Chapter 97#
The moment the lightning fell, the barrier formed by the North Abyss Sword was suddenly complete.
The giant sword met the bolt, and the First City shook as if the earth were swaying and the mountains were moving!
Cracks like spiderwebs appeared on the barrier.
But it did not shatter.
The first bolt of lightning had been successfully intercepted!!!
The North Abyss Sword, linked with the forty-eight surrounding sword shadows, mobilized the full power of all the sword arrays across North Abyss.
The aura of Chun Hua flowed through the array patterns.
In that instant, throughout the forty-nine cities of North Abyss—except for the Fifteenth City, which couldn’t respond due to its destroyed array—the other forty-eight cities all felt the sword energy released by the violent tremor of the array!
That sword energy was sharp yet gentle, keen yet soft.
Immortal cultivators who had lived through the Immortal Calamity gazed toward the sword array, lost in thought.
The owner of this sword had once traveled through the two realms’ thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, passed through the cities of the four seas, and slain countless demon cultivators during the fierce battles of the Immortal Calamity. His deeds were legendary; he had established the Four Seas Ten Thousand Swords Array and enforced the Thirteen Rules for Slaying Demons.
The owner of this sword had also fought back the siege of the ten thousand sects at Thorn Stream, parrying countless spiritual swords.
The world had not seen this sword drawn in a millennium.
But the cultivators who had lived a thousand years ago would not mistake it.
In this world, aside from the Chu Han sword, only this blade was unrivaled in the eyes of those who had reached the Tribulation-Transcending stage a millennium ago.
The sword’s name was as gentle as water, yet its edge was even more ferocious than that of Chu Han.
“An Wuxue! It’s An Wuxue’s Chun Hua sword—!!”
Outside the sword array.
Sensing the aura of Chun Hua, Qu Wenxin suddenly began to struggle frantically.
Qu Jizhi raised an eyebrow, temporarily unsealing the spell on her mouth, and asked patiently: “What does Mother want to say? Let your son show his filial piety.”
“That is An Wuxue’s sword! It was indeed him just now! Why doesn’t he admit it—”
Qu Jizhi sealed her mouth again.
He said with a smile: “Yes, it really was First Seat An and Sect Master Qi working together to capture a rebellious person like you and refuse to recognize you as a member of the immortal path.”
“Mmph—mmph mmm… mmph!!”
Qu Jizhi condensed a droplet of water. “Mother was shouting so loudly just now, are you thirsty?”
Qu Wenxin shook her head.
Qu Jizhi nodded. “Then you must be thirsty.”
With a wave of his hand, the water splashed directly onto Qu Wenxin’s face.
“Mmph mmph mmph—!!!”
Jiang Qing, who had been focused on regulating his breathing, finally couldn’t watch any longer and whispered to Pei Qian: “Is this the family style of the Qu clan in private?”
Pei Qian stared at the sword array and the tribulation cloud, saying with an air of wisdom: “As the mortals say, ‘If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be tilted.’ Why is someone surnamed Qu so sick? It’s inherited. Qu Jizhi told us, didn’t he? After his Heartless Curse was broken, things between him and Qu Wenxin were different.”
Jiang Qing wiped the sweat from his brow. “I didn’t expect it to be this kind of different. young Immortal Master Qu was too conservative in his description.”
Outside the First City.
The Chu Han sword floated beside Xie Zhefeng, poised to strike.
Resisting the heavenly lightning with an immortal’s body would only make the tribulation even more powerful, but regardless, if the sword array showed even a sliver of failing to withstand the lightning, he would strike.
But the hum of the North Abyss Sword traveled for thousands of miles, and the barrier successfully held back the first bolt of lightning.
On the other end of the “Far Horizon” talisman, Qi Xun laughed: “How was it? I told you An Wuxue would guess it.”
Xie Zhefeng didn’t respond.
His brow suddenly furrowed, and a look of pain appeared on his face.
