Two Turmoilers were tripped by a suddenly-appearing hidden river deer. They were about to be trampled by the spiritual beast with its head like a lion’s or a tiger’s when a beam of sword light swept over. Zhao Qindan descended on her sword and sent out a talisman across empty space, knocking the huge beast aside several chi. 

Then she dragged down a west winder like a kite, its wings flapping. The Turmoilers on its back each reached out their hands, pulling their companions onto the bird’s back before the mindlessly charging spiritual beast could reach them. 

The west winder was big but timid. Normally, it fled faster than the wind when it heard any movement. It hadn’t thought that it would now be forced by a talisman to serve as a mount; it must have accumulated eight lifetimes of bad luck. It raised its head skyward. With the bearing of a roc, it was so scared it squealed like a pig. Its wings, flapping in alarm, sent Zhao Qindan reeling. She narrowly dodged a fierce beast coming her way. She flew her sword into the air and had hardly stood firm when a group of spirit-eating birds with long beaks like knives dove from the mountains. 

The spirit-eating birds’ long beaks could peck spiritual stones to pieces. When they were startled, they instinctively attacked cultivators with spiritual energy in them. Once they swarmed, they were capable of stabbing a handful of established foundations to death. Zhao Qindan had spent eight years in Tao County. It was a long time since she had fought with anyone. She was slow to react at first. 

A sharp wind swept over with a whoosh. She crouched automatically. Another screeching west winder flew up from behind her, its huge body bumping into the swarm of spirit-eating birds. 

Li Manlong, riding on the bird’s back, tossed something glittering to Zhao Qindan. As soon as it touched Zhao Qindan, it instantly unfolded into a suit of armor. 

“A grade-crossing immortal tool,” Li Manlong called loudly. “When a low level cultivator or a mortal wears it, as long as they have spiritual stones, it can block one fatal attack of ascended spirit grade. Keep it to protect yourself, miss!” 

“Chief Li, where does it come from?” said Zhao Qindan in shock. 

“A relic from Southern He,” Li Manlong said. “When Wei-laoban mistakenly fell into Qiu Sha’s hidden realm, she obtained many things from that individual. She gave all those that mortals can use to us.” 

Zhao Qindan said, “Then why don’t you use it yourselves?” 

If they put it on, wouldn’t they no longer need to keep their hearts in their mouths when entering the sealed area? 

At the same time, many questions flashed through her mind: there were in fact some immortal tools that mortals could use, but they were nearly all open-eyed grade, and none of them were “activated” with spiritual energy; they were protective items you carried with you, like the heart-protecting lotus. But hearing that it could “block one fatal attack of ascended spirit grade,” it would have to use a large quantity of spiritual energy. How could mortals use it? Unless inside the immortal tool was a living ascended spirit who could be called upon at any time. 

Also, she had heard a bit of the general rumors about late-autumn red and eternal spring brocade—would Qiu Sha have casually gifted Hui Xiangjun’s things to someone? And if they hadn’t been made by Hui Xiangjun, then why would Qiu Sha have had “many” relics of Southern He’s Lancang? 

“It can only be used once. We couldn’t bear to, and we are unworthy.” Li Manlong’s sharp voice was nearly sliced apart by the whipping wind. “It was left behind from our Great He!” 

The desperate homesickness of the wanderer in these words punctured Zhao Qindan’s flash of doubt and made the rims of her eyes heat up. 

Just then, the mournful cries of the Turmoilers sounded in the distance. These were some elderly Turmoilers who had volunteered to stay back to bring up the rear. 

Zhao Qindan said, “What are they saying?” 

“The beast tide has come,” Li Manlong said as he urged the west winder to fly towards his old companions. “Miss Zhao, take…” 

But Zhao Qindan’s sword flew faster than the bird. She got ahead of it and dove. 

When she passed by him, she peeled off the armor and tossed it into Li Manlong’s arms. “I can’t bear to, either!” 

