There were a number of provinces between Jinping and the Xuanyin Mountains, not like Dongheng, which was right at Sanyue’s feet. 

And while the Sea of Stars had given him a warning, it hadn’t concretely shown what was going on. There had only been a vague direction—evil cultivators were meddling, and those evil cultivators came from the South Sea. 

That whirlwind had dispersed at once after brushing shoulders with Xi Ping. Its approach had been menacing, but the followup had caused little commotion; it had seemed to be only the unsuccessful attempt of some “acquaintance” in the South Sea. Xi Ping had only been uneasy and left the mountains by night to go have a look because the walkers in the mortal world were early period established foundations at most, and he didn’t know whether the Kaiming and the Luwu had had time to get accustomed to losing their head. 

No one had expected that there could be such an addlepated shed skin. 

And the whole thing seemed to be a repeat performance. 

The last time a similar dragon shadow had appeared, it had also been the Sea of Stars giving misleading directions that had led to Zhi Xiu, alone and under myriad restrictions in the mortal world, hastily warding off Liang Chen and the half skeleton of hidden bones. The current strictness of Jinping’s defenses was incomparable with what it had been in the past, the skilled walkers in the mortal world had all established foundations, and the bogus “near-shed skin” had also risen to suit the occasion, changing into a true shed skin. 

Xi Ping’s message sounded in Pang Jian’s ear: “A Heavenly Question! Quick!” 

Fortunately Xuanyin Mountain could prohibit the use of spiritual energy throughout the country. If matters really reached the point of no return, even if the elders couldn’t get here in time, they could still…

Just then, in a flash, another frightening thought arose. In Jinping’s late summer, Xi Ping’s hands turned cold faster than the blood he had coughed up.

He thought: Wait, why is it only Xuanyin that can prohibit the use of spiritual energy? 

When his cultivation had been weak, he hadn’t thought there was anything unusual about this. After all, shed skin masters could blow him sky-high with a single breath. Xi Ping hadn’t even seriously considered what methods they might have at their disposal. But now that he had climbed higher and higher up the ranks of cultivation, now that even ascended spirits had become peers that he could measure himself against and shed skins were no longer unreachable, he had realized that shed skins weren’t omnipotent. 

At any rate, Xiang Ning certainly couldn’t prohibit the use of spiritual energy throughout Western Chu, or else the Xiang family wouldn’t have ended up in its current desperate plight. 

Also, when the Lingyun Mountains had all been wailing and countless surrounding cities and counties had been shattering to pieces, their shed skins had still been busy hunting evildoers and putting down rebels. It had only been ordinary inner sect cultivators who had been sent to repair the veins of the earth. 

Why had it been the Dignitary of Fate High Elder, who sat at home like a fine lady in a compound, who had come in person to repair Jinping’s Dragon Vein? 

Just because Jinping was the capital, more privileged than other places? 

But in just the space of a thought, the better part of that dragon shadow had already “crawled” out, as if it were alive. Where the Dragon Vein had broken, Xi Ping caught Xiang Ning’s aura. 

Wait…who? 

For a moment, Xi Ping thought he had misidentified him. Even if the person who had barged into Jinping City today had been Xuanwu, gone entirely out of his mind, Xi Ping might still not have been so shocked. 

He had only had one brief encounter with the shed skin of Sanyue’s West Peak. He only remembered that that gentleman’s heels had been well greased indeed. When Xiang Rong and Xuanwu had just started their kerfuffle, he had slipped away even faster than Xu Rucheng’s third-rate husband. 

How could it be him? 

In the eight years since he had last seen him, had this old fart eaten a leopard’s guts, or had he finally been driven mad by the toilet bulletins? 

Right now, Xi Ping was the only ascended spirit in Jinping City. There was no time for overthinking. He braced himself and sank his consciousness into the split Dragon Vein, trying to block the dragon shadow spreading in all directions. 

