Chapter 66

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Chapter 66

Kan Jixuan saw the two of them weeping and used her handkerchief to gently wipe their tears.

“You’ve been here, neither human nor ghost. You should return to the mortal realm and rest for a while. Leave this place to me.”

Ji Yang shook his head.

“I dare not take the risk.”

He had spent far too long in front of this Magical Formation, observing the Original Demon with increasing precision.

The more harmless and light something appeared, the more caution it demanded—tenfold, even a hundredfold.

Though the vengeful demon had been sealed deep within the formation for ten years, the longer it was confined, the deeper its resentment festered.

Previously, it had died eight times and already possessed the power to devour, capable of unleashing a storm of bloodshed to absorb more spiritual energy and essence and blood.

Though it lacked human consciousness and remained in a chaotic state of mind, it was like a malevolent ghost in a deep swamp, endlessly striving to drag others down, constantly seeking a way to escape.

Gong Wu leaned in and wiped his face with her fingers, but Ji Yang was still staring at the spot Kan Jixuan had pointed to earlier, unaware that she stood right before him.

The little girl felt a pang of sorrow and asked, “Senior, what is trapped in this formation?”

“Your Original Demon,” Kan Jixuan replied. “Do you remember what the monk said?”

In the bamboo forest of purple bamboos on Night Poison Mountain, Monk Wang Jin once said that Gong Wu was a spirit destined to become a demon.

Yet, by a twist of fate, she had been taken away by Tu Xuixin and raised with love by the people of Moonfire Valley.

Kan Jixuan gazed at Gong Wu and repeated the old words.

“You must cultivate, ascend to immortality, help all beings, and ultimately achieve good fortune.”

“And this,” the old woman turned to face the raging evil within the Magical Formation and said calmly, “is the cause and effect you must resolve after ascending to immortality.”

“It comes from the depths of your heart and soul; it is your Original Demon, like a shadow that exists because of you.”

Gong Wu instinctively accepted this daunting task, her voice tinged with distress as she said, “If I had the ability, I would do everything in my power.”

“But right now, it seems I can’t even solidify my form.”

“I have a theory, though I’m not certain,” Kan Jixuan said. “You’ve been lingering in the deepest part of the Demon Realm, where your spiritual energy has been suppressed by dark forces, slowing your recovery far more than before.”

“To regain your physical form more quickly, you must return to Moonfire Valley and spend time with someone whose heart is as pure as yours.”

Ji Yang took out the Qiongjin bottle and handed it to Kan Jixuan.

“I’ve spent ten years comprehending the way, yet I still don’t know how to destroy it,” Ji Yang murmured. “The vengeful demon dies and is reborn, growing stronger with each battle, as if it were an unbreakable deadlock.”

“At least for now, the Magical Formation can still keep it trapped, preventing it from wreaking havoc on the mortal realm.”

“Senior, you should go back.”

Gong Wu stared at him in disbelief, unable to accept Ji Yang’s decision to remain here alone.

The Abyss was too cold and desolate; she couldn’t bear to leave.

Kan Jixuan said, “Now that the Southern Abyss has fallen, the Demon Realm is under my control. In the future, it will be much safer for you to come and see him.”

“Girl, regain your true form soon and come to see your senior brother.”

Gong Wu rubbed her eyes hard and said to him, “Brother, I’m leaving.”

Kan Jixuan turned to Ji Yang and said, “The little girl is saying goodbye to you.”

Ji Yang nodded slightly, still unable to see her.

“I wish you all the best.”

She was taken back to the mortal realm along with the bottle, returning from the distant Abyss to a world where daylight could be seen.

Just as the old senior had said, after returning to the mortal realm, the essence of heaven and earth began to flow continuously toward her.

The earlier sense of oppression vanished completely, and even her strength started to recover rapidly.

Gong Wu carefully felt everything, hoping to solidify her physical form again soon.

Along the way, Kan Jixuan was a chatterbox, answering all of Gong Wu’s questions.

That Sword Immortal was indeed Ji Yang’s father, Zhang Xunyi, the true master of the Bamboo Theatre, Master Wen Zhu.

On the day she and her senior brother saw the portrait with the assistant, the man was Zhang Xunyi, and the woman was his mother’s first incarnation, Huang Ying.

Due to unforeseen twists of fate, in their first life, they only experienced a death parting. The immortal was deeply in love and sought her whereabouts in every lifetime, whether she reincarnated as a flower, grass, butterfly, human, or spirit, silently guarding and accompanying her for a peaceful and joyful life.

It was in the eighth life, as the daughter of a villager, that he transformed into a woodcutter in the mountains and joyfully married her, finally giving birth to Ji Yang.

However, Tu Xuisheng received clues at the Rebirth Temple. Taking advantage of the Sword Immortal’s absence, he set fire to the cottages, causing the woman’s tragic death and abducting the baby, eventually leading Tu Xuixin to find him and name him Ji Yang.

The Sword Immortal, straightforward by nature and unfamiliar with Tu Xuisheng, believed it was divine punishment for his forced marriage and punished himself in a water prison for twenty years after burying the remains of his wife and child, until Hu Fengyu managed to find him.

The fox was indeed clever; by inquiring among the mountain insects and beasts about the past, he could sense something unusual.

After experiencing rejection in marriage, Hu Fengyu secretly investigated the backgrounds of everyone around Gong Wu to avoid any betrayal that might lead to her deadly tribulation.

Unexpectedly, in the end, he stumbled upon Ji Yang’s biological father, inadvertently doing a good deed.

Gong Wu felt a pang in her heart and asked, “Will senior brother recognize him?”

