His ink-black eyes seemed to harbor a heavy weight of emotion.
A mere “Burning Heaven Formation.”
This taunt came at just the right moment. Liu Xiao was already severely wounded, and seeing that someone had already escaped the city and would likely spread word of this matter, his fury surged and his spiritual power reversed. His vision went black, and an uncontrollable stream of blood sprayed from his mouth.
“But Fellow Daoist Liu, you’ve been deceived. Did he tell you that this formation could reverse life and time itself that by sacrificing the lives of everyone in this city, you could return everything to the very beginning?”
Weisheng Zhen felt like rolling his eyes. “Please, use that pig brain of yours to think for a moment. The whole world knows that a time-reversal formation requires the Void Spirit Jade, and that thing is as elusive as a wisp of smoke. The most recent sighting was 316 years ago at the summit of Kunlun Mountain.”
Of course, if Weisheng Zhen had managed to obtain it in that secret realm a few days ago, then the timeline would be a different matter entirely.
He could even brag about it in the group chat.
Weisheng Zhen couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
“Setting all that aside, the Burning Heaven Formation’s greatest use is for demonic cultivators to refine human lives. It has nothing to do with saving anyone.”
“You’ve been used as a pawn without even realizing it.”
“If this formation truly activates, even souls will be refined along with everything else. Once you die, all the spiritual energy within the formation will flow through the demonic bones into the body of the one behind all this.”
“You act out of filial piety, but the one behind this has exploited that very piety!”
“I am a disciple of Kunlun myself, and that person has already given me the Void Spirit Jade. You juniors are simply incapable of achieving what I can, how dare you question my abilities?” Liu Xiao refused to believe a word of it. Drawing a deep breath, he lunged at Li Chang Shuang once more with lightning speed, twin maces raised.
Weisheng Zhen wasn’t actually questioning Kunlun’s abilities rather, he’d suddenly remembered something.
He had once written in passing that a certain mid-story villain, around this exact point in time, had slaughtered an entire city to advance his cultivation.
If he hadn’t arrived in time, the lives of everyone in this city would truly have been lost.
Within the barrier, Li Chang Shuang’s sword had already left its sheath before she even moved. Earlier, her attacks had been mostly defensive, as if she wanted to capture her opponent and question him thoroughly. But now, every strike was vicious and merciless, as if all restraint had been cast aside.
Weisheng Zhen said no more. The sound of his qin gradually rose, his focus entirely on attacking the formation enveloping the city.
And within that qin music, there seemed to be traces of Buddhist chanting woven in.
Li Chang Shuang was completely unaffected, but Liu Xiao already feeling the pressure of being suppressed found his face growing increasingly ashen with each exchange.
“Despicable! Using such tricks to interfere! Young friend Li, you’re already two minor realms above me, yet you won’t fight me honorably in a fair contest only resorting to these crooked methods!”
With that, he raised his head toward Weisheng Zhen and declared, “You think that noisy qin music can disturb my mind? Absolutely impossible!”
Weisheng Zhen & Li Chang Shuang: “…”
Li Chang Shuang stole a glance at Weisheng Zhen, and seeing that he didn’t seem angered by Liu Xiao’s words, she turned her attention back to the fight, accelerating her assault. Before long, her sword qi devoured the golden spiritual power entirely, and with a single strike, she pinned Liu Xiao to the ground, then cast the Immortal Locking Cage over him.
The barrier outside the city shattered on cue. The two demonic bones seemed to sense that the tide had turned, trembling in the void as they tried to slip away while the two weren’t paying attention. But Weisheng Zhen didn’t give them the chance with a flip of his hand, he snatched the bones over, then turned them this way and that like a man teasing chicks, before tossing them to a person nearby.
“Little Rice Bowl, see if you can seal these two things for now.”
The man beside him, clad in a loose robe, intoned a chant of Amitabha, then his prayer beads grew with the wind. Two of the hundred and eight beads flew out, wrapped around the two demonic bones, and then merged back into one set, returning to his hand.
“Layman Li.”
“Senior Brother Xingtán.”
