CH 1

“Kill him! Kill him!” yelled the enraged audience, encircling a high platform. Shouts were heard wave after waves. 

This was Linmo Yuan, the juncture between the human and demon world.

There was a slight smell of blood lingering in the air just after a great war, which heightened people’s emotions. The majority of those gathered around the platform were Moyun Mountain disciples, and their humble and exquisite white robes pricked the eyes whenever reflected under the strong sunlight. A man on the stage was covered in blood. His wrists were firmly tied to his back by an immortal rope, yet his torso was straight despite kneeling on the floor. His bun was loose, and his piercing eyes searched the crowd through the few strands of long hair that hung in front of his face.

“Gu Qingqiao, do you admit to your crime?” questioned a middle-aged man sitting at the head, who was dressed in a white Moyun Taoist robe embroidered with golden clouds patterns, symbolizing the head of the Moyun Mountain.

The kneeling young man only sneered and didn’t answer, making the surrounding spectators under the stage to become all the more excited. 

“What else is there to say? He was caught red handed killing an elder, the proof is clear!” “He killed an elder at a crucial point in the struggle between the immortals and the demons, he is unquestionably a traitor!” 

Suddenly they noticed someone approaching from a distance with a sword in hand. The uproar subsided, and the crowd parted like tides in the surf, allowing the figure to pass.

Step by step, the handsome young man in white with a long sword approached the high platform. “Isn’t that Mu Xiyun? Wasn’t he on the southern section of the battlefield?”  someone whispered amongst the crowd. “Well, he is a disciple of Tianliang Peak,” another sighed, “he must have hurried over after receiving the news of his master’s death.”

“Is he going to kill the traitor with his own hands?” The audience became lively again. Mu Xiyun stood on the stage, unsheathed his long sword and pointed it directly at Gu Qingqiao’s chest.

He had just returned from a great distance with his sword after a grueling battle. His face was pallid, and fine beads of sweat were gathering on his brow.

Despite this, the hand holding the blade did not shake in the least, and his face was icy. He locked his gaze on the kneeling man’s eyes. For a moment, they just stared at each other. 

“Why?” He asked. Gu Qingqiao merely closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he suddenly smiled.

“Ah Yun…” Just as he was about to say something, his countenance abruptly turned pale. The whole person curled like a ball on the ground as if he was dealt with a heavy blow on the stomach.  

“What is that?” Shouts were heard from the crowd below.

Wisps of black qi quickly rose from Gu Qingqiao’s body, covering his whole person within a few breaths. Mu Xiyun subconsciously took a step back. However, as he retreated, Gu Qingqiao suddenly sprang off the ground. His arms had already broken free from the immortal rope, and a shining machete in his left hand slashed through the black qi, creating afterimages as he aimed for Mu Xiyun’s throat.

He gripped his sword as he parried the machete. The machete in Gu Qingqiao’s right hand arrived fast, and Mu Xiyun raised his left hand like lightning at the same time. The two came face to face after two sharp “ding” sounds. Gu Qingqiao’s eyes were blood red, and the black qi from his body was constantly leaking, and soon covered the high platform.

“Ah, it hurts!” 

“What’s the matter?”

Several Moyun disciples rushed to the high platform, but they didn’t anticipate the black qi to instantaneously infiltrate the meridians as it touched the body. Higher-level practitioners just felt a cold rush against their meridians. Those with inferior skills, on the other hand, instantly vomited blood. People began to cry out one after the other at that point, and they backed away involuntarily.

“What are you panicking about, move back!” The middle-aged man shouted in a deep voice. With a wave of his hands, a barrier was formed and covered the high platform like a dome. The black qi that wanted to rush out, curled backwards as it hit the barrier, unable to extend out any farther.

In the dense black mist, all of Xiyun’s strength was poured into the blade. He mobilized his spiritual energy into the sword’s edge and the long sword emitted a shining silver light, resisting the black qi from the opposite side’s machete. His lower abdomen was already in a searing pain, and what little remaining spiritual energy in him rushed out eagerly. He could feel his golden core being overburdened, but he didn’t care, and still continued to use his spiritual energy to the extreme.

“Crack!” 

His golden core suddenly shattered. Blood oozed from the corner of Mu Xiyun’s mouth, but he still recklessly kept on, even extracting spiritual energy from his sea of ​​consciousness.

In his struggle, his vision suddenly became blurred. However, he finally saw that, under the pressure of his powerful spiritual force, the black qi on the machete receded little by little, and Gu Qingqiao’s eyes slowly changed back from blood red to normal.

“Ah Yun!” A familiar shout sounded, yet it seemed to be from a distance away. He closed his eyes and darkness eventually came.

It was dark all around. Mu Xiyun floated in the void, surrounded by chaos.

His consciousness responded reluctantly as a weak but warm beam of white light descended on him. The white light encircled him gently, as though gentle hands caressed him, attempting to wake him up.

His memory still lingered on the earlier scene; the hellish battlefield in Linmo Yuan, the little junior brother who came to report the news, the young man who was bound on the high platform, and the blood-red eyes surrounded by black qi…..

No, no!

He could still recall the teen Qingqiao deep in his memory. The one who played with him and fought alongside him in times of difficulty, whose every word and deed he treasured, and whose smile warmed his heart. Yet, how can such a person hurt the master he most respects!

Where and what went wrong?

Then, Mu Xiyun opened his eyes.

The author has something to say: 

New people and new articles, please excuse me. Low magic cultivation is not an upgrade flow. The upgrade flow is so simple that it is just a background setting. Please don’t take it seriously.

Translator’s Note

Linmo Yuan-Demon Abyss