The crowd prepared throughout the entire night.
When morning broke the next day, Abbess Guanyun ordered all disciples to return to the Feilai Hall and sent the hall down the cliff. She instructed them that no matter what happened or what sounds they heard, they were not to return.
Ling Xiaoxiao was also forcibly sent into the Feilai Hall. Although she was very reluctant, Abbess Guanyun already regarded her as the successor to the Emei Sect. Sending her to the Feilai Hall this time was partly to prevent any accidents that might sever the lineage, and partly to seize the opportunity to temper Ling Xiaoxiao's leadership skills.
After everyone else was sent into the Feilai Hall, the vast Emei Sect was left with only Yan Shouyi, Wen Yuxian, Abbess Guanyun, Yan Nanfei, Long Feicheng, Zhuge Ji, Ye Tianyuan, and Tian Jue'er.
At most, there was also the brown-haired monkey Lele.
Emei Mountain was quiet. Long Feicheng was unaccustomed to the atmosphere and said with a smile:
"How about I tell everyone a bad joke?"
Everyone couldn't help but glare at him. No one wanted to hear jokes right now, let alone bad jokes.
Sensing the hostility from everyone, Long Feicheng flinched, "Then I won't say it."
Abbess Guanyun fiddled with the whisk in her hand, feeling that the whisk that had accompanied her for decades was somehow not working for her anymore.
She asked Yan Shouyi worriedly, "Will your method really work?"
"Whether it works or not, we have to try first."
Yan Shouyi couldn't give a definite answer, but if they wanted to leave Emei Mountain as soon as possible, this was the only way.
He nodded at everyone. Everyone put on serious expressions, then stepped back a few paces, raising their hands to cover their ears.
After everyone was ready, Yan Shouyi took a deep breath, channeling his energy to his dantian.
He suddenly spoke, directly employing the Buddhist Lion's Roar technique, and roared towards the mountain below:
"Abbess Miaohui!! I know you are still alive! I also know the whereabouts of your husband and child!!!"
"If you can hear me, then quickly appear and meet me!"
"If you refuse to appear, you will never know the whereabouts of your husband and child!!!"
His voice was like a lion's roar, deafening and echoing throughout Emei Mountain.
If there were any birds still in the mountains, they would surely have been startled into flight.
The plan was to lure Abbess Miaohui out by using the information about her husband and child.
He continued to use the Buddhist Lion's Roar, repeating his previous shouts three times.
Enduring the torment on his throat four consecutive times, even Yan Shouyi felt a bit overwhelmed. He took a sip of the prepared herbal tea to cool his throat.
He was certain his voice could reach every corner of Emei Mountain, provided Abbess Miaohui was still on Emei Mountain.
Everyone waited for a while, but the result was disappointing. No one responded, let alone Abbess Miaohui appearing.
At this moment, Abbess Guanyun began to harbor a trace of doubt towards Yan Shouyi. It wasn't doubt about his Buddhist Lion's Roar, but doubt about the validity of all his assumptions regarding Abbess Miaohui.
What if he was lying?
What if Abbess Miaohui had died long ago, and this was all a trap?
Regardless, Abbess Miaohui did not appear.
Just as Abbess Guanyun was losing patience and about to speak to Yan Shouyi, she suddenly stopped and instinctively looked down the mountain.
Wen Yuxian's reaction was a few seconds delayed, but she eventually looked in the same direction as Abbess Guanyun.
The two Emei Sect disciples seemed to share a common sense, sensing something approaching from the mountain below.
Yan Shouyi, an outsider, felt nothing.
"This familiar aura... she has arrived..."
Abbess Guanyun's face showed a complex expression.
Having lived with her master for decades, Abbess Guanyun knew her master's aura intimately. An aura she could only recall from memory now truly manifested.
At this moment, Abbess Guanyun's doubts about Yan Shouyi completely vanished.
Her master, Abbess Miaohui, was indeed alive!
Below the mountain, a stooped old woman, leaning on a walking stick, was slowly climbing.
But strangely, although the old woman's movements seemed slow, and each step was taken deliberately, her figure would instantly vanish with every landing, reappearing a dozen meters away. The next time she landed, her figure would disappear again, advancing another dozen meters!
Yan Shouyi had encountered such abilities a few times before. These were skills only seen in truly accomplished masters.
The old woman ascended the steep mountain path as if walking on level ground, making rapid progress.
As the old woman approached, Yan Shouyi and the others felt a powerful aura washing over them.
"This aura..."
Zhuge Ji frowned, "Where have I felt this before?"
The others felt the same, but they were certain they had never met Abbess Miaohui in person.
Where did this strange familiarity come from?
At this moment, Yan Shouyi's low mutter resolved their confusion:
"This aura, it's the aura of an Asura."
Everyone suddenly understood, and at the same time, they were shocked.
The Emei Sect was a Buddhist sect that cultivated Buddhist dharma, and Abbess Miaohui was so powerful. If she had fallen into a demonic deviation, there was a high probability that she would have ascended to the Asura realm.
Yan Shouyi had harbored this suspicion before, and only now could he be certain.
The aura emanating from Abbess Miaohui was almost identical to that of the demon monk Shi Kui, a reincarnation of an Asura!
The difference was—Shi Kui was merely a reincarnation of an Asura, while Abbess Miaohui now was a true Asura!
Her body was filled with a violent aura, as if intending to annihilate all life before her. Concepts like "Buddhists cherish compassion," "saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda," and "letting go of the butcher's knife leads to Buddhahood" meant nothing to her.
She was the embodiment of evil, the harbinger of slaughter. Her very existence was to bring fear and despair to the world!
"Amitabha!"
Wen Yuxian clasped her hands together, unwilling to accept that her master had become this way.
Soon, Abbess Miaohui reached the outer area of the Wuliang Hall and faced Yan Shouyi and the others from a distance.
The two sisters, Wen Yuxian and her junior, looked at their master, who was supposed to be dead. They noticed that her appearance had hardly changed, only her complexion was different from before. Her lips had turned purplish-blue, and she had deep black eye bags.
How they wished to call out "Master" again, but the situation had changed beyond recognition. Master and disciples now stood on opposing sides.
Compared to the sisters' lingering sentiment, Abbess Miaohui was far more resolute.
She didn't even spare a glance at Wen Yuxian and the others. She only stared at Yan Shouyi and asked, "Young man, your method to lure me out was effective, but you had better not have lied to me, or you will die a terrible death."