This was a remote, desolate stretch of wilderness, about seven thousand li from Ghost Gate Lake. It still fell within the territory of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect, though hardly anyone ever came here.
Night had already fallen. With no stars or moon in sight, the mountain felt especially eerie, the stillness broken now and then by the long, haunting howls of wild beasts.
Out of the darkness, a figure suddenly leapt from the underbrush. His eyes swept sharply around before he gave a signal. A moment later, another figure emerged from the thick, inky night.
The two of them stood together and began speaking in hushed tones.
One of them, a broad-shouldered man with a rugged look, frowned and growled, "Baoding'er, don't try to play games with me. Things are already messed up enough as it is. If we keep stalling, the boss'll skin me alive when we get back. And if that happens, I swear I'll carve you up piece by piece."
The one called Baoding'er was a lean man, tall and wiry. He grinned, flashing a full set of bright white teeth. "Brother Gongsun, why so tense? Even if you don't trust me, you should at least trust my 'Treasure-Sniffing Nose,' right? Besides those crooks over at the Four Void Treasure Pavilion, who else knows how to track down treasure better than I do?"
He led Gongsun a couple steps forward and pointed to a patch of dark ground. "Well? Take a look, brother. See it?"
Gongsun lowered his head, inspecting the area closely. His eyes lit up with sudden realization.
Baoding'er caught the change in his expression and grew even more confident. "Now you believe me, don't you? Just look at this restrictive formation. It's tightly woven, perfectly laid out. The patterns are barely visible, but you can feel the qi mechanisms ebbing and flowing, rising and fading, interlinking and transforming. This is masterwork-level stuff. Whatever treasure it's protecting has to be a cut above what those penniless bastards were carrying."
"I'll give you that," Gongsun said, almost pressing his face to the ground as he circled the area, clearly excited. But the longer he looked, the more serious his face became. "Still… this doesn't make sense. Why can't I figure out how this thing works?"
"You can't figure it out?"
The formation was strange. At first glance, it had a hint of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect's Chaotic Pattern Seal, but the structure was definitely different. "Look here," Gongsun said. "See how the patterns of the formation are arranged? Doesn't it look a bit like rising mist?
"That's clearly the Mingxin Sword Sect's Cloud Pattern, but the flow of qi mechanisms is all messed up; yin and yang are completely mixed up. And yet, somehow, it's holding steady. Unless I'm wrong, the only technique that could do this would be the Yin-Yang Sect's Inversion Seal... I can't think of anything else that fits."
Baoding'er was stunned, staring in disbelief. His heart sank with worry. "Isn't this way too advanced? Is there any chance we can still get the treasure?"
"Why not?" Gongsun gave a low chuckle. "You got lucky, kid. You know how to sniff out treasure. This whole seal is really just meant to hide the location of the item, not defend it. It doesn't have much offensive power. Turns out your nose works better than your eyes; this trick wasn't made to deal with someone like you.
"Now that it's been discovered, there's no hiding it anymore. Even if I can't crack the whole thing step-by-step, we can just blast the place apart. That should do the trick."
Baoding'er lit up with joy and was about to say something, when his body suddenly went rigid. The expression on his face froze in place.
Up ahead, Gongsun hadn't noticed. He was still warming up, rubbing his hands together. "Hurry it up. This formation looks freshly made, and it's just a confusion formation. Whoever set it up might show up any second. We don't have time to waste!"
A calm voice cut through the darkness: "If it already belongs to someone, maybe you shouldn't be trying to take it."
"The hell did you just say?" Gongsun snapped. "Listen, you little—"
Mid-sentence, his body also locked up, but he was a lot tougher than Baoding'er. The moment he froze, he didn't even turn around. He suddenly exploded forward, launching himself through the air. Just before he hit the ground, there was a deep hum as his body burst into a cloud of bluish-purple sword light. The nearby trees shattered instantly, and the sword light spun and slashed around him in dazzling arcs, making quite an impressive spectacle.
Just as the sword light shot upward and looked about to break into the sky, Gongsun froze in shock. In the pitch-black night, two small red lanterns had appeared out of nowhere.
But in the very next instant, he realized they weren't lanterns at all; they were eyes.
He let out a startled shout, but before he could react further, a hand cut cleanly through the sword light and pressed firmly against his chest.
