A messenger spirit bird flew up to the mirage palace and landed on the shoulders of the two men. After reading the message, Chu Yi frowned as he heard Yu Xiu say: “The demons are causing too much harm. Venerable cultivators in the cultivation world are encountering problems one after another. If we don’t stop this, more and more people will die.”

The demons had already gone on a killing spree in the human realm.

Chu Yi laughed coldly: “She’s been behaving herself on Mount Tianzhao without causing any trouble. How is this being blamed on her?”

Yu Xiu sighed softly: “Just being a demon is considered wrong. Senior Brother, all twelve great immortal sects now agree to summon the Four Forbidden Beasts. We can’t stop them.”

Chu Yi: “You stay here and watch him. I’ll go talk to the Sect Leader.”

“Senior Brother,” Yu Xiu stopped him. “Let me go instead. You were injured while eliminating demons. Rest in the mirage palace for now.”

Yu Xiu excelled at social interactions. He usually managed the sect’s affairs and was highly valued by Mu Hengtian. Chu Yi thought it would indeed be more effective for Yu Xiu to go talk with the Sect Leader, so he nodded.

Currently, most disciples remaining at Tianji were those who hadn’t yet entered the world. Those with abilities had been instructed to leave the mountain to eliminate demons.

Mu Hengtian had been severely injured by Ling Luo when he invaded Mount Tianzhao and had returned to Tianji to recover.

Just as Yu Xiu exited the mirage palace’s main gate, he saw Zixiu waiting outside, carrying two jars of begonia wine.

Zixiu waved the wine jars at him, his smile radiant.

“Just keep an eye on him,” Yu Xiu said.

“Don’t worry. A useless person without spirit veins can’t summon the Four Forbidden Beasts, but watching him isn’t a problem,” Zixiu said playfully. “Besides, he enjoys playing with me the most, though it’s a bit difficult to coax him into drinking begonia wine now.”

Yu Xiu nodded, his usually gentle face somewhat gloomy: “I asked Zhan Rong to choose a target, but I didn’t tell him to choose Ling Luo.”

Zixiu laughed: “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. This only proves that our junior sister is strong and formidable enough to outshine those so-called demon lords and demon kings. Look how everyone now wants to kill her as soon as her name is mentioned. They spread rumors that she’s cultivating world-ending powers on Mount Tianzhao, and people believe it without knowing if it’s true or false. They can even successfully summon the Four Forbidden Beasts. Shouldn’t we thank our junior sister?”

Yu Xiu glanced at him.

Zixiu patted his shoulder reassuringly: “When the Four Forbidden Beasts kill those who should be killed, leaving only your senior brother and junior sister, everything will end. Don’t always keep such a stern face. Smile a bit.”

“I’m going to see the Sect Leader. You proceed according to the plan,” Yu Xiu said as he walked away.

Zixiu rubbed his nose and hummed: “Always with that fake smile. No fun.”

He hummed a tune as he entered the mirage palace, crossed the hanging bridge to the high platform, and found Chu Yi guarding Yun Shouxi. He smiled and waved the wine jars.

Chu Yi put away the jade listener in his hand and looked up at him.

He had just received a message from Yue Liangze, warning him to watch out for three people, one of whom was standing before him.

“I never imagined the Third Sect Leader would end up like this,” Zixiu sat down beside him, opened a wine jar, and handed it to Chu Yi. “The Sect Leader and the others want to summon the Four Forbidden Beasts to attack Mount Tianzhao. What do you think?”

Chu Yi held the wine jar and said: “I find it strange. She hasn’t done anything, yet she takes the blame for so much.”

Zixiu placed a hand on his shoulder, thinking Chu Yi had noticed something, and was about to question him when Chu Yi continued: “It’s probably karma for all the times she made me take the blame in the past.”

Zixiu: “…”

He laughed so hard his shoulders shook, and tears nearly came to his eyes.

“The old days were really good, weren’t they? We could fly on swords, use incantations freely, and learn so many things. During the Golden Luan Pool Banquet, I even wanted to compare sword skills with Ling Luo,” Zixiu chuckled. “My sword skills weren’t bad back then, right?”

Chu Yi looked at him: “Do you regret it?”

“I do regret it,” Zixiu nodded, drinking his wine.

Chu Yi was somewhat surprised, staring at his good friend.

This was the first time he had heard Zixiu express regret.

