novelraw Chapter 22 : Chapter 22
Chapter 22 : Chapter 22
Chapter 22
His vast divine sense had already swept across the entirety of Suizhou, finding that long sword buried deep underground, its surface covered in rust. It was the Blood-Rust Blade, yet it was not the true Blood-Rust Blade—what remained here was merely a hard length of iron, rusted, blunted, and useless. As for the so-called unsurpassed Dao Canon, it was still ethereal and nowhere to be found.
The Blood-Rust Blade would emerge in Suizhou not because it had originally been in Suizhou, but because Shuang Wenlü had once come to Suizhou.
This place had once been his old ground.
People said that time smoothed everything away—that seas could turn into mulberry fields, that the ocean could dry up and stone could rot.
Time became a mighty river, manifesting under Shuang Wenlü’s will. Within that long river was reflected everything he had been from the beginning until today.
Shuang Wenlü walked upon his own river of time, tracing backward from the present toward the past. This life, the previous life… the figures within the river shifted as he pursued them back through several lifetimes, until he reached the very moment, many lives ago, when the Blood-Rust Blade fell into his hands.
He lowered his head. In the river’s reflection, a young man held the Blood-Rust Blade and lowered his head with him.
Across countless years, the present and the past met each other’s gaze.
He reached into the river. The old shadow within the river reached toward him as well. From the hands of his past self, Shuang Wenlü received that long sword.
He suddenly smiled, and the river of time and the old shadow both faded from his side.
On Sitting-Forgetting Island, Ning Xianmian, who had been resting at leisure, abruptly opened his eyes. He took a single step to Shuang Wenlü’s side, saw the snow piled over the cold mountains, and said, “Why did you pick such a freezing place?”
“Quiet,” Shuang Wenlü replied.
Ning Xianmian looked at the sword shadow in his hand, shook his head, and laughed. “This is what they have been calling the ‘unsurpassed Dao Canon’? If I had known it would be like this, why would I have come here just to freeze once?”
Xiangli Qi had calculated that Baixiaosheng’s information was not false. Ning Xianmian could not help being curious about the so-called “unsurpassed Dao Canon” on the Blood-Rust Blade, and so he had come to take a look.
The sword shadow Shuang Wenlü had fished from the river of time was precisely a form taken from one of his lives—one he had once lost.
It was not merely an old shadow of one lifetime. Because of an unseen connection, it could be used to comprehend the Sword Sovereign’s Dao. How could that not count as an unsurpassed Dao Canon?
Shuang Wenlü smiled. “Who told you your curiosity was so excessive?”
Ning Xianmian’s curiosity continued unabated. “Then why are you still keeping it?”
“It can be used as bait,” Shuang Wenlü said.
Ning Xianmian burst out laughing. “When do you plan to let it emerge?”
As long as the sword shadow was in Shuang Wenlü’s hand, the Blood-Rust Blade would never truly emerge.
Shuang Wenlü looked down upon Suizhou.
Baixiaosheng, holding the “All-Knowing Book” formed from a Rule Fragment, tried once again to find news connected to the Blood-Rust Blade. Cultivators clutching “treasure-seeking compasses” stared fixedly at their wildly spinning needles. Qiu Shufeng frowned as he studied the information on his desk related to the Blood-Rust Blade…
Mortals and cultivators alike, the righteous and the practitioners of wicked arts alike, were all set in motion and driven into frantic motion by this small Blood-Rust Blade.
Heaven and earth were changing. The universe was restless. He, too, would use the Blood-Rust Blade to fish for those ill-intentioned intruders who had slipped in while the universe opened.
“Now.”
Shuang Wenlü lifted his hand and tossed it. The sword shadow fell like a meteor.
…
Following the small road that ran through the pear grove, if one walked another seven or eight li, there was a great estate amid grass as green as a carpet. It was spacious, and someone had set up protective formations around it. In the courtyard, several people of different ages were busy at work. From the swallow nests beneath the eaves, little heads peeked out, while a few scissor-tailed swallows wheeled through the air.
Less than three li from that estate, deep underground—more than ten zhang below—lay an ancient ruin.
A cultivator holding a treasure-seeking compass had his brows tightly knit.
He was searching for the Blood-Rust Blade.
The treasure-seeking compass was a treasure he had obtained by accident not long ago. It could observe a treasure’s aura and find hidden troves. Once it locked onto an item, it could roughly reveal the item’s appearance and use.
Several months ago, he had seen within the compass a long saber—rust-mottled, battered, and half-ruined. The compass did not show its use, yet the indicated value was pegged straight at the maximum.
