The duty of the palace gate guards was to defend the palace. Behind them stood the elders of each sect. They were long accustomed to wielding power. Who would have thought that today they would be humiliated by a few nameless disciples?
Their faces darkened. They sent secret transmissions to one another.
“The elders have sent the order. Kill them all.”
“No one who broke into Ningxiang Palace today may be spared. Leave no evidence.”
“These rats have always been meek and timid. Who knows what’s got into them today? I’ll cut down a few and put the fear back into them!”
One palace guard pulled out a magic weapon and struck to kill. Several cultivators, unable to dodge, were smashed apart, their blood scattering like rain.
For thousands of years he had faced countless crises. He knew well that these lowly cultivators were like a pile of loose sand, caring for nothing but their own Dao path. If he struck first and spoke later, made a show of force, then offered a few benefits, he could always turn hostility into peace.
But this time, when he lowered his weapon, he saw no fear at all.
Blood rained down.
A cultivator lifted his head. Hot drops spattered his face, but within moments they had cooled.
Men were insects beneath Heaven and Earth. And in the eyes of the immortals, what difference was there between them and insects?
In the past, they had simply been blinded.
When had they ever been treated as comrades on the Dao path? With all their cultivation, when had they ever been regarded as human?
If they died, they died.
“Damn it.”
The curse trembled on the man’s lips, then suddenly he roared, eyes blazing. “Here I come!”
The shout resounded through the clouds. Rich with true energy, it echoed again and again among the layers of mist.
The forebears may not have stood up, but their heirs would not falter today.
Kill, kill, kill!
Countless beams of treasure-light, Daoist arts, and sword-shadows flared across the skies. The bloody rain, grown cold, struck like a slap across the face, rousing those who still lingered on the sidelines, staggering those who had been intent on reasoning.
The immortal sects had spawned such scandal, and yet instead of punishing the wicked, they struck down their own, slaughtered their comrades. What intent was this? What Dao did they cultivate?
To be silent today was death. To rebel was also death. Why sit and wait for it? Better to carve a bloody path, to storm Jinxia Peak and Oxhorn Peak. If our bodies perish today, then in the next life let us cultivate as demons or ghosts, never as immortals!
This world, to hell with it!
As long as one breath remains in us, we’ll fight you to the end!
The palace guards were used to deference wherever they went. Never had they seen such a scene. Shocked, they stumbled back several steps.
“This is bad! We should have appeased them first. Quickly, quickly, inform the elders!”
“Shixiong, don’t panic. I still have one trick left!”
The guard turned pale. He straightened suddenly, his voice loud and harsh. “I am a registered disciple under the elders! If you so much as harm a hair on me, you’ll be expelled from Wendao Palace. From that day forth, in the Three Mountains and Five Seas, there will be no place for you!”
A cultivator gave a wild laugh, crushed his disciple token, and cried, “My parents gave me life, my shifu raised me, and even Heaven and Earth dare not cast me aside. What are you, to claim you can strip me of a place to stand?!”
…
Fei’e Palace.
A disciple rode a cloud into the main hall, panting as he reported. “Elder Jinwu, the mistress of Ningxiang Palace has been stripped of his cultivation. Those disciples are now united, they’ve injured the gate guards, and killed several of the Hall of Malice’s disciples.”
“Let the little ones make their fuss,” the elder said calmly. “They won’t amount to much.”
The disciple hesitated. “But…”
“The great tribulation of Heaven and Earth is nigh. The immortal road will soon open. The creatures of the Eastern Lands must face a calamity, and this is likely the beginning. Go. Close the gates, ask no questions, and do not make yourselves into ashes of the catastrophe.”
Bai Luoluo, her dress fluttering, ran to the inner chamber and called through the door. “Mother, Ningxiang Palace is in uproar now. I’ve sent my shidis and shimeis to stir them up everywhere.”
A faint voice answered from within. “From now, you remain in seclusion. Do not go out.”
Bai Luoluo froze, then lifted her head sharply, biting down on her teeth. “Why?”
She had done all this only to see Xue Cuo come to ruin. If she couldn’t watch it with her own eyes, what had all her scheming been for?
A laugh drifted from the inner chamber, tinged with helplessness. “Foolish girl, did you think I went to such lengths merely to vent your anger?”
“Isn’t it so?”
Bai Xianmei was silent for a long while. “Daughter, I have told you, the great tribulation of Heaven and Earth is coming, the immortal road will open.”
