The entire world suddenly became fascinating, as if seen for the first time. Sounds, smells, and colors surged in with incredible detail. The most minute changes couldn’t escape her heightened senses. Li Fei was momentarily stunned.
Only now did she realize how dull and closed off her previous body had been. The sky, the earth, and the inexhaustible spiritual energy of the mountains and rivers—it all felt so different now.
As if by instinct, her body began greedily absorbing the endless spiritual energy. The energy net above Duke Ying’s mansion was instantly drained. But this wasn’t enough. She could sense more spiritual energy hidden in the immortal realms at the heart of the Central Plains.
Li Fei stirred slightly. She needed more spiritual energy, as much as possible. Her body was like a parched desert, desperately craving the nourishment of spiritual energy.
Suddenly, Immortal Cui Xuan’s hateful and trembling voice came from behind, “You monster! To think that we at Wuyue Court have nurtured a tiger that will bring calamity, allowing you to hide for so many years!”
Li Fei turned her head, silently observing these immortals who, without spiritual energy, had become as fragile as mortals. Should she kill them? For her, killing these powerless immortals would be as easy as blinking. Right, there was also someone here who had betrayed her, someone who claimed to like her but whose actions were always baffling.
She looked at Ji Tongzhou. He sat against the wall, his face weary from the drained spiritual energy, his fine clothes soaked with sweat, yet his expression remained calm.
That black Xuanhua Fire—he had once let it burn fiercely on Zhen Yunzi to save her. Just now, he had let it rage mercilessly on himself. He was right; he had taken back everything he had risked for her, along with all the feelings from their seven years of acquaintance.
He no longer needed any tender affection. The mouth of Taotie had opened wide, filled with frenzied desire, unsatisfied and unscrupulous. This was his own choice.
Li Fei raised her hand to touch her hair. It hung loose like silk, falling to her waist. Due to her complete metamorphosis, even the last hairdo he had done for her was gone. That wooden comb, those light yet careful movements when he had done her hair—all his final moments of tenderness had been burned away by his black fire. The red lotus hairpin was now just a pile of black ash at his feet.
She turned away, the white light of the original spiritual energy seeping from her skin slowly receding into her body. She walked to Immortal Cui Xuan’s side. His aged body lay limp on the ground, unable to move, only able to glare at her fiercely. The other old immortals around him cried out in alarm, some shouting “Have mercy!” while others yelled, “Run quickly!”
Li Fei bent down and picked up the black book that had fallen beside him. She dusted it off and tucked it into her sleeve, saying softly, “This book doesn’t contain much about my origins. It records Master’s experiences overseas. It’s his life’s work. You wouldn’t understand Master’s heart. I can’t give you the book.”
Immortal Cui Xuan sneered, “If you’re going to kill, then kill! Why bother with these deceptive words? Five hundred years ago, didn’t you kill enough?”
Li Fei smiled slightly and said no more. The others only felt her form flicker, and she had already vanished from the Duke’s mansion. Immortal Cui Xuan shouted hoarsely, “This is bad! She’s escaped! Quickly, draw in spiritual energy! Return to the sect and report to the four sect leaders! This is no longer a matter for Wuyue Court alone. We need the help of all immortal sects!”
Ji Tongzhou sat for a very long time until there was no sound left around him. Only then did he stir, as if waking from a dream, moving his arm slightly. The spiritual energy net above the Duke’s mansion was gone, and those old immortals like Cui Xuan had all left to pursue Jiang Li Fei. He had done what he needed to do… Right, the courtyard needed to be cleaned, and he needed to change his clothes. Where was Miao Qing? He wanted to hold her, so desperately wanted to hold her in her white dress with red flowers.
He slowly stood up, supporting himself against the wall. He hadn’t absorbed enough spiritual energy yet, and his steps were still unsteady. It felt like a dream as he staggered forward a few steps. Suddenly, he heard someone calling him from behind. The voice seemed to come from very far away, indistinct and unclear.
