Meeting with an unexpected sneak attack, Lin Chi only had time to hastily reach back and raise a thin layer of spiritual energy to shield himself from behind. The talisman of unknown origin pierced his defense and only dispersed when it hit his protective robes, giving him a violent shove forward. Adding in the tree roots tripping him up, the mighty master of Moon Plated Peak nearly fell flat on his face. Lin Chi reeled drunkenly for over a zhang and bumped into a wall. 

Wei Chengxiang, who could only hear through the cracks in the inscriptions: “…” 

What was that noise? 

Xi Ping: “…” 

Had Master Lin just swapped out his limbs? Why did they seem brand new? 

He was simply astonished: was there something else he’d forgotten? He really was an established foundation, right…? The kind that had established himself without a Way of the Heart? 

Back then, in the East Sea, he’d been able to make Lin Zhaoli go weak at the knees with a single beam of shifu’s sword energy; just now, the established foundation cultivators who had wandered by mistake into the ascended spirit battlefield had been like drops of water on a hot pan, evaporating as soon as they fell—so how could he not only travel freely through the ascended spirit battlefield, but even dare to hit the master of Moon Plated Peak? 

Lin Chi, leaning miserably against the wall, found his footing. “May I ask what manner of divinity you are?” 

Master Lin wasn’t a Tai Sui believer, and he hadn’t poured blood onto reincarnation wood. Xi Ping couldn’t speak to him directly, so he collected his disorderly thoughts and used spiritual energy to write on the ground: “Please wait, Peak Master Lin.” 

Lin Chi looked down. These were pure standard Wan characters…and for some reason, the handwriting looked familiar. 

Before he could recall why, he saw the rapid and flourishing writing become a little more careful and restrained, continuing: “I may have an idea we can try. If Your Excellency isn’t in too great a hurry to reincarnate, could you help out?” 

The Immortal Palace in Seventeen Li Town—

It was clearly midsummer, the sixth month…no, the beginning of the seventh month. But as far as the eye could see, there was late-autumn red all around the Immortal Palace. The parasitic vines growing out of season had cleared away all the flowers, grasses, and trees in the vicinity of the Immortal Palace; not even the reincarnation wood had survived. 

If not for the fact that the late-autumn red seemed to have some scruples and was confining its activities within the scope of the mustard seed’s cover, it would have occupied all of Tao County by now. 

At present, a red-eyed sword cultivator from Northern Li’s Kunlun Sect was slashing in the direction of the late-autumn red. 

This Kunlun sword cultivator was named Cheng Yu, a figure who had been famous in the north for a long time. When his sect had sent him to Chu to “expel evil,” he hadn’t taken Qiu Sha seriously—an early ascended spirit “two-year-old” who probably wasn’t even steady on her level yet. The fact that Xiang Zhao’s boat had capsized in a sewer only went to show that hardly any of these southern sword cultivators knew what they were doing—coming here, he had also brought along a number of promising established foundations under a hundred fifty years old to get some experience. Who would have thought that a whole generation of virtuosos would die here because of his rashness? 

With one stroke of his sword, Cheng Yu cut ten chi deep into the ground; the peculiar late-autumn red was torn up by the roots. When he saw the roots of those damned vines, his scalp prickled—the parasitic vines hadn’t randomly taken root on vegetation. The protruding root systems were wrapped around human corpses, and he recognized several of the faces! 

Of the established foundations who had died here, only their spiritual bones remained. Those whose flesh still was still present were all ascended spirits. Cheng Yu saw that one of the corpses near him belonged to a person who had studied under the same teacher as him. 

But before entering Tao County, he had received word that this person was still on his way. How could he have reached this place before him…? What the hell was going on here? 

Before he could calm his agitated brain, the parasitic vines growing on his fellow disciple’s body threw themselves at him ferociously, powerful sword energy coming right towards him. Cheng Yu gave a loud cry and narrowly managed to block, a crack appearing in his vital sword. He retreated several chi in a row, panic-stricken—even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t have failed to recognize that sword energy. It was the unfailingly orthodox ninefold sword of Kunlun.

The parasitic vines clinging to his fellow disciple’s body seemed to have absorbed all of his essence and cultivation! 

