Chapter 55
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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“What, even I can’t go in?” The disappointed Liu Xuzhi, supported by disciples of the Medical Sect, stood at the door of Ying Kai’s bedroom, with a copy of “The Secret History of Alliance Leader Ying” in his sleeve. He sighed, “I have longed to see Brother Ying’s dignified appearance with the feather fan and the silk scarf for a long time, yearning for it day and night—really, even I can’t see him?”
The gatekeeper disciple thought to himself, if the Alliance Leader wakes up later and sees you eagerly watching him by the side, seeing how he and Sect Master Xu from Cangyang Mountain have been hand in hand for three years, he might spit blood on the spot and faint: “Your Excellency Music Saint, Sect Master Xu just left a message before leaving. No one is allowed to enter before the Alliance Leader wakes up, not even the medical sect master…”
Disappointed, Liu Xuzhi sighed. Just as he was unwilling to give up and try again, suddenly his name rang in his ears: “Liu Xuzhi—”
The named Music Saint said, “?”
Then, an irresistible force lifted him up, flew him through several corridors like riding on clouds and mists, soared out of the side hall gate, only to see Xu Shuangce standing next to the huge blood river carriage, holding a familiar five-stringed ancient qin in his hand—it was none other than the Fuxi Qin.
“I was just saying, Brother Xu…,”
Liu Xuzhi didn’t even have time to ask, but with a flick of his sleeve, he was “sent” into the carriage, and then Xu Shuangce pulled Gong Wei into the carriage as well. Four divine birds simultaneously let out a loud cry.
The prestigious clan lords in the side hall all followed the sound, surprised: “Why did Sect Master Xu leave by himself?!” “Didn’t he order us to stay on Dai Mountain and not leave?” “Could it be that Ying Chenyuan woke up?!”
…
Yuchi Rui chased out of the hall, looking blankly at Gong Wei inside the carriage. Gong Wei also looked blankly back at him through the window, and both of them were written with a big word of confusion in their eyes. At this moment, Xu Shuangce’s voice, filled with spiritual power, spread in all directions from the blood river carriage, breaking off all discussions:
“The Alliance Leader is severely injured and has not woken up yet. There are clues to the chaos in Ding Xian Ling, and I will go to Tianmen Pass to investigate the truth. Anyone who leaves Dai Mountain even half a step without authorization will be treated as a suspect!”
The last word reverberated incessantly, and the four divine birds soared into the sky, carrying the magnificent carriage into the air.
Poor Liu Xuzhi was pushed back by the momentum, fell onto the tea table, and before he could get up, he saw the front of the carriage turn north, catching him off guard and rolling under the tea table for a long time without getting up.
Meanwhile, Gong Wei had gained some experience. He held onto the edge of the table with both hands, and his upper body swayed back and forth with the shaking of the carriage. “Master just said there are clues to the chaos in Ding Xian Ling? What clues?”
Xu Shuangce sat upright and motionless, pressing his hand against Gong Wei’s back, and said, “The chaos in Ding Xian Ling was caused by the ghost cultivator in Linjiang City, aiming to find the world-ending soldier puppet in the illusion.”
His other long fingers pressed on the Fuxi Qin on the table. This Qin was “borrowed” from Meng Yunfei just before boarding the carriage—its owner did not express any objection, probably because he was still in a coma.
“The ghost cultivator obviously knows the specific location where the world-ending soldier puppet is buried, but still needs to control the remains of the Law Flower Immortal to escape from Ding Xian Ling. Then he made the remains travel a long distance to retrieve the mechanism giant for him—this should be because his own abilities are greatly restricted, or there are certain conditions for retrieving the soldier puppet.”
Gong Wei asked, “What conditions?”
Xu Shuangce remained silent for a moment before saying, “Perhaps only those who have had a connection with it can awaken it again.”
This sounds ridiculous. The only people who can have a connection with that terrifying giant are the ones who created it, destroyed it, and maybe those who fought against it. Gong Wei was sure he had never seen that thing, so why did Xu Shuangce think his remains could bring the giant out of the earth?
“The ghost cultivator was chasing you all over Linjiang City, so when he appeared at Yanchuntai, I thought his target was still only you, but I was wrong.” Xu Shuangce glanced at the weak and spread-out Liu Xuzhi nearby. “The sound waves of the Fuxi Qin can detect invisible barriers underground, so the ghost cultivator made Liu Xuzhi use Mirror Technique and rushed to slaughter Meng Yunfei without stopping. By doing so, he not only got rid of the only two people in the world who can play the Fuxi Qin but also cut off our way to find the world-ending soldier puppet.”