Suddenly, a bone-chilling coldness struck his back. Ji Tongzhou instinctively shifted slightly, but a sharp pain pierced his shoulder blade. A golden light sword had impaled his shoulder, the force of the blow throwing him to the ground, pinning him there. Then, two pairs of feet appeared in his field of vision.
Ji Tongzhou looked up in confusion. The sunlight was blinding, but he managed to make out two familiar faces. Ye Ye? And Bai Li Chang Yue? Why were they looking at him like that? So disgusted and hateful. They didn’t look well either, their faces haggard, clothes stained with blood. Though they supported each other, barely able to stand, they still glared at him fiercely.
Bai Li Chang Yue conjured another light sword in her palm, mercilessly aiming to strike his vital point in the chest. Shi Ye quickly stopped her, sighing, “There’s no need to kill him.”
Bai Li Chang Yue shouted angrily, “He let people torture us like this!”
They had been bound by dragon-imprisoning chains, unable to move, locked in the Duke’s mansion’s dungeon for days. They were treated as dangerous criminals, with guards coming in daily to torture and insult them. If not for their cultivators’ bodies being stronger than ordinary people’s, they would have died many times over. Just now, something had happened in the mansion, and the chains binding them suddenly dissolved into a large amount of spiritual energy that escaped. The remaining spiritual energy in their bodies had also been drained like a waterfall. They had lain in the dungeon for a long time before barely managing to draw in some spiritual energy and escape.
Ye Ye sighed again, “It probably wasn’t his order. It was likely just the servants being cruel and arbitrary.”
Bai Li Chang Yue said hatefully, “I heard Xiao Bang Chui’s voice just now! He actually could try to kill her!”
Xiao Bang Chui? Such a familiar name.
Ji Tongzhou narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the two people standing before him. Their expressions of estrangement and disgust were not unfamiliar to him. Right, when he first met them in Lu Gong Town, they had looked at him just like this.
And Xiao Bang Chui… For some reason, those almost forgotten memories from long ago flashed through his mind. He remembered that misty forest during the second selection at the academy when that androgynous little beggar told him her name was Xiao Bang Chui. She was ugly, and rough, with eyes full of rebellion.
It was that kind of gaze he was receiving now. Those seven years of light and shadow seemed like an illusory dream. From beginning to end, everything had returned to the start.
Black flames seeped out from his wound, melting the golden light sword into ethereal spiritual energy. Ji Tongzhou slowly stood up, clutching his injury. The Xuanhua Fire flowing from his wound burned him with excruciating pain. No, perhaps it was only his soul that was in agony, making him sink, making him reluctant to let go—all of this that displeased him.
Burn it all away, let the pain stop, let him become calm.
A golden flash appeared before his eyes as a flying sword whistled towards him, but it was caught by his Xuanhua Fire and instantly turned into a cloud of spiritual energy. The ice dragon roared, countless ice mountains once again freezing the Duke’s mansion. So let his fire burn within the ice. No one could stop it, no one at all.
Shadows moved before him. Ye Ye and Bai Li Chang Yue were saying something, but he couldn’t hear clearly. Instinctively, he pursued and burned everything that disgusted him.
The ice mountains melted under the black fire, and the flying swords no longer hummed. Finally, everything became so quiet. Only his Xuanhua Fire continued to burn, consuming even the clouds in the sky. Perhaps it could consume his body as well.
Black ash fell from the sky in clumps and wisps, slowly scattered by the wind. With a “clink,” a lump of metal, burned beyond recognition, fell at his feet. Ji Tongzhou, as if waking from a dream, slowly bent down to pick it up. The curled-up metal lump still had a character engraved at the bottom: “Ye.”
Right, this was Ye Ye’s short knife. He had once been a prince of Gaul. This knife had accompanied him from Gaul to the State of Yue, from Yue to the academy, and then from the academy to the Dizang Sect.
