Qingchi

The river waters surged, dark and turbid, flowing with ferocious speed. They churned up shard after shard of broken ice that tumbled and collided against one another like the exposed caudal fins of unknown behemoths breaching the surface, casting a bone-chilling, ghastly sheen. *Crack...* The old man in black robes stood frozen in midair, gazing ahead in disbelief, his lips trembling. Qu Bushi was no master of combat. He had merely been hovering high in the sky to observe the situation and remain on standby to offer reinforcement. When the water mist had risen over the battlefield, he had not sensed it in the least. Not until the billowing mist swept past beneath his feet and receded northward like an ebbing tide—never even touching him directly—did he stare blankly at it, completely lost to the world. In the span of a single breath, the scene transformed from an intensely clamorous battlefield to profound, silent darkness. The ferocious, earth-shaking tumult of the northern bank was entirely gone. Those monks who had fearlessly crossed the river one after another in search of the afterlife had all turned to white bones, standing like a stark forest in the dark deluge, shockingly quiet. Everything in his vision was dim and murky, as if his spiritual sense were coated in a layer of ash. The endless skeletons assumed all manner of shapes and postures; most stood upright in the dark, staring blankly toward him. Qu Bushi still could not fully register what had happened, feeling only sheer terror. Snapping out of his stupor as if waking from a dream, Qu Bushi finally discerned that everything around him was dreadfully wrong. He stood dazed for a moment, looked down at his own body, froze in dull shock for two breaths, and mumbled, "A divine ability... a divine ability!" His voice rapidly escalated into a loud scream that echoed through the dark night. Scrambling in panic, Qu Bushi summoned the wind and fled south in a frenzy, only to hear a low shout beside his ear: "Guest Elder Qu!" Li Zhouming rode the wind toward him with a flustered expression, not daring to flare his magical radiance. Upon seeing Qu Bushi, his pupils dilated in shock, and he gasped in horror, "Old Man Qu... you!" Qu Bushi glanced down in a daze, only now discovering that his lower body had already turned to bare white bones. The heavy, drowsy urge to slip into unconsciousness pressed harder into his mind, and he muttered weakly, "Oh dear... I've been hit by a divine ability!" Li Zhouming had been farther from the center of the battlefield and had suffered less from the divine ability's ripples. He had been waiting by the riverbank to receive his clan brothers, not expecting to run into the old man like this; grief and pity seized his heart at once. He hastily scooped the old man up, protecting his heart meridians with Mingyang magic power. Flicking open his sleeve with blinding speed, he retrieved a pale-red blossom and stuffed it into the old man's mouth. Glancing at the utterly silent wilderness to his left and right, he whispered in flustered tones, "There's no one left... Let's go... head back to the north bank first, Old Man Qu! Only once we're back in the mountains can you be saved." He gathered Qu Bushi into his arms and looked at the white bones beneath his feet and in the distance. For reasons he could not name, his eyes suddenly stung with tears: "What in the world was this fight for... Why did they have to die... A million living souls... Did even one of them understand?" He quickly reined in his emotion and dashed forward. The potent divine ability continued to affect the entire battlefield, rendering spiritual senses dull and unable to gauge distances. After flying for a while, he gradually drew closer to the center of the battlefield, only for an extraordinarily surging wave of magic power to rush straight at his face. "Who goes there?!" A chill gripped Li Zhouming's heart. He started slightly, only to realize the surging magic power gleamed with silver light, bearing a feather-robed woman whose dark brows were tightly furrowed, thick bloody light mixing with silver as it surged around her body. "Quewan?" Li Zhouming's heart gave a violent jolt. But Li Quewan's speed was astonishing right now; she brushed past him in an urgent rush, sparing him only a fleeting glance before vanishing into the heavy darkness. "What happened?!" The dazzling radiance mingled with the gale of magic power, leaving Li Zhouming stunned. Hesitating for a mere heartbeat, he finally gritted his teeth, channeled his Mingyang magic power at top speed, lit up his own protective