Chapter 44#

The barrier suddenly jolted!

An Wuxue blankly turned his gaze. Outside the barrier covering them, another pale-faced person with faint turbid qi clinging to their body was clawing at the barrier, trying to get closer.

That person still didn’t seem like a sane, normal person; even after hitting the barrier, they continued to lunge forward.

Pei Qian muttered, “Another puppet? Such realistic puppets. Since when did the Northern Abyss have such puppet-making techniques…”

Xie Zhefeng was still looking at An Wuxue.

His gaze seemed to fall dead-set on An Wuxue’s left arm, lost in silent thought.

Kunkun flew between the two of them, looking left and then right.

“Wuu wuu…”

Xie Zhefeng’s eyes flickered, and he slowly stood up.

Kunkun understood his meaning. Its wings flapped as it flew out of the barrier, arriving beside the puppet.

It dodged the puppet’s movements, and with a “rip,” it tore open the sleeve on the puppet’s left arm before flying back to Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue’s side.

—This puppet indeed had an identical mark on its body!

Although the mark on the two puppets was cruder than the one on An Wuxue’s arm, it was less “crude” and more like it was just a part of the mark on An Wuxue.

The “furnace seal” on his hand was something built upon the foundation of these marks on the puppets, with some additions, making it look more complex and complete.

“Shall we enter the city and take a look?” Pei Qian continued to mutter, “I wonder what the situation is inside… Daoist Xie? Daoist Su?”

Pei Qian directly waved his hand between the two of them: “What are you two doing? Exchanging flirtatious glances?”

An Wuxue had been absentmindedly thinking about the furnace seal matter. Being addressed like this, he suddenly choked on a breath of air: “Cough… cough cough, Daoist Pei!”

Xie Zhefeng also frowned: “Daoist Pei, mind your words.”

This man also knew that there were more urgent matters at hand. As he spoke, his hands overlapped, forming a hand seal to wave away the puppet clinging to the barrier.

He glanced at An Wuxue again.

An Wuxue lowered his eyes, just in time to see Xie Zhefeng’s grip on Chunhua tightening more and more.

The man’s gaze fell on him; with a slight lift of his eyes, he met the other’s gaze once more.

His junior brother’s pupils were usually as black as a bottomless night, but now they were like a pool of stagnant water being stirred—clearly unable to produce ripples, yet surging with waves.

He didn’t know what Xie Zhefeng was thinking, nor did he know if Xie Zhefeng had thought of the same things as him.

He was already full of suspicious points in Xie Zhefeng’s eyes. If this body of Su Xue truly was just a puppet, who had created it? And where did the soul within this body come from?

He glanced at the city gate not far away. To divert Xie Zhefeng’s attention, he hurriedly said, “How is it that there’s no sign of human life here except for puppets? It’s not like Zhaoshui City or Langfeng City at all…”

It was more than just a lack of human life.

Turbid qi drifted beneath the massive barrier covering the Northern Abyss. Outside the city, puppets fueled by turbid qi wandered about. The once prosperous forty-nine cities of the Northern Abyss were now deathly silent.

Among the four coastal cities, the Northern Abyss had been a place where the Immortal Path flourished even before the Immortal Calamity, and its territory far exceeded the other three cities. Zhaoshui and Langfeng were only the size of a single city, with many surrounding wilderness areas and numerous sects. However, in the Northern Abyss, there were forty-nine towns where cultivators and mortals coexisted.

There were many cultivators among them, with countless immortal sects and clans, each performing their duties and guarding different branch cities.

All these branch cities took orders from the First City at the heart of the Northern Abyss, whose City Lord was Shangguan Liaoliao.

Before the start of the Immortal Calamity, there were even several Eternal Immortals guarding the Northern Abyss.

It was precisely because of this that when Immortal Venerable Nanhe fought the previous City Lord, the Northern Abyss Immortal Lord, he even needed Shangguan Liaoliao to perform a bloodline sacrifice to find the heavily injured and hidden Northern Abyss Immortal Lord.

The story of the boy with the broken sword that An Wuxue had told Qin Wei back then also originated from the Northern Abyss.

What kind of situation could plunge the Northern Abyss into its current state overnight?

