Hearing these words, Qin Wanwan confirmed that this was indeed not her hallucination.
Generally, the most important aspect of hallucinations is that they must conform to the person’s cognition, because the more something aligns with a person’s understanding, the easier it is for them to be deceived.
But this Hua Rong was completely different from the Hua Rong she had imagined, which showed that… there was a high probability this was real.
Realizing this, Qin Wanwan’s heart jolted in alarm. All her previous deductions were overturned, and countless questions swirled through her mind.
She immediately emerged from the illusion she had set up. The intense pain from body tempering rushed to the top of her head. She drew in a sharp breath of cold air, unable to think from the pain. She struggled to control her loss of composure, continuing to guide spiritual energy to break open her meridians while simultaneously using Spring Life to heal continuously. After a long while, she finally managed to ask her questions one by one: “You’re Hua Rong? Then who is the person we’ve been seeing recently, the one Cuilu has been serving?”
“Come rescue me first,” Hua Rong ignored her questions. With an androgynous voice that could be male or female, he only told her about rescuing him. “Right now, go to the southwest corner, three hundred zhang away. There’s a protruding rock. Remove the rock, and you’ll see my spirit beast. It’s a Puzzle Beast. I’m inside its body. When you enter, you’ll see a coffin. Use your sword to split open the coffin lid and open the coffin.”
“I won’t,” Qin Wanwan flatly refused.
Hua Rong fell silent for a moment: “Do you want benefits?”
“It’s too dangerous,” Qin Wanwan analyzed seriously. “That’s your spirit beast. If I go in, wouldn’t I be seeking death?”
“What would this venerable one want with a yellow-haired girl’s life!”
Hua Rong grew anxious: “What do you want!”
“Why were you trapped?”
Actually, the dream had already shown signs of this. Qin Wanwan didn’t really doubt Hua Rong’s words, but once she released Hua Rong, she would lose her bargaining chip. She had to get answers before Hua Rong came out.
“You’re so powerful yet you were trapped. Wouldn’t I be going to my death?”
Qin Wanwan’s voice was steady. She looked up at the surrounding formation: “Moreover, I’m just a Core Formation cultivator. Earlier when Daoist Xie was here, you didn’t speak. Now that Daoist Xie is gone, you want me to go rescue you alone. Are you sure you’re not trying to lure me over to slaughter me?”
“I don’t have the ability to slaughter you right now.”
Hua Rong finally spoke: “I don’t trust that Daoist being around. Right now I don’t want to see anyone.”
“But you trust me?”
Qin Wanwan raised her eyebrows.
“I don’t trust you,” Hua Rong said in a low voice. “It’s just that only you can open this coffin.”
“Why?” Qin Wanwan grew interested at these words.
Hua Rong thought for a moment before speaking: “That Yuanning sword in your hand can break the formation of the person who trapped me.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know who created this formation, and the original owner of this sword was the creator. So this formation is ineffective against a sword stained with the original owner’s aura.”
“Who was the original owner of this sword?”
Qin Wanwan was somewhat bewildered: “And why would it be in the Heavenly Sword Sect’s sword burial ground?”
According to logic, the swords placed in the sword burial ground were all masterless swords—meaning their masters were already dead.
“Because,” Hua Rong’s voice was calm, “that person has been dead for a very long time.”
Qin Wanwan thought for a moment and immediately reacted: “Is it Lin Yanzhi?”
“Correct.”
Lin Yanzhi died a hundred years ago. According to legend, Hua Rong had saved the world back then, and Ghost City still had legends about Hua Rong. Qin Wanwan was confused: “So you’ve been trapped for a hundred years? Then who is that Hua Rong outside now?”
“Not exactly…” Hua Rong spoke slowly. He seemed to be deliberating, hesitating for a long while before speaking. “Anyway, when you see me, you’ll know. I might as well tell you. I wasn’t trapped for a hundred years. Rather, a few days ago, I was harmed by someone and trapped here. He’s using my body as nourishment, trying to summon the Linglong Jade to manifest in this world. So right now I have no ability to resist at all. You don’t need to be afraid when you come rescue me.”
