Chapter 462: End Participation; Corpse Dissection; Exiled Immortal; Life-Bound Essence Does Not Recognize the Blue Sky

【As you slowly opened your eyes, you seemed to fall into a dreamland.】

【Suddenly encountering a peach blossom forest, with no miscellaneous trees in the middle, the fragrant grass is beautiful, and the fallen flowers are colorful.】

【At the end of the peach forest, a clear stream flows slowly. Tracing the stream upwards, you suddenly see green mountains like black. Between the mountains, there are fertile fields and paths, mulberry and bamboo are hidden, and there are clear pools like jasper, as if it were a land outside the world.】

【Everywhere is filled with abundant primordial energy, even thicker than inside Above Bianjing.】

【Straying into the Peach Blossom Spring?】

【You walked closer and saw a pond, with bright red peach forests growing on the edge, the water surface rippling, reflecting the sunset color of the sky.】

【You came back to your senses again, and you understood that this is the Third Master's life-bound essence, "Palm Lamp Yellow Millet Dream."】

【Five years of borrowed time? Living in this Peach Blossom Spring?】

【At this time!】

【The eighth sword intent in the Niwan Palace suddenly moved, as if about to break out of the aperture.】

【Your thoughts stirred, and a sword shadow manifested from the void.】

【This is the nine swords gifted to you by the Second Master when he ascended. You have already mastered the mystery of the first seven swords and mastered them skillfully.】

【Only this eighth sword could never be defeated.】

【On the grass, the sword intent figure seemed different from before.】

【The originally hazy outline gradually solidified. In the past, it was like looking at flowers in the fog or peeking at the moon in the water, but now you see the gathering and scattering of flowing clouds, and the surging of clear Qi.】

【Now the airflow is like white clouds gathering, a clear figure, a young man in white with a graceful demeanor, stepped out from the white cloud airflow.】

【Dressed in white, like a pear tree in the courtyard, his hair bun is high, his black ponytail is light, his forehead is dotted with cinnabar, his sword eyebrows are under his eyes, his eyes are clear and moist, not showing sharpness, only a sense of detachment.】

【Your eyes moved slightly. This is the Yang Spirit left by the Second Master, actually manifesting again in this "Peach Blossom Spring."】

【The young man in white was also surprised, looking at his own hands, "This is... Old Three's Yellow Millet Dream? Sure enough, life-bound essences are related to the cultivation art and temperament."】

【"Old Three, always wanted a land outside the world similar to the Peach Blossom Spring, but how is it possible?"】

【The young man in white examined himself, his fingertips brushing over the fluttering sleeves, "So... I am a body in a dream!"】

【"Is it the Yang Spirit I left in the human world?"】

【The young man was stunned for a moment, then laughed lightly: "So that's it. You even calculated this step. No wonder you asked me to leave the nine sword true meanings in the Xie Family Grand View Garden back then."】

【You understood in your heart—it turns out that receiving the nine swords in the Grand View Garden were all early moves laid out by Senior Xie Hong.】

【The young man in white turned his eyes and looked, his eyes seemed to have flowing clouds passing through: "Don't misunderstand, I am not his true self. Just a remnant memory, supplemented by a complete sword path inheritance."】

【He condensed a half-inch sword light at his fingertips, his tone was light, "I don't know your name, but you can get my sword intent, you are definitely not an ordinary person."】

【"I made a vow long ago, if I am not a great talent in Daoist cultivation, I will not be the first. I would rather be a withered bone in the grave than this sword path."】

【Before the words fell, the young man in white already had a sword condensed by Primordial Spirit in his hand: "This remnant soul can survive for about three years. Can you penetrate the eighth sword"】

【The young man turned into flying flowers all over the sky, "Look at your fortune... 'Be careful!'"】

【You were still chewing on the mystery in the Second Master's words, when you saw that white figure had already swept over with sword light.】

【In an instant—】

【Before the sword edge arrived, eight layers of afterimages bloomed in the air, like a white rainbow piercing the sun, like a thunder chasing electricity. You didn't even have time to use the "Yin Talisman Scripture" substitute, and your figure had already disintegrated inch by inch in the sword intent, being completely slashed and extinguished by the sword intent.】

