The Kunwu people who had been rushing toward the Hall of All Heavens stopped in their tracks at this moment, not daring to take another step forward. They could only watch helplessly as that corpse fell from the heights, their hearts filled with tremendous bewilderment.

This was True Person Hengxu…

His every word and deed in the past had been beyond reproach, once earning the submission of cultivators throughout the world. Now he drew his sword in suicide, his posthumous reputation completely destroyed!

The flowing blood streamed over that pile of iron rust on the ground like a small river, following the hall’s stone steps, descending level by level.

The blazing heavenly light shone down, dazzling people’s eyes.

All cultivators, regardless of which sect they came from, felt both shock and lamentation at this moment…

Matters of life and death seemed simple to speak of, yet were difficult to see through.

True Person Hengxu’s life had been turbulent, yet he drew his sword in suicide mid-conversation without the slightest hesitation!

Though he had many questionable evil deeds in life, even those were resolved at this point.

Qu Zhengfeng only gazed distantly at True Person Hengxu’s fallen remains, feeling his consciousness disappearing from this world. At this moment, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Countless grievances, myriad hatreds…

Thus concluded.

Yet what repeatedly echoed in his mind and heart was that long gaze when Jian Chou appeared, and that resolute oath just now…

“Amitabha…”

The three Buddhist high monks, seeing this situation, all sighed deeply, while the Buddhist disciples began reciting the rebirth mantra.

But everyone knew True Person Hengxu would have no rebirth.

Even if the Extreme Domain’s reincarnation were restored, it required the soul to remain at death. For cultivators constantly facing the danger of soul destruction, this held little meaning.

Immortal Xuanyue and others also wore gloomy expressions.

But at this time, no one dared speak.

Only Fudao Shanren swayed several times, then after standing silently for a long while, walked forward to True Person Hengxu’s fallen body.

No one could see what expression he wore at this moment.

Only he himself knew how desolate his heart felt.

A cultivator’s life was long, and as years passed, how many true friends could one have? He and Hengxu had once opened their hearts to each other. He had watched his high tower rise and seen his great mansion fall. He felt all worldly prosperity was false, and fame and desire corrupted human hearts.

He bent down, slowly raising his hand to cover True Person Hengxu’s lifeless face, closing his unclosed eyes.

A gentle breeze came, stirring up that blood-stained iron rust.

Fudao suddenly recalled years ago under the Fusang Divine Tree, when Hengxu saw the ground covered in sword rust and said, “Heaven gave me talent, it must have purpose”…

At this moment, he felt deeply sorrowful.

Throughout his life, he had lived in schemes, never content with mediocrity. Because of that unwilling breath, he had brewed one tragedy after another, finally reaching today’s fatal calamity.

Even at death, he hadn’t put down that calculating heart.

Using Kunwu’s promise not to pursue Qu Zhengfeng as leverage, he forced Jian Chou to swear an oath. Once Jian Chou swore, he also protected Xie Buchen. With Xie Buchen’s talent and ability, he could surely lead Kunwu out of today’s bloody predicament and restore Kunwu’s former glory…

Born for Kunwu, died for Kunwu!

Today’s death with dao destroyed was merely one Hengxu, while worldly struggles would never end.

“Gratitude and resentment concluded in one day, all matters become empty void…”

He only sighed deeply, withdrawing his hand to look at Hengxu’s blood-stained face. His entire aura began changing violently.

It was a feeling of complete letting go…

No more worldly struggles, eliminating past obsessions.

No more vengeance, no more hatred, even the resentment toward Hengxu and Kunwu accumulated over centuries had dissipated.

Body and mind clear, thoughts unobstructed, all worldly matters released!

His cultivation actually climbed steadily!

Yet it gave no sense of steepness, as if naturally flowing like water reaching its course – out of body, returning to void, having boundaries, straight to penetrating heaven!

Above the cloud sea, all mighty cultivators were shocked!

