"My little darling." After applying a rosy lipstick to himself, the Fire Ghost King, now regaining his confidence, bent down and kissed Xu Changqing's cheek. "You are terribly naive. With that young master over there, how could Miss Zi Xuan still like you?"
She looked at the crowd, pulling at the flowing veil of bluish-purple flames burning on her shoulder, "This treasure allows me to see through the bonds between people. You, you, you, you, all are connected to this young master."
"Why are there four of you?" Xue Jian squinted and looked at her shoulder.
On her shoulder, Hua Ying covered her little face with her tiny hands.
"Squeak--"
"Why do all you female Goblin like humans?!" The little monkey exclaimed in disbelief.
"You little thing, you too—" Xue Jian said in disbelief.
"Isn't it obvious? Only you, a tree spirit, can't see it." Black-haired Long Kui mocked, "She can clearly transform into human form, but she keeps staying in the shape of a little potato."
"Squeak!"
"Hua Ying said she's not a little potato!"
Xue Jian subconsciously translated for Hua Ying.
Opposite.
Xu Changqing smiled with relief, "That's good too. We've both found better matches."
"Miss Zi Xuan, since we have met again by chance, I have something I would like to ask you to do."
The Fire Ghost King seemed to know what Xu Changqing was talking about, and handed him the Fire Spirit Pearl in advance.
"You want us to send the [Fire Spirit Pearl] to Mount Shu. Ah!" Xue Jian suddenly realized why Xu Changqing had willingly chosen to be with the Fire Ghost King.
In order to repair the Five Elements Array of the Demon Locking Tower.
The others quickly realized what was happening as well.
"Changqing, if you are unwilling, I will make A-Tian—I'm sorry, I..." Zi Xuan stammered.
"Me too." Xu Changqing pointed to the hickeys on his face. "Also, it wasn't that Zi Tong and I were unwilling."
"Xu Changqing," Long Kui with black hair grinned mischievously, "What if I told you that the Demon Locking Tower has completely collapsed and no longer needs the Five Spirit Pearls, and that you are actually not dead and can be resurrected? What would you do then?"
"You're so mean," Xue Jian couldn't help but complain. "Quickly, let Xiaokui out."
"I know." The black- Long Kui took this as a compliment and proudly summoned her scythe, twirling it with a flourish.
Xu Changqing looked at the Fire Ghost King.
"I do sense that you have a lot of yang energy, young man." The Fire Ghost King conjured a feather fan and covered his face. "But you have also cultivated since childhood and have been a virgin for over twenty years."
Xu Changqing: So my virginity is what ruined me?
"Why did the Demon Locking Tower collapse?" He chose a question that was more worthy of attention at the moment.
"Uh, the one who killed you, your fake master." In order not to let the black-haired Long Kui be smug, Xue Jian decided to play the villain herself. "Actually, he can't really be called your fake master. He was the evil thoughts of your five masters combined and manifested."
"They possess their memories, and even their thought patterns."
"That Shang Fengzi couldn't tell the difference at all; they've been friends for many years."
"So..." Xu Changqing's face turned pale. He couldn't accept that it was his master and uncles who caused the collapse of the Demon Locking Tower.
"So, it was your master who killed you." The black-haired Long Kui answered quickly, glancing triumphantly at Xue Jian, and then brandishing her sword.
"The fire in the cauldron burns fiercely, refining lead and mercury; the wind rises at the Heavenly Gate, bearing the evil spirits alone. In the past, Zhang Daoling tested medicine at Qingcheng, but the three corpses backfired and devoured the nine orifices; Lü Dongbin played with the alchemy, but the five thieves stole all the three flowers." Xu Changqing began to speak in a mystical manner, saying things that only he could understand.
"What?" Xue Jian was completely confused.
"You can think of it as reaping what you sow," Long Kui said smugly. "The Three Corpses and the Five Thieves are obstacles and temptations from both inside and outside that must be overcome on the path of cultivation."
