Chapter 390 - Heaven-bridging Divine Tree

“Swoosh!” It was the sound of someone jumping from the tree. Then there came a voice carrying a hint of mirth. “What a coincidence. So you’re here too, Brother Xiao and Fairy Su.”

The Unsullied Sword and the Purple Jade Flute returned to their owners. Su Lianyue smiled. “So it’s Brother Seven Killings. You should’ve informed us about your arrival beforehand. See, we weren’t able to welcome you properly.”

In the dark of the night, a man dressed in red strolled up to them. In his hand was a gleaming steel fan and on his face was a faint smile. Seven Killings walked to the bonfire and smiled at Xiao Chen. “Brother Xiao, we meet again.”

“Yes, we meet again,” Xiao Chen replied placidly, a cold glint flitting across his pupils. To think that he didn’t notice this man approaching them. Like Su Lianyue, he must have not shown his true strength in the siege against Danyang Zi that night.

Su Lianyue said with a smile, “In the past two days, Brother Seven Killings has successfully provoked countless disputes between the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice. Looks like the extraordinary treasure is destined to be yours.”

Seven Killings threw his head back in laughter. “Just a little trick, that’s all. Compared to you, Ice Jade Fairy, my talent is nothing to write home about.” He shot Xiao Chen a look, whether intentionally or otherwise.

Su Lianyue chuckled. “Is that so? It’s getting late and the night is cold. Why don’t you sit down, Brother Seven Killings, and gather some warmth…” She moved the Purple Jade Flute in her hand ever so subtly. The Unsullied Sword in Xiao Chen’s hand also emitted a cold light. In their eyes was a faint glint.

Detecting their sudden murderous aura, Seven Killings smiled and said, “I won’t be imposing on you. Brother Yi Yeqiu is still waiting for me. Farewell.” He tipped his foot and hastily left in the direction he came from.

When he was gone, Xiao Chen turned his head and asked, “What did you want to say earlier, Fairy?”

Su Lianyue replied, “If the missing thirty-one people are indeed the work of the Corpse Refinery Sect, what do you think is their objective?”

Xiao Chen frowned. No matter what the Corpse Refinery Sect was up to, people would always assume that they were doing it to revive the rumored Divine Corpse. But what was that the truth?

“Why aren’t you speaking?”

Xiao Chen took a deep breath and shook his head. He had no guesses to offer and neither did he want to offer any. He stood up and strolled to the cliff. Feeling the gusts of cold wind hitting his face, he quietly stared at the boundless region that encompassed the southwest part of the mountain range.

It was pitch-black over there and incomparably cold. Not even birds and beasts dared to get close. However, there seemed to be an undetectable, untouchable silhouette standing in that sinister, cold place.

Ever since he stepped foot inside the Miasma Mountain Range, Hua Weiyang would always appear in his mind. Every time he closed his eyes, he would vividly see her as if she was just right beside him. Memories that were covered in dust had quietly surfaced.

The night was getting colder as if it was trying to freeze those unruly memories. Yet it was unable to freeze a throbbing heart. Xiao Chen took a deep breath. The days he spent with Hua Weiyang emerged in his mind.

He remembered their first meeting at the Beautiful Immortal Mountains. Inside the bamboo forest filled with the cries of a hundred birds, he purposely lost a game of zither to her. When he wanted to leave for the Immortal-saving Clan to return a zither, she stood behind him and yelled, “Don’t forget! You lost to me and owe me three things! Remember my name. I’m Hua Weiyang!”

He felt like he had returned to that day. Xiao Chen wouldn’t have concerned himself with that unreasonable girl, but she had caught up to him before he could walk far.

Xiao Chen turned around with a frown and said impatiently, “I’m going to the Immortal-saving Clan to return a zither. Since you’ve offended them, you best not come along.”

Hua Weiyang burst into laughter. “Who’s going with you? You still owe me three things. Don’t even think of going back on your word. The first thing: I still don’t know your name.”

Xiao Chen frowned. “Surname Xiao, single first name Chen.”

Hua Weiyang couldn’t help smiling widely. “Xiao Chen? What an old-fashioned name. I’ll call you Yi (One) Chen from now on.”

Xiao Chen’s frown deepened. It was his Master who gave him this name. Her calling it a bad name meant that she was scolding his Master. This time, he truly wanted to ignore her. He turned around and left. Behind him, Hua Weiyang yelled, “Hey! There’s still the second thing!”

He stopped in his tracks. Flicking his sleeves, he said irritably, “I’m an upright and proper man who accepts my loss. Since I’ve promised you three things, I’ll definitely fulfill my promise. Are you spouting nonsense because you look down on me?”

Hua Weiyang burst into laughter. “Who cares if you’re upright or not? I’m going to tell you the second thing now. Turn around and face me. I forbid you from turning your back to me!”

Xiao Chen didn’t turn around and said, “I’m listening. You can tell me.”

Hua Weiyang walked up to his face and said, “The second thing is, you’re not allowed to engage in zither matches with other girls, especially not promising them that you’ll promise them three things after you lose. Got it?”

Xiao Chen increasingly found this girl to be inane and unreasonable, but he was a man and wouldn’t resort to her level. Thus, he said, “Very well. I’ll promise you. What’s the third thing?”

“The third thing?” Hua Weiyang clapped a hand over her mouth and laughed. “I haven’t thought about the third thing yet. I’ll tell you once I figure it out.”

“Since that’s the case, I’ll bid you farewell here. Once you make up your mind, feel free to come to the Violet-night Peak on the Mystic Cyan Mountain for me.”