【Then, you condensed your figure again not far away.】

【It seems that in this Yellow Millet Dream, you seem to be the same as the Primordial Spirit, you can be born again with a thought, without pain, and without feeling exhausted, and you are immortal.】

【The Second Master stood with his sword, his sleeves fluttering, "This is not the original sword intent, only moves. In this Yellow Millet Dream, I am close to the realm of sixty years ago."】

【He flicked his sword tip lightly, and a peach blossom split into eighty-six petals.】

【"Try to defeat me!"】

【You were slightly stunned, close to the Second Master of sixty years ago.】

【Sixty years ago, the Second Master had already condensed his life-bound essence, and his three-foot sword made the world's cultivators lower their eyebrows.】

【You remembered the scene when the Third Master and the Second Master fought, and you understood more and more—the realm of the Ten Great Sects of the World is already a difference between clouds and mud for ordinary cultivators.】

【Like a whisk sweeping mosquitoes, a flick of a finger can destroy them.】

【The Second Master's sword finger rose again, and the "Wind Singing" style in the Nine Sword True Meanings suddenly appeared.】

【Before the sword light arrived, the sharp sword intent had already crossed space, pressing directly on the eyebrows!】

【You used the "Yin Talisman Technique" formula, and the substitute just appeared—】

【But saw the three sword intents in the young man in white's hand suddenly merge into one, turning into a sword light as bright as moonlight—"Ghost-Slaying Sword"】

【Between your heart and spirit shaking, your figure had already annihilated.】

And this life-bound essence, condensed by the Third Master using time as a guide, can even be called an "Entry-Grade Immortal Art"!

【You were helpless, "Come again!"】

【Sword light rose, and before three moves, you were already defeated by the sword.】

【The young man in white swirled a sword flower and sneered: "Guarding the head but not the tail, a reckless man."】

【"Come again!"】

【This time you barely managed five moves, and were defeated by a sword again.】

【"Yo, this time you learned to protect your back," the young man flicked the sword blade with his fingertips, "Unfortunately, the front door is wide open."】

【"Come again!"】

【"Tsk, a peach branch is enough to send you away."】

【"Come again!"】

【The young man yawned: "Mediocre talent..."】

【"Come again!"】

【"Forget it, let you have one hand... still need to practice."】

【Repeating more than ten times, the sword condensed by the Primordial Spirit had long been replaced by a withered branch picked up at will. The young man in white leaned under the peach tree, his eyelids half-closed, looking uninterested.】

【You took a deep breath, the blue veins on your forehead jumping faintly—】

【Suddenly missed the silent sword intent phantom from before. Didn't they say the Second Master was as cold as a sword and sparing with words?】

【The light in this Peach Blossom Spring is stagnant, and that setting sun that is about to set but not yet set hangs in the sky forever.】

【You noticed that the spiritual energy flowing between the peach forests is several times purer than the outside world, and every breath is like drinking nectar.】

【You carved marks on the peach tree to record the days.】

【Where the green blade passed, ninety sword marks had already been left on the tree trunk, with the same depth.】

【You are not a stupid person, naturally you understand that with the Second Master's current realm, wanting to defeat him is no different from a mayfly shaking a tree.】

【Only by cultivating, when you are also in the Ninth Realm of martial arts and your Primordial Spirit enters the Yang Spirit, will you have the qualifications to hold a sword in front of the Second Master.】

【So after comparing a few times, you saw that it was good and stopped, turning your attention to the word cultivation.】

【Although the Primordial Spirit is becoming more and more solid, it can never touch the barrier of the Yang Spirit realm.】

【You asked the Second Master, "What is Yang Spirit?"】

【The young man in white was teasing the swimming fish in the pond with a peach branch. He played in this Peach Blossom Spring every day, or was bored watching you cultivate.】

【But this place is also strange, as if it were real, the fish in the pond and the peaches on the tree are all real.】