He had immediately set out to search. During his hunt, he heard the news Baixiaosheng had spread across the world about the Blood-Rust Blade, and only then realized what he had encountered.
The news made his heart pound wildly, yet it also made him secretly hate Baixiaosheng.
If Baixiaosheng had not been meddlesome enough to spread this news, he could have quietly dug up the Blood-Rust Blade himself and been done with it. Why would things have become like this? Now so many people were watching the Blood-Rust Blade. If he were discovered, trouble would surely follow.
He had traveled in hiding the whole way, following the treasure-seeking compass' guidance to this underground ruin. Yet once he arrived, the needle began to malfunction, spinning without end. No matter what methods he tried, he could not steady it. He had nearly turned the entire ruin inside out, and still he had not found any trace of the Blood-Rust Blade.
Who knew when Baixiaosheng would leak more information? The longer he delayed, the more dangerous it became…
Just as he was growing unbearably anxious, the needle on the compass suddenly steadied.
He froze, then was instantly overjoyed and rushed along the indicated direction.
…
In an Black Market somewhere in Suizhou.
Baixiaosheng sat face-to-face with a cultivator in black.
The black-clothed cultivator had just bought a piece of information from him.
After reading it, the cultivator did not leave. He asked, “Are you certain your information has no errors or omissions?”
Baixiaosheng snorted. “When has information released by me, Baixiaosheng, ever had errors or omissions?”
The cultivator in black stared into his eyes and asked again, “Then the information about the Blood-Rust Blade also has no errors or omissions?”
Baixiaosheng understood. The information the man had just purchased was only a test. The Blood-Rust Blade was his true goal.
“Believe it or not, that is up to you,” Baixiaosheng replied blandly, as though he did not care. Little Divination King had already verified it for him. In recent days, there had been no shortage of people seeking him out for the Blood-Rust Blade.
As expected, the cultivator in black did not leave. “I want to buy information about the Blood-Rust Blade.”
“Information about the Blood-Rust Blade,” Baixiaosheng repeated. “Which aspect do you want?”
“Where is the Blood-Rust Blade?” the cultivator asked.
Baixiaosheng laughed. “If I knew where the Blood-Rust Blade was, I would have gone to take it myself. Why would I spread the information? I cannot sell that.”
The cultivator in black had anticipated this. “Then I want all other information related to the Blood-Rust Blade.”
Baixiaosheng said, “I have already sold that information to many people. Perhaps you have already heard it. Whether you have heard it or not, once I say it aloud, you must pay.”
The cultivator nodded. “I understand.”
“Good.” Baixiaosheng named a price. After the cultivator nodded again, he said, “Regarding the Blood-Rust Blade, I have only three pieces of information: First, the Blood-Rust Blade contains an unsurpassed Dao Canon. Second, the Blood-Rust Blade will soon emerge in Suizhou. Third, the Blood-Rust Blade is a long saber wrapped in dark red blood-rust.”
He provided an image.
The cultivator in black frowned. These three points were exactly what he had already learned from other channels.
“There is no other information?”
Baixiaosheng shook his head.
“And there will not be any other information in the future either?” The cultivator stared at him.
Baixiaosheng smiled. “That is not something I can guarantee.”
The cultivator in black tossed out a Storage Pouch. “Consider the extra a deposit for future information. If you obtain news about the Blood-Rust Blade, notify me immediately. If I find out you have deceived me or deliberately delayed…”
He narrowed his eyes, releasing a heavy pressure.
Baixiaosheng remained calm. “I make my living by selling information. Credibility is the most important thing. I believe in harmony and profit, but if there are malicious customers, I am not without ways to protect myself.”
The cultivator in black studied him a moment longer, then nodded. “That is best.”
After the cultivator left, Baixiaosheng let out a long breath. He swept his hand across the tabletop, and a book appeared.
His real name was Bai Xiao. A few months ago, he had been injured by accident and fell unconscious. When he awoke, he discovered that a book had appeared in his mind.
The book claimed to be an All-Knowing Book. As long as he wrote down what he wanted to know, the All-Knowing Book would display the relevant answer.
After understanding its function, Bai Xiao immediately wrote “Sword Pavilion’s fundamental cultivation method” on it. But the All-Knowing Book did not give an answer. It only showed a single line:
“Insufficient fluctuation points.”
Bai Xiao was disappointed, yet he could not help feeling excited. The book said the fluctuation points were insufficient, not that it was impossible to know. With the All-Knowing Book, what could he not obtain?
