Chapter 56
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Liu Xuzhi was dumbfounded, and Gong Wei, who had faintly sensed something, couldn’t help but hold his breath, and the surroundings suddenly fell silent.
After a long while, Changsun Chengfeng said incredulously, “What did you say, Sect Master Xu?”
“Soul substitution,” Xu Shuangce looked down at him and repeated these words slowly once again.
“Seventeen years ago, in the North Glacier, you prematurely released a soldier puppet substitute for yourself on the path I was guarding. At the same time, you attached your Heavenly, Earthly, and Human souls to it, making it convincing enough. When the head of the substitute fell into the deep abyss, I thought you were dead for real, but in fact, your souls were just severely injured. You then left the substitute and returned to your original form, thus completing a rebirth.”
“After I left the North Glacier, you somehow managed to escape from that deadly realm. Later, Changsun Chengfeng saw the manuscripts you wrote before your exile. Perhaps he wanted to cover up the scandal of the aristocratic family studying the dark arts of the Ghost Cultivators, or perhaps he feared that the World Ending Soldier would be linked to the Iron Sect, but in any case, he decided to secretly come alone, only to meet you who had been waiting here for a long time.”
Xu Shuangce squinted at Iron Sect Master, his voice soft and thoughtful. “At that time, you were just a nineteen-year-old youth, with shallow cultivation and severe injuries. It was fortunate enough for you to escape the Far North. How did you manage to kill the contemporary Iron Sect Master?”
“…”
“How did you seamlessly take his place for seventeen years, Du Kaixun?”
The surroundings fell into a dreadful silence. “Changsun Chengfeng,” motionless, turned to look back at Xu Shuangce, even his pupils seemed frozen by the shadows.
After a while, a smile slowly emerged from the cultured and handsome face of “Changsun Chengfeng,” as if the solid shell had finally cracked open to reveal the sinister and rebellious truth within.
“I should have known you’re not that easy to fool, Sect Master Xu,” he said with a smile. “Do you want to know? Let’s make a deal.”
A huge chill crawled up the spine, and Liu Xuzhi took a subconscious step back, trembling. “You actually… you’re really… Du Kaixun!”
The real Iron Sect Master had long been dead, and the impostor not only deceived everyone but also continued to commit atrocities for seventeen years without anyone noticing the slightest abnormality. How absurd and abominable was this heinous crime?
This kind of madness, unheard of in the history of the Immortal Alliance!
Xu Shuangce’s expression remained unchanged, still holding Gong Wei tightly against his chest with one hand. “What deal?”
The seemingly sincere and apologetic expression on “Changsun Chengfeng’s” face just disappeared like magic, and Du Kaixun, holding the sword in his hand, stood up with a smile. Despite being at an absolute disadvantage, he seemed completely undaunted, exuding an aura of calm superiority.
“The mechanism giant under this abyss is already half destroyed, but buried in its brain is something I want you to take out for me. Then, you find a way to seal Lord Music Saint and this little disciple’s mouths, so they don’t return to the Immortal Alliance and spread rumors everywhere. Finally, you send me away from Tianmen Pass because the ominous sign of Black Rainbow Piercing Sun is coming soon, and the outside will soon be engulfed by deadly cold.”
“After leaving Tianmen Pass, I will leave on my own, and you will handle the Immortal Alliance from now on.” Du Kaixun slowed down his speech, articulating each word clearly. “From then on, you will never find me in this world again.”
These three requests were astonishingly nonsensical, let alone coming from the mouth of the most notorious criminal in the history of the Immortal Alliance. Xu Shuangce asked in return, “What do you plan to exchange for?”
“As Sect Master Xu has seen, I have nothing left,” Du Kaixun’s tone was still polite and courteous.
Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but ask, “Then why should we trade with you?”
Du Kaixun had an intriguing look in his eyes, saying, “Are you really not curious at all, Sect Master Xu?”
“…”
“The only path of exile across that glacier was known to me in advance. How did I know you were waiting ahead to kill someone, allowing me to release a soldier puppet as a decoy in advance? And how did I know that the Mechanism Giant was buried in the depths of the abyss, and that Changsun Chengfeng would come alone, even accurately predicting the time and place of his appearance to successfully ambush and kill him with one blow?”
Du Kaixun had already obtained the reaction he wanted from Xu Shuangce’s eyes.
“Yes, you’ve discovered it. I always seem to have foresight about certain things that will happen in the future.” He changed the subject, his voice slowing down and becoming clearer. “Sect Master Xu, do you remember the two questions you asked the Alliance Leader on the Golden Ship that day?”
The Golden Ship? What questions?
