538 The Other Letter Sent to the Longevity Sec

Su Li had sent one letter to Hanqiu City, thus transforming the Myriad WillowsGarden into scorched earth and dispelling Zhu Luo's storm. For the moment, this matter had not been spread to the rest of the continent. At the moment, the continent was more concerned with discussing just whatchanges the departure of Su Li and the Holy Maiden would have on the world. Of course, the happiest was the Longevity Sect. The Longevity Sect was the root of all sects and stood side by side with HolyMaiden Peak, both treated alike as holy lands in the hearts of southerners. Inaddition, the Longevity Sect possessed extremely close ties with the Great ZhouImperial clan and the Liang Household, and its connections with thearistocratic clans of the south were countless and nigh unbreakable, powerfulto an almost unimaginable extent. This was the case until ten-odd years ago, when a startling change occurred.The Longevity Sect imprisoned that Demon Princess in the cold pool, attemptingto coerce Su Li into going north and assassinating the Tianhai Divine Empress.With only his sword, Su Li charged into the mountain, but upon realizing thathis wife had been poisoned by the cold and was too weak to return, he flew intoa rage. After slaughtering to a man the ten-odd elders of the Longevity Sect,he bathed the sect in blood. After recovering from his heavy injuries, he wentnorth to Xunyang City and killed every one of the people in the Liang Householdthat was involved in this matter. At least half of Su Li's exceptionallyvicious reputation stemmed from this event. From that moment on, no one dared to casually provoke Su Li. Simultaneously,the Longevity Sect no longer wielded the same prestige it once held. Thevarious sects and monasteries all gradually began to turn their backs on theLongevity Sect. As for places like the Mount Li Sword Sect, they onlymaintained a surface level of respect, but in reality, they had already begunto act on their own. To the Longevity Sect, Su Li was naturally the archcriminal of all this. If they could kill Su Li, they would already have done it. Although they could not do it, Su Li had fortunately chosen to leave on hisown. In the past few days, although the Longevity Sect was not hanging up brightlanterns, the mood there had become extremely good, the disciples walking withmuch more ease to their step. As for those few elders that were struggling ondeath's door, they began to preemptively celebrate and yearn for the beautifullife that was to come. "The Mount Li Sword Sect is the sword of the Longevity Sect. It's only amatter of course that it be gripped in our hands." During the internal strife of Mount Li, the Qiushan clan head had suddenlychanged sides. Elder Liang of the Longevity Sect, who had been invited by him,had suffered severe injuries that he was even now still recovering from.Consequently, the cave in which he lived was the place where the elders of theLongevity Sect discussed official business. A thin and tall elder with anindifferent yet incomparably firm expression had said the above words. (TN: Elder Liang was previously called Elder Jiang) Elder Liang recalled those myriad sword glows above Mount Li and slightlycreased his brow. "To repeat our past glory is truly difficult."   听着这话，洞府里一片安静。往在当年，只要长生宗一道令谕，整个天南除了圣女峰之外，哪个山门宗派胆敢不听？这些年呢？不要说离山剑宗，没看连秋山家都敢对长生宗暗下毒手？ After he spoke, the cave was silent. In those days, whatever the LongevitySect ordered, the entire south, excluding Holy Maiden Peak, would follow. Whichsect or monastery would dare disobey? But in these past years? Let alone theMount Li Sword Sect, didn't even the Qiushan clan dare to scheme against theLongevity Sect? "This sect's Qi and blood have been consumed, but how could Mount Li be anybetter? After that matter with Elder Xiao Songgong, the vitality of Mount Li isstill greatly injured. Those fellows that are of the same generation as us orone generation younger, especially those people of the Sword Hall, suffered thebacklash of the array. None of their injuries are light. In this short span oftime, none of them should be able to come out and take care of matters." "Don't forget, the current person administering Mount Li…is Qiushan." "Qiushan…a youthful heroic genius, truly extraordinary, but in the end, he isstill young, no?" With an indifferent expression, the thin and tall elder spoke, "Not only MountLi, there's also South Stream Temple. The current Holy