There was an unusual softness and slowness to Lin Chi’s speech that lent some of what he said an air of mystery.

Xi Ping, perhaps because he had heard him speak, or perhaps because his spiritual sense had been touched, directed his consciousness toward Tao County.

And just then, by coincidence, word came almost simultaneously from Wei Chengxiang and the Luwu in the Snake King’s Immortal Palace.

“Senior,” Wei Chengxiang said wonderingly, “does this Miss Zhao have some kind of ‘hit me’ talisman stuck to her?”

Lao Tian, overseeing the Snake King’s Immortal Palace, sent a message: “Senior, a Zhao has entered Tao County.”

Zhao Qindan’s identity had made it all the way to the Snake King’s Immortal Palace already?

Xi Ping’s scalp bristled. He tracked down Zhao Qindan with reincarnation wood: this “walker in the mortal world” who had never walked in the mortal world now found herself in an exceptionally dire predicament, pursued and surrounded by several evil cultivators. He quickly asked Wei Chengxiang, “What happened?”

“I don't know.” Wei Chengxiang had been following Zhao Qindan at a middle distance, secretly keeping watch; she hadn’t taken precipitate action. “It’s as if her spiritual sense has been cursed silly. Forget going the wrong way, she charged right into a crowd of evil cultivators, all on her own, and carrying so many spiritual stones. Of course it’s going to give them ideas. These unorthodox evil cultivator aren’t normally a match for a walker in the mortal world, but somehow she dropped her Zhao clan token, with entry and exit inscriptions for the Zhao family hidden realm and everything. One of the evil cultivators caught a glimpse, and the whole crowd of them went wild... Everyone knows that the Zhaos have brought their rare treasures into foreign exile. News is spreading like wildfire, I think all the evil cultivators in Wild Fox Country are coming for her now. If I hadn’t been following her the whole way and knew she had no backup, I’d think she was deliberately putting out a lure—it really did seem like she tossed that token out herself.”

Xi Ping saw Zhao Qindan fling a talisman with a soft cry. With his current cultivation level and consciousness, when he looked at a half-immortal, he could see the flow of her spiritual energy. He saw at a glance that when she used spiritual stones to fling the talisman, at least half the spiritual energy was lost, and the indistinct image of a human hand flashed in her spiritual stone pouch.

Xi Ping: “...”

The token really had been tossed out deliberately. The pestilential Law Breaker Bracelet had done it.

A cultivator was sure to notice her own spiritual stones being stolen; the only time she wouldn’t be keeping count was in the midst of battle, with talismans flying this way and that. So the Law Breaker Bracelet had deliberately instigated an attack on Zhao Qindan, so it would take advantage of the fighting to snatch her spiritual stones unnoticed.

A thrill of terror ran through Xi Ping. The Law Breaker had developed intelligence.

The issue wasn’t Zhao Qindan being exposed; it was that Xu Rucheng was still impersonating her!

Currently, in the Zhao family hidden realm, after making a scene to his heart’s content, Xu Rucheng had quickly tasted the bitter consequences—he had never had any opportunity to come in contact with the daughters of big families, and he had thought that a young mistress like Zhao Qindan was a “treasured pearl”; even if she was disobedient, her family would deprive her of a meal, take her spiritual stones, or seal her meridians at worst.

Who would have thought the Zhaos could be so ruthless toward a “pearl”?

The established foundation cultivator hadn’t hit him. He had simply reached out and sealed his spirit, trapping the consciousness of the “young mistress” in an illusion; he couldn’t even wake up!

The Zhao clan’s “family discipline” far outstripped Xu Rucheng’s imagination. As soon as he fell in, he was surrounded by blood and flames. In a daze, Xu Rucheng seemed to return to the chaos in Yuzhou five years ago, when he had received word and desperately rushed home, but he hadn’t even been in time to bury the body…

“Xu Rucheng!” With one shout, Xi Ping woke him.

Xu Rucheng gave a start and came back to himself. He swore a string of foul oaths with his hair standing on end—this method was called the “learning regret spell.” It was a type of punishment used by Heaven’s Design Pavilion, which could trap a person’s consciousness in the most terrifying moment of their life. It wasn’t much gentler than a soul-searching.

If not for the fact that they couldn’t give the third-rate imperial grandson an idiot in marriage, perhaps they really would have used a soul-searching.

Fortunately he had the paranoid habit of hiding money in his shoes and socks and had hidden the reincarnation wood chip and backup spiritual stones under the Luwu mask going in. Otherwise, he might have died here today in obscurity.

Xu Rucheng gasped for breath. “What in blazes? Was Zhao Qindan adopted?”

