“Something’s happening. Something’s happening.”
Shu Xin and the Sword Spirit stood guard outside Xu Guan’s secluded cave dwelling, sensing the spiritual energy around them beginning to stir slowly.
This meant that Xu Guan was about to pass the trial of the Three Winds and Four Fires and would soon begin preparing to undergo his tribulation.
【With the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book watching over him, there shouldn’t be any problems.】 The Sword Spirit sounded somewhat envious. 【Don’t worry. When you reach the Immaculate Realm, I can also expend some spiritual energy for you. I have far more spiritual energy than that Book Spirit, and I’ve absorbed the flesh and blood of so many demonic cultivators. It won’t affect me that much.】
For now, however, their priority was still helping Shu Xin advance to the Immaculate Realm.
“All right, all right. You’re as nagging as my parents were when I was a senior in high school, always taking the opportunity to lecture me about getting into a good university.” Shu Xin rolled her eyes. “Let’s wait until I reach the Immaculate Realm before we worry about that, okay?”
【I’m simply planning ahead.】
“Oh, listen to you using idioms. Aren’t you impressive?”
Shu Xin did not continue arguing with the Sword Spirit for long, because the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book soon took the initiative to contact them.
【Xu Guan will pass the Three Winds and Four Fires within a year and bring down the heavenly tribulation. I ask that you help protect him.】
【Go with peace of mind.】 The Sword Spirit answered before Shu Xin could say anything. 【The person you chose is quite good. In this era, with resources so scarce, those who can reach the Mahayana Realm through their own efforts are truly few and far between.】
【Thank you for your praise, Senior.】 The Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book seemed rather pleased. Even the characters it manifested appeared to bounce with excitement. 【From now on, Wen Shen Sect will have Xu Guan to protect it. I hope Senior Sword Spirit and the Swordmaster will grow as quickly as possible. I do not ask that the two of you protect Wen Shen Sect forever. So long as the sect’s principles do not decay, it will be enough if you can preserve even a single thread of its legacy in a time of crisis.】
The Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book understood very clearly that no sect could remain standing forever.
The reason it had been able to protect Wen Shen Sect for so many years was, ultimately, because the sect’s principles had not yet been corrupted. Although it had gradually declined, the Book Spirit still had no intention of leaving.
If it were willing to go to one of the great sects, those sects would treat it like an Earthly Immortal, doing everything they could to find heavenly treasures and earthly wonders to prolong its existence.
But artifact spirits had never been particularly attached to life.
They were born of Heaven and Earth. Even if they dissipated, they would merely return to the world from which they came.
So long as they could fulfill their purpose, their existence would have been worthwhile.
“Farewell, Senior Book Spirit.” Shu Xin cupped her hands in salute.
After coming to Wen Shen Sect, she had received considerable protection and had gotten along very well with her fellow disciples. Ultimately, this was because the Book Spirit had always guided the sect, allowing its backbone and principles to be passed down.
But after the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book was gone, no one could say what Wen Shen Sect would become.
At the very least, however, Shu Xin had truly received its protection.
Once Xu Guan became a Mahayana cultivator, the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book would disappear, unable to preserve its existence any longer.
This was the way it had chosen to depart.
In this cultivation world, many beautiful qualities that the human race had already lost had instead been passed down through beings like artifact spirits, who were not human at all.
Was that not a kind of irony?
The Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book gave no further reply.
It needed to focus on supplying Xu Guan with spiritual energy.
“You still haven’t found those disciples of Wen Shen Sect?” an elder of the Fiendish Demon Sect asked doubtfully as he looked at Yin Rushi and the others. “Isn’t your Blood Demon Sect known as the foremost demonic sect? How can you not find a few Dao-Inception cultivators?”
“If they’re determined to hide, the cultivation world is vast. How could we find them without searching for eight hundred or a thousand years?” Yin Rushi was puzzled as well. By all rights, they had already spread the rumors far and wide, yet not a single person had taken the bait.
The supposed disciples of Wen Shen Sect brought in by their subordinates were either impostors in disguise or useless substitutes filling a quota.
They had not seen even the shadow of the true core members.
“It’s because you underestimated Wen Shen Sect—and Shu Xin,” Cui Yuhua said despite herself. “When Shu Xin was at the Untroubled Manor, she was able to evade even my investigation and disguise herself flawlessly. If she made some kind of code with these junior brothers and sisters beforehand, telling them not to return to the sect unless they received the proper signal, then naturally they wouldn’t be foolish enough to believe the rumors you released.”
