Plowing Lives Like Plowing Fields

Deep within the Kong Yuan Divine Mountain, in the depths of the underground cave.

More than a hundred dark and sacred Divine Radiance Stone stand here, while the turbid mist gushing from the Black Well coils like a giant python.

If You Su were here, he would recognize at a glance that this is the Evil Pool at the bottom of the sea where he fell.

What was once just bubbling, pitch-black liquid has now begun to flow gently. Beside it is a gleaming Magic Array that continuously draws the liquid gushing from the depths of the sea, mixing it with the thousands of cubic meters of soil that have been prepared there beforehand.

Ganlong Venerable lowered his eyes and stared at the surging Mystic Black Vortex at the well mouth. His Shark Silk brushed against the white bone fragments scattered on the ground—the spines of evil spirits that had been crushed, each crack shimmering with a ghostly blue fluorescence.

With a flick of her finger, a section of the already darkened soil condensed into beads and wrapped around her fair wrist. The sticky, earthy smell carried a musty odor of humus, yet she inhaled it deeply, as if intoxicated.

"Wonderful..." She crushed the soil bead in her palm, the warmth of the humus seeping into her skin. "This ley line has truly come alive..."

"Reporting to Your Sovereign Lord," Venerable Chengliang said, his back hunched, his withered fingers tracing dark red lines on the array plate, "All seven Sea Well, including the one in Shuo City, have been connected, and the black water has successfully surged upwards. After testing, they are identical to the evil wells in this sacred mountain. However..."

His cloudy eyes turned to the frost that had formed on the edge of the well. "The matter of the gushing spring in the Sea Well cannot be kept secret for long. Although the evil spirit has been suppressed by the Divine Radiance Stone, the Evil Qi will inevitably leak out, which may alert some unsuspecting people."

Ganlong Venerable sneered, his frost-colored armor striking the ice wall. Venerable Chengliang's words were tactful, but she understood perfectly: those who were unaware were simply inflexible, high-ranking individuals who only sought to protect themselves.

"Those old fogies would rather Northern Ao Continent be barren forever, have they ever cared how many starving corpses are buried under the frozen soil?"

She suddenly turned her head to look at Wangshu Fairy, who was standing silently to the side. Her sharp gaze softened, and she asked with concern, "Fairy, have you taken the Blood Bodhi that I sent you? The Blood Guiding Technique is no small matter. Don't think it's as simple as just shedding some blood."

Upon hearing this, Venerable Chengliang glanced at Wangshu with astonishment in his eyes. This old man had only learned today that the famous but mysteriously disappeared Wangshu Fairy was actually hiding by his Sovereign Lord's side, and that the bowl of blood used to stir up the vortex at the bottom of the sea actually came from Wangshu Fairy's body.

Using the coveted substances of evil spirits as bait, the evil spirits on the seabed are stirred up, which in turn carries Black Soil stagnant black soil deposited on the seabed onto land along with the eddy current. This is the working principle of the Black Well soil extraction. However, Wangshu Fairy managed to stir up all evil spirits with just one person's blood, which shows that her affinity with the Mystic Qi has exceeded the imagination of this knowledgeable old man.

Dark red seeped through the gauze on Wangshu's wrist, but her icy blue eyes remained unmoved. "I won't take medicine from strangers. I only want to know the whereabouts of my junior brother. Now that you've succeeded in what you wanted to do, you should speak."

Upon hearing this, Ganlong Venerable smiled and shook her head. She had always disdained such romantic love between men and women, because in her heart there was only the greater good of the continent. Therefore, she only felt sorry for Wangshu Fairy's obsession with a man.

In her view, Wangshu's talent and temperament were both top -Higher Vehicle, and if she could stay in the Northern Ao Continent to work for her, she would be a great help. It's just a pity that those who achieve great things not only need ability, but also ambition.

"Nature."

Ganlong Venerable tilted his head slightly and said softly, "This grand plan has been hard-won, Venerable Chengliang. You should go back and rest for now; I will keep an eye on things here."

