Lu Xiaochan smiled. “It will indeed split. So, you’ll have to cultivate diligently day and night to repair the fissures in your core. Day after day, as long as you cultivate diligently, you can preserve your cultivation, but as for further advancement, that will be impossible.”
“I didn’t expect the Thousand Autumn Pavilion to have such a pill,” Lord Zhaolan said, clutching his chest.
Lu Xiaochan chuckled. “This isn’t a Thousand Autumn Pavilion pill, but a Tailing Pavilion one!”
“Which Tailing Pavilion medical cultivator refined this?”
“Lord Liche!”
After speaking, Lu Xiaochan took Shu Wuxi and Jiang Wuchao and hurried towards Tailing Pavilion.
Shu Wuxi asked, “When did Kunwu give you the ‘Splitting Core Pill’?”
Lu Xiaochan sighed. “What ‘Splitting Core Pill’? It’s just a sugar pill, twenty for a copper coin from the roadside!”
“So it won’t split his core?”
“Nonsense!”
Returning to the Tailing Pavilion once again, Lu Xiaochan was truly filled with mixed emotions.
They landed in front of the thatched cottage. Lu Xiaochan tugged the hexagonal wind chime and shouted, “This lord is back! Little ones, come open the door for your Martial Uncle!”
Just then, the door creaked open.
Lu Xiaochan poked his head in and asked, “Which little darling opened the door for me? Is it Qingyao? Or Ziqiao?”
But no one answered.
Lu Xiaochan’s heart tightened, and he subconsciously grasped Shu Wuxi’s hand. He said, “We’d better not bring Jiang Wuchao inside.”
Shu Wuxi agreed, “Mm.”
The overlapping void layers of Tailing Pavilion had always been Lu Xiaochan’s least favorite. He always lost his way after entering the void, so he truly didn’t dare to take the first step.
Unexpectedly, Shu Wuxi reached out and plucked the hexagonal wind chime from the eaves of the thatched cottage, turned it over, and handed it to Lu Xiaochan. He said, “Look.”
Lu Xiaochan asked, “Eh? What’s this?”
It turned out that a Qiankun Formation was engraved inside the hexagonal wind chime.
Every time a visitor came, once they touched the hexagonal wind chime, it would reset the order of the void within the Tailing Pavilion. But if one carried this hexagonal wind chime, as long as they looked inside, they would know where the formation’s eye was and wouldn’t get lost in the void.
Lu Xiaochan exclaimed, “Brother Wuxi, you’re so smart!”
“Kunwu is too stupid.”
The two walked inside. The Tailing Pavilion of the past had been brimming with spiritual energy, but now it was deathly silent.
Not only could they not see a single Tailing Pavilion disciple, the silence was unsettling.
Even the immortal herbs planted by Kunwu had withered and lost their vitality.
Lu Xiaochan’s heart beat rapidly, and his palms were sweating as he held Shu Wuxi’s hand.
“Brother Wuxi… do you see the Thousand Li Chanjuan spirit vine?”
The Thousand Li Chanjuan spirit vine had always guarded Chang Yan’s rib until the rib recognized Lu Xiaochan as its master.
It was an ancient spirit vine, rumored to have been planted by Tailing Pavilion’s founding ancestor, True Lord Lingyuan, and nourished with spiritual energy by the first Yang Cang. Having been bathed in the auspicious energy of the Tailing Pavilion for over ten thousand years, it was no exaggeration to call it a “divine object.”
Shu Wuxi’s voice was heavy as he said, “It has withered.”
Lu Xiaochan trembled. He asked, “Withered? How could the Thousand Li Chanjuan wither?”
They were too late; True Lord Faning must have already been there.
Lu Xiaochan still found it hard to believe. Shu Wuxi took his hand and bent down, touching a piece of the withered vine.
With just a light touch, there was no warmth, nor could they feel the flow of spiritual energy. They only heard the spreading sound of shattering. Lu Xiaochan quickly withdrew his hand, but it continued to crumble.
Tears fell down. During his time at Tailing Pavilion, the Thousand Li Chanjuan had also kept him company.
He remembered climbing up and picking many, many of the Thousand Li Chanjuan’s fruits, while Qingyao pleaded with him from below to come down quickly.
