Chapter 59

It was impossible to make Yan Zhichuan toss aside her novels, and besides, Zhan Yujie had no standing to deprive her junior sister of her hobbies.

Zhan Yujie pondered for a moment before giving up on debating with Yan Zhichuan. Instead, she chose to brush it off. She nodded and said, “Fine.”

Yan Zhichuan’s eyes lit up brightly. Not only did she not let go of Zhan Yujie, she got an inch and took a mile, nearly pinning Zhan Yujie down completely. “Swear a Heavenly Dao Oath.”

Zhan Yujie: “…”

She brushed Yan Zhichuan aside and, adhering to the principle that it was better to avoid extra trouble, good-naturedly made the oath. But without a Heavenly Dao contract, it didn’t count.

Yan Zhichuan just wanted her to nod; she had no intention of actually binding it with a contract. Beaming with joy, she steadied herself on Zhan Yujie’s shoulders into a proper sitting position—but moments later, she was slouching again. She didn’t notice Zhan Yujie’s expression and only asked inwardly, Xiao Tian, does this count as killing two birds with one stone? Can we settle the task now?

The Heavenly Dao System: “Don’t even think about it.”

Yan Zhichuan scoffed disdainfully in her mind, inwardly scorning the Heavenly Dao System for the umpteenth time as utterly useless. She fiddled with a jade pendant within reach, and only after a while did she sense the heavy gaze weighing down on her from above. She looked up, met Zhan Yujie’s eyes, let go of the pendant, and flashed a brilliant smile. “Senior Sister, you’re such a great benefactor, boundless in mercy and compassion—you—”

Zhan Yujie’s eyelid twitched. She covered Yan Zhichuan’s mouth. “Junior Sister, cultivate.”

Having had her fun, Yan Zhichuan nodded obediently. The broken system didn’t count as completing the task, and Ruoxu’s fox tail hadn’t shown yet. She needed to stock up on more pills.

After using the Foundation Establishment Pill to lure out Li Jing, their mission was complete, and they could return to the Nine Abyss Sect. White Jade Capital would handle the rest—but it was a time of endless troubles, one wave after another. After consulting the sect leader and her master, Zhan Yujie decided to stay in White Jade Capital temporarily to monitor developments.

A few days later, Sui Heng brought news.

The place shrouded in thick mist was called Chunshan Town.

It was indeed Luo Guanyin’s doing.

If they wanted the lives in Chunshan Town to be spared, they had to hand over Li Jing.

White Jade Capital naturally refused to surrender the already demon-fallen Li Jing, but they couldn’t stand by and watch those lives perish at Luo Guanyin’s hands. The Cave Heaven experts of White Jade Capital tried to dispel the mist array, but any intervention would cause the entire formation to collapse, killing everyone trapped inside once the fog dispersed.

“Is there no way to break it?” Zhan Yujie asked.

“There might be, but it will take time. According to the True Lords’ divinations, she only gave us a month to decide,” Sui Heng said with a furrowed brow.

“How did Luo Guanyin reach Chunshan Town and set up the array?” Yan Zhichuan blinked.

Sui Heng was at a loss for words.

Zhan Yujie spoke calmly. “She fell from the immortal path. Before being discovered, she might have made various arrangements.” Demonic cultivators raised from childhood in Sky Nether City were actually less terrifying than these betrayers of the immortal path. They’d destroyed what they could find, but oversights were inevitable.

“There is one more thing. The Ruoxu Daoist from Fengyue Alley contacted me. She says she might find a path through the mist array,” Sui Heng added after hesitating. One coincidence after another had filled her with suspicion toward Ruoxu in an instant, but investigating her past and surveilling her actions had turned up no evidence of collusion with Luo Guanyin.

Handing over Li Jing was impossible. With her talent, even after falling to demonic cultivation, she was likely to achieve great success in pill dao, especially demonic pills. She couldn’t refine spirit pills now, but she hadn’t forgotten the knowledge. If she one day created pills targeted at Xuanmen cultivators, it would spell disaster.

Abandoning the lives in Chunshan Town was also impossible. So, even with full suspicion, they’d try Ruoxu’s method.

“She probably knows we don’t trust her, so she swore an oath to the Heavenly Dao and left a contract imprinted with her own qi,” Sui Heng added, though her instincts kept her from fully lowering her guard.

Zhan Yujie was silent for a moment before asking, “What will White Jade Capital do?”

Sui Heng thought it over and sighed. “They’ll give it a try.”

If this was truly the Demon Clan‘s chain scheme, it struck right at their vital point.

Zhan Yujie didn’t hesitate. “I’ll go too.”

Yan Zhichuan glanced at Zhan Yujie. If it weren’t mission-related, she’d stop her no matter what.

This world is way too dangerous.

Though Ruoxu had volunteered, White Jade Capital wouldn’t agree immediately, treating it only as a last resort. Unable to dispel the mist over Chunshan Town, word spread, drawing people from Heavenly Balance Mansion and the Nine Abyss Sect.

“It’s not a grand array—it’s a Sacrificial Ritual.” Miao Tianyin, expert in arrays and artifacts, gazed at the hazy town in the mist from afar. Her brows furrowed, her tone even. “If it can’t be destroyed, the people in the town will become sacrifices, offered to some entity.”

“A Demon Creature?” the White Jade Capital Daoist asked.

A die gleaming fiercely spun in Miao Tianyin’s palm as she fell silent.

Li Tianshu, the Cave Heaven Daoist from Heavenly Balance Mansion, flicked a string of copper coins. “The divination points to an Ancient Demon suppressed beneath Chunshan Town. If it devours the sacrifices through the ritual, it will revive.”

