Wait, how had the time come just like that?! 

Another spell of ominous dull rumbling came from the ground. Zhao Qindan held herself up against the wall, thoughts surging through her mind continuously like waves: What has Tai Sui done? Why does it seem like he isn’t sneaking into the Lingyun Mountains but walking in and tearing down their great mountain array? Have the Luwu gone mad? Or is Great Wan planning to start a war with Southern Shu? 

The Luwu lying low and awaiting orders in Quancheng were also stunned. This wasn’t what they had agreed upon. 

In this respect, the Luwu had a wealth of experience. They immediately submitted a report describing everything in full detail to Mr. Bai. 

Even Xi Ping was a little bewildered right now—because this quake wasn’t his doing. 

To be precise, he hadn’t yet had time to do this wicked thing! 

When Xi Ping had received A-Xiang’s message and learned that Wangge Luobao had appeared and the evil cultivators had all assembled, he had gone on to send that “goose letter” to Li Queru.

The goose letter had to be decoded. He figured that it would take Chief Li some time to decipher it, giving him just enough time to activate some reincarnation wood seeds that had infiltrated the Lingyun Mountains in a leisurely fashion—Xi Ping had already sensed that there were quite a few reincarnation wood trees near Wei Chengxiang, but he hadn’t touched them. Wangge Luobao had even buried a letter under a reincarnation wood tree to deliver it; evidently he had knowledge of his accompanying plant at his fingertips. He clearly knew that Xi Ping could send his consciousness through the reincarnation wood and swap it with his true body, yet he hadn’t torn down all the trees and had even sent him an invitation to lead the way; there was obviously something not right here. 

Over the years, Xi Ping had immersed himself in crooked paths, learning quite a few things. He knew that the reason he had been able to run wild through reincarnation wood before was that the majority of people at the time hadn’t been on their guard. If others had a mind to it, they wouldn’t be incapable of tracking his true body or even injuring his consciousness. 

Xi Ping had been planning to turn this tactic around and use the reincarnation wood to steer the notice of the immortal mountains towards the South Sea, let the two sides get acquainted, then sit back and watch the fun. 

Instead, before the seeds could sprout from the natural fertilizer, the Lingyun Mountains’ veins of the earth had suddenly begun to quake. 

All the spiritual energy in the western continent began to surge in a strange pattern! 

Xi Ping liked hanging out in the human world and eavesdropping and didn’t enjoy questioning heaven and earth, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t understand veins of the earth after being an ascended spirit for eight years. 

A huge force swept out from the Lingyun Spiritual Mountains. A thunderclap startled the birds for several thousand li around. Xi Ping attached his spiritual sense to his eyes and saw to his surprise that there was a patch of dense cloud above the Lingyun Mountains, with nine raging dragons seething madly among the clouds—this was Lingyun’s divine tool of the mountains, the Cauldron of Nine Dragons! 

Xi Ping’s spine went cold. 

The divine tool of the mountains also alerted Zhaoting in his spirit. Zhi Xiu abruptly opened his eyes and woke up. Zhaoting’s light instantly enveloped Xi Ping. “The Nine Dragons… I only took my eyes off you for a moment. Xi Shiyong, what have you done now?” 

At the same time, Zhou Ying’s voice came through the reincarnation wood, so gentle it made your scalp prickle: “Xiaobao, don’t you think someone here needs a leash?” 

Xi Ping didn’t want to make shifu waste his strength. His consciousness wrapped around Zhaoting and blocked it off. “No, I’ve been falsely accused, it really wasn’t me this time! I’ve made an unsuccessful attempt at most!” 

Wei Chengxiang had just sent him the message. Wangge Luobao had just appeared and hadn’t yet finished presenting the history of the Miah’s persecution. This ought to have been when the great evil cultivators were at their most cautious. Moreover, in recent years, the divine tools of the four great spiritual mountains had been benumbed by a blood moon rising practically every other day. Even if some good-for-nothing in the South Sea had given themselves away and been sensed by the Cauldron of Nine Dragons, reasonably speaking, there still shouldn’t be such a big commotion. 

It was bizarre. What was it that had gotten in ahead of him to anger the divine tool of the mountains so much that it was going crazy? 

On the South Sea, Wangge Luobao’s not especially fervent presentation was interrupted by a boom. 

Lord Guang’an’s figure flashed. He landed beside the Queen Mother of the West. 

Next, the ground of the little island began to quake. A large quantity of bubbles suddenly rose from the surrounding sea. 

