Chapter 85#
On An Wuxue’s side.
With Xie Zhefeng having spoken, Pei Qian didn’t dare delay and began his divination.
An Wuxue used this time to exchange the information they had gathered during their separate activities the previous night with Jiang Qing, including the matters regarding Qu Jizhi and the Qu family.
Pei Qian pointed at the gate on the right. “This one. It was easy to calculate this time; it should be a Life Gate.”
Before the illusion dissolved into the void, everyone stepped into this Life and Death Gate one after another.
An Wuxue was at the front. Just as he stepped out of the gate, a puppet lunged at him!
He dodged to the side while simultaneously channeling spiritual energy to bind the puppet in front of the group.
Xie Zhefeng and the others followed closely behind.
Jiang Qing looked around and said, “We did choose the right Life Gate this time. The time seems to be…”
Qu Jizhi confirmed, “It’s exactly a few days before the trouble in North Abyss began.”
An Wuxue looked out.
They were currently standing outside the sword array of the North Abyss First City. Looking out from the sword array, several masterless puppets were wandering the main street within sight.
The First City was guarded by many experts, and Shangguan Liaoliao was in the City Lord’s manor, so the puppet crisis hadn’t become rampant.
Even so, the fact that there were scattered puppets showed how much influence the puppet method had on North Abyss.
He frowned at the mindless husk baring its claws before him and asked Jiang Qing, “Did you not deal with these puppets at the time?”
Jiang Qing sighed. “It happened suddenly. At first, the puppet technique didn’t seem harmful. Everyone has their obsessions. City Lord Shangguan can manage a crisis, but how can she manage the stubbornness of the human heart?”
He glanced at Qu Jizhi. “It’s like how young Immortal Master Qu trapped himself in the Guan Ye Array for centuries, and neither the Qu clan nor the City Lord’s manor said anything. Because it was his own business, and as long as it didn’t harm the two realms, who could say anything?”
Pei Qian raised a hand. “It harmed me!”
An Wuxue: “…”
Jiang Qing laughed. “That’s also a private matter. I don’t know the details between Little Pei and young Immortal Master Qu, but in the end, only the two of you can settle accounts with each other. So when the puppets became widespread, the City Lord’s manor couldn’t do much at first. By the time the spiritual energy required by these puppets became insufficient and the city fell into chaos, it was already difficult to manage.”
Qu Jizhi pointed toward the City Lord’s manor. “If I remember correctly, a few days ago, many Tribulation-Transcending cultivators were at the City Lord’s manor, myself included. We were originally discussing how to deal with the puppets and were tied down. Consequently, the one who set up the array found an opportunity. The Guan Ye Array suddenly covered the First City, and the City Lord only had time to send out a plea for help before we were pulled into the array.”
“The mastermind spread the puppet technique to create chaos. The puppet crisis was just a facade; their true goal was to destroy the North Abyss sword array and release the suppressed turbid energy.”
As An Wuxue spoke, he observed the puppet before him for a long while before reaching out and tapping his finger on its brow.
Spiritual energy washed over it, extracting all the spiritual qi and flesh from the puppet.
In an instant, the puppet went limp and turned into several pieces of already lifeless thousand-year-old spiritual wood.
Those were the spiritual treasures used to create the puppet.
An Wuxue’s heart felt heavy.
Puppets were made of spiritual treasures. Su Xue was also a puppet; what spiritual object was he made of?
He was actually no different from these wandering puppets. Puppets couldn’t possess a truly complete soul. Whether it was the failed resurrection of Yun Yao or those he had seen in the Twenty-Seventh City, they all proved that there was no such thing as returning from the dead in this world.
—Why was he, this “puppet,” this person who should have died a thousand years ago, truly and genuinely alive?
The puppet crisis, the North Abyss chaos…
Was he also part of the chaos?
He stared down at the lifeless spiritual wood on the ground, lost in silent thought.
Xie Zhefeng seemed to see the worry in his heart and said in a low voice beside him, “The disaster lies in the actions, and the chaos begins in the heart, not in the innocent people caught in the middle.”
“Do not worry,” his junior brother’s voice was naturally cold, yet it held a hint of warmth as he spoke. “In any case, you have me.”
An Wuxue blinked slowly and didn’t respond.
