of his life was truly forfeit.
Forget pursuing An Zhiyue; he might even have to break up with his beloved Xia Mengmeng.
Xiao Fan was a man accustomed to a carefree, unrestrained life. How could he possibly endure such a devastating blow? The thought alone was enough to make him wish for death.
"Something isn't right…"
His master, a man known as Master Xiao, frowned deeply. On his weathered face, his eyes were exceptionally clear, shining with a piercing intelligence that seemed to see through the illusions of the mortal world.
"Master, what isn't right?" Xiao Fan asked, his voice strained with anxiety.
"You're over thirty years old. Why are you still so impetuous? What is this disgraceful behavior?" Master Xiao shot Xiao Fan a glare, but his tone softened. After all, Xiao Fan was an orphan he had adopted and raised, his one and only closed-door disciple. Their bond was as close as that of a father and son. He sighed and began to explain.
"You said that Yao Qi only possessed the strength of a Half-Step Celestial Master. How could he possibly unleash such a terrifying Curse of Black Light? A curse so potent that even you, a cultivator who has achieved the Heavenly Human realm, could not resist it? Have you ever stopped to think that something is amiss?"
Listening to Xiao Fan's frantic recounting of the events, Master Xiao had immediately identified this glaring inconsistency.
A mere Half-Step Celestial Master, no matter how powerful or desperate, could not unleash an attack that would not only severely injure a Heavenly Human but also leave behind an unresolvable affliction, even if he had burned his own life force to do it.
It was like asking if an ordinary person, pumped full of adrenaline, could use their body to knock a speeding heavy-duty truck off the road. It defied the fundamental laws of nature and power.
A thoughtful expression finally crossed Xiao Fan's face as he absorbed his Master's analysis. It was a doubt that had flickered in the back of his own mind, but he had been too consumed with finding a doctor and placating Xia Mengmeng's worries to give it any serious thought.
Now that his Master had brought it to the forefront, Xiao Fan also felt that the entire encounter with the wanted criminal Yao Qi at Xihe Shopping Mall had been strange from the start.
"Tell me again, in detail. When you fought Yao Qi, was there anyone else present?" Master Xiao asked, his voice a low rumble.
Xiao Fan frowned, casting his mind back. "At the time, besides me and Yao Qi, there were only some ordinary people in the cinema. Later, Liu Ruyan and Shen Anyu came back to save me."
He quickly reasoned through the possibilities. "Liu Ruyan is only a Grandmaster. I've known her for years. Considering her strength and her character, there's no reason for her to harm me in secret."
"And Shen Anyu… I have no grievances with him whatsoever. If he hadn't stepped in, I would have died at Yao Qi's hands. There was no need for him to secretly harm me; all he had to do was not save me in the first place…"
Master Xiao suddenly raised a hand, cutting Xiao Fan off. His voice turned sharp. "This Shen Anyu you mentioned… is he a member of Yanxia's Shen Clan?"
"Yes, Shen Anyu is from Yanxia's Shen Clan," Xiao Fan replied, confused by the sudden shift.
"If he is from the Shen Clan," Master Xiao stated, his expression turning grim, "then there is every reason for him to have secretly harmed you."
"What?" Xiao Fan was completely lost. He had no history, no conflict, no connection to the Shen Clan at all.
'Could it be Master?'
A jolt went through Xiao Fan's heart. His Master had lived in seclusion in these deep mountains for decades, never venturing into the outside world. He had always been curious as to why such a deep expert would choose a hermit's life. Could it be that his Master had an old enmity with the Shen Clan?
Meeting his disciple's questioning gaze, Master Xiao looked up at the flowing clouds drifting across the sky. His voice was cold as winter stone.
"I do indeed have an enmity with the Shen Clan. Or rather, with the ancestors of the Shen Clan."
He paused, his gaze distant. "It is time I told you of my origins."
Xiao Fan held his breath, his entire being focused on his Master's next words.
"I am not from this world. I am a Cultivator from the Xuanhuang World."
"A Cultivator?" Xiao Fan was stunned. He had read ancient texts that spoke of such beings—practitioners from a bygone era who wielded vast, supernatural powers far beyond the reach of modern martial artists and spellcasters. The texts all said they had vanished for reasons unknown. And his Master… his Master was one of them?
As if to answer his unspoken doubt, Master Xiao casually waved a sleeve. Instantly, the clouds ten thousand meters above them began to surge and roil. They twisted and gathered, coalescing in a matter of seconds into the magnificent form of a white dragon, its fangs bared and claws brandished, radiating an aura of impressive power that pressed down on the entire valley.
Then, Master Xiao simply pressed his hand down. The celestial dragon of clouds plunged from the heavens, dissolving into a churning sea of mist that filled the valley floor. The sky above, which had been overcast moments before, was now a brilliant, sun-drenched blue.
Xiao Fan stared, dumbfounded and speechless. He felt as if he had just witnessed a genuine miracle.
Even as a top-tier expert in the Heavenly Human realm, such a feat was utterly beyond him. He knew that even an existence at the level of Celestial Master Peak, like the head of the Tianshi Sect who commanded deep lightning arts, could never hope to accomplish such a thing.
At that moment, any trace of doubt Xiao Fan had about his Master's words vanished completely.
If not a legendary Cultivator, who else could possess such divine power to command the very phenomena of the heavens?
…
"He really is a Cultivator. At least at the late Foundation Establishment realm."
Observing the entire scene through the Super-Nanometer Monitoring Robot affixed to Xiao Fan, Shen Anyu narrowed his peach-blossom eyes.
He was currently driving his Rolls-Royce Phantom toward Hangzhou Airport to personally pick someone up. With some time to kill, he had casually checked the monitor and stumbled upon this fascinating little drama.
Xiao Fan, the Child of Destiny and Super Soldier King, actually had a Cultivator from the Xuanhuang World for a master. And this master just so happened to have an enmity with the Shen Clan?
This piqued Shen Anyu's curiosity. How did his family manage to get into a feud with a Cultivator from another world? And why had he never heard a single word about it? Just what was going on here?
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