“Miss Zhao!” Li Manlong became frantic. “My people live in the Land of Turmoil. The old pave the way and bring up the rear for the young. Life and death are predestined. Do not…” 

Zhao Qindan leapt off her sword without pause and tore off the spiritual image mask. Her figure instantly extended, turning back into the tall and graceful young mistress. She reached out across empty space, caught up a Turmoiler, and sent him up into the sky with a talisman, placing him onto a west winder’s back. Then she raised her sword and beheaded a spiritual beast she didn’t recognize and sent another Turmoiler flying. 

But the frantic beast tide couldn’t be held back by all the courage and energy of a mere half-immortal. They surged forward like a flash flood. 

Seeing that the people on the ground were about to be drowned by that “tide,” Li Manlong’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. 

Just then, there came the thrum of a qin playing. Everything seemed to slow down. 

A man’s ghostly form went against the tide. He held a narrow qin. The qin played three notes fit to rend the rocks and shake the clouds. In a moment, he had arrived in front of Zhao Qindan and the Turmoilers. 

“Tai Sui!” 

“Senior Tai Sui, what’s going…” 

Xi Ping waved a hand, interrupting her. “I didn’t expect this. Forgive me, Miss Zhao.” 

Zhao Qindan froze briefly. Out of nowhere, she felt that Tai Sui seemed to have grown “old.” 

She knew that he definitely wore a spiritual image mask. Wearing a middle-aged face, his gestures would occasionally give him away, revealing a trace of vigor that couldn’t be concealed. But now she felt that he had turned grim. The sound of the qin, not forming a tune, seemed like a trapped beast at the end of the road. 

Xi Ping didn’t look at her. He only said, “Go.” 

Zhao Qindan knew how formidable he was. She quickly snatched up a few Turmoilers bringing up the rear and took them onto the west winders. The big birds carried them into the sky. 

Xi Ping rapidly formed an array, simply and crudely using spiritual energy to build a temporary barrier, stopping the rampaging spiritual beasts by force. He didn’t belong to the way of beast-taming. This thing wouldn’t hold them for long. Fortunately, the sound of his qin had disturbed the Lingyun Spiritual Mountains. They would soon send people to clean up. 

Xi Ping looked at the savage-faced spiritual beasts through the bloody wind, then turned and went in pursuit of Zhao Qindan and the others. 

A beast tide or an ocean tide could be blocked with a cultivator’s strength, but what about the flowing current of the world? 

The west winders groaned and chirped breathlessly as they flew. Suddenly, their beaks were collectively held by an invisible force, only breathy sounds remaining in their throats. A gale swept towards them. The dozen big birds suddenly sped up under the force of that wind, going as fast as shooting stars. 

With an ascended spirit’s might spreading everywhere, the west winders didn’t dare to let out a peep. 

“Senior!” 

“If the South Sea Hidden Realm is occupied by evil cultivators, the spiritual mountains of the western continent will collapse,” Xi Ping briefly explained to Zhao Qindan. “I’ll drop you off in a safe place on my way. I’m going to the South Sea.” 

Having heard this, Zhao Qindan didn’t utter a word for a long moment, as if she couldn’t digest this information right away. 

After a long time, her thin voice came through the gale: “The sky presses down on us, making us powerless, and because we are powerless, we cannot withstand the sky falling… Gods oppress us, and demons also oppress us. Ha, so what should we do? Senior, aren’t there some people who should kill themselves as soon as they’re born?” 

Xi Ping wasn’t her senior, so he kept silent. 

Meanwhile, they had reached the edge of the spiritual beast farm, the coastal zone of the southernmost end of the Lingyun Mountain Range. 

Xi Ping was following the direction of the spiritual wind towards the “tide.” He had meant to find a safe place to set Zhao Qindan and the others down, but his gaze suddenly paused—at the edge of the spiritual beast farm was a blank zone of spiritual energy that stuck out. 

That place looked wholly unremarkable, but there seemed to be an invisible boulder blocking the surging spiritual energy. 

At the edge of the Lingyun Spiritual Mountains, there was an invisible…little hidden realm? 

The shape of the hidden realm was regular. It was clear at a glance that it was manmade, and it was no common product—even with Xi Ping’s ascended spirit consciousness, if that place hadn’t been made obvious by the vast wash of spiritual energy, he would have overlooked it. 

