Chapter 553: Demise
Silver moon and cold frost, pouring over the oppressive Tian Mo mountain range.
Thousands of miles away, towering spiritual lights illuminated the heavens and earth, making them flicker. The frost and snow seemed to have lost their way, blown by the gale into spirals that formed into blades, cutting through every inch of the forest and grass.
“Gu—Yan—!!!! Ying—!!”
A fox with pitch-black fur, shrouded in dark demonic energy, weaved through the sky thousands of feet high. Relying on its sense of smell, it followed the lingering scent of blood to track Gu Yan’s aura. Its vertical pupils were filled with killing intent, a desire to skin and dismember all beasts. Ordinary wolves in the dark forest could detect prey from five thousand feet away, but a fox demon like Hu Mu, in the Zhong Xu realm, could pinpoint any movement within hundreds of miles as long as it knew the scent.
However…
Boom—
Behind him, the moon spiritual energy from Si Xuanji and the frost and snow of Sun Juehu’s dragon spear collided, creating waves of spiritual light that continuously stimulated Hu Mu’s already sensitive senses. Furthermore, this was Gu Yan’s home ground, and he was a formation cultivator. Tens of thousands of formation auras existed within a thousand-mile radius, with similar scents numbering in the tens of thousands, further interfering with Hu Mu’s spiritual sense and perception.
Ying—!!
The fox’s cry spread, and the sound waves instantly shattered the souls of ordinary demonic creatures hidden in the mountain forest below. Night ravens perched on dead branches also had their beaks and eyes burst with blood, falling from the trees onto the snow-covered ground, staining the white snow with smears of crimson.
Hu Mu didn’t know where Gu Yan was hiding, but he was certain that Gu Yan was hiding in one of the nearly one hundred mountain peaks beneath his feet. His lips parted, and he hissed out streams of black mist. With a flick of his dark fox tail, a black light flashed across the sky.
Boom—
In an instant, the earth’s pustules were swallowed by Hu Mu’s tail into his stomach—a thousand-foot peak was cut in half, revealing a surface as smooth as a mirror. Hu Mu now had only one thought: if he couldn’t find which mountain Gu Yan was hiding in, he would devour every inch of land within a hundred-mile radius.
Ying—
…
——-
In a dark, withered forest against a mountain wall, a crosswind rustled, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.
“Ugh—cough cough cough…”
Gu Yan leaned against a dead tree, supporting his abdomen with his right hand, and violently vomited a large pool of black blood. The crimson eyes within the eye sockets of his mask no longer held their former composure. His entire body was torn and bleeding. The pitch-black robes of the Tian Mo Sect Master no longer bore their usual solemnity and grandeur.
His spiritual void was shattered, and he had been struck directly in his spiritual sense by Dan Yue’s moon spiritual energy. If he hadn’t reacted quickly and sacrificed his life-bound magical artifact, he would have turned into a pool of blood and died on the spot. However, even though he had narrowly escaped from Dan Yue, his life-bound magical artifact was destroyed, his spiritual void was compromised, and a fox was still relentlessly pursuing him. It was impossible to say if he would survive.
Ying—
The piercing fox cries from the sky behind him vibrated in his ears. Gu Yan gritted his teeth and frowned, glanced back, then quickly used his hand to push himself towards the rock face ahead. He needed to stabilize his injuries first. This was the heartland of the Tian Mo Sect, with tens of thousands of his formations and paradises set up within a thousand-mile radius. As long as he could hide in one of these paradises for a few days, even if he couldn’t fight back, he could at least gather enough killing aura to escape and flee eastward, making it impossible for Dan Yue to find him again in the short term.
“Xie!”
Gu Yan arrived before the rock face, waved his right hand, releasing a blood-red light. Along with a single word he spoke, the stone wall in front of him rumbled and fell inward, revealing a dark passage leading downwards. Gu Yan hurried inside and re-sealed the restriction.
Roaring— Dong—
The stone wall blocked out the fierce wind outside. The passage instantly became so quiet that not a needle could be heard. Then, dim yellow lamps on the walls on both sides of the passage flickered to life with a “pu pu pu” sound, casting the old, dark tunnel in and out of light.
“Hoo…”
Gu Yan let out a sigh, supporting himself against the wall, and limped down the stone steps.
