Chapter 87#

The scenery before him was one he hadn’t seen for a long time, yet An Wuxue could recall the exact location of every plant and tree near the sword array if he simply closed his eyes.

His footsteps faltered.

Aside from the day the North Abyss Immortal Lord was slain, during the Immortal Calamity of a thousand years ago, the only day Shangguan Liaoliao would be most unwilling to remember was the day he killed Shangguan Ran.

He had expected this before stepping into this place.

Even so…

Was this not also a past that he himself was reluctant to revisit?

Xie Zhefeng walked to his side, his eyes filled with concern.

“You…”

Standing before the unfinished sword array, Shangguan Liaoliao finally snapped out of her daze and murmured to herself, “So it really is this time…”

She ignored Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue completely, lost in thought.

The giant sword that linked the forty-nine cities of North Abyss had already been placed in the array, but the array patterns were not yet fully engraved. At this moment, the giant sword blocked the sun, casting a vast shadow, yet it felt like a mass of dead fog—devoid of any surrounding spiritual aura and deathly silent.

Around the First City, a barrier established by several peak Tribulation-Transcending experts firmly covered the area. Outside the barrier, the sky was thick with dark clouds, dim and lightless, filled with drifting turbid energy.

North Abyss was a flourishing land for immortal sects, vast in territory and home to many experts. Before this, the sword arrays in Zhaoshui and Langfeng had already been successfully established. The sword array in this corner was almost the determining factor in the balance between immortal and demon cultivators.

At this time, the entire First City was exceptionally tense, not daring to relax in the slightest.

Nearby, there seemed to be the movement of Tribulation-Transcending experts on patrol.

With a slight wave of his hand, Xie Zhefeng concealed the auras of the three of them.

An Wuxue spread his divine sense to probe the illusion and his face suddenly darkened.

“This is a Death Gate.”

This was to be expected—the creator of the array wasn’t a fool. Setting the array core in a Death Gate was certainly more secure than in a Life Gate.

But this presented a major problem for them.

In a Death Gate, if they disrupted the intended progression of the past within the illusion, everything would collapse into indiscriminate killing intent.

The array core was still hidden within this segment of the past. If the illusion dissipated before they found it, the core would once again be masked within the vast torrent of time. By then, the creator could set another core, and they would have to start all over again.

Only by finding the array core within this period of time and destroying it directly before the Death Gate shifted could they completely end the Guan Ye Array.

Shangguan Liaoliao stood in the wind, her waist-length black hair flowing down and fluttering along with the hem of her black robes.

Her words drifted into the breeze: “I see that child from the Qu family is with you. This array was his creation. Have you found the one who set it up?”

Xie Zhefeng said, “It is Qu Wenxin. The creator has a guide that allows them to travel through the torrent of time; they cannot be caught within the array.”

“Qu Wenxin…” Shangguan Liaoliao pondered for a moment.

Her expression turned solemn, and she sneered, “Her? Her talent can only be considered upper-middle. Her most widely known achievement was giving birth to a son with extraordinary talent in the array path. If it hadn’t been for the many North Abyss experts who fell during the Immortal Calamity, and the Qu family’s lack of successors, the position of Qu clan leader would never have reached her hands.”

“She might be able to set up an array, but she absolutely lacks the capability to stir up the puppet crisis and shake the North Abyss sword array.”

An Wuxue thought the same.

Qu Wenxin might be just like Yun Zhou and Zhao Duan—merely a pawn driven by personal desire.

However…

“…However,” Shangguan Liaoliao’s voice grew softer, “Xie Chuhan, if it isn’t Qu Wenxin, then who is the person behind this? Someone who could pinpoint my weakness so accurately, knowing exactly what I fear, and setting the array core at this very moment when I could never possibly set foot alone?”

An Wuxue gave a silent, cynical smile.

Another clue that pointed toward him.