Liu Xuzhi was full of surprise, even Gong Wei raised his head, but all they saw was Xu Shuangce’s face, frozen as if in a trance.
――On the edge of the Golden Ship’s deck that day, with the world at his feet, the mountains, rivers, and streams were all vividly clear, but Sect Master Xu seemed to have fallen into a vast, bewildering, and unreal dream. Everyone heard him murmuring questions:
“After Gong Zhiyu’s death, did we all fall into the same illusion?”
“Could it be that I just had a dream, and all things in the world are nothing but illusions?”
“You will make this deal with me.” Du Kaixun stared at Xu Shuangce and said, “Because you really want to know the answers to these two questions.”
“…Brother Xu,” after a moment of dead silence, Liu Xuzhi’s unsteady voice sounded, “This person used mirror techniques to infiltrate my Yanchuntai and almost killed several innocent disciples of mine. You can’t let him go just because of some sweet words.”
Xu Shuangce remained unresponsive.
Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but grow anxious: “Du Kaixun killed his own brother, impersonated him for seventeen years, committed heinous crimes, and cannot be allowed to go free! Once he returns to Dai Mountain Immortal Alliance, he will surely be sentenced to death. Releasing a condemned prisoner privately is a grave crime! Brother Xu, you mustn’t be confused…”
“This deal is not good as it is,” Xu Shuangce suddenly said.
Du Kaixun asked, “Oh, what conditions then?”
“You disclose that secret to me, then surrender and return to Dai Mountain Immortal Alliance for a public trial.”
Xu Shuangce paused and continued, “As an exchange, I can make Bai Xian die quickly in front of you. How about that?”
Anyone with ears could hear the unmistakable intent to kill in his last few words. Even Gong Wei’s expression shifted slightly, and Liu Xuzhi was momentarily stunned.
Du Kaixun’s expression also changed gradually—from his previous calmness, he started to lose the feeling of being in control. For the first time in seventeen years, the paranoid and pathological teenager from the past began to emerge from behind Du Kaixun’s composed facade: “No one can touch Bai Xian.”
However, Xu Shuangce said, “It’s better for him to die cleanly and quickly than to die a prolonged and painful death.”
Du Kaixun immediately stared at him intently. “What do you mean? What else do you know?”
“Seventeen years ago, in the Punishment Hall,” Xu Shuangce’s tone carried a hint of mockery, “You wrote the Curse of Heartrending with blood, but you didn’t know it had already been fulfilled, did you? Now that I’m letting him die quickly, you should thank me.”
Du Kaixun’s face changed completely, and with a thunderous surge of sword q, iti was at Xu Shuangce’s face. Following that was his stern warning, word by word, “I said, no one can touch Bai Xian—”
He moved so fast that even Liu Xuzhi couldn’t react in time. Where the sword light passed, giant rocks were torn apart. This was not the usual strength of “Changsun Chengfeng”; it was far stronger than the real Iron Sect Master!
Liu Xuzhi exclaimed, “Brother Xu, be careful!”
In the blink of an eye, Gong Wei was pushed several feet away. Xu Shuangce stood in front of him, blocking the way. With the Qingli Sword in his hand, he engaged in a flurry of exchanges with the Buqi Sword. The ground shook and cracked, and cliff boulders fell like rain into the abyss. Suddenly, there was a loud clang, and the two swords clashed fiercely.
Facing each other at close range, Du Kaixun’s eyes were filled with icy coldness. Through gritted teeth, he asked, “When did you find out?!”
“Meng Duozhu said that there was no shortage of soldiers’ threads in Bai Xian’s body, because he didn’t know that there was one more in Bai Xian’s heart, used to prolong his life for seventeen years.” Xu Shuangce mocked with only one hand holding the sword, “If you pull out that thread, he will die.”
Gong Wei didn’t know about Meng Duozhu’s investigation into the number of soldiers’ threads in Bai Xian’s body until now. He understood the cause and effect immediately.
The Curse of Heartrending.
That night seventeen years ago, the heart of the teenager twisted by jealousy and hatred made a blood oath, shattering everything in this world that didn’t belong to him. And the only thing that truly belonged to him in this world, but was no longer his now, was the flesh and blood heart of Bai Xian.
This heart should have shattered into a thousand pieces with the fulfillment of the curse. But Bai Xian had been living fine until now because Changsun Chengfeng added another soldiers’ thread to his heart before it completely tore apart.
