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Wei Zhongxi started to say something, then stopped.
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Wei Yun and Wei Cheng’s emotions were churning, and their thoughts were a jumble.
All three were prominent members of the current generation of the Wei Family, but Su Yi’s words had shaken their mental state.
After a while, Wei Cheng couldn’t help but send Wei Zhongxi a private transmission. “Family Head, if Fellow Daoist Su really
 tries something
 are we really not going to stop him?”
Wei Zhongxi repressed his bewilderment and said gravely, “The Patriarch has peak Profound Illumination Realm cultivation. Even if Su Yi wants to ‘try something’ how could he possibly be a match for the patriarch?”
Wei Cheng instantly understood what Wei Zhongxi was getting at. No matter what happened, they wouldn’t intervene. They’d just wait and see if that incomparably shocking revelation Su Yi had shared with them was true or not!
Time slipped by.
Su Yi stood there with his hands behind his back, waiting in silence. He showed no sign of impatience whatsoever.
Golden Dawn Ridge was the Wei Family’s forbidden ground. For hundreds of years, only Wei Daoyuan had occupied it as he underwent seclusion.
As a result, when Su Yi and the others stood at the foot of the mountain, they drew no attention.
“It’s almost dawn
” Wei Zhongxi muttered to himself.
But it was then that——
Whoosh!
A thin figure suddenly emerged from halfway up the mountain and proceeded downhill.
The patriarch!!
Wei Zhongzi and the others’ expressions shifted; they recognized him at a glance. This gave all of them an ill premonition.
Why would the patriarch leave seclusion at a time like this? What was he going to do?
At the same time, Su Yi transmitted his voice directly into their ears: “Remember, don’t try and stop me. It would be terrible if he escapes.”
Wei Zhongxi and the others’ expressions shifted in response.
“Hm? Why
 why haven’t you all left?” When Wei Daoyuan discovered Su Yi and the others off in the distance, he looked a bit startled, and he promptly stopped in his tracks.
“I originally planned to leave, but I suddenly recalled something, and I’d like to request your guidance,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he approached, his gait neither slow nor hurried.
“So that’s it,” said Wei Daoyuan with a friendly smile. “My young friend, if there’s something you don’t understand, please feel free to ask.”
Su Yi smiled too. “They all say that Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkeys have long since gone extinct, so I wondered why one had appeared out of nowhere. Might you perhaps clear up my confusion?”
As his voice rang out, Su Yi continued his approach. He was now only about one hundred feet away from Wei Daoyuan.
Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain, Wei Zhongxi exclaimed, “A Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey!?”
This prominent member of the Wei Family ultimately failed to suppress his shock and lost his composure.
Wei Yun and Wei Cheng were stunned too.
Su Yi was unquestionably implying that their “patriarch” was really a Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey in disguise!
Of course they were astonished! How could they not be?
In the Netherworld, Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkeys had been wiped out a long, long time ago. So much time had passed since their extinction that few inhabitants of the Netherworld even knew that such a race had once existed.
But as members of the Wei Family, Wei Zhongxi and the others were naturally well aware of Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkeys’ abilities.
Their experts had an innate, unbelievable talent. They could transform into anyone. Neither their aura, nor their appearance, nor their mannerisms revealed the slightest hint; they were indistinguishable from the real thing.
They could even fool an Emperor’s divine sense!
And beneath the Imperial level? Identifying a Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey in disguise was almost impossible.
Thus, experts of the Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey were as terrifying as could be.
There was no way of knowing whether or not they’d transform into the person you were least on guard against and attack without warning!
Rumor had it that a long, long time ago, an expert of the Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkeys offended an all-powerful expert. In his fury, he exterminated the entire race.
As a result, the Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkeys had disappeared into the river of history.
Yet now, Su Yi was implying that their patriarch was a Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey in disguise. This was, of course, a huge shock!
“A Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey?” Wei Daoyuan furrowed his brow in confusion. “My young friend, why ask about that all of a sudden?”
He didn’t look the slightest bit panicked. Even his aura had an Emperor’s distinctive charm, as majestic as the heavens themselves.
But Su Yi’s eyes shone with mockery. “It’s simple: I’ve discovered a monkey putting on a clumsy show. It’s like a real-life demonstration of the idiom ‘a monkey in a crown.’ The whole thing is utterly ridiculous.”
Wei Daoyuan frowned. “My young friend, it seems you’re mocking me? Your impudence is over the line!”
As he said that last part, his voice frosted over, and his aura transformed.
His imposing aura alone seemed to blanket heaven and earth like floodwater, spreading in all directions. Wei Zhongxi, Wei Yun, and Wei Cheng felt suffocated, and their hair stood on end.
“Fellow Daoist, are you perhaps mistaken?” Wei Zhongxi couldn’t help but ask.
“Just watch,” laughed Su Yi. He stepped forth once more, as if Wei Daoyuan’s terrifying aura couldn’t affect him in the slightest.
Wei Daoyuan was visibly infuriated. “What a reckless brat! You saved my clansmen tonight, so I let your poor conduct slide, but now you’re trying to walk all over me
”
Before he could finish, Su Yi raised his hand and slashed at Wei Daoyuan.
Whoosh!