He was just in time to hear Xiang Ning laughing. “The Territory Map! Hahaha! It really is the Territory Map!” 

In the mouth of the next life spiritual fish in the South Sea, Zhuoming had become a bloody gourd. He lay face-up inside a heap of lotus stalks, his face ashen, not making a sound. 

Wangge Luobao surveyed him for a moment, then couldn’t resist expectantly raising a hand to his nose to check his breathing… To his disappointment, he felt fleeting puffs of laughter. 

Wangge Luobao calmly drew back his hand. “It seems you’ve won your bet. The Territory Map really is sealed within Southern Wan’s veins of the earth.” 

“All that nonsense about ‘the reflection of the veins of the earth in the water,’ haha…cough-cough-cough.” Zhuoming laughed breathlessly as he coughed. “The spiritual mountains are the heart, and the veins of the earth that extend from them are only blood vessels. What’s so important about the reflection of a bunch of blood vessels? That hypocrite Southern Sage didn’t dare to acknowledge it—the Territory Map is the shadow of the spiritual mountains!” 

“So back then the sage didn’t destroy it, but sealed it within the true veins of the earth of the spiritual mountains. It was originally a seamless solution. But then Lancang made trouble, the cultivation world shook, and Lancang’s sword slit open the Southern Sage’s seal.” Wangge Luobao sighed softly. “No wonder the Dragon Vein was so unsound even after the Dignitary of Fate High Elder himself repaired it. It was the Territory Map beneath the seal constantly trying to escape.” 

“It’s fallen into Xiang Ning’s hands. As soon as it breaks free of the veins of the earth, Xuanyin Mountain is done for. As for Xiang Ning, he’ll be hunted by Xuanyin to the ends of the earth. Sanyue won’t necessarily be able to provide for themselves…” As Zhuoming spoke, he turned over and sat up laboriously. He extended his hand and stuck it into a mustard seed holding spiritual stones. Enough spiritual energy to fill a sea poured into each and every one of his lotus stalks. All the sword cuts on him healed rapidly. 

“What do you want?” 

“The Misty Willow,” Zhuoming said softly. “This time I’ll make sure he can never reincarnate.” 

Xi Ping could be said to have learned his lesson. The most useless shed skin was still a shed skin; a new ascended spirit like him, whose boundary still wasn’t very stable, had no chance of withstanding him. 

Even worse, the seven Azure Dragon Towers and the Dragon Vein beneath them had all been on his side just now; they had not only succeeded in guiding him in learning the sword move his own shifu hadn’t been able to explain clearly, they had also helped him get a better hold over the Discard the False and Keep the True book and use Zhuoming’s own trick against him. 

But whatever had just been released from beneath the Dragon Vein evidently hated its “cage,” and it hated him into the bargain! 

Xi Ping only had time to push Xi Yue away. His consciousness was under a double pressure, and he had hardly any leeway to resist. His protective spiritual energy exploded—fortunately his essence had just been drained by Zhuoming until there was nothing left. 

Xi Yue only had a half-immortal’s cultivation and couldn’t get near him. Suddenly remembering something, Xi Yue turned and ran, his figure nearly turning into a sapphire blue lightning bolt. 

Under the weight of the chaotic spiritual energy, Xi Yue dashed towards the split in the Dragon Vein and tossed out a brocade bag. 

The little brocade bag was shredded in midair by the sharp wind. Countless reincarnation wood seeds scattered. The moment they fell, they were urged to sprout by the master of the reincarnation wood. 

Xi Ping’s tightly constrained consciousness immediately had room to turn around, burrowing into countless reincarnation wood trees. Linking to the vestiges of the Dragon Vein, those saplings wove a frail net, trapping the constantly struggling dragon shadow within it. 

Good child! No wonder Pang Jian takes you everywhere! 

The dragon shadow seemed to have been enraged. Its beard flared out wrathfully. Xiang Ning was nibbling away at the Dragon Vein. “Puny junior, you overestimate your strength!” 

