First the Lancang Mountains had “come back from the dead.” Then, nearly all the extant shed skin sages had assembled on the Southern He Peninsula, where birds didn’t shit, and had started fighting.

Since antiquity, there had been a subtle connection between war and demons. When they had whipped the East Sea and the South Sea up to a boil several times with their fighting, how could the Resurrection Vortex remain calm?

The “shoddy patch” there wasn’t the genuine article, anyway, and of the three great shed skins who had done the patching, in Xi Ping’s current view, at least two had been dodgy goods; their work had nearly been destroyed by a half-immortal.

And never mind the three great divine tools of the mountains already locked in a chaotic battle here like headless flies, the Kunlun Sect Leader with his germinating cranium had also brandished the Ceaseless Mirror—it was said that this thing hadn’t made an appearance since the formation of the Kunlun Mountains.

According to Lin Chi’s interpretation, the Ceaseless Mirror was the origin of the set of inscriptions that had circulated at the time, which also meant that many “new inscriptions” used by later generations were effective because they were built upon the earliest built foundation of the heavenly commandments. The “demon host” in the Impassable Sea were the dregs that had been rejected by that series of inscriptions. When Xi Ping had hit the Ceaseless Mirror with his sword attack, it had amounted to loosening the ropes binding the demon host.

And the demon seal in the Impassable Sea was also written in inscriptions!

What Zhou Ying had done halfway before being desperately held back by Xi Ping, he had now unexpectedly completed himself in a single hit.

In just this brief span of time, a black mist had risen over the Resurrection Vortex and begun to spread in all directions.

And in addition to the demon seal, the great mountain arrays and all the national boundaries were also written in inscriptions.

In Heaven’s Design Pavilion on the Wan-He border, the karma beast suddenly stood up. The Kaiming Cultivators on guard watched dumbfounded as the ranks of invisible border inscriptions suddenly floated off the ground. Of them, approximately fifty percent of the inscriptions “went out” for a moment before reconnecting. Though it had only been for the blink of an eye, the wildfire on the Southern He Peninsula, driven to the border by the Lovebird Sword Array, seized this opening to squeeze in.

The vegetation at the border billowed like waves on the sea, withering and dying in large stretches. The “wildfire” vines raced in a frenzy into this land of plenty.

Next came the reeking wind.

When the demon seal broke, though the Resurrection Vortex was located between Wan and He, there was a gathering of masters on the Southern He Peninsula, which the demon host avoided, so it was Southern Wan that bore the brunt!

In the Kunlun Sect Leader’s bright red eyes there was only “expelling evil”; he ignored everything else. When his first assault missed its target, he cast the Ceaseless Mirror into the sky. That little mirror two cun large grew countless times, blocking out the sun.

The Sword Slave’s half-puppet core array originated from the Sword Ancestor’s sword-bearing puppet and could be controlled by the Ceaseless Mirror, while Zhi Xiu was afraid of stepping in lest he mistakenly harm the innocent. He scooped up Xi Ping and could do nothing but dodge hastily.

The momentary stagnation of the inscriptions had also made the Silver Moon and the Lovebird Sword Array skip briefly. The Third Elder and Xuanwu had seized that opportunity to escape.

“Don’t worry about me, shifu,” Xi Ping said quickly, forgetting the lie he had just blurted out. “Go back home! Don’t…”

The divine tools of the mountains could seal his link to the reincarnation wood, but they wouldn’t necessarily be able to sever Zhi Xiu’s link to the snow shuffler. A shed skin was after all a shed skin, and besides, among accompanying plants, there was a difference between “one’s own” and “second hand.”

Therefore, Xi Ping had used a tiny verbal trick, and as he’d expected, Zhi Xiu didn’t respond—Xi Ping knew immediately that shifu indeed still had a connection to his accompanying plant. If it had been impossible, Zhi Xiu would have calmly told him so instead of keeping silent.

There were no trees on the Southern He Peninsula. On the way here, Zhi Xiu had had to fly like the others. But returning would be the matter of a moment; no one could catch up with him, whether full moon or shed skin. This game on the Southern He Peninsula from the very first hadn’t been set up to catch him… If only he were willing.