“Who is the person who harmed you?”
“I don’t know.”
Hua Rong’s voice was calm: “I only know he wants the Linglong Jade.”
Hearing this, Qin Wanwan didn’t answer immediately. She used spiritual power to expand the last section of her spiritual root, completing the entire body tempering process. Only then did she finally open her eyes.
She was drenched in sweat, as if she’d been pulled from water. After recovering for a moment, she leaped toward the place Hua Rong had mentioned, inquiring as she walked: “Why use you to summon the Linglong Jade?”
“The Linglong Jade in Ghost City had its spiritual energy completely depleted long ago when the city was built. To make this piece of Linglong Jade manifest again and be usable for opening the Ascension Gate, its spiritual energy must be replenished. I alone am far from enough. Did you see those blood lines outside?”
“I saw them.” Qin Wanwan glanced behind her. Where there was no blood in the formation, it was all connected by blood lines.
“When the blood in the formation fills completely, the Linglong Jade will manifest. Those blood lines are all connected to Ghost City’s citizens. If my blood isn’t enough to fill this formation, he will immediately use the citizens’ blood to complete it. So you must rescue me! Only by rescuing me is there hope!”
“Just now you said you had no ability to resist, and now you’re saying rescuing you is the only hope?”
“Will you die if you don’t talk back?!” Hua Rong was furious at having his little scheme exposed. Qin Wanwan shrugged and arrived at the designated location. After removing the rock, she saw a small hole inside with a small beast somewhat resembling a fox.
It looked very weak, covered in blood. Behind it were blood lines flowing out from the mountain all the way outside.
The little fox opened its eyes, its forehead lighting up, and spoke in Hua Rong’s voice: “Place your hand on the seal mark. Enter.”
Qin Wanwan raised her hand and placed it on the little fox’s forehead. Instantly she entered the little fox’s body. Here was exactly like her dream—a huge cavern, heartbeat sounds, and a coffin in the middle. Qin Wanwan walked over and heard Hua Rong urgently speak: “Quickly open it!”
Qin Wanwan didn’t speak. She looked at the tubes around the coffin. Blood flowed out from the tubes, spreading outward. This blood carried spiritual energy familiar to her. She frowned: “The formation outside was set up by you.”
“Open the coffin! We’ll talk after you open the coffin!”
“If you were only trapped here a few days ago, then you were also the one demanding a young master a month ago. From the beginning, the person who wanted the Linglong Jade was you, correct? What do you want the Linglong Jade for?”
“Young lady,” Hua Rong’s voice turned cold, “I advise you not to ask too much.”
“If you can give me an answer, I’ll open the coffin for you.”
Qin Wanwan looked down at the coffin. Hua Rong made no sound. After a moment, he spoke: “I want to resurrect him.”
“But back then, you were the one who killed him.” Qin Wanwan reminded him. “Yet now you want to resurrect him?”
“I did kill him, but I also wronged him.”
Hua Rong’s tone was level: “Back then I was still a child. He rescued me. At that time, he was a gentleman of noble character, gentle as jade. He said a person’s greatest value is to help others. I believed his words and regarded him as a deity, as my faith.”
Qin Wanwan listened quietly as Hua Rong recalled the past: “At that time, I wasn’t the only one rescued. There were many children who all followed him together. Everyone followed him to Immaculate City and established this city. He said Immaculate City would shelter all those who had nowhere to belong in the world, and save all innocent people under heaven. For this purpose, even though he had reached the Tribulation Crossing stage, he didn’t have any treasures worth mentioning and had offended many people. At first he was hunted, but after entering the Tribulation Crossing stage, he wasn’t so desperate anymore. However, he had countless enemies, with countless people watching him covetously.”
