Chapter 47

An Wuxue felt his breath hitch for a fraction of a second.

This was his natal sword.

Whenever he had seen Xie Zhefeng hold Chunhua in his hand, or face enemies with its cold blade, he had always turned his gaze away, afraid that he would not be able to help himself from driving the sword with his divine sense and reclaiming it.

The very moment Chunhua was offered to him, he had almost reached out to take it.

Given the chance, he certainly wanted to take Chunhua back and bring Kunkun along with him.

But clearly—now was not the time.

He blinked rapidly and said with a calm, unruffled expression, "I appreciate Fellow Daoist Xie's kind intention, but I must decline. This spiritual sword has never left Fellow Daoist Xie's side; a cultivator's natal sword obeys only its master. When the owner dies, the sword perishes with them, and separated from its master, it is no different from an ordinary mortal weapon. What use would it be to me?"

He did not move.

Xie Zhefeng merely said dryly, "It is still better than being entirely unarmed..."

An Wuxue's eyebrows twitched slightly, and the lingering tension within him dissipated somewhat.

He could roughly guess why Xie Zhefeng was acting this way.

It was nothing more than the puppet arts revealing that the identity of Su Xue might entirely be a sham, prompting his junior brother to naturally suspect the origin of his soul. Coupled with what Qin Wei had told him—that Xie Zhefeng knew his lingering soul had vanished into the Thorn River—putting these two things together...

Was this man using Chunhua to test him?

He could not help letting out a soft laugh.

"Fellow Daoist Xie," he said, "this sword is important to you, and it seems to be tied to someone you care deeply about. Both times I moved this sword, I nearly lost my life at your hands. Now you hand it to me—since I am not the person you claim I am, how could I ever dare to touch this blade?"

He was determined to deny it to the end; short of a soul search, what else could Xie Zhefeng do?

Xie Zhefeng looked as though his breathing had stopped altogether. He stared fixedly at him, his dark eyes veiled in a layer of mist.

Yet An Wuxue merely swept a glance over his junior brother's expression, let his gaze fall upon his own natal sword, and said word by word, "As for drawing the sword, once is enough; there shall be no second or third time. Fellow Daoist Xie's warning, I have engraved in my heart."

The one who had wept bitterly after killing him was his junior brother; the one who had nearly killed him because he drew the sword, yet now demanded he hold Chunhua, was also his junior brother.

Truly incomprehensible, entirely mercurial.

Before him, the hand extending the sword seemed to tremble faintly.

The movement was so subtle and fleeting that An Wuxue figured he must have imagined it.

With an expressionless face, he stepped back, bypassing Chunhua, and said, "Fellow Daoist Xie and Fellow Daoist Pei should make haste to the sword array. The affairs of the Netherworld are of utmost importance."

—The affairs of the Netherworld were paramount, whereas confirming whether the soul inside Su Xue's body was a stray ghost connected to his Senior Brother was a trivial matter.

Having ruled the Two Realms for a millennium, Xie Zhefeng would naturally understand this logic.

Yet his junior brother did not move at first.

The man maintained his posture of offering Chunhua, his pair of dark pupils shrouded in mist, a faint, imperceptible trace of red lingering within them as he stared straight at him.

The features of "Xie Chunhua" were different from Xie Zhefeng's true appearance, but those eyes were identical to Xie Zhefeng's real form—dark, abyssal, and bottomless, impossible to read.

In just this brief moment of deadlock, An Wuxue could well imagine what sort of expression Xie Zhefeng would wear if his actual body were present here.

He stared at his junior brother's hand, watching with his own eyes as the grip on the sword tightened until the fingertips turned white and veins bulged, before it was slowly retracted.

He heard Xie Zhefeng say, "If you encounter danger, use the Horizon Talisman to summon me."

Pei Qian let out a soft "Tsk." "You two taciturn pillars certainly have deep feelings for each other. If all else fails, Su Xue can just come with us; with three Transcending Tribulation stage experts here, are we really afraid we cannot protect a single Great Completion cultivator?"

Qiao Yin awkwardly poked Pei Qian with her scabbard and murmured, "Fellow Daoist Pei..."

Did Pei Qian seriously call this "having deep feelings"?

She felt that the awkward tension between these two was far more complicated and twisting than the Netherworld sword array!

Pei Qian shook his head. "The Young City Lord doesn't understand."

