“He plans to seal me here forever, to keep company with these disgusting, filthy things…”

“Hehe hahahahahaha…”

“Have you noticed?”

“He’s afraid I’ll die.”

“Hahahahahaha…”

Zhang Enning couldn’t speak or move. His body was restrained, his primordial spirit completely suppressed. He was buried head to toe in the cesspit, suffering torment day and night.

But he was bonded with the old tree—a soul-master relationship. The old tree’s vitality was tenacious; its roots could slowly penetrate any seal to absorb nourishment and provide weak support to its master.

Zhang Enning now had a weak divine sense. His sea of consciousness was like morning dewdrops on leaves, ready to be evaporated by sunlight in the blink of an eye.

“Why?”

Why did heaven treat him this way?

Why?

He’d wanted to protect his mother, but she still died a tragic death.

He’d wanted revenge, scheming and planning step by step, gradually becoming powerful in just ten years. Just when success was within reach, he’d encountered Little Master, and ultimately failed completely.

He couldn’t do anything now.

He wanted to become powerful, wanted to change his circumstances, wanted to avenge his humiliation. Yet before that, Qinghe, he couldn’t even generate a thought of resistance.

He was imprisoned in this disgusting seal, his entire body’s strength seeming to mix with that filth, his vitality devoured by maggots. But he couldn’t escape, nor could he die.

“Divine tree, he’s afraid I’ll die. If I die, he might go mad, hahahahahaha.”

“Help me, help me die, will you?” Since he couldn’t see any path to survival, better to die decisively. At least his death could make Qinghe suffer a fate worse than death! “You’re afraid I’ll die, using me to bear the baleful qi. I just won’t let you have your way!”

“He’s not here recently, help me…”

“Old tree, help me…”

His expression was savage, nearly mad. Though his eyes hadn’t opened, bloody tears seeped from them.

The old tree was also sealed and couldn’t move, but this cesspit contained considerable nourishment for it. It secretly grew new roots—it could move slightly now. The roots had originally intended to pierce the seal; just a tiny bit would do. It was skilled at this, having previously extended roots into the Mountain and River Spirits’ seal to obtain spiritual energy, becoming different from other saplings.

Now, its roots coiled around Zhang Enning’s body, piercing into him, quietly, quietly fulfilling his wish.

…

Su Zhuyi rushed back to Gujian Sect without rest, and the moment she returned to Luoxue Peak, she immediately charged to Luo Ying’s room.

With a crash, she pushed open the door—the bed was empty. A bunch of plum blossoms was arranged in the room, but the flowers weren’t fresh, apparently from several days ago.

Luo Ying wasn’t in the room. With her weak body and divine sense, she spent most of her time lying in bed. Not being here now made Su Zhuyi even more panicked. Her heart pounded wildly, and her tightly clenched palms were full of sweat.

Su Zhuyi wanted to use divine sense to look, but she was already traveling while seriously injured, her primordial spirit extremely weak, and her spiritual energy nearly depleted. Now lacking energy, even using divine sense was beyond her capacity. Just as she was worrying anxiously, she heard Luo Ying’s voice: “How did you get injured so badly?”

Luo Ying stood at the doorway in white robes. She was very thin and frail, holding a square wooden box with one hand. The box seemed quite heavy—she held it with difficulty, sweat beading her forehead. Seeing Su Zhuyi now, she set down the box and quickly walked to her, taking a jade bottle from her sleeve and offering Su Zhuyi a pill: “Your divine sense is depleted. This is a high-grade Spirit-Concentrating Pill that can make you more comfortable.”

When a cultivator’s primordial spirit was exhausted, their head would hurt terribly—Luo Ying knew this well from experience.

“Master.” Su Zhuyi took the pill and swallowed it directly. Seeing that Luo Ying did indeed seem to be in her usual condition, and could even wake up clearly and fetch things, suggesting some improvement, the stone in her heart settled slightly. But thinking of Qinghe, she asked somewhat urgently: “Master, do you know where Senior Brother has been recently?”

Luo Ying shook her head: “I only woke up yesterday and haven’t seen him.”

Luo Ying’s primordial spirit was very weak; her divine sense was often unable to sense even her surroundings. When her spirits were slightly better, she could only see outside the door. Previously, every time she woke, Qinghe would be outside the window—she’d grown accustomed to it. But when she opened her eyes yesterday, she hadn’t seen Qinghe. She slowly got up, opened the window, saw the white snow outside and the distant green pines and red plums, but didn’t see the eldest disciple she’d always seen upon waking. She’d felt a trace of worry too.

But she still didn’t show it on her face. Now she stood in place, quietly waiting for Su Zhuyi to speak.

After swallowing the pill, Su Zhuyi felt slightly better. When her divine sense became usable, she realized Luo Ying wasn’t in her usual condition as she appeared.

She looked even weaker, as if a gust of wind could blow her down. Under Qinghe’s control, though Luo Ying had difficulty improving, she wouldn’t continue deteriorating either. But the current situation was that she looked weaker than before. Could it be that the balance between the evil Longquan Sword and Qinghe had been broken, and now the evil sword was in control, continuing to demand sacrifices?

