By all rights, Pei Yuan Jin’s successful advancement to Golden Core called for fireworks, firecrackers, gongs, drums, and a grand celebration. But the dark clouds above Haojing showed no sign of dispersing, and the crisis remained unresolved.
Seeing Pei Yuan Jin’s tattered clothes and exposed chest, Fu Xi Yan immediately took off his own outer robe and draped it over him.
Fortunately, clothing in this era was not tailored as closely to the wearer’s figure as it had been in his previous life. Though the robe was a little short, it fit well enough once the belt was tied.
Fu Xi Yan had worn white today. Since successfully losing weight, he no longer insisted on colors that made him look slim and had begun rotating through all kinds of shades.
He had regretted choosing white earlier, knowing how easily it would get dirty on a long journey. But now, seeing Pei Yuan Jin wearing it, he thought it was absolutely perfect.
Of course a Sword God ought to wear white!
Besides, their next stop was to send those No-Return Sect demons, who had slaughtered innocent people, to their graves!
Fu Xi Yan had always despised the indiscriminate use of violence. But killing scoundrels like Zheng Jiao Jiao and Mo Xiao Ran could hardly count as indiscriminate slaughter. It was removing a scourge from the world and carrying out Heaven’s justice. Perhaps afterward golden light would descend from the heavens, and virtue would be bestowed upon them!
When Jiang Xiu learned they were going into Haojing, he simply dumped a pile of medicine bottles into their arms and sensibly climbed back aboard his carriage. He instructed the martial artist to take him far from the fighting. At a moment like this, the best support he could offer was not becoming a burden.
Whoever the tribulation clouds above Haojing had appeared for, they must stop that person from advancing!
Pei Yuan Jin was the first to dash toward Haojing.
Fu Xi Yan and Jing Luo followed close behind.
They were already near the city, so it took only a short while before the towering, imposing walls appeared before them.
Fu Xi Yan had grown up in Haojing and seen it in countless forms. Yet, speaking fairly, even after seeing the steel-and-concrete cities of the modern world, he could not say Haojing was inferior. The prosperous grandeur of an imperial capital, the profound foundations of a cultural center, and the orderly precision of its city plan all gave it a magnificence that could look down upon the ages.
But nothing he had ever seen of Haojing resembled the desolation before him.
Streets once packed with traffic stood shockingly empty. The houses lining them looked much the same, yet without people, they seemed visibly to decay. Even recently painted buildings had an air of abandonment.
Fu Xi Yan could bear only a hurried glance before turning away. Thankfully, this was temporary. Once they removed demons like Zheng Jiao Jiao and Mo Xiao Ran, the people could be safe again and peace restored.
* * *
The Haojing formation had produced schemes within schemes, traps linked to traps. Wang Yu, Zheng Jiao Jiao, the White Tiger King, and others had fallen one after another, while only Mo Xiao Ran remained standing. Thinking about it, if those men had joined forces, Mo Xiao Ran might not have lasted this long. Unfortunately, each had his own position and private ambitions, allowing Mo Xiao Ran to exploit every opening and destroy them one by one.
At present, Yin Fei Yu and Jin Yuan Xiu were the only remaining threat to him inside the city.
Yin Fei Yu had considered acting when the White Tiger King attacked, but Jin Yuan Xiu stopped her.
“Wait for the lightning tribulation,” she said.
The moment the White Tiger King struck, Jin Yuan Xiu realized he could not hold Mo Xiao Ran back. If they rushed in, they would merely give Mo Xiao Ran a chance to wipe them out together.
Only after she saw Mo Xiao Ran coughing up blood beneath the tribulation did Jin Yuan Xiu’s eyes brighten. Even then, she wanted to wait until he weakened further.
Yin Fei Yu was growing impatient. “If we keep waiting, he might complete his advancement!”
Jin Yuan Xiu said nothing, only glancing at the thunderclouds outside the city.
“Be patient,” she said.
All these years had taught her one thing: it was better to miss an opportunity than to gamble one’s life on it blindly. The White Tiger King’s fate proved just how important that lesson was.
Time passed little by little.
They watched Mo Xiao Ran cough up blood several times, then use the iron tower to redirect the lightning and gradually regain his composure. Yin Fei Yu’s heart seemed about to leap from her chest. Just then, the clouds outside the city suddenly dispersed.
Jin Yuan Xiu immediately charged out.
She had noticed that the thunderclouds outside Haojing had drifted toward the city from farther away, and from the moment they appeared, their lightning had been more violent than the lightning above Haojing. She had been comparing them all along and finally determined that the changes in Haojing’s clouds seemed to follow the changes in the clouds outside. She therefore guessed that the outer tribulation had begun first.
Very few people in the world had cultivation comparable to Mo Xiao Ran’s. Among the No-Return Sect, Zheng Jiao Jiao and the White Tiger King were already here, leaving only the General. But the General’s whereabouts were always unknown, and even if he were advancing, he would never make such a public display. Moreover, whoever was undergoing that tribulation had brought the clouds along while traveling, suggesting a desperate concern for Haojing. There was a ninety-nine percent chance the person belonged to the righteous path.
And that opportunity was worth risking her life for!
Never in her life had Jin Yuan Xiu run so fast. The road beneath her, the scenery on either side, and the wind whistling past her ears all vanished from her awareness. Only one thought remained: Hold Mo Xiao Ran back!
Racing past Mei Xia Ying’s corpse, she pulled Oriole’s Cry from his throat and drove it at the dent Wang Yu and the White Tiger King had made in the iron tower.
