The heavenly tribulation was imminent. There was no retreat.
Xue Cuo raised his hand and issued a golden decree. “With this decree, you may open the Bridge of Rebirth. Cast the wicked you encounter into the Infernal Abyss, and send the innocent into the Great Loch.”
Chen Zongping caught it in one swift motion, itching to mount and ride out at once, but Ah Zhu quietly caught hold of him. She hung a jade peace pendant at his waist and said softly, “Be careful in all things.”
Reluctant to leave her, Chen Zongping said, “Shijie, stay here. Don’t go.”
With her blade slung across her back, Ah Zhu reached out and touched the young general’s black armour. Her gaze was gentle as falling rain. “All right. Go on.”
Chen Zongping gave a firm, heavy nod. He wheeled his horse around, his face turning cold, a fierce look rising between his brows. Raising the decree high, he charged into the ranks of the ghost soldiers.
“All underworld wardens, heed my command. Follow me to battle!”
“Open the city gates!”
“Open the gates!”
The ghost soldiers of Xiantian Village immediately fitted their heads back in place and pushed open the gates of the underworld. A vast tide of black-armoured troops surged forth, mounted on ghostly steeds.
Chen Zongping rode at the very front, his Soul-Slaying Blade cutting the air with force. His blood ran hot, his presence surged like a storm, as he led a hundred thousand ghost soldiers out of the underworld and into the mortal realm.
Ah Zhu vaulted neatly onto a ghost horse and, amidst the great host, rode out of the divine realm with them.
A number of cultivators still remained behind. Xue Cuo did not know what choice they would make. He cupped his hands and said, “Fellow Daoists, this decree cannot guarantee your survival.”
Fang Longxi burst out laughing. Snatching the decree from Xue Cuo, he tossed it lightly in his hand. “What, do I look like someone who clings to life and fears death? This concerns the fate of the world. Even if I die nine times, I will have no regrets. Come, give it here.”
Most of the rogue cultivators were old companions who had once defected from Wendao Palace. They moved freely between the mortal and cultivation worlds, unrestrained and bold by nature. At such a moment, none held back, each stepping forward to take a decree.
“What is there to fear? When a man dies, he faces the sky. If the skin is gone, where can the hair cling?”
“The Great Dao is a solitary path. To walk it today alongside my brothers is a rare fortune indeed!”
“Glorious! Our human cultivators! Glorious! The Goddess of the Great Loch Temple!”
“Who says we have no garments? I will share my robe with you. To battle!”
The cultivators, full of spirit, took up their decrees and talismans and scattered towards the mortal world.
Above them, the rift in the sky widened further, and the shape of the heavenly tribulation grew ever clearer.
The phantom of the Swallowing Viper occupied half the heavens. It had realised too late that it had overplayed its hand, fully summoning the great calamity of heaven and earth. It tried to flee, yet having absorbed too much resentment, its true form had grown vast beyond measure. It could no longer slip into the void, trapped in a dilemma with no path forward or back.
Enraged, it glared at the woman who had forced it into this peril. “Woman, you deserve death.”
That terrifying strike shattered the sword aura of the Dragon Might Sword.
Xue Zhenzhen slid backwards. The Dragon Might Sword, which had accompanied her for so long, was now riddled with cracks, letting out mournful cries.
The red dragon sword spirit transformed into a towering dragon, raising its head high. After blocking the final blow for its master, it shattered with a thunderous crash, breaking into countless fragments.
“Dragon Might.”
Xue Zhenzhen instinctively reached out and caught a shard, closing her hand around it.
The fading sword spirit brushed gently against its master one last time before dispersing in her palm. Grief overwhelmed her. Her fingers trembled as she drew out a slender piece of blood-red jade marrow from her storage ring, its colour flowing like liquid blood.
In an instant, sword energy burst forth, criss-crossing the void.
The sword was drawn. Even the fabric of space trembled.
The Swallowing Viper was forced to evade the blade’s radiance. It opened its jaws wide and howled, releasing a gale of yin wind.
Clang—
The sword’s cry rang across the heavens.
A young man in black appeared without warning. In his hand was a pale, snow-bright sword. The blade was not long, nor was it of any notable make, merely common steel. Its name was Si Wuxie. Having blocked the Swallowing Viper’s strike, the web between his thumb and forefinger split open, blood welling out in dark red.
