Qingyun Sect, Back Mountain Forbidden Area.
The wind before dawn was damp, like an unwrung towel, slapping people's faces haphazardly.
Chu Xuan stepped on the mossy stone steps, slipping with each step, muttering to himself: "Elder Ling, could you lay an anti-slip mat in this private forbidden area of yours? If the deputy leader falls, the exploration team will be disbanded."
The white coat in front shook, Ling Qingxue turned back, her snow sleeves lifted, and the mist was cut into two pieces. "It's better to fall, so you won't be chattering all day long."
Though her words were cold, she reached out her hand, and the ice spirit energy at her fingertips condensed into a thin thread, wrapping it around Chu Xuan's wrist. "Pull, I won't let you fall."
Chu Xuan grinned and, with the power of the ice rope, leaped to her side in a few steps and walked side by side, "You have to change this haughty habit. If you care about someone, just speak out. I'm not laughing at you."
Ling Qingxue snorted, her ears slightly red, her snow-white hair lifted by the wind like mischievous crane feathers.
Further on, the mist suddenly dispersed and a stone door stood out, its crack sealed by cold iron, and a faint blue light shone through the crack, as if someone had lit a ghost lamp behind the door.
"Here it is." Ling Qingxue stopped, her fingertip pierced her palm, a drop of blood fell on the cold iron lock, ice flowers instantly covered the lock, "click," the lock broke inch by inch, and the stone door opened with a crash.
The cold wind, carrying snow, rushed out with a whoosh, nearly knocking Chu Xuan over.
He peered in --
A long, narrow stone corridor, with its walls adorned with frescoes, the colors peeling off but not concealing its grandeur.
The most eye-catching is the wall at the end: a man and a woman stand side by side, the man in a green robe carrying a sword and the woman in a white robe as white as snow, their palms facing each other, with a talisman in the middle - exactly the same as the word on the back of Chu Xuan's hand.
Chu Xuan's pupils shrank slightly, "This is..."
Ling Qingxue's voice dropped, "My ancestor, Ling Qingyin, and her Daoist partner Chu Jinghong."
She turned her eyes to Chu Xuan, "also your ancestor."
Chu Xuan twitched the corner of his mouth. "So I was already 'reserved' by your family?"
"Excuse me." "Three hundred years ago, they were attacked by the righteous path because of the cross-camp pact. Chu Jinghong, in order to protect Qingyin, stood alone against ten thousand swords and died. Qingyin, with his body, sealed the Taotie and returned to the Qingyun Sect, but was labeled as' rebellious' and never allowed to enter the ancestral mausoleum for life.
She spoke calmly, but her snowy eyes were filled with small ripples. "I grew up listening to this story, and because of this, my Taoist heart is lacking, fearing that history will repeat itself, even more afraid... "Repeat her mistakes."
Chu Xuan stopped joking and stood beside her in a low, steady voice, "Then it's up to us to change 'mistakes' into' smooth paths '."
He raised his hand, and the mural talisman pattern returned to his fingertips. His innate spirit body felt a slight warmth
Buzz!
The frescoes suddenly lit up, and an ice-blue light shot out from the palms of men and women, pointing straight to the top of the chamber. As the light passed, the dome bricks shifted, revealing a tiny hidden compartment.
In the hidden compartment lay a jade pendant --
All white, but with a wisp of green silk entwined, the heart of the jade was engraved with the word "united heart", ice light and sword intent intertwined like a pair of embracing silhouettes.
Ling Qingxue was stunned, and her snowy eyes instantly turned red. "This is... Qingyin's concentric pendant, rumored to be paired with Chu Jinghong's 'Jinghong Sword', the sword is destroyed and the person is killed, but the pendant is intact.
Chu Xuan reached out his hand, and the jade pendant seemed to have a spirit, flying automatically into his palm. Warmth spread through his fingertips, like a sigh spanning three hundred years.
In the next moment, the mark of the covenant suddenly heated up, and the ice blue and purple fire patterns on the back of the hand interwove into a beam of light, piercing the jade pendant --
Boom!
The beams of light burst open, transforming into a sky full of talismans, which quickly combined to form an illusory map: the summit of the snow-capped mountains, the palaces and towers, and the plaque inscribed - Kunlun Secret Realm · Core.
In the center of the map, a rune of the Great Way of the land flickered, and beside it emerged ancient seal script:
[Ultimate truth, return here]
The handwriting flashed, but like a heavy hammer, it struck the hearts of the two.
Ling Qingxue murmured: "Kunlun Core... It hides the ultimate inheritance of the Dao contract."
Chu Xuan held the jade pendant tightly, his knuckles pale from the force, "then go and get it back and let the ancestors see it - the descendants did not disgrace them."
He turned his eyes to Ling Qingxue, his voice low but firm, "Also let you see that the cross-camp Daoist couple is not a tragedy, it is a legend."
The snow-capped eyes and the black-eyed ones faced each other. The room was silent, except for the jade pendant which trembled slightly, as if responding to the young man's vow.
After a while, Ling Qingxue took a light breath, raised her hand, and the tip of her finger returned to the back of his hand. The ice spirit energy and the chaos energy interwovely, like two originally parallel rivers finally converging.
"All right." "Let's write together..." She said in a soft voice, but with an avalanche of determination. A new legend."
Chu Xuan grinned, laughing freely, "Then it's a deal. Don't be shy when the time comes and secretly draw a cold protection charm for me."
