ATAVID CH43

Wei Xun withdrew his sword.

At the exact same time, the gazes of everyone else in the underground palace shifted toward him.

Surprise and joy flashed across Wen Xingyao’s eyes, but he managed to keep himself from making a sound. Taking advantage of the fact that Yun Shuangjian’s attention was completely locked onto Wei Xun, he stealthily crept over, scooped Shen Peiqiu up in one smooth motion, hoisted him over his shoulder, and ran like mad back toward Wei Xun’s direction.

Shen Peiqiu: “……”

Whether it was due to excessive blood loss or because being slung over Wen Xingyao’s shoulder was genuinely tossing him around like a sack of grain, his head throbbed painfully. He let out a helpless, weary sigh. “Wen Xingyao… could you perhaps carry me on your back, or even hold me in your arms instead?”

As he sprinted, Wen Xingyao replied with a voice practically dripping with tears of despair, “Master! Doing that would truly violate all proper morals and decorum!”

Shen Peiqiu fell silent for a brief moment before simply uttering, “Fine, then.”

The moment Wen Xingyao set Shen Peiqiu down, the elder could not help but cough up a mouthful of blood. Wen Xingyao wailed in a panic, “Master! Don’t die on me!”

“Rest assured, I will not die so easily.” Shen Peiqiu wiped the blood from his lips before turning to face Wei Xun, inclining his head. “Many thanks.”

Even though the sword qi exuded by the youth before him was laced with an underlying trace of demonic energy, there was no denying that the boy had just saved his life. Shen Peiqiu was by no means an ungrateful soul who could not distinguish good from bad. Furthermore, given his own somewhat awkward status within the Spiritual Spirit-Deer Clan, there was truly no need for him to go around tearing open other people’s hidden wounds.

Wei Xun cast a cold, indifferent glance over at him. “The few disciples lying outside can still be saved.”

Hearing this, Shen Peiqiu’s expression shifted slightly. Remembering his disciples who lay scattered out in the tunnel, a profound sense of guilt washed over his heart. Having sustained such severe injuries today, he was afraid he would be no match for this malevolent entity. The rest of the burden could only be left entirely to Wei Xun.

“Many thanks,” he repeated once more, before turning around and hurrying out of the palace.

Fearing that Shen Peiqiu might lose consciousness halfway out, and genuinely terrified of Yun Shuangjian, Wen Xingyao looked back and forth between Wei Xun and his master. Ultimately, he chose to follow right after Shen Peiqiu.

However, just as the two of them brushed past Lan Yuanzhou’s side, the latter reached out a trembling hand, desperately attempting to grasp the hem of Shen Peiqiu’s robes.

Shen Peiqiu turned his body slightly, quietly evading the touch.

“Master…” Lan Yuanzhou’s voice was hoarse, his eye sockets rimmed with an intense red. “I… I truly did not mean to…” The youth scrambled to explain himself. “It was only because Junior Brother Su happened to be wearing your outer robes that I mistook his identity. I genuinely thought it was you, I thought you were the one in mortal danger—”

“Lan Yuanzhou.” Shen Peiqiu cut him off, his features thoroughly frozen. “I was unaware that despite the many years I spent raising and instructing you, you suffered from an inability to see.”

Lan Yuanzhou choked on his words, utterly speechless.

Shen Peiqiu continued, his voice completely devoid of any warmth or emotion: “Matters have already reached this point. You have exerted your utmost efforts, so there is no further need to reproach yourself.”

As he spoke, his gaze drifted downward to rest upon Su Fuyao. That look was sharper and colder still.

“Every single one of the sect’s disciples present today has sustained grievous wounds solely due to your willful, reckless behavior,” he pronounced, enunciating every syllable with heavy weight. “Once we return to the Mysterious Sword Sect, cripple your own cultivation and sentence yourself to the Cliff of Reflection to ponder your sins.”

Su Fuyao’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.