Qiao Yin: "..."

Xie Zhefeng glanced sideways at Pei Qian.

When he looked at An Wuxue, his gaze was deep and lingering, yet entirely devoid of coldness. But this sideways glance at Pei Qian, despite its lack of expression, sent a sudden chill down Pei Qian's spine.

Pei Qian instantly shut his mouth.

"To the sword array," Xie Zhefeng said.

Spiritual energy surged in a ripple all around, and the three of them vanished from An Wuxue's sight in an instant.

-

Outside the sword array of the Twenty-Seventh City.

Spiritual energy rippled outward in waves. The sword array was shrouded in multiple layers of barriers, and viewed from the outside, everything within appeared hazy and obscured.

Qiao Yin led the way, closely followed by Xie Zhefeng and Pei Qian.

The moment they touched down, however, Xie Zhefeng's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, the spiritual energy surrounding him showing signs of chaotic turbulence.

Qiao Yin was startled. "Fellow Daoist Xie?"

Pei Qian stepped forward, intending to check on him.

Yet Xie Zhefeng raised a hand sharply to stop him.

Kunkun let out a low growl and hurriedly pressed against his shoulder, channeling spiritual power to cover his divine soul.

Yet this was merely a drop of water in a blazing cart of firewood.

He had been suppressing it.

He had suppressed it for far too long; just now in front of Su Xue, he had not dared to reveal the slightest flaw. Now that he let go of the suppression, his turbulent thoughts collapsed like an ant farm breaching a dyke, growing utterly uncontrollable!

Deep within his sea of consciousness, the clamor of his inner demons—which had grown increasingly severe from the moment he entered the Netherworld barrier—sounded as though countless versions of himself were wreaking havoc beside his ears.

Those countless voices overlapped and rose in surges, until finally, only two short words remained.

*"Senior Brother."*

Senior Brother...

Su Xue... If Su Xue was merely a puppet like Yun Yao, then was the soul residing within Su Xue's body actually Senior Brother?

Had he once again deceived himself under the manipulation of his inner demons?

If it truly was Senior Brother...

If...

Clearly, an answer already existed in his heart, yet he dared not confirm it.

Nor did he dare to accept it.

The inner demon that day in and day out had incited him in his sea of consciousness to recognize Su Xue as his Senior Brother now instead mocked him: "That is merely Su Xue. You have lost your mind; you merely wish for him to be Senior Brother!"

No, that wasn't it!

The aura of Senior Brother's lingering soul in the Thorn River had vanished without a trace, and Su Xue had appeared by his side at virtually the exact same moment!

If Su Xue's body was a puppet's vessel, the soul within it must undoubtedly be a wandering ghost.

And what wandering ghost could possibly shake his state of mind and provoke his inner demons?

Yet his inner demon relentlessly tore at him.

"That is simply Su Xue!"

"Even if Su Xue's body is a puppet, it is entirely possible that someone aware of your weakness deliberately crafted an exact replica of Senior Brother's appearance!"

"That is not Senior Brother!"

Was that... not Senior Brother?

But...

If it were not, out of so many similar people over the past thousand years, why was it only Su Xue who truly made him feel that resemblance?

If it were not, even knowing that Su Xue was reluctant to bear that face as another's cultivation furnace, why else would he keep him to cultivate at Falling Moon Peak, a place coveted by cultivators from both realms?

If it were not, would he truly go to such lengths, agonizing over the other wishing to shed the furnace mark, just to bring a Great Completion cultivator to the Netherworld?

If it were not—could an inner demon truly manage to shake his state of mind by invoking the name of Su Xue?

And if it *was*...

Senior Brother.

Senior Brother...

*Senior Brother!*

"You have no evidence whatsoever!"

"It is all just your own conjecture!"

"You simply *want* to guess it this way!!!"

No!

The snow lotus sword pattern between his brows was about to manifest; Xie Zhefeng instantly closed his eyes.

His sea of consciousness was in turmoil!

-

Falling Moon Peak, Sea of Buried Frost.

Qi Xun flew over at top speed.

At the entrance, a disciple recognized him, cupped his fists, and saluted, "Sect Master Qi. The Netherworld is in crisis, and the Immortal Venerable has entered the Netherworld; he is not currently within the Sea of Frost."

