Chapter 38
Translator: T_Fan
The disciples inside the communal alchemy chamber began murmuring among themselves.
“How could that be?”
“Could someone have forged the pill-inspection seal?”
“If they really were Essence-Raising Pills that came from us….”
Lee Hyun felt something was off.
‘Of all days, why today?’
It had not even been half a day since the three flying boats left the main sect.
‘There’s no way this is a coincidence. But they couldn’t possibly attack the Changchun Sect with only six Foundation Establishment cultivators….’
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The warning bell rang again.
Gao Yuanhe descended from the sky in front of the communal alchemy chamber, enveloped in spirit light. Two Foundation Establishment Elders from Pill Cauldron Peak followed behind him.
“Greetings, Peak Master Gao!”
Gao Yuanhe raised a hand, cutting off the disciples’ greetings.
“Anyone in the middle of Pill Condensation, seal the medicinal strength and close your burner first! Disciples at late Qi Refining or above, board the flying boats. Everyone else, take the auxiliary formation stations!”
“Yes!”
The disciples moved as one.
…
Several flying boats hovered outside Yang Fire Court.
“Only disciples at late Qi Refining or above! Everyone else, get inside Yang Fire Court! Do not leave the peak without permission!”
Lee Hyun, Shen Yanzhu, and Pei Jingsong boarded one of the flying boats.
Hummm―
The flying boat made from spirit wood left Pill Cauldron Peak and sped toward External Affairs Peak.
At the same time, flying boats large and small rose one after another from the Changchun Sect’s other peaks.
More than ten streaks of Foundation Establishment spirit light flew ahead of the flying boats toward External Affairs Peak. The remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators stayed behind at vital locations such as the formation stations of the nine peaks, the storehouses, the Scripture Pavilion, and the Spirit Beast Garden.
Above Formation and Artifact Peak, an Elder holding a flag directed the flying boats along separate routes, while the blue mist filling the spaces between the nine peaks surged like violent waves.
‘Both the outer formation and inner formation are still intact…’
As the flying boat approached External Affairs Peak, the shouts of the crowd became audible.
“Changchun Sect Master, come out and apologize!”
“You killed people with fake Essence-Raising Pills, and now you’re locking your gates?”
“Compensate them for their ruined cultivation and their lives!”
…
The Changchun Sect’s External Affairs Market.
The broad street normally traveled by merchant-company wagons and cultivators was packed with people.
Most were Qi Refining cultivators, but among them Lee Hyun could sense six powerful auras belonging to Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The flying boat landed on a stone platform inside the inner formation that stretched between the External Affairs Market and the nine peaks. Lee Hyun, Shen Yanzhu, and Pei Jingsong took their places behind the blue barrier with the other disciples.
Dozens of stretchers lay in the middle of the street.
Every cultivator lying on them was deathly pale. Some had dried, dark-red blood around their mouths and beneath their noses, while others were trembling violently or had lost consciousness altogether.
Behind them stood seven coffins covered in black cloth.
The sounds of people sobbing could be heard.
“My Senior Brother’s meridians were completely severed immediately after he took an Essence-Raising Pill. The bottle bore the Changchun Sect’s pill-inspection seal!”
“The pills killed people!”
The anger and grief were genuine.
At the very least, the injuries and deaths before them did not look staged.
Inside the inner formation, more than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, including the External Affairs Peak Master, had taken up defensive positions. Physicians from Ganlu Peak stood ready to receive the injured, while formation masters from Formation and Artifact Peak inspected the formation stations. Cultivators from Chunjian Peak formed a line at regular intervals, creating a buffer zone between the crowd and the disciples.
Including those guarding the main formation stations and the important halls of the main sect, more than thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators remained in the Changchun Sect.
The External Affairs Peak Master addressed the crowd.
“If you hand the pills and their bottles over to us, we will determine what happened.”
Someone outside shouted.
“How can we trust the culprits themselves to examine the evidence!”
A fat Foundation Establishment cultivator in blue robes stepped forward.
He held a small jade bottle in his hand.
A Tier-1 Spirit-Sealing Talisman was affixed over the mouth of the jade bottle, and a tree-shaped pill-inspection seal was clearly stamped on its surface.
“Look at this!”
The Foundation Establishment cultivator raised the jade bottle high.
“Is that not clearly the Changchun Sect’s pill-inspection seal!”
The murmuring grew louder.
“It’s real!”
