Yet she still smiled, bloody hands clutching the spear shaft: “Right… You killed me once, but couldn’t finish me for good… Lu Mingyi, keep killing me. You can’t escape me…”
The cavern fell silent, save for the roar of rushing water.
Lu Mingyi’s robes and face were splattered with shocking blood—all from Ji Xuyun’s sprays. Her own wounds oozed, mingling in the mess.
She stared at the lifeless corpse, stunned for a long moment.
Lu Mingyi knew Ji Xuyun had left herself a way out—she surely wouldn’t truly die like this, just as she had clearly been killed by Xiao Yuxie a hundred years ago, only to come back lively and kicking. She also knew that Ji Xuyun was provoking her, luring her to strike, with some other scheme in mind.
Demonic Cultivators deserved to die anyway, especially someone like Ji Xuyun, who bore the lives of countless people on her conscience.
So, Lu Mingyi felt no qualms.
She should even be glad, because with “this Ji Xuyun” dead, the Demonic Cultivators up above in Peach Blossom Source would fall into leaderless chaos and collapse.
That familiar face before her stared at her with eyes still wide open, even in death.
The cold, calm expression on Lu Mingyi’s face gradually faded away.
She seemed to sit there in a daze for a long time—or perhaps just a moment—when a sudden flapping sound came from behind her.
Lu Mingyi turned toward the noise and saw Tingyu paddling wildly on the water’s surface in a most unbalanced way, finally crashing onto the platform where she was.
Truth be told, if not for the bird’s pure white feathers and the red crest on its head, Lu Mingyi might not have recognized it as Tingyu.
It looked far too wretched.
Its crane legs, once slender and powerful, could no longer even support it standing; having fallen into the water and then onto the platform, its once-sleek feathers were caked in mud and grit. As for its eyes, they remained a hazy gray, as if blind.
Though it couldn’t see, as a part of the Divine Soul, Tingyu could still sense Lu Mingyi’s presence. It dragged its body closer.
But the moment Lu Mingyi saw it, her heart sank.
The state of a Split Soul was linked to the cultivator herself and her Divine Soul.
Tingyu’s descent meant the battle above ground might have ended, but Jiang Liuzhao’s condition was poor.
Could Jiang Liuzhao have been injured—enough to harm her Divine Soul?
And just now, in this cavern, she had killed “one Ji Xuyun”—her former junior sister, now the Demon Sect’s Sect Leader.
Up above, Demonic Cultivators rampaged, and… Shen Mingzheng, who had taken the Spirit-Devouring Gu from her body and been declared by Ji Xuyun to have “no more than two months to live.”
Lu Mingyi raised a hand to cover her face, plunging into even greater bewilderment.
If she could, she’d want to find some deserted spot right now to scream, shout, and sob her heart out—but Tingyu had come.
She didn’t want to show even a hint of weakness before Jiang Liuzhao’s Split Soul.
Tingyu seemed to sense the suffocating turmoil in Lu Mingyi’s heart. It tilted its head silently, made no sound, and simply crouched beside her, both of them gazing at the rushing waters together.
After days of unrelenting tension, Lu Mingyi finally got a brief moment to breathe. Her chaotic mind began to sort itself out.
No matter how unwilling she was to believe it, the fact remained: Shen Mingzheng had taken her Spirit-Devouring Gu and now hung on the brink of death. She couldn’t escape that. Moreover, before coming down here, she’d tossed the Storage Ring containing the Ink Wave Stone right in front of Shen Mingzheng—she had to deal with that.
So, Lu Mingyi stood, preparing to leave.
Tingyu staggered to its feet as well, seemingly wanting to carry her out, but Lu Mingyi gripped her bloodstained Billowing Waves and said in a strained voice, “I can walk on my own. You just lead the way.”
The underground paths below had been a labyrinth, making riding Tingyu a necessity; but here, the water flowed with the terrain, so heading upstream would take her back to the surface.
Before stepping onto Billowing Waves, Lu Mingyi hesitated, then turned and knelt down. She gently closed the eyes of Ji Xuyun’s “died-with-eyes-wide-open” corpse.
When she resurfaced, it was nearing mao hour, yet the sky remained a murky gray, now pelting down with steady rain.
The massive blaze engulfing Peach Blossom Source had been thoroughly doused by the downpour, but repeated devastation had left the place ruined inside and out—not a single intact tree remained, let alone anything else.
The Demonic Cultivators seemed to have been repelled. The righteous cultivators, who had eyed each other with suspicion before, were either wounded and receiving hasty treatment or had fled in the chaos. But with news of the Demonic Cultivators’ incursion spreading, more cultivators were flooding toward Peach Blossom Source.
Lu Mingyi stepped onto solid ground and, through the curtain of rain, spotted Xiao Yuxie being supported by Xie Wenxin. She seemed to have regained a bit of strength, but her face was still deathly pale.
Beside Xiao Yuxie stood Jiang Liuzhao, her posture straight and unyielding amid the rain.
Yet her robes—always impeccably clean and dustless—were now stained with large patches of blood, especially on her left arm.
So, Jiang Liuzhao had truly been injured.
The Long Rainbow Sword Venerable, famed across the world and a terror to Demonic Cultivators, had suffered a drop in cultivation and could bleed and be wounded.
Lu Mingyi’s long lashes trembled; weighed down by the heavy rain, droplets fell from her eyes.
Rain again… Just like when I saw Shen Mingzheng in the rain before, kneeling without a care for her image in her red robes.
A crowd, including Jiang Liuzhao and Xiao Yuxie, gathered around Shen Mingzheng. They seemed to be saying something, while the Shen Family guards knelt beside her, sobbing uncontrollably.
