Chapter 17: Trials on Pure Prison Peak

The Heavenly Dao System wasn’t sure if the mission counted as complete.

Zhan Yujie hadn’t suffered a ruined reputation, and the Nine Abyss Sect hadn’t plunged into an endless abyss.

But her alignment still swung back and forth between “Good” and “Chaos.”

Where exactly had the problem arisen?

The Heavenly Dao System couldn’t help but chatter a couple of lines to Yan Zhichuan.

Yan Zhichuan’s smile vanished. She frowned and sighed with an air of world-weariness.

That was it—the emotional wound hadn’t been fully uprooted.

She still needed to work harder.

Liu Kongsang had come and gone after a short while, taking both Liu Yanqing and Zhu Feng back with her.

The Chongxu Sect and Nine Abyss Sect shared deep ties, but no one had expected the Nine Abyss Sect to show zero mercy this time.

The Nine Abyss Sect insisted on making the matter known to all, and she couldn’t stop it.

The most the Chongxu Sect could do was salvage their reputation as best they could, cultivating an image of putting righteousness above family.

Killing them would have ended it cleanly, but before leaving, Zhong Zhanxi had sarcastically mocked her about “letting that pair of ‘star-crossed lovers’ be together.”

After the engagement was annulled, Zhan Yujie showed no signs of distress and continued her sword practice undeterred by wind or rain.

But Yan Zhichuan was fretting. The broken system still wouldn’t grant rewards, claiming her senior sister remained at risk of falling to the dark side.

After much deliberation, Yan Zhichuan flipped through a dozen or so romance novels and finally found a solid plan.

—If someone was dead set on hanging herself from a crooked tree, it was nine times out of ten because she’d never seen a forest.

Utterly reasonable.

Yan Zhichuan’s ambitions ignited in an instant. She resolved to take Zhan Yujie out to see the world and soothe her heartbreak.

But Yan Zhichuan had no idea where Zhan Yujie was practicing her swordsmanship. She headed to Nine Abyss Square to gather intel and was quickly nabbed by a familiar senior sister.

“Everyone’s been having a field day these past few days, all rushing over to Sword Peak. Are you heading there too, Junior Sister?”

Yan Zhichuan nodded and casually asked, “Does Senior Sister know where Senior Sister Zhan is?”

The senior sister held up a finger.

Yan Zhichuan got the hint and slipped a Pill Jade and a bottle of her carefully refined pills into her hand.

Her efforts were paying off. Though her Dao Pills were still a mess, her high-grade pills finally looked the part, with effects rivaling those from Medicine Peak.

The senior sister blinked. “East side of Pacify All Under Heaven Peak—Pure Prison Peak.”

Prison, as in purgatory.

This peak housed the Nine Abyss Sect’s criminals, along with a bunch of indestructible beasts of burden turned demonic fodder that could only be exploited.

It fell under Sword Peak’s jurisdiction, and Sword Cultivators loved honing their blades on such perilous foes.

If one unluckily died… well, it died.

Sword qi hung thick over Pure Prison Peak.

From the base to the summit, shattered longswords littered the slopes.

These weren’t ordinary blades; years of pent-up resentment gathered in them, battering the peak’s clouds into perpetual gloom and darkness, as if a storm loomed eternally.

The sword pressure was oppressively heavy.

Cultivators from Sword Peak who lacked ironclad control over their swords could easily be assailed by the malice from those broken blades below, sending them plummeting to a gruesome end.

Plenty of people had come seeking news of her—some to challenge Zhan Yujie, others just to pay homage.

Yan Zhichuan looked up and spotted a few black specks plummeting like dumplings into boiling water, splashing up clouds of bloody mist amid agonized screams.

They’d chased after Zhan Yujie halfway, only to meet their doom.

Too tragic.

“Good thing I don’t fly on a sword,” Yan Zhichuan muttered, brimming with confidence. She called out, “Cloud, come!”

