âWait! Hold on, whoâs coming?â Li Yun asked.
âI donât know, and it doesnât matter! Get out of the way!â
Han Yuan was a demonic cultivator that had been stained with blood, in the end, and it was hard to suppress the murderous nature of those that walked the demonic path â once bloodied, the Great Dao was difficult to strive for. He had been bound by the blood oath for so long that it had long been suffocating him into unbalance. These people were completely struck with the edge of his knife.
Han Yuan had entirely become a mad dog off his leash; how could his âweak and delicateâ second senior haul him back?
It was unclear how many traps were laid in the forests beneath, but the neatly-arranged array was completed, weaving into a big net that covered the sky, having specially waited here for them to walk into the trap. The big net pressed down in the air, and the demonic dragonâs figure flashed out to welcome it without any reserve; the two colliding made even the landscape shudder, the clouds tremble, and all the fauna around startle.
There were many ordinary disciples of White Tiger Estate in this group that couldnât move as easily as the experts, nor could they control their panicked flying horses on top of that, dodging unattractively about in the air like headless flies.
âLand, land!â an Estate elder randomly ordered.
The sky instantly went dark, the encompassing net above their heads flashing with sparks of demonic qi from time to time, which resembled quick little lightning bolts. Han Yuanâs was thick-skinned, so letting the sparks hit him a few times was nothing mentionable, but for the young accompanying disciples, they were not so lucky. Swiped to the side by the sparks as bystanders, they immediately dropped down from the sky with bodies of scorched black.
Li Yun sighed. From a snap of his fingers, a white light shot up to the sky, and he abandoned his horse to stand upon his flying sword with his hands behind his back. âThere are ambushes on the ground. Everyone, please calm down, and donât descend. Juniors of lower cultivation, draw back to the middle, and concentrate on forming the Eight-Trigram Array above.â
âYouâre right!â that same elder hurriedly say. âDonât land! All of you come up, quick!â
ââŚâ
This elder had to have been chosen by the mighty Estate Lord Shang as a joke.
Second Lord Li increasingly felt that he was bearing a heavy task, yet had no choice in the matter, compelled to swallow the pill and awkwardly instruct this big group of unfamiliar disciples in constructing the array to withstand the big net in the sky.
All of a sudden, the hairs on his back stood up all at once. Believing in his own intuition without a thought, he threw out a charm from his sleeve; the tiny wooden tablet was seen to rise up in the air and suddenly expand, forming a protective barrier of vibrant lights.
As soon as the charm came out, he had regretted it. Yan Zhengming had gotten it off of the black market, and the reason he had never been willing to pawn it was because it had purportedly switched hands from Tong Ru.
Before he had time to be in pain, he heard a burst of sky-splitting thunder.
An Estate disciple of meager cultivation bled from all seven orifices at once, then fell straight off of the back of his flying horse.
Back in the day, beside Vermillion Bird Tower, Shui Kengâs yao skeleton separating hadnât given off such loud thunder. Li Yun was terrified, sensing that this heavenly tribulation was specifically coming for Han Yuan.
Immediately following this, the sound of rending silk burst through the air. The protective barrier of the charm couldnât withstand this, slowly tearing down the middle annihilated in no time flat.
The priceless wooden tablet split right in half, then fell right down.
Han Yuan whirled and landed upon a sword that had lost its owner in the chaos, traces of the black dragon looming upon his face. The oath mark on the back of his hand was as red as blood. He looked up at the big net with a malicious expression.
That heavenly tribulation had been none other than the backlash of the oath.
Several lines of demonic qi rushed out of the forest â it was demonic cultivators that had made the stumbling blocks here, and they surrounded him.
What was odd was that there were several ordinary cultivators mixed in with them, each one having expressions of hatred. One of them even shouted, âNefarious devil! Before the Ten-Party Array, those vile, spineless people were forced by your sect backer, so we didnât dare to do anything to you, but weâll be taking our revenge, now!â
As a representative of that âsect backerâ, Li Yun felt like someone had affixed a shit platter to his head. He had no idea what to even say.
