Chapter 58

Zhao Duan's memories continued to unfold.

It was entirely normal for a Tribulation-stage cultivator to vanish for a few days. Furthermore, since Zhao Duan had taken Zhao Qiuoran's life plaque, not a single person across the twenty-seven cities realized that Zhao Qiuoran was already dead.

A few days later, a crisis struck the First City. The forty-nine Netherworld sword arrays simultaneously erupted with turbid miasma, and a barrier sealed off the entire Netherworld.

Qiao Gou led a group rushing toward the sword array, only to see Zhao Duan standing right there, his entire body reeking of turbid energy.

Qiao Gou froze for a moment. Seeing the sword array trembling more and more violently, he raged, "Wretched creature! Have I not treated you well enough? Have the twenty-seven cities not been indulgent enough with you? How could you commit such an act of defiance against the world!"

Throughout his life, City Lord Qiao had always believed that the only place he was an utter failure was in family matters; he had never wronged the two realms or the living beings of the Netherworld.

Yet he never expected Zhao Duan to be capable of such extreme selfishness.

For Qiao Gou, Zhao Duan's descent into demonic corruption was a blow too profound to bear. With his eyes splitting and fury burning his heart, his sword strike lost its precision in his agitation, failing to pierce Zhao Duan.

Astonishingly, Zhao Duan grew even angrier than Qiao Gou. "Father, why do you want to kill me? The Netherworld will inevitably belong to demonic cultivators in the future. If you join hands with me now, who knows, you might even attain the Dao to ascend to immortality in the days to come. Yet you insist on killing me?"

Too choked with fury to utter a retort, Qiao Gou could only curse, "Wretched creature!! Wretched creature!!!!"

Zhao Duan's face contorted into a dark, grim snarl. "Then you might as well die, too."

When Qiao Yin stabilized the chaos within the city and rushed toward the violently trembling sword array, Qiao Gou was covered from head to toe in sword gashes oozing turbid miasma. The dignified Lord of the City was left without a single intact spot on his body.

Flying to her father's side, she discovered that he still breathed, but was beyond saving.

Qiao Gou stared fixedly at Zhao Duan, as though he had a thousand words left unsaid.

With reddened eyes, Qiao Yin screamed, "Beast!"

Zhao Duan failed to understand. "The pair of you, always talking about wanting to compensate me, feeling you owe me something—yet the moment I act as I please, you condemn me like this. Ah, well, it's better if I just enjoy it all by myself."

He decided to kill Qiao Yin as well!

At that very moment, a spiritual sword flew in from afar, joining Qiao Yin's spirit sword to parry and deflect Zhao Duan's turbid energy.

Qiao Ting landed with a frosty expression. He glanced at the dying Qiao Gou lying on the ground, then looked at the complex, swirling emotions on Qiao Yin's face, remaining entirely noncommittal.

He merely said to Zhao Duan, "Though the sword array is unstable, Father... the City Lord taught me the techniques to defend against enemies using the sword array. If you intend to fight us within the array, my sister and I, alongside various immortal cultivators joining forces, are you certain you possess absolute certainty of victory?"

Naturally, Zhao Duan had no such certainty.

Moreover, he did not dare bring Zhao Qiuoran's puppet back into the sword array to complicate matters. Turning red with frustrated rage, he spat out, "I will kill you sooner or later," and fled.

Because Qiao Ting arrived in time, the city was ultimately spared from being overrun by Zhao Duan and the demonic cultivators he had led into corruption over the past few days.

Struck by sudden and devastating tragedy, Qiao Yin wept beside Qiao Gou, yet found herself at a loss as to how to face Qiao Ting.

Qiao Ting stepped closer, bending down to check Qiao Gou's pulse. "It's too late."

Qiao Gou's face, mangled beyond recognition by Zhao Duan's brutal torture, twitched slightly.

Before drawing his final breath, he strained his voice and rasped, "Er-lang, I am sor—"

Qiao Ting reached out and covered his mouth.

Startled, Qiao Yin cried, "Little brother!"

"Father raised me. If I have the strength, I will surely avenge the grudge against Zhao Duan in the future."

His tone was exceptionally detached and helpless. "But Father's last words—I do not wish to hear them."

Qiao Gou died.

Zhao Duan had been secretly lurking nearby all along, watching. Confirming that Qiao Gou was truly dead, his heart held only regret—what a pity; had Qiao Ting arrived just a little later, he could have seized control of the entire twenty-seven cities.

