The Miah clan leader’s original plan had been, before the Cauldron of Nine Dragons arrived, to lead Xuanwu and a bunch of great evil cultivators to their deaths, pour them into the South Sea, and open the hidden realm. When the Miah had their own “spiritual mountains,” he would use those “spiritual mountains” to take the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. If Xuanwu proved too strong, he would use the evil cultivators to hold him back, and when the Cauldron of Nine Dragons came, egg them on into a fight to the death, and then, when a shed skin died and his essence dispersed, find an opportunity to direct the spiritual energy to break open the entrance to the South Sea Hidden Realm. 

All of that had been ruined by Wangge Luobao’s selfishness. 

In order to seize the South Sea Hidden Realm, Wangge Luobao had activated the entrance with his own blood and then botched it; he hadn’t been able to take Xuanwu down at one fell swoop. 

Now the Lingyun elder holding the Cauldron of Nine Dragons evidently knew their intent. Seeing that his great scheme was about to fail, the Miah clan leader was compelled to resort to his final trump card. But, after all, the clan leader was only an ascended spirit. When he struck to wrest the Cauldron of Nine Dragons away by force, he himself cracked like a flaky pastry left sitting for three years. 

But despite this, the big cauldron in the sky still went out of control. 

The Lingyun elder controlling the Cauldron of Nine Dragons was trapped above the big cauldron. While admittedly he was a shed skin of the beast-taming way, the Miah medicine cultivator who belonged to the generation below him had been right: the Miah also had a share in the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. 

He was only one of two Xiuyi shed skins, while his opponents were the entire Miah clan—the combined will of everyone from the shed skin to the walkers in the mortal world, the dead and the living, the orthodox and the evil. 

On the sea, the nine dragons hanging in the air were pushed and pulled by two forces, their bodies twisting as though about to tie themselves into fast knots. 

The sound of their teeth chattering was extremely similar to that of the veins of the earth of the western continent snapping. After wrestling several times, they finally opened their bloody maws one after another and sprayed out the spiritual energy they had just swallowed. Wave after wave rushed at the South Sea Hidden Realm, which Wangge Luobao had dragged out to the surface. 

The two Miah medicine cultivator elders, seeing the situation, were also prepared to sacrifice anything—to sacrifice the clan leader. 

One to either side, the two of them each put a hand on the clan leader’s shoulders and, with the resolve that they were willing to blow the clan leader up, poured essence into him, narrowly allowing his incantation, which was about to go off key, to continue. 

If only they could seize the Cauldron of Nine Dragons, if only…

Everyone present, ascended spirits and shed skins alike, was about to be buried by the dragons’ talons and turn into a spiritual wind that would open the South Sea Hidden Realm and pull down the Lingyun Mountains! 

The western continent, which had been occupied by the brazen Xiuyi, ought to have collapsed long ago! 

Just then, a series of qin notes like a tempest came unexpectedly from behind the three Miah, as if it had flown out of their shadows. 

All the essence of the three great Miah ascended spirits had been swept into that ball of dark blue fire. None of them had the excess strength to watch their backs. 

The sword energy in the qin music was as sharp as the north wind on a snow-capped mountain. One stroke cut off the Miah clan leader’s hand. The dark blue flames fell along with the severed hand. 

The three Miah ascended spirits were sent flying by the qin music. The Cauldron of Nine Dragons instantly escaped both sides’ control. 

Amid the chaos, Zhuoming’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. “Misty—Willow!” 

But no one had attention to spare for fighting anymore—the situation was hopeless for the Miah; it was only a small matter of time before the Lingyun shed skin elder snatched back the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. Neither the lunatics nor the fools wanted to test the hardness of their skulls against the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. 

The five great ascended spirit evil cultivators, Xuanwu…the whole crowd of calamity-bringing masters scattered like flies as the out-of-control Cauldron of Nine Dragons made waves. 

The nine dragons had been bewildered by Southern Shu’s two clans openly turning against each other. They reeled against each other. Even more spiritual energy was swept up by these nine worms and smashed against the South Sea Hidden Realm.

From the depths of the sea came one loud hollow thump after another. The seal on the hidden realm seemed about to tear open at any moment. The sound struck listeners with terror. 

But terror was no use. At this stage, the only one who could pick up the pieces was the Xiuyi shed skin. It was Lingyun’s business whether the Cauldron of Nine Dragons could be controlled before the divine tool of the mountains pounded open the hidden realm. Xi Ping had done all that he could. Once his attack had come off, he didn’t even show himself. Letting people hear his music without seeing him, he leapt and withdrew into the Miah’s hidden passage. 

Beneath the divine tool of the Lingyun Mountains, no one dared to send their consciousness out at random, and the seething seawater, the human corpses and beasts’ blood, had obscured everyones’ lines of sight. Xi Ping, coming and going in a hurry, hadn’t seen that Wei Chengxiang was less than ten zhang away from him. 