Han Yuan looked at the guy indifferently. âOh, so in order to get rid of the nefarious devil that is me, you all have joined forces with a big group of devils that has done no less evil than I have? You all are really flexible. Itâs really admirable.â
Li Yunâs anger was dissolved at hearing this, and he smiled. âThe biggest thing he has in common with his heart demon form and this greatness is that smart mouth.â
The smart-mouthed Han Yuan completely enraged the cultivators that were suddenly mingling with demonic cultivators. With paired looks in their eyes, they attacked as a group, simultaneously drawing in on Han Yuan with weapons drawn under the protection of the big net overhead.
They were of the righteous path, and didnât massacre, nor violate taboo. Their methods were low-class, but there was nothing inexcusable about taking revenge. With the blood oath, Han Yuan could only get beaten, else if he dared to retaliate and injure them, it might bring on another that giant tribulation that even the preceding Lord Beiming wouldnât have been able to defend against.
Han Yuan knit his brows, gathered up his sleeves and moved his body to dodged, then roared at the one behind him without turning his head, âLi Yun, what are you doing, idiot? Watching the excitement?!â
Li Yun expressionlessly folded his arms in front of his chest. âThe biggest difference between the heart demon and this greatness is that the demon is really fucking worthless.â
As Shui Keng listened from the side, she was filled with indignation. âHey, second brother! Are you waning before youâre even old? Why are you talking so much trash?! Tell us how weâre going to fight this!â
âŚThis sect just was not compatible.
Li Yun drew out the ornament-like sword on his waist, then raised his voice to the elder. âPlease stop these few, fellow Daoists of White Tiger Estate! Shui Keng, use True Fire of Samadbi to break open this net to make an escape route for the massive cuck that is your fourth brother. If Iâm not mistaken, the eye of the array is outside, at kun position!â
Shui Keng immediately transformed into a Red Crane and whirred away. The tiny sparks on the demonic net were a complete disgrace in comparison to the True Fire, and she quickly tore open a hole in it.
Nian Dada hurriedly came in close. âSecond uncle, what about me?â
With a flip of his fingers, Li Yun took out a big sheet of paper from his cuffs somehow, then tapped it. It shattered into millions of pieces and scattered in the wind, transforming into bugs of all sizes. It could really give one goosebumps.
The bugs descended from the skies, sank into the forest vegetation, and vanished in the blink of an eye. He tossed a small bottle to Nian Dada. âThe bottom of that bottle can be use to see through the eyes of those insects. Keep watch on it for me. Iâm getting the feeling that this wonât be so simple.â
Nian Dada hurriedly rubbed the goosebumps off of himself as he held the small bottle in his hands. As he attempted rapidly read through the groundâs live situation via countless fragmentary images, he strenuously learned the hardship of having too many eyes and limbs.
The Estate had the elder to command it, and the disciples were barely able to get organized. After coming back to themselves, they quickly swarmed up and intercepted those water-muddying righteous cultivators on Han Yuanâs behalf. Both sides fought and berated each other; following the elderâs lead, they had first elegantly sent regards to their counterpartâs sect, and after the fighting had turned white-hot, they started to hostilely send regards to each otherâs long-buried parents.
Seeing they were mutually holding each other up, Han Yuan easily passed through the circle of cultivators, turned into a puff of black mist, then went through the hole Shui Keng had made, following which he reached out his hand, then mysteriously and grabbed the arrayâs in the Southwest orientation, from very far away.
The entire Shu road appeared to be getting hauled off of the mountain by him, and the huge net burst open in the sky.
Those several demonic cultivators that had just been talking big saw that this was not a great situation, immediately thinking to flee. A drawn-out, tyrannical dragonâs roar sounded through the air, rolling, dark clouds of bloody qi permeating all around thereafter â in a split secondâs time, eight expressionless Han Yuans showed up in every direction. âWhere are you all going?â they said at the same time.
Shui Keng was dumbstruck seeing this. Feeling as if she had found a new direction in like, she turned into human form, then said thoughtfully, âI now understand what the eldest meant when he said that the Great Dao had three thousands paths that lead to the same destination.â
Li Yun believed that she had reached enlightenment, but before he had time to be gratified, he heard his junior sister proclaim with feeling: âIt turns out that apart from the completely unreliable Ninth Chain, all paths can be this powerful!â
ââŚâ
This senior really couldnât do this anymore.
Suddenly, Nian Dada let out an ah from nearby.
âWhat are you spooked for?â Li Yun asked, unhappy.