Gong Wei unexpectedly said, “So the soldier is really buried in Tianmen Pass?”
Xu Shuangce replied, “It seems so.”
Gong Wei suddenly realized something that made his spine chill, forced a smile, and said, “But Master, even if we find the soldier, we can’t bring it out from the depths of the earth, can we? We… haven’t had any connection with that world-ending soldier…”
The carriage swayed slightly, and the halo of the night pearl was dim. Xu Shuangce’s profile didn’t move, and after a while, he lowered his eyelids and lightly uttered:
“That may not be the case.”
A chill surged up Gong Wei’s throat. For a moment, he thought Xu Shuangce’s next words would be: If your remains can bring out the soldier, why can’t you do it yourself?
But to his surprise, Xu Shuangce remained silent.
He just stared quietly at his hand resting on the strings of the qin. Gong Wei looked at him with full of doubts and suddenly absurdly sensed a hint of understanding—Xu Shuangce was referring to himself.
Did he actually have some kind of connection with that world-ending soldier puppet?
This was even more unbelievable. Did Xu Shuangce consider himself as one of the three types of people who created it, destroyed it, or fought against it?
Gong Wei was both surprised and puzzled, but he saw Xu Shuangce take a breath and suddenly change the subject, “Ying Kai is now under attack and his life is in danger. According to the rules of the Immortal Alliance, all the lords of the prestigious clans must immediately go to Dai Mountain Tui’e, and I am no exception. And at this moment, the remains of the Law Flower Immortal escaped, it must be to take this opportunity to go to Tianmen Pass to find that world-ending soldier puppet.”
“Irrespective of how he managed to attack Ying Kai, his series of well-arranged plans are aimed at getting ahead of us to find the soldier puppet. If we stay in Dai Mountain now, it would be a missed opportunity and would play into their hands.”
Gong Wei nodded thoughtfully, only to see Liu Xuzhi not far away, weakly propping up the floor, moved, “I have never heard Brother Xu speak so much at once. Now he speaks openly, I guess it’s because of his improved mood. It’s admirable and praiseworthy! According to Brother Xu’s opinion, what does the mastermind want to do with the world-ending soldier puppet?”
“…”
Xu Shuangce, who was cheerful and talkative, sat with his eyes downcast, his face handsome but cold, with thin lips tightly closed.
Inside the carriage, there was complete silence.
“Cough, cough!” Gong Wei cleared his throat awkwardly, pretending nothing had happened, and said, “I heard from my master that the World-ending Soldier has been completely destroyed. So why would the Ghost Cultivator want to dig it out from the depths of the earth?”
Xu Shuangce shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Liu Xuzhi’s mouth hanging open: “…”
“But it’s not urgent,” Xu Shuangce opened the window curtain and said softly, “After we help him with that matter, the truth will naturally come to light.”
As the blood river carriage flew, time passed differently inside and outside the carriage. They had already left the central plains and arrived near the border. Outside the window, the sun had passed its zenith, but it was still dark, and the hills and mountains in the distance seemed to be covered by a layer of white mist. On the horizon, a vast cold front, like a living creature, was faintly emerging.
“Oh,” Liu Xuzhi forgot the doubts that were just ignored and furrowed his brows, “Not good, Tianmen Pass’s climate is always abnormal. It seems that there’s another anomaly happening.”
Only Music Saint, who had long lived near Tianmen Pass, understood the local weather better. Gong Wei asked, “Is there an earthquake?”
“The sky is dark and the cold front is coming, it’s not an earthquake.” Liu Xuzhi squinted at the sun and said, “Considering the time of year, it may be a Black Rainbow Pierces the Sun.”
The phenomenon of a Black Rainbow Pierces the Sun was ominous, but Tianmen Pass was close to the extreme north glacier, so anything could happen, and it could only be said that luck was not that good.
Xu Shuangce’s hand finally moved away from the Fuxi Qin, and he said lightly, “Brother Liu, please.”