The next moment, he slammed into the ground even harder than he had launched off it. Pain surged through him, and he grunted, nearly passing out. He struggled to rise, turning his head only to lock eyes with a wide, unblinking stare.
"Baoding'er!"
A chill shot up Gongsun's spine and straight to the top of his head. Wasn't Baoding'er just dead, with his eyes wide open, unable to find peace? And those glowing crimson eyes in the dark...
Another shudder ran through him. Whatever strength he'd managed to summon vanished completely.
At that moment, he heard soft footsteps brushing through the grass beside him. Turning his head, he saw someone walking by, calm and unhurried, heading straight into the center of the formation.
In no time at all, the figure returned, carrying a long, wrapped bundle in hand.
His steps were light, even relaxed, but to Gongsun, every one of them felt like it landed right on his chest.
At last, the man spoke. His voice was young, smooth. "Taking something without asking isn't exactly what respectable people do."
At the sound, Gongsun looked up.
The speaker appeared to be in his early twenties, dressed in refined clothing. Gongsun's half-expert eye could tell that the outer robe was likely made from drawn threads of Mist-Pine Iron. A rare material that made the garment both breathable and form-fitting, yet strong enough to offer serious protection.
More importantly, Mist-Pine Iron was only found near Ghost Gate Lake.... over seven thousand li away.
And the details; the style of the wristband, the design of the sword at his waist, left no doubt in Gongsun's mind about who this young man really was.
At this point, running was clearly off the table. But that didn't mean all hope was lost.
Gongsun had already started working out what he'd say; his last-ditch effort to save his own skin. But just as he was about to open his mouth and beg for mercy, his eyes nearly burst from his skull.
The young man had unwrapped the bundle and taken out a jade pendant, a men's hairpin, and a sword. He hung the pendant around his neck, slid the pin into his hair, and then gently ran his fingers along the sword. With a clear metallic ring, he drew the blade. And in that instant, Gongsun forgot how to breathe.
"The Azure Jade Sword!"
For a moment, Gongsun thought he'd gone insane. Only now did he realize that maybe, just maybe, cats and mice could get married after all.
Because otherwise, how the hell could the Seven Ghost Bells and the Azure Jade Sword both end up in the hands of the same person?
A flash of jade-green sword light exploded in front of him, delicate and swift. It looked like a grove of slender bamboo, brushed in by the hand of a master painter; it was elegant, flowing, effortless. Despite the danger, despite the fear, Gongsun couldn't help but feel a breeze of clarity wash over him, as if that sword light carried with it the scent of spring. For a brief second, he nearly forgot that this was a frozen, godforsaken mountain. And might soon be his grave.
"Who... who are you?" he blurted out in panic, immediately realizing how stupid the question was.
The words were barely out before dread hit him again. He suddenly remembered the operation their sect was carrying out. His face went pale.
Of course, the young man was Li Xun. Before heading to Ghost Gate Lake, he had moved his hidden stash from near Tenghua Valley to this spot. He'd only come back to retrieve it. And walked straight into this mess.
Over the past two years, Li Xun had grown noticeably calmer, more composed. So when he heard Gongsun's panicked question, he simply smiled and slid the sword back into its sheath. He gave Gongsun a once-over, eyes cool and steady, then finally said, "Not bad. You've got an eye for things. Which sect are you with?"
"The One-Dou Rice Cult," Gongsun answered honestly.
"The One-Dou Rice Cult" Li Xun raised an eyebrow. "Your sect's doing just fine in the mortal realm. What are you doing all the way out here?"
His surprise wasn't without reason.
The One-Dou Rice Cult was one of the "Four Oddities" of the Tongxuan Realm. Their methods are somewhat strange and unorthodox, but they couldn't be classified as a demonic sect, so they were regarded as somewhat unusual and distinct.
Among all the sects in the Tongxuan Realm, it had the closest ties to the mortal world. There, it operated under the guise of a religion, with a following of nearly ten million believers. That didn't mean they just liked pretending to be gods.
In fact, their cultivation method was very unusual. Besides traditional internal cultivation, they could also absorb the power of collective belief; the mental energy generated by their followers' sincere devotion—to advance their cultivation.
