Everyone's expressions gradually changed.
Once the reasoning was laid out,
it could not have been simpler.
Yet just moments ago, Bloodbone Daoist had truly believed he could slip through the loophole.
The station steward lowered his gaze to the Cause and Effect Mirror.
The twelve crimson threads of karma on its surface had already begun to fade.
The Three Lives Boundary Stele suddenly trembled slightly.
Beneath the large inscription, "End Hostilities Upon Entering the Post Station,"
a new line of tiny characters slowly appeared.
[Those whose evil karma against Guixu remains unresolved receive no protection from the post station.]
Another chorus of sharp intakes of breath rose inside the station.
A young cultivator hurried over.
He lowered his head and read it several times.
"Well, that makes it perfectly clear."
His companion asked, "You don't have any old debts hanging over you, do you?"
The young cultivator's face darkened.
"I've spent all these years in secluded cultivation. What old debts could I possibly have?"
The murmur of conversation gradually returned.
The Border-Patrolling Youth entered the station.
He picked up the Profound Yin Blood Ginseng and carefully put it away.
"Some members of the Azure-Pattern Tribe are still alive."
"Send this back to them."
The station steward nodded.
In the distance,
a gray-robed independent cultivator who had been about to enter the Three Lives Post Station noticed the tiny line beneath the inscription.
His steps abruptly halted.
He lowered his head and thought for a long time.
Then he silently turned around.
He flew off in another direction.
The people nearby exchanged looks.
No one stopped him.
Quiet returned to the entrance of the Three Lives Post Station.
The two lines on the Boundary Stele shimmered with a faint black light in the sea breeze.
After Bloodbone Daoist's