Just then, Zhao Qindan, whom he’d pushed and dragged the whole way, suddenly gave a cry. Something fell from her. 

This was a small inscription character stored in a small glazed bottle. It had been submerged in the green ore dust in the bottle, but now it suddenly lit up. As if something were drawing it, it rushed towards the hidden realm. 

The two cultivators’ eyes met in a flash. They spoke almost simultaneously: 

“The Zhao family hidden realm!” 

“You still have the inscription key to the Zhao family hidden realm?” 

Eight years ago, the Zhao family had scattered throughout the nations. Using this as a pretext, the Luwu had dispatched many more personnel abroad. But leaving aside their good neighbor Chu with its messy domestic affairs, things hadn’t gone smoothly in either Northern Li or Southern Shu—Northern Li was too large and sparsely populated, as well as insular; the appearances and customs of the people of Li were also very different from those of Wan. Xi Ping had heard that they had only started making inroads in the last few years. 

In Southern Shu, the situation had been exceedingly tragic. It was cut off by the sea and didn’t share a border with Wan; a great deal of information couldn’t be sent in time. Before Xi Ping had freed himself up to help them put together the merchants’ group, eighty percent of the Luwu represented by code names on the cenotaphs in the Kaiming Department Memorial Forest had died here. 

Over in Northern Li, the Zhao clan had evidently had the tacit consent of Kunlun Mountain in entering the country. Western Chu’s Zhao clan, meanwhile, had used the Yu family to contact Sanyue’s West Peak directly. All that remained were the Zhaos in Shu. It was said that a portion of the Ning’an branch was still here. They had the greatest inside information, yet they were unusually discreet. At first there had still been some indications, but later they seemed to have had no contact with Lingyun Mountain. 

If not for the Luwu whose bones had been buried here, it would have seemed that these Zhaos had only found a place to retreat into seclusion. For eight years, the Luwu had learned through clues that they were in the southwest coastal area of the western continent, but they had never been able to find them… In fact, in bringing Zhao Qindan here to help her establish a foundation, it couldn’t be said that wanting to try his luck hadn’t been part of Xi Ping’s plans. 

He hadn’t expected that when he really did come up lucky, the Zhaos would turn out to be openly living at the feet of the Lingyun Mountains! 

Xi Ping gave Li Manlong a quick look. Li Manlong immediately said, “This is a medicinal herb field specifically provided for the use of the inner sect. All it needs is for the spiritual stones in the arrays to be swapped out at fixed intervals. These herbs aren’t sold, so there’s no need for anyone to stay here to look after or harvest them. Only inner sect medicine cultivators come here to collect materials.” 

Lingyun Mountain’s medicine cultivators…

No wonder that despite the huge sum of money they carried, this group of Zhaos hadn’t sought shelter with Lingyun Mountain. No wonder the Miah had money to secretly foster their established foundation cultivators and an ascended spirit. No wonder the defecting inner sect Miah cultivators could act so stealthily. The conflict between the Xiuyi and the Miah intensifying so rapidly in recent years—it seemed that it wasn’t only because of the toilet bulletins. 

Xi Ping turned to Zhao Qindan. “Can you…” 

Zhao Qindan didn’t say a word in protest. She only gave a bitter laugh and flew down in pursuit of that fallen inscription. 

The Yuzhou Zhao clan belonged to a different branch than Southern Shu’s Zhao clan. Zhao Qindan’s inscription key didn’t match. It gently tapped on the entrance, then dropped. Zhao Qindan hesitated, then bit through her middle finger and drew a special symbol in the air in front of the entrance with the blood from her fingertip. The blood slowly seeped in. After a moment, a small door, just large enough to let one person pass through, opened in an ancient tree next to them. 

Xi Ping held up his hand to hold her back, first sweeping inside with his consciousness. 

“It’s all right, senior, this is a side door,” Zhao Qindan said, automatically lowering her voice. “To prevent against mortals and half-immortal disciples losing their inscription keys and not being able to get home when there is danger, the clan’s hidden realms can be entered by verifying your bloodline. With my position in the family, I can only use the side door…but that means it won’t make so much of a stir.” 

