Chapter 51#
Within the sword array, chaos reigned.
The array, missing a corner, clashed with the unconstrained turbid qi under the protection of all the immortal masters, sending out ripple after ripple of spiritual energy fluctuations.
In the vast Beiming, turbid qi filled the sky, and the sound of the wind was full of apprehension.
Xie Zhefeng stood beneath the giant sword of the twenty-seventh city.
The immortal’s divine sense spread out, viewing all living beings and hearing heaven and earth. The world’s myriad noises entered his ears, but they could not fill his heart, which had been empty and vast for a thousand years.
That crisp sound was too strange, too long-awaited.
So long-awaited that, in that instant, he actually thought it might be an inadvertent sound from a living being in the twenty-seventh city, or that his inner demon was disturbing his state of mind again, or that he had fallen into a delusion.
But that sound was too clear.
When he first entered the Frost Sea and established his cave dwelling, the floating island was filled with flying catkins and freezing cold all year round. If the cultivators of the sect had important matters and came there, they would wait outside the gate. If their cultivation was not yet sufficient, they would always have to endure a bit of the cold.
Only for one person, he was unwilling to let them wait long. He hung a soul bell and left a restriction on it that only that person could ring. From then on, whenever his soul heard that crisp sound, it meant that person had arrived.
Just like now.
Senior Brother…
His soul bell ringing in Beiming—the only possibility was that the person holding it had specifically called him.
Regardless of why the soul bell appeared in Beiming…
Besides “Su Xue,” who was trapped in the demonic territory, who else could have obtained the soul bell he hung in Luoyue Frost Sea and used it to call him at this time?
The soul bell could not be rung by anyone other than his Senior Brother.
Su Xue.
Senior Brother.
As expected.
As… expected.
He had not guessed wrong.
Su Xue was Senior Brother!
Just as the thought arose, the inner demon found a good opportunity and suddenly rampaged in his sea of consciousness.
“…You heard wrong!!”
“That was your own delusional thought!”
“It’s an imaginary sound!”
“You want Su Xue to be your Senior Brother, but you have no evidence, so you imagined this sound! You’re very familiar with this, aren’t you? I have coexisted with you for a thousand years, and you often do this…”
“It’s all fake!!!”
No.
I would not hear it wrong.
In the vast world, only that one thread was the unshakable rock in his heart.
Deep in the inner demon for eight hundred years, he had heard the ringing of soul bells in countless delusions, and he had never fallen into the trap.
His Senior Brother was back.
Senior Brother had been back for so long.
The sea of consciousness shook, causing the spiritual energy in his avatar to become disordered.
The pressure of the peak of Tribulation Transcendence spread, and the faces of the immortal cultivators around the sword array all turned pale.
Spiritual energy collided, and the sword array roared!!
“Fellow Daoist Xie! Fellow Daoist Xie, what’s wrong with you now?”
Pei Qian returned against the pressure, managing to say this only with all his might.
As soon as he finished speaking, he was pushed back several steps by the pressure and spiritual energy of Xie Zhefeng.
The miasma beast, on the contrary, was quite at ease facing the pressure. Kun Kun held Chunhua and tried hard to soothe Xie Zhefeng’s soul, circling around him anxiously: “Wuwu…”
In the pine forest of the Burial Frost Sea.
Qi Xun thought Xie Zhefeng had already calmed down.
He stood aside for a while, but couldn’t call back Xie Zhefeng’s soul, so he simply went back out to ask about what was happening in Beiming.
At this moment, his heart was happy, sour, and bitter.
He was happy that A-Xue was still in the world, even returning with his soul intact.
A few months ago, he wandered around Thistle Stream every day, using countless tracking and searching arrays, but he couldn’t find even a trace of a remnant soul’s aura.
He almost thought that A-Xue truly had no attachment to this world and had left cleanly.
Now that the person was suddenly alive and well, what could be better than this?
But Qi Xun was also sour and bitter.
