Chapter 38
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 38
The disciples inside the Communal Alchemy Room erupted in agitated murmurs.
“How could that be?”
“Did someone forge the Pill Inspection Seal?”
“If it really is a Vitality-Raising Pill from our sect…”
Lee Hyun felt a creeping sense of unease.
Why today, of all days?
Less than half a day had passed since the three flying boats departed the main mountain.
This can’t be a coincidence. But they couldn’t possibly attack the Everlasting Spring Sect with merely six Foundation Establishment cultivators…
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Just as the alarm bells rang out once more, Go Won-hak descended from the sky in a shroud of spiritual light, touching down before the Communal Alchemy Room. Two Foundation Establishment elders of Pill Cauldron Peak followed closely behind him.
“Greetings, Peak Lord Go!”
Go Won-hak raised a hand to cut off their greetings.
“Those in the middle of pill condensation, seal your cauldrons and extinguish your fires immediately! All disciples at or above the late Qi Refining stage, board the flying boats. The rest of you, take positions at the auxiliary formation stations.”
“Yes, Peak Lord!”
The disciples moved in unison.
Outside the Yang Fire Courtyard, several flying boats hovered in the air.
“Only disciples of the late Qi Refining stage or higher! Everyone else, get inside the Yang Fire Courtyard! Do not leave the peak under any circumstances!”
Lee Hyun, Sim Yeon-ju, and Bae Gyeong-song boarded one of the flying boats.
Hummm—
Crafted from spirit wood, the flying boat departed Pill Cauldron Peak, speeding toward Outer Affairs Peak.
At the same time, flying boats of various sizes rose into the sky from the sect’s other peaks.
Over a dozen streaks of spiritual light—Foundation Establishment cultivators—flew toward Outer Affairs Peak ahead of the vessels. The remaining cultivators stayed behind at key locations across the Nine Peaks: the formation stations, storehouses, the Scripture Pavilion, and the Spirit Beast Courtyard.
High above Formation Craft Peak, an elder holding flags directed the flight paths of the vessels, while the azure mist filling the valleys between the Nine Peaks surged like a turbulent ocean.
Both the outer and inner formations are still intact…
As the boat drew closer to Outer Affairs Peak, the roar of the crowd became audible.
“Sect Leader of Everlasting Spring, come out and apologize!”
“Are you hiding behind your gates after killing people with counterfeit Vitality-Raising Pills?!”
“Compensate us for the cultivation and the lives of the dead!”
The Outer Affairs Market of the Everlasting Spring Sect.
The broad streets, typically bustling with merchant carriages and cultivators, were packed to the brim.
Most were Qi Refining cultivators, but among them, the potent auras of six Foundation Establishment experts could be distinctly felt.
The flying boat touched down upon a stone platform inside the inner formation that separated the market from the Nine Peaks. Lee Hyun, Sim Yeon-ju, and Bae Gyeong-song took their places behind the azure barrier alongside the other disciples.
Dozens of stretchers lay in the center of the street.
The cultivators lying upon them were all deathly pale. Dried, dark-red blood caked the mouths and nostrils of some; others convulsed violently or lay completely unconscious.
Behind them stood seven coffins draped in black cloth.
The sobs of weeping onlookers echoed across the street.
“My Senior Martial Brother’s meridians snapped right after he took the Vitality-Raising Pill! It bore the Everlasting Spring Sect’s Pill Inspection Seal!”
“The pills killed them!”
Raw anger and grief bled through their voices.
At the very least, the injuries and deaths before them did not seem feigned.
Inside the inner formation, more than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, including the Outer Affairs Peak Lord, stood arrayed. Physicians from Nectar Peak were ready to receive the wounded, formation masters from Formation Craft Peak inspected their stations, and cultivators of Spring Sword Peak lined up at regular intervals, creating a buffer zone between the crowd and the disciples.
Counting those guarding the main formation stations and critical pavilions across the mountain, there were still more than thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators remaining in the Everlasting Spring Sect.
