Chapter 434 - Grudges Went with the Wind

Before everyone realized what was happening, Xiao Chen already jumped up and hung in the air. He kept waving his arms and projecting Mystic Power into all directions. It seemed like he was creating some kind of formation, but he was not. It was a Yin-gathering Formation that Red Sleeve had created here well in advance. Now he was just using it.

Dark clouds gathered here with howls and wails. Suddenly Red Sleeve’s face turned pale and she was about to attack Xiao Chen. Seeing the sharp changes in her face, everyone was all but convinced. It turned out that what Su Lianyue had said was true.

Tianyi Zi moved his body and pushed her back. All the people from Orthodox Path were working together. They had to exert themselves and even sacrifice themselves to buy Xiao Chen some time!

Dark clouds kept gathering and there came howls and wails. They were formed by the Rancorous Qi of people who died in Miasma Mountain Range in thousands of years.

Red Sleeve was all the more unhinged. She was putting her life on the line. Each time she launched an attack, someone would die. But with people from Orthodox Path putting their lives on the line as well and with Tianyi Zi in her way, it was not that easy for her to stop Xiao Chen. She turned her head and threatened that “Your souls are in my hand! If I die, none of you can live!”

People behind her, Great Immortal from Hell included, were shocked. Wu Fa and Wu Tian gritted their teeth. They moved their bodies and attacked those people from the Orthodox Path. Tianyi Zi cast a spell and the sword case on his back vibrated. Two swords flew out and in the blink of an eye, their heads were chopped off.

Sword Immortal of Kunlun never missed a shot.

Witnessing the death of their grand elders Wu Far and Wu Tian, the remaining dozens of disciples of Corpse Refinery Sect lost their morale and fled out of the valley. As for the several Corpse Puppets, without anyone to manipulate them, they were nothing but corpses.

“Ah…” Red Sleeve’s hair levitated in the air, and she looked insane. “You can’t kill me! None of you can!” In the wake of a blast of Rancorous Qi, another dozen people died. Even Perfected Immortal Qing Chen was blown away by the blast and kept spitting out blood.

Now dozens of seniors of the Orthodox Path, like Qingfeng, Zi Mo, Perfected Immortal Feng Lan and Fengxi, were all badly injured. Some of them even died. But they didn’t give up. They were still fighting with all their might, just to stall for time.

Finally, all the clouds were gathered here. They turned into black fogs that hovered above the valley. As the black fogs gathered, the valley buzzed with hair-raising howls and wails. With the dark clouds that enshrouded the valley, the whole valley was like in hell. The cries of ghosts were the Malicious Grudges of the deceased in the last moment of their lives.

Many female disciples of Cultivators’ sect were scared and turned ghastly pale. The black fogs that hovered in the sky were like evil ghosts. Some of them even looked like human faces.

Suddenly, after a few howls, the black fogs flew towards Red Sleeve, like predators pouncing on their prey. Red Sleeve shouted, “Ah! Get lost! Get lost!” She kept waving her arms, only to no avail. The black fogs that were comprised of Malicious Grudges would not disperse.

These fogs penetrated her body, which was mind-blowing to watch. But the Malicious Grudges were far from enough. They could not give her a fatal blow.

Suddenly, the temperature in the valley dropped quickly and people’s swords began to vibrate involuntarily. More Rancorous Qi gathered here quickly. Unlike the howls and wails brought by the previous Rancorous Qi, now the Rancorous Qi was full of sobs of women. They were the Malicious Grudges of women who were killed by Red Sleeve in the past three thousand years.

These women were unable to enter Samsara so their Malicious Grudges could not disperse. After years of accumulation, their Malicious Grudges grew stronger than the previous ones. Now, all the Malicious Grudges in the whole Miasma Mountain Range were attracted here by an invisible force. They flew across the forest with the howls and wails, scaring numerous raptors and beasts away.

Red Sleeve’s face turned pale and her hair became disheveled. She screamed, “No! No!”

A large amount of Rancorous Qi flew towards her. It shuddered one to imagine how strong the Malicious Grudges of women who were tortured to death throughout the three thousand years could be. Now they were gathered together and had far surpassed the Malicious Grudges of Red Sleeve.

“Ah…” Red Sleeve kept screaming. The reason why Xiao Chen could easily defeat the hundred-year Corpse Puppet of the Corpse Refinery Sect back then was that he held more Malicious Grudges than those Corpse Puppets. Now, the Rancorous Qi from the whole mountain overwhelmed those of Red Sleeve’s. That’s why they could give her a fatal blow.

“Lu Xinghe! Lu Xinghe! I know it’s you! I know it’s you!” Red Sleeve looked deranged. Blood tears trickled down her face. She screamed to the valley, “Come out, Lu Xinghe! Why? Why would you stop me again? Why would you help them? Why did you tell them the way to kill me? I’m your daughter-in-law! Why? No!”

The Rancorous Qi around grew stronger and kept pouncing on her. They ate away her flesh, revealing the white bones. Everyone was terrified by the gruesome sight.

Finally, Red Sleeve was weakened by the infinite Rancorous Qi. She hummed, “The world is harsh. People are indifferent. The morning wind blows past, wiping the tear stains away. I want to write my heart down, only to find myself leaning against the railing and speaking to myself. I’m left alone. Things aren’t what they used to be. My lovesickness is as tight as the rope of a swing. The sound of horns makes me feel all the colder in the night.”

The sorrowful song resonated in the valley. It was like a saddening love song that made everyone who heard it feel a tad sad. The inexperienced female disciples of Cultivators’ sect had tears in their eyes. They murmured, “If she is willing to make up for her mistakes, can we just let her go?”