Xie Zhefeng waited for a moment, and finally realizing that An Wuxue didn’t intend to give him any response, a look of dejection appeared on his face.
His expression flickered before returning to his usual cold solemnity. He turned to Qu Jizhi and asked, “Since this illusion is a few days before the trouble in North Abyss, can we find Qu Wenxin here?”
Qu Wenxin was most likely the one who had set up the array.
Jiang Qing: “Speaking of which, when we were discussing things at the City Lord’s manor, young Immortal Master Qu was indeed the only one from the Qu family who came.”
“The Immortal Venerable wants to see where my mother was and what she was doing a few days ago, right?”
When Qu Jizhi used the title “Immortal Venerable,” Jiang Qing, the only one present who didn’t know Xie Zhefeng’s identity, showed even greater shock.
Pei Qian looked left and right. Seeing Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue deep in thought and knowing they had a plan, he quickly stepped forward and pulled Jiang Qing aside, saying, “Come, come, Mr. Jiang, tell me about what happened after you entered the array. Maybe there’s a clue to the array core…”
As those two walked away, Xie Zhefeng looked at Qu Jizhi and was about to say something, but Qu Jizhi had already taken out a spiritual sword and slashed his own wrist without hesitation!
The sharp blade cut his wrist, and blood gushed out!
This was exactly what Xie Zhefeng wanted him to do.
An Wuxue immediately took action, using spiritual energy to catch the dripping blood.
Qu Jizhi’s expression didn’t change as he allowed the blood to stain his sleeve.
He closed his eyes, and spiritual energy surged through his heart meridians, suddenly forcing out a drop of his essence blood!
He instantly turned as pale as paper.
Xie Zhefeng quickly crossed his hands in a seal, enveloping Qu Jizhi’s blood and the drop of essence blood within the hand seal.
Qu Jizhi’s lips were pale, but he still gave a nonchalant laugh. “Speaking of which, this bloodline tracking method is a secret technique of my Qu family. It’s said that the City Lord lost her sight because during the Immortal Calamity, the North Abyss Immortal Lord hid in the vast Black Sea. Immortal Venerable Nan He used the City Lord’s eyes and this secret technique to eventually find him.”
“Thousands of years ago, the Qu clan started with this secret technique and subsequently took over the array path and divination, gradually becoming one of the top families in the North Abyss immortal path. In the end, this secret technique has become the key to finding a member of my Qu family.”
Truly, they rose by this method and would end by this path.
An Wuxue remained silent.
After a moment.
Xie Zhefeng withdrew the hand seal.
Although an immortal’s divine sense could cover an entire city, finding a specific person wasn’t something that could be done with a simple sweep.
Aided by this technique, he spread out his divine sense and could only say with certainty, “She’s not here.”
—He couldn’t find the person with the closest bloodline to Qu Jizhi.
An Wuxue frowned. “Qu Wenxin isn’t in the First City?”
Qu Jizhi said wistfully, “Then it’s truly confirmed—it really is her.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Guan Ye Array traces the past, but the moment the creator successfully sets up the array, the process of setting it up becomes the past. If someone wandering in time happens to reach that period of the past, wouldn’t they be able to see the process of setting up the array, know the mechanics, and find the core used to break it?”
Qu Jizhi said leisurely, “This is a trapping array. If it had such a flaw, it would be a failed trapping array. When I created this array, I specifically modified the mechanics—during the time the array is being set up, the creator’s past phantoms will be erased by the Guan Ye Array.”
The inability to find Qu Wenxin instead proved that she was the true creator of the array.
Qu Jizhi had clearly prepared for this and said to Xie Zhefeng, “The Immortal Venerable promised me that if this was done by my mother alone, the entire Qu clan would not be held accountable.”
Xie Zhefeng didn’t speak, which was a silent agreement.
Qu Jizhi turned to look at An Wuxue. “And the First Seat?”
An Wuxue raised an eyebrow. “You are indeed clever, but if you were a bit cleverer, you would have pretended not to have guessed my identity. An Wuxue is still a sinner of the cultivation world and shouldn’t have any say in such matters. Su Xue is just an ordinary rogue cultivator and even less likely to influence the Immortal Venerable’s decision.”
Qu Jizhi murmured, “…Can he not be influenced?”