âSecond uncle, a group of people⌠no, thatâs not right, ghosts just came up from the ground, and are crawling faster than the wind!â
Li Yunâs nerves tenses up hearing the word âghostsâ, pupils constricting. Making a sweeping motion, the countless crawling bugs he had only just scattered into the soil each leapt up, then successively exploded in the air, burning into balls of flames of different sizes that cleared away the cloud layers and remnant black fog from the demonic cultivators that was under everyoneâs feet. The groundâs abnormality was revealed right before their eyes.
An Estate elderâs scalp prickled. âThe Soul-Devouring Lamp!â
Li Yun looked grave, shooting a look at Han Yuan from a distance. Why such a coincidence?
Yet, he now had no free time to mull over this. The thick black clouds that had been billowing on the ground swept up into the blue sky, eerie and rancid deathly qi hitting the face as the landscape went dark.
Nian Dada couldnât help but think back to that mountain cave from the first time he had left Mingming Valley to follow Cheng Qian, instinctively getting an indescribable shiver.
Amongst the groundâs dancing ghosts, a familiar figure suddenly stuck out â Jiang Peng.
Over a hundred years ago, Li Yun and rest had seen him for the first time at the East Sea. He had no longer been human-like then, but now, after so many years had passed, his form was even more shocking.
From the waist down, he was completely hidden by billowing black smoke, making it look like he had no lower half at all, floating in midair. For a second, it was hard to tell whether he was a ghost cultivator, or just a ghost, as his cheeks were as thin as the living dead, the large splotches of shadows on his face unable to be driven away, even in midday sunlight.
He sized up the crowd in the air, then grinned toothily. Locking his gaze onto Han Yuan, he licked his lips, the voice that came out of them rough. âBeimingâŚâ
The aggrieved Han Yuan powerlessly took back all of his body doubles. âDidnât you say that he was broken into fragments by the previous Lord Beiming a century ago?â the heart demon form asked himself. âWhy did he piss himself in fear for all that time, and now canât even tell whether Iâm the real Beiming or not when he got back?â
With that, his expression abruptly changed, speech getting turned into the real Han Yuanâs. âThe last I saw him, he seemed to still be able to recognize people, and wasnât so awfully mad⌠is he really the owner of the Soul-Devouring Lamp? Why does it look like heâs about to be no different than those ghosts, to me?â
âHmph. Really, as long as this Lord shows my face, itâs no effort at all to find these morons,â the demon answered. âTheyâll all just come right to the door themselves, looking for a fight. Might as well catch them all in one net.â
Han Yuan rapidly switched back, looking stern. âHow about you boast less. You really think that anyone is praising you as being entitled to call yourself Beiming? Thatâs my Masterâs senior brother, and he dared to go nuts kidnapping in the vicinity of Azure Dragon Island before I even entered the sect. Itâs not a certainty who would sort who out.â
The Estate elder happened to hear this entire ridiculous thread of him talking to himself, and he couldnât help but feel sorrow come up inside him, feeling that his life could be forfeited right now â the two biggest demons of the past century were meeting on this narrow road, one a lunatic, and the other⌠also a lunatic.
Now, countless whispering noises came up from the ground, as if thousands of ghosts were speaking to each other, making any human ears hearing it shiver. The huge mirage of an oil lamp raised into the air. Resentful energy swooshed up, whirling into a hurricane, innumerable human faces shown to pile up together in the rotations. This scalp-numbing tornado imperviously charged at the stunned cultivators in the sky. In the vivacious Shuzhong forest, all the plants and animals swept up by the black mist withered to nothing as the insatiable ghosts absorbed all life force.
Nian Dada couldnât believe whatsoever that this guy had once been that filthy and pathetic demonic cultivator that had been half-dead near Mingming Valley and adhered himself to Liu Lang.
Jiang Peng had recovered⌠no, he was even stronger than he had been a hundred years ago!
A crackling firecracker set off in Han Yuanâs mouth, but he didnât dare to be careless. Hands horizontal across his chest, a heavy, dragon-etched sword slowly emerged from his palm. The ghost cultivators on the ground and demonic cultivators in the sky swapped gazes from a distance, then moved at the same exact time.
Jiang Peng appeared to be provoked by Han Yuanâs sword, and used a ghastly bone he held in hand for a sword technique.