“Master is right.” Recalling Shu Xin’s trickery back then, Xi Fu still felt a lingering sense of dread. “Someone like her is deep and calculating. If her junior brothers and sisters have learned even half of what she knows, catching them will be extremely difficult.”
“Is this really the time to boost others’ morale and diminish our own?” Yin Rushi said helplessly. “The sect has just sent word that the Old Ancestor sacrificed several fellow disciples to divine that Xu Guan will bring down his heavenly tribulation within a year. If we want to sabotage Xu Guan’s tribulation within that time, we must first break through the defenses of the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book.”
“If necessary, capture that girl named Shu Xin and drain her blood drop by drop outside Xu Guan’s place of seclusion. I refuse to believe he won’t come out!” the elder of the Fiendish Demon Sect blurted out.
“...What are you saying? If you were at the critical moment of undergoing your tribulation, would you interrupt your retreat halfway through just to save a disciple who had joined you midway?” Cui Yuhua found the suggestion amusing.
“Of course not.”
“Then how do you know Xu Guan might?”
“Because Xu Guan is a gentleman,” the elder of the Fiendish Demon Sect said frankly. “Although he has ruined my plans time and again and destroyed my physical body, I have been his enemy for many years and understand him better than anyone. I once thought he was no different from those hypocritical cultivators of the orthodox sects, so I secretly investigated him for quite some time. Unfortunately, he is precisely the sort of righteous gentleman I detest most. He is softhearted, and he genuinely regards his disciples as his successors.”
“If you want to live well in this world, it’s better to bully a gentleman than a scoundrel. Isn’t that what we demonic cultivators are supposed to do?” the elder of the Fiendish Demon Sect said matter-of-factly.
“Then why don’t you make the first move, Elder? We’ll support you from behind,” Cui Yuhua suggested, smoothly turning the situation to her advantage. “You and Xu Guan already have a deep-seated grudge, and reconciliation is impossible. You’re the perfect person to handle this.”
“You think I’m stupid? The orthodox cultivators are still staying at the foot of Wen Shen Sect’s mountain. If I make a move, won’t they take the opportunity to capture me and curry favor with Wen Shen Sect?”
“Then why are you suggesting that we do it?”
“If I can trick one person into doing it, that’s one person less for me to worry about.”
Demonic cultivators had always been utterly shameless, displaying their double standards openly.
Xi Fu could not help feeling helpless at his words.
The demonic cultivators were simply too disunited. Everyone wanted to push someone else to their death while waiting to reap the benefits. But any demonic cultivator capable of appearing here and surviving until now had more than a few tricks up their sleeve. As a result, they were actually less effective than the orthodox sects. The orthodox cultivators were too concerned with appearances, yet precisely because of that, they could still push forward those who were unwilling to lower themselves to do certain things.
If this continued, the situation would become very troublesome.
“I think we should let the Daoist side make the first move.” Yin Rushi pondered for a moment before continuing, “That Daoist cultivator who came to find us in disguise should be even more anxious than we are. I believe there’s a very good chance he’s Qin Rushan of the Longevity Dao Sect. Even if he isn’t, he’s certainly one of them. Among the Daoist sects, everyone except the Longevity Dao Sect would be happy to see Xu Guan reach the Mahayana stage.”
The Demon Sect naturally hoped that no one would reach the Mahayana stage at all.
“Do you have a way to make them strike first?” Cui Yuhua asked curiously.
“Of course.” A smile spread across Yin Rushi’s face. “I’ve already sent Shu Xin a generous gift. If that Qin Rushan really has come here, he definitely won’t be able to resist making a move.”
Qin Rushan was nothing like Xu Guan. Whether in talent or in the strength of his Dao heart, he wasn’t fit to carry the latter’s shoes.
The only reasons he had been able to barely maintain his cultivation in the Immaculate Realm were that the family he had married into needed him to uphold its reputation, and that the Longevity Dao Sect didn’t want people saying that they had stolen a disciple from the Questioning God Sect without knowing how to nurture him—that the person who had defected to the Longevity Dao Sect was actually inferior to Xu Guan. For that reason, they had given Qin Rushan additional resources.
But after so many years, Qin Rushan had made not the slightest progress while consuming enormous amounts of resources. People throughout the Longevity Dao Sect had long since grown dissatisfied with him.
Now that Xu Guan had left Qin Rushan far behind, the Longevity Dao Sect no longer needed to continue indulging him merely to save face.
As a result, the resources Qin Rushan relied on to stabilize his realm had rapidly dwindled.
Otherwise, he would never have come directly to the outskirts of the Questioning God Sect to ambush Xu Guan simply because of a single remark from Ning Weixuan.
