Chapter 46

Zhan Yujie had long known that Yan Zhichuan’s thoughts were anything but ordinary. Even so, after hearing her words, she still chuckled wryly.

She felt something was off, yet she couldn’t deny there was a sliver of logic to it.

Meeting Zhao Pingchuan’s chilling gaze, Zhan Yujie asked coolly, “You care so much for your younger daughter, yet you borrowed the Demon Sect’s power to awaken her potential. Aren’t you afraid she’ll become a Demon Cultivator one day?”

Zhao Pingchuan laughed. “The Demon Cultivator’s power lingering in the Earth Abyss of Heavenly Venerable Temple was merely Luo Guanyin’s remnant essence. The so-called empowerment ritual simply erases what shouldn’t be known. As for awakening potential, we used Foundation Establishment Pills refined by the Miracle Hand Sect—how could that harm the body?” She had investigated everything thoroughly long ago. As for why she hadn’t informed the Xuanmen cultivators… what business was it of hers, an abandoned disciple of Xuanmen?

“Those Demon Cultivator nails buried across the continent weren’t corrupted during this process. Do you think you’ve reached the depths of Heavenly Venerable Temple? You haven’t. Not a single child empowered here became a Demon Cultivator’s vessel.” Seeing Zhan Yujie’s curiosity, Zhao Pingchuan decided to say a bit more. Heavenly Venerable Temple on Yingzhou Island had long been whispered about among loose cultivators, but how would heaven-blessed prodigies with innate aptitude for the Dao care?

Zhan Yujie’s eyes darkened. So this really was tied to the Miracle Hand Sect? Which cultivator from that sect was refining pills for Demon Cultivators? Other pills might be procured through back channels, but Foundation Establishment Pills weren’t available to the public. Zhao Pingchuan’s words confirmed her suspicions.

Her mind raced, and Zhan Yujie’s gaze turned profound. “Mother’s great kindness—I will repay it one day. But this Sword Bone—”

“It’s mine!” Yan Zhichuan declared loudly, staking her claim.

Zhan Yujie gazed at Yan Zhichuan, her expression turning peculiar.

Has she been clinging to me all this time because she covets my Sword Bone too?

Zhan Yujie quickly masked her emotions. Staring at Zhao Pingchuan not far ahead, she voiced another doubt. “We’re both your daughters, so why not take your younger daughter’s Sword Heart to help me ascend further? Once I’ve achieved success in cultivation, I might even find a cure for her chronic illness.”

Zhao Pingchuan had shown no emotion before, but at these words, she reacted as if pricked by a needle. Fine blood threads veiled her eyes. She raised her gaze, fixing Zhan Yujie with a pair of scarlet eyes.

“I’m different from her, aren’t I?” Zhan Yujie continued. There was no sorrow or loss on her face—instead, a faint smile played on her lips, like mockery directed at Zhao Pingchuan.

If Zhan Yujie were still a young child, Zhao Pingchuan might have coaxed her with words. But now that their hearts had diverged, pretty lies would only be laughable. Gazing at Zhan Yujie, her face hardened into bone-deep sullen iciness. She said, “You were taken into Nine Abyss Sect for cultivation from childhood—how can you compare to Yulu, who grew up under my knee?”

Zhan Yujie let out a “ha.” She asked, “But wasn’t it you who arranged for me to enter the Dao?”

Zhao Pingchuan sneered coldly. “Affection is one thing, reason is another.”

Yan Zhichuan kept patting Zhan Yujie, shouting, “You’re the picked-up one!” Fearing Zhan Yujie hadn’t heard clearly, she sent a transmission: “Don’t listen to her nonsense. Since you’re just the one we picked up, of course you’re not as good as a blood daughter.”

Zhan Yujie: “…”

She let out a short laugh. Whatever her true relationship with Zhao Pingchuan was, it no longer mattered.

She could repay that kindness in other ways, but handing over the Sword Bone? That she could not do.

Zhao Pingchuan’s icy gaze fixed on Zhan Yujie.

She had anticipated a scene like this.

If it wasn’t given willingly, she’d take it herself—and pin the murder on that dead Demon Cultivator.