The Outer Affairs Peak Lord addressed the crowd.
“If you hand over the pills and the bottles, we will verify what happened.”
A shout came from the crowd outside.
“How can we trust the culprits to examine the evidence themselves?!”
A stout Foundation Establishment cultivator clad in a blue robe stepped forward. In his hand, he held a small jade bottle. Affixed to its mouth was a Tier 1 Spirit-Sealing Talisman, and stamped clearly across its surface was a tree-shaped Pill Inspection Seal.
“Look at this!”
The cultivator held the jade bottle high.
“Is this not unmistakably the Everlasting Spring Sect’s Pill Inspection Seal?!”
The murmurs of the crowd swelled.
“It’s real!”
“Even the Everlasting Spring Sect can’t deny it!”
“The Sect Leader must come out in person!”
The Outer Affairs Peak Lord infused his voice with spiritual power.
“Even if the seal is genuine, that alone does not prove the pills inside originated from our sect! We will conduct a public appraisal in the presence of our Peak Lords and external alchemists appointed by you, and the entire process will be recorded upon an image-recording stone!”
“How is that any different from letting the fox guard the henhouse?!”
The Nectar Peak Lord stepped forward.
“Then let us set the pills aside for now and treat the wounded first. Our physicians will step outside the barrier and administer emergency care before your very eyes.”
An old crone holding a black staff sneered coldly.
“Isn’t that just a trick to erase the traces of poison from their bodies and claim there’s no proof?”
The Nectar Peak Lord’s expression hardened.
“Are you refusing even medical treatment?”
This time, an elderly man clad in mourning clothes cried out. Resting his hand atop one of the coffins, he glared fiercely at the Everlasting Spring Sect disciples.
“My grandson died after taking that Vitality-Raising Pill! It cost two hundred and sixty low-grade spirit stones! That was the wealth our family scraped together over three generations!”
His voice trembled.
“I lived only for that boy. Yet the Everlasting Spring Sect does nothing but claim it cannot acknowledge a thing until it inspects the pills!”
“We understand your grief. That is all the more reason to verify the truth with precision, is it not?”
“What else is there to verify?!”
The old man slammed his palm against the coffin.
Thud!
“Do you intend to cut open my dead child’s stomach just to pull the pill back out?!”
Sim Yeon-ju murmured quietly, “At this rate, there’s no room for dialogue…”
“It seems someone is deliberately preventing it,” Lee Hyun said.
Sim Yeon-ju looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Those Foundation Establishment cultivators.”
Lee Hyun surveyed them in turn: the stout cultivator who had spoken earlier, the crone with the black staff, and the four others who remained silent.
While they appeared to be championing the victims, they had each occupied one of six cardinal directions, subtly encircling the Outer Affairs Market.
That wasn’t all.
There were others lurking within the crowd who seemed to be concealing their realms with Qi-Concealment Techniques. The way the surrounding Qi Refining cultivators constantly yielded or shrank back from them made it obvious they were no ordinary rogue cultivators.
At that moment—
One of the young cultivators lying on a stretcher convulsed violently.
“Keugh!”
Dark-red blood erupted from his mouth.
“Myeong-ah!”
A middle-aged woman beside him screamed, clutching the young man.
“Wake up! Myeong-ah!”
A physician from Outer Affairs Peak shouted, “Bring him inside quickly! He must be treated at once!”
The Nectar Peak Lord acted immediately. “Open the barrier!”
A gap just wide enough for a single person parted in the inner formation’s barrier. A streak of azure light shot from the Nectar Peak Lord’s sleeve, wrapping around the young cultivator’s wrist and chest.
Yet before the azure light could seep into his meridians, the young man’s chest heaved violently.
Snap.
A sickening series of cracks resonated from within his body.
The young cultivator went limp.
The light faded from his eyes.
The middle-aged woman brought a trembling hand to her son’s nose but felt no breath.
“Aaaagh!”
A harrowing wail pierced the air of the Outer Affairs Market.
