“What do you plan to do with him?” Su Zhuyi asked.

“Take him back, lock him up, purge the malevolent qi,” Qinghe said briefly.

He couldn’t kill him, and he certainly couldn’t release him lest he continue causing harm, so imprisonment was the only option.

“When will you return?” Qinghe asked again.

“In some time.” She had only been out for a few days and had just sorted through this tangled mess. There were still matters to handle, so she wasn’t in a hurry to return to Luoxue Peak.

“Remember to return before the New Year.”

“Before the New Year? Is there something important?” Su Zhuyi found this strange. Could the sect be holding martial competitions this year?

“New Year’s Eve.” Having said this, Qinghe left with Zhang Enning, who had been cleansed by spiritual energy. Su Zhuyi touched her nose, thinking to herself: A cultivator learning to celebrate New Year’s Eve like mortals? Mortals have short lives, so living one more year counts as one more year, but cultivators have long lifespans. Sometimes they spend years or decades in seclusion—what’s the point of celebrating New Year’s Eve or the New Year?

The Gujian Sect did have disciples hanging red lanterns, but Luoxue Peak had never done so in previous years. It had always been just her alone, so she never paid attention. But thinking about it now, Qinghe hadn’t been there for the past ten years, and Luo Ying had been unconscious, so this year, with everyone present, they planned to gather as master and disciples?

After Qinghe left, Su Zhuyi began interrogating the Broken Sword.

“Do you know the Longquan Sword?”

“Do you know how to dispel the Longquan Sword’s malevolent qi?”

Now that Qinghe was bound to the Longquan Sword, if the sword were destroyed, the person would surely perish. So, apart from suppressing the Longquan Sword’s vicious nature and malevolent qi, Su Zhuyi couldn’t think of any other solution. The problem was that using filth to purge evil treated the symptoms but not the root cause, with minimal effect. After soaking for ten years and emerging, he hadn’t enjoyed himself for many days before having to return. He and his master were often separated, and if this continued long-term, accidents were inevitable.

Su Zhuyi’s mindset had now changed. She wanted to contend with Heaven for their lives, starting with these two. Both were famous figures in the cultivation world—one would leave a good name for eternity, the other would be reviled forever. If they didn’t die, it would prove that destiny could be reversed.

She wanted to break out of that circle. Since the Liuguang Mirror could manifest in the world and exist between heaven and earth, it proved that fate could be broken. To save Qinghe and Luo Ying, the key issue was the Longquan Sword.

Seeing the Broken Sword remain silent, Su Zhuyi pressed again, “That evil sword itself has a sword spirit, only it’s formed from the condensed resentment of countless wronged souls. Right now, Qinghe’s primordial spirit and that sword spirit are fighting for control of his body. You’re the ancestor of ten thousand swords in the Sword Tomb, and all those flying sword spirits seem to listen to you. Do you have any way to deal with the evil sword’s spirit?”

Under her persistent questioning, the Broken Sword finally spoke again: “Slay!”

“Qinghe is already fused with the Longquan Sword. If you directly slay the sword, he probably won’t survive either. Moreover, who could slay the Longquan Sword!” Su Zhuyi said somewhat helplessly.

Broken Sword: “Me!”

Azure light blazed suddenly, dispelling even the darkness of night. Su Zhuyi saw within the azure light a perfect, undamaged long sword. The blade was indigo blue, as pure as the sky after rain without a trace of impurity, clean and transparent, as if it had carved out a patch of blue sky in the night.

It had once been very powerful.

Now it was just a broken sword.

Su Zhuyi reached out to touch it. When her finger touched the hilt, the Broken Sword’s blade trembled, then returned to being half a sword covered in green rust, looking utterly dilapidated. Earlier, she had said, “If you can slay it, then go ahead,” but the Broken Sword hadn’t gone. Now it said it could, so it was probably referring to its former self.

What material was this sword forged from? Could anyone in this world recast this sword? She carefully thought through everyone she knew, but couldn’t think of anyone to try. The weapon smiths of this world couldn’t even forge a single immortal sword, let alone recast the Sword Ancestor.

Su Zhuyi sat in place for a while, then slowly went to take another look at Changning Village.

By the time she reached Changning Village, the rain had stopped. She sat on the grass-covered earthen slope of Changning Village in a daze. Even though her mindset had changed, she still felt somewhat confused. She wanted to defy heaven and change fate, but didn’t know how to begin. Before, she had wanted to avoid everything and let those destined to die perish. Now her thoughts were different, but she didn’t know how to proceed for the moment. Should she follow her heart regardless of heaven collapsing and earth splitting?

She had been reborn to live freely and unrestrainedly, so why was she becoming more and more bound? Her heart and vision seemed covered by a layer of mist, but now this mist was gradually becoming much thinner. Su Zhuyi raised her hand to take out the golden silk soft armor, but instead of wearing it, she threw herself directly onto the grass, then lay on her back, looking at the twinkling stars in the post-rain sky and the points of starlight dancing around her. She squinted as if about to fall asleep.

However, just then, Su Zhuyi heard a voice calling her.

“Zhuyi…”

“Su Zhuyi…”

How was she hearing Qin Jianglan’s voice? Su Zhuyi drowsily opened her eyes and swept the area with her divine sense, finding no problems. How could she suddenly be experiencing delusions? Even auditory hallucinations were appearing. Qin Jianglan used to call her a demoness! Could it be the Broken Sword acting up again?

