The sky darkened.
The cloudship cut across the azure void. Distant mountains became thin lines, and the great river flowed without a sound.
"Are you... one of them too?"
The moment those words left his mouth.
The atmosphere on the deck abruptly turned icy.
The Wusang Sect elder immediately roared, "What did I say?! There really is something wrong with Jieqing Sect!"
"..."
Lingxu True Lord did not look at him. He merely gazed into the distance, neither sorrowful nor joyful.
Countless disciples, elders, and stewards of Lingxu Sect were continuously disappearing in the direction where the Little Heavenly General stood.
Like old debts being settled.
Like wandering sons returning home.
And like, after death, a soul must always return to the place it was meant to go.
"Actually, you and I should have been the closest of allies. We should not have come to this..."
Lingxu True Lord spoke softly.
As his words fell.
His body suddenly shuddered. Billowing black qi burst from between his flesh and skin. The darkness slowly swelled from his shoulders, chest, abdomen, and neck, puffing up his robes and splitting his skin with crack after crack.
Yet he still stood there with his hands hanging at his sides, as though such a transformation was perfectly ordinary to him.
An elder from a Dao Sect frowned and asked, "What exactly is this thing?"
"I once believed that I was a disciple of Jieqing Sect as well..."
Lingxu True Lord's voice remained calm as he continued, "I entered the mountains in my youth, took a master, and learned the Dao. Every day, I heard the morning bell and evening drum, read scriptures, and practiced the sword. When my cultivation was shallow, I feared punishment from my elders, feared my fellow disciples would break through before me,