Chapter 57
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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Deep below, it seemed like an endless blaze was burning, roasting Gong Wei’s soul across space, making him feel suffocated and dizzy. Fortunately, Xu Shuangce instantly caught him and pressed him against his back. After quickly checking him all over and finding no injuries, Xu Shuangce slightly relaxed his tense shoulders. Then, he grabbed Gong Wei’s hand, ready to perform the life substitution exchange rune once again.
However, when he pressed down, the faint golden character “Xu” did not appear—performing the life substitution exchange spell required a huge amount of spiritual power, and everyone here had already exhausted their spiritual power to the limit, including Sect Master Xu himself.
Frowning slightly, Xu Shuangce wanted to try again, but Gong Wei forcefully pulled his hand back behind him.
Xu Shuangce reprimanded in a low voice, “Stop playing around.”
Ignoring his words, Gong Wei suddenly reached out and pulled down Xu Shuangce’s collar slightly, carefully examining the wound on his neck. After a moment of careful inspection, he whispered softly, “I don’t want you to perform the life substitution exchange for me anymore.”
He didn’t call him “Master,” nor did he use any honorifics, he simply said “you.”
Xu Shuangce’s breath stopped for a moment, his muscles slightly stiffened, and after a while, he repeated, “Stop playing around, you…”
Gong Wei hugged his waist tightly, as if holding onto a precious treasure that had been lost and found again. He buried his face in Xu Shuangce’s shoulder and muttered, “Don’t perform the life substitution exchange for me anymore.”
“What… what’s going on?” Liu Xuzhi looked back and forth between Du Kaixun and Bai Xian, completely bewildered. “Why is Daoist Spiritual Master Bai here? Who is the mastermind behind the soldier thread incident at Ding Xian Ling?”
Even when facing others, Bai Xian remained calm and apologetic, “It’s me.”
“You?!”
At this moment, Du Kaixun opened his eyes, hoarsely asking, “When did you find out?”
“Seventeen years ago,” Bai Xian replied.
Although he had faintly anticipated it, hearing the answer with his own ears felt like being struck hard in the heart by an invisible hammer. Du Kaixun paused for a long time before chuckling briefly, “So, during these six thousand days and nights, every moment, you were thinking about how to avenge him. Every time you looked at me, you were thinking about how to kill me, right?”
Bai Xian remained silent.
In the end, Du Kaixun couldn’t reconcile with it and asked, “I directly took over his body, how did you find out?”
Bai Xian’s face was cold. He held up the silk thread between his fingers, which was extremely unusual, sparkling with spiritual power like gold, reflecting a chilling light in his pupils. “Do you know why you can’t break free from this soldier thread?”
“…”
“That night when you gave me the heart-rendering curse, I should have started to die of a broken heart immediately. It was Lord Chengfeng who split his own Yin-Yang dual soul, using all his Yin soul to refine this powerful soldier thread.”
A look of reluctance appeared in Du Kaixun’s eyes.
For seventeen years, he didn’t know that the heart-rendering curse had already come true. It wasn’t until he found clues on the Golden Ship that he was struck by lightning. But amidst the immense shock and despair, he didn’t look back to think—normal soldier thread couldn’t resist the powerful magic of the heart-rendering curse, so what did Changsun Chengfeng sacrifice back then?
He subconsciously avoided the obvious truth.
The greatest talent of the Zhangsun family’s direct line was the Yin-Yang dual soul, with the Yang soul attaining enlightenment through the sword, and the Yin soul controlling the soldier. What Changsun Chengfeng did was essentially to bury his own strongest ability as the head of the Iron Sect, and with it, his cultivation in this lifetime ended, never to progress any further.
The pain of tearing the soul, the agony of tearing the bones, and the suddenness of the incident left no room for hesitation. That man truly made a clear decision in an instant.
“My heart and Lord Chengfeng’s soul communicated, so at the moment of his death, I already knew everything. But for seventeen years, you didn’t notice any abnormalities because you couldn’t imagine how far one person would go for another.” Bai Xian’s tone was gentle but trembling, “Just like you could never imagine, seventeen years ago, when you hid in this abyss to assassinate Lord Chengfeng, why you succeeded so easily—not because you were stronger than him, but because he was severely injured.”
