“What’s going on?” Lu Xiaochan suddenly realized that Shu Wuxi’s previous warning to Ling Nianwu seemed to have already known something.
“It was when Lianyue stole the Immortal-Locking Ribbon from the crowd that he told me what he wanted to do,” Shu Wuxi said.
“What? What did he… want to do?”
“He knew that the Demon Capital was drawing everyone to Chongluan Palace to set up the Soul Refining Formation. He was determined to impersonate Lord Miaochen Yuan to lure the Demon Infant into a trap,” Shu Wuxi answered.
Lu Xiaochan furrowed his brow, narrowed his eyes, and suddenly realized, “No wonder when I was fighting Demon Lord Miyi, I actually had your sword intent on me! I didn’t even know when you left it!”
“Lianyue must make you fall into the Demon Infant’s trap, otherwise the Demon Infant would become suspicious. His displacement of the void was not to trap you, but to block you outside the Demon Capital,” Shu Wuxi answered.
Everything became clear in Lu Xiaochan’s mind.
“I was going to encounter Demon Lord Miyi, wasn’t that because you wanted my Wuhen Sword to gain its edge?” Lu Xiaochan raised his head, “Because your sword intent was left on me… you already knew what I would encounter!”
“If you knew I was always protecting you, you wouldn’t have put yourself in such a deadly situation,” Shu Wuxi raised his hand and patted Lu Xiaochan’s head.
Lu Xiaochan became furious. “Didn’t you see Miyi transform into your appearance? Aren’t you angry? That Demon Lord impersonated you to deceive me!”
“It didn’t deceive you, so I’m happy,” Shu Wuxi patted Lu Xiaochan’s head again, gently rubbing it as if smoothing his fur.
“Lord Lianyue’s elixir core contains an incredibly powerful sword intent. If I’m not mistaken, it should be the one you left on him,” Ling Nianwu spoke.
“Yes.”
With Shu Wuxi’s nod, Lu Xiaochan could already guess Lord Lianyue’s strategy.
He first borrowed the opportunity of stealing the Immortal-Locking Ribbon to avoid the Demon Infant’s surveillance and secretly contacted Shu Wuxi.
His reason for choosing Shu Wuxi was actually quite simple. If he contacted anyone from Nanli Jingtian, including his own sister Lord Miaochen Yuan, he would be discovered by the Demon Infant. Moreover, with his elixir core invaded by evil qi, Lianyue’s sword power was greatly reduced. If he wanted to turn the tables, he could only request Shu Wuxi’s help.
It was not surprising that Lianyue could untie the Immortal-Locking Ribbon from Lu Xiaochan’s wrist. But to untie it from Shu Wuxi’s hand, he would need Shu Wuxi’s voluntary cooperation.
After entering Chongluan Palace, Shu Wuxi took away Ye Linshuang. Combined with Lianyue controlling the void with the Nine-Turning Universe treasure box, they successfully avoided the evil spirit’s ears and lured Lord Miaochen Yuan out of Chongluan Palace. The siblings took the opportunity to swap identities.
Before leaving, Lord Miaochen Yuan left a sword intent for Lianyue to trap the Demon Infant.
And Shu Wuxi also left a sword intent for him, to be carried into the Hopeless land to refine the evil spirits and resolve the Xiyuan crisis.
“If… if Lianyue enters the Hopeless land with your sword intent, will he never be able to return?” Lu Xiaochan looked up and asked.
Shu Wuxi nodded.
Lu Xiaochan’s heart turned icy. “Why? Since your sword intent can suppress evil spirits, why didn’t you act directly… And Miaochen, she’s Lianyue’s own sister! How could she bear to watch her brother go to his death?”
“Because there is something that neither I nor Miaochen could do for him, something he must do himself,” Shu Wuxi answered.
Lu Xiaochan understood Shu Wuxi. He had no compassion, and except for matters related to him, other things to him were merely a matter of doing or not doing.
There must be something that moved Shu Wuxi, making him choose to fulfill Lianyue’s wish.
