Extermination (Part 2)

"Father!"

Watching the heavy doors slam shut, Xin Xiaoye let out a cry of agony. She tried to lunge forward, but Ning Ye grabbed her firmly and held her back.

"Let me go!" Xin Xiaoye slapped Ning Ye across the face. Ning Ye did not resist; with a wave of his hand, a mass of vines erupted from the ground, coiling around her and Qing Lin in thick, dense layers until they were both completely bound.

"Wood Wheel Armor Dance Art?" Qing Lin was incensed. "Bai Yu, you're actually using spells against us?"

Ning Ye waved his hand again, dragging the two of them toward the inner hall with the vines. He said in a low, heavy voice, "The three great immortal sects have joined forces to attack. It's useless for us to go out there. We must follow Master's final orders and leave immediately."

Xin Xiaoye was furious. "Do you have no conscience? The sect is in peril, and you want to run?"

Ning Ye dragged them forward as he spoke. "This is Master's will. There is a teleportation formation in this side hall that can bypass the confinement of the Black and White World. It is a secret of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, and only the Heavenly Secret Staff can activate it."

Xin Xiaoye and Qing Lin were stunned. How could he possibly know that?

Could it be that Ning Ye had known all along...

"Yes, I knew long ago that the Heavenly Mechanism Sect would face destruction. Not only did I know, but Master knew as well," Ning Ye stated bluntly. "That is why we made preparations in advance. This secret is known only to me and Master."

"How could this be?" Tears streamed down Xin Xiaoye's face, and she was completely unable to comprehend it. "If Father knew, why would he still be out there..."

"Because we only knew a crisis was coming, not what kind of crisis it would be," Ning Ye replied.

Qing Lin, however, suddenly understood. "The Kunlun Mirror?"

Xin Xiaoye was confused. "The Kunlun Mirror? The Thousand Mechanism Hall? What is going on here?"

Only then did Qing Lin explain the secret of Ning Ye's Thousand Mechanism Hall to Xin Xiaoye; since things had reached this point, there was no longer any need for concealment.

Ning Ye spoke up. "A year ago, my Heaven Asking Art finally reached a minor level of success. At that time, I used the Heaven Asking Art in conjunction with the Kunlun Mirror to perform a divination..."

Qing Lin's heart turned cold. "What did you see?"

What did he see?

Hearing this question, Ning Ye's heart sank.

He took a deep breath, his voice as low and chilling as a wind from the abyss. "I saw myself ascending to the Hualun realm, and it was on that very day that the Heavenly Mechanism Sect met its catastrophe."

What?

The two of them finally realized the truth.

No wonder Ning Ye had always been unwilling to ascend to the Hualun realm; it turned out that in the heavenly divination, the day of Ning Ye's ascension was the day the Heavenly Mechanism Sect would suffer a great disaster.

After that, Ning Ye had performed divinations many more times, but unfortunately, he was never able to see anything further.

The heavenly secrets are difficult to fathom.

The Heaven Asking Art only ever offers one chance.

If you see it, you see it; if you don't, you don't.

And even if you do see it, it does not mean you can understand it.

Ning Ye had not seen who was attacking the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, nor could he see the specific details of the disaster. He only knew that on the day of his ascension, the world would change color, a crisis would descend, and then everything would vanish.

But from that day on, he never dared to attempt an ascension again.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Qing Lin asked angrily.

"Because the hexagrams of the Kunlun Mirror are unpredictable. It not only showed the disaster but also a path to survival—a Nine Deaths One Life Gambit. I told Master about this, and he believed there was still something to be done, that we needed to find that sliver of hope. For the past year, we have been searching for that survival path. We thought that as long as I didn't ascend, the disaster could be delayed, giving us time to find a way out. But now, both Master and I understand... some things truly cannot be avoided."

Speaking of this, Ning Ye felt a sense of helpless melancholy.

Although he could perceive the heavenly secrets, he was powerless to change them. Even dragging out his ascension only meant that this day arrived a little later.