The tense atmosphere, which had been teetering on the edge, detonated in an instant.
“Another one died!”
“Someone died right in front of the Everlasting Spring Sect!”
“Drag out the ones responsible!”
Hundreds of cultivators surged toward the inner formation.
Disciples of Outer Affairs Peak hastily unsheathed their magical artifacts.
“Halt!”
“Approach any further, and it will be treated as an attack!”
“Strike them!”
“Those bastards never intended to heal us from the start!”
Someone launched a fireball from within the mob.
Whooosh!
The crimson fireball slammed into the inner formation’s barrier.
Boom!
The azure barrier rippled like water.
“Disciples, do not counterattack!”
The voice of the Spring Sword Peak Lord cut through the chaotic battlefield.
“First squad, reinforce the barrier! Second squad, secure a retreat route! Foundation Establishment elders, subdue only those casting spells from within the crowd!”
Multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators moved in unison.
A fierce gale whipped up, forming a low wall before the crowd.
Fwoosh—
Cultivators in the front ranks tumbled backward.
One of them struck their head against the stone paving, blood splattering outward.
“The Everlasting Spring Sect is slaughtering people!”
“They’re trying to silence us all!”
The Outer Affairs Peak Lord bellowed once more, “Clear the eastern path! Evacuate the wounded and those who don’t wish to fight first!”
Between the weeping and shouting, some attempted to flee the crowd, while others shoved people forcefully toward the inner barrier. As explosions compounded the chaos, controlling the mob became impossible.
It was then.
“As inscribed upon the ancient furnace of the Crimson Furnace…”
An unfamiliar voice resonated across the expanse of Outer Affairs Peak.
Though spoken without great volume, it instantly drowned out the clamor and cries filling the market.
“‘Within the flame, a hundred herbs birth a single seed of spring, and that spring can grant a mortal a hundred years. The fires of alchemy may consume a hundred herbs, but they must never consume a man’s tomorrow.’”
The old man clutching his grandson’s coffin raised his head.
Beyond the outer formation of the Nine Peaks Rejuvenation Formation, a wisp of crimson cloud drifted slowly toward them.
The crimson cloud came to a halt in midair, about a hundred zhang from the Outer Affairs Market.
A tall, slender man stood atop the cloud.
He appeared to be around fifty years of age and wore a golden crown. His wide robe was crimson, emblazoned with gold flame patterns along the sleeves and hems.
Floating behind him was a crimson pill cauldron the height of a man.
Nine fire dragons writhed along the cauldron’s surface.
The Outer Affairs Peak Lord turned pale.
“Venerable Crimson Furnace…”
Someone muttered in a trembling voice, “It’s the Sect Leader of the Hongro Sect!”
A Golden Core cultivator: Venerable Crimson Furnace.
He looked down upon the Everlasting Spring Sect from the sky.
“Yet in the cauldrons of the Everlasting Spring Sect, human lives are burned instead of herbs, and spirit stones are piled high atop ruined Dao Paths.”
As his crimson sleeve billowed slowly, the surrounding air grew searing hot.
“Dozens have had their Dao Paths severed by a single toxic pill, and eight lives now lie upon cold coffins and stretchers. Yet you bar your gates and bicker over the seal on a bottle and the verification of pills…”
Venerable Crimson Furnace clasped his hands and bowed solemnly toward the dead.
“As a fellow traveler of the Dao, this is a sight I cannot bear to witness in silence.”
He slowly straightened his posture.
“Today, this Crimson Furnace shall shatter the cauldrons of Everlasting Spring to answer for the extinguished flames of the departed.”
“He’s right!”
A shout erupted from the market.
“The venerable elder of the Hongro Sect has come in person for our sake!”
“Sect Leader of Everlasting Spring, come out and confess your crimes!”
Lee Hyun watched Venerable Crimson Furnace closely.
Is this a spell as well?
Carried within his words was the formidable divine sense of a Golden Core cultivator, infused with a lifetime’s mental imagery forged from controlling fire.