At the far end of the Xiyuan Rift, a spirit beast was lying down, looking into the distance toward Chongluan Palace.
On its back was the sleeping Ye Linshuang.
The sound of the Evil-Dispelling Bell woke him up.
He touched the back of his head and propped himself up on the spirit beast’s back, sitting upright.
When he realized Chongluan Palace had disappeared, he was shocked.
“What is going on—”
A clear and cold female voice rang out. “Chongluan Palace has been invaded by evil qi and no longer exists. I’m going back to fill the Xiyuan Rift with Lord Yangcang.”
Ye Linshuang turned his head and saw Lord Miaochen in white, standing there, but she was holding the Lianyue Sword instead of the Twilight Sword.
“Master… what… what is happening?”
Ye Linshuang clearly remembered he had last seen Lord Lianyue Yuan.
Miaochen sighed. “Linshuang, do you remember when the Evil God Chaos invaded Nanli Jingtian, and everyone thought its target was our Supreme Master Zhu Hua, but it actually took your elixir core?”
Ye Linshuang instinctively covered his inner palace and nodded. “Naturally, I remember. Later, you brought my elixir core back.”
Miaochen shook her head, “The one who brought your elixir core back was Lianyue.”
Ye Linshuang was stunned. He recalled that after Chaos left Nanli Jingtian, Lianyue had pursued it for ninety-one days… He wasn’t actually chasing Chaos, but trying to recover his elixir core?
“Lianyue entered the Demon Capital but couldn’t retrieve your elixir core from the purgatory because your elixir core contains an obsession. Only one obsession can exchange for another obsession,” Miaochen answered.
One obsession can exchange for another obsession… Back then, he had transformed himself for Lord Lianyue Yuan and come to Nanli Jingtian.
His obsession was precisely Lord Lianyue Yuan!
“Master Uncle… what did Master Uncle exchange for my elixir core?” Ye Linshuang asked with a trembling voice.
“His heart.”
This answer nearly tore Ye Linshuang apart.
It was more painful than reshaping bones and tendons in the Northern Sea.
“So for over a thousand years, Master Uncle’s heart has been in purgatory, enduring the burning of karmic fire for me?”
Ye Linshuang’s eyes blurred, and tears fell before he could even close his eyes.
He had always thought Lord Lianyue was carefree and paid attention to nothing.
That was because his heart had already been left behind.
“Master, I want to go too!”
“Linshuang, you cannot go,” Lord Miaochen was about to touch his forehead with a medical spell.
Ye Linshuang suddenly understood that this was the Tailing Pavilion’s medical spell “Gaze at the Dust, Return to the Source” – once touched, past memories would no longer matter!
The medical spell landed on Linshuang’s sword, and countless frost flowers fell and disappeared.
“Linshuang, if Lianyue does not return, at least you will not suffer for it. Why be attached to ‘remembering’?”
Ye Linshuang mounted his Linshuang Sword, looked down at Miaochen and said, “Master, if I no longer remember him, I am just a spirit beast in the Northern Sea. Looking at the aurora in eternal night, the aurora would be just an aurora.”
Ye Linshuang rode his sword away swiftly, as if trying to split the black night.
Miaochen gently tucked her hair behind her ear, and laughed while speaking to the Lianyue Sword. “I will do my best to help you. May the aurora be more than just an aurora from now on.”
She approached the spirit beast, stroked its ear, and the beast shook its entire body. Miaochen sat on it, and the beast took flight.
Above the Xiyuan Rift, numerous immortal lords observed with suspended swords.
Haofu had now lost his abilities, Miaochen was nowhere to be found, Kun Wu practiced medical arts and was not skilled in warfare, and though Mo Qianqiu was talented, his previous reputation was not good. Naturally, the immortal lords would follow Ling Nianwu’s lead.
“Lord Ling! The demons of the Demon Capital are too arrogant! Please lead us to suppress the evil spirits!”
Although the immortal lords usually minded their own business, with the demon spirits escaping, they would inevitably be defeated one by one. Two things are interdependent, they naturally unite.
