Two night watch disciples had already collapsed beside the fire, the surroundings were deserted… and it seemed no monsters were present.

Then, a “rustling” sound of some creature crawling on dry twigs and leaves suddenly sounded.

Chu Xinghui slashed open the tent’s door curtain with one sword, a huge black shadow suddenly lunged at his face.

The tent’s space was narrow, Chu Xinghui neither dodged nor avoided, he raised his sword and stabbed toward the shadow’s vital spot.

… After several breaths, a snake corpse crashed to the ground.

Chu Xinghui wiped the blood splattered on his face, used his spirit sword to push the snake corpse aside, then checked on the two unconscious disciples, fed them pills, and sent a communication explaining the situation there to others.

Everyone quickly arrived.

Ming Xiao was the first to run over and asked: “How is it?”

“They’re unconscious. The reason is that resentful energy suddenly invaded their bodies. After their internal spiritual power neutralizes the resentment, they will wake up,” Chu Xinghui briefly explained the situation of the two, bent down, flipped over their hands: “They have snakebite wounds.”

There were many snakes near Hanshuize.

Before Chu Xinghui came back, there had already been cases of snakes attacking night watch disciples, but since their attack was weak, they were easily resolved.

But this time… Ning Yuanzheng looked somewhat grim: “These two junior apprentices are both Foundation Establishment level.”

In theory, they shouldn’t have been bitten so easily.

Chu Xinghui pointed to the snake corpse he brought over: “This snake bit them.”

This snake was much bigger than the ones they caught these days, the disciples around couldn’t help stepping back.

Ning Yuanzheng half-crouched and examined the snake corpse several times, feeling very troubled: “Don’t rest tonight. Everyone please check the camp first.”

Chu Xinghui feared Xie Liufeng would worry, so he took advantage of the gap to send him a communication explaining the situation there.

Ming Xiao also took time to receive a communication, and when he returned, his expression looked strange.

Chu Xinghui asked him: “What’s wrong?”

Ming Xiao looked at Chu Xinghui: “Do you remember the question you asked me last time?”

In a moment like this, to bring up that question… Chu Xinghui frowned: “You mean about the relationship between Daoyuan Peak and Bihai Taohua Island?”

Ming Xiao nodded and became serious: “My master found some old rosters and checked some disciple information from hundreds of years ago. That senior who left the formation on Daoyuan Peak, named Pei Tianlang, was exactly a person from Yongning City.”

Although being from Yongning City didn’t necessarily mean a connection to Bihai Taohua Island… but such a coincidence appearing at this critical moment was really not just a “coincidence.”

*

A few days later, Xie Liufeng followed the address given by Shang Ling and found a small fishing village near Yongning City.

The village was all mortals, at least it didn’t look like cultivators lived there.

Xie Liufeng observed the village environment while listening to Shang Ling explain the information she had gathered through the communication talisman: “The person you’re looking for has the surname Zheng, no one knows his real name. The villagers all call him Old Zheng.”

Xie Liufeng frowned: “Old man?”

This former disciple had been expelled from Bihai Taohua Island but had not been stripped of his cultivation. Immortals aged slowly, they only showed signs of old age when their lifespan was near the end.

Shang Ling also found it a bit hard to describe: “You might not believe it… this former disciple of Bihai Taohua Island is older than both of us.”

He continued: “Also, if you can’t get the information you want, try offering more money. This person is… uh, in a rather bleak late stage of life.”

Xie Liufeng agreed and ended the communication with Shang Ling.

At first, he didn’t quite understand what “bleak late stage of life” exactly meant, but after asking around the village, he finally got the picture.

No one knew when Old Zheng had moved here. Since his arrival in this village, he had neither wife nor children, and over the years no one had seen him contact any relatives or friends. He was old and unable to do heavy work, surviving by petty thefts, enjoyed drinking, and many villagers had seen him act crazy while drunk.

In short, he was a lonely and unwelcome old man.