Xie Zhefeng had clearly thought of this as well. His gaze was dark, and his expression was heavy as he said, “Back then, Senior Brother personally confessed to the crime of harming a fellow cultivator. Qin Wei, as the Peak Master of the Discipline Peak, authorized one hundred days of punishment in the Ancient Tower. This matter was not only known to the disciples of Falling Moon Peak, but many of your North Abyss immortal cultivators witnessed it with their own eyes.”

“In the vast four seas, there are many people who could think of setting the array core at this moment.”

Shangguan Liaoliao went straight to the point: “I indeed thought of An Wuxue.”

“It’s truly strange. He killed someone and confessed to the crime. Aside from my resentment toward him, the debt of gratitude and grudges between us should have been settled.”

“But when I thought of him just now, the first thought that flashed through my mind was: if he truly is still alive, how could he dare to stir up such a massive disaster yet not dare to show his face? How could he dare to set the array core at this moment yet not dare to answer me ‘why’?”

Hearing her say this, Xie Zhefeng seemed somewhat displeased that An Wuxue was being suspected like this. His gaze hardened as he prepared to speak.

But Shangguan Liaoliao changed her tone on her own. “But I know it wouldn’t be him. A person like him…”

She paused mid-sentence.

Xie Zhefeng’s expression also sharpened instantly.

—Someone was there!

Not a person from the illusion, but someone moving within the array!

The divine sense of all three was at least at the half-step to ascension stage. The person’s movements were actually very well-hidden, but the ripples in the array patterns caused by entering and exiting the illusion could not be masked.

“The creator can leave a guide…” Shangguan Liaoliao whispered. “Is it Qu Wenxin? Or someone else from her group?”

An Wuxue only said, “This is a Death Gate.”

Since it was a Death Gate, one only needed to alter the trajectory of what was supposed to happen to cause the space to collapse.

That person knew they had found the location of the array core and had come to prevent them from breaking it!

Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue exchanged a glance.

Without needing words, Xie Zhefeng raised his hand, placing Kun Kun into a spiritual pouch for protection. Then he directly handed his own spiritual pouch to An Wuxue and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Since the creator had a guide to come and go as they pleased, it would be difficult to kill them regardless of their cultivation. However, to ensure that person didn’t affect this illusion, one only needed to keep pursuing them.

Xie Zhefeng had given all his talismans and spiritual treasures to An Wuxue for protection and had gone alone to deal with that person!

Before the sword array, only An Wuxue and Shangguan Liaoliao were suddenly left.

Shangguan Liaoliao “saw” the scene just now with her divine sense. Listening to An Wuxue’s helpless sigh and seeing him eventually hang the spiritual pouch at his waist, she said with an unreadable tone, “He is truly meticulous with you.”

An Wuxue’s movements paused.

“I have said so much to Xie Chuhan, yet you aren’t curious at all—has he told you everything?”

Shangguan Liaoliao tilted her head slightly.

“Then do you know that the person you resemble never actually received this kind of meticulous tenderness from this block of ice back then?”

Actually, it wasn’t “never.”

An Wuxue remembered the ice treats Xie Zhefeng had made for him in their youth.

If it were the meticulousness of a bond between sect mates, it had indeed existed.

It just hadn’t been a matter of romantic love.

“City Lord,” he said, “that is not important to me.”

It wasn’t important to Su Xue.

And to An Wuxue, it was no longer important either.

“You are quite open-minded. but for me, perhaps it’s different.”

“Because I also once…”

“When he was alive, I resented him. But in the end, when he suffered the consequences of his actions, I felt an indescribable frustration.”

“He’s been dead for a long time, and the longer he’s gone, the easier it is for me to remember how good he once was.”

An Wuxue remained silent.

It seemed Shangguan Liaoliao wasn’t really speaking to him, but rather using him, this “substitute,” to talk to herself.

“When I remember his past goodness, I’ll suddenly startle awake, feeling as if I’ve forgotten the pain of my kin’s murder.”

“I was even thinking just now, if this disaster in North Abyss truly was his doing, wouldn’t that be alright too? If he returned from death to use all the souls of North Abyss as a game to destroy the sword array, then such a person truly would kill the innocent.”

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t always be thinking about how he was such a good person, clearly…”

Her voice grew lower and lower until it faded into silence.