Yet now that Qiao Ting understood some of the mechanics of the sword array, and knowing he truly had no way to defeat the combined forces of Qiao Yin, Qiao Ting, and all the immortal cultivators within the city, he ultimately slunk away in defeat.

Following that came Zhao Duan's attempts to gather more demonic cultivators to deal with the immortals in the city, leading to his discovery of An Wuxue and the others entering the city.

The memory came to an end, and everything before their eyes rapidly blurred and faded away.

An Wuxue blinked once more, finding himself back in the secluded courtyard on the mountain peak belonging to Zhao Duan.

The corpses and blood of demonic cultivators littered the ground. The golden light of the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit began to dim, glowing with a faint, soft gold in An Wuxue's palm.

No longer enveloped by the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit, Zhao Duan's lingering resentment gradually dissipated into nothingness.

Like Zhao Qiuoran and Qiao Gou before their deaths, Zhao Duan stared straight ahead with wide eyes, his face etched with endless resentment and reluctance, before his breath finally faded entirely.

Kunkun nuzzled against An Wuxue's wrist, whimpering softly, "Wuu..."

Everyone wore a dazed expression—they had all witnessed Zhao Duan's memories within the radiance of the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit.

However, this was not the time to dwell on other matters.

Zhao Qiuoran was still confined by Xie Zhefeng within a restricted spatial boundary, and her puppet body remained linked directly to the core of the sword array!

The moment the memories concluded, Xie Zhefeng raised a hand and drew Chunhua from Zhao Duan's corpse. "When I entered the Netherworld this time, because..."

Because he had entered with an avatar, "...I did not bring many spiritual objects or magical artifacts, and temporarily lack an object capable of transferring the array core."

It was precisely that indistinct stone that Zhao Duan had used earlier to transfer the array core.

Qiao Ting stepped forward first. "Fellow Daoist, do you need to lure the puppet back into the city?"

Since Xie Zhefeng was able to produce the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit, Qiao Ting and Qiao Yin were not fools; they already understood that Xie Zhefeng and his companions were not merely passing immortal cultivators.

Xie Zhefeng nodded slightly. With a flick of his fingertips, he lifted the spell binding Zhao Qiuoran's puppet body.

The puppet immediately lunged at him in attack.

Without drawing his sword, Xie Zhefeng sidestepped to evade the blow and said, "I will lure her back into the sword array, but along the way we may encounter mortals and immortals. I ask you all to assist me in clearing the path and guiding the way, to protect innocent lives."

-

Within the sword array, Pei Qian felt as though he was on the verge of exhaustion.

He had no idea what was happening on the ends of Xie Zhefeng and Suuxue; the sword array vibrated one moment, shook violently the next, and periodically drained the spiritual energy of its guardians.

The remaining immortal cultivators in the city could no longer hold out, leaving only Pei Qian with a shred of stamina remaining.

Just as he was about to give up and go search for the array core himself, he suddenly sensed several immensely powerful cultivators approaching.

"One Tribulation stage, two Tribulation stages... No, three Tribulation stages, and another with a very weak aura—how are they also in the Tribulation stage?!"

Before Pei Qian could react, he saw Xie Zhefeng riding his sword into the array, closely followed by a demonic cultivator at the peak of the Tribulation stage!

"Are they playing this big?!"

"Wait, no—the array core?!"

Xie Zhefeng had already lured Zhao Qiuoran to the exact location where the array core ought to reside.

The moment the array core returned to the sword array, it clashed with the turbid miasma; caught in this contradiction, the sword array began to shake violently once more!

Without a moment of hesitation, Xie Zhefeng pressed his fingertip against the center of Zhao Qiuoran's brow, causing runes to crawl out from her skin.

—He was following the exact sequence of the seal impressions from Zhao Duan's memory to untangle the connection between the array core and the puppet seal!

At the heart of the sword array, the giant sword let out a resonant hum, piercing the dark clouds of the firmament and unleashing a gale-force wind!

Xie Zhefeng's avatar was restricted to a cultivation level just below the Immortal realm, yet his movements were blindingly fast. Having already begun repairing the array, Qiao Ting and the others arrived closely behind him, stepping into the formation.

Their robes whipped furiously in the fierce winds. Qiao Yin cheered, "The turbid energy inside the sword array is dispersing!"

Yet An Wuxue and Pei Qian both experienced subtle shifts in their expressions.

An Wuxue murmured, "It's still not enough..."