Even some disciples of the Everlasting Spring Sect looked at one another with wavering eyes.
A nearby Foundation Establishment elder immediately rang a bronze rattle.
Jingle!
As the crisp chime rang out, clarity gradually returned to the disciples’ eyes.
“Pull yourselves together!”
Just then, flakes of ash-gray powder began to flutter down from the sky.
“Flesh returns to earth, and bones turn to ash…”
A woman’s voice drifted on the breeze.
“Yet a broken will borrows the wind to rattle the gates of the living.”
A woman in a gray robe stepped across the void, walking through empty air one pace at a time.
Her snow-white hair cascaded all the way to her ankles, yet her face was virtually unlined.
In one hand, she held a faded folding fan.
With each sway of the fan, white ash drifted like snowflakes.
“Lady White Ash…”
Bae Gyeong-song’s voice tightened.
Another Golden Core cultivator of the Hongro Sect.
Her gaze swept over the seven coffins and the young cultivator who had just breathed his last.
“Earth and ash are silent, but the wind cannot hide injustice. Remember that every flake of ash falling today carries a will cut short on its path.”
Lady White Ash’s voice caressed the Outer Affairs Market.
The families of the deceased began to sob anew.
Even a few Everlasting Spring Sect disciples involuntarily hung their heads.
“Do not bewitch their primordial spirits with honeyed deceit!”
Go Won-hak’s thunderous roar snapped the Yang Fire Courtyard disciples to attention.
Crushing a blue pill between his fingers, he summoned a crimson alchemy fire to swirl around the powder. A mind-clearing medicinal fragrance rapidly dispersed inside the barrier.
The wavering gazes of the disciples steadily cleared.
Venerable Crimson Furnace spoke.
“Hear me, Sect Leader of Everlasting Spring.”
His voice reverberated across Outer Affairs Peak and the neighboring heights.
“Bow three times to the dead and compensate the injured with spirit stones and medicinal pills. Cast out the alchemists who refined the Vitality-Raising Pills and the inspectors who approved them, so that we and the victims may jointly hold them accountable for their crimes.”
He paused briefly.
“Do so, and today I shall refrain from tearing down your mountain gate’s plaque.”
Infusing his voice with spiritual power, Pill Cauldron Peak Lord Go Won-hak replied, “Senior Crimson Furnace. They have refused a public appraisal, refused the presence of third-party alchemists, and refused our offer to treat the wounded. How can you demand we surrender our sect’s disciples as criminals before the truth has even been brought to light?”
He pointed to the jade bottle held by the Foundation Establishment cultivator.
“Hand over the pill. If its pill marks, flame patterns, and medicinal properties match our sect’s Vitality-Raising Pills, I, Peak Lord Go, will be the first to relinquish my identity token and await judgment.”
Venerable Crimson Furnace shook his head with feigned pity.
“The guilty always claim evidence is lacking, leaving the powerless to prove their plight with their very lives. What evidence could weigh heavier than eight corpses?”
The rogue cultivators in the market glared furiously at the disciples of the Everlasting Spring Sect.
Listening to Venerable Crimson Furnace, Lee Hyun became certain.
They never had any intention of uncovering the truth.
“I ask one final time.”
Venerable Crimson Furnace’s crimson pill cauldron drifted slowly forward.
Hummm—
The nine fire dragons on the cauldron opened their eyes.
“Will the Sect Leader of Everlasting Spring step forth and confess your crimes?”
No reply came.
Everlasting Spring Peak remained silent.
After a moment, Venerable Crimson Furnace closed his eyes and reopened them.
“Silence is your answer to the end.”
Lady White Ash snapped her fan open.
“Then I suppose we must begin by burying the two words ‘Everlasting Spring’ beneath ash.”
The moment Lady White Ash moved her fan, the six Foundation Establishment cultivators standing in the market stomped their feet in unison.
Boom!
Six crimson iron stakes erupted through the stone slabs. Their surfaces were densely etched with flame-shaped formation inscriptions flowing in counter-directional currents.