Back then, Zixiu’s sword skills were exceptional. He challenged the sword cultivation venerable ones of the Three Mountains, breaking their secret sword techniques, which led to enmity with the Three Mountains. Later, when a continent in the human realm faced catastrophe, the demon realm opened a portal, intending to invade the human realm with a large army.

Zixiu guarded the entrance and fought hard. The Three Mountains, which were closest, offered no support. In the end, Tianji’s people arrived to replace him. Though the entrance was defended, Zixiu was crippled.

Tianji had a dispute with the Three Mountains over this matter. Later, under pressure, the Three Mountains apologized to Zixiu, but Chu Yi sent them away with harsh words.

What was the point of coming to apologize after someone was already crippled?

How hypocritical.

“Young and ignorant, only knowing how to play the hero. Once I lost my spiritual power and cultivation and could no longer pick up a sword, I felt regret,” Zixiu grinned and cursed. “I put in so much effort, yet what did I save? Those creatures, whether mortals or cultivators are all stupid and wicked.”

“There are too few smart and kind people. Compared to them—” Zixiu snorted, “It would have been better not to save them at all.”

Chu Yi thought he was feeling resentful and didn’t say much, silently drinking with him. If it were himself, he couldn’t say for certain that he would have no regrets or never feel remorse for even a moment.

Zixiu watched him with one eye open and one closed, pouring out his grievances to make Chu Yi drink the entire jar of begonia wine with him, one sip after another.

When the wine was gone, Zixiu asked him: “Want more?”

Chu Yi: “Yes.”

Zixiu waved his hand in front of Chu Yi’s eyes: “Are you sure?”

Chu Yi made a sound of agreement and looked at him coldly: “But this time, don’t put any drugs in the wine.”

Zixiu: “…”

He exaggerated: “How did you figure it out?”

Chu Yi didn’t say.

In the message Ling Luo had Yue Liangze send him, there was also a line: Don’t drink Senior Brother Zixiu’s wine.

“What are you trying to do?” Chu Yi stood up, gripping the wine jar and looking down at him, with a hint of complexity and anger deep in his eyes.

Zixiu innocently raised his hands and stood up as well: “Don’t get excited. What am I doing? I just thought you’ve been too tired lately and were injured, so I wanted to help you sleep better.”

“Really!”

Yun Shouxi, who had been painting, suddenly threw his brush again: “Too noisy. Shut up.”

Both men froze. After a moment of silence, Yun Shouxi started laughing to himself again, picking up his brush to draw chaotic lines.

Zixiu rubbed his nose: “The Third Sect Leader, is he insane or not?”

Chu Yi walked toward him: “Don’t change the subject. What are you trying to do?”

“Stop!” Zixiu shouted, and Chu Yi stopped. He frowned, his expression somewhat unpleasant.

He didn’t want to stop, but his body was restrained by something.

“In case you didn’t drink, I also tampered with the scent. Can’t be a sword cultivator, can’t use incantations, but I had to master some herbal medicine,” Zixiu patted his shoulder. “Just stay here and drink with me for the night. We’ll go out when dawn comes.”

Chu Yi said coldly: “Fei Zixiu.”

Using his full name.

Zixiu maintained his usual playful demeanor, putting an arm around Chu Yi’s shoulder: “Don’t be angry. I promise it’s just this once.”

As if performing a magic trick, he produced two more jars of begonia wine from behind his back and placed them on the table, smiling as he poured a cup for Yun Shouxi: “Third Sect Leader, drink with us.”

After warning Chu Yi, Ling Luo saw Qin Yuan, dressed in Tianji sect robes, walk past Feng Tianyao toward her and Yue Liangze on the mountain path.

That familiar gaze made her grip the hilt of her sword. Suiwu howled: “Come on! Fight again! Who’s afraid of whom!”

Heavenly Dao: “I’m not here to fight.”

Suiwu: “Do you keep your word?”

Wusheng: “Don’t be a coward! Fight! Let me at them!”

Yue Liangze stepped forward to block Ling Luo, listening as the Heavenly Dao said: “We talked last time. You’ve made many different choices now and surely don’t want the Four Forbidden Beasts to set foot here again.”

Ling Luo placed a hand on Yue Liangze’s shoulder, looking back at the Heavenly Dao with an inscrutable expression: “If it’s my second senior brother, do you think I would try to stop it?”