Du Kaixun’s face had completely lost its color, Bai Xian smiled lightly, and whispered each word extremely softly, “You couldn’t even dream that there would be someone so different from you in this world.”
***
Above the towering cliff, the horizon had completely turned dark, even though it was only midday. The ominous black rainbow pierced through the sky, and the outside snowstorm must have been extremely violent, to the extent that the sharp whistling could faintly be heard even deep within the earth.
Amidst Liu Xuzhi’s astonishment, he finally understood, “But if the tragic death of Iron Sect Master was discovered seventeen years ago, why didn’t you say it then?”
“As long as the Second Young Master is alive, I still have a part of myself controlled by him. Therefore, there are many restrictions set within my soul and spirit, to the extent that I cannot even give any hints to the outside world for help. Only when the master’s secret is no longer a secret can these restrictions be slightly lifted.” Bai Xian shook his head slowly, “Becoming a soldier puppet is like being imprisoned in a cage, unable to act autonomously… It’s not something that can be expressed in words, nor is it something that ordinary people can understand.”
Liu Xuzhi felt a twinge of compassion in his heart, but upon second thought, he realized something was amiss. “Then how could you possibly be the mastermind behind the Ding Xian Ling incident?”
Bai Xian’s light-colored pupils reflected the sharp brilliance of the silk of a soldier as he softly replied, “Driven by the desire for revenge, a moment of indiscretion, colluding with someone.”
“With whom?!”
“In fact, I don’t know who it is, and I’m not even sure if it’s a person.” Bai Xian hesitated for a moment before continuing, “About a month ago, I accidentally saw a ghost cultivator in the mercury mirror.”
A ghost cultivator appearing in the mercury mirror.
Liu Xuzhi immediately remembered several of his disciples who had narrowly escaped slaughter, his expression changing drastically. “Have you also been ensnared by the mirror technique?!”
Even Xu Shuangce cast a glance over, only to see Bai Xian nodding. “I knew it must be an evil entity. I didn’t want to get involved with it, but it knew everything about what happened seventeen years ago, even showing me the scene of Lord Chengfeng… being assassinated, and then it asked me if I wanted revenge.”
To witness Changsun Chengfeng’s death again after seventeen years, with such intense malice, Bai Xian might have been willing to be broken into pieces immediately.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I agreed.”
Xu Shuangce asked, “Did it instruct you to extract a strand of soldier thread and place it inside the body of the Ding Xian Ling’s Law Flower Immortal?”
Bai Xian, as the dao companion of the Iron Sect Master, entering Ding Xian Ling under the guise of his identity wasn’t impossible. Unexpectedly, he shook his head. “No, it only asked for a strand of the soldier thread from me. At first, I thought it wanted the one with the strongest spiritual power from Lord Chengfeng in my heart, but for some reason, it specifically asked for the one Second Young Master refined seventeen years ago.”
Xu Shuangce’s gaze shifted to Du Kaixun. But Du Kaixun’s profile was hidden in the darkness, eyes downcast, not saying a word.
Bai Xian continued, “Although I couldn’t understand why at the time, I still made a blood oath with it. In exchange for this strand of the soldier thread, it had to create an opportunity for me to reveal the truth of Lord Chengfeng being impersonated these past seventeen years to the public.”
This opportunity, needless to say, was the incident at Ding Xian Ling.
The ghost cultivator used this strand of the soldier thread to control the Law Flower Immortal’s remains, while also casting suspicion on Du Kaixun, putting him in the spotlight of the Golden Ship’s public trial – for the past seventeen years, Du Kaixun had rarely appeared in public after taking over Iron Sect. The sudden joint public trial by the four great masters of the current era, due to the incident at Ding Xian Ling, must have caused immense fear in his heart.
“Hold on.” Liu Xuzhi suddenly realized, having heard the details of the Golden Ship interrogation from Ying Kai before. “So when Brother Mu wanted to inspect the number of silk threads on you, the lifesaving strand in your heart wasn’t taken out by Du Kaixun to make up the numbers, but you yourself… you yourself…”
Music Saint was an honest man who couldn’t bring himself to say “cutting off one’s own path.” Bai Xian smiled self-deprecatingly, “In the situation during the interrogation, even if ‘Iron Sect Master’ confessed, it would only be in the name of Lord Chengfeng. It wouldn’t reveal Du Kaixun’s true identity. I had to find a way to let everyone know that ‘Du Kaixun’ was still alive. Apart from staking my only chip, there was no other way.”
