Qi Quanting's words struck like a thunderbolt, leaving minds blank.
"Master Qi, what do you mean..."
Even when learning about the thirty hideouts of the Tianqi organization, Li Guoyan hadn't been this shaken.
Qi Quan spoke rapidly yet steadily.
"I've studied the map of Longjing City and identified several key nodal points. He Xiuyu has spent decades laying out an exquisitely perfect sacrificial array across Longjing. Even if not the entire city, at least half of Longjing will become his altar."
"Isn't he afraid of heavenly retribution?"
Previously, when targeting Qi Quan and Ling Sheng, he had only used methods to suppress their fortunes.
Qi Quan: "He has deceived everyone."
Li Guoyan: "..."
"All his 'gentle' methods, seemingly designed to exploit loopholes in the heavenly way, seemingly avoiding direct confrontation with it, are actually just a smokescreen."
Qi Quan's tone was firm.
"His true goal is to defy heaven itself."
No matter how special the ghost technique, no matter how 'gentle' the sacrificial ritual, they cannot conceal their essence of harming people.
No ghost can truly become a Ghost King through such sacrificial rituals.
He Xiuyu must have long guessed this.
But he was unwilling to accept it.
If the heavenly way wouldn't allow him to become a Ghost King and escape the cycle of reincarnation, then he would defy the heavenly way.
As "favorites of the heavenly way," Qi Quan and Ling Sheng were not mere obstacles in his eyes, but the most perfect sacrificial offerings he had meticulously selected.
All the clues he intentionally revealed earlier were solely to mislead the authorities, to lure Qi Quan and Ling Sheng, forcing them to voluntarily enter Longjing City, this grand altar.
Li Guoyan: "Master, what should we do?"
"I have identified several hub points. Notify the metaphysical masters in Longjing City, unite all forces, and first disrupt these hubs."
To operate such a vast and complex array, different smaller arrays need to be combined, much like a massive machine assembled from various parts.
But arrays differ from machines.
A machine missing a part might cease to function; an array might not.
From the map, Qi Quan could only roughly locate several particularly special positions. These positions were the hubs connecting the array. Destroying the hubs might disrupt the array's normal operation.
Each hub was a small array itself.
Li Guoyan: "Understood."
He trusted Qi Quan completely. Following Qi Quan's deductions, he immediately notified all metaphysical factions in Longjing City to fight for the city's defense!
Sect leaders and family heads like Fu Jiuchong, Yin Yi, and Yan Huai responded one after another, leading elders and disciples to destroy the arrays at various hubs.
But when they arrived, they were all dumbfounded.
They simply couldn't find where the arrays were!
Arrays of Ghost General level were beyond their perception.
Moreover, these array sites were all in densely populated areas. To dismantle the arrays, they first had to evacuate the crowds, adding pressure to the destruction effort.
If it was truly as Senior Qi predicted—that once activated, half of Longjing would become lambs on the altar—then they were now in a race against time.
They couldn't stand by and watch Longjing's citizens lose their lives.
Trusting in Qi Quan, no one questioned the existence of the arrays.
But what to do now?
Senior Qi was traveling from Longjiang to Long...jing. By car, it would take six hours—far too long.
Li Guoyan immediately issued an order for Shen Hui to drive to the nearest city's airport, where a flight was already on standby.
"Master, they haven't found the arrays," Li Guoyan reported, his voice heavy.
This was within Qi Quan's expectations.
If He Xiuyu could let them find it easily, he wouldn't have remained hidden for so many years undiscovered.
If he didn't possess such great capability, how would he dare to contend with the heavenly way?
Longjing City had the most powerful metaphysical forces. That he could construct such a massive array right under their noses, completely undetected, spoke volumes about his caution and strength.
His previous appearance via the stone statue likely meant he was fully prepared.
Yet, despite being well-prepared, He Xiuyu hadn't activated the array, indicating he was waiting for a specific moment.
A moment when the lambs would walk into the tiger's den.
Qi Quan already had a guess in mind. "The array won't activate immediately. Evacuate the crowds first."
Li Guoyan: "Alright."
Soon, the plane was over Longjing City.
Viewing the entire city from high above was more intuitive than looking at a map.
Qi Quan, with her peak Human Emperor realm spiritual sense, probed downward, and the layout of Longjing City unfolded completely in her mind.
She looked at Ling Sheng.
Ling Sheng nodded in tacit understanding, closed his eyes, and began communing with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Lower-level masters couldn't see the arrays, but Qi Quan, being of the same level, could "see" them, and Ling Sheng, through communion with the spiritual energy, could also "see."
The two divided the city in half, each responsible for one side.
The plane landed at the airport, where Li Guoyan personally met them.
This matter now concerned the fate of the entire city, the most heart-stopping case he had handled in his career.
As soon as Qi Quan and Ling Sheng got in the car, they handed him the marked locations of the arrays.
The arrays avoided the city center, where the concentration of fortune was extremely thick. No matter how arrogant He Xiuyu was, he wouldn't dare place an array there.
Most arrays were set in the outer city or suburbs.