But Fudao Shanren himself seemed unaware, or perhaps no longer cared. He only stood up, turned to Jian Chou, and tossed her the Imperial Heaven Mirror, sighing: “Yashan is entrusted to you.”

“Master…”

Jian Chou caught the Imperial Heaven Mirror, feeling its weight heavy in her hands. She vaguely realized what was happening, her throat seeming blocked, her voice hoarse.

She had countless words to say but ultimately couldn’t speak a single sentence.

Fudao Shanren took in her expression, recalling when he took her as disciple on the human islands. It seemed like events from long, long ago.

So he said, “Time to go.”

Five-colored radiance fell from the firmament, enveloping him. With a gentle wave of his hand, his Daoist robes showed no trace of defilement. His figure rose with the light, swaying as it gradually thinned and disappeared from this realm.

It was actually “one step to heaven, daylight ascension”!

Countless cultivators, witnessing this scene, felt their hearts race with yearning.

But thinking of the opportunity that allowed Fudao Shanren to achieve this breakthrough, they felt heavy-hearted with indescribable weight.

It seemed the Mountain Man and True Person had once been close friends.

Today’s breakthrough and ascension might not be without some heart-weariness and disappointment.

The two great pillars of Kunwu and Yashan from the past had stood side by side in the world. Now one drew his sword to atone to the world, while the other achieved enlightenment and ascended in daylight. Dimly, it seemed like the end of an era.

And the end of an old era was often accompanied by the arrival of a new one.

How many gazes fell upon Jian Chou, upon Xie Buchen?

But no one spoke.

At this moment, only silence could convey the sense of those vast, distant, irreversible years…

It was at such a moment that Qu Zhengfeng turned around.

When everyone was immersed in what had just occurred, such a turning seemed how abrupt?

Several Kunwu disciples spotted him almost immediately.

Today’s great calamity had stained the mountain with blood. How many familiar fellow disciples had perished under his sword? Without Qu Zhengfeng, there would be no today’s calamity, and True Person Hengxu wouldn’t have drawn his sword in suicide!

Deep hatred festered in everyone’s hearts.

Their eyes red, they almost immediately shouted harshly: “After washing our Kunwu in blood, you still want to just walk away? Stop!”

This voice filled with hatred immediately awakened everyone from their previous reverie, including Jian Chou who now held the Imperial Heaven Mirror!

She frowned and turned to look.

She saw all present Kunwu cultivators had drawn their swords in unison, blocking Qu Zhengfeng’s path with absolutely no intention of letting things end peacefully!

All the mighty cultivators had heard clearly – True Person Hengxu had promised that if Jian Chou swore not to seek revenge against Kunwu or Xie Buchen, then all past grievances would be forgotten.

For Kunwu’s people to draw swords again now was understandable but ultimately wrong.

Everyone frowned and was about to speak to stop them.

But no one expected that at this tense moment, Qu Zhengfeng would raise the massive Yashan Sword again!

That vast and mighty aura instantly swept across the cloud sea!

All mighty cultivators were shocked.

The Kunwu cultivators, recalling his earlier sword-wielding rampage and killing spree, shouted in unison and automatically formed a sword formation, attacking him!

Xie Buchen, standing outside the hall, saw Qu Zhengfeng draw his sword and almost simultaneously cried out with Wang Que: “Stop—”

But faster than their voices was Jian Chou’s figure!

She had deeply experienced the power of Kunwu’s sword formation on the battlefield of the Nineteen Continents, let alone this strike from many cultivators filled with hatred and fury!

Without thinking, she blocked in front of Qu Zhengfeng!

With a thunderous boom, like vast oceans surging upward, thousands of sword lights wove together above the cloud sea into a terrifying column of light, striking down toward Jian Chou and Qu Zhengfeng behind her!

But before it could even approach, sword rain fell from the sky!

In that lightning instant, Jian Chou activated Yixiantian’s sword intent, condensing the sky’s clouds into rain and transforming them into swords, sweeping toward the opposing Kunwu cultivators!

