“Lanze…” Kunlun’s Sect Leader moved his lips unconsciously, speaking in a voice as feeble as dust.

But it couldn’t escape a cultivator’s hearing.

At a distance from him, the Third Elder’s heart trembled. He wished he were deaf. The Sword Slave, knocked down to earth by the Ceaseless Mirror, abruptly raised her head—“Lanze” was the Second Elder’s courtesy name.

At this stage, Xi Ping had no more time to plan his steps. All his reactions were instinctive.

Synthesizing what Lin Chi and Yao Qi had said, the Second Elder must have gone too deep while repairing the Beijue Array and inadvertently seen the inscriptions there, then died there when he went in person to verify. The details were obscure. He processed it roughly, only picking up the irrefutable and vital points. “To launch a sneak attack on a fellow sect member in the place he had guarded his whole life, kill him to keep him silent, then hide his corpse in the Ceaseless Mirror to cover up the truth…”

His words were interrupted by sword wind.

This blow ought to have sliced him to pieces, but this foremost Sect Leader’s mind was unstable. Xi Ping’s “launch a sneak attack on a fellow sect member” and “hide his corpse in the Ceaseless Mirror” stabbed into his ears, and the “corpse” inside the Ceaseless Mirror was knocking again and again on his consciousness.

“I want to pay a visit to the Beijue Mountain Pass. Please undertake the array for me, shixiong.”

“I know what they’re all thinking. Shixiong, you’re the only one I trust.”

“Shixiong…”

Kunlun’s Sect Leader couldn’t distinguish whether the questioning voice was coming from inside or outside the mirror. His hand began to shake as it held his sword. Xi Ping, who was richly experienced in being hunted, narrowly avoided the thrust.

On the ground, all the bone jade in the body of the Sword Slave, bound by the Ceaseless Mirror, began to shake. Her mouthful of teeth that could crunch spiritual stones like candy chattered. “What did you say? What did you say?!”

The Second Elder had persisted in believing that if only he could prove that Lancang’s Sect Leader hadn’t been practicing an evil art before his death, no matter what else, the cultivation world wouldn’t openly rob the people to get spiritual stones. The Sect Leader could do nothing to change his mind. Pleading seclusion as an excuse, he had wanted to paper things over and wait for everyone to cool down, but instead when he sat down to meditate that day, for the first time he came into contact with something that was almost a “heavenly edict.” The contents of the heavenly edict were vague, but when the Sect Leader opened his eyes, the Second Elder saying I’ve seen inscriptions like this outside the Beijue Array lingered in his mind.

Moved by obscure motives, he agreed to go with the Second Elder. Before he left, the High Priest came to see him and requested to come along. That was the previous High Priest, already elderly then, only waiting for a new High Priest from among the bodies with their consciousnesses sealed to inherit the memories and then awaken; it had been a long time since he had made an appearance… The Sect Leader thought that he ought to have known then that the expedition would be doomed.

Outside the Beijue Mountains, even for shed skins, was the most difficult place on earth to survive. To keep their consciousnesses from being lost in the utter cold, the two of them took turns standing guard as the other rested. In recent years, though they had shared control over Kunlun’s general affairs, there had been some disagreeable words spoken between them; when they met, they stuck to business. They rarely had a chance to reminisce about past affections.

In a difficult place, people grow much closer.

In order to stay awake, the two of them began idly chatting about the past. The Sect Leader had built Kunlun’s Disciple Hall system single-handed, and the Second Elder had been among the first batch of disciples in the Disciple Hall, personally selected by the Sect Leader, introduced to cultivation by him step by step. They also each spoke of their respective troubling juniors. The Sect Leader brought up Wu Lingxiao; sighing out white steam, he said he had a whetstone, an excellent thing; when they returned to the sect, the Second Elder could take it and give it to his little disciple to coax her into coming back.

They also spoke of all the grave diseases plaguing the cultivation world at the time… The Sect Leader had never revealed so many of his quandaries to another person, not even the High Priest.

When one’s cultivation reached the level of these two shed skins, it became very hard to confide in another. Unexpectedly what lay beyond the Beijue Mountains dragged these divine sages back to mortality. The two thousand-year-old shed skins had to share their meager resources with each other so both could survive. They dimly returned to their youth, brothers and bosom companions walking shoulder-to-shoulder.

Till they reached the end of the Beijue Array.

Xi Ping said, “Your honored sect merits the position of foremost in the world. After doing a shameful deed, you still aren’t afraid that a ghost will come knocking at your door. I admire you!”