Liu Xuzhi had really run into a streak of bad luck. After breaking through the Golden Core stage, he had been stuck in the Harmonizing Void stage for many years. He knew that he might not even achieve the Immortalization stage in this lifetime, and he had no interest in Ascension. All he wanted was to peacefully enjoy moonlit nights and play the qin at Yan Chun Terrace, shedding tears as he buried flowers. He aspired to be a refined and elegant gentleman, casually listening to the less refined gossip of his immortal friends. However, after encountering Xu Shuangce, he was first affected by the Mirror Technique, then wounded his own disciple, racked up a debt of twenty thousand gold with Mu Duozhu, and finally was forced to travel a thousand miles to this barren and freezing land to play music and sell his skills. It was truly more than just a miserable situation.
But now, with Sect Master Xu here, he had no choice but to sigh and take the qin, plucking the strings—Dang!
A wave of spiritual power surged, and Gong Wei was suddenly pulled into a familiar embrace, his ears covered from behind by someone’s hand, and suddenly all external sounds disappeared. He turned his head to look back, only to meet Xu Shuangce’s lowered eyelashes, and their eyes met gently.
A series of long and short musical notes spread out from the blood river carriage, forming an invisible wave that penetrated into the earth from all directions. Liu Xuzhi closed his eyes and ears as if listening to something. After a moment of silence, his fingers suddenly stopped like a storm, and he opened his eyes, saying, “Got it! Continue four hundred miles to the north, there is a crack at the end of the glacier!”
The damage left by the Mirror Technique was severe, and his spiritual power was even more depleted now. He gasped for breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, exhausted yet relieved, “Liu is fortunate to fulfill his mission. Brother Xu, can you let me go back… Brother Xu?”
Under Liu Xuzhi’s astonished gaze, Xu Shuangce withdrew his hand, releasing Gong Wei’s ears.
Gong Wei hurriedly climbed out of his embrace and onto the other side of the cushion, looking calm but with burning ears.
“…”
After a moment of silence, Liu Xuzhi suddenly realized, applauding and praising, “Brother Xu is devoted to his disciple, meticulous in his care, truly an exemplary figure! Thinking back on how neglectful I was as a Master before, I am ashamed!”
Xu Shuangce ignored him and directly looked past him, saying, “Descend.”
With his command, the four divine birds simultaneously screamed and dove downward violently.
Liu Xuzhi hadn’t even settled down properly before he crashed to the ground with a bang, while at the same time, Xu Shuangce firmly held Gong Wei’s hand. The huge carriage, like a sharp arrow, split open the surging cold mist on both sides. In about half a cup of tea’s time, it landed with a loud thud on the ground.
Immediately, the carriage door opened, and the wind and snow immediately whistled in.
They had now arrived at Tianmen Pass. The weather here was extremely cold, and the spiritual energy was thin, making it impossible to fly with a sword anymore. Gong Wei stepped out of the carriage. His spiritual power depleted from the severe injuries, immediately felt a chill and shivering, before being wrapped in a warm cloak.
Xu Shuangce opened his robe and pulled him close to his side, shielding him from the wind and snow, his sandalwood scent wafting over. Then, he reached out and held the trembling Liu Xuzhi, standing in the snowy ground, lifting a foot—
The surrounding ice and snow-covered rocky terrain receded as if pushed away, and when their footsteps landed, they had already arrived at the wind-shielded slope at the foot of the mountain.
Gong Wei looked up from the gap in his outer robe, they were only a dozen yards away from the hill they had just departed. It seemed that this place was indeed devoid of spiritual energy, suppressing even the martial prowess of the world’s number one expert to the limit. For anyone else, it was estimated that even one-tenth of their strength wouldn’t remain after traveling a hundred miles.
Xu Shuangce asked in a gentle voice, “Can you still hold up?”
Liu Xuzhi hurriedly complained, “Brother Xu, you know, I have been living on Yanchuntai for decades, where it is warm all year round like spring. I am completely unable to adapt… Brother Xu?”
Liu Xuzhi stared dumbfoundedly as Xu Shuangce lowered his head, his expression calm and gentle, meeting the eyes of his trembling disciple, who was shrinking in the cloak.
Gong Wei’s cheeks warmed slightly, “Thank you for protecting me, Master.”
Xu Shuangce nodded slightly, “Let me know when you can’t hold on anymore.”
“…,” Liu Xuzhi opened his mouth in astonishment for a while, then suddenly realized.