"Hey! How could a princess of the ancient Jiang Kingdom like you understand Daoist terminology!" Xue Jian, somewhat irritably.
"Qiong Hua. For a time, I followed the last successor of Qiong Hua," said Long Kui with black hair. "Until he handed me over to the famous swordsmith, [Scattered Immortal of the Nine Provinces]."
"The Scattered Immortal of the Nine Provinces? I know him," Xue Jian said. "My grandfather mentioned him to me!"
[For about fifty years, I have been fond of swords, seeking swords, collecting swords, hiding swords, and forging swords. Today, I have encountered a celestial being and realized that the true sword of the immortals is the invisible sword energy.]
A sword made of metal is easily broken because of its sharpness, but a sword made of vital energy is indestructible because it originates from heaven and earth.
Moreover, a person's life is but a hundred years, and even if they amass a fortune, they cannot take it all with them when they return to dust; and a sword in its sheath is no better than rotten wood or mud; reflecting on my foolish deeds throughout my life, I have allowed this divine weapon to gather dust, and I am ashamed before all swords.
[By taking advantage of this gathering of heroes, I scatter my swords throughout the land; I seal this place as Sword Tomb, returning the ancient palace to my ancestors. From this day forward, I will retire to the immortal mountains, seeking the true sword and pursuing the righteous path.]
"Does the so-called 'destined affinity' refer to Qiong Hua or Shushan?"
"Shushan." Long Kui, with her black hair, said with a grim expression, "That guy thought Ziying was just an ordinary martial artist. I went up Shushan with him, and then I was imprisoned in the Wutian Demon Locking Tower."
Even the Demon Locking Tower is fine; at least it's lively, and maybe I can even raise a little monkey as a pet, just like I am now.
(Unlike in the TV series, the Demonic Sword is not inside the tower, but at the top of the tower. It was not Chong Lou who destroyed the Demon Locking Tower, but the Evil Sword Immortal who manifested and destroyed it.)
"I need to go back to Mount Shu. The sect needs me now!" Xu Changqing finally came to his senses. He looked at the Fire Ghost King and said, "I'm sorry, Zi Tong, I can't remain indifferent."
He agreed before because he thought a [Fire Spirit Pearl] was more important than himself, and because he thought he was dead and could not be brought back to life.
"Go."
Under Xu Changqing's shocked gaze, the Fire Ghost King spoke.
With her extravagantly long fingernails, she lightly traced a line across Xu Changqing's chest and chuckled, "This is dangerous. We might meet again in a couple of days."
"Your hair." Jing Tian eagerly tossed a purse to Xu Changqing.
Holding a man's hair in one's clothes or something, that's so Dumbledore.
"This is..." A white ribbon hung down from Xu Changqing's head, "[Wuji Pavilion]?"
This white ribbon was the manifestation of the purest yang energy remaining in his soul. At this moment, he seemed to see the [Wuji Pavilion] and himself with the sword in his frozen heart.
Leaving behind the promise that if he were to survive, he would return to the Molten Hell within a year, the Fire Ghost King forcibly gave Xu Changqing the Fire Spirit Pearl. After exchanging a few pleasantries with them, he followed the pull of his physical body and disappeared from everyone's sight.
Jing Tian and the others then left the Ghost Realm.
It's worth mentioning that before leaving, Long Kui specifically brought up Zhao Wuyan.
Thus, Zhao Wuyan lost the commanding position he had just obtained.
The group returned to the inn.
The next morning, we flew to Leizhou.
Xue Jian lay on the gourd, squinting her eyes.
Enjoy the feeling of the wind whistling past your ears and the clouds scattering on your shoulders.
The sky was so blue it was almost black, and the mountains and rivers beneath my feet shrank into a green mosaic: the forests were like moss, the river like silver threads, and the city walls like scattered building blocks.