Xi Ping was only too skilled at hitting people where it hurt. He nearly blurted out, Don’t delay, what do I matter in comparison to the Impassable Sea? Anyway, that was my sword attack just now.

If he only said it, it would be just like how he had used a few sentences to interrupt Zhou Ying while the latter had been tormenting the demon seal; shifu would immediately be left with no choice.

Could he really abandon his country for the sake of his disciple and his own selfishness?

Even if Zhi Xiu himself were willing to shoulder that eternal infamy, what about Xi Ping? Having personally damaged the demon seal by mistake, if Xi Ping had a rest of his life, how would he live it down?

But when the words rolled up to the tip of his tongue, Xi Ping clenched his teeth and held them back, not spitting them out.

The situation was different from back then, he thought. That time, san-ge had been standing on the edge of the cliff, getting ready to jump. He’d only needed to turn back and see the shore. Therefore, Xi Ping had had no scruples; he only needed to haul him back from the edge, whatever it took. As long as it worked, it didn’t matter what he said.

This was different. Zhi Xiu was already caught in a dilemma. If he spoke to compel him, it would be cutting out shifu’s heart.

Do not be a hero, and certainly do not be a god. It had sounded like a warning coming from his shifu, but now that he thought about it, it seemed that this was the closest thing to a complaint that shifu had ever uttered in his life.

He had already made a poor showing while taking care of the Territory Map. He couldn’t shift all the responsibility simply because shizun was the legendary “General Zhi.”

Xi Ping was unfilial, but he wasn’t yet unfilial to that degree.

“Don’t…don’t worry about not returning, either. Anyway, you can notify them, and the upgraded immortal tools will hold out for a while.” Xi Ping took a deep breath. “Heaven’s Design Pavilion and the Kaiming Department branch should both have snow shufflers. Have them plant some more, or else your field of vision will be limited… Be careful, the Cauldron of Nine Dragons is still in the sea!”

No sooner had his crow’s mouth spoken these words than a shadow emerged on the surface of the sea. The Cauldron of Nine Dragons was also among the divine tools that had been impacted by the inscriptions, and Wangge Luobao had seized that opportunity to escape. And now that the appearance of the Ceaseless Mirror had suddenly altered the terrain, the “industrious” Lingyun Sect Leader immediately cast aside everything else in favor of “considering the situation as a whole,” taking a side and adding in his own push.

Zhi Xiu pushed Xi Ping aside. Zhaoting’s point forced the teeth-baring, claw-brandishing dragon head away at the last moment. The huge dragon crashed into the water, raising spray to the height of a hill. Through the curtain of water, Zhi Xiu’s complicated and unreadable gaze fell onto the rebellious disciple he had just wanted to give a beating to.

“I’ve really done it this time.” Xi Ping skillfully twisted his wrist, the last to grow back, returning the joint to its proper position. “It’s totally hopeless. If I can’t clean it up, won’t I have to sell myself to compensate for it? Ptui, I can’t do that!”

Zhi Xiu: “…”

“I have a way.” Xi Ping’s focus had reached the greatest heights, countless thoughts rising and falling in his mind. His consciousness was invisibly more concentrated than usual, and the speed of the hidden bones regenerating his body had increased considerably. In the time it had taken to have this conversation, the half of his body that had been shattered earlier had been almost fully restored. The three sword attacks he had taken from Flying Jade Peak had completely fused with his meridians.

No hopeless situation could hold back a heart bent of finding a way out. When he calmed himself entirely, Xi Ping indeed came up with a thought for how to answer the situation.

Wanshuang was being controlled; on their side, they only had shifu left—an ascended spirit didn’t count on this occasion; presumably all the gods and demons of heaven were thinking that, too. But he wasn’t without new cards in his hand. The first was that when the demon aura had blown toward them, the Kunlun Sect Leader’s symptoms had clearly worsened; he had become even more lost. Second was that Master Lin had figured out the inscriptions; if mortals used inscriptions, as long as there were enough of them, there might well be a result, as long as he could restore his connection to the reincarnation wood.

