Wait a minute, where is my master?

"Little Qin, it must have been a thousand years since we last met,"

From the backyard of the Taoist temple, the voice of the Big Willow Tree sounded with a hint of emotion.

No signs of stuttering were noticeable.

"Hehe, indeed, things have changed, people have changed, the sea has turned into mulberry fields, Senior Liu,"

The Bronze Gate responded with a dry laugh.

In the cultivation world, power is supreme.

Although it had existed longer than the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow, it was essentially still an object, and previously it was less powerful than the Big Willow Tree.

Thus, it could only obediently listen to being called "Little Qin" and respectfully address the other as Senior Liu.

"The last time we met, I remember you were guarding the mountains for the Demon Sect. How come you have ended up in this little Taoist temple now?"

Guan Ling, the Senior, spoke with his branches slightly shaking.

"Tsk, it was an accident, all accidents. If I had known you were here, I definitely wouldn't have come. How about I just leave now?"

While speaking, spiritual power flickered on the Bronze Gate as it attempted to escape directly.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!"

Several sounds of breaking air emerged, and Guan Ling of the willow tree, quick in both eye and branch, shot out its branches, which immediately grabbed and held the fleeing gate.

The Bronze Gate was naturally unwilling to be restrained just like that and gently swung, trying to flee again.

Seeing this, branches from the Big Willow Tree fully shot out, glowing green as they tightly entwined the Bronze Gate. The gate's struggle became even fiercer, a verdigris patina shining from it, seemingly on the verge of breaking free.

Left with no choice, Elder Guan Ling probed out several gnarled old roots from the earth and bound them around Elder Qin of the gate again, barely suppressing him.

The Big Willow Tree cursed inwardly, "If it weren't for Jin Xu's demon pet that gnawed off half of my branches and leaves, suppressing a Bronze Gate wouldn't require me to exert my origin power."

On the other side, the restrained Elder Qin, after struggling for a while, suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha, no wonder you could survive such severe injuries back then, it turns out you voluntarily became this Taoist temple's Guan Ling! Little Liu, if you're of this strength, you really can't afford your Mr. Qin calling you Senior Liu."

The Bronze Gate, realizing the Big Willow Tree's strength was not as formidable as before, immediately became more arrogant.

The two door rings on Elder Qin shook continuously, and the bronze radiance grew increasingly intense; it was faintly visible that the Big Willow Tree's branches and roots were slowly being pushed apart.

Elder Guan Ling felt he might have been too complacent. Although injured and transformed into Guan Ling, he still possessed strength, but he hadn't expected the Bronze Gate to be this powerful.

"Previously, I had only heard that this gate was rather mysterious and shameless, but I hadn't realized it also concealed such terrifying cultivation.

Well, since that Taoist brought the Ten-thousand-year-old Soul Nourishing Liquid and I've agreed to guard this gate for him, there's no need to be stingy with this bit of Divine Soul.

Moreover, I am rather curious whether the legends about this gate were true or not,"

Thinking this, the Big Willow Tree mobilized its Divine Soul Power, covering the Bronze Gate without reservation.

In an instant, the bronze radiance was suppressed, and a balance between the two was achieved.

Thus, the gate and the tree reached a stalemate.

Elder Qin of the gate, who had thought he might escape to freedom, seeing that the Big Willow Tree still had tricks up its sleeve, couldn't help but earnestly plead, "Little Liu, it was because your Divine Soul was so heavily damaged that you had to transform into Guan Ling to save your life, right?

Although it seems you have recovered some, if this standoff continues, your Divine Soul will definitely be exhausted within half a month. Why bother?

How about this, you let your Mr. Qin go, and I'll introduce you to the Transformation Mother Tree of the Demon Sect, what do you say?"

Upon hearing this, the Big Willow Tree didn't respond, but silently increased its suppressing power by a few notches.

Part of its past injuries had been caused by the Transformation Mother Tree, so Elder Qin of the door mentioning this was essentially mocking him to his face.

Seeing that Guan Ling didn't respond, Elder Qin was slightly anxious inside.

If he missed this great opportunity, once that terrifyingly powerful little Taoist came back, he wouldn't know when he would be able to leave this Taoist temple.

As for why he was so eager to leave, it was related to the legend of the Bronze Gate.

...

It is said that thousands of years ago, a Bronze Gate, forged by an unknown person, would mysteriously appear in front of some Immortal Sect's mountains.

Every Immortal Sect visited by the Bronze Gate, without exception, became the strongest force in the Nine Provinces within a millennium.

And when these forces began to wane, the Bronze Gate would quietly disappear.

Thus, cultivators referred to the Bronze Gate as the Door of Destiny.

That is to say, not all of the strongest forces in the Nine Provinces Realm had been visited by the Bronze Gate, but those that had been visited became the strongest.

Essentially a millennium per cycle, it was very mystical.

Later, a cultivator discovered this pattern and publicized it.

This caused the major forces in the Nine Provinces to frantically scramble for the Bronze Gate, leading to a time when the Immortal World was shrouded in darkness, the sun and moon devoid of light, and the strength of the Nine Provinces Immortal World greatly declined.

In the end, it was the master of the Kunlun Immortal Palace who stepped in, forcefully subdued all parties, and seized the gate. He then declared the item ominous and decided to seal it in Changbai Mountain.

At that point, the major forces came to their senses; in order to seize the gate, their top cultivators had almost all died, which was a loss not worth the gain.

Since the master of the Kunlun Immortal Palace was so strong and still inclined to reason with them, it was decided to seal the gate.

Thus, the Bronze Gate was buried in Changbai Mountain.

After sealing the gate, everyone also consulted with the owner of Tingfeng Building to mitigate the information about the Bronze Gate, leaving it for future generations to possibly unearth.

As a result, now only some old antiquities know about the legend of this gate.

It is worth mentioning that the Bronze Gate developed its own consciousness during the period it was sealed, so these legends, it heard after being excavated from the mountain by a man engulfed in dark energy.

Listening to its own legend felt quite peculiar.

Actually, Mr. Qin himself couldn't clearly explain the Door of Destiny, but he indeed had the innate divine ability to seek good fortune and avoid disaster.

For example, he calculated that the Demon Sect would decline and then rise again within a millennium, as well as foreseeing troubles in the Emperor Xia's dynasty, among other events.

Although his calculations were off on his trip to Gusu City this time, where the result was unexpectedly unlike any before, it wasn't a big issue.

Even an old horse stumbles sometimes.

So he was now eager to escape, as the terrifyingly powerful little Taoist clearly stood against the Demon Sect, although he didn't know how the Demon Sect would deal with him in the future.

But Mr. Qin trusted his innate divine ability!

...

"Little Liu, Brother Liu, Senior Liu, just let me go. Your Divine Soul is deficient. Us being at a standoff like this, the one who ends up losing surely will be you. Why bother?"

The way he addressed the Bronze Gate changed repeatedly; he was genuinely afraid that Jin Xu would suddenly return, wanting to escape quickly.

"Heh, I am now a body of Guan Ling, at worst I'll fall into slumber again, I won't truly perish. Besides, Taoist Jin Xu might not need a half-month to return to the temple."

Big Willow Tree had an attitude of I won't die, just dragging you with me.

Seeing that the other party had made up his mind, the Bronze Gate didn't say more, and started silently resisting the willow branches and roots entwined around it.

At this moment, in the rear courtyard, if someone were to enter,

They might witness a famous Nine Provinces painting — "Old Tree Encircles Gate."