Chapter 67#

Pei Qian froze in place. For a moment, his interactions with “Su Xue” since entering North Abyss and the long-standing rumors from both realms about the former First Seat of Falling Moon Peak flickered through his mind in quick succession.

Then, he thought of the legend where Immortal Venerable Chu Han ascended to immortality and came out of seclusion to execute his own kin for the sake of righteousness.

Then, he recalled the exchange between Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue just before they entered the Guan Ye Array…

He felt that he knew a bit too much.

Pei Qian: “…”

In that brief moment of distraction, he failed to keep track of the array’s mechanics. Ahead, An Wuxue was already asking the old man from the past, “How long have I been dead?”

An Wuxue wanted to confirm the exact point in time they had entered.

Several hundred years ago—but exactly how many?

Although the Guan Ye Array had been created after his death, arrays, like the Way of the Sword, shared fundamental principles. While arrays that bridged time were varied and strange, their cores were all the same.

That core was the breaking of time.

Everything around them was a mirage from centuries ago; only he and Pei Qian were people from the “future.”

The most bloodless way to resolve this was to make the people within the mirage realize they did not belong to this time, causing that layer of the array to end of its own accord.

It sounded simple, but it wasn’t easy to execute—because those within the array were unaware of their status. If the person opposite An Wuxue told him that he was the fictional phantom in the array, An Wuxue wouldn’t be able to believe it either.

Simply telling the truth wouldn’t work. One had to either use brute force to break all laws or find a way to make the other party realize the falsehood themselves.

An Wuxue didn’t want to resort to violence; this era contained the Shangguan Liaoliao of hundreds of years ago.

Thus, his only option was to break the situation with cleverness.

But the old man was terrified by his appearance. His hand trembled as he pointed at An Wuxue, and he had no intention of answering the question. Instead, he prepared to fly away on his sword—he wanted to inform the other cultivators of the First City!

An Wuxue frowned.

The more people who saw him and Pei Qian, the more people he would have to convince of the truth. He couldn’t let the man leave.

He raised his hand, pressing two fingers together. Spiritual energy surged as the sword Chun Hua unsheathed itself with a crisp hum, blocking the old man’s path.

A thousand years had passed since his fall, and Chun Hua had been sealed in the Frost Sea by Xie Zhefeng. Aside from Tribulation-Transcending experts who had lived through the Immortal Calamity, no one in the world would recognize this sword.

But for cultivators of that era, this sword was as iconic as Chu Han!

This was Chun Hua.

A blade that could split mountains and drain seas when drawn, and whose edge had been washed in countless amounts of blood.

Startled by Chun Hua, the old man came to a sudden halt. He turned back, looking at An Wuxue with a mix of wariness and disbelief. “How did you survive the Immortal Venerable’s sword, and what are you doing here in North Abyss? No…”

The old man paused, murmuring, “The two realms don’t know, but I’ve always heard whispers that the Immortal Venerable’s constant seclusion is related to you. Falling Moon Peak even came to North Abyss recently to look for traces of the Soul-Nourishing Tree Spirit… Could it be that the Immortal Venerable didn’t kill you at all?”

An Wuxue said helplessly, “He did.”

By then, Pei Qian had finally regained some composure.

Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, he quickly stepped up behind An Wuxue and cast a spell, establishing a barrier to temporarily isolate them from the outside world.

An Wuxue simply asked the man again, “How long have I been dead?”

Pei Qian: “…” It’s very strange to ask that question about yourself!

The old man gritted his teeth and said, “Six hundred years! Peace has reigned for a long time, and demon cultivators are no longer a threat. Do you really—”

He wanted to ask if An Wuxue intended to stir up trouble again.

But halfway through, at the mention of demon cultivators, the old man’s expression shifted.

He had been too shocked by seeing An Wuxue and then intimidated by Chun Hua, but now he realized that An Wuxue carried no trace of turbid energy.

“…Didn’t you become a demon?”

“I never cultivated as a demon,” An Wuxue said clearly, using the timeline the old man had provided. “Six hundred years ago at Thorn Stream, I was infected by turbid energy while trying to purify the fifth Heavenly Pillar that appeared out of nowhere.”

He repeated the words he had said countless times a thousand years ago when he was besieged by the ten thousand sects: “From beginning to end, I have never been a demon.”

Pei Qian looked at him sharply.

The old man also stood in a daze, his fear replaced by confusion.

To become a demon through turbid energy, one must draw that energy into their dantian to truly use it to increase their cultivation.

It wasn’t uncommon for immortal cultivators to be infected by turbid energy, but they rarely had such a dense aura.