Lu Xiaochan asked, “It’s a spirit vine… how could it wither?”
Shu Wuxi knelt on one knee, his finger tracing an arc along the root of the spirit vine. Suddenly, a black, evil formation appeared.
Lu Xiaochan’s eyes widened. He asked, “What is this?”
Shu Wuxi explained, “It’s an evil formation from the Demon Capital that absorbs vital essence. True Lord Faning likely used this evil formation to absorb all of the spirit vine’s energy. However, to use this formation, there must be a sacrifice.”
Lu Xiaochan asked, “Could it be… could it be that all the Tailing Pavilion disciples were… were sacrificed?”
That was why they couldn’t find anyone!
Lu Xiaochan was shaken and shouted the names of the others.
“Ziqiao—Qingyao—are you there? Huashang! Yan Yin!”
His voice echoed for a long time, the emptiness chilling him to the bone.
Just then, he heard the withered spirit vine shatter and turn to dust.
Shu Wuxi pulled Lu Xiaochan over, shielding him in his arms.
Lu Xiaochan’s tears fell, soaking Shu Wuxi’s clothes.
Images of those faces, some innocent, some serious, flashed through his mind. They called him “Junior Martial Uncle,” chasing after him to retrieve the cats and dogs he had woven from spirit herbs…
And the spirit vine had turned to dust.
At this moment, a rustling sound came from beneath the dust.
“Who—” Lu Xiaochan was extremely alert. He glanced sideways and noticed many streams of spiritual energy outlining human forms, crawling upwards.
“Brother Wuxi, there are people under the spirit vine!”
He ran over.
Shu Wuxi pushed away the dust with a wave of spiritual energy, revealing a hand reaching out. Lu Xiaochan noticed that this person’s spiritual energy was quite weak, and there were many people below pushing him upwards.
Lu Xiaochan suddenly understood, “It’s Qingyao!”
He grabbed Qingyao’s thin arm and pulled him out.
Qingyao lay on the ground, panting and coughing, covered in dust. The moment he saw Lu Xiaochan, he lunged forward and hugged his leg. He cried, “Martial Uncle—why did you only come back now! Our Tailing Pavilion is gone!”
Then, more and more Tailing Pavilion disciples crawled out from below, looking as disheveled as could be.
But seeing them, Lu Xiaochan wanted nothing more than to kiss each and every one of them.
It was as if he had experienced great sorrow and great joy all at once.
Ziqiao staggered over and pushed Qingyao. He said, “You have no backbone! What do you mean Tailing Pavilion is gone? Isn’t Martial Uncle here? Master is also in Xiyuan! We’re all still alive! As long as one person remains, Tailing Pavilion remains!”
Lu Xiaochan wiped away his tears and handed a pill to Ziqiao. He said, “Quickly tell me, what happened!”
Ziqiao began, “Yesterday evening…True Lord Faning arrived with a woman cloaked in a hood…”
That woman was Lord Chunning, whose face had been disfigured by Haofu.
Their arrival put the entire Tailing Pavilion on high alert.
Ziqiao, as Kunwu’s chief disciple, met with them.
True Lord Faning knelt before Ziqiao with great sincerity, repenting for his mistakes. He said that he knew Haofu had become possessed but didn’t stop him because of Lord Chunning. He explained, “I willingly aided in his evil deeds, hoping that one day Haofu’s demonic ways would lead him to commit a grave error and ruin his reputation—that’s why I conspired with the Demon Lord Luli within him and invited all the immortal sects to Chongluan Palace… I never intended to refine the heads of all the immortal sects, I only wanted Haofu to make a mistake… Now Haofu has confessed, and all the immortal sects are saying ‘It’s commendable to admit one’s mistakes,’ but what about Lord Chunning? Her greatest mistake in life was framing Mo Qianqiu! After the battle of Xiyuan, Mo Qianqiu’s reputation soared, but Lord Chunning…she’s a woman!”
True Lord Faning knelt before Ziqiao, tears streaming down his face.
He removed Lord Chunning’s veil. Lord Chunning tried to cover her face, but True Lord Faning stopped her, saying that if the people of Tailing Pavilion didn’t see it, how would they know how cruel Haofu had been?