This extremely secretive thread had been barely holding together the shattered heart of Bai Xian until seventeen years later, when Du Kaixun wanted to manipulate the corpse of Law Flower Immortal. He then extracted a strand of the Soldier thread from Bai Xian’s spiritual vein and secretly brought it into Ding Xian Ling. After the plan failed and Du Kaixun was publicly tried by the Grandmasters on the Golden Ship, Mu Duozhu was ordered to investigate whether there was any shortage of Soldier’s threads in Bai Xian’s body. If any shortage was discovered, the situation on that day would inevitably be difficult to resolve.
In a moment of desperation, the previously unknown strand of the Soldier thread within Bai Xian’s heart was pulled out and placed in his spiritual vein to compensate for the one taken by Du Kaixun earlier.
The count was complete, with no shortage, enough to deceive Mu Duozhu that day.
The only thing that couldn’t be hidden was that the flesh and blood heart was not a mechanical soldier, and once it shattered, it could not be repaired.
From that day on, as a sacrifice to cover up the mastermind behind Ding Xian Ling, Bai Xian’s life entered a countdown.
With a loud roar shaking the cliff, Du Kaixun’s anger surged as spiritual power surged when the two swords clashed, and the spiritual flow rushed up the mountainside, causing large chunks of rubble to fall like hail!
Liu Xuzhi’s robe sleeve shook, and a radiant barrier was cast into the air, causing countless boulders to smash into powder upon impact with the barrier.
“To be able to replace it seamlessly for seventeen years, it shouldn’t be a simple illusion, but a direct use of Ghost Cultivator’s secret technique to possess Changsun Chengfeng. Therefore, unable to condense the Soldier thread belonging to Du Kaixun, he could only extract the Soldier’s thread he refined seventeen years ago from Bai Xian’s body and place it into Ding Xian Ling.” Gong Wei also stood under the formation, sighed softly amidst the intense shaking of the ground around him, “Presumably, preparations were already made at that time, in case of failure, the blame could be shifted to the deceased ‘brother’.”
The evil seen by Liu Xuzhi over the decades was at its worst today, and he was extremely furious in his heart. “Such cruelty and malice!”
Gong Wei’s eyes flickered slightly. “I’m afraid it’s even more than that.”
Liu Xuzhi was shocked. “What do you mean?”
“… “Some kind of strangeness crossed Gong Wei’s mind, but there was no trace to follow.
Was Du Kaixun really the Ghost Cultivator who possessed Bai Tai Shou?
It was true that he killed his brother and took over his body, but even if he had extraordinary abilities, could he really have orchestrated the twenty-eight tragedies in Linjiang City, the shocking resurrection of the dead in Ding Xian Ling, and then gone to Penglai Palace to manipulate Music Saint into killing several disciples?
Gong Wei shook his head and said softly, “There must be hidden secrets behind this.”
***
At this moment, the rock collapse finally slowed down. Du Kaixun was swept away by the Qingli Sword, smashing into the mountain wall. Xu Shuangce swiftly moved to intercept, but Du Kaixun’s reaction was even faster. In an instant, several clangs of sword strikes resulted in a splatter of blood before Xu Shuangce’s chest!
“Sect Master Xu, you seem to be not as usual this time,” Du Kaixun, covered in dust, stepped out of the mountain wall, squinting and speaking softly.
Gong Wei subconsciously looked at Xu Shuangce’s right arm—not that he was not as usual, but his right arm, with its torn tendons and veins, had not yet healed. In this perilous place with almost no spiritual energy, it was simply a fatal weakness.
Xu Shuangce sighed steadily. “Your concealment of your abilities over these years is truly remarkable.”
“For the sake of wearing Changsun Chengfeng’s skin well, it’s worth enduring a little hardship.” Du Kaixun tightened his grip on the Buqi Sword, and the black flames of gathered spiritual power suddenly erupted along the blade. “Sorry, Sect Master Xu, but I really don’t have time to delay any longer.”
Everyone’s cultivation was suppressed to almost nothing, yet he still had such spiritual power. Just how much had he concealed his strength under normal circumstances?
Liu Xuzhi’s eyes twitched, and he pushed Gong Wei under the protective barrier instinctively. Stepping forward, he pressed his hand down, and a huge clock rose from his side, crashing with a resounding sound, shaking the souls!
All these actions happened in the same instant—just as the bell rang, the Buqi Sword had already slashed towards Xu Shuangce with tremendous force, while Du Kaixun, with a chilling gaze, glanced at Liu Xuzhi and threw out a golden talisman. The golden light instantly turned into a giant soldier puppet, whose footsteps shook the ground and firmly held the heavy clock weighing over a thousand catties.
Clang!
The Buqi Sword fiercely collided with the Qingli Sword, and the pure black spiritual fire almost engulfed Xu Shuangce’s face!