The sourness and bitterness came from the fact that he had clearly met A-Xue on the Frost Sea.
“Su Xue” at that time didn’t even seem willing to look at him, keeping his head down and eyes lowered, no different from a stranger.
Now that trouble had arisen in Beiming, An Wuxue had followed Xie Zhefeng into Beiming. He didn’t know how the situation was. Was there any danger?
Qi Xun gave a bitter smile.
The Luoyue disciple who had just finished telling him about the Beiming incident was startled: “Why did Sect Leader Qi react like this? Is the Beiming matter too difficult?”
Qi Xun shook his head: “It has nothing to do with Beiming. I just thought of my own karmic obstacles. Go outside and keep watch.”
“Yes.”
After the disciple withdrew, he returned to the pine forest, intending to reinforce several layers of the barrier—the barrier Xie Zhefeng had set himself had already been shattered by the immortal power just now.
But just as he stood still, before his spiritual energy could rise, the surrounding snow suddenly charged diagonally like sharp blades. The Chu Han Sword, which was inserted beside the lotus platform, suddenly trembled—it actually unsheathed itself!!!
Qi Xun had no time to react and immediately crossed his hands to form a dharma seal, using all his spiritual energy as a base to net this small space!
But the spiritual energy surged, and the out-of-control immortal power instantly shattered his barrier, throwing him dozens of feet away.
He hurriedly took out the folding fan at his waist, transformed it into a spirit sword, and inserted it into the ground.
The Chu Han Sword floated in the wind and snow, emitting bursts of sword cries!
Sword qi swept out, piercing the daylight and cutting the fine snow.
The floating island trembled!
“Xie Chuhan…” Qi Xun wiped the blood from his mouth and said hoarsely, “What madness are you into now?”
Twice in a row.
What happened in Beiming!?
Beside the sword array.
Xie Zhefeng remained motionless, his pupils dilated and his eyes red.
A thousand words poured down like a rainstorm.
“Yes, right, you didn’t misidentify him. Su Xue is Senior Brother!”
“Then what did you do?”
“Hahahahaha!!! Do you dare to look back?”
“Do you dare to look back at the words Su Xue said to you over the past six months? Do you dare to look back at what you did to Su Xue?”
“He’s afraid of you! So afraid of you that every time you get close, he can’t help but avoid you!”
No…
“He said he’s not your Senior Brother!”
No!
“He said he has no old acquaintances!”
Under the starry night of Zhaoshui City, amidst the scent of lanterns and the sound of music and dancing, in the prosperous scene, the man’s eyes reflected the light of the lanterns as he told him—“I have no home, and no old acquaintances.”
All alone, without attachments.
As if he truly had never known him as a fellow disciple.
“He even wants you to forget him!!!”
In the Cloud Sword illusion, “Su Xue” had looked at him indifferently and said—“If I were that Senior Brother of the Immortal, I might rather the Immortal simply think of me as a sinner who strayed and entered the demonic path…”
“Don’t look back, don’t regret.”
Senior Brother…
It hurts so much.
Where does it hurt?
Is it the soul, or the heart?
The pressure grew heavier and heavier.
The spiritual energy showed signs of rampaging.
“Xie Chunhua!! Has your soul left your body?” Pei Qian shouted loudly, raising his hand to shake him awake.
Before he could get close, Xie Zhefeng’s gaze wandered and caught a glimpse of Pei Qian, and his fingertip moved.
Pei Qian was suddenly sent flying!
Qiao Yin hurriedly flew forward to catch him: “Fellow Daoist Pei, what is Fellow Daoist Xie doing?”
Pei Qian spat, “What a temper!”
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know either!”
Xie Zhefeng remained motionless.
He clenched his fists tightly, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged as if he would lose his reason at any moment.
Within his sea of consciousness, the inner demon finally found a weakness, and its laughter became increasingly arrogant.
“He doesn’t want to recognize you, and didn’t you also fail to recognize him?”
