Zhi Xiu’s flashing figure paused at the gate, as if he were forcing his steps to slow. He turned and said gently to Pang Jian and the others, “No need for formalities. Thank you all for your hard work guarding the border. When the mortal merchant ships come, as long as it’s safe, permit them to pass. I will trouble the Kaiming Department to make arrangements for them.”

Pang Jian said “Yes,” then carefully asked, “General Zhi, Shiyong…”

“He’s still alive,” Zhi Xiu interrupted.

His voice suddenly lowered, as if he weren’t answering Pang Jian but talking to himself: “Still alive… Don’t worry, this time I’m not too late.”

Hearing that the source of his voice wasn’t right, Pang Jian raised his head again and found that Zhi Xiu had gone into the distance. At the gate there remained only a karma beast hidden in the wall.

When it wasn’t doing anything else, the karma beast would run around on Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s perimeter wall. It wasn’t unusual for it to come out to see a shed skin, but Pang Jian’s gaze suddenly froze—he saw to his astonishment that the karma beast had its head bowed, its forepaws folded in a kneeling posture, watching Zhi Xiu’s departure as a vassal watches a ruler.

The karma beast had kept the walkers in the mortal world company for over a thousand years and had always been very friendly toward its own people…not counting some individuals universally hated by dogs and cats. In front of those it was familiar with, it was as playful and affectionate as a big cat or dog. But the sacred beast had a sacred beast’s arrogance; Pang Jian had never seen the karma beast pay obeisance so solemnly to anyone.

What had happened?

Zhi Xiu didn’t so much as look at the border inscriptions that had been disturbed by his crossing. He flew toward the Lancang Mountains.

The third sword attack Xi Ping had asked him for before leaving hadn’t been on the sword platform. Instead, it had been the sword attack he had carved into the snow when he had faced the heavenly might while stuck at the shed skin boundary.

This request was very strange. Normally, what a sword cultivator collected in sword form anthologies or taught to their disciples were only “complete sword forms,” also called “standard sword forms,” the quintessence that the sword cultivator had repeatedly honed and extracted. But sword moves weren’t petrified; they were subject to all manner of changes in the heat of battle. Sometimes, making a rapid response, though an attack had originated from a certain standard sword form, when it was used to meet a real emergency it would be altogether different, only assuming a bit of the standard sword form’s sword aura.

Simply put, the standard sword attacks were the origin, and a sword mark left elsewhere was only a temporary manifestation.

“All the standard sword forms of my sword moves are on the sword platform.” Zhi Xiu suspected that he had been wasting spit by instructing him. “Was your mind wandering again while I was teaching you about swordsmanship? You’ve forgotten what a ‘standard sword form’ is, too, haven’t you?”

“It’s not that bad, shifu,” said Xi Ping. “You may have made a total mess of teaching me Detailed Account of Meridians, but you should still have a bit of confidence in yourself…”

His shizun rewarded him with a snowball and a “Still stuck on Detailed Account of Meridians, are you?”

So Xi Ping sloppily rolled up his sleeves and let the introductory text that had caused teacher and disciple to quarrel off the hook. Grinning, he said, “What would I need so many sword attacks for? My cultivation is only so strong. If it really gets to the point of using two sword attacks, I’ll already be stone cold. I won’t have a use for the third one anyway. Give it to me as a lucky charm.”

This was only an incomplete sword form, the outcome of being forced into a hopeless predicament. There was little in it for posterity to learn from. Even though Xi Ping had picked it up by cheating, it would still be very hard for him to grasp intact sword aura from it.

But Xi Ping had said that when it came to the sword, as long as he knew enough to get by, it was fine; it wasn’t like he earned his keep as a fighter.

What he wanted was the tenacity and courage of a lone and stubborn person beneath a canopy, still believing in a last gleam of hope at the end of the road.

With the appearance of spirit-conducting gold, spiritual stones were no longer “unusable by mortals”; the insurmountable chasm between mortal and immortal was about to be filled by a mighty flood. Beneath the mansion of the cultivation world, which had stood high and mighty for thousands of years, the foundations were being dug up.

Wen Fei landed at the summit of Moon Plated Peak and went straight to find the shovel-maker.