radiance, and turned to follow her. Yet Li Quewan's Dao attainment and cultivation far surpassed her uncle's. Li Zhouming flew for quite some time, nearly losing track of her. Fortunately, after traversing the gloom in mild disorientation for a while, a glimmer of silver light finally shone ahead. As it turned out, Li Quewan had already landed on the ground, the flickering silver light standing out clearly. Overspending her magic power in such a short time had left her face deathly pale, beaded with cold sweat that pasted the dark hair at her temples into tangled strands. Yet she paid it no heed. With one hand forming an incantation gesture, she threw back her sleeve with the other and swept it hard against the ground. The tumbling skeletons immediately parted. She dropped to her knees, channeled her magic power, and lifted a rounded object from the muddy sludge. Only then did Li Zhouming stagger over; casting his eyes down, his pupils dilated violently. That rounded object was a human head. The person had a square face, thick brows, and tightly shut eyes. His teeth were clenched hard with great strain, bulging the developed muscles of his cheeks; yet the flesh of his entire face seemed to have been battered by some immense force, torn into frayed, tattered shreds like unraveling cotton. Beneath the head lay a wretched mess of bone and flesh. The man's upper torso was incomplete, slumped in the sandy ground by the bank with various organs scattered about, while his entire lower body had turned to white bones that seemed ready to shatter at the slightest touch. Billowing talisman ash and shards of magical artifacts were scattered beside the head. Li Zhouming felt as if struck by lightning. Dropping to his knees with a thud, he cried out in horror, "Zhouda!" This person was none other than Li Zhouda! Whenever a battle arose, Li Zhouda was always among the first to charge. In recent years, his cultivation and techniques had advanced swiftly. Yet when confronted with a cataclysmic divine ability of this scale, he had been among the most severely struck... Even though he was shielded by talismans and magical artifacts bestowed by the clan, and had seemingly taken a series of decisive self-rescue measures when hit by the divine ability, he was now mere moments from death. Li Quewan coughed with difficulty, spitting up a mouthful of vital blood from her throat. Her fingers gently tapped between his brows, and she immediately stuffed a Wanling Flower into the mouth of the head. Looking up with slightly reddened eyes, she said hoarsely, "Uncle, you leave first..." Li Zhouming wanted to say more, yet he dared not disturb her treatment. He now understood what she had rushed here for: *Remnants of the divine ability linger. Although the water mist has receded northward and grown extremely faint after covering such vast territory, ordinary methods could never deduce the location of our clansmen. The only way was to rush to the battlefield at top speed and divine his whereabouts within the surrounding area using shamanic arts...* *Yet no matter how faint the remnants are, it is still a divine ability! To bypass a divine ability with shamanic divination, who knows what a terrifying price she had to pay!* A sour ache tore at his heart: *We haven't even had the drink to celebrate my breakthrough yet...* Li Quewan had no time to exchange words. With a wave of her sleeve, all sorts of spiritual materials materialized before her, and she fed them into the head's mouth regardless of the cost—Li Zhouda's current state was beyond saving by conventional means, but if he could just hold on a little longer... he could ultimately be saved through a divine ability! Though tears fell in her anxiety, compounding spiritual materials day in and day out over decades ensured her hands remained steady and swift. Most crucial of all, she possessed a unique, life-saving wonder—the Wanling Flower! Li Zhouda's aura had plummeted to its lowest ebb, yet his life was forcefully sustained by the spiritual item. As time ticked away, cold sweat poured off Li Quewan like rain. She looked up again and said urgently, "Uncle... go fetch Guest Elder Sun to help!" Li Zhouming scrambled up in panic, only to see brilliant radiance descend directly before them, revealing his elder brother's silhouette. Li Zhouda's eyes snapped open. Bones and flesh sprouted once more from beneath his neck; the organs and mangled upper torso in the mud sprang up as if possessing feet of their own, knitting together beneath his head. Even his original clothes and armor were coalesced by the Mingyang heavenly light, identical