“The Immortal Venerable wrongs this seat.”
Duan Junyi propped his head on his hand, looking at Sang Hua with a smiling expression. “This seat simply felt distressed that the Immortal Venerable was stifled day in and day out on the summit, so I specially brought the Immortal Venerable out to join in the lively atmosphere.”
When Duan Junyi smiled, the faint light of the horizon reflected in his eyes, as if they concealed a river of stars and a bright moon.
In the past, Sang Hua had deeply loved those eyes of his. Now, looking at him like this, Sang Hua was for a moment dazedly led to believe that his little disciple had returned. Gazing into those eyes, Sang Hua smiled faintly and gave no response.
A trace of extremely faint flowing light streaked across the edge of the sky; if one had not been constantly watching the sky, it would have been completely impossible to notice it.
Out of the corner of his eye, Duan Junyi caught sight of the flowing light and immediately stood up. “I’ve been out long enough; it’s time to return.”
The summit was located above the snowfield. Except for Duan Junyi’s private estate, the Jade Terrace Mirror, which was shrouded by a barrier and maintained spring-like warmth throughout the four seasons, every other part of the summit was covered entirely in white snow.
Sang Hua grabbed Duan Junyi’s sleeve and said in a low voice, “Don’t go back just yet; I want to watch the snow outside.”
“All right.” This time, Duan Junyi did not refuse. He took off the heavy cloak he was wearing and draped it over Sang Hua’s shoulders. “I still have matters to attend to. I’ll have Jingli and Chonghuai accompany you.”
Jingli and Chonghuai were Duan Junyi’s trusted aides, and they also essentially acted as Duan Junyi’s two extra pairs of eyes.
Within the Jade Terrace Mirror, the only people Sang Hua could see, aside from Jingli and Chonghuai, were the flower demon Liuhua and the occasional appearance of the Xiquan wolf.
Sang Hua knew that the world outside the Jade Terrace Mirror was the true summit.
Only when truly walking beyond the Jade Terrace Mirror did Sang Hua discover that although the entire summit was a floating island resting above a wasteland, it practically formed a self-contained little world. The number of people Duan Junyi had gathered up to the summit was not small at all. No wonder that for seven years, even when joining forces, the major immortal sects could do nothing against the summit.
The more he saw of these things, the more Sang Hua realized that all of Duan Junyi’s actions had an extremely strong sense of purpose; it was simply that he was still unable to determine what Duan Junyi’s ultimate goal actually was.
Sang Hua walked all the way toward the highest point of the summit. Since the summit itself hovered above the void, standing at its highest vantage point allowed one not only to view the entire summit but also to overlook the mortal realm.
This was perhaps the reason why Duan Junyi had established the floating island high above the void.
When night fell and enshrouded the landscape, looking up revealed a bright moon and a sky full of stars, while looking down revealed the bustling mortal world with the candlelit homes of thousands of families.
Standing behind him, Jingli saw Sang Hua staring blankly down at the mortal world below and murmured in a low voice, “Master also always loved standing right here, gazing into the distance at the moon on the horizon. But in the past, the starry sky was very dim; today’s stars are exceptionally bright and brilliant.”
Sang Hua was not surprised at all, responding indifferently, “Back at Yujing Peak, he liked to climb up onto the roof and look at the bright moon. He said that his former world had no stars and no moon, so he loved rivers of stars and bright moons, and he also loved the lamps and fires of the human world.”
Sang Hua reached out his hand to catch a drifting snowflake, feeling the soft, icy snow gradually melt in his palm. “He was most afraid of the cold, yet he liked to play about in the snow. Everything on the summit is entirely according to his preferences.”
“Jingli,” Sang Hua called out softly, turning around to gaze into Jingli’s eyes. “You have grown up, and your abilities have also grown considerably. Tell me, what secret does the summit hide?”
The surrounding white, flying snow condensed and swirled around the bodies of both Sang Hua and Jingli, forming a massive, isolated space. All around them was nothingness, leaving only the two of them.
“A secret…” Jingli was dazed for a moment. In his world, he could only see Sang Hua, and his mind was completely filled with Sang Hua’s interrogation of him.
“A secret… the summit… Master…”
“Master!”
Jingli woke up in an instant, and the illusion that had enveloped the two of them shattered simultaneously.
Having regained his awareness, Jingli patted his chest and gasped heavily for breath. Chonghuai held a jade token in his hand, blocking the space between Sang Hua and Jingli, and said to Sang Hua, “It would be best if the Immortal Venerable didn’t waste your effort. Master warned us long ago that even if the Immortal Venerable’s cultivation is sealed, we must still guard against the Immortal Venerable’s Heart-Inquiring Spell.”