Tap tap—
Footsteps became the only sound in the corridor. Thanks to the quiet environment, Gu Yan could finally focus his energy on thinking about what Dan Yue had done. The Tian Mo Blood Pool was indeed broken, that was a fact. But no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t understand how anyone could have silently broken his spiritual void in just a few hours. Gu Yan could only think of the owners of the “Heavenly Scroll of the Dao” and the “Tian Mo Book Scroll.” It was rumored that those two scrolls recorded all things in the world. The reason he sought the Tian Mo Book Scroll was to obtain something that Dan Yue and all immortal cultivators feared, but it seemed someone had used the scroll to discover the weakness of his spiritual void. Who was it? And by what means? The more Gu Yan thought, the more questions arose. He himself didn’t even know how his spiritual void had been broken in a few hours…
“Cough cough… For now, I need to condense killing aura to heal. Once I escape that fox… cough cough—” Gu Yan ceased his thoughts, continued to lean against the wall, and headed deeper into the cave. However, after walking down the stairs for about three hundred steps, a fresh set of wheel tracks and three sets of footprints on the ground caught his eye.
?
How could there be footprints in a formation paradise that should have been undisturbed for hundreds of years? Then, the voices of two women drifted up from below:
“Blackie, is your waist connected crookedly? It looks crooked to me.”
“I just reconnected it temporarily, it’s good enough that it’s connected. It’ll straighten out with some wiggling later… Ye Anping~~ Help me wiggle it, hehe—”
Following that was the extremely annoyed hum of a young man:
“Hoo— Want me to cut it off and reconnect it for you?”
“Ew~ Ye Anping, you’re so mean…”
…
?
Ye Anping? Gu Yan’s brows furrowed slightly. He recalled someone mentioning this name to him; it seemed to be the young master of a third-rate immortal sect in the Western Regions. His brows furrowed even tighter on his mask. Why would someone whose name he hadn’t even heard of be here? And one of the women’s voices sounded somewhat like his adopted daughter, Gu Mingxin. However, upon closer listening, there were slight differences. In his memory, Gu Mingxin spoke in a very hoarse voice, not as charming and clear as just now… He scanned with his spiritual sense and found that all four people below were cultivators at the early Nascent Soul stage. He no longer felt vigilant. Even though he was severely injured, four Nascent Soul cultivators couldn’t possibly threaten him. In fact, he needed them as human pills for his healing right now.
Tap tap—
Gu Yan gritted his teeth, straightened his back, and walked another twenty steps. The corridor suddenly opened up, revealing a slightly larger stone chamber. In the center of the chamber stood a dan cauldron burning with blood-red flames—this was the formation’s core of this paradise. Beside it, a black-haired woman was buried head-down on an old wooden couch, while a silver-haired woman was applying medicinal ointment, like liquid jade, to her lower back. In front of the dan cauldron, a black-clothed youth, appearing around seventeen years old, sat cross-legged, cultivating. Beside him was a wheelchair, on which sat a woman with her entire body wrapped in bandages, her left hand bloody, silently watching the young man’s face. Gu Yan was already standing at the entrance, but the four of them seemed completely unaware of his presence, treating him as if he didn’t exist. A sense of indignation surged within him. For thousands of years as the Sect Master of the Tian Mo Sect, no one had dared to not bow in worship upon seeing him, yet these four insignificant early Nascent Soul cultivators were… Thinking of this, Gu Yan stared at the black-haired woman lying on the couch again, only then recognizing her as Gu Mingxin.
“Mingxin…” A hoarse, weak middle-aged male voice echoed in the stone chamber, instantly causing Gu Mingxin and Feng Yudie to pause and look towards him. Ye Anping also slowly retracted the spring aspect spiritual energy flowing throughout his body back into his dantian and slowly opened his eyes, looking towards the entrance. Silence— A moment of silence. Then— A light flashed in Gu Mingxin’s crimson eyes. She didn’t know why, but seeing Gu Yan in his tattered, injured state, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter: “Hee hee hee hee… Master!! How did you end up like this?!”
Crack—
Gu Yan’s teeth gnashed, killing intent exploding in his eyes, but a roar immediately cut short Gu Mingxin’s laughter.