After learning this, Xie Liufeng somewhat understood the former disciple’s situation and went to an old, dilapidated house at the village’s east end and knocked on Old Zheng’s door.

“Who’s there?”

Hearing the knock, the person inside first peeked through the door crack, and seeing it wasn’t an enemy, finally opened the door.

Out came a disheveled, gray-haired, stooped old man.

Shang Ling had previously arranged for someone to contact Old Zheng. He glanced at Xie Liufeng at the door and chuckled: “Didn’t expect that this little old man’s shabby house would actually have a distinguished visitor—it really brings some honor.”

Xie Liufeng politely handed him a bag of spirit stones: “You flatter me, senior. I came to ask some questions.”

Old Zheng weighed the bag, his eyes brightened a little, and he warmly welcomed Xie Liufeng inside.

Inside the house was a stench of cheap alcohol mixed with moldy dampness from long-stored things. The furniture was sparse and mostly broken, but kept clean.

Old Zheng found a three-legged stool for Xie Liufeng and sat himself in the only four-legged chair in the house.

Xie Liufeng: “…”

The two sat somewhat peacefully on opposite sides of the table.

Xie Liufeng took the initiative: “Senior…”

Old Zheng suddenly interrupted: “Ah, wrong, wrong.”

Xie Liufeng was puzzled: “What’s wrong?”

Old Zheng pretended to be deaf and dumb, as if he had not just spoken.

Xie Liufeng observed him for a moment, then without wasting time directly stated his purpose: “Senior, you should know why I came today, right?”

Old Zheng’s expression turned serious, nodded: “Yeah, yeah, this place doesn’t produce vegetables or fruits, so it’s more expensive than other places. But charging you eight wen is probably because you’re a stranger, trying to scam this outsider.”

Xie Liufeng calmly looked at him and smiled: “So senior thinks how much is appropriate?”

Seeing his attitude, Old Zheng stopped pretending and smiled back: “Sword Sovereign, it’s not about the money, it’s really something I cannot talk about.”

Xie Liufeng was silent for a moment and handed him a piece of paper: “Senior, take a look at this.”

This was the item he had taken from Xue Heng before—an odd formation diagram was drawn on it.

Old Zheng’s pupils shrank slightly when he saw it: “The hexagram didn’t say…”

Xie Liufeng guessed: “You mean you think I’m here to ask about what Cultivator Biyun saw a hundred years ago, why senior left Bihai Taohua Island because of it, and who is the person the prophecy was about?”

Old Zheng shook his head with a smile: “As expected of Sword Sovereign. You already found the key questions before meeting this old man. Unfortunately, I was sealed from speaking before I was expelled. These things must never be spoken of.”

Xie Liufeng thought for a moment and nodded: “Oh, so the reason senior left Bihai Taohua Island was indeed related to what Cultivator Baiyun foresaw.”

Old Zheng was stunned: “You didn’t know this?”

Xie Liufeng smiled faintly: “Now I do, and I thank senior for telling me.”

Old Zheng was silent for a while, then sighed: “Nowadays the younger generation is something else, even this old guy can be deceived by you.”

Xie Liufeng defended himself: “It’s only because these two things happened close in time, so I couldn’t help but wonder if they were related. Calling it deception would be unfair.”

He timely changed the subject, pointing at the paper on the table: “I don’t mean to trouble senior. Since the matters from a hundred years ago cannot be spoken of, let’s talk about the formation on this paper.”

Old Zheng cooperated and shifted his gaze to the paper: “I heard Daoyuan Peak of the Beiyue Sword Sect is quite skilled in formations. You must have noticed that although this resembles a formation, it’s actually empty in substance—just a failed product that can’t form a true formation, only useful as a marker.”

Xie Liufeng nodded: “Senior seems quite familiar with the origin of this thing.”

Old Zheng chuckled twice: “Sword Sovereign, there’s no need to test me. Since I’m willing to meet you and have accepted your payment, naturally I should tell you something useful. Besides… the use of this item isn’t a secret. Although the younger generation might not know this tradition well, older disciples of Bihai Taohua Island should know what this is used for. But since few disciples travel outside the island, they rarely get to use this pattern, so outsiders almost never see it.”