Chonghuai triumphantly waved the jade token in his hand. “Carved upon this jade is a spirit-awakening spell, specially designed to break the Immortal Venerable’s Heart-Inquiring Spell.”
When cultivated to a certain realm, the Heart-Inquiring Spell moved in accordance with one’s mind, entering a person’s thoughts in the blink of an eye to knock upon the doors of their heart. No matter what was hidden within, as long as one entered their thoughts, anything could be asked out, entirely without the need to mobilize any spiritual power or magic arts.
A single jade token had broken his Heart-Inquiring Spell. Left between laughter and tears, Sang Hua sighed lightly, “It seems you’ve all grown up…”
Jingli, having recovered his composure, looked at Sang Hua with a complex expression. “Immortal Venerable, did you recognize me?”
“Back at the town on Fuyun Mountain, when I saw you beside A-Yi, I recognized you.” Sang Hua could not help marveling at how much had changed over the years. Sweeping his gaze past Chonghuai, he looked out into the distance at the people across the summit and said, “Everyone on the summit is just like you. A-Yi gathered you all together what is he trying to do?”
Jingli and Duan Junyi were the same sort of people both were individuals who had died once and then accidentally been reborn.
Over a dozen years ago, Sang Hua was taking Duan Junyi through the mortal world to slay demons and ghosts, when they accidentally rescued Jingli, who had just died and returned to life only to be treated as a demonic disaster star by his village and drowned in the river.
Because of that prophecy, not only the immortal sects but the mortal world as well felt an intense aversion and hatred toward resurrected spirits. Thus, when they encountered Jingli, he was being tied to a giant boulder and submerged in the river.
The mortal world could not tolerate resurrected spirits; even if one accidentally obtained an opportunity to come back to life after death, the fate awaiting most spirits was simply another, even more tragic demise.
Because Sang Hua and Duan Junyi rescued him and brought him to a place where no one knew him, finding a kind-hearted family to adopt him, Jingli was able to start life anew.
However, those spirits who were not so fortunate could only survive with even greater difficulty in this world than Jingli had.
“That’s right, Immortal Venerable, you’ve noticed it too. Aside from the demon race, everyone on the summit is a resurrected spirit,” Jingli said, looking extremely sorrowful. “Only after meeting Master, and only here upon the summit, are we not treated as anomalies.”
“Immortal Venerable, stop investigating further. We only want a world that doesn’t treat us as anomalies and pests, a world where we can live with dignity and uprightness. We follow Master of our own free will,” Jingli almost pleaded.
The bloody massacre in the town on Fuyun Mountain, alongside everything he had witnessed within the Water-Jade Mirror, were things Sang Hua simply did not dare to dwell upon in detail.
“Wanting to live with dignity and uprightness—there is nothing wrong with everyone wanting to live. But since the summit already exists, why must innocent people still be slaughtered? The people in that town, as well as those cities running red with blood, what did those ordinary people do wrong? Why must the mortal realm be slaughtered to the very last? Tell me, Jingli, what on earth is A-Yi trying to do?” Those bloody tragedies had lingered in Sang Hua’s mind for days; whenever he closed his eyes, those horrifying scenes would reappear before him.
Under Sang Hua’s relentless questioning, Jingli gradually began to falter. Just as he wavered, Chonghuai pressed a hand onto Jingli’s shoulder, stepped forward, and shielded Jingli behind him. “If you want to shape a new set of rules, you must first erase the old ones. The Immortal Venerable should understand the principle of dying first and coming back to life afterwards. We spirits have already died once; what we want now is a true rebirth.”
Dying first and coming back to life afterwards was this the reason why Duan Junyi wanted to destroy the world?
To forge the rules of a world belonging above the spirits?
No, that wasn’t it!
If he merely wanted to change how the world viewed spirits, there was no need for slaughter—or rather, the slaughter of entire cities had nothing to do with spirits at all.
“Dying and coming back to life? Then would you like to die one more time!” A figure suddenly appeared behind Chonghuai. Instinctively, Chonghuai swung his blade to hack at the newcomer, but the person’s sword techniques were exceptionally fast. Within the span of a moment, the long saber in Chonghuai’s hand was knocked away.
Recognizing the newcomer as Changlin, Sang Hua shouted a loud warning: “Senior Brother, do not harm them!”
The newcomers were none other than Changlin and the Master of Xuanyin Pavilion, Mu Jin.