“Under tribulation, there is always ash. Then, whether mortal or cultivator, half-step True Immortal or crawling insect, all alike may become ashes.”
“Yet Wendao Palace has stood for ten thousand years, flourished unbroken, survived calamity after calamity. Do you know why?”
Bai Luoluo was reckless and spoiled, but no fool. She raised her eyes, startled. “Because of the disciples?”
The voice from within was cool, yet carried a doting chill. “Indeed. They are nothing more than ashes to make up the numbers. But you, Luoluo, were born my daughter. You ought to keep watch for eternal life, to step onto the immortal road. Do not let petty hatreds cloud your eyes.”
Bai Luoluo bowed deeply. “Yes, Mother.”
“Go now. I will be in seclusion, striving for a higher realm. Do not disturb me without cause.”
Step by step, Bai Luoluo withdrew. She struggled inwardly, but in the end could not resist. She slipped out through the palace gates in secret.
She still wanted to see Xue Cuo meet his downfall with her own eyes.
Above Ningxiang Palace, blood-drenched cultivators raged, driving the guards back step by step.
In the pill chamber, disciples tumbled in one after another. They dashed with swords in hand, searched behind every screen. Those who found no one were distraught; those who found someone were even more so.
“Shifu!”
“Jiejie! Jiejie!”
“Shimei!”
Their cries tore the heart.
They held in their hands those rolls of dried human skin, not knowing whether to cradle them or clutch them. Grief scorched their chests. They longed to tear the culprits into pieces.
But however many cuts they made, the victims were gone. The souls had scattered. Never again, in this life, would they meet.
Fang Longxi’s heart ached. He could not bear to look. He turned aside and took a long draught of wine, pressing down the storm in his chest. Just then, someone tugged at his sleeve.
Fang Longxi looked down. A small child stared up at him, hesitating. “Fang-shishu, may I ask you something?”
Fang Longxi sat, spreading his legs carelessly. “Speak.”
Xue Cuo sat beside him, sighed, and propped his chin on one hand. “If, if there were a chance to gather these souls and send them to the afterlife, but the method was not orthodox… could it be done?”
Fang Longxi sprang upright, forgetting his wine gourd. “The afterlife? Their three hun and seven po are shattered. Gone.”
Xue Cuo shook his head. “If not torn by thunder tribulation, then there is still a chance.”
“How much of a chance?”
“Seventy percent.”
Fang Longxi laughed aloud, suddenly seizing Xue Cuo, kissing him noisily several times, and lifting him high. “This boy! Good! Good!”
His eyes glistened red. He stepped onto the pill furnace and cried in a great voice. “Fellow Daoists, do not despair! Today we send them to the afterlife!”
One cultivator, hollow with grief, cradled his lover and whispered. “The price of rebirth is too high. With no soul left, it is harder still. And we, so lowly, how could we summon the gods of Reincarnation?”
Fang Longxi looked to Xue Cuo. The child met their silent gazes. “I can. But it is not orthodox, and the karma is heavy. It may hinder the Dao path.”
For a moment, silence pressed down like a mountain. Then a cultivator dropped to his knees. “If you can save my shifu, I am willing to give my head in thanks.”
“So am I.”
“I too.”
The weight of sorrow was crushing.
Xue Cuo said no more. He stood upon the furnace, drew from his sleeve the talisman he had made, pressed his little fingers together, and spoke in a clear child’s voice. “Fellow shiges, shijies, you need not give your lives. Only be sincere and chant together a single Daoist name.”
One by one, they knelt upon the ground, and followed his voice, word by word.
“Naturally Wondrous…”
“… Merciful and Stern, Dao-Responding… the Goddess of the Great Loch…”
“Disciple Yue Qingyi…”
“Disciple Wen Suxin…”
“Disciple…”
…
The voices were low and hoarse, pain spreading like a fine mist that enveloped them. Yet with each recitation, the cultivators’ spiritual light stirred faintly, as if glimpsing a familiar face. Freed from torment, they dissolved into tiny golden sparks, drifting towards that strange realm of black sky and white earth.
In the loch, paper money fluttered down like snow.
The red-haired ghost suddenly shuddered. A chorus of Daoist names rang in his ears, so terrifying he tumbled straight off the wall. Tens of thousands of years. He had not heard that sound in tens of thousands of years.
The green-haired turtle was equally stunned, staring upwards. Among the drifting white paper, golden motes shone, rising higher and higher.
