1 Chapter 1 : Prologue

"Great news! Wei WuXian has died!"

Less than a day had passed since the siege on Luanzang Hill, and the news spread through the

cultivation world as if it sprouted wings, surpassing even the speed of warfare.

For a while, from the most prominent sects to rogue cultivators, everyone was discussing the

siege lead by the Four Great Sects and followed by hundreds of smaller ones.

"The YiLing Patriarch has died? Who could have killed him?"

"Who other than his shidi, Jiang Cheng, putting an end to his own relative for the greater good.

Jiang Cheng led the Four Sects of YunmengJiang, LanlingJin, GusuLan, and QingheNie to

destroy his 'den'—Luanzang Hill."

"I must say, good riddance!"

"Good riddance indeed! We finally eliminated this scourge."

"If not for the YunmengJiang Sect adopting and teaching him, he would have only been a hobo

living on the streets, let alone causing mayhem as bold as the ones these days. The head of the

Jiang Sect raised him as his own child, yet he defected from them and became the enemy of the

cultivation world, bringing shame upon the Jiang Sect, even leading to its near-extermination. He

is the prime example of biting the hand that feeds him!"

"Jiang Cheng allowed this fellow to live for too long. If I were him, at the time of the defection, I

wouldn't have just stabbed him. In fact, I would have thoroughly examined the disciples of the

sect again, so that he couldn't do those crazy things he did later on. Who cares about the so

called 'considerations' that he gave to his childhood friend."

"That's merely hearsay. Although Jiang Cheng was one of the main forces, he did not give Wei

WuXian the final blow. Since he cultivated the Dark Path, Wei WuXian's powers backfired and

he was ripped to pieces."

"Hahahaha… That's karma! The ghost soldiers that he created are like unleashed dogs, biting

everyone that they come across. It serves him right to be chewed to death!"

"But, if not for Jiang Cheng making a plan that aimed at Wei WuXian's weaknesses, the siege

might not have succeeded. Should I remind you folks of the item that Wei WuXian possessed?

Did you forget about the day that three thousand skilled cultivators were completely

annihilated?"

"I heard that it was more than three thousand, possibly five thousand."

"He was most certainly out of his mind."

"It's a good thing that he destroyed that evil weapon before he died. Otherwise, if it was left in

this world to harm humankind, his sins would have been worse."

"Oh well… You know, back then, Wei WuXian was one of the most promising cultivators,

coming from a highly distinguished sect and finding success at a young age. How on Earth did

he end up where he was?"

"This proves that one can only cultivate by following the right path. Using these dishonest

practices only seems beneficial at first glance. Look what happened in the end. Not even a whole

corpse was left of him."

"Not everything was because of his cultivation path. Wei WuXian's personality was quite

immoral. One's deeds will be paid, one way or another—what goes around always comes

around."

…

After Wei WuXian's death, the era was focussed on the topic. The discussions of the people

were mostly the same, with a few unconventional opinions being brought down immediately.

However, the elephant in the room stayed in the back of everyone's mind.

Nobody could summon Wei WuXian's soul, which meant that his soul had disappeared.

It might have been torn apart by the millions of ghosts that devoured him.

Or, it might have escaped.

If it was the first, then all was well. Then again, nobody doubted the fact that the YiLing

Patriarch had the power to move mountains and empty seas. If it was the last, his soul wouldeventually return to revive in his body. When the day came, the cultivation world, or even all of

mortal land, would be faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing

but chaos and despair.

The various sects set one hundred and twenty stone beasts on top of Luanzang Hill and initiated

frequent soul-summoning rituals, followed by heightened vigilance and searches for strange

occurrences from all over the world.

In the first year, nothing happened.

In the second year, nothing happened.

In the third year, nothing happened.

…

In the thirteenth year, nothing happened either.

More and more people were starting to believe that, perhaps, the YiLing Patriarch actually

perished.

Even if he was capable of turning the world upside down, it was finally his turn to be toppled

over.

Nobody would remain at the top for all of eternity—legends were only legends.