Before the star walls of the Earth Star Death Prison rose, the imperial capital had welcomed many guests.
Snow fell heavily in the night, yet none of it settled on the young man’s shoulders before disappearing.
Walking beside the young man, Qing Ying occasionally glanced at his cloak, wondering why she wore a black cloak while he could wear a beautiful light green one. The color looked so pleasant, uniquely striking against the snowy winter night.
The young man seemed to have many voice transmissions to handle. Transmission talismans circled him in small rings as he replied while telling Qing Ying, “Take your medicine on time, and we’ll check the integration situation in two months. You can’t exceed the limit of stellar power use within a day, but your spiritual court meridian is very dominant and has strengthened considerably compared to before, so you generally won’t reach that threshold unless you foolishly try to directly confront someone at the death-life realm or above.”
“There are still some lingering effects from the puppet technique that must be eliminated with medication. Before they’re completely gone, any injuries you sustain will be more severe than before.”
“Simply put, you’re currently just a sturdy piece of porcelain that can use stellar meridian power. If you fall too hard, you’ll still break, and this time there will be no way to piece you back together.”
Qing Ying nodded to show she was listening.
“But the medicine can solve this, and your stellar meridians will help you heal. After two months, you won’t need to worry anymore,” Xiang An’ge said, glancing at her briefly during his busy work. “The puppet technique contract has been completely severed. From now on, you are your person. No one can control your thoughts or actions anymore.”
Qing Ying looked up at him and smiled, her eyes curving.
Xiang An’ge asked: “Do you remember the most important point?”
Qing Ying took out a medicine bottle and shook it: “Take my medicine.”
Xiang An’ge waved away the transmission talismans before him. “Good, you can go now.”
Qing Ying put away the medicine bottle and asked: “Are you going to find Shu Sheng?”
“He’s caused me quite a bit of trouble.” Xiang An’ge glanced toward the imperial palace, where rows of star walls connecting heaven and earth had risen. He turned his gaze toward the Martial Supervisory Alliance headquarters. “If you’re not confident you can avoid injury, it’s best not to go there.”
Qing Ying, however, looked in the opposite direction. Beyond the many street walls in the distance, she sensed familiar fluctuations of stellar power.
The two didn’t exchange any parting words but vanished in their respective directions, each heading where they wanted to go.
*
The winter night’s cold wind howled. Moving at flash speed, one could hear the whimpering wind, like the roar of monsters.
Qing Ying moved quickly. In the past, she had been unable to control her unusually dominant spiritual court meridian, but after her experiences over the years, she could now harness it, thereby strengthening her use of various spiritual techniques.
She wanted to go even faster.
Ahead was Chen Zhou, surrounded and attacked by northern foreigners. She knew that when Ming Li had brought Chen Zhou out of the pit, she had finally been able to leave behind her past self-reproach. This time, she wouldn’t helplessly watch her senior brother suffer before her eyes.
Qing Ying stood on the street wall, the howling cold wind blowing off her hood. When Chen Zhou looked back, what he saw was the vibrant and lively junior sister from his memories, not the puppet trapped in that small cabin at the Nan Que border peak.
In his junior sister’s eyes, he was no longer a slave from the pit.
“Senior Brother!”
Qing Ying smiled at Chen Zhou below, flashing toward him and crashing into his embrace.
Chen Zhou raised his hand and gently pressed the back of her head, a hint of a smile seemingly passing through his lowered eyes. His hand moved to the top of her head, rubbing her cold, soft hair.
“Why are you still rushing about like a child?”
Though his words sounded disapproving, the gesture of protecting her was extremely gentle.
After wiping her tears on his clothes, Qing Ying straightened up and looked at Mingtu and the others, saying fiercely: “Who was attacking you just now? I’ll help you get revenge!”
“Just stand beside me and watch.” Chen Zhou pulled Qing Ying behind him and turned to look at Mingtu. His originally lazy, gentle, dark eyes instantly became calm and cold.
The stellar pressure emanating from Chen Zhou was like a mountain collapsing, causing Mingtu and the others’ expressions to change slightly. The northern foreigners who had just been pulled out of the Divine Brilliance Illusion by Mingshui were once again trapped in its realm.