Pausing, he finally showed a hint of tired happiness in his eyes. “Fortunately, Sect Master Xu caught this chip.”
Liu Xuzhi exclaimed in amazement, “What does that mean?” Then, he suddenly realized, “Brother Xu, you pretended to want to extract his heart…”
During the Golden Ship interrogation, Bai Xian admitted his identity as a soldier puppet, but Xu Shuangce suddenly objected and even reached out to dig out his heart, only to be stopped by “Changsun Chengfeng” in anger.
But in that moment of probing, both Xu Shuangce and Du Kaixun had already noticed something was amiss.
—Bai Xian’s heartbeat was gradually slowing down, a very ominous sign.
From that moment on, Du Kaixun finally realized that the curse of heart-tearing from seventeen years ago had already come true. But what he couldn’t understand was why Bai Xian hadn’t died back then, and why the long and painful process of heart-rendering had been delayed until now, seventeen years later.
Liu Xuzhi suddenly realized and turned to Xu Shuangce. “So you started to suspect Iron Sect Master at that time?”
Xu Shuangce slowly said, “No. At the time, I just felt that Bai Xian was hiding something, but he couldn’t say it. It wasn’t until later, by chance, that I discovered the heart-rendering curse from seventeen years ago, and then I thought that there might be a strand of Changsun Chengfeng’s soldier thread hidden in his heart. But during the Golden Ship interrogation, ‘Iron Sect Master’ was completely unaware—various anomalies were hard to ignore, and only the possibility of taking over a body seemed plausible.”
Cangyang Sect Master was known for his coldness and having a heavy karmic obstacle of killing. At that time, everyone thought that he was just angered by Bai Xian’s disrespectful attitude, which led to his sudden impulse to dig out his heart.
But no one knew that in that short moment, Bai Xian had risked his life to make his only plea for help, and only Xu Shuangce heard that faint cry for help.
“—Brother Xu, you’re really something!” Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but sigh with emotion, saying, “You’re really…”
But Xu Shuangce ignored these words and turned to Bai Xian coldly, asking, “Are you going to return to the Immortal Alliance and confess, or shall we capture you and take you back?”
Bai Xian still held the soldier thread, glowing with dazzling spiritual power, gently smiling as he shook his head.
“I’ve already revealed everything I know, and there’s nothing else to explain. I colluded with the ghost cultivator, causing the disturbance at Ding Xian Ling, even disturbing the rest of Law Flower Immortal. I also implicated the innocent Young Master Xiang… Bearing the guilt, I don’t seek a way out, I only have one request from you in the end.”
Du Kaixun seemed to sense something, suddenly opening his eyes.
Xu Shuangce asked, “What is it?”
“I am a soldier puppet and cannot kill my master.” Bai Xian seemed to finally relieve himself of a heavy burden after a long journey, with a bright glint in his eyes. “This is the place where Lord Chengfeng’s soul scattered seventeen years ago. Please, use this strand of soldier thread to kill both me and Du Kaixun here.”
***
The surroundings seemed to quiet down, and Liu Xuzhi exclaimed, “Why go to such lengths?!”
Gong Wei frowned, subconsciously reaching out to grab Xu Shuangce’s sleeve, but only heard a clang as the Qingli Sword was drawn. Xu Shuangce remained impassive, stepping forward with the sword, his killing intent pressing forward. “Very well.”
Liu Xuzhi tried to stop him in shock, “Brother Xu, you—”
“…No.” At this moment, Du Kaixun, who had been silent all along, suddenly hoarsely interrupted, “No.”
His bloodshot eyes looked at Bai Xian, each word carrying a trace of bloodlust. “You belong to me. If you are to die, it can only be by my hand.”
Just as Liu Xuzhi was about to intervene, a feeling of disgust surged within him upon hearing Du Kaixun’s words, and he angrily said, “You turned a living person into a weapon, and even now you haven’t repented. How dare you speak such words? Shut up!”
But Du Kaixun’s sharp voice, like breaking a jar, overshadowed him, “Don’t you want to know why the ghost cultivator only wanted my soldier thread, Sect Master Xu? Since childhood, I have known many secret techniques of ghost cultivators, and even many years ago, I knew the secret of this world-destroying soldier puppet. Aren’t you curious why?”