【He heard this and raised his eyes lazily: "This remnant soul of mine... has no relevant memory, only a little scattered perception, which is water to channel, the word accumulation."】

【The Second Master drew a circle, "Yang Spirit, is the last resort of this universe, you can understand it this way."】

【You frowned in confusion: "Last resort? Isn't the Primordial Spirit cultivated to the extreme the Yang Spirit?"】

【The young man in white rarely restrained his scattered expression, and the peach branch at his fingertips suddenly bloomed with two or three scarlet points: "In the Daoist 'Zhong-Lu Daoist Collection,' Yang Spirit is defined as 'Pure Yang without Yin Spirit,' which is the state of existence where the Primordial Spirit is condensed to transcend the flesh after the cultivator has gone through refining essence into Qi, refining Qi into spirit, and refining spirit back to void."】

【"The combination of martial arts Xuan Dan and Yang Spirit secretly matches the Daoist 'dual cultivation of nature and life'—Xuan Dan is the foundation of life work, and Yang Spirit is the great success of nature work, which is achieving the life-bound essence."】

【"In the end, it is still... a helpless move."】

【You seem to understand something, and you also feel that there should be a realm after the Ninth Realm of the flesh Xuan Dan, but there seems to be a prohibition.】

【After the Upper Three Realms of martial arts, the true Qi in the body begins to change. The dantian does not produce true Qi, but produces true yuan to nourish the body.】

【However, this also has a drawback, that is, although the human body is mysterious, it is impossible to produce true yuan continuously.】

【The well cannot always have water, inexhaustible!】

【Therefore, once a martial artist steps into the Middle Three Realms of martial arts, it is like encountering a natural chasm. No matter how you punch to suppress mountains and rivers, or kick to crack the earth, you will eventually be unable to escape the human limit of ninety years.】

【To break this shackle, one must turn to cultivate the Primordial Spirit path, nourishing the body with spirit, so as to prolong life by several sixty-year cycles.】

【The masters of the academy and the old monsters of the Ten Great Sects of the World all rely on this method to live for several sixty-year cycles.】

【"But this is not the right path, just like drinking poison to quench thirst." The Second Master sighed slightly: "For three thousand years... no, perhaps even longer, the common people of this world have been struggling to seek, and finally walked out the cultivation path... the method of condensing life-bound essence."】

【He suddenly laughed lightly, "But it is still like duckweed without roots, ultimately a void, unable to seek the word longevity."】

【"Back then, when I was thirty, I had already touched the end of this world. Only then did I know that it was because heaven and earth were lacking, and there was a lack of things to truly nourish the flesh and Primordial Spirit."】

【The Second Master looked at you, "Perhaps, the world outside the sky after ascension is different!"】

【"Or perhaps, this world will change again!"】

【You thought about it slightly after hearing this, ascension?】

【The breeze blew, and the peach tree rustled. On the rough tree trunk, nine more

The Nine Great Clans dared not fail to appear; today, even the Xie family has sent several elders of high seniority.

There are also several people from the Empress Zhuge family, where frequent incidents have occurred recently.

These aristocratic clans, who usually hold the power to summon wind and rain, are now holding their breath, not daring to act presumptuously.

Have they never truly seen through this Su Xiang?

And what is it that Su Jing seeks?

The Nine Great Clans have already waited until the afternoon, yet no one is restless or impatient—or if they are, they dare not show it.

Su Xiang has been controlling the court and the public of the Great Qi for too long, so long that they have developed a slave mentality.

It is a trembling that originates from the marrow and blood, as if they are not facing the current Grand Secretary, but some more ancient and terrifying existence.

At the highest point of the back hall, that rosewood armchair remains empty.

The taotie pattern carved into the back of the chair flickers in the twilight, like a giant mouth waiting to devour.

Today, the Su Fu feels inexplicably strange.

The sons of Su Xiang, who usually walk about the residence, are nowhere to be seen; the vast mansion is completely empty!

