Chapter 111#

An Wuxue raised his hand, spiritual energy churning in his palm, and Chun Hua was summoned into his grasp in an instant.

By the flickering, dim light of the prison, he looked down at this famous sword that had been hidden for a thousand years.

On the blade, the two characters “Chun Hua” caught the light and shadow, engraving the past.

It had once been Nan He’s sword.

His deepest memory of his Master was when he broke through to the Great Success stage; his Master had gifted him this sword, hoping he could use it to stabilize the mountains and rivers and clear the snow from the world.

That day, his Master was dressed in a white and blue Daoist robe. Clearly an immortal leader governing the two realms, he used only a simple wooden pin to tie his hair, and stray strands swayed gently with the wind blowing through the Falling Moon mountain forest.

The elders of the sect had all praised Immortal Lord Nan He for his peerless beauty and an immortal foundation as elegant as a crane or bamboo. It was just that he was too devoid of sorrow or joy, his eyes always filled only with the vast common people, making it impossible for anyone to harbor even a sliver of profane thought.

An Wuxue once thought that his Master and his junior brother were very similar.

He was highly talented and hadn’t been very hardworking in the past. Once, in his youth, he failed a test due to laziness, and Nan He punished him by making him practice his sword in the bamboo forest day and night for three days; after that, he never dared to be negligent again. If he caused trouble or botched an assignment, Nan He always treated him according to the rules of Falling Moon Peak. The only difference between him and an ordinary Falling Moon disciple was that his immortal techniques and hand seals were personally taught by Nan He.

But when gifting the sword, his Master held Chun Hua in both hands and presented it to him, his gaze holding a rare gentleness.

Such a person.

Such a person had actually once severed his deepest childhood bond for the sake of the path to immortality.

Such a person had also once placed a Heartless Curse on his junior brother, who should have followed the Way of Floating Life, choosing for him the completely different Way of Heartless.

Some things from the past were now connecting.

No wonder.

The reason he and Qi Xun knew each other was because Nan He and the old Sect Master Qi of the Li Huo Sect were acquaintances. With the Qu clan in the north and the Li Huo Sect in the south, it was perfectly normal for Nan He, who hailed from a North Abyss array family, to have a friendship with the major array and smithing sect, Li Huo.

And while Falling Moon was the premier sect of the cultivation world, its excellence lay in its sword inheritance, producing generations of sword immortals. It didn’t particularly stand out in arrays, smithing, or divination, yet Nan He was skilled in arrays and curses; even his and Xie Zhefeng’s natal swords were personally forged by Nan He.

An Wuxue’s knowledge of arrays was also passed down by Nan He. Looking at it now, his array inheritance shared the same source as Qu Jizhi’s.

Despite the confirmation, he still found it difficult to associate Nan He with the name Qu Wendao.

The person who caused the destruction of the Li Huo Sect a thousand years ago had countless links to An Wuxue. Only Xie Zhefeng and Nan He could rival the mastermind’s understanding of him.

And the crisis a thousand years later was filled with traces of Qu clan secret techniques.

The person behind the chaos was very likely a member of the Qu family from a thousand years ago.

Could Nan He be related to these events?

But his Master had personally destroyed the secret method for ascending through turbid energy and was the one who ended the Immortal Calamity. How could he be related to these disasters?

He stared blankly at Chun Hua, silent for a long time.

He couldn’t figure it out.

Beside him, Jiang Qing let out a soft sigh: “A brilliant youth and an indestructible famous sword—this was once… a beautiful legend in North Abyss.”

But the famous sword was broken, the youth’s path was fractured, and the legend became a cautionary tale.

Within the barrier, Qu Jizhi remained silent after receiving his answer. Seeing this, Qu Wenxin thought she had hit the mark.

She smiled: “You indeed lied to me. Qu Wendao didn’t want to break his sword back then, but he created the Heartless Curse only to find that it could only suppress emotions, not sever the karma of his attachments. Since he ultimately chose to break his sword, where would another method come from?”

Qu Jizhi turned his head.

He carefully pondered Qu Wenxin’s words, his eyes narrowing slightly as he came to a realization: “So the Heartless Curse was created by this senior named Qu Wendao to sever his attachments? But between him and his sword was a karma of shared progress on the Dao. When the curse proved useless, he left it with the Qu family and broke his sword to leave North Abyss?”