“If you find yourself unable to strike the blow,” Shen Peiqiu turned his frame, placing his back completely to them, “then once I have fully reported these events to the Sect Master, I shall personally see to it myself.” With those final words, he walked away with swift strides.

Su Fuyao’s tears began to spill over once more. Yet this time, Lan Yuanzhou was far too consumed by his own unraveling state to even begin managing anyone else’s emotions. He could only stare blankly at Shen Peiqiu’s retreating silhouette, a hollow, gaping emptiness opening up within his chest, as if a vital piece of his being had been violently gouged out.

Witnessing this display, Su Fuyao lowered his eyelids, veiling the sudden flash of venomous hatred that surged in his eyes. Unable to contain the furious rage boiling inside him, he fiercely questioned the entity residing within his consciousness: ‘System! Didn’t you explicitly state that this Mary Sue halo would maintain its effects for at least a full year?! Why on earth did those disciples choose to save Shen Peiqiu just now instead of coming to rescue me?!’ If he weren’t still proving useful to Lan Yuanzhou right now, he was terrified he would have already turned into a corpse!

The system remained quiet for a brief interlude before providing its cold, mechanical response: [System data scan complete. All parameters are functioning normally.]

Su Fuyao could only swallow down the bitter resentment filling his heart. He raised his head to peer in the direction where Shen Peiqiu had departed, his gaze thick with unadulterated malice.

The tangled mess of love and hatred playing out among these individuals was nothing short of a textbook melodrama in Jiang Qunyu’s eyes. Even though he had long mentally prepared himself for the narrative beats, he still found himself caught completely off guard by how intensely dramatic it was in person.

“What are you thinking about?” Wei Xun asked abruptly.

Believing that the other was genuinely curious about the unfolding plot as well, Jiang Qunyu chimed in with great enthusiasm, “That scene just now was incredible! It was exactly like the classic setup where both Shen Peiqiu and Su Fuyao fell into extreme danger, yet Lan Yuanzhou ultimately threw himself into saving Su Fuyao while leaving Shen Peiqiu behind. I honestly cannot comprehend how, after a disaster like this, the two of them are still supposed to achieve a Happy Ending later on.”

“Jiang Qunyu,” Wei Xun’s face darkened instantly. “Is that truly the only thing occupying your mind right now?”

“Otherwise, what else should I be thinking about?” Jiang Qunyu asked, thoroughly bewildered.

Perched directly atop the youth’s head, he was completely unable to see Wei Xun’s facial expression. However, he could easily detect the clear note of displeasure woven into his tone. He simply could not fathom what he had done to provoke this formidable figure yet again.

Wei Xun spoke expressionlessly: “I have broken through my bottleneck.”

Jiang Qunyu: “Oh.”

The Void Refining Realm—it wasn’t as if he hadn’t already noticed. Could it be that Wei Xun was deliberately fishing for a few words of praise from him? The mere thought sent a shiver of mock-disgust straight through Jiang Qunyu’s soul.

Wei Xun, however, fell silent once more. He lowered his eyes, a desperate urge rising within him to ask Jiang Qunyu if he truly had no inkling that every single time he perished, it directly triggered a breakthrough in his own cultivation.

But before the question could escape his lips, Jiang Qunyu suddenly recalled something. His expression twisted into a bizarre look. “Wei Xun—”

The moment the words left his mouth, Jiang Qunyu’s entire form went completely rigid. He looked backward, his face paling.

Jiang Qunyu: “……”

He furiously grabbed a handful of Wei Xun’s hair, howling at the top of his lungs, “Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! Wei Xun, run! Get the hell out of here right now!”

Wei Xun let out a sharp, irritated laugh.

With a swift flick of his wrist, he spun the Soul-Eater, carving a brilliant full moon of silver light into the empty air. Within a mere fraction of a second, tens of thousands of sword afterimages shot forward, hurtling directly toward Yun Shuangjian. The sword intent was incredibly biting and fierce, carrying a suffocating, freezing intent to kill that blanketed the entire space.