—The puppet seal on An Wuxue had flared up.
“Xie Chuhan? Why aren’t you speaking?”
“His spiritual energy is exhausted,” Xie Zhefeng said in a heavy voice. “He is currently only at the early Tribulation-Transcending stage!”
On the other end, Qi Xun was also startled.
He could only send his folding fan to An Wuxue earlier and had no way of checking his current cultivation. But An Wuxue had been so composed when they faced Qu Wenxin together that he had instinctively treated him as the peak-level First Seat of a thousand years ago.
An Wuxue at his peak could trigger the array’s power effortlessly, but an An Wuxue at only the early stage of the Tribulation-Transcending realm—how could he withstand the second bolt!?
“Xie—”
The sound transmission was cut off.
Xie Zhefeng’s eyes were as dark as a deep pool. He looked up, facing the violent wind, at the unstoppable tribulation cloud, his face filled with killing intent and hostility.
The sensation of the puppet seal’s flare-up was continuously being transferred to his own body. He endured the intense pain throughout his person, yet he felt even more terror.
His Senior Brother would never give up and withdraw.
If the sword array couldn’t block the second bolt, a sacrifice was the fastest way. Given An Wuxue’s nature, there was no way he would let others sacrifice themselves while he lived on…
Was he to lose his Senior Brother again?
That was absolutely impossible.
He would never let that happen.
Spiritual energy erupted around the mountain peak, sand and stones rolling down. in the blink of an eye, Xie Zhefeng had rushed straight toward the sword array!
Meanwhile, inside the sword array.
An Wuxue stood beneath the giant sword, his spiritual energy infused into Chun Hua, as if he were one with the entire North Abyss sword array.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, yet he stood with his back straight, motionless.
At this moment, as the master of Chun Hua, he was the missing sword array, one of the forty-nine swords.
This was the birthday gift Qi Xun had given him after he left the Ancient Tower.
Chun Hua hadn’t changed because Qi Xun hadn’t touched the sword itself.
Qi Xun had spent half a month on the North Abyss sword array adding patterns that recognized Chun Hua.
As long as he entered the array with Chun Hua in hand, he would be one of the fifty arrays, the silver lining for North Abyss.
But back then, his cultivation was second only to Xie Zhefeng’s, and Qi Xun hadn’t anticipated the future.
Now, An Wuxue was only at the early Tribulation-Transcending stage. The moment the barrier met the first bolt, his entire body shook, his spiritual energy was instantly drained, and an agonizing pain like tearing meridians shot through him.
He bit his lower lip hard, a coppery taste filling his mouth.
Shangguan Liaoliao remained in her stance, her sword raised for sacrifice, her expression blank.
While others couldn’t mistake the aura of Chun Hua, there was no way she could.
That was…
“Su Xue…?” her voice trembled. “Brother…? A-Xue…?”
In an instant, everything became clear—why Xie Zhefeng had suddenly left a “cultivation furnace” on the deserted Frost Sea, why he kept the person by his side at every step, and why “Su Xue” was so familiar with so many things…
Before she could feel joy or surprise, she thought of everything that had happened while she and “Su Xue” broke the Guan Ye Array. She understood everything now, yet wished she understood nothing at all.
If not for what had just happened… she would have already died in sacrifice.
After all that had passed, she had been saved by An Wuxue once again.
The North Abyss sword array continued to vibrate.
The spiderweb cracks on the barrier were healing, and the tribulation cloud was rapidly condensing more lightning.
The second bolt would fall immediately after the first.
An Wuxue let out another muffled groan.
His spiritual energy was completely gone, yet the puppet seal didn’t seem to have flared up.
The spiritual pouch Xie Zhefeng had given him was forced open by spiritual energy, and the Star Grass within released the immortal’s spiritual energy, which flowed into his body.
The other Tribulation-Transcending cultivators were all too exhausted to think of anything else, their hands in seals as they focused entirely on pouring their spiritual energy into the array.