Though thousands of cultivators joined forces, they still weren’t her match!

One sword commanded, none could oppose!

Countless mighty cultivators who hadn’t yet acted were stunned, while the many Kunwu cultivators who had attacked saw their sword light collapse, nearly spitting blood from Jian Chou’s counterattack!

Such domineering protection could truly be called indiscriminate!

The Kunwu cultivators immediately glared with fury.

But in the next moment, their gazes involuntarily turned away, even carrying a disbelieving horror as they looked behind Jian Chou!

It was an extremely ominous look…

Falling into Jian Chou’s eyes, she saw everyone had forgotten to condemn her, forgotten why they had drawn swords, their raised swords all frozen, their stunned faces filling her heart with unease.

All sound in the world seemed to vanish at this moment.

After a moment of stillness, it thunderously crashed into her ears.

“Senior Brother!!!”

“Your Majesty the Sword Emperor…”

“Fellow Daoist Qu!”

“Senior Brother—”

…

The overlapping voices wove together, impossible to distinguish where they came from or who spoke them.

Jian Chou suddenly realized something.

But her mind held only silent, empty vastness.

She slowly turned around. All the faces around her – shocked, fearful, or confused – passed before her eyes without leaving a trace.

The passing wind even reminded her of a certain evening…

When she first arrived at Yashan, having just passed the treacherous Yashan path, she saw a tall figure standing beside the Star-Plucking Platform.

The wind then had been just like this.

Qu Zhengfeng’s sword wasn’t aimed at the many Kunwu cultivators ahead, but had deeply pierced through his own chest…

Just as Jian Chou blocked all attacks from the front for him!

The blunt blade penetrated the human body as easily as piercing tofu, seemingly requiring no effort at all.

Entering from the front chest, exiting from the back.

“Drip, drip…”

Blood slid down the blade, dripping to the ground, gradually surging.

This sword strike was too decisive.

It seemed to leave no room for anyone to salvage the situation.

The entire blade had pierced through, leaving only a section of the hilt still gripped in his hand…

It was truly like a nightmare.

Jian Chou saw his fluttering gold-woven robes, saw his blood-stained hands, and saw his calm face.

But in this instant, she alone couldn’t read that complex gaze.

She opened her mouth to cry out, but the suddenly fierce cold wind of heaven and earth howled in, scattering her voice into the wind, gone in a blink.

With a “thud,” Qu Zhengfeng fell into the surging cloud sea. The layers of clouds supported his blood-stained body as the Sea Light Sword also fell among the clouds, its radiance gradually dimming.

Inside and out, all cultivators were stunned!

No one understood why Qu Zhengfeng would do this.

Jian Chou had clearly sworn before True Person Hengxu’s suicide that past grievances would be forgotten. Why was this necessary, why this suffering?!

The Yashan Sword, one of Yashan’s three swords.

Born from within Yashan’s mountain body, it was Yashan’s most spiritually beautiful and righteous sword. Though made of stone, it cut iron like mud, destroying souls and crushing spirits with ease.

Even now buried in its master’s body, its power hadn’t diminished at all.

Only that heroic blood, pouring over the blade, made the sword sense profound sorrow, trembling and singing…

Jian Chou’s entire body had grown cold beyond feeling. She didn’t even know if she still tightly gripped Yixiantian, only walking forward one step, then another.

Seemingly steady, yet seemingly unsteady.

Qu Zhengfeng’s gaze fell upon her face, only saying: “I’m sorry…”

Ultimately, he had failed her.

To avenge this grievance, he had torn open Jian Chou’s past wounds that she didn’t want known before others. Now he had failed her heart in swearing that oath for his sake, stubbornly insisting on his own way.

But he was never one to cling to life…

A true man standing in the world should be a hero in life and a hero in death, daring to act and take responsibility!

Knowing it was evil, yet insisting on it;

Knowing it was wrong, yet demanding it!