These two had been taught from the same sect, and in this occasion, they coincidentally both used Fuyao Wooden Sword to confront each other. The technique that had once been honest and peaceful once again expressed its erratic side; sustaining vast demonic qi, without any sort of indisposition at all, it developed a demonic path version of itself all on its own.
Li Yun slapped the back of Nian Dadaâs head. âWhy arenât you getting out of the way? You want to die?â
While he spoke, the earth and sky were already wholly covered by rampaging demonic qi. No matter what side one was on, they all ignored the fighting to step aside, not daring to interfere in the mighty battle of two devils.
However, a bold one yet came â the swishing sound of a sharp sword being unsheathed was heard from not far away, and then extremely bright swordlight obliquely slashed over, coming to flagrantly get between the two devils.
A sword of the primordial spirit!
Li Yun looked elated at first, thinking that Yan Zhengming had hurried back early, only to be shocked soon after â that wasnât right. This sword cultivator had a primordial spirit, but he was not on the same level as their eldest, where he had entered the second layer of Sword Spirit Realm.
Upon another look, the newcomer was You Liang of the Celestial Divination Bureau.
His sword collided with the bone Jiang Peng held, and the power of the charms on the swordâs body abruptly rose. Like a newborn calf not afraid of a tiger, it pounced at the ghostly qi lingering about the bone with a sharp hiss; the qi was like a flame meeting a great wind, jerking around a bit for a moment, then counterattacking tenfold.
Han Yuanâs sword held Jiang Pengâs qi back while he also smacked You Liang away. âDonât go looking for death right under my nose,â he coldly said. âYouâll burden me with divine tribulations! Scram!â
You Liangâs sword was already visibly infected with black qi. His complexion immediately paled, but his expression remain calmed as he spoke as quickly as he could. âSenior, Iâve come to deliver a message: Black Tortoise Hall, headed by Bian Xu, has congregated a group of cultivators that has deep enmity with you, and intends to put you to death. These people are just a pretense; they have a follow-up move. I donât know how they found out your route, but a friend of mine is now doing his best to stall time for you. Youâd best leave, now!â
During those few sentences, Han Yuan and Jiang Pen had already had more than a hundred exchanges. Both of their faces were emitting black qi. They met force with force, neither willing to be roundabout, and both heavily injured by their respective counterpart. Neither heard You Liangâs words.
The two madmen didnât, but Li Yun wasnât deaf. His thought rapidly whirled â as a sword cultivator of solitary nature, You Liangâs alleged âfriendâ was, at most, a member of the Bureau. The Bureau had suffered heavy losses and fallen apart, so who still had the spare time to care about them?
It had to be Zhe Shi!
Shui Keng had a very rare moment of quick reaction. She had always had the responsibility of exchanging messages with Zhe Shi, so she naturally had communication tools; hearing this, she quickly took out a gray sparrowâs feather, and in no more than a few moment, one end of the feature lost its vitality, dimming down.
âIt really is Brother Zhe Shi!â
âHan Yuan, stop!â Li Yun shouted.
Han Yuan didnât seem to hear⌠or, he had heard it, but this situation no longer tolerated him deciding to stop.
A paper bug that had jumped the furthest away was now faithfully feeding back information that it saw to Li Yun. Looking into the distance using its eyes, he got goosebumps all over his body â less than five li away, a massive array, using an unknown amount of peoplesâ true essences to operate it, was in the middle of spreading out, and slowly closing up!
Li Yun grit his teeth and pulled the wooden hairpin off of his head, which transformed into a sword.
Were it not a last resort, he never would have wanted to use this thing. Yan Zhengming had left it for him to save his own life with, one of his own primordial spirit swords sealed within.
As soon as Li Yun used the wooden hairpin-slash-sword, Yan Zhengmign immediately felt it on his end.
However, he had no time to care about him right now, as Cheng Qian had just collapsed in front of him without any warning at all. As if enduring unbelievable pain, his hand that clenched Shuang Ren inadvertently pressed against its edge; in this dim light, Yan Zhengming hadnât realized that the other had unwittingly cut himself until he smelled the stink of blood.
Shuang Ren madly sucked in its masterâs blood, so excited, it vaguely had the intent to backlash.
âXiao Qian! Xiao Qian!â
âTang Zhen⌠he⌠is the primordial spirit cultivated from the Soul-Devouring LampâŚâ Cheng Qian squeezed out from between his teeth, bearing with the sharp pain.