"Even if you're poor, freeze your mouth." Ling Qingxue snorted, but the tips of her ears were red as if they were about to bleed.
She turned and with a wave of her snow sleeve, the door of the stone chamber slammed shut, shutting the wind and snow along with the past.
The young men and women walked out of the stone corridor side by side. Just as the sun rose, the golden light shone through the cracks of the stone door and onto the frescoes --
The ancestors, their palms touching, seemed to be smiling too:
Go, descendants, go and turn the unfinished road into a path leading to heaven.
The sun rose out of the ridge, and its golden light, like a tide, surged all the way into the stone corridor.
Chu Xuan hung the concentric jade pendant around his waist. The hem of his green robe was lifted by the wind, and the pendant tapped his thigh as if an ancestor were urging: Hurry up, don't dawder.
Ling Qingxue suddenly stopped and looked back at the mural, her voice as soft as snowflakes: "Wait, there's something else."
She raised her hand, and the ice spirit from her fingertips gushed out, turning into wisps of white mist that seeped into the crevices of the mural.
With a crisp "click", a brick in the lower right corner of the mural loosened, revealing a hidden compartment.
Inside lay a broken jade slip, half stained with blood and half cut flat by sword qi.
Chu Xuan took it, and just as his finger touched the crack, a desolate will rushed into the sea of consciousness --
I, Chu Jinghong, and Ling Qingyin, crossed camps to form a pact, sealed the Taotie, and exhausted my efforts here. If there are people with a karmic connection in the future, holding the pendant of unity can carry on our will...
The scene then emerges:
The snow-capped mountain collapses, swords rain down, the man in the green robe stands in front of the woman in white, transforms himself into a sword, and cuts through the sky of talismans;
The sky is stained with blood. The woman, holding the man's body, turns her sword and freezes a thousand miles, sealing the Taotie and herself together in the den of ten thousand demons.
The will dissipated, but Chu Xuan felt his eyes burning, as if he had been scorched by the blood fire.
He took a deep breath and solemnly took the jade slip into his bosom. "Ancestor, the road you haven't completed, I will continue."
Ling Qingxue was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand, touched his brow lightly with her fingertip, and a wisp of icy snow seeped in. "I'll walk with you."
Three words, as light as snow, as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Chu Xuan grinned, his teeth sharp and his mouth sharp, "Then it's a good deal. Don't change your mind halfway, don't hide and secretly draw talismans to defend me."
"No matter how poor I am, I'll freeze your mouth." Ling Qingxue's ears turned red and she turned away, but her sleeves were quietly raised, covering the slightly upturned corners of her mouth.
...
Outside the stone corridor, the mountain wind was howling.
Chu Xuan stepped out of the stone gate and looked back. The murals of his ancestors were gilded by the rising sun, as if they were watching.
He suddenly raised his hand and waved at the mural in a low but firm voice: "Don't worry. If I don't make a hole in the sky this time, I'll lose."
Ling Qingxue glanced sideways at him, her snowy eyes reflecting the tall profile of the young man, like a fire.
She spoke softly, but changed the topic: "The jade pendant resonates with the jade slip, the core of Kunlun Secret Realm, we must go."
"Then let's go." Chu Xuan stretched his body, his bones crackling. "But we have to go back to the flying boat first, throw the list of hidden lines to Mo Chen, and let him catch the mice one by one."
"By the way -" He turned around and raised an eyebrow at Ling Qingxue. "Tell everyone the story of our ancestors, so that some people know that making a pact across camps is not rebellion, but saving the world."
Ling Qingxue was stunned for a moment, then chuckled, her snowy eyes curved into crescent moons. "Well, then tell."
The two walked side by side, with the sun casting long shadows behind them, like two parallel rivers that will eventually converge, all the way to the distance.
...
On the deck of the flying boat, the morning wind was blowing the sails.
Chu Xuan stood on the high platform, with a flip of his palm, the concentric jade pendants shone brightly, and the illusory figures of his ancestors emerged in mid-air - green robes carrying swords, white robes like snow, palms facing each other, Dao Qi shining together.
His voice was clear and resonant, spreading throughout the boat:
"All of you, this is the ancestor of the Qingyun Sect and the pioneer of the cross-camp Daoist couple! They once sealed the Taotie together and died of exhaustion, but left the fire of salvation for future generations!"
Five hundred disciples looked up at the shadow, and there was a moment of silence.
Some murmured, "So... A cross-camp pact is not a taboo, but a merit."
Chu Xuan raised his hand, his shadow turned into a light spot and sank into the jade pendant. His voice rose, with the boyish flair of a young man:
"Now, the Taotie is awakening, the Heavenly Dao Pavilion is in chaos, what we should do is not to fight among ourselves, but to carry on the will of our ancestors - to seal the demons, to guard the boundary, to protect all living beings!"
"Seal the demons! Defend the boundary! Protect all living beings!"
Five hundred voices converge, like a mountain roar and a tsunami, shaking the sea of clouds three times.
On one side of the high platform, Meng Cang looked far away, his face so gloomy that it could drip water, his fists crunching in his sleeves, but there was nothing he could do.
Chu Xuan glanced sideways, his gaze piercing through the crowd, briefly meeting him, the young man's mouth curved, laughing freely and provocatively --
"Elder Meng, don't worry. The good show has just begun."
The golden rays of the rising sun shone upon the tall and straight back of the young man, as if covering him with a battle robe, making him stand out with sharp edges and unstoppable momentum.