Due to the serious injuries from internal fighting among Yi Xiu Academy disciples, a Seven Academy tribunal was required, causing the Academy Masters to set aside their work and rush to the tribunal hall.

Many had already learned the details on their way. Everyone knew that ordinarily, Young Master Cui Yuanxi would have directly thrown the person into the Disciplinary Tower without giving them a chance for a tribunal decision.

It was obvious how precious his fiancée was to him.

This new disciple had almost disfigured his fiancée and nearly cut off her tongue. This should have incited his fury, possibly even leading to expulsion from the sect or assassination.

Yet Cui Sheng had agreed to this Seven Academy tribunal, not giving Cui Yuanxi the decision-making power. Everyone understood the signal this sent—it seemed Cui Sheng intended to discipline the Young Master, who had broken many rules in his excessive indulgence of Jiang Ying over the past two years.

At the meeting table, Li Yansi calmly explained the situation: “No one was nearby at the time, so no one knows who attacked first. However, Zhou Li has Xu Bin’s Star Fate token from Gui Xiu, and there are witnesses to Kong Yi’s attack on her at Jing Xiu. Both men confirm they were acting on Jiang Ying’s instructions to harass Zhou Li.”

The other Academy Masters understood that “acting on Jiang Ying’s instructions” actually meant Cui Yuanxi’s orders.

Xu Bin’s Star Fate token was an irrefutable fact, leaving the Gui Xiu Academy Master with nothing to say. Kong Yi’s actions were confirmed by Shan Siyuan. With the Jing Xiu Academy Master seriously ill, Shan Siyuan attended the tribunal as his representative.

While everyone understood the true circumstances of the incident, the Xing Xiu Academy Master unhurriedly said: “It seems Jiang Ying initiated the conflict, yet she’s the one most severely injured. Wasn’t Zhou Li’s attack on a fellow disciple, her martial sister no less, a bit excessive?”

The Zhen Xiu Academy Master replied slowly: “Since Jiang Ying used Sound Devouring Twist, isn’t it obvious who was excessive?”

The Liu Xiu Academy Master asked hoarsely: “Then, who used the Sound Devouring Twist that caused Jiang Ying’s severe injuries?”

Li Yansi explained: “Zhou Li’s Thunderous Roar meridian is only at the fourth boundary. She couldn’t possibly perform the advanced spiritual technique, Sound Devouring Twist. This is one of the important reasons this Seven Academy tribunal was convened.”

The Gui Xiu Academy Master asked: “Was there a third person present?”

Li Yansi shook her head: “None has been discovered so far.”

The Zhang Xiu Academy Master yawned lazily: “That’s enough. We all know how to handle this kind of matter under normal circumstances. Why waste time with a Seven Academy tribunal? I’m tired and could use some early rest, but instead I have to spend time going through the motions for this trivial matter.”

Shan Siyuan also spoke with a grave expression: “My Master fell ill today. I cannot stay away for too long.”

The Zhen Xiu Academy Master added: “Let’s vote. Those who believe Zhou Li shouldn’t go to the Disciplinary Tower can leave now.”

The Zhang Xiu Academy Master immediately stood up and left.

Shan Siyuan followed, bowing to the remaining people before departing.

The Gui Xiu Academy Master stroked his beard, winked at Li Yansi, and left with the Zhen Xiu Academy Master, who had proposed the solution.

Four had left, three remained. The result was clear.

Li Yansi stood up: “Then let’s all disperse.”

*

Being sent to the Disciplinary Tower would signify that a disciple had committed a serious error requiring severe punishment. Ming Li wasn’t sent there, but that didn’t mean she escaped all punishment.

The final result was that she would be confined for three days in Yi Xiu Academy for causing a negative impact through private fighting with a fellow disciple.

The confinement room was narrow and dim, with walls on all four sides. Only from the top did a small amount of light shine in.

Ming Li knelt in the light, appearing calm but seriously contemplating how to kill Cui Yaocen’s brother and Jiang Ying while Cui Yaocen was still in Nan Que.

Killing Jiang Ying would be relatively easy, but Cui Yuanxi would not be.

How to kill him in a way that would satisfy her hatred was also a question.

Ming Li carefully recalled all memories related to Qing Ying, trying to find clues, while also worrying about her martial brother’s situation. So she used her Yin Meridian to separate herself and enter a dream.