Du Kaixun gritted his teeth. “Give me what’s in the soldier puppet’s head below, and I swear I won’t appear before you again. Otherwise—”
With a cold mockery in his tone, Xu Shuangce interrupted, “Even if you die, you won’t defile my eyes again.”
Before he could finish his words, his uninjured left hand gripped the sword hilt firmly, and the eruptive and majestic spiritual power instantly burned along the Qingli Sword—
Du Kaixun’s heart sank.
But before he could even control the soldier puppet to defend, the surging aura caused mountains to crumble and the earth to shake. With crumbling rocks, he was sent flying out!
With a deafening roar that shook the ears, the earth trembled incessantly, and the surging snow fell from the top like a tide into the abyss. Du Kaixun smashed through several mountain walls in his momentum. He coughed up a mouthful of hot blood violently—yet he was so fierce that he gritted his teeth and stabbed the Buqi Sword into the ground to force himself up. At this moment, his abdomen was suddenly pierced by a cold sensation.
As the dust slowly settled, Xu Shuangce appeared in front of him from a high vantage point, and the Qingli Sword had pinned him to the ground.
Du Kaixun tensed his whole body for a few breaths, but eventually couldn’t hold back and spurted out a mouthful of hot blood!
In the distance, the mechanical giant formed by the golden talisman could no longer support itself, and it collapsed, dissipating into nothingness in the black mist.
Liu Xuzhi let out a long breath and stopped in his tracks.
***
Gong Wei stood under the radiant protective barrier, and only now did the tension in his shoulders relax slightly. His gaze pierced through the rolling dust and happened to meet the gaze of Xu Shuangce in the distance.
“…”
Xu Shuangce swept his gaze over Gong Wei’s body, seeming to confirm that he hadn’t even suffered a scratch, before calmly retracting his gaze and saying slowly, “Du Kaixun.”
With Du Kaixun’s cultivation level, he shouldn’t have been pierced through his abdomen and firmly pinned to the ground by the Qingli sword, but at this moment, Xu Shuangce’s spiritual power was still burning fiercely on the Qingli Sword, causing him to feel the pain of being roasted alive in his organs. He couldn’t struggle at all and could only barely force a smile, “Sect Master Xu.”
“If you hadn’t done those things seventeen years ago, the name of Iron Sect might have truly belonged to you now,” Xu Shuangce’s hand was steady and powerful, while his voice was light yet cruel, “It’s a pity, go repent to Iron Sect Master in h*ll.”
He exerted force to pull out the Qingli Sword, causing a splash of blood to gush out, directly stabbing towards Du Kaixun’s brow—
Liu Xuzhi hurriedly moved to block Gong Wei’s eyes, but there was a sudden clang of metal, and the anticipated scene of brain matter splattering did not occur.
At the critical moment, Du Kaixun blocked the edge of the Qingli Sword, his armguard shattered into powder, and the cold gleam of the sword tip was just half an inch away from his brow.
“I cannot die,” he gasped hoarsely.
After a moment, he barely suppressed his rusty breath and looked up at Xu Shuangce from the ground, mocking him, “Sect Master Xu, your manner of speech hasn’t changed since you killed me seventeen years ago. Since you have already defeated me, just ask what you want to ask. There’s no need to continue with this pretense.”
Xu Shuangce looked down at him for a long time, and finally, a cold arc appeared at the corner of his lips. With a flick of his sword, blood splattered all over the ground.
Finally, he asked, “What did you see that night seventeen years ago at the Ascension Immortal Platform?”
“…”
Even after so many years, Du Kaixun’s complexion still looked grim. It seemed that the furious and insane youth from that night was about to reveal itself again from beneath his skin, but he forcibly suppressed it:
“I saw that after I left, Bai Xian was with Changsun Chengfeng.”
He chuckled through his breath, “Since I can remember, I occasionally fall into a state where I see or hear scenes about to happen without any warning. Before my mother passed away, I saw her set fire to the mechanical giant that my father had been obsessed with for half his life, and the flames illuminated the entire ancestral mansion; before my father died, I saw him dig up my mother’s coffin and burn it, as if in a frenzy.”
Whenever Du Kaixun mentioned Bai Xian, there was always an indescribable sense of resentment and paranoia, but when he recalled these tragic family events, his tone became disgusted and distant, as if indifferent to matters not involving him.
“This kind of foresight happened about ten times afterward. Each time, the development of reality was exactly as I had seen in advance. Gradually, I thought I had a natural ability to foresee the future.” He sneered, saying, “Until sixteen years ago, I discovered that this ability was actually an illusion.”
Frowning, Xu Shuangce asked, “What do you mean?”
