Illusions and poison... the only person who could possess both was...
The sect history that my Senior Brother had written under our Master’s instructions and submitted to the Wujing Sect was not kept on the second floor of Kaiyang Hall, but the third. The version available for outsiders to consult omitted events from over a century ago—the only time in history the lineage of illusion arts had ever split.
At that time, our Sect Ancestor, Xi Bi Ren, had just advanced to the late stage of the Cansha Realm. There was another of equal cultivation, a Senior Brother of his whose name had been erased from the records. This man had always been conceited, believing he alone held their Master’s favor. Consumed by jealousy that a junior twenty years his sibling had already caught up to him, he entered a secluded retreat in a fit of rage. The sect assumed he was focusing his efforts on cultivation, never imagining he was forging a different path: integrating poison into illusions. On the day he emerged, omens filled the sky as poisonous mists merged with illusions, blotting out the sun for a hundred miles. The Sect Leader at the time, our Grand Ancestor Yu Jianbai, sought to clear the sect of this traitor in his fury, only to be wounded by his eldest disciple instead.
It was said that this Grand-Uncle was actually a descendant of the last master of the Qianji Pavilion—a notorious poison sect that had vanished from the martial world three hundred years prior—and carried a secret inheritance of toxic arts. Others claimed the truth was the opposite: that he was merely the son of a poor village physician, taken in by Yu Jianbai out of kindness, only to return grace with enmity by ambushing his benefactor with heterodox paths, leaving the old master to die in bitter resentment. Our Sect Ancestor had been traveling at the time; by the time he heard the news and rushed back, the situation was beyond salvation.
I hadn't read this story in the copy of the sect history Wei Qingming gave me. I never expected the past of our tiny, nameless mountain sect to be worthy of the high, secret shelves of Kaiyang Hall—even she lacked the authority to view them. It was my Senior Brother, Lu Kaifeng, who had proactively told me during the three days we stayed on the mountain after our wedding. At the time, I thought Lu Kaifeng was being just as overly generous to outsiders as Zhu Yixin; he told her the moment she stepped onto the mountain, yet he’d never told me before! Today, I finally understood. He feared that while we were out in the world, we might encounter a powerful foe and have no way to respond, suffering a devastating loss to poison without even knowing the enemy's origin.
The woman in the clouds had gradually revealed most of her features, though one cheek and half of a jade-like arm remained hidden within the undulating, shifting white mist. Her attire was as pure and ethereal as the clouds themselves, making it difficult to distinguish where the mist ended and her silken robes began, or where the fabric met her delicate, supple skin. Her features were merely ordinary and elegant, yet the aura of illusion surrounding her was so intense that no one would stop to wonder if she was beautiful; they would only feel as if a celestial maiden had descended before them.
I shook Wei Qingming’s hand and patted my chest, letting out a long breath that was half-joke and half-relief. I laughed, "Good, good. With such a grand entrance, I thought another Cansha Realm Master had arrived."
She only gave a faint smile and replied, "Late Cloud-Swallowing stage, the Great Seed of Radiance. Her cultivation is slightly lacking, roughly on par with yours, A-Zhi."
"Fighting her isn't hard," I said. "But she surely isn't here alone..."
As we spoke, the demonic zither had been completely subdued by the woman, its piercing, frenzied aura gradually becoming restrained. Her eyes, reflecting the jade-like hues of the green sun that blotted out the sky, swept over the panicked crowd catching Yu Jingrou and the unconscious, falling Wang Guangqi. Then, she looked toward where Wei Qingming and I stood and smiled.
She opened her mouth to speak: "Emissary Wei, Junior Sister Su, since you two have been here for so long, why not come closer for a chat?" As she spoke, she toyed with the demonic zither in her arms, her fingertips brushing the strings with an air of casual display.
Her voice was soft and melodious, unexpectedly sweet and elegant. It was truly hard to believe she was the same cold-blooded person who had just deployed lethal poison and shown no regard for her companion's life.
Wei Qingming and I shared a brief look, then I looked up and smiled. "Since you are a Senior Sister, I must naturally pay my respects. May I ask your great name?"
