Chapter 34

The moment the formation was completed, not a trace of Lou Shui-Ming remained.

An Wu-Xue gripped his sword, Chunhua, standing motionless. He had expected to feel sorrow, perhaps even to weep after all these years. Yet, as he looked down at the blood of Lou Shui-Ming staining his robes, he felt only a hollow void within his heart.

He recalled the century-old spirit tree standing outside Lou Shui-Ming’s bedchamber in the City Lord’s manor. Ten years ago, he had buried several jars of immortal wine beneath its boughs, which he had brewed himself. Though he disliked the sensation of intoxication, Qin Wei loved fine liquor, and Lou Shui-Ming often enjoyed a small drink. He had imagined that once their task was finished, he would unearth the wine and invite Qin Wei and the couple to sit around a hearth, drinking their fill.

By then, Zhaoshui City would have been shielded by the Zhaoshui Sword Formation, safe from the corruption of miasma. Amidst the myriad lights of the city, stoking a fire to warm a few jars of wine—it would have been such a simple, perfect joy.

And now...

Now.

As the formation finalized and the barrier dissipated, he heard Qin Wei rushing to his side.

Qin Wei shook his shoulders violently. "What happened here!? Why did Shui-Ming take his own life? Did you just stand by and watch!???"

A barrage of questions followed. The disciples of Lou Shui-Ming also swarmed him, demanding answers. An Wu-Xue did not know which one to answer first.

He could only say, "...An accident occurred during the formation's activation. There was a deficit in the spiritual power required, and Shui-Ming sacrificed himself to the array."

Qin Wei’s grip on his arm loosened, and he stumbled back a few steps, merely repeating, "Why? A deficit in spiritual power? Why would there be a deficit?"

The reasons behind it were entangled with the promise he had made to Lou Shui-Ming. He could no longer answer. Because he was the one who survived, yet he remained silent about where the missing spiritual power had gone, in the eyes of others, he was simply riddled with guilt.

Lou Shui-Ming’s disciples questioned him, the disciples of Luoyue Peak were deeply confused, and the cultivators of Zhaoshui City clamored for a reason... He could only remain tight-lipped.

Upon returning to Luoyue, Qin Wei sent the child into the hallowed grounds of Luoyue to be sealed and nurtured. An Wu-Xue did not even have the chance to see the jade pendant carved with the child's name. When he sought out Qin Wei, he was met only with the cold accusation: "Why was it him who sacrificed himself and not you?"

Qi Xun, having heard of the matter, came to visit him with his favorite iced pastries. Just as he began to speak, Qi Xun raised a hand to stop him. "If you don't wish to talk about Zhaoshui, then don't."

Qi Xun toyed with his folding fan, as if speaking casually. "That fellow Qin Wei has been like this since he was a child. Whether he’s right or wrong, the blockhead will walk a path to the very end, never turning back until he hits a stone wall. Let’s not worry about him!"

He nibbled at the pastry, listening to Qi Xun’s rambling. Back then, Qi Xun would still say to him, "A-Xue, I believe you, in any case."

After seeing Qi Xun off, on his way back to his cave dwelling, he saw many cultivators from sects near Zhaoshui City. They were battered and bruised. After sending someone to inquire, he learned they had come to demand an explanation from Xie Zhe-Feng regarding Lou Shui-Ming’s sacrifice. The young sect master had remained cold and silent, drawing his sword and sweeping them straight out of the Burial Frost Sea.

He hurried to the Frost Sea and struck the soul-bell at his junior brother’s door.

The young Immortal Venerable stepped out slowly. "Senior Brother?"

"Don't do this again."

Xie Zhe-Feng paused. "Senior Brother means today's events?"

"You have only just ascended to your position. Although the two realms respect you as supreme due to your cultivation, they will always whisper behind your back that your prestige is insufficient." He taught his junior brother as he always had. "When in a high position, every action must have a cause, and every strike of your sword must be justified. Act with impartiality and without favoritism."

Moreover, this matter was one he had chosen to bear alone; why drag his junior brother and Luoyue into it?

His junior brother kept a cold expression, remaining silent for a long time. He said neither yes nor no.

He should have learned the lesson. After all, that principle of "impartiality" would eventually be applied to himself.

After that, the Zhaoshui Sword was forged, and Luoyue began planning the second sword in coordination with Langfeng City near the Guixu Sea in the west.

He returned to Zhaoshui City alone, secretly unearthed the jars of fine wine from the City Lord’s manor, and went to the foot of the Zhaoshui Sword.

He did not like to drink. He needed to be clear-headed far too often, so he rarely touched the stuff. But that day, he took a sip, poured a cup toward Luoyue Peak in the far south, poured another toward the Zhaoshui Sword, and drank one himself—repeating this over and over, drinking alone.

He grew somewhat intoxicated, and just as he did, he ran into some of Lou Shui-Ming’s disciples coming to pay their respects.

The other party called out with some reluctance, "Chief An."

He thought in a muddled haze that they did not seem to welcome him. So, he left.

From then on, he never stepped foot in that place where he had spent over a decade. His memories of Zhaoshui City remained frozen in those dozen years of fighting against demonic cultivators—paths littered with bones, daily clashes of spells.

It was not until he awoke in the body of Su Xue and traveled with Xie Zhe-Feng to investigate the massacre at the Cloud Sword Sect that he stepped foot in Zhaoshui City again, a thousand years later.

The flower-decked carriages and bright lanterns were lively indeed.

When Song Wu was suppressed back then, Xie Zhe-Feng had not yet ascended to immortality, and the Four Seas Myriad Sword Formation had only just been partially established. He could not guarantee that he could slay Song Wu after opening the sword tomb without affecting the formation. If he had not fallen back then, he would have told Xie Zhe-Feng everything after the latter's ascension, allowing his junior brother to handle the matter.

