Blood dripped down the glittering golden blade of the sword, drop by drop, splattering onto the ground.
The sword light flickered, illuminating two pairs of eyes locked in confrontation.
Both pairs were long and narrow phoenix eyes. One pair appeared colder and more stern, while the other seemed more aloof and heartless.
Murong Chuyi narrowed his eyes slightly. “It’s you?”
Mo Xi’s hand gripped the blade of the Zhaoxue Sword. Although he had placed a layer of defensive barrier over his palm, the power of the divine weapon Zhaoxue was simply too great. His palm was still cut open, and blood continued to seep out.
Mo Xi said, “Murong, stop.”
“…”
Murong Chuyi did not answer. Instead, he transformed the blade into light and suddenly retreated several steps. As his white robes fluttered, he dispersed the Zhaoxue Sword into dozens of small swords that circled around him. Then, with a sweep of his wide sleeve, the sharp blades shot toward Mo Xi in unison.
Little Lan’er, who had run out with Mo Xi, cried out in alarm, “Brother Xihe! Watch out!”
Mo Xi spread open a huge defensive formation, shielding everyone else behind it. Then he raised his other hand and commanded sternly, “Shuairan, come forth!”
The snake whip suddenly slithered out from his palm, erupting in a brilliant crimson-red light. He caught the Shuairan Whip with one hand, and at the instant the rain of swords disappeared, he withdrew the defensive barrier. With a sweep of his tall figure, he closed in on Murong Chuyi, and the Shuairan Snake Whip came crashing down toward him at terrifying speed.
While entangled in fierce combat with Murong Chuyi, he shouted sternly toward Little Lan’er, “Save them!”
Little Lan’er hurriedly nodded. “O-okay… okay!”
She stumbled over, first throwing herself into Jiang Yexue’s arms and bursting into tears with a loud wail. Crying out “Sir, sir” over and over, she frantically began untying the Binding Immortal Rope around Jiang Yexue.
Jiang Yexue murmured, “Why did you come back…? And why did you bring Lord Xihe with you…?”
Little Lan’er only knew how to cry. She was still far too young, and she could not answer any of his questions.
Jiang Yexue did not force her to answer. He merely sighed. “Stop crying. Go save Chenqing…”
“Waaah… I-I’ll save him right now!”
Little Lan’er hurriedly loosened Yue Chenqing’s restraints as well.
Yue Chenqing lay on the ground, still trembling even now. He did not know whether it was from anger, fear, terror… or heartbreak.
Little Lan’er helped him sit up. Yue Chenqing looked toward Murong Chuyi, who was fighting fiercely against Mo Xi in the distance. As he watched, the confusion gradually faded from his face. Tears welled up once more, and the pain caused his features to twitch and contort.
His cracked, parched lips trembled as though he wanted to call out to Murong Chuyi, but before he could even get the first syllable of “Uncle Four” out, his voice was already choked with sobs.
He abruptly turned his face away, and just as the tears spilled from his eyes, he raised a hand and wiped them away with a sob.
He walked over to Jiang Yexue and said with reddened eyes, “Brother…”
Jiang Yexue trembled slightly.
In the past, Yue Chenqing had only ever called him “Hey.” Even after their relationship had eased, he had only called him “Brother Jiang.” He had never directly called him “Brother” before.
Sitting in his wheelchair, Jiang Yexue raised his head. For a moment, he looked utterly at a loss.
Meanwhile, on the other side, sparks flew everywhere as Mo Xi and Murong Chuyi fought, their spiritual currents clashing violently.
The snake whip sometimes transformed into a spiritual entity and sometimes danced like an afterimage, becoming entangled with Murong Chuyi’s Zhaoxue Sword. Both of them were top-tier cultivators with extraordinarily swift movements. Their exchange was so fast that it was dazzling to watch.
However, Mo Xi’s fighting style was vicious and direct, like a sharp blade stabbing straight toward his opponent’s weakness.
Murong Chuyi, on the other hand, moved like flowing wind and drifting snow. From every direction, his attacks pressed down upon his opponent, forcing him toward a dead end.
The two figures crossed like shooting stars.
The snake whip and long sword collided, and the sword qi and sparks that burst from their impact shook dust loose from the surrounding rock layers. The mountains and stones trembled.
Mo Xi said in a low voice, “Murong, you said you would go see him. You said you would acknowledge him. You said you would consider his feelings. Why did you break your word again?”
Murong Chuyi merely held his sword against him in resistance. Golden-red light illuminated his handsome face and reflected in his cold phoenix eyes.
He gave no answer whatsoever, looking as though he was saying, We’re fighting. What is there to talk about?
“Murong, he’s still waiting for you to go find him.”
Murong Chuyi: “…”
He gave his wide sleeve a sweep, clouds flowing and snow drifting. Without saying a word, Murong Chuyi withdrew his long sword and retreated with a tap of his foot. Then he held the sword upright before him.