“Hm?” The White Jade Capital Daoist paused, unaware of any connection between Chunshan Town and a demon. That battle was ancient history, long buried in dust. At least, White Jade Capital had never sensed the demon’s presence all these years.

“Isn’t Sky Nether City the Demon Clan‘s lapdog? They know more about demon matters,” Miao Tianyin said offhandedly.

Whether Luo Guanyin’s goal was Li Jing or the demon was unclear.

At this point, ignoring the lives in Chunshan Town was impossible.

The White Jade Capital Daoist asked, “Is there a way to undo the Sacrificial Ritual?”

Miao Tianyin lowered her lashes without responding; she knew little of forbidden curses or evil arts.

Li Tianshu closed her eyes, the copper coins clinking crisply. “Life holds death, death holds life—a sliver of vitality.”

Miao Tianyin looked up and smashed her die toward Li Tianshu’s forehead. “Speak plainly.”

Li Tianshu dodged the attack. “It can only be dismantled from within.”

The White Jade Capital Daoist: “How to enter Chunshan Town?”

Li Tianshu raised a finger to calculate, eyeing the nearby “Formless.” She preempted, “Don’t rush; I’m divining.”

Meanwhile, Ruoxu was a guest at White Jade Capital.

She didn’t hold back. She picked up a brush and drew a Mist-Locked Chunshan map. With a flick of ink, a winding path appeared on it. Ruoxu held her brush suspended, but the path extended silently forward, delving deeper into Chunshan. As it clarified, Ruoxu’s face grew paler, even aging with weariness, as if her essence had been drained in an instant.

After a long time, with a plop, the brush fell.

The ashen Ruoxu slumped into her chair, eyes lifeless.

She handed the scroll to the White Jade Capital Daoist. Li Tianshu’s divination matched the path on the map exactly.

The White Jade Capital Daoist looked puzzled. “This is?”

Li Tianshu stared at the scroll for a long while before saying, “My divination was influenced by this scroll… It bears dao arts, forcibly tearing open a path with divine ability. When did White Jade Capital find such talent?”

Miao Tianyin leaned in for a look and murmured darkly, “Pity the caster’s cultivation is too low. Only Nascent Soul and below can traverse this path.”

The White Jade Capital Daoist closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “If this is our sliver of hope, it’s worth trying.”

The next day.

Sui Heng delivered the latest news to Zhan Yujie and Yan Zhichuan.

“The path Ruoxu Daoist described isn’t a way to break the array. She used her divine ability ‘One Dot Traverses Mountains‘ to tear open a road through the misty mountains. It consumes one’s foundation and shortens lifespan. Without a spirit pill from White Jade Capital, she might have lost half her life.”

“White Jade Capital has decided to send suitable cultivators. Will Daoist Zhan and Daoist Yan join?”

Zhan Yujie answered, “Yes.”

Yan Zhichuan nodded haphazardly, her mind a mess. Ruoxu Daoist made such a huge sacrifice.

No—this Ruoxu is just a disposable shell.

This “self-sacrifice ploy” must have won over plenty of Xuanmen Daoists, right?

No time to waste.

But just before departure, Miao Tianyin appeared.

She tossed Yan Zhichuan a lotus pendant without explaining its use. Forged from a Demon Sovereign Relic retrieved from the Three Ways River, Miao Tianyin named it “Buddha Demon Thousand Phases.” As encounters with demons increased during training, the demonic nature suppressed by the Name-Sealing Seal might stir. This artifact would convert any inadvertently leaked demonic qi into Xuanmen dao qi—at least on the surface.

Yan Zhichuan hung the artifact around her neck without asking. Before Miao Tianyin vanished, she asked, “What about Senior Sister Zhan’s?”

Zhan Yujie looked up at Miao Tianyin.

Miao Tianyin paused and arched a brow. “Dao Is Not Outside the Body—where would you seek it?”

Zhan Yujie started, suddenly enlightened. She pursued the sword path to its pinnacle, needing no external aids.

Her thoughts had nearly been led astray by Yan Zhichuan.

She bowed with her sleeve toward Miao Tianyin.

Miao Tianyin said no more. “Formless” spun once on her fingertip as she reminded Yan Zhichuan, “Remember to return to Artifact Peak and pay up.”

Yan Zhichuan: “？！”

Can I say no now?

But Artifact Peak artifacts were non-returnable once sold—repairs only.

The grave grass of those who’d demanded refunds had grown tall.

Yan Zhichuan looked pitifully at Zhan Yujie. “Senior Sister?”

Zhan Yujie was unmoved. “Not lending.”

Without subsidizing Liu Yanqing and Zhao Pingchuan’s mother-daughter pair, she wasn’t flush with cash.

Yan Zhichuan huffed in annoyance.

She rummaged through her Qiankun Pouch; some Pill Jade from Zhan Yujie remained.

Oh wait. She suddenly remembered something.

“Senior Sister, the money from auctioning the Foundation Establishment Pill—White Jade Capital didn’t give it to me, right?”

Zhan Yujie cruelly shattered her illusion. “It was a trap, not market price. Doesn’t count as money.”

Penniless woes clung to Yan Zhichuan. Even meeting Sui Heng, she still looked like dark clouds hung over her head.

She lay half-dead on Cloudy, sticking tightly behind Zhan Yujie. Sui Heng glanced several times but couldn’t spot the tether between Zhan Yujie and the cloud.

“What’s wrong with Daoist Yan?” Sui Heng asked cautiously.

Yan Zhichuan cracked an eyelid, hope flickering as she asked Sui Heng, “Buying pills?”

Sui Heng backed away, clutching her Qiankun Pouch. “No need.”

Ruoxu, in White Jade Capital‘s procession, wore a pale, frail smile as she gazed at Yan Zhichuan. “What pills does Daoist Yan have?”

Yan Zhichuan: “Priceless ones.”