Just as Master said, the will of heaven is already set!

By now, Ning Ye had reached the interior of the side hall. He walked straight to a bookshelf, took down a book, and revealed a circular hole behind it.

Ning Ye inserted the Heavenly Secret Staff into the hole, and the wall of the hall opened on its own, revealing a hidden passage.

Ning Ye dragged the two of them into the passage and continued, "Master and I only just realized that the so-called Nine Deaths One Life did not refer to a chance to turn things around, but rather to us..."

The Nine Deaths One Life did not refer to a sliver of hope for reversal, but to the entire Heavenly Mechanism Sect—nine deaths, one life.

Qing Lin and Xin Xiaoye felt as if they had fallen into an icy abyss.

"No! No! No!" Xin Xiaoye shook her head repeatedly. "If that's the case, why can't everyone leave? Why only the three of us?"

"Because there is a traitor in the Heavenly Mechanism Sect!" Ning Ye roared, his eyes filled with tears, his voice shaking the other two once again.

They looked at Ning Ye in disbelief. Ning Ye choked out, "Haven't you realized it yet? The enemy chose their timing with such precision, striking during the ancestor worship ceremony to ensure that every single person in the Heavenly Mechanism Sect was on the mountain. And just now, Master activated the Star Divination Divine Mechanism Formation, yet our sect-protecting formation did not trigger!"

Qing Lin gasped.

This was why Xin Ranzi only let the three of them leave.

Because Xin Ranzi did not know who the traitor was.

Ning Ye certainly couldn't be the one, as he was the master of the Thousand Mechanism Hall. As for Qing Lin, he couldn't be the one either, as he was the first to know about the Thousand Mechanism Hall; if he were going to betray them, he would have done so long ago. Xin Xiaoye was Xin Ranzi's daughter; as a father, Xin Ranzi could not and would not suspect her under any circumstances.

Apart from the three of them, Xin Ranzi dared not trust anyone else.

And so, even though he knew most of them were innocent, Xin Ranzi had no choice but to abandon them.

At that moment, he must have been in immense pain as well, right?

Perhaps it was for this very reason that Xin Ranzi gave up on finding a way to survive.

He resolutely chose to face the afterlife together with his disciples.

Qing Lin trembled with agitation: "Who could it be? Who could it be? This shouldn't be happening. Only the three of us knew the secret of the Thousand Mechanism Hall. It wasn't me, I didn't do it!"

"I know it wasn't you." Ning Ye looked at Qing Lin with a serious expression: "If Master didn't trust you, he wouldn't have saved you. In fact, besides you, me, and Master, there was one other person who knew about the Thousand Mechanism Hall."

"What? Who is it?" Qing Lin was stunned.

"Senior Brother Zhao Longguang," Ning Ye replied. "It happened once when Master was unintentionally divining the Heavenly Secret and borrowed my Kunlun Mirror, but Senior Brother happened to stumble upon it."

Qing Lin shouted: "That's impossible! It couldn't have been Senior Brother!"

"I didn't say Senior Brother betrayed us," Ning Ye sighed. "But Senior Brother is a simple and honest man; he isn't someone who can keep a secret. No one knows when he might have let something slip. It might not even have been him who leaked the secret—it could have been me, it could have been you, or even Master... Master didn't dare to gamble, so he had no choice but to choose not to save anyone."

For Xin Ranzi, making such a choice must have been an incredibly painful thing to endure.

Speaking of this, Ning Ye also painfully closed his eyes.

Compared to Qing Lin, Xin Xiaoye was clearly even more agitated.

She screamed desperately: "I don't care! Let me go! I want to go back, I want to be with Father!!!"

Ning Ye said softly: "Senior Sister, I understand how you feel, but believe me, it is truly meaningless."

Meaningless?

Ning Ye's ruthless words shattered their mental defenses, causing both of them to tremble violently. Xin Xiaoye's entire body went limp.

