On the Three Sacred Mountains, spiritual power could not be gathered. Staying here for a long time was an extremely oppressive and painful experience for cultivators, like trapping a large fish in a shallow, visible-bottomed puddle. Sima Jiao had been here for five hundred years, and at this moment, he had finally completely escaped this cage.
With the breaking of those iron chains and the shattering of the jade tablets inscribed with “seal,” towering spiritual power surged from the ruins below. Spiritual energy, so dense it became substantial, enveloped the entire Three Sacred Mountains like a mist, instantly gathering into a sea of clouds. This abundant spiritual energy was so rich that even a novice like Liao Tingyan, who knew nothing about cultivation, instinctively began absorbing the spiritual energy flowing into her body, feeling even better than the last time.
The surviving bigwigs on the scene, struck by this spiritual energy, displayed a colorful array of expressions, truly spectacular.
The Three Sacred Mountains were originally spiritual mountains, with the most concentrated and pure spiritual energy. When initially imprisoning Sima Jiao, some people had racked their brains to have this formation isolate the local spiritual veins. That spiritual energy had been diverted through underground channels to other parts of Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Who benefited from these places was self-evident. Now, with Sima Jiao’s actions, countless interests within Gengchen Immortal Mansion would be destroyed.
However, this wasn’t the most serious matter. The most serious was that Sima Jiao had completely broken free, and as he had said before, he definitely wouldn’t let them off. Laughably, many had thought that after Sima Jiao stayed here for five hundred years, appearing so deranged, he might be extremely weak when he came out. At that time, they could act together, not fearing they couldn’t control him.
Half a month ago, the sect leader wanted to temporarily appease him, sending many people with different intentions to probe. Many didn’t take it seriously, feeling that this great threat from years ago was no longer a concern. But looking now, it wasn’t just a concern—it was a major disaster.
“Lord Cizang, seeing how the Three Sacred Mountains have been destroyed, why don’t you temporarily move to White Deer Cliff? When the Three Sacred Mountains are repaired, we’ll invite you back?” A young-looking man spoke as if nothing had happened.
The others silently cursed him for his shamelessness. This person was from the sect leader’s lineage, advocating for appeasing and befriending Sima Jiao. He stepped forward now to declare his position, separating himself, lest the ancestor before them become displeased and kill a few more people. He was entirely capable of such actions.
Whether to kill or spare, there had to be some response, but Sima Jiao completely ignored them. He stared expressionlessly at Liao Tingyan in his arms.
Earlier, they had noticed the woman in the ancestral master’s arms, but with life-and-death matters at hand, they hadn’t paid much attention. With such low cultivation, in their eyes, she was just an ant. It would be strange if the ancestor holding an ant in his hand attracted attention.
But now, due to Sima Jiao’s strange silence, the others unconsciously turned their gaze to that woman.
It seemed… she was one of the hundred female disciples sent in earlier. Who was she? These hundred people were supposedly selected from all branches, but in reality, quotas had long been decided by various palaces. For her to enter, she must have been arranged by some bigwig from one of the palaces, certainly having something different about her. However, none of the present knew which force had sent her in, yet she had managed to survive until now.
They glanced at the ruins below. Of the hundred people sent in, probably only this one remained alive. What abilities did this person have to be protected at the side of that cruel, bloodthirsty tyrant ancestor? Could it be that the ancestor had taken a liking to this female disciple? Impossible, impossible. Thinking of what had happened back then, they denied this guess in their hearts.
If someday Sima Jiao could take a liking to any woman, it would be like the sun rising from the West. The cultivation world allying with the demon realm through marriage was impossible.
Liao Tingyan felt several burning gazes but pretended not to notice, rigidly holding the ancestor’s waist, motionless as if paused.
“My waist… is slim?” After a long while, Sima Jiao finally repeated this.
It was a question, so the playing-dead Liao Tingyan was forced to speak. “Yes, I think maybe it’s because you’ve been imprisoned for so long and starved to this state.”
The Three Sacred Mountains had no food at all, so of course he was starving. In her spare time, she would imagine this ancestor being imprisoned with no one bringing food, enduring hunger, and gradually becoming twisted. Although she imagined this, she knew such things couldn’t be said aloud, or it would mean death. Despite knowing this, the situation was beyond her control. The ancestor’s truth buff could be activated at any time, anywhere, making normal communication impossible. The plastic boss-employee relationship she had planned instantly took on a different flavor.
“You’re right,” Sima Jiao said. “The suffering I’ve endured should be paid back one by one.”
Liao Tingyan: “?” No, when did I say such a thing?
Sima Jiao looked toward the few survivors there. These people were no ordinary individuals. Seeing his expression, they instinctively tried to escape, but the spiritual energy had returned to heaven and earth, and Sima Jiao was now even more ferocious. A moment later, of those alive on the scene, only Sima Jiao and Liao Tingyan remained.
Regardless of which faction they belonged to, or whether they harbored ill intentions toward Sima Jiao, it made no difference to him. If he wanted to kill, he would kill. In this world, no one would truly have good intentions toward him, especially those from Gengchen Immortal Mansion who knew all his secrets and past.
Liao Tingyan witnessed all this, her entire body trembling, instinctively burying her face in Sima Jiao’s chest. After making this move, she realized that the one causing her fear was the person she was now embracing. Honestly, if they weren’t still in mid-air, she would have let go immediately.
She didn’t let go, and Sima Jiao instead lifted her higher in his arms. His other hand slowly stroked up from her back, all the way to the nape of her neck. Liao Tingyan didn’t know what he was doing, but she felt a sense of crisis. She swore this ancestor was considering whether to break her neck. If she had fur, it would definitely all stand on end from this stroke.