Du Kaixun coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, covering his mouth, and laid back on the partially collapsed rocks, before asking hoarsely:
“Do you remember the ‘Peach Catastrophe’ on the Ascension Immortal Platform sixteen years ago?”
The Peach Catastrophe.
Xu Shuangce’s expression seemed to freeze.
“In the deep winter, when all the peach blossoms bloomed, they were everywhere between heaven and earth, causing great panic among people. It wasn’t until several days later, when all the peach blossoms in the city had withered, that the magnificent scene disappeared as if it had never happened. Everyone said it was the departure of the soul of the Law Flower Immortal, finally leaving the world and reincarnating.”
“I thought so too at first, until several years later, I gradually realized that it wasn’t that simple. Because I never saw any scenes of ‘predicting the future’ again. Instead…” He always felt a lingering strangeness that couldn’t be dispelled, as if many things in this world were different from what he remembered.
At this point, Du Kaixun took a breath, and Xu Shuangce immediately asked, “Such as?”
“…such as” Du Kaixun slowly said, “There has never been a legend of the Ghost Crown Prince welcoming his bride.”
“It should have been the Ghost Crown Prince welcoming his master.”
Even Liu Xuzhi, who was most fond of collecting folk legends, had never heard of it before, and he asked in confusion, “Welcoming his master?”
“In the legend, there is an extremely cruel and arrogant God of the Northern Wall in the heavenly realm, who joined forces with the cruel and murderous Ghost Crown Prince to bring about the calamity of the world. To protect the mortal realm, the Eastern God fought them to a draw, and then made a bet using his godly position: if someone could withstand the nine layers of evil thunder without dying, and defeat the mechanical soldier puppet brought down by the God of the Northern Wall to destroy the world, with only a mortal body, then he would be able to ascend immediately and replace the God of the Northern Wall’s position, and the Ghost Crown Prince would also have to return to the deepest part of the underworld and never appear in the mortal realm again.”
“This bet was extremely harsh because the mechanical soldier brought about by the destruction of the world was almost as powerful as a god. Countless cities burned in the flames of war, millions of people turned into ashes, and countless cultivators died under its giant sword, until only one grandmaster remained at the peak of cultivation at that time.”
“—The late stage of the Immortalization Realm, Iron Sect Master Xuan Jinghe.”
Gong Wei suddenly remembered the grandmaster who fought to the death in the illusion, and somehow, he forgot to hide his expression. Subconsciously, he looked up and met Xu Shuangce’s gaze as it turned towards him.
Both of them thought in their hearts: So that’s the name.
But since there was a name and a surname, why was there no record in official history, and why was it spread as such a falsehood for thousands of miles?
“The events of that apocalyptic battle you’ve already seen in the illusion. The God of the Northern Wall unleashed a catastrophic calamity upon his ascension, while the Eastern God summoned a divine artifact to protect him. The divine artifact completely repelled the ninefold evil thunder, allowing the Iron Sect Master to ascend smoothly. Ultimately, victory in the battle of the apocalypse was achieved by mortals.”
“After that battle, the God of the Northern Wall was stripped of his divine status, and the Ghost Crown Prince was forced to fulfill his wager and return to the Yellow Springs—however, because the Ghost King had already perished, to demonstrate the benevolence of heaven’s nurturing, the Heavenly Dao appointed a new master for him. Ostensibly, this master was given full authority to educate the Ghost Crown Prince, but in reality, they were appointed to take charge of the twelve districts of the Underworld on his behalf.”
Du Kaixun shook his head and chuckled, “This supreme master was none other than the newly ascended Grand Master of Iron Sect Master, Xuan Jinghe.”
Perhaps because he was engrossed in listening, Gong Wei suddenly had a thought: considering the fierce and assertive nature of that Grand Master in the illusion, being a savior might suit him well, but being a master to others would probably not be his forte.
If the Ghost Crown Prince fell into his hands, it would definitely not end well.
Du Kaixun continued, “The Guiyuan had to send out grand welcoming gifts and processions to greet the esteemed master, descending from the heavens to the underworld in grandeur. From then on, the Ghost Crown Prince was imprisoned in the deepest part of the underworld, unable to cause mischief anymore. Meanwhile, in the mortal world, craftsmen, scholars, and families in mourning began to worship the ‘Master of the Ghost Crown Prince,’ praying for stable homes, academic success, or the peaceful reincarnation of their deceased relatives. With fervent incense burning and a multitude of believers, he became a well-known deity.”
As the tremors of the glacier gradually subsided and the earth calmed down, only his hoarse exhale could be heard.