All of Xi Ping’s meridians twitched painfully. He had gone to the Xuanyin Mountains in a hurry; he’d hardly brought any spiritual stones. 

“Half-immortals retreat!” Pang Jian tossed Xi Ping a bag of spiritual stones across the distance. “Catch!” 

Lao Pang really hadn’t stinted. There were dozens of liang of blue jade among the spiritual stones he had thrown, as well as a number of white spirits. He must have dug deep into his coffers for this. 

Unfortunately, for an ascended spirit, this bit of spiritual energy was like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water. Xi Ping knocked the bag aside. “That’s not even a mouthful for me, look after yourselves, go repair the Dragon Vein!” 

“Here,” said Bai Ling. 

He had brought out the spiritual stone stores of Prince Zhuang Manor and the Kaiming Department. The mustard seed holding several thousand jin of spiritual stones didn’t even reach Xi Ping before they were all drained to powder. 

“I know it’s not enough,” Bai Ling said grimly. “A portion of the spiritual stones from the southern mines has yet to be delivered. It’ll be here soon. I’ve also ordered the spiritual stone stores of the Ning’an and Suling Kaiming Departments to be transferred. Hold out a little longer, Viscount.” 

Pang Jian’s scalp went numb when he heard this. He could hardly keep count. “Xi Shiyong, what kind of glutton are you?” 

“The kind you ought to be calling shishu…” said Xi Ping. 

Xi Ping absorbed the spiritual energy dispersed around him in one gulp. The Tai Sui Qin played fast as a driving rain, carrying sword energy like lightning, smashing into Xiang Ning’s consciousness. 

At the same time, all the established foundations in Heaven’s Design Pavilion followed Pang Jian’s lead in tightly encircling the broken Dragon Vein and quickly forming an array. They were always patching up the veins of the earth here and there; they were practiced hands. 

The dragon shadow’s shrieks echoed in Jinping’s underground as it was pushed back down by the assembled walkers in the mortal world. The huge dragon claws scrabbled at the earth. 

Just then came Zhuoming’s spiteful voice: “A mighty shed skin, defeated by a snot-nosed brat who’s been an ascended spirit for less than a decade commanding a bunch of established foundation ants. Tsk-tsk-tsk, Elder Xiang Ning, you little runt… If you had any fight in you, those cultivators from other families wouldn’t get so mad when they saw the Xiang family keeping the Sanyue Mountains all to themselves.” 

Xiang Ning gave an angry roar. 

Zhuoming said, laughing, “Since you did just help me escape, I’ll give you a hand, too.” 

Right now, Xi Ping was using the reincarnation wood to keep the dragon shadow trapped while hacking at Xiang Ning. Even with the support of the Dragon Vein, there really was too much for him to do. He couldn’t free up a hand to keep a lid on Zhuoming. 

Zhuoming extended a hand and grasped the Territory Map rubbing he had put together from the relics of innumerable Zhaos. “Allow me to demonstrate how the true power of the Territory Map ought to be used.” 

As if it had been whipped, the dragon shadow that had crawled out of the broken Dragon Vein went crazy. The arrays the walkers in the mortal world were using to repair the veins of the earth were instantly destroyed. The better part of Xi Ping’s reincarnation wood trees were pulled up by the roots. At the same time, Zhuoming’s lotus seals struck back like a reprisal, pulling apart the dozens of portions of his consciousness he had split off. 

Xi Ping’s vision went dark. 

Never mind mortals, even half-immortals could hardly move now. 

The place where the Dragon Vein had snapped just happened to be on the densely populated east bank of the Lingyang River. The lines of tall buildings were about to cave in. A child’s heartrending cries went up. He was hanging in midair, hands losing their hold on a slanting railing, about to fall into the dragon shadow’s mouth. 