The old man raised his long eyebrows slightly, knowing that the other party was asking him to leave, so he responded with a few polite words and turned to leave.

After he left, Ganlong Venerable flicked his wide sleeves, and the icy air in the air suddenly condensed into a mirror-like surface.

In the You Su is facing the boiling evil well, while Ganlong Venerable stands behind him with his hand gleaming coldly.

The moment the Ink Pine Sword cleaved through the ice bricks, the girl in his arms tilted her head back and pressed her lips to his blood-stained lips. The man and woman then leaped into the abyss below.

Wangshu's breath hitched, and her fingernails dug deeply into her palms.

"Twenty-three days ago, when I saw him, he was with a woman. They had sneaked in here." Ganlong Venerable pointed to the pink dress. "Chi Yu told me he wasn't the evil person the rumors said he was, so I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen to my advice. He said this woman had saved his life and he had to repay her kindness. Then, the two of them fell down together."

Long Chiyu stood behind her master the whole time. She was surprised to hear this little-known story from her master. In her impression, You Su was indeed a person who would do anything to repay a debt of gratitude.

Ice crystals spread Wangshu's feet as she asked, slowly and deliberately, "Who is she?"

"Bai Ze," Ganlong Venerable sighed.

Who is Bai Ze?

Ganlong Venerable was taken aback, but did not show his contempt for the ignorance of Fairy Zhuo Fairy. "She's nothing but a wretched creature who stole the name of Divine Beast."

Ganlong Venerable stroked the cracked ice along the well's edge, his tone suddenly turning icy. "She was once my best friend, we were inseparable. But one day I discovered that she might be hiding a secret even I didn't know. Thirty years ago, we fought. She was critically wounded and on the verge of death, yet she stole my life tablet, using the body of the auspicious Bai Ze to nurture the source of evil. I searched for her day and night but to no avail. I thought she had returned to her underwater mother nest, but I never imagined she had been hiding in the shadows of the Northern Ao Continent all along. That child You Su..."

She suddenly softened her voice, as if expressing pity, "I'm afraid she still doesn't know that the woman she's protecting is actually the mastermind behind all the trouble she's causing in the Northern Ao Continent."

The array flag in Long Chiyu's hand suddenly trembled. As the personal disciple of the Palace Lord of Dragon Seeing Palace, she naturally knew that her master had such a mysterious friend who was always by her side. In the past thirty years, that friend seemed to have disappeared, and her master would sometimes show a melancholy that was never seen before, as if he was reminiscing about someone.

Looking at the boy's reflection in the mirror, covered in wounds from protecting Bai Ze, she suddenly felt a bitter taste in her throat—it was that day on the Immortal Island when they first met; he had also so recklessly shielded everyone with his life. He would risk his life for complete strangers, so he would surely die a thousand deaths for his benefactor...

"What does she want to do?" Wangshu asked coldly.

"I am not Evil Demon, how could I know what she is thinking?" Ganlong Venerable shook his head.

"How can you expect me to trust you?" The Wangshu sword moved without wind, its frosty blade half-drawn from its sheath.

Ganlong Venerable, however, looked down with his head held high, his cold and noble eyes meeting Wangshu's clear blue pupils directly. "Wangshu Fairy, your mind is as clear as a mirror. You know better than I whether what I just said was true or false."

The Ganlong Venerable spoke with certainty, and she indeed had the confidence to remain unseen by the young girl, simply because her words were guided by her own heart. Having experienced countless trials, she had long understood that truth and falsehood often did not simply correspond to black and white.

From her perspective, the villain was the divided soul of the Palace Lord of Dragon Seeing Palace. She deliberately concealed some information and made more ambiguous guesses, making it difficult even for her disciple Long Chiyu, who knew her well, to distinguish between them.

Wangshu gripped the sword hilt tightly, and ice patterns exploded from beneath her feet, causing the entire cavern to tremble.

"I'm going to find him." As soon as she finished speaking, the Fairy in the white dress moved gracefully, heading towards the Sea Well from which dark liquid was gushing out.

