Chapter 368 - Seventh Day of the Seventh Month

“Fuxi Zither’s soul, Evernight!” Evernight’s cool-headed declaration startled everyone present. They finally understood why Xiao Chen was able to play the Fuxi Zither. It turned out that he possessed its soul. Meanwhile, Xiao Chen was even more shocked. Had Evernight regained all of her memories…?

Xiao Xiangyu shook his head with a pale face. “No! Impossible! Stop trying to scare us! How could he possess Fuxi Zither’s soul? Impossible…”

The Song Spirit beside him, Miao Ruyin, was shaking from fear. Evernight stared coldly at her. “How dare you play accomplice in a crime as a Song Spirit! What are you waiting for? Excuse yourself!”

“Yes…” Miao Ruyin replied timidly and gradually disappeared. Xiao Xiangyu was alarmed. “Miao Ruyin, return!” However, the Song Spirit was already gone.

Evernight glanced at the One-legged Ox Demon crawling on the floor. “You too!”

The One-legged Ox Demon vanished without even daring to breathe. His great fear of Evernight was likely because Heavenly Emperor Fuxi once tamed the first One-legged Ox Demon in the Archean eon. On the other hand, Miao Ruyin’s fear originated from the fact that they were both zither’s souls.

“One-legged Ox Demon! You can’t go!” Xiao Xiangyu couldn’t help turning from fright after seeing his trump card disappearing. His body began to tremble. An Imperial Spirit Commander who lost his General of Soul was as good as trash. Even though his cultivation was in the Nascent Soul Realm, his lack of actual battle experience meant that he might not necessarily win against highly-experienced Core Forming Realm cultivators.

Evernight turned around to look at Xiao Chen. “Kid, I’ll leave the rest to you,” he said and then vanished into thin air.

Upon seeing Xiao Xiangyu’s General of Soul disappearing, Qi Heng and Dead Wood knew that the tide was turning in their favor. They turned into two sword radiance and flew over without a second thought. Xiao Xiangyu’s face had turned so white that he resembled a dead man. He tried casting a spell to make his escape, but Xiao Chen flew into action and stopped in front of him.

“Without a General of Soul, you’re not worth being called trash!”

“Thump!” Before Xiao Xiangyu could react, he found himself flung back more than eighty feet away. Never mind that he was weaker than Xiao Chen, he was not the latter’s match even if he had Nirvana Realm cultivation.

He was so terrified that he was shaking all over. Hastily casting some kind of a spell, he transformed into a red radiance and fled. Xiao Chen didn’t bother chasing after him. He tore off the mask on his face and walked up to Huangfu Xin’er. “Xin’er, how are your injuries? Let me help you circulate your energy and mend your wounds.”

Huangfu Xin’er turned her head, ignoring him. Gui Feng joined them and said, “Madam, please listen to me…” She glared at him. “Shut up! Who’s your Madam?”

Xiao Chen coughed. “General, please return for now.”

“Yes, my lord. Please excuse me!”

The Koo-chee beast blinked its large eyes. “Koo-chee, koo-chee…”

Some distance away, the rest of the cultivators had already left the Falling Flowers Valley. Chu Lingjiao had already taken advantage of the chaos to escape. Huangfu Xin’er turned pale before suddenly fainting. Xiao Chen hastily held her up. Ziyun’er said, “Master, let me handle her wounds.”

Xiao Chen sighed and then nodded. It wasn’t convenient for him to bandage her wounds. Ziyun’er finished tending to Huangfu Xin’er’s injuries at noon but the latter was still unconscious. She covered Huangfu Xin’er with a thick quilt so she wouldn’t catch a cold.

Xiao Chen watched over Huangfu Xin’er the entire evening. Not even when the bright moon hung high in the sky did he leave her bedside. She had yet to wake up once and would sometimes talk in her sleep.

“Brother Xiao Chen… When I grow up, I’ll definitely marry you…”

“Don’t be afraid, Brother Xiao Chen. Even if you can’t perform martial arts, I can protect you in the future…”

Listening to the conversations they shared as children turned the rim of Xiao Chen’s eyes red. Tears brimming in his eyes, he said with a smile, “Silly Xin’er…”

Suddenly, his face paled and a violent pain emerged from his heart. The Heartless Curse was flaring up again. Qingluan and Ziyun’er immediately ran in after hearing the commotion inside. Qingluan said, “Help Master out of here!”

