Chapter 93#
Someone flew in on a sword, their cultivation at the Tribulation-Transcending stage. Hanging from their waist was a spiritual pouch used by an esteemed immortal family, which looked quite familiar to An Wuxue.
It seemed to be a cultivator from the North Abyss Qi clan.
“City Lord!? You’re injured?”
Shocked by Shangguan Liaoliao’s appearance, the person hurried forward to support her, asking urgently: “I was wandering in the trapping array the whole time. The moment it broke, I saw this tribulation cloud. What’s going on? Someone is undergoing a tribulation? There’s turbid energy beneath the cloud, but don’t demon cultivators lack bottlenecks…?”
More and more people approached.
Shangguan Liaoliao coughed several times, but spoke to An Wuxue: “In the thousand years of the cultivation world, there has only been one Long-Life Immortal. The world has not seen an ascension lightning tribulation. Except for those at the Tribulation-Transcending stage who have lived since the Immortal Calamity, no one recognizes an ascension tribulation cloud.”
“How is it that you recognize it, and can even tell at a glance that it is a Turbid Immortal’s ascension tribulation cloud?”
Looking solemnly at the black clouds already covering the entire sky, An Wuxue said casually: “The Immortal Venerable told me.”
Shangguan Liaoliao’s brow knit together.
Xie Zhefeng told him this too?
The “cultivation furnace” beside her had miraculously reached the Tribulation-Transcending stage within six months, had broken the array with ease, and had spotted the subtleties of the array patterns at a glance. Now, even facing a Turbid Immortal’s ascension tribulation cloud, he remained undaunted.
She felt something was strange, but in the heat of the moment, Shangguan Liaoliao didn’t have time to think too much.
As soon as the words “ascension tribulation cloud” left Shangguan Liaoliao’s mouth, the faces of the other cultivators who had rushed to the sword array turned deathly pale.
A Turbid Immortal.
That title had been gone for so long that the other First City cultivators were first startled when they heard of the ascension tribulation cloud, and then realized the consequences of the words “Turbid Immortal.”
Even before the Immortal Calamity, though the two realms flourished for millions of years, there were often fewer than ten Long-Life Immortals existing in the same era!
If another Turbid Immortal appeared in this world…
Because of her shattered soul from breaking the array, Shangguan Liaoliao’s head throbbed as she spread her divine sense.
She took a deep breath, masking her weakness as she pushed away the other cultivators who tried to support her. Standing tall and composed, she asked: “Has anyone seen Qu Wenxin?”
“The Qu family head? No sign of her in the array, and we haven’t seen her after it broke either…”
“What about Jiang Qing? And that young Immortal Master from the Qu family?”
“No… none of them…”
Someone suddenly spoke in a low voice: “I encountered rogue demon cultivators in the array and fought them. Fortunately, I killed one. Searching his soul, I found that the one who taught them demon cultivation was also the one who spread the puppet technique.”
“City Lord… I think that person looks like, like—”
“Is it that former First Seat of Falling Moon Peak?” Someone bolder spoke up, eager to cut in. “No one can match his familiarity with North Abyss and the sword array. He had already turned to the demonic path through turbid energy before he fell, and he was a grandmaster of arrays. It’s not impossible that he researched the puppet method to return from the dead.”
“Could the one undergoing the tribulation now be him!?”
Shangguan Liaoliao suddenly let out a cold laugh.
Ignoring her injuries, she gathered her spiritual energy and drew her natal sword, unleashing a sharp sword energy!
“The situation is unclear, and the crisis has not been investigated. Wild speculation and following the crowd will only add fuel to the fire. Regarding An Wuxue, I will have more to say once this is over, concerning the truth of that year. If I hear any more idle talk from you—”
The blade flickered, and though she stopped speaking, her meaning was clear.
The people stopped their speculation one after another: “Yes.”
Shangguan Liaoliao abruptly sheathed her sword, her body swaying.
Her face was covered in tear tracks and blood, making her paleness even more evident. With her sleeves fluttering, this number one expert of North Abyss looked as if she might drift away with the wind beneath the overwhelming black clouds.
Breaking the array had seriously injured her, but it wouldn’t have been to this extent.
What was damage to the soul or physical pain compared to a heart-wrenching blow?
Someone else moved to support her, but she stopped them, saying softly: “No need.”
During these few exchanges, An Wuxue acted as if he hadn’t heard his own name being mentioned.
He only raised his head slightly to look at where the tribulation cloud had first begun to spread.
the Turbid Immortal’s tribulation cloud covered the entire sky inside and outside the First City, with turbid energy clinging to the clouds, but at its most concentrated point…
Withdrawing his divine sense, he felt that the place he had just probed was somewhat familiar.