But An Wuxue was different from them.
They were only providing energy for the array’s operation, whereas he and Chun Hua were now a part of the array itself.
The first strike had already drained him.
His current early-stage body was simply not enough to be one of the forty-nine arrays.
But Chun Hua was his sword; only he could use it.
No one could take his place.
The Star Grass Xie Zhefeng had left him had all withered, their energy completely absorbed by him, yet it was far from enough.
That had only been enough to slow the puppet seal’s flare-up.
He raised his head slightly to look at the rapidly darkening tribulation cloud.
There was one more.
The first bolt had been stopped; he couldn’t let go before the second one fell.
Could Su Xue’s puppet body ignite its heart’s blood? Could it perform a final burst of strength by sacrificing its lifespan and vital energy?
If he sacrificed himself to the array, the power of his divine soul should be enough to maintain the Chun Hua “array,” right?
In the end, it would come to a sacrifice.
But sacrificing one person—someone who had already been dead for a thousand years—seemed the choice that would cause the least damage to the situation of the two realms.
He had thought that once this was over, he would find a place unrelated to the past, raise a courtyard of flowers and plants, hang a swing under a tree, and when he had nothing to do, hold Kun Kun and rest his eyes in the sunlight.
What a pity…
He actually quite wanted to live.
But the thousands of souls in North Abyss also wanted to live.
“Brother.”
Shangguan Liaoliao seemed to be calling him.
An Wuxue was so dizzy with pain and his ears were ringing so loudly that he didn’t react at all.
He no longer recognized that title.
“A-Xue?”
“…”
Shangguan Liaoliao said miserably: “Master Su.”
An Wuxue glanced at her, thinking that a drop in the bucket was better than waiting for death, and asked: “City Lord, do you have any pills to replenish spiritual energy?”
Shangguan Liaoliao stopped in front of him.
She said: “Bro—Master Su, I’m sorry for everything back then.”
“I don’t want to talk about this now—”
“I know you don’t want to speak of it with me,” she said. “I also know the situation is critical, and I cannot waste time.”
She suddenly raised her hands in a seal, one identical to the ones the other cultivators were using to infuse energy.
But this seal actually triggered the array patterns. Silver light pulsed like waves, eventually flowing toward the point where Chun Hua was linked.
An Wuxue was stunned for a moment.
He was currently one of the forty-nine arrays and couldn’t easily move. He could only stand there, his eyes wide as he said: “You want to pour spiritual energy into Chun Hua? That won’t work. Chun Hua is now one of the forty-nine arrays, and I am the array master supplying it. My cultivation is insufficient—”
Shangguan Liaoliao had already acted.
Spiritual wind swirled around her, and spiritual energy erupted, all of it heading toward Chun Hua through the patterns.
But this energy only passed through Chun Hua, flowing into An Wuxue’s body without pause!
Before An Wuxue could say anything, the surging spiritual energy traveled through his meridians, leaving him so bloated he couldn’t speak.
In an instant, Shangguan Liaoliao’s realm actually began to drop!
She fell from the half-step to ascension stage directly to the late stage of the Tribulation-Transcending realm!
But An Wuxue’s realm began to climb to the middle stage, and continued to rise.
He suddenly understood what she was doing.
She was taking advantage of his presence within the array to use the North Abyss sword array to funnel all of her own spiritual energy into his “array”!
An Wuxue shouted: “Shangguan Liaoliao!”
The two realms had always said he was ruthless, but when he was serious, it was only ever toward outsiders. To his junior brother, Liaoliao, or people like Qi Xun and Qin Wei, he had always been gentle and peaceful.
Meeting them again a thousand years later, they were all strangers to him; his gentleness was gone, but so was his solemnity.
This was a rare moment of him being sharp and stern.
But Shangguan Liaoliao was not frightened by him and showed no intention of stopping.
He shouted in anger: “What are you doing!?”
