The lockdown of Jinling City lasted through the entire night. It was not until dawn the next day that the gates made an exception and allowed through a few carriages bearing the tokens of the various cultivation houses.
At the gates of the Gu Yue clan's outer estate, the atmosphere was so oppressive it was suffocating.
Tap, tap, tap.
Heavy footsteps shattered the silence of dawn. Several outer-estate disciples guarding the gate rubbed their reddened eyes after staying up all night and followed the sound with their gazes. At the edge of the horizon, two utterly bedraggled figures were stumbling toward them.
Leading the way was Fang Cunsheng. His gray robe was in tatters, covered in scorched-black marks corroded by blood-fiend energy. His face was deathly pale, without a trace of color, and his entire body looked as though it might collapse at any moment. Behind him, A-Xing carried an equally tattered bundle on his back. His head hung low, and his whole body was trembling violently beyond his control—mostly from fright, but it perfectly matched the terror of someone who had escaped certain death.
“Stop! Who goes there… Wait, you’re Fang Cunsheng from the inner estate?! You’re still alive?!”
The gate guard nearly fell from his flying sword when he recognized Fang Cunsheng’s face. News of the Black Witch Cult massacring Treasure Pavilion last night, wiping out the entire Gu Yue clan procurement caravan, had already reached the clan. Elder Gu Yue Hai of the inner estate had been so furious that he smashed apart half a mountain.
Who could have imagined that Fang Cunsheng—whose poor aptitude, in outsiders’ eyes, had gotten him into the inner estate only through sheer luck—had survived yet again?
“Quick… go report to Chief Steward Xu, and Elder Hai too… The Black Witch Cult… the Black Witch Cult had an ambush…”
Fang Cunsheng rasped out the words, then suddenly tilted sideways and “fainted” into A-Xing’s arms with astonishing realism.
“Senior Brother Fang! Senior Brother Fang, wake up!” A-Xing began wailing at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing across half the outer-estate mountain gate.
Half an hour later, inner estate, Longevity Hall.
This was the core hall where the Gu Yue clan discussed matters concerning the clan’s very lifeline. Yet at this moment, the center of the hall was filled with a terrifying Foundation Establishment pressure.
Elder Gu Yue Hai sat high on the left. His sinister old face was twisted beyond recognition, and his eyes flashed with a cold gleam that seemed ready to devour anyone in its path. Before him, a life-soul lamp representing the origin of Gu Yue Qiang’s soul had already turned completely into a pile of cold ashes.
“Elder Hai, my condolences. The incident at Treasure Pavilion last night shows just how rampant the Black Witch Cult has become. Not only did our worthy nephew Qiang perish, but the thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones belonging to the Gu Yue clan have probably fallen into the hands of those demonic cultivators as well.” Chief Steward Xu sat at the head of the hall, rubbing his temples, a trace of weariness and helplessness in his voice.
“The Black Witch Cult… I swear I’ll extract their souls and refine their marrow!” Gu Yue Hai clenched his fists so tightly that his nails pierced his palms, blood dripping through his fingers.
His plan had been to use the evil cultivators to eliminate Fang Cunsheng. He had never imagined that the Black Witch Cult would go so insane as to swallow Gu Yue Qiang and the entire procurement team along with him! He had practically picked up a rock and smashed his own foot with it.
“Chief Steward, Elder Hai, the two outer-estate servant-slaves who survived have been brought here.”
Following the disciple’s announcement from outside the hall, Fang Cunsheng entered with A-Xing supporting him, swaying unsteadily. The moment he stepped inside, Fang Cunsheng dropped to his knees with a thud, his body trembling violently.
“Fang Cunsheng! Answer me. Qiang and the others are all dead, so why are you still alive?!” Gu Yue Hai slammed his palm onto the table. The terrifying pressure of a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator crashed down upon Fang Cunsheng’s back like a mountain weighing ten thousand jun.
Bang!
Fang Cunsheng was crushed flat against the jade floor. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and a thin line of blood skillfully seeped from the corner of his mouth. He raised his head, his eyes filled with fear and despair, and said in a trembling voice:
“Elder Hai, please show mercy! Senior Brother Qiang and the others… they died protecting me!”
“Last night, Senior Brother Qiang bought those three Ice-Soul Blood Ginsengs at the inner meeting and specifically ordered me to carry them. But who could have known that the moment the blood ginseng entered the jade box, the Black Witch Cult’s restriction inside would suddenly erupt! Senior Brother Qiang reacted incredibly quickly and sent me flying with one palm, but he himself was struck head-on by that blood-fiend force… Sob, sob… Before Senior Brother Qiang died, he was still shouting, ‘For the glory of the Gu Yue clan!’ I was useless. I couldn’t save Senior Brother Qiang!”
Fang Cunsheng wept as though his heart were breaking, portraying Gu Yue Qiang as a family hero who had sacrificed himself to save others.