Xu Shuangce halted his steps, squinting.
“No one in this world knows the ghost cultivator better than I do.” Du Kaixun didn’t look at anyone, his threatening gaze fixed only on Xu Shuangce. “If you kill me, you will never know its true purpose.”
The situation became extremely tense, everyone frozen in place.
The true purpose of the ghost cultivator?
In the almost silent atmosphere, only Gong Wei seemed to gradually hear something, looking towards the distant misty abyss, slowly narrowing his pupils.
Thump, thump.
It was as if a giant heart was slowly recovering its beat from silence, but no one could hear it.
Thump, thump.
Xu Shuangce seemed to be pondering something, but his face showed no sign of what he was thinking. After a long while, he chuckled mockingly, “At death’s door, clinging to stubbornness, hardly believable.”
Then he stepped forward again with the sword, but Du Kaixun’s voice became more fierce and swift, “Do you think the ghost cultivator kidnapped Law Flower Immortal’s remains from the Golden Ship just to awaken this world-destroying giant from the depths of the earth?”
Xu Shuangce didn’t stop his steps, “Isn’t it?”
“If it was just for that, why did it want Law Flower Immortal’s life many years ago?!”
Not far away, Gong Wei was stunned.
Xu Shuangce’s steps also halted, and after a moment he asked, “Many years ago?”
From Xu Shuangce’s expression, Du Kaixun knew he had regained the upper hand, “Yes, longer than you can imagine, starting from that real world.”
“…”
Xu Shuangce’s expression fluctuated, only to see Du Kaixun’s abdomen, pierced through, still bleeding, but at this moment, he forced himself to stop his painful gasps. “Many years ago, in that real world, we had made several deals. I gave it some Yin Yuan soul so that it could control the soldier thread I refined. And it taught me many secret techniques of ghost cultivators, helping me escape from under your sword during exile.”
“After entering the illusion, I lost most of my memory of it, only vaguely remembering the existence of this ghost cultivator, but it still needed my soldier thread.” He said coldly, “So on the night before the Ding Xian Ling incident, the first person to see that ghost cultivator in the mercury mirror wasn’t Bai Xian, it was me.”
—The night before the Ding Xian Ling incident, at the Changsun family’s estate in Jilu City.
Late at night, all was quiet. Du Kaixun stood in front of the mercury mirror, gazing at the face of “Changsun Chengfeng,” listening to the faint sound of Bai Xian tidying up scrolls outside. A sense of fulfillment and tranquility suddenly filled his heart, even smoothing out his naturally wayward and restless soul.
The false body and the illusory time had nothing to do with him, he thought.
As long as he could live his life like this, it would be enough.
But at that moment, all the scenes in the mirror suddenly disappeared like melting water, and a gray-robed ghostly figure slowly appeared, countless scarlet points of light replacing where its face should have been under the hood. Du Kaixun was momentarily shocked, standing stiffly in front of the mirror, but only heard the ghostly figure in the mercury mirror suddenly speak, as if coming from a distant place, rustling with echoes, “Do you still remember who I am?”
“…”
“In the heart of the glacier, the world-destroying soldier puppet hides a path back to reality. I need your soldier thread,” the faceless ghost seemed to gaze at Du Kaixun outside the mirror, “This illusory world has begun to fall into chaos.”
Du Kaixun stared incredulously at the ghostly figure, taking a half step back.
—Return to reality?
In this illusion, I have everything. Why would I want to go back?
His mind was buzzing, forcing himself to look away, as if he hadn’t seen the ghostly figure in the mercury mirror, and casually turned around to leave.
“Bai Xian!” he called out loudly, “Stop, I’ll tidy up those scrolls myself tomorrow!”
“I see…” he heard the voice of the ghostly figure from behind, with a long sigh, “In this time and space, you have already escaped from under Xu Shuangce’s sword, escaped from the extreme north glacier, and even successfully replaced Changsun Chengfeng… You already have everything you desire, and you don’t need me anymore.”
Du Kaixun’s back was against the standing mirror, and his fingers were trembling slightly.
“It’s all right.” The ghostly figure looked at his back and smiled, “As long as you don’t regret it.”
The watery light once again covered the mercury mirror. When Du Kaixun turned to close the door, the mirror was empty and the ghost cultivator had disappeared.