But there were simply too many things he hadn't had time to say.

He had thought that this visit to Zhaoshui was merely a coincidental detour. Even though a Tribulation-stage cultivator has a longer lifespan than ordinary ones, they are not immortal. Even if no one remembered the great demon suppressed beneath the Zhaoshui Sword, as long as a few thousand years passed in peace, Song Wu would eventually slumber forever in the tomb.

So, he had simply chosen to forget. He had not expected that he would end up at this juncture after all.

Before him, Song Wu’s soul emerged within the sword formation. Her red robes fluttered, surrounded by thousands of sword shadows, with the miasma pulsing like a raging fire. The Zhaoshui Sword Formation trembled just as it had more than a thousand years ago when it was first set.

An Wu-Xue used the nearly depleted spiritual energy within Su Xue’s body, bracing himself against the sword, and expanded his divine sense to inspect the state of the formation's core.

Qin Wei was still staring blankly at Song Wu. His spiritual energy drifted about him, his natal sword hovering and spinning before him, mirroring the turmoil in his mind. He turned his head to look at An Wu-Xue again, his voice trembling even more. "Why...? Why is it...?"

An Wu-Xue did not answer. He had already had Qin Wei divert Song Buwang, and he had already informed Qin Wei about the half-ascended great demon. At this moment, he was only concerned with finding the breach where the miasma had overwhelmed the core to stabilize the formation once more.

He had imagined how to answer this "why" many, many times in his heart back then, but now he no longer wished to answer. There was no need to. His heart no longer felt the pain. He only wanted to resolve the crisis of Zhaoshui.

But Qin Wei would not let it pass. His voice was hoarse, though his tone was less aggressive than before. "So, when you said back then that Lady Lou died in battle against the demonic cultivators without retreating, you were lying to me? Lying to the world?"

"..."

"She had been corrupted, and that is why you asked me to divert Buwang?"

"..."

"Then, when the sword formation lacked spiritual power back then..."

An Wu-Xue ignored his barrage of questions. Qin Wei faltered. "An—A-Xue...?"

Nearby, Song Wu stopped. She seemed unfamiliar with Zhaoshui after a millennium, peering at the distant houses. Those eyes, once proud and spirited, were now bottomless pits of black, filled with deep confusion. She suddenly burst into laughter.

"Peak Master Qin? Chief An?"

She did not know that a millennium of time had passed, that Qin Wei was now a Luoyue Elder, and that An Wu-Xue had perished a thousand years ago. She took Su Xue for An Wu-Xue, accidentally getting the name right.

"The Chief was so high-spirited and talented back then. I thought you would be some great Immortal Lord by now. How is it that your cultivation has plummeted so much that you don't even have the strength of a Minor Accomplishment stage?"

"So, even you have had your moments of being a tiger fallen on the plains?"

An Wu-Xue’s expression remained unchanged, his gaze sinking. When he had suppressed Song Wu, she had already been corrupted by miasma and bedeviled by inner demons, half-demented and half-mad. She was no longer the Song Wu that he and Qin Wei had known. Anything he said was useless.

Song Wu, receiving no response, let out a soft chuckle and waved her sleeve.

Sword light flashed! It was the light from the sword tomb, now captured by the miasma, striking directly at An Wu-Xue and Qin Wei!

Qin Wei regained his focus instantly, making a decisive move. He cast a spiritual seal, turned his blade, and met Song Wu’s attack. Miasma clashed with spiritual energy, whipping up a violent gale.

An Wu-Xue’s spiritual sword could no longer bear the strain and shattered into pieces. He was thrown backward, having already prepared himself for the impact.

But the familiar pain he expected did not come.

The vast, profound spiritual energy of a peak Tribulation-stage cultivator descended behind him at this moment, steadily supporting him. That energy swirled around him, blocking the flying debris and shielding him from the wind.

He paused, looking toward the source of the energy, and met Qin Wei’s gaze. He looked confused. Qin Wei hastily looked away and returned to face Song Wu’s onslaught.

One of them was constrained by the formation, afraid of damaging it, and dared not fight with full force; the other’s true body was still pinned beneath the Zhaoshui Sword, able only to rely on his soul to drive the miasma and twist the formation.

In this exchange, they were surprisingly evenly matched for the moment.

The barrier Qin Wei had set up earlier had successfully contained the miasma, preventing any danger outside the Zhaoshui Sword Formation.

In the southeast of the formation, Song Buwang examined the formation patterns, looking lost. He muttered to himself, "Everything is fine here. Why did Master ask me to come..." He listened to the commotion from the center of the formation, and for some reason, he felt a strange, hollow sensation in his heart, as if pulled by something, yet he could find no source.

In the center of the formation, An Wu-Xue stood up and said curtly, "Thank you, Elder Qin, for your help."

"You—"

He had no mind to consider what Qin Wei was thinking. His divine sense had already swept through all the patterns, realizing where the formation had been tampered with. He shouted, "Elder Qin, the Zhaoshui Sword Formation is complex and vast, with three cores. I have just scanned them with my divine sense. The person who secretly sent the Cloud Sword Sect’s miasma to Zhaoshui City used the miasma to breach two of the cores, funneling the corruption into the sword tomb, which gave her the opportunity to break the seal!"

He cast two spiritual seals toward the locations of the cores.

"It is these two places. We only need to cut off the source of the miasma to stabilize the sword formation again."

Qin Wei understood and appeared instantly beside the nearest core. He was going to sever the source of the miasma! If successful, the sword formation would be stabilized, and Song Wu would once again be hidden from the world.

Yet, she merely watched, indifferent.