Xiao Royal Mansion had been wiped out.
Not a single soul had been left alive anywhere in Xiao Royal Mansion.
Xiao Jing was the last to die.
He watched with his own eyes as his most promising son had his hands and feet chopped off and his eyes gouged out.
As Xiao Jing watched his son's pupils crushed beneath Jiang Qingyi's foot, Jiang Qingyi's final sword stroke severed his son's head.
He watched and listened as Jiang Qingyi rampaged through Xiao Manor, slaughtering everyone without sparing a single soul, just as he had once done to the Jiang Household.
When only Xiao Jing remained, Jiang Qingyi dragged him outside Xiao Manor and suspended him above the Imperial Capital. In full view of the entire city, she carved every scrap of flesh from his body, one stroke at a time!
After Jiang Qingyi left, all that remained of Xiao Jing was a blood-soaked skeleton.
After taking her revenge, the knot that had bound Jiang Qingyi for years came undone. Her thoughts cleared, and she entered the Jade Uncut realm.
After obtaining the Sword Bone, Jiang Qingyi had advanced from the Golden Core realm to the Nascent Soul realm in a single day, then from the Nascent Soul realm to the Jade Uncut realm.
Whether there would be no one to surpass her in the future was impossible to know.
But this was undoubtedly an unprecedented miracle.
When she returned to Dragon Spring Sword Sect, Jiang Qingyi continued her killing spree.
From Ye Sandao, Jiang Qingyi had learned that Dragon Spring Sword Sect and Xiao Royal Mansion had colluded to control the entire Liang Kingdom.
It was the sect master of Dragon Spring Sword Sect who had told Xiao Jing that Jiang Qingyi possessed the Innate Sword Bone.
This time, though, Jiang Qingyi did not slaughter the entire sect.
She simply left them with a single warning: "Those who follow me live; those who oppose me die."
Not one of the Dragon Spring Sword Sect cultivators who defied Jiang Qingyi survived.
After killing the sect master, Jiang Qingyi set fire after fire.
At last, she sat in the courtyard on Linggan Peak and watched all of Dragon Spring Sword Sect sink into a sea of flames.
When the blaze died down, Dragon Spring Sword Sect ceased to exist.
Only five hundred cultivators from Dragon Spring Sword Sect chose to follow Jiang Qingyi.
"From today on, this place will be called Myriad Sword Sect."
Facing the five hundred disciples, Jiang Qingyi spoke slowly.
"Myriad Sword Sect?"
Xiao Mo recalled that Yan Shan'ao had once mentioned an Elder Huang from Myriad Sword Sect would be coming to Liang Kingdom, and that Xiao Mo was to receive him personally.
But Xiao Mo gave it no more than a passing thought.
In his view, the two sects could not possibly be one and the same. They must simply share a name.
With a Jade Uncut realm great power like Jiang Qingyi, Myriad Sword Sect grew rapidly. Before long, it had become the foremost sect in Liang Kingdom.
Jiang Qingyi's cultivation grew ever higher.
More and more people came to admire her.
And in the eyes of Myriad Sword Sect's disciples, their sect master was not only powerful, but breathtakingly beautiful.
Her peerless beauty even earned her a place on Heavenly Secrets City's Beauty List.
The Beauty List had no ranking.
But in many people's hearts, their sect master deserved to be number one.
Yet this woman, whose beauty could topple the world, never smiled.
Linggan Peak had once been an ordinary mountain in Dragon Spring Sword Sect. Now, it was the Main Peak of Myriad Sword Sect.
But Linggan Peak had only two wooden huts.
A male elder admired Jiang Qingyi and hoped to win her favor. He proposed tearing down the huts and building her a palace.
Jiang Qingyi cut him down in front of everyone.
From then on, everyone knew that Linggan Peak was untouchable—not a blade of grass or a tree could be moved.
Linggan Peak had to remain just as it had been.
One year, five years, ten years.
As an observer, Xiao Mo watched Qingyi cultivate day after day and search day after day for a way to revive a soul.
But time and again, Jiang Qingyi returned disappointed.
Apart from cultivating and searching for Spells that could revive a soul,
what she did most was sit in a daze in the courtyard atop Ganling Peak.
She pored over book after book and tried method after method, all to bring one person back to life.
One day, she came across the Heaven Continuation Art.
At last, she understood everything.
Her master's injuries had been because of her.
She had been able to cultivate because her master had damaged his own Root Bone and shortened his lifespan to forcibly "continue" the so-called "heavens" for her.
