Chapter 66

An Wuxue took a step back.

Previously, he had examined the array patterns simply because he no longer needed to conceal his aura, and with no one else around, he had acted freely while taking the opportunity to check if there had been any subtle changes to the sword array over the past millennium.

The teleportation had been repaired by Pei Qian, so it was safer to leave the activation of the array to him.

He yielded his spot to Pei Qian, signaling that the subsequent teleportation would remain Pei Qian's responsibility.

Pei Qian produced a compass, and spiritual energy converged around them, causing the robes of those present to rustle in the rising wind.

Xie Zhexing raised a hand, and another beam of sword light soared into the sky.

The sword light dispersed, reinforcing the barrier enshrouding the entire city to prevent demonic cultivators in nearby branch cities from detecting them.

Before long, winds and clouds surged on all sides, the giant sword hummed, and the entire formation flickered with fine silver light.

The entrance to the teleportation array materialized before the three of them!

Yet Pei Qian's expression abruptly turned grave.

An Wuxue and Xie Zhexing also paused.

That fierce array encircling the First City...

Pei Qian muttered, "Why are there two entrances on the other side?"

"Since it is a fierce array with two entrances, such a formation usually possesses gates of life and death."

Gates of life and death—as the name implied, one gate led to life, while the other led to death. Entering the right one brought vitality, whereas a single wrong step led deeper into peril.

However, there were many such perilous arrays where a fraction of a difference led to a thousand miles of error. Separated by millions of miles as they were now, they could not yet discern what kind of fierce array it was simply by looking at the teleportation formation.

Xie Zhexing said, "Then let us simply choose an entrance at random and enter."

Brute force could overcome ten thousand techniques.

Whether it was the gate of life or the gate of death, it mattered little to Xie Zhexing.

Pei Qian turned the compass in his hand. After a moment, he frowned and said, "We cannot choose. If we were standing right outside the First City, we could choose the same gate together. But since we are crossing via the teleportation formation, there will inevitably be a deviation upon arrival..."

As for which gate they would enter, it would entirely depend on luck.

They could not even guarantee that all three of them would enter the same gate.

An Wuxue said, "Then let us enter first and figure out a way to regroup afterward—in any case, we must go in. We need to know what happened in the First City, where City Lord Shangguan is, and where the turbid qi of the Northern Nether Sword Master's sword array truly originates."

As he pondered the matters of the Northern Nether, he thought nothing of it, but upon hearing this, Xie Zhexing cast a profound gaze at him.

The man's lips parted slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing as if he wanted to say something, only to swallow it back down.

Spiritual energy circulated beside the entrance of the teleportation array, and the giant sword continued to emit wave after wave of humming sounds.

Before An Wuxue could speak, the man finally said, "Entering the array is necessary, but Master..."

Xie Zhexing's tone softened, almost as if he were showing vulnerability. "You promised you would stay."

An Wuxue instantly felt a sense of strangeness.

He said, "We are discussing teleportation right now. Why on earth are you bringing this up—"

His voice trailed off, and meeting Xie Zhexing's slightly anxious gaze, he suddenly understood.

"I am standing right here. Do you truly believe that after entering a fierce array, I would just walk away alone?" An Wuxue genuinely felt at a loss for words. "Could it be that the Immortal Venerable needs to stare at me every single moment to feel at ease?"

"Are you worried that I won't stay, or are you afraid that once I am out of your sight, I will wreak havoc, bring disaster to the Northern Nether, and turn out to be the mastermind?"

Xie Zhexing stiffened all over.

"I didn't..."

He wanted to explain.

Yet he already knew that any explanation in An Wuxue's eyes would appear exceptionally pale, bearing an even greater resemblance to sarcasm.

Thus, he fell silent for a moment and produced the soul bell that An Wuxue had returned to him.

He said, "I forged this soul bell for you in the past. Only you can ring it, and only you can use it... Sound-transmitting talismans can be counterfeited, but this soul bell cannot be forged by anyone else.

"After you enter the array, if we become separated and you encounter danger, ring it. I will certainly be able to discern your position and rush to your side."

An Wuxue had very little desire to accept it.

He truly could not look upon this trinket with favor—it was precisely this soul bell that had caused his own cleverness to outwit him, ultimately leading him to walk right into a trap.

Yet he did not take it, nor did Xie Zhexing withdraw his hand.

The man simply gazed at him with a pair of eyes that were ordinarily icy yet now shrouded in mist.

As the two of them remained in this stalemate, Kun Kun let out a soft whine.

An Wuxue: "..."

Having no wish to indulge in such useless banter with Xie Zhexing, he finally re-accepted the soul bell, tucked it into his spirit pouch, and turned to Pei Qian, saying, "Let's go."

Pei Qian let out a long breath. "I can finally breathe again. Thank you both for remembering me."

An Wuxue: "..."

Too lazy to argue with Pei Qian and unwilling to look at Xie Zhexing's expression any longer, he stepped into the teleportation array without the slightest hesitation.

The surroundings spun, light and shadow twisting together.

Behind him, Xie Zhexing appeared to follow closely with Kun Kun in tow.

The sword array of the Twenty-Seventh City suddenly ceased its humming.

The teleportation entrance closed, and the surrounding winds died down.

The sword array returned to silence.

Not far away, Qiao Ting leaned against the bright window of the Ascending Cloud Pavilion, holding a jar of aged mortal wine.

Seeing the movement of the sword array come to a halt, he took a large gulp of wine and sighed, "Ah, Xuesheng and the others have left. With the Twenty-Seventh City sealed off by the Immortal Venerable's barrier, I can't even get out—doesn't that mean I no longer have a safe roof to stay under?!"

...

An Wuxue experienced a momentary blur before his consciousness drifted. After the span of a split second, when his wits returned, the scene before him had completely changed.