“No wonder Brother Xu was so cheerful just now. It must be because he has taken in a junior disciple, clearing away the obstacles in his heart.” Liu Xuzhi sighed with relief and praised, “It seems that the saying ‘teaching benefits both the teacher and the student’ is true. Today, I have truly benefited a lot from Brother Xu!”
Once again, Xu Shuangce ignored him, and the energy of the Shrink to Inch spell rose from the surroundings.
They walked from here to the ravine mentioned by Liu Xuzhi, which was more than four hundred miles away, almost entering the realm of the extreme north.
Since ancient times, the extreme north had been the place where the most heinous criminals were exiled. Changsun Chengfeng said, “Even grandmasters like you and me may not necessarily come back alive,” which was not entirely exaggerated—Even Tianmen Pass was difficult to traverse, let alone the true extreme north. If they encountered ominous phenomena like the black rainbow piercing the sun again, it would be truly terrible to the point of unimaginable.
Gong Wei was hugged in Xu Shuangce’s robe, his cheeks pressed against his solid shoulder, the suppressed feelings of melancholy and confusion rising in his heart once again.
The desolate and barren land of the extreme north was devoid of spiritual energy, and even if you were the Sect Master of Cangyang or a grandmaster of the Immortalization stage, your spiritual power wouldn’t be able to exert one percent of its strength, as if climbing a mountain with a thousand pounds of shackles on your body.
—Seventeen years ago, when Xu Shuangce rushed thousands of miles, guarded at the top of the glacier where Du Kaixun was exiled, killed him with a single sword, and left without a word, he didn’t inform anyone for many years.
What was he thinking at that time?
At this moment, everyone’s footsteps stopped, and Xu Shuangce said, “We’re here.”
Gong Wei cautiously poked his head out from the warm embrace, only to see a vast and endless rift in the glacier not far ahead, as if some unpredictable force had descended from the heavens, leaving a huge scar on the earth’s surface.
A rolling coldness almost condensed into a black substance rose from the abyss, soaring into the sky.
At almost the same time, Gong Wei’s soul sensed a ridiculous yet clear feeling—there seemed to be something real under that abyss.
How could he have this kind of feeling?
Gong Wei didn’t have time to ponder. He only heard Xu Shuangce softly say, “There’s something under the abyss.”
“Brother Xu, Brother Xu, we’ve already walked here. How about I wait up here for you next…”
Before poor Liu Xuzhi could finish speaking, he was silenced by a silence technique, forcibly dragged to the edge of the cliff, and then the ground disappeared beneath his feet: “Ah—”
Liu Xuzhi desperately spread his sleeves as he fell, trying to maintain a graceful and elegant posture like an immortal descending from the heavens, but he could only helplessly watch as he plummeted into the bottomless abyss.
Immediately after, Gong Wei was lifted off the ground by Xu Shuangce: “Hold on tight.”
Gong Wei instinctively hugged Xu Shuangce’s slender and sturdy neck, and the two of them leaped into the icy and bone-chilling abyss together!
The wind whistled upwards, scraping like a sharp knife against their ears. The descent lasted for half a quarter of an hour, then rapidly slowed until it came to a steady stop.
Xu Shuangce’s feet were still half a foot off the ground, his robe and hair fluttered gently, and then there was a thud!
Gong Wei followed the sound and saw Liu Xuzhi crashing heavily to the ground like a cannonball, creating a deep crater upon impact.
Gong Wei: “…”
After a while, he saw Lord Music Saint crawling out of the pit with a disheveled appearance, clutching his lower back and gritting his teeth as he sighed, “Brother Xu, if you insist on making me jump, I’ll do it, but could you please give me a heads-up next time… Brother Xu? What are you doing?!”
Seeing the dim light at the bottom of the abyss, but hearing no sound of wind, a strange warmth was faintly emanating from the rocks underfoot. Xu Shuangce’s feet finally landed steadily on the ground, and he released Gong Wei, who was held horizontally in his arms. He whispered, “This place is strange and dangerous. Follow me closely, and don’t wander.”
Then he slightly bent down to tighten Gong Wei’s messy hair tie and straightened his clothes before stepping forward.
Watching all this with wide eyes, Liu Xuzhi suddenly realized something and took a deep breath, admiringly bowing to Gong Wei, “The bond between master and disciple is deeply moving! From now on, I will also learn to treat Yunfei like this!”