However, once turbid energy entered the dantian, one could never return to the immortal path. If someone could still cultivate spiritual energy, they could only be someone who had never truly turned to the demonic path.

The old man didn’t know that An Wuxue had been reborn and was no longer in his original body. Seeing the pure spiritual energy surrounding him, his logic led him to a correct conclusion by accident. He said blankly, “Then… then how could it be six hundred years ago…? How could it be!!!”

His expression changed again. “Even so, you took it upon yourself to kill Shangguan Ran. And because I questioned you back then and offended you, you arranged for my brother to fight a half-step ascended Great Demon during the battle of the Far North to eliminate a rival, leaving him decapitated!”

The old man held his natal sword, ready to strike at any moment. “If you’re still alive and dare to come to the First City, to this sword array… even if I’m halfway into my grave, I will—”

An Wuxue had grown tired of hearing such things back during the siege.

He didn’t have the patience to listen to this phantom from centuries ago finish its speech. He interrupted, “Now that you mention it, I remember who you are. The Qi clan of North Abyss. I recall that the Qi clan produced two Tribulation-Transcending experts, and your brother died a tragic death in the Far North…”

He gave a self-deprecating smile.

There were too many events back then, and with a major catastrophe like the extermination of the Li Huo Sect weighing on him, he could barely remember the other minor crimes pinned on him.

He only remembered this because, after the Zhaoshui incident, Xie Zhefeng had made the truth of these minor accusations public. Yun Wan had mentioned it during a conversation, which was why he had an impression of it.

He said, “I did indeed send your brother to the Far North.”

“You—”

“But I told him at the time that the demon in the Far North was a Great Demon of the Nine-Tailed Fox clan. If a secret method to ascend through turbid energy existed, the fox clan’s great demons would have ascended long ago, and they were not to be faced directly. I only told him to gather information and wait for my junior brother to arrive so that he could slay the demon.”

“But when he reached the Far North, he discovered the demon held a supreme treasure. Greed took hold of him, and he conspired with another Tribulation-Transcending cultivator to steal it and flee. While they were stealing the treasure, your brother’s greed was matched only by his stupidity. The other person took the treasure and intentionally alerted the fox demon. That person escaped with the treasure, while your brother died.”

“Naturally, that person couldn’t tell you the truth, so he claimed I had intentionally sent your brother to his death.”

He turned to look at the North Abyss Sword piercing the clouds, the solemn shadow of the blade reflected in his eyes.

He said, “You all say my crimes are too numerous to record. But of those accusations, word for word, how many were truly my own doing, and how many were merely the world’s private grievances using my name?”

The old man said angrily, “Nonsense! That fellow cultivator was my brother’s closest friend. How could he have harmed him!”

An Wuxue shifted his gaze back to the man.

This was six hundred years after his death, which meant four hundred years before the current time.

He calculated the timeline and said, “A valid point. Unfortunately, two hundred years later, Immortal Venerable Chu Han found your brother’s ‘closest friend’ in Mingri City in the far south. He searched the man’s soul and found the stolen treasure and your brother’s spiritual pouch in his possession. Your brother’s pouch was nearly empty; the treasures and talismans inside had been used up over those eight hundred years. And because that man had the treasure and many spiritual medicines, his cultivation reached a higher level, allowing him to live two hundred years longer than you did.”

Everything he said was what Xie Zhefeng had announced to the world recently.

He hadn’t even known the details himself.

In the end, he had to learn about his own past from the words of others.

The old man found it even more absurd. “What are you talking about? What ’two hundred years later’?”

Though he asked, the hand holding his sword relaxed. He had been wavering ever since he saw the spiritual energy flowing through An Wuxue. Furthermore, An Wuxue’s story was cohesive and flawless, not at all like a lie made up on the spot.

He actually believed it.

Pei Qian also realized what An Wuxue was doing. He let out a light laugh and told the man, “Two hundred years later is two hundred years later. What else could it be? It’s truly laughable—you’re so filled with righteous indignation, acting as if you’d never let your brother’s killer go, yet you ended up letting the real culprit live in comfort for eight hundred years. Tsk…”

An Wuxue simply said, “If you don’t believe me, you can go to Mingri City to find him. Xie Zhefeng killed him two hundred years ago. Since it’s currently four hundred years ago, your brother’s ‘dear friend’ should still be living happily in Mingri City.”

The old man turned as if to leave.

This time, An Wuxue withdrew Chun Hua and no longer blocked him.

Pei Qian also removed the barrier and stood quietly to the side.

But the old man didn’t go.

He suddenly frowned. “Go to Mingri City… Why can’t I remember how to get there…?”

