Chapter 3
Chapter 3
It took me three days to crawl from the Mass Grave Valley back to the Tianxuan Sect.
Along the way, the Ancient Mirror locked my remnant soul in place, while my Life Sword Mark sustained my final breath. I was like a true ghost, hiding in mountain crevices by day and creeping along the old paths toward the sect gates by night.
On the fourth night, I slipped back onto Zhixiao Peak.
The place was much quieter than when I had left. The Main Hall, once brightly lit, now held only a single lonely lamp. The thousand-year-old cedar in the courtyard was snapped in half, clearly split by the aftershocks of the lightning tribulation. Just as I climbed through the back window, the hum of a sword rang through the room.
A cold, white blade light grazed my throat before pinning itself into the doorframe.
“Who is it?”
Xiao Zhixiao sat in the darkness. His white robes were stained with blood he hadn’t yet had time to change out of, and a crack-like lightning scar stretched from the center of his brow to the corner of his eye. He looked colder and more disheveled than he had on the Heaven-Questioning Platform, like a block of ice barely holding itself together.
My throat tightened. “Master, it’s me.”
The hand gripping his sword visibly faltered, but in the next instant, he suppressed his sword intent even more ruthlessly.
“Su Yingzhu is already dead.”
“But I’m not.”
“Then die again,” he said, his voice incredibly soft. “Get out. Yi Xuanjin’s men are at the foot of the peak. If you want to live, leave now.”
I stared at the bleeding lightning scar at the corner of his eye and finally saw the truth. He didn’t want to kill me; he was using the harshest words possible to force me away. Dozens of unfamiliar auras had already surrounded the doors; the entirety of Zhixiao Peak was under surveillance.
Before I could speak, the hall doors were kicked open.
Yi Xuanjin entered with men from the Enforcement Hall, clasping his hands toward Xiao Zhixiao with a beaming smile. “The Sword Venerable is as alert as ever. We were just searching for any remnants who dared trespass on the peak. I didn’t expect someone would actually be bold enough to show up.”
His gaze shifted, and when it landed on me, his smile turned abruptly cold.
“Su Yingzhu?”
Silence filled the hall.
In the next heartbeat, Xiao Zhixiao drew his sword, the tip pointing directly at my heart.
“Trespassing on the main peak and impersonating a deceased disciple,” he said, enunciating every word. “According to sect rules: execution.”
I looked at him, and suddenly, I didn’t want to cry anymore.
Because I understood.
He was using his own hands to strip me of my identity as the ‘Sword Venerable’s disciple.’ Only by doing this could I be temporarily removed from the sect registry, preventing them from immediately seizing me to be sacrificed to the gates again.
Yi Xuanjin was clearly surprised, narrowing his eyes as he studied Xiao Zhixiao. “The Sword Venerable can bear to do it?”
“She was just a disciple,” Xiao Zhixiao said. “If she’s dead, she’s dead.”
He spoke with such composure, as if he truly didn’t care at all.
If the Disciple Mark on my wrist wasn’t burning hot, I might have actually believed him.
It was a message he had just sent me, hidden within the flow of his sword intent.
*At the hour of the Pig, go to the Back Mountain Sword Tomb. Find Ye Wujiu.*