Chapter 360: Old Case Concluded (End)

"Why, there isn't a shred of light." Kong Lanting, his hand never leaving his sword hilt, frowned as he looked ahead.

The bleak moonlight spilled through the thin mist, revealing craggy, ancient rocks and a desolate, wild landscape. Some enormous, irregular cave openings lay scattered about, pitch-black and chilling to behold.

"This peak uses caves as chambers; the summit is naturally exquisite, and the stone chambers are all below," Guan Qianyan said. "Besides, everyone has left now, so of course there's no one here."

"If there's no one here, what if that thing appears again?" Kong Lanting still felt a lingering fear. "We must report this to our elders quickly."

"I think that thing might just be there to prevent people from sneaking in," Guan Qianyan said, having a different thought now. "Since the Golden Seal can go down, how could the elders not know? We've come up here quietly; wouldn't saying anything be like throwing ourselves into a net?"

Kong Lanting stared at her with wide eyes: "You really never learn from your mistakes."

"... It's fine." Xi Tianji smiled slightly. Even with a small spray of blood on his face, he still maintained a calm demeanor. He said in a low voice, "The matters here are not for you to meddle in. Return quickly."

Guan Qianyan was stunned for a moment. Her nostrils seemed to catch a faint, distant scent of blood, but it vanished in an instant. And that was the direction from which the Law Enforcement Hall had come...

"It's the wound on my neck, I suppose." Guan Qianyan touched it. "Don't worry about it for now."

But this was indeed a chance to catch the enemy alone. Guan Qianyan drew her sword with a silent, slow motion and glanced back at Kong Lanting. Regardless of whether the boy understood, her body had already crouched low like a leopard.

Xi Tianji paused for a moment, his voice softening: "Why are you two here?"

At a speed that made one's heart and lungs constrict, Jiang Yitong's pupils contracted on the cliff terrace. He took a step and held his sword horizontally. Guan Qianyan had never seen this previous generation's Sword Head strike with his full power, but the sword strike before her now proved everything.

Guan Qianyan saw the sword marks on the stone wall again, but as she moved forward, her heart tightened. She saw an iron-colored, snake-shaped object the length of a forearm embedded in the wall nearby, but its body and tail were already twisted and damaged, with some mysterious patterns still flickering chaotically.

"..."

She suddenly caught the familiarity in the voice just now and understood why she hadn't recognized it.

The two of them grew bolder, their footsteps no longer cautious, and their voices grew slightly louder. But as they walked, they suddenly came to a sharp halt.

"There is a stone prison on the back of this peak pillar, opening to the outside of the peak. Jingbi is locked in there."

At the dark, silent corner ahead, a very faint orange light was filtering through, flickering intermittently.

"... What's wrong, Zhang Shixiong Xi?"

Guan Qianyan watched this spot with tight breathing; the splattered blood on the stone wall was a vivid, shocking red.

Now, the iron chains could no longer be seen extending from the mist; it stood there bare and alone.

But that ghost-story-like "Soul-Snatching and Sword-Stealing" seemed like a tale from the edge of the world. Guan Qianyan had forgotten it after hearing it and had never taken it to heart.

Guan Qianyan watched him walk toward Zhang Jingbi step by step, a distorted "No" trembling from her throat. She tried hard to grit her teeth and force her body up, but was once again struck down by the intense pain without suspense.

The entire cliff terrace was filled with a huge, complex carved array, over ten zhang in length and width. This shocking and eerie scene left both of them frozen, and when their eyes moved to the very end, that scene slammed into their heartstrings.

"Painting Fluid." Jiang Yitong reached out and took it. Then, this man walked to the beginning of the carved array on the ground and slowly poured a box of clear, viscous liquid. As it flowed into the carved grooves, the faint starlight seemed to pierce through the mist, and the liquid immediately began to glow with a fluorescent light.

"Then can we see Jingbi?" Guan Qianyan pleaded, raising her head. "We've come this far, let us see him, Zhang Shixiong Xi."

It clearly avoided his heart but intentionally destroyed a portion of his lungs, precisely turning the youth into a severely wounded, waiting-to-be-slaughtered object. Zhang Jingbi's face was pale, his lips trembling, his head leaning powerlessly to one side. Every breath required him to gasp for air like a fish on the shore, appearing both miserable and ridiculous.

The long tunnel reached its end, and the cold mist invaded again. The two walked out of the tunnel, taking in everything on the terrace outside the cave.

Guan Qianyan looked at the stone wall in front of her without a word. Just below the two sword hooks, the stone wall was polished smooth, and a line of text was carved upon it: Pillar Jia-Nine occupies the central position of the Jia-character, with traffic from north to south. Regardless of the time, at least one person must be on duty to respond to emergencies.