He seemed to give a slight smile.
An Wuxue frowned. Seeing him begin to treat his wound and that Pei Qian and Jiang Qing were about to return, he thought for a moment and said anyway, “Young Immortal Master Qu, since you are so brilliant, you should understand some things more clearly. The more you try to force something you want, the less likely you are to get it. Forcing others is not the right path, and love is not a matter for one person alone.”
Qu Jizhi opened his mouth as if to say something.
But as Pei Qian returned with Jiang Qing, he remained silent.
Just then, Xie Zhefeng suddenly said, “She’s here.”
“Who—”
An Wuxue froze.
Who else could it be?
A ripple of spiritual energy surged in the air, and the space beside Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue suddenly split open.
A woman with black hair and black robes, her eyes covered, walked out slowly with a long sword in her hand.
Qu Jizhi, Pei Qian, and Jiang Qing all paused, then bowed with their swords and said, “City Lord.”
Shangguan Liaoliao didn’t stop for a moment, stepping into the area and heading straight for Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue.
The real Shangguan Liaoliao seemed a bit more tired than her self from hundreds of years ago, and less sharp and ethereal.
She stopped before Xie Zhefeng but turned her head slightly toward An Wuxue.
“When I saw you at the gates of the Frost Sea, you were only at the Inedia stage. In less than half a year, you’ve reached the early stage of the Tribulation-Transcending realm.”
There was a sharp coldness in her voice. But An Wuxue didn’t sense any hostility; the coldness wasn’t directed at him, but seemed to use him as a conduit to reach Xie Zhefeng.
“I didn’t know that dual cultivation with a Long-Life Immortal could yield such benefits.”
As soon as she finished speaking.
Spiritual energy erupted from Shangguan Liaoliao’s hand, heading straight for An Wuxue!
Xie Zhefeng’s fingertips instantly gathered a terrifying sword energy.
Neither of these two were phantoms from the illusion, and they were the two highest-level cultivators in the immortal path. If they fought, the resulting injuries and depletion aside, the impact on breaking the array was unknown.
Sensing no killing intent from Shangguan Liaoliao and knowing she didn’t intend to harm him, An Wuxue simply pulled Xie Zhefeng back and stepped forward himself, standing between the two of them.
Seeing that his attack would instead harm An Wuxue, Xie Zhefeng hurriedly withdrew his hand.
In those few moments, the spiritual energy sent by Shangguan Liaoliao had already reached An Wuxue.
An Wuxue didn’t know what she intended to do. Though he had blocked Xie Zhefeng, he was prepared to respond.
His whole body was tense, and his spiritual energy was ready to strike, yet Shangguan Liaoliao’s spiritual energy only brushed lightly over his face.
He was stunned, only to see Shangguan Liaoliao looking even more dazed than him.
Immortal Venerable Chu Han’s face was as cold as ice.
Only then did An Wuxue realize that Shangguan Liaoliao was… using spiritual energy to feel his features.
“You…” she said in a daze, “No, the aura is completely different from his. You aren’t him, yet you look exactly like him…”
An Wuxue said without changing his expression, “I don’t understand what City Lord Shangguan is saying. My name is Su Xue, originally a mortal from Zhaoshui City, not even twenty years old. A few months ago, I was brought before the Immortal Venerable, and he kept me at Falling Moon Peak. I even encountered City Lord Shangguan once.”
Perhaps because of “Su Xue’s” previous act of giving her the leaf, Shangguan Liaoliao paused and didn’t say anything harsh to An Wuxue.
She tilted her head slightly and casually set up a sound-insulating barrier, excluding Jiang Qing and the others. Then she said in a heavy voice: “He’s only been dead for a thousand years, and you’re already passing off a fake as the real thing, keeping a new favorite by your side at every step.”
She was clearly speaking to Xie Zhefeng.
Xie Zhefeng’s face turned exceptionally unsightly. His lips moved, instinctively wanting to refute her.
But An Wuxue remained silent.
His Senior Brother was unwilling to speak and didn’t want to, leaving Xie Zhefeng unable to defend himself.
Hearing no response from either of them, Shangguan Liaoliao became even more certain.
She let out a cold laugh.
“The Immortal Venerable’s deep affection is nothing more than this.”