Xie Liufeng touched the tea kettle on the table, which was cold through, used his spiritual power to warm the water inside, then lowered his eyes, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to Old Man Zheng: “Please tell me in detail.”

Old Man Zheng took the chipped cup, sipped the tea inside, and slowly explained: “This object came from many generations ago. It was drawn by an ancestor of the Bihai Taohua Island. That ancestor came from an array cultivation background before entering the island. After glimpsing that his life span was near its end, he once tried to use evil arts to defy heaven and change his fate. After exposure, he was killed by his fellow disciples, leaving only these failed array patterns behind.”

“That ancestor was a hero of the sect. When he glimpsed his destiny, it was at the height of his power, far from the end of his natural life. He should not have worried about death or the dissolution of the Dao. His despair led to extreme thoughts.”

“Coincidentally, the day he was killed by his fellow disciples was exactly the day he calculated as his own death.”

At this point, his previously cloudy eyes cleared for a moment as he looked meaningfully at Xie Liufeng: “The strange thing about fate is here. As the Sword Sovereign reached the highest realm in this world, you should understand that sometimes knowing too much pushes oneself toward the worst outcome.”

Xie Liufeng was indifferent: “Senior worries too much. I have already experienced the so-called ‘worst outcome’ once. If it gets worse… how much worse could it be?”

Old Man Zheng shook his head: “The Sword Sovereign is naturally unafraid, but I wonder if the close junior companion by your side… might be afraid?”

There was only one junior closest to him.

Mentioning Chu Xinghui, Xie Liufeng’s expression gradually darkened.

He didn’t care about the nonsense aimed at him personally.

He had long stopped believing in it.

But this person deliberately dragged Chu Xinghui into it… Xie Liufeng could not help but want to touch the sword hilt.

Old Man Zheng read his expression and immediately changed his tone: “I have been expelled from Bihai Taohua Island for more than a hundred years. My divination path has long been abandoned. It’s normal for nonsense to come out.”

Xie Liufeng reminded him: “According to Bihai Taohua Island’s rules, disciples cannot lie about divination results, cannot distort or omit them.”

Old Man Zheng chuckled twice: “It’s all nonsense, naturally unrelated to divination.”

Xie Liufeng stared at his expression and continued: “Although it is a rule of Bihai Taohua Island, for those who have long severed their path and do not care about spiritual awareness, its binding force is uncertain, right?”

Old Man Zheng’s smile stiffened unconsciously.

Xie Liufeng withdrew his gaze and smiled gently: “Sorry, I was also talking nonsense. Senior wouldn’t be angry, right?”

Old Man Zheng nodded repeatedly: “Of course not, of course not.”

Xie Liufeng seemed to no longer care about the earlier incident and brought the topic back: “Let’s continue talking about the function of this array pattern.”

He asked: “Senior, do you know Pei Tianlang?”

Old Man Zheng was truly stunned: “Who is that?”

He squinted and thought for a moment, then roughly understood: “Ah, the Sword Sovereign probably meant the disciple who left this mark? He should only be an ordinary disciple of Bihai Taohua Island. Although I stayed in Bihai Taohua Island for some years, it’s impossible to know everyone.”

Xie Liufeng continued: “How did senior determine that this person was a disciple of Bihai Taohua Island?”

Old Man Zheng explained: “This kind of mark is only left by disciples of Bihai Taohua Island who died away from home. According to the tradition of Bihai Taohua Island, if disciples see this mark, they should collect the bones of the fallen disciple and return them to the island, and they can receive one relic left by the person as a reward.”

He gently touched the patterns on the paper, his tone somewhat emotional: “When I die, I will also leave this mark.”

Xie Liufeng looked at him and said: “Senior seems to have left Bihai Taohua Island already.”

