Chapter 86: One Sword (Sixth Update)

"Elder, has Little Yunlu succeeded?"

Since Xu Xing had gone out, Chi Jiuyu could only confirm with Huo.

"Mm, she has succeeded."

That junior has succeeded—perhaps it was only to be expected.

Your trial showed her that door; the Secret Realm's blessing gave her the key; and the life-or-death crisis brought by that old man helped her climb the final step.

But no matter what, her own efforts accounted for a huge portion.

"What she comprehended is the Principle of Peril, the meaning of life through facing death."

As the name implies, the more perilous her situation, the stronger she becomes; if she stands on the brink of life and death, she can even use this to breach the barrier between realms.

Moreover, this enhancement is comprehensive and carries no cost.

"What a suicidal 'comprehension of principle,'" Chi Jiuyu grumbled.

Does that mean Little Yunlu has to risk her life every day if she wants to progress faster? Call it the Principle of Peril? More like the Principle of Suicide.

"Huh, why hasn't she started healing yet?"

Chi Jiuyu sensed something was wrong.

His head was nearly severed—logically, the outcome should've been decided already! How could a Qi Condensation cultivator possibly regrow a limb?

Within the Secret Realm, in the combat space.

"Xiao Fan's" head hung limply, connected only by a thin layer of skin and the spine, looking horrifying.

Blood continuously streamed out, staining his robes, yet he remained standing rigidly, showing no sign of collapsing.

Zhang Yunlu turned back to look at him, also feeling puzzled.

He's like this—surely he can't still be alive?

"Hehe, 'comprehension of principle'… you still managed to succeed…" The voice sounded again.

How could this be! Her own throat had been cut through! Zhang Yunlu raised her sword; her spiritual energy, physical strength, perception, and soul strength all surged violently, as if she had returned to the moment when life and death hung in the balance.

Even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator stood before her now, she could cut him down with one strike! She saw the wound on "Xiao Fan's" neck begin to writhe, and thin pink sprouts grew from both ends of the cut.

Those sprouts, like tentacles, intertwined and twisted, forcibly pulling the severed head back into place; the wound Zhang Yunlu had carved into his throat healed at an astonishing speed.

The scene was profoundly eerie.

In but a moment, "Xiao Fan" had fully restored.

He twisted his head, producing a crisp "click-click" sound.

"This time, you truly must die."

His glass-like multicolored eyes fixed on Zhang Yunlu, utterly expressionless, his voice calm and indifferent, as if stating an inevitable fact.

Die? Hummmmm!!! That sword hum sounded again.

"Xiao Fan" felt Zhang Yunlu vanish from his vision—he could no longer sense her movement at all.

A Qi Condensation cultivator who has not comprehended the principle, facing one who has, is this powerless.

Even if a normal Foundation Establishment cultivator were to take her place, the outcome would not improve much.

But…

If Huo still chooses not to intervene, she will die here today.

"E Zhuan."

Hum~ A faint ripple appeared, then thick ink spread outward, radiating in all directions; wherever it passed, everything began to slow.

Zhang Yunlu's form was revealed within this power.

The blade had reached the position beside "Xiao Fan's" ear, about to strike—but its speed grew slower and slower, like a fly slowly hardening in amber.

"Yuan Chen Mo Nong."

As those four words were spoken, Zhang Yunlu's movements froze completely; time itself seemed to halt upon her.

Yet the ink's advance did not cease.

It breached the boundaries of the combat space, surging like a tide, instantly swallowing the entire Secret Realm.

All cultivators, all Tongxuan grass monsters, froze as if a pause button had been pressed; only the crimson moon hanging high in the sky remained bright.

Moreover, the ink spread beyond the Secret Realm into Xuanjian City—whether Soul Transformation cultivators or innocent children who had never stepped onto the path of cultivation, all were frozen at the final moment before the ink's invasion.

The entire Xuanjian City resembled a black-and-white photograph.