With a flick of her hand, light surged from her sword as she struck straight at Zhan Yujie.

Zhao Pingchuan’s sword talent was exceptional to begin with, but her deviation into a crooked path had stalled her cultivation at the Nascent Soul Realm. Though she had tangled with the Demon Cultivator earlier, she hadn’t gone all out. Only now, intent on seizing Zhan Yujie’s Sword Bone by force, did she unleash the full brilliance of her sword. Sword light arced like a rainbow, blazing fiercely as it leaped and shifted, its might overwhelming.

In the Earth Abyss.

Jiang Xuanji and Jiang Cizhu only saw the Demon Cultivator flee, while Zhao Pingchuan, Zhan Yujie, and the others vanished.

Unaware of the deep rift between mother and daughters—and mistaking it for the Demon Cultivator’s tricks—they grew anxious.

Jiang Cizhu knew nothing of formations and could only urge Jiang Xuanji repeatedly to divine Zhao Pingchuan and Zhan Yujie’s whereabouts. Was this deep place hiding more Demon Cultivator secrets?

On Yingzhou Island, the surface Heavenly Venerable Temple had been nearly razed by the cultivators’ battle. The Demon Cultivators had no desire to fight, instead summoning demonic beasts from the sea to draw the Xuanmen cultivators’ attention. Demon Cultivators knew Xuanmen best: if Yingzhou Island faced submersion, Xuanmen would prioritize evacuating the mortals, putting Demon Cultivator kills second.

And that’s exactly what the Xuanmen cultivators did.

Already regretting their misjudgment of Heavenly Venerable Temple, how could they not give their all now? Some rushed to rescue the island’s mortals, while others sped to the coast to block the towering waves.

At sea.

A massive vortex churned, waves towering like sails in a gale, roaring as they surged forward.

The spiritual energy fluctuations here were intensely violent; the vortex expanded ceaselessly and would soon swallow the surrounding islands. But at that moment, a streak of cyan blade light descended from the heavens. With a single slash, it flattened the rampant tidal surge.

“Daoist Shi, long time no see.” As the blade light erupted, a water column sprayed from the sea surface. A radiant jade lotus pedestal rose from the waves, and a graceful figure descended lightly, seating herself in meditation upon it. Clad in white robes with a necklace of beads around her neck and white gauze draping her raven-black hair, she exuded a solemn, otherworldly dignity.

Shi Wujing’s brows furrowed. She spat out three cold words: “Luo Guanyin.”

After Zhan Yujie and Yan Zhichuan left, Nine Abyss Sect had kept watch on Yingzhou Island. Upon learning of the Demon Cultivators’ involvement, she had set out for the sea. Sure enough, her arrival prompted the grotto-heaven from Sky Nether City to reveal itself.

Luo Guanyin wasn’t born or raised in Sky Nether City; she had once been a true expert of Cihang Studio but strayed after entering the Dao. Especially after Tan Lianjian’s fall, her attempt to cultivate the Supreme Emotionless Path failed. Instead, she slaughtered her kin and friends, becoming a great foe of Xuanmen cultivators. After defecting to Sky Nether City, she had gone quiet—until now, revealed to have been active on remote Yingzhou Island.

“Between us, it’s hard to claim true victory. We’ve reached the Cave Heaven stage with great difficulty. If we fight in earnest, shattering continents aside, the loss of vital energy would be immense. A single battle might require decades of secluded cultivation to recover. I know you want to save the people on Yingzhou Island. How about a wager instead?” Luo Guanyin watched Shi Wujing, a smile curving her lips.

Shi Wujing sneered coldly and slashed with her blade, killing intent bared in the frigid light.

Luo Guanyin dodged Shi Wujing’s strike unhurriedly, feigning regret. “What a pity Miao Tianyin didn’t come. She might have taken the bet.”

With two Cave Heaven experts clashing, the resulting tsunami dwarfed the sea beasts’. Every move could shatter mountains and split seas. Shi Wujing had no wish to battle here and used her blade to lure Luo Guanyin skyward.