Although Changlin and Mu Jin were no match for Duan Junyi, dealing with two youths was more than enough. Hearing Sang Hua tell him not to harm anyone, Changlin changed his sword stances, merely striking the two youths unconscious.
This was the summit after all, not a place to linger for long. Stowing his long sword away, Changlin immediately went to pull Sang Hua along. “Junior Brother, while the little beast is not here, come away with us quickly.”
Yet, Sang Hua hesitated. “No, I still have many matters that are unclear; I cannot leave yet. A-Yi has too many secrets that I haven’t figured out, and I cannot simply stand by and leave him unattended.”
“Junior Brother, how can you be so foolish? Can’t you see it yet? Today’s grand arch-devil is simply no longer the little disciple you once cherished so dearly.”
Changlin had never imagined that after traversing through countless hardships to find Sang Hua on the summit, his greatest difficulty would not be evading the spirits of the summit, but rather the fact that Sang Hua himself was unwilling to leave.
“I…”
Before Sang Hua could finish trying to persuade Changlin to leave, a palm struck the back of his neck from behind. Sang Hua’s vision went black, and his body slumped limply backward.
The Xiquan wolf appeared out of nowhere, steadily catching the knocked-out Sang Hua. A burst of formidable spiritual power was driven into Sang Hua’s meridians, forcibly opening up his sealed spiritual pathways. The wolf handed him over to Changlin. “Take advantage of the fact that the Duan brat isn’t here and get out of the summit quickly.”
“Demon King, will you help us? Did you tamper with anything in my Junior Brother’s spiritual pathways?” Changlin asked, utterly distrustful of the Xiquan wolf.
The Xiquan wolf had never deigned to interact with people from the immortal sects in the first place. Seeing that Changlin did not trust him, the wolf couldn’t be bothered to waste words. He directly handed Sang Hua over to Mu Jin at his side, stating with utter disdain, “If I hadn’t cleared away the surrounding guards, there’s no way you could have gotten in so smoothly. The Duan brat will be back soon; if you don’t leave now, none of you will make it out.”
“Elder Changlin, this place is indeed not the time for debate. Duan Junyi could return at any moment. The only chance we have to rescue the Immortal Venerable is right now.”
Persuaded by Mu Jin, Changlin did not tarry further and took Sang Hua away from the summit’s floating island.
They never realized that today, the barrier covering the summit was significantly weakened, and the guards stationed across the summit were vastly reduced. At this very peak of the summit, apart from Jingli and Chonghuai, there wasn’t a single guard in sight.
The Xiquan wolf personally escorted Mu Jin and Changlin out of the summit floating island. When he returned to the peak of the summit, the figures of Jingli and Chonghuai were already gone, leaving only Duan Junyi, draped in black robes, standing right where Sang Hua had been standing just moments before.
Yet what Duan Junyi was looking at was not his favorite starry sky and bright moon; the direction he gazed upon was precisely the path by which Changlin and Mu Jin had departed. Standing at the peak of the summit, he could see everything with absolute clarity.
Standing behind Duan Junyi, the Xiquan wolf asked with deep incomprehension, “Why let him leave? Wasn’t keeping him in the Jade Terrace Mirror the safest choice?”
“He couldn’t have been trapped. Master’s injuries have already healed completely, and for him to break open the seals is only a matter of time. If he wants to leave, who could truly stop him?” Duan Junyi gazed out at the distant, departing figure and said with a wistful sigh, “Back then, I tricked him into seclusion, originally hoping he would remain in seclusion for ten years ten years would have been enough for me to resolve everything. But he came out of seclusion by the seventh year; it was probably just fate.”
“Aren’t you afraid that if you let Sang Hua go, once he investigates…” The Xiquan wolf was deeply worried.
Duan Junyi gave a light sigh. “It won’t be that easy. Mu Jin will be watching. Even if Master goes to investigate, everything that needs to be destroyed has already been destroyed by me; he won’t be able to uncover anything. And even if he does find out, the only thing he’ll discover is that I have fallen into devilry.”
“When a grand arch-devil is killed by his Master, perhaps he won’t feel so sad anymore.” Duan Junyi spoke as casually as though he were not arranging his own execution.
With my single body brought to total ruin, in exchange for the rebirth and renewal of the great universe—to die is to have fulfilled one’s purpose.
Although he could not see Duan Junyi’s expression at that moment, standing behind him and gazing at that solitary back, the Xiquan wolf felt a swirling vortex of complicated emotions in his chest, not knowing what else to say.
Reaching into his waist, Duan Junyi drew out the hidden tassel of the Mo Xiangli blade. His fingertips gently caressed every single grain of the tassel, as though Sang Hua were right beside him, and he murmured in a low whisper, “Master, this disciple only asks that you remain safe and sound.”