The brilliant sword light reflected in his eyes.
Murong Chuyi spoke.
“Zhaoxue, summon the Thousand Mountains!”
The long sword in his hand instantly scattered into countless fragments of light. Those fragments then gathered behind him into a surging tide of spiritual energy.
His white robes fluttered ethereally, making him look like an immortal. He raised a hand, without the slightest trace of mercy, and uttered a single word:
“Go.”
A torrent of snow surged forth!
Mo Xi’s eyes darkened.
“Swallow Heaven!”
With a whale’s cry ringing through the air, the Chongjing spiritual entity answered Mo Xi’s summons. It swung its translucent body and swam toward the enormous wave of Zhaoxue.
In an instant, white waves rolled violently.
The whale’s cry, the sound of Swallow Heaven, was like a distant echo that had traveled from the beginning of time.
It opened its enormous mouth and swallowed the endless, shore-splitting torrent into its belly…
Under the violent collision of spiritual power, Mo Xi’s black robes and Murong Chuyi’s white robes whipped wildly in the wind. The force of the wind and waves was so intense that it was almost impossible to keep one’s eyes open.
Mo Xi turned his head toward Jiang Yexue and the others.
“Go!”
When Little Lan’er heard Mo Xi say that, she started crying again.
“Brother Xihe…”
“Go! Hurry!”
Jiang Yexue coughed up blood and said in a low voice, “If only I could awaken the Yin Soldiers in the Blood Pool…”
Yue Chenqing: “…”
For generations, the Yue family had suppressed the Yin Soldiers in the Blood Pool of Hundong Cave.
But aside from suppressing them, these evil spirits had also received sacrifices from the Yue family and were therefore willing to obey the commands of the Yue family’s head.
Yue Juntian had died so suddenly, and because his health had always been poor, he had never had the chance to summon the Yin Soldiers from the Blood Pool.
However, once Yue Juntian died, the position of head of the Yue family passed by law to his legitimate son—the son born to his principal wife.
That was Yue Chenqing.
But Yue Chenqing’s cultivation was still far too weak.
Moreover, he had always been playful and lazy, and had never properly practiced the art of controlling the Yin Soldiers. He was completely incapable of properly casting it.
Therefore, when Yue Chenqing heard Jiang Yexue’s sigh, his heart felt as though it had been pierced by countless needles.
He was nearly torn apart by guilt and grief.
If he could awaken the Yin Soldiers in the Blood Pool, his uncle would not have died. The servants brought by the Yue family would not have died either…
His Fourth Uncle… his Fourth Uncle would not have been able to kill so many people.
He could have stopped him in time…
Instead, it had become a hell within this cavern, blood covering the ground everywhere, while the person he admired had become so completely unrecognizable…
If only he had worked harder…
If only, normally…
If only he had not been so idle and useless…
How could things have come to this?
How could they have come to this!!!
Little Lan’er was still sobbing miserably.
“No… Brother Xihe… I don’t want to leave people behind and run away again…”
Mo Xi gritted his teeth.
“Listen to me. Go. Quickly.”
But she was still a child.
After so many shocks, even though Mo Xi had previously cast a Spirit-Calming Technique on her, her volatile constitution was still becoming difficult to control.
As she cried, faint traces of violent spiritual flames began erupting from her chest.
Jiang Yexue frowned and coughed up blood as he anxiously called, “Little Lan’er…”
This could not continue.
Once Little Lan’er lost control, she would not be able to distinguish friend from foe in her madness. The situation could become even more impossible to contain.
If things went badly, no one would be able to escape.
They might even all be buried in this Corpse Cave of Hundong.
Jiang Yexue was just about to force himself to use his weakened body to cast a spell and calm Lan’er’s mind when someone beside him suddenly stopped his hand.
Jiang Yexue stared in astonishment.
“Chenqing?”
Yue Chenqing’s face was covered in tearstains, but he was no longer as empty and bewildered as before.
He looked at Jiang Yexue through his tears.
“Brother, I’m sorry. It has always… always been my fault. I’m too lazy… and immature… too stupid. I always wanted to be a pampered young master and live comfortably. I never… never really worked hard…”
“But this time…”
Yue Chenqing’s voice was choked with sobs, but his gaze did not waver.
He gripped Jiang Yexue’s hand.
“This time, let me do it.”
“I am the head of the Yue family now.”
“Chenqing, you—”
Yue Chenqing did not pay Jiang Yexue any further attention.
He released Jiang Yexue’s hand, used his lightness skill, and leaped onto the Ghost Command Platform at the center of the Blood Pool.
Jiang Yexue and Murong Chuyi both changed expressions when they saw this.
Calling forth the Yin Soldiers of the Blood Pool was like a commander leading an army.