The silver-white mask that had previously concealed Yun Shuangjian’s features was long gone, allowing Wei Xun to catch a perfectly clear view of her face. The movement of his hand paused imperceptibly.

Even so, the torrential downpour of sword shadows hurtling toward Yun Shuangjian did not halt for a single instant.

Yun Shuangjian instinctively sensed that the current Wei Xun was vastly more powerful than before; she was utterly no match for him. She struck out with a wave of her long sleeves to block the brunt of the force, using the momentum to spring backward. Leaping onto the stone wall, she began scrambling toward the exit at extreme speed.

Yet Wei Xun had absolutely no intention of granting her that chance.

It was as if his brief hesitation from a moment ago had been nothing more than an illusion. A thick, ink-like darkness flooded his eyes, and starting directly from beneath his feet, a boundless shadow rapidly spread across the entire ground. Countless blood-red hands erupted from the walls and floors alike, clawing upward in a frantic bid to ensnare Yun Shuangjian’s wrists and ankles.

Right at the exact moment Wei Xun’s domain expanded, another entrance to the underground palace opened, and a figure clad in a brilliant sapphire-blue long gown walked inside. It was Cui Mingjin. He was holding Cui Nian by the hand, his face deathly pale, looking so frail that it seemed as though he had barely any days left to live.

“Young Master Wei, please hold your hand,” Cui Mingjin called out in a low, echoing tone.

Wei Xun showed no sign of stopping his strike. He cast a freezing, detached glance over at Cui Mingjin and Cui Nian before abruptly tearing open a rift in the spatial fabric.

“Young Master Wei!” Cui Mingjin’s pupils contracted violently. “You gave me your word!”

Jiang Qunyu froze. Perched atop Wei Xun’s head, he lowered his voice to a tiny whisper, asking, “What exactly did you promise him?”

Wei Xun hesitated for a fraction of a second. After a brief pause, he answered quietly, “It is nothing.”

Nevertheless, he truly did not press his attack any further.

Cui Mingjin let out a long sigh of relief, leading Cui Nian forward. Meanwhile, the moment Yun Shuangjian spotted Cui Mingjin upon the wall, she leapt down without a second thought, throwing herself straight into his embrace and wrapping her arms tightly around him. The movement carried a deeply innocent, childlike dependence.

The tension in Cui Mingjin’s features softened completely. He let out a soft cough, gently stroking Yun Shuangjian’s hair to soothe her. “Shuangjian, do not fear.”

Yun Shuangjian raised a pair of misty, unfocused eyes, casting a cautious, fearful glance over at Wei Xun and Jiang Qunyu before ultimately burying her face right back into Cui Mingjin’s chest, refusing to look up again.

Cui Mingjin let out a faint, self-deprecating chuckle.

Wei Xun stepped forward, a cold, mocking curl touching the corner of his lips. “So it turns out City Lord Cui has been hiding out in this exact spot all this time?”

“Would the two of you be willing to listen to me recount a tale?” Cui Mingjin asked with a gentle smile.

Without a shred of hesitation, Wei Xun refused: “I would not.”

Jiang Qunyu, however, instantly perked up with immense interest. “Yes, yes! Let’s hear it!”

Wei Xun: “……”

Since Cui Mingjin was entirely unable to perceive his presence—let alone hear his voice—Jiang Qunyu could only poke Wei Xun repeatedly, signaling him to let the City Lord speak.

Wei Xun lowered his gaze, reaching up to snatch the round black fog ball off his head and tucking it securely into the front of his robes before fixing his grim, dark gaze back onto Cui Mingjin. Jiang Qunyu didn’t bother struggling against the treatment, contentedly gripping the collar of Wei Xun’s robes while poking half of his round fog body out to watch.

“Speak,” Wei Xun commanded, his tone freezing.