However, after witnessing Xu Guan break through step by step and seeing him draw ever closer to the Mahayana stage, the panic and unease in Qin Rushan’s heart could only increase. The pills and magic treasures he had prepared were no longer of much help to him.
In order to stake everything on one final gamble—and to make Xu Guan, his inner demon, disappear completely—Qin Rushan had sold off his treasured possessions accumulated over many years. He had also plundered most of the treasures belonging to the family he had married into, exchanging them for pills capable of stabilizing his state of mind. Then he sent the disciple he valued most to collect and deliver them.
Only a handful of people knew about this.
If he had had the time, Qin Rushan would not have entrusted the task to his disciple. He would have gone to retrieve the pills himself. But who could blame him for being unable to do so when he had followed Ning Weixuan to the Questioning God Sect?
What Qin Rushan did not know was that, in the eyes of those demon cultivators, the moment Xu Guan began preparing to break through to the Mahayana stage, Qin Rushan had already become a disposable pawn. Even the Longevity Dao Sect had considered killing Qin Rushan at the critical moment in exchange for peaceful relations with Xu Guan.
Thus, every move Qin Rushan made was exposed to the eyes of numerous people.
Shu Xin inexplicably received a flying-sword message.
The flying sword landed directly outside her door. It came with a bottle of pills, a note, and a box.
Inside the box was the head of Qin Rushan’s disciple.
[This is a Purifying Essence Pill, a supreme-grade pill for Qin Rushan to stabilize his realm.]
Shu Xin looked at the head in the box, feeling somewhat helpless.
She had seen this man before, though she didn’t know his name. But once he became entangled in the conflict between Qin Rushan and the Questioning God Sect, even the utmost caution would hardly be enough to let him escape unscathed.
“Is there anything wrong with this pill?” Shu Xin had heard of it. The thing was practically priceless. Countless Immaculate Realm cultivators who were unable to stabilize their realms would go bankrupt for the chance to obtain one.
The fact that someone had delivered it straight to her door was clearly a blatant trap—a deliberate scheme designed to lure Qin Rushan into attacking Shu Xin.
And yet, no one could stop it.
Qin Rushan no longer had the spirit stones to purchase a second pill, while Shu Xin could never return something so precious to him. How would that be any different from subsidizing an enemy?
Therefore, whether Qin Rushan wanted to or not, he had no choice but to act.
On top of that, Xu Guan’s tribulation had been lasting longer and longer, and these people had already run out of patience.
Even a Daoist scion born and raised within the Daoist sects, such as Qu Yougu, could be sold off by the countless Daoist sects. Qin Rushan was a two-faced traitor—who would care what happened to him?
The Longevity Dao Sect had taken him in simply to disgust the Questioning God Sect and keep Xu Guan in check.
At that moment, Qin Rushan nearly lost control of his expression when he heard what Ning Weixuan had said.
“You want me to kill Shu Xin first and throw her corpse in front of Xu Guan?” Qin Rushan couldn’t help challenging him. “If I do that, I’m afraid the other Daoist cultivators will kill me before Xu Guan even needs to act.”
Everyone was gambling on one possibility.
If Xu Guan truly interrupted his seclusion because of Shu Xin, then everyone would be delighted. Killing Qin Rushan could also serve as a means of winning Xu Guan over. In the future, they would have an ally with the potential to reach the Mahayana stage when dealing with the Longevity Dao Sect.
No one could say that Xu Guan wouldn’t be able to enter seclusion again and make another attempt at reaching the Mahayana stage, could they?
If Xu Guan didn’t interrupt his seclusion and emerged after successfully reaching the Mahayana stage, Qin Rushan would become an even more valuable gift with which to curry favor.
No matter how one looked at it, none of them would lose out.
The only one who would suffer was Qin Rushan.
As for what Qin Rushan himself thought, who would care?
He had been brought here for precisely this purpose.
“Wouldn’t dying for the sect be a fitting end for you?” Ning Weixuan said with a smile. “If you can capture Shu Xin and gain leverage over Xu Guan, you may still have a chance to survive. But if you refuse, you’ll die right now.”
“Oh, that pill you bought—the Purifying Essence Pill—is in her hands as well. I wasn’t the one who made a move. The Blood Demon Sect has had its eyes on you for a long time too.”
Qin Rushan’s body trembled, but he didn’t dare resist.
He knew the Longevity Dao Sect’s methods all too well.
If they truly wanted to protect him, the Blood Demon Sect’s schemes might not have been able to succeed.