Several martial arts experts among the Nine Great Clans who have reached the Upper Three Realms, and even several in the Xuan Dan Realm, are secretly shocked—the entire residence is eerily empty, as if there is no other living presence besides them.

However, this was Su Xiang's order, so they dare not be negligent.

"Tap, tap."

Abrupt footsteps come from outside the corridor, mixed with the sound of liquid dripping.

"Su Xiang, he has arrived!"

Everyone dares not be careless, straightening their backs in their chairs.

"Tap, tap!"

The sound is getting closer.

The footsteps draw nearer; someone swallows their saliva involuntarily, and the hair on the back of their necks stands on end—in the dark, it seems as if something terrifying is approaching from the depths of the back hall.

The atmosphere is eerie, and the candles in the hall dim simultaneously.

The main gate slams shut!

In front of the empty armchair, a blurred shadow appears out of nowhere...

A familiar voice rings out, "You have all come!"

As the candlelight flickers, a hideous demonic shadow with three heads and six arms is cast upon the wall of the middle hall.

Thick blood drips from the monster's body onto the ground, landing on a pair of bare feet.

A terrifying pressure crushes through the hall like a physical force; everyone is shocked to find their true qi solidified, as if their tendons and bones had been extracted, leaving them paralyzed on the ground.

It is a fear engraved deep in their bloodlines, mixed with a bizarre piety.

The demonic shadow suddenly stretches, and hundreds of scarlet tentacles burst through the air. Those wriggling blood vessels are covered in tiny mouthparts, binding everyone in the hall like venomous pythons.

"Ah—"

A shrill scream.

In an instant, the smell of blood fills the air.

The exquisite Su embroidery patterns on the window lattice are stained red in an instant.

Then, the bone-chilling sound of chewing begins.

One incense stick of time later!

A sticky whisper echoes in the empty back hall: "Although I devoured the essence of the Empress Zhuge and Zhao families—these Nine Great Clans—ahead of schedule today, I have finally gathered the last portion."

The figure's bones shrink, and it returns to the shape of a person, though completely naked.

He pushes open the blood-stained hall door and walks out, saying in a low voice.

"Back then, Master, your corpse-dissolution sought a long-term plan, but how could there be so much time to waste?"

The figure lets out a mocking sneer from his throat: "Forty-eight martial artists of the Ninth Realm, thirty-four Yang Spirit cultivators—let us see if this world can contain my Taotie Dao!"

Su Fu, outside the gate!

Su Yun returns in a hurry with a group of servants.

Today, his grandfather suddenly ordered him to go to the Qingliang Temple to pray for blessings, but his two horses died halfway, so he had to turn back.

As soon as he steps into the gate, the young man notices something unusual; the guards, usually so strict, are nowhere to be seen.

Su Yun walks in quickly, and the three personal guards behind him tighten their expressions.

"Young Master Yun, something is wrong!"

Because the Su Fu is already littered with corpses; there are bodies everywhere.

Su Yun's eyes widen, and he is so frightened by the scene before him that he sits on the ground.

"Dead... everyone is dead!"

"Impossible!"

He rushes into the Su Fu regardless; his pupils contract violently, reflecting the fragmented corpses all over the ground.

The third concubine's lotus-root-colored skirt is soaked in a pool of blood, his eldest uncle's jade belt buckle is embedded in shattered bone, and his sister's favorite gilded hairpin is now stuck in a blurred mass of...

He screams at the sky, his hands already covered in blood.

"What happened... the Su family has been wiped out!"

"No, where is Grandfather?"

He rushes into the inner courtyard like a madman!

The guards freeze in place, their hands gripping their swords trembling uncontrollably.

The Su Fu, presided over by the current Grand Secretary, has been wiped out? This thought is more chilling than the corpses in the courtyard.

A sigh sounds.

Su Yun raises his eyes, blurred by blood and tears, to see a young man with skin as white as snow walking out of the shadows of the inner hall.

The figure is clearly a stranger, but when the young man speaks, the familiar voice makes Su Yun shake violently—"Grandfather."

The young man gradually approaches!