An Wuxue hadn’t expected to have a moment alone with Shangguan Liaoliao and originally didn’t want to say anything.

But seeing her like this, he still spoke up: “City Lord, since I look like the person you mentioned, many people told me many things while I was at Falling Moon Peak. The Immortal Venerable also spoke to me about some past events in North Abyss.”

He looked up at the giant sword piercing the clouds.

The Zhaoshui sword was gentle and reserved, its blade reflecting the waves of the East Cang Sea, with the surrounding mist shrouding the people of Zhaoshui. The Langfeng sword was sharp and keen, standing for a thousand years amidst the wind and snow blowing from the Sea of Guxu, protecting the souls of Langfeng.

And the North Abyss sword was like a precious blade that had wiped away its sharpness after tasting blood—silent, and encompassing all things.

“…If the stories I heard are correct, back then, the person you mentioned said he indeed had no evidence. The sword array was nearing completion, and in his urgency, he had no choice but to act first and report later. But the person he killed was not your brother.”

Shangguan Liaoliao was stunned for a moment.

She seemed to search through her tangled memories for a long time before remembering that An Wuxue’s words were indeed true.

“But Ran-er died. His life plate also shattered that day.”

“Master Su, you are from Zhaoshui? I wonder if you’ve heard that people in North Abyss have a custom. When a child is born and enters the path, the elders of the family or sect will take a drop of the child’s heart’s blood to create a jade plate. It links to the aura of their divine soul and can communicate the life and death of the plate’s owner—”

“That jade plate is called a life plate by North Abyss people. Unlike the life plates of other sects in the two realms which are only used to track the soul, the life plates of North Abyss immortal cultivators will light up if they are near the owner of the plate.”

An Wuxue interjected, “But if the person dies, the life plate will shatter on the same day.”

Shangguan Liaoliao said sorrowfully, “Exactly. On that day, my brother’s life plate shattered while it was lit, which meant my brother was nearby and died on that very day. An Wuxue said—the person he killed wasn’t my brother. Such a claim might have just been a frantic excuse in his panic. How could it have been true?”

“An Wuxue said those words, and even I had almost forgotten. To think Xie Chuhan remembers? Wasn’t he absent when it happened? How does he know? Did Qin Wei tell him…?”

An Wuxue’s expression had been solemn and his words steady, but as he listened, he suddenly gave a light laugh.

Those peach-blossom eyes held no sorrow or joy, only helplessness.

He didn’t respond further, instead saying, “Since the Immortal Venerable has personally gone, the one who set up the array will surely be occupied. The Immortal Venerable might return before long. we only need to ensure that the key events of this illusion are not affected and find the array core within it.”

“The key events… of this illusion? Could it be—” Shangguan Liaoliao’s expression changed.

An Wuxue had to say, “Perhaps it is exactly what we were just talking about.”

It was truly bizarre.

He now had to work with Shangguan Liaoliao to ensure that the him of a thousand years ago successfully killed the Shangguan Ran of a thousand years ago.

The array core was set as if to intentionally force both him and Shangguan Liaoliao to drag those unbearable pasts out into the sunlight once more.

Who exactly was the person behind Qu Wenxin?

He gave a silent, cynical smile, then said, “The City Lord has been wandering in the array for so long but has never set foot in this time. It’s because you didn’t want to relive the past with your own eyes, right? I… I am an outsider. If the City Lord doesn’t want to watch, you can stay on guard outside while I search for the array core in the sword array—”

Before he could finish, his expression changed. Shangguan Liaoliao also suddenly waved her sleeve, using spiritual energy to pull him aside and hide their traces.

In front of the unfinished North Abyss sword array from a thousand years ago, a Tribulation-Transcending cultivator stepped forward and sent a sound transmission.

The cultivator guarding the sword array appeared in the blink of an eye and asked, “What is it?”

“Turbid energy is surging outside the city. We fear there may be unusual activity. We request an audience with the First Seat!”

An Wuxue watched from his hiding place, his gaze pausing.

He remembered what happened at this time.