【Snake Eye Pursues Evil】

No evildoers were seen.

"Oh."

Leaving this hall, there was an extremely long and deep tunnel.

Guan Qianyan watched this scene trembling. At this moment, she suddenly understood what she had encountered.

"Didn't stop him?" Jiang Yitong stood up straight, his tone cold as he raised his sword.

Kong Lanting couldn't say a word, and a scream almost broke from Guan Qianyan's throat.

Then this figure turned out from the shadows, and all the girl's preparations were abruptly cut off at this moment.

"... Alright." Guan Qianyan lowered her head quite unwillingly and turned back. She knew this Zhang Shixiong rarely refused people, but once he did, there was no room for negotiation.

Then she felt the palm withdraw from her back. In a state of chaotic disbelief, the girl felt herself being lifted and thrown, along with the boy, beneath Mo Chang's corpse. This was likely the only corner of the entire scene that wouldn't interfere with the carved array, surrounded by trash like broken swords and bloody cloth.

He turned his head and said: "Further ahead should lead directly to the rear peak—stop wandering, let's go quickly."

The words also stopped halfway.

Kong Lanting jumped down, and his vision went dark. Indeed, the steps here were already repaired, and tables and chairs were placed, clearly a room that was often used, yet now there was not a single candle flame, relying only on the already faint moonlight refracted from several open-air spots.

The two paused for a moment, looked at each other, and walked over quietly against the wall. Guan Qianyan reached the door and carefully poked half an eye inside.

The tunnel grew shorter and shorter. The familiar cold mist had already drifted from the end of the passage, and the smell of blood grew stronger. The last few corners were right before them, and the two lightened their footsteps again.

"The chains have been taken away, so he shouldn't be here."

"Some evildoers have already been cleared out." Xi Tianji pursed his lips into a smile, that gentleness naturally flowing out. "We will invite the elders to handle it soon... You two should not go any further, go back quickly."

"That side is more important." The male voice said in a low tone. "—Did you stop him?"

"Ji Ji Shijie, do you know the way? Don't get lost again."

"Then let's begin."

"Good." Kong Lanting stood before another table, turned obediently, and muttered, "This oil lamp is quite full."

It was now in an opened state.

No need to think further; something must have happened here, only it was unknown who the intruder was and what the situation was now...

Jingbi's cultivation was sealed in the prison, and he was unarmed... Guan Qianyan gritted her teeth, and the two moved forward again.

But soon, this magnificent sound slammed into their mortal ears. In the misty long tunnel, from far to near, a shrill, whistling sound filled their ears in an instant, and the mist of the entire peak began to surge and tremble.

At this moment, there was absolutely no way to retreat. In a state of silence, it was impossible for them to retreat faster than the other party.

And now, not only was it playing out cruelly before her eyes, but the one indifferently harming his own disciples was this most trusted and respected Zhang Shixiong!

"..."

"... We wanted to come and visit Jingbi." Guan Qianyan smiled again. Seeing this figure, she felt a sudden sense of relief. "Zhang Shixiong Xi, what happened here? We saw a lot of blood on the way over. Are you hurt?"

"There's no mist, so why would I get lost?" Guan Qianyan glared at him. "Are you going or not?"

"That's right, we ran into it on our way from the valley floor. It was floating in the air by itself, very fierce and powerful." Kong Lanting said earnestly. "But I don't know why it suddenly let us go—Zhang Shixiong Xi?"

The two looked at each other, but the man had already turned to the side, signaling them to move forward. That was the direction from which the cold mist was spreading. The two were somewhat bewildered by such an atmosphere, but they still moved their feet.

At this moment, she deeply regretted bringing her Junior Brother to such a place, a desolate and uninhabited area—gambling still offered many chances to stop, but often, life and death were just a single misstep away.

The two walked in with peace of mind. Guan Qianyan looked around, found a register on the wall, and read with her hands behind her back: "Today's duty at Pillar Jia-Nine: Dai Qiwen, Mo Chang—so it was Zhang Shixiong Mo."

"Where are we going to find Zhang Shixiong Jingbi?"

Xi Tianji also pressed his hand on his sword, and the two looked toward the cave entrance together.

Guan Qianyan breathed heavily, trembling. She didn't know what kind of cultivation technique this was, capable of making one lose all power to resist with a single palm. She only felt an unprecedented pain; her heart felt like it was constantly being twisted and torn, and tears were already overflowing from her eyes.

Amidst the stinging of her eardrums, a magnificent sword shadow of cloud energy pierced through everything Jiang Yitong had blocked in front of him. His true Qi shattered like wind, white energy drifting like broken feathers. In the chaos, only that beautiful sword body stretched into a translucent, central straight line.