He soon understood what “fluctuation” meant. So-called fluctuation points were the impact that information obtained from the book had upon the world. The greater the impact, the more fluctuation points. His own actions also produced fluctuation points, but not many.
All information obtained from the All-Knowing Book required fluctuation points. Relying only on himself would be far too slow, so Bai Xiao devised a method—he adopted the alias Baixiaosheng and traded information. In an instant, the fluctuation points he obtained rose sharply.
But it still was not enough. He was still far, far from the top-tier cultivation method he wanted, and he had no idea how long it would take to slowly save up. Therefore, he spent most of his fluctuation points to exchange for a piece of information capable of stirring storms—the news of the Blood-Rust Blade.
The news was large enough, but Bai Xiao lacked the reputation needed for others to believe him. For that, he had to find another way.
His cultivation was not high, but secrecy itself was power.
Using a secret—half threat, half transaction—Bai Xiao had a cultivator who knew Little Divination King go and scheme against him. By stepping on the credibility Little Divination King had accumulated over many years, Bai Xiao finally managed to make the Blood-Rust Blade news stir the world. After that, he had been on guard against Little Divination King coming to trouble him, yet nothing followed.
But that did not matter. The Blood-Rust Blade news earned him a fortune in fluctuation points, yet it also pulled him into a vortex. Countless people wanted follow-up information about the Blood-Rust Blade from him. However, no matter how Bai Xiao tried, he could not obtain any more information about the Blood-Rust Blade from the book.
He had once tried investing all his fluctuation points into the book to exchange for further information related to the Blood-Rust Blade, but it still was not enough.
Bai Xiao could not help being astonished. Such a massive storm of events, and it still was not enough to buy further information about the Blood-Rust Blade?
What secret lay within this?
The Blood-Rust Blade still had not emerged. More and more people came to him. Bai Xiao was nearly unable to withstand the pressure.
Irritated, he once again wrote the three words “Blood-Rust Blade” in the All-Knowing Book.
Ink slowly appeared.
Bai Xiao stared for a moment before realizing it was not the “Insufficient fluctuation points” he was sick of seeing. Ecstasy flooded him.
The ink outlined an image. By now Bai Xiao had experience. He drew the book back into his divine sense, and immediately felt a clear scene within the ink.
It was a bird’s-eye view of Suizhou.
The scene enlarged within his divine sense, focusing on a particular place. He saw a city. Above its gate were the two characters “Gannan.” Yet the city quickly became the edge of the scene and was flung out as the view continued to enlarge.
Then he saw a pear grove, its trees full of pear blossoms like snow. Soon that grove too was pushed out of the scene’s boundary as the view continued to enlarge.
Later, he saw an estate fallen in the wilderness. In its yard, several mortals were busy at work.
At last, the scene stopped upon a stretch of wilderness.
This was the place where the Blood-Rust Blade would emerge!
Bai Xiao’s heart pounded with excitement.
The Blood-Rust Blade, the unsurpassed Dao Canon—he wanted it too!
“Has the Blood-Rust Blade already emerged?” Bai Xiao asked.
The book gave an affirmative answer.
“Is it still there now?” Bai Xiao asked again.
The book denied it.
Bai Xiao’s heart instantly turned cold. He changed methods and confirmed several times.
The Blood-Rust Blade had already been taken away.
After calming down, Bai Xiao understood as well. Before, all his fluctuation points had not been enough to know where the Blood-Rust Blade was. Now he could know naturally because the Blood-Rust Blade had already emerged.
He had already thought it through. With his current strength, it was almost impossible for him to obtain the Blood-Rust Blade. The most advantageous choice now was not to go searching for it, but to sell this information.
It was not enough to say merely that the Blood-Rust Blade had emerged. He also had to attach the location. Bai Xiao thought for a moment and circled a spot on the image. The place was mostly wild grass with few distinguishing features, so he also circled the estate in the wilderness.
That was enough.
He sent the news out.
Winds rose. The world stirred.
On the snowy peak of a cold mountain, the swordsman in white robes and an ink-black cloak looked down upon the mortal world.
Ning Xianmian suddenly sighed.
Shuang Wenlü said, “Are your hands itching?”
Ning Xianmian said, “Using the rules from beyond the heavens as pieces—this is a game of chess I have never played.”
Shuang Wenlü let out a long laugh. “Then why not try?”
…
When Cai Suhong and Lang Qingyun left the Mystic Realm, the news of the Blood-Rust Blade had already spread.
The moment they stepped out, the jade token at Cai Suhong’s waist trembled. After reading the message, her expression shifted slightly. She raised her head and asked Lang Qingyun, “Do you live over by the pear grove, together with a few ordinary people?”