“Tell the Luwu in the Zhao family hidden realm pick you up and withdraw.” Xi Ping didn’t take time to chat. He said seriously, “Zhao Qindan is in Tao County, and the Zhao family token she’s carrying has been discovered. She may already have been exposed.”

He’d had to coax and wheedle Xu Rucheng into putting on the young mistress’s skin; Xi Ping had expected him to breathe a sigh of relief. But Xu Rucheng was silent for a moment inside the learning regret spell, then said, “It’s all right. I gave her a servant’s token. Even if word gets out, the Zhao family won’t suspect me for a while—but if I escape right away, then they’ll realize something’s wrong.”

Xi Ping was just about to say, “What’s it got to do with you? Have you fallen into the habit of rescuing damsels? A noble beauty could beat up two of you.” Then he saw Xu Rucheng open his eyes and look at the old home he couldn’t return to inside the learning regret spell, and say softly, as though raving in a dream, “Back then, A-Hua was also forced like this… A-Hua never even got to be a young mistress.”

Xi Ping froze. Then he wasted no more words trying to counsel him. He turned decisively to Wei Chengxiang: “The rotten bracelet is playing dirty. Help me out, get her out of there.”

Then he passed word to the Luwu in the Snake King’s Immortal Palace: “Do what you can to block the information from spreading. Our people are in the Zhao family hidden realm. We can’t let this news leave Tao County.”

“Peak Master Lin,” said Xi Ping, running back to Lin Chi when he was finished making arrangements in Tao County, “the Law Breaker Bracelet didn’t hesitate to deliberately provoke a fight among cultivators in order to steal spiritual stones. What is it up to?”

Hearing this, Lin Chi became grave. “Steal spiritual stones? How many spiritual stones has it stolen? Tell me in detail.” 

With Zhao Qindan’s family background, if the Law Breaker furtively freeloaded a few jade stamps off her, she wouldn’t necessarily notice; if she did find out, she would probably think she had lost them herself. She wouldn’t necessarily think anything of it. But the pouch of spiritual stones Xu Rucheng had stolen and offered as his own gift to Zhao Qindan, there was everything. Converting the contents into white spirits, there might be two or three liang. The Law Breaker seemed intent on going on until it had drained the pouch dry.

Xi Ping asked, “Would it take that much spiritual energy to keep a severed hand fresh?”

Lin Chi’s pupils shrank slightly. “When an immortal tool is inactive, it usually doesn’t require spiritual stones.”

“You mean it wants to collect spiritual stones to activate itself?” Xi Ping said. “Wait, wait…isn’t A-Xiang its master? A-Xiang isn’t there, so who’s activating it?”

That severed hand?

“Little Brother Wei ceased to sense the Law Breaker when she cut her hand off at the wrist and threw the Law Breaker away. The immortal tool may already have gone out of control then,” Lin Chi said. “There are usually two circumstances under which an immortal tool goes out of control. Either its master dies and the consciousness in it dissipates, or a person with stronger cultivation wipes the traces of its master’s consciousness away by force—there isn’t a high chance of the latter in the case of the Law Breaker and the Riverward, which can withstand a shed skin. If the Law Breaker had a new master, it wouldn’t have ended up running around ‘stealing’ spiritual stones.”

Xi Ping said, “You mean that the bracelet itself revolted, wiped away A-Xiang’s consciousness, and is activating itself…. What axiom is it activating?”

“An immortal tool has no thoughts,” Lin Chi said. “It depends on whose idea was strongest at the moment it went out of control.”

When Wei Chengxiang had tossed the Law Breaker away, it had been the seventh day of the seventh month, the moment before the axiom was realized. On the scene had been ascended spirit cultivators he wasn’t acquainted with from various nations, the bewildered Luwu, and the great monster Qiu Sha.

This was a disaster. Sanyue’s shed skin had still been outside of the Law Breaker then. All the useless ascended spirits put together couldn’t beat one Qiu Sha. Apart from her, whose idea could have been strongest?

Within the confines of the Law Breaker, the axiom was everything. Neither ascended spirits nor shed skins could escape its rules. It was anyone’s guess what kind of axiom the Law Breaker Bracelet would develop based on Qiu Sha’s thoughts at the time—of course she wouldn’t have been thinking anything good.

As soon as the Law Breaker was activated, there would be no need for Tao County to wait until the fifteenth day of the eighth month!

Heavens, it was one thing after another. Tao County was some place—they ought to bring in a fengshui master to fix its topography!

Xi Ping said, “Peak Master Lin, based on your understanding of immortal tools, what should we do now? Do you have a solution?”