The storms outside seemed to have nothing to do with Lin Chi. All his focus was on the Unbound Furnace in front of him. He hadn’t moved for days. Wen Fei walked briskly toward him, took out his fan, and waved it in front of Master Lin’s face: I think Jingzhai just went to see the Dignitary of Fate Elder, and then his aura vanished from the Xuanyin Mountains. I hear that in the south… Look at the state of things, Lin-shixiong! How can you still be staring at the furnace?

Lin Chi’s gaze didn’t budge from the Unbound Furnace. “General Zhi tasked me with making something, and I haven’t figured it out yet… The turbulence is on the Southern He Peninsula, not in Great Wan. If I wasn’t staring at the furnace, what else would I be doing?”

Wen Fei reconsidered; that was fair. It seemed that there was no shed skin to oversee Great Wan, but in fact every accompanying tree was like Zhi Xiu himself. He could appear in any place at any time. No one knew right now how many upgraded immortal tools Great Wan had ready domestically, and the Xuanyin Mountains would soon be done for, so there were no ill-gotten gains to be squeezed out; they were just like the cottage on Flying Jade Peak—shabby and safe. It was the Southern He Peninsula, where not a single blade of grass grew and no one could move freely, that had become the contested location.

Wen Fei craned his neck to look. You’re still mulling over that what’s-it…that thing that can channel the spiritual mountains’ spiritual energy into the mortal world like the Territory Map?

Before the words had finished popping up on the fan, there was a crisp sound. Spiritual light spread from the Unbound Furnace. Ordinarily, this was a sign that a treasure was being brought into being inside a toolmaking furnace. Wen Fei’s eyes lit up, but he saw Lin Chi sigh and withdraw his consciousness from the furnace. He raised his hand and caught a short length of richly colored spirit-conducting gold.

Wei Fei said, Nice!

“What’s nice about it? It’s a failure.” Lin Chi shook his head despondently. “Spiritual energy is conducted more or less the same way other things are conducted. It basically all goes from high to low, from dense to sparse. Ordinarily, spiritual energy would naturally flow from where it was highly concentrated to where it was scarce…”

Wen Fei said, Wouldn’t that precisely mean flowing from the spiritual mountains to the veins of the earth?

“I said ordinarily. The spiritual mountains are an exception—the accrual and dispersal of spiritual energy in the spiritual mountains is limited. It’s like a heavenly rule, outside of human control. I…I only have an ascended spirit’s cultivation. I can’t get around it.” As Lin Chi spoke, he started giving up on himself again. “But after the Jade Sage left, Lancang had no other shed skin toolmakers. Without having found the Eternal Flame, they made this thing two hundred years ago. I spent so many years on Moon Plated Peak holding my position without doing any work…”

Wen Fei quickly fanned him. Master Lin, Master Lin, do not be impatient, try this.

Saying so, he took out a small bottle. Everyone in Xuanyin’s inner and outer sects used pills produced by Rosy Cloud Peak. Lin Chi was depressed. He accepted the pill without even asking what it was and swallowed it, his attitude that of a person committing suicide by poison.

The pill slipped down his throat. Like a potent moisture expeller, it instantly dried up all of Lin Chi’s drippy emotions. He was faintly dazed, feeling that this slightly bitter pill was a little like a mind calming pill. First it stabilized his vacillating mood; then, inexpressible certainty welled up out of nowhere in his chest. It was as if he could do anything, go anywhere.

Wen Fei waved his fan in immense self-satisfaction: A new pill, I hadn’t named it yet. I’ve decided to call it the Ancestor Pill. Taking it makes you feel invincible. The inspiration comes from that brat Xi Shiyong. I’ve always felt that the two of you ought to borrow a little from each other’s temperaments… Master Lin?

Lin Chi extended a hand, summoning a worn out history book. “Wait, I remember that General Zhi said that thing that could conduct spiritual energy from the spiritual mountains was something the Lancang Sect Leader obtained at the final juncture. If they hadn’t been so hurried and hard-pressed then, they might well have succeeded. But at the time, of the Lancang Sword Sect’s three great toolmaking masters, two had passed away and one had turned traitor…so who made that special spirit-conducting gold? The Sect Leader himself was a sword cultivator.”