Cui Mingjin offered a small smile. Holding Yun Shuangjian tightly, he leaned back against the stone wall to sit down. Cui Nian stood obediently by his side, his large, dark eyes looking back and forth between his father and Yun Shuangjian, before finally settling upon the ball of black fog tucked into Wei Xun’s chest. He blinked a few times but remained silent.

The eerie blue light of the underground palace quietly illuminated the space as Cui Mingjin’s voice echoed clearly through the cavern.

“Shuangjian and I were childhood sweethearts. In the year she turned sixteen, the two of us were wed. Since our affection for one another had always been mutual, our days following the marriage were blissful. However, her constitution had been frail since her youth. I originally had no desire to burden her with offspring, but she was entirely stubborn on the matter, insisting that she wished for someone to remain by my side to keep me company after she departed this world.”

As Cui Mingjin spoke, a thin layer of moisture gradually glazed his eyes. Nestled deep within his arms, Yun Shuangjian perked up her face to look at him upon hearing her name. Those misty eyes held a distinct touch of innocence and confusion, as if she had no understanding of the words he was uttering; she merely nuzzled his chin out of pure instinct.

Cui Mingjin raised his hand, softly smoothing down her hair. “Under her stubborn insistence, we were blessed with Niannian in the third year of our marriage. Niannian was born premature, and his constitution was inherently weak as well. After giving birth to him, her health collapsed completely, leaving her bedridden.”

“I was entirely unwilling to let her leave my side so early, and I could not begin to fathom how I was supposed to go on living once she was gone,” Cui Mingjin’s tone became tinged with a thread of sheer obsession. “Later on, I caught wind of a certain type of蛊 origin from the Western Regions…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the aura radiating from Wei Xun’s body turned sharply frigid.

Jiang Qunyu found the sudden shift somewhat inexplicable.

Cui Mingjin paused, remaining quiet for a brief moment before offering an understanding, knowing smile, entirely skipping over the details regarding the Bitter-Ferry Gu to continue his tale. “Perhaps heaven took pity on my plight, for within the Western Regions, I not only discovered that specific Gu, but I also chanced upon an entirely different secret method.”

“That secret method held the power to grant my wife a complete rebirth!” His emotions suddenly surged with volatile intensity, and a near-maniacal smile broke across his pale face.

Then, his tone took a sharp downward plunge, turning heavy and somber. “Yet, by the time I finally rushed back from the Western Regions, she had already passed away.” His voice trembled violently. “I was unable to catch even a final glimpse of her… If only I had been just a fraction faster… I would have at least been able to bid her farewell…”

“But destiny chose to mock me. She died, leaving behind only Niannian.”

Cui Mingjin’s tears began to trace down his cheeks. Sensing his profound sorrow, Yun Shuangjian tilted her face upward, raising her small hand to wipe them away. “Mingjin, do not cry.”

Cui Mingjin forced a small smile, taking her hand and pressing it gently against his cheek. “It is nothing.”

He continued: “When I returned to her side, her physical form was still holding onto the last traces of warmth. I refused to accept it, I simply could not accept it! My sole desire was to see her live. It was then that I remembered that secret method.”

“Within that secret method lay a way to bring the dead back to life.”

“Refining.”

“As long as the deceased still harbors lingering obsession and grievance within their soul, and one introduces an entity possessing vibrant life force into the refinement process alongside them, the deceased can be brought back to the living world.”

“I could think of no other way, I had no choice but to proceed,” Cui Mingjin stated with a touch of profound despair. “Yet I could not find an entity that possessed sufficient life force—”

He broke off mid-sentence, his gaze descending to rest upon Cui Nian, who stood right beside him. That look was incredibly light, yet it sent a sudden, piercing chill straight down Jiang Qunyu’s spine.

“And so, my thoughts turned to Niannian, and to myself,” Cui Mingjin murmured in an eerie tone. “I reasoned that if I were to refine the two of us right along with her, our entire family would be able to remain together for all eternity.”