Ziyun’er, who had been worrying about this all along, didn’t even think twice before supporting him out of the room by the arm. It took a long time before the intense pain began to fade. Xiao Chen’s face was already drenched in sweat by then.

“Is there… Is there no way for this curse to be broken…” Ziyun’er stared at his deathly pale face, her voice a little choked.

Xiao Chen shook his head with a smile. “It’s alright. Once I enter the true Nirvana Realm, I can undo it myself…”

Ziyun’er’s voice remained tearful-sounding. “I heard that you said you could remove the curse after entering the Core Forming Realm, and then the Nascent Soul Realm. Now you’re telling me…”

Xiao Chen shook his head, smiling. “It’s alright. Don’t worry about me. Help me watch over her. I want some alone time.”

“Then, please excuse me…”

With the breeze caressing his skin, Xiao Chen walked toward a precipice overgrown with bamboo and sat down there. He stared at lonesome moon against a backdrop of stars and slowly sank into contemplation. After basking in the cold wind for a while, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He smiled. “I have wronged a great many people in half of my lifetime, yet it’s like I’m living in a dream. My conscience remains clear.”

“Things are often out of our control. What happened in the past are no more scattered flowers and dreams. Like the lonesome stars, they are untouchable. Hope, like the dim moon, disappears in an instant and leaves no trace behind.” Evernight walked up to him and sat beside him. She looked at him and added, “Kid, what do you plan to do next?”

Xiao Chen didn’t reply. Only after some time did he turn his head to look at her. “Evernight, you remembered your memories a long time ago, didn’t you? What happened back then? What about my Master? Where is she?”

Evernight took a deep breath. “Do not ask me, for I don’t remember anything that happened after.”

Xiao Chen knew he was referring to the events after the Mystic Cyan Sect was put on trial and his Master protected his soul under everyone’s nose. What happened next, even he had no idea.

The wind rising from under the precipice seemed even colder still, but the two of them continued to sit there until late into the night. Evernight said, “Kid, this world isn’t the world of the past. To protect those around you, your only choice is to become even stronger.”

Xiao Chen took a deep breath. Yes, in this world, Dao wasn’t Dao, devils weren’t devils. Power reigned supreme here. That was the truth, as much as he didn’t want to admit it.

If Evernight hadn’t shown up at the eleventh hour to shock the Imperial Spirit Commander today, the consequences would have been dire. With his current strength, he could barely put up a fight against Nirvana Realm cultivators like Qi Heng.

Then, a flurry of footsteps resounded behind them. “Forget it. I’m returning,” Evernight said, and then vanished into thin air. Xiao Chen turned around. “Qingluan, is Xin’er doing better now?”

“Empress Huangfu is fine. It’s very late at night, Master. Please return to your room and get some rest.”

Heaving a sigh, Xiao Chen turned around and stared into the pitch-black abyss that he couldn’t see the bottom of. He wasn’t afraid that the Orthodox sects and clans would immediately hunt him down as soon as his identity is exposed. That day, they were bullying him with numbers in Tianyuan City. These days, the Devil’s sects were so active that the Orthodox side was busy worrying about themselves. No one would be foolish enough to provoke him now.

“Oh, right. Qingluan, take a few of your sisters and investigate the situation outside tomorrow. I need an idea of the overall situation before I can decide my next step.”

Xiao Chen stood up, hands clasped behind his back. His clothes rustled noisily under the attack of the cold wind rising from under the precipice. The Orthodox and Devil’s Path was more or less equal in terms of power now. Meanwhile, as he was neither an Orthodox disciple nor a Devil’s Path follower, he could no longer act as boldly as before. Only after getting an understanding of the overall situation, could he ensure that nothing would go wrong with his plan.

“Yes, Master!” a solemn-faced Qingluan answered, saluting him. If it was Ziyun’er, she would certainly ask Xiao Chen to prioritize his well-being and forget about such things or such-and-such. However, Qingluan wouldn’t.

