Chapter 96

The air twisted due to the high temperature.

The layer of clouds at the dome of the sky was outlined with a stone-blue hue, and the scorching wind whipped green, glowing flames, like fluttering fire banners.

It was at this moment that the rift appeared in mid-air.

Yakshas with human bodies and beast heads rode on Luozhi, and demon ghosts with long fangs and canine ears held spears and halberds, shouting and beckoning to their companions behind them. The Raksasa birds flapped their wings, dropping gray-black feathers that burned to ashes in the ghostly fire.

Countless demon ghosts squeezed through the rift, their dense shadows carrying thick and heavy ghostly and demonic energy, overflowing from the rift and gradually eroding the entire sky above Xiandu Yujing.

…It was the Ten Thousand Ghosts Parade.

The demon ghosts from the Nine Hells had invaded Yujing City!

The city was immediately thrown into chaos like a pot of boiling water.

The noble families, who usually remained unperturbed, were shaken to their core, unable to believe their eyes.

“This is impossible! There’s the Great Wall of Demon Ghosts, there’s the Dragon Vein cornerstone guarding the Nine Hells! He couldn’t possibly summon so many demon ghosts!”

This was different from the Ten Thousand Ghosts Parade that had appeared in Taiping City before, and different from the demon ghost army that had conquered the three border cities.

The technique to call and control ghosts by name was actually a method of tearing space apart, summoning demon soldiers and ghost generals to any place.

With such power that could summon thousands of troops at a word, who wouldn’t fear it? Who wouldn’t dread it?

It was precisely because of this that the celestial noble families built the Great Wall of Demon Ghosts and forced him to swear an oath at Chaotianque to not violate the peace.

“Demon Ghost Mo Lin!”

Xiahou Chi, the leader of the Twelve Generals of Xiandu, shouted towards the sky along with the head of the Xiahou family:

“You have a lot of nerve! Before the Heavenly Gate, the Oath of Peace still stands! You crossed the Demon Ghost Wall and summoned ten thousand ghosts here, treating the oath like waste paper. Do you intend to recreate the calamity of the Outer Demons and oppose the entire Da Zhao Empire?!”

No matter how powerful the Nine Nether Demon Ghosts were, Da Zhao was not an easy target.

Back then, the calamity of the demons ravaged the Divine Land with a severity a hundred times worse. Yet, the human race still managed to reverse the decline. If this demon ghost truly intends to breach Xiandu Yujing today, thousands and thousands of human cultivators will fight him to the death!

Ten thousand ghosts had already surrounded the entire Jiufang family estate.

Mo Lin’s eyes were fixed on the mansion covered by the protective array, his bony brows pressing down on his gloomy green eyes, which shone like ghostly fire in the dark night.

Without looking back, his pale, slender hand grasped a white-feathered peacock, rescued from the Jiufang family’s beast stable, which had been accidentally destroyed earlier.

The noble white-feathered peacock had pure white feathers, living in luxury and eating young snakes. It was a natural enemy of snakes.

Mo Lin held the long neck of the white-feathered peacock, and the image of the sharp beak snapping branches and chewing flowers involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

He already regretted it.

He should never have agreed to Liuyu’s persuasion and allowed her to risk her life.

No matter how meticulous their preparations were, it couldn’t change the fact that Liuyu had entered enemy territory alone.

Even though Xiangli Hualian had given Liuyu the antidote for the energy dispersing pill, and no one would guard against the four-boundary Tan Ning, and even though both he and Liuyu had sealed their energies in artifacts to lend them to Tan Ning, it still couldn’t guarantee Liuyu’s safety.

Besides the energy dispersing pill, Jiufang Zhanghua might use other means to ensure Liuyu had no power to resist.

As long as Liuyu’s energy sea was sealed, the people inside the Jiufang family estate could do anything to her.

Even if he were the one accompanying Liuyu inside, he wouldn’t dare trust himself so much. How could he trust that foolish sister of his to accompany her?!

Growing up in a family like the Yingshan clan, yet only reaching the fourth boundary!

How stupid could she be!

She had the time to style her hair so fancily but couldn’t improve her lousy cultivation!

His forearm’s veins bulged as he held back the urge to strangle the white-feathered peacock.

Letting the peacock’s feathers brush against the edge of the ghostly fire, Mo Lin squeezed out a few words through his teeth.