This time, she finally dreamed of Zhou Zixi.

The black mist was tens of times denser than in her previous nightmares. The shadows wailed and cursed around a pile of white bones at the top of a long staircase. Dismembered corpses and flesh were scattered everywhere—both animal and human.

Fresh red blood still flowed through the heap of corpses. A young man in black sat on a chair formed from white bones, leaning lazily against the backrest. His wrists were still bound by iron shackles with broken chains.

Those black pupils harboring malevolence looked toward Ming Li: “You’ve repeatedly entered this place through dreams, yet you’re not from Nan Que. I’ll give you one chance—tell me who you are.”

Ming Li looked up, her mood lifting at the sight of Zhou Zixi: “I’m your martial sister.”

Zhou Zixi rested his bare foot on a short arrow, supporting his chin with one hand while thoughtfully staring at her for a moment. He laughed dismissively: “It seems any stray cat or dog dares to claim they’re my martial sister.”

Ming Li: “…”

She asked: “Who turned you into this?”

Having initially learned that Zhou Zixi was an earth demon and that he hadn’t immediately recognized her, Ming Li had already guessed much of what her martial brother had endured.

“My affairs, I’ll handle them myself,” Zhou Zixi had just finished speaking when the short arrow under his foot floated up, revealing it was broken into two parts.

The arrowhead and tail hovered, rotating and crisscrossing in the air as Zhou Zixi raised his hand.

He said carelessly: “My martial sister is a Sacred Pilgrim with eight meridians at full boundary. Couldn’t you at least pretend more convincingly?”

Ming Li spoke with a hint of sadness: “Can you now only recognize people by their star meridian boundaries?”

These words struck Zhou Zixi’s pain point. His aura sank, and his expression turned vicious.

He smiled eerily: “Try staying in a hellhole like this and see if you don’t go blind.”

Not only would one go blind, but also die hundreds of times. But he was an earth demon, so no matter how many times he died, he would be reborn.

It had been just two months since his last revival, yet he found his eyesight deteriorating, growing weaker and dimmer with each resurrection.

Ming Li walked toward the pile of corpses. The hovering broken arrow emitted a sharp warning sound, but she ignored it. Zhou Zixi leaned back against the chair, watching with composure as the blurry figure approached him.

The broken arrow shot toward Ming Li. She didn’t block it, but the arrowhead stopped just above her forehead, unable to advance further.

Zhou Zixi laughed at her: “Truly fearless.”

Ming Li crushed a bone fragment underfoot, gradually reducing the distance between them.

“At first, I didn’t understand why I kept entering this place in dreams. Later, I realized it was because you once said—with just one word from me, you could be everywhere, or you could disappear.”

Ming Li raised her eyes to look at him: “I said, I don’t want you to disappear.”

“I don’t care that you’re an earth demon.”

“You are my martial brother, one who has learned in Bei Dou how to be a person balancing good and evil. I don’t care who washed away your learned humanity, returning you to your inherently evil earth demon nature. I will find that person and tear them into ten thousand pieces.”

Ming Li reached the top of the corpse pile, bent down, and embraced him. Zhou Zixi didn’t resist, allowing her to take him into her arms. In this place of rot and decay, he caught a faint fragrance.

But Ming Li’s current Yin Meridian wasn’t at full boundary, so her time was up. She woke from the dream almost as soon as she touched her martial brother.

Zhou Zixi remained unmoved in his chair. He lightly sniffed the briefly lingering scent in the air and laughed silently, finding it somewhat interesting.

He had forgotten nothing, yet everything was different.

*

Ming Li opened her eyes in the confinement room. What met her gaze was a dim, narrow space, no longer the bloody, oppressive altar.

Just as she was about to return, a shadow formed from the darkness, standing before the door, looking down at her from above.

Zhou Zixi appeared like a black transparent shadow, an empty shell that light could penetrate. He wasn’t wearing the iron shackles with half-broken chains on his hands, indicating that what appeared here was indeed just a shadow.

An earth demon’s shadow.

His physical body couldn’t leave the altar, but his shadow could do as it pleased in places where light and shadow were dim.

Zhou Zixi asked her with a half-smile: “Tell me, why has my martial sister with eight meridians at full boundary become a waste with only one meridian at full boundary, trapped in Nan Que?”

Ming Li’s eyes flickered at his words.