“Counter-Pulse Spikes!”
The Formation Craft Peak Lord shouted the moment he saw the six spikes, “It’s the Six-Spike Counter-Pulse Formation! Do not pull the Counter-Pulse Spikes! Tampering with them recklessly will cause the outer formation’s spiritual qi to surge in reverse!”
The six Foundation Establishment cultivators formed hand seals.
Whuuuung—
The inscriptions on the Counter-Pulse Spikes illuminated from the bottom up.
Instantly, the original formation inscriptions of the market’s defensive array surfaced upon the stone ground.
Sizzle, crackle—
The crimson light bleeding from the Counter-Pulse Spikes traveled backward along the azure inscriptions, spreading rapidly.
Right at that moment—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Auras that had been suppressed within the crowd detonated in succession.
A female cultivator who had been feigning comfort to a family, an old man disguised as a merchant clerk, individuals lurking atop the roofs and in the alleyways…
Thirteen newly revealed spiritual pressures of the Foundation Establishment stage erupted simultaneously.
All at once, they drew their magical artifacts and talismans, converging around the six cultivators guarding the Counter-Pulse Spikes.
Seeing this, the cultivators of the Everlasting Spring Sect sprang into action.
Rumble! Crash!
Spells began to collide.
The Spring Sword Peak Lord drew his sword.
“First squad, pressure the Counter-Pulse Formation! Second squad, extract the uninvolved rogue cultivators! Do not pursue the enemies into the crowd!”
Seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, including Go Won-hak, soared toward the Counter-Pulse Formation. The rest interceded between the victims and the assailants.
The Formation Craft Peak Lord brought out three formation plates and suspended them in the air.
“Sever the spirit veins of the eastern three formation stations and divert them westward! Do not cycle the backflowing spiritual qi into the outer formation—discharge it directly into the earth veins!”
Responses immediately returned from the main formation stations across the Nine Peaks.
Azure formation inscriptions interlocked with crimson lines beneath the Outer Affairs Market.
As both formations pulled upon the same earth vein in opposing directions, the ground groaned with a low rumble.
Just then, nine fire dragons burst forth from Venerable Crimson Furnace’s pill cauldron.
Roaaar!
Each spanning twenty to thirty zhang in length, the nine fire dragons coiled tail-to-mouth and spun, compressing into an area barely thirty zhang across.
As the nine dragons of fire fused into one, a single scarlet dragon emerged—its core so dense it appeared pitch-black.
With every movement of the scarlet dragon’s head, the very space around it warped from the intense heat.
The scarlet dragon plunged its head straight toward the outer formation defending the market.
KABOOM!
The sky above the Outer Affairs Market was dyed crimson.
The formation’s azure mist attempted to disperse the flames, but the Six-Spike Counter-Pulse Formation was already reversing the flow of spiritual qi in that very sector.
Thousands of formation inscriptions flared to life, layering themselves across a forty-zhang area to desperately reinforce the barrier. Yet, hairline fractures began to spiderweb across their surfaces.
Craaack!
Lady White Ash pressed her fan downward.
The ash falling over the western side of the market coalesced into a thirty-zhang vortex.
Shhhk—
The ash-gray powder burrowed into the cracks.
Each time the formation inscriptions came into contact with the ash, they bled spiritual qi, their light dimming rapidly.
“Feed more spirit stones into the formation stations!”
“Sever the Outer Affairs Market’s spirit veins from the inner formation!”
“Break the Six-Spike Counter-Pulse Formation first!”
The Foundation Establishment elders of the Everlasting Spring Sect barked relentless commands while hurling magical artifacts toward the Counter-Pulse Spikes.
Dozens of flying swords and glowing ropes streaked across the market.
In response, the thirteen newly revealed assailants unleashed their spells simultaneously.
Boom! Crash!
Pavilions in the Outer Affairs Market detonated into debris.
Hundreds of rogue cultivators screamed and scattered in terror.
