The heart demon was one of the most ancient demons in this world. It had once spread among cultivators like a plague. 

With just one sentence to make a person waver, just one crack, the heart demon could silently invade anyone’s spirit and Way of the Heart. Whether an ascended spirit who could fly through the sky or burrow into the earth or a shed skin cultivator, they might from then on enter an endless loop of wrestling with themselves again and again, be lost forever. 

This was why, though Xi Ping had guessed that Zhi Xiu had likely reached the Impassable Sea, he was unwilling to bring this demon out to let his shifu deal with the problem—General Zhi had been taught by the Dignitary of Fate High Elder; in all these years, given how smart he was, he might have guessed at the darkness behind the Wan-He war back then. In two centuries, he hadn’t taken a single step into the Land of Turmoil. The fact that he had only sent his unreliable disciple to investigate the southern mines went to show that he was still tied up about this. He was simply a perfect target for a heart demon. 

Xi Ping simply didn’t know his own limits. No natural force could stop him. He thought every day of rising to heaven. This time, he had for once made an accurate assessment of his opponent, so Prince Zhuang had thought that he could finally be relied upon, just this once. 

The spiritual bones far away in the Impassable Sea once again lost contact with their owner. From somewhere came the sound of a hand cannon firing. Prince Zhuang suddenly looked out the window, his unique eyes seeing murderous energy rising from the black clouds. 

Early that morning, it was the sound of the yamen’s bailiffs opening fire on workers carrying coffins that tore through the dawn. The shrill wails put one in mind of the starving demons at the bottom of the Impassable Sea. Prince Zhuang swayed. It was as if something were blocking his throat, choking him so that he coughed incessantly. Under Bai Ling’s panicked gaze, bloody saliva seeped out from between his fingers. 

The spirit—the heart of the spiritual sense, the source of consciousness, said to be the location of the human soul. 

Apart from oneself, only heaven, earth, gods, and demons could reach it; it was the end point of a lunatic attempting to snatch a body—and Xi Ping had used it as a grave offering for the great heart demon.

But before his consciousness could disperse, Xi Ping immediately knew that he had placed his bet right. 

As soon as he’d heard from the heart demon’s mouth that Liang Chen’s Way of the Heart had been broken, he’d gotten this idea—since the heart demon had been unable to to possess Liang Chen, it showed that after his Way of the Heart had broken, that senior’s spirit had been so destroyed that there was nowhere to set foot. Xi Ping assessed himself; he believed that his circumstances were a little better than Liang Chen’s had been back then. 

If even Liang Chen could leave the Impassable Sea alive, then was it possible that he wouldn’t be able to? 

Ridiculous. Such a thought had never crossed Young Master Xi’s mind… All that remained was how to distract the heart demon and take him by surprise. 

After his consciousness lost its shelter, most of it dispersed in the reincarnation wood forest. 

This was just what he had anticipated. 

When he had first landed here, Xi Ping had tried to call to A-Xiang. He hadn’t reached her, because his connection to A-Xiang had been blocked by the Impassable Sea, but he had clearly felt at the time that his voice had gone through the reincarnation wood forest around him—in other words, these reincarnation wood trees had some connection to his spirit. 

Now that his consciousness had completely integrated with the trees, Xi Ping had a strange sensation, as if these trees were his hands, feet, and torso. With a thought, the reincarnation wood trees shook their limbs in a rhythm contrary to the spiritual wind, sending the demons approaching his physical body flying away. 

But the strange thing was, the exit to the Impassable Sea had evidently been opened by san-ge’s finger bone, but his body was still stuck in the middle of the inscription, going neither in nor out. 

“I got in pretty smoothly. How could I get stuck going out? I only ate an established foundation pill—I can’t have gotten fat just from that, right?” As Xi Ping pondered in confusion, he controlled the reincarnation wood trees, using their vines to push his body out of the Impassable Sea. 

Just then, an enormous attractive force in the depth of the forest drew in his consciousness. 

Xi Ping had the feeling that a sucker was attached to the back of his head. His consciousness, roaming through the reincarnation wood trees, was abruptly pulled into the earth. In the blink of an eye, he passed through the vast root network, feeling his mind being squeezed by the increasingly narrow root tips. At last, he ended up at the terminus of the roots of the reincarnation wood trees…

And encountered half of a skeleton. 

