Chapter 94: This Venerable One Sees the Heavenly Rift Again

A look of displeasure crossed Nangong Si's face, his gaze dark

like rolling, molten iron. He looked over, and his eyes snagged on the blazing

red of Mo Ran's holy weapon before moving on. "Who's that?"

"He's the gongzi from Sisheng Peak, surname Mo," Ye Wangxi replied.

"Mo?" Nangong Si knitted his brows slightly. "The one that was

picked up off the streets some years ago?"

"Mn."

Nangong Si cast Ye Wangxi a sidelong glance. "You know him?"

"We resided in the same courtyard at Peach Blossoms Springs."

Nangong Si sneered. There was no telling what he meant by it, but

when Ye Wangxi saw his reaction, his quietly handsome face paled, his

lashes lowering, and he pursed his lips and fell silent.

"If he's going to keep waiting, then I may as well grant him some

face," Nangong Si said. "A master of a holy weapon at such a young age? I

gotta see what he's made of."

Mo Ran, however, had no attention to spare for the Rufeng Sect

members. He turned back toward the town, his robes whipping in the wind.

The barrier had already cracked; there wasn't much time left…

Chu Wanning, are you not done yet?

Luo Xianxian's nails ripped through the silk curtain. The white cloth

fluttered, and the plain fabric was shredded into countless pieces of falling

snow.

Chu Wanning sensed a remarkably familiar presence, but he couldn't

quite put his finger on it. Finally, his eyes widened. "Tianwen?!" No, it

wasn't Tianwen. But as he exchanged blows with her, he felt it—an energy

that was incredibly like Tianwen's emanated from her person.

The inner curtains of the sprawling Chen household were like a fine

mist, and locked within were a living soul and a vicious ghost. They

exchanged a dozen moves. With each blow, the fog in Chu Wanning's mind

cleared a little more, until he came to a sudden realization—with this,

everything made sense. "Heart-Pluck Willow…"

Luo Xianxian was already dead, her body cremated to ashes. During

their first encounter, she'd had to make use of Madam Chen's body to haunt

the family. Why, then, was she able to show her true form now?

That mysterious man had taken a withered branch of the Heart-Pluck

Willow and fabricated a temporary shell for her soul to inhabit. The boiling

hearts of the townsfolk outside, the steaming haze of colored fumes. Metal,

water, fire, earth…they were only waiting for wood: Luo Xianxian's body,

made from the Heart-Pluck Willow.

What was that man planning?

Had he gone to such trouble only so that Luo Xianxian could regain her

flesh body and slaughter her way into the ghost realm to be with Chen

Bohuan once more? Who would go to such lengths for her? She had no living

relatives, after all.

Relatives… A relative!

A memory stirred in Chu Wanning's mind, and his blood rushed

through his veins. He recalled—back when he first met Luo Xianxian, she

had told him something. She had a brother who'd gone missing many years

ago… Was it him?

"All in my path shall die!"

Right now, Luo Xianxian had a body of flesh, while Chu Wanning was

merely a living soul. While her spiritual powers couldn't compare to his, she

was solid and he was air—for the moment, they were evenly matched. In the

blink of an eye, her bloodred nails came lunging for his heart. Chu Wanning

swiftly dodged to avoid damage to his soul, then flipped his palm and tapped

the spot between her brows.

"It's useless. Try it as many times as you like; the purification spell

can't harm me!" She laughed savagely, throwing her head back to howl at the

heavens. All around them, bands of corpses in Butterfly Town harkened to

her cry. "All ye wandering spirits, heed my command! Come ye forth to feast

on flesh and slake your thirst with blood!"

Terrifying wails and howls suffused the air. Butterfly Town had sunk

into complete pandemonium, and the frenzied, heartless undead came

scurrying to the Chen Manor at her summons. The walking corpses poured in

like a flood, shrieking and roaring like crashing waves toppling under the

howling winds. The blood-curdling cries were like the screams of a

battlefield, and all at once, everyone both inside and outside the barrier

could hear them with awful clarity.

Outside the barrier, the cultivators stood shaken. Inside, Chu Wanning

battled all alone.