"Jiang Xiaying," she replied with a smile. "A nobody."
I leaped into the clouds just as her words drifted down. She merely pressed her hand calmly against the phantom strings of the zither without summoning a weapon, so I did not draw Han'guang either. I looked at her with a beaming smile. "Senior Sister Jiang already has the demonic zither in hand; this is no place to linger. I imagine the words you wish to share with me must be words of profound wisdom!"
Jiang Xiaying imperceptibly withdrew her gaze from the ground. She was clearly wary of Wei Qingming, who stood below holding the red lotus and watching calmly without accepting the invitation. However, she showed none of this on her face; instead, her smile grew even more cordial. "Junior Sister is clearly curious about my origins. Why don't you ask?"
Before she could finish her sentence, a magical attack had already arrived. I summoned Han'guang to slice through a nearly invisible ice thorn and said coldly, "You won't even show your true body. What use is there in asking!"
She laughed softly as her phantom form dissipated. I followed the residual aura of the demonic zither and plunged headlong into the thickening mist.
An illusion capable of wounding Master Yu, even with the boost of poison, was not something a late Cloud-Swallowing stage cultivator could manifest on their own. Jiang Xiaying must be carrying an illusion bestowed by her elder. The cloud array I was currently in, however, was something she had laid herself just now. It utilized extremely sophisticated array methods, likely taught by Xia Ji.
I couldn't help but smile. This Jiang Xiaying actually wanted to duel me with orthodox illusion arts? How interesting. My only concern was that time flowed inconsistently within an illusion array. If she intended to stall...
Just as I used my bronze mirror to roughly scout several points within the array, Jiang Xiaying spoke again: "To enter my illusion array alone despite knowing what it is... Junior Sister, you have remarkable courage."
Her tone was always so gentle and affectionate. At first listen, one might mistake us for sisters who grew up together, and this situation for a mere sparring match. I detested this hypocritical facade more than anything. Without even bothering to respond, I thrust my sword out, piercing one of the primary eyes of her illusion array. Instantly, the clouds vanished and the mist dissipated. The world changed abruptly; I felt the ground vanish beneath my feet. Before I could react, I let my body fall into a vast, boundless void where my limbs could find no purchase. It was actually the sea...
I gritted my teeth in fury, cursing Jiang Xiaying’s shamelessness in my heart. Only cowards used variations of the Fear Array all day long! The sliver of soul power required to pierce the illusion array, however small, had allowed the array master to capture a trace of fear from my memories and turn it against me.
Anger aside, I knew this seawater was merely a product of illusion; there was no such deep, dark body of water within the capital of Pingjing. But the environment constructed by this high-level array was incredibly realistic. The sensation of salty, slimy seawater wrapping around my skin and pouring into my nose and mouth was all too clear. Due to the water's resistance, the power and speed of my martial techniques were greatly diminished, and even my physical movements were no longer free!
Furiously, I yanked a large clump of soft, slippery seaweed from my hair. I shook my hands desperately to get rid of the disgusting sensation but didn't dare open my mouth to shout, fearing I would choke on the water—or rather, fearing the "sensation" of choking the array would impose on me. I could only use an illusory transmission to shout: "Jiang Xiaying, come out and fight!"
As I spoke, I summoned a Frost Talisman. Drawing from the surrounding water, I manifested a glowing blue ice sword. Within another's illusion array, using materials from the environment allowed one to minimize the interference that high-level arrays often imposed on external weapons. In short, this ice sword would not be hindered by the sea and could exert the full power of my techniques.
She laughed in response. "The disciples of the illusion arts are scattered like lonely stars across the world. This is the first time I have traded blows with a peer. I truly have you to thank, Junior Sister."
Along with her voice, a brilliant golden light gradually dawned in the distance, as if at the end of the sea. A long dragon's roar shook the heavens and earth, churning up a thousand layers of waves on the seabed. I was struck by the massive force of the currents and couldn't keep my balance, so I reached out blindly to grab a reasonably sturdy reef...