Cheng Yu’s pupils dilated slightly as he scanned the late-autumn red that lay as far as the eye could see: if each cluster of vines was growing on a corpse, that was as much as to say…that all the people who had died here before had become Qiu Sha’s puppets! She had an honor guard of ascended spirits! 

How could that be? 

Even if there was such a thing as an evil way that allowed you to swallow other people’s cultivation, she was also at the ascended spirit level; how could she sustain so many essences of the same grade as her? 

Just then, a slightly deep female voice crooning “The Fisherwoman of Chu” came through the faintly trembling red leaves: “The Xia runs south, on the east bank is Yu. The waves are soft, as they ferry we two—”

“I don’t believe it!” Cheng Yu abruptly squeezed the sword in his hand, brazenly facing the vines growing everywhere. “Come out here!” 

In response, a person walked out from among the vines. Qiu Sha was stained with blood from head to toe, holding the vital sword of a dead man. The two Kunlun ninefold swords of the same origin collided. Her singing suddenly became sharp, the tail end turning into a whistle. There was no time for Cheng Yu to react. A hole suddenly opened in the vines behind him, and a spiritual beast of Southern Shu that was controlled by the whistling snapped its jaws towards him. 

Cheng Yu braced himself, the point of his sword not deviating. Without sparing a sliver attention for what was behind him, he brought the heavy sword down double-handed. The blade nearly came down on the tip of Qiu Sha’s nose, the gust from the sword bringing down several strands of her long hair, and the spiritual beast’s fangs were just about to touch the top of the sword cultivator’s head. 

Just then, there was a shout, and a brilliant flame came out of nowhere. It didn’t land; it inserted itself precisely between the spiritual beast and Cheng Yu. 

The sword in Qiu Sha’s hand broke. The essence in the corpse of the Kunlun sword cultivator wrapped in late-autumn red was exhausted; the corpse instantly disintegrated. And Qiu Sha, like a rusty moth, floated backwards, dodging the sword gust. The aggressive late-autumn red hastily shielded her and was cut down by the pursuing frost of the Kunlun sword. The sword energy just reached her, leaving a bloody welt on the face of this demonic beauty. 

When the spiritual beast she was controlling landed, its nose brushed the flames, and it roared in pain and retreated. It would no longer obey the whistled commands. It curled up inside the circle of flames and didn’t dare to move again. 

“A fire cage…” Qiu Sha stuck out her tongue and licked the blood on her cheek—even her tongue was longer than normal; she could easily touch the tip of her nose with it. Firelight was reflected in her long, narrow eyes, as if they were about to burst into flame. She stared scorchingly in a certain direction. “At last you dare to show yourself, coward. Have you picked out a thigh you’re willing to hug?” 

Cheng Yu looked in the direction of her gaze and saw a man in convict's clothes come down from the sky riding a blue luan that was the height of two people. He was paler than all the dead on the ground. 

Cheng Yu had never seen such a big blue luan. The auspicious bird’s eyes were a pair of translucent white spirits… It was actually a realistic immortal tool. 

“My thanks.” The sword cultivator from Kunlun rapidly evened out his breathing and saluted the newcomer. “My thanks. I am Cheng Yu of Kunlun.” 

The man in convict’s clothes met his gaze for a moment, then rapidly averted his eyes. He gave a cold and formal nod. “Lin Chi of Xuanyin.” 

Cheng Yu was startled. “The Golden Hand?” 

Qiu Sha laughed. “Does he deserve that title?” 

Lin Chi didn’t retort. He took a talisman between his fingertips and stuck it to his throat. His voice instantly spread throughout the mustard seed. “Everyone…” 

As soon as he spoke, Qiu Sha threw herself at him, like a falcon that had caught the scent of blood. The blue luan spiraled upwards carrying Lin Chi. Indeed, an immortal tool that burned white spirits was something out of the ordinary. Even a real blue luan couldn’t fly like this! 