The whole sequence of events had quickly linked up in his mind â Tang Zhen, whoâd had low cultivation back then, had probably done the same as them. Upon arriving at the center of the Sea of Beiming, he had followed the passage that these demonic cultivators had opened up in the Da Xue Mystic Site, but before he could find the Golden Lotus Leaf, he had been struck by the astral wind, his soul separating from its body.
He should have died with his soul flown off like those demonic cultivators had, but, both fortunately and unfortunately, his soul happened to get blown into the Lamp.
A masterless Soul-Devouring Lamp, whose ghosts had all dissipated.
Such a coincidence was akin to a blind turtle floating up into a cave. Just like how Cheng Qianâs soul had entered the Spirit-Collection Jade in the split second he was dying, Tang Zhen had received this divine chance to survive, if with difficulty.
One did not need to think to know that with the Lamp being a greatly evil object, while the Jade had been a spiritual object for helping human cultivation, Tang Zhen had to have suffered a thousand times more than Cheng Qian had inside of itâŚ
Yet, he hadnât had a choice. Either he had to refine the Lamp, or it would completely consume him.
In the end, Tang Zhen had won. He had cultivated his primordial spirit, becoming the Lamp itself.
But, this form was doubtlessly incomplete, because something as evil as the Lamp had been tainted by who-knew-how-much karmic sin since its creation. Had he completely refined it into a corporeal body, he would presumably not incur divine tribulations, but divine wrath.
As soon as the Heavens got angry, it could have chopped this Site into firewood. It There was no way a living thing could have withstood it.
UnlessâŚ
Cheng Qianâs voice was barely audible as he muttered seeming nonsense to himself. âWhy did those demonic cultivators come hereâŚ?â
Legends told that the Golden Lotus Leaf of Da Xue could wash away all the sins of the human world. Could it also have washed away those of the Lamp? Could it have been washed so thoroughly clean, that it became an ordinary spiritual object⌠just like the Spirit-Collection Jade?
Cheng Qian couldnât help but think deeply about that layer of it. Had Tang Zhen actually been powerless against the little bird yao and their charm, and thus had fled?
It was only a puppet charm. Tang Zhen would have had a hundred different ways to surpass it.
He hadnât feared that he would hear the precedent, then take his old path to the Site to investigate the Lampâs trail?
Or⌠had Tang Zhen intentionally wanted him to come here?
Cheng Qian felt cold all over. All sorts of thought flashed rapidly by him. Before he could open his mouth, Hear the Universe suddenly brightened within his inner sanctum, and his entire spiritual consciousness got dragged in by it â he saw that the jade appeared to have been provoked, as it harshly illuminated his inner sanctum. His injured primordial spirit could barely open its eyes in there.
His consciousness was so outrageously sensitive, it even faintly implicated the tiny section that had been sealed inside Yan Zhengmingâs wooden sword. He felt like he was being split into two⌠no, three.
All of his memories were spread out by some unknown outer force, from Fuyao Mountain to Azure Dragon Island, page by page, regardless of detail. Then, those scenes seemed to get randomly tampered with by a hand, and the sect siblings that depended on each other for survival changed into repulsive-looking arch-nemeses, all of their warmth morphed into bone-chilling hatred.
On one hand, he was maintaining his sanity beneath Hear the Universeâs glaring brilliance, able to clearly distinguish what was reality and what was an illusion, but on the other, he couldnât suppress the hate that seeming to be coming from the bottom of his heart.
At the same time, it was like he had a third eye, which was looking back anxiously from inside the wooden sword.
There was a voice repeating inside of his spiritual consciousness. âKill him⌠kill himâŚâ
This was⌠soul-painting!
Back when Tang Zhen had returned his memories, soul-painting had been inside them.
He was both clear-headed, yet hardly able to withstand the murderousness welling up in his heart; he couldnât feel Shuang Ren slicing his palm at all.
Shang Wanânian hadnât actually set a trap for him. In normal circumstances, Hear the Universe could indeed have helped him resist soul-painting, to say nothing of the fact that a small piece of his primordial spirit was in Yan Zhengmingâs wooden sword, which couldnât be affected. Yet, he just had to come across nefarious wind that could break the soul hereâŚ
He no longer had the time to think about whether this was just a coincidence, or something someone had deliberately set up.