Had something happened to Senior Brother?

“Master, can you contact Senior Brother?” Su Zhuyi steadied herself and continued asking.

Luo Ying took out a communication talisman from her storage bag.

Using communication talismans required injecting divine sense. With her current weak divine sense, she couldn’t even condense a strand to inject into the talisman. After several attempts, large beads of sweat rolled down Luo Ying’s forehead, and she could barely stand. Su Zhuyi quickly stopped her and helped her back to bed.

Sitting on the bed, Luo Ying rubbed her temples, then said: “Zhuyi, bring me that box from the doorway.”

Su Zhuyi felt somewhat panicked, but she still directly used a grasping technique to fetch the wooden box.

Luo Ying caught her breath. After closing her eyes to rest momentarily, she opened them and opened the wooden box, revealing only a fist-sized stone inside. The stone was blue-green—blue on the left side, green on the right, with the color gradually lightening from left to right.

“Zhuyi, this is the Sword Heart Stone.”

Legend said that when Gujian Sect’s ancestor was traveling, he discovered a celestial stone at Luoxue Peak. The strange stone looked like a sharp sword. He practiced swordsmanship beside it, and in a hundred years created the Tianxuan Nine Swords technique. After descending the mountain, he eliminated demons and destroyed evil cultivators, becoming famous throughout the world. In middle age, he returned to Luoxue Peak to enter seclusion, then established his sect here, founding Gujian Sect.

“Luoxue Peak wasn’t in the sky back then.”

“The ancestor moved it onto the ancient sword and used formations to keep the ancient sword suspended, placing Luoxue Peak above all other peaks.”

“The ancient sword beneath our feet is the strange stone the ancestor encountered back then. This Sword Heart Stone is his sword. His sword didn’t enter the Sword Tomb or pass to descendants—he sealed his sword intent inside it, like a heart.”

“The Tianxuan Nine Swords is Frost Sword Intent. We privately speculate…” Here, Luo Ying looked somewhat embarrassed, turning her head away and lowering her gaze: “We speculate that the ancestor suffered heartbreak, which is why he ran alone to such an icy, snowy place like Luoxue Peak. So after his death, he left his sword intent to help later generations comprehend, also telling us that only those with no petty loves in their hearts, only great love, can fully master all nine levels of the Tianxuan Nine Swords.”

“Luoxue Peak doesn’t require every generation of disciples to seal their emotions.” She looked at Su Zhuyi, her face showing a somewhat stiff smile: “I was a sword fanatic from childhood, holding my sword every day and unwilling to let go, seeing nothing but swords. That’s why my master had me seal my emotions—what you call sacrificing the heart to the Sword Heart Stone.”

She took out that chunk of stone and held it in her hands: “You see it as stone, but actually, it was originally a sword.”

Here, Luo Ying coughed softly: “I probably won’t last much longer.”

“I’m very glad that in my youth, I gave my heart to the Sword Heart Stone.” She looked at Su Zhuyi: “Tell me, in the end, will I be consumed by the Sword Heart Stone or by the Longquan Sword?”

Luo Ying gently held the stone: “If I could choose, I’d choose it.”

This time while sleeping, she’d had a dream about her childhood, dreaming of her master and her disciples.

If she could choose, she wanted to remain in the Sword Heart Stone. Even if her primordial spirit dissipated and consciousness scattered, she would still be at Gujian Sect, her sword intent in the Sword Heart Stone at Luoxue Peak, as if always accompanying her two disciples.

She would be like the previous elders of Luoxue Peak, leaving behind sword intent so later generations could cultivate sword hearts earlier and comprehend sword intent.

So after waking this time, Luo Ying had forced herself to get up and fetch the Sword Heart Stone.

She brought the Sword Heart Stone, hoping to be closer to it, so when she couldn’t hold on anymore, she could be near the Sword Heart Stone. Maybe she would enter the Sword Heart Stone. But by then, she would know nothing anymore.

Luo Ying lay on the bed, placing the Sword Heart Stone at her heart. Having said so much, she was already somewhat tired, her eyelids unconsciously closing. After blinking twice, she forced herself to open her eyes again.

She asked: “Zhuyi, your senior brother…”

“Has Qinghe subdued the Longquan Sword?”

“I’ve been wanting to be close to him lately.”

Luo Ying felt inexplicable affection and dependence toward Qinghe. Every time she saw him, she had strange thoughts. Though she normally had no emotional fluctuations, now Luo Ying felt she was becoming peculiar.

Her waking time wasn’t much, and her remaining time probably wasn’t much either. She knew this in her heart.

When sleeping, she always dreamed of him.

When awake, she always wanted to see him.

Was it because he carried the Longquan Sword? Her primordial spirit was too weak to sense anything, but everyone said Qinghe had suddenly become very, very powerful.

More powerful than she had ever been!

She saw her little disciple sitting boneless on the ground, snuggling beside her and hugging her arm, smiling as she said: “What are you talking about? Isn’t it because Master likes Senior Brother?”

“Nonsense.” Luo Ying lightly scolded.

Because of affection, one wants to be close.