Shangguan Liaoliao was already asking: “My divine sense is damaged. Has anyone probed this tribulation cloud? I seem to have some impression of that spot…”
Shangguan Liaoliao also felt it was familiar?
An Wuxue suddenly remembered something, and his expression faltered.
Could that place be—!?
Outside North Abyss City.
The moment the barrier broke, Xuan Fang sent out a sound transmission.
The immortal cultivators from Falling Moon and the nearby sects had been waiting outside for a long time, anticipating this moment.
“Those below the late Great Success stage, stay at the outskirts of North Abyss City to block the leaking turbid energy and continue to isolate North Abyss. Disciple at the peak of the Great Success stage, Tribulation-Transcending elders, and Peak Masters, enter the cities according to the plan. Remember, try to finish the battles as quickly as possible and repair the branch sword arrays of each city!”
Countless lights of spiritual energy headed into North Abyss against the flow of turbid energy.
Inside the First City.
It had been less than fifteen minutes since the array broke, and the tribulation cloud had risen to encompass the First City in even less time.
Ascension tribulation clouds were rare in the world. A thousand years ago, when Xie Zhefeng broke through, the two realms had seen the cloud staining the horizon, seemingly without end.
But that was the cloud after success. Was the cloud during the tribulation also so vast?
Shangguan Liaoliao murmured: “No, this is too strange…”
Though she was seriously injured, she knew the person who had brought chaos to North Abyss must have a follow-up move, which was why she had made plans with Xie Zhefeng in advance.
But now, the demon cultivators of the First City seemed to have gone into hiding, and the fierce battle she had anticipated hadn’t appeared. Instead, a Turbid Immortal tribulation had suddenly emerged.
How could that be?
She knew the vast North Abyss like the back of her hand. How could a demon cultivator have reached the stage of ascension in a place like the First City, right under her nose!?
Someone asked: “City Lord, can we send a message to Immortal Venerable Chu Han? Before he arrives, we can work together to block the demon’s ascension.”
“As long as the Immortal Venerable kills that person before they ascend, the crisis will be resolved!”
“I think there’s a trap! Is this demon the one who brought chaos to North Abyss? If this person is so clever, why didn’t they undergo the tribulation while we were all trapped in the Guan Ye Array, but instead right after it broke? Isn’t that just waiting for us to stop them?”
Shangguan Liaoliao had been silent, but now she said: “I understand.”
An Wuxue also understood.
Shangguan Liaoliao spoke what An Wuxue had also thought: “The Guan Ye Array was modified by Qu Wenxin. They also stole fetal stones to strengthen the array’s power, creating such a peerless and ominous array. Invisibly, many people have already been trapped to death within it. The cultivators and souls who died in the array are the source of turbid energy.”
“The array is broken, we are out, and that resentment and turbid energy have also been released. It’s all being absorbed by that demon cultivator, allowing them to strike for the Immortal Realm!”
Thus, the ascension tribulation cloud would only appear after the array broke.
As she spoke, she hurriedly sent a sound transmission to Xie Zhefeng.
The other cultivators were even more anxious: “But… wasn’t the method for ascending through turbid energy completely destroyed? City Lord, are we not going to stop them?”
Shangguan Liaoliao coughed several times and said steadily: “Do not panic, everyone. I still feel something is wrong…”
“I also feel something is wrong,” An Wuxue said. “The City Lord is right not to act rashly.”
Although the two realms had been at peace for a long time, a thousand years was still too short. The number of top immortal cultivators could hardly catch up to the time before the Immortal Calamity when the immortal path flourished; even peak Tribulation-Transcending experts were few and far with.
Only those like An Wuxue and Shangguan Liaoliao, who had lived through the Immortal Calamity, could see the subtleties here.
He had come for the puppet seal and the person behind it. No matter how much he wanted to hide his identity and live a normal life, he couldn’t hide at this moment.
His heart was also filled with anxiety, and he had to speak quickly: “I heard before that someone in North Abyss City seemed to be about to ascend, but thinking about it now, I still feel it’s impossible. The method for ascending through turbid energy was destroyed when Immortal Venerable Nan He established the Great Karma Array, erasing everything related to it from the heavenly dao’s karma. The immortals all perished together, their power infused into the array to alter the great karma of heaven and earth, completely erasing the existence of that method.”
“To reclaim that method, one would either have to reverse the karma erased at such a cost or find a new path. Neither is likely.”
If someone could truly do either, why would they need so many schemes? Wouldn’t the world be theirs to do with as they pleased?