“Gu—Yan—!!!” A piercing shriek echoed through the stone chamber. Feng Yudie and Gu Mingxin were startled and turned to look, only to see Mo Chi Ling, who had exuded an air of intellectual refinement throughout their journey, her eyes beneath the bandage on her forehead bloodshot. Her remaining right hand clenched into a fist, so hard that her nails pierced her palm, dripping purple, foul blood. Mo Chi Ling propped herself up with the armrest of the wheelchair, trying to stand with all her might, but almost fell out of the chair. Ye Anping quickly used his spiritual energy to hold her and push her back into the wheelchair.
“Gu Yan!!! My brother’s death!!…”
“Senior Mo.” Ye Anping soothed Mo Chi Ling in a cool voice, then stood up, supporting himself on his knees, and said, “Venerable Yu Yan.”
“Mo…” Gu Yan didn’t even look at Ye Anping, his gaze fixed on Mo Chi Ling, who was glaring at him like a provoked tiger. After a long moment of silence, he recognized her identity and seemed to realize something: “Chi Ling?”
Ye Anping sighed softly and said, “Venerable Yu Yan, the one who tied the bell must untie it. I believe if Senior Mo hadn’t witnessed your supposed death, she would have felt regret. So, she has been waiting here for a long time.” The crimson eyes within the masked eye sockets finally fell on Ye Anping’s face, showing a hint of mockery: “Ye Anping.”
“Yes, I am deeply honored that Venerable Yu Yan remembers my name before his death,” Ye Anping nodded and flicked his finger, taking out a luminous wine cup from his storage bag. He poured a cup of crimson wine and sent it floating towards Gu Yan with a wave of his sleeve, nodding. “Now, it depends on whether Venerable Yu Yan wishes to depart with dignity or if I shall help you depart with dignity.”
Gu Yan lowered his gaze to the wine cup floating before him. Within the crimson wine, faint purple ripples could be seen. He didn’t know what this hint of purple was, but he suddenly understood. It was likely these people who had silently broken his spiritual void. He was a demonic cultivator, how could poison be effective? But there were countless spiritual poisons in the world, who could guarantee that there wasn’t a poison that could destroy his spiritual void? Perhaps two of these people held the Tian Mo Book Scroll and the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao.
“Poisoned wine?” Ye Anping nodded, standing with his hands behind his back. He signaled Feng Yudie and Xiao Tian with his back: Three—
“Yes, a cup for dignity.” The safest method was to reveal their location. In the sky, a furious great fox was still devouring mountains. Letting the great fox devour Gu Yan would be the easiest. However, he still needed Gu Yan’s golden cicada shell to deal with Sun Juehu for Miss Xuanji. Naturally, the more intact the corpse, the better. If it were devoured by the great fox, it would be missing limbs, if not completely gone.
“Venerable Yu Yan, your remains will be of great use to me. If you depart with dignity, after everything is settled, I will build a tombstone for you in Tian Mo Valley. Would that not allow future generations to pay their respects?” As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Tian and Xue E floating above looked at Ye Anping speechlessly. Ye Anping had previously said it would be best to persuade Gu Yan to depart with dignity. But now…
[Ye Anping, do you call this persuasion? Look at the veins on Old Man Gu’s neck. I’ve spent so long in the Tian Mo Sect with Mingxin, and this is the first time I’ve seen him this angry.]
[Mhmm!]
Ye Anping shrugged slightly and smiled, “Venerable Yu Yan, you are a mighty being, but setting aside your cultivation, what difference is there between your current state and that of a fallen ordinary cultivator?”
“… …”
“Whether it’s you, Sun Juehu, or Dan Yue Shang Xian, you are all humans, just living longer and stronger. You bleed when injured, feel pain when struck… and you die when killed. Why not learn from the Ancestor of the Dao? External possessions are fleeting. Instead of pursuing immortality or demonhood… why not seek a good end?”
“… …”
“Even someone who hates you like Senior Mo would choose to forgive you and call you Master again… or Father… wouldn’t that be better?”
Mo Chi Ling glanced at Ye Anping and gritted her teeth, “Young Master Ye, even at your request, I could never…”
Hearing Mo Chi Ling undermine him, Ye Anping pouted and persuaded, “Give Venerable him some face. How can one depart with dignity without face?”