This process took about a quarter of an hour. Guan Qianyan tried countless times to calm down and break free from this spasm, but the twisting pain struck down all her efforts the next instant. In the face of truly cruel methods, this girl who thought she feared nothing was like a fragile young bird.

Guan Qianyan walked over quickly. Just at this moment, the candle wick behind her was submerged in the oil, and with two flickering "puffs," it went completely dark. On the table in front of her, the flame burned vigorously and steadily, the lamp oil in the cup clear and overflowing, almost crawling over the edge of the cup.

Cold, deep-set, looking like an eagle or vulture, famous for his murderous sword style. It was said he had already entered the Eighth Life realm the year before.

Immediately rushed forward.

The two walked down lightly and arrived at the nearest cave entrance. Looking back a few zhang, they could still see a huge iron stake, which was the connection point for the chain bridge.

It was clearly chiseled out by hand, leading straight down. There were no more stone chamber forks, and the feeling of dark, cold silence buried deep underground grew heavier. This was clearly another location far from the front hall.

That was the Zhang Shixiong who could disarm her own long sword with a casual strike, that was the face of the previous generation's Kongdong number one, who was now no longer in the same world as them... A casual palm strike could make both of them collapse like waste; even if they stood up, they couldn't stop anything.

"..."

Both of them tensed their bodies at the same time.

The words stopped right there. Guan Qianyan was about to move forward quietly again, but footsteps sounded from the other end first, coming straight toward this side.

So at this moment, she suddenly realized a fact: even if she broke free from this pain, she still couldn't change anything.

She wasn't very old when she learned this truth, but it was already too late.

Kong Lanting, however, didn't move. He looked somewhat blankly into the mist outside the peak, hesitated for a long time, and then said: "Ji Ji Shijie Guan, did you smell a bit of blood?"

She tried hard to move her eyes to look at the small boy beside her, who was surprisingly much stronger than her. At this moment, he was biting his eyes tightly, his body also trembling and convulsing uncontrollably.

"Did you see a living sword?"

The whistling sound faded, and clear footsteps rang out step by step at the entrance of the long tunnel.

"Ah—" Kong Lanting also turned around very reluctantly, but suddenly remembered something, and said somewhat dejectedly, "By the way, Zhang Shixiong Xi, let me tell you something. We have a living sword below the valley floor that kills people. I don't know if you know."

"I've been waiting for you for a while."

"..."

The two were speechless for a moment. Suddenly, Guan Qianyan pressed her sword hilt fiercely: "Jingbi!"

Empty, with no one there.

"Good, I'll go get the Painting Fluid."

And the star liquid flowing on the ground had begun to gradually converge, but at the very last point at the end, the man left a blank space, not letting this array truly complete itself.

But Xi Tianji's reaching hand still stopped.

Xi Tianji held the bronze box in one hand, indifferently leaving a back view: "How should these two be handled?"

Xi Tianji suddenly raised his head, the clear, cold light in his eyes almost piercing the girl's throat in an instant. Guan Qianyan paused: "... Zhang Shixiong Xi?"

"... Zhang Shixiong Jiang, this is—" The girl's body and words froze dead together. Her spine arched backward suddenly, like a fish with a heart pierced.

His whole person also seemed to have been stripped of the spring breeze, revealing the eternal ice beneath. Fine blood spots were splashed on his pale blue long robes, and his unsheathed sword was held upside down in his hand. The man lowered his head and turned this corner without expression.

The second this familiar figure appeared in her field of vision, Guan Qianyan stood up from the shadows in surprise: "Zhang Shixiong Xi!"

Pinning Jiang Yitong dead against the cliff wall.

Guan Qianyan didn't know what had happened. The boy beside her also looked up with his neck trembling. Their true Qi had already dissipated, and some distant sounds could no longer be transmitted to their ears.

"This lamp, the oil is indeed full—" Kong Lanting suddenly realized something, and his words broke in his throat.

The two walked inward slowly. The stone cave grew deeper, but it remained silent. The entire peak seemed to be truly empty, with only the two of them and the youth they hadn't seen yet.

He was looking at them hard at this moment, not knowing what emotion to convey in his miserable eyes.

It flowed out bit by bit. The complex array seemed to light up before them, and a natural perfection slowly structured itself.

"Ah—then how is Jingbi?" Guan Qianyan relaxed her body and released the sword hilt, stepping forward. "Zhang Shixiong Xi, is he alright?"

But now, whether it was Dai Qiwen or Mo Chang, the person left on guard could no longer be seen. The lower part of the stone slab was an empty depression. Guan Qianyan remembered what it was at this moment—the resting place of 【Snake Eye Pursues Evil】, a magical tool that assisted in guarding the prison and could issue warnings, which could be triggered when disciples on duty were in danger.