A ghost…

When the High Priest had pushed the Second Elder’s body into the Ceaseless Mirror, his essence had not yet completely dispersed. Was he really dead? Was it possible… that he was roaming in the Ceaseless Mirror, always watching him?

In that moment, the Sect Leader forgot the ascended spirit in front of him, forgot the Sword Slave, forgot his allies and enemies from all the great sects. Heedless of all else, he sent his consciousness into the Ceaseless Mirror.

Zhou Ying silently turned into mist. The weak aura of an established foundation was matter-of-factly ignored by that sword cultivator. He sensed the Kunlun Sect Leader’s aura charge directly toward the Second Elder’s body.

Oh? So impulsive?

With a thought, Zhou Ying knew that most likely there was also someone outside the Ceaseless Mirror provoking him.

A shed skin sword cultivator’s sword heart was extremely firm. The Sect Leader represented the will of the Kunlun Mountains. This heart demon had been too easy to raise; it couldn’t only have been because he had done something shameful—Xuanwu had mistakenly killed Lingyun cultivators during his destitute wanderings, and Xiang Ning had tried taking advantage of Jinping’s misfortunes and harmed its innocent people; they had both felt that they were too important to pay attention to such trifles. Neither of them had wavered.

Zhou Ying’s gaze also fell on the Second Elder’s corpse. Suddenly, he noticed that this corpse was very neat, much more dignified than Xie Chu, who was currently crawling through the snow. His crown was upright, and he didn't have a hair out of place—never mind trekking through ice and snow and getting stabbed in the back, he might not even have even been able to wake up this tidy from an afternoon nap.

Who had cleaned him up?

A single thing, let it be even the revelation of a colossal secret, wasn’t very likely provoke such a tidy and efficient murderous impulse; there would at least have been a few words of argument.

The average person might think that the reason the Sect Leader had been able to bring himself to kill was that his political views disagreed with the Second Elder’s and he bore a grudge, or he was jealous that a junior’s cultivation might catch up with and surpass his… but would a shed skin master be base enough to be so shallow and impetuous?

When Lancang’s Sect Leader had lost his mind, half of it had been the heart demon seed, and another half had been because he had betrayed the Lancang Mountains. Then Kunlun…

The shed skin sword cultivator’s aura charged toward him, so aggressive it was hard to breathe. Fortunately, Zhou Ying was at present only a consciousness that had left its body. He didn’t need to breathe.

Dispersed in the mist, a guess suddenly came to him. He changed his line of attack. “Shixiong, I know it wasn’t your choice to attack me. I don’t blame you. I only feel pity that you, the hero of an era, have become the puppet of the spiritual mountains, and you don't even know it…”

The Sect Leader’s ears roared, his consciousness crammed full of the whispering of the heart demon—back then, when he had heard the happy surprise in the voice of the Second Elder walking in front of him, there had been a moment when he had actually felt a little gratified. In the present cultivation world, there weren’t many who could still be so pure.

When he had gone over, he had even thought that Kunlun currently had enough spiritual stones, and it didn’t plan on turning over immortal tools for mortal use. There was no need for them to covet another nation’s spiritual mountains like the southerners. If Lanze really could give those hypocritical southerners a slap in the face, what would it cost him as his shixiong to cover for him?

But all his thoughts disappeared the instant he saw those inscriptions. The Sect Leader was engulfed in unreasoning panic, as if the greatest secret of his life had been unearthed. Apart from the icy desire to kill, there was nothing in his head. His memories practically cut off at that moment.

He only remembered that when he had come back to his senses, the point of his sword had already fallen on the Second Elder’s back. A single blow had cut through his body and pierced his essence. Next, the High Priest had emerged from the mustard seed hidden realm he was carrying and opened the Ceaseless Mirror in front of him.

The wintry wind outside the Beijue Mountain Pass was too much for an old half-immortal with one foot in the grave. The High Priest’s form only appeared for a moment before it was completely frozen. The Second Elder’s body disappeared inside the Ceaseless Mirror, and the previous High Priest stood rigid in front of it, having given his life for duty.

Dazed, the Sect Leader retraced his steps in a panic. Because of his plentiful essence, in the end he didn’t freeze to death outside the Beijue Mountains. Holding out with his last breath, he had returned the Ceaseless Mirror to the Kunlun Mountains' summit. The new High Priest had opened his eyes from among a group of “candidates” whose consciousnesses had been sealed. He had already received all the memories of the previous High Priest. Apart from being young, his manner and tone were in no way different from his predecessor.