It was nearly impossible to discern who were true victims and who were the attackers. At least several dozen seemed to have been caught in the chaos, completely unaware of what was happening.
“Save me!”
“We didn’t come here to fight!”
“Where are we supposed to go?!”
“Follow the blue banners!”
Three Foundation Establishment elders from Outer Affairs Peak erected a massive curtain of water, parting the crowd.
“Stow your magical artifacts in your storage pouches and show your hands! We will evacuate the wounded first!”
Lee Hyun, Sim Yeon-ju, and Bae Gyeong-song assisted as well, pulling the injured and fallen rogue cultivators gathered beneath the blue banners inside the barrier.
Some of the attackers attempted to slip in among them.
Disciples of Spring Sword Peak deployed sword formations to block their advance. Dozens of sword lights blossomed, forming a lethal wall that sealed the path between the market and the inner sect.
The battle ignited across every corner of the Outer Affairs Market.
CRAAACK—
The barrier covering a forty-zhang area before the Outer Affairs Market shattered.
Shards of light cascaded down like rain.
Beyond the breach torn in the outer formation, the empty air began to shimmer and distort.
Wuuung—
As the hazy concealment veil melted away, dozens of small flying boats revealed themselves.
Cultivators stood packed tightly atop the vessels.
The magical artifacts and formations they wielded were uniformly saturated with intense fire qi.
The auras of more than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators radiated from the boats alone. Combined with the nineteen hidden within the crowd, the confirmed number of Foundation Establishment cultivators already surpassed thirty.
The Spring Sword Peak Lord bellowed, “Deploy the inner formation!”
Rumbleeeee—
Nine pillars of emerald light erupted from the Nine Peaks.
Hundred Herbs Peak.
Nectar Peak.
Spirit Beast Peak.
Pill Cauldron Peak.
Everlasting Spring Peak.
Spring Sword Peak.
Earthfire Peak.
Formation Craft Peak.
Outer Affairs Peak.
The nine beams of light converged high in the heavens.
Light and mist wove together, manifesting the image of a colossal tree enfolding the Nine Peaks of the Everlasting Spring Sect. Its massive trunk rooted itself upon Everlasting Spring Peak, while eight great branches cradled the remaining peaks in their embrace.
Venerable Crimson Furnace spoke once more.
“Even with one gate of your outer formation shattered, the Sect Leader of Everlasting Spring still refuses to show himself.”
He cast his gaze toward Everlasting Spring Peak.
“It seems the ancient tree has already rotted and fallen. Spring has long ceased to flow through the roots of Everlasting Spring.”
Lady White Ash waved her fan with serene grace.
Ash-gray powder surged forth, forming a tidal wave that smothered the front of Outer Affairs Peak.
“If the house is empty with no master present, then for the sake of those left behind, we must open the gates for them.”
As the wave of ash crashed against the inner formation, the emerald leaves of the great tree rapidly withered to gray. The disciples channeling the formation groaned in unison.
Venerable Crimson Furnace’s pill cauldron chimed with a resonant gong.
Dong—
The nine fire dragons took flight once more, fusing into a single scarlet dragon. Coiling around the emerald branch encasing Outer Affairs Peak, it unleashed a tempest of flames in a single breath.
ROAAAAR—
The inferno spread along the thick bough and the surrounding foliage.
A fissure cracked across the inner barrier of the Nine Peaks Rejuvenation Formation.
Crack.
Lady White Ash’s ash powder seeped into the fracture.
Inside the formation, gray snow began to fall.
Lee Hyun weighed his options.
Should I prepare to run?
If the Nine Peaks Rejuvenation Formation collapsed, he could escape underground. If it were just him, escaping wouldn’t be difficult.
The problem was the two people before him and his fellow disciples of the Yang Fire Courtyard.
Sim Yeon-ju and Bae Gyeong-song were watching the attackers with grim expressions. And there was no telling what had become of Na Gyeong-mun, who had left for Azure Wood Ridge.
Let’s wait and watch a little longer.
Craaack!