“Because this is only the North Abyss First City of four hundred years ago,” Pei Qian said. “Beyond the city is nothing but endless void. Naturally, you can’t go.”

The old man’s figure swayed.

His face was filled with confusion and struggle as he looked around, finally beginning to understand.

“Four hundred years ago… This is your ‘four hundred years ago’?”

The world began to shake silently, and blurred boundaries began to close in from the distance.

This was a mirage of four hundred years ago, and at the moment the person within the illusion realized the falsehood, the mirage began to crumble instantly.

Amidst the collapsing void, the old man looked at An Wuxue once more.

An Wuxue inappropriately recalled what this man had looked like a thousand years ago.

A cultivator’s decline only begins when their lifespan is nearly exhausted. When An Wuxue was establishing the sword array in North Abyss, this Qi surnamed cultivator seemed to be at the peak of the Great Success stage, dressed in jade-crowned robes and looking quite dignified.

At that time, the man had bowed with his sword and said, “City Lord Shangguan regards First Seat An as a brother. I also have a brother and understand the bond between the City Lord and First Seat An. From now on, I will treat First Seat An’s orders in North Abyss as the City Lord’s own and follow your lead completely!”

Later…

Later.

Forget it.

When he had been reminiscing about old acquaintances in North Abyss with Xie Zhefeng, he had actually thought of the Qi clan.

The North Abyss Qi clan had an old grudge against him. Although it was unrelated to Zhaoshui, they were a prominent clan in North Abyss and could easily control local affairs and knew much about the sword array. It wasn’t impossible for them to be the masterminds.

But looking at it now, it didn’t seem likely.

“First Seat…” the old man suddenly called out to him.

This title felt somewhat foreign to An Wuxue now, and he dazed for a moment.

The rate at which the world was collapsing increased. The First City of four hundred years ago had become completely blurred, leaving only the small patch of ground around An Wuxue and Pei Qian.

Seeing the void about to reach the old man, the old man asked, “Am I dead?”

“You are dead.”

“I hated the wrong person.” The old man’s expression was dejected. “Fortunately… I am dead, but the City Lord is still here, and the First Seat is not dead.”

“You’ve misunderstood. I am indeed dead as well.”

The old man was stunned.

Pei Qian: “Fine, I’m the only living person here.”

The old man reached out toward An Wuxue, seemingly wanting to touch him to see if he was just another phantom in the mirage.

But just as he extended his hand, the collapse finally reached him.

This absurd dream plucked from four hundred years ago seemed to end in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, everything vanished.

Two entrances materialized before them.

The playful look on Pei Qian’s face vanished instantly. He said in a low voice, “The Qi clan of North Abyss always had at least one Tribulation-Transcending expert in every generation. They were always a prominent clan among the immortal families of North Abyss. Aside from their strength, their reputation was even more renowned. Since I was a child, I’ve often heard people say that if anyone is truly upright and incorruptible, it’s the Qi family.”

“Four hundred years ago, I was too junior to be qualified to meet such a senior. I always felt it was a pity. I didn’t expect that the first time I’d meet a Qi ancestor would be under these circumstances.”

An Wuxue remained silent.

He glanced at the two entrances and stepped directly into the one closer to him.

Pei Qian’s face changed, and he followed, grumbling, “Su—”

“Aren’t you going to wait for me to calculate if this is the Life or Death Gate!?”

“It makes no difference,” An Wuxue said. “It’s only a matter of how dangerous it is. Whether it’s the Life or Death Gate, we have to explore several layers to find the point in time where the array’s core resides.”

Clearly, they weren’t lucky enough for their first gate to be the key to breaking the array.

Since it wasn’t, they had to keep looking.

Just as he spoke, the light and shadow before him began to clear.

The scenery changed, yet remained the same.

He and Pei Qian were once again in the primary sword array of North Abyss, standing before the sky-piercing North Abyss Sword.

As soon as they landed, before they could even go out to investigate, they heard the sound of two people flying toward them from behind.

He and Pei Qian turned to look. Pei Qian was still saying, “What luck, looks like we’ve entered another Life Gate—”

As the two people from the Guan Ye Array’s past drew near, Pei Qian saw who they were, and his face immediately fell. “We’re doomed. How can we possibly win this? There’s no way to break this phantom with brute force!”

Xie Zhefeng and Shangguan Liaoliao were heading straight for them.

They had just separated from Xie Zhefeng before entering the array. An Wuxue still remembered the robes Xie Zhefeng had been wearing, which were completely different from the ones he saw now.

An Wuxue pursed his lips, his expression tightening.

How many years ago were this Xie Zhefeng and Shangguan Liaoliao from?