“You two simply have no fate together!”
“What on earth have you been persisting in for these thousand years?”
“You see, you get nothing!!!”
Xie Zhefeng’s eyes became even redder.
Suddenly.
“Ding-ling—”
Another crisp sound.
The person holding the soul bell, perhaps afraid he had missed the previous one, rang it again.
Just this once.
The vibrating sea of consciousness instantly stabilized.
Xie Zhefeng’s gaze focused.
It couldn’t be like this.
Senior Brother was still waiting for him.
He had no right to delay.
Seeing this, the inner demon’s voice became panicked: “Aren’t you sad? Senior Brother has been by your side for so long, and you didn’t recognize him at all!”
“You’re nothing but a hypocrite who deceives himself and others and is selfish!”
“You don’t love him at all!”
“No,” he said to the inner demon in his sea of consciousness, “you’re wrong.”
The inner demon’s voice suddenly stopped.
The chaos seemed to be swallowed by an invisible giant beast, and everything around him suddenly became quiet.
Within his sea of consciousness, Xie Zhefeng said heavily, “The moment I took off Su Xue’s veiled hat in front of the mountain gate, I recognized him.”
Where else in the two realms and four seas could there be another person who could make him break the rules again and again?
It was him who couldn’t see clearly.
It was him who didn’t know he had already recognized his Senior Brother.
Pei Qian and Qiao Yin seemed to be still saying something to him.
He didn’t hear a word of it.
The light in his eyes refocused, his eyes seemed moist, and his whole body, down to his flesh and blood, felt sour.
His heart felt like it was being rolled over by a dull knife; though it was finally beating with life after a long time, it felt like it was traveling through a sea of knives.
Nonetheless.
He suddenly smiled.
“Fellow Daoist Xie, you…”
Xie Zhefeng always had a cold face. No matter where his gaze fell, it was wrapped in a heartless chill. He had never smiled in front of others.
At this moment, his pupils held an uncontrollable joy, yet his smile was full of bitterness and pain.
Pei Qian and Qiao Yin were both stunned as they watched.
In the next moment—
Xie Zhefeng’s whole body shook, his face turned deathly pale, and he spat out several mouthfuls of blood!
This stance was like that of a person seriously injured and dying. Pei Qian was startled: “You’re…!?”
Kun Kun flew to Xie Zhefeng’s eyes, lightly moving its wings: “Wuwu?”
Xie Zhefeng lowered his eyes, his gaze softening slightly.
His black eyes seemed to contain all the stars, complex and bottomless.
He asked Kun Kun in a low voice, “He is him. You knew all along.”
Kun Kun was stunned, hurriedly hung its head, and called out guiltily: “Wuwu…”
Xie Zhefeng raised his hand, not to touch Kun Kun, but the Chunhua Sword Kun Kun was holding.
His fingertips lightly brushed the scabbard.
He had brought Su Xue and Chunhua from Luoyue, went to Zhaoshui, passed through Langfeng, and reached Beiming.
Chunhua had never been imbued with its master’s spiritual energy.
Senior Brother knew he was looking for that thread of a remnant soul and also knew he craved Senior Brother’s return like a madman.
But Senior Brother had no intention of recognizing him from beginning to end.
If Senior Brother knew that only one person could ring the soul bell since a thousand years ago, perhaps he wouldn’t even have heard this “ding-ling.”
He raised his hand, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, formed spiritual seals with both hands, and closed his eyes slightly.
With a movement of his divine sense, he immediately sensed the location of the soul bell.
From hearing the soul bell to finding Senior Brother’s location took only a dozens of breaths.
Pei Qian, Qiao Yin, and the others knew nothing. They could only watch as his spiritual energy became disordered and then stabilized, his pressure spread and then withdrew, and he seemed both to cry and smile while spitting blood, which was truly frightening.
“Fellow Daoist Xie?” Qiao Yin asked cautiously, “Are you all right?”
