Xia Yunzhao was only at the Golden Core stage now. Above Golden Core came Nascent Soul, above Nascent Soul came Soul Transformation, above Soul Transformation came Integration, and only above Integration came Mahayana.
For a Mahayana cultivator, crushing the two of them to death would be no harder than crushing an insect. The fact that they had survived under those circumstances, and without suffering any serious injuries, required even more luck than Xia casually picking up a Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm.
Thinking of the Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm reminded Xia Yunzhao of Brother Du and Jiang Hanchuan. Everything had happened so quickly that although he had swept the two of them into the secret realm, he had not had time to retrieve it, and he had no idea how they were doing now. Then there were Brother Zhong, Xiang Moyue, and the others. Who knew whether Qianyuan Sect would make trouble for them…
“There’s no use thinking too much.” Shang Shuangze took his hand. “Once we’ve recovered, we’ll go back and find them.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded hard. “Okay!”
Baiyujing was absolutely a sacred land for recuperation. The spiritual energy on the immortal mountain was pure and dense, and merely breathing through one’s nose and mouth drew in great quantities of it.
After their daily breathing exercises and meditation, Shang Shuangze would take Xia Yunzhao around Baiyujing. He had grown up on the mountain and knew every plant and tree there.
“That is the Sword-Inquiry Stone. It bears marks left by the founding ancestor. Whenever Baiyujing disciples hit a cultivation bottleneck, they like to sit there quietly and contemplate them.”
“This is the Hundred-Fruit Grove. There are five hundred and thirty-eight spirit-fruit trees inside. When harvest season comes, the fragrance of a hundred fruits fills the air, and spirit monkeys often come to steal fruit.”
“That mist-shrouded peak is called Flowing-Cloud Peak. It is the home of the Flowing-Cloud Whales. The one beside it is Xianyun Peak, Master’s cave dwelling.”
“Over there…”
In Baiyujing’s mountain-gate hall, Martial Uncle Changming sat leaning against a jade pillar and smiled. “Little Shuangze has never said this much in his entire life.”
Beside him, another three-heads-tall child said lazily, “What is there to say to old fellows like us?”
A little girl said, “Come to think of it, I always thought that with Little Shuangze’s personality, he might not find a Dao companion even by the age of two hundred. I never expected him to find one the very first time he went down the mountain.”
“That little Dao companion is so full of spiritual vitality. I wonder when Little Shuangze will bring him over to meet us.”
“Maybe it’s better if he doesn’t. We might scare the child…”
People truly could not withstand being talked about. Just as the group of three-heads-tall elders were discussing them, footsteps sounded outside.
Xia Yunzhao looked up curiously. The enormous jade dome was far grander than anything in Qianyuan Sect. “Is this the mountain gate? It’s huge!”
Shang Shuangze led him up the stone steps. “It is both the mountain gate and the main hall. The founding ancestor said that everyone in Baiyujing is a sword cultivator, so there is no need to fear anyone attacking us. The main hall might as well be at the entrance.”
Xia Yunzhao: “…” Somehow, he could even hear an undertone of please attack us so we can beat you up legally.
Shang Shuangze brought him into the hall. Xia Yunzhao swept his gaze around and was stunned. Why were there so many children? Had Baiyujing just taken in a new batch of disciples?
Then Shang Shuangze cupped his hands and bowed respectfully. “Greetings, Martial Uncles and Martial Aunts.”
Countless thoughts flashed through Xia Yunzhao’s mind. He immediately bowed as well. “Greetings, Martial Uncles and Martial Aunts.”
“Hey, get up, get up.” A tiny figure appeared in front of them in an instant, moving so quickly that Xia Yunzhao startled.
“We were just talking about you.” Martial Uncle Changming pulled Xia Yunzhao farther inside. “The Demon Ruins are below. Don’t be afraid. You won’t fall in.”
Xia Yunzhao paused, then followed the pull. “Yes, Martial Uncle.” He looked down. Thick gray-black mist churned between the white-jade pillars. Countless monsters seemed to lurk within it, but when he looked more carefully, it also seemed possible that the shapes were only illusions created by the fog.