From the dust crawled a woman covered in dust herself, perhaps the child’s mother. She was bleeding, her skinny arms like grass that had sprouted from a crack in a stone. In the midst of this irresistible catastrophe, she managed to struggle forward and reach out, firmly grasping the child’s sleeve. There was a long rip as the sleeve tore. The woman screamed desperately. 

Four or five hands reached out simultaneously. The people who normally squabbled as they shared these cramped living quarters all scrambled to catch the child. There were old people and young people…just as if they themselves weren’t on the brink of dropping. 

But the building would fall in the end. It only held out for a moment before there was a teeth-aching snap. The rescuers fell along with those who were struggling. 

In a flash, several Kaiming half-immortals charged in against orders, using weak talismans and spiritual energy to weave a big “mesh bag,” knocking aside the building and the mortals who were about to fall into the dragon shadow. 

It was already all that a half-immortal could do to charge into a place like this. The mesh bag tore apart, and the figures of several half-immortals flashed. Before they could make a sound, they fell into the dragon shadow’s mouth. 

Like spiritual stones drained dry, they turned to dust in the blink of an eye, and the dust was thrown up into midair. 

Just then, at the docks, the spiritual stones conscripted at the last moment from the southern mines arrived. Xi Ping once again managed to raise the few reincarnation wood trees still remaining to him. 

“Is Xuanyin Mountain’s Heavenly Question,” he said, gritting his teeth so hard they nearly snapped, “slower than a flying goose letter?!” 

What were those two high elders doing? Why hadn’t they prohibited spiritual energy yet?! 

Zhuoming laughed aloud. “Poor wretch, why are you still baffled? Don’t you understand yet? The reason that the Territory Map rubbing the Zhaos inherited from their ancestor could move the land wasn’t that someone of Zhao Yin’s ilk could shake the roots of the spiritual mountains’ veins of the earth—what they moved was the Territory Map itself, sealed within the veins of the earth. Your Xuanyin Mountain high elders prohibiting spiritual energy was only a by-product caused by spiritual energy not flowing through the veins of the earth when its seal was used to stifle the Territory Map. The Dragon Vein has broken, the Territory Map has been released, and they’re all out of cards to play!” 

What the hell was this Territory Map? Why hadn’t the Southern Sage destroyed it, leaving a hidden danger like this lurking for future generations? 

“Shiyong!” Just then, Zhang Jue’s voice came through the reincarnation wood—yes, Xi Ping had always treated them as outsiders and hadn’t recalled that the Dignitary of Fate High Elder had a reincarnation wood tree; he didn’t need to go through Pang Jian to contact him. 

“Dignitary of Fate El…Elder.” At the end of his endurance, Xi Ping turned to impertinence. “If you…were telling f-fortunes in the mortal world, you’d get your stall knocked over twice a day…” 

The Dignitary of Fate was thousands of years old; naturally he wouldn’t bicker with him. “The Dignitary of Rule and the Dignitary of Rites are on their way. If the Territory Map falls into Xiang Ning’s hands, the thirty-six peaks will fall and shake the foundations of this nation. You…” 

Xi Ping didn’t hear the rest of it. As soon as he split his attention, Zhuoming’s lotus seals reached the consciousness within his true body. His ears rang. 

But in the midst of the fierce pain, his mind was still working. 

The Dignitary of Rule and the Dignitary of Rites were on their way… Why wasn’t Zhang Jue coming himself? 

Had the Dignitary of Fate messed up a divination and gotten his leg broken by a dissatisfied customer? What was he busy with? Why wasn’t he coming in person to clean up the Dragon Vein he himself had failed to repair properly? 

Suddenly, Xi Ping remembered Zhang Jue saying in the Sea of Stars that when his shizun became a shed skin sage, the Dragon Vein would no longer need to be repaired, and Great Wan would be eternally secure. 

So this was what he had meant—when the Dragon Vein had broken then, it, along with a part of the Territory Map that had leaked out, had ended up in Zhi Xiu. Once General Zhi became a sage, it would mean that the Territory Map belonged to the spiritual mountains. 