“…”
Gong Wei hesitated several times under Liu Xuzhi’s admiring gaze before finally saying tactfully, “It’s best to ask Young Master Meng for his opinion first.”
***
The glacier crevice stretched down to a depth of ten thousand feet. Looking up, one could see rugged ice walls on both sides, reflecting the sunlight countless times, creating a magnificent and strange display of deep blue, indigo, and light blue fluorescence.
Underfoot laid exposed black rocks, with a complex primitive terrain resembling countless blood vessels within a giant monster’s body, winding towards the unknown darkness ahead.
Liu Xuzhi played the Fuxi Qin several times, but the extremely dangerous place had almost no spiritual energy, making it impossible even for the current Music Saint to produce sound waves with condensed spiritual power. They couldn’t detect the underground space several hundred miles ahead. Xu Shuangce instructed him to put away the Fuxi Qin and, after concentrating for a moment, seemingly sensing something, led Gong Wei by the hand down an inconspicuous path.
Liu Xuzhi was amazed and followed behind, asking, “Brother Xu, how do you know the way here? Do Grandmasters in the Immortalization realm have unique methods to sense directions in this darkness?”
Xu Shuangce didn’t answer, just turned and said, “That way.”
Indeed, it was the direction he mentioned, and Gong Wei’s sensation of it became clearer and clearer. It felt like there was an invisible force pulling his soul, guiding him step by step in a predetermined direction.
But he didn’t understand why.
In his limited memory, he had no connection with the legendary world-ending soldier puppet, having only seen it from afar in an illusion. Xu Shuangce was naturally the same.
Did this count as having a connection with it?
Liu Xuzhi, with the little spiritual power he had left, reluctantly lit an illumination talisman, trying to maintain a scholarly demeanor in the flat areas, yet couldn’t resist asking, “Brother Xu, when the Alliance Leader previously told me that the place where the world-ending soldier puppet was destroyed was a plain with mountains and fortifications, why are we now beneath this ten-thousand-foot glacier?”
Xu Shuangce replied indifferently, “The changes of the world are like the ebb and flow of the sea.”
Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but be astonished, “How long would it take to turn plains and hills into extreme cold glaciers? Could the battle of the world-ending soldier puppet have been a scene from thousands of years ago?”
Xu Shuangce suddenly stopped in his tracks.
In the dim light of the illumination talisman, it could be vaguely seen that the road ahead suddenly broke off, with the height of the gap likely several feet. Xu Shuangce let go of Gong Wei’s hand, his robes fluttering as he leaped down, then turned to signal Gong Wei to follow suit, catching him steadily with both hands.
Liu Xuzhi also jumped down, then saw Xu Shuangce succinctly say in the darkness:
“Yes.”
Liu Xuzhi shook his head in amazement and sighed. But the road below the gap was even darker and more rugged than before, leaving him with no desire to speak. He could only follow cautiously. Gong Wei’s hand was still being held by Xu Shuangce, passing through a narrow passage only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways, groping forward in the darkness for what seemed like two quarters of an hour until a faint light finally appeared ahead.
At that moment, Gong Wei’s soul suddenly sensed something distinctly, as if every fiber of his being was being lifted up.
Right in front.
Gong Wei dared not show any signs of unease, just quickened his pace slightly. But there was no flat ground here, and he unexpectedly stumbled on a stone, feeling Xu Shuangce’s hand continuing to move forward without stopping.
Gong Wei’s wrist was still being pulled by him, causing him to stumble a few steps before catching up. As they walked, he suddenly felt something and his heart sank slightly.
He said, “Master?”
Xu Shuangce made a non-committal sound without turning his head.
Gong Wei cautiously said, “Master, I twisted my ankle.”
Xu Shuangce slowed his pace slightly, but still didn’t turn around. “We’re almost there.”
“…”
Gong Wei looked at his back, his pupils dilating slightly.
Just then, the convoluted and intricate labyrinthine path at the bottom of the glacier finally reached its end. Xu Shuangce abruptly turned a corner, and suddenly, everything became clear before him.
The chilling wind howled in their faces, and to their surprise, a massive hollow dome appeared within the mountain.
At the same moment, several dozen yards away.
Liu Xuzhi exclaimed, “Such a sight beneath the earth!”