Ning Ye continued: "Actually, death is not the most terrifying thing. What is terrifying is how to live even more arduously. What is terrifying is that even if you encounter the most dire predicament, or even if your world changes—becoming a world you are completely unfamiliar with, a world you don't recognize—you must still live on with strength. What is terrifying is that you cannot find the purpose or meaning of life, yet you must still struggle to live on like a human being..."

Qing Lin looked at Ning Ye in surprise: "You..."

Ning Ye let go of his hand: "Senior Brother, haven't you always been curious about my background?"

Qing Lin nodded blankly.

Ning Ye's background had always been mysterious. Although he claimed to have lost his memory, both Qing Lin and Xin Ranzi knew he was lying.

He had never lost his memory.

But neither Xin Ranzi nor Qing Lin had ever made things difficult for him because of it; instead, they had cultivated him with great care.

Until this moment.

Ning Ye said: "If I tell you, you might not believe it, but I am actually not from this world. It was the Thousand Mechanism Hall that brought me here."

Hearing this, Qing Lin and Xin Xiaoye both opened their eyes wide in shock.

Ning Ye said earnestly: "This is my greatest secret. My real name is Ning Ye."

Qing Lin was not surprised that Ning Ye had been using the pseudonym Bai Yu, as Xin Ranzi had pointed it out long ago: "So, the stories you told me back then... they were all true?"

Ning Ye nodded gently: "I have experienced far more than you imagine. I have experienced betrayal and deception, and I have witnessed miracles that seemed impossible. I am very grateful to the sect. You could have killed me and taken the Thousand Mechanism Hall directly, but you didn't. Whether it is Master or the two of you, you are my benefactors, and the only people in this world I trust and care about. If dying now could save the sect, I would not hesitate, but you know that is impossible... They will not leave behind any seeds of vengeance."

Qing Lin and Xin Xiaoye trembled in silence.

Ning Ye continued: "Life is like a dream, and all we can do now is remain clear-headed, no matter what kind of dream we are in! Now, only the three of us remain of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect. Only by surviving can we avenge our sect!"

As he spoke, he walked out of the secret passage, revealing a shimmering magic array before them.

This was the teleportation array.

Ning Ye inserted the Heavenly Secret Staff into the array to activate it, then dragged the two of them into the light, saying: "There is a mechanism here. Once we leave, it will detonate. The Black and White Divine Palace won't be able to track us for a short time."

"It's useless," Qing Lin shook his head. "The three top immortal sects have plenty of ways to track us."

If he could, he would rather fight his way out and perish together with the three immortal sects.

Ning Ye replied: "Master has his own arrangements."

As he spoke, he activated the array. With a flash of light, the three of them vanished without a trace. The very next instant, the entire hall exploded with a deafening roar.

Outside Heavenly Secret Mountain, looking back at the site of the explosion, a gratified smile appeared on Xin Ranzi's face. He murmured: "The future is in your hands now."

With that, he let out a thunderous roar: "The creation of heaven and earth is mine to command!"

A vast, righteous energy surged into the sky.

"The Heaven Stealing Art?" Yue Xinchan exclaimed.

The Heaven Stealing Art was not a combat technique, but it could conceal the Heavenly Secret, preventing other immortal sects from using divination to track the disciples of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect.

At the same time, Ning Ye, Qing Lin, and Xin Xiaoye had already appeared outside Heavenly Secret Mountain.

The Kunlun Mirror hung high, reflecting everything happening on Heavenly Secret Mountain into their eyes.

The moment they saw the radiance of the Heaven Stealing Art rise, Qing Lin knew that Ning Ye was right—Xin Ranzi had placed all his hope in them.

If they went back now, they would truly be failing him.

"Father!" Xin Xiaoye could no longer hold back, bursting into tears.

When the first ray of dawn appeared on the horizon, the great fire finally burned out.

The once-grand Heavenly Secret Hall had been reduced to a field of rubble, with broken walls and ruined pillars everywhere, accompanied by corpses strewn across the landscape.