She looked down to see the Broken Sword hadn’t hidden itself and was lying flat beside her, not emitting azure light either. She wasn’t sure if it was causing mischief.

Just as Su Zhuyi found this strange and planned to leave Changning Village, she heard that voice again, this time: “Demoness…”

“Little demoness…”

This time, Su Zhuyi identified the source of the voice. She took out her storage pouch, and instead of taking things out from inside, she dumped everything inside out in one go.

There weren’t many things. This time when she went out, the spirit stones and pills on her were all given by the sect master and others. The small pouch contained only a few items total, so the source of the voice was immediately identified.

That circular jade disc.

When they came out of the Sword Tomb, they had taken out all the things Qin Jianglan had given them, even those that were badly damaged. The jade hairpin was the best preserved among them, followed by the jade disc. Although it had many cracks, it wasn’t broken or shattered, but she didn’t know what this thing was actually for.

Su Zhuyi considered herself well-informed, yet she didn’t know what this jade disc was for. She had thought it was a decorative item, something to display in a room, never expecting that this thing could make sounds.

“Demoness…” The voice from the jade disc was intermittent, but Su Zhuyi was certain it was Qin Jianglan’s voice. She immediately infused spiritual energy into the jade disc—no reaction. She invaded it with divine sense, but still felt nothing. Finally, she thought for a moment, then directly bit her fingertip and flicked blood onto the jade disc. When that drop of blood seeped into the jade-colored cracks, Su Zhuyi heard the voice from the other side say: “…Nascent Soul…ascension…”

His voice seemed to come from somewhere very distant, ethereal and intermittent, as if saying even one sentence exhausted all his strength. Su Zhuyi pricked up her ears to listen carefully but couldn’t make out exactly what he said, only catching the words “Nascent Soul” and “ascension.”

“Qin Jianglan?”

“Old Dog Qin!”

When she tried to question further, the jade disc stopped glowing and returned to its previous, ancient, damaged appearance.

No matter how much more blood she dripped or spiritual energy she infused, trying every method, the jade disc showed no reaction, immediately making Su Zhuyi both anxious and frustrated, almost wanting to smash the jade disc directly. She calmed down and examined the jade disc carefully. Could this be a treasure similar to a transmission talisman for communicating between realms? Then, where were its formation patterns inscribed?

While Su Zhuyi was holding the jade disc and studying it intently, Qin Jianglan was sitting upright before an identical jade disc.

Only this jade disc was perfect and undamaged, even reflecting his face. The jade disc was a pair called “Close Yet Far Apart”—his was called “Far Apart,” and the one he gave Su Zhuyi was called “Close.” He had bought this at an auction house last time for a not particularly high price. When purchased, both jade discs were damaged, but he collected materials to repair them, restoring the possibility for Close Yet Far Apart to communicate with each other.

In the True Spirit Realm for ten years, Qin Jianglan had previously had little contact with people, so he hadn’t felt anything amiss. But in the past half year, traveling around with Wu’er, buying magic treasures and gifts, exchanging spirit stones, he had discovered many strange things.

He had been to the same Treasure Pavilion three times.

Buying little butterflies, red dresses, exchanging spirit stones…

Each time, the shopkeeper in the Treasure Pavilion sat in the same position with only very subtle changes. Everything he did went very smoothly, giving him the vague feeling that he was the center of the True Spirit Realm—no matter what he did, his wishes would come true.

Another strange thing was that he would sometimes forget things, as if memories were being devoured bit by bit. He couldn’t remember anything from his childhood at all, and later, memories were gradually disappearing too.

One hundred years old, two hundred years old, three hundred years old…

He couldn’t remember his sword practice days at Yunxiao Sect, nor could he recall what it was like when senior and junior brothers competed in swordplay together. Even with the Songfeng Sword in his hand, he had forgotten how he obtained it. Qin Jianglan worried that continuing to stay here, he would forget even more.

So he had to cultivate as quickly as possible. Regardless of what was strange about this place, he had to get out. After ascension, he would have the ability to cross between realms. Since the summoning formations he had seen in books were all real, and many other things were real too, crossing realms should also be real.

He was already at the Nascent Soul stage now, advancing very rapidly in strength, probably due to his past life experiences combined with the abundant spiritual energy here. Moreover, although he had returned over a thousand years to the past with his bone age reverting to three hundred years, his primordial spirit hadn’t changed, so transcending tribulation and ascending should be soon.

Previously, the Zhuxin Curse had shown anomalies, and Qin Jianglan worried that Su Zhuyi was injured, so he didn’t contact her immediately. Similarly, he thought that after she read the contents of the jade slip, if her injuries healed and she wanted to contact him, she would surely contact him according to the method he taught. If she didn’t contact him, it meant that in this life, she probably didn’t want any entanglement with him.

She wished to stay as far away from him as possible.

This current distance was probably the distance she dreamed of.

But because she had erected a memorial tablet for him and told Wu’er he was a very handsome man, Qin Jianglan still held a glimmer of hope. After enduring for two days, he still proactively used Far Apart. Unfortunately, the Close in Su Zhuyi’s hands hadn’t recognized a master at all.

Close Yet Far Apart, Close Yet Far Apart—one person’s distant horizon could never bring two people closer. It was precisely for this reason that to transmit his voice, his face had become deathly pale, and he was extremely weak.

However, he seemed to hear her respond.

Was it an auditory hallucination?

“Old Dog Qin”—only Su Zhuyi would call him that.

Though it was a term of abuse, he had heard it for six hundred years and grown accustomed to it.