As fast as Qiu Sha could move, that was how fast the blue luan immortal tool could move. It didn’t need anyone to control it. It could adjust its speed and direction in response to its pursuer. Lin Chi, as though reciting a memorized text, spoke in a voice as level as the Xia River at midsummer: “We currently find ourself in the midst of a tool known as the Law Breaker. The Law Breaker has taken us all to the seventh day of the seventh month. If Qiu Sha is not dead before time in the outside world reaches the Immortal Palace’s night feast on the seventh day of the seventh month, Tao County will be unable to return to the human…” 

Before he could speak the last word, the late-autumn red inside the mustard seed began to run riot, a dozen vines reaching towards the sky, each of the vines as thick as a person’s arm span transforming into a Qiu Sha. Sword energy gobbled up from some unlucky sword cultivator surged from all around. 

Lin Chi didn’t panic. The wings of the blue luan he was riding extended and changed shape, wrapping him up like a flower bud, narrowly blocking Qiu Sha’s blow. 

“You—rotten—coward!” Qiu Sha didn’t let up. At each pause, she set off an earth-shattering sword gust, smashing the immortal tool wrapped around him, each blow fiercer and heavier than the one before—how could this be an early stage ascended spirit!? 

Lin Chi hid in the pitch darkness inside the immortal tool. Watching the great evildoer smashing a crack in the immortal tool and the white spirits becoming fainter and fainter, he neither fought back nor worried. He quietly examined the crack. 

“It was your fault that she died and her way was extinguished, and you still had the face to use her things to win fame you didn’t deserve. Shameless braggart of a Golden Hand, get the hell out here! Meet your death!” 

Lin Chi only sighed—Xi Ping suspected that this Master Lin had spent too much time at his forge, and there was something wrong with his lungs. It was all sighs and lamentations with him, as if he were a widower whose whole family had just died. 

At this time, Xi Ping had split off a part of his consciousness and was hiding in a reincarnation wood amulet in Lin Chi’s sleeve. 

This peak master of Moon Plated Peak was without exception the most easily bullied ascended spirit Xi Ping had ever met. When he’d told him to drip blood on the reincarnation wood amulet, Xi Ping had had a bellyful of words prepared for haggling with him, but before he could say a single word, Lin Chi just took some blood and dripped it onto the wood, openly displaying his attitude—go ahead and plot against me in secret; plotting in the open is fine, too; I’ve had enough of living, anyway. 

Now, Xi Ping couldn’t resist saying, “Peak Master Lin…” 

“Alas,” said Lin Chi, “she’s right.” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

Who cares whether she’s right! 

You can die after you’ve said what I told you to say! Just try a little, Peak Master Lin, I’m begging you! 

There was a cracking sound as the immortal tool protecting Lin Chi was split open by Qiu Sha. Biting cold sword energy came right towards him. Fortunately, the other cultivators trapped in the Immortal Palace reacted now. Kunlun’s Cheng Yu’s blow was the first to come flying, shielding Lin Chi. 

Next, an unknown spiritual beast from Southern Shu came flying at the same time as a talisman. The talisman swept away the fierce late-autumn red, and the spiritual beast caught Lin Chi as he fell through the air. The cultivators trapped in the Immortal Palace by late-autumn red, who had been running around all over the place like headless flies, gradually gathered. 

Xi Ping was about to lose his temper. “Talk already!” 

The spiritual beast carrying Lin Chi passed by a reeking wind. Master Lin finally remembered what he was supposed to be doing and continued his recitation. “The Law Breaker isn’t in her hands. The master of the Law Breaker is her accomplice, of low cultivation, hidden at the boundary of Tao County and protected by inscriptions.” 

After this, he told them Wei Chengxiang’s location. “If there are those among my fellow cultivators who are experts in inscriptions, please go have a look.” 

The inscription masters among the cultivators exchanged looks and withdrew from the battlefield. Sword cultivators and talismans quickly came to fill the vacancies, holding off Qiu Sha in a rather well-coordinated fashion. 

Wei Chengxiang was alerted by the inscriptions in the yard suddenly lighting up and knew that the people coming to “save her” were here. 

The first step Xi Ping had planned was to get her out of the yard. 

