Jade Mountain Without End

"Young brother, we meet again!" Xiao Jinyu grinned. "Since you begged me, those three can get lost!"

"Thank you, Palace Lord!"

"Cut the crap. I hate big-bearded men like you! Get lost! Get lost!" Xiao Jinyu snapped with a playful laugh.

Mi Luohou hoisted Tu Chunqiu and Ming Jiuxiao onto his shoulders and hurried away, yet he kept looking back, casting Liu Yunshen a grateful glance. "A true man indeed!"

"Big Brother! I understand now! Your eye for people is truly vicious. We brothers can't compare to you!"

Draped over Mi Luohou's shoulder, Tu Chunqiu gave a bitter smile. "That Liu fellow is a real man! But sadly, he..."

"He'll be fine!"

"How do you know, Big Brother?"

"Didn't you see Sun Yunji, the Frostblade Sword Alliance's second-in-command?" Mi Luohou smiled mysteriously.

"Junior Brother! So many years have passed, yet you're still the same!" Sun Yunji strode forward and, in his excitement, gave Xiao Jinyu a bear hug.

Xiao Jinyu's eyes reddened at the corners. Frowning, he said, "Second Senior Brother, after all these years, why has your cultivation still stagnated? If you ran into Tian Jingzhong or the masters of the other palaces, wouldn't that be..."

"I'm fine!" Sun Yunji grinned and turned toward Liu Yunshen. "Could you perhaps..."

"Fine, I'm your mother, all right?" Xiao Jinyu shook his head and held out his hand. "Hand it over!"

"What?"

"The wuxia novels! The Sect Master loves reading them. He curses as he reads, saying things like, 'Fake as hell,' and, 'Who levels up once every five chapters? What nonsense!' Yet even while cursing, he keeps reading with great relish and can't bear to put them down. Brother, I've been relying on this to climb the ranks and get rich!"

Sun Yunji and Xiao Jinyu burst out laughing together.

"Junior Brother, don't you wear that outfit every time you go out? Why today..."

"When have I ever been that narcissistic?" Xiao Jinyu looked down at his black night-traveling clothes and smiled bitterly.

"Also, Eldest Senior Brother is in the secret realm too. I heard that you also intended to..." Sun Yunji still wanted to plead for him, but Xiao Jinyu's face hardened. He snorted and waved a hand. "I must carry out what the Sect Master ordered. At most, I'll spare Eldest Senior Brother's life! But if someone else kills him, that's none of my business!"

"That's good enough! So long as you don't act, Eldest Senior Brother fears no one else!" Sun Yunji rejoiced.

Xiao Jinyu looked over the corpses littering the ground. He took a stack of talisman paper from his robes and poured pill power into it, turning them into spinning ghosts carrying sabers, swords, and long halberds!

"He's..." Gong Haoyue and Cao Wuji took only one look before turning away, bracing themselves against trees and vomiting without stop!

Qiu Cangyue turned his head aside, frowning without a word.

Dozens of spinning ghosts skinned the corpses, stripped out their bones, hollowed their organs, and used treasure vases to drain away their blood! Countless human skins were stacked together, countless human bones piled in one place, while the five viscera formed a mountain of rotting flesh.

"What utter brutality!" Liu Yunshen fought down the urge to vomit and stared fixedly ahead as groans came from beside him!

Wei Gui's spirit platform had been injured, his three souls damaged, and he remained unconscious! Lei Zhouyue was channeling his power into him, his expression incomparably grim!

Once the spinning ghosts had finished everything, Xiao Jinyu took out another talisman. Carriages and horses flew up from beneath the earth, carrying away endless human skins, human bones, and mountains of rotting flesh, then raced back underground!

Only inner cores remained scattered across the ground!

Qiu Congxiao was deeply puzzled. "Why did he take everything else away but leave behind the most valuable things?"

"No idea! To be honest, I don't want to know either!" Qiu Yitian frowned in silence.

Xiao Jinyu seemed to enjoy the scene immensely. The less everyone wished to watch, the more slowly he made the spinning ghosts work.

"Human skin can be made into human puppets. They retain the aura of the living, allowing one to disguise oneself and conceal one's presence. Human bones can be made into things like spinning ghosts, laborers for tasks ordinary people neither wish to do nor can do. As for rotting flesh and the five viscera, they are the essence of the human body. After all, one's vital blood and qi rely entirely on them for sustenance..." Xiao Jinyu sneered.

