Outside of Tao County, because the inscriptions had fallen short, the collapsing universe froze.

The Tao World Record’s “eyes and ears” scattered everywhere had no idea what was going on, but that didn’t keep them from packaging up the information and sending it back to Tao County—this was their custom; when they couldn’t work out what was going on, they would transmit back everything they saw and heard, handing it over to Sir Xu so she could pool it and come to a decision.

Practically all the core personnel of this toilet bulletin were Luwu. When they received the information transmitted from all over, they ran into the little alley swift as the wind to find her but couldn’t get through the traffic jam of the spontaneously assembled open air music troupe, so they shouted inward, “Sir Xu, our scribes on the outside say that the abnormal shifts in spiritual energy seem to have stopped all of a sudden!”

The people talked over each other to convey this information inward while chewing it over with relish themselves.

“Fresh news! Fresh news! The ‘earth dragon’ in the mountains has stopped turning over.”

“I was wondering why it had gotten so quiet.”

“They say the avalanches in the Kunlun Mountains have stopped, too…”

“What about Southern Shu? Didn’t they say a whole heap of spiritual beasts had gotten loose over there?”

“There may be nothing to be done about the ones that have gotten loose. They can only mend the pen now that the sheep are lost.”

“What a nuisance, I hope they don’t wander over here. Everyone says the beast-taming cultivators these days are useless. All they do is pick out impressive spiritual beasts and raise them for fighting, and herd the rest into enclosures and order servants to take care of them.” An old man who spent all his time hanging out in tea shops launched into an extemporaneous critique of another country’s social ills. “When they’ve lost the tradition of their founder, how can anything go well? Something was bound to go wrong sooner and later, and wouldn’t you just look!”

Some years earlier, it would have been unthinkable for mortals to say things like this. Making presumptuous commentary about immortals was heresy. If the immortals heard and stopped protecting you, what would you do?

But spiritual energy had been prohibited in Tao County for eight years. Everyone felt that “immortals not protecting you” was pretty good.

Tao County had many “Exalteds,” which were very easy to pick out. Those whose reactions were slow, who didn’t know when to get out of the way of a car, who always seemed to be trying to stamp on something when they walked, who plainly had no handicap but whose each and every movement made it seem like they were deaf and blind…these were all cultivators. They were restless, and they had an outside observer’s haughtiness.

Before, a single Qilin Guard could have scared the minor merchants out of their wits, but now everyone was eager to receive these cultivators—each one of that bunch had more money than brains; they were particularly easy to fleece.

Adding in the heap of little stories about gratitudes and resentments, loves and hates in the cultivation world that filled the toilet bulletins, which commented on the three thousand paths of the Great Way as though they were commenting on rice seeds, the people who lived here had been subtly influenced by what they saw and heard and had gradually lost their scruples as well.

“Sir Xu.” A person who had just been playing the suona put down the instrument and asked, “What’s going on? Does it have something to do with us?”

“Aren’t you clever.” Tao-er-nainai rolled her eyes and turned to Zhao Qindan. “Sir Xu, does it have something to do with our Tai Sui?”

When the people in the little courtyard and on the courtyard walls heard this, all of them turned their gazes on the reincarnation wood tree in the yard.

Xi Ping lowered his head and looked at the heap of inscriptions he had carried off.

Under the press of a thousand years of the system of the spiritual mountains, something like tens of thousands of people being of one heart and raising the Kunlun Spiritual Mountains on the foundation of the Sword Ancestor’s Way of the Heart couldn’t happen again. The set of ancient inscriptions outside the Beijue Mountains had become the sole “book of heaven”; obtaining it, after the old rules collapsed, you could make the sun and moon go around at your beck and call.

The present situation was: Xi Ping had been yanked back to Tao County by a bunch of musicians and had inadvertently torn off a corner of the “book of heaven.” The inscriptions that the hidden bones had were now incomplete, and the hidden bones were for some reason repelled by Tao County, so the total change in the outside world had gone halfway, then awkwardly gotten stuck.

There was no way of knowing whether Hui Xiangjun had anticipated, when she gave up on using the Riverward to steal the ancient inscriptions outside the Beijue Mountains, that eight hundred years later, the Law Breaker would become the hiding place of a portion of the ancient inscriptions.

At the same time, Xi Ping was trapped inside the Law Breaker—without the hidden bones, he couldn’t control the reincarnation wood, and spiritual energy was prohibited in Tao County, so he couldn’t make a paperman to use to move around. Apart from the vital qin that was connected to his innermost thoughts, he couldn’t make a sound now.

From the Latent Cultivation Temple to Tao County, he had gone from a mortal to a near-shed skin, and when it came down to it, he was still unable to act freely, only able to convey information using qin sweet notes.

