Hantian Flees in Defeat, Wuchen and Qingwan Finally Reveal the Secret

I drew my wooden sword, the last trace of golden light extinguishing at its tip. The wind blew out from the crack in the secret passage, carrying the damp, musty smell of the earth. Ye Qingwan stood beside me, her black cloak billowing slightly in the wind. The lingering warmth of the extinguished flames still clung to her fingertips.

I closed my eyes, a faint golden thread appearing on my palm – it was the Heaven-Slaying Origin, a connection left behind as it traced back along the bloodstain. Ji Hantian was still moving, sinking another two zhang deeper before stopping. He hadn't stopped on his own; someone had intercepted him.

"Someone stopped him," I said.

Ye Qingwan looked up at me. "Who?"

"We'll know soon enough," I replied, opening my eyes. "Going in now would just disrupt someone else's plan."

She didn't ask further, merely tightened her grip on her treasure pouch, her fingers resting on the medicine pestle. Footsteps were approaching from a distance, not from the secret passage, but from the direction of the martial arts arena entrance.

Three breaths later, a squad of black-armored guards marched in formation, their armor engraved with the City Lord's Manor insignia. They lined up on either side, and a man walked out from the center, clad in a black cloud-patterned official robe, a city lord's seal at his waist. He had a stern face and a neatly trimmed short beard.

Yan Jiuxiao.

He walked step by step, the soles of his boots crunching on broken bricks. His gaze swept over the collapsed arena, finally landing on the crack. He then let out a cold laugh. "Such audacity, daring to set up a blood sacrifice killing array right under the Ji family's nose."

No one responded.

He didn't seem to care, waving a hand to his subordinates. "Drag the person out."

Two guards leaped into the crack at his command. Moments later, they emerged, dragging someone out. The person's robes were tattered, the blood crystal on his left arm dull and lifeless, his face covered in cold sweat and contorted in pain – it was Ji Hantian.

He was thrown heavily to the ground, emitting a low, hoarse gasp from his throat, as if suppressed by some force, making it difficult even to lift his head.

Yan Jiuxiao looked down at him, his tone dismissive. "Young Master Ji, three years ago you climbed to power on broken bones. Did you ever imagine you'd end up kneeling in these ruins today?"

Ji Hantian gritted his teeth, trying to speak, but only managed to spit out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

I walked forward slowly, my shoe tip lightly tapping the ground. My gaze fell on the dissipating rune crack on his arm. The crack was web-like, its edges tinged with dark red, a mark left by forcibly altering the array and connecting it to the Remnant Dao.

"Cousin," I said, my voice not loud, "do you know why I was able to break your array?"

He looked up sharply, his eyes venomous as knives.

I didn't wait for his answer and continued, "Because the array foundation you used was the Remnant Dao Crystal I left in the Forbidden Ground three years ago. And that crystal... was soaked in my blood."

His pupils contracted sharply.

I raised my hand, a faint golden light emanating from my fingertips, illuminating the crack on his arm. "To speed up the array formation, you directly connected your lifeblood to my root. You thought you were borrowing my old remnants, but in reality... you turned yourself into a part of the array."

His face turned instantly pale.

"Every step you took to escape was pulling at my Origin; every time you activated your Demonic Blood, you were awakening my mark," I said, looking down at him. "You're not an escapee now, you're my 'puppet on a string.' You want to run? You can. But first, ask your meridians if they agree."

His body trembled violently. His left arm twitched uncontrollably, and fine cracks appeared on the surface of the blood crystal, as if something was tearing it apart from the inside.

Yan Jiuxiao stood to the side, his brow furrowed. He clearly hadn't expected the situation to be completely under my control.

He said sternly, "Young Master Ji, this person colluded with the Blood Demon Sect and attempted to harm his kin. The evidence is conclusive. I will use my authority as the City Lord of Northern Wasteland City to detain him and bring him back for interrogation."

"You can," I said, looking at him. "But if you're going to take him, you need to confirm one thing first – whether he can still stand."

As my words fell, Ji Hantian suddenly let out a muffled groan and curled up, his forehead touching the ground, his teeth chattering. His right leg began to turn black, and a dark red pattern spread upwards along his meridians, a clear sign of lifeblood backlash.

Yan Jiuxiao narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," I said. "He was the one who was greedy for speed and grafted the array's foundation onto me. Now that the array is destroyed and his meridians are severed, the backlash naturally found him. If you force him to leave, within half a mile, his meridians will burst, and he'll die."

"Then what do you intend to do?"