The inscriptions at the bottom of the sea that Lord Guang’an had been helpless against stuck to these bubbles and floated up, exploding one after another. Then, a distorted human face appeared among the bubbles, white-clothed and white-haired, with veins standing out on his neck and plunging under his white paper mask like snakes. 

Wei Chengxiang and the other low level cultivators took only one look before their eyes began to hurt, yet that didn’t keep her from recognizing that the face in the bubbles was Xuanwu’s. 

Xuanwu had been born during the age of the Great War of Gods and Demons. He was next in rank after Sanyue Mountain’s sect leader. He had obtained the authentic inheritance of the Black Emperor in inscriptions, arrays, and talismans. His level of mastery was something the Shu couldn’t even imagine. Had Lingyun’s Tianbo been living, even that beast-taming ancestor might not have been able to use inscriptions to restrain Xuanwu! 

The inscriptions that had isolated a crowd of ascended spirits instantly lost effect. All of them were exposed before each other. With the hearing of an ascended spirit, they could hear all the whispered discussions for several thousand li around on the sea with perfect clarity.  

“That’s Sanyue’s Xuanwu!” 

“Didn’t Sanyue Mountain say his boundary had fallen?” 

Now, even those who hadn’t recognized Xuanwu knew who he was. 

The next moment, an enormous wave rose on the sea. A huge, ghastly pale hand extended from the water, as high as a mountain, and made a grab for Wangge Luobao’s image in the air. 

Wangge Luobao vanished like mist. 

The Queen Mother of the West waved her long sleeve. The big whale ship flew out of her palm and swallowed up all the people on their island. Lord Guang’an didn’t board the ship. His pitch-black sword left its sheath. The blade of the sword was as simple and unadorned as he was himself, its cutting edge almost invisible. A sword slash parted the sea, slicing towards the big hand in the water. 

The moment the big hand touched the sword energy, it turned back into seawater. To either side rose huge waves dozens of zhang high. They completely submerged the small island. 

The big whale ship was tossed aside by the sea waves. Another ghastly pale hand reached out and grasped the ship the Queen Mother of the West and her people were on. 

Lord Guang’an struck another blow backhanded. At the same time, the Queen Mother of the West activated all the arrays on the whale ship. Poisonous black miasma was released from the body of the whale, blooming into a big cluster of black camellias. 

With the two of them working together, the whale ship broke free. When it hit the water, it let out a long cry. 

Lord Guang’an tersely said, “A-Wan, go!” 

Xuanwu’s snow-white figure broke out of the sea. “It is the duty of all to punish practitioners of evil ways. Where do you think you’re going?!” 

Hardly had he spoken than the South Sea practically began to boil. Never mind the low level cultivators, even Lord Guang’an was nearly shaken out of the air by this speech. 

The established foundation cultivators who hadn’t had time to slip into protective immortal tools were knocked unconscious by that voice. Though Wei Chengxiang had already taken shelter in the belly of the huge whale, her vision still darkened. When she came back to her senses, she was already half-kneeling on the ground, the taste of blood in her mouth. 

Instinctively, she reached a hand into her mustard seed to feel for the reincarnation wood amulet sealed inside it. 

When her fingers touched the ice-cold amulet, Wei Chengxiang gave a start and came back to herself. 

Before her departure, Tai Sui had instructed her that there might be a possessor of a paramount spiritual sense among the great evil cultivators, who hadn’t yet shown himself. No matter what happened, she wasn’t to use reincarnation wood while in the South Sea. She must not let that person see that she had a connection to Tai Sui and instead use mortal means to contact him. 

She bit through her fingertip and put an elixir pill into her mouth, calming her seething internal energy. She quickly used the new goose machine she carried to send a message. 

“Xuanwu?” Xi Ping decoded the ciphertext; the corners of his eyes twitched. 

Above the Lingyun Mountains, the Nine Dragons had nearly coiled themselves into fried dough twists. Rainclouds scudded everywhere. Mad downpours fell intermittently. 

Xuanwu couldn’t be associating with “evil cultivators,” or else he would have thoroughly lost his mind and become the next Zhao Yin. 

He had been gravely injured by Xiang Rong, his essence damaged. For him, all “evil cultivators” were perfect restorative pills that could be eaten raw. None of the major or minor evil cultivators now in the South Sea, no matter what kinds of plots they were concealing, would have voluntarily ganged up with him. 

So how had he found this South Sea Hidden Realm? Who had summoned him? 

