Chapter 243 The Second Sword Qi, Killing Formation

The Red Scorched Circle was desolate, the wind howled through the emptiness.

Lian Mu finally drew near the legendary Corpse Mountain Scorched Forest.

Some things you only understand the terror of once you see them with your own eyes. As the blurred outline of the mountain slowly sharpened before her, Lian Mu came to truly grasp the meaning of those words.

The so‑called Corpse Mountain was literally a mountain of corpses. Every inch of land was made of dead bodies, piled in utter chaos, limbs sprawled in all directions. Some had lost the entire lower half of their bodies, others remained intact.

At a glance they looked no different from ordinary people. The whole mountain was steeped in sorrow, heavy with death.

The expressions frozen on those bodies were all from the last moment before they died: unwillingness, fear, shock, cowardice.

At the peak of the corpse mountain, half of a giant human skeleton stood upright. Unlike the rest of the bodies, that set of bones still gripped a broken sword in its hand. The blade had been tempered black by heavenly fire.

“These are all people you killed?” Lian Mu could not help but be a little shaken.

The ball of black qi pulsed. “If you think they are all people, then you have already fallen for it. This is the illusion formation around Corpse Mountain. It is meant to stir the compassion of anyone who comes near. The moment your heart wavers, something else will seize the chance to slip inside.”

Hearing this, Lian Mu immediately smothered her stray thoughts and forced out the abnormal aura.

Her mind cleared somewhat. In no time, the true scene of Corpse Mountain flashed before her eyes. The human shapes vanished, replaced by monstrous forms of every kind.

“Wait, there is something nearby.”

Just as Lian Mu was about to climb upward along the corpses, Xuan Che suddenly spoke.

Lian Mu paused. “You feel it too?”

Ever since she had approached the Corpse Mountain Scorched Forest, the sense of being watched had grown stronger and stronger, to the point she sometimes felt the watcher was right beside her.

“Lian Mu, do you trust me?” Xuan Che asked.

“At a time like this, stop asking nonsense,” Lian Mu replied.

They were already in the same boat.

“If you trust me, lend me a little Spirit Blood,” he said. “I will see you safely into the Heavenly Return Palace.”

The moment Lian Mu heard that, she agreed. Two drops of Spirit Blood fell from her palm and dripped into the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda. At once, a great billow of black mist poured out from the tower, twisting and knitting together in midair until it formed the shape of a person.

Though it had no features or hair, she could still recognize him by his aura. This was Xuan Che’s black mist avatar. Using her Spirit Blood as a guide, the avatar could temporarily break free of the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda’s constraints, but there was a price.

For every moment the black mist avatar remained outside, the fleshly body within would suffer inhuman torment, torn apart by the killing formation. He would not die. What remained was pain and nothing but pain.

For Xuan Che, sending out a wisp of black qi to lead the way was already charitable. Why would he suddenly send out his entire black mist avatar?

Lian Mu did not understand. “What are you doing?”

“Climb up there. Use the Moonlight sword qi to shatter the Black Moon, break the barrier, and get into the Heavenly Return Palace. Move quickly,” Xuan Che urged.

Lian Mu blinked. Hearing the roughness of his breathing, she knew the killing formation inside the tower had already begun tormenting him. Her toes pressed off the ground and she sprang upward, stepping on the head of a Demonic Creature to climb.

Corpse Mountain was neither especially high nor especially low, but clambering up a pile of corpses was stimulating enough. The centuries‑old stench of rot alone was enough to make her eyes sting.

Hidden in the gaps between the corpses were quite a few low‑intelligence Demonic Creatures, stretching out like puddles of rotten sludge to try to cling to her, only to be blasted back by the black mist.

When she reached the summit, Xuan Che’s black mist avatar leapt up as well, planting himself on the topmost skeleton and pinning its skull under one foot.

“Filth. Get out here yourself.”

He kicked the skeleton’s head off. A purplish red teleportation array imprint appeared in the air above Corpse Mountain.

Watching the skull tumble down the slope, Lian Mu suddenly remembered a story she had heard before.

The corpses on this mountain were all from the Black Abyss Demon Race, and the summit of Corpse Mountain had once been Xuan Che’s own throne.

If the bones of the Demonic Creatures below were all small fry, then this one at the very top was most likely the former lord of Black Abyss.

For Xuan Che to insult the former lord like this, it was no surprise that something different stirred.

Several black shadows rose from the scorched earth, gradually taking human shape. The leader wore white robes with a hood that concealed his face. His features could not be seen, but the white skeletal hand that extended from his sleeve drew all the attention.

“So you did notice after all.” The White‑Robed Figure pushed back his hood, revealing his entire head. His face was twisted, covered in burns, his eyes displaced all the way down to his cheeks.

His dull grayish eyes rolled, turning toward the shadow on Corpse Mountain. He gave a grating chuckle. “It has been a thousand years. Do you still remember me?”

Lian Mu’s heart sank. Another thousand‑year‑old freak.

She had barely finished the thought when the White‑Robed Figure’s gaze landed on her. “You have fallen far, Xuan Che. After all your scheming, you could only find a little brat like this as your helper. Where are your former subordinates?”

Lian Mu: “…”

What was wrong with being young? People grow, you know!

“Who is this guy?” she whispered quietly.

Xuan Che said, “How would I know?”

“You do not remember someone who has a vendetta with you?” Lian Mu asked.