Qu Wenxin was stunned.

Her expression went blank for a moment, and then she suddenly understood: “You didn’t know? You didn’t find any manual at all! You’re investigating Qu Wendao… why are you investigating Qu Wendao… why didn’t you ask about the North Abyss sword array but asked about Qu Wendao instead…”

“What does this matter have to do with Qu Wendao?”

Clang—

An Wuxue exerted force on his wrist, sheathing Chun Hua, and stepped through the barrier.

He said: “Since the previous head of the Qu family informed you of the Heartless Curse, did Qu Wendao leave a cure?”

“…An Wuxue?”

She looked at Qu Jizhi, then at An Wuxue, and sneered: “So it’s you who wants to know.”

She stopped talking.

She knew perfectly well that Xie Zhefeng and the others wouldn’t search her soul. If she spoke, she’d be useless; staying silent was her only path to survival.

An Wuxue had anticipated her reaction.

But since Qu Jizhi had asked this much, Qu Wenxin would have noticed regardless; bluffing would no longer work.

He had to ask about the Heartless Curse.

Qu Jizhi’s curse could be broken because it hadn’t been cast deeply, and both Pei Qian and Qu Wenxin, who had handled it, currently had lower cultivation than Qu Jizhi. He could break it at will.

But the one who cast the Heartless Curse on Xie Zhefeng was Nan He. Breaking it by force was nearly impossible.

It was best to find the method for lifting the curse.

He said to Qu Wenxin with an unreadable tone: “Are you not curious why your collaborator used my identity to deal with you? During the lightning tribulation, were you led to the sword array because that person needed your help, or because you were being abandoned, and they just wanted to use you to frame me?”

Qu Wenxin’s expression stiffened slightly.

But her lips remained tightly pursed, and she still didn’t say a word.

“First Seat…” Qu Jizhi seemed to want to help him.

An Wuxue raised a hand to stop him: “No need.”

Seeing this, Qu Wenxin gave a cold laugh and remained silent.

“You think I can’t make you talk, don’t you?”

An Wuxue gave a small smile, but there was only coldness in his eyes, and his voice was completely chilled.

“You governed the Qu clan for a thousand years; after the lightning was blocked, you should have realized all of this.”

“That person won’t come to save you because you are no longer useful. And your current silence is only to save your life.”

“But is there truly any meaning in this? One day, we might drag that person out, and then you’ll be completely useless. Or if that person truly wins, as a discarded pawn, they have no reason to keep you—no matter who wins or loses, the best outcome for you is to be imprisoned here forever, waiting for the day of your sudden demise.”

With every word An Wuxue spoke, Qu Wenxin’s expression loosened a bit more.

When he finished, her pupils trembled, and she finally spoke: “So what? No matter how much you say, you can’t release me. I have already turned to the demonic path; there is no turning back.”

An Wuxue nodded with a smile: “True. If your meridians were only infected with turbid energy, it could be slowly expelled. But once the dantian has actively absorbed it, there is no other way to leave the demonic path except by destroying the soul and the dantian.”

He paused, his smile abruptly vanishing as his voice dropped, saying word for word: “So, I could come every day and cut away a piece of the turbid energy in your dantian, and shred a piece of your soul. Every single day…”

Destroying the dantian and shredding the soul.

That was a torture that surpassed all others in pain.

Qu Wenxin’s entire body shook, her face turning deathly pale.

An Wuxue continued with a calm, flat tone: “Until your dantian and soul are completely ruined. You won’t be a demon cultivator anymore. Ah, but at least you won’t be someone who must die, right? I’ll have to release you then.”

“However, you’ve killed many people this time. I can’t manage the grievances of others. What a pity; at that point, you’ll have lost everything, endured daily agony, and finally returned to the immortal path only to be a cripple who still has to pay back your debts in blood.”

The prison was filled with dust, yet An Wuxue stood before Qu Wenxin in his plain robes, as spotless as a serene orchid in a deep valley.

He leaned forward slightly, looking down at the bound prisoner with a clear voice that seemed to come from a bottomless abyss, speaking his cold words with gentleness.

Even Qu Jizhi was somewhat surprised.

Pei Qian stared at An Wuxue with wide eyes—was the person before him really the Su Xue he was familiar with?

Before Qu Wenxin, An Wuxue finally slowly bent his knees, using his sword for support as he met her gaze at eye level.