With the city's expansion in recent years, the population in outer city and suburban areas had grown significantly. New commercial buildings and residential areas gathered massive numbers of people.
Eighty-one locations in total.
Li Guoyan's expression turned grave. "He really went to great lengths!"
With so many locations, they simply didn't have time to dismantle them all.
Qi Quan said, "There's another way."
"What?"
"Find the array's core and destroy it."
Li Guoyan: "The core... he must be at the core!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Di Meng, who was driving, suddenly cried out in alarm.
It wasn't just him. All cultivators in Longjing City sensed something was wrong.
An extremely powerful force began spreading through the air above.
They even sensed the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth starting to grow thin.
Li Guoyan had no cultivation, but his instincts were sharp. His primal sense of danger made his spine go cold.
He asked, "Has the array been activated?"
Qi Quan nodded. "Yes."
He Xiuyu had been waiting for the moment when she and Ling Sheng entered Longjing City.
"Master," Li Guoyan said, his expression stern, "what is your plan?"
Qi Quan said, "Stop the car."
"Senior?" Di Meng was puzzled but pulled over.
Qi Quan said, "Director Li, I suggest we first concentrate our forces to destroy the most critical hubs."
"What about you and Ling Sheng?" Li Guoyan asked.
Di... Meng also stared at them intently.
Qi Quan did not hide it. "We are going to the array's core."
What lay at the array's core was no mystery to anyone.
The Investigation Department was fully aware of He Xiuyu's targeting of Qi Quan and Ling Sheng.
And now, Qi Quan and Ling Sheng had no choice but to head to the most dangerous place. This feeling of helplessness filled them with shame and anguish.
Qi Quan smiled. "No need to worry."
She took Ling Sheng's hand, and their figures vanished abruptly.
Di Meng's eyes reddened, his voice hoarse. "Director Li, I request to lead a team to destroy the array hubs!"
Now that the array was activated, with its spiritual energy fluctuations, the metaphysical practitioners could already sense the arrays' presence.
The authorities were evacuating the populace while efficiently deploying combat forces. All the Celestial Masters from the Mystic Sects were mobilized.
Yan Huai received his orders and led the Yan family elders and disciples to rush towards one of the key nodes.
"Brother Huai, how come another evil ghost appears right after we vanquished Tian Qi?" Yan Geng followed closely beside him, his voice filled with worry. "I feel like this is even more serious than the last time."
He had never experienced such a heavy, oppressive atmosphere before.
During the purge of Tian Qi, although he hadn't participated, he had heard snippets from those who did. Thanks to the Unity Talismans, the battle ended swiftly, and the participating cultivators suffered no serious casualties. The overall mood had been one of fervent excitement.
Nothing like the present.
Everyone wore expressions that spoke of an impending catastrophe.
Yan Huai replied, "He Xiuyu attempted to use an array to seize the lives of half the populace of Longjing. This is no trivial matter. Choose your words carefully."
Yan Geng's jaw dropped in shock.
Half the populace's lives? This wasn't about becoming a Ghost King, this was about becoming a devil!
A surge of fighting spirit immediately rose within him.
"Let's kick his ass!"
Southwest of Longjing.
A towering, oppressive aura gradually rose. Churning dark clouds rolled in from the horizon, blotting out the brilliant golden sunlight.
To ordinary citizens, it looked like a storm was coming.
But all Mystic Sect cultivators could see that these black clouds brought not rain, but ghostly energy capable of destroying heaven and earth.
"The southwest... the Guiyuan Sect?!"
"Is the Ghost King about to manifest? Longjing is in peril!"
Yin Yi was leading a team to destroy an array node when he suddenly saw the overwhelming ghostly energy emanating from above the Guiyuan Sect. He froze in place.
His eyes widened abruptly.
How had he not thought of it? How had he not realized!
He Xiuyu was the former sect leader. His tomb was built on the back mountain of the sect. If there was any place in the world most secret and secure, it would absolutely be his own tomb!
Of course, this only applied to ghosts who practiced special ghost arts.
Ordinary ghosts couldn't possibly hide within the Guiyuan Sect.
He Xiuyu was truly audacious. Although he practiced ghost arts to evade detection by Celestial Masters, what if? Wasn't he afraid of being discovered?
Above the Guiyuan Sect, a dense, black mass of ghostly energy enveloped the entire sect.
Qi Quan and Ling Sheng hovered beneath the dark clouds, looking down at the tomb on the back mountain.
The array's core was here.
This man, He Xiuyu, truly could not be judged by common logic.
[Great One, is the Ghost King about to emerge?] The system was even more nervous than during the fight with Cai Ji.
Qi Quan: [He is not a Ghost King yet.]
The system added, [Great One, the other Mystic Sect members are all attacking the array elsewhere. It's just you and Ling Sheng here. Shouldn't we tell the others to wear Unity Talismans?]
[Unity Talismans are useless now.]
[Why?]
[He's using the array to steal life force. Unity Talismans can't stop that.]
...
Unity Talismans could only share spiritual power and distribute damage.
If one person was severely injured, it could be shared with others. But what if everyone's life force was being stolen simultaneously?