Xi Ping’s thoughts moved quickly: the Miah had sent out Wangge Luobao and attracted evil cultivators from all over. Either they were low on manpower and resources themselves and really did want to unify some of the common world’s strength to rebel against the Lingyun Mountains, or they wanted to cook these evil cultivators in a pot to make something out of them. 

As Xi Ping saw it, the likelihood of the latter was greater—if he had been the Miah, if he really wanted to form an alliance, he would have privately bargained with them one by one to reach a deal. Because great evil cultivators weren’t obedient sheep. These people had made it this far escaping death by the skin of their teeth. Each was craftier than the next. No one could command them all. Moreover, the resources of the mortal world were limited. It was hard to avoid clashes. It was likely that there would be grudges among them. Rashly assembling them was likely to make nothing but trouble, as too many chickens would lay no eggs. 

Now it seemed…

“My vision was lacking,” Xi Ping said, whether to himself or to Zhaoting. “An ascended spirit can’t even fill a gap in your teeth. I’m afraid it isn’t those ascended spirit shrimps they want to cook—they wanted to use the ascended spirits to lure in Xuanwu, then use Xuanwu to lure in the Cauldron of Nine Dragons.” 

It was as if Xuanwu were covered in white paint that leached away color. Starting from his feet, the ghastly paleness permeated the seawater, spreading in all directions. 

Though he had been ousted from Sanyue as a traitor, he still scrupulously abided by his vow not to pilfer heaven’s order. Without the spiritual mountains to restore his damaged essence, all he could do was use the living as spiritual stones—the established foundation cultivators he had just knocked unconscious, who were now floating on the surface, were all swept by the white seawater, instantly turning into one desiccated corpse after another. 

Lord Guang’an’s sword made an arc, the lashing sword stopping the water. At the same time, another beam of gleaming sword energy fell. With the wordless understanding between sword cultivators, it handled the other side. The two beams of sword light, one bright and one dark, formed a circle that blocked the ghastly whiteness spreading in all directions, encircling Xuanwu. 

Lord Guang’an raised his head and saw a tall, broad man in grey clothes nearby. He had a square face and long brows that extended towards his temples. His hair was even curlier than Wangge Luobao’s, plaited into two long, thick braids that hung behind him. He held a soft sword like a spiritual snake—this was a feral ascended spirit from Northern Li, said to be the heir of the Blind Wolf King at the feet of the Beijue Mountains. He was called the Snow Wolf. 

Lord Guang’an exchanged a look with the Snow Wolf. Each quickly nodded to the other. 

The next moment, Xuanwu gave an angry shout and once again pulled out the inscriptions at the bottom of the sea. They surged towards the circle drawn by the sword light. 

There was a sizzle as of hot oil pouring into water. Spray splashed a hundred chi high when the inscriptions touched the sword energy. Every water droplet that spurted out contained sword energy. A shark in the water was thrown right out from the surface and flew into midair. Before it could fall, the big fish’s body was sliced to ribbons by the remaining sword energy in the water droplets. A rain of blood spurted out. 

The circle of sword energy broke. 

Countless inscriptions once again lined up at a dazzling speed, reaping the large quantities of spiritual energy on the battlefield, turning into layer upon layer of armor around Xuanwu. 

Then there was a whistle, and a halberd fell out of the sky, stabbing into the seawater like a divine pillar. 

This halberd seemed to have the power to topple mountains and raise seas. The wild spiritual wind in the surroundings was instantly drawn in and began to revolve. Beam after beam of spiritual energy seemed to turn into an arrow, ramming into the inscriptions and making them scatter. 

A hand wearing a jadeite thumb ring gripped the halberd—the newcomer’s attire was extremely luxurious. He wore a crown of purple gold. His sideburns and mustache were trimmed to perfection, without a single stray hair. His coquettish air made it seem as though he had just gotten through wedding eighteen concubines. 

Northern Li’s Snow Wolf beheld that halberd. “The Emperor of the East.” 

“Oh, hey, Crown Prince Snow Wolf, how very nice to meet you. Your humble servant…” As the Emperor of the East spoke, he abruptly pressed the halberd down, stirring up a huge whirlpool in the South Sea, chaotically sweeping up all the inscriptions Xuanwu had activated. “…has come to give you a hand!” 

“Impertinent!” Xuanwu’s white hair suddenly burst out of its tie. In the thrashing sea wind, he was like a Queen of the Night flower in full bloom. 

A curved blade like a crescent moon suddenly appeared and swept out over the South Sea, chopping towards the Emperor of the East Halberd. 

