Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On the day Xiao Zhixiao faced his tribulation, the bells of all thirty-six peaks of the Tianxuan Sect chimed in unison.

I knelt at the very base of the Heaven-Questioning Platform, my palms slick with blood. Above the platform, dark clouds churned, and purple-gold lightning serpents coiled into a massive eye, staring down at the white-clad man standing at the heart of the formation. That was my Master, the preeminent figure of the Way of the Sword, Xiao Zhixiao-the man most likely to ascend in the entire cultivation world tonight.

Yi Xuanjin stood by my side, a gentle smile on his face, though his voice pricked my ears like fine needles. “Yingzhu, the Sword Venerable picked you up from Mass Grave Valley and raised you all these years. Now is the time to repay that debt. With your Tribulation-Bearing Bones, you were born to block the final three bolts of lightning for your Master.”

I looked up at Xiao Zhixiao. He didn’t look at me. He simply raised his hand, pressing two fingers together as his longsword transformed into a streak of cold light, slicing through the first bolt of heavenly lightning. His white robes billowed in the wind, his silhouette like a divine statue carved from cold jade.

Everyone expected me to cry, to beg, or to crawl away in disgrace.

But I only asked one question: “Master, is this your wish as well?”

A moment of silence fell over the high platform. Xiao Zhixiao finally lowered his head, looking at me through the heavy layers of thunderclouds and the crowd. His gaze was as cold as a winter snow.

“Come up.”

Two words. My death sentence.

I smiled, braced my hands against my knees, and stood up, walking onto the Heaven-Questioning Platform step by step. Below the stage, Bai Guiyi’s face turned pale with worry as she shook her head at me. Ye Wujiu leaned against a pillar with his sword in his arms; for the first time, he straightened his posture as if he wanted to stop me, but in the end, he didn’t move.

Because everyone knew that defying the Tribulation Ascension Ceremony was equivalent to betraying the Sect.

When the third bolt of heavenly lightning struck, I stood before Xiao Zhixiao.

The moment the lightning tore through my flesh, I smelled the scent of my own charred bones. In the distance, Yi Xuanjin roared, “Draw the tribulation!” The Spirit-Locking Pillars surrounding the Heaven-Questioning Platform lit up simultaneously. Only then did I realize that a formation had long been prepared on the stage. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was a long-calculated plot.

It turned out that this so-called repayment of gratitude was nothing more than a grave the entire Sect had prepared for me.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth bolts of lightning crashed down in succession. I lost all sensation in half of my body. As my consciousness blurred, I felt someone take my hand. A cold sword intent poured from their palm into my meridians, forcefully pinning down my shattering soul.

Xiao Zhixiao’s voice reached my ears, pressed into a low whisper.

“Don’t die. Fall toward the northwest.”

In the next instant, the ninth bolt of heavenly lightning fell ahead of time, turning the world a blinding, deathly white.

Everyone saw me take the final strike for Xiao Zhixiao.

Only I knew that before that sea of lightning swallowed me, Xiao Zhixiao had thrust his Lifebound Sword into my chest and forcibly pushed me out of the eye of the formation.

As I plummeted toward the northwest, toward Mass Grave Valley, the entirety of the Tianxuan Sect was cheering for the Sword Venerable’s successful ascension.