The sunlight scorched my left arm, while my right side was bathed in the shadows of clouds. With each breath, I felt the crisp, icy air mixed with the fragrance of rice blossoms that seemed to have escaped to the heavens.
"That's great, not too high, not too low, the temperature is just right."
"The best part is that it's all finally over. Once we find the Thunder Spirit Pearl, we can go home!"
She did not consider the Evil Sword Immortal a threat that they had to deal with.
This is a crisis that Shushan created themselves; it's more appropriate for them to handle it themselves.
Even Zi Xuan was almost the same.
If the Evil Sword Immortal only targets Mount Shu, this first selfish Descendant of Nuwa in history wouldn't mind watching from the sidelines.
As for Long Kui, she was busy playing checkers with Jing Jing and Hua Ying.
"I won! I won again!"
"What?" Xue Jian asked impatiently, annoyed by the noise. "Haven't you played similar games before? You're a princess, you know."
"No. Back then, my brother practiced swordsmanship every day and rarely played with me." Blue-haired Long Kui said pitifully, poking her index fingers together. "Those palace maids and servants only ever told me not to do this, not to do that. There were no other children, so who was I supposed to play with?"
"Squeak!" Hua Ying glared angrily at Xue Jian.
"Sister Xue Jian, you're not allowed to bully Long Kui!" The little monkey put his hands on his hips and stood in front of the blue-haired Long Kui.
"I... I didn't mean to." Xue Jian was very regretful. She looked at the blue-haired Long Kui and said, "I'm so sorry."
"It's nothing," Long Kui with blue hair murmured, tugging at Jing Tian's sleeve.
"Look at you, why are you bullying Long Kui?" Jing Tian had been watching the show, stepped forward.
"I'm eighteen, and she's almost two thousand years old. I'm the one who should be bullied." Xue Jian imitated Long Kui's aggrieved tone and tugged at Jing Tian's other sleeve.
Zi Xuan watched everything that was happening on the gourd with a Yingying.
In her eyes, this was a preview of a happy life in the future.
Soon she will see Qing'er, and she will cure Qing'er of the [Puppet Poison], and take her and Jing Tian together forever.
"This is."
The storage bag suddenly trembled.
"What's wrong?" Jing Tian asked.
Everyone looked at Zi Xuan.
"A communication talisman, Master Xu." As Zi Xuan spoke, she pulled a purple talisman from her treasure bag. It spontaneously combusted in the wind, turning into purple smoke that enveloped Zi Xuan.
"What did he say?" Xue Jian, somewhat curious.
"Borrow the Five Spirit Pearls." Zi Xuan's expression was somewhat displeased.
If she has not yet dispersed her Core Elixir, losing the [Water Spirit Pearl] would be tantamount to losing her life.
"The Evil Sword Immortal sensed that Master Xu's resurrection had led to another attack on Mount Shu, as if he had left a mark on him."
"They hid in Yaoguang Palace, and it was only thanks to the [Big Dipper Demon Subduing Array] that the Evil Sword Immortal was driven away."
"But we only have Earth Spirit Pearl, and even with the Fire Spirit Pearl from Mount Shu, we only have two," Xue Jian said. "Besides, Yaoguang Palace is just one of the Seven Star Palaces. Seven spirit peaks and seven main halls, isn't that enough for the disciples of Mount Shu to live on?"
"I have the Water Spirit Pearl." Zi Xuan took out a light blue orb.
After the Core Elixir dissipated, she took out the [Water Spirit Pearl].
"Master Xu said he would wait for us in Leizhou City."
"Are we going to see that... racially discriminatory Daoist priest Xu again, according to A-Tian?" Xue Jian frowned. "Including the [Thunder Spirit Pearl], there are only four in total. Where is the [Wind Spirit Orb]?"
"The Five Elements Grand Array does not require all five spirit orbs to be present," Jing Tian said. "Cultivators with high proficiency in wind-attribute immortal arts can substitute for the missing wind spirit orb. Cang Gu's element is wind."