Only if one’s own strength was powerful enough would those Yin Soldiers obey one’s commands.
By all rights, Yue Chenqing’s strength was nowhere near sufficient.
But if Yue Chenqing was truly determined and willing to sacrifice all of his spiritual power and cultivation to control them—even going so far as to burn his spiritual core to the point of detonation—then it would be an entirely different matter.
Murong Chuyi had apparently seen how resolute he was.
He gave a cold snort. Golden light flashed between his sleeves as he formed a hand seal.
Then a rustling sound, like a rising tide, came from outside.
Little Lan’er had sharp eyes and was the first to notice what was happening.
She cried out in horror, “Sir! They’re coming again!”
Bamboo Warriors.
More than a hundred Bamboo Warriors wielding vajra blades poured in from the passageways of the cave and from outside the cavern, surrounding Jiang Yexue and the others completely.
Others charged toward the Ghost Command Platform where Yue Chenqing stood.
However, because Yue Chenqing was the Yue family’s first heir, his standing upon the Ghost Command Platform served, to some extent, as a summons to the Yin Soldiers in the pool.
Thus, indistinct shadows burst from the Blood Pool, roaring as they dragged down the Bamboo Warriors attempting to rush toward Yue Chenqing.
But the Bamboo Warriors were soulless beings.
No matter how many of them sank into the Blood Pool, those who came afterward continued to advance without fear, attacking relentlessly.
The situation remained completely out of control.
Little Lan’er’s spiritual energy became increasingly unstable.
Jiang Yexue pulled her into his arms and once again placed a Spirit-Calming Talisman on her.
But Jiang Yexue’s spiritual power was ultimately inferior to Mo Xi’s. Suppressing Little Lan’er’s violent spiritual core was like trying to put out a raging fire with a cup of water.
Little Lan’er cried out, “Sir… the Bamboo Warriors… you can do it too… You can…”
Jiang Yexue shook his head, his expression extremely bitter.
“That was something Chuyi taught me. My Bamboo Warriors are nothing but a pile of broken bamboo and splintered wood in front of him.”
Little Lan’er looked close to tears.
“How could that be…?”
Seeing the situation becoming increasingly dangerous, Yue Chenqing’s face turned deathly pale.
He made up his mind.
He condensed a thin blade and drew a bloody cut across his own palm. Dipping his finger into the blood, he drew a complicated spell on the Sealing Stone at the center of the Ghost Command Platform.
He truly intended to recklessly begin summoning the monsters within the Blood Pool.
“Chenqing—!”
Jiang Yexue tried to find a way to stop him, but the Blood Pool between them had already begun churning violently. There was no way to approach.
“Hundong has a Blood Pool…”
“Yue Chenqing! Stop!”
But Yue Chenqing simply sat down on the ground and formed hand seals with both hands, his lips moving in a murmur.
“Blood Pool, shelter the Yin Soldiers.”
“Yue Chenqing!!!”
“Brother Chenqing…”
Yue Chenqing continued reciting the summoning incantation.
When his father had taught him this set of spells, he had once told him:
“Our Yue family are artifact cultivators. Normally, there’s no need for us to practice any cultivation techniques that consume spiritual power. Only this particular art—it’s the kind where you kill a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of your own. But in this world, anything can be mastered if you put your heart into it. Practice whenever you have nothing else to do. As long as you become proficient enough and your own foundation is strong enough, the damage this incantation causes you won’t be so terrifying.”
Yue Chenqing remembered sitting lazily on the long bench back then, listening to him.
His eyes kept drifting toward Murong Chuyi, who was standing in the distant corridor speaking with a servant.
Yue Juntian said, “Follow me as I form the hand seals, then recite the incantation.”
“Hundong has a Blood Pool.”
Yue Chenqing absentmindedly repeated, “Hundong has a Blood Pool.”
“The Blood Pool shelters the Yin Soldiers.”
Yue Chenqing repeated it again, his hand seal crooked and sloppy.
“The Blood Pool shelters the Yin Soldiers.”
“The Yin Soldiers wish to borrow the path.”
“The Yin Soldiers…”
Suddenly, the wind began to blow.
The apricot blossoms in the courtyard were scattered like rain.
And at that very moment, Murong Chuyi finished speaking with the servant and turned his head.
He had merely been drawn by the sound of the wind, turning to look at the fragrant blossoms swaying throughout the courtyard.
But he had not expected Yue Chenqing to be looking at him.
He froze for a moment.
And at that same instant, Yue Chenqing gave him a brilliant smile.
“I’m teaching you how to practice! Why are you spacing out!”
“Ow—”
“Now follow your father and recite it!”
Yue Chenqing complained pitifully, “It’s not useful anyway. Why would I need to summon the monsters from Hundong Cave?”