An eagle cried overhead, its breath scattering the falling heavenly fire as it guarded its master.
Xue Zhenzhen froze. “Ruhui.”
Hearing his name, Gu Ruhui slowly turned. “Shimu.”
Xue Zhenzhen swept her sleeve, stirring wind and cloud. “Why are you here? Leave at once!”
Yet the gale could not move him. With a single stroke, he split the air, breaking through the wind and coming to hover before her, cutting off the Swallowing Viper’s line of sight.
“I am not leaving.”
Xue Zhenzhen was furious. “You! This is a matter of life and death. Do not trifle with it. Gu Ruhui, leave immediately!”
She raised her hand again, conjuring the phantom of the sword path, but Gu Ruhui blocked it once more. His stance was plain, yet she knew that movement too well. Shock filled her eyes.
“The Twelve Heavenly Sword Forms. You have already mastered them?”
Gu Ruhui fell silent for a moment, then answered, “Yes.”
After a pause, he added, “I have also chosen my natal sword. I did not take Shifu’s bamboo sword. I chose Si Wuxie.”
Xue Zhenzhen seemed to realise something at once. Disbelief flickered across her face, followed by deeper anger. Cold fury burned in her eyes. She seized his collar, trying to force him out of the range of the calamity, but could not move him in the slightest.
“I do not wish to hear it now. Ruhui, leave this place. Go as far as you can. Do not come back.”
Gu Ruhui said nothing. After a moment, he shook his head gently. “Shimu, you should go.”
Jun Wuwei was his shifu, and Xue Zhenzhen his shimu. In that sense, they were his parents.
Though his shifu had never cared for him beyond whether he could master the Twelve Forms, it was fortunate that he was indeed suited to the sword. That art, as difficult as ascending to the heavens, he had learned.
He could offer this one sword as the greatest meaning of his life.
But Shimu did not seem to understand. She was gravely injured. The once beautiful woman now bore many streaks of white in her hair, yet she remained warm. Gu Ruhui still remembered, on Liuyun Peak all those years ago, the cup of tea she had left for him, the stick of incense she had lit.
Clouds drifted past him. Rosy light settled at his side. He could have sat there for a very long time.
How could Xue Zhenzhen allow him to remain in such danger? Her voice turned sharp. “I will say it again. Leave!”
Gu Ruhui’s expression did not change. He suddenly raised his hand and cast a golden talisman. It transformed into a cage, trapping Xue Zhenzhen within and sending her away.
He turned, lifting Si Wuxie. The swordlight blazed as he pointed it towards the Swallowing Viper in the sky.
Caught off guard, Xue Zhenzhen was borne out of the Viper’s Dao manifestation by the strange talisman. In disbelief, she tried to rush back, but could not match the speed of that swordlight.
“Gu Ruhui!”
The vast Dao manifestation filled the heavens.
At the heart of the storm, all was eerily still. Ying Xiao refused to leave. The oppressive force made it impossible for him to maintain his beast form, and he landed upon a drifting cloud.
“Master.”
Gu Ruhui said, “I fear you will not be able to leave now.”
Ying Xiao remained calm. “Then I will stay with you.”
Gu Ruhui knew there was no turning back. He nodded. “Very well. Stand beside me.”
Ying Xiao stepped forward obediently and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
Holding Si Wuxie, Gu Ruhui felt, for the first time, his sword heart in its entirety, beating within his chest. The first thing he had ever done in life was practise the sword. He lived because of it.
His shifu had once told him, you must learn to cultivate as a human. His shimu had said, cultivation is too bitter, you must learn the sword as a human.
By that reckoning, he had already known human warmth, cherished companions, and the great path of the sword. There were few regrets left in this life.
As a child he had wandered alone across the world, until he was fortunate enough to be taken in by his shifu, taught by his shimu, and cared for by his senior brother.
That small Liuyun Peak had become his home. His shifu, his shimu, Xiao Cuo, all were his family. A swordsman needs only a single conviction to draw his blade. To fear neither life nor death. Alone, with only one sword, he dared to face heaven and earth.
He thought, a man’s life is bound to suffering, with no escape. A man’s death may weigh heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather.
Today, he would go to his death for those dearest to him in the mortal world, for the parents he had on Liuyun Peak. Such a death should not be lighter than a feather.
The Swallowing Viper’s Dao manifestation swallowed the young man in black. Xue Zhenzhen’s eyes split with fury as she tried to rush back, only to be stopped by the white-robed Sword Immortal.