“Tai Sui,” said Zhao Qindan, knocking on the reincarnation wood’s trunk, “do you have a solution?”

With thanks to the mighty flying goose machine, Xi Ping knocked out a string of qin sweet notes to answer Zhao Qindan: No, I don’t understand it at all, tell the Luwu to contact the Xuanyin Mountains, I need outside aid!

Xi Ping didn’t dare to be too optimistic. Outside were the northern and southern continents, the five ranges of immortal mountains, and countless reincarnation wood trees…and Tao County on a map was only a dot the size of a sesame seed.

Then he tried to tell Zhao Qindan what had happened, but this was a long story, and when it came to the ancient inscriptions, he wouldn’t necessarily have been able to explain it properly even speaking, let alone using sweet notes and code. The two of them, one alternating methods of getting words out, the other groping and guessing, several times ended up at a communication impasse, making the audience sweat.

Fortunately the young mistress had spent eight years cultivating inside the spiritual energy prohibition; her temperament now was unusually steady. “Don’t worry, the Luwu have gone to send the message. However you look at it, we haven’t reached the point of extreme emergency yet…”

Someone must have infected her with a crow’s mouth. Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a dull twang from the Tai Sui Qin.

Zhao Qindan’s eyebrows rose. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Xi Ping couldn’t pluck the qin right now.

A consciousness could change shape, but that required mental energy to keep up. Under normal circumstances, people would preserve their most familiar state of existence—in other words, their true bodies.

Xi Ping’s consciousness in the Law Breaker looked like himself, but just now, the right arm of his consciousness had suddenly broken without warning. This wasn’t a voluntary change on his part, it was an external wound. Xi Ping gasped suddenly, and the Tai Sui Qin’s melody went astray.

Nothing in the Law Breaker would attack his consciousness. Feeling the sharp pain, Xi Ping immediately realized: this wound had been inflicted on his true body!

His consciousness had been carried away by the hidden bones. He’d been completely incapable of being his own master. Using the Law Breaker, he had taken refuge Tao County, and his true body was still in the South Sea. Xi Ping had lived in company with the hidden bones ever since he had opened his spiritual eyes. As long as his consciousness wasn’t extinguished, his body could always regenerate, unlike other cultivators, for whom it would be all over when their bodies died; unavoidably, he lacked some precautionary awareness—especially after becoming an ascended spirit, when he could switch places with reincarnation wood trees at will, he had been certain in the knowledge of his safety. He didn’t even have any defensive tools on him!

If his physical body was broken, his consciousness would also be heavily mauled. And the hidden bones moreover could grow a new body. If his own consciousness just happened to have separated from the hidden bones at the time, whose body would that be?

And the physical body and consciousness were inextricably linked. Wounds to the body would certainly reflect on the consciousness. If his body was destroyed, it remained to be seen whether his consciousness, lacking the hidden bones, could survive!

Meanwhile, in the South Sea, when Yao Qi and Chang Jun had slowly awakened, they had bumped into Xi Ping coming out of a reincarnation wood sapling. Before the two of them had time to celebrate, they saw Xi Ping’s expression suddenly become alarmed. He swayed, then fell over.

Chang Jun said, “…I was hoping he’d come to save us. I didn’t think he was coming to run an insurance scam.”

“Never mind, let’s go.”

Yao Qi’s mustard seed had been lost and damaged in the chaos long ago; otherwise, the reincarnation wood seeds wouldn’t have ended up falling all over the ground. Fortunately, Chang Jun still had his mustard seed. The two of them quickly gathered up the remaining upgraded immortal tools in it. In all, they still had three left of ascended spirit grade: an underwater boat shaped like a big fish that could disguise itself as a spiritual beast; a protective leaf in the characteristic style of Moon Plated Peak, just big enough for two or three people to crowd into; and a hand cannon in which Xi Ping had personally stored ascended spirit sword energy.

Chang Jun grit his teeth and lifted Xi Ping onto his back. “Fortunately I…I’ve opened my spiritual eyes. The hidden bones of a master like this alone weigh several hundred jin… Ziming, what are you doing?”

Yao Qi was searching the surroundings with a talisman, turning up several reincarnation wood seeds scattered in the vicinity and putting them away in his purse—Chang Jun had been careless; there were no seeds stored in his mustard seed.

“Just in case,” said Yao Qi, who was used to preparing for the worst. “Let’s go!”

Chang Jun laboriously carried Xi Ping into the belly of the big fish. He gasped in admiration: “You’re really an expert at fleeing disaster. You’re always so prepared!”

But to their surprise, that “preparedness” turned out to be somewhat dire.