Martial Uncle Changming pulled Xia Yunzhao to the center of the hall. More than a dozen Martial Uncles and Martial Aunts crowded around to inspect him. “Not bad, not bad. Little Shuangze, well done!”
“What should we give him as a meeting gift? I’ve used up all my magical treasures…”
“Give him money. Let the child buy whatever he likes!”
“Makes sense!”
“Little Xia, take this and spend it for fun.”
Xia Yunzhao scrambled to answer and thank everyone while someone stuffed a bulging storage pouch into his hands. He opened it and nearly jumped. Inside were three mountains of spirit stones, large, medium, and small! “M-Martial Uncle! This is far too valuable. I can’t accept it! Wait, Martial Uncle…”
Martial Uncle Changming smiled and waved one hand. A gust of wind wrapped around Xia Yunzhao and sent him flying outside. “All right, all right. If we gave it to you, take it. We have nowhere to spend it anyway. Time’s up. Hurry out.”
“Wait!” Xia Yunzhao flew backward uncontrollably and watched the black fog below surge up and swallow the entire hall.
Xia Yunzhao landed and saw Shang Shuangze beside him. He immediately snapped, “Why didn’t you help me?!”
Shang Shuangze’s eyes held a smile. “They like you very much.”
Xia Yunzhao glared at him, then looked back toward the hall now buried in black fog. “What is that?”
“Those are the Demon Ruins.” At the topic, Shang Shuangze’s smile faded. “The Demon Ruins gather demonic qi from beneath heaven into one place. Baiyujing uses Astral Jade Pillars to suppress the demonic qi and keep it from returning to the mortal world. But the demonic qi is growing stronger. Before long, the suppression technique may fail.”
He fell silent. The last time he had returned, the mist beneath the jade pillars had still been white streaked with gray. This time, it had become gray streaked with black. The backlash of demonic qi was advancing faster than any of them had expected.
Xia Yunzhao suddenly took his hand. “Didn’t Master write before that heart-cultivation methods can eliminate demonic qi? Let’s ask him. There has to be a way!”
No matter how difficult the situation was, once it reached Xia Yunzhao, it seemed to reduce to a single sentence: there had to be a way!
Shang Shuangze looked at him and suddenly smiled. “All right.”
They did indeed find Yue Shanfeng fishing on Xianyun Peak.
The old man was in a good mood. A jug of wine stood on the stone table beside him, its fragrance clear and crisp.
“Master!” Xia Yunzhao called him Master without the slightest hesitation. “We were just looking for you!”
Yue Shanfeng’s face folded into a broad smile. “What do you need your master for?”
“We just went to the main hall to meet the Martial Uncles and Martial Aunts. Shang Shuangze said there’s even more demonic qi in the Demon Ruins than before. Didn’t you say before that heart-cultivation methods can eliminate demonic qi?” Xia Yunzhao explained the matter in a few sentences. “Could it be that they don’t work?”
“That.” Yue Shanfeng pulled in his fishing line, tied a knot, then tossed it back out. “They should work.”
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze exchanged a look. “Should?”
Yue Shanfeng said, “Only heart cultivators can practice heart-cultivation methods. Changming, Kunwu, and I have studied them for a very long time and still haven’t found the proper way.”
Xia Yunzhao frowned and remembered the demonic cultivator Cang Yeli whom they had seen inside the secret-realm fragment. If he were willing to help… Forget it. The man had disappeared afterward, and no one knew where he was now.
He hurriedly asked, “Then what about demonic artifacts? Could those work?”
This time Yue Shanfeng was the one taken aback. “Demonic artifacts?”
Xia Yunzhao flipped his hand, and a peculiar dossier appeared in his palm: Record of Spoils from the Demon-Slaying Campaign!
“It records the whereabouts of many demonic artifacts. If demonic artifacts are useful, couldn’t we borrow some and try?”