Lord Chunning had once been the most beautiful woman in Xiyuan. The left side of her face was as captivating as the right side was horrifying.
Seeing such a severe injury, Ziqiao’s heart softened, and he agreed to True Lord Faning’s request. However, this didn’t mean that Ziqiao had let down his guard. He imprisoned True Lord Faning in Kunwu’s meditation chamber.
But unexpectedly, True Lord Faning used an evil formation to refine the Spirit Locust Tree within Kunwu’s meditation chamber and, with its power, escaped the chamber. He pretended to want to steal the fruits of the Thousand Li Chanjuan spirit vine, attracting all the disciples of Tailing Pavilion.
However, he had cast an evil formation there, intending to sacrifice all the disciples who came and refine the spirit vine.
The spirit vine, possessing ten thousand years of spiritual energy and having gained sentience, used all its energy to gather the disciples who had entered the formation beneath its roots, which happened to be another void. It then manipulated the hexagonal wind chime, shifting the disciples’ location.
Lu Xiaochan frowned. He asked, “If True Lord Faning’s evil formation didn’t have a sacrifice, how was it activated?”
Ziqiao replied, “We don’t know! If it weren’t for your return, Martial Uncle, and your activation of the hexagonal wind chime, we don’t know how long we would have been trapped in the void!”
The disciples looked at the shattered remains of the spirit vine on the ground, their hearts aching. They carefully began to collect the remnants.
Suddenly, Qingyao cried out in alarm and fell to the ground. He exclaimed, “This… this… who is this?!”
Ziqiao and the other disciples rushed over, asking, “What? What’s wrong?!”
They saw a withered corpse, twisted and curled up on the ground.
Lu Xiaochan and Shu Wuxi approached. Lu Xiaochan couldn’t see what the person looked like, but from Ziqiao’s description, not only had their vital essence been sucked dry, their elixir core was also gone, and even their flesh had dried up.
Ziqiao merely touched the body with a withered branch, and it instantly turned to dust, startling everyone into silence.
Among the clothing, Ziqiao picked up a waist token. He exclaimed, “It’s True Lord Faning! He actually sacrificed himself!”
Lu Xiaochan tilted his head. He said, “Sacrificed himself? Not necessarily. Although it’s true that to restore Lord Chunning’s face, she needs a higher cultivation level than Haofu… to achieve this, he gave up his own life? Life is still more precious than a face! Our Tailing Pavilion’s masks are so realistic that they can easily pass for the real thing!”
Ziqiao agreed, “Yes… Lord Chunning could have worn a mask first and then slowly healed her face. There was no need to go to such extremes!”
Just then, Kunwu returned.
Lu Xiaochan thought he would immediately burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, but he merely looked coldly at the scene before him.
Lu Xiaochan began, “Senior Brother… I know you must be very sad that the spirit vine is gone, but…”
Kunwu closed his eyes and cast a healing spell, gathering the spirit vine’s remains. He said, “The withering and flourishing of all things is the natural order. The spirit vine protected the disciples of Tailing Pavilion and died a worthy death. However… Yang Cang, you cannot linger here, you must return to Wuyi Jingtian immediately!”
Kunwu’s words were firm and resolute, completely different from his usual roundabout way of speaking.
Lu Xiaochan felt a sense of foreboding. He asked, “What do you mean?”
What did the spirit vine have to do with Wuyi Jingtian?
Kunwu asked, “Do you not understand yet? Since True Lord Faning was sacrificed and refined, who benefited?”
Lu Xiaochan replied, “Lord Chunning! Her cultivation has greatly increased! Then she’ll also go to Xiyuan to seek revenge on Haofu! What does that have to do with Wuyi Jingtian?”
Lu Xiaochan turned around and saw Shu Wuxi frown deeply. Shu Wuxi urged, “Xiaochan, we must return to Wuyi Jingtian at once!”
Seeing Shu Wuxi’s urgency, Lu Xiaochan immediately unsheathed his Wuhen Sword and rushed out of Tailing Pavilion with Shu Wuxi.
“Brother Wuxi! Explain it to me clearly!”