Ling Nianwu stood with hands behind his back, looking at the evil qi spreading to the edge of the Xiyuan Rift. He raised his hand to signal everyone to remain calm.
“Lord Ling, what are you waiting for? They… they are about to emerge entirely!” Sect Leader Yu was deeply worried.
“Indeed, Lord Ling, we are not afraid of death! Today, we either refine the evil spirits or be refined by them!” Zhang Rongxiu also cupped his fists in petition.
However, Ling Nianwu’s expression remained calm. His wise eyes could no longer see Lord Lianyue’s figure, which meant Lianyue had sunk to the bottom of the Hopeless land.
Lu Xiaochan raised his head and looked at Shu Wuxi beside him. He was serene, with the fierce wind from the deep abyss tearing at his hair, revealing his smooth forehead. He was clearly looking at the abyss, but his eyes were empty.
“Are you waiting for the sword intent in Lianyue’s elixir core to be released?” she asked.
“Mm,” Shu Wuxi nodded.
Once the sword intent was released, it would decompose and refine the gathered evil qi in the Demon Capital, shaking its foundation. This would be the best time for the immortal lords to eliminate evil.
But Lianyue’s elixir core was already riddled with holes from evil qi invasion, and he certainly would not return.
At this moment, Lianyue, even with his wisdom eyes, could no longer see a trace of light.
The Demon Infant was dragged by him, rapidly descending into the depths of the Demon Capital.
Countless evil spirits gnawed at Lianyue’s body, shuttling between his flesh and blood.
The pain was so intense that Lianyue didn’t even have the strength to cry out or breathe.
As the evil qi surged into the Demon Infant’s body, the body previously destroyed by the Nirvana Phoenix Sword Formation restored itself. The Demon Infant continually trampled Lianyue, trying to extract his elixir core, but Lianyue held onto him tightly.
Until Lianyue felt the karmic fire of purgatory burning beneath him. He smiled and said to the Demon Infant. “These thousand years of torment… let me give you a big gift…”
“What?” The Demon Infant’s face twisted and went crazy in the reflection of the karmic fire.
His hand was already gripping Lianyue’s elixir core, but in that instant, a sword formation burst forth from within Lianyue’s elixir core – like thousands of armies charging, trampling the Demon Infant’s body. The body, nourished by evil qi, tore apart, and the massive tremor made even the karmic fire of purgatory violently shake!
The evil spirits that had been tormenting Lianyue were quickly refined by this sword formation. It contained immense power and suddenly erupted at that moment!
This was the Heaven’s Palace Sword Formation that Shu Wuxi had left for him.
Above the Xiyuan Rift, the earth shook, and the previously rampant evil qi suddenly seemed to lose its power, shrinking back!
The cliff gradually revealed its original appearance, and the screaming evil spirits fled in panic like a receding tsunami.
“What… what is happening?” Zhang Rongxiu couldn’t help but ask when seeing this scene.
“Lord Lianyue has brought the Heaven’s Palace Sword Formation into the Demon Capital,” Ling Nianwu turned his face and let out a sigh.
“What? Wasn’t Lord Lianyue possessed? How could he bring the Heaven’s Palace Sword Formation into the Demon Capital?”
“The Heaven’s Palace Sword Formation is Lord Yang Cang’s sword formation! Could Lord Yang Cang be here?”
Ling Nianwu had no time to explain. He raised his hand and loudly proclaimed. “Fellow immortal friends! The opportunity has come. We must seal the Xiyuan Rift in one fell swoop!”
At this moment, Ye Linshuang rode his sword and rushed to Ling Nianwu, kneeling on one knee on the sword and cupping his fists. “Lord Ling, I understand that sealing the Xiyuan Rift concerns the world’s life and death. I only ask for a chance to find someone!”
Ling Nianwu said seriously, “Sword Master Ye, if you go, we cannot wait for your return!”
“Linshuang understands. It’s just that some matters are unrelated to life and death. If not done…”