"I hurried all the way back after hearing the news that the Netherworld was temporarily sealed to repair the sword array. I heard nothing about a crisis," he frowned. "Besides, I can sense the surging of Changsheng's immortal power—isn't Xie Chuhan still inside?"

"Sect Master Qi is a friend of the Immortal Venerable, and the Immortal Venerable previously instructed that major matters need not be kept from you, so this junior will speak plainly. Repairing the sword array was merely what was said to the outside world; Netherworld demonic cultivators are wreaking havoc, and the Immortal Venerable has sent an avatar into the Netherworld to investigate. His true body is indeed still in secluded cultivation within the Frost Sea."

"Demonic cultivators wreaking havoc!? That can't be right..."

The junior disciple was unaware, but Qi Xun knew the truth. The only reason Xie Zhefeng would use an avatar was out of fear that his true body would lose control under the interference of his inner demons. The moment Changsheng's immortal power lost control for even a single breath, it could result in catastrophic consequences.

This meant Xie Chuhan's inner demons had still not been suppressed.

What about Su Xue... No, A-xue?

"I recall there is also a young master surnamed Su residing on the Frost Sea..."

"Young Master Su entered the Netherworld alongside the Immortal Venerable."

They went together...?

"Then—" Qi Xun's voice cut off abruptly.

From the center of the Frost Sea, deep within the pine forest, an immortal spiritual energy burst forth, extraordinarily chaotic and radiating outward unchecked from the inside out in violent tremors!

The pine and cypress trees shuddered, catkins fell in a flurry amidst the fierce gale, and the gentle breeze that usually blew without stopping instantly turned into a howling tempest.

Qi Xun's expression shifted drastically. He hurriedly pulled the disciple behind him and formed hand seals with both hands.

A barrier instantly enveloped the entire Frost Sea, overlapping with the barrier Xie Zhefeng himself had left behind, tightly trapping this sudden riot of spiritual energy!

Fortunately, this surge of spiritual energy only lasted for a fleeting moment.

Qi Xun muffled a groan, blood spilling from the corner of his lips.

"Sect Master Qi!" the disciple cried in alarm.

Qi Xun shook his head. "I am fine. Keep watch outside; I am going in to take a look. What you saw just now—if a single word of it leaks to the outside..."

He turned back, withdrawing his solemn expression, and forced a smile at the disciple. "Don't blame me for being unpolished."

The disciple turned pale as paper and dropped heavily to his knees. "This junior naturally—"

Before he could finish, Qi Xun had already stepped into the Sea of Frost.

The smile on his face vanished completely.

Thinking of A-xue...

His journey from Zhaoshu to Falling Moon had felt like walking through a blazing fire, exceptionally agonizing.

And yet, having arrived at Falling Moon, he still could not see A-xue.

Following the source of the recent spiritual turbulence, he walked deeper inward, arriving at the place where Xie Zhefeng had spent the past eight hundred years suppressing his inner demons.

The barrier had been shattered into pieces. Amidst the howling wind and snow, atop the lotus platform, Xie Zhefeng's true body sat upright, his eyes tightly shut, his brows deeply furrowed. The snow lotus sword mark between his brows had surfaced, stained with a dense, ominous blackness.

"How could it come to this...?"

This was clearly the precursor of his inner demons flaring up overwhelmingly!

Xie Chuhan's inner demons had been eradicated for two hundred years; why would they suddenly erupt with such terrifying momentum right upon their revival?

What on earth had happened to this guy in the Netherworld?!

The wind and snow suddenly grew fiercer.

Qi Xun's heart tightened. Disregarding everything else, he shouted anxiously, "Xie Chuhan!!!"

Words were futile. The blizzard grew increasingly violent, and the immortal's spiritual energy threatened to burst forth once more.

With no time to hesitate, Qi Xun prepared to charge forward and risk his life to halt Xie Zhefeng's loss of control. Yet before he could make a move, the figure seated upon the lotus platform suddenly grew calm.

Once again, it happened in the span of a breath.

The wind and snow abruptly ceased.

-

In front of the sword array in the Twenty-Seventh City of the Netherworld.

*"Senior Brother..."*

*"Senior Brother."*

*“……”*

The voice of the inner demon grew increasingly urgent, sounding more and more triumphant.

He kept his eyes closed, yet two figures seemed to stand before him.

One was Senior Brother holding a sword and smiling as he looked at him; the other was Su Xue, his expression calm and detached as he averted his gaze from him.