But he was born of Yashan, receiving his teachers’ full instruction, understanding worldly justice. Even if becoming a demon, how could he bear to lose that proud backbone and heroic spirit of a Yashan disciple?

When he decided to commit today’s countless killings, he had already planned his predetermined ending. Even if the world’s cultivators could tolerate his departure today, allowing him to continue being his Sword Emperor in tomorrow’s star sea, he couldn’t tolerate carrying all this and living shamelessly without guilt…

What difference would that be from Kunwu’s rats, from True Person Hengxu?

He might pass the world’s cultivators’ test, but couldn’t pass his own heart’s test!

The sun and moon shone clearly, the universe was bright…

Truly an incomparably fine day.

Qu Zhengfeng blinked, seemingly finding the heavenly light too bright, yet a smile slowly emerged at his lips.

The pure sword force of the Yashan Sword cleansed his shell, shuttling through his limbs and body, penetrating his nascent soul and spirit – irreversible, causing his meridians to appear like ripples on water.

Jian Chou suddenly saw clearly!

His broad chest was actually empty…

At this moment, she suddenly felt seized by a giant hand, unable to breathe, the pain crushing and oppressive!

It was that Yashan heart of pure devotion!

With what kind of determination had Qu Zhengfeng of the past torn that burning heart from his chest and cast it into those bone-gnawing Yellow Springs!

She knelt beside him, golden light like water waves flowing from her palms, wanting to protect his spirit constantly being destroyed by the Yashan Sword.

But she couldn’t!

It was a mighty force even reincarnation’s power couldn’t redeem, like rolling river waters carrying Qu Zhengfeng toward his predetermined fate, unable to turn back…

In a trance, joyful voices seemed to echo above Kunwu’s cloud sea.

It was Sect Leader Zheng Yao’s daily complaints about complex affairs, Master Fudao’s endless nagging while holding chicken legs; it was the shocked gasps throughout the mountain when Jian Chou used the Heaven-Flipping Seal to blast a huge hole in the Scripture Pavilion on her Foundation Establishment day; it was everyone’s playful jeering when the troublesome Shen Jiu flaunted his peach blossom fan while swindling everywhere; it was Chen Weishan’s half-day struggle to say one sentence, Kou Qianzhi’s laughter in his downfall; it was Bai Yin’s landscape paintings spread flat, Yu Zhifei’s bold words about traveling all mountains and rivers before wandering, and Jiang He’s shy, introverted gaze…

And also…

That female cultivator who should have been his junior sister but became his senior sister, her unconvinced stance with sword still sheathed.

Yashan, oh Yashan…

Ultimately, he couldn’t return.

Couldn’t return to the Star-Plucking Platform, enter the Moon-Embracing Hall, ascend the Sword-Drawing Platform, climb the Sword-Sheathing Peak…

But he had no regrets in this life!

No regrets entering this Yashan!

All reluctance and attachment gathered only into wetness in his eyes. Qu Zhengfeng could clearly feel his spirit dissipating, and in this final glance, he saw the Sea Light Sword that had fallen in the cloud sea trembling as it flew up.

As tears fell, his vision blurred.

Only by that will engraved in bone and blood did he reach out his hand, seeming to want to grasp that sword from afar!

Or perhaps it was just a pointing gesture…

Jian Chou heard his low voice and immediately wept like rain!

“Senior Sister, the sword… has it gone home…”

The Sea Light Sword floated up, passing through the cloud layers, transforming into a swift dark blue sword light. Like countless masterless Yashan swords over the millennia, it headed northwest.

Jian Chou knew it would ultimately return to the armory.

To wait for its next sword master.

Above the cloud sea, countless Yashan disciples finally wailed in grief, a scene of sorrow, sobbing uncontrollably.

Jian Chou knelt beside his cold body, tears blurring her vision. She only hazily answered: “It’s gone home, Senior Brother, the sword… has gone home…”