“Yes.” Qin Rushan could only resign himself to his fate.
If he refused, Ning Weixuan would simply extract his soul on the spot, then use puppet-control techniques to manipulate his body and send it after Shu Xin. By agreeing, at least he could retain control of his own actions.
“Don’t delay. Go now.” Ning Weixuan’s words carried immense pressure, but he also planted a strand of spiritual energy within Qin Rushan. “For the time being, you won’t need to worry about stabilizing your realm.”
“Yes.” Qin Rushan could find no other answer.
With her master on the verge of undergoing tribulation, Shu Xin simply stayed in the rear mountain.
The cultivators outside, regardless of what schemes they harbored, would certainly try to come over and test the waters. She couldn’t allow them to disrupt the process, much less let them interfere with the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book.
Fortunately, they didn’t know about the trump cards she possessed. In the early stages, they would only make small, tentative moves.
[Now I can finally cut them down to my heart’s content.]
The Sword Spirit was already raring to go. It had watched these humans wander around day after day, while those demon cultivators hiding in the shadows were clearly trying to tempt it into action.
“You can, but try to hold yourself back a little.” Shu Xin smiled. “Jingzhi, you stay behind me when the time comes. Unless I call for you, you’re not allowed to act. Understood?”
Wen Jingzhi blinked.
“Blinking counts as consent.” Shu Xin cheerfully stuffed a pill into Wen Jingzhi’s mouth. “Just focus on stabilizing your cultivation for now.”
The pill Wen Jingzhi swallowed was a Yuqing Pill.
Keeping something like that on hand was a hassle. Every pill had its own origins, and selling one off would be even more troublesome. The safest option was simply to eat it.
Shu Xin’s Dao Heart was already incredibly stable; she had no use for it at all.
It was just right for Wen Jingzhi to munch on as a snack.
“If you don’t listen to me later, I’ll settle the score with you afterward, regardless of whether you’ve regained consciousness.” Shu Xin smiled as she spoke.
Wen Jingzhi became even more afraid to move.
The Sword Spirit paused for a moment before asking tentatively, 【Do you think Wen Jingzhi has recovered or not?】
Why else would she say something like that?
“That’s not important.” Shu Xin stretched lazily, then lifted her head toward the sky. “Someone’s here to cause trouble. Hahaha, how interesting. The first one to be pushed forward really is Qin Rushan, that unlucky fool.”
It was exactly as expected.
On the surface, it looked as though only Qin Rushan had come, but who wasn’t secretly watching from the shadows?
“Shu Xin, I have something to discuss with Xu Guan.” Qin Rushan took a deep breath. His originally handsome features had become somewhat twisted at this moment. “I suspect that before Master passed away, he intended to pass the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book on to me. I’m going to find him and demand an explanation. Since you’re my junior, I won’t make things difficult for you.”
“Senior Qin, where is all this coming from?” Shu Xin replied with a mocking, sarcastic tone. “You’re a member of the Everlasting Dao Sect. What does that have to do with my master? Since when can people just claim someone as their master? If I went to the Everlasting Dao Sect’s leader right now and said that I was the true successor, then asked him to hand the sect over to me, do you think he’d agree?”
“What a sharp tongue you have, junior.” Qin Rushan stared at Shu Xin’s smug face, and the emotions he had been suppressing seemed to suddenly find an outlet.
The anger he had not dared to vent at Ning Weixuan seemed perfectly justified when directed at Shu Xin.
The person standing before him was Xu Guan’s most valued eldest disciple. Otherwise, Xu Guan would never have left her to protect him during his cultivation.
She was just as dazzling as Xu Guan had once been—no, she was even more formidable than Xu Guan had been in the past!
If he killed her like this, Xu Guan would surely suffer terribly.
At the thought, Qin Rushan’s breathing grew heavier. His years of inner demons and obsession seemed to have finally found a suitable outlet.
At this moment, Qin Rushan no longer bothered with the hypocritical pretense of not bullying those weaker than himself. On the contrary, Shu Xin’s cultivation at the Grotto-Heaven realm made him feel even more justified.
The strong preyed on the weak; that was the truth of this world. He needed to bow and scrape before powerful cultivators, so what right did a mere Grotto-Heaven cultivator like Shu Xin have to flaunt her might before him?
“Since that’s the case, I’ll teach you a lesson on your master’s behalf!” Qin Rushan launched himself at her.
Although Qin Rushan found it difficult to maintain his Immaculate cultivation, he was still a veteran Immaculate cultivator. The instant he attacked, his speed was astonishingly fast.