Qiu Congxiao could endure no longer. He ran to a tree and vomited endlessly! Liu Yunshen knitted his brows and stared at Xiao Jinyu.

Xiao Jinyu spread his hands. "You asked, so naturally I'll tell you everything I know! Jinyu, Jinyu—I've always been an honest man!"

"You truly live up to your name!" Qiu Cangyue snorted.

"You lot truly are a ragtag alliance of weaklings from tiny sects! In short, trash!" Xiao Jinyu sneered.

"What did you say?" Qiu Cangyue flew into a rage, but Cai Tingyue and Gong Haoyue hurriedly stopped him!

After packing everything away, Xiao Jinyu tucked the novels into his robes, tipped back his head for a swallow of wine, and grinned at Liu Yunshen. "Kid, it seems you and I are fated to meet again!"

Yet the word "shallow," along with his laughter, still echoed through the forest! Xiao Jinyu had already vanished without a trace.

Cai Tingyue and Gong Haoyue let out breaths of relief, their hands and feet still trembling. "That devil..."

Remembering the ten-thousand-zhang azure blade that had stretched across the sky, Lei Zhouyue broke into a cold sweat that soaked his clothes!

"Nephew Liu, why did you insist on saving those three lackeys?" Gong Haoyue was greatly enraged. Looking in the direction where the three had fled, he said urgently, "I'll catch up and finish off those three claws and fangs!"

"I'll go too!" Lei Zhouyue echoed.

Liu Yunshen shook his head. "Those three may not die beneath our swords, but they may not survive beneath the hands of the Han Emperor, whose heart hides darkness!"

Cai Tingyue was startled and looked toward Gong Haoyue.

"Brother Liu has changed!"

"He hasn't changed. A new powerhouse has awakened upon the land of the Nine Provinces!" Cai Tingyue was filled with delight. "We too must act according to the times and swiftly build up our strength! Only then can we claim a place for ourselves in days to come!"

"What about these commoners?" Cao Wuji bandaged the wounded with broken legs and severed arms, then looked toward the others. In the end, everyone looked at that face as bright as the sun's wheel!

Liu Yunshen merely smiled without answering. He reached out and stroked the cheek of the child in his arms. The child stopped crying and giggled brightly. That laughter seemed to drive away all darkness, illuminating mountains and rivers alike.

Two hours earlier, within the Zhou Enclosure Deer Park.

Ouyang Zhenyue stood upon land laid out like a chessboard, seventy-six lines running across and seventy-six running down—more than four times the size of an ordinary board!

More than thirty others stood in the same manner as he did!

Everyone had been fastened to the chessboard, their feet unable to move even an inch!

"Ever since we came to this damned place half an hour ago, we haven't been able to move! Could some mechanism have been triggered?" Ouyang Zhenyue swept his gaze across the field, watching everyone warily and refusing to miss the slightest change!

"Everyone, the secret realm is filled with mechanisms and fraught with peril. This old man believes we should cross the river in the same boat and overcome this trial together!"

"Man, you make it sound nice. Who doesn't know that your Myriad Swords Sect has always been sinister and ruthless, tearing down the bridge once you've crossed the river? You're even worse than us of the demonic path!"

There were seven people from the Myriad Swords Sect on the chessboard, with Man Zhonglou as their leader. A member of the Heavenly Devil Palace pointed at them and cursed loudly.

"I believe Brother Man Zhonglou speaks wisely. But if we travel together, who will the final rewards belong to?"

"May I ask who you are?" Man Zhonglou smiled at the man several dozen zhang away.

The man in black smiled and clasped his fists. "I am but a Rogue Cultivator, with no sect and no school. I am not worth mentioning!"

"Hehe! What a Rogue Cultivator indeed!"

"I have the same concern. You humans have always had the most schemes in your hearts. If we truly overcome this trial, who can say you won't secretly employ poisonous plots?" A giant man standing one zhang tall and holding a wolf-toothed club glared at Man Zhonglou of the Myriad Swords Sect.

Everyone in the area turned to look!

Man Zhonglou smiled bitterly. "My sect is, at any rate, a leader among righteous factions. Perhaps some disappointing disciples have emerged over the years, but surely we have not sunk so low as to be despised by all fellow cultivators?"