“Jiufang Zhanghua took my wife against his oath. From today, the oath is broken. Those unrelated, withdraw. Those who obstruct, die.”

Amidst the swirling ghostly fire, a mountain spirit shouted:

“Welcome back the honored wife!”

Ten thousand ghosts echoed: “Welcome back the honored wife! Welcome back the honored wife!”

The sky above Xiandu Yujing resounded like a tidal wave, the voices rising one after another, distant and eerie like demonic murmurs from the clouds, seeping into the Jiufang family estate.

There was no need to hear messages from the guards; Jiufang Zhanghua could already imagine the chaos at the main residence.

The Jiufang family had killed and framed people under the cover of night, burned Nine Nether’s books, incited the populace against demon ghosts everywhere, and recruited soldiers to prepare for an assault on Xiandu Yujing. It was indeed time to tear off the mask.

However, Mo Lin had not directly led the ten thousand ghosts of Nine Nether into the Jiufang family estate.

The outer barrier wasn’t that impregnable; the real essence lay in the intricate traps within the estate.

Yet, he was calmly and rationally deploying forces around the estate.

It seemed like he was waiting for something.

…Was he waiting for Liuyu to coordinate with him from within?

A silent storm swirled in his long eyes.

“To enter the game with your life, how perilous. Liuyu, do you hate the Jiufang clan this much?!”

Before the words were finished, a surge of chaotic energy rushed from his side.

The estate’s guards quickly formed a defensive formation, but the force spreading from the fourth-boundary girl was overwhelming, pressing down like a mountain.

…Too bad her control over this power was extremely poor.

“You can’t eat an entire fat man in one bite! Do you understand that?! How much energy did you give me! Are you trying to kill me?! Did any of you consider whether I can handle this amount of power?!”

Tan Ning, her black hair blown into disarray by the wind, completely lost her composure and yelled at Liuyu in the inner chamber.

She felt like a juggler balancing far more bowls than she could handle on her head.

Wobbling as she manipulated the overwhelming power, any mistake would mean the end for her, Liuyu, and that damn demon ghost!

“No choice, time is tight. Finding another fool who wouldn’t raise Jiufang Zhanghua’s suspicion wasn’t easy, sister.”

Her waist sash was torn by Jiufang Zhanghua, forcing Liuyu to use her hair ribbon to tie her loose robe.

As she stepped out of the room, Jiufang Zhanghua’s guards were already showing signs of defeat under the crushing green energy.

Jiufang Zhanghua’s eyes, bloodshot, stared intently at Tan Ning as if trying to bore a hole through her face.

“No, something’s wrong,” he said with forced calm, his brows icy, “Since Liuyu can disguise herself with a glass mirror shard, others can too. You’re not Tan Ning. Who are you?”

Tan Ning seemed stung by his words but grew calmer in her aura.

She pressed her lips for a moment, then pulled out a cold smile.

“Zhanghua, whether in victory or defeat, you taught me to accept it. Are you asking because you can’t take the loss?”

Her face, white as new snow, briefly twisted with a delicate fury, his words sharp:

“Yingshan Ze killed your father!”

“He deserved it!”

These four words burst from Tan Ning’s chest.

“You know nothing! My father was a talented and brave general, but he was also a complete scoundrel! He mistreated his subordinates, embezzled military funds, abducted my mother to make her a concubine, then neglected her. He beat and scolded his children, treating them like slaves he could dispose of at will! Do you know why I understand you?! Why I like you?!”

Hate and love gnawed at each other in her eyes, making it impossible to distinguish between them.

Jiufang Zhanghua’s brows furrowed slightly, as if a long-standing mystery had been solved.

“He died, and even his concubines, those who bullied my siblings, all died in the chaos of the rebellion against Xiangli Ruoluo. At that time, I thought it was just my luck, losing a scoundrel father and gaining an honorable foster father who treated me like his own daughter. It was you who made me realize it wasn’t luck; it was Yinshan Ze who killed my traitorous father, and out of respect for his past achievements, hid his crimes and took me in as his foster daughter.”

Large tears welled up in Tan Ning’s eyes.

“He was truly a good person, but Zhanghua, how could you do this to him, how could you—”

How could you use the sword techniques Yinshan Ze personally taught you, to kill the master who treated you like his own child, for the corrupt and filthy Jiufang family?