The woman’s floating, sorrowful voice reached him: “Brother’s nature… you likely wouldn’t want anything of mine. But the second ascension bolt won’t give us a chance to breathe. Brother saved me once a thousand years ago, saved me just now, and saved North Abyss.”
“Only my cultivation can send you to the peak of the Tribulation-Transcending realm.”
“For the public good, I must do everything in my power to assist Brother.”
“For private reasons—I am no longer in a position to speak of private matters with you…”
Since emerging from the Guan Ye Array, she finally gave a smile.
In the next instant, her face turned pale, and her body shook violently. A thousand years of cultivation were poured into the array, through Chun Hua, and into An Wuxue’s body!
An Wuxue’s realm climbed abruptly to the late stage, then the peak…
Only a sliver away from the half-step to ascension stage!
At that moment, Xie Zhefeng had just entered the sword array.
The signs of the puppet seal’s flare-up suddenly vanished.
…Senior Brother’s spiritual energy has been restored?
Though his thoughts were delayed for an instant, his footsteps didn’t stop, and he continued toward the North Abyss Sword.
Before the North Abyss Sword.
In the blink of an eye, Shangguan Liaoliao’s lifelong cultivation had almost entirely dissipated.
“If Brother only had early-stage cultivation, he wouldn’t be able to maintain the barrier against the second bolt,” she said firmly. “I couldn’t let you sacrifice yourself. regardless, I can sacrifice myself too. I would either sacrifice myself or give my lifelong cultivation to Brother, so that Brother can use the array’s power to block the tribulation—choosing between the two, Brother, treat it as a final favor and let me keep my life, alright?”
An Wuxue’s lips moved, but he didn’t know what to say.
He had been surprised, angry, and helpless.
Now that the matter was settled, hearing her words, he only said: “…You’ve left me with nothing to say.”
Shangguan Liaoliao said calmly: “Having governed North Abyss for a millennium, I should have some progress.”
Her face was as white as paper, her body trembling, and her cultivation had fallen to the Initial stage.
But she hadn’t stopped yet.
The moment before the lightning bolt fell, she proactively broke her Dao, sending all her remaining spiritual power and cultivation into the array.
An Wuxue felt the pain in his meridians vanish instantly. Spiritual energy filled his dantian, and Chun Hua pulsed with joy. A long-absent yet familiar feeling rose in his heart.
His cultivation had returned to the peak of his previous life—the half-step to ascension stage!
Boom!
Another world-shaking thunderclap.
The second bolt of lightning fell.
The light covered the entire North Abyss First City.
Shangguan Liaoliao’s cultivation fell to the Inedia stage. Losing all her strength, she collapsed to the ground.
In the First City, mortals screamed incessantly, demon cultivators hid in terror for their lives, and immortal cultivators were anxious yet powerless.
The North Abyss Sword shook violently once more.
The already crumbling barrier suddenly solidified again, withstanding the second bolt!
The earth shook and the mountains moved.
But after the lightning passed, the tribulation cloud dispersed, and light broke through.
In the Twenty-Seventh City, Qi Xun, who had been focusing his efforts on influencing the array, paused his movements.
In the mortal home with the white lantern, the child leaned out and shouted to the woman: “Mother! Mother! The black clouds are gone! Father and the immortal master have driven the demons away!”
On the main street of the First City.
The shouts stopped all at once. Mortals stared blankly at the suddenly clear sky, unable to react for a moment.
The young immortal disciple, not having met her doom from the tribulation, slowly opened her eyes and heard the little girl in her arms laugh at her: “Immortal master lied, it didn’t rain!”
As the sun was rising, a brilliant golden light spilled from the east, staining every home with gold.
An Wuxue caught a glimpse of that light.
But he was exhausted. Without his spiritual energy to control it, Chun Hua fell to the ground with a clang.
As he closed his eyes, he seemed to smell a familiar cold scent.
Someone hadn’t been a moment late, appearing at his side in an instant and gently taking him into an embrace.