When they first met, Lang Qingyun had asked her to make nine more bowls of hot soup noodles. Cai Suhong had also noticed what was in his basket. At the time, she had guessed there were ordinary people close to him.
Lang Qingyun tensed instantly.
Seeing his guardedness, Cai Suhong already knew the answer. “You know about the Blood-Rust Blade, right? News just came out saying the Blood-Rust Blade will emerge in that place.”
She showed him the message she had received.
When Lang Qingyun saw the estate in the wilderness, his heart clenched.
He already knew how many people in Suizhou had been hunting the Blood-Rust Blade lately. It was not only righteous cultivators—there were also many Demonic Cultivators like the Six Bandits of Bima Mountain. If they received this news, what would they do?
Lang Qingyun turned and was about to run back.
“I will go with you!” Cai Suhong said.
Lang Qingyun hesitated for an instant, then said solemnly, “Thank you.”
When they left the Mystic Realm, the message had already been sent out.
For those with profound cultivation, crossing a thousand li took no more than a breath.
Lang Qingyun was terrified. His hands nearly trembled.
If… if…
Heaven above—his prayers in this lifetime had rarely been answered. Could there be, just this once, a little hope left for him?
…
Shao Si was sweeping the courtyard of the wild estate. Wild estate—this was the joking name they used among themselves.
When they moved out of Gannan City, they had nowhere to live. This estate had originally been an abandoned house in the wilderness. They had cleaned it up bit by bit.
They set the collapsed courtyard walls back upright and replaced broken roof tiles. Back then they could not afford bricks or tiles, so they used thatch and stones instead. Lang Qingyun repaired the roof. He built the stove. Third Sister arranged the yard. Even the youngest sister pulled weeds for this wild estate.
This was their wild estate. This was their home.
Sunlight fell into Shao Si’s eyes. He narrowed them, listening to the youngest brothers and sisters laugh and play, and he could not help grinning as well. He was satisfied with their life now. Everyone was together. There was no worry about survival. Second Brother was still like he used to be.
Except for one thing—Second Brother’s cultivation method.
There was something wrong with Second Brother’s cultivation method. That matter had always weighed on Shao Si’s heart.
He wanted to trade his own immortal opportunity to Second Brother, but the immortal elder from Sword Pavilion said that would not solve Second Brother’s problem. Shao Si was only an ordinary person; ordinary people could not solve a cultivator’s problems. But now he had a chance to become a cultivator too.
He wanted to climb that mountain from his dreams. He wanted to become a powerful cultivator. Then he would be able to find a way to solve Second Brother’s cultivation problem.
“Fourth Brother, how far did you climb last night?” Sixth Sister asked curiously. Several other pairs of eyes turned over with curiosity as well.
They all knew he had obtained an immortal opportunity, and that every night he had to climb a very tall, very steep mountain.
“I cannot remember, but I feel like I got a little higher than last time,” Shao Si said with a smile.
Sixth Sister cheered. “That is wonderful! Fourth Brother is higher than last time every time—soon you will reach the top!”
It was still far away.
One-Thought Peak was too perilous, with a full nine thousand steps. One of Shao Si’s legs was lame, and in the dream it did not automatically heal—he still had to drag that crippled leg while climbing. Every night he fell off the cliffs countless times. In the beginning, he would always wake up startled and be unable to sleep for a long time. Now he had almost gotten used to it. He would open his eyes, go back to sleep, and once asleep continue climbing the mountain in his dreams.
Though it was hard to climb, he had now found a bit of technique—press his body close to the cliff face, hook his fingers firmly on the steps, plant his feet steadily, then climb up another layer. It was not impossible. But he had recently reached an overhanging reverse slope. The cliff leaned toward him. With one leg that could not exert much strength, crossing that section was especially difficult. He had to cling tightly with his fingers.
But he would always get through it!
Shao Si watched as the younger brothers and sisters rejoiced for him. Third Sister was drying his cloak and turned her head to smile at him. That cloak was something Second Brother had brought him. His legs feared the cold, and when he was not busy, he could drape the cloak over them.
Shao Si’s eyes curved as well.
It would get better. Everything would get better and better.
Someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard gate.
Shao Si stopped Third Sister, who was about to set down her work. “I will go. I am closer to the gate.”
He leaned the broom against the wall and went over to open the door.
…
The pear grove had receded into the distance. White petals drifted through the air. Wild grass grew rampant. Sunlight stabbed the eyes.
Lang Qingyun stood before the ruins, his eyes splitting with rage. He clutched a fluttering scrap of fabric—he recognized it as the cloak he had brought for his Fourth Brother.
