Far away in Qingzhou City, ten thousand miles distant.
Exiting the Hundred Ghost Tower and turning right, then walking straight before taking a left, one would find a small tavern nestled at the end of an alley.
On ordinary days, cultivators who had just visited the black market would occasionally stop by for a drink and some idle chatter.
During the Xuantian Grand Competition, however, the tavern was packed to the brim, with not a single seat left vacant.
Many cultivators even made special trips just to visit.
This was because the tavern owner had a sharp business mind—he had long commissioned an artificer to craft an oversized Mystic Heaven Mirror, which he placed right in the center of the tavern for patrons to watch.
A young girl rushed in, darting straight to a table by the wall before eagerly asking, "Well? Well? Has Qingling Mountain finished mining the spirit stones yet?"
Her companion replied, "They’re done. They’ve entered the main hall now."
Tian Fuqu focused her gaze on the mirror and immediately brightened with pride. "Beautiful! Just as expected of my senior brothers and sisters from Qingling Mountain!"
The group watched and chatted, analyzing along with Wen Shuangbai and Lu Jiayao as they studied the stone murals.
But as they talked, they suddenly noticed something amiss and turned to the stunned girl beside them. "Fuqu? Why are you spacing out?"
Tian Fuqu snapped out of her daze, murmuring in disbelief, "I’ve seen these murals before… I grew up looking at them… This—this is the life story of Lord Tiansang from my hometown!"
Born in Tiansang Town, Tian Fuqu had heard tales of Lord Tiansang from her elders since childhood.
In Tiansang Town, the people did not worship deities or buddhas during festivals—they only paid homage to Lord Tiansang. The town was dotted with Lord Tian Temples, and the carvings on their walls bore a sixty to seventy percent resemblance to those on the lotus pagoda displayed in the Mystic Heaven Mirror.
Modern-day Tiansang Town was prosperous and peaceful, a far cry from the Tiansang Village of five hundred years ago. She had never made the connection before.
Overcome with emotion, Tian Fuqu took out her own Mystic Heaven Mirror and began sending messages.
["Tiansang Village is today’s Tiansang Town, and the village chief was our guardian deity, Lord Tiansang! He wasn’t a malevolent spirit—he was just possessed by one. As someone from Tiansang Town, I hope everyone understands that without him, our town wouldn’t exist as it does today."]
["What do you mean?"]
["Huh? An insider?"]
["Tiansang Town? Never heard of it."]
["The Xuantian Continent has countless towns—it’s normal not to know. It’s in Qingzhou, right?"]
["Yes, it’s in Qingzhou, right next to my hometown. I’ve heard the legends of Lord Tiansang too. I was just about to mention it."]
Tian Fuqu continued typing. ["The stone murals only show Lord Tiansang leading the villagers to build the underground palace. The rest isn’t depicted there, but the Lord Tian Temples in our town have carvings of what happened afterward."]
["Fellow cultivator, please elaborate."]
["Tell us what happened next!"]
["Afterward, Lord Tiansang was corrupted by the malevolent spirits, but he realized it in time and warned the villagers, telling them to hide in the underground palace through a dog hole. This was his contingency plan. From the very beginning, he must have foreseen his own fate."]
Tian Fuqu’s voice trembled slightly as she recalled the story, her vision blurring as she typed.
["At first, the villagers who hid in the underground palace were safe. But the village’s food supplies were limited, and day by day, they dwindled. No one knew how much longer they could hold out. Then, Lord Tiansang’s mother stepped forward—she chose to leave the underground palace and enter the array’s cycle. By exploiting loopholes in the formation, she managed to harvest crops from the fields and deliver them to the villagers. But the array only granted seven days of safety. After that, she perished… and there was no one left to bring food. So other adults took her place. In the end, on the seventh day, the last group of adults sealed the dog hole after delivering the final batch of food. Under the sacrifice of the entire village, five children survived on the food bought with their elders’ lives, enduring until the Holy Pagoda emerged. Those five children were our ancestors. When they grew up, they returned together to rebuild Tiansang Town and passed down the story through generations."]
For a long time, the cultivators in the Mystic Heaven Mirror fell silent. They wanted to say something, but words felt inadequate.
Finally, one cultivator typed: ["I want to visit a Lord Tian Temple and offer incense."]