Seeing the Sect Leader, the first words he said to him were, “Zhu Lanze had become disloyal. Punishing him was the will of the spiritual mountains. The Sect Leader merely dealt fairly with him. I know that righteousness and personal feelings are hard to separate. The Sect Leader must be suffering now. Please restrain your grief and accept the inevitable.”

The High Priest had been right. When the Sect Leader thought back to it after the fact, he thought more and more that the Second Elder had been heretical, wanting to shake the foundations of his own spiritual mountains for the sake of a few foreigners who had nothing to do with him. It had been a matter of urgency; however heartbroken he might be, there had been nothing else he could do. Hadn’t the High Priest endorsed his righteous choice to murder a loved one? The blankness in his mind then had been only the suffering of being unable to have it both ways.

Lying to himself, the Sect Leader had pushed a hidden truth down to the bottom of his heart: he’d had no intention of killing then, and the one who had raised the sword to kill hadn’t been him at all. It had been that will that had suddenly occupied his body.

But he didn’t dare to believe it, didn’t dare to think about it. He would rather admit that he was base and shameless, that he had been jealous of his extraordinarily talented shidi. Otherwise, in the millennium and more during which he had opened his spiritual eyes in the chaotic primordial world, refined his sword aura amid the harshest ice and snow, sought high and low in the face of near-certain death, made the difficult trek to the present, had he really been doing it all in order to cultivate himself into a puppet?

The heart demon sighed softly and said, “Mortals always lie to themselves and shift blame so they can feel good about themselves. You’re clearly a good person, but why must you contort your own heart for the sake of a Way of the Heart? Shixiong, why don’t you take a look in the Ceaseless Mirror, see who is the true ‘sword slave’ of the spiritual mountains?”

The Ceaseless Mirror, suspended in the sky above the Lancang Mountains, suddenly shook, instantly breaking free of the Kunlun Sect Leader’s control.

The Sword Slave immediately fought free of the divine tool of the mountains and took up Wanshuang.

San-ge really was influencing events here through the Ceaseless Mirror! Xi Ping’s chest grew warm, and his vision blurred. But he didn’t delay. He immediately made way for the Sword Slave and escaped.

He needed to find a moment to break again, strengthen his cultivation, then think of a way to pare down the Silver Moon and the Lovebird Sword Array. Only then would he be able to reconnect with the reincarnation wood. Once he was free, he wouldn’t be so passive anymore, and shifu would no longer be held back by him, caught here on the horns of a dilemma.

It was just that while shattering his body was easy, once his body was shattered, his consciousness would be unprotected. Never mind these masters, even running into an established foundation could destroy him. He also needed a chance to regenerate.

Perhaps at the bottom of the sea…

But while all of Xi Ping’s focus was on the Ceaseless Mirror and the Kunlun swords, a huge roc beast spirit appeared out of nowhere beside him and slammed into him.

This was a technique of the Shu. That son-of-a-bitch Wangge Luobao!

The beast spirit disappeared. Xi Ping’s vision darkened. He had been slammed back beneath the Ceaseless Mirror.

Kunlun’s Sect Leader was caught by the heart demon, but the others weren’t. For Xuanwu, this could be called new grievances on top of old resentments. He happened to arrive just now, his curved blade pointed right at the center of Xi Ping’s brow. The Lovebird Sword Array and the Silver Moon locked onto Xi Ping simultaneously. Immediately, he couldn’t move a muscle. Kunlun’s Third Elder had heard what Xi Ping had said earlier; his urge to kill rose instantly. He also aimed a blow at him.

Wangge Luobao rejoiced as if he had received a divine blessing. His efforts had somehow been crowned with success. He seized the opportunity to dive back into the water. Countless aquatic spiritual beasts gathered above his head, meeting death with shrill cries, covering him with a thousand-zhang shield of flesh.

This ploy was steady, accurate, and relentless. Even from right next to him, Zhi Xiu couldn’t have saved Xi Ping.

In a flash, the veins stood out on Zhi Xiu’s hand as he gripped his sword. Then the Sword that Mended the Heavens flew out and pierced Xi Ping’s body. If he were touched by a divine tool of the mountains, with ascended spirit cultivation, he would certainly be decimated body and soul. Only Zhaoting, shattering his body and releasing his consciousness, could leave him a chance to escape alive.