They saw the light from the sky reflecting off the thousand-foot ice wall above them, while below was a bottomless chasm of rock layers. The chilling wind howled up from the chasm, sounding like the cries of hellish ghosts that hadn’t ceased for millions of years, converging into the mighty roar of a black dragon rushing up the ice wall towards the sky.
Any other person would have been terrified, even a grandmaster like Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but feel a chill. “If I were an ordinary mortal, I might think this was the underworld as described in folklore…”
Xu Shuangce stopped in his tracks, the abyss beneath his feet reflecting in his eyes. “We’re here.”
His calm tone sent shivers down Liu Xuzhi’s spine even more. “Is the World Ending Soldier puppet down there?”
“Yes.”
“What… what do you plan to do now, Brother Xu?”
Liu Xuzhi was full of questions, but Xu Shuangce only glanced back at him, then looked down at Gong Wei, who he was holding by the hand. He smiled faintly, his intent clear as day: “Beloved disciple, didn’t I tell you not to wander?”
Liu Xuzhi was too shocked to stop it in time. He only saw Xu Shuangce’s hand move like lightning, piercing through Gong Wei’s chest amid splattering blood!
Gong Wei’s chest heaved, and he struggled to force out two words: “…Master?”
He tried to break free from the grip of the person in front of him, but it was already too late.
Only to see a vortex of spiritual power rise from beneath Xu Shuangce’s feet, covering his body like black smoke, and then dissipating with a roar after a few breaths; once the spiritual power completely dispersed, the figure gripping his arm was no longer the Sect Master of Cangyang, but had transformed into a tall figure wearing a gray robe and hood!
“Ah,” its light and deep voice came from under the hood, “Discovered?”
Thunk! With a heavy sound, “Gong Wei” widened his eyes and fell to the ground, morphing into its original form in the black smoke – a small stone man, completely black and sinister.
Liu Xuzhi stared in disbelief, only to see Xu Shuangce suddenly turning around, waving his sleeve, and with a single hand, sending out a sword-like force, cutting off the rolling black mist above the abyss, instantly clearing the surrounding area!
On the other side of the abyss, several dozen feet away.
A ghostly figure in a gray robe was also standing at the edge of the cliff, unable to see its face under the hood. Its smoky claw-like fingers tightly gripped the hand of the youth – the real Gong Wei!
Liu Xuzhi’s expression changed dramatically, “Is this… the ghost cultivator from Linjiang City? When did it sneak in?!”
Xu Shuangce’s gaze flickered, but he did not answer.
But then scenes from just now flashed through Liu Xuzhi’s mind, and he realized: “Ah, it was when you jumped down first and then turned around to catch your disciple -“
At the moment of the sudden fall, Xu Shuangce briefly let go of his disciple’s hand, then turned around to catch Gong Wei. In that fleeting moment of darkness, Gong Wei had been silently replaced, and they had been walking with this small stone man all along!
Ordinary illusion techniques or substitution techniques could not deceive the eyes of a grandmaster, let alone the scene of blood spattering when someone died just now. Liu Xuzhi looked at the cold-faced stone man on the ground and finally felt a chill creeping over him: “What kind of sinister magic is this?”
Xu Shuangce looked towards the gray-robed ghost figure restraining Gong Wei on the opposite cliff, coldly uttering two words, “Gui Yuan.”
On the other side of the abyss, the ghost figure finally spoke from under its hood, “Xu Shuangce.”
Its voice was very soft, but each word sounded as if it directly echoed in the minds of others, with an extremely strange tone, as if coming from a very distant place, carrying a faint echo, completely devoid of any indication of age or gender.
Liu Xuzhi’s ears, accustomed to music, instinctively twitched, sensing a familiarity that couldn’t be described.
The ghostly figure held Gong Wei’s hand with a cruel and fierce strength but sounded very gentle, “Retrieve the thing buried beneath the abyss for me, or else your direct disciple will die here today.”
“…!”
A strong sense of discomfort surged into Gong Wei’s heart, not from the ghostly figure beside him, but from beneath his feet –
There seemed to be a huge object lurking in the abyss, ferocious, resentful, full of evil intentions, slowly awakening with their arrival, stirring his spiritual sense more and more clearly with each passing moment.
Don’t come, Gong Wei thought, looking at Xu Shuangce on the distant cliff.
Whatever laid beneath the abyss was extremely dangerous. Don’t come, don’t awaken it –
“Soul-body substitution,” Xu Shuangce suddenly stared at the ghostly figure.