Yue Shanfeng’s mouth fell open. He looked at Xia Yunzhao, then at Shang Shuangze. “Disciple, where exactly did you trick such a capable Dao companion into following you?”
Xia Yunzhao: “…I’m talking to you about something serious!”
Yue Shanfeng shook his head regretfully. “Unfortunately, demonic artifacts are useless.” He tapped Xia Yunzhao on the forehead. “You’re a little fool too. If demonic artifacts worked, after the battle at Wangjin Sea, wouldn’t our sect’s predecessors have brought those artifacts back with them?”
Xia Yunzhao suddenly reacted. “Right! Baiyujing didn’t participate in the battle at Wangjin Sea!”
Yue Shanfeng looked puzzled. “You two even know that?”
Shang Shuangze poured him wine. “Please explain it to us, Master.”
Yue Shanfeng did not evade the question. He said simply, “At the time, the sect’s predecessors did not agree with going to war against the demonic cultivators. They originally intended to go to Wangjin Sea to stop the battle, but Wentian Sect was determined to fight. They used a scheme beforehand and trapped our people. By the time they arrived, the battle was already over.”
So that was what had happened… Xia Yunzhao seized the opportunity to ask, “Why did that battle happen in the first place? Was it really because the spirit cultivators were afraid demonic cultivators could control them with demonic qi?”
Yue Shanfeng shook his head. “I don’t know either. The sect has no records of it. More than eight thousand years have passed since the battle at Wangjin Sea. The details were not handed down, and most of the jade-slip records were destroyed. It isn’t only Baiyujing. The other sects are the same.”
Xia Yunzhao frowned. One mystery had been solved, only to produce even more mysteries.
He decided to switch tracks and asked curiously, “Since Baiyujing didn’t participate in the battle at Wangjin Sea, why did suppressing the Demon Ruins become Baiyujing’s responsibility?”
Yue Shanfeng smiled and looked at him fondly. “You’ve never been to Wentian Sect, but you’ve seen what Qianyuan Sect is like. If we let them suppress the Demon Ruins, would you feel safe?”
Xia Yunzhao shook his head immediately. Safe, his ass. If the Demon Ruins were beneath Qianyuan Sect, they would not even need long. Give them half a year and Duxu City would probably be full of demonic cultivators from top to bottom.
Yue Shanfeng laughed. “Neither would I. That’s exactly why something like this is safest when it stays under our own noses.” He sighed. “But it won’t stay safe for much longer. At most two years. By then, the white-jade pillars will break, and everyone under heaven will have to fend for themselves.”
He narrowed his eyes at the churning sea of clouds in the distance. After a long while, he said, “You two don’t know this, but Baiyujing used to be magnificent. I saw it when I was young. By the time Shuangze was a child, it was already very different… Back then, Baiyujing had far more than these few spirit mountains. There were three thousand immortal mountains nearby, enough to house a hundred thousand sword cultivators… Now they’ve all been worn away.”
Xia Yunzhao tightened his grip on Shang Shuangze’s hand, grief rising in his heart. Baiyujing had guarded the Demon Ruins for eight thousand years, and it had consumed a once-flourishing sword-cultivation sect until only this much remained? No wonder Dao Venerable Guanwei and the others did not dare come to Baiyujing and make trouble. If Baiyujing fell, demonic qi could return to the world overnight!
“So hurry up and form your bond,” Yue Shanfeng said, changing the subject. “If you wait another two years, forget me. Even Baiyujing itself may be gone.”
Xia Yunzhao: “…” He did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Don’t worry, Master. We’ll definitely let you see that day.”
* * *
Another three days passed, and their injuries finally stabilized. They had not been badly hurt to begin with, and Martial Uncle Kunwu had been stuffing them with pills as though they cost nothing, forcibly multiplying the speed of their recovery.
Both of them were worried about Duxu City. The moment their injuries improved, they prepared to return.
Baiyujing’s Spatial Jade Fang was extremely flexible and did not require them to return to the exact place they had left from. The two loaded up on protective magical treasures, covered themselves in Invisibility Talismans, and finally returned to the foot of Qianyuan Sect’s mountain.
