As a Nascent Soul cultivator, Chu Mingyao possessed a highly condensed divine sense. At the eerie, mist-shrouded edge of the intersection, she could perceive far more than Chu Mingxi. It was that heightened awareness that had allowed her to detect the mountain’s strangeness the moment she had begun her flight toward Danming Village.
Without reservation, she relayed the complex schematics of the formation she’d mapped with her divine sense to Chu Mingxi. Aided by the communication arrays in their identity jade tokens, the entire data transfer was completed in a heartbeat.
Immediately, she noticed Chu Mingxi’s brow furrow.
Her heart tightened. “Is the formation dangerous?”
Despite her shallow understanding of arrays, her intuition told her this wasn’t a lethal trap. She hadn’t sensed the sharp aura of a killing formation, nor the spatial distortion of a teleportation array.
Chu Mingxi suddenly let out a bright, unexpected laugh.
“The formation isn’t dangerous to us.” He clarified. “It’s a specialized monster clan array used for stealing bloodlines. As for Danming Village, Guan Jingjing just sent word. Something occurred, but the disciples stationed within the village’s defensive array have already brought the situation under control. We can afford to stay here a few moments longer.”
Chu Mingxi’s tone shifted abruptly, a mischievous edge returning, “Xiao Bei, have you figured out the secret of this fox yet?”
Chu Mingbei, who had been desperately trying to conjure a plausible-sounding analysis, was caught completely off guard. He stammered, his mind a complete blank.
Chu Mingyao sighed, reaching out to haul him up by the ear. “This is the price you pay for neglecting your scrolls! Look at the ears. Are the traits of the Celestial Fox Clan not obvious enough?”
Chu Mingxi followed with a verbal jab of his own, “And look at the claws. Their specific curvature is unique to the celestial fox lineage. Since it hasn’t been dead long, the distinct hue is still visible— if you bother to look.”
“And the tail.” Chu Mingyao added. “There is an extra bone segment compared to common foxes. Only the Celestial Fox Clan possesses that skeletal structure.”
Chu Mingbei felt a wave of utter hopelessness wash over him. He stared at the fox corpse in a daze. Were there really that many distinguishing features?
Apparently, there were. But why had they been invisible to him until they were pointed out? He considered admitting he was useless in hopes that the two would stop quizzing him, but then he remembered that he had tried that before, and it only made them double his lessons.
“Third Junior Brother.” Chu Mingyao said, her voice turning serious again, “What exactly is happening back in Danming Village?”
“A little girl suddenly mutated into a half-monster and began attacking people.” Chu Mingxi explained. “Specifically, she manifested the ears and tail of a celestial fox.”
Chu Mingyao nodded slowly as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. Now, the frequent harassment of Danming Village finally made sense.
A mid-stage Nascent Soul tiger had escorted a young fox— one with a barely perceptible trace of royal lineage— to this mountain to construct a Bloodline Stealing Formation. Simultaneously, a little girl with latent celestial fox blood appeared in the nearby village. The tiger’s objective was self-evident— it was harvesting the little girl’s superior bloodline to purify the young fox’s own.
The constant terrorizing of the villagers, the thickening monstrous aura, and the incessant shrieking of the minor monsters in the forest— those weren’t random acts of aggression, but components of the ritual.
In a cruel twist of irony, every time Chu Mingxi and the others killed the minor monsters, they had inadvertently helped the tiger. The deaths increased the density of the surrounding monstrous aura, accelerating the siphoning process. Chu Mingyao had no doubt that had the disciples not acted, the tiger monster would eventually have slaughtered those minor monsters itself. To the tiger, only the Golden Core subordinates held enough value to potentially survive. The rest were merely fuel for the array.
Now, because Chu Mingyao’s single strike had obliterated both the tiger and the fox— and leveled half the mountain— the formation had been violently dismantled. The little girl in the village, whose essence was being siphoned, had naturally suffered the backlash. Her repressed bloodline had erupted, causing her to lose control.
“Eldest Senior Sister, the Celestial Fox Clan is one of the royal houses of the Monster Realm.” Chu Mingxi noted, his expression turning grave before shifting into something more awkward. “Should we report this now, or wait until— Uh…… actually, Guan Jingjing just messaged again. He said he was terrified and had already used his one-time emergency signal to notify the Hall of Internal Affairs. Martial Uncle Zizhu has already been alerted.”
“That’s fine.” Chu Mingyao replied with a nod. “We’ll head back and wait for Martial Uncle Zizhu to arrive. We can explain everything and let him decide—”
She broke off mid-sentence.
“Little Mingyao, are you alright?!”
The voice arrived long before the sword light was even visible. Before Chu Mingyao could even draw breath to answer, the voice roared again, echoing with thunderous power, “Get lost!”
The dense, suffocating black mist of the intersection churned violently under that furious shout, recoiling as if the very atmosphere itself were terrified to remain in the presence of such a figure.
The black mist receded like a reluctant tide only when the sword light descended directly above the mountain. It pulled back just far enough to hover, surging and condensing in the distance like a gathering storm that refused to break.
Perfected Zizhu arrived like a falling meteor.
Before the flying sword had even ground to a halt— and before Chu Mingnan and Xiang Qingyun could even dismount— the man was already on the ground. With a weathered wine gourd swaying at his waist, he grabbed Chu Mingyao, checking her from head to toe. Only after confirming she was unscathed did a flicker of relief soften his cloudy eyes.