But every time her master used the Heaven Continuation Art on her, he had concealed his expression with a Spell.
The reason he had only gone to Chen Yun for treatment was that he did not want anyone else to know.
And Chen Yun, out of gratitude for his life-saving kindness, would never have told anyone.
That day, the young woman tore the Heaven Continuation Art to shreds. Then she swept her sword through the air and shattered a mountain.
The disciples of Myriad Sword Sect were terrified. They all knew who had done it, but none dared speak.
They knew their sect master was in a foul mood again.
Just then, a woman arrived at Linggan Peak.
She was the only person allowed to visit the summit.
She had once been a steward in Dragon Spring Sword Sect's Medical Hall.
Now, she was an elder of Myriad Sword Sect's Medical Hall.
"What did you come here for?"
Jiang Qingyi sat on a stone stool and tipped back a mouthful of wine.
She had never liked wine before, but now she did.
Her favorite was the Osmanthus Wine Aunt Wang made in Myriad Sword Town.
Chen Yun walked into the courtyard and looked at the woman whose stubbornness bordered on madness. Her tone was calm as she said, "I came to take some of his clothes."
Jiang Qingyi lifted her head, her eyes like swords, as if she could pierce Chen Yun through. "What do you want his clothes for?"
"To make a Clothes Tomb," Chen Yun replied frankly.
The moment Chen Yun finished speaking, the long sword in Jiang Qingyi's hand, Mystic Frost, was already at her throat.
Jiang Qingyi's eyes were bloodshot. "He isn't dead!"
Chen Yun was not afraid in the slightest. "He's dead."
"Shut up! I said he isn't dead!" Jiang Qingyi was nearly crazed. Her sword moved an inch forward, and, just like last time, blood slid down its blade.
"Fifteen years have passed since you wiped out the Xiao Family. He's been dead for fifteen years. Let him rest in peace—even if it's only his clothes."
Jiang Qingyi narrowed her eyes. "You really think I wouldn't dare kill you? Do you know that you're the person I hate most?"
"I know." Chen Yun nodded. "Actually, I hate you too. But you were the one he loved most."
Chen Yun said no more. She stepped forward, and Jiang Qingyi's sword drew back.
Chen Yun continued forward. Jiang Qingyi's sword continued to retreat.
At last, the hand gripping the sword sank to the ground, and Chen Yun passed her by.
Chen Yun entered Xiao Mo's room and took several pieces of clothing.
Before leaving, Chen Yun set down a letter. "A girl named Xia Chan asked me to give you this. She said she wrote it fifteen years ago."
Chen Yun left.
In the empty courtyard, only Jiang Qingyi remained, head bowed, sword lowered, her dim eyes lost in thought.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Qingyi lifted her head and looked at the letter on the table.
Like a walking corpse, she went over and opened the envelope.
The instant she saw the letter, her eyes trembled.
It was her master's handwriting.
[My foolish disciple, by the time you read this, I'll already be gone, and the Sword Bone should have been returned to you.
After I'm gone, I bet you'll do something foolish.
You might even try to bring me back to life.
But you silly girl, the dead are dead. The dead cannot return to life, and that's even more true when their souls have been shattered.
Qingyi, let me tell you something.
When we watched the shooting star last time, the wish I made wasn't for you to become a mighty Sword Immortal.
I hoped that no matter what happened, you would live happily.
You said you'd make my wish come true.
Don't lie to your master.]
"Master... Master..."
Clutching the letter, Jiang Qingyi fell to her knees and wept aloud, just like the girl who had first climbed the mountain at fourteen.
[Ten seconds until the system finishes calculating. The host will soon exit the Book of a Hundred Lives. Nineteen. Eight. Three.]
As the countdown rang in Xiao Mo's mind,
Xiao Mo knew he could do nothing to change what was happening. Still, he stepped forward, crouched before her, and reached out to stroke her hair, just as he had on the night of the shooting star when she was fourteen.
"Qingyi, your master is gone."
[0]
The instant Xiao Mo scattered on the wind,
his voice rang in Jiang Qingyi's ears. She abruptly raised her lovely head.
"Master! Is that you?"
"Master!"
"Answer me!"
"Are you still here?"
"Xiao Mo!"
"Come out!"
The young woman ran around the mountaintop, shouting, but no one answered.
"Master... Come out..."
Until dusk, until the stars appeared in the sky.
With her tears long since dried up, the girl crouched down and held herself tight.
A shooting star streaked across the sky.
"Master...
Qingyi...
misses you so much."
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