Luo Guanyin had little battle intent; she wouldn’t have shown herself without a Xuanmen Grotto-Heaven’s arrival. She had two goals: first, to feign Sky Nether City’s heavy investment here—anything they targeted, Xuanmen would protect; second, to buy time for the Demon Cultivators left on Yingzhou Island to retreat.

Those Demon Cultivators wouldn’t last a round against Shi Wujing.

Even against peers of similar cultivation, death meant inferiority—fit only for the grave.

Frost veiled Shi Wujing’s face as she stared at Luo Guanyin’s smiling visage, brows knitting tighter. “You’ve abandoned further cultivation of the Supreme Emotionless Path.”

Luo Guanyin’s tone was casual, like chatting with an old friend. “If that Supreme Emotionless Path is a dead end, why force it?”

Shi Wujing pressed, “You know you’ve erred. No regrets?”

Luo Guanyin smiled indifferently. “Regret changes nothing. Is there a path back?” Her mind had fractured once, awakening to deep confusion and remorse. Return to Cihang Studio for capture and millennia of punishment? Never. Deep down, she cared only for herself.

Unable to turn back from the bitter sea, she cast aside her conscience.

Shi Wujing said, “Sky Nether City are lackeys of the Demon Clan, bent on shattering the Profound Heaven Immortal Barrier. The Demon Clan thrives on conquest; their return would bathe Nine Summers Continent in blood, enslaving all life under their rule.”

Luo Guanyin replied offhandedly, “That’s mortals’ concern, not mine.” With profound cultivation, one could still be a honored guest of the Demon Clan, Dao unbound. If demons rose and the Dao waned upon the barrier’s fall, ambient qi might suppress cultivation—but fewer entrants meant no issue for Cave Heavens. Besides, only then would Nine Summers Continent be whole, allowing Cave Heavens to grasp the Dao Fruit.

Rare as Cave Heaven talents were, the ages should have yielded more. Some perished battling Demon Cultivators; more fell assaulting Dao Fruit Realm, blocked by the continent’s incompleteness—a dead end. Cave Heavens lived thousands of years—yet how many reached it? At a certain point, progress was inevitable.

And forward meant death.

Blade winds howled.

Luo Guanyin lightly brushed her willow branch forward, countering to unsettle Shi Wujing. “Don’t you crave true freedom? Are you willing to shoulder the world’s mortals as your burden? They won’t praise you—they’re insatiable. Save them, and they’ll blame your delay. Listen: the winds from the island carry deep resentment, don’t they?”

Shi Wujing said nothing, only brandishing her blade.

Chaos erupted on the island.

Flaming meteors rained down, instantly reducing rows of houses to ruins.

Dense blood reek wafted outward. Some knelt in pools of blood, wailing over dead loved ones.

Some gave thanks, but many questioned.

“I saw you before—you went to Heavenly Venerable Temple. Knowing it was wrong, why didn’t you warn us sooner?”

“Immortals with heaven-piercing Dao, able to save us—why so late? If earlier, my child… my child wouldn’t have died.”

…

The cultivators who had been here before fell silent, while those arriving now lowered their gazes wordlessly.

They’d heard such voices before, but they still pricked the heart.

“The sea beasts are quelled. Evacuate survivors to the Cloud Boats first.”

“Some children taken by Heavenly Venerable Temple are still in the Earth Abyss… the immortals’ empowering touch… they, they…” The speaker paled, afraid to imagine the worst.

“If it’s Demon Cultivator trickery, are those empowered and entering the Dao truly our Xuanmen cultivators?” a murmur rose.

“Regardless, save them first.”

Capturing a few Demon Cultivators made extracting the path to the Earth Abyss easy.

“How is it? Found them?” In the Earth Abyss depths, Jiang Cizhu urged repeatedly.

Jiang Xuanji raised her hand. Several crimson divination coins shot from her fingertips, pointing in four directions.

Jiang Cizhu thrust her green bamboo staff at one of Jiang Xuanji’s indicated spots. With a bang, she stumbled back several steps. If she hadn’t dodged fast, that sword qi would have shaved off half her head.

“What ferocious sword intent!” Jiang Cizhu’s heart chilled.