He wasn't actually very optimistic about the Five Elements Formation.
Indeed, in the game's timeline, Xu Changqing replaced the deceased Qing Wei, acting as the missing [Water Spirit Pearl] and, together with the remaining four elders, cast the [Five Elements Grand Array], destroying the Evil Sword Immortal's trump card—the [Divine Demon Sword], forged from the essence of [Zhaodan] and [Demonic Sword], using the pure and turbid energies.
However, the next moment, the Evil Sword Immortal manipulated the four elders by returning their evil thoughts, and then absorbed them back, along with their spiritual power and life force.
To become the complete form.
Qing Wei is not dead.
It's actually worse.
This means that five people will be manipulated.
The Evil Sword Immortal is not just a game version; he is even more powerful.
"[Wind Spirit Orb], Fei Peng, you clearly know where it is."
A voice came from the clouds.
It was a tall, dark figure.
Flame patterns and crimson hair both indicate his origins.
The Azure Jade Gourd hovered in mid-air.
Jing Tian narrowed his eyes. "Chong Lou, you know that doesn't count as a [Wind Spirit Orb]."
Chong Lou's gaze lingered for a moment on the spot where Jing Tian and Zi Xuan were touching before turning directly to Xue Jian. "You should still remember that I said you are a divine being. Do you know your origins, your true background?"
"My background?" Xue Jian frowned. "I am the granddaughter of Tang Kun, the head of Tang Family Fortress."
"Chong Lou, now is not the time," Jing Tian said.
He doesn't want to go to the realm of gods right now.
Otherwise, he would have taken the Shennong Cauldron with him as well.
After all, the Shennong Cauldron was just as useful in his hands as it was in Shennong's.
Chong Lou didn't stop. "You? You're not human. You are the Fruit of the Divine Tree, the incarnation that Xi Yao specially cast into the human world for Fei Peng."
He then looked at Long Kui, "Just like you."
Long Kui didn't react at all. With her brother, whom she cared about most, by her side, she didn't care about anything else.
Xue Jian, on the other hand, was completely agitated. "What? I clearly—"
"You're clearly a human being?" Chong Lou shook his head. "You've already embarked on the path of cultivation, how can you utter such foolish words? How are you even human?"
Xue Jian thought of her hair and looked at Jing Tian, "Jingtian, is all of this... because of that Xi?"
She dared not say Xi Yao's name, fearing that she was just a substitute.
"Xue Jian is Xue Jian, Xi Yao is Xi Yao. When I met you, you were just Xue Jian," Jing Tian said.
Xue Jian's emotions gradually stabilized.
Jing Tian looked at Chong Lou impatiently, "I've said it before, now is not the time."
Chong Lou had been secretly watching Zi Xuan's expression, sighed, "Why are you still so devoted to him? Don't you understand Fei Peng's fickle nature?"
"I don't care," Zi Xuan said softly. "I'm not a good person either."
"That's fine too." Chong Lou sighed. "At least he's not just an ordinary mortal, at least he's Fei Peng."
"Fei Peng, you can be a womanizer, but you can't choose mediocrity, a life with nothing but beauty."
"Squeak?" Hua Ying noticed that the big guy was speaking to her.
"You mean Hua Ying?" Jing Tian was both amused and exasperated.
Chong Lou nodded.
Kui Yu and Xi Yao are ranked as Mysterious Maidens in the God Realm.
Only the Nine Heavens Xuannü is ranked alongside her.
After Kui Yu fell to demonhood, her strength was only slightly Chong Lou's.
Even though Xi Yao did not rebel against the divine realm and was stripped of her physical form, her remaining spirit was still able to fight the protagonist of the Legend of Sword and Fairy 3 Prequel at the level of an immortal.
As someone who prioritizes strength, Chong Lou naturally allows Xue Jian and Long Kui to exist.