No amount of Unity Talismans would help.
The system sighed gloomily.
The dark clouds gathered thicker, plunging the entire Guiyuan Sect into gloom—the perfect environment for ghosts and monsters.
[Why isn't he coming out yet?]
Qi Quan: [Just building up his presence.]
How could the "Ghost King's" entrance not be a spectacle?
Naturally, Qi Quan had no patience to wait for him.
She materialized a bow from her spiritual energy. An arrow glowing with pale gold light shot accurately towards He Xiuyu's tomb. The arrowhead struck the protective array surrounding the tomb, causing the barrier to shimmer violently for several seconds before stabilizing once more.
Qi Quan raised her bow again.
The dark clouds above seemed to pause abruptly.
Just as she was about to loose the second arrow, a figure materialized above the tomb.
He was handsome, his expression aloof. He wore a light cyan Daoist robe, his long hair tied up with a jade hairpin. A hint of compassion for all living things flickered in his eyes. At first glance, he possessed an air of transcendent grace.
It was He Xiuyu.
[Pah! What an act!] The system spat.
The two sides hovered in the air, facing each other from a distance.
He Xiuyu examined the pair, then a faint smile appeared on his face, his tone gentle and benign: "Truly worthy of being Children of Destiny."
Qi Quan remained silent. Ling Sheng was even less likely to engage with him.
A sinister, chilling ghostly energy churned menacingly around the two.
A trace of provocation surfaced on He Xiuyu's refined features.
Even the most restrained and introverted person, after hiding for decades, would find it hard to suppress the deeply buried urge to show off upon finally revealing themselves.
He wasn't flustered in the slightest. He even chatted leisurely with them.
"One possesses a unique destiny, the other is a Natural Spirit Body. I am pleased to see you have grown to such heights."
The system hated pretentious people the most and complained: [He talks as if it's all his doing.]
Qi Quan: [What pleases him is that he is about to acquire two well-nourished sacrifices.]
[Huh?] The system was shocked. [He wants to use you and Ling Sheng as sacrifices? Damn, the audacity!]
He Xiuyu happened to speak again, confirming Qi Quan's words.
"Advisor Qi, since you hold an official position, I presume you are willing to lead by example and sacrifice yourself for the people?"
Qi Quan: "Your pointless chatter is as bad as Cai Ji's."
He Xiuyu: "..."
Considering himself superior and having once been the leader of the Guiyuan Sect, he never used such blunt language. Hearing this, he was momentarily stunned.
Qi Quan said, "You want to use us as sacrifices?"
The excitement in He Xiuyu's heart cooled slightly.
He looked at Qi Quan, standing proud and imposing, then at Ling Sheng, whose gaze was deep and cold. He suddenly felt this might be somewhat troublesome.
"I never said I would use you as sacrifices. I merely wish to know what you hold more important: your lives and his, or the lives of half the city's populace."
[Holy crap, how shameless! He's actually threatening you with so many people's lives!] The system exclaimed.
A mocking smile appeared on Qi Quan's face. "I originally thought Cai Ji was the most cowardly and despicable person I had ever seen. Who knew you could surpass him? Worthy of having been a sect leader."
"Cowardly?" He Xiuyu's smile faded. "I cannot bear the sight of bloodshed. I dislike fighting and killing."
[Gag! Gag! Gag! Gag!]
"How much bloodshed have you personally orchestrated?" Qi Quan's expression turned cold and stern. "You lured Cai Ji into establishing the Tian Qi organization, causing the deaths of countless people. You deliberately manufactured conflicts, nurtured Gao... Peilan, Xiong Wangchun, and drove them to do your bidding. Do you truly believe such underhanded methods can deceive the Heavenly Dao?"
He Xiuyu expressed surprise. "When did I ever lure him? He was merely my servant. I never spoke to him. I also never deliberately manufactured conflicts. Their obedience to me was simply because I freed them from their shackles. As for deceiving the Heavenly Dao..."
He suddenly laughed.
"Nothing I have done is the slightest bit wrong. Why would I need to deceive the Heavenly Dao?"
He portrayed himself as a compassionate savior of all living beings.
Qi Quan: "You lured us here precisely to plunder our destiny, didn't you?"
"You're speaking so much. Are you waiting for an opportunity?" A faint smile appeared on He Xiuyu's face. "But unfortunately, you won't get it."
The array he had laid down over many years was not so easily broken.
If those Mystic Sects were truly effective, he wouldn't have been able to hide safely within the Guiyuan Sect for so many years.
In his view, the only ones who posed a threat to him were the two before him.
Qi Quan also smiled.
She asked, "Are you sure about that?"
He Xiuyu: ?
"Ling Sheng," Qi Quan called out softly.
The young man instantly understood her meaning, communicating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to conceal the traces of both her and himself.
The two suddenly vanished from sight, stirring a hidden unease in He Xiuyu's heart.
With his cultivation at the peak of the Ghost General realm, he actually couldn't sense them at all!
He sneered inwardly. Even if they wanted to launch a sneak attack while invisible, it would be futile. Right now, the lives of half the city's populace were tied to him alone.