“So, can you imagine how shocked I was when I discovered that no one in this world worshipped the Master of the Ghost Crown Prince? And where did the absurd legend of the ‘Ghost Crown Prince’s Wife’ come from? I racked my brains but couldn’t remember… What exactly happened in this world? If someone had secretly altered history, why does no one besides me know?”
“I once wanted to keep this secret until my coffin, until that day on the golden ship when I heard your two questions.” Du Kaixun looked up at Xu Shuangce, bloodshot eyes brimming with intensity. “Sect Master Xu, in this world of three thousand mundane realms and ten zhang of soft red, have you never doubted that within your grasp lies nothing but beauty that will turn to bones, and beside your pillow lies nothing but skulls adorned with makeup? When you wake up from a midnight dream, can you be sure that you have truly awakened, and not still lingering in another layer of dreams?”
Xu Shuangce’s face seemed frozen, his eyes unmoving.
“In this world of peace and prosperity, you and I are out of place,” Du Kaixun’s tone was almost pleading. “Sect Master Xu, we are anomalies in this world.”
***
The air became eerily quiet, even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.
Xu Shuangce remained silent for a long time, his profile unreadable in the shadows. Du Kaixun looked up at him expectantly, only to hear him suddenly scoff, devoid of any mercy, “Your words sound very convincing.”
“Sect Master Xu…”
“But we are not the same kind. You just want me to go down and retrieve what’s in the head of the mechanical soldier.”
The sincere expression on Du Kaixun’s face finally changed, and after a long while, he laughed bitterly, “Indeed, Sect Master Xu’s heart is as hard as iron, not easily moved by words.”
He leaned back against the ruins, exhausted. “So let me tell you the truth. I do need that thing very much, and I’m willing to pay any price to obtain it, except death. Any conditions are acceptable.”
“…”
Xu Shuangce narrowed his sharp eyes, pondering for a while before finally leaning slightly forward and asking softly, “What exactly is that thing?”
Du Kaixun countered, “You already have the answer. Why do you still come to ask me?”
Xu Shuangce didn’t reply.
The two were close, close enough to see their own reflections in each other’s eyes. Du Kaixun moved his lips, cold from blood loss, and his voice was audible only to them, “It’s not a thing. It’s a path.”
“A path that leads to the real world, a path of no return.”
The real world.
Xu Shuangce maintained his posture, his pupils silently dilating to the extreme.
Du Kaixun’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Do you really think that the distortion of the legend of the Master of the Ghost Crown Prince was just because some segment of history in this world was quietly altered? No, it’s because someone constructed a huge illusion, pulling all of us away from the real world, and the distortion of the Ghost Crown Prince legend was just a small flaw accidentally exposed by this huge illusion.”
“So, all my ‘foresights’ from childhood were actually remnants of memories brought out from the real world. After the incident at the Ascension Immortal Platform sixteen years ago, I suddenly couldn’t foresee the future anymore because the ‘trajectory’ of the real world stopped at the Ascension Immortal Platform, and time was forcibly suspended thereafter.”
“…” Xu Shuangce squeezed out a few words hoarsely, “Time suspended?”
Du Kaixun nodded heavily. “I still can’t imagine what kind of near-godlike power it should be. After the Ascension Immortal Platform incident in the real world, something extremely, extremely terrible must have happened, causing irreparable catastrophic consequences, which led someone to forcibly suspend time using that power, and then initiate an unprecedented powerful illusion, dragging the entire world into it. And the beginning of this grand illusion was not immediately after the Ascension Immortal Platform in the real world, but was set many years before the incident at the Ascension Immortal Platform.”
“So everything in the illusion follows the development of the real world, including my curse on Bai Xiani, including you going to the extreme north to assassinate me. If nothing unexpected happens, when this false spacetime reaches the 28th year of Taiyi, the disaster that once occurred on the Ascension Immortal Platform will come again, and the illusion will be forcibly suspended just like the real world, and time will start over again.”
“But not this time, because this time you killed Law Flower Immortal, so time continued.”
Du Kaixun’s murky eyes lifted, staring at Xu Shuangce’s face so close to him, “But after Law Flower Immortal’s death, although the illusion continued to operate, many problems gradually appeared. You began to doubt the dream, and I began to recall the distorted folk legends. The records on the Ghost Realm’s Life and Death Ledger have been blank for sixteen years… What does this mean? Haven’t you realized it yet?”
“This massive illusion has begun to break free from control. I don’t know how long it can continue to operate, but the magical power sustaining it is gradually depleting.”
***
Not far from the edge of the cliff, Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but speak up, “Young Master Xiang? Are you really okay?”
Gong Wei’s face was already very pale. He looked up at Liu Xuzhi and shook his head without saying a word.