“Even the Changchun Sect can’t deny it!”
“The sect master needs to come out himself!”
The External Affairs Peak Master infused his voice with spiritual power.
“Even if the pill-inspection seal is genuine, that does not prove the pills inside came from our sect! We will appraise them publicly in the presence of several peak masters and outside alchemists chosen by you yourselves, and the entire process will be recorded on an image-recording stone!”
“How is that any different from asking a cat to guard a fish!”
The Ganlu Peak Master stepped forward.
“Then let us discuss the pills later and treat the injured first. Our physicians will come outside the barrier and perform only emergency treatment in full view of all of you.”
An old woman holding a black staff sneered.
“Isn’t that just a scheme to erase the traces of poison left in their bodies first and then claim there’s no evidence?”
The Ganlu Peak Master’s expression hardened.
“You would refuse even treatment?”
This time, an old man dressed in mourning clothes shouted. With one hand resting on a coffin, he glared at the disciples of the Changchun Sect.
“My grandson died after taking an Essence-Raising Pill. I paid two hundred and sixty low-grade spirit stones for it! That was the wealth our family had accumulated over three generations!”
His voice trembled.
“That child was all I lived for. Yet all the Changchun Sect keeps saying is that you cannot admit anything until you inspect the pill!”
“I understand how you feel. That is precisely why we must determine the truth properly.”
“What more is there to determine!”
The old man slammed his hand against the coffin.
Bang!
“Are you saying you want to cut open the dead child’s stomach and dig the pill back out!”
Shen Yanzhu spoke softly.
“We’re not going to get anywhere talking like this….”
“It looks like someone is deliberately making sure we can’t.”
Shen Yanzhu looked at Lee Hyun.
“What do you mean?”
“Those Foundation Establishment cultivators.”
Lee Hyun swept his gaze over the fat cultivator who had spoken earlier, the old woman holding the black staff, and the remaining four who had yet to speak.
They appeared to be helping the victims, but each of the six had taken up a different direction, as though surrounding the External Affairs Market.
And that was not all.
More people who appeared to be concealing their realms with the Aura-Concealing Art were hidden among the crowd. From the way the nearby Qi Refining cultivators repeatedly made way for them or avoided getting too close, it was obvious they were no ordinary rogue cultivators.
At that moment.
One of the young cultivators lying on a stretcher suddenly convulsed violently.
“Urgh!”
Dark-red blood erupted from his mouth.
“Ming!”
The middle-aged woman beside him screamed and grabbed the young cultivator.
“Wake up! Ming!”
A physician from External Affairs Peak shouted.
“Bring him inside, quickly! He needs treatment immediately!”
The Ganlu Peak Master moved at once.
“Open the barrier!”
A gap barely wide enough for one person to pass through opened in the inner formation’s barrier. A streak of blue light shot from the Ganlu Peak Master’s sleeve and wrapped around the young cultivator’s wrist and chest.
But before the blue light could even seep into his meridians, the young cultivator’s chest heaved violently.
Crack.
The sounds of something snapping inside his body rang out one after another.
The young cultivator went limp.
The light faded from his eyes.
“Ming…?”
The middle-aged woman brought a trembling hand beneath her son’s nose, but felt no breath.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Her agonized wail spread through the External Affairs Market.
The already wavering mood exploded in an instant.
“Another one died!”
“Someone died even after coming right to the Changchun Sect!”
“Open the gate!”
“Drag out whoever’s responsible!”
Hundreds of cultivators surged toward the inner formation.
The disciples of External Affairs Peak hurriedly drew their magic tools.
“Stop!”
“Come any closer and we will consider it an attack!”
“Attack them!”
“Those bastards never intended to treat us in the first place!”
Someone in the crowd launched a fireball.
Whoooosh!
The red fireball slammed into the inner formation’s barrier.
Boom!
The blue barrier rippled like water.
“Disciples, do not retaliate!”
The Chunjian Peak Master’s voice cut across the battlefield.
“First squad, raise a barrier! Second squad, open an escape route! Foundation Establishment Elders, subdue only those in the crowd who cast techniques!”
Several Foundation Establishment cultivators moved simultaneously.
A fierce wind formed a low wall in front of the crowd.
Whoooosh―
The cultivators in the front row were knocked backward.
One of them struck his head against the stone pavement, spraying blood.
“The Changchun Sect is killing people!”
“They’re trying to silence all of us!”