Old Man Zheng shook his head: “Bihai Taohua Island values cause and effect. After a person dies, their cause and effect ends, and there is no need to speak of grudges. Even the most evil person, as long as they were once on Bihai Taohua Island’s registry, if they wish to return to their roots, they can be collected back.”

Xie Liufeng watched the expression on his face and suddenly recalled something.

Although Old Man Zheng was a castaway from Bihai Taohua Island, after some contact, his achievements in divination should be considerable.

Moreover, this old man’s current age…

Xie Liufeng quietly tested: “I heard that the current island master of Bihai Taohua Island, Cultivator Baiyun, was not the first successor favored by the previous island master.”

Cultivator Baiyun entered late. Before her, the previous island master actually had a grown-up senior disciple.

At that time, Xie Liufeng was still a junior and only heard elders mention this old matter sporadically.

According to the elders, that senior disciple of Bihai Taohua Island had excellent character and cultivation. The island master had always trained this disciple as the successor.

But that person disappeared in the end. After their shared master passed away, his fellow junior sister Biyun stepped up to take the island’s authority.

The path of cultivation was always harsh, undeveloped talents were like fish crossing the river, and over time, no one remembered that such a person ever existed.

Hearing Xie Liufeng suddenly mention this, Old Man Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly.

Seeing his expression, Xie Liufeng knew he guessed correctly: “The former island master of Bihai Taohua Island was a peer of my master. Senior said ‘wrong’ because we are not truly senior and junior, I should call you ‘Senior Brother Zheng,’ right?”

Old Man Zheng was silent for a moment: “Tricking me again?”

Xie Liufeng smiled: “Yes. If Senior Brother Zheng wanted to hide it, no trick could fool me. Now clearly Senior Brother Zheng reminded me first. Can we say… Senior Brother Zheng didn’t really want to hide it?”

The two exchanged glances and silently faced off for a moment.

Finally, Old Man Zheng, looking very tired, closed his eyes and waved his hand: “Alright, alright. No matter what name I was called back then, now I’m just a useless old relic. Sword Venerable doesn’t need to waste too much time on me. If you have time, you’d better spend more with that junior of yours.”

This was the second time he mentioned Chu Xinghui.

Xie Liufeng didn’t believe his words, but when it came to Chu Xinghui, he couldn’t remain indifferent and probed once more: “Senior Brother Zheng really cares deeply about my junior.”

The old man still kept his eyes closed: “I already said, I’ve long abandoned divination and naturally know nothing.”

Xie Liufeng sat there for a while longer before taking his leave.

The old man still hadn’t opened his eyes, as if already asleep.

Before leaving the village, Xie Liufeng looked back once.

The old man had just opened the door, carrying an old wooden bucket, seemingly about to fetch some water.

Several nearby children saw him poke his head out and threw stones at him.

He chased after them in vain but only earned their laughter.

In the end, the old man sighed, carrying the empty bucket back inside the house, closing the drafty door tightly.

After leaving the village, Xie Liufeng felt uneasy.

Although he and Chu Xinghui were not in the same place, they had not lost contact.

In such a short time, nothing should have gone wrong.

Besides, at this hour, Chu Xinghui should still be outside handling tasks in Hanshuize—not a good time to chat.

However, whenever Chu Xinghui’s safety was involved, Xie Liufeng was prone to overworried thoughts.

After hesitating briefly, he sent a message to Chu Xinghui.

No one responded.

Xie Liufeng comforted himself first.

Without meeting in person, many reasons could explain the lack of response—perhaps cultivating or fighting—and it didn’t necessarily mean trouble.

But just now, Old Man Zheng mentioned Chu Xinghui twice.

Xie Liufeng failed to soothe himself and grew more serious.

He then sent a message to Ning Yuanzheng.

Ning Yuanzheng received the message, surprised: “Senior Uncle?”

Xie Liufeng didn’t exchange pleasantries and asked directly: “Where is Chu Xinghui?”

Ning Yuanzheng paused a moment, trying to calm Xie Liufeng’s emotions: “Senior Uncle, I have something to tell you.”

Xie Liufeng’s anxiety deepened: “Speak.”