“The Law Breaker must be caught before it can activate.” Lin Chi’s speech nearly sped up to within normal range. “Then a sufficiently powerful consciousness must suppress and seal the Law Breaker. Once the axiom has been put into effect, it will be too late.”

As Xi Ping passed on “Catch the Law Breaker” to Wei Chengxiang and the Luwu, he counted up the people he could appeal to and said to Lin Chi, “Among the Luwu, the person with the strongest cultivation I can contact at present is an established foundation. I’m afraid that won’t work. Master Lin, help me out!”

In that moment, Master Lin’s usually immobile features didn’t manage to hide his alarm. He blurted out, “I can’t, my skills are inadequate!”

Xi Ping: “…”

Had Moon Plated Peak changed its name to “I Can’t Peak”?

“Shishu,” said Xi Ping, “you’re the only ascended spirit who can help now. It’s Western Chu territory. By the time word reaches Sanyue, the feast will be over and everyone will be going home. Are you just going to stand there and let people die?”

Lin Chi: “…”

Xi Ping said, “Qiu Sha has already gone to get a beating from the sages. You’re the living Golden Hand, and you say you can’t beat her? Of course you can do it!”

Since Lin Chi couldn’t say a thing like “I am going to stand here and let people die,” but also definitely didn’t think that he could do it, he was nearly stifled to death.

Using himself as a medium, Xi Ping simply dragged Lin Chi’s consciousness into the reincarnation wood.

There was nothing for it. His resources were too scarce. He had to take whatever he could get.

Xi Ping considered it calmly: if there was really no hope from Lin Chi, he would go and see just how strong the idea that had made the Law Breaker lose control was. If it really was Qiu Sha…

“She was an ascended spirit,” he thought. “I’m a step away from an ascended spirit, but other people’s consciousnesses rely on their bodies. I’m stronger than everyone else at my level. I might be able to make do.”

So he said boastfully to Lin Chi, “Just do your best, shishu. If there’s really nothing for it, I’ll take over.”

Master Lin suspected for a moment that there was something wrong with his ears. He said fearfully, “Wh-who will take over? Slow down, if I recall correctly… What is your cultivation level?”

“Established foundation, I suppose,” Xi Ping answered modestly.

Lin Chi: “…”

In Tao County, Qiu Sha had single-handedly slaughtered ascended spirit masters in the double digits, and a mere established foundation who had entered the Way six years ago was saying that if there was nothing else for it, he would take over?

What was the matter with juniors these days?

Zhao Qindan was nearly taken down by a sneak attack from a machete. Her blood splashed on the plants next to her. She leapt up and dodged, waving a long sleeve, sending three dazzling talismans flying. Zhao Qindan didn’t quite have enough spiritual energy to hold up, so she made a grab for the spiritual stone pouch at her waist, but instead just happened to grab a human hand.

The next moment, as if it knew it had been found out, the demonic hand vanished. The fingers even seemed to stroke the back of her hand.

This was too horrifying!

If Zhao Qindan’s hair hadn’t been so long, it probably would have all stood up on end.

In just that momentary pause, an evil cultivator rolled out of the thicket holding a short flute, playing a sharp screech.

Zhao Qindan shook, frozen in place by the sound of the flute.

No good!

The evil cultivator extended a hand toward her with a nasty grin. “The ‘key’ to the Zhao family’s hidden realm. It makes me laugh…”

Before he could finish, a die came flying toward his face. The evil cultivator, taken off guard, reached out to grab it, and just happened to see that the number on top of the die was six.

He heard a voice say with a quiet laugh, “What good luck, sir…”

While the voice was still speaking, a bolt of lightning flew out of the die and hit the evil cultivator square on the chin. The evil cultivator’s jaw was instantly knocked backward and charred black.

The die fell and turned into flying light.

Wei Chengxiang pulled down the brim of her bamboo hat and walked out with the huge Silver Tray Lottery case on her back. “…you’ve won first prize—a lightning bolt.”

The dried up reincarnation wood trees in the area seemed to rustle in answer. Next, seven or eight dice came rolling from all directions. The evil cultivators had become acquainted with the peculiar property of her dice and quickly dodged with their eyes fixed on them.

The dice, once they were dodged, knocked together, and a light powerful enough to blind half-immortals exploded.

Apart from Wei Chengxiang, who had closed her eyes, and Zhao Qindan, whose eyes she had covered with one hand, everyone else was rendered unable to see by the dazzle of the light.

Wei Chengxiang gave over all her spiritual sense to Xi Ping, letting the consciousness in the reincarnation wood lead her to get a precise fix on the position of each opponent. Her hand moved, and one of the lottery beads from the Silver Tray Lottery box flashed out from between her fingers. The talisman on the lottery bead flew through the navels of the crowd of evil cultivators—including one who had been hiding in the shadows all along.