The fracture in the inner formation lengthened further. Unable to withstand Lady White Ash’s ash, several formation inscriptions began to extinguish.
Venerable Crimson Furnace spoke toward Everlasting Spring Peak once more.
“Spring has ended. The name ‘Everlasting Spring’ ends today as well. Let those who remain open the mountain gates and confess their sins. Those who lay down their weapons will not be burned.”
Unrest flickered across the faces of several disciples.
Just then, an aged voice sounded from Everlasting Spring Peak.
“Crimson Furnace.”
It was not a loud voice, yet it traveled along the trunk and boughs of the Nine Peaks Rejuvenation Formation. As every single green leaf echoed the words, they rang out clearly across the vast distance.
“You were fond of fire in your youth, but now in your old age, you seem to have acquired a habit of burning down other people’s homes.”
For the first time, Venerable Crimson Furnace’s expression shifted.
At the summit of Everlasting Spring Peak, the doors of an archaic pavilion, shuttered for decades, slowly swung open.
Creak—
Leaning upon a walking staff, an old man clad in a faded green Long Robe stepped outside.
His frame was severely emaciated. His wrinkled skin resembled ancient tree bark, and his silver hair was sparse. The staff in his hand bore no ornate decorations, nor did it radiate any extraordinary spiritual power.
Yet, the moment the old man lightly tapped the ground with his staff—
Tap.
A verdant glow bloomed from the summit of Everlasting Spring Peak and seeped into the roots of the Nine Peaks Rejuvenation Formation.
The light surged along the formation veins before concentrating upon the damaged bough at Outer Affairs Peak.
Rumble—!
Dense Life Force erupted from the ravaged section of the formation.
Fresh sprouts broke through the fire-scorched grass. Broken branches knit back together, and leaves smothered in gray ash reclaimed their vibrant green.
Crack! Craaack!
The fissures splitting the Inner Formation across Outer Affairs Peak began to mend at astonishing speed. The colossal bough, once coiled by the crimson dragon, straightened its spine anew.
Venerable Crimson Furnace’s flames and Lady White Ash’s ash were repelled dozens of zhang away.
“Grand Sect Master!”
The disciples of the Everlasting Spring Sect looked up in unison.
“He lives!”
“The Grand Sect Master has emerged from seclusion!”
With clear, serene eyes, the Grand Sect Master regarded Venerable Crimson Furnace and Lady White Ash.
“You two must have waited eagerly for the day this old tree rotted away and returned to the earth. But you have arrived far too early to offer condolences.”
As if anticipating this, Venerable Crimson Furnace flicked his red sleeve.
“So there’s still breath in you after all. Yet do you truly believe a single decrepit Golden Core can stop both of us and all the disciples of the Hongro Sect? Even the young children of the Ram Kingdom know that Fellow Daoist’s Life Span has nearly run dry.”
Lady White Ash sighed softly.
“To think that someone who once defined an era would cling to his sect’s faults to the bitter end, only to be reduced to ash alongside them. What a pity.”
Just then.
Another figure walked out from the pavilion on Everlasting Spring Peak.
A dignified man who appeared to be in his mid-forties—the Sect Leader of the Everlasting Spring Sect.
He took a single step forward.
Thud.
In an instant, the Heaven-and-Earth spiritual qi within thirty zhang surged violently toward his body.
Before the Sect Leader’s Dantian, a circular halo blending golden and azure light manifested. The light formed a perfect circle, tranquil and unwavering.
Within it, the image of a single tree cycling through the four seasons repeated without end.
Sprouts budded.
Flowers bloomed.
Fruit formed.
Leaves withered and fell.
And spring returned once more.
Rumble—!
Yet another Golden Core Stage spiritual pressure surged from Everlasting Spring Peak, merging with the trunk of the Nine Peaks Rejuvenation Formation.
A heavy pulse reverberated through the Inner Formation’s verdant tree, as though a second heart had just begun to beat within it.
“Spring will always return to the Everlasting Spring Sect.”