Before Shen Mingzheng, amid the wreckage-strewn ground, lay an immortal sword that had lost its glow and color.
Lu Mingyi drew closer and saw it was Gu Li.
Hearing her approach, heads turned. Xiao Yuxie shifted as if to come inspect her, but after one step, her legs buckled, nearly sending her tumbling.
Lu Mingyi’s goal was clear. She went straight to Shen Mingzheng, crouched down, and asked, “Where’s the Storage Ring I threw?”
At her voice, Shen Mingzheng trembled slightly, her head drooping even lower as if afraid to meet her eyes. She merely tossed over a dark ring.
Lu Mingyi checked it—the Ink Wave Stone was still inside.
Confirming the Five-Colored Stone hadn’t been taken by the Demon Sect, the tension in her eased a fraction. But seeing Shen Mingzheng’s defeated state, all her pent-up emotions surged forth.
In a low voice, Lu Mingyi asked, “Why did you do it?”
Shen Mingzheng stayed silent.
“Do you know the consequences of this?”
“How are you going to explain this to Aunt Shen and the Shen Family?”
“Did you even ask me before doing it?”
Lu Mingyi’s questions grew more stifled with each one. At the last, Shen Mingzheng jerked her head up, phoenix eyes brimming with tears, rims red. She snapped, “Ask you? I’ve looked for you so many times—did you ever give me a chance to speak? Were you ever willing to listen?!”
“Are the things you said related to the Spirit-Devouring Gu?!” Lu Mingyi’s calm cracked.
She seized Shen Mingzheng’s wrist in a death grip and gritted out, “Since you’ve transferred the gu, transfer it back now!”
“It’s too late for that!” Shen Mingzheng shook her off. “The Spirit-Devouring Gu has already started devouring my Dantian. Once that process begins, the gu can’t be drawn out…”
Lu Mingyi’s breath hitched, followed by a wave of dizziness.
She shot to her feet, words tumbling out like a gale: “Do you even know what you’ve done? You think this is some game at the clan or sect?! You care so much about your cultivation—what the hell are you doing now?!!”
Agony crashed over Lu Mingyi like a tidal wave.
No one understood better than her how much Shen Mingzheng prized her aptitude and reputation.
This woman from a top clan, pampered like the moon surrounded by stars since childhood, chased first place in everything. And in the Cultivation World, nothing mattered more than cultivation.
So in her past life, when she learned Shen Mingzheng had always resented her, Lu Mingyi felt hurt but quickly understood why.
Shen Mingzheng wanted that top spot—the all-important “Top Aptitude.”
But she was dead now. Shen Mingzheng was the Cultivation World’s acknowledged top genius in Pill-Sword Dual Cultivation among the young generation.
She’d hated her so much back then—why do something like transferring the gu now?
Just let all that past life’s mess rot away with her death!
Why drag it all back up?!
Shen Mingzheng had never seen Lu Mingyi this distraught. Her heart skipped, but the accusations stung with grievance and anger. She shouted back, “Do you think I wanted this?! I was just worried about you!”
At “worried,” Lu Mingyi froze for a beat. Disbelieving, she asked, “Worried? You’re telling me that now?”
In the past life’s final moments, Shen Mingzheng had cursed her, fought her, mocked her at the trial.
When life hung by a thread, Shen Mingzheng could attack her like that. Now, reborn, Shen Mingzheng had preemptively taken the Spirit-Devouring Gu out of worry for her.
Does Shen Mingzheng feel regret? Atonement?
Lu Mingyi let out a few bitter laughs. “Shen Mingzheng, you’re a bastard too.”
As the words left her, she yanked Shen Mingzheng’s collar, voice hoarse: “A goddamn immature bastard!! Our ties ended long ago—what’s this ‘worry’ now? Is this for me, or to soothe your own guilt?!
“You carry the Shen Family on your back! All those disciples and clansmen’s futures! Do you have any idea the consequences of this?!!”
Shen Mingzheng was stunned speechless by Lu Mingyi’s bloodshot eyes, not even resisting the collar-grab.
Hearing this, Jiang Liuzhao and Xiao Yuxie nearby both lowered their gazes—one complex, one grief-stricken.
But they couldn’t let the argument rage on. Xiao Yuxie mustered her breath, stepped closer, and said softly, “Little Yi, for now, let’s all rest. Don’t be like this…”
“Don’t come near me!” Lu Mingyi shouted. The familiar nickname flooded her with memories; she ground her teeth. “You too, huh? Gotta dredge up the past?!”
Xiao Yuxie saw the ruthless glint in those bright eyes and felt a stab in her heart, her hidden injury flaring. She nearly collapsed again.
Xie Wenxin steadied her at once, furious at Lu Mingyi’s attitude. “How dare you speak to my cousin like that!”
“Heh, what—should I bow and scrape to the Xiao Family head?” Lu Mingyi’s mood was vicious now; she fired back without mercy.
Xiao Yuxie feebly tugged Xie Wenxin, squeezing out, “Wenxin, wait, don’t…”
But Xie Wenxin couldn’t stand seeing Xiao Yuxie, after such devastation, treated so callously.
Trembling, she yelled, “I don’t care what you do to others, but you have no right to treat my cousin like this!
“You have no idea how much Heart’s Blood she’s poured out for you!!”
The rain seemed to intensify, as if sweeping Lu Mingyi back into a spring torrent.
Jiang Liuzhao, behind Lu Mingyi, saw her rigid back. She exhaled softly, her mind stirring—the battered Tingyu vanished in an instant.
She knew Tingyu couldn’t appear so often anymore.