Fortunately, the Zhao family came from Xuanyin. No matter what, under Xuanyin’s rules and regulations, high level cultivators had to go to spiritual mountains. When the Zhaos had rebelled, the Zhao clan established foundations and better had all been sealed within the immortal mountains by the high elders. Those that had escaped had at most just established a foundation. Without any fortuitous encounters, eight years might just be enough for an early period established foundation to stabilize their boundary. 

So, with an ascended spirit’s consciousness, Xi Ping easily swept the whole secret realm without alerting anyone—underground was a huge spiritual stone storehouse, though half of it had been emptied. Some established foundations were warily keeping watch there. There were people from Wan, and there were Miah. 

The early period established foundation cultivators were completely unprepared. All of a sudden, their consciousnesses were shaken simultaneously. They fell all at once without making a sound.

Xi Ping slipped in like a ghost. As soon as he touched the lead cultivator's spirit, he performed a soul-searching.

Zhao Qindan, catching up to him, shuddered as she looked at his stern profile. She opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing, only turned her head away.

There were truly too many Luwu who had died at the hands of the Zhaos.

Like a skilled butcher cutting up an ox, Xi Ping rapidly turned the souls of a bunch of established foundations inside out, then simply burned the corpses to eliminate the evidence with a wave of his sleeve. A handful of papermen flew out of his sleeve. When they landed, they took on the appearances of those established foundations.

The papermen took no notice of them. As if nothing were the matter, they dispersed to patrol. Xi Ping sped towards the levels deeper underground. Tossing out a mustard seed to cover up his actions, he quickly carved the inscriptions he had seen while performing the soul-searchings onto the blank flagstone floor.

The inscriptions on the flagstones activated one after another, then split off into all directions. A passageway that had curled into the ground unfolded before his eyes. Dense spiritual energy with the salt smell of the sea mixed into it wafted towards him, indicating that the passage led to the South Sea.

This was how the Miah cultivators who had ganged up with the Zhao clan had gotten away.

“You all hide here for now, I'll have the Luwu come pick you up,” Xi Ping instructed Zhao Qindan, then walked in, sending the location of the Zhao family hidden realm to the Luwu in passing. 

Only then did he suddenly realize something was off… With all kinds of beasts stampeding, his emotions had been in a state of upheaval. He hadn’t had time to consider anything else—after he had pushed san-ge’s consciousness away in a panic, why had Zhou Ying kept quiet and not asked after his wellbeing? 

It was as if…he knew that when the spiritual mountains were on the point of collapse, an unexpected person would contact him. 

In the Xuanyin Mountains, the Dignitary of Fate High Elder waved a hand. The reincarnation wood sapling disappeared as he transplanted it elsewhere. 

Next, the Dignitary of Rule Lin Zongyi projected his image into the Sea of Stars. 

“Destiny has always been lofty and inscrutable,” Zhang Jue said softly. “Dignitary of Rule, I suppose you know now why I wanted to protect him?” 

Lin Zongyi’s mouth was sealed. He didn’t respond. 

Zhang Jue closed his eyes and slowly said, “During the meteor shower fourteen years ago, upheaval in the spiritual mountains became a foregone conclusion. Now the great tribulation is beginning on the western continent. No one can escape it. The frequent appearance of evildoers everywhere is already unstoppable. No matter how much you and I wish to cling to past ‘boundaries,’ the boundaries will break from being too rigid. When that time comes, what will be the suffering of living creatures?” 

Lin Zongyi cast down his eyes slightly. He seemed to be sighing. 

“He has spent so many years in the outside world and has never pilfered heaven’s order, nor has he done anything that could not be taken back. Rather than allow another evil cultivator to exist in the world, it is better to take him back into the Xuanyin Mountains… Tell me, what kind of person does it take to nearly allow his spirit to fall to the enemy because someone called his true name?” 

A person with an identity, a person with ties, a person with roots. 

Zhang Jue sighed. “He will return.” 

Lin Zongyi removed his mouth seal and briefly said, “Then Zhou Ying ought to enter the way of clarity.” 