After saying that, he deliberately raised his voice and shouted,
“If anything happens to me, my Fourth Uncle will be the first one to come protect me!”
Yue Juntian was furious.
“What do you think he is? He’s an outsider!”
“He’s not! Fourth Uncle is the strongest, and Fourth Uncle is the best!”
Little Yue Chenqing stubbornly shouted, “He’s not an outsider. He’s my favorite little uncle!”
No matter what happened, he would always be the first one to come protect me.
He was the strongest.
The best.
He was my favorite little uncle…
Yue Chenqing opened his eyes.
Tears silently streamed down his cheeks.
A blood-red radiance emanated from his body. The backlash marks of the Yin Soldier incantation crawled up from the stone of the Ghost Command Platform, climbing upward along his ankles, winding around his legs and waist, and spreading across his entire body.
The forced summoning made him feel as though ten thousand ants were gnawing at his heart, as though millions of sharp needles were piercing his flesh, growing barbs within his bones and blood…
His father had once told him that the pain of summoning the Blood Pool was the most unbearable pain in the world.
But that wasn’t actually true.
Through his hazy veil of tears, Yue Chenqing looked toward Murong Chuyi, who was still locked in fierce combat with Mo Xi.
It was just like many years ago, when he had first learned this spell, watching the white-robed young man beneath the corridor through a rain of blossoms.
Yue Chenqing coughed up a mouthful of black-red blood.
With tears in his eyes, he rasped,
“The Yin Soldiers… if they wish to borrow the path…”
Murong Chuyi beneath the shower of apricot blossoms became increasingly blurred.
The carefree laughter of his younger self in that little courtyard also grew more and more distant.
Fourth Uncle will always protect me.
He’s not an outsider.
He…
A pain that tore through his heart suddenly exploded.
Yue Chenqing knew he could not hold on for much longer.
His entire body ignited with translucent crimson spiritual flames.
He suddenly slammed his bloodied right palm down onto the very center of the Sealing Stone.
In an instant, sinister winds rose in all directions, plunging the cavern into darkness.
Dozens of scarlet torrents burst from the Blood Pool, while shrill cries tore through the ground and surged upward in a grotesque frenzy!
“Kill them all. Stop everyone in our way!”
With the final command shouted, Yue Chenqing suddenly collapsed to his knees on the Ghost Command Platform.
Huge mouthfuls of blood surged from his mouth.
In his fading consciousness, he could sense a sinister force devouring all the spiritual power he had accumulated through years of cultivation.
His strength grew weaker and weaker, irretrievably draining away.
And at the same time, endless Yin Soldiers leaped out from the Blood Pool.
Obeying the command of the Yue family’s new head, Yue Chenqing, they surged like a tidal wave toward Murong Chuyi’s Bamboo Warriors.
In an instant, blood splattered.
Blades fell.
Broken bamboo flew everywhere.
The sound of slaughter shook the heavens.
The Yin Soldiers were, after all, centuries-old vengeful spirits and ancient ghosts.
No matter how powerful the Bamboo Warriors were, they could not contend with them.
Very quickly, the tide of battle began turning in Yue Chenqing’s favor.
The Yin Soldiers that tore apart and smashed the Bamboo Warriors to pieces roared and screamed as they charged toward Murong Chuyi, who was still locked in combat with Mo Xi.
Murong Chuyi’s close-combat ability had always been inferior to Mo Xi’s.
Holding out until this point had already been his absolute limit.
Now, attacked from both front and back, he was forced back step by step.
Amidst the chaotic battle, a Yin Soldier seized a blade from a Bamboo Warrior.
Taking advantage of the moment when Murong Chuyi was blocking Mo Xi’s attack, it suddenly thrust the blade toward him.
A sharp shhk rang out.
Murong Chuyi’s glass-colored eyes shifted.
His fair face was speckled with blood, making him look especially eerie and terrifying.
He lowered his head.
He saw the blade had pierced into his back and emerged beneath his chest and ribs.
He froze for a moment.
His body swayed unsteadily.
And when his gaze returned to Mo Xi, there was actually a layer of bewilderment in his eyes.
“Mo Xi…”
The moment Mo Xi met his gaze, his heart suddenly began pounding in alarm.
It was like some primal instinct telling him that something was wrong.
A chill immediately spread densely from his back to the nape of his neck.
“You…”
Murong Chuyi’s expression seemed to change in that instant.
His sword brows furrowed as he murmured in a low voice,
“I… I’m not…”
He seemed to want to say something.
But before he could finish, the blade that had stabbed him was suddenly yanked out by the Yin Soldier.
Murong Chuyi’s body suddenly went limp.
He abruptly choked out a mouthful of blood and, having lost the support of his spiritual power, fell from the air.
Like a white butterfly falling into a spider’s web, he tumbled down into the dust.