Jun Wuwei said, “Swordmaster, if you return now, Gu Ruhui’s death will be in vain.”
The jade marrow in Xue Zhenzhen’s hand shattered piece by piece. Her voice was cold as ice as she demanded, word by word,
“Why did you accept him as your disciple?”
“Was it for this very day, to have him die in my stead?”
“You went to such lengths to teach him the Twelve Heavenly Sword Forms, only to send him to die alone beneath this calamity today?”
“When you wished to teach Xue Cuo the Heavenly Sword and he could not learn it, was this the day you had in mind?”
Xue Zhenzhen advanced step by step. Jun Wuwei retreated step by step. His lips moved, his expression shifting from stirred emotion to cold indifference, yet his voice remained gentle.
“Swordmaster, this is the fate allotted to living beings.”
Xue Zhenzhen’s blood surged. Her fury rose to its peak, yet her face emptied of all expression. Only her heart felt as though a block of ice had fallen to the ground and shattered into countless fragments.
“How are you worthy to be his shifu?”
“How are you worthy to be Xue Cuo’s father?”
A sharp crack rang out as the Sword Immortal’s face was struck slightly to one side. He said nothing.
Hot tears rolled down Xue Zhenzhen’s cheeks as she brushed past him. He caught her wrist. In that instant, the broken shard of jade marrow in her hand drove forward without mercy, grazing his neck and drawing a thin line of blood.
Her tears were like a thousand needles, piercing Jun Wuwei’s heart. She looked utterly disappointed, utterly broken, and filled with hatred.
“Don’t touch me. It disgusts me.”
Jun Wuwei’s pupils widened. His long lashes trembled.
Clutching the broken jade marrow, Xue Zhenzhen turned without hesitation and flew once more towards the Swallowing Viper. There, too, was a child waiting for her to save him.
How useless she had been, to let both her children vanish before her eyes without a sound.
Go save him. She must save him.
Xue Zhenzhen flew desperately towards the Viper, but she was too slow, far too slow. She saw it lower its head. She saw its jaws open wide.
Within the darkness, a blade of light burst forth. A sword radiance of incomparable brilliance tore through the void, illuminating everything in its path.
Like a falling star, dazzling beyond measure, it lit the night sky as though the whole firmament had been set alight in that instant. Wherever the tip of the sword pointed, the air split apart, as though a raging gale swept through, reducing all things to ruin.
The swordlight traced a radiant arc across the heavens, brilliant as a rainbow. Within that blaze of light, Xue Zhenzhen saw a solitary figure, wielding his sword as he unleashed his strongest strike.
That single stroke tore open the firmament, ripping a vast chasm in the sky.
A long, bloody gash split across the Swallowing Viper’s body. Its black scales shattered piece by piece, and a rain of black blood fell upon the earth.
Wracked with pain, it roared in fury, exhaling a chaotic yin gale. The wind twisted the Great Dao itself, stripping flesh and blood from living beings until only white bone remained.
At the heart of the storm, Si Wuxie shattered inch by inch. A gaping hole opened in Gu Ruhui’s chest. He coughed violently, yet seemed scarcely aware of it, lifting his head to look at the blood raining from the sky.
The yin wind howled closer.
Ying Xiao transformed into a great eagle and threw himself before him. “Master.”
In a single instant, the eagle’s body scattered like ash.
Gu Ruhui reached out to grasp it, only to watch his own body begin to collapse, bit by bit. Flesh and bone separated, blood evaporated, and in the raging wind he dissolved into countless motes of fine dust.
Look closely, and that dust was made of countless droplets of blood, drifting and scattering, falling across a world dyed red.
“Ah!”
Xue Zhenzhen watched as Gu Ruhui’s body dispersed. She stared blankly at the falling dust, her tears torn away by the gale, her heart sliced apart as though by blades. She stood there in a daze, then slowly raised her hand, trying to catch the drifting rain.
“Gu Ruhui… don’t… don’t…”
“Why? Why?”
Half laughing, half sobbing, her cold face was swallowed by boundless grief. Clutching the blood jade, she stood alone between heaven and earth, watching that rain fall, tears streaming unchecked.
The Swallowing Viper roared and surged towards her, its immense body churning the heavens.
Xue Zhenzhen gazed at it blankly, as though all else had been forgotten. Then suddenly, gripping the jade marrow, she charged straight towards it.