Tan Ning had learned about her past life from Liuyu.

That past life, just hearing Liuyu’s recount was enough to make her heart-wrenching, crying in the arms of Yinshan Ze and Nangong Jing until they were soaked with tears and snot.

She couldn’t believe that if this were true, how could she endure such despair day after day.

But Liuyu endured it.

After hearing the whole story, how could she blame Liuyu for hiding the Jimo family’s matters from her?

Liuyu’s meticulous preparations since her rebirth were things Tan Ning could never achieve. If staying in the dark was her way of helping, she could remain in the dark forever.

The chaotic Qi flow in her palm gradually stabilized, and Tan Ning switched from defense to offense. The death soldiers were suddenly shocked to find their Qi was being siphoned towards Tan Ning!

Passed down through the Yinshan family.

And further refined by Liuyu—

The stance of “Jade Attack.”

“Jiufang Zhanghua!” After smashing away the death soldiers in front of her, Tan Ning angrily glared at the young man before her, demanding, “If you have any conscience left, you should explain what controls my father!”

Control…Yinshan Ze?

Jiufang Zhanghua’s long brows drew together.

“I don’t know about that.”

“You’re lying!”

Enraged, Tan Ning transformed her hairpin into a sword, trying to force the truth out of him. But Liuyu, observing Zhanghua’s expression closely, knew that by now he couldn’t be faking it.

He was telling the truth.

Could it be that the control over Yinshan Ze had nothing to do with the Jiufang family?

Liuyu was suspicious; she needed to find someone to confirm it.

“No need to entangle.”

With her palm on the ground, Liuyu felt the faint tremors.

In the past life, when the protective array was triggered, Mulin directly stormed into the mansion. Even in such a rush, the first mechanism still took a quarter of an hour to activate, which was the shortest activation time.

Time was running out for them.

“Make him reveal the method to lift the Soul-Leaving Curse.”

Spinning around, Jiufang Zhanghua parried Tan Ning’s clumsy sword technique, smiling faintly:

“If I die, the curse will be lifted.”

…Utter nonsense.

How could he dare tie his life to her Qi Sea?

But Tan Ning seemed to believe it mostly.

She knew that life and death were inevitable today and had prepared herself. Yet, her sword technique, identical to Jiufang Zhanghua’s Ya Sword Nine Forms, was child’s play before him.

Fortunately, Mulin and Liuyu’s stance shielded her from Zhanghua’s counterattacks, leading to a stalemate.

Liuyu made a quick decision:

“Forget her, head to the main courtyard!”

They couldn’t waste more time. Even without using Qi, Liuyu had to reach the first mechanism before it activated, or Mulin forcing his way in with the Nine Nether demons would only result in countless casualties.

Anger burned in Tan Ning’s chest.

Her hair had been messily disheveled by Jiufang Zhanghua’s ruthless strike, but the usually decorum-obsessed Tan Ning didn’t have time to care.

Why hadn’t she been more diligent before!

If she hadn’t been so lazy, wasting time on petty jealousies and rivalries, perhaps she would have had the strength to fight Jiufang Zhanghua today, and wouldn’t have to flee in disgrace!

It was all her fault!

Seeing the death soldiers being thrown aside by Tan Ning’s force, the personal guards felt a tightness in their chests:

“Young master—”

Jiufang Zhanghua, with a face like frost, watched the direction they fled, his smile fading.

Despite his deep hatred for Jiufang Qian and the Jiufang family, he couldn’t let the family fall apart.

“Inform Shaogeng and Miaoyi, stop them.”

Jiufang Shaogeng, trapped in his courtyard within the main residence, had been nursing his injuries for ten days, just barely able to get out of bed in recent days.

He had doubted the doctor’s words, but after lying in bed in pain, barely able to move, he started to feel a creeping fear.

That demon, Mulin, had really tried to kill him that day.

Jiufang Shaogeng didn’t understand the source of Mulin’s hatred, but he knew that next time he encountered Mulin, he wouldn’t recklessly face him again. Unless he was absolutely sure of victory, he wouldn’t confront that demon head-on.

—Then he discovered the mansion’s protective array had activated, and the entire formation was surrounded by a chilling ghost fire.

Jiufang Shaogeng jumped up from his recliner, his still unhealed wounds starting to ache again.

Mulin had really come to kill him!