Everyone had guessed wrong.
He had never intended to use those ants as sacrificial offerings. The offering he had always wanted was the Child of Destiny.
When Qi Quan's sword light finally struck him, many innocent people would be indirectly killed by her. He eagerly anticipated the expression on her face when she learned the truth.
To personally deprive innocent citizens of their lives—it would probably—
A streak of sword light abruptly shot towards the nearest array node.
The pale golden sword radiance struck the array, carrying the force of a thunderous avalanche, instantly obliterating it.
With a soft pop, the array shattered.
Before he could even react, another streak of sword light shot out, causing another array node to vanish.
The power of someone at the peak of the Human Sovereign realm was beyond what mere mortals could compare to.
The exorcists who had been desperately attacking the arrays: ???
So they had been fighting all this time without breaking through, but the big boss shattered one with a single sword light?
Big boss is awesome!!!!!
"Comrades! Let's go support the other locations!"
The team leader was stunned for a moment, then immediately issued the order, swiftly moving to support other squads.
With eighty-one locations across the city, manpower was truly insufficient.
Senior Qi Quan destroying two at once undoubtedly lightened their burden.
A third streak of sword light shattered another array.
Qi Quan's actions were like three slaps, striking He Xiuyu's face hard!
After the initial shock, He Xiuyu's gentle mask showed faint signs of cracking.
Unable to sense the figures of the two, frustration churned in his heart.
"There are eighty-one in total, Qi Quan. Do you truly believe that after breaking the arrays, you can save everyone?"
Qi Quan ignored him and unleashed another sword strike.
The fourth location shattered.
Watching the arrays he had painstakingly laid out being destroyed by Qi Quan one by one, He Xiuyu could no longer endure it.
He raised his voice, "Qi Quan, have you considered that after exhausting your spiritual power to break the arrays, will you have any strength left to deal with me?"
His scheme was almost unsolvable.
Judging from the battle with the Tianqi organization, the spiritual power within Qi Quan's body couldn't sustain many major moves.
With eighty-one arrays, if she broke them one by one, she'd likely exhaust her internal spiritual power before even reaching the tenth.
Even if she possessed that so-called talisman that allowed shared spiritual power, how much could these people provide her?
And how long could the spiritual power they provide possibly sustain her?
He Xiuyu knew she had a backlash talisman. She could use it to kill Cai Ji, but she couldn't use it to kill him.
Either she would exhaust her spiritual power before breaking all eighty-one arrays and become his offering.
Or she would kill him, condemning half the city's populace to be buried with him.
Qi Quan turned a deaf ear, unleashing a fifth streak of sword light.
Another array shattered.
He Xiuyu chuckled softly.
Seeing Qi Quan act so recklessly and impulsively, he was no longer worried about the outcome.
He was destined to become a Ghost King.
The system naturally heard his words and said anxiously, 【Big boss, why aren't you killing him, but instead attacking the arrays?】
Qi Quan explained, 【The moment he appeared, I knew my earlier guess was wrong.】
【Wrong about what?】
【The function of the arrays isn't to have half the city sacrificed. It's to bind his fate to the fate of half the city's people. If I kill him, half the city's populace will die too.】
【Ah? What can be done then?】 the system said, 【But just breaking the arrays is useless too. You're expending spiritual power to break them. Even if the arrays are broken, you won't have any power left to kill him.】
Qi Quan smiled, 【Who said I'm the one breaking them?】
【Huh?】 The system also couldn't see the traces of the two.
Qi Quan grasped the hand of the young man beside her and threw out one composite sword talisman after another. The composite sword talismans transformed into pale golden sword light, striking the target arrays.
For long-range attacks, composite sword talismans required array support, but at this close distance, she only needed to activate them.
Since others couldn't see her, they naturally assumed it was her sword radiance.
However, the composite sword talismans were only ninth-grade. The spiritual power they carried wasn't enough to shatter an array in one hit, at most creating a few cracks.
Being able to shatter the arrays was largely thanks to Ling Sheng.
Qi Quan threw out another composite sword talisman. At the moment the sword light struck the array, Ling Sheng's lips moved slightly.
"Break."
A barely audible sound, yet filled with the power of verbal incantation, instantly shattered the array on the foundation laid by the composite sword talisman.
The two complemented each other. Even after breaking the sixth array, Qi Quan only needed to expend the spiritual power to activate the talisman, and Ling Sheng's verbal power wasn't heavily depleted either.
Their forms were hidden within the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Others couldn't see or hear them, having no way of knowing this was how they were breaking the arrays.
When the tenth array was broken, a smile touched He Xiuyu's lips.
Qi Quan should have no strength left.
When the twentieth was broken, the smile vanished from his lips.
She must have used the Unity Talisman.
But no matter how many Unity Talismans or spirit talismans she had, what use were they?
Could spiritual energy possibly be inexhaustible?
When the thirtieth streak of sword light shattered an array, He Xiuyu completely lost his composure.
Unable to see Qi Quan, he looked towards the destroyed arrays and said, "Qi Quan, if you continue like this, you're only courting your own doom."