Crimson sword energy surged and expanded, burning half the sky into a sea of blood-red. Her plain robes tore apart. Her eyes were bloodshot.
“Die!”
At that moment, a faint light appeared in the sky. At first it was dim, almost imperceptible. Then slowly, it grew brighter and brighter.
The once darkened heavens opened, revealing a winding celestial path formed from countless extinguished stars. At the end of that path lay a vast and towering world. Glorious clouds veiled the faint outlines of palaces.
There grew immortal herbs and fragrant grasses. Azure Dragons and Vermilion Birds soared freely. Clear rivers, waterfalls, and lakes filled the ninefold heavens. All things flourished, suffused with peace, serenity, and sanctity, untouched by mortal strife.
All the Great Dao of the world converged within those heavenly halls. Merely gazing upon it stirred the heart, compelling one to step upon that immortal path and walk it to its very end.
“The immortal path has opened.”
“Fellow cultivators, it is time for us to act.”
Across the cultivation world, immortal mountains rose from the earth and vanished from their original places.
To mortal eyes, countless vast shadows suddenly appeared in the sky, like towering peaks pressing heavily overhead.
Within those immortal mountains, the cultivators were overjoyed. They were elders and paragons of their sects, beings who had lived for tens of thousands of years. They had cultivated for ages, all for this very path, and now they could not help but congratulate one another.
“Fellow Daoist, ascension is at hand. Please, you first.”
“My merits fall short of yours. You should go first.”
“Haha, why be so modest? You and I will both ascend. Once we reach the Nine Heavens, we shall be equals among immortals. Why not go together?”
“Indeed, indeed. Let us ascend together.”
The immortal mountains descended upon the mortal realm, forming a vast array. The immortals stepped forth with unhurried grace. They paid no heed to the devastation of the world below. With sleeves and sashes drifting, they flew towards the celestial path.
Yet they had only gone halfway when a young disciple in pale blue appeared before them, blocking their way. In his hand he held a lotus of Dao intent. Behind him, there was nothing.
Xue Cuo stood suspended in the air, his robes snapping in the wind, his dark hair streaming. Lotus after lotus bloomed from the Dao intent in his hand, sealing the path.
“Stop.”
The immortals, high above upon the clouds, paid little attention at first to this speck of dust. Only when they found themselves unable to pass the golden lotus, unable to kill him with a sweep of the sleeve, did they look at him properly.
“Who are you?”
Xue Cuo swept his gaze across them one by one. He did not recognise them, yet those immortal mountains were all too familiar.
The principal peaks of the great sects, the Three Mountains and Five Seas of the cultivation world, had all descended. Yet there were no young disciples, only these ancient figures who had lived for ages. Hands clasped behind their backs, they walked together, smiling and chatting as they ascended the heavenly road.
Each of them was wrapped in a dense glow of golden merit, radiant with auspicious light, exuding the air of immortals.
Xue Cuo said, “The mortal world is in calamity. As cultivators, why do you stand by and watch without lifting a hand?”
The immortals glanced at one another and laughed. Certain of success, courteous to one another, they were in no hurry.
“We are about to ascend. The affairs of the mortal world no longer concern us. Besides, this slaughter is the karma wrought by living beings themselves. It is their fate. As cultivators, we must not interfere with the workings of the Great Dao.”
“From which sect do you come?”
“There is no need to be anxious. Once we ascend, we will return to deliver all beings. Little cultivator, you would do well to step aside.”
Xue Cuo laughed.
“When the great calamity descends, heaven and earth will return to one. All things will dissolve into chaos. When all living beings are extinguished, what remains for you to save?”
The immortals paused. Their expressions cooled, displeased at such blunt words.
“Refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit.”
One of them raised a hand. Dao power gathered like a prison, intending to crush this reckless cultivator beneath his palm. Yet the strike did not land.
A crimson talisman burned to ash before their eyes.
In the next instant, a blazing golden sun flared into being above them. A surging expanse of the Great Loch coiled like a jade-green girdle around Xue Cuo. A clear, piercing cry rang out as countless resplendent feathers fell from the sky.
The three deities revealed their true forms, each bearing a divine artefact. Their vast manifestations spanned heaven and earth as they looked down upon the immortals from on high.
Xue Cuo held the lotus in his palm. “You would ascend to immortality? Are you worthy?”