This was a genuine article, full-blown shed skin sword attack, innumerable times stronger than what Xi Ping himself had barely been able to wield earlier. Like a bit of froth, he was instantly crushed to bits. It was too quick. Xi Ping hardly felt the pain.

The force of the sword energy that had pierced him wasn’t yet spent. It met the deadly foes.

Xi Ping’s consciousness seized the opportunity to flee.

But just then, he saw himself in the Ceaseless Mirror.

Right now, he was plainly only a consciousness, but the out-of-control mirror reflected a complete and entire set of hidden bones—and unlike what he had seen in the Eternal Flame, the hidden bones in the mirror were covered with inscriptions.

When Xi Ping’s consciousness was reflected in the Ceaseless Mirror, Kunlun’s Sect Leader came back to his senses. He suddenly cast aside the Second Elder’s corpse and stabbed at Xi Ping, caught by the Ceaseless Mirror.

Just then, a beam of utterly clear sword light surged upward. Wanshuang brushed shoulders with Xi Ping and blocked the fatal attack for him.

But the rapidly spiraling spiritual energy around him collected and pulled Xi Ping in like a whirlpool.

Zhaoting, Wanshuang, the great divine tools of the mountains, two Kunlun swords… Any one of those gusts of spiritual wind was enough to tear apart an ascended spirit’s body. No matter what, the hidden bones couldn’t manage to put him together.

“A…A-Xiang, help…help me out!”

“What?!”

Wei Chengxiang had just managed to get the capsized boat upright by using an upgraded immortal tool. When she turned her head, dazzling inscriptions began to emerge on the body of the paperman next to her.

“I’m a half-immortal. If I make a rubbing of an inscription, it’ll just be a doodle,” Wei Chengxiang said. “What kind of lousy idea is this? If you just needed enough people, then that rich and powerful bunch with tens of thousands of people working in their factories would have had them stamping inscriptions on everything, and making offerings and burning incense—wouldn’t the whole world be full of spiritual mountains?”

Xi Ping didn’t have time to answer her.

Luckily, while Wei Chengxiang didn’t believe it, she wasn’t idle. Before she finished speaking, she had already recorded the inscriptions on the paperman onto a seal and transferred them through an array to all the Luwu ships.

All the “survivors” from the Southern He Peninsula just happened to be on the Luwu boats.

Wei Chengxiang said, “I’m telling you, this is ridiculous!”

As she scolded, she “ridiculously” stamped inscriptions all over a potted reincarnation wood tree next to her.

Instantly, through the hands of the Turmoilers and the Luwu, countless inscriptions were stamped on reincarnation wood amulets of all forms. The half-immortals who normally used reincarnation wood to communicate automatically sent their consciousnesses into it, while the mortals concentrated and called out as usual—

“Tai Sui…”

“Tai Sui!”

A faint warm current seemed to flow over Xi Ping’s trapped consciousness. With a roar, the people’s voices surged toward him like the tide.

Wei Chengxiang, with her hand on the reincarnation wood, heard a familiar voice in her ears: “It’s very interesting when you come to think of it. It seems that not being able to write inscriptions until you’re an established foundation is also something stipulated by these inscriptions.”

The hidden bones abruptly broke free of the spiritual energy tearing at him and gathered up spiritual energy. The outlines of Xi Ping’s body were restored at a previously unheard of speed. The moment his hands grew out of thin air and planted on the strings of the Tai Sui Qin, Xi Ping knew that his cultivation had reached the late ascended spirit stage.

Tao County, the South Sea, Wan, Chu… All the places where reincarnation wood grew once again appeared in his consciousness.

The reincarnation wood amulet Zhi Xiu carried spoke: “Shifu, go!”

Zhi Xiu stopped hesitating. Before the force of Zhaoting’s blow was spent, man and sword light had merged, simply swapping places with an accompanying plant on the Wan-He border.

At the same time, the reincarnation wood seeds Xi Ping had left with Yao Qi and Chang Jun sprouted inside the mustard seed—that mustard seed hidden realm had fallen into the sea when Xi Ping had been crushed to dust. The next moment, Xi Ping escaped from in front of the Ceaseless Mirror. Through the reincarnation wood saplings, he arrived in the mustard seed hidden realm.

“Your Highness the Blind Wolf King!” In the Beijue Mountain Pass, Xi Ping’s voice came from the seemingly dead reincarnation wood amulet carried by Xie Chu. “Did my san-ge leave word for me?”