***
“I didn’t know what it meant by ‘regret’ at the time,” said Du Kaixuan, glancing slightly backward towards the edge of the abyss. His tone was somewhat bitter as he spoke to Bai Xian, “It was precisely because I pretended not to see it that it went to find you.”
Bai Xian, confused and puzzled, asked, “What… What does ‘returning to reality’ mean? What does it mean by the illusory world?”
No one present could answer his questions, and the only one who understood, Xu Shuangce, was staring intently at Du Kaixuan, asking sternly, “Who is the ghost cultivator in that real world?”
Du Kaixun counter-questioned, “Do you still want to kill me now, Sect Master Xu?”
“Why does he want to kill Law Flower Immortal, what is his ultimate goal?” “What do you think?”
Xu Shuangce’s voice was stern, “You—”
“Sect Master Xu,” Du Kaixun sneered, “If you kill me, you will never know.”
Perhaps it was instinct for Du Kaixun to be cautious all his life. One couldn’t squeeze out a single truthful sentence from him until the very last moment. Xu Shuangce stood still, breathing slightly, and after a while, he suddenly said coldly, “Fine, I won’t kill you. But someone wants to die.”
Immediately, he didn’t waste any more words, slashing his sword towards Bai Xian behind Du Kaixun!
“Ah, Brother Xu!”
Liu Xuzhi never expected him to act on his words. In shock, he flew forward to block, but the scene of decapitation he anticipated didn’t happen. Instead, he heard a splurt as a jet of blood soared.
Du Kaixun tightly held onto the blade, letting the blood flow down along his palm lines. Two drops splashed onto Bai Xian’s clean cheek.
“…Law Flower Immortal walks under the moonlight, seeming to blend with the moon’s radiance…” Du Kaixun stared maliciously at Xu Shuangce, “Since many years ago, it has always wanted that perfect skin.”
Gong Wei almost thought he had misheard.
“Give me what’s beneath the abyss.” Du Kaixun’s pupils reflected a bloodthirsty madness, revealing his insanity, “It’s been over a day since Law Flower Immortal’s body went missing. Your time is tighter than mine. If you don’t find that ghost cultivator soon, you’ll only watch Law Flower Immortal being skinned and stripped of bones right before your eyes.”
***
No one knew if Xu Shuangce believed it or not. From Gong Wei’s perspective, he could only see Xu Shuangce’s back. His shoulders were heaving, and after a moment, he slowly moved half a step towards the cliff, then stopped.
No one knew about that half step, but the pressure at the bottom of the abyss suddenly intensified, as if thousands of fierce ghosts were emitting excited shrieks at once!
“—Don’t go,” Gong Wei trembled, his voice trembling, quickly stepping forward to stop him. “Something’s wrong down there, don’t go!”
Liu Xuzhi couldn’t help but add, “The situation underground is unclear, Brother Xu, you should think twice…”
But Du Kaixun stared at Xu Shuangce, each word pressing on him like needles, “I just attempted to steal Law Flower Immortal’s right eye, and you chased me thousands of miles to the extreme north glacier. But what if Law Flower Immortal is skinned alive before your eyes?”
Even Bai Xian sensed the unease, “Sect Master Xu, stop, Du Kaixun’s words can’t be verified…”
“I don’t want to harm anyone, I just want to return to that real world.” Du Kaixun’s impatient voice overshadowed Bai Xian’s, glaring at Xu Shuangce furiously. “Put yourself in my shoes, that’s all!”
Xu Shuangce stood straight there, his eyes dark and uncertain.
Gong Wei couldn’t care about much, rushing forward to pull him back several steps until they were far away from the cliff’s edge. Then he heard Xu Shuangce suddenly sneer, repeating, “Put yourself in my shoes.”
He looked at Du Kaixun, his eyes filled with icy mockery. “So you want to return to that real world because you think as long as you send Bai Xian back sixteen years ago, when the soldier thread wasn’t extracted from his heart, all the harm you’ve done can be nullified?”
Du Kaixun’s face suddenly turned pale, “Stop—”
“Regretting now at this point, your belated affection is as fragile as paper. I’m afraid I can’t empathize with you.” Each word Xu Shuangce uttered was as cruel as a blade, “You should stay in this world and watch Bai Xian’s heart split before your eyes.”