After rescuing Sang Hua from the summit, Changlin did not bring him back to the Fuvian Sect, choosing instead to stay at Xuanyin Pavilion within the city of Yangzhou.
Back on the summit, Sang Hua had been extremely reluctant to leave, and Changlin had worried that Sang Hua might try to return to the summit the moment he woke up, which was why he followed Sang Hua’s every step.
Walking out onto the covered veranda to gaze up at the stars in the night sky, and then turning his gaze to Changlin who was still trailing behind him, Sang Hua said with helpless resignation, “Senior Brother, it was one thing for A-Yi to keep me locked up on the summit, but now that we’ve come out, has Senior Brother turned into someone constantly keeping me under surveillance?”
“No,” Changlin hurriedly explained. “I’m not trying to monitor you, I’m simply worried that you can’t let go of that little beast in your heart and will go right back into the tiger’s den.”
“How could I?” Sang Hua circulated the spiritual energy throughout his body; his spiritual meridians had already been unsealed, and his vital energy flowed smoothly and freely. “Senior Brother, look the seals have been broken, and my injuries have fully recovered. Even if I were to return to the summit, it would be no easy feat for A-Yi to trap me again.”
“In fact, I feel that A-Yi wasn’t so much keeping me prisoner as he was having me stay there to recuperate.”
Recalling that period of time spent on the summit, aside from Duan Junyi refusing to let him step outside the Jade Terrace Mirror and occasionally uttering remarks intended to provoke his anger, the rest of the time consisted mostly of watching him take his medicines and ensuring his poultices and bandages were changed on schedule.
If he were truly a prisoner, what prisoner could ever demand whatever they pleased, and who would let a prisoner live inside their own private estate while having every single need tended to with meticulous care?
Seeing at a glance that Sang Hua was still defending Duan Junyi, Changlin trembled with fury. “Just what kind of bewitching poison did that little beast Duan Junyi feed you? How can it be that even now, you are still making excuses for him?”
Mu Jin, who was walking over bearing a plate of pastries, heard Changlin’s exasperated voice. Just as he hesitated over whether he should turn back, Sang Hua had already caught the sound of his footsteps and said gently, “Pavilion Master Mu need not avoid us; it’s rather our senior and junior brotherhood causing trouble for the Pavilion Master instead.”
Since Sang Hua already knew he had arrived, Mu Jin walked over with the pastries and dismissed the surrounding disciples. “I had no intention of eavesdropping on the conversation between two seniors; I ask that the two seniors please not hold it against me.”
Changlin had already been provoked to the point of extreme anger by Sang Hua, but unwilling to lose his temper toward his own junior brother in front of an outsider, he let out a cold huff and swept his sleeves away in a huff.
Naturally aware of what had caused Changlin’s anger, Mu Jin said to Sang Hua, “During the days the Immortal Venerable was captured by Duan Junyi, Elder Changlin worried day and night over how to rescue the Immortal Venerable. The elder’s judgment was simply clouded by anxiety.”
Back when Mu Jin was still with the Myriad Laws Sect, Sang Hua had crossed paths with him on a few occasions. At the time, he had felt that this disciple of the Myriad Laws Sect possessed a character that was first-rate in every respect; meeting him now once again, he still felt he was an exceptionally gentle, jade-like, modest gentleman.
With someone like this standing before him, it was no wonder that even with a stomach full of fiery rage, Changlin preferred to choose to avoid him rather than display his anger in front of him.
Sensing that Sang Hua also carried worries in his heart, Mu Jin brought his zither along and said to Sang Hua, “Since the Immortal Venerable has worries weighing on your mind, perhaps I might play a tune for the Immortal Venerable, hoping it may dispel the disquiet in your heart.”
“Playing the zither won’t be necessary.” Sang Hua swept his gaze up and down Mu Jin, thoughtfully weighing his words. “Pavilion Master Mu might as well clear up the doubts in my heart.”
“What does the Immortal Venerable mean?” Mu Jin asked, feigning incomprehension.
Sang Hua stated flatly, “Defenses on the summit are strictly guarded, yet Pavilion Master Mu was able to come and go freely rescuing Senior Brother from A-Yi’s hands the first time, and carrying me away from the peak of the summit the second time. Furthermore, A-Yi brought me to witness the Dharma assembly of Xuanyin Pavilion, and then there are tonight’s events. To say that all of this wasn’t part of a plan between you two makes it truly difficult for anyone to find convincing.”