After Li Changshuang and Xingtán exchanged greetings, Weisheng Zhen patted Li Changshuang on the shoulder. “I’ve roughly filled Little Rice Bowl in on what happened here. As it happens, he was chasing a demon to the nearby area to suppress it, and I sensed him earlier today. After I helped him, I invited him to join forces to break this formation.”
“But you were too slow a mere early-stage Void Refinement cultivator, how did it take you this long?”
Li Changshuang lowered his eyes. “That jade talisman is indeed from Kunlun Mountain, but the Xuan-grade treasure-hunting beast wasn’t Liu Xiao’s. The beast’s aura was attached to the demonic bones. When I followed the bones to trace the source, I was discovered halfway through and got tangled up in a fight in the void.”
So it was because he was splitting his attention.
Weisheng Zhen understood easily. His expression turned somewhat worried, and his hand, which had been patting Li Changshuang’s shoulder, shifted to support it. “Ah? I had no idea about this. Are you alright? Were you injured?”
Li Changshuang shook his head. “No. The person tried to follow my spiritual energy, but I cut it off in time. Still, I imagine whoever’s behind the Liucheng incident already knows by now.”
“Troublesome. Even you find it hard to contend with this person behind the scenes looks like this sneaky bastard does have some real strength.” Weisheng Zhen grew serious, not noticing how close the two of them were standing, and turned to look at Xingtan. “Little Rice Bowl, this is a major matter. The return of over a million mortal souls in the city depends on you. I’ll take the two demonic bones and the jade token back to Lingchao Sect to discuss things first.”
Xingtan nodded, and two prayer beads fell into Weisheng Zhen’s hand. Weisheng Zhen wrapped the demon-suppressing lock tightly around the two beads, then hung them around his neck. “That should do it no one will be able to steal them.”
His collar was pulled slightly open, and pale skin cut sharply into view.
Li Changshuang held back, seeming to want to say something, but quickly averted his gaze. His fingers, however, precisely tidied Weisheng Zhen’s collar, and he stepped half a pace to the side. “Senior Brother Xingtan, we’ll take our leave first.”
Xingtan nodded, and the two flew off on their swords.
A day later, at Lingchao Sect.
The four-day journey by jade ship was compressed to a single day by the two of them, and along the way they’d taken the trouble to deliver Liu Xiao to the nearest immortal prison entrance, arranging for him to be escorted in. Such a journey was an appalling drain on spiritual energy, but the area around Yaori Hall was thick with spiritual qi no sooner had the two landed outside the hall than the exhaustion around them was swept away.
“Who would’ve thought I’d be back just a few days after leaving, I’m destined to be a homebody.” Weisheng Zhen grumbled, then added in surprise, “How strange. Even now, the Sect Master and my master haven’t replied to my jade slip, and I can sense that neither of them is currently within the Lingchao Sect.”
How odd. Weisheng Zhen had originally expected an ambush on the way back surely they wouldn’t have let them return to the Lingchao Sect so smoothly. Yet here they were, arriving without a hitch, only to find the people they were looking for absent.
What use was a smooth journey if it got them nowhere?
“The Sword Sect Master has also descended the mountain. Even I can’t reach him at the moment.”
With the two highest authorities unavailable, Weisheng Zhen felt a sense of unease. After a moment’s thought, he could only say, “They should come around the time of the Rising Talents Tournament.”
Li Changshuang nodded.
Though he’d never participated himself, a hundred years ago his master had served as a member of the adjudication panel, so he’d been brought along to watch.
Liu Xiao’s matter was minor in the grand scheme of things there was still room for negotiation but the two of them alone couldn’t convene a Lingjie assembly. It would need to be reported to the various sect masters, and if it truly warranted attention, they wouldn’t take it lightly.
Lingjie, in simple terms, was the orthodox cultivation alliance. Apart from the Kunlun lineage, most cultivators in the world had to take examinations at Lingjie and obtain a “certificate of qualification” before being recognized as registered cultivators, allowed to subdue demons and vanquish monsters across the continents.
Moreover, a trace of spiritual energy was left on the certificate, so if the person ever committed a crime, they could be located through that energy.