Xi Ping had guessed that while Wei Chengxiang’s death wouldn’t necessarily mean that the Law Breaker Bracelet would cease to operate, losing its master would still have an impact on the immortal tool. Otherwise, Qiu Sha would have silenced her as soon as the Law Breaker had activated; she wouldn’t have left her alive to reveal the Law Breaker’s axiom. She had certainly made a ring around Wei Chengxiang in order to protect her until the moment of the Immortal Palace’s night feast arrived. 

Qiu Sha had placed A-Xiang in a yard far from Seventeen Li Town. Once the fighting in the Immortal Palace began, it was unlikely that she would be able to attend to both ends. So what would she do if Wei Chengxiang’s hiding place was discovered, or if Wei Chengxiang herself betrayed her? 

Qiu Sha must have made other preparations. The great evildoer was too crafty. Xi Ping had advocated against acting rashly; they would let this bunch of orthodox cultivators go ahead and sweep for mines. 

Now, a few inscription experts from Sanyue were surrounding the little yard, all their expressions very grave. They were thinking that the inscriptions on the courtyard wall were ones they had never seen before. 

They cautiously consulted for a moment, then began trying to break the inscriptions. Xi Ping watched through the reincarnation wood. As soon as a single crack opened in the inscriptions on the outside of the courtyard wall, a spiritual energy cyclone suddenly swirled up inside the yard. On the walls, on the ground, and even on Wei Chengxiang were layer upon layer of inscriptions, and neither of the two of them had noticed them being laid down! 

There was a huge sound. The masters were unexpectedly sent flying away by an explosion; it was unclear whether they were dead or alive. The ground at the courtyard gate had nearly collapsed into a well! 

Had Wei Chengxiang herself tried to leave, she would have been standing at the gate right now. With her puny half-immortal’s cultivation, she would have been broken to pieces. 

The next moment, Wei Chengxiang vanished into thin air. Xi Ping said “What luck” to himself and followed her closely with his consciousness through the reincarnation wood. 

As expected, his guesses had been very near the mark. Wei Chengxiang’s death would have an impact on the Law Breaker, but it couldn’t make the Law Breaker stop. If others tried to capture her, she certainly wouldn’t approach the gate, so Qiu Sha’s “backup plan” would transport her somewhere else; but if she herself betrayed Qiu Sha, the disadvantages of leaving her alive would have outweighed the advantages, so Qiu Sha would simply kill her “dismembered tail.” 

Wei Chengxiang, having escaped a calamity, was transported to the other side of Tao County, arriving at a place that was nearly as far as possible from Seventeen Li Town’s Immortal Palace. She stumbled, then found her footing. The inscriptions on her disappeared. Her hands were still shaking. 

Xi Ping scanned with his consciousness. This place just happened to be near Xu Rucheng. 

Divine will! 

He immediately passed word to Xu-da-bao: “Come over and pick someone up for me!” 

In the Immortal Palace, Cheng Yu dodged a late-autumn red vine while holding onto Lin Chi and quickly asked, “Master Lin, how will we know what the time outside is?” 

Lin Chi said, “The earlier someone entered Tao County, the later they will arrive. If I recall correctly, Tao County disappeared in the early hours of the sixteenth of the sixth month. The people who entered before sunrise that day will be the last batch to arrive. When we see them, we’ll have very little time left.” 

Hardly had he spoken than a Sanyue cultivator abruptly became agitated. “I…I came in on the night of the sixteenth!” 

“What?!” 

For a moment, even Lin Chi was slightly stifled. 

Xi Ping quickly asked, “How can it be so fast?” 

According to his expectations, while they had no way to accurately sense the passage of time outside the Law Breaker, twenty whole days still couldn’t pass in the blink of an eye. Lin Chi had only entered Tao County towards the end of the sixth month. When he had found Wei Chengxiang, there ought to have been at least half the time remaining! 

Lin Chi considered it for a moment. “I’m afraid it’s because of the Law Breaker. She doesn’t like to be broken by force and prefers ‘realization.’ Therefore, she will quietly change the rules in favor of attaining ‘realization.’ On the sixteenth day of the sixth month, no one knew what was happening. There were many cultivators who entered Tao County that day. For Qiu Sha, the closer it gets to the point of realization, the more danger there is. So the Law Breaker will try to compress time as much as possible. Also…I’m afraid it’s because of you and me, as well.” 

