Chapter 98#

Xie Zhefeng had arrived just a moment ago.

The snow lotus sword mark on his brow, which had been faintly shimmering with black, finally faded, and the clamor and persuasion of his inner demons fell silent at this moment.

If An Wuxue’s cultivation hadn’t suddenly soared at the last moment, allowing him to successfully re-trigger the North Abyss sword array to intercept the second bolt of heavenly lightning, the Chu Han sword would already be pointed toward the tribulation cloud.

The sword array had just quieted down. Xie Zhefeng knew there were Falling Moon disciples in the forty-nine cities waiting for his orders, the souls of the First City were waiting for an explanation for this lightning tribulation, and the Qu clan demon cultivators and the person behind Qu Wenxin might still be at large in the First City…

But looking at his Senior Brother’s figure falling like a plummeting bird, in an instant, he forgot everything.

Xie Zhefeng looked down at the person in his arms.

His Senior Brother’s face was very pale. He had clearly lost consciousness from exhaustion, yet his brow was tightly knit, as if he were still worrying about the now-concluded ascension lightning in his dreams.

He couldn’t help but raise his hand, gently smoothing the space between An Wuxue’s brows.

But as soon as he withdrew his hand, the brow knit tightly together once more.

If he could enter the dream, he would want nothing more than to draw his sword and slay the demons and monsters that disturbed his Senior Brother’s sleep.

Beneath the North Abyss Sword, some Tribulation-Transcending cultivators were also exhausted after the two bolts of lightning, and simply sat in meditation within the sword array, where no demon cultivator would dare to be reckless.

Those who were still conscious looked at the Immortal Venerable Chu Han and the First Seat who had suddenly returned from the dead and saved North Abyss, exchanging looks with one another. For a moment, no one dared to move.

Shangguan Liaoliao said in a weak voice: “He doesn’t hate you?”

She was referring to the fact that Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue had been coming and going together lately without apparent enmity.

Xie Zhefeng glanced at her and said self-deprecatingly: “It would be better if he were willing to hate me.”

Shangguan Liaoliao gave a tragic laugh: “That is just like him. How is he? Is he injured?”

Xie Zhefeng checked An Wuxue’s meridians—the gap between each stage of the Tribulation-Transcending realm was larger than the gap between entire major realms. An Wuxue had jumped from the early stage to the half-step to ascension stage in an instant, placing a massive burden on his meridians, bones, and blood. He was currently instinctively absorbing spiritual energy.

The surrounding spiritual energy was rushing toward An Wuxue frantically, forming an invisible vortex. Fortunately, Xie Zhefeng possessed an immortal body and wouldn’t be harmed by this frantic surge.

It was nothing serious; he just needed spiritual energy for recovery.

Xie Zhefeng set his mind slightly at ease, looked at Shangguan Liaoliao, and raised his hand to cast a spell on her.

He said: “I have placed an illusion on you to hide the fact that your realm has dropped. The illusion will last for three days, which should be enough for you to settle affairs.”

His gaze swept over the immortal cultivators present.

“Until then, if news of City Lord Shangguan losing her cultivation spreads and causes chaos in North Abyss, my sword will strike and use the perpetrator as a sacrifice to my flag.”

Every person here was a leader of an esteemed family or one of the ten thousand sects, yet they all bowed their heads and said: “Yes.”

Xie Zhefeng then tossed an object to Shangguan Liaoliao.

She caught it and was surprised: “…A Shadow-Borrowing Stone?”

This spiritual object could temporarily record events, but there were few in existence, and using it required a massive amount of spiritual energy, so almost no one thought of it.

Xie Zhefeng had only found this object after great effort following his ascension.

For the past century or two, he had always been traveling around to investigate the accusations pinned on An Wuxue, and had grown accustomed to keeping it hidden in his sleeve. He hadn’t expected it to be used within the Guan Ye Array.

Having tossed it to Shangguan Liaoliao now, which past event was stored within and what he wanted her to do was already self-evident.

He then sent a sound transmission to Xuan Fang, who was far away in another city, ordering the Falling Moon disciples to handle the aftermath.

Having done all this, Xie Zhefeng was anxious to take An Wuxue to recover. He picked him up and prepared to leave.

Shangguan Liaoliao said to him: “On the southeast side of the City Lord’s manor, there is a small courtyard filled with plum trees. Deep winter has arrived, and from a distance, the courtyard is already full of plum blossoms. That was his favorite place to stay when he visited North Abyss a thousand years ago. I have had it sealed for years—”

She stopped speaking.

Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue were already gone.

In front of a branch sword array.

Xuan Fang had been listening to a disciple report on the progress of the array’s repair.

But the moment the first bolt of lightning fell and the aura of Chun Hua erupted from the sword array, he had frozen completely. Despite his disciple calling his name several times, he had no reaction.