A dazzling arc of sword light pierced through the night sky, Illuminating Goldendawn Ridge. It was as if the cosmos had descended upon the human world, intermingled with the light of dawn.
Wei Daoyuan was initially furious, but in the face of this streak of sword qi, a nigh imperceptible hint of panic appeared on his face. His figure blurred as he suddenly retreated.
The sword qi reached the place he’d stood moments prior, then suddenly froze in place and silently disappeared.
It didn’t so much as harm a single blade of grass.
Such a fine application of power was wondrous as could be.
“If you’re really Wei Daoyuan, why did you dodge?” laughed Su Yi, his gaze utterly disdainfully.
Wei Zhongxi and the others looked bewildered too. He’s right! The patriarch is in the peak of the Profound Illumination Realm. Why would he flee?
“I
.” We Daoyuan was just about to say something when Su Yi disappeared into thin air.
Wei Daoyuan’s expression changed dramatically, and he blurred into a streak of blood-colored light and shot into the distant dome of heaven.
Practically simultaneously, a gray talisman appeared in his hand.
It was called the “Far Reaches at Close Proximity.” When crushed, you could reach even the far reaches of the world in a flash.
Simply put, it was an incomparably wondrous escape talisman, and it was extremely valuable. Even Emperors could forget about catching someone who’d activated it!
However, perhaps because it was overly precious, when Wei Daoyuan fled, he didn’t crush it. He only gripped it tight, just in case.
Whoosh!
A tall, upright figure appeared out of nowhere and blocked his path.
This was none other than Su Yi.
And even faster than Su Yi was a streak of sword light.
It seemed to bore a hole through the ancient skies at unbelievable speeds.
Wei Daoyuan let out a strange, startled cry, then tightened his grip to crush the Far Reaches at Close Proximity Talisman.
Splurt!
He felt an agonizing pain in his wrist, and when he looked down, he saw the hand holding the talisman fly through the air spraying a trail of blood.
Su Yi then reached out and grabbed it.
“Dammit!” Wei Daoyuan was completely panicked. Disregarding the agony of losing a hand, he opened his mouth and spat.
A swath of turbid, blood-colored light burst forth. Firelight churned, emanating destructive energy fluctuations.
Upon closer inspection, he’d spat out a clear, blood-colored pearl about the size of an infant’s fist. It was covered in strange and contorted worm-like ancient Dao Markings.
Boom!
It exploded in the sky, shaking heaven and earth.
The blood-colored pearl’s power was terrifying to the extreme, no weaker than a Profound Illumination Emperor’s attack!
Wei Zhongxi and the others watched from the foot of the mountain. They couldn’t help but be astonished. If an attack like that landed, it would devastate the Wei Family’s forbidden ground!
However, Su Yi raised his hand, then casually grabbed.
Weng!
The descending blood-colored pearl shook violently as Su Yi gripped it firmly, suppressing it with ease.
“Erk
!” Wei Daoyuan’s eyes widened. Disbelief was written all over his face.
Wei Yun suddenly recalled how, earlier that night, in the forbidden ground containing the black umbrella, Su Yi had used just two fingers to subdue Yao Blood Heaven’s Demise, the supreme treasure a Profound Serenity Yao Emperor had left behind!
What he’d just done was different, yet somehow similar!
“Unless I’m mistaken, this is a Blood River Pearl, a unique treasure of the Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkeys. Only Emperors can refine them, and when its attack lands, it's like a river of blood overflowing. It’s no weaker than an early-stage Profound Illumination Emperor’s attack,” Su Yi said leisurely as he played with the blood-colored pearl.
As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on Wei Daoyuan.
Beneath his profound gaze, Wei Daoyuan’s face paled, and his expression filled with utter terror. Then, his courage failed him, and he turned and fled.
But before he got far, Su Yi’s long, slender hand grabbed him by the throat, holding him aloft as if he were a chicken.
His power was so thoroughly restricted that he couldn’t even lift a finger!
He couldn’t even struggle!
When they saw this, Wei Zhongxi and the others felt as if they’d been struck by lightning. Any doubts they’d held onto collapsed, and they were left utterly dumbstruck.
How could their patriarch, a mighty Imperial expert, possibly be so weak?
This was unquestionable proof that what Su Yi had said earlier was true: this wasn’t their patriarch. He was an impersonator!
To Wei Zhongxi and the others, this was unquestionably an enormous shock.
And indeed, when Su Yi tightened his grip, “Wei Daoyuan” suddenly burst with dark, misty light.
When the light dissipated, “Wei Daoyuan” looked completely different. He was now a short old man with jutting lips and monkey-like features.
Even his aura deflated like a balloon, leaving him with the energy fluctuations of a Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivator.
When Wei Zhongxi and the others saw it, their faces were ashen, and they felt as if they’d lost their souls. No matter how unwilling they were to accept reality, they had no choice!
“You
 who exactly are you?” the short old man shrieked in terror.
“This isn’t a good place to talk,” said Su Yi. He swept his gaze across Wei Zhongxi and the others. “You all should come too.”
As he spoke, he carried the old midget, strode through the air, and proceeded toward Goldendawn Ridge.
He was tall and upright, and his blue robes fluttered around him. Gazing upon him from afar, he was like a banished immortal returning after a successful hunt.
Transcendent and detached.