He smiled again, yet those peach-blossom eyes still held only a sharp chill.

He called out: “Young Immortal Master Qu.”

He wasn’t calling Qu Jizhi. He was using the title he had used for Qu Wenxin a thousand years ago.

“Has it been so many years since my death that you’ve forgotten how I handled things back then?”

“Even if you don’t speak, what of it? Do you think I’d truly be afraid of that vermin who only dares to stir up trouble from the shadows? It’s getting late, and I’m a bit tired. In fifteen minutes, if you haven’t spoken, there will be no need to.”

He slowly stood and stepped back, standing there silently with his sword in his arms.

—He had begun to count the time.

An Wuxue didn’t speak, and Qu Wenxin struggled visibly. Pei Qian and Qu Jizhi knew better than to speak at a time like this.

Fifteen minutes seemed to pass slowly, yet also in the blink of an eye.

The moment the time was up, An Wuxue wasted no words. Chun Hua was abruptly unsheathed under the control of his spiritual energy!

At that exact moment, Qu Wenxin hurriedly spoke: “There is! There is a cure!”

An Wuxue paused, yet Chun Hua remained suspended before Qu Wenxin.

She said urgently: “Qu Wendao used it on himself; how could there not be a cure? He wanted to keep that sword back then, so he created the Heartless Curse. When he found it useless later, he lifted it for himself. The method is beneath the oldest pear tree in the Qu estate!”

An Wuxue blinked slowly, and with a wave of his sleeve, he withdrew Chun Hua.

Qu Wenxin’s face was miserable.

“Since I’ve spoken, you’ll likely want to ask about my collaborator next. I do not know who that person is; they have never shown themselves to me. All our planning was done through sound transmission talismans. I couldn’t even tell if the voice was male or female.”

“But I initially guessed it was you. Because that person knew everything related to you. The entire cultivation world knows you turned demonic and died under the Chu Han sword. I thought you had returned from the dead for revenge, so I didn’t doubt it.”

“That alone wouldn’t be enough to earn your full support, would it?” An Wuxue raised an eyebrow. “Even if you thought it was me—since I myself died under the Chu Han sword, why would you believe my return would allow me to win against the ten thousand sects and hold my own against the Immortal Venerable?”

“So when ‘you’ first appeared—it was not long after your death, I believe. At that time, I received a sound transmission from ‘you.’ ‘You’ mentioned many Qu family secrets. Although I hadn’t dealt with you much a millennium ago, ‘you’ knew them all clearly. ‘You’ saw that I had become family head by chance during a succession crisis and that my cultivation wasn’t enough to suppress the clan, nor could it progress further. So ‘you’ said you wanted to collaborate with the Qu clan, borrowing my power while helping me break through.”

“I was tempted even then, but I also thought of what you just said—An Wuxue died under the Chu Han sword himself; how could he have the ability to help the demons return to power? If I turned demonic, wouldn’t I be seeking death? So I didn’t agree then, but I was indeed tempted, so I didn’t tell anyone.”

“But ‘you’ didn’t keep trying to persuade me. ‘You’ only told me some things. And those things… were indeed proven true over the next few centuries. Only then did I believe ‘your’ words and begin to collaborate.”

After that, Qu Jizhi had trapped himself in the Guan Ye Array. Qu Wenxin took the opportunity to strengthen his Heartless Curse and used his imprisonment to learn the secrets of the array. She then quietly set it up near the First City and gathered the weaknesses of every city in North Abyss to help the mastermind destroy the sword array.

An Wuxue frowned: “What did ‘I’ use to earn your trust?”

“You said…”

As Qu Wenxin spoke, she recalled that voice of indeterminate gender coming through the sound transmission talisman.

—"…The Heavenly Pillars are destroyed. The path to the Immortal Realm was cut off a thousand years ago. Xie Zhefeng was an anomaly. No one in this world can ascend anymore. As fellow Tribulation-Transcending cultivators, how can those on the immortal path compare to demon cultivators who have no bottlenecks?"

—“Oh? You mention Immortal Venerable Chu Han? Him… haven’t you noticed that since he cleansed the world of demons upon his ascension, he has never appeared again? He himself…

—“Wait until my plan succeeds; he himself will likely have become a Turbid Immortal. How will he ever draw his sword against demons again!! Hahahahahaha!!!”