Hearing was more use than sight now. Xi Ping hadn’t seen Wei Chengxiang, but Wei Chengxiang had heard the sound of his qin. 

It was Tai Sui! 

She laboriously extended a hand from the improved willow leaf boat, attempting to use a talisman to knock aside the dismembered heap of corpses pressing down on her from above. Sadly, while a half-immortal flying this way and that in the mortal world seemed pretty impressive, in a place where the torrent of spiritual energy could wash away the spiritual mountains, she couldn’t even raise a breeze. 

The talisman only flashed for a moment before it was silently extinguished. Then the crimson dragon among the nine dragons, wrung into a fried dough twist, fell out of the sky and knocked the pile of corpses apart. 

Wei Chengxiang and the little boat floated lightly up in the water, brushing against the crimson dragon’s big head. For a moment, her breath stopped; she felt herself touch those ice cold scales. 

Death kissed her gently on the forehead, then let her go. 

The huge dragon sprayed a long breath, tossing Wei Chengxiang and the pile of corpses away. Filled with abject terror, like a small winged insect caught in a gale, she rolled and tumbled every which way for a long time, then collided with the passing protective spiritual wind of an ascended spirit. 

Wei Chengxiang’s nails clinging to the small boat had long ago been pried up. Holding back the urge to vomit, she focused her gaze. As if it was fated, she had bumped into the fleeing Three Heroes of Turmoil! 

Tai Sui’s whereabouts were unknown. She was just about to pass word to the Queen Mother of the West, but before she could open her mouth, she saw the Emperor of the East, following the Queen Mother of the West, get a glint in his eyes. 

At this unguarded moment, the Emperor of the East Halberd swung towards the Queen Mother of the West’s back! 

Guang’an was a sword cultivator. A single attack might not take him down. But that bitch Yang Wan was only a medicine cultivator, unsuited for combat! 

Over the years, the Emperor of the East had put on the appearance of civility, but inside he bitterly hated the Queen Mother of the West. When the Queen Mother of the West’s loose hair swept before his eyes in the seawater, it instantly ignited the Emperor of the East’s malice. This woman was his disgrace…so let her be buried in the South Sea with the corpses of these animals. 

Wei Chengxiang’s pupils contracted sharply. Without a second thought, she drew an item out of her clothes—this was a “hand cannon,” made almost after the model of Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s General Commander Pang Jian’s talisman gun. Its shell was of some unknown material that gleamed like quicksilver. Round after round of obscure, meticulous inscriptions wound around it. 

The more urgent the situation, the steadier Wei Chengxiang’s hand usually was. She raised the gun with the false hand Lin Chi had given her and pulled the trigger. 

But what flew out of the hand cannon was no bullet. It was a beam of sword energy. 

Her intent had been to disrupt the Emperor of the East Halberd and warn the Queen Mother of the West and Lord Guang’an to be careful, but she was herself nearly knocked out by the sword energy! The instant the sword energy flew out, the hand cannon shattered into pieces. A big handful of spiritual stone powder hit her in the face. 

Even more bizarre, when this immortal tool had activated, it had simply drained spiritual energy from the surroundings without going through her. This was clearly the feel of a “downgraded immortal tool.” 

She had just used a “downgraded immortal tool” to shoot a beam of sword energy that was at least established foundation grade…

That utterly scornful sword energy cut directly at the Emperor of the East Halberd, sending the halberd flying—along with the Emperor of the East himself! 

No, this was ascended spirit sword energy! 

That hand cannon was, apart from the willow leaf boat, the other item Tai Sui had given her. He had only said that it had been made by Master Lin, an early experiment made in the course of developing some kind of “spirit-conducting gold.” At its present stage, it could only be used once, and it wasn’t very stable. He’d told her to take care of it, and if she encountered a life-threatening situation in the South Sea, it could give her a chance to escape with her life. 

Wei Chengxiang had thought that this was another protective immortal tool made by the kind and generous Master Lin…

The Queen Mother of the West and Lord Guang’an were both startled by this earth-shattering sword energy. The Emperor of the East, seeing the situation had turned against him, took the opportunity to run off miserably in the opposite direction. And just then, yet another violent spiritual wind stirred up by the nine dragons pressed down on them. 

Wei Chengxiang was swept up by the spiritual wind. Her brains were all jumbled: if such a spiritual weapon existed…such a thing existed…then what was the point of cultivating? Or refining your bones? Or seeking a way? 

Lord Guang’an pulled the Queen Mother of the West into his arms. 