Because of this, most of their sect's foundation was rooted in the mortal realm, with only a few high-ranking members residing permanently in the Tongxuan Realm.
Naturally, given the nature of the sect, they ended up recruiting people from all walks of life.... especially rogue cultivators. It had one of the most diverse and chaotic memberships around, and was well-known for it.
Li Xun didn't care much about this sect's affairs. He had only asked out of casual curiosity.
But the moment he spoke, Gongsun visibly flinched. His heartbeat faltered.
Li Xun wasn't someone who missed details like that. As soon as Gongsun reacted, Li Xun's Heartblood Wheel Eye activated at full power.
Gongsun's body jolted violently, and in the next instant, Li Xun's soul-searching technique slipped in through the cracks, taking hold of him completely.
Everything Li Xun wanted to know was laid bare.
He thought for a moment, then patted Gongsun lightly on the shoulder, smiling.
"Well then… I'm going to need one more favor from you."
A faint gray ring appeared in Gongsun's pupils, and then, just like that, his awareness returned completely.
He blinked, jumped to his feet, and cursed, "Fuck your mother, Baoding'er! Got me running around for nothing!"
Li Xun chuckled. "Come on, Brother Gongsun, no need to get mad. I got fooled too, didn't I?"
By the second word, his voice had already shifted into a perfect imitation of the now-dead Baoding'er; even the tone and expression were spot-on.
They were now over a thousand li from the desolate mountain where the treasure had been hidden. Well beyond the reach of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect's territory.
This place was part of a fading mountain range. Under the pitch-black night sky, only a few scattered hills could be seen. Most of the land was open plain, overgrown with wild grass, and a modest river flowed through the middle.
Near the river, in the center of the plain, seven or eight figures were resting. None of them were even keeping watch; they had just set up a basic protective formation around their camp.
Li Xun was sitting cross-legged on a slope halfway up the hill, cultivating.
Since he was now considered "the most skilled in formation arts" among them, Gongsun had already been sent out ahead to handle things. Around Li Xun, more than thirty cultivators had gathered.
And these weren't nobodies, either. They belonged to the One-Dou Rice Cult, specifically under the command of Chong Huazi, who ranks seventh among the Day Officials serving under Lord Meng Zhang of the Four Directional Altars… specifically, his younger brother and subordinates.
Li Xun took a quick assessment. Based on the common ranking system—Transformation of Qi, Transformation of Spirit , Transformation of Infant, then True Person and True One of the "Three Transformations and Two Truths"—there was one useless Transformation of Qi rookie, the majority were at the Transformation of Spirit stage, and he hadn't seen a single expert at Transformation of Infant yet.
As for True Person or True One level... needless to say, none were present.
With a group like this sent out for an ambush, it was clear the target couldn't be much stronger than they were.
As far as Li Xun was concerned, at his current level of cultivation, these people were hardly worth noticing. He lightly adjusted his true breath, then lay back, hands behind his head, and stared up at the stars to pass the time.
"Baoding'er, slacking off again, huh?" A male cultivator came over with a big friendly grin. Li Xun mumbled a vague response.
The man plopped down next to him and turned to take a closer look. After a moment, he frowned slightly. "Weird… your face looks a little fuller than before…"
"Yeah, must be."
Before the man could respond, his body suddenly went limp and collapsed without a sound.
Li Xun pulled his finger back from the man's back and let out a quiet sigh. "That's the third one… This Baoding'er sure had a lot of friends."
Just as he was thinking that, tension suddenly spread through the group. The flow of qi mechanisms all over the hillside shifted, and waves of killing intent surged up, thick and unrestrained.
Li Xun sighed again and sat up. He loosened the 'Ghost Crow' sword at his waist, the one he'd refined back at the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. The dull black blade blended perfectly into the darkness, hiding itself among the gathering menace in the air.
Another signal flare burst from down the mountain. Everyone stood up immediately, activated their movement techniques, and held their breath as they slipped downhill in silence. At a moment like this, anyone still lying on the ground pretending to nap would stick out like a sore thumb.
A few sharp warnings rang out. And in that instant, Li Xun's body suddenly expanded several times in size! A faint shing echoed as the Ghost Crow sword slid free. Its jet-black blade spread out like a crow's wing under a winter moon, casting a wave of deathly, choking gloom over the night.