Ning Yuanzheng said: “Junior Brother Chu fell down the sealing.”

Xie Liufeng was silent for a moment, no nonsense: “I’m coming immediately.”

Ning Yuanzheng ended the transmission, arranging for others to continue guarding the seal, feeling mixed emotions.

The talent had just fallen not long ago, and he hadn’t had time to spread the news. Did these two have some kind of spiritual connection?

Chu Xinghui had indeed fallen through the seal.

The whole matter was actually simple.

They had been tracking the snake that bit a night watch disciple a few days ago. The source of that snake was traced to the seal.

Although everyone suspected these snakes might relate to the evil spirit in the seal, Ning Yuanzheng was still highly alert and immediately took several powerful disciples to check.

After all, there was still a malicious spirit causing havoc sealed inside, and if the seal failed, it could be disastrous.

After checking carefully and confirming the seal was intact, before they could relax, a large group of snakes, as big as the previous night’s, appeared around.

Maybe because they were close to the power source, these snakes were much fiercer than before. Many unprepared disciples could not hold their ground and fell behind.

Chu Xinghui saved several disciples who couldn’t hold out, then suddenly stepped on thin air and fell through the seal.

Logically, they had just checked that the seal in Hanshuize had no issues and shouldn’t have strange phenomena like innocent bystanders falling.

Even if the evil spirit’s seal had problems, the independent formation allowing walking on the water surface shouldn’t cause bystanders to fall.

In short, when Chu Xinghui fell from the seal, his mind was somewhat dazed.

The moment he submerged, the only comfort was that he had learned to swim and mastered the water-avoidance technique.

He tried to swim to the surface but failed.

A strange force was pulling him down continuously.

The evil spirit sealed in the water aimlessly swam around. Chu Xinghui passed by its tail and continued sinking into the deep cold pool.

This was clearly not a normal falling speed.

The evil spirit sealed in the water, suddenly invaded by a living person, was first cautious, then excited, immediately swimming over to try to swallow the fresh meat offered.

But Chu Xinghui sank faster than it could swim.

When he touched the mud at the bottom, he thought the fall was finally over.

But the mud was like a phantom, the strange force carried him effortlessly through it and into a completely dark space.

The evil spirit, having missed its prey, lingered disappointedly where Chu Xinghui disappeared, and when no food appeared again, it slowly swam away in frustration.

Perhaps due to spatial changes, Chu Xinghui felt his vision flicker.

There was no light at all. His eyes couldn’t help judge the surroundings, so he extended his divine sense to observe the space’s conditions.

He kept falling.

Around him were jagged mountains, with a narrow passage just wide enough for one person, roughly carved out by crude manual labor.

The air still carried the unique moist scent mixed with resentment typical of the area near Hanshui Marsh, it seemed he had not left the boundaries of Hanshui Marsh.

It was even very likely that he had not left the range of the seal.

Chu Xinghui didn’t know how long he had been falling in the darkness.

Finally, his extended divine sense touched the ground.

At the critical moment, Chu Xinghui summoned his spirit sword and pulled the black bird out from within it.

The black bird flew out of the spirit sword, bit onto his collar to cushion him a bit, allowing him to avoid breaking his legs on the spot.

Chu Xinghui landed smoothly and arrived at a place where he could not see his own hand.

It was a very spacious cave, filled with dense resentment that made one extremely uncomfortable.

Chu Xinghui heard countless “shh shh” sounds.

They were the sounds of snakes crawling.

Snakes surged in every corner of the cave, some even crawled onto his shoes, and Chu Xinghui cut them in two with a single sword strike.

… They had always thought those snakes suddenly appearing in Hanshui Marsh were related to the evil spirits sealed inside, but now it seemed their source was here.

Chu Xinghui “looked” toward the middle of the cave.

He sensed a very familiar aura there, exactly the same as the black-robed man who had escaped last time.

In the darkness, Chu Xinghui couldn’t see anything, only using his divine sense to probe ahead and found a huge, chaotic black mist.