“What?” Liu Xuzhi was puzzled.
The ghostly figure seemed to freeze for a moment.
“A secret method of the Yellow Springs Ghost Cultivator. When forced into a certain situation, the soul and body are torn apart, and the three souls of heaven, earth, and man attach to a puppet substitute. In this way, the puppet completely becomes the original, without any falsehood in its flesh, blood, or heartbeat; the remaining seven souls can escape at any time.”
Xu Shuangce narrowed his eyes, “But this comes at a price. After losing the three souls, the body that the remaining seven souls are attached to cannot maintain a stable form most of the time, often appearing as ghostly shadows. Only when the puppet substitute’s original form is killed can the three souls of heaven, earth, and man return from thousands of miles away, allowing the ghostly shadow to restore its original form.”
“‘Soul-body substitution’ has never appeared in any immortal scripture, and even within the Twelve Departments of the Gui Yuan, it has been lost for a hundred years. I never expected to witness it today.”
Xu Shuangce lifted a foot, with a thousand-mile transmission symbol held between his two fingers, sharp eyes staring at the ghostly figure, his voice light yet ruthless:
“He can’t run away now, Ying Kai.”
At the same time, thousands of miles away at Mount Dai, the closed doors suddenly burst open.
“The, the Alliance Leader?” “Alliance Leader!”
The disciples exclaimed one after another, only to see Ying Kai with a calm face, striding through the corridor, his robe fluttering as he burst through the side hall’s doors, the imposing aura of the Mountain Ocean Order Divine Sword pressing forward –
The ghostly figure seemed to sense something, letting out a sharp howl, retreating behind and dragging Gong Wei along, its five fingertips simultaneously piercing Gong Wei’s neck.
But at this moment, Xu Shuangce had already leaped into the air, activating a substitution technique with his own body, a curve of blood splattering from his throat and falling into the abyss.
In the fading light, the Mountain Ocean Order Sword emerged like a rainbow, piercing through Iron Sect Master’s forehead in full view of everyone!
The bloody tip of the sword protruded from the back of his head, and Iron Sect Master didn’t even have time to resist before his body staggered a few times and then fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Immediately, amidst the incredulous cries around them, the “corpse” was quickly enveloped in black smoke. After a few breaths, the smoke dispersed, revealing the true form of a figure clad in golden armor with a bronze face.
Someone exclaimed, “A… An soldier puppet?!”
With the puppet dead, the three souls returned. In the depths of the Thousand-Ren Glacier, it seemed as if the ghostly figure had been pierced by an invisible divine sword. His entire head snapped backward as if broken, and his entire skeletal structure erupted with a terrifying sharp sound!
Xu Shuangce landed swiftly, snatching Gong Wei back into his arms. Blood trickled down his throat, staining his clothes.
Liu Xuzhi hurriedly arrived, only to see the ghostly figure finally revert to his original form amidst the intense pain of having his brain pierced, his face pale and covered in cold sweat. He was none other than the current Iron Sect Master!
“…” Liu Xuzhi opened his mouth, as if in a dream, squeezing out two words: “Chengfeng?”
Changsun Chengfeng had always had a very refined and handsome appearance, but now, due to the heavy damage inflicted on his three souls by Mountain Ocean Order, he had completely lost his relaxed and carefree demeanor, looking somewhat embarrassed.
But even so, he still had a smile on his face, albeit a somewhat rueful one. “So, Brother Ying was awake all along. The two of you staged this act just to lure me out, didn’t you?”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but cough up some blood, then turned to Gong Wei and asked, “How did you realize something was wrong with me? When you almost fell just now, ‘Master’ didn’t immediately stop to check on you?”
Gong Wei felt Xu Shuangce’s hands pressing on him with great force, making his shoulder blades ache a bit. After a while, Xu Shuangce finally seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, slightly relaxing his grip, allowing Gong Wei to turn his head and glance at Changsun Chengfeng.
“I’m sorry, after the soul replacement, using the Transformation Technique to consume spiritual power is too exhausting. I can only sustain it for a short time. I didn’t have time to play the role of Brother Xu, who cares for his disciple so much.” Changsun Chengfeng shook his head, whether it was mockery or lamentation, then turned to Xu Shuangce. “And what about you, Brother Xu? When did you start suspecting me?”