Seeing the skeleton buried under the reincarnation wood forest, Xi Ping was startled. It looked as if the skeleton had been cut in half by a sharp weapon. There were fractures from the cut left behind on the bones. The former owner of the bones had been dead for ages, yet the spiritual energy on the bones hadn’t dispersed. One of the skeleton’s hands was turned palm upwards, supporting the roots of countless reincarnation wood trees… He seemed to be the origin of this reincarnation wood forest. 

Xi Ping didn’t have time to think closely. The moment his consciousness met that skeleton, it was sucked in by the bones. There was a huge sound in his ears. In a daze, countless fractured images appeared before his eyes—collapsing mountain ranges, raging floods, tidal waves and huge whirlpools, rocs and dragons, gods and demons, unclaimed spiritual mountains concealed in hidden realms, the ancient sages stirring the star-filled sky with their hands…

All the figures in these images were so large that the only idea they inspired was the desire to prostrate yourself in worship. 

All the points of the compass were spread out before him. All antiquity flowed past beneath his feet. Time and space were confounded. Everything known and unknown turned to emptiness in that chaos, dissolving into impermanence, enough to drive a mere mortal to madness. Xi Ping felt that he had become a tiny speck of dust that knew neither where it had come from nor where it was going. For a time he lost awareness, until he was pushed by the wind and landed before a blurred divine image. 

Before this, Xi Ping had only heard his seniors explain what a “Way of the Heart” was. He had never especially understood. 

In that moment, standing in front of the divine image whose age and sex were indistinguishable, he suddenly understood without being taught: the so-called “Way of the Heart” was like a frame that could contain all that chaos and disorder. 

A person could fumble around for their own Way of the Heart, create a very small, yet very steadfast, framework. Then, they would constantly temper their Way of the Heart, constantly expand that framework, until it could integrate all things and all creatures, become one of the three thousand paths of the Great Way. This was the road to becoming a god, becoming a sage. 

They could also follow a way that a predecessor had felt out before them, inherit an already fixed framework, slowly fumble for understanding under the protection of that predecessor. This was the road that the majority of people took. 

Lin Zhaoli-shixiong had assembled the ancient sword and obtained the Way of the Heart of the ancient sword’s previous owner. The Way of the Heart that Exalted Zhao Yu in Jinping had been searching for was hidden inside an ancient painting…and the skeleton beneath the countless reincarnation wood trees here had a Way of the Heart, which was inviting Xi Ping to step forward. 

He tentatively touched the blurred divine image and instantly felt that he had fallen into a boundless scroll. Xi Ping only took a half-hearted glance, didn’t even have a chance to consider closely before he felt his whole soul being filled by that Way of the Heart. A tremendous sense of comfort enveloped him: all that was irresolute could find an explanation here; all that was unstable and uneasy would find a place to rest. He wanted to belong here forever…

Wait, that was wrong! There was something he had left unfinished! 

He hadn’t brought san-ge’s spiritual bones out yet. 

Xi Ping came back to himself with a start, his consciousness abruptly escaping the blurred divine image, putting him at a distance from it. 

There was only half of a skeleton left here. His mind worked quickly: the other half must have been taken away by Liang Chen nine years ago. 

The most senior supervisor of the southern mines had ended up in the Impassable Sea by mistake and witnessed the shameful undercurrent beneath the era of steam power. His Way of the Heart and his spirit had broken here, leaving his consciousness with nowhere to go. It must also have sunk into the hidden bones of the ancient demonic god. This was precisely the peculiar aspect of the “way of death.” Apart from the hidden bones, everything else in the body could be swapped out—this could explain why Liang Chen had left his body on the wooden platform and gone out with the hidden bones to search the world for a corpse to wear; the spirit of his original body could no longer sustain his consciousness. 

The half-skeleton of mysterious hidden bones had confused the peak masters of Green Pool and Flying Jade Peaks to no end, because there was too great a difference between the way they acted in Xi Ping’s body and the way they had acted in Liang Chen’s body: cloaked in the hidden bones, regardless of whether his own cultivation level was up to the mark, Liang Chen had been able to feign being half a step from a shed skin, had even been able to hamper Zhi Xiu, who hadn’t dared to exert all his strength so close to Jinping City. 