“What happened later?”
Qin Wanwan listened, predicting that this kind of person wouldn’t have a good ending.
“Later, many people betrayed him. I once asked him whether he felt resentment after doing good deeds only to be betrayed. He said he wouldn’t, but actually he did. When resentment accumulated too much,” Hua Rong laughed mockingly, “he fell into the demonic path. At the moment of ascension, his inner demons ran rampant, and he ended up slaughtering all the citizens of the city. I couldn’t bear to see him in such a wretched state, so at the last moment, I killed him.”
“Oh?”
Qin Wanwan didn’t believe it: “How could you, a Core Formation cultivator, kill him? Moreover, how did you become a Tribulation Crossing cultivator?”
“I learned a certain cultivation technique.” Hua Rong didn’t feel guilty at all. “At that time he had already fallen into demonic cultivation, so I devoured all his cultivation.”
“And you still want to resurrect him?”
“Because I feel guilty.” Hua Rong spoke quickly. “After that, every night I would dream. I would always remember when I was little—at that time I was supposed to be sacrificed as a river spirit, but he rescued me. I vowed I would follow him for life. He was my brother, my master, my only family. But in the end, I was the one who killed him. Actually, the fault wasn’t his—it was the inner demons. If he could live again, he would still be the best person under heaven.”
“So you want to resurrect him.” Qin Wanwan raised her eyebrows. “Back then you killed him for the sake of the city’s citizens. Now you want to kill the entire city’s citizens for his sake. Don’t you think that’s absurd?”
“Absurd?” Hua Rong laughed, his voice carrying some grief. “He was such a good person. They betrayed him first. They were at fault. Back then I thought I should save the citizens, but after saving them, how have they treated me these hundred years?”
“I’m their benefactor, yet they have no gratitude toward me. They just think that because I’m the city lord, I should naturally sacrifice. They’re always demanding, always questioning!”
Hua Rong grew more and more furious: “When I levy taxes, if I collect a bit more, they ask why. They constantly try to evade and dodge taxes. If I collect less and don’t have enough money, they ask why I don’t allocate funds for this and that. When I build schools for them to study, they say I’m restricting their freedom. When I don’t restrict them, they say as city lord I don’t care about citizens’ futures. Every trivial matter they have to find me for! They say Ghost City needs more trees, more flowers. After planting them nicely, people say many can’t even eat and I only know how to do greenery projects. One group constantly suggests the city roads need replanning—today they want bluestone slabs, tomorrow they want white jade. I approved it. Then immediately people tell me Ghost City’s roads are constantly being dug up and rebuilt, and the common people have many complaints. But when you first wanted to dig them up, didn’t you say it was for the common people’s good?!”
“I understand, I get it,” Qin Wanwan nodded, trying to soothe him. “Calm down a bit…”
But once Hua Rong started, he couldn’t stop, venting frantically: “One group says Ghost City should develop tourism, should develop the green mountains and clear waters. They don’t even look at whether Ghost City has these conditions! Another group says Ghost City should develop iron mines to sell to the Heavenly Sword Sect to earn more money—they don’t think about how much environmental damage mining too much iron ore causes. When I implement the death penalty, they say it’s too cruel and there are wrongful cases. When I don’t implement the death penalty, they say the law isn’t harsh enough! Talk, talk, talk—they have something to say about everything. No matter what I do, they curse me and complain about me!”
“You certainly haven’t had it easy…”
Qin Wanwan could tell—Hua Rong had been driven into demonic cultivation by work.
A city lord now single-mindedly wanted to kill all the city’s citizens to bring back his faith.
To resurrect Lin Yanzhi, he found suitable bodies every month while setting up a grand formation to summon the Linglong Jade, attempting to use it to resurrect Lin Yanzhi.
But halfway through, a boss intercepted him and placed him here to fill the formation.
Speaking of which, this boss was actually a good person—he didn’t choose to blood sacrifice the city’s citizens at the first opportunity.