There was only his silhouette, his lone soul, a streak of white standing

before Luo Xianxian. She laughed in glee, madness and wretchedness

flooding the depths of her eyes. But a gentleman is like bamboo, with

unbending integrity, and Chu Wanning remained unfazed even in the face of

hundreds of ghosts. Only his brows were drawn deeply together, a layer of

gloom darkening his eyes. "Luo Xianxian, do you remember what you once

told me?"

"Hm?" She hadn't expected him to ask such a question and was a bit

taken aback.

Chu Wanning took advantage of her momentary confusion to leap to the

roof of the Chen Manor's courtyard in a flutter of white robes. His silk boots,

pristine and untainted, landed lightly on the edge of the black sandalwood

eaves. "You once told me you never wanted to become a vicious ghost. You

said you didn't want to hurt anyone." As the pitch of his voice dropped, the

wind began to rise around them.

Chu Wanning looked up to see corpses swarming toward them from

every direction. He knitted his brows slightly and raised his hands, his broad

sleeves fluttering in the haunting winds. Between his hands shone a golden

glow. "Forgive me."

At once, thousands of willow vines shot up from the ground.

Gash after gash opened in the earth beneath the flowing rivers of blood

and throngs of corpses in Butterfly Town as sturdy willow trees burst

through. The vines gleamed a blinding gold, like countless shimmering

chains, and bound every fleeing corpse in their tendrils.

Chu Wanning's eyes were closed, his long hair whipping wildly before

a face as cold as snowmelt in a mountain stream. "Tianwen," he called in a

grim voice, "Ten Thousand Coffins."

His eyes flashed open, blazing like lightning.

Those rows upon rows of golden weeping willows glowed brilliantly,

and innumerable branches sprouted and grew in dense numbers, trapping the

walking corpses as they roared and struggled. In the next second, a gap

creaked open in every willow tree. As the holes widened, the trees dragged

the dead into the dark and brutally sealed them within.

Ten Thousand Coffins.

The largest weeping willow of all sprouted from the courtyard of the

Chen's household. Fast as the sharpest arrow, its vines flew after the dodging

Luo Xianxian. However, the girl currently had a body made from the HeartPluck Willow herself. Heart-Pluck Willow, Tianwen, Jiangui—all branches

from the same heavenly tree, brought to the mortal realm by the Exalted

Gouchen. Thus the Ten Thousand Coffins of Tianwen couldn't immediately

overtake the small and swift shadow of Luo Xianxian.

The gold-embroidered phoenix on her vivid red wedding robes rolled

in the turbulent winds as the giant willow darted after her, pulling itself from

the ground, up and up, breaking through the barrier and stretching toward the

skies above.

On the other side of the barrier, the crowd was shocked into silence by

this sky-shattering tree. Those with lesser spiritual power couldn't endure it;

their legs went weak at the zongshi's oppressive presence, and they fell

heavily to their knees.

The willow tree formed from Tianwen's spiritual energy grew taller

and taller, until it seemed it would reach even the luminous moon itself. Chu

Wanning had unleashed his spiritual powers to a degree hitherto unseen.

Among the cultivators surrounding Butterfly Town, there were many whose

eyes were bloodshot, and even Nangong Si, with all his cultivation, found it

difficult to breathe, his chest tight and his heart beating rapidly. He gritted his

teeth. "A character like this exists at Sisheng Peak? Who is this Yuheng

Elder?"

Next to him, Li Wuxin remained unruffled; he was the head of a sect,

after all; he could handle this much. "Nangong-gongzi, this man is Chu

Wanning, I tell you!"

"What?!" This startling news, on top of the already intense spiritual

pressure, was too much. Nangong Si choked and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"It's…Chu-zongshi?"

"Young master, please don't speak anymore." Seeing that he was hurt,

Ye Wangxi raised a hand and pressed two meridian points on Nangong Si's

body to help him circulate his spiritual powers. Yet unexpectedly, Nangong

Si wasn't grateful in the slightest. He pushed Ye Wangxi roughly away and

wiped the blood from his lips. "Don't touch me."

Ye Wangxi fell silent.

"Ye-gongzi, allow me." Song Qiutong nominated herself in a small

voice.

Being a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast, she wasn't greatly affected. She

stepped forward gracefully, her lovely eyes delicate and fearful as she gazed

at Ye Wangxi.

Yet this time, Ye Wangxi didn't seem so friendly as he had been when

they'd first met—he completely ignored her.