Kunlun had long since withdrawn from the world and had a cooperation with Lingjie that was difficult to summarize in a few words, so they didn’t require such a “certificate.”
Lingjie’s structure had been established long ago. Currently, there were six public spokespersons: the Lingchao Sect Master, the Sword Sect Master, the Hundred Flowers Tower Master, the Golden Lotus Monastery Abbot, the Flowing Forest Pavilion Master, and the Myriad Phenomena Observatory Master.
These were the so-called “Six Great Sects” seniors in Weisheng Zhen’s group chat.
Coincidentally, the six people in the group were all once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigies from these six sects.
It wasn’t that Weisheng Zhen wanted to boast about himself, but the six of them truly possessed formidable talents, and it was rare that they’d known each other since childhood and become friends.
In the past, it was uncommon for six outstanding geniuses to emerge at the same time, but a hundred years ago, that balance was broken.
This meant that in certain unseen places, something was quietly brewing.
Weisheng Zhen knew the beginning, but he couldn’t foresee the final outcome.
Even his own life might be hard to hold onto.
After deliberating, the two decided to wait one day at the Lingchao Sect. If they still received no reply by then, they could head to Xinghai Terrace without delay.
“Didn’t expect you to have a growth spurt. The room’s still the same as before, though it might feel a bit cramped. If you really can’t get used to it, we can swap you can take my bigger room.”
Weisheng Zhen rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed. Fortunately, Li Changshuang was a sword cultivator who practiced austerity and had endured all kinds of hardships. Not to mention that even the secondary bedroom was a place Weisheng Zhen often came to rest in, furnished with only the best of everything.
After fourteen hours of nonstop travel, Li Changshuang could tell that Weisheng Zhen was truly exhausted and eager to collapse into bed for some serious cuddling with his mattress. So he didn’t bring up much more about the demon bone, and the two of them paused to rest and recuperate.
Weisheng Zhen had been worn out for a while, but he still insisted on bathing and changing into fresh robes before returning to bed, where he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
He’d expected a dreamless night, but as he slept, he found himself dreaming back to when he was three years old, the first time he’d met Li Changshuang.
At that time, he’d already been in this world for three years, but his memories were only slowly returning.
A small body housing an incomplete twenty-four-year-old soul.
He knew the person before him should be the male lead he’d once written, but he never imagined he’d be so breathtakingly extraordinary. Foundation Establishment at six, Golden Core at nine, and at thirteen, alone with a single sword amidst a horde of demon beasts, he’d condensed his own Nascent Soul.
He was also the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator on record.
And at that time, three-year-old Weisheng Zhen, influenced by his incomplete memories, had acted outrageously arrogant at the Ling Realm’s decennial assembly, cheerfully patting his male lead Li Changshuang and saying, “Baby! Daddy loves you!”
The dream grew more and more embarrassing, and Weisheng Zhen jolted himself awake from sheer awkwardness.
Only two hours had passed since he’d fallen asleep, yet now he felt no drowsiness at all. The Lingchao Sect had no cycle of day and night, but Weisheng Zhen had connected his own small peak to the mortal world’s sun and moon.
At this moment, the moon was bright and the stars sparse. With sleep no longer an option, Weisheng Zhen suddenly channeled Su Shi, threw on an outer robe, and stepped outside, deciding to follow the ancients’ example of “Huai Min is also still awake.”
But when he reached Li Changshuang’s door, he suddenly hesitated.
Forget it. Li Changshuang cultivated diligently every day. Even if he himself liked to fool around, he shouldn’t drag the other along.
Li Changshuang was destined for great things in the future. It was fine to joke about it verbally, but how could he actually do something that might affect him?
With this hesitation, he paused at the doorway for a moment. For once clear-headed, Weisheng Zhen ultimately decided to leave.
But just as he was about to go, the door in front of him suddenly slid open.
Li Changshuang stood tall and imposing, his presence casting a slight sense of pressure over Weisheng Zhen. In his ink-black eyes seemed to hide something heavy an emotion Weisheng Zhen couldn’t quite read.
“What is it?”
He asked.