He struck without hesitation, not even glancing to see how many he took down. The swordlight whipped back toward him and circled his body, doubling in speed as it launched him skyward like a bolt of black lightning.
Even then, most of the cultivators below still hadn't figured out what had just happened.
A few quick-witted ones started shouting and cursing, trying to give chase. But when they saw the black swordlight spiraling through the sky, fast as an arrow and wrapped around his body like armor, they all hesitated. A cold chill ran through them.
Their courage vanished.
After pulling off his strike, Li Xun felt a rush of exhilaration. He pushed his flying sword to its limit, dashing madly through the night sky. The air shrieked around him as he cut through it at full speed, the piercing whistles echoing in all directions. In just moments, he had circled the entire ten-li radius who knows how many times.
True breath surged wildly through his body. Unable to contain himself, he threw back his head and let out a long howl. The soundwave was torn and amplified by the powerful air force, turning into a raging gale that swept across the heavens; one wave louder than the last. By the end, it sounded like thunder rolling from the heights of the Ninth Heaven, rumbling and crashing across the land.
The entire region was thrown into alarm. The "targets" stationed on the plains all jumped up in full alert. Naturally, One-Dou Rice Cult's sneak attack plan had now become a complete joke.
"Which bastard with no sense of decency did this?!"
The man in charge of this operation, Miyangzi, was beside himself, stomping his feet and cursing up a storm. He was one of the managers overseeing the One-Dou Rice Cult's thousands of branches across the mortal realm; not a high position, but one with enough authority to live quite comfortably.
Just half a year ago, however, while practicing a yin-harvesting dual cultivation method with a female devotee, he had the terrible luck of being caught by a disciple from the Mingxin Sword Sect. That nosy brat dismantled his entire branch, and Miyangzi had barely escaped with his life.
Burning with the desire for revenge, Miyangzi had hoped to settle the score. But since the incident was disgraceful and the Mingxin Sword Sect was a major power, the sect itself refused to back him. Instead, they gave him a stern warning and let the matter drop.
Still unwilling to let it go, Miyangzi begged his older brother, who worked under Lord Meng Zhang, for help. His brother pulled a few strings and brought in some muscle. Then, Miyangzi paid a hefty sum to the Yanxing Sect for intel, which led to this rare opportunity.
The targets were all low-ranking disciples from the Mingxin Sword Sect, not many in number, which was perfect for a quiet, vengeful strike. As long as the job was clean, they could make it look like an unsolvable case, and even the Mingxin Sword Sect would be helpless to respond.
Who could've guessed that just as victory was within reach, everything would fall apart like this?
Though furious, Miyangzi's courage had already collapsed. His cultivation wasn't much, but he wasn't blind—whoever had just intervened was terrifyingly powerful! Judging by that sword light and the speed of his attack, not a single person in their group could possibly match him.
Gritting his teeth, he spat out a curse under his breath. If the job can't be done cleanly, better not to do it at all; otherwise, if something went wrong, the sect would absolutely throw him under the cart as a scapegoat.
In that regard, Miyangzi was at least decisive. Just as he gave the order to retreat, however, a sharp, metallic clang rang in his ears.
It was the sound of a sword being drawn; just the blade rubbing against the scabbard. Normally, nothing could be more ordinary.
And yet, this one clang was piercingly clear, so crisp that not even the roaring wind and thunderous howls tearing through the sky could drown it out.
It was like hearing the drop of a steel needle in the middle of a crashing tidal wave. So absurdly contradictory it made one's blood churn.
Miyangzi turned his head in shock only to be met with a wash of greenish sword light, soft and hazy like the first moonrise of the evening. It spread out like water, flooding across the entire plain in an instant.
He wanted to flee but the thought had barely formed when an almost imperceptible thread of sword qi pierced through his protective True Breath barrier. It surged into his body and exploded. His qi and blood were thrown into chaos. He didn't even manage a groan before collapsing backward, lifeless.
The roaring in the sky came to an abrupt halt.
Li Xun clutched his throat, aching from the strain of that earlier battle cry, and stared down in disbelief at the surge of sword qi rolling across the land below.
This… was that something a low-ranking disciple could unleash?