“There are too many people who hate me. I am not going to remember them one by one,” Xuan Che said. “The one who has been watching you before was probably him. More precisely, he wanted to keep an eye on me.”

“Then you two settle it between yourselves. Do not drag me in,” Lian Mu said. “I do not want to fight him.”

She had only come to retrieve something. Asking her to take on a group of demon race cultivators with a thousand years of cultivation was far too much.

Down below, the White‑Robed Figure heard this. Displeasure twisted his already distorted face. “Xuan Che, you actually dare forget me. Back then, when you killed our leader and threw me into the fire pit, I engraved that in my heart. Since you have forgotten, then I will make you remember.”

Xuan Che said, “Got it. Come up and trade two moves with me. If you can withstand two moves, I will let you sit in this spot.”

He tapped the bones beneath his feet.

This blatant humiliation completely enraged the White‑Robed Figure. “You think you are still the arrogant lord you once were? As you are now, you are nothing but a trapped beast in a cage, your strength already suppressed. If I am not mistaken, the moment you feel killing intent, the tower formation of the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda will immediately destroy your flesh. Do you really think you are a match for me?”

Xuan Che went quiet for a moment. “…You are the first to dare talk to me like that. Even your master did not dare be this arrogant.”

“Times have changed.” Pride showed on the White‑Robed Figure’s warped face. “You cannot even summon your sword. How are you going to fight me?”

After listening, Lian Mu said to Xuan Che, “My suggestion is you go twist his head off.”

Her voice was neither loud nor soft, just enough for the White‑Robed Figure to hear. His gaze went cold. “Do not rejoice too soon, child. You chose the wrong person. He is only taking you to the Heavenly Return Palace so he can break his own seal. Once he gets out, he might kill you to silence you.”

Lian Mu: “…”

In fact, she had already guessed that possibility long ago. Which was why she did not plan to bring the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda into the Heavenly Return Palace at all. The moment the barrier opened, she would toss the pagoda away.

Lian Mu glanced at Xuan Che. The shadow had no brows or eyes, betraying no emotion. She kept her thoughts to herself and only said, “Wherever my lord points, that is where I hit.”

Xuan Che was thrown off for a moment by her strange tone. “Speak properly.”

It was obvious he was very pleased. He did not bother to ask her opinion on the matter at all and sounded in quite a good mood. “Fight quickly. Do not waste ti…”

Before he could finish, the White‑Robed Figure below suddenly blinked out of sight. The next instant, he reappeared right behind Lian Mu.

Almost at the same moment he appeared, Xuan Che’s feet did not move. He simply raised a hand and threw a punch through the air, blasting the White‑Robed Figure away.

“That is it?” Xuan Che flexed his fingers. “The Black Abyss really has no one left. Any mutt can get a seat at the table.”

So fast. He completely crushed him, Lian Mu thought.

“What are you standing there for? Go open the barrier,” Xuan Che said. “I can only hold him off for you. Once you are inside the Heavenly Return Palace, everything will be up to you.”

“How do I open the barrier?” Lian Mu asked.

“Sword qi resonance, full moon radiance,” he said. “Once you are in, seal the entrance immediately.”

Lian Mu nodded and rushed toward the violet-red array mark. “Alright.”

“Throw the pagoda here.” Xuan Che kicked a skeleton aside and pointed with the tip of his boot at the gap it left.

Lian Mu hesitated. He was telling her to throw the pagoda down there. Could this be some kind of ritual to undo the seal and let him out…?

Xuan Che had helped her a lot, but she had no intention of releasing him.

“What are you afraid of, that I will break the seal inside the pagoda?” Xuan Che said. “You are overthinking it. Only on the Heavenly Return Palace can I break it. Here it is useless.”

“You do not want to come out?” Lian Mu asked.

Xuan Che’s face was expressionless. “What good would it do me to come out, only to be hunted by the Immortal Sects again? Rather than coming out, I might as well stay in the pagoda, at least it is peaceful. This world has no place for me, and people look down on me. I am not going to debase myself, forcing my way into a place that does not welcome me. The freedom I want is not the kind where everyone wants me dead.”

Lian Mu froze for a moment. She thought back to the days they had spent together in the pagoda. He had indeed never taken the initiative to talk about the outside world. Most of the time he was sleeping or teasing the Spirit Pet, sometimes even helping her look after the spirit plants, living more leisurely than she did.

He really did seem to enjoy that kind of life.

“Fine, I will trust you one more time.” Lian Mu tossed the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda into the pit. “But with the pagoda formation suppressing you, how are you going to deal with him?”

“To deal with him, I do not even need killing intent. I can settle it just by playing around,” Xuan Che said casually. “A sword is for beating people. To beat a dog, a foot is enough.”

Lian Mu felt a little envious. When she had that kind of strength, she wanted to play around like that too.

After the two of them finished their brief discussion, Lian Mu sprinted toward the barrier array mark, while Xuan Che moved to block the White-Robed Figure.

Although Xuan Che spoke as if it were nothing, Lian Mu could feel that the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda was suppressing him too heavily. His black mist avatar would not last long. Even his voice was forced low, so his physical body must be enduring immense pain.

There was no time to dwell on it. Lian Mu looked up at the sky. It was pitch black. Relying on memory and the hour, she roughly calculated where the moon should be. Then she drew a deep breath, gathered her qi in her dantian, and released spiritual power through her hands.

In the next instant, a second ray of Moonlight sword qi slashed toward the heavens, a beam of white light ripping across the sky.