Indeed, Chen Zhou wasn’t the only one here at the heart meridian’s divine brilliance realm.
But on this street, only Chen Zhou was in the death-life realm.
Heart Meridian: Myriad Leaves and Flying Flowers.
A flower and a leaf flew past the northern foreigners’ eyes. As they turned, they reflected the foreigners’ images. In the instant their gazes met, their spiritual court meridians were constrained by the flower and leaf, unable to use techniques like Self-Control as Mingtu had done to break free. The deepest, fearful impressions in their minds were drawn out, leaving them frozen in overwhelming terror.
Within the Divine Brilliance Illusion, one’s sense of time stretched infinitely—a single moment felt like ten thousand years.
Murderous intent approached silently. Mingshui was the first to react. Unable to break the technique, she first tried to control Chen Zhou, using the same method to peer into his inner fears.
Their stellar powers collided. Mingshui glimpsed only a corner of Chen Zhou’s inner world—a massive pit and a line of fire. Before she could see more, she was forced out of Chen Zhou’s spiritual court consciousness, unable to continue her investigation.
Mingshui clutched her painfully throbbing heart and retreated far back again. When she looked up at Chen Zhou standing in the street, her eyes held a measure of shock.
This man… his spiritual court consciousness and inner heart were extremely powerful and tenacious, yet they coexisted with an oppressive darkness of tremendous destructive power. The murderous intent caused those who tried to peer into his inner depths to suffer backlash.
Chen Zhou smiled at Mingshui, a meaningful smile. When he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, flowers and leaves shattered. The standing people seemed to have just awakened from the illusion, but before they could take another look at the world, they were torn apart by the shattered leaves, split into pieces.
At the critical moment, a golden-robed priest appeared in a flash, placing his hand on Mingtu’s shoulder just as he was about to react. The priest blocked the killing move of the Myriad Leaves and Flying Flowers, grabbing Mingtu and throwing him backward.
Black curse runes moved at the golden-robed priest’s fingertips. Hovering in the air, he looked down at Chen Zhou below and raised his hand, pointing toward him.
Chen Zhou took Qing Ying and retreated in a flash. Where they had just been standing, countless star lines suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Each was as thin as a needle yet as sharp as a sword, crisscrossing in the street and piercing everything, forcing Chen Zhou to continuously retreat.
This killing array directly forced Chen Zhou from the middle of the street to its end. The moment after his toes touched the street wall and he retreated, the wall was pierced and completely shattered by the star lines.
Chen Zhou landed on a nearby roof eave and looked up at the golden-robed priest hovering in the distance.
This person’s strength was on a completely different level from Mingtu and the others.
Death-life realm.
Or perhaps… beyond the death-life realm.
Only after driving Chen Zhou back did the golden-robed priest glance at Mingtu, who was getting up from the ground.
Mingtu was quite ashamed, rubbing his head and lowering it: “Great Priest, I’ve disgraced you.”
The golden-robed priest looked away and said coolly, “I told you to find Ming Li. How did you let her go and waste time with these irrelevant people?”
Mingtu rubbed his nose and said, “Although she hasn’t broken through, she’s still quite troublesome and hard to catch.”
In the distance, Chen Zhou examined the golden-robed priest hovering in the air. Beside him, Qing Ying said, “His array deployment speed almost matches Zixi’s.”
“People of the Youyou tribe, ranking above their warriors, likely their priests,” Chen Zhou said. “Even the Youyou tribe priests have come here—the imperial capital’s defenses are concerning.”
Qing Ying said: “It must be intentional on His Majesty’s or Shu Sheng’s part. Otherwise, they couldn’t have reached the imperial capital so quietly.”
Chen Zhou slightly raised his eyelids. The current focus wasn’t on how the Youyou tribe had reached the imperial capital, but that their purpose for coming seemed related to Ming Li.
He could think of two possibilities: to take Ming Li away, or to kill her.
He wouldn’t allow either.
*
The snow fell increasingly heavily, and the winter night’s fog grew thicker with it. The light from the street lamps appeared increasingly weak, barely visible.