"Stop!"

Ganlong Venerable roared, the golden hairpin with dragon patterns in his hair striking the ground with a cold sound, "Do you know what lies below? It's a bottomless abyss, an endless Evil Tide. If you go down, you'll surely die. How can you even think about finding him?! Heng Lian First Seat often said you were headstrong and difficult to teach. I hesitated to tell you because I was afraid you would do something foolish after hearing it! You truly haven't disappointed me!"

The underground cave was deathly silent, save for the muffled sound of the Black Well spewing out earth and stones.

Long Chiyu also didn't want to see this pure Fairy fall into that dark and evil cave. She quickly walked up to Wangshu, looked directly into her eyes, and shook her head.

"Young Master You wouldn't want to see you jump down. As long as he's not dead, there's still hope."

"I know you're desperate to find him, but the most heartbreaking thing in this world is when you can't find him, and then he comes looking for you." Ganlong Venerable sighed, cutting off the conversation. He turned to look at his masterpiece, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Bai Ze stole my life tablet, and I know she's not dead yet. This grand plan to change the land can't be hidden from her. She will definitely take the opportunity to come to the sacred mountain to seek revenge. You just need to wait here, and you'll have a chance to snatch your junior brother back."

Long Chiyu silently gazed at her master's back. The seven points of light representing the Sea Well on the array plate were flashing wildly. For some reason, she felt that these seven points of light were very similar to the reindeer she had seen in the snowfield back then, those reindeer that had fallen into traps and were still struggling and crying.

Wangshu lowered her eyes and looked at the ethereal snow sword in her hand, sheathing the half-inch of its cold light.

In fact, she hadn't used her Innate Pure Heart to judge the truth or falsehood of people's words for a long time. Because her junior brother had taught her that a true person must learn to make judgments on their own.

A north wind, carrying fine snow, swept across the wasteland, You Su's cloak fluttered in the wind. Bai Ze nestled in his arms, his nose brushing against the frost crystals on his clothes, his twin ponytails brushing against A Ying's reddened cheeks as they fell. The distant, undulating mountain shadows were fragmented by the thick fog, like an unfinished ink painting.

"Brother, there's light ahead..." Bai Ze suddenly straightened up, pointing his fingertip into the depths of the mist.

You Su gazed intently, where a few eerie blue phosphorescent lights flickered in the wind and snow, faintly mingling with the sounds of metal clashing. He lightly touched the frozen ground with his toes, and the Ink Pine Sword silently emerged half an inch from its sheath, its blade leaving a winding trail in the snow.

This was the first time in all the time they had traveled that they had ever seen living cultivators fighting off evil spirits!

The moment the thick fog was torn apart by the Sword Qi, dozens of twisted black shadows rushed out. They were evil spirits resembling crayfish, their scythe-shaped forelimbs glowing with a deadly, venomous green. Behind them, three cultivators formed an array against the ice rocks, the leading female cultivator's robes stained with blood, the flames of the talismans burning at her fingertips nearly extinguished.

"You protect them!"

You Su solemnly patted Bai Ze's shoulder, then lifted the scarf around her neck to cover most of her face.

A dark cloak swirled like an ink lotus, Ink Pine Sword drew a crescent moon, its Sword Qi carrying shards of snow as it cleaved the approaching evil spirit in two. Foul-smelling slime splattered onto the ice, sending up pungent white smoke.

The female cultivator stared blankly at the sudden arrival of help until You Su's sword hilt pressed against her back, bringing her back to her senses. She flung out three Crimson Flame Talismans, the exploding flames temporarily repelling the evil spirit's attack.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist..." she gasped, wiping the blood from her lips. Suddenly, her pupils contracted sharply. "Watch out!"

You Su had already sensed the evil spirit lurking behind him. He raised his sword and swept it horizontally, the black energy rising like a dragon emerging from the sea.

Before the female cultivator could react, the sword pressed against her back had already been withdrawn, and the Ink Pine Sword struck her back again.