On Sanyue’s East Peak, Xuanwu’s eyes suddenly opened. The white paper mask on his face went to pieces. Bright, clear moonlight illuminated his snow-white face, identical to Xiang Rong’s.

Barefoot, his hair hanging loose down his back, he floated up from Sanyue’s East Peak. The Silver Moon gave one final struggle and at last fell in behind him. The Sanyue Mountain Range’s great array let out a sigh, and the murderous aura aimed at this so-called traitor to the spiritual mountains sank beneath the horizon like sunlight at dusk.

As if there were no one else around, Xuanwu walked directly into the main hall on Sanyue’s Central Peak.

Within the space of a few steps, the silver moonlight had already repaired his damaged essence. The dirt and bloodstains on Xuanwu disappeared bit by bit beneath the moonlight. The oppressive might of a peak shed skin settled over the Sanyue Mountains.

He didn’t carry out a slaughter, only fixed each hostile face in turn with his stare. Watching them kneel, unable to withstand the pressure, his deathly pale smile was as cold and treacherous as the Silver Moon.

A Linked Heart from Kunlun landed in his hand.

Southern Shu’s Lingyun had also received a letter from Kunlun.

The Lingyun Mountains themselves were in a sorry state, and there was infighting between the two clans. They hadn’t wanted to get mixed up in this, but the Xiuyi Sect Leader laid Wangge Luobao’s note and Kunlun’s secret letter out together, irresolutely read them three times over, and finally, like a punching bag, waved a hand and said with a sigh, “A letter written in the Kunlun Sect Leader’s own hand… There is unrest in our nation, half of the Lingyun Mountains have collapsed, and the drained spiritual energy has yet to be traced. Our power on the southern continent is weak. When Kunlun summons us, we are not in a position to ignore it. Fair enough. Everyone, please protect the great mountain array. Do not give the evil cultivators an opening to exploit. I… Alas.”

He looked miserable, like a young woman of good family being forced into prostitution. “I will go with the Cauldron of Nine Dragons.”

Receiving his Sect Leader’s urgent summons, Kunlun’s Third Elder actually felt rather disapproving—counting the Second Elder “in seclusion,” Kunlun had four shed skins in all. Now the Sword Slave was already in Southern He. Did the Sect Leader have any need to bring him along?

Kunlun’s shed skins all assembled on the Southern He Peninsula… Oh, he had heard that Linked Hearts had gone out to Sanyue and Lingyun from Kunlun’s heights. Such great fanfare, all for the sake of a few evil cultivators, some strange immortal tools…and Xuanyin’s little sword cultivator, who had just become a shed skin?

Was it worth it? It was giving Great Wan too much respect!

“Whether punishing evil or vanquishing demons, what need is there for my shixiong the Sect Leader to go in person? You can just leave this small matter to me.”

The Sect Leader didn’t respond. After a long moment, he extended a hand to catch a Linked Heart that came flying from far away. After reading it through in a few glances, he crushed the paper and turned to say to the Third Elder, “Under the guise of patrolling the Beijue Array, Xie Chu has run off. It is suspected that he has gone beyond the Beijue Mountains.”

When he heard the Blind Wolf King’s name, it was as if the Third Elder had a toothache. His face spasmed involuntarily. “In the matter of Southern He, Second shidi did in fact have some disagreements and misunderstandings with us, such that we parted on bad terms. If not for his cultivation level, he wouldn’t have ended up trapped in… But for that rebellious disciple of his to harbor a grudge against the sect because of this really is preposterous…”

The Third Elder’s words came to an abrupt halt; he looked at the Sect Leader strangely—the moment he mentioned the Second Elder, an ominous bloody light seemed to have flashed through the Sect Leader’s eyes, so fast it was as if he had imagined it.

“Sect Leader shixiong?”

It seemed that Kunlun’s Sect Leader only then came back to himself. Somewhat sluggishly, he said, “Xie Chu is crafty. He has remained in contact with Wu Lingxiao all these years. If Wanshuang’s Sword Slave has believed something she has heard, she won’t necessarily be on our side. In the interest of prudence, the two of us will go together.”