Qi Quan chuckled lightly, "Isn't that exactly the result you wanted to see?"
He Xiuyu: "..."
That wasn't what he wanted!
What he wanted to see was Qi Quan struggling with the agonizing choice between half the city's people and her own life. What he wanted to see was the expression on Qi Quan's face when the authorities chose the half-city populace. What he wanted to see was Qi Quan, exhausted of strength, becoming his perfect offering.
Thirty arrays exploded like fireworks. The number of people whose fates were linked to his was rapidly decreasing.
If Qi Quan truly destroyed all the arrays, what would he have left to restrain her with?
He Xiuyu lowered his gaze. Black energy churned in his palm.
In an instant, three great ghosts radiating black energy appeared before him.
"Go."
All three great ghosts had reached the first tier of Ghost General!
He Xiuyu himself was already at the peak of Ghost General, just a step away from advancing to the Ghost King realm.
With three more first-tier Ghost Generals, who could possibly stop him?
Unable to sense the location of the two, he didn't order the Ghost Generals to attack them. Instead, he directed the Ghost Generals to charge at the lower-level exorcists of the Mystic Gate.
Having experienced one purge operation, the Mystic Gate exorcists had learned their lesson. Going into battle, they naturally wore Unity Talismans.
The three Ghost Generals roared as they charged. Wherever they went, the black energy was sinister and terrifying.
When one person suffered a severe injury, shared among the others, it was indeed temporarily manageable. But over time, once the accumulated damage exceeded everyone's threshold, the Unity Talisman would become useless.
Moreover, they still had to attack the arrays.
Qi Quan and Ling Sheng had blasted away thirty arrays in one go. The official Mystic Gate teams, working together until now, had destroyed ten.
Forty-one remained.
Qi Quan could indeed slay a Ghost General with one sword strike, but He Xiuyu was truly cunning. He had actually linked the fates of the Ghost Generals to the arrays as well.
If she destroyed the Ghost Generals, who knew how many people would die because of it.
But she couldn't just stand by and watch the Mystic Gate exorcists suffer losses.
Just then, Xie Lanzhou appeared.
He was an eighth-level ghost, still far from a Ghost General, but he was a ghost with accumulated virtue, one that ordinary ghosts dared not provoke lightly, and even Ghost Generals were the same.
Xie Lanzhou moved with extreme speed.
Each place he drifted to, he left a Guardian Talisman. These were composite formation talismans, drawn by Qi Quan during her half-month livestream in Longjing when she had spare time. There weren't many, but they were sufficient.
Activated by spiritual power, the Guardian Talismans enveloped the masters at each attack formation, blocking the Ghost General's assaults.
The Ghost General, furious and flustered, tried to stop Xie Lanzhou.
After all, Xie Lanzhou was an experienced master. Now transformed into a ghost with unrestricted speed and protected by the golden light of his virtue, he skillfully maneuvered around the three ghosts.
He Xiuyu: "..."
Qi Quan chuckled softly, not wasting the time Xie Lanzhou had bought for her, and continued to unleash composite sword talismans.
In an instant, two more formations shattered.
He Xiuyu's expression suddenly darkened.
He understood now. Qi Quan wasn't using her own cultivation at all, but composite sword talismans.
Her concealment wasn't to prevent his attacks either, but to confuse him, deliberately buying time.
But what was strange was, how could a composite sword talisman shatter a formation in a single strike?
Uncertain and furious, He Xiuyu's heart filled with rage.
He was always the one who deceived others; no one could ever deceive him!
He Xiuyu observed quietly, deducing Qi Quan's possible location from the pattern of the sword talismans attacking the formations. Black energy crept into his pupils, his entire body shrouded in ghostly aura. The dark clouds in the sky, heeding his call, crashed down like a massive wave.
The black clouds were formed from condensed ghostly energy, blanketing the entire sky. Such a wide-ranging attack meant that no matter where Qi Quan was, she would be struck by the ghostly energy.
He Xiuyu no longer cared about the Heavenly Dao.
His attempt to devour the fortunes of Qi Quan and Ling Sheng was already an act of defiance against heaven.
...
If Qi Quan and Ling Sheng were to "voluntarily" sacrifice their lives to protect half the city's population, He Xiuyu naturally wouldn't need to act himself.
But now, he couldn't let Qi Quan continue any longer.
Vast, overwhelming ghostly energy blotted out the sky and sun, seemingly intent on destroying the entire world. It gathered around Qi Quan and Ling Sheng, concealing countless killing intent.
The ghostly energy, controlled by He Xiuyu, was also part of his ghostly form, bound to the lives of half the city's people.
It could harm Qi Quan, but Qi Quan could not fight back.
The system was frantic: [Big shot, what do we do now? This ghost is too cunning!]
The big shot's ultimate move couldn't even be used!
Qi Quan turned her head to look at Ling Sheng, her eyes showing hesitation.
The young man hooked her finger, smiled at her, and moved his lips without making a sound.
Qi Quan originally couldn't read lips, but at this moment, she clearly understood his reply.
He said: "I can do it."
Qi Quan hesitated no longer and decisively let go of his hand.