"Answer whatever I ask." You Su's voice was cold as he sheathed his sword. He was telling the female cultivators that he could easily take their lives.

The female cultivator gave him a deep look. "This is not a place to talk. Fellow Daoist, please come with me."

After she finished speaking, she helped her injured fellow disciple up and retreated towards the mountain path. You Su made a gesture to Bai Ze, signaling her to follow along, A Jiu carried her younger sister on her back and followed closely behind.

As they finally retreated to their makeshift camp halfway up the mountain, the setting sun cast its last crimson rays upon the icicles. The female cultivator removed her fur coat to keep warm, revealing a beautiful yet weary face. "I am Le Yingdong, a cultivator from Hong City. May I ask, fellow Daoist..."

"We've only met by chance, no need to leave your name." You Su interrupted her question, and had no intention of pulling down her scarf to be as open and honest as the other person.

His gaze swept over the wounded lying haphazardly in the camp, broken swords and tassels scattered all over the ground, and congealed bloodstains tinged with an eerie purple in the twilight.

Le Yingdong gave a wry smile, "What do you want to ask us after saving us, fellow Daoist?"

How far is Hong City from here?

"Less than ten miles."

You Su was shocked upon hearing this. Ten miles was practically nothing to the Evil Tide: "Is this all there is to you?"

Le Yingdong paused, turned back to look at her comrades who had followed her out to fight off the evil spirits, and said in a mournful voice, "We're the only ones left alive."

Moved by the sorrow, You Su remained silent for a moment before asking, "Why didn't you call for reinforcements?"

"Reinforcements?" Le Yingdong took something out of her bosom and ran her fingertips over the broken jade pendant.

You Su's pupils contracted slightly. He was all too familiar with the array patterns engraved on the jade tablet— Communication Talisman, exactly the same as the one his Mistress had placed in her room when Chuyun City.

"Since the outbreak of the Evil Tide, we have been constantly asking the sacred mountain for help, and even the talismans have been broken." Le Yingdong's voice was chilling. "But until yesterday, even the city lord died in battle at the east gate..." She suddenly coughed violently, and dark red blood seeped from between her fingers.

You Su was secretly shocked. Hong City was not a small city, and it wasn't too far from Kong Yuan Divine Mountain. The city lord of Hong City was at least a great cultivator at the Feather Transformation Realm or above, yet he still died in battle outside?

You Su stroked the dragon pattern on the sword hilt and suddenly asked, "As far as I know, Hong City is the central boundary of the western part of the Northern Ao Continent. Once you cross Hong City, you are close to the center of the Northern Ao Continent. These cities near the sacred mountain should have a large number of cultivators and armies stationed there. Why are they all stationed here?"

Amidst the howling wind outside the tent, a soft clanging of metal could be heard. You Su swiftly flung open the tent flap and bumped into the figure of a young cultivator retreating in a panic—in his hands lay none other than the city lord's shattered protective mirror.

"They're afraid..." the young cultivator suddenly hissed, his bloodshot eyes almost bulging out of their sockets, "They never intended to come to our rescue! We, the border towns, are nothing more than pawns to be discarded at any time!"

Le Yingdong pressed her longsword against his throat. "Cheng Ye! What nonsense are you spouting! Stop trying to sow discord! Hold on, and we will all be saved!"

But his superior's cold rebuke couldn't stop the young cultivator's maniacal laughter:

"Sister Le! Stop fooling yourselves! No one will come to save us! We've sent so many people to so many big cities, but without exception, they all just say they know the situation and will send reinforcements as soon as possible. Isn't that just making excuses for idiots?!"

After his frenzy subsided, he collapsed to the ground, clutching the shattered breastplate, muttering to himself:

"It must be that Northern Ao Continent can't support so many people... They don't dare to do it themselves, so they let evil spirits plow us down for them..."

Plow level...

These two words sent a chill down You Su's spine. Were human lives really as insignificant as weeds in a field?

Going up the sacred mountain tomorrow