“It’s nothing,” he said with a smile, his eyes red. “Just an internal injury that hasn’t healed.”
Pei Qian: “…”
He hurriedly asked, “Didn’t you tell me to find the array core within a day? Can you still enter the array like this?”
“No need to enter the array.”
“How can we find it without going in?”
“I’ve already found it.”
“Found what? The lost array core or Su Xue?”
The spiritual energy in all directions shook greatly.
Xie Zhefeng looked in the direction of the soul bell—to make Senior Brother ring the bell and call him, that demonic cultivator…
He rose on his sword, the killing intent in his eyes surfacing.
“I’ve found them all,” he said.
Outside the city.
Qiao Ting’s and Zhao Duan’s spiritual energy collided!
Zhao Duan had already absorbed some vitality for his own use. After only three exchanges, Qiao Ting was shaken off!
A sacrificial array had long been set up in the villa by Zhao Duan. Now, the turbid qi all around vibrated like a barrier, netting everyone inside.
The array was like a bottomless hole, starting from Zhao Duan as the center and spreading from the inside out, regardless of friend or foe.
Qiao Ting had the power of Tribulation Transcendence, and his Natal Spirit Sword automatically formed a protective barrier around him. However, the other demonic cultivators were not strong enough. They had been sent by Zhao Duan to capture people, and now they couldn’t escape. Their flesh, bones, and blood withered as rapidly as dying flowers.
All the demonic cultivators near An Wuxue targeted him, this “Great Completion” immortal cultivator, wanting to join forces against him and use his flesh and blood to resist the devouring force.
His expression was casual as he put away the soul bell, intending to take action.
Seeing this, Qiao Ting hurriedly flipped back to An Wuxue’s side: “Young Master Su, I’ll protect you!”
An Wuxue: “…”
At that moment, his divine sense alerted him, sensing a demonic cultivator’s intention to attack.
Before Qiao Ting could react, as he was about to pull him behind him—
There was a “hiss.”
A sharp blade entered flesh. Before the demonic cultivator could act, his soul was crushed by An Wuxue.
The demonic cultivator fell, and only then did Qiao Ting see what had happened.
Tribulation Transcendence cultivators relied heavily on their divine sense in battle, often moving their souls before their eyes could even see. It had been a long time since Qiao Ting had seen something with his eyes before reacting.
Qiao Ting: “???”
He was only stunned for a moment. An Wuxue’s sword momentum didn’t stop. He withdrew his sword, turned, and killed two more demonic cultivators.
Qiao Ting: “.”
He suddenly understood where the blood on An Wuxue’s body had come from!
At this point, Zhao Duan was in the midst of the sacrifice. The spiritual energy and turbid qi supplied by the demonic cultivators whose flesh and vitality had been sucked dry all entered his body. The barrier that Qiao Ting had broken apart earlier reformed, becoming even stronger than before.
Zhao Duan felt he had the victory in his hand and laughed loudly: “Now you can’t run away, can you?”
An Wuxue pushed Qiao Ting and said through clenched teeth, “Can you go and hold Zhao Duan back properly?”
Qiao Ting naturally knew the priorities and attacked Zhao Duan again with his sword!
The surrounding demonic cultivators had all been sucked dry, leaving only white bones on the ground, even the blood having dried up immediately.
It seemed the power of the sacrificial array would continue to spread outward.
An Wuxue formed seals with both hands, instantly weaving a small barrier to block the spreading black qi.
Blocking it like this was equivalent to using a Great Completion cultivation to forcefully face Zhao Duan’s Tribulation Transcendence spiritual energy!
The spiritual energy in his body was instantly drained. His internal organs shook violently, and his face turned deathly pale.
He only kept the seal in his hands steady and didn’t withdraw.
The soul bell had already been rung. Xie Zhefeng was in the sword array of the twenty-seventh city of Beiming. Such a distance was only a short way for his junior brother’s peak Tribulation Transcendence avatar.
He and Qiao Ting only needed to protect those mortals before Xie Zhefeng arrived…
Suddenly!