down to the finest detail. The burly man abruptly sat up, turned away, and violently spewed a pool of blackened blood. Meanwhile, Qu Bushi—whom Li Zhouming had been carrying—grew lower limbs out of thin air. Steadying himself upon the clouds, he fell to his knees in tears and prostrated: "This humble one thanks the True Person!" Li Quewan rose with a trace of relief, yet the anxiety in her expression was only slightly alleviated. She said urgently, "Uncle... across the lands, there may still be..." Li Zhouwei nodded to her. Only then did the two notice someone standing behind him, clearly also just rescued. Though his face was exceedingly pale, it could not conceal his striking, martial demeanor—it was none other than Li Jiangxia. Divine abilities stirred as ranks of soldiers clad in golden armor and golden garments rode the light across all quarters, crisscrossing the riverbank lands in search. In an instant, countless striking points of illumination seemed to emerge within the darkness, blazing magnificently like fires in a nocturnal forest. Everywhere Li Zhouwei's gaze swept, all that met his eyes were white bones. Turmoil churned in his chest: *So long as I took part and the Li family dispatched more cultivators... Sui Guan didn't even deign to distinguish friend from foe. Not only were the monks and commoners of the northern bank slaughtered, but even the Li family and Qingchi cultivators who crossed from the southern bank were injured if brushed and killed if struck...* "Brother!" Tears nearly spilled from Li Zhouming's eyes. Casting aside the usual formal address of "My Lord," he called him "Brother" directly. Li Zhouwei helped Li Zhouda to his feet, looked at Li Quewan, and praised, "You've worked hard." Having finished coughing up black blood, Li Zhouda's complexion looked much better. He was a straightforward man; his face held little joy of surviving a catastrophe, filled instead with deep hatred and fury. Uttering his thanks, he moved to kneel once more. Li Zhouwei supported him, his brows tightly knit as he said in a low voice, "Fortunately, you were clever and preserved more than half of your Qi Sea. I will seal it for you first to keep your cultivation from dissipating... Once we return home, we shall administer further treatment." He lifted the three of them and streaked away, arriving in a small pavilion atop the mountain in the blink of an eye. Li Jiangqian had entered closed-door cultivation days earlier, leaving the pavilion deserted. Li Zhouwei left Li Jiangxia there to tally the numbers and instructed in a low voice, "Count the casualties... Do not act rashly. Just keep watch on the south." Li Jiangxia bowed in compliance. Only then did Li Zhouwei take Li Quewan all the way to the islet, stepping into the inner formation before asking, "How are your injuries?" Li Quewan bowed and answered, "I only expended some vital blood to rush there. It was indeed difficult to divine anything here; this junior reached the site of the clash and quietly used an immortal artifact to locate him... It did not cost me much lifespan." With slightly reddened eyes, she whispered, "I only wonder what kind of Lushui wonder could be... so savage and cruel!" Li Zhouwei had already anticipated this. He nodded silently and said softly, "It was Sui Guan... Nor is this merely Qingchi's doing. In the years that Jiangbei was occupied by the Buddhist cultivators... the million people relocated there were prepared precisely for today! For Wanling Heaven!" Sui Guan had forced the traces of Wanling Heaven to manifest. The phenomenon in the Great Void had persisted for a long time and was only now gradually fading; yet judging by Sui Guan's intentions, the descent of Wanling Heaven was merely a matter of time! *Anhuai Heaven, Wanling Heaven... both are famed grotto-heavens of Jiangbei. Back then, the metallic quintessence of Anhuai Heaven stirred all quarters, drawing out Violet Palaces. Now, Wanling Heaven is far more exalted and ancient; the upheaval it brings will undoubtedly be even more violent!* Seeing him lost in thought, Li Quewan remarked with considerable shock, "So it was Master Sui Guan... Yet the lower cultivators only know it as a Lushui divine ability of Qingchi. They all say Master Ning employed some extraordinary treasure... "Along my way, I saw all the cultivators steeped in grief and dread. Even for a clash between the north and south, such savage cruelty as demonstrated in Jiangbei hasn't been seen in hundreds of years! "The demonic reputation of Qingchi... will likely be the greatest in Jiangnan, impossible to wash clean now... How Master Qiuhu will conduct herself hereafter, I cannot imagine!" *** *Rumble!