They had assumed only a short time had passed and Qianyuan Sect would still have people searching for them. Instead, the mountain gate was tightly shut, with no one entering or leaving.
Both froze and looked at each other. “Let’s go into the city and see.”
With Qianyuan Sect’s gates closed, Duxu City had naturally been affected as well. All three markets were less lively than before.
Still, Duxu City was a major city. Plenty of merchant caravans and travelers came and went every day, so it was nowhere near deserted.
The two crossed the streets quietly and reached the cultivation cave dwelling, then knocked on the door.
A lowered voice immediately came from inside. “Who is it?”
Half the tension in Xia Yunzhao’s heart collapsed at once. “Brother Zhong, it’s me!”
The moment Zhong Yundu opened the door, Xia Yunzhao could not wait even a second. He rushed inside and started counting heads before anyone had time to react. One, two, three… Everyone was there except Brother Du!
“Thank goodness, thank goodness…” Xia Yunzhao had not even finished saying what he was thankful for when Su Meng threw himself at him with a howl. “City Looooord!”
The poor kid had not had it easy. He was timid to begin with, and one trip outside had frightened him eight times every three days.
Xia Yunzhao was shaken back and forth in his embrace and continued, “Now Brother Du is the only one missing. I have no idea where that Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm flew off to…”
“The Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm?” Xiang Moyue walked over and looked the two of them up and down. Once he saw that Xia Yunzhao was uninjured, he quietly relaxed. “If you mean that secret realm, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately asked, “You know where it is?”
Xiang Moyue pointed with his Jade-Bone Fan. “Look over there.”
Xia Yunzhao turned around. Wasn’t that the Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm spinning cheerfully around inside the cave dwelling? He had not expected the thing to be so obedient!
“Come back!” Xia Yunzhao beckoned. The secret realm obediently flew over and entered his sea of consciousness. Xia Yunzhao hurriedly released the people inside. “Brother Du!”
“Xiao Xia!” Du Yan forgot everything else. The last thing he had seen was the Mahayana cultivator striking down with one palm, and the sight had nearly frightened his soul from his body. His newly formed Nascent Soul had almost suffered qi deviation.
Now, seeing Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze alive in front of him, he finally felt as though he had come back to life. “As long as you’re all right. As long as you’re all right!”
Zhong Yundu and the others found it strange too. “Did you swallow an immortal pill or something? We haven’t seen you for a few days and now you’re already at Nascent Soul?”
They were not merely teasing him. Everyone knew perfectly well that Du Yan’s cultivation had not improved all these years not because his talent was poor, but because he had refused to cultivate. The knot in his heart had never been untied. Now he had taken a single step into Nascent Soul. Had his heart demon finally been resolved?
Du Yan’s expression paused. Xia Yunzhao immediately said, “Forget that for now. We rescued someone else too! Make some room.” Without waiting for a response, he pressed both hands down and the unconscious Jiang Hanchuan appeared.
“Hm…” Everyone inspected him for a moment. “Isn’t that the male cultivator with the conical hat?”
Xia Yunzhao nodded and quickly explained Jiang Hanchuan’s background in a few sentences.
Before anyone could even finish sighing over it, he asked, “Now it’s your turn. What’s the situation in Duxu City?”
“Not bad,” Zhong Yundu said. “That day, the two of you threw Qianyuan Sect into complete chaos, yet they didn’t make any statement at all. Instead, they simply closed the mountain gates.”
“Actually closed them? Or just pretending so they can lure us out?” Xia Yunzhao could not believe Qianyuan Sect’s temper was suddenly that good.
“They really closed them.” Xiang Moyue waved his fan with refined elegance. “Not a single Qianyuan Sect disciple has come down the mountain since that day. Their businesses in Duxu City have also been quietly handed over to affiliated powers to manage.”