In the water, the upgraded immortal tool was very covert. Even the living fishes and spiritual beasts shuttling through the sea didn’t notice anything. It even had a close brush with the silent Cauldron of Nine Dragons.

“C-c-cauldron of Nine… Damn it, that s-s-scared me to death…” Only when they had swum a hundred zhang away from the Cauldron of Nine Dragons did Chang Jun, who hadn’t dared to breathe, force a sentence from his throat. Yao Qi also let out a long breath and leaned over as though his strength had been exhausted.

Just then, Chang Jun, pointing at Yao Qi’s purse, suddenly said, “Hey, Shiyong, are you awake?”

Yao Qi looked down. Xi Ping himself was silent, but the reincarnation wood seeds in his purse had at some point sprouted. The twigs grew quickly. In the blink of an eye, they had torn the mundane brocade that the purse was made of.

With a bitter laugh, Chang Jun said, “You’ve picked a great time to wake up. You just wanted to make me carry you, didn’t…”

The rest of his sentence was drowned in a gasp of alarm—as if it had gone crazy, the just sprouted reincarnation wood attacked its master like a viper!

Xi Ping’s right arm was twisted by vines and immediately broke, drooping limply down.

If not for the fact that Chang Jun hadn’t yet had time to put him down and had automatically pulled Xi Ping half a step aside, this strike would have gone right through him!

“What’s going…Ziming, look out!”

Yao Qi’s purse burst open. The reincarnation wood branches were like a volcanic eruption. It grew wildly, then agitated the surrounding spiritual energy.

It couldn’t use talismans; it only forced the surrounding spiritual energy to turn into sharp blades of wind, like knives, slashing as Xi Ping and Chang Jun.

Xi Shiyong…was attacking Xi Shiyong?

Yao Qi quickly took a step back and tossed a fire talisman onto the purse. Sadly, both Xi Ping’s true body and the frenzied reincarnation wood were genuine article late stage ascended spirit items. Being hit with a half-immortal talisman was like being tickled!

Chang Jun dodged in a flurry, not knowing whether to toss Xi Ping’s body aside or carry it away. “Why is he attacking himself? Is the problem with the tree or with him? Shiyong! Hey! Xi-shishu, listen, can you drop us a word? Say something…or use code… My goodness, Ziming, what are you doing?!”

Yao Qi had taken out the sole upgraded immortal tool that could be used as a weapon—that hand cannon. He put his finger on the trigger and without any hesitation shot ascended spirit sword energy at the teeth-baring, claw-flailing reincarnation wood. At the same time, he opened the entrance to the belly of the “big fish.”

Seawater and spiritual energy suddenly poured in. Another big whirlpool appeared in the South Sea out of nowhere. The reincarnation wood was sent flying by that shot. It passed through the fish’s belly and fell into the sea. Without a word, Yao Qi threw himself forward and pressed the button controlling the fish’s belly. The upgraded immortal tool closed in response.

Almost at the very moment he sealed the fish’s belly, the reincarnation wood vines, already as thick as pythons, slammed firmly against the fish.

Those vines actually knocked a crack in the ascended spirit fish. Yao Qi poured all the spiritual stones he had on him into the fish belly’s array. The little boat shaped like a big fish paused, then rushed through the vines like an arrow loosed from the string.

Chang Jun’s head slammed against the fish’s hard belly. He howled, “Wait, wait up! How do you know that the problem is with the tree and not with him? What if there’s something improper in his body, some demon invading him or something, and his consciousness went into the reincarnation wood to eliminate the evil… Don’t do more harm than good!”

Yao Qi grabbed Xi Ping, who had slipped out of Chang Jun’s arms. “What are you talking about, more harm than good? Whether Xi Shiyong was ‘expelling evil’ or being expelled by it, when would he ever attack you along with it? Have you forgotten why he wanted the half-puppet to throw an inscription at him back them?”

Chang Jun went blank. But before he could say anything, the big fish suddenly shook. In the sea, the frenzied reincarnation wood had stirred up tens of thousands of deadly spiritual energy blades, and the fish had been slashed. Yao Qi and Chang Jun watched as the upgraded immortal tool’s array’s spiritual threads burst apart in front of their eyes and the seawater and vines together surged in, bringing the big fish moving stealthily through the depths of the sea to a halt!

And meanwhile, the shed skins in the sky had yet to call it off—the Ceaseless Mirror had suddenly disappeared, which seemed to have called back the Kunlun Sect Leader’s reason. He realized something. He suddenly withdrew and retreated. “Slow down, Wu Lingxiao! Let’s…”

Wanshuang’s sword wind interrupted his words. “Where the hell is my shifu?!”