Like a madman, Lang Qingyun clawed through the rubble.
One body—Ji Hongluo, whom he had seen in the pear grove not long ago.
Two bodies—his Fourth Brother, who had only recently untied the knot in his heart and wanted to give his immortal opportunity to him.
Three, four…
Even the youngest sister, who had not yet reached his waist, now lay cold within the ruins as well. Her dark, bright eyes were wide open. Her face was smeared with dust.
They were all lying here.
Their blood mixed into the mud, cooling together with the home they had built bit by bit.
Thump.
The suppressed Dao Seed pulsed within his chest.
When he returned home, his youngest sister had come to greet him, close and delighted. She hugged his leg, and he had pushed her to the ground.
Thump, thump.
A bleak and cold killing intent soaked into him.
At first, he had treated his family as emotional attachments that interfered with his cultivation and distanced himself from them. Later, because of the killing intent he felt toward them, he stayed even farther away.
Thump thump thump.
Lang Qingyun trembled violently.
He had only just managed to control the Dao Seed. He had only just begun to grow close to his family again.
He did not want to kill his kin. He refused to enter the Dao by such means. He would not cut his bonds—he even suppressed his cultivation.
The Dao Seed mocked him with icy scorn.
If you will not kill, someone else will kill in your place.
Cai Suhong watched Lang Qingyun kneeling in the ruins, clutching a torn, bloodstained cloak. She opened her mouth, yet not a single word would come out.
“Careful!” In the corner of her vision, she suddenly caught a glimmer of black light.
Cai Suhong blocked it. It was a needle as fine as an ox hair, blue-black and poisoned.
She shouted, “Lang Qingyun! Wake up—someone is watching us!”
Several Demonic Cultivators were hiding nearby, taking advantage of their shaken minds to launch an ambush.
Lang Qingyun did not lift his head. He seemed still immersed in violent grief, unresponsive to the outside world.
Since their presence had been exposed, the Demonic Cultivators stopped hiding and attacked together. There were too many of them, and they had prepared in advance. Cai Suhong also had to protect an unresponsive Lang Qingyun, and she was struggling. She reached for Lang Qingyun’s shoulder, preparing to take him and flee first.
“You should die,” Lang Qingyun said hoarsely.
The voice was not loud, yet it was terrifying—like cold wind blowing from a cavern, its killing intent indifferent and hollow.
Cai Suhong’s hand on his shoulder stiffened. In the next instant, the person she was holding was gone.
Lang Qingyun’s short sword flashed like cold light reflected off ice and snow. In a single breath, that light passed three Demonic Cultivators. Their heads fell to the ground.
Kill.
Why should he not kill?
Indifferent, solitary coldness seeped inch by inch from the Dao Seed into his mind.
What was the point of suppressing anything?
He had already lost everything.
Cai Suhong stood frozen. Seeing that Lang Qingyun was about to slaughter all the Demonic Cultivators, she hurriedly swept the last one into her trap.
Lang Qingyun, short sword in hand, turned to look at her.
His gaze jolted Cai Suhong into a shiver. She said urgently, “The bodies are gone—they were fake! They might still be alive!”
When Lang Qingyun killed the third Demonic Cultivator, the bodies he had dug out of the ruins all vanished.
Lang Qingyun lowered his head to look at that ragged cloak. There was no blood on it anymore.
He stared for a long time, his eyes still indifferent.
Cai Suhong remained rigid. After a moment, Lang Qingyun closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his expression looked fierce and violent. Cai Suhong, however, let out a breath. At least there was emotion now.
“I will bring him out and question him. Do not strike,” Cai Suhong said first.
Lang Qingyun nodded. His voice was still hoarse. “I will not strike.”
Cai Suhong released the Demonic Cultivator she had trapped. The man did not want to confess at first, but Lang Qingyun quickly forced the truth from him.
Those corpses had all been fake—an effect of a Heart-Chaos Formation. Whatever a person feared most upon entering the formation, that was what they would see.
Among Demonic Cultivators, the few of them did not even rank. When they received the news and rushed here, they were already late. The powerful figures had searched this place long ago.
They had thought of the same thing: there was an estate of mortals here. With no clues, those mortals were the only clue. But by the time they arrived, this place was already rubble. They had not seen any bodies.
The formidable cultivators who came for the Blood-Rust Blade left after checking the situation. Only Demonic Cultivators like them—without clues and without strength—remained. They set up a Heart-Chaos Formation atop the ruins, harboring no real hope, merely hoping to hook a fish.