Sima Jiao looked down at her, indeed seeming to be contemplating something, somewhat absent-minded, his hand unconsciously stroking Liao Tingyan’s back again. His light, slow, yet dangerous movements made Liao Tingyan’s heart follow his actions. She also bristled with his movements. In Sima Jiao’s eyes, with each stroke, Liao Tingyan would hold her breath, and when he released his hand, she would exhale.
After this back and forth three times, Liao Tingyan stopped responding.
Damn it, just kill me if you’re going to. This back-and-forth is too exhausting.
Sima Jiao didn’t kill her. He carried her back to the central tower, which had collapsed by a small half. Finally touching solid ground, Liao Tingyan still felt her feet were soft and wobbly, her entire body feeling weak. She immediately took out a chair from her pouch and sat down.
Sima Jiao walked past her, step by step into the jade pond where the red lotus grew. He walked in and tore open his wrist. Strands of red seeped into the water, strangely not dispersing, but gathering at the center.
Liao Tingyan sat watching for a long time, until the sky brightened, and Sima Jiao still showed no reaction. She saw the big black snake poking its head around in the dawn light. With only the three of them left alive here, Liao Tingyan waved at the black snake, but it timidly didn’t dare approach, even retracting its head.
Fine then. Liao Tingyan hadn’t slept all night and was extremely tired, but unfortunately, her bed had been destroyed, leaving her with nowhere to rest. After some thought, she took out cloth and rope, made some quick adjustments, and created a hammock, hanging it between two pillars before lying down in it.
Before falling asleep, Liao Tingyan saw that in the jade pond, Sima Jiao’s blood had transformed into a red lotus growing out of the water, with faint flames appearing above it. So that’s how that precious lotus flower grew. Thinking about it this way, wasn’t this ancestor the greatest treasure? Others needed rare materials to level up, but he was a rare material. No wonder he was so impressive.
Liao Tingyan fell asleep. Shortly after she slept, the sun came out completely. The red lotus and flame in the jade pond resumed their usual appearance. Sima Jiao, dripping wet, walked out of the jade pond. With each step, the water on his body evaporated into thin air. By the time he reached Liao Tingyan’s side, only a slight dampness remained.
Sima Jiao’s lips were much paler, lacking the fierce aura of the past. His entire person now had only two colors, black and white, making him even more alarming. He bent down, approached Liao Tingyan, and lay down.
When Liao Tingyan woke up from her nap, she felt something was off. Her hammock was quite large, but now it felt cramped.
The murderous ancestral master was lying beside her, seemingly asleep. His head was nestled in the crook of her neck, his gentle breathing caressing her neck and collarbone. What she had pulled over herself as a cover while sleeping was this ancestor’s robe and sleeve. Because the hammock gathered people inward, she was entirely in Sima Jiao’s embrace, with several strands of his long black hair draped across her chest.
Liao Tingyan: This won’t do; I’m going to suffocate. What’s going on? I just took a nap, and I got slept with.
Her eyes glanced outward, seeing the big black snake coiled beneath the hammock, curled into a large roll, also asleep.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly. The dark clouds that had been hovering above the central tower seemed to have dispersed along with the broken seals. Warm sunlight directly illuminated the ruins, along with white misty spiritual energy, floating gently in the air. She turned her head to look at the jade pond not far away, where a more beautiful red lotus bloomed quietly, and the foul-mouthed flame was as quiet as a chicken.
It was extremely quiet. Liao Tingyan didn’t dare move, just lying there for a while, and unknowingly fell asleep again.
There’s nothing that can’t be faced. If there is, just sleep on it.
…
The disturbance from the Three Sacred Mountains attracted the attention of all the bigwigs in Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Even those in seclusion, who hadn’t managed affairs for years and only thought about breaking through barriers to ascend, almost all came out.
The notable families within Gengchen Immortal Mansion numbered in the hundreds. The top few families had always controlled several palaces and powerful branches. Below them, they had affiliated families. Take Sect Leader Shi Qianlü’s Shi lineage: the main family alone had over ten thousand disciples with the surname Shi. If all branches and disciples with other surnames were included, the number reached hundreds of thousands. The enormous power of one family was already comparable to a medium-sized sect outside. With so many complex forces intertwined to form Gengchen Immortal Mansion, how many different voices there were was imaginable.
Regarding the last bloodline of the Fengshan clan, this had been a difficult problem for many years, and until now, there was no unified method of disposal. The events that occurred at the Three Sacred Mountains this time aroused countless complex thoughts in these people.
Over a hundred disciple soul lamps were almost completely extinguished in one night, leaving only a solitary one still burning. And the dozen or so outstanding talents and formidable figures who went to monitor and gather information had also been completely wiped out.
Sect Leader Shi Qianlü gathered a man’s soul and asked calmly: “Geyan, what exactly happened at the Three Sacred Mountains?”
Shi Geyan was the young man who had spoken up to clarify his position at the Three Sacred Mountains earlier. Now his soul appeared, revealing a bitter smile. “Grand-Uncle, that Lord Cizang is indeed as you said, cruel and bloodthirsty. Those of us who went to gather information, regardless of whether we posed a threat to him or not, were all killed by him. Fortunately, he didn’t eliminate everyone, leaving one soul of mine intact.”
Shi Qianlü showed no surprise, only pondered for a moment and said: “One disciple’s life lamp has not been extinguished. Do you know what’s going on?”
Shi Geyan: “This, I was very surprised too. There was a female disciple who seemed to be quite favored by Lord Cizang, protected at his side.”
Shi Qianlü finally showed some astonishment. “Really?”
Shi Geyan: “Indeed so. Not just me, others saw it too.”
“So it’s true.” Shi Qianlü pondered for a moment, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes. “Perhaps this is an opportunity for us.”