Having lacked its array core for so long, the sword array had remained in a prolonged state of imbalance between spiritual energy and turbid miasma, consuming far too much spiritual power.

Now that the array core had returned, the spiritual energy within was likely...

Simultaneously, Pei Qian voiced what he was thinking: "There is not enough spiritual power within the sword array to complete the repairs—"

Before he could finish his sentence,

The giant sword vibrated continuously!

A colossal vortex formed around the giant sword, devouring the surrounding spiritual energy as if insatiable!

This was the array's self-repairing mechanism.

Under normal circumstances, when the formation harmonized itself, it had no need to absorb external spiritual energy. But because the sword array had suffered a deficiency of spiritual power for far too long, it spontaneously began to draw in all nearby spiritual essence.

Qiao Yin cried out, "Fellow Daoist Pei, I don't understand array dao—what is happening?"

"The sword array requires spiritual power! If it's insufficient, it will uncontrollably and recklessly devour all surrounding spiritual energy, and it's going to end up harming the innocent!"

Qiao Ting pressed two fingers together, drawing forth his spirit sword with spiritual energy. Grasping the hilt, he plunged the blade straight into the ground. Spiritual power surged from his palm, flowing through the sword body and directly into the array.

He snapped, "Why waste time explaining so much? Isn't it just spiritual power that it needs!"

Pei Qian nodded heavily. "That's the spirit!"

He cast aside his compass, summoned his own spirit sword, and poured his spiritual power into the sword array.

With his eyes tightly closed and his fingertip pressing against the center of Zhao Qiuoran's brow, Xie Zhefeng had sealed his five senses to concentrate entirely on repairing the array.

Silvery light bloomed outward from around him, falling into the formation.

Everyone else within the array lowered their eyes, grasping their swords as a torrential surge of spiritual energy erupted from their bodies.

Even Kunkun landed on the ground, contributing its meager reserves of spirit beast energy to nourish the sword array.

Naturally, An Wuxue could not stand idly by while everyone else poured their spiritual energy into the array.

Since his natal sword was currently in Xie Zhefeng's possession, he took up an ordinary spirit sword, cast away all distractions, and channeled his spiritual power into the branch-array located in this city of the Netherworld.

The moment his spiritual energy entered the array, his consciousness drifted, and a profound daze washed over him.

A thousand years ago, he had also lingered in this very place, watching that giant sword pierce the firmament and drive deep into the earth.

The Netherworld City of that era was vastly different from what it was today.

Back then...

Back then, they hadn't even been able to station this many Tribulation-stage cultivators in a single branch city.

Yet now, spanning across a lifetime, he still stood within the sword array, bound to the karma that had been destined to entangle him all along.

Silver runes spread outward.

The giant sword emitted a crisp, resounding roar.

Across the four quarters of the Twenty-Seventh City, the dark clouds shattered, and the turbid miasma melted away.

The sword array resumed its circulation, sweeping away filth from all directions.

Xie Zhefeng withdrew his hand. Zhao Qiuoran's puppet lost all remaining vitality; much like Yun Yao's puppet before it, it slowly collapsed, softened, and rotted away into the dust and mud.

Everyone wore pale, exhausted expressions as they unsteadily withdrew their spirit swords.

Kunkun let out a pitiful whine, collapsing flat onto the ground, unable to muster the strength to fly.

Though An Wuxue's spiritual power was lower than anyone else present, he had held on alongside them until the very moment the sword array returned to peace.

He felt as though the flesh and blood throughout his entire body were being sucked dry, his meridians so hollowed out that they throbbed with a dull ache.

Upon his left arm, the cauldron seal—no, what should now be called the puppet seal—glowed with a scorching heat, aggravating his already depleted meridians into sharp spasms of pain.

His legs turned to jelly.

Qiao Ting, standing closest, cried out in alarm, "Fellow Daoist Suo!"

He stepped forward to catch An Wuxue.

Yet in that split second,

The Daoist who had just repaired the sword array reached around from behind, wrapping his arms securely around the exhausted, fainting An Wuxue and pulling him into his embrace as he fell.

Though his movements were exceptionally gentle, the sideways glance he cast at Qiao Ting was freezing cold.

Instinctively, Qiao Ting withdrew the hand he had reached out.

"Does the City Lord's residence have a spare guest room?" the immensely powerful Daoist asked.

Qiao Yin nodded repeatedly in a flurry. "Yes, right over—"

She never even had the chance to finish her sentence.