Zhang Jue was silent a moment, then nodded. “Fair enough. Too sharp a spiritual sense can easily go astray in unexpected ways. Clarity may not be without benefit to him.” 

Lin Zongyi’s image disappeared from the bottom of the Sea of Stars. 

Zhang Jue sent his consciousness to Flying Jade Peak. Now that the master of Flying Jade Peak was half a step from a shed skin, even a high elder could no longer glimpse where he himself was located. 

Zhi Xiu’s fate as he grappled with the Way was chaotic and hard to discern. The Sea of Stars could not see its course. 

“Jingzhai,” came Zhang Jue’s voice, “I have rescued that child for you. Set your mind at rest and cultivate. Do not become distracted again.” 

Flying Jade Peak was silent. The wild wind only swept the flying snow a little further. 

Zhou Ying’s consciousness had been pushed back to Prince Zhuang Manor in Jinping by Xi Ping, but there was no expression of surprise on his face. 

He held the reincarnation wood amulet in his hand and stroked it for a moment, but he didn’t contact Xi Ping again. He sealed the amulet into his mustard seed and went to the window of the south study. 

Because of the eclipse, the nearby Azure Dragon Tower had lit its lanterns during the day. A walker in the mortal world wearing a stealth talisman came to reinforce it and strengthen its defenses. 

The newcomer was Xi Yue. 

Xi Yue knew that Zhou Ying could see through stealth talismans. When he landed on the Azure Dragon Tower, he saluted him from afar. 

Zhou Ying nodded to him and watched the Xi family’s half-puppet walk into the Azure Dragon Tower. 

Bai Ling was just at his wit’s end from all kinds of information coming in from Southern Shu’s Luwu. Suddenly, he heard his lord say out of nowhere, “That kid can establish a foundation now.” 

Bai Ling reacted half a beat slow. “Oh. What?” 

Of course a half-puppet could also establish a foundation, but there was a rather different method of establishing it than for humans. A half-puppet proficient in arrays could normally alter his own arrays, but when establishing a foundation, it required his master doing it himself, required the master’s Way of the Heart to guard the half-puppet’s spirit as he changed his meridians and cast his essence, as well as to determine what path the half-puppet would walk. 

Aside from that person, Xi Yue certainly wouldn’t permit another person to hold that knife, such that of the people in the Jinping headquarters of Heaven’s Design Pavilion, he was one of the few among those most useful to Pang Jian whose cultivation was only at the open-eyed level. 

Zhou Ying didn’t continue. He suddenly ordered, “Tell the Luwu to obey our Viscount. The situation in Southern Shu has stabilized. Leave it alone, help me straighten out some relics.” 

Bai Ling couldn’t make heads or tails of this. He didn’t know what had gone wrong with his lord. It was a total mess over there—what did he mean the situation had stabilized? 

“My lord, the Lingyun Mountains…” 

Zhou Ying waved a hand impatiently and went to rifle through the south study himself. 

He had soon turned up all kinds of junk in the usually spotless study. Even Bai Ling hadn’t known there were so many things in the nooks and crannies: there was a spice pouch in a small casket, evidently a work of embroidery bestowed by a female elder; there was a book filled with a naughty child’s scrawls and some little knickknacks whose origin Bai Ling had forgotten; there was also a Northern Li knife that the Marquis had brought back from a distant journey, letters, talismans clumsily drawn by a certain young half-immortal who had just begun to cultivate…

“Right,” said Zhou Ying, “do you still remember where I put those drawings of mine?” 

“What drawings?” said Bai Ling. 

“Didn’t I spend a few days studying drawing with Zhao Tanghua? I dashed off quite a few cats and dogs to fulfill the assignments.” 

Bai Ling went blank. “Weren’t those all…” 

“Oh, right.” Before he could finish, Zhou Ying remembered. “I burned them before going to the Latent Cultivation Temple. Tsk…put these things away for me. Help me change.” 

Bai Ling caught the brocade box he had tossed to him. “To do what? Go where?” 

“I’m going to the Marquis Manor. Take what I’ve brought out and get rid…” At this point, Zhou Ying paused, then changed what he was going to say. “Put it all in one place and seal it.”