Looking at the motionless figures around him, Li Qingyang's face turned grim.

He was far too familiar with this power.

Or rather, every cultivator who had survived from ancient times would not be unfamiliar with this power.

"It's the old Cang clan creature!"

Damn it! Why would that old thing appear in such a trivial place?

…………

Inside the villa, all color had vanished; Chi Jiuyu stood utterly still.

Huo watched inside the Secret Realm as "Xiao Fan" raised his hand, about to press his fingertip against Zhang Yunlu's forehead.

If that finger touched, she would die without doubt.

And not merely within the Secret Realm—she would die utterly, in reality as well.

"No matter what scheme…" Huo sighed softly, "it is time."

He rose, stepping forward as if crossing the boundary between reality and the Secret Realm.

Within the frozen combat space, "Xiao Fan's" gaze flickered slightly.

No other figures appeared around him, but He knew Huo had arrived.

"You went to great lengths to draw me out—now… can you tell me your purpose?" A voice echoed as if within the mind.

All living beings in the world — who among them can be without doubt? "A purpose? All that I do, I do for you."

Like an ancient bell-tone, slowly flowing forth from a deep, somber canyon, thick and low, yet bearing a sacred, inviolable solemnity.

The two seemed to be conversing through Xiao Fan's body, across the vast gulf of time.

"Return to the flow; the years shift and change."

Every word spoken seemed carved into age-old rock, weathered through countless vicissitudes, imbued with the weight of time itself.

Time seemed to flow backward, yet it could not affect Huo; he seemed to stand in a higher dimension, witnessing scene after scene that had once unfolded upon Xiao Fan.

How he had brought back the Danhua Lamp for Xiao Fan, how he had transformed the remnant Cang-tribe blood within him into vitality…

In the end, the image froze on that scene before the hospital — himself handing the jade box containing the Cang-tribe blood to Xiao Fan.

But no matter which moment of himself it was, his eyes were like glazed glass, shimmering with prismatic light.

"Well?"

Every "Huo" spoke at once, all raising their heads in unison to look at the Huo in the higher dimension.

"Gu, do you find meaning in such a thing?"

"When have I ever done anything without meaning?"

This journey had two purposes.

The first was to aid this Xiao Fan, who bore the Cang-tribe bloodline, in comprehending the Principle, and to transform him into one of the Cang tribe.

But alas… it had not succeeded.

Even before his cognition had been twisted, he had begun to doubt that he was still human.

Yet after his cognition was twisted, this Xiao Fan had, astonishingly, turned it around — obstinately insisting that the Cang tribe was merely a branch of the human race.

Sigh~ Were it not so, He would not have chosen to take over Xiao Fan's body.

The second was for Huo.

"Entangled karma, shifting years — I wish to borrow a sliver of your essence," Gu said lightly.

Huo paused: "Borrow my essence?"

"Indeed."

Seven-colored radiance blazed forth, and every "Huo" was seen walking out from within that image, following some unseen connection, beginning to pull at something.

The moment Huo had stepped into this place, he could not escape this tribulation.

Huo's heart stirred slightly.

A sliver of essence — no great harm in itself — but for this old thing to covet it so desperately meant it could not be allowed to fall into His hands.

"If it were only me alone, you truly would have succeeded."

"Add one more person, and the result will be the same," Gu said calmly.

Before undertaking all of this, He had already prepared for the possibility of more people.

"Is that so?" Huo smiled.

A flash of dazzling, blinding light suddenly appeared — it was a fierce, slashing sword-light!

The blazing sword-light, in an absolutely domineering posture, with the force of an overwhelming gale sweeping away dead branches, 跨越 boundless time and space, severing every connection, came sweeping across!

Gu's expression changed drastically; in those eyes that had remained unmoved even before Huo, a surge of hatred, intense beyond measure, welled up.

"Sword Ancestor!!!"

Begging for first subscriptions!!!

(End of this chapter)