"Old Man Man, swear an oath! Then we'll believe you!"

"That's right! Swear an oath!"

"What do you think, Brother?" Man Zhonglou looked toward Ouyang Zhenyue, who stood less than ten zhang away and had already altered his appearance. He seemed quite interested in him.

Though Ouyang Zhenyue had changed his appearance, donned a human-skin mask, and used the Mystic Elephant Essence-Condensing Art to conceal his aura, he deliberately met Man Zhonglou's gaze and smiled. "Brother, have we met before?"

Man Zhonglou smiled and shook his head, his eyes carrying a deeper meaning. "I don't think so!"

"In my opinion, whether one swears an oath is unimportant. Actions speak louder than words—that is what matters!"

"Brother, you speak bluntly and frankly!" The Myriad Swords Sect disciples all cried out in praise.

"Which sect are you from?"

"Jade Mountain Sect!" Ouyang Zhenyue answered casually. The one-zhang-tall giant from the Divine-Demon Sect froze for a long while. "That name sounds rather familiar!"

"Just an insignificant little sect!" As Ouyang Zhenyue spoke with the others, he repeatedly gathered pill power and the Life Realm, attempting to lift his feet from the ground. Yet the earth was like a colossal magnet, firmly fastening all these fourth-realm Qi Refinement experts to the ground. Looking at the suddenly appearing character "slave" in his palm from moments ago, he felt a faint chill of fear in his heart.

"We can't keep wasting time like this!"

"Old Man Man, do you have any Daoist arts or magical treasures that can get us out of this?"

As they spoke, mist gradually spread over the heavenly chessboard. No one could see anything, and fear slowly began to rise!

"Ah!!" A shrill scream rang out. A demonic sect disciple beside the Myriad Swords Sect group was pierced to death by Sword Qi!

"Bastards! You were just talking about crossing the river in the same boat, and now you're turning your face faster than turning a page!" The giant let out a tiger's roar and transformed into his true form—a pure white giant tiger more than five zhang long!

Everyone in the field turned their heads to look!

"Senior Brother? Shall we attack?" A Myriad Swords Sect disciple sent a voice transmission to the side.

"That demon is exceedingly formidable. If we fail to kill it in one blow, once we get through this place, it will surely take savage revenge upon us!" Man Zhonglou looked through the mist at the giant tiger and slowly shook his head!

Ouyang Zhenyue could see only several zhang around him. He slowly released his martial sense, which unexpectedly reached a radius of one hundred zhang. The suction beneath his feet also seemed to have loosened somewhat!

"Hm!" The tiger demon looked toward the Myriad Swords Sect. When the martial senses released by Ouyang Zhenyue and the giant tiger collided, they immediately understood one another. Both instantly drew them back, sharing a tacit understanding as they stood perfectly still!

Man Zhonglou and the others were extremely anxious, watching their surroundings warily!

"Senior Brother, this secret realm is far too sinister! Ever since entering, our pill power has been suppressed to the brink of death. Not only can we not fly, even our spiritual sense can extend merely three or four zhang! If this continues, we'll be far too passive!"

"Don't panic! We're passive, but the other sects are in the same state!"

"I didn't expect you to be a martial artist too, Brother. A pleasure!" The tiger demon condensed his martial sense into a thread and sent his voice over!

"Likewise!" Ouyang Zhenyue also transmitted his voice.

"What character is in your palm, Friend?" Afraid the other party might be unwilling to answer, the tiger demon spoke first. "Mine is 'slave'!"

"Hm! You chose the character 'slave' too?"

The tiger demon grinned. "This is how I saw it: since this secret realm was formed from the resentment left behind after the Yan Emperor's death and this heavenly chessboard was laid out here, then between 'shaman' and 'slave,' one had to choose one. Naturally, it had to be slave! When Great Yan was destroyed, those shamans collectively surrendered to the Qi Emperor!"

Ouyang Zhenyue laughed. "So you handle matters with such straightforwardness? I weighed the choice for a long time before deciding!"

"Hehe! Did you two choose 'slave' as well?"

An arrogant, untamed laugh rang out!

Everyone from every faction in the field cried out in alarm and anger. "Three Stars Sect, Xiao Jinyu! Why are you here?"