Xi Ping, crumbling, said, “How can I have anything to do with it?” 

“When that little Brother Wei told you what the axiom was, it imperceptibly added to the risk of the axiom being broken, leading to the Law Breaker compressing time a step further.” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

How could a lousy immortal tool have its own likes and dislikes?! How could it make so much trouble?! 

When he had been forced to receive worship for five years, who had cared that he hated eating pickled foods?

Hardly had Lin Chi spoken than the sounds of talking and cursing came from nearby. 

The greatest number of people had charged into Tao County on the sixteenth of the sixth month. A big batch of cultivators had arrived, and the hidden Law Breaker was still speeding up time! 

In Great Wan’s Yuzhou, the sun was setting. The cicadas of late summer and early autumn were clamoring fit to boil. 

Zhou Ying took out a pocket watch and glanced at it. “The people inside must be about to meet Xiang Jing… ‘Xiang Zhao’ and ‘Xiang Jing’—those two brothers have quite interesting names. It’s as if their fates lie in their names¹.” 

Bai Ling was a little restless from worry, repeatedly taking out his communication device to look at it. He had prepared a whole stack of paper substitutes. “My lord, Master Lin is also inside. It’s said that he was once close friends with Hui Xiangjun. He must know about the Law Breaker, right? Will he be able to guess the Law Breaker’s axiom?” 

“Perhaps. There are few total idiots in the toolmaking path.” The heart-protecting lotus at Zhou Ying’s neck flashed, as if it didn’t like him talking about its creator like this. Zhou Ying ignored it and continued, “So if Qiu Sha hasn’t died yet, the people inside must be going crazy.” 

The cultivators in Tao County were in fact going crazy. The people who entered the Immortal Palace one after another reported that they had come in at xu hour on the sixteenth, at shen hour…in the blink of an eye, the reports reached noon and went on getting earlier. 

In an instant, it was as if a whole shichen’s worth of sand had run out. 

And Qiu Sha seemed to know that the Law Breaker was helping her. She simply “dissolved” into the late-autumn red filling the Immortal Palace. She was everywhere yet nowhere! 

The mustard seed containing the ascended spirit battlefield kept expanding. Now it had nearly reached the edge of Seventeen Li Town, stretched almost to breaking point. Inadvertently, Cheng Yu, red-eyed with murderous intent, lost control of his thrust, and the sword gust broke through the edge of the mustard seed. 

Meanwhile, apart from Xu Rucheng and the others who had gone to test the boundaries, the other Luwu had just finished dispersing the weak and elderly from Seventeen Li Town and hadn’t yet had a chance to catch their breaths. 

To dodge the blow of the Kunlun sword cultivator, the late-autumn red reached out from the mustard seed. It squeezed and snapped the roots of an old reincarnation wood tree, sending it crashing down on the head of an old man who couldn’t walk well. 

Xi Ping said, “Fuck you, Qiu Sha!” 

As the shadow came down, the old man looked up in astonishment, then saw the reincarnation wood tree about to hit his head stop in midair at a weird angle. 

The old man, dumbstruck, opened his clouded eyes wide. “Tai Sui…” 

“Move!” said Xi Ping. 

The Luwu rushing over quickly pulled the old man away, and the tree fell with a crash. 

The next moment, a bolt of lightning flashed over Tao County, striking the late-autumn red vine that had escaped the mustard seed. 

The whole crowd of ascended spirit masters were startled by this bolt of lightning. 

What tricks was the Law Breaker getting up to now? How could there be a heavenly tribulation all of a sudden? 

Xi Ping looked up: right—Qiu Sha had sworn not to harm the innocent, or else she would suffer backlash from the Law Breaker. 

Lin Chi whispered, “So if she harms mortals, she will suffer backlash from the Law Breaker…” 

“Lin Chi!” Xi Ping shouted sternly. 

But it was too late. Lin Chi had already said it. 

“Huh? What’s…” Before Lin Chi could catch up, he saw cultivators from Southern Shu and Sanyue simultaneously attack the edges of the mustard seed. 