A golden, blazing long sword coalesced in her palm, bursting forth with a dazzling, brilliant light amidst the gloomy, terrifying black clouds.
The golden radiance dispelled the darkness.
He Xiuyu laughed, "Qi Quan, you cannot kill me."
If he died, the people connected to the formation would die too.
Qi Quan didn't speak, nor did she move.
She just gazed at the young man before her, her eyes clear and resolute.
Ling Sheng looked at her deeply, then closed his eyes. Countless streams of heaven and earth spiritual energy surged towards him, scattering the sky-obscuring ghostly energy and gathering around him, ready for his command.
The young man hovered in mid-air, a layer of pure white spiritual energy swirling around him.
He Xiuyu couldn't help but frown, a sense of unease suddenly arising within him.
He had always calculated without error; there couldn't be any miscalculations!
But while he had deduced that Ling Sheng was a Natural Spirit Body, he didn't know Ling Sheng possessed the power of Word Magic.
The Natural Spirit Body existed only in the legends of ancient texts. He had never seen one with his own eyes, let alone knew what abilities a Natural Spirit Body might possess.
Ling Sheng floated in the air, his voice clear and melodious like the chime of jade.
"Borrowing the power of the Nine Heavens, break the Sacrificial Evil Formation."
A series of thunderclaps suddenly echoed from the high sky. An immensely powerful force poured down from the vast firmament, all of it channeling into Ling Sheng's body.
The pure white spiritual energy actually began to shimmer with a hint of golden light.
He Xiuyu's eyes widened in terror.
"No, this is impossible!"
The young man abruptly opened his eyes, his pupils tinged with a faint golden glow. He looked down upon the dozens of formations below, his voice like ten thousand sharp arrows, crashing down upon the Sacrificial Evil Formation.
"Break!"
As the syllable fell, all forty-one formations turned to dust, instantly dissipating.
The world fell into utter silence.
Everyone looked up at the young man in the high sky.
The young man raised his gaze, his eyes soft as he looked at Qi Quan, then suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining his chest.
Yet he smiled at her.
Qi Quan pressed her lips together, flew over, and took his hand. She was about to transfer her spiritual power into him but was stopped by Ling Sheng.
He pointed at He Xiuyu, who stood shocked and speechless.
Qi Quan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly chuckled softly. "Alright, leave it to me."
She had been unwilling for Ling Sheng to use the power of Word Magic until the last moment. Such a powerful skill would undoubtedly come at a cost.
Her earlier relentless destruction of the numerous formations was precisely to ensure Ling Sheng wouldn't need to use too much of his Word Magic power.
With the formations broken, He Xiuyu had nothing left to rely on.
Qi Quan turned around.
The golden long sword shot through the gloomy ghostly energy like a meteor, heading straight for He... Xiuyu's face.
He Xiuyu nearly vomited blood in fury.
His meticulously laid plan of decades, shattered so easily?
Qi Quan! It was all because of Qi Quan!
If she hadn't rescued Ling Sheng from the cave, Ling Sheng would now be the most feared demon lord in the Mystic Arts world, drawing everyone's attention, and no one would have paid him any heed.
Once his plan neared completion, he could have lured the mindless demon lord into the formation, and he would surely have been able to contend with the Heavenly Dao!
Qi Quan was indeed his biggest stumbling block!
"You think I'm like Cai Ji?" He Xiuyu's false mask completely shattered as he sneered with sinister contempt. "I won't fall for your tricks. Wanting to kill me is impossible."
Black ghostly energy entangled the golden spirit sword.
Qi Quan smiled. "To deal with you, a Backlash Talisman isn't even necessary."
"What do you mean?"
Qi Quan channeled all her spiritual power. The spirit sword's golden light blazed brilliantly, its resplendent and magnificent radiance spreading from her as the center, extending into the boundless black clouds.
Wherever the golden light reached, the ghostly energy dissipated completely.
The sword embodied righteousness, specifically designed to vanquish sinister ghosts and evil spirits, a natural bane to malevolent ghosts.
Moreover, within this sword light, there was a faint trace of the power of law.
It was the Sword Dao Qi Quan had comprehended, and also the gift bestowed upon her by the Heavenly Dao when she advanced after annihilating Cai Ji.
Feeling that power of law, He Xiuyu could no longer maintain his composure, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Impossible! This is impossible!"
Back in the day, he had been stuck at the threshold of the eighth level for so many years, with no breakthrough even as his lifespan neared its end. How could Qi Quan, at such a young age, comprehend the Human Immortal realm?!
Even achieving the peak of Ghost General had taken him forty years!
For a moment, his thoughts aligned with Cai Ji's.
It's unfair. The Heavenly Dao is unfair.
His pupils were completely dyed black by ghostly energy.
He summoned all three Ghost Generals back, commanding them to attack Qi Quan without mercy.
With one sword strike, Qi Quan dispersed half of the black clouds, allowing half of the city to see the light again.
The crowd cheered with joy.
Ling Sheng had already descended to the ground, surrounded by many people protecting his safety.