“Good, good.” He muttered. “As long as Little Mingyao is unharmed, all is well.”
Chu Mingbei offered a respectful greeting, though he couldn’t help but glance enviously at the man’s blatant favoritism before his gaze drifted, almost involuntarily, toward Xiang Qingyun.
Chu Mingxi, ever the instigator, slung an arm over Chu Mingbei’s shoulders and grinned. “Martial Uncle, this is favoritism! You only have eyes for Eldest Senior Sister. Have you forgotten about me and Xiao Bei?”
Perfected Zizhu flicked him squarely on the forehead. “Nonsense. Your eldest senior sister is standing right here. Why would I worry about you two? If she’s fine, then obviously she protected you. Besides, Guan Jingjing reported a Nascent Soul-level threat. In this group, only Little Mingyao has reached that stage. Who else was going to do the heavy lifting?”
Chu Mingxi clicked his tongue and let out a dramatic sigh. “You’ve got us figured out, Martial Uncle. Once Eldest Senior Sister arrived, Xiao Bei and I were relegated to the sidelines. When we get back, you’ll have to pull some strings for our contribution points. We guarded this desolate place for ages before she showed up— that’s merit and hard labor combined!”
“Enough.” Perfected Zizhu shot him a sharp look. “We’ll settle the accounts based on the official records when we return.”
By then, Chu Mingnan and Xiang Qingyun had finally stepped off the sword. Finding her opening, Xiang Qingyun rushed forward, her voice trembling with practiced concern, “Eldest Senior Sister, Third Senior Brother, Senior Brother Bei— are you all right?”
She leaned subtly toward Chu Mingnan, her body shivering as she looked at the horizon. “So this is the intersection of the three realms? It’s terrifying!” She turned her watery, admiring eyes toward the trio. “You actually guarded this place for so long? You’re incredible. I hope I can be half as brave as you one day.”
Her gaze swept over them with such precision that each of the three felt like they were the sole object of her devotion. Chu Mingbei’s face turned bright red instantly. “N-no, it wasn’t that amazing.” He stammered, waving his hands. “It was mostly the two of them. I just watched the perimeter.”
“That is still very impressive!” Xiang Qingyun’s admiration only seemed to deepen. “The environment here is so stifling. I don’t think I could survive five minutes. But you held your ground, Senior Brother Bei!”
As Chu Mingbei’s face reached a new shade of crimson, Chu Mingxi finished a silent, icy staredown with Chu Mingnan. Sensing his little junior brother falling for the bait, Chu Mingxi’s grip on Chu Mingbei’s shoulder tightened painfully.
The sharp pinch snapped Chu Mingbei out of his daze. He turned, blinking blankly. “……Third Senior Brother?”
“Good, at least you know you aren’t that impressive.” Chu Mingxi remarked, knocking him on the head. “When we get back, you’re coming straight to Mingxin Cliff. Don’t even think about running. If you try to hide, I’ll hunt you down myself.”
Chu Mingbei shrank his neck in grievance and lowered his head. He stole a final glance toward Xiang Qingyun, only to see her smiling brightly back at him. For a fleeting second, he was dazed by her radiance. Then, he felt even more pitiful. His image as an imposing senior brother…… Chu Mingxi has utterly ruined it!
Perfected Zizhu chuckled, his eyes narrowing into crinkles of amusement. “Little Mingbei, don’t blame your martial uncle for being blunt. You truly should listen to your third senior brother and focus on your cultivation.”
With an elder’s word being law, Chu Mingbei quickly bowed and agreed respectfully. Perfected Zizhu nodded in satisfaction. He had watched the boy grow up. Though he lacked drive and diligence, he was a good kid at heart, and Perfected Zizhu didn’t mind offering a nudge now and then.
Having confirmed the juniors were safe, Perfected Zizhu finally turned his attention to the battlefield.
At a glance, he could see that the flattening of half the mountain was no ordinary feat. The lingering, savage aura of a Nascent Soul tiger still hung in the air, and the scattered remains of flesh and bone told a clear story. It was obvious Chu Mingyao had been the victor— and that she had won with terrifying ease. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be standing there now with such calm, unruffled composure.
As he looked closer at the devastation, his eyes suddenly widened in sheer shock.
“Swift Sword Intent…… fused with the Mountain and Sea Sword Art?!”
Chu Mingyao’s delicate brows lifted slightly. “How is it? The combination works quite well, wouldn’t you say?”
Perfected Zizhu was so exhilarated he clapped his hands together repeatedly, the sound echoing across the peak.
“It works! It works beautifully! Hahaha! When we return, I can’t wait to see if those old fossils still dare to claim that your study of the Mountain and Sea Sword Art is a waste of time!”
After a quick debrief on the events following Chu Mingyao’s arrival, Perfected Zizhu began leading the group through the cleanup. Although the formation had been shattered, they still needed to perform a professional sweep to ensure no residual arrays were functional and that the monsters hadn’t left behind any hidden traps.
Once the aftermath was handled and the mountain was thoroughly purged, the group finally took to their swords and returned to the outskirts of Danming Village.
By the time they landed, Guan Jingjing and the other disciples had already been waiting for them for quite a while.