With a sharp metallic ring, Oriole’s Cry, passed from hand to hand so many times, finally fulfilled the ominous prophecy surrounding it. It “killed itself” on the spot, breaking in two.
But Jin Yuan Xiu did not stop. She gripped the hilt and drove the remaining half into the tower. The iron tower might have been a spiritual artifact, but even it could not withstand repeated damage of this magnitude. This strike became the final straw.
With one cracking sound after another, the iron tower that had nearly reduced Haojing to a ghost city finally snapped through the middle and crashed down!
Jin Yuan Xiu had just sprung clear when she heard Yin Fei Yu scream behind her. Without looking back, she dashed beneath the falling tower again, trying to reach the other side before it hit the ground. Once fallen, the tower would become an obstacle blocking Mo Xiao Ran’s pursuit.
Yes. Without even looking back, she had guessed from Yin Fei Yu’s cry and the inexplicable shiver running through her that Mo Xiao Ran was right behind her.
She had guessed half right.
Mo Xiao Ran really was behind her, but she did not escape. Using Object-Commanding Art, he seized her clothes and held her back for an instant. The falling tower was already overhead.
At that life-or-death moment, one graceful hand appeared beneath the tower, just above Jin Yuan Xiu’s head, and gently supported it. Another arm wrapped around her waist and whisked her away.
The tower struck the ground with an enormous crash, cutting off the view between the two sides.
After crying out, Yin Fei Yu found her feet rooted to the spot. She had prepared herself to fight Mo Xiao Ran to the death, but once the battle actually began, her legs refused to obey her.
Duan Qian, who had been guarding Ren Fei Ying and the others and carefully pretending to be invisible while the White Tiger King and Mei Xia Ying fought, finally emerged and dragged her back a short distance.
Only then did Yin Fei Yu seem to come alive again, gasping sharply.
Duan Qian had just opened his mouth when Yin Fei Yu gritted her teeth and rushed back into the fight.
Meanwhile, Mo Xiao Ran defended against the lightning while controlling the broken tip of Oriole’s Cry. He sent it flying at Jin Yuan Xiu and… Yan Xie, who had just performed the “hero saves the beauty” routine.
Yan Xie wore a faint, devil-may-care smile, but his eyes were grave. He held Jin Yuan Xiu around the waist and dodged the attacks, whispering, “Thank goodness I got here in time.”
Jin Yuan Xiu stared at Mo Xiao Ran amid the flashing lightning and said nothing.
Yan Xie asked, somewhat aggrieved, “You left without a word. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Jin Yuan Xiu’s mind was occupied entirely with how to kill Mo Xiao Ran. She answered impatiently, “Since I left without a word, of course I have nothing to say.”
Yan Xie: “…”
One spoke impatiently and the other sounded wounded, but to an outsider they looked unmistakably intimate, like a couple flirting and bickering.
The corner of Mo Xiao Ran’s mouth suddenly curved in a faint smile.
His already exceptional face became even more charming. Even his body, battered and wounded all over, seemed capable of inspiring the urge to protect him.
Yan Xie’s expression changed. The hand around Jin Yuan Xiu’s waist moved to cover her eyes.
Mo Xiao Ran suddenly appeared directly in front of them. Lightning struck from above and engulfed all three. Yan Xie instinctively shoved Jin Yuan Xiu away, only for Mo Xiao Ran to pull her into his embrace.
The lightning struck them, and Yan Xie’s forehead broke out in cold sweat. He nearly collapsed. His cultivation was insufficient, and this tribulation was already beyond what he could endure.
Jin Yuan Xiu was no better off. Gritting her teeth, she used Mo Xiao Ran’s body to support herself and barely remained standing. Her consciousness seemed clouded. Her head tilted slightly, and a wooden hairpin slipped free from her dark hair. Feigning a gesture to her forehead, she caught the pin and stabbed fiercely at Mo Xiao Ran’s heart.
Mo Xiao Ran sneered. The hairpin stopped the instant it touched his skin.
“I gave you a chance. It seems you’ve failed to seize it again.”
With a sigh, the wooden pin slowly turned in her hand and moved inch by inch toward her throat. Yan Xie rushed at them again, but Mo Xiao Ran spun with Jin Yuan Xiu in his arms and knocked him straight to the ground.
Yin Fei Yu and Duan Qian attacked together. Before either could come close, they were flung away.
Mo Xiao Ran looked down at Jin Yuan Xiu in his arms. “I’ll give you one more chance.”
The hairpin slowly pressed against her throat.
“Bear me a daughter,” he said with something like a sigh. “My son favors outsiders too much. He isn’t very obedient.”
Without waiting for her answer, Mo Xiao Ran pushed her away.
Without the iron tower, he had suffered more injuries, but beneath his calm demeanor lay an almost imperceptible sneer. He looked down at Jin Yuan Xiu with the certainty that everything was under his control, and the amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.
Another bolt struck. This time, Mo Xiao Ran felt the Golden Core within him rapidly taking shape. A tribulation of blessing! At last it had arrived. Even with his formidable composure, he couldn’t prevent joy from surfacing.
After so many years of plotting and scheming, he had finally reached this day.
The No-Return Sect’s techniques specialized in cultivating souls. Once this body attained Golden Core, the true qi within it could feed back into the soul. Even if Pei Xiong Ji and Pei Yuan Jin also reached Golden Core, he would still have a chance of winning!