Qiao Ting was struck back by Zhao Duan’s turbid qi. He flipped in the air and gave a soft grunt, not having time to turn back.
Zhao Duan waved his hand, sending out spiritual energy that hit the barrier An Wuxue had pulled open.
The barrier trembled and finally shattered under the heavy burden!
An Wuxue took a deep breath.
The spiritual energy in his body was empty. The mark on his left arm lost its spiritual energy support and showed signs of flaring up again.
He couldn’t hold up a second barrier.
He bit his lower lip hard, thinking of other ways to delay.
Just then.
A peak Great Completion demonic cultivator flew in from another direction, letting out a cry of pain.
The demonic cultivator landed right at Zhao Duan’s feet, a corpse upon landing.
Zhao Duan took the opportunity to suck the body dry, but then he was stunned—the one who had acted was neither Qiao Ting nor An Wuxue.
He and Qiao Ting stopped and retreated at the same time, looking together in the direction the demonic cultivator had come from.
A man held the unsheathed Chunhua, approaching step by step.
Kun Kun flew beside this man. In the man’s hand, Chunhua was slightly lowered, its blade covered in bright red. Blood condensed on the tip of the sword and dripped down drop by drop.
A trail of blood followed him.
Xie Zhefeng’s white robes were soaked in blood like red robes, and his entire body was filled with killing intent.
Only An Wuxue had no sense of confusion. His gaze only turned slightly, a little surprised.
He had thought Xie Zhefeng would come, but he hadn’t expected him to come so fast.
Zhao Duan’s face twisted: “—Are you the immortal cultivator Qiao Yin brought?”
Qiao Ting was delighted: “Fellow immortal cultivator, have you come to help? There are still mortals here, and that dog Zhao Duan has drawn a lot of turbid qi into his body—”
“The demonic cultivators here,” Xie Zhefeng interrupted him, casting a cold glance at Zhao Duan, “have all been killed, except for the one before us.”
So the corpse of the demonic cultivator that had just flown in was the last one!
Zhao Duan had nothing left to sacrifice!
Regardless, even if only an avatar had entered Beiming, Immortal Chu Han was still Immortal Chu Han, the same Xie Zhefeng whose sword could seal demons, drive away turbid qi, and slay evil.
An Wuxue breathed a sigh of relief, but then he couldn’t help but feel a bit strange.
He raised his eyes and found that Xie Zhefeng was staring straight at him.
Kun Kun was also looking at him, its round eyes blinking constantly.
He: “…?”
What are you doing standing there? Hit Zhao Duan!
In an instant, Zhao Duan spread his divine sense and indeed found that what Xie Zhefeng said was true. The corners of his eyes twitched.
He quickly looked left and right, seemingly realizing he couldn’t be a match for Xie Zhefeng, this peak Tribulation Transcendence master, and suddenly sped toward An Wuxue!
He wanted to capture An Wuxue as a hostage!
An Wuxue’s brow furrowed.
The sacrificial array was no longer a threat. Even if his spiritual energy was exhausted, his soul alone would be enough to deal with Zhao Duan.
He endured the softness from the cauldron mark’s flare-up and planned to use his divine sense to control him.
In a flash, a sword cry sounded. Chunhua, driven by Xie Zhefeng’s spiritual energy, sped in front of him, blocking Zhao Duan’s attack as steadily as a towering mountain.
Xie Zhefeng rose on the wind and stepped in front of An Wuxue. With a wave of his sleeve, his spiritual energy sent Zhao Duan rolling back.
Qiao Ting took the chance to strike with his sword, heading straight for Zhao Duan!
Xie Zhefeng formed a seal, drawing in spiritual energy from all directions, and raised his hand to set an array.
The array not only suppressed the sacrificial array Zhao Duan had just activated but also began to condense and suppress the thick turbid qi there, framing the four directions and enclosing all spiritual energy fluctuations within the area.