Xu Shuangce replied succinctly, “On the Golden Ship.”
Changsun Chengfeng was somewhat surprised. “So early? Why didn’t you…”
“I couldn’t be sure at the time until everyone was called back to Mount Dai Shan at dusk. To lure out the mastermind behind the scenes, I had no choice but to cooperate with Ying Kai to implement this plan.” Xu Shuangce paused for a moment and then said, “Do you have anything else to say?”
Changsun Chengfeng finally caught his breath, stood up from the ground, and sat up straight.
“It’s my fault, Brother Xu,” he said sincerely. “After Du Kaixun was exiled, I finally had the opportunity to see many of the manuscripts he left behind. Most of them were shocking records and studies of the dark arts practiced by the Ghost Cultivators, and I had no idea where he learned them from. I particularly noticed one page that mentioned a mechanism soldier buried beneath the cracks of the North Glacier, a weapon powerful enough to destroy the world. I was tempted by that immense power and had been wanting to claim it as my own for many years.”
He chuckled self-deprecatingly. “As the Iron Sect Master, my fervent pursuit of the unparalleled weapon is no less than Du Kaixun’s attempt to steal the right eye of the Law Flower Immortal. It’s despicable, truly shameful.”
His words were sincere, but Xu Shuangce remained unmoved. “If you saw the manuscript seventeen years ago, why did you only come to look for the soldier now?”
“To be honest, I made a difficult journey to look for it once back then, just shortly before the incident at the Ascension Immortal Platform—considering the timing, Du Kaixun should have already been killed by you.” Changsun Chengfeng shook his head. “But to be frank, I returned empty-handed.”
Liu Xuzhi finally snapped out of his shock and couldn’t help asking, “Why did you return empty-handed?”
“Not everyone has the qualifications to awaken an ancient soldier from the depths of a thousand-foot abyss, Brother Liu.” Changsun Chengfeng glanced at Xu Shuangce. “Don’t you agree, Sect Master Xu?”
Liu Xuzhi was puzzled and followed his gaze, only to see Xu Shuangce’s face as cold as ice, neither confirming nor denying.
“It wasn’t until seventeen years later that I finally found an opportunity. Taking advantage of my status as the Iron Sect Master, I brought the soldier’s soldier thread into the Ding Xian Ling and controlled the remains of the Law Flower Immortal. I intended to ask the Law Flower Immortal to retrieve the soldier from the abyss for me, but I didn’t expect that you, Brother Xu, would personally arrive at Mount Dai, not only swiftly eliminating all the alarmed undead, but also discovering the soldier thread inside the Immortal’s corpse.”
“When I was publicly tried by our immortal friends on the Golden Ship, I was actually quite panicked.” Changsun Chengfeng sighed deeply. “Fortunately, there was a scapegoat younger brother who could take the blame for me, which also happened to be his last bit of value.”
Finally, Liu Xuzhi connected the dots and was engulfed in anger. “You were the one who trapped me in the Mirror Technique at Penglai Palace?”
“I’m sorry, Brother Liu.”
“You were the one who slaughtered several of my disciples and nearly killed Yunfei?!”
“…”
Changsun Chengfeng paused for a moment, then lowered his head. “I’m truly sorry, Brother Liu. I didn’t want to do those things either.”
Liu Xuzhi was furious, his Qingli sword emerged from its sheath with a clang, but before he could approach, he was suddenly stopped by a strong qi force in midair. “—Sect Master Xu?”
Xu Shuangce raised his left hand slightly, not looking at the shocked and enraged Liu Xuzhi, but staring at the ground where Iron Sect Master laid.
“Seventeen years ago, after Du Kaixun was exiled, did you hide it from everyone and come here alone?”
Despite having just admitted it himself moments ago, Changsun Chengfeng’s eyes flickered slightly, and after a moment, he uttered a word: “Yes.”
“I see.” Xu Shuangce said.
—What exactly does he see?
Liu Xuzhi was utterly confused, but Xu Shuangce’s lips curled slightly, revealing a hint of a cold smile.
“So, Changsun Chengfeng, who came alone to search for the soldier puppet seventeen years ago, was killed and replaced by you here, wasn’t he, Du Kaixun?”
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Oh I saw this coming a mile away. Ahem. Okay I suck and guessing the hidden bad guys. *pulls blanket over head and sulks*