“Shut up! Are you out of your mind?” A senior snapped at them right away.

The Rancorous Qi was still gathering, but Red Sleeve was barely breathing. An icy fire started all over her. She lied on the ground and kept crawling forward, with blood tears welled up in her eyes. “The world is indifferent. What can I still be attached to? I’m suffering the agony of separation. No! Qing Yuan. I can’t die! I can’t die! If I die I won’t get to see you again! Qing Yuan. Where are you? No!”

“No! I can’t die. Who has spared a thought for me? Who has shown sympathy for me? I can’t die! Qing Yuan!”

The voices faded out, leaving only burned bones on the ground. As a breeze blew past, the white bones turned into ashes and were blown away. They were sprinkled all over the valley, on the leaves, beside the creeks, or into the mountain streams.

At the same moment, the dark clouds and the Rancorous Qi dispersed. The Rancorous Qi that had enshrouded the Miasma Mountain Range for thousands of years finally dispersed. Sunlight finally reached the valley. It was cast on people’s faces and made them feel warm.

Everyone stared in silence at the direction in which Red Sleeve disappeared. Perfected Immortal Qing Chen sighed. “For three thousand years she had killed numerous people, but now she died because of their Rancorous Qi. That may be the Cause and Effect circulation that Master Xuanji always talks about. But people like Red Sleeve don’t show up without reason. There must be another layer of karma that leads to this. But who is the cause of it?”

After he finished, he looked at Xiao Chen. Xiao Chen was raised up by Luo Shangyan. His face was pale, obviously because supporting the Yin-gathering Formation had consumed a lot of his True Energy.

“Alas. Red Sleeve is a poor woman.”

Suddenly, a sad voice of an old man came from afar. People looked at where the voice came and saw an old man with white hair and in a red robe walking slowly towards them. The old man looked sad and had deep wrinkles in his face. It turned out that he was the Lu Xinghe that Red Sleeve was talking about and the soul body that Xiao Chen and Su Lianyue had seen in the cave in the mystic domain.

Two hours ago, Su Lianyue was hiding. When the Orthodox Path was on the losing side, that was an excellent chance for her, but when she saw Xiao Chen badly be injured and asking Red Sleeve to give Muxue back, she felt a pain in her heart. Out of no reason, she wanted to help Xiao Chen. It was she who had entered the ice cave and had returned to the mystic domain to look for Lu Xinghe.

Lu Xinghe sighed and walked slowly towards them. At the sight of the burns on the ground, he couldn’t help but shed tears. “Three thousand years had passed. Her grudges finally dispersed. She had never lived a happy day in these three thousand years. Every day she was tortured by the grudges.”

When he finished, his face was already full of tears. Everyone was standing in dead silence because they could guess who the old man was. Lu Xinghe shook his head and sighed. “Everything started because of my secular ideas. Now three thousand years had passed. All the grudges had gone with the wind. It doesn’t matter whether we can enter Samsara or not. None of us will have the memory of our previous lives. Just let it go.” After he finished, his body became more and more transparent. In the end, his body turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared with the wind.

Suddenly the valley became quiet. They could only hear the winds and rustling leaves. Out of the blue, Xiao Chen felt a pain in his heart. “Not good. Where is Muxue?”

Qingluan immediately came to him with some people. “Master, I’ll go find her with you!”

Now disciples of Jade Qing Sect finally realized that Li Muxue was still nowhere to be found. Suddenly a gentle sound of Koo-chee came from a bush nearby and a chubby little creature came out of it.

“Koo-chee! Koo-chee, Koo-chee!”

Xiao Chen calmed himself down. “Brother Koo-chee, do you know where Muxue is?”

“Koo-chee… Umm… Koo-chee!” The Koo-chee beast thought for a while. Then it turned around and ran southeastwards. Xiao Chen immediately followed it, so did Qingluan and her girls.

The Koo-chee beast ran for one or two kilometers and entered a forest. Then it kept circling around a big tree and saying, “Koo-chee, Koo-chee!”

Qingluan immediately walked to the tree and injected a beam of Mystic Power into the bottom of the tree. She was astounded. “Master! The bottom is hollow!”

Xiao Chen frowned. Qingluan immediately brought some people to uproot the tree and there really was a secret path. As soon as they entered the secret path, they felt frozen to the marrow.

There was no light in the secret path. It was not until Xiao Chen created a white radiance that they could see the surroundings. The stone walls were covered with thick ice and the secret path twisted and turned in the mountain, seemingly endless.

They moved as fast as they could for the time of burning half-stick of incense. Suddenly, they felt a freeze, a freeze so strong that even Xiao Chen could barely stand. Qingluan and the girls from Levitating Dark Fragrance could barely move.

“Koo-chee! Koo-chee Koo-chee!” The Koo-chee beast ran in the front. It ran into something and rebounded, rolling to Xiao Chen’s feet.

“Watch out, Brother Koo-chee!” Xiao Chen helped it up and then raised its head. He made the white radiance brighter and saw an ice wall not far ahead.

Xiao Chen walked to the wall and exerted himself. With a rumble, the ice wall was broken and a gust of frozen wind came out instantly.

They all felt cold. After the ice wall collapsed, the ice palace behind was revealed. It was totally built with ice, which exuded extreme coldness.

Xiao Chen slowly walked in. The ice creaked as he stepped on it. Although the six girls from Levitating Dark Fragrance felt cold, they still walked behind him.

The ice palace was spacious. In the middle of the ice palace, there stood a giant ice crystal. Tears welled up in Xiao Chen’s eyes and blurred his sight.