Xie Lanzhou, Fu Jiuchong, and even Fu Jiuge, who hadn't fully recovered yet, had all come.
While protecting the injured and blood-spitting Ling Sheng, they anxiously looked up at Qi Quan in mid-air.
Qi Quan unleashed another sword strike, its radiance even more intense than before.
It seemed that from the previous battle, she had gained insight into even more profound principles. This sword light carried a might more majestic and vast.
The sword light pierced through the bodies of the three ghost generals.
The ghost generals didn't even have time to utter a cry before their souls were utterly destroyed.
Three ghost generals slain with a single sword.
Such formidable power was something even He Xiuyu dared not face head-on.
But—
"Do you have any spiritual power left?" He Xiuyu asked.
Qi Quan had already used two major techniques; the power of these two moves was enough to drain the spiritual power within her.
[Big shot, use the Unity Talisman now!] the system urged anxiously.
Qi Quan remained unmoved.
The two sword strikes had indeed exhausted her spiritual power, but she faintly sensed that she still had reserves!
She had touched the threshold of the Human Immortal realm, glimpsing a thread of the Dao's principles through the crack in the door. It was this thread that allowed her spiritual power to recover at an unimaginably fast rate.
In just a few breaths, her spiritual power had mostly recovered.
Was this the profound mystery of the Human Immortal realm?
Spiritual power...
Inexhaustible and ever-flowing?
Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Qi Quan gathered a golden long sword once more.
This spiritual sword was thinner and shorter, but the golden light radiating from its blade was purer and more dazzling.
He Xiuyu actually faintly sensed the power of the Heavenly Dao.
She...
She had already grown to this extent!
He Xiuyu no longer dared to underestimate his opponent.
Boundless ghostly energy converged around him, its oppressive might forcing the Daoist masters to prostrate themselves on the ground.
Only Ling Sheng stood tall and straight.
His face was pale, but an intense light burst forth from his eyes.
He sensed Qi Quan's nearly full spiritual power.
Countless ghostly energies shifted and changed before He Xiuyu, finally transforming into a colossal black dragon. The dragon's gaping maw faced Qi Quan, roaring as if to devour her whole.
The dragon spanned the entire horizon. Standing before it, Qi Quan seemed as insignificant as a mayfly.
"Senior Qi!"
"Big shot!"
Everyone cried out in worry.
Yet, Qi Quan's expression remained calm and composed. Without hesitation, she raised her sword and charged into the abyssal maw of the black dragon.
Her body and the long sword merged into one, like a golden stream of light, piercing into the dragon's form.
The sword light traveled from the dragon's mouth, down its throat, resolutely pushing towards the churning, ghostly energy-filled belly.
"Ahhhhhhhhh—"
The black dragon was connected to He Xiuyu's true form.
The overwhelmingly powerful sword light split the black dragon in two, and He Xiuyu simultaneously felt the extreme agony of being cleaved apart by the sword light.
The sword light, unstoppable, came to an abrupt halt within the dragon's belly.
He Xiuyu, thinking her spiritual power had finally run out, let out a maniacal, distorted laugh.
"Hahahahaha, in the end, you are no match for me—"
In the next instant, the blinding sword light suddenly exploded.
Tiny golden rays sliced the dragon's belly into countless fragments. Golden light erupted from the fissures, and with a thunderous roar, the dragon disintegrated!
He Xiuyu's solidified ghostly form turned translucent.
He roared in fury, "I refuse to accept this! I refuse! I refuse!"
Decades of meticulous planning, waiting for his prey to willingly step into the cage he had woven—all this caution and patience shattered into pieces under Qi Quan's sword light.
He was a master of deduction, skilled at speculating on human hearts. He could deduce that Qi Quan and Ling Sheng would be obstacles to him, yet he could not calculate the consequences of his own series of evil deeds.
He Xiuyu's refusal to accept death was what led him to choose forbidden arts to become a Ghost King, revealing his extreme craving for immortality.
Such an ending was unacceptable to him.
The dragon in mid-air vanished in an instant, and sunlight gently bathed the earth.
The world was cleansed.
Was it over?
Everyone silently wondered.
Qi Quan stood in the air, seemingly enveloped in a holy radiance.
She looked at He Xiuyu, her gaze calm and composed.
He Xiuyu had already gone mad when he decided to use the forbidden arts; now, his madness was complete.
He actually burned his soul as a price, transforming into a terrifying mass of energy that shot towards Qi Quan at incredible speed!
Could destroying the dragon truly have been so easy?
She must have completely exhausted her spiritual power by now, right?
She must have!
Harboring such a desperate and vicious thought, He Xiuyu attempted to drag Qi Quan down with him to the grave.
In that split second, no one could react.
A cold glint flashed in Ling Sheng's eyes as he prepared to utter a word of power.
High in the sky, a...
silver-white pillar of light suddenly descended.
He Xiuyu's soul force did not collide with Qi Quan but instead struck the silver-white light pillar, instantly letting out a scream of utter agony.
Qi Quan, wrapped within the light pillar, had no attention to spare for anything else.
When she burst forth from the black dragon's belly, she had stepped into the Human Immortal realm in one stride.