The External Affairs Peak Master shouted again.
“Clear the eastern road! Let those who do not wish to fight and the injured leave first!”
Amid the sobbing and shouting, some people tried to escape the crowd while others did the opposite, pushing everyone toward the inner formation. Once the sounds of explosions joined the chaos, controlling the crowd became nearly impossible.
Then it happened.
“An ancient inscription upon the Red Furnace says this.”
An unfamiliar voice echoed throughout External Affairs Peak.
Though the voice was not particularly loud, the shouting and crying that filled the External Affairs Market subsided in an instant.
“A hundred herbs bear one grain of spring within the flames, and that grain of spring carries a person’s hundred years onward. Thus pill fire may burn the hundred herbs, but it must never burn away a person’s tomorrow.”
The old man clutching the coffin of his dead grandson raised his head.
Beyond the outer formation of the Nine Peaks Spring-Restoring Formation, a patch of red cloud slowly approached.
The red cloud stopped in midair a little over a hundred zhang (about 330 m) from the External Affairs Market.
A tall, thin man stood atop the cloud.
He appeared to be around fifty years old and wore a golden crown. His broad robes were red, with golden flame patterns embroidered along the sleeves and hems.
Behind him floated a red pill furnace as tall as a man.
Nine fire dragons writhed across the surface of the pill furnace.
The External Affairs Peak Master’s face went pale.
“Red Furnace Adept….”
Someone spoke in a trembling voice.
“The sect master of the Honglu Sect!”
A Golden Core cultivator, Red Furnace Adept.
He looked down upon the Changchun Sect from the sky.
“And yet in the Changchun Sect’s pill furnaces, human lives burn instead of a hundred herbs, while spirit stones pile atop severed Dao paths.”
As his red sleeves fluttered slowly, the surrounding air grew hot.
“Dozens of Dao paths have been severed by a single poisonous pill, and eight lives now lie cold upon coffins and stretchers. Yet you lock your gates and speak only of verifying the seal upon the bottle and the pill itself….”
Red Furnace Adept clasped his hands and solemnly bowed to the dead.
“As a fellow practitioner walking the Dao path, this is a sight I cannot bear to witness.”
He slowly straightened.
“Today, I, Red Furnace, shall shatter Changchun’s pill furnaces and answer the extinguished flames of the dead.”
“That’s right!”
Someone shouted from the External Affairs Market.
“A venerable senior of the Honglu Sect has come here personally for our sake!”
“Changchun Sect Master, come out and admit your crimes!”
Lee Hyun stared at Red Furnace Adept.
‘Is this a technique too?’
His words carried the immense divine sense of a Golden Core cultivator, along with the imagery forged through a lifetime of working with fire.
Even some disciples of the Changchun Sect looked at one another with wavering eyes.
A Foundation Establishment Elder nearby immediately rang a bronze bell.
Chime!
As the clear sound spread, clarity gradually returned to the disciples’ eyes.
“Get a hold of yourselves!”
At that moment, gray-white ash began drifting down from the sky.
“Flesh lies down in the earth, and bone rests in ash.”
A woman’s voice drifted through the air.
“But a broken will borrows the wind to knock upon the doors of the living.”
A woman in gray robes walked through the air, one step at a time.
Her snow-white hair reached her ankles, yet her face bore almost no wrinkles.
She held a faded fan in one hand.
Each time the fan moved, white ash scattered like snowflakes.
“Lady White Ash….”
Pei Jingsong’s voice stiffened.
Another Golden Core cultivator of the Honglu Sect.
Lady White Ash.
She looked in turn at the seven coffins and the young cultivator who had just died.
“Earth and ash do not speak, but the wind cannot conceal injustice. Remember that every flake of ash-snow falling today carries a will that was broken halfway along its path.”
Lady White Ash’s voice washed gently over the External Affairs Market.
The families of the dead began sobbing again.
Even some Changchun Sect disciples unconsciously lowered their heads.
“Do not bewitch their primordial spirits with pretty words!”
Gao Yuanhe’s sharp shout jolted the disciples of Yang Fire Court awake.
He crushed a blue pill held between his fingers. As red pill fire wrapped around the powder, a medicinal fragrance that cleared the mind rapidly spread throughout the inside of the barrier.
The wavering looks in the disciples’ eyes gradually sharpened.
Red Furnace Adept spoke.
“Changchun Sect Master, hear me.”