“That doesn’t look like a short-term seclusion…” Xia Yunzhao rubbed his chin. “First they held the Qianyuan Grand Competition early, then they collected disciples with special constitutions, and now they’ve closed the mountain gates… Did something happen to Qianyuan Sect, or did they foresee something in advance?”
The mention of foresight made him turn immediately. “A-Ying? Have you seen anything?”
Su Ying, who had remained silent and had even been too embarrassed to throw himself at Xia like his younger brother, hesitated. “I did see something, but it doesn’t seem related to this…”
“That’s fine. Tell us first. We can decide together whether it’s related.” Xia Yunzhao encouraged him to speak freely.
Su Ying was still hesitant, but since the City Lord had said so, he finally began. “I saw you again, City Lord, flying through the sky on Cloudwater Ferry, laughing loudly while throwing something down. The city below was completely blood-red…”
Xia Yunzhao: “?”
Su Ying shrank his neck. “I-I told you it didn’t seem related…”
Xia Yunzhao: “…”
Xia Yunzhao said, “Fine. It really doesn’t seem related. Forget it. Qianyuan Sect’s people aren’t leaving their mountain anyway, so we don’t need to worry about retaliation. We found what we came for too. Come on, pack up. We’re going home!”
Everyone had wanted to leave for ages. So early the next morning, a spotless white treasure ship mixed among the many merchant caravans and flew out of Duxu City.
When they reached Wangjin Sea again, everyone was far calmer than before. Whether they encountered ordinary storms or spiritual-energy storms, they passed through safely without incident.
Who said traveling did not train people? Just look at how much their seafaring ability had improved. If everyone suddenly lost their cultivation now, they could probably support themselves as fishermen by the sea.
Xia Yunzhao brought Jiang Hanchuan with them as well.
Jiang Hanchuan still had not woken up. Du Yan examined him and found that his original constitution was very ordinary. He merely had a Yellow-grade spirit root, and he did not possess a Bedrock Body either. He had used some method to fake both, probably so he could infiltrate Qianyuan Sect.
And in order to set up the Qianyuan Spirit-Severing Formation, using the Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stone as the catalyst, he had exhausted all of his cultivation and vitality in one breath.
He had genuinely intended to die inside that formation. Even if the formation could not destroy Qianyuan Sect, it was the last thing he could do for Fushui River.
On his first day aboard the ship, Jiang Hanchuan’s hair began turning white. It was a sign that his vitality had already been exhausted.
Fortunately, there happened to be an extraordinarily gifted pill cultivator on board. His life was not meant to end yet.
Xia Yunzhao searched out more than ten pill recipes and barely managed to keep him alive. As for the rest, they would deal with it after returning to Qingxi City.
He had not pulled from the gacha in a long time either. It was about time Xiao Qing got a full meal.
After everything had been handled, Xia Yunzhao finally quieted down that night. They had not spent long in Duxu City, but so much had happened that it almost felt like another lifetime. And they had even taken the opportunity to visit Shang Shuangze’s sect… In that case, didn’t that mean they had met the parents?
“Shang Shuangze.” Xia Yunzhao leaned against him and let himself be held and patted. When he raised his head again, his voice had turned soft and sticky with a nasal note. He leaned in and kissed the tip of Shang Shuangze’s nose. “It’s been a long time since we…”
Shang Shuangze’s eyes slowly closed. When he opened them again, his gaze had deepened. “I was going to let you rest for one more day.”
“I’m not that tired…” The rest of his voice dropped lower and lower.
Their two shadows drew closer. The sea wind could not penetrate Cloudwater Ferry’s defenses, and the treasure lamp inside the inner chamber flickered between bright and dim.
Suddenly, Xia Yunzhao heard a soft laugh and snapped fully awake. “Who’s there?”
Shang Shuangze’s gaze turned sharp. “Come out!”
The laughter gradually became clearer. A red figure shifted from insubstantial to solid beside their bed. On that nearly translucent, pale face was a teasing smile. “My apologies. It has been a long time since I saw such an inseparable little couple. I couldn’t help myself. Forgive me, forgive me.”
It was Cang Yeli.