But who was he? Why did he still insist on Jian Xingzhi going there?
Qin Wanwan frowned. Hua Rong was obviously mentally ill. Talking about these matters, he was still cursing: “A hundred years! For a hundred years they’ve written me complaint and suggestion letters every day, cursing that I’m incompetent as city lord and demanding I let Immaculate Daoist Lord take over instead. Do they think I don’t want to?! When I think about how I killed Immaculate Daoist Lord for these people, I feel like such a fool! I want to resurrect him, I must resurrect him! I won’t manage this place anymore. Let’s all blow it up together!”
“You go ahead and blow it up. Before you do, I want to ask—how will your formation resurrect Lin Yanzhi?”
“There are two grand formations here.” Hearing her question, Hua Rong didn’t hide anything. “One is on the ground. After the blood fills it completely and gathers at the formation eye, it will summon forth the Linglong Jade. The Linglong Jade itself is a condensation of countless spiritual energy. When it falls to the formation eye of the upper formation and converges with this spiritual energy, there will be enough power to summon back Immaculate Daoist Lord’s soul and help him occupy the body of the sacrifice at the formation eye. The sacrifice’s soul will be instantly annihilated.”
“What about the other one?”
“The other is overhead. Back then I was afraid something might go wrong, so I specially set up another protective formation that allows the person in the formation to infinitely draw spiritual power from the surroundings. So within that formation, if there isn’t an absolute disparity in power, the formation master is invincible.”
“Are you still the formation master?” Qin Wanwan astutely inquired. Hua Rong fell silent.
“The person who harmed me has formation skills far superior to mine. He took my blood and probably… altered the formation.”
Qin Wanwan understood.
This Hua Rong was now purely a power bank, used to charge the formation. Coming out wouldn’t be of much use. Moreover, judging from his current mental state, releasing him might add a formidable enemy.
“Understood.” Qin Wanwan nodded. “I’m clear on the situation.”
“So now you can open the coffin, right?”
“Well,” Qin Wanwan thought about how to phrase this without irritating Hua Rong. “I sympathize with your plight, but I think you might still need to receive treatment in the coffin. Don’t worry, I’ll stop this blood transfusion formation for you. You rest first. I’ll go out and continue forming my Nascent Soul. You don’t need to trouble yourself helping on our end.”
Stopping the blood transfusion formation meant the Linglong Jade temporarily couldn’t manifest—at least it would buy some time.
As she spoke, Qin Wanwan raised her hand and pulled out the tubes one by one.
Hua Rong’s voice turned cold: “You deceived me!”
“I didn’t deceive you,” Qin Wanwan explained. “After understanding your condition, I just hope you can calm down a bit more before being released. I’ll come release you another day.”
With that, Qin Wanwan pulled out the last tube, dusted off her hands, and stood up: “City Lord Hua, I’ll take my leave first.”
“Want to leave?!” Hua Rong was thoroughly enraged. In an instant, bloody whips burst forth from the surroundings, charging straight at Qin Wanwan.
Qin Wanwan was wrapped around the waist by a blood whip and yanked violently back toward the coffin, slamming hard against it.
“Open! Open it for me!”
Hua Rong was extremely irate: “Or I’ll kill you!”
Qin Wanwan felt like her waist was about to break from the impact. She clenched her fists.
“You know what?”
Qin Wanwan raised her hand to support her waist, slowly getting up: “Besides Jian Xingzhi, you’re the second person who’s hurt me this badly.”
“Open it quickly!” Another whip lashed toward Qin Wanwan from the side. This time Qin Wanwan didn’t hesitate. She raised her hand and drew her sword. The sword light instantly severed the whip. Before Hua Rong could even react, the long sword, carrying Qin Wanwan’s spiritual power and the Lonely Mountain Technique, directly pierced into the coffin, penetrating through the entire coffin.