The Queen Mother of the West said, “Wait, what was…” 

“That sword energy belongs to the mysterious master who just took down the Miah clan leader. Their cultivation is no weaker than yours or mine. No need to worry about it, we can thank them later. For now, let’s go!” 

The two of them vanished into thin air just in time. The sword energy that had nearly broken the Emperor of the East Halberd just now had yet to be exhausted. After the Emperor of the East got out of its way, it was snatched up by the spiritual wind and sent slicing towards the South Sea Hidden Realm. There was a loud rumble as the impact of the spiritual wind and the sword energy provoked a whirlpool above the seal on the South Sea Hidden Realm. In an instant, Wei Chengxiang fell into the whirlpool and knew nothing more. 

An ominous crack came from the South Sea Hidden Realm. Just then, several dragons’ cries sounded in the sky. Their voices went from wild to weak. The Cauldron of Nine Dragons lit up once more. At the moment of ultimate peril, the Lingyun shed skin elder had at last snatched back the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. 

Just before yet another vast spiritual wind could reach the surface of the sea, it was absorbed by the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. The nine dragons circled in the air above the South Sea, swallowing the erratic spiritual energy in big gulps. 

After a long time, the whirlpool above the South Sea Hidden Realm finally dispersed. The hidden realm that Wangge Luobao had awakened with his blood gave a long groan and sank back into the bottom of the sea. 

By this point, all the major and minor evil cultivators had run off, leaving not a hair behind. On the surface of the sea, only the remnants of the Miah remained. It was a total mess. 

The Lingyun elder had previously had the appearance of a young man. Now half his hair had turned white. When he withdrew the Cauldron of Nine Dragons, he sent his consciousness towards the western continent and saw that the upheaval of the Lingyun Mountains had at last ceased. On the point of imminent disaster, the spiritual mountains had been preserved, and Southern Shu’s veins of the earth had been preserved…but to the consciousness of a shed skin elder, it was clear to see that the spiritual mountains had been pared down considerably. Nearly half of their spiritual energy had been lost. 

The blood in the South Sea dispersed. The sun once again hung in the sky, but it was already sinking into the west. 

Mournful cries echoed in the Cauldron of Nine Dragons. Though the way of the beast-taming was not skilled in observing destiny, he still sensed something. 

One of the two great shed skins that still remained to the Lingyun Mountains sighed and disappeared along with the Cauldron of Nine Dragons—he still had to go back to clean up the mess. 

No one knew that when the last spiritual wind had come down, the ascended spirit grade sword energy caught up in it had unexpectedly opened a tiny rift in the South Sea Hidden Realm, and an obscure open-eyed half-immortal had vanished there. 

When the Luwu received the order to eliminate the surviving members of the Zhao clan, they moved at once in orderly fashion. After eight years of silent endurance, many people took relics of comrades in arms who had been buried in Southern Shu from their mustard seeds and hung them on themselves. 

The Luwu who regularly operated here in Shu didn’t know Zhao Qindan. The one who had followed Xi Ping from Tao County was afraid that people would misunderstand in their rage—after all, she was also named Zhao—so he kept watch over her and the Turmoilers. He quietly said to Zhao Qindan, “Sir Xu, the Zhao family’s spiritual stones are abundant, I think you could also use the spiritual stones here to establish a foundation. Anyway, these things ought to have been… I’ll stand guard for you.” 

Zhao Qindan was silent a while, then asked, “Where is Tai Sui?” 

The middle-aged Luwu said, “I suppose Tai Sui might be busy with something. We can’t contact him for the moment. Don’t worry, he brought you here because he wanted to help you establish a foundation. Anyway, you could say that you’ve rendered a meritorious service this time. He’ll think of a way to settle the spiritual stone accounts for you.” 

Zhao Qindan gave him a forced smile. “Thank you, there is no more need.” 

Having said this, she went into a corner to meditate. 

Only when her worries had been laid to rest as the veins of the earth had calmed had she found that her desire to pursue cultivation and establish a foundation had all trickled out along the way. 

What was the point? 

She could no longer return to the orthodoxy of the immortal mountains, and if she went down another road, she would only become like those Three Heroes of Turmoil or the Miah rebel…unless she went and replaced the Luwu Xu Rucheng in being the third-rate imperial grandson’s wife. 

The Luwu had the third-rate imperial grandson under control. It would be in name only. In a few decades, he would die of old age. If she could accept it, it would really be no big deal for her to go. 

But she couldn’t accept it. 

She had lived with A-Xiang for a while in Tao County. Sometimes when they spoke of the past in the dead of night, they could in fact relate very much on the subject of some desperate straits they had been through. But Zhao Qindan thought that she and A-Xiang still weren’t the same. A-Xiang had fled for her life, while she had fled an arranged marriage. Those fleeing for their lives struggled in the cracks, sometimes indifferent to whether they were male or female, young or old; but those fleeing arranged marriages had all been ruthlessly humiliated because they had been “born female.” That humiliation grew at the foundation of her Way of the Heart, supporting her, making her incapable of bending to suit herself to her situation. 