But the estate had been destroyed, and there were no remains. Where were Lang Qingyun’s family?
The Demonic Cultivator, having confessed everything, became useless. Lang Qingyun beheaded him with a single sword strike. When he moved, a trace of that terrifying, indifferent killing intent rose from him again.
Cai Suhong was shaken by what she saw. She tried to comfort him. “They may have been taken away by some cultivator who wanted to find clues. If so, they should still be fine.”
Lang Qingyun gripped the short sword tightly. His whole state looked wrong.
In Cai Suhong’s memory, Lang Qingyun had been a warm and kind young man who loved life. When he ate hot soup noodles, he was serious and focused. When the Six Bandits of Bima Mountain came to bully people, he had stepped in to help without hesitation. Including what came after, Lang Qingyun had already helped her twice.
But now he looked frightening.
It was not only his rage and killing intent. Anyone who suffered what he had suffered would give rise to rage and killing intent. There was also a cold indifference in him, a ruthless apathy toward everything.
These two opposing states tore at each other within him, yet also fused.
Yet Lang Qingyun still had reason.
He knew exactly what was happening to him.
What the Dao Seed wanted was for him to sever his bonds, to be heartless and unfeeling. He could not let go of his family, so the Dao Seed demanded that he kill.
Now that something had happened to his family, the Dao Seed instead wanted him to grow cold.
Lang Qingyun took several deep breaths. His voice was hoarse. “I will find them.”
As soon as the words fell, a watery ink-like phantom abruptly appeared above the ruins, outlining a steep cliff. Several figures within that ink-wash mountain wall suddenly became clear.
“Second Brother!”
From Third Sister, Fourth Brother, all the way to the youngest, Little Eleven—nine of them in total. They were all there. Several little swallows had even landed on Ji Hongluo.
Shao Si dragged his foot as he hurried toward him, and Lang Qingyun supported him.
Having passed through great grief and great joy in an instant, Lang Qingyun’s hands were trembling.
“You are all fine!”
“Second Brother, someone came asking about some Blood-Rust Blade. We did not know anything. They tried to seize us. In my panic, I do not know how, but I entered the mountain from my dream,” Shao Si explained quickly. “All of us went in. We could see outside too, but we could not come out. Just now, somehow, we came out all at once.”
At the foot of One-Thought Peak in his dream were clouds and mist, with only a perilous path upward. This time, bringing everyone inside, there was still mist, yet they stood firmly on solid ground. There was no platform gradually disappearing to force them upward.
From within the mist, they could see outside. They watched those people fail to find them, then turn their house inside out. Perhaps they found no clues, and in anger, destroyed their home.
“Your dream mountain… Brother Shuang,” Lang Qingyun murmured.
Shao Si’s dream-born immortal opportunity had been given by Shuang Wenlü.
It was not only a chance to cultivate.
It was also a chance to survive.
…
They could not stay here for long. The group first moved to a safe place.
After they understood the full sequence of events, Cai Suhong said, “Brother Lang, your little brother’s life-saving chance may not have many uses left. You cannot risk it again. If you have a place to hide, take them there and lie low for a while.”
Lang Qingyun pondered briefly, then said to his younger siblings, “I will take you somewhere. There are supplies for food, clothing, and daily needs inside. Do not go out easily. Wait for me to return.”
Ji Hongluo grabbed him. “Wait, Second Brother. Are you not coming with us?”
“I have other arrangements,” Lang Qingyun said.
“No!” Shao Si said urgently. “You are in danger too!”
“Listen!” Lang Qingyun said sternly. The aura around him became overwhelming at once, and they involuntarily loosened their grip.
Before they separated, Shao Si’s eyes reddened. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Second Brother, have we become your burden again?”
Lang Qingyun looked at their anxious faces. The Dao Seed thumped stubbornly in his chest. He said firmly, “You are not a burden. You are the anchor of my cultivation.”
After Lang Qingyun settled everything and returned to Cai Suhong, he said, “Boss Cai, thank you for helping me just now. Let us part ways here.”
The words sounded cold, but Cai Suhong understood what he meant to do.
In their wilderness estate, there were traces of the protective formation Lang Qingyun had set. Before they arrived, no one knew how many cultivators had already been through the estate. As long as they examined it, they would notice those traces.
Compared to a few ordinary mortals, the cultivator who had set the protective formation was naturally more likely to be connected to the Blood-Rust Blade.
This was not something he could explain away.
“You want to draw their attention onto yourself?” Cai Suhong asked.
Lang Qingyun nodded silently.