After hearing this, many of the elders in the hall relaxed their expressions somewhat. Gu Yue Hai’s eyelids twitched violently. There was not a single flaw to be found in Fang Cunsheng’s account. Besides, Gu Yue Qiang had bought the blood ginsengs precisely to scheme against Fang Cunsheng—a fact Gu Yue Hai knew perfectly well. From Fang Cunsheng’s description, it was most likely that the Black Witch Cult’s restriction had gone out of control ahead of time, causing Gu Yue Qiang to suffer the consequences of his own scheme.
“Then where is your storage pouch? Did you see Qiang’s storage pouch?!” Gu Yue Hai demanded harshly, still unwilling to give up. It contained thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones belonging to the clan!
Hearing this, Fang Cunsheng hurriedly pulled a tattered storage pouch from his robes and raised it high in both hands, his voice full of grief and indignation.
“Elder Hai, everything I own is in here. The explosion last night was so violent that my storage pouch was nearly destroyed. As for Senior Brother Qiang’s and the other senior brothers’ belongings… there was a late-Foundation-Establishment demonic old monster slaughtering everyone inside Treasure Pavilion. I couldn’t get anywhere near them and could only fight my way out. However, while fleeing, I was lucky enough to find half of Senior Brother Qiang’s sword, blown into the ruins by the explosion. Please inspect it, Elder!”
A-Xing hurriedly took from the bundle the high-grade flying sword that Fang Cunsheng had deliberately melted halfway with the Cause-and-Effect Buddha Blade in the lava cavern.
Gu Yue Hai accepted the flying sword and swept it with his spiritual sense. It unquestionably carried Gu Yue Qiang’s aura. Seeing the remnants of White-Bone Heart-Eating Fiend Poison clinging to the sword, the last trace of suspicion in Gu Yue Hai’s heart vanished completely.
Under circumstances where a late-Foundation-Establishment old monster was slaughtering everyone and blood-fiend energy was raging everywhere, an ant at the early Qi Condensation stage—Fang Cunsheng’s disguised level—could do nothing but flee with his life. There was no way he could have had the ability to embezzle anything.
“Elder Hai, it seems Qiang truly fell victim to the Black Witch Cult. As for the clan funds, since the Black Witch Cult dared to strike in Jinling City, they must have made thorough preparations long ago.” Chief Steward Xu sighed and waved his hand. “Fang Cunsheng, you’ve survived two great disasters. You certainly have a strong life force. Return to your Clearwind Residence and recuperate. The clan wedding is imminent, so don’t cause any more trouble during this period.”
“Yes… Thank you, Chief Steward. Thank you, Elder Hai!”
Fang Cunsheng kowtowed repeatedly and slowly left Longevity Hall with A-Xing supporting him.
The instant he stepped through the hall’s main doors, Fang Cunsheng lowered his head slightly. Deep in his eyes, violet light shimmered like an icy pool. Gu Yue Hai, Gu Yue clan—for those thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones, I’ll consider them the extermination interest you paid me in advance.
Three days later, the Gu Yue clan welcomed the grandest occasion in a century.
The Gu Yue clan’s foremost prodigy—Gu Yue Wuxia—was marrying Wang Xier, the direct daughter of the Wang Clan Immortal Clan, one of the Four Immortal Clans of Jinling.
The entire inner estate was decorated with lanterns and streamers. Countless enormous red spirit-light lanterns floated in the air, illuminating a hundred-mile radius as though it were an immortal realm. Countless powerful cultivators from cultivation sects and houses across the Great Xia Dynasty arrived on flying swords and spirit birds of every color to offer their congratulations. The spectacle was extravagantly grand, its splendor reaching an absolute peak.
Yet deep within the most central and heavily guarded part of the inner estate, inside the Wuxia Immortal Hall, the atmosphere was utterly different from the celebration outside.
“Pfft—!”
A pained grunt rang out. Gu Yue Wuxia sat cross-legged bare-chested on an ice-jade bed, and suddenly spat out a large mouthful of crimson blood. The instant it landed on the floor tiles of the Cleansing-Heart Hall, it ignited, transforming into a strange scarlet flame that burned a deep pit into the sturdy jade floor.
Gu Yue Wuxia’s face remained handsome and flawless, but countless scarlet fire-lines faintly crawled across the surface of his skin. His whole body looked like a porcelain vessel on the verge of drying out and shattering, radiating an extraordinarily violent surge of Heaven’s fortune.
Inside Longevity Hall, the Gu Yue clan’s Nascent Soul patriarch, Gu Yue Changsheng, stood before the jade bed with a grave expression. One hand pressed against the top of Gu Yue Wuxia’s head as he frantically poured in vast Nascent Soul spiritual power, attempting to suppress the rampaging Heaven’s fortune.
“Patriarch… the fortune of the Heaven-Mending Spirit Marrow inside Wuxia’s body has completely gone out of control. If it isn’t neutralized, then the moment of his death will come today, during the wedding!” Chief Steward Xu stood to the side, drenched in sweat, clutching the white jade bottle containing the Ninefold Nether Profound Water.
Patriarch Gu Yue Changsheng withdrew his palm. His face was slightly pale as he said heavily, “Wuxia rises because of fortune, and falls because of fortune. A mortal body attempting to bear a fragment of Heaven’s Will is defying Heaven from the start. Bring the Ninefold Nether Profound Water! No matter what, we must suppress this fire of fortune today. As long as he survives the wedding, he can use the Wang Clan Immortal Clan’s Profound Yin Phoenix Blood in dual cultivation. Then Wuxia will break through to Foundation Establishment in one stroke and emerge transformed!”