"Ji Ji Shijie Guan!" Kong Lanting didn't hold on and hurriedly followed behind.

But after all, as long as there was light, those with cultivation could see quite a bit of the road. Guan Qianyan identified the direction, and the two moved forward.

"... Ask them." Jiang Yitong glanced coldly. "It's not easy to kill them openly; I suppose they will also be handled as 'missing'."

Xi Tianji followed behind them.

"Go." Kong Lanting held his head with both hands and said immediately.

"... Oh." Xi Tianji slowly raised his head, his handsome face expressionless. "Stop walking. Do you want to see Zhang Jingbi... Then come."

It was at this moment that they suddenly felt the many things that were wrong—the chair behind the table wasn't pushed away by a normal standing up, but pushed to the back wall with a force like a catapult; the ink brush wasn't placed on the brush rack but fell directly onto the paper register, the ink already soaked through a large area; the shelf behind was hit by something and was somewhat crooked, and there was actually a sharp, deep sword mark on it...

"... No, Ji Ji Shijie Guan." Kong Lanting said in an extremely light voice.

Both of their bodies went still at the same time.

"It's fine, they left in a hurry, they didn't even blow out the candles." Guan Qianyan breathed a sigh of relief.

And at this moment, the man in the middle raised his head. The girl suddenly discovered that she also recognized this face—although since he took office in the Lianxin Pavilion, he rarely appeared in front of the disciples.

The girl withdrew her gaze and stepped into the stone cave first. Before long, a lowered voice came from below, "Come down, it seems there really is no one here."

However, what came from the end of the passage was not the sound of weapons fighting, but a faint male voice: "Is everything handled?"

Mo Chang's corpse was pinned to the stone wall, pierced through the throat by his own sword, his head lowered and eyes bulging, blood flowing down, leaving a miserable, winding trail on the stone wall.

The mist and cold grass of the entire cliff terrace were pressed down in an instant. The man held his sword horizontally, and his Eighth Life true Qi squeezed into an unbreakable golden wall in front of him.

The next moment, the shrill thing rushed out of the cliff cave, and the air sound that had squeezed the entire long tunnel was released with a bang. The explosive whistling sound swept across the entire cliff terrace in an instant.

The stone prison had already been opened. Zhang Jingbi, who was bound and had no true Qi, was pierced through the chest by an iron rod and pinned to the stone wall.

Because this voice had always appeared in everyone's ears as gentle as a spring breeze, she had never heard it so cold and short, like a sharp dagger.

His true Qi dissipated in his meridians in an instant, and fresh blood flew from his throat. She fell to the ground stiffly. In her peripheral vision was the boy's equally trembling and collapsing figure.

"..."

A man of twenty-four or twenty-five was leaning against the huge rock opposite him, his face still showing signs of travel, and he was lowering his head to wipe a long sword.

Xi Tianji took out a bead that was half black and half transparent and walked toward the stone prison.

"There are always troublesome things." Jiang Yitong said coldly.

"They have all been sent out. As long as we are fast, we will make it in time."

"Good."

Although that was said, this peak pillar was indeed cold and desolate. Although the two had climbed up from the underground, the stone pillar stood alone in the sea of mist, still without anything to rely on in all directions. Pale moon and cold mist, dark sky and craggy rocks, they felt as if they had crossed a dangerous sea and arrived at this isolated place.

In the empty room, there were only two sets of tables and chairs and some simple utensils. The candle stood on the table, already about to burn out, with wisps of black smoke flying from the firelight. On the other table, an oil lamp was burning, the firelight still very bright. Two sword hooks were nailed to the stone wall beside it, but the swords on them were gone.

"No." Xi Tianji said sternly. "This is not child's play, go back quickly!"

Guan Qianyan watched for a while, and a small head that couldn't hold back poked out from her waist: "Ji Ji Shijie Guan, what's going on?"

Guan Qianyan knocked him on the head fiercely.

When the Law Enforcement Hall nervously monitored the entire Iron Pine Sword Discussion, when Yan Caiyue was seriously injured, and Xianqiao Peak was strictly guarded, the girl had asked her father countless times out of curiosity, and finally learned the vague appearance of this matter from his mouth.

It was indeed so. People had clearly left for a while. This candle had burned to the very bottom, and the pillar shape could no longer be seen, leaving only a puddle, and the wick was about to be submerged in it.

"... What?" Guan Qianyan was stunned.

"Take the soul," Jiang Yitong said.

The youth walked out slowly from the shadows. The pale moon faded the shadows on his body bit by bit. Blood soaked his black hair, his clothes were like dyed, and he breathed lightly, looking around coldly, then stared down at Xi Tianji opposite him.

"... Just you left?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 361 =====