Without Zhaoting, he couldn’t fly a sword under the noses of shed skin sword cultivators, so Xi Ping simply stood on a talisman for riding the wind and charged toward the Ceaseless Mirror on the sea wind Zhaoting had raised cutting down the Cauldron of Nine Dragons.

“Keep an eye out for me, shifu. If you see me about to die, stab me!”

Only Zhaoting could shatter his body without harming his consciousness, letting his consciousness slip out through a crack. The others were all determined to destroy him body and soul.

Apart from the others, he also had a third card: Lin Chi’s letter contained an enormous volume of information, the most important point being Kunlun’s Ceaseless Mirror.

And inside the Ceaseless Mirror, there just happened to be a person—a consciousness.

If san-ge’s word could be relied on, and he really could enter the Ceaseless Mirror without his consciousness being destroyed, then according to what Lin Chi had said, he had likely already found the Beijue Pass, the location of the main body of Kunlun’s Ceaseless Mirror.

He couldn’t strike at the Ceaseless Mirror again, or else the border inscriptions of all the nations would be damaged, and the situation would be even harder to clean up. But that didn’t mean…that the Ceaseless Mirror couldn’t escape the control of Kunlun’s old lunatic.

Inside the Ceaseless Mirror, Zhou Ying’s spiritual sense was touched. He whipped his head around to look back the way he had come.

The aura of the High Priest, fast approaching the grave, had lingered after bringing him inside. Now it had disappeared.

When the previous High Priest’s body died, the entrance to the Ceaseless Mirror would settle on the spirit of the new High Priest, but it hadn’t; in its place, there was biting cold sword energy. In other words, Kunlun’s Sect Leader had temporarily taken over the Ceaseless Mirror—this could only mean that he and the High Priest were no longer in the Kunlun Mountains, and that the Ceaseless Mirror had made its appearance in the human world!

The only person in the world who could force a peak shed skin sword cultivator to brandish the Ceaseless Mirror was the Sword Slave; others weren’t qualified in terms of fighting strength, and they didn’t have the capacity to provoke the old Sect Leader into frenzy.

Zhou Ying tapped on the surface of the mirror and quickly scribbled a line of writing, asking Xie Chu: Can you still contact Xi Shiyong?

Xie Chu was just cleaning up the snow and ice around the Ceaseless Mirror, exhausting all his efforts to record the inscriptions at its edges. He didn’t dare to waste a single breath of warmth. Even his breathing was very controlled. He snatched up a handful of the spiritual stones in his mustard seed, which were running out, and while he was at it touched the reincarnation wood, then shook his head.

In other words, Xi Shiyong was likely on the scene.

Zhou Ying cast his eyes down slightly, rapidly deducing the situation in the outside world right now. At the same time, he acutely sensed the aura of the heart demon in the Kunlun Sect Leader’s sword energy.

The position of High Priest was temporarily vacant, and the Sect Leader who was pinioned by a heart demon without his knowledge had to control the Ceaseless Mirror; a portion of his consciousness would have to enter the mirror.

Beneath the Ceaseless Mirror was buried the origin of the spiritual mountains. The Way of the Heart of a master who regularly wandered here was likely to be corroded; therefore, the Ceaseless Mirror had always been Kunlun’s taboo, controlled by the High Priest, who had a half-immortal cultivation level. Right now, the Sect Leader’s reason probably hadn’t yet fled entirely; opening the Ceaseless Mirror had been only a matter of convenience. Naturally he didn’t dare to probe deeply with his consciousness. He had absolutely no idea that at the end of the divine tool of the mountains was the master of the heart demon seed.

Naturally Kunlun’s Sect Leader had seen Xi Ping. A little ascended spirit, and not even a sword cultivator… The Sect Leader didn’t even bother scolding him for overestimating his capabilities. He raised a hand, ready to crush this tiny ant. Just then, a familiar voice spoke into his ear: “Shixiong.”

It was as if Kunlun’s Sect Leader had been struck by lightning. The next moment, he suddenly remembered: that person—or rather, his corpse—was in the Ceaseless Mirror.