“Senior Tai Sui, can you help this junior through the maze?” 

There was silence in the reincarnation wood. Everyone had their own road. In the end, you could only find your own way through the maze.

And Xi Ping didn’t hear her voice. He was hiding. 

The dust had settled over the farce of the South Sea Hidden Realm, so he had sent Zhou Ying’s consciousness back to Jinping, left some instructions for the Luwu, then placed a mind calming talisman on his own spirit, blocking all the voices in the reincarnation wood. 

He hid his aura, then picked a place at random to come on shore, returning to Southern Shu’s main peninsula on the western continent. 

He took no notice of where he made landfall, and he didn’t know where he was going. Muddled, he went into a small Southern Shu town whose name he didn’t know. 

This place was probably not very far from the Lingyun Mountains. The veins of the earth here had also been damaged. Half of the buildings in the small town had collapsed. The Dragon Subduing Knights had used immortal tools to temporarily stabilize the broken veins of the earth until the inner sect could dispatch people to repair them.  

The common people had been chased off by government soldiers and were temporarily sheltering outside of town. With walkers in the mortal world from the Dragon Subduing Knights in control, it was orderly enough. It was getting late now. Big pots were set up along the streets, and the soldiers began organizing people to boil water and prepare food. 

Xi Ping had removed his spiritual image mask. His looks were Wan. 

When he had taken down the Miah ascended spirits, his hands had been cut by the qin strings snapping. There was blood all over him, but he hadn’t done anything about it. He looked like a vagabond down on his luck. A green-eyed Miah girl stared at him for a while, then carefully trotted over to stop him. She began to gesticulate. 

Xi Ping lowered his eyes, looked at this little thing that wasn’t even as tall as his waist, and said, “I understand.” 

So the little girl said in a childish voice, “My big sister is an apothecary. Wait a bit, uncle.” 

Having said so, she gravely backtracked, running on her short legs, her attitude like a walker in the mortal world undertaking an assignment of utmost urgency. 

Xi Ping had nowhere to go to begin with, so he stood where he was indifferently, staring blankly at the place where the sky was still glowing after the sun had set. 

The mind calming talisman was useless. Even if he couldn’t hear them, the Dignitary of Fate, san-ge, Yu Chang with his bleeding-eyed rage, the white-haired Marquis…all of them still pestered him like ghosts, binding him tighter and tighter, like the legendary immortal binding cords. He couldn’t catch his breath. 

The people of Wan were a little taller than those of Shu. Standing where he was, he was a little like a crane among chickens. He was soon noticed. 

“Young fellow, are you a tourist or a merchant?” 

“From Wan? On his own? So tender-skinned, he must be a young master who’s been separated from his family… Where did that blood come from?” 

When they found that he understood the Shu language, quite a few people came over to start conversations all at once. Seeing that his reactions were a little slow, as if he had been scared out of his wits by the disaster, a crowd of Xiuyi pulled him over to their group. 

Someone handed him a bowl, someone called a person who looked like a barefooted doctor over to clean the blood off him, someone nearby started singing a Shu ditty, reassuring everyone that the disaster would soon be over. 

He drank a mouthful of the strangely sweet vegetable porridge in the bowl. His mortal memories came crashing back into place. Xi Ping recalled that when he had gone with Cui Ji’s people when he was little to play in Shu’s capital Zhaoye and had been attracted by those hybrid fake spiritual beasts, he had accidentally been separated from his family. At the time, he hadn’t known a word of the Shu language, and he’d had no fear of strangers. He had a stupid smile for everyone he saw. He had also been picked up by the locals. They had stammered in poorly-worded Wan language, cheering him up, and they had sung for him. 

The Shu were warm-hearted and hospitable. They sang when they were happy and when they were sad. As long as they weren’t dead, they would do all they could to be cheerful. 

Yes. When he had traveled all over in his youth, Southern Shu had been his favorite place. 

Xi Ping stared blankly at the bowl. His eyes regained focus. 

Suddenly, he sensed something and raised his head. He saw the little girl who had run off to find medicine for him standing far away holding a small paper bag. Seeing him surrounded by a crowd of Xiuyi, an expression of frustration appeared on her face. 

Then she looked at him and silently went away. 

For some reason, that look cut Xi Ping, more painful than having his fingers sliced by the snapping qin strings. His spirit shook, breaking the frail mind calming talisman. 

Xi Ping gripped the disciple name token he had put into his clothes. 

Just then, Wei Chengxiang’s voice came to his ears: “S-senior, can…can you hear me? Do you want to come over and have a look?”