But…what kind of sage? 

Xi Ping hadn’t yet had time to change his clothes after they were sliced to rags by the struggling sword aura on Flying Jade Peak. His heart sank: obviously not the kind of sage that planted an accompanying plant in the earth. 

Meanwhile, Zhang Jue had landed outside of Flying Jade Peak. 

“Jingzhai,” the Dignitary of Fate High Elder sent his voice into Flying Jade Peak from afar, “I shouldn’t rush you, but events have been sudden…” 

In Xi Ping’s spirit, a new crack appeared in Zhaoting. 

“No…” With difficulty, Xi Ping split off a sliver of consciousness and futilely wound it around that crack. “Shifu, no…” 

Zhi Xiu was silent—perhaps he couldn’t speak under the pressure of a fresh round of heavenly might. Neither Xi Ping, far away in Jinping, nor Zhang Jue, kept out by the mountain seal, had any way of knowing. 

But Xi Ping could sense from the shard of Zhaoting that he was wavering. 

A person could resist his own fate, resist the enlistment of the spiritual mountains, but…could he pay no heed to Jinping City on the point of collapse? 

The crack in the shard of Zhaoting grew. 

“Shifu, you were only a mortal then, and you defended Jinping from the Lancang Sword for a day and a night. I can do it, too… Shifu!” 

San-ge had said that shed skins were fettered by divine will. That, like the Dignitary of Fate and the rest, they became part of the spiritual mountains. The person who came out of seclusion in a hundred years might not necessarily be the person he knew. 

He had talked big then, said, “That’s his business.” 

Now he was babbling, pleading desperately, “Shifu, I can defend Jinping, don’t listen to them, don’t go there…” 

San-ge had entered the way of clarity. If shifu also had his hands bound and went into the spiritual mountains, became a lofty sage, then next time he fled the Latent Cultivation Temple in a panic, where would he go? 

“Shifu, I’m begging you…” 

On Xuanyin Mountain’s Principal Peak, everyone was buzzing with anxiety. There was endless gossip and surmise. Terms like “Jinping,” “Dragon Vein,” and “war” constantly floated through Zhou Ying’s ears. 

But he ignored them. 

His consciousness had already made countless patient circles around the Bell of Tribulation. 

Xuanyin Mountain’s divine tool hung invisible in the air above the Principal Peak. Zhou Ying could “see” the path of its every tremor, and the direction that its spiritual energy surged in. 

There were thousands upon millions of inscriptions on the Bell of Tribulation, so vast that a single look could drive a person mad. 

Fortunately, the way of clarity was immovable as a mountain. He couldn’t go mad. 

With the Way of the Heart standing guard, Zhou Ying was utterly patient. As if untangling a knotted skein, he probed inward layer by layer. 

Just as Princess Duanrui, in her capacity as Dignitary of Rites Elder, urgently left the Principal Peak to hurry towards Jinping, he found the gap. 

Zhou Ying’s consciousness, so mild it was as if it didn’t exist, instantly poured in, grasping the faint aura in the depths of the Bell of Tribulation—the heart demon seed. 

As expected, the heart demon seed was inside the Bell of Tribulation! 

As soon as the heart demon seed, which had appeared to be on its last gasp, touched him, it immediately cast off its pretense of weakness and violently lashed out against Zhou Ying—at the moment of capturing a heart demon seed, a person was often at their most lax and self-satisfied. 

But Zhou Ying didn’t resist. He casually opened his spirit and let the heart demon seed dive in, burrowing into his spirit and taking root. 

The moment the heart demon seed landed, every nook and cranny of his memories was brought out. 

But Zhou Ying only looked on like an observer, watching the past calmly, his mind unmoved. 

The moment he had entered the way of clarity, it had frozen and rinsed away his emotions. 

On his spirit, the place where the heart demon seed had taken root petrified little by little. A crust like colored glass grew on the heart demon seed’s root system and slowly swallowed the whole seed.