* Thunder rolled across the heavens, lighting up the world for a fraction of an instant. Faint specks of grayish-white could be discerned dotting the darkness, exposing the eerie stillness of white bones. The river waters along the wilderness bank had spread across several li, flooding all the way to the foot of the peaks. Even though the bank was the highest ground, the water still submerged their insteps. Scattered figures stood in the water or hovered above its surface, silent as statues. Ning Wan returned riding wind and snow, her expression already calm. She landed on a wilderness peak, where Lin Wuning stepped forward to greet her. Ever since taking the sect's reins of power, this man had always been spirited and self-assured; yet now he appeared flustered and terrified. Dropping to his knees before her, he stammered, "M-Master..." Ning Wan swept her eyes over the surroundings. Not a single Qingchi cultivator on the mountaintop dared to raise his head to look at her; their expressions were all unnatural. Only Li Yuanqin appeared composed, waiting quietly off to the side. With a single line—"What does that have to do with me!"—Sui Guan had vanished without a trace, just as eerily as he had arrived, as if such a person had never existed at all. He left only her to return alone and face the fearful gazes along the riverbank. As a Violet Palace who had also mastered *Attuning to Clear Whispers*, Ning Wan never suffered illusions. Since she felt this way, Sui Guan had likely employed some secret method. If even she, a Violet Palace, felt this, the low-tier cultivators across Jiangnan would probably slowly forget Sui Guan as well. *What a method... Truly a brilliant technique. It is likely an art to diminish karma and evade retribution, thereby nurturing his life!* "How are things..." Ning Wan tucked away her emotions and looked quietly at her disciple. Lin Wuning grew even more terrified, whispering, "The personnel from Ziyan and Xiukui suddenly withdrew without uttering a word... Something must have happened. They said... said..." Ning Wan composed her expression and said in a low voice, "There is no need to speak with them further." Lin Wuning did not know how to reply. He followed Ning Wan all the way into the brightly lit main hall, waiting as the True Person took the main seat. Just as he hesitated to speak, hasty footsteps sounded outside. A disciple rushed in and dropped to his knees: "Reporting to the True Person... Shanji Commandery... has been besieged by the True Person of Xuanyue Gate! The True Person of Muquan Gate is nowhere to be found... Word has it... word has it that chaos has broken out within their sect, and their direct lineage seems to have withdrawn long ago..." As if not hearing him, Ning Wan asked with a complicated expression, "Has there been any anomaly in the Xuanmiao territory?" The disciple paused, shaking his head with some hesitation: "I have not heard of any..." The woman finally closed her eyes without a word, showing an air of exhaustion. Inundated with so much malice and hatred, her divine ability *Attuning to Clear Whispers* had begun operating on its own, surging to its peak and funneling the shifts in every heart across the mountain straight into her ears. Lin Wuning kneeling in the hall; Si Tongyi standing quietly in the mountain; Fei Qingyi and Qin Xian waiting in the side hall... From the Ning family's direct lineage to the Qingchi inner sect, from passing rogue cultivators to fleeing commoners... the wails of grief, the helpless dread, the smirks of cold detachment, the resentful malice, the burning hatred wishing to flay her skin and devour her flesh... The billowing Lushui qi had swallowed not only a million northern commoners—it had also consumed Qingchi disciples on the battlefield, direct scions of various families, rogue guest elders... and even the common folk of the wilderness. In that instant, her inner gaze looked straight into the bottom of everyone's heart. Vaguely, Ning Wan seemed to return to Lukui Pool, back into those billowing, formless gales, where that hoarse, grating voice echoed once more: "When I die and you sit alone atop this Lukui Pool, only then will you know how troublesome it truly is." Through the heavy gloom, that emaciated, ghostly face emerged. Those eyes, looking as though they might tumble from their sockets at any moment, remained fixed upon her: "You are the master of Qingchi! Whether you want it or not, it is no longer the Ning family of Qingchi..." "It is—the Qingchi of the Ning family!"