But it was precisely because of this that the ascension tribulation cloud seemed even more bizarre!
“You…” Shangguan Liaoliao became even more hesitant. “How is it that you know this as well?”
An Wuxue saw that Xie Zhefeng had already appeared and said anyway: “Oh, the Immortal Venerable told me this as well.”
Xie Zhefeng: “…Mm.”
He walked out as if it were a normal day, and the immortal cultivators all felt at ease.
Everyone hurried to say: “Immortal Venerable!”
The man’s white robes were spotless, and his dark hair was held loosely by a snow-colored pin, yet showed no sign of being messy.
He held the Chu Han sword, his dark eyes deep and his expression cold.
The presence of the Long-Life Immortal’s original body was heavy, and though his pressure wasn’t revealed, it was enough to make people afraid to breathe.
Immortal Venerable Chu Han had slain all the demons of the world back then; he was the sword that stood between heaven and earth in the hearts of immortal cultivators for the past thousand years.
The greater the danger, the more people believed in this sword.
An Wuxue hurried to stand before him: “Have you probed beneath the tribulation cloud?”
He lowered his head slightly, creating a sound transmission that only Xie Zhefeng could hear: “That is the place where I returned to North Abyss all those years ago to bury Shangguan Ran.”
Surprise flashed through Xie Zhefeng’s eyes, replaced by a hint of realization.
The man also used a sound transmission to answer him alone: “Since Senior Brother says so, it matches what I’ve probed.”
Having said this, Xie Zhefeng then spoke aloud to everyone present: “I have just returned to my original body. When I came, I probed the tribulation cloud with my divine sense. I discovered that the demon cultivator beneath the cloud is wearing an immortal cultivator’s robe popular a thousand years ago. Their hair is neat, but their expression is blank. Although they have triggered the ascension lightning tribulation, they have no intention of undergoing it. They do not appear to possess a mind; they are like a puppet.”
A puppet.
Xie Zhefeng gave An Wuxue an inconspicuous glance. Combining what An Wuxue had just said, he continued: “I know that place. My Senior Brother buried an innocent kin who had died there all those years ago. As for which kin, City Lord Shangguan has seen the past in the Guan Ye Array and should be able to guess who it is. I have never seen that person, but I am certain that beneath the tribulation cloud is a puppet created from the body of a Tribulation-Transcending cultivator from a thousand years ago.”
Shangguan Liaoliao’s entire body stiffened, her voice as hoarse as if it were filled with dust: “That’s—it’s Ran-er? Brother… I treated him like that back then, yet he… he actually came back to bury Ran-er?”
Instead, she had buried a wicked imposter.
At that time, An Wuxue had already been questioned by her many times and had endured a hundred days of freezing punishment, yet he still couldn’t bear to let Shangguan Ran’s body be exposed to the elements, returning to North Abyss to prepare the body for burial.
And now, An Wuxue had been dead for a thousand years yet was still suspected by the world; Shangguan Ran had died with grievances, yet his remains were still being used by others.
Shangguan Liaoliao gave a tragic laugh, saying in grief: “He did his best for my Dao heart, for my immortal path… yet I…”
“The obstacle has remained unbroken for a millennium, stopping me at the peak of the Tribulation-Transcending stage. Right under my nose, someone used my kin to create a puppet and trigger an ascension lightning tribulation, and I didn’t know until it happened—truly a waste, how could I have been worth such painstaking effort from him?”
But she was alive.
An Wuxue was dead.
What kind of ridiculous destiny was this?
Those close to you will either compete, turn against you, or wither away. Your enemies will rejoice.
Every sentence had come true, every word fulfilled.
Her mother was truly a standout of the Way of Floating Life, understanding her own daughter perfectly.
the North Abyss Immortal Lord knew better than anyone that from the moment she heard the curse, she would walk the path to fulfill it because of her obsession.
Shangguan Liaoliao suddenly laughed out loud.
Laughing at herself.
A single moment’s lapse, a lifetime of imprisonment.
She said loudly: “Fellow daoists, the one triggering the lightning tribulation is my brother’s body. He was killed by my own hands back then, and An Wuxue hid the matter to protect me. The situation is critical now, and it’s not convenient for me to explain too much. I will tell you everything once this is over.”
Even if she died, Xie Zhefeng would tell them.
But she would try her best to live.
She would clear her brother’s name, find A-Xue’s soul, and ensure he had everything he deserved.
She used a spiritual sword to cut her fingertip, forcing out essence blood.
Shangguan Liaoliao’s paleness instantly vanished, as if she had never been seriously injured.
She used her lifespan and vital energy as a sacrifice, forcing herself back to her peak state.