The low whistling of the wind sounded like weeping, carrying mournful cries that wove together into a melody of sorrowful pity.

Amidst the endless desolation, figures in ghost masks walked heartlessly between the halls and pavilions, using their weapons or spells to strike at the corpses, ensuring not a single soul was left alive.

A middle-aged scholar dressed in black and white robes patterned with a chessboard stood before the ruins of the main hall.

Flanking him were two others: an old man in a crimson cloak whose face was covered in pustules, looking utterly repulsive, and another figure with two horns on its head, a body covered in scales, and a long, chainsaw-like tail dragging behind it. Though it took human form, it was clearly not human, and its eye sockets were nothing but empty voids.

These were the three leaders sent by the Three Immortal Sects: the middle-aged scholar was Yue Xinchan of the Black and White Divine Palace, the red-robed elder was Ancestor Yanrong of the Haotian Sect, and the last was the Eyeless Heavenly Demon of the Taiyin Sect.

A disciple hurried over, knelt, and reported, "Report! Every location has been searched, but the Thousand Mechanism Hall was not found."

"A bunch of trash!" Ancestor Yanrong, known for his fiery temper, barked.

The Eyeless Heavenly Demon laughed instead, "It is just as well if it cannot be found. If the divine object of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect were to fall into our hands, it would be difficult to divide, and we might not even be able to utilize it."

Yue Xinchan nodded, "True. The Thousand Mechanism Hall has been missing for ten thousand years; letting it remain lost might not be a bad thing. I only fear..."

He paused, then suddenly asked, "Have the disciples been accounted for? Were there any omissions?"

A figure emerged from behind Yue Xinchan, shrouded in black mist that obscured their features, and said respectfully, "All have been checked. Three are missing."

"Who?"

"Xin Ranzi's fourth disciple Qing Lin, his daughter, the eighth disciple Xin Xiaoye, and the youngest, the ninth disciple Bai Yu."

"Bai Yu? The one who joined three years ago?"

"Yes."

"It seems the Thousand Mechanism Hall was also discovered three years ago, wasn't it?"

"This disciple is not certain. Xin Ranzi kept this matter deeply hidden; apart from a few, no one knew about the Thousand Mechanism Hall. I only learned of it by chance."

"Are Qing Lin, Xin Xiaoye, and Bai Yu people who would know of this?"

"This disciple does not know."

"Sigh, what a nuisance," the Eyeless Heavenly Demon sighed. "If not for that old dog Xin Ranzi casting the Heaven Stealing Art, we could simply take their personal belongings and divine their whereabouts with a flick of our fingers."

Ancestor Yanrong was dismissive, "With that old man's Heaven Stealing Art, he could only hold out for five years at most."

In five years, what could the remnants of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect possibly accomplish?

Yue Xinchan took a deep breath, "Do not be careless! Search. We must capture these three."

The Eyeless Heavenly Demon said with a sinister chuckle, "If we truly cannot catch them, it does not matter. These three cannot have gone far. In that case, we shall simply kill everyone in the vicinity."

Hm?

Yue Xinchan and Ancestor Yanrong both looked at the Eyeless Heavenly Demon.

Yue Xinchan said, "Brother Eyeless, we are members of the righteous sects. Such slaughter of the innocent... is perhaps not quite appropriate, is it?"

The Eyeless Heavenly Demon chuckled, "Righteous sects naturally cannot do it, but the demonic sects certainly can."

Yue Xinchan and Ancestor Yanrong nodded in unison, "Exactly!"

Yue Xinchan then said, "In that case, move quickly. Do not let a single one escape. Otherwise, if they get away, all these lives will have been wasted."

Ancestor Yanrong sneered, "You are the only one with such pointless compassion."

Yue Xinchan's expression remained calm, filled with righteous integrity, "Every blade of grass and every tree has a spirit, let alone a human. As a practitioner of the righteous path, I must cherish life; how could I kill indiscriminately!"

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