Zhou Zixi didn’t know she had died.

The entire ancient continent knew that Bei Dou’s Sacred Pilgrim, Ming Li, had died, but Zhou Zixi didn’t know.

This meant he had been isolated and trapped on that gloomy, bloody altar before Ming Li’s death.

Even though the current Zhou Zixi lacked humanity, did no good deeds, and as a martial brother who had awakened to his earth demon’s malevolent nature wouldn’t feel any sadness or pain over her life or death, Ming Li still couldn’t bear to tell him that she had died once.

Ming Li said softly: “Just consider that I’m also trapped somewhere I can’t escape, like you. The price of escape is to cultivate anew.”

Zhou Zixi: “What place could trap my martial sister?”

He suddenly stepped forward, bent down, and hooked his finger under her chin. After tracing along her skin, he gently cupped half her face, smiling: “And could even make my martial sister return to her youthful appearance.”

The face was smiling, but there wasn’t a hint of joy in it.

Ming Li tilted her head, habitually nuzzling his palm. Zhou Zixi didn’t withdraw his hand, still speaking with a smiling tone: “This habit is indeed like my martial sister’s.”

In the past, he had desperately wanted Ming Li to touch him more, to let her touch linger longer on his skin.

Now he could tease her with a heart as still as water.

Ming Li suddenly grabbed his collar and pulled him down. Zhou Zixi chuckled softly, allowing her to pull open his collar to see the chaotic scars on his chest. One wound would never disappear, no matter how many times he was reborn.

Near his heart on his chest was the mark of penetration by a god-slaying arrow.

*

In her previous life, Ming Li had shot three god-slaying arrows.

The first stopped the Jiang Clan from killing Zhao Tingyi.

The second broke through the Bei Jing Gui Yuan barrier.

The third killed the earth demon who stole Nan Que’s sect-protecting treasure and entered the north.

That day, dark clouds pressed down, thunder rumbled continuously, yet no rain fell. When heaven and earth showed these unusual signs, Ming Li was still kneeling in quiet contemplation in her meditation room. The divine wood bow lay before her, made of ghastly white, withered vines with a nearly transparent, almost invisible bowstring.

During her meditation, the outside world had reported the Earth demon matter dozens of times. From the Wu Jian League to various sects, all requested the Sacred Pilgrim’s intervention. She also had to divert her attention to the war at Bei Jing Gui Yuan, which was why she didn’t go personally but instead shot an arrow from Bei Dou.

The god-slaying arrow Ming Li shot used Star Power as a medium, materializing the virtual through her five fingers pulling the bow and string. In that instant, the ghastly, white, withered bow was rejuvenated. The moment she released, the arrow shot forward, carving out sparks that burned into a line of fire disappearing into the distance.

Zhou Zixi, who had just entered the northern plains, was struck by this arrow and fell to his knees. Several pursuing figures surrounded him, attempting to capture him. Someone tried to grab the god-slaying arrow to keep him alive, but Zhou Zixi pointed a finger to push them away.

Gripping the bloody arrow piercing his chest, he said in a grim tone: “This was given to me by my martial sister. You have no right to touch it.”

Ming Li didn’t know that the arrow had struck Zhou Zixi.

Even while busy with the northern border conflict, she would occasionally think of Zhou Zixi, who had gone to the icy wastes with her brother, imagining that by the time he returned, she would have resolved these troublesome matters.

But since that day, Ming Li had felt that the divine wood bow no longer fit comfortably in her hands.

*

In recent days, Ming Li had harbored suspicions, but even after seeing confirmation with her own eyes, it was still difficult to accept.

Zhou Zixi noticed her prolonged silence. The blurry figure before his eyes alternated between clarity and dimness, but he could sense a hint of sadness in this silence.

Indeed, his martial sister would be distraught learning she had shot an arrow through his heart, especially a god-slaying arrow.

Zhou Zixi curved the corner of his lips and, from this distance, easily lowered his head to place a kiss at the corner of Ming Li’s lips: “Martial Sister, don’t worry. I like you so much that even if you shot me with a few more arrows, it wouldn’t matter.”

Once, this affection was his most secret concern; it was the faith he strove for; it was the source of all his insecurity; it was the dream he refused to speak of.

Now it was uttered with such a dismissive tone.

Ming Li raised her eyes to look at him. The person before her was her martial brother, but also an earth demon.