With a flip, she landed atop Cloudy. Wary of any resentment from the sword thicket ambushing her, she shot up to the mountainside in a flash.

“Wasn’t she practicing at Turtle Eggless Peak before? Why Pure Prison Peak now?” Yan Zhichuan grumbled, utterly baffled. She tapped her brow and suddenly had a flash of insight. “She couldn’t have… lost the will to live, could she?!”

The Heavenly Dao System brushed it off. “If you say so, then sure.”

Atop Pure Prison Peak.

Blood stained Zhan Yujie’s robes, and even her cheeks bore seeping wounds.

In that Blessed Land sealed by prohibitions, she’d realized her shortcomings. Without spells or divine abilities, how many could she beat with swordsmanship alone?

Failing to subdue Liu Yanqing and Zhu Feng immediately had been a defeat for her.

If she’d been stronger, Yan Zhichuan never would have had room to stir trouble.

She hated the taste of failure.

She’d never trained in a prohibition zone before and hadn’t considered this flaw. Now that she’d found it, she had to patch that weakness.

The Supreme Void Nine Abyss Sword was the Nine Abyss Sect’s supreme technique.

Even among Dao arts, there were differences.

Her past “victories” might have just leveraged the advantage of her Dao art.

If she used ordinary sword momentum with a plain sword, where would she stand among peers at the same realm? Could she claim first place?

Zhan Yujie didn’t know the answer.

By the time Yan Zhichuan reached Pure Prison Peak, the wooden sword Zhan Yujie used for sparring had snapped.

Forget the sword—her arm was twisted at an unnatural angle.

Fighting without spells or even her spirit treasure sword, Zhan Yujie teetered on the edge of life and death, unlocking her potential but enduring unimaginable hardship.

Yan Zhichuan didn’t understand. She was utterly shocked. “What is she doing? Has she gone mad?”

Relying solely on swordsmanship without spells? Wasn’t that asking for suffering?

As Zhan Yujie rose once more, steeling herself for another round of torment, Yan Zhichuan leaped from Cloudy and pounced straight at her.

“Senior Sister Zhan, don’t do anything rash! You can find another fiancé—it’s not like you even remember what Liu Yanqing looks like. Swapping her for some other stranger makes no difference.”

Zhan Yujie didn’t catch what Yan Zhichuan said.

The winds atop Pure Prison Peak roared chaotically.

Her mind was hazy, her instincts forcibly suppressing her spells.

Her injuries slowed her movements, and she failed to dodge Yan Zhichuan’s “tackle.”

Zhan Yujie spat out a mouthful of blood with a splutter.

Her vision went black, and her fading consciousness plunged into darkness.

Yan Zhichuan’s face grew grave as she caught Zhan Yujie and hurriedly steered Cloudy toward Medicine Peak.

“Right hand bone fractured, three ribs broken—minor injuries,” Wu Jiang arched a brow, deftly treating Zhan Yujie. “She’s just pushed too hard with the training intensity. Needs some balance between tension and release.”

Yan Zhichuan paled at the words.

Minor injuries? It made her whole body ache just hearing about it.

Her expression shifted repeatedly before she sighed in admiration. “Has Senior Sister Zhan turned her heartbreak into drive? What goes around comes around—she’ll reach the peak one day and make everyone take notice.”

“What are you mumbling about?” Wu Jiang smacked the back of Yan Zhichuan’s head.

Everyone from Sword Peak and Blade Peak was like this, obsessed with being “number one.”

Zhan Yujie was no exception.

It wasn’t obvious from the surface because her condition was terminally advanced.

“Go refine some Bone Continuation Pills,” Wu Jiang ordered Yan Zhichuan.

Yan Zhichuan dawdled, hemming and hawing. “I-I’m a Sword Cultivator…”

Wu Jiang shattered a small table with one slap. “I said go, so go.”

Yan Zhichuan whined twice, head drooping. “Okay.”

No wonder she hated coming to Medicine Peak.