Pei Qian also dropped his frivolous attitude, frowning as he said, “This place borders the west and is the first territory belonging to the Northern Abyss coming from Langfeng—the Twenty-Seventh City of the Northern Abyss. Because of its location on the border, there are many mortals and cultivators coming and going. The mortals entering and exiting the city gates could usually form a long queue; it wasn’t like this before…”

“Let’s enter the city and see,” Xie Zhefeng said.

The man simply retracted the barrier and threw out a turbid-repelling spirit talisman, which suspended itself before the three of them, and led them into the city.

An Wuxue remained silent.

His mind was in a mess.

He was troubled because the mark on his hand might be more difficult to handle than he had imagined, and also because he was worried about how to make up an excuse for Su Xue’s origin in front of Xie Zhefeng…

Amidst the deathly silence, they entered the Twenty-Seventh City.

The city gate wasn’t closed, yet there was no one guarding it either, only a layer of barrier. An ordinary barrier was nothing in the face of the cultivation of Xie Zhefeng’s avatar and Pei Qian’s array skills. In just a breath’s time, An Wuxue followed Xie Zhefeng and Pei Qian through the barrier, walking into the city openly.

They saw the long street in a mess, with the doors of the mortal dwellings on both sides all tightly shut. There were fluctuations of ordinary spirit talismans within the doors.

There were signs of living people inside the houses. As they first walked into the city, someone secretly peeked out from the gaps in the doors and windows of the houses, yet no one dared to come out.

“Why have Daoist Xie and Daoist Su stopped talking again? I said you two were quiet types, but you’re really acting the part now, aren’t you?”

“Are these mortals worried about demonic cultivators or puppets?” Pei Qian talked to himself, “Where are the cultivators in the city?”

Before his voice had even faded.

Quicker than words can tell—

Both Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue’s expressions turned sharp almost simultaneously!

Xie Zhefeng’s gaze fixed. The previous look of confusion and trepidation vanished instantly, and spiritual power surged at his fingertips.

Kunkun gave a cry and flew in front of An Wuxue.

At this moment, Pei Qian’s expression also suddenly turned cold: “Who is it!?”

A spirit sword pierced through the air from ahead, rushing straight toward Xie Zhefeng, who was at the very front!

Xie Zhefeng merely held Chunhua in one hand and lightly raised the other. Spiritual power instantly whipped up a wall of wind, blocking that sword tip which was inches away like an iron wall!

The spirit sword trembled and retreated with a “shoo.”

A female cultivator at the Dujie stage descended from the air, reaching out to catch the spirit sword, but she was jerked back by the force clinging to the sword, almost failing to stand firm.

Pei Qian praised, “Daoist Xie has such swift moves!”

The female cultivator was instead stunned: “An immortal cultivator?”

Xie Zhefeng seemed to have guessed that the newcomer was not an enemy. After merely blocking the spirit sword just now, he didn’t take further action.

He cast a glance at Pei Qian. Pei Qian immediately understood, stepping forward and cupping his hands: “Is this Daoist a cultivator from the City Lord’s Mansion? We were in secluded meditation outside the city recently and didn’t expect the Northern Abyss to be sealed upon our emergence. We couldn’t leave the barrier, so we could only enter the city to take a look.”

This was the cover story they had agreed upon before entering the Northern Abyss.

The female cultivator held her spirit sword and stared at the three of them for a moment, an apologetic expression appearing on her face.

She stepped forward: “Pardon me, fellow Daoists. The current Northern Abyss… sigh. I sensed the aura of unfamiliar Dujie stage cultivators entering the city and feared they might be demonic cultivators. I was a bit nervous; I didn’t expect them to be fellow immortal cultivators.”

As she spoke, she instead gradually showed joy. Looking at Xie Zhefeng and Pei Qian, she said, “Since you two are immortal cultivators and at the Dujie stage, could you perhaps lend a hand? Currently, the Northern Abyss is completely sealed, and all immortal cultivators stand or fall together. If something truly happens, no one will be able to save themselves…”

Xie Zhefeng nodded: “Naturally. But we still do not know: where did the puppets outside the city and the turbid qi in the sky come from? What happened to the Northern Abyss?”

The female cultivator stepped aside and pointed ahead, saying, “Please follow me to the City Lord’s Mansion, and I will explain in detail to you all. May I ask where you fellow Daoists are from? My name is Qiao Yin, a cultivator of the City Lord’s Mansion. I haven’t joined a sect and study my family’s heritage.”