Liu Xuzhi suddenly understood, looking at Du Kaixun in shock, “So his attitude towards Daoist Spiritual Master Bai is actually…”
But Bai Xian seemed to hear something incomprehensible, hesitating, “What… what do you mean?”
The secret buried deep in his heart was revealed by someone, and Du Kaixun’s embarrassed expression at this moment couldn’t even be described in words. Perhaps even a demon would look better than him right now.
“As fragile as paper,” he repeated each word self-deprecatingly.
His bloodshot eyes suddenly stared at Xu Shuangce, craziness never before seen in his eyes, “Yes, Sect Master Xu. Seventeen years ago, you went to the extreme north for Law Flower Immortal, and seventeen years later, you sacrificed yourself for your disciple. Who has shallow affection? Whose heart is fickle?”
“As expected of a practitioner of the ruthless path, your love, which dared not be spoken, changes even faster than turning a page, how can you empathize with me!”
The last note was so sharp it almost broke, causing Gong Wei’s ears to ring. Standing there in a daze, he thought: What is he saying?
Love dared not to be spoken?
The unfailing Peach Sea in front of the Xuanji Palace, the helpless finger marks on the corpse in the previous life, the silent wind chimes in the moonlit courtyard… countless past events, various hidden desires, finally intersected like countless threads, forming a huge net that covered his consciousness. Then, a spark burst from his lungs, sweeping through his limbs and bones.
Gong Wei’s mind was buzzing, as if he heard Liu Xuzhi incredulously asking something, Du Kaixun’s answer was malicious and full of mockery, but all the noisy words seemed vague, as if separated by deep water. After a while, the continuous noise disappeared, and the surroundings fell into silence again. Xu Shuangce finally let out a short, hoarse laugh.
He said word by word, “So what?”
Several gazes with different expressions were cast around simultaneously, finally awakening Gong Wei from his dazed state. He realized that he was still clutching Xu Shuangce’s robe.
“…”
Gong Wei’s spirit was dizzy, and his heartbeat became terrifyingly intense. He wanted to ask Xu Shuangce what he meant, wanted to ask if this love was the love he understood? But his throat seemed to be blocked by a hot, hard lump, and he could only see in his pupils the abyss in the distance, seemingly unchanged.
Finally, in the silence from all directions, he struggled to squeeze out two words:
“Xu Bai…”
Thud
Following Gong Wei’s gaze, a distant muffled thunder seemed to echo from the depths of the earth, and the ground began to shake slightly, causing small stones to roll down from the mountainside beside the crowd.
Thud.
Suddenly, a beam of blood-red light lit up from the abyss, piercing through the dense darkness straight towards the sky.
Thud—
The final reverberation prolonged, cracks rapidly spread from the edge of the cliff, traversing the ground beneath the feet of the crowd, covering the entire mountain ravine like a dense spider web, then:
Boom!
A violent wind erupted from the depths of the earth, roaring into the sky like a gigantic dragon!
The earth trembled, and Xu Shuangce swiftly grabbed Gong Wei, flying backwards, while Bai Xian, who was close to the edge of the cliff, grabbed onto the rocks, stabilizing himself as he looked back.
Something seemed to be moving slowly in the abyss, causing the beam of blood-red light to change from one to two, then from two to three, finally revealing an outline—it was a giant human face.
Those three round blood-red mouths were its hollow eyes and mouth, gaping open!
“How could it suddenly awaken? It clearly—” Du Kaixun suddenly had an epiphany, lightning flashing through his mind: he turned into a ghost shadow and grabbed Xu Shuangce’s disciple, clawing at the young man’s throat, while Xu Shuangce was flying over from the other side of the cliff, sacrificing himself with the substitution spell, blood pouring from his neck into the abyss…
The world-destroying giant, dormant for thousands of years, was suddenly awakened by Xu Shuangce’s blood!
Du Kaixun shouted, “Quickly, let’s go! This place is collapsing!”
—But Bai Xian remained indifferent.
As the surroundings shook violently, he stood there, looking straight down at the abyss beneath his feet, his face pale and calm, still firmly holding onto the soldier thread between his fingers.
Realizing something, Du Kaixun trembled, “Bai Xian…”
“If given another chance, would you still cast the curse of heart-rendering on me?” Bai Xian asked softly.