Kan Jixuan thought for a moment and said, “Your senior brother and his father share the same character; they are like two peas in a pod.”

“He appears bright and clear but can be very stubborn.”

“For the past ten years, he has remained in the depths of the Demon Realm, while his father visited often. They never spoke to each other; their relationship remains distant, and I am closer to him than they are.”

The old lady recalled something and added, “After all, he is my godson; hearing these stories hurts my heart. I bought the mountain where he was born and built a summer villa.”

“The back mountain is the old cottage that was burned down. He has never visited it. When you can bring him out, take him back to see it.”

Gong Wu immediately agreed, remembering it clearly.

The second thing she cared about was what had happened to her master afterward.

On the day of the battle with Tu Xuisheng, hundreds of middle and higher-ranking disciples were injured or killed, many of the evil sect members lured by greed meeting their doom.

Once the storm subsided and the Magical Formation was completed, Ji Yang stayed by the deep ravine while the others returned to the old site of the Wuxuan Sect to check the situation.

Behind the tapestry burned by the fox fire, there was a high wall radiating a strange light.

Only higher-ranking disciples could barely see that light, which had previously been completely covered by the tapestry, allowing no one to notice anything unusual.

“Are you saying that the Magical Formation that absorbs the spiritual energy of cultivators is painted on that wall?”

"Little girl, do you remember that Zhi Bai Guan lost a spiritual item before?"

Gong Wu thought for a long time and recalled with difficulty, "It seems like it was some kind of silk, passed down from their Celestial Ancestor?"

"Exactly," Kan Jixuan said. "The Dark Perfume Silk has already been fused into the Magical Formation, allowing that formation to draw spiritual energy from people thousands of miles away. This energy is then graciously bestowed upon the disciples by Tu Xuisheng."

"Fused in?" Gong Wu was surprised. "So Zhi Bai Guan cannot… retrieve that spiritual item?"

Kan Jixuan nodded.

"I myself have lost quite a bit and seeing it was bothersome, so I directly smashed that formation with a slap."

Her strength was profound; with a single slap, the formation shattered. The wall remained intact, but Tu Xuisheng’s remaining body couldn’t withstand the backlash of the spiritual energy and turned to ashes on the spot, completely vanishing into nothingness.

After the Dark Perfume Silk was integrated into the wall, it had stored a tremendous amount of spiritual energy for a long time. When crushed, that energy erupted like bursts of dawn, scattering wildly and returning to its original hosts.

"That scene!" the old lady shook her head, "It was like a grand festival in the immortal realm, with everyone receiving red envelopes to ascend."

Even the half-immortals who had lived for three or four hundred years, as well as several old dispersing immortals present, were witnessing such a wondrous sight for the first time.

Once the spiritual energy was released, it surged back to its original sources like shooting stars, streaming back into their Spiritual Orifices.

It resembled a torrential rainstorm, pouring down with a loud crackle, much stronger than many spiritual pills.

Tu Xuixin, who had earlier felt almost hollow inside, thought it was due to insufficient cultivation or a lack of inherent affinity. Suddenly, he was enveloped by a heavy influx of spiritual light, as if he had plunged into a raging torrent, encountering countless hands reaching out to him.

"Slow down, slow down!!" he couldn’t help but shout, "I can’t catch it all!!"

"They may not listen to you," Hua Tingxiao laughed from the side, "They didn’t consult you when they were secretly taken away."

At the moment the formation was broken, many people immediately broke through their levels, and indeed, three or four of them achieved immortality on the spot.

It resembled the grand imperial liquid that occurred once every sixty years, an unprecedented spectacle.

As Tu Xuixin broke through his realm, he felt flustered and already satisfied in his heart.

Who would have thought that a torrent of spiritual energy would surge towards him, recklessly crashing into him and continuously lifting him to even greater heights?

If Master Ancestor sensed it, he mused, "Could it be you are about to ascend?"

"I’m going to ascend?" Tu Xuixin shouted with a headlock, "Master, I’m not ready yet ahhh!!"

"You’ve been preparing for hundreds of years; you should be ready," Hao Chengzi said, "Hurry up!"

In the midst of the shouting, Tu Xuixin’s immortal aura soared, and he suddenly attained enlightenment.

"Later on, your master hurriedly climbed the immortal steps, went up to register and receive a title, and then returned to continue being a dispersing immortal," Kan Jixuan recalled. "Though it was quite a joyful occasion, he was still thinking of your senior sister and you. He went alone to retrieve the dust-brush buried in the ruins to pay respects to your senior sister’s grave. Then he searched everywhere for your old possessions, counting again and again, unsure if you still existed."

"His divination skills were indeed lacking; he first asked Hao Chengzi, then came to me, but the divination was confusing, and it was unclear, making it hard to say."

Gong Wu listened with tears in her eyes, feeling both happy for him and sad.

"At least master finally obtained fulfillment," she sighed, "After all these years, it wasn’t in vain."

"The next to achieve immortality should be you," the old lady said softly as she flew before the Moonfire Valley, "Once you regain your physical form, you will likely break into the Opening Sun Realm and reach a level equal to your senior brother."

"But that’s still far from enough."

"Little girl, tell me, in this Moonfire Valley, who do you think has a pure heart and can carry this Qiongjin bottle for a long time without harboring ill intentions?"

Gong Wu pondered this question all the way and was just about to speak when she pointed a finger distantly.

"Senior, it’s him!"

"Hmm? What a coincidence?" Kan Jixuan landed on the ground and looked over curiously. "Oh, he’s just a little blind boy."

"He’s not blind," Gong Wu said, watching Zhong Shiguang. "He can see; his heart and eyes are clear."