The Third Elder was just about to say something else when the Sect Leader waved a hand to interrupt him. “This is also the High Priest’s intention.”

Wangge Luobao’s goals in this instance were first to get the southern mines and second to kill Tai Sui. Even he himself hadn’t expected that his usual shit-stirring would deeply provoke the Sect Leader of far-away Kunlun. The world’s preeminent masters were coming his way from all directions.

But the spiritual sense of a beast-taming cultivator, acute as the senses of the birds and beasts, was already telling him that the situation had gotten hopelessly out of hand.

Wangge Luobao took a glance at the South Sea, where the mist had somehow become even denser, and decisively sank to the bottom of the sea. Where the light didn’t shine, a clamshell over a zhang high obediently opened and hid him inside itself.

He thought excitedly, Things are about to change.

Inside the next life mist, Yao Qi out of nowhere remembered an absurd rumor he had heard when he was young: they said that the Viscount of Yongning had dressed up in women’s garb and been chosen as the Queen of Flowers.

Xi Ping’s qin-playing fingers were unbelievably nimble—even though his skin hadn’t yet had time to wrap up his bones.

Qin sweet notes flowed like drifting clouds from his incomplete fingers. Yao Qi, who didn’t have a very strong grasp of sweet notes, had to concentrate with all his might to keep up.

Xi Ping said, The Lovebird Sword Array has already emerged, I don’t think Yang Wan will survive. Millions of lives are in your hands now. Listen to what he’s saying. He’s the only person in the world who has ever sealed a divine tool of the mountains.

Yao Qi said in fright, “Listen…listen to whom?”

Xi Ping said, Lancang’s Sect Leader! He has already been destroyed, but your consciousness is still stuck to his Way of the Heart. The Way of the Heart must have something to say.

Yao Qi said, “I hardly understand the Southern He language, I don’t think I’ll…”

Xi Ping’s note came flying out: Meditate!

His consciousness was connected to Yao Qi through the grit projection, which in itself gave him a strong influence over the will of the person whom the technique was being used on, and Yao Qi’s cultivation was far below his. Yao Qi obeyed in spite of himself. His senses sealed, and all his distracting thoughts were swept away by the single qin note; in the blink of an eye, he entered meditation.

Xi Ping had never seen anyone meditate like this—Ziming-xiong didn’t seem to be meditating; he seemed to have been clubbed unconscious.

He froze where he was, then realized that this was an “ingenious use” of the grit projection; he was immediately inspired. By this time his hands had nearly grown back. Once again assembling a general outline of himself inside the next life spiritual fish’s mist, Xi Ping withdrew back to the Sword Slave’s side and unstintingly blended the spiritual energy he had just assembled into his playing, exploding it in the Sword Slave’s ears.

The Sword Slave’s consciousness shook violently. Her half-transparent figure suddenly fell backward, breaking free of that tall man. There was a faint red light in her frightening eyes. Her heavy footsteps fell on the ground, and sword energy spread from her in all directions, blowing up Xi Ping’s human form until all that remained of him was one hand.

Xi Ping said, Wait, senior, listen to me!

How could the Sword Slave understand these Wan musical embellishments? She only saw a hand like something out of a ghost story plucking a few intermittently visible qin strings. “What manner of villainous ghoul dares to scheme against me? Show yourself!”

Xi Ping’s vital qin had remained in Tao County supporting the Law Breaker, and the qin he carried with him was copied with the Discard the False and Keep the True book. When it came within Wanshuang’s sword energy, it was immediately obliterated.

And just then, yet another round of fire from the Luwu, obviously enfeebled, not only failed to push the Lovebird Sword Array away one bit, but instead seemed to enrage the divine tool of the mountains.

Outside the Lancang Spiritual Mountains, the great mountain array, which had been constantly spreading outward since the Lovebird Sword Array had appeared, repaired itself and lit up the peninsula.

Like a puppet on strings, the Queen Mother of the West slowly rose from amid the next life spiritual fish’s mist. The mist she pushed aside dispersed slightly.

The form of the man in front of the Sword Slave suddenly blurred. She unconsciously reached out for him, but they passed through each other. She suddenly came back to her senses. With a shout, she broke free of the next life mist. Wanshuang had already left its sheath—