“Enough!!!” A fierce roar echoed. A crack appeared on Gu Yan’s mask, splitting open and falling to his feet, revealing a right eye with a sword scar. This scar was left by Yun Tianmi’s Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword all those years ago. In his thousand years of life, he had only suffered two humiliations. The first was when Dan Yue and Yun Jian Shang Xian joined forces to carve this scar on his forehead. The second was now!! To be shamed to such an extent by mere early Nascent Soul cultivators. He grabbed the wine cup Ye Anping offered, his right hand forming a claw, and surging killing aura erupted from his entire body, staining the pure jade cup with a bloody hue. Then, with a flick of his finger.
Buzz— The jade cup shattered into countless fragments, flying towards Ye Anping’s eyes. In an instant, Gu Mingxin and Feng Yudie, who had been lying on the couch, widened their eyes. They instantly transformed into two ghostly figures, one black and one white, flashing to Ye Anping’s side and blocking all the jade fragments with their swords.
“… …” Gu Yan narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Gu Mingxin, who was holding her sword against him: “Mingxin… I was the one who picked you up from the pool of blood…”
“Master, you said that demonic cultivators should follow their hearts and desire, and revere the strong,” Gu Mingxin leaned against Ye Anping’s shoulder. “Your disciple is already Anpingping’s person~ Anpingping is clearly stronger than you…”
? Ye Anping shot him a resentful glance, but still stepped forward, embracing both of their waists with his left and right hands, while also using his spiritual energy to lift Mo Chi Ling’s wheelchair.
“Venerable, it seems you have also made your choice… Whether a Void Returning cultivator or a Qi Refining cultivator, life and death are but a thought, aren’t they?” Gu Yan raised his hand in a claw, no longer wanting to listen to Ye Anping’s babbling. Even though he was severely injured, four Nascent Soul cultivators were still… However, at the same time, the spiritual fire in the dan cauldron in the center of the stone chamber stirred. A golden light, accompanied by a dragon’s roar, descended.
Roar— Xiao Tian formed a sword finger and summoned Old Nine, enveloping Ye Anping and the other three. Gu Yan’s eyes widened slightly, then were covered by a blood-red light.
Boom— A sky-piercing spiritual light erupted from the stone chamber, shooting straight upwards, turning the entire thousand-foot-high mountain peak into countless fragments that were flung tens of thousands of feet into the air. Not far above, Hu Mu, who was still devouring other mountains with his tail, froze. He instantly captured the ascending spiritual light and instantly transformed into a black shadow, arriving above the dust-filled, shattered mountain in moments.
Ying—!!!
His fox tail instantly transformed into a giant fox head comparable to a mountain range, directly engulfing the entire mountain in its mouth. A golden light shot out from its mouth towards him. Hu Mu squinted, saw that it was Feng Yudie and the others, and quickly looked away, roaring ferociously:
“Ying—!!!!”
Gu Yan, held in the mouth of the fox head condensed from black mist, desperately pushed open the fox’s mouth with the killing aura he participated in, as if in a duet with Hu Mu:
“Haaarrrgh—!!!”
Ye Anping arrived beside Hu Mu and cupped his fists. “Venerable Demon Emperor, please leave a complete corpse if possible!” Hu Mu glanced at him, not caring about a complete corpse or not. His mate, Hu Yulan, had died without a burial place, and not even a single fox hair… Thinking of this, Hu Mu suddenly noticed a band of white fox fur on the hem of Gu Yan’s robe…
“Ying—!!!” In an instant, Hu Mu’s eyes turned almost blood-red. With just a single cry, he blew Ye Anping and the others beside him flying. Ye Anping didn’t know why the fox was angered. He glanced sideways and only then noticed the beast fur trim on the corner of Gu Yan’s robe…
“Hiss— Not good!!!” He couldn’t let Hu Mu swallow Gu Yan whole. He had to cut off at least a piece of flesh. Otherwise, it would be trouble for Miss Xuanji. However, at this point, Hu Mu couldn’t be reasoned with. Ye Anping instantly summoned “Bai Yue,” turned, and rushed towards Gu Yan below, regardless of anything else, to at least cut off a piece of him before he was completely devoured by the fox.
“Huh? Anping!!” Seeing Ye Anping rush down, Feng Yudie and Gu Mingxin were startled and quickly followed him. Xiao Tian and Xue E immediately panicked as well; this was like jumping into a volcano.
[Ah? Anping!!! Yudie!! Don’t go…]
[Hiss— You silly goldie!!]
[Huh?]