In the deep, dark abyss of the Thousand Ren Cliff, an extremely cold and oppressive feeling kept emanating, growing heavier and more ominous, but he couldn’t describe it in words.
Liu Xuzhi didn’t know what exactly had happened to Sect Master Xu’s little disciple, but he looked back at Xu Shuangce and Du Kaixun amidst the collapsed rocks, hesitated for a moment, and murmured to himself, “What are they talking about? Why did they set up a sound barrier spell?”
He took two steps forward and shouted, “Brother Xu? Brother Xu, are you okay?”
Xu Shuangce stared straight at the empty air, his eyes unmoving, his thin lips tightly pressed together, devoid of color.
―― The fragmented memories of Du Kaixun couldn’t form coherent scenes, but he knew what disaster the phrase “once happened” referred to.
On the Ascension Immortal Platform, blood flowed like a river, and the ground was littered with severely wounded Grandmasters. The teenager in crimson had his left arm severed and his abdomen pierced, watching death approach with wide eyes but no way to escape.
Tears, mingled with blood, splattered on the merciless blade of the No Way Out Sword as he trembled and pleaded, “Xu Shuangce, I like you…”
The Relentless Sword mercilessly pierced into his frail chest.
“You can’t treat me like this…”
The sword’s edge ruthlessly pressed down, piercing through his heart.
Those gruesome scenes weren’t from some cycle of rebirth, nor from another dimension, but from a real, blood-soaked disaster.
That world had only been paused by someone, yet it could actually be returned to!
“I don’t have much time left. I must hurry before Bai Xian…” Du Kaixun realized he had spoken too much, paused, and then continued, “Anyway, I must return to that real world as soon as possible. I know that world may already be facing a disaster, but I have no other choice. Even if there’s only a glimmer of hope, I must try…”
“No,” Xu Shuangce hastily interjected, taking a half-step back.
“Why?” Du Kaixun asked.
Xu Shuangce remained silent.
“Sect Master Xu,” Du Kaixun’s posture almost stooped to its lowest, “I assure you, this will be an easy task for you. As long as you’re willing to go down to that abyss to retrieve it, there will be no danger…”
“No,” Xu Shuangce’s dark eyes stared straight ahead into the air, his face never so cold and stiff, almost squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth, “Impossible. There’s no why.”
Du Kaixun’s weak breath halted, staring straight at Xu Shuangce. Finally, he emphasized with a heavier tone, “Really impossible?”
Xu Shuangce’s expression had already given him the answer.
“…Fine.” After a brief stalemate, Du Kaixun finally muttered, “You’ve forced my hand.”
He suddenly looked towards the distant Gong Wei, his gloom and severity undisguised.
Liu Xuzhi immediately stepped forward alertly, using his body to block, and Du Kaixun, seeing this scene, smirked with blood at the corner of his mouth. The mad youth who had been on the brink of death and madness on the glacier years ago suddenly revealed his true nature beneath his surface.
Then he stood up tall, swift as lightning, and with a sword in hand, he lunged towards Gong Wei!
Liu Xuzhi shouted angrily, “Be careful!”
―― Before the words fell, Qingli Sword struck out, and Xu Shuangce didn’t even wait for him to approach; a sword pierced through Du Kaixun’s heart from mid-air!
The sword tip entered from the back, pierced through the chest, and Du Kaixun’s movements froze instantly, his eyes wide staring ahead.
Time seemed to stand still, and after a few breaths, he finally staggered forward a few steps, his corpse slipping off the blood-soaked Qingli Sword and thumping to the ground.
No one expected that Du Kaixun, who had just been talking calmly, would suddenly act so crazily. Liu Xuzhi’s lingering fear had not dissipated, and he still held the posture of summoning the The Great Zhenming Yi Bells, saying, “Why did he suddenly…”
His words abruptly stopped, only to see the corpse on the ground turning into a sinister stone figure!
The three souls of heaven, earth, and man broke free from the stone body and whistled down from the void. Liu Xuzhi turned back in horror, only to see that behind Gong Wei, a gray-robed ghost shadow had appeared at some unknown time. The three souls suddenly attached themselves to it, and the ghost shadow instantly transformed into Du Kaixun!
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, so fast that it caught everyone off guard. The Buqi Sword was already at Gong Wei’s throat.
―― “Don’t move.”
Xu Shuangce’s steps abruptly stopped.
The severe pain inflicted on his soul made Du Kaixun pale, but the hand holding the sword was bulging with veins, and there was a glint of desperate determination in his eyes. “I know you’ve cast a life substitution spell on this disciple, but I’ve been counting the time since I started speaking. From the moment it triggered until now, it has just expired.”