His voice reverberated across External Affairs Peak and the neighboring peaks.
“Bow three times to the dead, and compensate the injured with spirit stones and pills. Send every person who refined these Essence-Raising Pills and every person who performed the pill inspection outside the Mountain Gate, so that we and the victims may jointly hold them accountable for their crimes.”
He paused briefly.
“Do that, and today I will stop short of tearing down the signboard over your Mountain Gate.”
Pill Cauldron Peak Master Gao Yuanhe infused his reply with spiritual power.
“Senior Red Furnace. They have refused a public appraisal, refused the presence of outside alchemists, and refused our offer to treat the injured. How can you demand that we hand over our sect’s disciples as criminals before the truth has even been established?”
He pointed at the jade bottle held by the Foundation Establishment cultivator.
“Give us the pill. If its pill markings, fire patterns, and the texture of its medicinal potency match our sect’s Essence-Raising Pills, then I, the peak master of Pill Cauldron Peak, will be the first to surrender my identity token and await judgment.”
Red Furnace Adept shook his head as if in sorrow.
“The guilty always claim there is insufficient evidence, while the powerless must always prove the truth with their own lives. What evidence could weigh more heavily than eight corpses?”
The rogue cultivators in the External Affairs Market glared angrily at the Changchun Sect disciples.
Listening to Red Furnace Adept, Lee Hyun became certain.
‘He never intended to establish the truth in the first place.’
“I will ask one final time.”
Red Furnace Adept’s red pill furnace slowly moved forward.
Hummm―
The nine fire dragons upon the furnace opened their eyes.
“Will the Changchun Sect Master come out and admit his crimes?”
No answer came.
Changchun Peak remained silent.
After a moment, Red Furnace Adept closed his eyes, then opened them again.
“So in the end, you answer with silence.”
Lady White Ash opened her fan.
“Then I suppose the two characters ‘Changchun’ must be covered in ash first.”
The instant Lady White Ash moved her fan, the six Foundation Establishment cultivators standing in the External Affairs Market stomped down in unison.
Boom!
Six red iron stakes burst through the stone paving. Their surfaces were densely covered in flame-shaped formation inscriptions flowing in opposite directions.
“Vein-Reversing Nails!”
The Formation and Artifact Peak Master shouted the moment he saw the six stakes.
“It’s the Six-Nail Vein-Reversing Formation! Do not pull out the Vein-Reversing Nails! If they’re disturbed incorrectly, all the spiritual qi in the outer formation will reverse at once!”
The six Foundation Establishment cultivators formed hand seals with both hands.
Hummmm―
The formation inscriptions on the Vein-Reversing Nails lit up one after another from the bottom upward.
At once, the existing formation inscriptions that made up the External Affairs Market’s formation rose above the stone pavement.
Crackle―
Red light flowing from the Vein-Reversing Nails spread backward along the blue formation inscriptions.
That very instant.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suppressed auras erupted one after another from within the crowd.
A female cultivator who had pretended to comfort a grieving family. An old man who had looked like a merchant-company clerk. Even those hiding on hall rooftops and in alleyways.
Thirteen newly revealed Foundation Establishment spiritual pressures appeared.
All of them drew magic tools and talismans at once and gathered around the six cultivators protecting the Vein-Reversing Nails.
The Changchun Sect’s cultivators moved as well.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Techniques began colliding.
The Chunjian Peak Master drew his sword.
“First squad, pressure the Vein-Reversing Formation! Second squad, evacuate the uninvolved rogue cultivators! Do not chase those bastards into the crowd!”
Seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, including Gao Yuanhe, flew toward the Vein-Reversing Formation. The others moved between the victims and the attackers.
The Formation and Artifact Peak Master took out three formation plates and deployed them in midair.
“Sever the spirit veins at the three eastern formation stations and reroute them west! Do not feed the reversing spiritual qi back into the outer formation. Divert it into the earth vein!”
Responses immediately came from the main formation stations of the nine peaks.
Hummm―
Blue formation inscriptions beneath the External Affairs Market interlocked with the red lines.
As the two formations pulled upon the same earth vein in opposite directions, the ground rumbled faintly.
At that moment, nine fire dragons burst from Red Furnace Adept’s pill furnace.
Rooooar!
The nine fire dragons, each twenty to thirty zhang long, bit one another’s tails and spun, compressing themselves into an area roughly thirty zhang across.