"Yun'er, among all my descendants, only you have a pure heart, treating me without any calculation or hidden motives."

"I didn't want to harm you; I intended for you to use the excuse of praying for blessings to stay far away from Above Bianjing, leaving you to enjoy wealth for a lifetime."

"But... sigh, such is fate!"

Before Su Yun can react, a long, sticky, blood-red tongue extends from a gaping maw and covers his face.

He loses all consciousness!

"Then become a part of me!"

The young man's stomach heals, and the guards meet the same fate!

Su Jing thinks for a moment, then strolls to the bathhouse in the residence to wash off the blood; as he changes his clothes, the bronze mirror reflects the face of a young man.

Delicate and refined, carrying a touch of elegance, but the eyes are extremely world-weary.

Su Jing walks out of the Su Fu and goes to the academy.

A handsome young man walks to the Xiushen Building of the academy as if no one is there.

He climbs to the top step by step.

There is only one person on the fifth floor.

Xie Hong is already old and frail, propping himself up on the desk.

It seems he has been waiting for him, which is why he has a trace of vitality.

Like the final flicker of a dying lamp.

Su Jing does not look at him, but instead examines the layout of the fifth floor.

"When the Master was still here, this fifth floor was where he practiced; there was only a desk and a bed."

"Even now, it remains the same."

Su Jing looks at Xie Hong, "Yu Shixiong, you went to find Xie Guan, didn't you?"

Xie Hong has no strength left, only nodding.

Su Jing shakes his head and says lightly, "Not worth it!"

"With Third Yu Shixiong's cultivation, why not fight for a position of ascension, instead of making wedding clothes for others?"

Xie Hong says, "You don't understand, and you never will!"

Su Jing watches as Xie Hong reaches the end of his life.

"You so-called 'exiled immortals' in history, outsiders, those born with knowledge, always feel you are superior."

Among the common people, an 'exiled immortal' refers to an immortal demoted to the mortal world.

"I, Su Jing, think... what kind of bullshit 'exiled immortal'—you are just the same as those born in Baoping Lane and Changning Street in Above Bianjing."

"You are all just prisoners!"

Baoping Lane is a slum where the poor of Above Bianjing live; this Su Xiang was born there, making a living by playing chess.

Changning Street is where the Nine Great Clans reside, a place of wealth.

Xie Hong only sneers when his identity is exposed.

Su Jing regains his composure and asks a question.

"What is Yu Shixiong's life-bound essence?"

Xie Hong does not answer.

Su Jing is not annoyed, "Then what is your life-bound essence?"

Xie Hong smiles, "A dignified Su Xiang asking a question like a child—isn't it ridiculous? Do you think I would reveal it?"

"However, before I die, I can tell you: my life-bound essence is—'Unaware of the Height of the Blue Sky'!"

Su Jing's eyes narrow, sensing something unusual, "Unaware of the Height of the Blue Sky... deceiving Heaven and Earth?"

Seeing this, Xie Hong cannot help but laugh, "Su Xiang, why are you so nervous? I have already used this life-bound essence, and once used, one must die."

"Are you going to corpse-dissolve and devour me too?"

Su Jing shakes his head, "You outsiders have brilliant methods that transcend this world; I dare not gamble, which is why I didn't even touch the Xie family."

Xie Hong stops speaking, leaning back in his chair, his breath gone, and even his Primordial Spirit dissipates.

Su Jing's eyes are complex, but he has confirmed one thing in his heart.

At this moment!

A brilliant light that pierces the heavens erupts; four rays of rosy light pour down from the horizon like pillars, ten thousand rays of light reflecting off each other.

Su Jing walks slowly to the window, staring at this celestial phenomenon, the refined air on his face fading, revealing a near-manic longing.

"The Ascension Platform, silent for three thousand years, has finally opened."

At this moment, inside and outside Above Bianjing, and indeed the entire world, countless people look up.

Eyes turn toward this wonder between Heaven and Earth.

"The Ascension Platform has opened—"

PS: The last two days, double monthly votes, thank you, thank you!

(End of chapter)