Before the Emperor of the East could finish bragging, on the hand holding his halberd, the skin between the thumb and forefinger tore. He was knocked dozens of zhang away by Xuanwu’s blow. The Emperor of the East desperately stuck the halberd into the water to maintain his balance, nearly cutting the seawater in two. 

A sneer appeared on Xuanwu’s paper mask. “Four of you. Who else is there? Who else?” 

Hardly had he spoken than he suddenly soared upwards. 

There were reflections of Xuanwu in the water, in the foam floating on the sea…in all reflective surfaces. All these reflected “Xuanwus” put on bizarre smiles. A convincing imitation of the crescent moon blade’s sword wind flew from all the reflections, chopping towards Xuanwu himself! 

The interweaving blade light collected into a big net, tangling around Xuanwu, hanging in midair. But the wild blades didn’t slice one bit off of Xuanwu. The moment he was encircled by the blade wind, he once again turned into seawater, scattering with a splash. 

Once the original had scattered, the reflections scattered along with him. The many “Xuanwus” reflected in the spray and water collectively disappeared. There was only one figure that was a bit slow to disperse. 

In that mere moment of sluggishness, a hand in the water made a grab for the person in the reflection. 

The person in the reflection gave a low shout. A pitch-black branding spike extended and was crushed by that huge hand. The person in the reflection somewhat desperately seized that instant to escape. He appeared in the water, revealing a delicate Chu countenance. There was a rim of red around his pitch-black irises—this was the chief offering of Yu Family Bend, the first person to break free of a spiritual image brand, Yu Chang. 

The Queen Mother of the West freed herself from the belly of the whale. She put on a pair of gauze gloves that reflected light. She reached out to stir the seawater. Black camellias burst forth and spread surrounding her hands. Thread upon thread of poison came from them. The shoals of fish that hadn’t had time to flee went belly up in droves. Unexpectedly, the ghastly pale hand in the water was dyed by that black energy. Xuanwu quickly flung off the black mist surrounding him and leapt away. 

At this point, five great ascended spirits of the present age, from Li, from Chu, and the Three Heroes from the Land of Turmoil, all surrounded Xuanwu. 

Just then, Wei Chengxiang, hiding in the belly of the huge whale, with difficulty deciphered the new coded message from Tai Sui. Her pupils contracted slightly. It said: The Cauldron of Nine Dragons has appeared. Get out! 

The features on Xuanwu’s paper mask were level. He looked around and softly said, “There are still three missing.” 

Yu Chang put his reincarnation wood amulet in his sleeve and smiled blandly. “High Elder, why don’t you take a guess where they’re hiding?” 

The corners of the mouth on Xuanwu’s paper mask turned up high. “The clever ones won’t show themselves, silly child… Didn’t you hear what that southern barbarian said? The South Sea Hidden Realm can only be opened by a shed skin. Do you really think that a few ascended spirits can stand in for a shed skin?” 

“Ascended spirits are as ants before a shed skin sage. Unless there were thousands upon millions of us, we wouldn’t be able to bite one to death.” The Emperor of the East stroked his mustache. “But as far as I know, Elder Xuanwu, you were gravely injured by your sect leader, your essence damaged. I’m afraid you have fallen from the shed skin boundary. Even if you had been able to go into seclusion to treat your wounds in the Sanyue Mountains, I suppose a mere eight years wouldn’t have been sufficient for you to recover? And now I see that your appearance is wasted and travel-worn. You’ve spent these years homeless and forlorn.” 

Xuanwu gave a “ha,” not bothering to respond to this sort of idiot. 

A lowly breed like the Miah could only ever hide in the shadows playing sly tricks. They were naturally despicable, skilled in treachery and deceit. It wasn’t unreasonable for them to be oppressed and excluded. Wangge Luobao had vanished long ago. It was clear he had wanted to use these greedy ascended spirit evil cultivators to lure him in, attract the Cauldron of Nine Dragons, borrow strength to crack open the so-called South Sea Hidden Realm, and seize possession of the divine tool of the mountains on behalf of Lingyun’s old guard. 

It was said that the Miah shed skin had been “in seclusion” for a long time, having his disciple act as clan leader in his place. He had probably died long ago, such that the younger generations of the southern barbarians had bitten off more than they could chew—even if his boundary had fallen, he was still the mighty elder of Sanyue’s East Peak. He could dispose of a few ascended spirits in a flash. The essence of these five people happened to be just enough to restore his fallen boundary. He would see when the time came whose name the South Sea Hidden Realm would bear—