As nine layers of flame merged into one, a single red dragon appeared, so dense that its interior looked black.
Each movement of the red dragon’s head distorted the surrounding space with heat.
The red dragon plunged headfirst toward the outer formation in front of the External Affairs Market.
BOOOOM!
The sky above the External Affairs Market turned crimson.
The blue mist tried to divert the flames in every direction, but the Six-Nail Vein-Reversing Formation reversed the spiritual qi in precisely that section.
Thousands of formation inscriptions appeared in overlapping layers across an area roughly forty zhang wide, holding the outer formation together.
But thin cracks formed between the inscriptions.
Crrrack!
Lady White Ash pressed her fan downward.
The ash falling west of the External Affairs Market gathered into a whirlwind thirty zhang wide.
Hissss―
Gray-white ash seeped into the cracks.
Each time the formation inscriptions touched the ash, they lost their spiritual qi and their light dimmed.
“Put more spirit stones into the formation stations!”
“Separate the External Affairs Market’s spirit vein from the inner formation!”
“Break the Six-Nail Vein-Reversing Formation first!”
The Changchun Sect’s Foundation Establishment Elders issued orders without pause while launching magic tools toward the Vein-Reversing Nails.
Dozens of flying swords and glowing ropes streaked across the External Affairs Market.
The thirteen cultivators who had revealed themselves simultaneously unleashed their techniques.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Halls throughout the External Affairs Market exploded.
Hundreds of rogue cultivators screamed and scattered.
It became difficult to tell who was a victim and who was an attacker.
At least several dozen seemed to have followed the others here without knowing anything about what was going to happen.
“Save me!”
“We didn’t come here to fight!”
“Which way are we supposed to go!”
“Follow the blue flags!”
Three Foundation Establishment Elders from External Affairs Peak raised a broad curtain of water, dividing the crowd.
“Put your magic tools into your storage pouches and keep both hands visible! We will evacuate the injured first!”
Lee Hyun, Shen Yanzhu, and Pei Jingsong also dragged fallen rogue cultivators beneath the blue flags to safety inside the barrier.
The attackers tried to slip in among them.
The disciples of Chunjian Peak deployed a sword formation to stop them.
Dozens of streaks of sword light bloomed between the External Affairs Market and the inner formation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fighting spread throughout the External Affairs Market.
CRAAACK―
The barrier covering an area more than forty zhang wide in front of the External Affairs Market shattered.
Fragments of light rained down.
Beyond the breach in the outer formation, the empty air began to ripple.
Hummm―
As the hazy barrier concealing the sky withdrew, dozens of small flying boats appeared.
The boats were packed with cultivators.
Every magic tool and formation they used radiated powerful fire qi.
More than ten Foundation Establishment auras could be glimpsed aboard the flying boats alone.
Combined with the nineteen cultivators among the crowd, the number of confirmed Foundation Establishment cultivators had already surpassed thirty.
The Chunjian Peak Master shouted.
“Deploy the inner formation!”
Hummmmm―
Green pillars of light surged from the nine peaks.
Hundred Herbs Peak. Ganlu Peak. Spirit Beast Peak.
Pill Cauldron Peak. Changchun Peak. Chunjian Peak.
Earth Fire Peak. Formation and Artifact Peak. External Affairs Peak.
The nine beams of light connected in the sky.
Light and mist formed the shape of a gigantic tree embracing the nine peaks of the Changchun Sect.
Its thick trunk stood upon Changchun Peak, while eight enormous branches cradled the other peaks.
Red Furnace Adept spoke again.
“Even after one gate of the outer formation has fallen, the Changchun Sect Master still refuses to show himself.”
He looked toward Changchun Peak.
“It seems the old tree has already rotted and fallen. Spring itself has died at the roots of Changchun.”
Lady White Ash calmly waved her fan.
Gray-white ash surged forward like a wave covering the area before External Affairs Peak.
“If this is an empty house without a master, then for the sake of those left behind, its doors should be opened.”
As the wave of ash washed over the inner formation, the leaves of the blue-green tree rapidly turned gray.
The disciples operating the formation groaned in unison.
Red Furnace Adept’s pill furnace rang.
Bong―
The nine fire dragons rose once more and fused into a single red dragon. The red dragon coiled around the blue-green branch embracing External Affairs Peak and breathed out a torrent of flame.
Rooooooar―
Flames spread along the thick branch and surrounding leaves.