["Me too."]
["Same."]
["And I."]
["…"]
…
—
At the entrance of Tiansang Village within the emerald illusion.
Wen Shuangbai gazed at the resilient, clear-eyed young man before her and answered, "Yes and no."
Tiansang frowned. "What do you mean?"
Yes was yes, and no was no—how could it be both?
This faint, lingering figure was likely a wisp of spiritual consciousness left behind by Senior Tiansang.
To split one’s consciousness and use it to guard an array, Tiansang must have been at least a high-level Transcendent Realm cultivator.
Though the man himself was long gone, his spiritual consciousness retained awareness and thought. Wen Shuangbai saw no reason to hide the truth. "Senior, I am from five hundred years in the future."
Tiansang paused, then broke into a genuine smile. "Does that mean… humanity survived the malevolent spirits? We endured?"
He was truly overjoyed.
Wen Shuangbai found herself smiling too. "Yes. The Xuantian Continent is now divided into seven provinces. I am a disciple of Qingling Mountain in Qingzhou. Qingling Mountain unified all the sects of Qingzhou from five hundred years ago—including the Lingshan Sect. That’s why I said, ‘yes and no.’"
Tiansang nodded firmly. "Then you are."
He studied Wen Shuangbai. "Your aura feels familiar… similar to my shijie’s. Are you from the same lineage?"
"Shijie?" Wen Shuangbai asked. "The woman who vanished after the Yin-Yang Deception Array was completed—the one depicted in the stone carvings?"
"That’s her." Tiansang’s smile faltered slightly. "You’ve never heard of her? Shijie Yu Qingrong."
Wen Shuangbai searched her memory but shook her head.
She truly had never heard the name.
Tiansang’s expression grew solemn. "Does Lingshan Veil talisman paper still exist in this era?"
"Very little," Wen Shuangbai admitted. "The method to craft Lingshan Veil was lost five hundred years ago."
The young man slowly rose, gazing silently at the winding path beyond the village for a long time.
Finally, he spoke again. "You said your name is Shuangbai?"
Wen Shuangbai nodded. "Yes."
"Shuangbai." Tiansang turned to face her. "Now that all is settled, there’s one thing I still cannot let go of. Will you help me?"
Wen Shuangbai bowed slightly. "Senior, please speak."
"When the Lingshan Sect was annihilated, Shijie and I escaped. After she helped me set up the array in the village, she left for Zhuoguang City."
Tiansang paused. "The method to craft Lingshan Veil was in Shijie’s possession. If it’s been lost… then something must have happened to her. I want you to go to Zhuoguang City and search for her… Five hundred years… If you cannot find her, then at least try to recover the method. It should not be lost. This was Shijie’s wish—my wish—the wish of every Lingshan disciple. As long as Lingshan Veil exists, so do we."]
Wen Shuangbai was deeply moved and replied, "Shuangbai will spare no effort!"
"There’s no need to burden yourself. Just take a look—if you can’t find it, then it’s simply fate." Tian Sang closed his eyes, spread his arms, and stood at the village entrance, feeling the gentle breeze of the illusion. With a sense of release, he said, "I’ve waited here for five hundred years. Now that my descendants have come for me, my duty is fulfilled. It’s time for my soul to return to the Xuantian Continent and reunite with my departed loved ones."
As his words faded, Wen Shuangbai was ejected from the illusion.
She flipped midair and landed steadily, reassuring her worried teammates, "I’m fine. I’ll explain everything once we’re out."
The hall began to tremble, and strange phenomena gradually appeared around the Lotus Tower.
The six of them wasted no time. Wen Shuangbai didn’t forget to pull along Xie Ziyin, who couldn’t see clearly, and they immediately dashed out of the hall.
Just as all six escaped the great hall, the faint green light, like a spark to tinder, ignited the primordial spirit stone. A massive surge of spiritual energy erupted, blowing the Lotus Tower apart. The entire underground hall began to collapse, and the force that had previously forbidden flight vanished.
Wen Shuangbai pulled Xie Ziyin onto Eldest Brother’s narrow sword.
Seeing this, Shen Hefeng and Lu Jiayao instinctively boarded Li Zhuohua’s Rainbow Sword.