Was he crazy! This was the Heavenly Capital Yujing! Was he planning to defy the entire Great Zhao!

“Notify Father immediately, gather the personal guards, summon Miaoyi, and the elders managing the underground mechanisms—”

Issuing a series of commands, Jiufang Shaogeng was already heading to the front courtyard, surrounded by guards.

He had to see what was happening outside.

When the guards reported that the demon Mo Lin had summoned a legion of ghosts, he was only mildly surprised, as he had already known about the instability of the dragon veins.

But when he heard that the demon Mo Lin claimed his eldest brother had taken Yinshan Liuyu and hidden her within the mansion, he nearly tripped over the moon gate.

“Impossible! Yinshan Liuyu isn’t so easily captured! Besides, I command the palace guards, why haven’t I heard a single…”

Jiufang Shaogeng paused, furrowing his brows.

Had his elder brother already extended his reach into the mansion?

Just then, the jade slip flickered, revealing a message from Jiufang Zhanghua:

[Liuyu somehow seems to know the location of the mechanisms within the mansion and is heading towards the rock garden in the front courtyard. Liuyu’s Qi sea is sealed, and Tan Ning has received the power of both Liuyu and the demon Mo Lin. Do not engage with her, capture Liuyu immediately, and go to intercept.]

Jiufang Shaogeng stared at the message for two seconds before he snapped back to reality.

Yinshan Liuyu… her Qi sea sealed?

How was this accomplished?

What had happened while he was away?

Jiufang Shaogeng was puzzled, but he didn’t hesitate, and upon turning a corner, he saw Tan Ning about to cleave the Taihu rock in the front courtyard with a sword.

Beneath the Taihu rock lay the first link in a series of ingenious traps in the mansion.

Chaotic rocks and hidden pools, gathering Qi and concealing mystical energies, forming the—Heavenly Pool Water Formation.

“Tan Ning, if you, with your meager skills, can break this Heavenly Pool Water Formation, then the cultivators of our Jiufang clan and the Zhongli clan might as well be dead.”

Jiufang Shaogeng mocked without mercy as he saw Tan Ning’s jade sword stuck in a crack in the stone.

He turned back and said to the elder who had arrived:

“Activate the formation.”

The elder took a deep breath and made a hand seal:

“Heaven and earth thunder and wind, mountains and lakes, water and fire, Kan formation, water element.”

The water beneath the grotesque rocks seemed to come alive, shaking the ground and causing the water to surge.

Liuyu knew that if the Heavenly Pool Water Formation were fully activated, the water would draw from the earth’s Qi, transforming into a dragon of water, extinguishing all Qi, ghost Qi, and demon Qi it touched.

But at this moment, the gears beneath seemed to be jammed, and the dragon in the pool writhed like a worm in the mud, unable to break the surface.

Jiufang Shaogeng’s expression changed slightly.

That jade sword hadn’t shattered the formation’s core but seemed to have jammed it.

“Tan Ning! Strike again!”

Tan Ning, face red from exertion, wanted to say she had already tried her best but couldn’t utter a word.

Jiufang Shaogeng coldly reprimanded:

“Useless! What are you all staring at! Waiting to die?”

His stern rebuke snapped the guards back to their senses, and they charged at Tan Ning.

Liuyu unhesitatingly kicked Tan Ning off the Taihu rock.

“Hold them off for me!”

Tan Ning scrambled to her feet, immediately forming a stance, her ghostly green Qi forming a barrier that held back the charging guards like a wall of copper and iron.

Jiufang Shaogeng’s pupils contracted.

They had given her so much power, was that demon Mo Lin not afraid of death?

Before he could fully process his shock, Jiufang Shaogeng’s gaze shifted upward to the figure on the Taihu rock.

The girl stood at the center of the formation. Beneath the half-activated Heavenly Pool Water Formation was a dragon ready to spring forth. If her Qi sea was indeed sealed, any mistake would see her crushed to death by the dragon.

But the girl’s face showed no fear.

She seemed not to have considered this possibility, her mind and eyes fixated solely on one goal.

Just a little more!

Just a little more!

She wanted to destroy the formation core!

Hurrying towards the main residence, Jiufang Zhanghua suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his heart.

…It was Liuyu.

She was forcibly mobilizing her Qi sea.

She was trying to break free of the Soul Detachment Curse!