Du Kaixun couldn’t believe his ears, it took him several breaths to tremulously open his mouth. In that moment, he seemed to revert to the eighteen or nineteen-year-old youth, but this time, all the hostility and resentment seemed to have been washed away like snow in the depths of winter, leaving only a warm bitterness surging up his throat:
“I…”
But Bai Xian had already closed his eyes, tiredly saying in a low voice, “I miss Lord Chengfeng.”
Cracks snaked up the mountainside, and the ground beneath them suddenly sank.
Then, the entire cliff broke apart, and Du Kaixun only had time to reach out and hug Bai Xian before the two of them plummeted into the abyss along with countless boulders!
***
Boom!
The boulders crashed around them, and debris splattered like water droplets. Liu Xuzhi shouted at Bai Xian and Du Kaixun to run, but suddenly his entire body stiffened, as if he had been hit by a petrification spell, unable to move at all. Then, his vision scattered uncontrollably.
What’s happening to me?
He wanted to call out, but couldn’t make a sound. He wanted to ask for help, but couldn’t even move a finger. A powerful and terrifying unfamiliar soul was rising steadily from within him, gradually taking over the ownership of this body as if it had been waiting for the perfect moment to make its entrance after a long delay.
Who is it?
In the blink of an eye, Liu Xuzhi finally remembered something, and he felt like he had fallen into an ice cave—at Yanchuntai, he not only fell under the Mirror Technique, but he also seemed to have been possessed by the ghost cultivator.
And it had been with him all this time, still not leaving.
Gong Wei was held in Xu Shuangce’s arms, flying back tens of yards in an instant. The surrounding snow mixed with boulders cascading down, everything was chaotic; after a few moments, everything finally calmed down, Xu Shuangce placed him on a flat ground, quickly setting up a barrier of spiritual light around him.
Gong Wei’s soul was in unbearable pain, not caring to stand firm, he grabbed him and said, “Xu—”
He wanted to say that actually, I am Gong Zhiyu. It was my mistake to kill you in the previous life. Can you promise not to kill me in return this life? But for some reason, Xu Shuangce’s face was stiff, deliberately looking at the ground and not at him, only pressing heavily on his shoulder:
“Stay.”
These succinct word silenced Gong Wei’s thousand words. In the next moment, he saw Xu Shuangce turn around and stride towards the violently shaking cliff, raising his hand: “No Way Out!”
A distant roar from the abyss below grew closer and clearer, shaking everything around, as if something was struggling upwards. Gong Wei’s heart was about to explode, and he saw Xu Shuangce pounce towards the cliff, a blazing spiritual light finally appearing from the void, and the No Way Out Sword flew into his hands like a shooting star—
At this moment, Gong Wei suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure, it was Liu Xuzhi.
Liu Xuzhi stood rigidly, staring straight ahead like a slab of stone, seemingly oblivious to all the chaos around him.
A sudden cloud of doubt rose in Gong Wei’s heart, but he didn’t dare to speak out rashly. He saw “Liu Xuzhi” suddenly tremble, his entire body relaxing, as he let out a long sigh:
“No.” He muttered as if talking to himself, rubbing his chin, “If he dies, he won’t be able to use that soldier thread anymore.”
What does that mean?
Gong Wei keenly sensed something wrong, but in the chaos, he couldn’t call out in time. He saw “Liu Xuzhi” sweep his sleeve towards the sky, invisible qi turning into a giant net, plummeting into the abyss. Then, Bai Xian and Du Kaixun seemed to be hooked by an invisible giant claw, pulled up from the cliff, and after crashing through countless rocks in mid-air, they landed heavily on the ground!
At the same time, dozens of yards away, the No Way Out Sword was steadily caught by Xu Shuangce, without any hesitation, he slashed towards the abyss—
At that moment, the monstrous creature emerged from the ground, the arc-shaped sword light revealing its terrifying giant face, with mutilated features, frost-carved by the wind, its entire face horizontally facing the sky, its eyes like two evil blood-red suns.
It was the world-destroying giant buried thousands of years ago!
“Liu Xuzhi” murmured softly, “It’s not easy to come this far.”
Then, he turned his head in the hurricane, a strange smile appearing in his eyes as he looked straight at Gong Wei.
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Well, we’re like past the halfway mark but we’re also nowhere near done. The author is definitely gonna take us on a ride and I’m curious where it leads~