Chapter 4

Chapter 4

By the time I leaped out of the back window of Zhixiao Peak, the people from the Enforcement Hall were already searching the front hall.

The wind howled year-round at the Back Mountain Sword Tomb, where the residual intent of ten thousand swords crisscrossed with such intensity that even Nascent Soul cultivators were loath to linger. Ye Wujiu sat atop a pile of broken blades, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, looking as though he had known I would come.

“I told you, that block of ice wouldn’t have the heart to let you die a second time.” He tossed a flask of medicinal wine to me. “Drink.”

The liquid hit my throat like liquid fire. My meridians shuddered with pain, but I finally managed to catch my breath.

“How much do you know?”

Ye Wujiu fell silent for a moment before speaking. “A bit more than you think, and a bit less than what’s needed to save a life. Three years ago, the Sect Leader began ordering each peak to secretly send disciples with special constitutions to the Cold Abyss Trial. Very few came out alive. You were the only one Xiao Zhixiao managed to snatch back.”

I remembered waking up in Mass Grave Valley when I was seven years old. I remembered nothing except being covered in blood. It was Xiao Zhixiao who brought me back to the Sect, and from then on, I became his only disciple.

I had always thought it was a blessing.

As it turned out, it was more like surviving a disaster.

Ye Wujiu handed me a register that was half-charred. It recorded the disciples with special constitutions recruited by the Sect over the last century. Every entry in the final column had been crossed out with vermilion ink, leaving only the outcomes.

Missing. Sudden death. Qi deviation. Perished while bearing calamity.

“These are old records sealed by the Enforcement Hall. I stole them,” he said, lowering his eyes. “Bai Guiyi’s Senior Sister is in there, too. She’s been investigating this for years, which is why the Sect Leader has been keeping such a close watch on Medicine Peak.”

I flipped to the last few pages and saw my own name. The record read: *Recovered from Mass Grave Valley. Skeletal potential is malleable. Entrusted to Zhixiao Peak for cultivation. To be activated once the Gate-Locking Formation reaches completion.*

Activated.

I crumpled the paper in my grip and let out a laugh. “So, in their eyes, I’m not even a human being.”

Ye Wujiu glanced at me. “So, what do you plan to do? Take this scrap of evidence and beat the Petition Drum? Yi Xuanjin could suppress you as a demonic heretic in the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”

“I’m not beating any drums.” I tucked the register into my robes. “I’m going to let them watch the gate collapse with their own eyes, right when they want to open it most.”

This time, Ye Wujiu truly smiled.

“Spoken like someone from Zhixiao Peak.”

He stood up and pressed a narrow-bladed shortsword into my hand. “From this day forward, you are no longer a fugitive returning to the mountain. You are a Calamity-Bearing Ghost come to claim their lives. In seven days, the Sect will hold the Ascension Celebration Banquet. That will be their final tally of sacrifices before opening the gate. You must stand there alive if you want the right to flip the table.”

I gripped the shortsword tightly. For the first time, I didn’t call myself unlucky.

Since they had forged me into a key…

Then I would first learn how to turn that key and open their coffins.