Having received the cold shoulder, Song Qiutong turned to gaze at

Nangong Si with tear-filled eyes. Nangong Si's attitude toward her was much

improved compared to their first encounter, but he, too, declined. "Your help

isn't needed. I was merely shocked to hear of someone I haven't seen in

many years. I'm not that weak. If you have free time, go help others."

From where he stood, Mo Ran didn't notice at all this exchange

between Song Qiutong and the two gongzi of the Rufeng Sect. He'd dropped

down beside Chu Wanning's vacant body, lifting his head to watch Chu

Wanning's living soul engaged in the heat of battle with Luo Xianxian within

the barrier. He looked at that army of corpses temporarily sealed by

thousands of willow trees, his heart and mind surging with alarm and anxiety.

To use a spell like this, even under normal circumstances, would

exhaust one's spiritual powers—and moreover, Chu Wanning's soul was

currently outside his body. Just how ridiculously powerful was this man…

Before Mo Ran could finish the thought, an ear-splitting cry rent the

air.

In the end, the Heart-Pluck Willow was no match for Tianwen.

Beneath the lonely moon, Luo Xianxian was bound by the willow vines,

branches and leaves sprouting fast and swallowing her rapidly. That

colossal, sky-scraping tree enveloped her completely within in its trunk.

Finally, the ancient willow that had touched the clouds shrank slowly toward

the ground, gradually descending until it stood equal once more with the

other willows.

By now the barrier had been completely shattered. But since the Ten

Thousand Coffins conjured by Tianwen still held the scores of walking

corpses hostage, the danger was still held at bay.

Even so, Xue Zhengyong didn't dare relax his guard and ordered

Sisheng Peak's people to stand sentinel before every willow tree. As for the

others, they dashed straight for the courtyard of the Chen Manor. In such a

dire situation, Mo Ran didn't think twice; he immediately swept up Chu

Wanning's cold body into his arms and rushed over with the rest.

When the group arrived, the ancient willow chaining Luo Xianxian had

transformed into a coffin. The girl lay within, her expression fluctuating

between savagery and sorrow, her eyes sometimes vicious, sometimes

aggrieved. Two distinct voices spilled from her lips, switching from one to

the other. The first was full of madness as it raged, "Why do you obstruct me!

Why do you obstruct me! You all deserve death! Every last one of you!" The

other voice was soft and helpless: "Yanluo-gege, is it you…is it you who's

come? Please, I beg you, save me… I don't want to hurt people. Please…"

The two voices rose and fell, back and forth, until after a long while, silence

reigned within the coffin.

At this point, the spiritual power of Chu Wanning's living soul was at

its limit; he was barely holding on. Yet, relying on his will alone, he pressed

his fingers between the brows of the girl in the coffin. "Speak thy name."

The ghost girl slowly opened her eyes; they were still that violent red.

"Watch out!" Li Wuxin blurted. Just as he was about to charge forward

and end the maiden's life, Chu Wanning pointed a finger and a bolt of

lightning cracked down in Li Wuxin's path, stopping him in his tracks.

"Chu Wanning, you—!"

Chu Wanning ignored him. His eyes were locked on the delicate girl as

she haltingly sat up in the willow coffin. No trace of killing intent lay in her

bloodred eyes. Instead, they were full of panic and loss as she answered

softly, "I am Luo Xianxian."

When Chu Wanning heard her answer, he finally breathed a sigh of

relief. His lashes fluttered closed as the projection of his living soul faded. A

moment later, the man in Mo Ran's arms twitched gently. Mo Ran quickly set

him down, propping him against a pillar in the courtyard. He got down on

one knee, bringing himself to Chu Wanning's level. "Shizun, are you back?"

Chu Wanning's phoenix eyes were dazed, and it was several seconds

before they regained their focus. He glanced at Mo Ran. Chu Wanning had

depleted his spiritual powers too greatly. He was a man with a weak

spiritual core to begin with, and he now appeared somewhat frail, his face no

less pale than when his soul had walked free from his body.

"Mn…" Chu Wanning responded. He leaned against the pillar for a

spell, then rose gingerly to his feet, using the pillar for support. With slow

steps, he came before Luo Xianxian and lowered his gaze to look at her.

Luo Xianxian's small mouth parted slightly as she stared at him in

shock. "Yanluo-gege…Why am I here? W-what happened?"