The two swords shot swiftly into the sky above the plaza—only to fly straight out of the Sacred Tower.
The six of them: "……?"
Outside the Sacred Tower, it was daytime.
The afternoon sun was lazy, and birds perched drowsily among the lush branches, only to be startled awake by a series of loud thuds, sending them scattering in panic.
Eldest Brother’s narrow sword had crashed into a tree.
Yin Xuan rubbed his forehead, sore from the impact, and stared up at the birds soaring high against the blue sky and white clouds. Brushing a few fallen leaves and feathers from his face, he thought silently:
Couldn’t the Sacred Tower have given a warning?
If he’d known, he would’ve flown slower.
Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin reacted quickly, jumping off the sword just before the collision.
Steadying herself, Wen Shuangbai turned to look back at the Sacred Tower.
It stood there, towering like a verdant mountain.
And—whether it was her imagination or not—she felt as though a faint wisp of pale green energy drifted out from the tower, merging into the real world’s afternoon breeze.
The breeze never ceased.
Wen Shuangbai stood still, watching as the wind flew freely into the distance.
When she snapped out of her thoughts, she noticed the Mystic Heaven Mirror at her waist vibrating incessantly.
Was this… the Sacred Tower issuing their rewards?
She took it out to check.
Footsteps approached from the side, and from the corner of her eye, she recognized the familiar hem of that infuriating man’s robe. Ignoring him, she focused on the message displayed on the Mystic Heaven Mirror.
[Congratulations to you and your team for successfully solving the [Yin-Yang Deception Array]. Reward: 1,000 Sacred Stones.]
[The first round of the Xuantian Grand Competition, [The Tian Family Mystery], has concluded. Congratulations to you and your team for obtaining a total of 1,318 Sacred Stones.]
One Sacred Stone was worth a thousand spirit stones.
That meant over a million and three hundred thousand.
Add to that the primordial spirit stones they’d acquired, the Spirit Mountain Veil talisman paper, rare medicinal ingredients…
Wen Shuangbai turned to Xie Ziyin, who was squinting at her Mystic Heaven Mirror, and excitedly grabbed her fellow villager’s hand. "I love Elder Tian Sang! I love the Sacred Tower!"
Xie Ziyin: "?"
Xie Ziyin: "Then why are you grabbing me?"
Xie Ziyin: "You should go hug the Sacred Tower."
So Wen Shuangbai promptly let go of him and ran toward the tower.
Xie Ziyin: "……"
Seriously? He was just joking.
Li Zhuohua approached with the two junior brothers, watching curiously. "What’s Shuangbai doing?"
Xie Ziyin: "She’s having a moment. Don’t mind her."
Meanwhile, Lu Jiayao was still counting on his fingers: "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands…"
Shen Hefeng teased: "One, two, three, four, five."
Distracted mid-count, Lu Jiayao forgot where he was: "……"
Seeing Lu Jiayao raise a fist at him, Shen Hefeng dodged nimbly—only to spot a large brownish object rolling rapidly toward them from the direction of the Sacred Tower, thud-thud-thudding along.
"What’s that?" Lu Jiayao lowered his fist, puzzled.
Once he got a clear look, Shen Hefeng burst into laughter. "It’s a giant turtle shell! Could this be a grand gift from the Sacred Tower to this humble Daoist?!"
"Hahahaha, many thanks to the Sacred Tower for its generosity!" The young Daoist danced gleefully toward the rolling shell, trying to stop it—only to fail to lift it. "Good heavens, how is this so heavy?!"
Shen Hefeng called for help. "Lu Jiayao, Zhuohua-jie, Yin Xuan, come help me carry this!"
Lu Jiayao and Li Zhuohua stepped forward to assist, while Yin Xuan, sitting under a tree, glanced over before spotting the hunched figure of the Jade Rhinoceros Valley elder slowly approaching. He remained unmoved.
Shen Hefeng stroked the beautifully patterned shell, grinning from ear to ear. "Hehehe, what a treasure! Help me take it back—I’ll craft another set of turtle armor."
The elder, who had been ambling leisurely, suddenly quickened his pace at Shen Hefeng’s words. He stomped heavily on the shell and explained, "Young ones from Qingling Mountain, this won’t do! This is my turtle son—still very much alive."
The turtle son being stepped on: "……"