“Yes!”
Chief Steward Xu did not dare delay for even a moment. He hurried forward and carefully opened the seal on the white jade bottle.
In an instant, a bone-chilling, utmost-yin cold filled the secret chamber, faintly condensing into a dark-blue ice lotus in the air. Patriarch Gu Yue Changsheng personally wrapped the crystal-clear drop of Ninefold Nether Profound Water in spiritual power and slowly sent it into Gu Yue Wuxia’s mouth.
Boom!
The moment the Ninefold Nether Profound Water entered his body, Gu Yue Wuxia shuddered violently.
The fire of fortune that had been burning wildly across his skin encountered this most yin and most frigid sacred object of Heaven and Earth. It let out a piercing sizzle. The violent, scorching sensation rapidly receded, and the pain on Gu Yue Wuxia’s face gradually eased. The scarlet fire-lines began sinking beneath his skin.
“It worked! Patriarch, the Profound Water is effective!” Chief Steward Xu’s face lit up with wild delight.
Patriarch Gu Yue Changsheng also let out a slight breath of relief, a satisfied smile appearing in his eyes. “As expected of the Ninefold Nether Profound Water. Wuxia, circulate your cultivation method and guide the Profound Water into your dantian. Completely refine this fragment of Heaven’s Will!”
“Yes, Patriarch!”
Gu Yue Wuxia opened his eyes, proud and confident radiance flashing within them. He drew a deep breath and began frantically circulating the top-grade Heavenly Spiritual Root he took such pride in, attempting to fuse the Ninefold Nether Profound Water completely into his marrow.
Yet at the instant his cultivation method reached its core and every meridian in his body opened without reservation, something happened.
Within Gu Yue Wuxia’s perception, deep in the core of the Ninefold Nether Profound Water—which had originally been docile, utterly yin, and utterly cold—a thread of violet-gold light hidden so deeply that even the Nascent Soul patriarch had failed to detect it trembled without warning.
Boom—!
A vast Buddhist chant that seemed to come from an ancient Buddha suddenly exploded within Gu Yue Wuxia’s sea of consciousness!
The Great Sun Tathagata Demon-Subduing Karmic Fire that Fang Cunsheng had personally planted with the Ancient Buddha Blade was fully ignited at the critical point when the Ninefold Nether Profound Water and the fire of Heaven’s fortune completely fused, with hot and cold alternating at their most extreme!
“Ah—! What is this?! My meridians! My spiritual root!”
Gu Yue Wuxia suddenly let out a scream of unimaginable agony and violently sprang up from the ice-jade bed.
The scarlet fire of fortune that had already been extinguished was doused with what seemed like a bucket of ten-thousand-year spirit oil. In an instant, it erupted into violet-gold flames a hundred times more terrifying than before. The flames took on a bizarre form that was half-Buddha and half-demon, carrying endless demon-subduing intent and karmic retribution as they followed Gu Yue Wuxia’s fully opened meridians and began wildly burning his top-grade Heavenly Spiritual Root!
Water and fire out of balance, three flames devouring the heart!
“Wuxia!”
Patriarch Gu Yue Changsheng’s expression changed drastically. His Nascent Soul spiritual sense exploded outward as he tried to force his way in once more.
But how could a mortal resist Heaven’s cause and effect?
The moment the violet-gold karmic fire touched Patriarch Gu Yue Changsheng’s spiritual sense, it followed that sense and violently rebounded into the patriarch’s sea of consciousness. The Nascent Soul old monster spat out a mouthful of blood in shock and staggered back several steps, his eyes filled with terror and disbelief.
“Karmic fire… the Great Sun Tathagata Demon-Subduing True Intent?! Why is there a Buddhist powerhouse’s karmic fire inside this Profound Water? Who?! Who is scheming against my Gu Yue clan?!”
The immortal spirit energy filling the hall with festive joy was instantly torn apart by endless violet-gold flames.
Meanwhile, inside Clearwind Residence on the edge of the Gu Yue clan’s inner estate, Fang Cunsheng stood silently atop the mountain peak, his gray robes snapping in the howling wind. Through his Eye of Cause and Effect, he saw the golden cloud representing the Gu Yue clan’s fortune accumulated over a century above the distant Wuxia Immortal Hall. At that moment, it exploded with a thunderous roar, transforming into a rain of violet-gold fire that filled the sky.
“The Gu Yue clan’s wedding day…”
Fang Cunsheng slowly drew the Ancient Buddha Blade, black as ink, from his waist. Countless golden Buddhist mantras danced merrily along its blade. His cultivation was completely unsealed at this moment, and the pressure of peak seventh-level Qi Condensation no longer held back even a trace.
“Is also the moment you’re erased from the world.”
The young man descended the mountain with the blade in hand, his steps steady.
His true revenge had begun with a thunderous roar at the Gu Yue clan’s most illustrious, most triumphant peak!