Hua Rong’s voice stopped abruptly. Blood dripped from the sword tip.
Qin Wanwan gasped while supporting her waist. At that very instant, she felt something beneath the sword shaking violently. Sensing danger, Qin Wanwan quickly withdrew her sword, split open the cavern with one strike, and leaped straight out from the Puzzle Beast’s body!
She had just jumped out of the Puzzle Beast’s body when she saw Xie Gutang returning. Seeing joy flash across Xie Gutang’s face, he teleported before her. Just as he was about to speak, he sensed something. His expression changed drastically. He grabbed her and pulled her behind him, raising his hand to set up a barrier that collided with the suddenly exploding spiritual power.
This spiritual power was too strong. Both Qin Wanwan and Xie Gutang were sent flying. The spiritual energy attacked them madly like it had gone insane.
Back then, Hua Rong had devoured Lin Yanzhi’s spiritual energy, but probably could never properly internalize it, so it remained stored in his body in its spiritual energy state. He was like a huge container, and now that Qin Wanwan had stabbed him like this, he actually exploded.
At this moment, the spiritual energy was masterless, but having stayed in Hua Rong’s body too long, it was still controlled by Hua Rong. As a final act of revenge, it charged toward Qin Wanwan.
Qin Wanwan roughly understood Hua Rong’s intent and gritted her teeth.
She simply sat down cross-legged and raised her hand to set up the Lonely Mountain Nascent Soul Formation.
Xie Gutang couldn’t help but call out: “What are you doing?”
“So much spiritual energy would be wasted if I don’t consume it.” Qin Wanwan closed her eyes and directly pulled that spiritual energy into her body, continuing her grand enterprise of Nascent Soul formation. She had almost completed body tempering earlier. Now as this spiritual energy entered her body, it was like an ocean flowing into a great river, surging and pouring throughout her body, rushing into her golden core.
“You mustn’t!”
Seeing her form her Nascent Soul this way, Xie Gutang blocked the spiritual energy attacking them while instructing her: “If you form your Nascent Soul like this, your golden core won’t be able to contain so much spiritual energy. You’ll die!”
In the past, she probably really would have died, but with the Supreme Pole Sect’s heart technique—a perpetual motion machine kind of cultivation method—as long as she could endure the pain, her chances of dying weren’t high.
Moreover, the Nascent Soul formation of Lonely Mountain would limit the flow of spiritual energy to some extent, which was also a kind of protection.
Qin Wanwan didn’t speak. She had already begun forming her Nascent Soul. Xie Gutang couldn’t interrupt her either. Watching as Hua Rong’s spiritual energy was gradually devoured by her bit by bit, Hua Rong’s soul seemed to sense this and immediately tried to flee. But the formation around Qin Wanwan seemed to target him specifically, like a vortex drawing him in. Finally trapped within the formation, he transformed into spiritual energy that rushed into Qin Wanwan’s body.
Seeing Qin Wanwan act so recklessly, Xie Gutang sighed and sat down cross-legged beside her to protect her. He looked at her face, saw the spiritual energy flowing around her, and thinking of the pain brought by Nascent Soul formation, couldn’t help but admire Qin Wanwan somewhat.
Normally, Nascent Soul formation already brought unbearable pain to ordinary people. Qin Wanwan rashly absorbing so much spiritual energy into her body would make the suffering ten times, a hundred times greater. Yet she remained composed, face not flushed, breath not gasping, showing no sign of suffering. This showed her mental fortitude was far beyond ordinary people.
Xie Gutang was marveling at this when he saw tears flowing from Qin Wanwan’s eyes.
Then she began to sob, crying while meditating.
“Why does it hurt so much…” Qin Wanwan began wailing. “Why does it hurt so much?!”
Xie Gutang stared in shock. Hearing Qin Wanwan’s wailing, he really wanted to advise her—maybe don’t bother forming it.
Honestly, in his entire life, this was the first time he’d watched someone cry while forming their Nascent Soul.