Underneath the mist were eerie scarlet formation patterns and countless intertwined writhing snakes, through the formation, a continuous flow of resentment was being fed into the black mist.

Chu Xinghui vaguely felt those formation patterns looked somewhat familiar, but the mist blocked most of them, and his divine sense couldn’t penetrate it.

After his fight with Xie Liufeng, the black-robed man had already lost his human skeleton.

… This should be the true body of that black-robed man now.

Chu Xinghui had originally only guessed the black-robed man might be connected to the Hanshui Marsh affair, but he hadn’t expected that man’s true body to be hidden beneath the seal of Hanshui Marsh.

Although the seal of Hanshui Marsh often needed repairs, its level was very high. To bypass it… this man’s skill in formations must be considerable.

Chu Xinghui didn’t act rashly, but the mist had already detected him.

Sensing the dangerous aura, the black bird’s feathers bristled and it swiftly darted back into the spirit sword.

This mist clearly no longer possessed the intelligence it once had as a human, sensing someone entering here, it ruthlessly launched a full-force attack to strangle Chu Xinghui.

Chu Xinghui immediately raised his sword to block in front of him.

After just one clash, Chu Xinghui couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

He calmly assessed the situation.

First, he couldn’t defeat this black mist before him.

Second, judging by the situation, this black mist was not in a state to communicate.

Therefore, he had to leave here as soon as possible.

Chu Xinghui quickly scanned the surrounding environment.

… Besides the place where he fell down, there was no other path.

The black mist didn’t give him time to think, a second attack came quickly.

This time, Chu Xinghui was violently slammed against a nearby stone wall.

He held onto the stone wall and slowly stood up, suddenly noticing something unusual.

The thickness of the stone wall was wrong… the outside of this cave didn’t seem to be mountain terrain.

Chu Xinghui immediately made a decision, sweeping his divine sense over the entire cave’s stone wall, then quickly ran in a certain direction.

The black mist relentlessly pursued him from behind.

Inevitably, Chu Xinghui added a few more wounds to his body and finally reached the spot he had chosen.

The black mist hadn’t killed a single small insect for a long time and had fallen into a frenzy.

Chu Xinghui watched the black mist become still for a moment, then it released a charged attack at him but did not move yet.

… The position was right.

After two breaths, he suddenly dodged, successfully letting the attack hit his original position.

Chu Xinghui had almost no spirit power left. Although he avoided the main impact, he was still hurt by the aftershock and spit out another mouthful of blood.

His whole body ached, he probably broke several more bones.

At the same time, most of the attack’s force struck the stone wall behind him.

Under the huge impact, the stone wall was forcibly broken open.

Water from outside the cave flooded in.

The rising water level finally submerged the entire cave.

The sudden water flow slightly impeded the mist’s movement.

Chu Xinghui floated in the water and struggled to swim out following the direction of the incoming water.

It was still very dark around him, he couldn’t tell where he had reached.

The good news was that he was getting farther away from the black mist.

Whether because the mist still relied on the cave’s formation to recover, it didn’t pursue him.

After confirming safety, Chu Xinghui finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He had no strength left at all, regardless of whether the bloody smell on him would attract something bad, he could only half-faintly continue forward following the water flow.

*

Chu Xinghui didn’t know how long he had drifted with the water.

The surroundings remained dense darkness until he sensed sunlight.

He extended his divine sense and finally touched the shore.

He used the last bit of spirit power to throw himself onto the shore.

He didn’t know exactly where he was, but fortunately, there was probably no danger around for the time being.

The weather was very good today, it was noon, and the sunlight warmed his body.

Chu Xinghui blinked and realized something was off.

He briefly prepared himself mentally, calmly reached out his hand, and waved it in front of his eyes.

Oh, it wasn’t because it was too dark under the seal earlier that he couldn’t see anything.

It was because he was blind.

But now he didn’t have the strength to care whether he was blind or not.

First, he released the black bird from his spirit sword, then calmly fainted.

 

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