Under normal circumstances, there was no way a Grotto-Heaven cultivator like Shu Xin could dodge an attack like that.
The gap between realms was almost impossible to make up for through external means. Immaculate cultivators, in particular, were practically equivalent to top-tier magical treasures. When ordinary Grotto-Heaven cultivators encountered one, there was nothing they could do except pray that they could escape alive.
That was why everyone was watching from the shadows. Without the help of the Divine Fire Diagram Spirit Book, Shu Xin absolutely could not survive Qin Rushan’s attack.
But that was when something unexpected happened.
When faced with Qin Rushan’s sudden attack, Shu Xin not only failed to retreat—she chose to meet it head-on.
With two crisp sounds, two spirit swords flew from their sheaths one after another.
“Wait,” Shu Xin called out.
How could Qin Rushan be fooled by such a cheap trick? He was already on the verge of killing Shu Xin.
Yet, just as he closed in on her, a sword suddenly appeared between them, blocking Qin Rushan’s attack.
No one knew what material the sword was made of, but Qin Rushan’s full-force strike had failed to leave even a crack in it.
“I told you to wait.” Shu Xin smiled calmly. Holding the sword called “Hold On,” she thrust it toward Qin Rushan’s chest.
She had been waiting for Qin Rushan to come closer.
“A mere Grotto-Heaven cultivator—how could you possibly injure me?” Qin Rushan paid no attention to Shu Xin’s little trick.
He would capture this woman and torture her first, then go to Xu Guan and gloat.
Pfft.
The sword in Shu Xin’s hand pierced Qin Rushan’s body.
【This guy’s impure.】The Sword Spirit sensed the karmic sins within Qin Rushan’s flesh and blood. It was barely satisfied with those, but it was thoroughly displeased with the spiritual energy in his blood.
【How many pills did this guy eat to stabilize his cultivation? Ugh, it tastes awful.】
The Sword Spirit’s life had improved considerably, and it had started becoming picky. In the past, it had been willing to kill even demonic cultivators in the Core Formation stage.
Qin Rushan’s eyes widened as he stared at the sword embedded in his body, unable to believe it. “How can an ordinary sword injure me?”
“The sword may be ordinary, but the person wielding it isn’t.” Shu Xin smiled. She increased the flow of spiritual energy, and the sword buried in Qin Rushan’s body suddenly erupted with overwhelming sword force and sword intent, pouring continuously into his internal organs.
Even stranger, Qin Rushan felt the flesh and blood within his body rapidly draining away, as though he would be sucked dry and turned into a withered corpse in the next instant!
“What is this?” Qin Rushan’s face filled with terror. He hurriedly retreated, forcibly expelling the spirit sword from his body.
The Sword Spirit did not press its advantage. Mainly because it found Qin Rushan rather distasteful—and it also had to be careful not to show too much strength, lest the people watching in secret discover that something was wrong.
Shu Xin shook the blood from her sword and smiled brightly at Qin Rushan. “It seems Senior Qin hasn’t personally fought anyone in many years. Judging by your combat instincts, why do they seem even worse than those of my junior disciples?”
Qin Rushan had thought that he could rely on his superior cultivation to seize Shu Xin in one move. He had not expected to be the one stabbed instead.
Knowing that so many people were watching, Qin Rushan felt even more furious.
He could not defeat Xu Guan, but surely he could defeat Xu Guan’s disciple!
Qin Rushan said nothing. Instead, he directly revealed his magical treasure.
It was a crimson, drill-shaped weapon covered in intricate inscriptions—the Mountain-Breaking Awl!
No one knew how Qin Rushan had refined it, but the Mountain-Breaking Awl possessed four different attributes: wind, fire, lightning, and thunder. Once released, it became like a vortex of spiritual energy, sweeping up all the spiritual energy in the surrounding area.
“To use something like that against a Grotto-Heaven cultivator? You really are pulling out all the stops!”
Someone in the air laughed and cursed.
Yin Rushi, however, was not in a hurry. If Shu Xin really was the person he suspected, then there was absolutely no way she would lose to Qin Rushan.
“So you brought out the big guns?” Shu Xin raised an eyebrow slightly, but her body was already gathering strength.
As the Mountain-Breaking Awl flew toward her, Shu Xin gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands and swung down viciously at the so-called magical treasure, as though she were chopping firewood!
【Aaaah! I’m not an axe!】the Sword Spirit screamed.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the nearly unstoppable Mountain-Breaking Awl was cleaved cleanly in two!
Sorry for the delay—I had to catch a high-speed train and wrote a little along the way. I’ll correct any typos.