After holding out this long, the mustard seed was already on its last legs. How could it hold out against a joint attack from so many ascended spirits? It collapsed at once, and the aftershocks of the ascended spirit battlefield sent Seventeen Li Town’s veins of the earth into convulsions. 

Lin Chi’s expression altered. “My fellow cultivators!” 

What are you doing? Are you finished with your Ways of the Heart? 

“Tai Sui”’s cold laugh came through his spirit. “Anyway, if they can’t kill Qiu Sha soon, Tao County will disappear. As they see it, sacrificing a few nobodies in the vicinity of Seventeen Li Town to save the whole county is perfectly justified. How could that go against their Ways of the Heart? Their Ways of the Heart are doing just fine.” 

Cheng Yu didn’t turn his head to look outwards. He slashed at the late-autumn red in the Immortal Palace. 

At the same time, all the weapons held by the ascended spirits fell like rain on the vines where Qiu Sha was sheltering, and the earth shook inside and outside of Seventeen Li Town. Heavenly lightning hung above their heads and thunder rumbled, warning Qiu Sha not to violate her oath. 

Qiu Sha laughed, her laughter echoing throughout the Immortal Palace, almost forming a resonance with the thunder. “Fine! Righteous, orthodox cultivators! Nicely done!” 

Boom—

Ignoring the heavenly lightning, she brazenly fought back, and the lightning fell with a deafening rumble right on the late-autumn red. 

Ascended spirit spiritual energy crashed together and flew outwards, about to raze all of Tao County to the ground! 

Just then, all the reincarnation wood trees around Seventeen Li Town began to grow madly. All the spiritual stones stored in the Immortal Palace surged towards those trees. 

The late-autumn red instinctively began fighting over the spiritual energy in order to heal its wounds, but Qiu Sha stopped the restless vines with a thought. “Cough-cough…oh, wow…cough, had enough of watching the fun? You couldn’t keep from joining in any longer?” 

The bent and crooked reincarnation wood trees by the roadsides seemed to have come alive, their roots bursting out of the ground, cord after cord of their dense root systems spanning the broken earth, narrowly keeping the cracks from opening and holding up houses on the point of collapse. The trees were wildly soaking up the spiritual energy leaking from the ascended spirit battlefield. 

Qiu Sha said, smiling, “All right, you can have it.” 

As the people gaped in astonishment, the poor quality reincarnation wood trees that normally only grew to a little over a zhang high grew vast and towering, as though they had cultivated spirits, surrounding the battlefield. 

Next, the canopy of one of the trees shook, and without warning, a talisman flew out, knocking a Sanyue cultivator right out of the air. 

Apart from sword cultivators and the like, who trained their bodies, cultivators who followed other ways weren’t especially proficient in martial arts. In battle, they relied on their spiritual senses, so when the majority of cultivators got into fights, they only had their cultivation level to rely on. 

But inside the Law Breaker, the talismans these trees tossed out were like the wrath of heaven. They didn’t touch the cultivators’s spiritual senses at all. 

For a moment, all the ascended spirits became like Lin Chi, who had nearly fallen flat on his face. They couldn’t work out what was happening. All the spiritual energy they had just expended was “returned” to them by the reincarnation wood trees. They were in a miserable plight. 

A cicada that had perhaps been scared witless clung to the trunk of a reincarnation wood tree, not flying away even now. It fluttered its wings and gave a cry. 

One of the Chu residents realized what was happening and cried out, “Look, the misty willow! It’s Tai Sui!” 

“Tai Sui!” 

Having survived the calamity, the people knelt. 

“Tai Sui has worked a miracle!” 

The late-autumn red deliberately avoided the reincarnation wood trees. Qiu Sha raised her head and looked at the sky above the Immortal Palace, eternally stuck in the evening. She smiled. “‘Tai Sui’… Ha, this place will soon be yours, and you can be the true god of Tao County. It truly makes me envious.” 

Hardly had she spoken than a completely bewildered man appeared in the Immortal Palace, looking in shock at the ruins and the monstrous vines everywhere. 

Xiang Jing, who had entered Tao County before dawn on the sixteenth day of the sixth month, had arrived. 

The last one.