The larger his target became, the less others would search for his family. If he also hid himself, those Demonic Cultivators would surely find ways to target his family instead.
Cai Suhong fell silent for a moment, then clenched her teeth. “I have some methods. I can help you stall for a while.”
She had the Mystic Realm System. If she hid inside a Mystic Realm, others would find it difficult to locate her. Though the Mystic Realm she created could not last too long, it was enough to evade many dangers.
Lang Qingyun had helped her twice. Both times she had offered little in return. After the first Mystic Realm ended, when she counted her belongings, she realized only the items taken by those three cultivators were missing. Lang Qingyun and that senior had gained nothing. This Mystic Realm had been the same. The two of them had been focused on studying secrets, and Lang Qingyun had not obtained anything.
She also truly liked Lang Qingyun as a person. Moreover, the System had told her that Lang Qingyun’s returns from entering Mystic Realms were higher than others’.
She would treat it as seeking wealth through danger.
Lang Qingyun wanted to refuse, but Cai Suhong said, “The longer you stall here, the fewer people will still want to look for your family. I do not plan to die with you. If it truly becomes dangerous, I will leave. When that happens, you will have to rely on yourself.”
Lang Qingyun’s lips moved. In the end, he only said solemnly, “Thank you.”
Cai Suhong asked, “What do you plan to do next?”
Lang Qingyun gritted his teeth. “I want to find the Blood-Rust Blade!”
“Since they all believe the Blood-Rust Blade is connected to me, why should we not go find it?
“Only by finding the Blood-Rust Blade can we resolve this trouble!”
…
Baixiaosheng also wanted to find the Blood-Rust Blade.
People in this world were strange. If something had never been related to them, they would not care too much even if they did not obtain it. But if they had a chance to obtain it and still failed, it became unbearably painful.
Bai Xiao was exactly like that.
Originally, no one in the world knew about the Blood-Rust Blade, and no one searched for it. He had been the person most likely to obtain it.
But now everyone knew about the Blood-Rust Blade. Everyone searched for it. His chances of getting it had instead grown smaller and smaller.
Although it had been Bai Xiao’s own decision to release the Blood-Rust Blade news, once he learned that it had already emerged and been taken away, the more he thought about it, the more miserable he felt.
That was an unsurpassed Dao Canon!
In the end, he could not endure it anymore. He began searching for the Blood-Rust Blade as well.
Though Bai Xiao’s cultivation was not high—he had only recently broken through to the Fourth Layer of the Kaiyang Realm—he possessed the All-Knowing Book.
Secrecy meant power. He might not have no chance to obtain the Blood-Rust Blade.
Moreover, whether or not he searched for it, the trouble brought by the Blood-Rust Blade would come for him anyway.
Everyone knew the Blood-Rust Blade news had been released through Baixiaosheng. After the news spread, countless people had tried to calculate it, yet in the end those people could calculate nothing. Only he, Baixiaosheng, could do it.
Before the Blood-Rust Blade truly emerged, these people could restrain themselves. Now, however, they had obtained from Baixiaosheng the news that the Blood-Rust Blade had emerged. Would they then want to obtain other information from Baixiaosheng? For instance, whose hands the Blood-Rust Blade was in now.
They had already come to his doorstep.
Bai Xiao looked at the two fellow disciples blocking his path. He did not feel much fear.
Their cultivation was also only the Fourth Layer of the Kaiyang Realm, but there were two of them, and they were senior and junior brothers. Their auras faintly linked, suggesting a joint attack technique. If they truly fought, Bai Xiao would have difficulty winning.
But Bai Xiao had no intention of fighting them.
“You came to ask me for clues about the Blood-Rust Blade?” Bai Xiao asked.
Of the two, the junior brother, Zhou Chong, had slightly higher cultivation. He nodded. “As long as you tell us, we will never make things difficult for you.”
His senior brother, Zhao Tao, added immediately, “Since you could calculate where the Blood-Rust Blade would emerge, you can definitely calculate where it is now. Do not try to fool us.”
This bad-cop, good-cop act was crude. Bai Xiao sneered inwardly and imprinted their appearances into the All-Knowing Book.
He looked at Zhao Tao and said, “You want the Blood-Rust Blade so badly because you want to reforge your cultivation foundation, do you not?”
Zhao Tao’s face changed. He stared at Bai Xiao. After a moment, he said, “Worthy of Baixiaosheng.”
Bai Xiao had guessed correctly. His foundation had been ruined decades ago. In all these years his cultivation had not advanced an inch; it even showed signs of retreat. As a result, the junior brother who had joined later than him had already caught up.