"I don't intend to do anything," I said calmly. "I'm just reminding you that taking away a living corpse and taking away a dead person have different implications."

Yan Jiuxiao stared at me for a long time, finally smiling. "This young master of the Ji family is indeed not as simple as he appears on the surface."

I didn't respond and turned to look at Ye Qingwan.

She had been standing there the whole time, watching everything silently. At this moment, the golden light in her eyes had not yet faded, and the Phoenix Mark on her brow still showed faint fluctuations, as if the summoning force within her had not been completely suppressed.

"You felt it?" I asked.

She nodded. "Something underground is resonating with me. It's not hostile, but it's very heavy, like a voice that's been sealed for a long time."

I was silent for a moment. "Don't go."

"I know it's dangerous," she said softly. "But I can sense its location, and I can judge its authenticity. If it's coming for me, hiding is useless."

"I'm not telling you to hide," I said, looking into her eyes. "I'm telling you that going down there now would be paving the way for someone else. The fire within you shouldn't be wasted in a place like this."

She looked at me, speechless for a long time.

Suddenly, she raised her hand, and a wisp of crimson flame emerged from her palm. The flame wasn't fierce, but it carried an ancient aura, slowly circulating in the air.

I reached out, and a wisp of Heaven-Slaying Origin flowed from my fingertips, touching the crimson flame.

The two did not repel each other; instead, they intertwined into a ring. As they spun, they actually outlined a blurred totem in the void – it resembled two snakes entwined, or perhaps flames holding up stars.

Her pupils trembled. "This is..."

"Chaos Resonance Seal," I said. "Qing Ming mentioned it once. He said only when two specific physiques awaken simultaneously can the resonance from the beginning of heaven and earth be triggered."

She watched the totem gradually dissipate, her voice softening. "So you knew all along? You knew I could sense you, knew my Blood Phoenix Body wouldn't be repelled by your Origin?"

I nodded. "From the first time you helped me block the array's erosion, I knew. A Pseudo-Primordial Body can't withstand the Blood Phoenix True Fire just like that, unless it was born to carry a certain kind of power."

"And your power," she said, staring at me, "has never been something ordinary cultivators could possess. You said you were crippled for three years, but your eyes were never weak. You hide too deeply, but there's one thing you can't hide – you're not afraid of death."

"Because I know I won't die," I said. "At least, not while you're alive."

She suddenly smiled, a faint smile, like a thin crack appearing in the ice.

"So you deliberately let me live?"

"I gambled that you would definitely survive." I looked at her. "Because like me, you're not someone chosen by fate—we're the ones who bite back at fate."

She withdrew her hand, and the crimson flames extinguished. The black token in her treasure pouch felt slightly warm. She didn't take it out, just pressed it lightly.

In the distance, Yan Jiuxiao had already ordered Ji Hantian to be placed on a stretcher. The man was still twitching, muttering something indistinctly, as if begging for mercy, or perhaps cursing.

Yan Jiuxiao walked over and glanced at us. "Don't you want to know who's behind him?"

"I do," I said. "But it's not important right now."

"You're not going to investigate?"

"I don't need to." I looked towards the depths of the secret passage. "Those who truly want to make a move won't hide behind the scenes for too long. They'll come out on their own, because I've already pushed the door open."

Yan Jiuxiao said nothing more, just gave me a deep look before turning to leave.

The guards escorted the stretcher away, their footsteps fading into the distance. The wind stirred up dust, sweeping across the ruins.

Ye Qingwan stood beside me, silent.

After a long while, she suddenly said, "That totem just now... when it appeared, I heard a bird cry."

"What kind of cry?"

"It didn't sound like it was from the mortal world." She closed her eyes, recalling. "It sounded like it came from the end of time, a single cry that tore through the darkness."

My heart stirred.

Qing Ming had said that the Blood Phoenix was no ordinary exotic beast, but a spiritual bird formed from the first ray of light and fire that mingled when chaos first began. Its cry had once awakened the slumbering heavens and earth.

And now, it was responding to her.

"Next time it cries," I said, "follow it."

She opened her eyes and looked at me. "You're not going to stop me?"

"I can't." I tightened my grip on the wooden sword. "Some paths, you have to walk alone. I'm just ensuring that when you look back, I'll still be standing here."

She didn't speak again, just nodded gently.

The wind suddenly stilled for a moment.

Deep within the secret passage, the faint red light that had extinguished moments ago, lit up again. This time, it didn't flicker and disappear, but hovered steadily at the bottom, like a lamp, quietly lit.