But when this great magical weapon had come to Xi Ping, it had degenerated to its owner’s amateur level. The hidden bones hadn’t raised Xi Ping’s cultivation level, and they hadn’t given him any kind of additional magic powers. Even in dealing with those idiots who had offered up their flesh and blood to the reincarnation wood, his bone qin only worked against mortals—a half-immortal who had opened his spiritual eyes was already a world apart from a mortal; there was nothing glorious about this. 

Xi Ping quickly summarized the differences between himself and Liang Chen: first, when he’d obtained the hidden bones, he had coincidentally just opened his spiritual eyes, and his meridians had been destroyed by the inscription; in order to save his life, Duanrui-shishu had indiscriminately pinched him and the hidden bones together—but that only meant that he was better fused with the hidden bones than Liang Chen had been… Being better fused together meant he couldn’t get any use out of them? How did that make sense? 

The second difference was that Xi Ping had no Way of the Heart. 

Liang Chen had had a Way of the Heart, which had broken; so when his consciousness had found rest in the hidden bones of the ancient demonic god, had he readily inherited that demonic god’s Way of the Heart? 

This great master had reached the pinnacle of the shed skin period. Carrying on along his way, your future would be boundless. For an outer sect cultivator who’d had no one to guide him, it was simply an irresistible lure. 

But Xi Ping wasn’t an outer sect cultivator. He had even refused General Zhi’s Way of the Heart, and he didn’t think the way in these lousy bones was any more brilliant than his shifu’s—cultivating the way of death…that sounded much too auspicious. He’d be better off spending four shichen every day practicing the sword with shifu in the northwest wind.

“I don’t want it,” he thought. “Anyway, I’m not going to die right away. At worst I’ll live off the trees and be a tree spirit. Maybe I’ll be able to accumulate some virtue by saving some would-be suicides trying to hang themselves. Shifu can take care of the rest.” 

Having thought of this, Xi Ping decisively pulled his consciousness away, planning to follow the roots up. If his body really couldn’t leave the Impassable Sea, he would first think of a way to get the mustard seed containing san-ge’s spiritual bones out. 

This great master’s Way of the Heart had never been ignored like this. It was infuriated by this proud and ignorant brat. The blurred divine image suddenly threw itself forward, trying to force his consciousness to merge with it. Parting without hard feelings was all right, but what Xi Ping had always hated most was a forced sale. He thought, You want to seize a beautiful man for yourself, or what? 

His spirit had cracked, and he had been somewhat dazed and sluggish to begin with. Now he was energized. A rebellious heart was far more effective than swallowing a whole bottle of mind-clearing pills dry. 

Xi Ping uprooted his consciousness from that half-skeleton and charged into the surrounding reincarnation wood trees. The reincarnation wood trees twining around the bones moved in answer to his thoughts, quickly twisting around the half-skeleton of the demonic god’s hidden bones. 

Xi Ping said, “Get lost, now.” 

He had just wanted to use the tree roots to hold the hidden bones back for a moment. He hadn’t expected that, because he had used too much force or something, the half-skeleton would be broken to bits by the twisting roots! 

Xi Ping: “… “

I didn’t do it on purpose…

No, this couldn’t have been his mistake. How could an ancient demonic god’s hidden bones be so fragile? And weren’t these reincarnation wood trees the old fellow’s accompanying plant?

Before he could react, the bones that had been twisted to pieces by the tree roots turned into a handful of green mist that seeped into the tips of the roots of the reincarnation wood trees—Xi Ping, whose consciousness was clearly wandering outside of his body, had a sudden feeling like his ankles were itching. For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether the feeling was coming from his own ankles, or whether the tree roots were giving him the impression of having feet! 

The peculiar itching quickly went up from his ankles and climbed over his whole body. Xi Ping simply had no idea where to start scratching. 

Then, his chest was hollowed out. His consciousness, previously scattered throughout the reincarnation wood forest, suddenly twisted together and was pulled back into his body, hitting the vast spiritual energy that had shattered his spirit head on. 

Xi Ping was nearly knocked unconscious by the crash. At the same time, his body, stuck in the inscription, struggled unnaturally. 

Every bit of his bones was constantly breaking and reforming. When the bones regrew, they interlocked, making cracking sounds. The reincarnation wood trees around him grew like mad. 