The Heavenly Dao pointed at Yue Liangze: “Are you willing to let him die again? He won’t stand by and watch as both the heavenly and earthly realms are destroyed.”

Ling Luo’s gaze cooled slightly. She was particularly annoyed when the Heavenly Dao brought this up: “Why don’t you stop it yourself?”

“I’ve said before, I won’t interfere with anyone’s choices. Everything is decided by you yourselves. I only maintain order and balance,” the Heavenly Dao said. “No one can control the Four Forbidden Beasts or restrain their power. When the time comes, they will destroy everything. Ling Luo, if you don’t go now, things will be the same as before. Nothing will change.”

Ling Luo frowned and asked: “Why does my second senior brother insist on doing this?”

All her memories of Yu Xiu were good ones—gentle, kind, sincere to others, intelligent, obedient to their master, admiring of their eldest senior brother, and protective of his little junior sister.

How could such a person want to end the world?

But thinking carefully, she was also considered very good in others’ eyes—powerful and kind. Who could have imagined that such a wonderful person would embrace demonic ways?

“He’s like you,” the Heavenly Dao said. “Perhaps you should ask him yourself. Right now, he’s going to Tianji’s forbidden area, the Half-Immortal Tomb, to release one of them from beneath the sea.”

Ling Luo released her hand from her sword hilt and mocked: “The Four Forbidden Beasts are beings above divine beasts. How can they be summoned so casually?”

“The Forbidden Beasts sleep beneath the four great millennial immortal sects. Ordinary people naturally cannot summon them. It’s because they’re similar to Shangwujian—only chosen ones can summon them, and he happens to be one of them,” the Heavenly Dao patiently explained. “He is the bridge that brings the Four Forbidden Beasts to the human realm, but he cannot control their actions. This requires the prayers of many cultivators to drive them. You were once the pride of the immortal sects and should have heard of the existence of the Four Forbidden Beasts. People mistakenly believe the way to summon them is through prayers—enough numerous, determined, and powerful beliefs can bring the Four Forbidden Beasts into the world.”

Ling Luo had indeed heard of this, but even Yun Shouxi had said it was just a legend at the time. Later, it was proven to be fact.

Yue Liangze’s Flying Cloud communication device sounded. He looked down to see a message from his senior brother Bai Cang, telling him about the various immortal sects summoning the Four Forbidden Beasts.

Back then, his mind had been completely focused on Ling Luo, so he hadn’t paid attention during the summoning.

“Ling Luo, you can’t hesitate anymore,” the Heavenly Dao said. “You have the Deep Abyss Spirit Vein of the human realm. Either stop the summoning or seal the Four Forbidden Beasts back once they emerge.”

Ling Luo tilted her head to look at Yue Liangze. Yue Liangze said softly: “Go.”

She snorted and walked casually down the mountain path to where Feng Tianyao still lay sprawled.

“Get up,” Ling Luo said with a disgusted expression. “Go fight Zhan Rong from West Sea Taichu again.”

Feng Tianyao had been covering his eyes with one hand, lost in his world. He was startled when he unexpectedly heard Ling Luo’s voice again.

He gritted his teeth, and messily wiped his face, his eyes bloodshot: “Why should I go fight him?”

Ling Luo: “Go or don’t go, it’s up to you.”

She raised her hand to open the Death Mist Gate and turned to look back at Yue Liangze, who was approaching.

Yue Liangze released the messenger spirit bird and said: “I just had the spirit bird deliver the things I bought back home, and I also sent a message to Mu Sujing to help watch the kitchen. When we return, we should be able to eat.”

Ling Luo asked: “What did you make?”

Yue Liangze: “Bamboo tube rice and I cleaned some shrimp and beef but didn’t cook them yet…”

Before he could finish, Ling Luo suddenly remembered her previous life. On the night they parted, they had eaten bamboo tube rice. This unpleasant memory overlapped with the same item, causing her heart to feel heavy.

Ling Luo bristled: “I don’t want to eat that! Any other day is fine but not today! I refuse to eat that today!”

Yue Liangze paused for a moment. He seemed to remember as well and smiled with pressed lips.

“Alright, we won’t eat that,” he said as he walked toward the Death Mist Gate, changing his instructions to Mu Sujing:

Eat the bamboo tube rice when it’s ready. Don’t wait for us. If you can’t finish it, send it to your grandpa.