Maiden is also veryyoung…true, her prestige is enough, but she's only sixteen and not even at StarCondensation. As elders of the same sect, to help her manage some affairs is inaccord with the laws of heaven and earth, out of concern for the youngergeneration." As they listened, Elder Liang said nothing, but the other elder showed ajoyous expression. Elder Liang sighed, saying, "But did none of you think, what would we do if SuLi came back?" After a moment of silence, the tall and thin elder sneered, "With Su Li'spride, since he's announced to the entire world that he's going far away, couldhe go anywhere else? Just like we speculated a few days ago, he and the HolyMaiden most likely prepared to go to the legendary other shore of the sea ofstars, so how could they come back?" Elder Liang looked at him and spoke earnestly, "But what if the legend istrue? If he really does find the Sacred Light Continent, there still remains aday when he will come back." A hint of fear flickered through the tall elder's eyes, but his words remainedfirm. "The rumors say that in the end, Zhou Dufu shattered the void and went.He also likely went over there, but not even he managed to find it…at least hedid not come back. Su Li is strong, but could he be stronger than him?" The other elder attempted to reason, "Senior Brother should not be tooconcerned. Su Li will probably not come back." It was winter, but the Longevity Sect in the south was still warm. No snowfell amongst the mountains, only the incessant drizzle of rain, seeming like ajoyous farewell. Su Li had left and it was unknown when he would come back, or even whether hewould come back at all. However, his letter had come. As they gazed at the thin letter on the table, for a long time, nobody spoke,nobody moved. The three elders by the table all had abnormally nasty expressions as if theywere looking at some vile demon that had arisen from the deepest abyss. The three remaining elders of the Longevity Sect had their courage shatteredby this single letter. The cave was deathly still. Nobody spoke, the only sound being the dripping ofwater from the ivies deep in the cave. As they listened to the dripping water, the tall and thin elder's face wasabnormally ashen, an indicator of how thoroughly troubled he was. Elder Liang's complexion was pale, his mouth opening and closing, but no wordscoming forth. There was no name on the letter, or even any handwriting, but when their eyesfell upon it, they could sense that terrifyingly sharp sword intent, thatstabbing pain. This letter contained sword intent—Su Li's sword intent. After quite some that had passed, the deathly stillness in the cave wasfinally broken. The tall elder shouted, "Just what does he want to do? Rely ona single letter to scare us all to death?" As he spoke, his chest heaved up and down like fire-roasted bamboo, ready toexplode at any moment. He truly was furious, so angry that his lungs were about to explode. But his voice was somewhat cracked, because he was nervous. He was forced to admit that even if Su Li was already far away from them, aletter he left behind was sufficient to frighten the Longevity Sect. This was, in fact, the real reason he was angry. The other gazed at Elder Liang and asked worriedly, "Senior Brother, what dowe do? Do we want to open it or not?" A dry laugh suddenly echoed through the cave. Elder Liang gazed at the letter, his pale face seeming to have gained back alittle blood. As he looked at the green mountains, sea of clouds, and coldrain, strains of madness appeared in his eyes. He sternly yelled out at Su Liwho had gone off to parts unknown, "Sending a letter just so you can wait forus to open it and fight with your sword intent…do you think us fools?" That elder had asked whether or not they should open this letter. For him whohad lived ten-odd years under Su Li's shadow, this wasn't even a question. This letter definitely could not be opened. Because he did not want to die. "Have someone take this letter to the base of the mountain stream and then usethe array to carefully suppress it!" Elder Liang slightly narrowed his eyes and sneered, "I really wish to see howlong Su Li's sword intent can last under the Great Golden Light Array." The tall elder nodded at his words. Shortly after, he thought of one otherimportant question. Wrinkling his brow, he asked, "But…it won't affect Chusu,right?" Hearing the name ‘Chusu’, the other elder instantly grew nervous. ……