Zhou Zixi stood in the misty alley, with several faintly glowing star lines twisting into character shapes at his feet.
He stood outside the range of Shu Sheng’s attacks, precisely maintaining the distance between himself and Shu Sheng.
After several star walls rose, the people of the imperial capital began to pay attention to the movements at the imperial palace. The inspectors who had been patrolling the streets had been withdrawn at some point, leaving everywhere empty and quiet. People seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving only snow-covered buildings and cold street lamps.
Zhou Zixi knew Ming Li had gone to the western wall to find Dong Yeyun, but there was no need to worry for now because Shu Sheng’s focus was still on him. What concerned him was the stellar power spreading in the distant streets.
It seemed that Chen Zhou and Qing Ying had encountered the golden-robed priest of the Youyou tribe.
Those people from the North… Zhou Zixi turned, about to head toward the distant streets, but stopped in his tracks, his brows slightly furrowed as he looked toward the left street wall.
“Hey, Zixi, long time no see.”
A lazy greeting sounded in the night. The mist silently dispersed, and a black shadow crouching on the street wall slowly rose, shouldering a staff blade and raising his head to look down at the person below, hands hanging.
He moved his white mask to the top of his head, revealing a smile full of malice.
Zhou Zixi glanced around. After the mist dispersed, the shadows hidden within had appeared. Behind him, in front, and to his right were people wearing white masks adorned with delicate golden cracks, blocking his path.
Four people in total, with unfathomable strength.
Qiu Lang, the only one who had removed his mask, looked at Zhou Zixi with arrogant and malicious eyes: “The shadow who escaped from the Grievance Tower, why did you go find useless people like Cheng Jingbai instead of coming to find old friends like us?”
Zhou Zixi snorted with a laugh, his expression unmoved. He said coolly, “You are more useless, cowardly, worthless, and disgusting.”
Qiu Lang seemed to be smiling without smiling upon hearing this, showing no clear joy or anger. He turned to the white mask standing behind Zhou Zixi and said, “You heard that. I told you his mouth has become more venomous.”
The white mask spread her hands and said in a crisp voice: “But he’s only insulting you.”
“Is that so?” Qiu Lang looked back at Zhou Zixi and smiled. “You can’t be partial. Say a couple of insults about Wu Liangli for us to hear as well.”
Zhou Zixi’s expression remained indifferent, his gaze toward Qiu Lang full of mockery.
Wu Liangli waved her outstretched hands again: “See? He only finds you disgusting.”
“That’s a bit unfair.” Qiu Lang looked down at Zhou Zixi condescendingly. “Look at what you’ve become—an earth ghost whose humanity has been washed away, in a pathetic state. Who’s disgusting?”
“Zhou Zixi, what’s disgusting is you.”
As Qiu Lang’s words fell, a silent pressure spread throughout the alley. Dust on the ground trembled, street lamps shook violently with noise, and nearby doors and windows even developed fine cracks.
Zhou Zixi stood at the center of the pressure, the target of the attack, yet he still stood straight.
Qiu Lang jumped down from the street wall, as if enjoying watching his prey try to escape. Instead of flashing, he strolled forward: “Within half an hour, bring this disgusting earth ghost back. In the future, whatever you want to say to Cheng Jingbai, I’ll do it for you. How’s that for generosity?”
The star lines at Zhou Zixi’s feet dispersed and shot toward Qiu Lang, who swung his staff blade to cut them. Glancing sideways, he saw another star line rapidly coiling into a circular character and expanding.
Qiu Lang looked at the white mask behind Zhou Zixi: “Are you just going to stand there and watch?”
Wu Liangli sighed helplessly, putting her hands together then separating them, using herself as the center of a formation. The formation’s range expanded, completely isolating this area. Flying star lines tore apart the circular character Zhou Zixi had expanded.
At the same time, the other two white masks moved toward Zhou Zixi.
Zhou Zixi raised his hand, his fingertip star lines like blades slashing and driving back the two white masks. In the next instant, Qiu Lang, holding his staff blade, was already before him.