Chapter 41 Part 2

The cultivator grew exasperated. He couldn’t break the net but didn’t want to exit the Tianjiao Competition like this. A dark glint flashed in his eyes; he raised a hand, and a talisman drifted from his sleeve, runes flowing with strange light. This was the talisman granted by Rong Zhenren upon entry—its power within Golden Core limits, allowable in the True Form Chart. It was akin to the Divine Word but purer.

“Town!” the cultivator spat.

But the talisman didn’t suppress Xie Chaosheng. Instead, it ignited in flames, shooting skyward like lightning. In that instant, bizarre, eerie lights flew from all directions, merging with the burning paper into a strange spell seal.

In that moment, all Taiyi cultivators felt an ominous premonition, as if eyed by some chilling existence. Xie Chaosheng unhesitatingly slashed at the seal, but her sword light melted like snow under blazing sun upon touching its glow. With a booming explosion, the seal crashed to earth, shaking heaven and ground.

Where it landed, strange array patterns flashed, as if splitting an invisible door. An ill wind blew, speckles of ghostfire drifting from the array to form grotesque entities.

Xie Chaosheng’s expression changed drastically. She shouted fiercely at the equally stunned Empire cultivator: “What is this? The Empire colluding with Ruin Spirits?!”

The earth quaked as if doomsday approached.

Li Ruoshui, cultivating in a cave, brushed aside falling rocks and shot out as an escaping light. She thought enemies attacked, but no other Daoist auras were around.

“An earthquake?” Feng Qing’s group emerged too, eyes full of bewilderment.

“No idea.” Li Ruoshui shook her head, eyeing the cracking earth and swaying peaks. She guessed, “Maybe the zone’s shrinking?”

Was the Shanyue True Form Chart changing to force the idlers like them together with enemies?

Feng Qing: “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” Li Ruoshui raised a brow, resuming her unflappable poise. “Let’s find another spot to cultivate.”

Feng Qing, Yao Changliu, and the others had no objections—better than staying in the cave to be buried alive?

Without a map or destination, Li Ruoshui’s group flew randomly in midair, passing several cliffs. Suddenly, sharp shrieks rang out. Li Ruoshui raised her escaping light and peered across the cliff to see five or six oddly shaped Daoists of varying heights emerge. Their faces were bloodless, pale as paper, with ferocious features like freshly unearthed zombies.

“Which sect are they from?” Feng Qing spotted them too but sensed no living aura. After pondering, her eyes brightened. “Could they be ghost cultivators from Specter Path?” Immortal and demonic paths were for the living; ghost path was unique—undead spirits turning from death toward life.

Li Ruoshui looked at the group of staggering monsters and sighed. “No cultivators from the Specter Path came. I guess they’re all from the Return to Ruins Sect.”

Feng Qing let out an “ah.” “What’s the Return to Ruins Sect? Why haven’t I heard of it? Hmm? Return to Ruins?”

Suddenly understanding, Feng Qing nearly choked on her breath. She stared fixedly at Li Ruoshui, who had so casually recounted a horror story, and rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. “You’re serious?”

Li Ruoshui nodded. “Truer than your IOU.”

Though she didn’t know why Ruin Spirits had appeared in the Shanyue True Form Chart, the “Spirit Identification” divine ability she had awakened after killing them shouldn’t be wrong.

And her close friend’s Blue Butterfly had vanished!

What did that mean? It meant she was truly jinxed into encountering a mutation in the Shanyue True Form Chart.

Feng Qing frowned, realizing the severity. “What do we do? Did a Return to Ruins Gap open here? We’re trapped inside and can’t contact the outside with the Tianyan Mirror!”

Li Ruoshui patted Feng Qing. “It’s fine. The message is already out.” She pulled out her Tianyan Mirror and messaged her new friends Ji Wuxin and Nong Qingying, warning them that Ruin Spirits had appeared in the Shanyue True Form Chart and to prepare.

Feng Qing also sent messages to her acquaintances. She asked puzzledly, “How did it get out?”

Li Ruoshui didn’t hide it from Feng Qing. “Fellow Daoist Chen Buyan gave me a strand of spiritual power. Once something abnormal happens, it dissipates, and she’ll sense it.”

Feng Qing breathed a sigh of relief, but after two steps, her hand tightened on her sword. She muttered, “Will anyone believe something like this? If Fellow Daoist Chen Buyan is from the Three Saints Academy, her report would need layers of review.”

Li Ruoshui: “…” Whatever. She had done her best. Her gaze fell on the Ruin Spirits below. “Come on, let’s kill them.”

With the Sun and Moon Divine Sand, Feng Qing, Yao Changliu, and Yue Shenlin’s cultivations had all improved significantly, but Li Ruoshui saw no change. It wasn’t that her primal qi was insufficient; her vow simply hadn’t been fulfilled. To break through, she could only rely on killing Ruin Spirits. She didn’t know the danger level of this Shanyue True Form Chart mutation, but she had no choice but to take it step by step.

She was confident, so she would kill!

A thousand li away to the east, amid the cluster of peaks.

Ji Wuxin stared thoughtfully at her Tianyan Mirror.

No cultivator would joke about Ruin Spirits.

A creaking sound rang out, and Ji Wuxin instantly went on alert, her eyes turning into golden vertical pupils.

The demon cultivator who had stepped on the branches retreated a step and said, “Sorry.” Moments later, it smiled at Ji Wuxin. “Young Lord, there seem to be fellow daoists nearby. I wonder which sect they’re from.”

“Tianyan Mirror,” Ji Wuxin said flatly.

“Hm?” The demon cultivator looked at her puzzledly.