“Do you not want to know how your foundation was ruined?” Bai Xiao said to Zhao Tao, though his gaze shifted toward Zhou Chong.
Zhao Tao shouted, “Ever since my foundation was ruined, Junior Brother has always been trying to help me make up for it. Do not think you can sow discord!”
Bai Xiao let out a short laugh. “Back then you fell from Lost-Soul Cliff and your foundation was ruined. If someone had pulled you up, you would not have fallen into the Lost-Soul Pool below. But at the time, your good junior brother was in a cave only three zhang away. He heard your cries for help and did not act. Guess why.”
“Shut up!” Zhou Chong suddenly attacked Bai Xiao.
Bai Xiao dodged the strike, and on the other side Zhao Tao had already stopped Zhou Chong, staring at him in disbelief.
If Baixiaosheng’s words were false, why would Zhou Chong panic and strike?
“You really were nearby?” Zhao Tao asked.
“Senior Brother, do not listen to his nonsense!” Zhou Chong said, his face ugly.
Bai Xiao said leisurely, “In that cave there was Earth Marrow Milk that could improve aptitude. He feared you would compete with him, so he did not act.”
Zhao Tao stared at Zhou Chong. “Swear it on your Dao Heart. Swear, and I will believe you!”
Zhou Chong’s face went deathly pale. “Senior Brother… Senior Brother, I did not know there was a Lost-Soul Pool below. I did not know. If I had known, I would never have waited in the cave. I only wanted to wait a little while. I did not mean to harm you… I… I have regretted it all these years. I always wanted to make amends. Truly!”
But Zhao Tao could no longer hear him. “No wonder. No wonder your cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds afterward. My foundation was ruined, and your aptitude improved. These years… these years I disappointed Master, everyone gathered around you—were you very happy? Were you? Answer me!”
Bai Xiao said slowly, “Settle your family matters yourselves. I still have things to do, so I will take my leave.”
The senior and junior brothers had already turned on each other. Whether they fought or not, they could not cooperate anymore. Against Bai Xiao one-on-one, neither could stop him.
And Bai Xiao reclaimed another sum of fluctuation points from them.
To know secrets meant to possess power. Just as he had used a secret to force the renowned Little Divination King to vouch for him.
He possessed the All-Knowing Book.
…
On the snowy peak, Ning Xianmian stretched lazily.
“Recently the heavenly mechanism has been chaotic. It is a pain to calculate anything.”
These Rule Fragments that entered the universe would, more or less, cause fluctuations to the Dao of the universe.
However, such fluctuations did not have much impact. The Dao of the universe was like a vast net with a certain elasticity; it could recover on its own.
If there were Rule Fragments who did not know their limits and tried to accumulate by interfering with the universe’s operation, then once the world-net began to rebound, the Rule Fragments that had been jumping wildly upon it would be shattered cleanly.
While they were speaking, the two of them suddenly turned their gaze toward Cangzhou at the same time.
Just now, a trembling aftershock had come from beyond the boundary and was about to touch the universe.
“This is an aftershock from the destruction of a minor chiliocosm,” Shuang Wenlü said solemnly.
Ning Xianmian also grew serious.
The birth of any world was extremely difficult. Among the myriad world seeds that had entered the universe now, it was uncertain whether even one would grow into a minor chiliocosm.
A world’s birth had three thresholds: time and space, life, and soul.
Missing any one of them, it could not become a world.
The shockwave had already touched the universe, but neither of them moved. Shuiyue Ward’s master, Hua Kongxie, had already gone to handle it.
This shockwave struck the Earth-Kun side. Shuiyue Ward was built above Yunmeng Marsh, and Yunmeng Marsh was the guardian of the universe’s Earth-Kun.
Hua Kongxie quickly calmed the ripples across Yunmeng Marsh, but she did not leave.
A thin mist rose over Yunmeng Marsh—this was the water-moon mirror-flower technique Hua Kongxie had cast.
At the same time, Hua Kongxie’s voice transmission arrived. “Something is hiding within the shockwave and wants to enter the universe. I have already trapped it.”
That thing was concealed and obscure, difficult to catch for the moment. But with the water-moon mirror-flower technique, it was trapped between illusion and reality and could not escape. Sooner or later, it would be found.
After the group reached an agreement, Shuang Wenlü suddenly rose to his feet.
“There are too many petty villains that the universe has let in this time.”
Ning Xianmian asked, “What are you going to do?”
Shuang Wenlü left him only a back view.
“Then let us first remove some of them.”
Ning Xianmian paused, then shook his head with a smile.
A sword cultivator.