With a flick of his wrist, the metal lump fell to the ground again. Ji Tongzhou looked around in confusion. Under the blue sky and bright sun, the courtyard was empty. There was no one there but him. He stood dazed for a long time until the clamor from outside the courtyard reached him. It was the steward, guards, and servants coming to check the situation now that the black fire had receded.
“My Lord,” a girl called to him.
Ji Tongzhou turned around and saw only a white dress with red flowers. She rushed over, saying anxiously, “My Lord, are you alright? Are you hurt?! There’s so much blood…”
He embraced her tightly but didn’t smell any unusual fragrance. His heart felt empty as if everything was gone.
“Hold me, hold me…” he murmured, utterly exhausted. “Don’t let go.”
The golden-winged Peng bird wailed as it collapsed into the sea of clouds. Half of its hard golden feathers had been stripped away, making it look utterly miserable. Sect Leader Gui Yuan was parting the blood-soaked golden feathers on its chest, examining the wound in this vital area.
He had still underestimated Yaksha. No matter how he arranged his attacks, the Yaksha ignored them all, focusing solely on the golden-winged Peng. The Yaksha’s body was as hard as steel; how could it be easy to kill him with immortal techniques? In the back-and-forth, the Peng had nearly been killed instead.
“Why does this Peng look like it’s been plucked like a hen?”
A teasing voice came from behind. Sect Leader Gui Yuan’s snow-white long eyebrows furrowed as he looked coldly at the approaching Sect Leader Jing Yuan.
“Our sect accepted several foreign creatures from overseas as disciples, two of whom are Yakshas who slaughtered the immortal sects of the Central Plains 500 years ago. This matter is extremely serious, yet you still have the heart to jest?”
Sect Leader Jing Yuan smiled and was about to speak when he saw Cui Xuan and the other immortals rushing over. He couldn’t help but ask in surprise, “Weren’t you all waiting for that little girl in the East Sea?”
Immortal Cui Xuan was panting heavily. Despite their longevity, having their spiritual energy drained once, even though they quickly drew more in, still left them feeling exhausted. He said tremblingly, “Sect Leaders, Jiang Li Fei has escaped!”
He hurriedly recounted what had happened at the Duke’s mansion, then said, “This matter is no longer an internal affair of our Wuyue Court. If we let them escape, what losses will we suffer in this sea catastrophe? And what will happen in another 500 years? I implore the Sect Leaders to consider this carefully!”
Sect Leader Gui Yuan couldn’t help but ponder, while Sect Leader Jing Yuan asked curiously, “That girl could absorb spiritual energy while bound by dragon-imprisoning chains? And she even shed her skin? What is she?”
Immortal Cui Xuan sighed, “We couldn’t decipher that book hidden by Qing Cheng, and now she’s taken it away. We really can’t know the secrets within.”
Sect Leader Jing Yuan smiled, “Ah, Qing Cheng. If he hadn’t been grievously injured and difficult to heal back then, and if he hadn’t run away on his own, he should have been one of the Sect Leaders.”
At this moment, Sect Leader Gui Yuan spoke up, “Let’s put the jesting aside for now. This matter is indeed extremely serious. We can’t let them escape overseas. Immediately send messages to all major sects. Before the heavenly thunder and sea of fire arrive, we must eliminate the Yaksha and Jiang Li Fei.”
Sect Leader Jing Yuan immediately shook his head, “Eliminate? The Yaksha is one thing, but Jiang Li Fei is quite extraordinary. Wouldn’t it be better to capture her alive? For so many years, we’ve known nothing about the overseas realm. Now we have Qing Cheng’s book and the opportunity presented by Jiang Li Fei. Isn’t this a heaven-sent chance?”
At these words, apart from Immortal Cui Xuan who frowned deeply, the other immortals all nodded in agreement.
Sect Leader Gui Yuan pondered for a moment, then sighed, “Let’s send the messages first. This is not something our Wuyue Court can decide alone.”