Ji Wuxin said slowly, “Have everyone send me a message through the Tianyan Mirror.”

Though it didn’t understand why Ji Wuxin made such a demand, the demon cultivators following her were always obedient. Only the one that had stepped on the branches remained still.

As Ji Wuxin’s cold gaze fell on it, it said fearfully, “My Tianyan Mirror is—”

But before it finished, Ji Wuxin struck like lightning, pointing at the demon cultivator’s brow. A tiny golden lotus landed there and exploded with a sweep of her sleeve, blasting its body into fragments.

Ji Wuxin: “Ruin Spirits have appeared in the Shanyue True Form Chart. If you encounter any cultivator unable to use their Tianyan Mirror, even if it’s me—kill!”

–

At the Taiyi Sect’s Nanhua Dojo.

The moment the strand of spiritual power dissipated, Lian Rusu abruptly awoke from her meditation.

She didn’t use the Tianyan Mirror but transformed into a streak of escaping light and landed at Xiang Yingshou’s dojo. The child guarding outside only saw a fleeting white shadow, not even time for full courtesies.

“Sect Master?” Xiang Yingshou looked up at Lian Rusu, her eyes dazed. Her junior sister usually communicated via Tianyan Mirror or messenger talismans and rarely left her dojo.

Lian Rusu pressed her lips. “The spiritual power I left on Fellow Daoist Shangshan dissipated. Something happened in the Shanyue True Form Chart.” She wasn’t worried about Xie Chaosheng. Before Xie Chaosheng left, she had given her a dao artifact called the Unfettered Boat. Even if they couldn’t escape, hiding inside would be fine.

But Fellow Daoist Shangshan—

She could only attach a strand of spiritual power via the Butterfly Transformation Divine Ability.

Xiang Yingshou’s expression changed. “Really? Any proof?”

Lian Rusu rubbed her brow. “I can’t reflect it.”

“That’s hard to convince the others.” Xiang Yingshou looked troubled. After thinking, she said solemnly, “I’ll go to Shanyue City myself.”

Lian Rusu shook her head. “If there’s a mutation in the Shanyue True Form Chart, the Return to Ruins Gap might ripple too. Senior Sister, though you don’t guard it, you handle many sect affairs. The Empire side—” After hesitating, Lian Rusu said, “I’ll go.”

Xiang Yingshou thought it over and looked at Lian Rusu with relief. “That’s good too. Don’t worry about the rest.”

Lian Rusu nodded solemnly, bowed to Xiang Yingshou, and shot into the sky as a white beam.

In the Tianyan Mirror.

Xiang Yingshou awakened several fellow daoists’ consciousnesses.

Xiang Yingshou: “A mutation appeared in the Shanyue True Form Chart. Does the Empire have anything to say?”

Fu Luo: “What mutation? Tell us quick.”

Rong Yin: “…Fellow Daoist, who told you?”

Xiang Yingshou: “Junior Sister Sect Master.”

Fu Luo: “When did True Person Lian switch to divining heavenly secrets?”

Xiang Yingshou ignored Fu Luo and kicked her consciousness out of the audience. To Rong Yin, who looked clearly displeased, she said, “My junior sister is heading to the Empire. Best if nothing’s wrong; if there is, she can help resolve the Shanyue True Form Chart disaster.”

Rong Yin’s brows furrowed tighter. Thinking of the tens of thousands of lives lost before, she couldn’t swallow her anger. She demanded, “Is Taiyi Sect trying to lord over the Nine Provinces? Aren’t you being too overbearing?”

Xiang Yingshou raised a brow and smiled faintly. “When it concerns Ruin Spirits, so what if Taiyi becomes the target of a thousand accusations?”

“Who asked your Empire to have priors.” Qin Lianxin came online and mocked Rong Yin. “Besides Taiyi, which sect would help you suppress Return to Ruins chaos?”

Among the Immortal Dao Seven Sects, only Taiyi, Three Saints Academy, Wind Moon Heartless Sect, and Joy Sect had the ability to assist the Empire. But the Empire had already fallen out with Wind Moon Heartless Sect, the Three Saints Academy’s Cave Heaven True Persons guarded the Return to Ruins Realm, and as for Joy Sect—with Fu Luo’s troublemaking nature, not kicking them while down was already good.

Rong Yin: “If there’s a problem, news has already come back from Shanyue City.”

Qin Lianxin: “Maybe your levels are too low. With no emperor in the Empire and only partial control of the Shanyue True Form Chart dao artifact, do you really know what’s happening inside?”

Rong Yin: “But it’s a universe world refined by the Qing Emperor. Ruin Spirits can’t possibly exist there. If you think there’s a problem with the Shanyue True Form Chart, why agree to hold the Prodigy List contest inside?”

Qin Lianxin: “We didn’t think of it before, did we?”

Xiang Yingshou: “…” If she couldn’t explain, she wouldn’t. So Xiang Yingshou smiled at Rong Yin. “Just in case.”

Rong Yin: “Just because of the Taiyi Sect Master’s suspicion?”

Xiang Yingshou nodded.

Her junior sister couldn’t be wrong.

Rong Yin was so infuriated by Xiang Yingshou’s domineering attitude that her head spun. She simply left the sparsely attended audience.

She found Liang Daoqi and vented her anger. “What are you doing?! Not handling the Shanyue True Form Chart anymore?”

Liang Daoqi lowered her lashes. “Ying Wugui left the Sea True Mansion.”

Rong Yin: “…”

The Taiyi Sect Master mobilized, and Ying Wugui ended her seclusion.

Was Taiyi about to point swords at the Empire?

A bizarre thought popped into Rong Yin’s mind, startling her.