Pei Qian introduced the names of the three of them with great enthusiasm, saying, “I am just a rogue cultivator, but like Daoist Qiao, I am a native of the Northern Abyss.”

Qiao Yin was stunned.

No matter how many experts there were in the Northern Abyss, Dujie stage cultivators were few and far between. Even if they didn’t know each other, Dujie stage cultivators within a city would likely have heard of each other’s names.

She hesitated, “Daoist Pei is a native of the Northern Abyss? Then it is my ignorance; I actually hadn’t heard of Daoist Pei before. If I may be so bold as to ask… which city is Daoist Pei from?”

Pei Qian’s footsteps paused.

His eyes flickered before he put on a smile and said, “The First City.”

“The First City? Could it be that Daoist Pei is a subordinate of City Lord Shangguan…?”

“No, no. I’ve been traveling between the two realms since long ago. Now, I’m just a rogue cultivator with no fixed abode.” Pei Qian shook his head and pointed to An Wuxue and Xie Zhefeng beside him, “On the other hand, these two fellow Daoists both come from Luoyue Peak.”

Cultivators walking is different from mortals. Guided by Qiao Yin, they moved with light steps through the air and had already reached the front of the City Lord’s Mansion.

The area around the City Lord’s Mansion was also desolate, but at least there were cultivators guarding the entrance.

The guards on the left and right were initially tense and ready to draw their swords as strangers approached. Once they saw Qiao Yin’s face, they withdrew their hands and bowed in unison, saying, “Young City Lord.”

Qiao Yin waved them off and turned back to answer Pei Qian: “Daoist Xie and Daoist Su are disciples of the number one sect? No wonder Daoist Xie’s move to block the sword just now was so smooth and incredibly swift. If Daoist Xie hadn’t seen that we were fellow immortal cultivators and held back, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have remained unscathed.”

She already knew that An Wuxue and the others would assist the Twenty-Seventh City, so she was naturally glad to see their high level of cultivation.

An Wuxue was silently following behind Xie Zhefeng while holding Kunkun, striving to keep his presence as low as possible.

Kunkun had just gotten tired of flying and landed in his arms. With things on his mind, he was absentmindedly stroking Kunkun’s fur one stroke at a time.

He was pondering what exactly the situation in the Northern Abyss was and whether Xie Zhefeng had actually started to suspect the origin of Su Xue. Hearing his name mentioned in the conversation between Pei Qian and Qiao Yin, he didn’t react.

But in the next instant, Pei Qian said as if in passing, “Indeed. I originally thought it was only Daoist Xie whose cultivation was superb, but I didn’t expect Daoist Su’s Dacheng stage to be extraordinary as well.”

He smiled, “When Young City Lord Qiao made her move just now, I happened to be looking at Daoist Su. Before I even noticed anything, Daoist Su’s expression changed first. I didn’t expect that even though Su Xue’s cultivation is only at the Dacheng stage, his divine sense’s ability could actually surpass mine, a middle-stage Dujie cultivator—”

“Daoist Pei!” An Wuxue interrupted him sharply, “The atmosphere in the city was eerie at the time. My cultivation isn’t high, and I’ve been a bit nervous; it wasn’t that I sensed anything.”

The matters in his mind were already a tangled mess. The puppet issue was like an arrow out of nowhere, hitting his weak point and guilty conscience, catching him off guard.

If he had encountered Pei Qian’s words alone, he could still have handled it with ease, but right now he had no heart for it and couldn’t help but panic for a moment.

Both his hands holding Kunkun tightened slightly.

Kunkun looked up from his arms and bared its teeth at the culprit, Pei Qian.

Pei Qian: “…?”

Xie Zhefeng stood in front of the two of them, his back to An Wuxue, without turning around.

It was impossible to tell what his expression was. His voice was slightly hoarse: “He has never cultivated his divine sense.”

“What?” Pei Qian was puzzled.

“He reached the Dacheng stage a few months ago after being gifted an opportunity by a predecessor, jumping from the Bigǔ (Fasting) stage to the Dacheng stage in one go.”

Xie Zhefeng repeated the sentence from before with a different form of address: “Su Xue has never cultivated his divine sense.”

An Wuxue’s hands holding Kunkun tightened even more.

At the same time.

Outside Zhaoshui City.

Qi Xun followed the small spirit tracking array before him and arrived at a small rural village.