When the fierce light that had delivered such a crushing defeat faded, Wei Chengxiang lowered the hand covering Zhao Qindan’s eyes. She was about to speak, but before the polite smile could form on her face, a talisman came right toward her.

Had Wei Chengxiang not spent several years being hunted by the Exonerators, she would have been slapped in the face by that talisman.

In an instant, she bent backward at the waist as though she had been cut in half and flicked out a die, blocking the talisman.

The topmost face of the die was fixed on one. When it shook, the talisman turned into a puff of steam and vanished along with the die.

Wei Chengxiang put one hand on the ground and bounced up. Zhao Qindan threw her off once more, only leaving behind a chilly: “Shameless! I remember you!”

Wei Chengxiang: “…”

How was she shameless now? This was a singular injustice!

Young Mistress Zhao had seen good things before. As soon as Wei Chengxiang had appeared, she had seen that this impoverished evil cultivator’s left hand was a rather high quality immortal tool. The evil cultivator had perhaps never eaten a good meal; he was thin as a rake, with very distinctive hands—somewhat thinner than the hands of a man of the same build, as if the bones weren’t fully developed, and fingers so thin they looked a little sharp. It was exactly the same as the demonic paw that had just been filching spiritual stones from her bag!

Zhao Qindan thought: this person was too uncouth. He had three hands, and he was attempting to trick her into trusting him!

Wei Chengxiang spoke to Xi Ping and used the omnipresent reincarnation wood to locate Zhao Qindan once again.

“She’s realized that was your hand. You won’t wash yourself clean even if you jump into the Yellow River,” Xi Ping told her. “Don’t explain, just snatch her spiritual stone pouch and grab the Law Breaker Bracelet. The Luwu are almost there!”

Xu Rucheng had been too generous. There were too many spiritual stones in Zhao Qindan’s bag. If that bracelet continued to absorb them, it would accumulate enough spiritual energy to activate itself.

Wei Chengxiang’s chest ached. She felt that that damned bracelet had ruined her reputation forever.

Standing on a worn-out iron sword bought by the road, Zhao Qindan flew faster than the wind. She had a rare first-class spiritual sense. In the Latent Cultivation Temple, even King of the Underworld Luo had been pleasant to her. Now, she clearly felt a gaze following her like her shadow.

“Stop!” The uncouth three-handed thief was also chasing after her, and had obviously taken a shortcut!

Zhao Qindan’s thoughts moved quickly. Someone was secretly watching her. Who was it? Where was the gaze coming from?

The next moment, she glimpsed the omnipresent reincarnation wood trees out of the corner of her eye.

It was as if Zhao Qindan’s spiritual sense had been pricked with a thin needle. She understood: someone had tampered with these trees!

The young mistress came to a rapid decision. She took aim at a river and made a grab in midair, throwing off Wei Chengxiang once more, jumping into the rapidly flowing river—the current in this river was rapid, so there were no reincarnation wood trees nearby.

Her talisman hit the surface of the water, and she blended with the river, disappearing.

Wei Chengxiang immediately lost track of her. She raised her eyebrows. Just then, a big net floated out of the water, its four corners held by four Luwu whose movements were concealed by stealth talismans. With a splash, they fished Zhao Qindan out of the water.

“Thank you for your help, senior,” the lead Luwu said to Xi Ping. “We’ve caught her.”

“A coincidence,” said Xi Ping. “The Law Breaker is in her spiritual stone pouch.”

While being chased by the evil cultivators, Zhao Qindan had accidentally splashed her blood on reincarnation wood. Xi Ping had put pressure directly on her spirit, leading her to jump into the water.

“Don’t worry, senior, we’ve already released twenty copies of the Zhao family inscription token. The news of the fake tokens will soon cover up this matter,” the lead Luwu said as he and his colleagues quickly got Zhao Qindan under control. He seized her spiritual stone pouch and looked to Wei Chengxiang, who had leapt down.

“Tai Sui told me to come help.” Wei Chengxiang didn’t have time to say much, only briefly greeted the Luwu, then cut open the palm of her hand and quickly drew a talisman. “Return!”

The accumulated spiritual energy in her palm forced the spiritual stone pouch to open. The spiritual stones inside rolled out.

But her severed hand and the Law Breaker Bracelet had vanished into thin air.

Far away, amid the corpses of the evil cultivators Wei Chengxiang had taken down, a ghastly pale hand appeared out of nowhere on a corpse’s brow.

Without the slightest scruple, the severed hand plastered itself to the corpse’s brow and absorbed its spiritual energy.

The Law Breaker Bracelet stuck to its wrist lit up.