The wild wind didn’t stop. An Wuxue was also shaken by the colliding spiritual energy and gave a soft grunt.
Just that one soft sound.
His junior brother suddenly turned back to look at him, his eyes full of urgency and concern: “Is your cauldron mark flaring up?”
As he spoke, his spiritual energy had already covered the location of the mark. In this place of flying sand and stones and turbid qi filling the sky, he focused on soothing the flare-up for him.
He felt exceptionally uncomfortable.
There was neither killing intent nor coldness in his junior brother’s gaze. His face softened instantly, as if the Zhao Duan he had just been looking at was a most loathsome purgatory, while what was before him now was a fragrant human world where the spring breeze brought snow.
But after the softness, there was also a touch of pain.
As if he were sad.
Inexplicable. Messed up.
He said politely, “Thank you.”
Xie Zhefeng asked again, “There’s so much blood on you. Are you injured?”
As he spoke, he raised his hand, wanting to grab his wrist to settle his meridians.
Before he could pull away, the man’s movement paused, his hand hanging in mid-air, actually shrinking back a bit.
As if… as if he wanted to touch but didn’t dare.
He hurriedly moved to the side and said with effort, “I’m not injured. No need for this…”
Kun Kun landed on An Wuxue’s shoulder: “Wuwu…”
Xie Zhefeng was stunned.
He looked at An Wuxue’s retreating posture, his knuckles slightly bent, and finally withdrew his hand.
He heard An Wuxue say to him, “Fellow Daoist Xie, I was the one who rang your soul bell.”
He knew.
“After you and Pei Qian left, I was captured by Zhao Duan and brought here. Immortal Master Qiao came to save me, but Zhao Duan almost sacrificed all the living beings here to the array. I had no choice but to seek your help. I can explain the soul bell later, but for now, please eliminate the demon first.”
His words were calm, and between the lines, they were all about others’ affairs and the danger of the overall situation.
Xie Zhefeng stared at the person beside him.
This face used to only smile warmly at him, rarely being severe.
But Su Xue…
" I will certainly fulfill my responsibility."
Suppressing the sour and bitter feeling was harder than one obscure sword technique book after another. Xie Zhefeng did his best to steady his breath and said hoarsely, “But you were in danger, why didn’t you find me earlier? I gave you the ‘Tianya Haijiao’ talisman the night you went to the Frost Sea. You could seek me out anytime…”
Senior Brother’s brow moved slightly.
The voice that was clearly as gentle as a spring breeze was wrapped in a distant tone: “Immortal.”
He called him that.
“I know my place. I don’t take myself too seriously, nor would I be so arrogant as to think I have any weight in the Immortal’s heart that would make the Immortal abandon the overall situation to save me. Moreover…”
An Wuxue seemed to truly find it funny. His eyes curved slightly, and he said softly, “That night on the Frost Sea, I merely touched something I shouldn’t have and almost lost my life—how could I dare to use the talisman I obtained that night?”
Xie Zhefeng’s entire body stiffened.
His heart, which was already aching to the point of numbness, could actually be pierced through again, tormenting him along with the inner demon.
It was all fake.
They were all excuses to brush him off.
He understood after the fact that in Cloud Sword, Zhaoshui, and Beiming… through several dangers, “Su Xue” would rather put his puppet body, starting from scratch, into danger than use the transmission talisman to find him, because the transmission talisman would carry the aura of his soul.
Senior Brother didn’t want him to know.
And that night on the Frost Sea…
“That night…”
An Wuxue raised an eyebrow: “That night?”
“…I almost killed you.”
Xie Zhefeng said each word slowly, his voice trembling, his chest aching as if burned by a fierce fire.
If he hadn’t withdrawn his hand then…
He didn’t dare to think about it for even a moment!
He almost killed Senior Brother again!
Even so.
When between life and death, “Su Xue” didn’t reveal a single word.
Senior Brother would rather die once more than use his former identity to call him “Junior Brother” again.