“The Thousand Li Chanjuan spirit vine was planted by True Lord Lingyuan and nourished by the first Yang Cang’s spiritual energy! Moreover, it guarded Chang Yan’s rib for over ten thousand years, so naturally, it also contains Chang Yan’s essence. With the spirit vine’s essence, Lord Chunning’s cultivation has greatly increased, and she won’t fear the pressure of the Wuyi Sword Sea. If she pulls my Wuxi Sword from the Sword-Releasing Stone…”
Lu Xiaochan’s heart sank, and his back was covered in cold sweat!
The Wuxi Sword might think that Yang Cang had returned… and leave the Sword-Releasing Stone without resistance!
If that happened, the Wuyi Sword Sea would fall!
But if Lord Chunning wanted revenge, her current cultivation was more than enough to deal with Haofu! Why would she want the Wuyi Sword Sea to fall?
Unless—Lord Chunning had already been possessed!
She wasn’t pulling the Wuxi Sword just to make the Sword Sea fall, but to release the suppressed Evil God Chaos!
With the wind at his back, Lu Xiaochan rushed towards Wuyi Jingtian at his fastest speed. Due to his immense speed, his body seemed to be on fire, leaving a golden trail in the air, as if the sky itself was splitting open.
The various sect leaders saw this strange sight and couldn’t guess what was happening.
Ling Nianwu looked up, his brow furrowed. In an instant, he unsheathed his sword and rushed forward.
His disciples exclaimed in surprise, “Villa Master! Where are you going?!”
Ling Nianwu replied, “Something must have happened at Wuyi Jingtian! I must go and see!”
Lord Miaochen Yuan of Nanli Jingtian also said, “Only the fastest swords can create such a phenomenon! If Wuyi Jingtian is fine, there’s no need for Yang Cang to be in such a hurry!”
Lord Miaochen Yuan immediately flew away from Nanli on her sword.
Mo Qianqiu had just tamed a sand snake, bullying it until it cowered on the ground, not daring to move. But when he looked up, he saw the golden streak.
He mused, “Are those two rushing to reincarnate or to their bridal chamber?”
Mo Qianqiu thought for a moment, then felt something was wrong.
“That lazybone Lu Xiaochan wouldn’t fly so fast for either reincarnation or a bridal chamber!”
In the icy glaciers of the Northern Sea, Lord Lianyue Yuan was wrapped in a thick fur coat, dozing with a spirit beast nestled in his arms.
The spirit beast, held too tightly, was uncomfortable and kicked him. Lord Lianyue Yuan had to lie on his back.
The spirit beast then stood on his chest, circled around, curled into a ball, and continued to sleep.
Lord Lianyue Yuan tugged the spirit beast’s ear and complained, “Linshuang, you eat and sleep all day, but I never see you cultivate! How many years will it take for you to regain your human form so we can be together?”
The next moment, Lord Lianyue Yuan’s chin received another solid blow.
He looked up and saw the golden streak in the distance.
“Oh dear… is the sky splitting open?”
The spirit beast in his arms poked its head out of the thick fur coat and looked. Then, its sleepy eyes suddenly lit up, and it kept butting its head against his chin.
“That’s Wuyi Jingtian, governed by Yang Cang. We’re fine just enjoying the cold breeze and aurora here in the Northern Sea… Ow! You kicked me again! Alright, alright, we’ll go take a look! Just stop kicking me!”
In the blink of an eye, Lu Xiaochan and Shu Wuxi arrived beneath the Sword Sea.
Just then, the Wuyi Sword Sea began to churn, as if it was about to collapse!
Lu Xiaochan exclaimed, “Someone is trying to remove the Wuxi Sword!”
He urged Shu Wuxi, “Quickly withdraw the Sword Sea!”
Lu Xiaochan flew against the wind, the roaring and majestic sword intent threatening to annihilate him at any moment.
Shu Wuxi closed his eyes, sensing the Wuxi Sword.
Before the Sword-Releasing Stone, Lord Chunning gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands, channeling the spiritual energy of the Thousand Li Chanjuan into the Wuxi Sword. The sword’s spiritual energy intertwined with Lord Chunning’s, crackling and sparking.
The Sword-Releasing Stone trembled, as if trying to hold onto the Wuxi Sword.
![Dawn Sleep [Interstellar]](https://moonlightnovel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Dawn-Sleep-Interstellar.webp "Dawn Sleep [Interstellar]")