…

The wind under the mountain seemed to have picked up, bringing with it the sound of whimpering. Xiao Chen took a deep breath, his eyes reddening. He thought of his time on the Immortal-slaying Platform. He remembered how she was suspended in the air, secretly reciting the Three-Life Soul-Breaking Spell to take on Perfected Immortal Qingxuan’s palm attack for him. Her final words were, “Three things. You still owe me one last thing… I want you to be alive and well…”

“Three things. You still owe me one last thing… I want you to be alive and well…”

Carried by the wind, his tears finally fell. Xiao Chen wailed, raging at the night sky with the language from thousands of years ago. “How do you want me to be alive and well? How do you want me to live? I’m the one who should have died! But why did it become you instead? Why?!”

Unexpectedly, he moved to leap down the cliff. Right at that moment, a pair of hands stopped him.

“Young Master? What’s wrong?”

Xiao Chen recovered his senses. He turned around and saw Su Lianyue holding onto him. He wiped the tears gathering at the corner of his eyes and forced a smile. “What a close call. I was nearly possessed by the monsters on this mountain. You should be careful too, Fairy. Cough, cough.”

“Oh.” Su Lianyue nodded, but her eyes never left Xiao Chen’s face. She had never seen a man looking that heartbroken before.

Right then, a low, strange noise suddenly came from the southwest direction. The sound seemed to have emerged from depths of the ground and shook the entire Ghost-wailing Hill. Many vicious beasts resting on the trees were alarmed that they flew away.

Su Lianyue exchanged looks with Xiao Chen. They cried in unison, “The extraordinary treasure has shown itself!”

Hordes of humans swept the forest under the cliff. The bonfires all over the place were extinguished in an instant. The wind rustled noisily as the forest trembled. Everyone was rushing southwest of the mountain range at the same time.

“Kill, kill… Kill, kill, kill…”

Suddenly, a burst of strange noises filled the air. The voice was neither loud nor clear. It didn’t belong to a beast and wasn’t as low as the strange sound earlier. Yet, it was enough to strike listeners with a wave of vertigo as if there was some kind of strange, soul-sucking force. One couldn’t help shivering with the cold after hearing such a sound at night.

“Should we go there now?” Su Lianyue looked at Xiao Chen. He was frowning as he peered at the southwest part of the mountain range. Sure enough, a powerful pillar of light rocketed into the sky, the same way it did last night. It cleared up the clouds and fog in an instant, dissipating the dark clouds within 500 kilometers and making way for the bright moon.

The moonlight was as bright as the sun, illuminating the Ghost-wailing Hill to the point that it resembled daylight. Moments later, the powerful light turned into a dazzling display of seven-colored light. Xiao Chen said, “No hurry. Several thousands of people are heading there right now and a bloody battle is sure to ensue. We should just sit and watch. We’ll wait for the opportune moment to strike.”

The voices of humans in the distance were beginning to become a symphony of chaos. “Thump!” “Ping!” “Bang!” “Peng!” The sound of magic treasures and Immortal’s Swords clashing resounded nonstop. The bright, multicolored collisions were dazzling. Fifteen minutes later, the seven-colored light above the southwestern mountain ridge gradually vanished and returned to yesterday’s serenity. Only, this time, the cries of battles became more and more intense.

Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue exchanged looks. “Let’s go!” The two of them landed on the forest below like two shadows at night. The restrictions here were quite strong, making it impossible for them to travel by sword. They had no choice but to speed through the air, leaping from branch to branch at top speed. Soon, they arrived at the southwestern part of the mountain range.

Their field of view was much wider here. They seemed to have stepped inside an empty valley that was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Inside the valley, both the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice cultivators seemed possessed by the devil. Sword Qi weaved through the air, filling the sky above. The cultivators were all murderous and blood was everywhere, even seeping underground.

Thanks to the moon, the night was as bright as daytime. It was apparent who was from the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice. Hiding behind the greenery and mountain rocks, Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue evaded the battle. Those who discovered them did attack, but were all silently exterminated.

They continued moving forward in this manner for another fifteen minutes until Xiao Chen noticed a group of acquaintances. Yu Yifeng’s group was battling it out with a bunch of Devil’s sects disciples. Xiaoyue and Seven Killings were caught up in a fight, while Yi Yeqiu was unable to shake off Zuoqiu Yang and a bunch of Divine Mist Sect disciples.

“Kill, kill… Kill, kill, kill…”

That strange voice once again resounded, making every cultivator caught up in a battle pause in their tracks. They looked up and saw the seven-colored light once again appearing five kilometers away, beaming straight into the sky. Someone yelled, “The extraordinary treasure has shown itself!” The person’s voice was still lingering in the air when everyone rushed to the spot five kilometers away, putting aside their battles.

Seven Killings noticed the multicolored light five kilometers away as well. Worried that the extraordinary treasure would fall into someone else’s hands, he tried to rush over as well. Unfortunately, Xiaoyue refused to let him go. On the other side, Yi Yeqiu wanted to do the same, but Zuoqiu Yang and the Divine Mist Sect disciples seemed to have gone mad and refused to let him shake them off.

In their hiding place, Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue exchanged glances and nodded. With tacit understanding, they began moving in the direction of the multicolored light as well. When they reached somewhere nearby, they saw that the light was actually beaming from a Heaven-bridging Divine Tree. Shock colored their expressions.

They couldn’t tell just how tall the tree was for they couldn’t find its end with their eyes. It was as if the tree was leading straight up to heaven. It was so wide that at least dozens of people were needed to wrap around it. There were several branches growing from the trunk, with exuberant leaves covering them. It was truly the manifestation of the earth reaching high up to heaven.

The entire tree was being shrouded in a layer of seven-colored light that appeared to have been cast down from heaven. The tree looked divine and sacred, so much so that it was shocking.