The clamor of voices seemed to rise from all around.

Before him, a long sword—larger and taller even than the giant sword of the Twenty-Seventh City—obscured all the daylight above him, casting a massive sword shadow.

This sword looked identical to the swords of Zhaoshui and Langfeng.

This was the master sword of the Northern Nether's First City, the true Northern Nether Sword!

Yet...

The surroundings of the sword array were exceptionally tranquil; the giant sword stood erect, the weather was fine, and he even heard the bustling sounds of the mortal world of the First City, which he had never heard before.

The Northern Nether Sword had clearly been invaded by turbid qi, the entire Northern Nether had plunged into chaos, and the First City was currently trapped within a fierce array of unknown origin.

What was this before him...?

With a trace of doubt, An Wuxue turned around and slowly walked toward the outer edge of the sword array.

Behind him, a ripple of spiritual energy stirred, and someone strode to his side. "Xuesheng! It seems the two of us entered the gate of life, while the Immortal Venerable entered the gate of death."

An Wuxue looked back at Pei Qian. "Are we already inside the array?"

With those words, he and Pei Qian walked out of the "First City Master Sword Array."

Mortal dwellings came into view; the tiled houses and towering structures far outnumbered those of the Twenty-Seventh City, the noise of the bustling marketplace was unending, and figures could be seen flitting across the distant long streets.

He realized it as well.

This place was not the true First City of the Northern Nether, but rather a seemingly illusory First City existing within the array.

Yet he had never encountered such an array before.

He asked Pei Qian, "What kind of fierce array is this, that it can weave such a massive illusion?"

The First City was vast and intricate; how could this array completely fabricate the entirely undamaged Northern Nether right within it?

Illusions were capable of fabricating false things, but illusions also varied from simple to complex. Crafting an illusion of a single person was easy, but simultaneously controlling the illusions of tens or hundreds of people would increase the difficulty by tens or hundreds offold!

Moreover, this was the entire First City, containing countless mortal commoners...

Before his demise in his past life, An Wuxue had never heard of such an array.

Pei Qian wore a melancholy expression. "I had a bad feeling before the teleportation, but I didn't expect it to truly be this array... What lies before us is an illusion, but not a false one—it is the genuine, once-existing Northern Nether First City of the past."

"The past..."

An Wuxue pondered for a few breaths of time before realization dawned upon him. "This is a fierce array that connects with time."

"Indeed. This array is named 'Guanye,' meaning to place oneself within the torrent of time and behold a myriad of worlds and leaves."

"The Guanye Array enshrouds the entire First City, which is why it can transport those who enter into the First City of the past. This 'past' is not fabricated out of thin air; rather, the profundity of the array directly pulls forth phantoms from the torrent of time. Therefore, once the array is activated, even the one who laid it down cannot control its conditions.

"The core of the Guanye Array is as complex and ever-changing as thousands of leaves and blossoms, and the time at which those who enter land is not fixed. The false First City within the gate of life will be somewhat peaceful, while the side where the Immortal Venerable is should be fraught with danger.

"Several hundred years ago, when I was still in the Northern Nether, I did recognize this array. We have happened to land right in the First City of several centuries ago."

Pei Qian gazed far and wide, his eyes sweeping across the prosperous mortal world around him as he shook his head and said, "To put it bluntly—the moment we stepped into the array, we began wandering through time."

An Wuxue raised an eyebrow. "The Guanye Array is intricate and labyrinthine, encompassing the cosmos itself with a magnificent scope. The one who created and deployed this array must be a grandmaster of array dao. Only the Qu clan of the Northern Nether could possibly accomplish this, right? Why is your surname Pei?"

Pei Qian: "You're... rather direct."

He looked An Wuxue up and down—he always felt that Xuesheng was somewhat different from when he had first entered the Northern Nether.

An Wuxue said, "Since I have entered a fierce array, naturally I wish to ensure that the person by my side harbors no ulterior motives."

"My array dao was indeed learned from the Qu family," Pei Qian spread his hands, "but I am truly not a member of the Qu family. The Guanye Array we entered genuinely has nothing to do with me."

Having asked his question, An Wuxue did not dwell on the matter further, merely saying, "You just said that the gate of life we inhabit is an illusion woven based on the First City of several centuries ago. What happens if we break this gate of life?"

"It will be just as it was when we entered the array: two paths will appear—one of life and one of death. Stepping into them will lead us into yet another time, trapping us in the Northern Nether First City of a different era."

"Then wouldn't there be no end to it?"

"There is an end; breaking the array is the end. To deploy the Guanye Array, one must choose a point in time as the foundation, using an object or a person from that era as the array core.

"If one can choose the correct path amidst the recurring gates of life and death, find that specific time, and destroy the array core, the leaves will wither, the blossoms will fall, and the array will dissipate on its own."

Throughout their conversation, the two of them had remained standing outside the sword array.

No matter how many years ago it was in the Northern Nether First City, as long as the sword array existed, there would naturally be Tribulation-stage experts guarding the outside of the array.

Within the span of An Wuxue and Pei Qian's brief exchange, someone had approached.

That was a "person" within the array, someone who truly existed at that point in time several centuries ago.

Pei Qian hurriedly said, "Once the Guanye Array is opened, even the person who laid it down cannot control its progression, because the people within the array truly exist at that point in time, and their cultivation realms are entirely real!"

The newcomer was a Tribulation-stage cultivator.

Yet An Wuxue did not move.

Pei Qian's speech grew faster and faster. "The Immortal Venerable left you something to summon him with earlier; why aren't you ringing it? All the Tribulation-stage experts guarding the First City at that time are likely present here, along with City Lord Shangguan from several centuries ago. We have appeared out of thin air here, and we won't be able to explain ourselves—"