Xiao Tian turned to look and saw Xue E, holding her wooden sword, charging towards Hu Mu in the sky. He then quickly drew his wooden sword and followed. Two small figures, one black and one gold, reached Hu Mu’s head and used their wooden swords to poke into his fox ears. Hu Mu’s ears twitched itchily, but he paid them no mind.
“Ying—!!!” Gu Yan, seeing the fox jaw pressing down, knew he probably couldn’t resist it. But seeing that young man named Ye Anping still daring to rush up, his eyes widened, and he burst into laughter: “Ho ho ho ho ho—”
Ye Anping’s eyes narrowed, and he tightened his grip on his spirit sword, unleashing a cross-shaped sword qi with the Inquiring Sword Art, striking Gu Yan’s protective spirit shield, and then forcefully pushing forward. However, Gu Yan’s eyes suddenly became serious. He actively retracted his protective killing aura.
“Didn’t you want to erect a monument for me? Then come with me…”
“Tsk…”
Clang clang— Two sounds of metal striking followed. Gu Mingxin and Feng Yudie’s spirit swords directly collided with Gu Yan’s spirit wall, piercing into his back and out of his chest, piercing his heart. Then, he was cut in half. Gu Yan turned his head and, upon seeing Yun Tianmi’s Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, his eyes widened: “Yun Tian…”
Dong— Before he could utter “mi,” Hu Mu’s fox spirit jaw clamped shut, trapping him and his voice within its mouth. Pei Lianxue, holding the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, slammed into her senior brother’s chest, knocking him, along with Gu Mingxin and Feng Yudie behind him, out of the fox spirit’s mouth just before it closed.
“Gag—” Ye Anping felt his ribs had definitely been broken by his junior sister’s impact, but upon seeing Gu Yan’s heart pierced through his chest like a skewer by the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, he showed a hint of relief and simply relaxed.
Boom— The four of them transformed into a streak of light and heavily crashed to the ground. Thanks to Gu Mingxin and Feng Yudie cushioning the impact, Ye Anping only had a few broken ribs and no other serious injuries. He paused, sat up slightly, and Pei Lianxue, with a large lump on her head, also crawled up.
“Senior Brother!! I’m here to protect you!!”
“Uh… Sigh—” Ye Anping suddenly felt speechless. After a moment of silence, he simply collapsed onto Feng Yudie and Gu Mingxin beneath him. Above, Hu Mu retracted his fox spirit tail and hovered in mid-air, gnashing his teeth as he looked at the mess below. His usually expressionless and fierce face twitched slightly, as if he was about to cry.
“Hu Yulan… Ying Ying Ying…” Foxes only seek one mate in their lifetime. Even as the Demon Emperor, after Hu Yulan’s disappearance, he had never allowed another female fox to be by his side.
” Ying Ying Ying…” Whether it was a cry of sorrow or a beast king’s mournful lament for his lost love… At this moment, Xiao Yunluo, who was chasing Pei Lianxue, also arrived in the sky, panting. Seeing the devastated scene, she took a while to calm her breathing. Just as she was about to go down after seeing Ye Anping, who had crashed into the forest, a fox head suddenly popped its head out of her storage bag with a “pop~”
“Master~~~~” Xiao Yunluo had no idea Xue Tian Qiao was hiding in her storage bag and was so startled that she flailed her arms in mid-air.
“Eeeek—!!!” But then again, can living creatures be stored in a storage bag? It was a void inside; wouldn’t she suffocate and freeze to death?! Xue Tian Qiao ignored Xiao Yunluo, squeezed out of her waist-mounted storage bag, and instantly pounced towards the bewildered Hu Mu in the sky. Seeing Xue Tian Qiao appear, Hu Mu was greatly startled and hurriedly averted his face, turning his red vertical pupils away, not wanting her to see. Xue Tian Qiao pounced onto Hu Mu’s shoulder and crawled to his head, asking, “Master, did you get beaten and cry?”
“… …” “What’s wrong?”
“Tsk, shut up, vixen!!”
“Okay, fox!” Hu Mu was so angry his teeth itched, but he was also helpless. His shoulders suddenly drooped. He pulled Xue Tian Qiao into his arms, stroked her head, and finally glanced at Xiao Yunluo and Ye Anping and the others. Seeing that none of them were dead, he transformed into black mist and flew towards the Tian Mo Sect.
Ying…
… …