A crack formed in the inner formation of the Nine Peaks Spring-Restoring Formation.
Crack.
Lady White Ash’s ash seeped through the gap.
Gray snow began falling inside the formation.
Lee Hyun hesitated.
‘Should I get ready to run?’
If the Nine Peaks Spring-Restoring Formation collapsed, he could escape underground.
If Lee Hyun were alone, getting away did not seem particularly difficult.
The problem was the two people before him, as well as the other fellow disciples of Yang Fire Court.
Shen Yanzhu and Pei Jingsong watched the attackers with grave expressions.
There was also no telling what had happened to Luo Jingwen, who had left for Qingmu Ridge.
‘Let’s watch a little longer.’
Crraaack!
The crack in the inner formation lengthened further.
Several formation inscriptions could no longer withstand Lady White Ash’s ash and began going dark.
Red Furnace Adept spoke toward Changchun Peak once more.
“Spring is over. The name Changchun ends today as well. Those who remain, open the Mountain Gate and admit your crimes. I will not burn those who lay down their weapons.”
Unease appeared on the faces of some disciples.
At that moment, an old voice came from Changchun Peak.
“Red Furnace.”
It was not a loud voice.
Yet it traveled along the trunk and branches of the Nine Peaks Spring-Restoring Formation. As every blue-green leaf repeated the same voice, the words could be heard clearly even from far away.
“You loved fire even when you were young. Now that you’re old, it seems you’ve even taken up setting fire to other people’s homes as a hobby.”
For the first time, Red Furnace Adept’s expression changed.
The summit of Changchun Peak.
The doors of an ancient hall that had remained closed for decades slowly opened.
Creeeeak―
An old man in faded green robes walked outside, leaning on a staff.
His body was terribly thin.
His wrinkled skin resembled ancient tree bark, and only sparse strands of silver hair remained on his head. No unusual spiritual power could be sensed from the staff in his hand, nor did it bear any ornate decorations.
Then the old man lightly tapped the ground with his staff.
Tap.
Blue light blossomed atop Changchun Peak and seeped into the roots of the Nine Peaks Spring-Restoring Formation.
The light flowed along the formation channels before converging upon the damaged branch of External Affairs Peak.
Whoooosh―
Dense life force erupted from the damaged area of External Affairs Peak.
New shoots sprouted from grass scorched by the flames. Broken branches rejoined, and leaves smothered beneath ash regained their blue-green hue.
Crack! Crraaack!
The cracks that had formed across the External Affairs Peak section of the inner formation began healing at astonishing speed.
The enormous branch that had been wrapped in the red dragon straightened once again.
Red Furnace Adept’s flames and Lady White Ash’s ash were pushed back dozens of zhang.
“Supreme Sect Master!”
The disciples of the Changchun Sect all raised their heads.
“He’s alive!”
“The Supreme Sect Master has emerged from seclusion!”
The supreme sect master regarded Red Furnace Adept and Lady White Ash with clear eyes.
“You must have been waiting all this time for this old tree to fall and return to the earth. But you have come far too early to offer your condolences.”
As though he had been waiting for those words, Red Furnace Adept flicked his red sleeve.
“So you truly are still drawing breath. But do you believe one decrepit Golden Core cultivator can stop the two of us and all the disciples of the Honglu Sect? Even children in the Lan Kingdom know that Fellow Daoist has little lifespan remaining.”
Lady White Ash sighed softly.
“How unfortunate. A man who once dominated an era intends to carry his sect’s faults to the very end and turn to ash alongside it.”
Then it happened.
Another person walked out of the hall on Changchun Peak.
The neat-looking man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, was the sect master of the Changchun Sect.
He took a single step forward.
Boom.
In an instant, all the heaven-and-earth spiritual qi within roughly thirty zhang tilted toward his body.
Before the sect master’s dantian, a circular halo mingling golden and blue-green light appeared.
The perfectly complete ring of light was tranquil and stable.
Within it, the image of a single tree passing through the four seasons repeated endlessly.
New shoots emerged.
Flowers bloomed.
Fruit formed.
Leaves fell.
And spring came again.
Whoooosh―
Another Golden Core spiritual pressure erupted from Changchun Peak and connected with the trunk of the Nine Peaks Spring-Restoring Formation.
A powerful pulse ran through the blue-green tree of the inner formation, as though it had gained a second heart.
“Spring always returns to the Changchun Sect.”
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