Kunlun’s Sect Leader recalled something, and all the blood left his face. He seemed to have become a ghost. The three other shed skins kept to a middle distance, making way for the sword points. They exchanged veiled and guarded looks, keeping their attention on Kunlun’s secrets playing out while all extending their consciousnesses without prearrangement, inspecting the situations in their own countries.

At once, everyone’s gazes were drawn in by the fang-baring, claw-flailing reincarnation wood.

These days, there was no one who was unfamiliar with reincarnation wood. The Lingyun Sect Leader, who was closest to the sea, was the first to react. “First let’s take down that Southern Wan evil cultivator!”

So saying, the old fellow took the lead in hitting the reincarnation wood with a talisman.

Though Lingyun's Sect Leader had a shed skin’s cultivation level, he wasn’t particularly proficient at talismans. He took the reincarnation wood for an embodiment of Xi Ping. Presuming that this person had only just become an ascended spirit, he had underestimated the enemy.

When the shed skin’s talisman entered the water, the South Sea boiled, but the tree reaching up from the depths only shook slightly. It took absolutely no notice!

The expression on the Lingyun Sect Leader’s face was hard to describe.

But Xuanwu suddenly gave a cry. “What’s that?”

Perhaps provoked by the shed skin talisman, inscriptions flashed over the trunk of the rampant reincarnation wood—the fatal inscriptions that, out of everyone in the world, only Kunlun’s Sect Leader had seen!

Kunlun’s Sect Leader had yielded to several attacks from Wanshuang, only parrying, not attacking. He was about to say something when out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed the inscriptions on the enormous tree at the bottom of the sea. The thread of clarity in his head instantly snapped. In a daze, he seemed to hear the sound of the sword tearing through Zhu Lanze’s back.

The long nightmare descended; the heart demon seed irrigated by guilt, remorse, and weakness burst into bloom. Wanshuang was knocked aside by the furious spiritual energy around him. The Sect Leader’s pupils seemed to shrink to the size of pinpoints.

“It…it wasn’t me…” He looked through the heart demon that had taken root on his spirit. “I wasn’t the one who killed him…”

A voice that seemed to be luring him into something asked, “Then who was it?”

Who infected your mind? Who controlled your hand as it held the sword? Who forced you to murder your own shidi, whom you led into the cultivation world yourself…?

Something was attracting his gaze, making him look at the ancient Way of the Heart on his spirit. The Kunlun Sect Leader’s whole body began to tremble. Something was on the verge of appearing, but he didn’t dare to look directly at it.

He suddenly gave a loud shout, threw off Wu Lingxiao, and hacked at the inscriptions on the tree—it was the monstrous wind and snow outside the Beijue Mountains, it was the deluding Beijue Array, and maybe it was those strange inscriptions in the snow… In sum, it couldn’t have been his Way of the Heart!

This time, the reincarnation wood couldn’t remain unconcerned. The tree trunk took the thrust of the Kunlun Sect Leader’s weighty sword directly. At the place where a piece of the inscriptions was missing on the trunk, it snapped in half. The branches dispersed. The fish-shaped immortal tool it had captured seized the opportunity to slip away.

Unfortunately, the ascended spirit grade fish couldn’t take the shed skin sword wind. It went to pieces from a glancing blow.

The three people inside were immediately dropped into the sea. A beam of sword energy slashed Xi Ping’s back. The blood threw itself at Yao Qi’s face, entering his lungs along with the seawater.

Inside the Law Breaker in Tao County, Xi Ping felt as if he had been cut in two. His vision darkened. Something flew out of his chest.

Yao Qi swallowed that mouthful of ascended spirit blood. The spiritual energy in his meridians increased dramatically. In a flash, he outperformed himself, casting a talisman that clearly surpassed the level of a half-immortal and coalesced into a shield in the water. Though it broke at a single touch, it was still enough to give him a chance to take out the last upgraded immortal tool—that leaf. It wrapped the three of them up and squeezed out through a gap between the evil vines and the sword energy!

Inside the Law Breaker, Xi Ping fainted briefly before recovering his awareness. He waited for a long while, but no new wounds appeared on his body. Presumably when the reincarnation wood hadn’t succeeded in killing him in one blow, Yao Qi and Chang Jun had worked out what was going on.

He’d never thought that his life would be in the hands of those two half-immortal classmates.

Xi Ping gave a bitter laugh and heard Zhao Qindan’s already somewhat frantic voice. He was just about to respond to her when his gaze suddenly froze.

When his consciousness had taken heavy damage earlier, the thing that had flown out of his chest had been a small flame.

This was the Eternal Flame, which had burned in water and in ice without being extinguished for eight hundred years, the source of the Law Breaker and the Riverward.

Now, the flame had clearly weakened.