Rocks trembled and water waves surged. Gripping the jade sword, Liuyu steadily cut through the incredibly hard Taihu rock, her sealed Qi sea flickering like a candle in the wind, always on the verge of being snuffed out.

But a faint flow of Qi still circulated within her meridians.

Just a bit more.

More.

She had once witnessed Mo Lin battle this water dragon, seeing him besieged and struggle free from the entrapment of the dragon.

Knowing it was a path to certain death, he hadn’t dragged anyone along with him.

Even knowing it was a path to certain death, he charged forward fearlessly, invincible.

To this day, Liuyu still didn’t know the whereabouts of Tianjia 31 or what kind of loneliness and pain the now-memoryless Mo Lin was enduring.

But it didn’t matter.

As long as she could capture this fortress and storm the hiding place of that old bastard.

She would find him.

She would bring him home.

A faint cracking sound came from within the stone, and instantly, a fierce wind soared, making Liuyu’s dress flutter wildly as if she were about to take flight.

The elder of the Jiufang clan’s eyes widened in shock.

The water dragon in the pool gradually subsided, seemingly sinking back into the depths, while the golden barrier covering the Jiufang mansion shrank visibly inward.

Jiufang Shaogeng’s eyes bulged as he shouted at the stunned guards:

“Retreat quickly! Fall back to the protective formation!”

However, the ghostly flames engulfed everything faster than his voice!

The ghostly flames seemed to manifest the long-restrained fury of the demon lord, advancing relentlessly and forcing the protective formation back step by step.

The Jiufang clan’s cultivators above the seventh level could barely hold on, but behind the fierce flames were the twelve mighty spirits and the morale-boosted legion of thousands of demons and ghosts.

They all knew what this battle meant and who was clearing the way ahead for them.

Capture the Jiufang clan!

Avenge their queen!

They were opening a new Shenzhou for themselves! A Shenzhou continent free from the bans on demons and ghosts!

Liuyu stood on the shattered formation core, absorbing the few strands of earth energy leaking from deep underground.

The earth energy flowing into her body coursed through her meridians, breaking the Soul-Binding Curse that had sealed her Qi Sea even further.

Rushing to the front yard, Jiufang Zhanghua’s face was as pale as paper, his brows tightly furrowed. He ordered all the Jiufang cultivators to immediately follow the shrinking barrier’s pace and retreat within the protective range of the mountain-guarding formation.

This was only the first formation core.

There were seven more; they still had a chance. Liuyu couldn’t possibly know the locations of the remaining seven formation cores. With the barrier range shrinking, she could leave the Jiufang estate now. Her Qi Sea was still mostly sealed, so she should be…

“The next one!”

Liuyu turned her gaze away from the approaching Mo Lin, unhesitatingly sliding down from the Taihu stone. The hem of her pale gold dress was covered in dust, but it did nothing to dim her radiant beauty at this moment.

“Tan Ning, lead the way.”

“Got it!”

The people within the Jiufang estate watched in disbelief as Liuyu headed deeper into the estate.

Once the barrier stopped shrinking, no one could get in from the outside, and no one could leave from the inside. Wasn’t she going to escape?

The number of cultivators gathering within the estate was increasing. How long could she and that girl in the fourth stage hold out?

Jiufang Shaogeng’s gaze was glued to the backs of Liuyu and Tan Ning. He decisively issued an order:

“Catch up with them! They must be captured alive!”

As long as they captured these two, they would have leverage over the Yinshan clan and the demon Mo Lin!

The barrier stopped shrinking.

Most of the Jiufang cultivators had successfully retreated to the protective range of the mountain-guarding formation.

Jiufang Shaogeng’s heart pounded wildly.

The forces outside Yujing City were rapidly gathering. By then, the cultivators inside the estate and the forces outside the city would form an encirclement. No matter what demon lord or ten thousand ghosts patrol, they would all be trapped and captured in one fell swoop—

Boom!!

For some unknown reason, the ghost fire surrounding the barrier suddenly surged into a fierce storm.

Jiufang Zhanghua, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, slowly faced the nearly skin-peeling, bone-tearing gaze from across.

“…What did you do?”

Sixteen tentacles twisted and writhed in the firelight, and the demon spoke each word as if he was about to gnaw his bones.

“Jiufang Zhanghua, what did you do to Liuyu?”

He saw it.

Liuyu’s belt was not the one he had personally tied for her when she left this morning.