Because of the appearance of Su Xue, a person who looked exactly like the First Seat, he had been thinking of the First Seat often lately. Had his desire to see the First Seat again caused him to have a hallucination?

How could it be…?

Had he entered some illusion created by a demon cultivator?

Over the past millennium, he had thought many times: what if someone had stepped in back then?

What if he hadn’t hesitated because of those accusations that seemed logical but were actually smears?

What if he had stopped and taken the First Seat away before he met the Immortal Venerable?

Would the First Seat not have died?

The First Seat was dead. The Peak Masters and elders of Falling Moon didn’t speak of it, but they always sighed wistfully at the sword marks whenever they passed the grinding stone. The Immortal Venerable had been in seclusion for eight hundred years. Sect Master Qi had been traveling everywhere without rest, trying to find the truth of that year and a way for resurrection.

But after so many seasons, there was still no trace of the First Seat’s soul.

As time passed, he often heard those idle rumors.

The Immortal Venerable had cleared many of the smears over the years.

But each time one or two were clarified, people would always say it was just Falling Moon protecting its own reputation, or that the Immortal Venerable was, after all, the First Seat’s junior brother…

He would defend the First Seat, but eventually, he felt only exhaustion—even if those things really had been done by the First Seat, were his contributions to the world during the Immortal Calamity not worth a bit of kindness from the people?

Because his life ended in infamy, did everything that came before not count?

But even though he had reached the Tribulation-Transcending stage and become a Peak Master of the foremost sect, his voice was still just one among many.

Only then did Xuan Fang truly understand what it meant for rumors to be treated as truth and for a person’s reputation to be destroyed by persistent smears.

But what he felt was not even a ten-thousandth of what the First Seat must have felt at the time.

As the years passed, he had almost grown accustomed to this hopeless numbness.

Until the truth of the Zhaoshui incident was revealed, Song Wu’s emergence from the seal was seen by everyone, and the past brought by the Soul-Nourishing Tree Spirit reached every home…

But so what?

The man had been dead for a thousand years and could no longer hear anything.

And at this moment, Xuan Fang felt the long-absent aura of Chun Hua.

While Xuan Fang was in a daze, the second bolt of lightning had already fallen.

This time, what the North Abyss sword array released was an even more powerful aura carrying the Chun Hua sword energy.

There was no way it was a hallucination.

It was him.

He wasn’t dead. He was back.

He had clearly died amidst the cold indifference of the world.

But that sword had been sealed for a millennium, and its emergence was at the very moment when the North Abyss sword array was about to collapse.

“Peak Master? Peak Master?” the disciple was still calling. “Peak Master? Peak—”

The disciple paused.

“…Why are you crying?”

In the Twenty-Seventh City.

Qi Xun withdrew his spiritual power and looked in the direction of the now-clear First City, remaining silent for a long time.

He stared into the distance for a long while.

Qiao Yin was unaware, but Qiao Ting had faced the crisis of the Twenty-Seventh City with An Wuxue and recognized his aura.

In the falling snow, beneath the giant sword, he waited for Qi Xun for a long time. Only when Qi Xun returned to himself did he ask: “Sect Master Qi, among the auras that blocked the tribulation cloud using the sword array’s power, the strongest was Su Xue’s. I recognize him. Is the person you mentioned—him?”

Qi Xun turned his head: “Your tone makes it sound like you’re quite familiar with him?”

“We are friends, of a sort.”

“Friends…” Qi Xun murmured. “He and I were also friends. Once.”

Now… he didn’t know if An Wuxue was still willing to call him a friend.

“Once…?” Qiao Ting was startled, a look of worry appearing on his face. “Does Sect Master Qi have some grudge with him? Su Xue and I only met by chance, and though I can’t say I know him well, he and the Immortal Venerable together resolved the crisis in the Twenty-Seventh City. He is a good man. If he has faults, they were likely not intentional and not according to his will. I hope Sect Master Qi won’t hold them against him.”

Qi Xun was stunned, then suddenly burst into a loud laugh.

Given his status and cultivation, his sudden laughter made Qiao Ting and Qiao Yin even more worried about his attitude.

Despite this, Qiao Yin steeled herself and stepped forward with her sword in hand. “Sect Master Qi, my brother is right. I am willing to vouch for Master Su with the Twenty-Seventh City—”

Qi Xun raised his hand, stopping her.

His voice was full of self-deprecation: “I’m not laughing at you, but at myself. You two only met A-Xue by chance and don’t know the details, yet you can defend him and say ‘it wasn’t his intention’ without hesitation. Whereas back then, I… the more familiar I was, the more strict I became.”

With a wave of his hand, he tossed two bags of rare dharma tools and spiritual treasures to Qiao Yin and Qiao Ting. “A-Xue was in the Twenty-Seventh City; thank you for looking after him. This is a gift of thanks, and should be enough for the city to get back on its feet.”