To truly become a Human Immortal, one must undergo the Trial of the Heart.
She calmly faced her trial within the light pillar, while He Xiuyu's soul wailed incessantly outside it.
The Daoist masters were stunned.
After a long moment, someone uttered a voice filled with disbelief.
"Senior Qi... is she advancing?"
Everyone: "..."
Given that Senior Qi was at the peak of the Human Sovereign realm, was she now advancing to Human Immortal?
Human Immortal! A true Human Immortal!
A surge of passionate fervor and heroic spirit at witnessing history suddenly welled up in their hearts.
Earlier, when Qi Quan and He Xiuyu were locked in their confrontation, Recording Talismans had already captured the entire scene.
Now, more and more Recording Talismans rose into the air, each seeking the best angle to record this precious, priceless footage.
"Don't crowd my talisman!"
"You go over there!"
"This spot is already taken!"
"Wuwuwu, I can die without regrets now."
Is there anything more hyped (exciting) than this?
"This talisman will be a family heirloom from now on."
Within the light pillar, Qi Quan began the first layer of the Trial of the Heart.
Sealed memories flooded into her mind like a torrent. She finally remembered everything she had experienced.
Memories belonging to the "true heiress" played continuously in her mind: the helplessness of childhood, the bullying in the orphanage, the dangers of society encountered while working, the inferiority and extremism after returning to the Qi family. All these negative emotions filled her heart.
She was trapped within the memories.
She was no longer the revered peak Human Sovereign senior, but the despised and scorned "true heiress."
Qi Quan felt as if she were soaking in a vat of bitter water. Helplessness, inferiority, timidity, extremism, madness—all entangled her steps, trying to drag her into the mire.
Could she, about to become a Human Immortal, still accept such a weak former self?
Qi Quan suddenly let out a light laugh.
Why couldn't she?
She had long guessed she was the "true heiress" herself. She accepted that humble past with composure.
The negative emotions receded like the tide.
Qi Quan took a step forward, reaching the second layer of the Trial of the Heart.
In a world where evil cultivators were powerful and ghosts ran rampant, she was a revered peak Human Sovereign cultivator. The entire Daoist community saw her as the savior who would slay the demon lord.
The demon lord's entire body was shrouded in demonic energy, his face and form indistinct. Only his ankle-length hair occasionally spilled beyond the range of the black energy, allowing a glimpse.
Qi Quan held her sword. The demon lord stood before her.
She knew who he was.
So, should she kill him?
Qi Quan gazed at him quietly, then suddenly spoke, "Being covered in demonic energy is inconvenient. Fight me after you put some clothes on."
The demon lord: "..."
He had never known what wearing clothes meant.
Thick demonic energy surged from his palm, mercilessly attacking Qi Quan.
Qi Quan did not hesitate in the slightest. Sword light pierced through the demonic aura, sinking into the demon's body, extinguishing it in one decisive strike.
"I will avenge you."
Before the demon completely dissipated, she made this vow.
A person whose fate is manipulated and who loses their mind is innocent... but once they are stained with blood, they are innocent no longer.
She would avenge him, but she must first avenge the innocent people who died tragically by his hand.
The third layer of Heart's Inquiry.
The system said tearfully, [Big Boss, you are now a Human Immortal. Your lifespan is no longer limited. I should leave.]
Qi Quan: [Why leave?]
[The reason for my existence is to extend your lifespan, but you are a Human Immortal now. Human Immortals possess a long, long lifespan. You don't need me anymore.]
Qi Quan smiled: [Who says I don't need you?]
[But, if you keep me, you will never be able to advance to the Human Immortal stage.]
The choice was clear: either keep the system to extend life, or advance to Human Immortal and possess a long lifespan.
This choice wasn't difficult.
Choosing the former meant she would have to continue writing novels to extend her life. Who could predict the future of online novels? What if the website shut down, or policies banned writing? Wouldn't she be unable to gain lifespan then?
The latter was within her grasp—truly just a step away.
Taking that one step would allow her to step into the Human Immortal realm, free and unfettered from then on.
Yet Qi Quan said without the slightest hesitation: [Without you, what joy would there be in a long, long life?]
The system exclaimed in surprise: [You really choose me? Choosing me means being pestered by me to write updates every single day!]
Qi Quan said seriously: [A novel cannot be left without an ending.]
She had only stopped updating due to official business; she never intended to abandon the story.
The system cried out excitedly: [Big Boss, I really love you to death!]
A golden light appeared before Qi Quan, and the sound of thunder rumbled in her ears, like the low whisper of the Heavenly Dao.
She reached out and touched the golden light.
The light abruptly sank into her fingertip, disappearing within her body. She closed her eyes, sensing a surge of pure and potent power circulating continuously, gradually breaking through the bottleneck of the Human Sovereign realm and touching upon even more profound laws.
She had truly stepped into the Human Immortal realm.
The silvery-white light pillar transformed into a dazzling, brilliant gold. He Xiuyu's soul let out a short, mournful cry before completely turning to ashes, vanishing without a trace.
Qi Quan opened her eyes.
The sky was bright with daylight.