Xiao Chen nodded. “It’s late. You should return as well.”

“Please excuse me, Master!”

The wind became fiercer following Qingluan’s departure and several mottled bamboos by the precipice started shaking incessantly. For some reason, Xiao Chen’s heart would ache every time he came to the Falling Flowers Valley. He would always think of Hua Weiyang, especially when he saw those mottled bamboos. Perhaps, it was because the same kind of bamboo grew in the place where they first met and had their zither competition.

Suddenly, he propelled himself into the air and crossed to the other side of the precipice. After turning over countless mountain tops and flying countless miles away from the Heartless Palace, he arrived at a place where he couldn’t see those bamboos anymore. He clapped his palms downward and started ascending a thousand feet with the help of the mountain wind.

“Fifth step of the Yaoguang School’s mind cultivation method! Star-shifting Substitution!”

He couldn’t bear recalling past events that would only sadden him, so he chose to try using the fifth step of Yaoguang School’s mind cultivation method. Following his bellow, countless specks of light began illuminating his surroundings like they were stars in the Ninth Heaven above. The wind this high in the sky was chilling. His clothes billowed in the wind, as did his hair. Even so, he continued moving his hands and the specks of light around him moved along with him.

Suddenly, a rumbling explosion shattered the silence. Underneath him, several mountain tops started shaking with great force, startling the birds and beasts below into fleeing. The rumbling sound grew louder and louder until the mountain tops began to move. Whenever his hand moved, that was where the mountain tops would go.

The mountain tops moved swiftly from south to east, and then from east to north. Countless crushed stones rolled off the mountain and wide expanses of woods fell. The stars in the sky also began shifting positions. This was the fifth step of the cultivation method that Ling Yin invented: Star-shifting Substitution. He would borrow the power of the stars to shake up the world. To use this skill, one would need incredibly powerful Divine Sense.

Back then, Xiao Chen only learned as far as the fourth step of the Yaoguang School’s mind cultivation method. Now, he had finally learned the fifth step. As his cultivation rises, he could learn the sixth, seventh, and even… the tenth step!

“Yaoguang’s Seal of Stars!”

He cried. In an instant, a dozen or so faculae appeared out of thin air around him. They flitted across the night sky like meteors and rained down on the mountain tops below. Explosions shattered the air as the impact of the faculae reduced the mountain tops to dust.

The smoke and dust lingered for a long while before dissipating. In the distance, several mountain tops were still shaking from the aftermath. Most Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would surely perish from such an earth-shaking force. Even Nirvana Realm cultivators who survived would be severely injured. If he could display such power earlier in the day, he wouldn’t have to be so passive.

The high-altitude wind whizzed and whistled around him. Xiao Chen hovered in the air with his hands clasped behind him and clothes rustling noisily, looking like a lonesome immortal. He peered at the faintly discernible mountain range in the distance, a sneer slowly creeping onto his face. “Orthodox Path, Devil’s Practice…”

Over the next three days, Xiao Chen stayed in the Heartless Palace to take care of Huangfu Xin’er. The ladies of the Hidden Fragrance Wafting Under the Moon were gone on a mission to investigate the situation of the Orthodox and Devil’s sects. When Qingluan and her team finally returned this afternoon, Xiao Chen immediately met them outside and asked, “How are things?”

“Master, we found out that a total of thirteen Sect Leaders and eighteen Elders have gone missing in the past year. Moreover, all of them are female cultivators with an immortal body.”

Xiao Chen frowned. He was rather surprised. “That coincidental?”

Ziyun’er replied, “What’s most peculiar is that all of them disappeared on the same day. Seventh day of the seventh month last year.” Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes, his expression gradually turning solemn. “Continue.”

“These thirty-one women share the same birthday: the seventh day of the seventh month. All of them went missing during their birthday banquet.”

“Birthday on the seventh day of the seventh month!” Cold sweat beaded on Xiao Chen’s back. His face also turned pale. Noticing his drastic change in expression, Ziyun’er whispered, “What’s wrong, Master?”

Xiao Chen’s cold sweat continued to form. Birthday on the seventh day of the seventh month! If he wasn’t mistaken, that was also Weiyang’s birthday!