The motes flew on, piercing Dao locks and chains, until they reached the towering solemn statue. They settled upon its stone skirts. Then, there came a faint crack, and a corner of bright fabric was revealed beneath.
One cultivator opened his eyes in disbelief, gazed forward, and wept like rain. “Shixiong, may your journey be safe.”
He wiped away his tears, tightened his grip on his sword, and faced Wendao Palace with icy resolve. “Fellow Daoists, I have unfinished business today. I go now. Should I perish, I beg you to return my body to Yuqing Mountain.”
A loud laugh rang out. “Why not you and I together? Let’s walk into the sea of blades and fire side by side!”
“Good!”
“The boundless sky and sea are the graveyard of cultivators. Wherever we fall, that shall be our homeland.”
“Go!”
The disciples rose one by one, leapt back onto the clouds, and surged into the fray.
Elsewhere too, chaos erupted. Long had disciples harboured doubts, yet none had dared think deeply, let alone gamble their lives. The few brave enough had been slain in silence, reduced to nameless corpses.
Ningxiang Palace was only one furnace. Across Wendao Palace, how many more Ningxiang Palaces hid in plain sight?
Some covered their tracks too well. But others, who had for years treated cultivators as raw material, were so brazen they never thought disciples would one day storm the pill chambers.
After ten thousand years of quiet, Wendao Palace was thrown into disorder.
From lowest ranks to higher, disciples were countless. And among those who had lost kin and friends, were there none with lofty cultivation?
Some elders came forth to crush the uprising, but were beaten back by desperate cultivators, driven into their own halls. Even if blood stained the doors three feet deep, the disciples would break them down.
“This matter will be punished most severely. Fellow Daoists, return to your sects and await a proper explanation from the elders!”
“Explanation? We have no need of it! A life for a life. Justice is now!”
“What rare treasure are Wendao Pills? You gave them freely to our disciples again and again, and now you claim no part in this?”
“You feasted on human lives without a word, but when the blows fall, suddenly it has nothing to do with you? In what world is there such convenience?”
“Whoever dispensed Wendao Pills is our mortal enemy!”
“Think carefully. Half of Wendao Palace may be implicated. Will you not wrong the innocent?”
“If Wendao Palace is unclean, then let it be razed entire!”
“Your cruelty, how are you different from demonic cultivators? Even if disciples strayed, they should have been handed to the Hall of Malice, not tortured in secret. This is a perversion of Heaven’s law!”
“Heaven’s law? To hell with it!”
Xue Cuo and Kong Yun followed Fang Longxi as he rushed to reinforce the fight. Everywhere, cultivators clashed, blades against their own kind. Not only in Ningxiang Palace, other gates had yielded Wendao Pills too. The tide of disciples rallying to their side grew thicker with every step.
At last, the elders who had sat aloof upon their fishing perches could sit no longer. How had the matter grown so vast?
They had planned to borrow the knife, use this chaos to cull rival elders. But now, such a storm threatened to strip them bare.
Among the tens of thousands of Wendao Palace disciples, was it possible none would leave a thread behind? Given time, the strands would be drawn together, all the way to the palace gates.
Is was too late, when they realised the danger.
Stranger still, the life registers revealed those who had died were all disciples doomed to perish in the tribulation, yet the karmic ties no longer fell upon Wendao Palace.
Even the most calculating elders could not remain seated. They had accepted disciples in preparation for calamity. But if the fallen no longer counted against them, what then?
Heaven curse it! The matter was grave indeed.
But the chance to suppress the disciples had passed. By the time they moved, it was already too late.
Minggong Yao was forced to abandon her feigned seclusion. She swept out like a storm, blade raised, intent on crushing rebellion by sheer force.
Yet her strike was checked in mid-air.
Her face turned ashen. She recognised the figure and gasped, “Fang Longxi?”
Her voice chilled. “You swore an oath upon the Great Dao never to draw your sword again in this life. Should you break it, thunder will strike you dead!”
Fang Longxi arched a brow. In that instant, his unkempt face turned rakish, almost dazzling. “I draw but one sword. One sword only. Before Heaven’s thunder fells me, you will already be dead.”
On the other side…
Bai Luoluo skulked through the shadows, watching the turmoil. Turning, she found herself face to face with a tall girl. Her pupils shrank.
The girl lifted her eyes in turn. Ah Zhu grinned, teeth flashing. “The goddess’s revelation was true. Today is indeed the day I take revenge for my shidi.”