And more importantly.... the aura of that sword energy…
He hadn't yet made sense of what just happened when a sudden chill swept over him. Instinctively, he turned in the direction of that feeling. And locked eyes with a pair of calm, razor-sharp, and somehow familiar eyes.
In that instant, his entire body froze. He could even hear the sound of his own teeth chattering.
He didn't even know why he wanted to run. But now, his mind held only that single thought.
Behind him, the whistling of sword qi seemed to echo closer, heightening his panic. His brain went completely blank. All he could do was instinctively ride his flying sword, fleeing at full speed without daring to look back.
On the ground, Ming Ji furrowed her brow ever so slightly, staring silently at the sky for a long time.
Several disciples who had come to help clean up the aftermath found her behavior odd. One female cultivator stepped forward and asked, "Immortal Master Ming Ji, is there something wrong with that person in the sky?"
"No matter what, he did warn us," Ming Ji replied with a faint smile, sheathing her sword. "But since when have disciples of the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect ever been so kind-hearted?"
….
She's Ming Ji… Immortal Master Ming Ji!
Far away, still streaking through the sky, Li Xun finally managed to calm down from his fright. And the very first coherent thought that burst into his mind was that name.
He had never imagined that after all this time, they would reunite like this. It hit him like a thunderclap; an overwhelming collision of past and present. And in that moment, he understood something important.
He'd never expected that after such a long time, this was how an old friend reunion would unfold. It was an overwhelming shock that made him realize a few things.
Until now, he had thought that there was no real difference between being in the Mingxin Sword Sect and the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect. No loyalty, no true devotion.... only cold, naked self-interest.
But in that very moment, he thought of the sword Ming Ji had given him by the poolside.
He remembered the first time he saw Qingyin, how breathtaking she was.
He recalled his admiration when he met Zhong Yin, and his pitiful, tragic, and sorrowful master....
Countless memories, vivid or faint, swirled before his eyes, tangled and overlapping, dancing chaotically through his mind.
Turned out, he remembered all of this surprisingly well.
He shook his head and simply let himself fall backward, hands tucked beneath his head, staring up at the slowly fading stars and the sky that was beginning to pale with dawn.
Quietly, blankly, he lay there.
Maybe… maybe it was time to pursue a different kind of life. Or perhaps, just to experience it for a while.
Once the impulse took root, it was unstoppable.
It was hard to call this a rational decision. But fortunately, between these two utterly different ways of life, he had both the confidence and the capability to switch between them.
.....
Two months later, the blazing sun swept across the mountains, drying every last dewdrop from the leaves and turning it to mist that steamed and lingered over the ridges.
In the lowlands, it would've been a stifling day. But here, in the Lianxia mountain range, with its endless peaks and hidden valleys, the summer heat held no sway.
Mist curled and drifted between the peaks like flowing silk, unbroken and eternal. Through the clouds, seven or eight streaks of swordlight cut across the sky, piercing fog, weaving up and down, playing with great delight.
They were a patrol of outer disciples, young cultivators who had spent three to five years attending lectures at the Hall of Beginnings. Now with a bit of cultivation to their names, they were assigned to "patrol" the mountains. A duty that in truth was little more than an excuse to practice swordflight and grow familiar with the sect's geography.
But today, they were destined to make a discovery.
A sudden flurry of startled birds from a nearby ridge drew the attention of the young disciples. The eldest among them was barely in his twenties; right at that age when youth feels fearless. With a sharp whistle, they veered their swordlights and rushed toward the disturbance.
Yet in just a short moment, these still-immature disciples were left staring at one another, wide-eyed and at a loss.
The scene before them… was clearly beyond what mere patrolling disciples could handle. Soon enough, a single beam of swordlight shot skyward, racing straight toward Zhiguan Peak.
Within the space of half a quarter-hour, no fewer than ten dazzling streaks of swordlight burst forth from Zhiguan Peak. In the blink of an eye, they soared across dozens of mountain crests and arrived on the scene.
Qingming, Qingxu, Luo Nanchuan, Ming Ji, Ming Song, Ming De…
All the high-ranking cultivators currently on the mountain had descended in force. For one reason only:
Li Xun, the disciple who had vanished for two and a half years, and perhaps the sole living witness to Lin Ge's death… had returned.
Though.... he had returned lying down!