Truly worthy of someone who had killed the head of the Iron Sect Master and taken his place for seventeen years, his mind was far beyond ordinary. Even in such a severely injured state, he could plan to this extent!
Xu Shuangce stared intently at the sword blade at Gong Wei’s throat, his expression sending shivers down one’s spine.
“Go to the abyss immediately and bring me what’s in the skull of the soldier.” Du Kaixun coughed violently, clutching his heart, gritting his teeth, “As long as you bring that thing up, I guarantee not a single hair on your beloved disciple will be harmed.”
***
In fact, Gong Wei’s face was even paler than Du Kaixun’s, and every organ in his body seemed to be ignited by some intense pain. He had never personally experienced such intense pain before, not even when the demonic cultivator from his previous life attempted to assassinate him, or when he wanted to devour him alive. The pain and resentment he felt back then were far from comparable to now.
Gong Wei shook his head, looking at Xu Shuangce, too exhausted to maintain his usual tone of “Xiang Xiaoyuan”. He hoarsely said, “…Don’t go.”
The sword’s edge was only half an inch away from his throat, and Du Kaixun’s tone carried a chilling threat, “Sect Master Xu?”
“…” Xu Shuangce’s gaze gradually lifted from the sword blade, locking onto Du Kaixun’s stubborn and sinister face, suddenly chuckled, “What do you want with that thing?”
Du Kaixun said, “Didn’t I say it? I want to leave this place and return to another world.”
“Why do you want to go back?”
Du Kaixun seemed to find something amusing. “I killed my brother and took over his body, my crimes were exposed. I used the soldier thread to cause the incident at Ding Xian Ling, and then disguised myself as a ghost cultivator using mirror techniques to frame Music Saint. Isn’t getting caught a death sentence? Why do you think I want to hurry back to another world?”
But Xu Shuangce coldly retorted, “Besides killing your brother and taking over his body, were the others also your doing?”
For some reason, a hint of unease flashed across Du Kaixun’s face, but then he gritted his teeth. “Sect Master Xu, there’s no need for insinuations from you…”
“You’re not capable enough to plan the chaos at Ding Xian Ling, manipulate the remains of Law Flower Immortal with just a piece of soldier thread, and obtain the divine sword Bai Tai Shou,” Xu Shuangce’s every word was like icy needles, piercing Du Kaixun’s expression, “You’re not the ghost cultivator from Linjiang City at all. Its power far exceeds yours by several times.”
Liu Xuzhi asked in astonishment, “What do you mean? Is he being framed?”
“He deluded himself, willingly walked into the trap set by the mastermind behind the scenes.” Xu Shuangce’s face was full of mockery, but if one listened carefully, there was also a hint of pity in his tone. He said, “Du Kaixun, you really shouldn’t have killed Changsun Chengfeng.”
Before he finished speaking, a light breeze enveloped in snow-colored sleeves fluttered over from behind Du Kaixun, and then a silent chill gripped his throat.
―― soldier thread!
Before Du Kaixun could react, his upper body was already forced to tilt backward by the soldier thread, a curve of blood spraying from his throat; the Buqi Sword “clang!” fell to the ground beside his feet, and Gong Wei grabbed the hilt of the sword and flew forward, then his whole body was caught and pushed back behind by Xu Shuangce with one hand.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and the situation reversed in an instant, even faster than Du Kaixun’s last-ditch counterattack just now!
“Don’t… move,” the person behind Du Kaixun clearly uttered two words in his ear.
Liu Xuzhi exclaimed in astonishment, “Daoist Spiritual Master Bai?”
―― The person behind him was dressed in white robes and black cloak, with calm features, gentle as a painting, it was the soldier puppet, Bai Xian!
Du Kaixun never expected Bai Xian to appear here. Unable to turn back due to the soldier thread around his neck, his eyes flickered with disbelief, unwillingness, and incredulity. After a few breaths, he finally closed his eyes heavily.
As if in a dream, he murmured, “You should have been waiting in Julu City, waiting for ‘Changsun Chengfeng’ to return from the Immortal Alliance, to accompany you on a boat trip to Lake Tai…”
Behind the long-standing mask of humility and endurance, Bai Xian’s face finally revealed the icy texture of jade and stone: “And you should have died seventeen years ago, died under Lord Chengfeng’s sword, your bones rotting into the mud.”
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*crying* I’m so far behind on all these twists and tricks. Maybe I shouldn’t try reading stuff this complicated at 5am. It’s just so good I can’t stop!
Wow! The developments in this chapter are off the charts!
…So, was DK just enjoying life up to now with BX? BX never suspected? DK actually regrets what he did (somewhat) and wants a clean slate??? What?