“Now that A-Xue has taken action, in as little as a day or as many as four, both realms will surely know his identity and what happened in North Abyss.”

“City Lord Qiao, Master Qiao, I hope that when that time comes, the words you’ve just said to me will remain unchanged.”

Having spoken, Qi Xun vanished.

The crisis was resolved, and the sword array teleportation was open. He had gone to the First City.

Qiao Ting stood in a daze, unable to understand what Qi Xun meant.

But a few days later, when the news of An Wuxue’s return from death spread throughout the two realms and four seas, he sat in a tea house, hiding from Qiao Yin who wanted him back at the manor, and listened to the cultivators talking.

Though they only mentioned the First Seat of Falling Moon, he recalled the inexplicable relationship between the Immortal Venerable and Su Xue and finally knew what Qi Xun had meant that day.

Recalling the rumors he had heard as a child about the First Seat of Falling Moon Peak, they were truly completely different from the Su Xue he knew.

He sipped his tea, listening to the cultivators:

“Who knows what really happened back then?”

“He saved North Abyss, but surely he had some other motive?”

“Regarding many of his affairs, the Immortal Venerable has issued jade slips recording the truth…”

“But isn’t the cultivation world now ruled by Falling Moon Peak? As long as the Immortal Venerable wants, he can make black look white—”

With a sharp thwack.

Qiao Ting’s natal sword was still sheathed, but it landed directly on the table where those men sat, punching a large hole through it.

Their tea was all overturned. He said dismissively: “I’ll pay for the damage, but since you all clearly know about the Falling Moon jade slips and yet still smear an innocent good man, shouldn’t you also apologize?”

“…”

But those are stories for another time.

An Wuxue was not dead.

In just a few days, everyone from the esteemed families and major sects to the common people had heard those words.

Not only was An Wuxue alive, but it was said that during the North Abyss catastrophe a few days ago, an ascension lightning tribulation of unknown origin had covered the entire First City. The aura of Chun Hua had emerged twice, and all of North Abyss knew—An Wuxue had saved the city.

Shangguan Liaoliao had hung a Shadow-Borrowing Stone on the sword array and woven a dream. Using her authority as an array master and the power of the sword array, she revealed the truth behind An Wuxue’s “harming of a fellow cultivator” to the world.

Before all the immortal cultivators, she stated that she had been blinded and had wrongly accused an innocent person all those years ago. The karma had persisted for a millennium, nearly destroying the current North Abyss. Her guilt was beyond measure, and she felt she had no face to continue governing North Abyss, announcing she would soon hand over the position of City Lord.

In Zhaoshui City, Song Buwang heard of this and was in a daze for a long time.

Qin Wei had just left the Ancient Tower and could barely stand.

Only An Wuxue had ever left the top floor of the Ancient Tower alive. Qin Wei had survived only because he had duties to perform and couldn’t be reckless. Xie Zhefeng had specifically instructed his disciples to watch over him and send him spiritual medicine when he was in critical condition, which was how he had endured the repeated agony.

If even he was like this… what about the An Wuxue of back then?

He had intended to find some spiritual items for An Wuxue’s cultivation once he recovered. But hearing of the North Abyss matter, he let out several loud laughs. Despite his injuries, he personally added the North Abyss matter to the jade slips that detailed the truth of a thousand years ago.

Now, aside from the Li Huo Sect incident, there was nothing else. And if Qi Xun, the victim of that massacre, said nothing, what could anyone else say?

Qin Wei simply led the Discipline Peak disciples to distribute the jade slips throughout the four seas.

Before the Frost Sea, the female disciple who had previously guided An Wuxue stood beneath the tall pine, staring blankly at the spot where she had spoken with Su Xue.

She still remembered how, on that moonlit night, she had spoken with the Master Su left by the Immortal Venerable about the First Seat’s past.

Looking back now, it was all baseless talk.

She said to the tall pine: “I vaguely heard that the Immortal Venerable kept Master Su because he was so similar to the First Seat…”

She remembered the man’s gentle peach-blossom eyes when they curved, devoid of any hostility. No matter what she said, he had listened quietly until she finished.

Was the First Seat like that as well?

A truly upright gentleman, worthy of the name of golden body and jade bones.

“I wonder how Master Su is doing after all that chaos in North Abyss…”

In just a few days, while North Abyss was still cleaning up the aftermath, the two realms were already filled with rumors and talk.

An Wuxue had simply had a very long dream.

He felt as if he had returned to the time when his fragmented soul was at Thorn Stream, drifting aimlessly in every direction, lost and without a path.

The fifth Heavenly Pillar seemed to be by his side constantly, silently standing between heaven and earth, as if no one could see it.

And so it continued, for a long, long time…

A long dream.

He woke up.

He opened his eyes—Did I dream?

It seemed he had.

And he had forgotten it all.

Someone outside asked softly: “Is the First Seat awake?”