Now all the demons in the Impassable Sea were unable to approach. Even the demon seal was trembling incessantly amid this momentum. 

Demonic energy that had been concealed for nearly a thousand years leaked out of the crack in the inscription. In the Resurrection Vortex, black shadows appeared at the bottom of each whirlpool and went upwards against the rotation of the whirlpools. The sky suddenly clouded over with heavy clouds. Next, a bolt of lightning split the surface of the sea. 

In the distant Xuanyin Mountains, the foggy Sea of Stars turned over, and there was a huge sound at the principal peak as the Bell of Tribulation moved without a wind! 

Above the Resurrection Vortex, Zhi Xiu narrowly dodged the heavenly tribulation. His heart beat like thunder. But then, his consciousness caught a faint passing sliver of…Xi Ping’s aura! 

Without any hesitation, the sword cultivator made a hand seal and cut right through the ominously seething enormous whirlpool. Avoiding the lightning flashing through the water, he chased after that aura. 

On the ice boat skimming over the waves, Wei Chengxiang suddenly felt something. She took out the reincarnation wood amulet she kept close to her body. 

The amulet was now charred black, as if it had been burnt, now restored to as good as new. Soon after, from the charred and then restored wood grain, tiny twigs and buds grew, became long and slender, and wrapped around the amulet. In the blink of an eye, the tender leaves turned deep green, then yellowed and fell away. The amulet was once again as smooth and clean as before…

Wei Chengxiang had spent the whole way chatting with the amulet, talking out all the words she’d held back for days while being the holy woman, yet she hadn’t gotten any reaction from it. Now, seeing the reincarnation wood amulet behaving strangely, she involuntarily became wild with joy—any reaction was better than no reaction. “Uncle! Uncle!” 

The amulet in its constant alternation of the life cycle wrapped around the girl’s cry and sent it surging into the den of demons. 

Xi Ping’s consciousness, nearly broken apart by the wheeling spiritual energy, was called back to wakefulness by her. 

A-Xiang…

If A-Xiang’s voice could get in, then wasn’t the exit to the Impassable Sea completely open? 

San-ge’s spiritual bones…

The seal on the Impassable Sea that had existed for nearly eight hundred years was on the point of collapse from his struggles. Xi Ping’s constantly spasming joints gave a final crack. Where the foot he himself had cut off had been, a new foot grew…though it was only of bone. 

Then there was an enormous sound—

The thread of clear consciousness he had maintained landed firmly on something. The spiritual wind that had scattered both his spirit and the heart demon settled; his spiritual foundation had been forged. 

Xi Ping felt all his meridians grow countless times wider. All of the spiritual energy surging in was channeled into his spiritual foundation. 

But on that spiritual foundation, there was still no Way of the Heart. 

Next, the inscription under him collapsed altogether. 

The Impassable Sea… The Impassable Sea, sealed in an unknown place since ancient times, where the eight-hundred-year-old great demon was about to take shape at any moment—the demon seal on it had been broken ahead of schedule by Xi Ping! 

The hundreds of thousands of demons trapped there once again saw the light of day. Spiritual energy and demonic energy surged out together. A tidal wave dozens of zhang high rose in the East Sea. 

Xi Ping, completely exhausted, fell into the deep sea, all the spiritual energy around him scattered by the broken demon seal. 

The demon host, suppressed for ages, threw themselves forward with fangs bared and claws extended as soon as they were free, planning to enjoy the taste of this first mouthful of human flesh. 

Just then, a stroke of sword light as bright as snow swept over. Zhaoting fell and tore a gap among the densely gathered demons. 

Zhi Xiu grabbed hold of his disciple, who had pierced through the “underworld.” 

The Marquis of Yongning hadn’t yet left Guangyun Palace. He was thinking that the weather was unusually stuffy today, making it hard to catch his breath. Then he heard an enormous sound. 

Fierce light dazzled the Marquis so he couldn’t open his eyes. He looked back in terror and saw that Guangyun Palace’s Jinluan Main Hall had been struck by a bolt of lightning. All the gas lamps nearby had been destroyed. There were flames on the coiled dragon columns. 

In the seven Azure Dragon Towers in Jinping City, the bells began to ring incessantly all at once. A sudden wave on the Lingyang River overturned the pleasure boats floating there. The Dragon Vein was quaking!