While Qin Wanwan wailed and cried through her Nascent Soul formation, Jian Xingzhi was being carried to the formation eye.
He felt his coffin being set down. Lying in the coffin, he heard someone walking to the coffin’s edge and raising their hand to pull open the coffin lid.
“We meet again.”
The other party tilted his head with a light laugh.
Jian Xingzhi opened his eyes and saw a face extremely similar to his own. But this face was obviously forged. Qin Wanwan might not see through it, but having traveled far and wide in the cultivation world, this kind of low-level disguise technique was child’s play in his eyes.
He saw through to the other’s true face at a glance—just an ordinary young man’s features. His cultivation was only Nascent Soul. The only thing worth noting was the number 40 floating above his head.
Jian Xingzhi was silent for a moment before speaking with certainty: “Hundred Years Worry.”
The other person was stunned, then quite surprised: “You can actually tell?”
With such a green favorability value floating above your head, it’s hard not to notice.
“Since you’ve recognized me, no matter,” the other person tilted his head. “I really like this body of yours. Why don’t you go back and give him to me?”
“No.”
“This isn’t for you to choose.”
Hundred Years Worry raised his hand and struck urgently at Jian Xingzhi’s chest. Jian Xingzhi instantly condensed his sword to block in front of him and flew out with a kick. Hundred Years Worry quickly retreated. Jian Xingzhi leaped sharply from the coffin and drew his sword to strike.
Right now Hundred Years Worry was only Nascent Soul stage. With his Core Formation body, even without using divine sense, cross-level killing a Nascent Soul cultivator wasn’t difficult.
The two fought back and forth. Hundred Years Worry smiled slightly: “You probably don’t know—here, I won’t lose.”
The moment his words fell, he raised his hand. Spiritual power instantly converged and struck toward Jian Xingzhi with a devastating blow, directly smashing him back into the coffin!
Jian Xingzhi immediately scrambled up. At that very instant, he heard Jun Shu shout loudly: “Fellow Daoist Jian, we’ve come to rescue you!”
The moment the words fell, Shen Zhiming’s sword energy arrived first. Hundred Years Worry nimbly leaped, narrowly dodging the sword energy.
Then he heard Liu Feixu shout from the opposite direction: “Fellow Daoist Jian, I’ve come to rescue you!”
With that, countless butterflies flew toward Hundred Years Worry like flying daggers. At the same time, an icy sword intent swept urgently from the side. With a thunderous sound, Ning Buyan appeared behind the wall, coughing and holding his sword.
“Fellow Daoist Jian, I won’t fail Young Master Xie’s trust. I will definitely bring you back safely.”
In an instant, Hundred Years Worry was surrounded by enemies on three sides. Everyone looked at each other, not understanding why they were all here.
Jian Xingzhi thought about it—here were two Nascent Soul cultivators, two Tribulation Crossing cultivators, and one Divine Transformation cultivator. He’d let them fight. He’d come out after they finished.
So he lay back down in the coffin and even pulled the coffin lid back over himself.
—
**Author’s Notes:**
**[Mini Theater 1]**
Long Aotian in the beginning:
“I’ll kill him, I’ll beat him to death. How can I not fight when others are fighting?! I have to fight to the very last moment!”
Long Aotian now:
“You all fight. I’ve already closed the coffin lid.”
Wan-mei in the beginning:
“I’ll lie down first. In case he loses, I’ll have to lie down again anyway.”
Wan-mei now:
“Anyone who hits me like this, besides Jian Xingzhi, is dead.”
**[Mini Theater 2]**
Hua Rong: “A hundred years ago, Immaculate Daoist Lord fell into demonic cultivation and wanted to slaughter the city. I stopped him. A hundred years later, I finally understand—he wanted to slaughter the city for a reason.”
Ghost City: A place where two consecutive city lords have fallen into demonic cultivation due to excessive work pressure.