"First things first." Chu Wanning's body was weak, but his eyes were

still bright and sharp. He cut straight to the heart of the matter: "Tell me, who

was it that fabricated your body? Do you remember? It's extremely

important."

"I…"

Chu Wanning waited tensely, his nails near cracking with how hard he

was digging them into the stone pillar.

"I can't remember very clearly, but I have some impressions…"

Luo Xianxian mumbled. "It was a man, he…he…"

Next to them, Xue Meng was getting impatient. "Think harder!"

Luo Xianxian wracked her brain, digging through her memories. "At

the time, everything was hazy; I didn't see his face clearly. But I heard his

voice; he had a bit of a northern accent… I think… Maybe… Ah!" she cried

out. Terror filled her face. "I remember now! It's him! It's him! The

tangerines! The tangerine thief!"

"The tangerine what?" Xue Meng grumbled. "What nonsense…"

However, Chu Wanning understood at once: she meant that madman

she had encountered as a little girl, the one who chopped down the tangerine

tree!

There was a man from Linyi whose heart died at twenty.

Who was it…

Linyi. It couldn't be Rufeng Sect, could it? Was it—

Right then, a crisp clap of thunder exploded across the heavens, and

the Zhenlong Chess Formation that spanned the sky over Butterfly Town

flashed red.

"Not good!" Xue Zhengyong shouted. "Everyone, keep watch on the

Ten Thousand Coffins! The creator of the formation has probably noticed

we're here by now—something's coming!"

Sand flew and debris scattered, and smoke and dust began to rise from

all around. Every cultivator in Butterfly Town was on high alert, their backs

pressed against one another and their long swords held before them.

Chu Wanning's eyes darkened, and he turned to Luo Xianxian. "Get up!

That man left a white chess piece inside your body. Don't let him control you

any longer. I'll help you purge it. Once the white piece falls, leave

immediately. Go to the underworld and return to the cycle of reincarnation.

You must not linger in the mortal realm!" As he spoke, light gathered in his

palm, and he clapped it to Luo Xianxian's chest. But as the spiritual energy

passed through her, there was no sign of any white piece from the Zhenlong

Chess Formation.

Chu Wanning froze. A chill rushed up his spine, like the quick flash of

a spark—he sensed danger. "Go, quickly!" he shouted.

But it was too late. A sharp scream tore through the air.

The heart of the Zhenlong Chess Formation in the sky above glowed

with a bloody red light and struck like lightning right into Luo Xianxian's

willow-crafted body. The ground rumbled, and fiery light roared to the skies.

"Luo Xianxian!"

The girl's silhouette rapidly contorted in the sea of fire, and in a split

second, a wisp of a fragrant soul rose to the skies and mixed with the

burning, miasmic fumes. The soul mingled with the fumes into a single entity.

Where Luo Xianxian once stood, a stream of jade-green light now shot

toward the heavens.

"A spiritual essence of wood?!" The blood drained from Chu

Wanning's face, and his eyes flashed with hostility. He'd been thinking about

this all wrong—he'd been thinking about this whole thing the wrong way!

While alive, Luo Xianxian must've been someone who possessed

great wood elemental spiritual energy. The villain behind the scenes wasn't

making an offering of the metal, fire, water, and earth elements to the wood

elemental Heart-Pluck Willow. Rather, he was waiting for the enormous

miasma of resentment to coalesce into that crash of thunder and strike Luo

Xianxian's body, transforming her resentful spirit into an energy source for

what was left of the Heart-Pluck Willow.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth. All five elements were now

assembled. This person had everything they needed…

Chu Wanning lifted his head and looked to the sky. Everyone was

looking at the sky. Everything stopped; it was horribly, terrifyingly still.

Suddenly, the earth began to quake.

It was all too like what he and Mo Ran had seen in the ancient city of

Lin'an, in the illusion at Peach Blossoms Springs. Above Butterfly Town, a

titanic purple-black rift rent the night sky. Within, they beheld endless,

bloody chaos, death, pestilence, hatred, as if the eye of the devil himself

slowly opened before them.

Li Wuxin pointed at the rift. "The Infinite Hells!" he cried, voice

trembling. "The barrier to the Infinite Hells—i-it's broken! The firmament

over Butterfly Town is torn; the door to the ghost realm is open!"