The dragon was an Azure Dragon, so long its head and tail could not be seen at once. Its golden pupils were like two shimmering stars, and its scales looked as if they were carved from lapis lazuli. Jiang Xiaying’s attire had changed as well; she now wore a golden garment adorned with jewels. She stretched her body with soft, lazy grace, reclining across the dragon's head while toying with a longsword forged of pure gold. Her flowing golden robes trailed behind her, rippling lightly with the waves, looking incomparably noble and glamorous.
I instinctively held my ice sword up before my eyes. It had felt sharp and handy a moment ago, but now, it looked utterly pathetic...
Seeing my sour expression, she giggled with delight. I rolled my eyes hard. "If you crave wealth and status so much, why bother wearing white in public and pretending to be some stainless celestial?" Before I finished speaking, my technique was already in motion. Hundreds of ice arrows, also formed from the seawater, shot toward the massive Azure Dragon.
Jiang Xiaying lightly patted the dragon's head. The dragon twisted its body, its tail sweeping out three massive waves that shattered my ice arrows. The seabed shook violently from the dragon's tail. Amidst the chaos, I activated a stealth technique. Enduring the suffocating sensation of the water rushing against my face and the heat of my roiling internal energy, I swam against the current, heading straight for Jiang Xiaying herself.
She easily parried my attack with her golden sword. Her previously aloof expression shifted into one of undisguised smugness. She actually said, "If that husband of yours had entered with you, perhaps you might have won."
"Bah! Stop your boasting beneath the waves! You wish!"
The one Senior Sister Jiang was thinking of was currently standing firmly on the ground. In her palm floated the Eternal Lotus of Ignorance, blooming and withering repeatedly, its vivid red petals swirling around her.
Wei Qingming looked up, watching me disappear into the thickening clouds in pursuit of Jiang Xiaying. Only then did she narrow her eyes, turning her gaze toward that seductive green sun and the blue array barrier struggling against it.
Though the ward she had hastily deployed was blocking the demonic sun from expanding further, it was, after all, a pre-made array plate. It could only provide a general structure; its effectiveness was far inferior to an array meticulously drawn with talismans by an array master's own hand. At this moment, the pale blue barrier looked stable, but it was actually riddled with tiny cracks. It would shatter completely in fifteen minutes at most.
Ye Jun emerged hurriedly from the mist with a dozen subordinates. He shook his head slightly and said in a low voice, "Zhao the Second refused. He said that by regulation, only three Masters are on duty at the temple, and the other two are accompanying the Emperor and the Noble Consort today." He gave a cold laugh and continued, "That old dog even added sourly that since you and I are present, we should be able to handle it."
This situation was not unexpected. Wei Qingming nodded. Ye Jun pointed to the thick clouds in the sky and joked, "Your wife is in there. Are you not worried, Ninth Brother?"
Wei Qingming’s lips curled slightly. She replied, "That is why Thirteenth Brother must show his true skill in a moment."
Ye Jun laughed heartily. "Rest assured. We'll end this quickly!"
She raised her hand, looking down at the red, cloud-like eternal flower in her palm. "Hong Lu," she called.
Hong Lu immediately came to her side. She handed him the Eternal Lotus of Ignorance, leaving him with a single command: "Guard it well." Then, she transformed into a streak of light, soaring upward. She passed directly through the fragile, clear blue barrier and landed in a position directly facing the demonic sun.
As she began to form hand seals, the great array started to shake and tremble, triggering a violent disturbance in the surrounding spiritual energy. It formed a vortex of power spanning over ten miles. Spiritual energies of various attributes revealed their original colors, becoming almost tangible. Like tiny streams racing toward the sea, they surged uncontrollably toward the battlefield of the East Market.
She stood at the very heart of the storm. The five-colored spiritual energies around her merged into a faint orb of light that was part gold and part white. She caught it gently in her palm, as if holding a snowflake too delicate to touch.
In the next instant, she flipped her palm. The orb of light collided with the great array. An explosion shook the heavens and earth. The crumbling blue barrier instantly condensed into a massive, peerless pillar of light, striking directly at that demonic sun!
***
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