Stepping over the shattered boundary marker, the endless, floating mountain ranges of the Qingyun Immortal Sect came into view.
Once a pristine sanctuary for immortals, under Xiao Wuchen's 'Eye of Truth', each immortal peak now resembled a massive tumour rooted in mortal flesh. This was particularly evident in the nine thousand steps of the 'Ascension Staircase', which connected the outer gates to the main peak. Though white as jade, the staircase emitted a familiar vibration that made Xiao Wuchen's soul tremble.
"Master... Look at the patterns on those stone steps!' Chi Kui's three hands clutched the cast-iron patch tightly, his voice shrill and distorted. 'Those aren't patterns! They're human ribs! All nine thousand steps were smoothed down and laid using the spines of fallen warriors!"
Xiao Wuchen lowered his gaze. The demonic sword 'Rootless' in his right hand instantly erupted with a shrill metallic hum — it was rage; the sword's unyielding killing intent had been ignited upon sensing the desecration of its kin's remains.
Mountain-Sealing Golems: Nightmares of the Past
"What demonic fiend dares tread the Azure Cloud Staircase?"
With a thunderous, ancient rebuke, three colossal, pitch-black puppets, each ten zhang tall, crashed down from the mist. They bore no facial features, yet each chest housed a massive, blood-red core.
As Xiao Wuchen recognised their construction, his crimson hair whipped wildly and his eyes instantly blazed with a scarlet light.
The joints of these puppets were connected to the remains of the 'Shanzhen Camp' generals who had perished in the first battle — their skulls were used as load-bearing bearings and their arm bones as support frames. Having been sewn together using secret techniques and stripped of their sentience, they had become war machines, eternally guarding the Immortal Gate.
"Using their bones as your lapdogs?" Xiao Wuchen's voice grew abnormally deep with rage, taking on an electric resonance.
[System log: Host emotion detected, surpassing critical threshold! Synchronisation rate: 99.8% → 99.9%. Willpower Judgement: Heart Pore · Resentment Soul Forced Combustion. Willpower Judgement is successful!
Killing intent breakthrough: Full Moon Burial Shadow.
"Kill these... pieces of trash."
Xiao Wuchen stepped forward, shattering the 'rib stone steps' beneath his feet. He transformed into a crimson streak of light and instantly plunged into the giant puppets' encirclement.
The puppets' heavy fists could split mountains and shatter rocks, yet Xiao Wuchen's figure oddly 'stuttered' within their fist shadows. Each crushing blow passed right through his afterimages.
"Fourth Form..."
Xiao Wuchen's right hand thrust the demon sword 'Rootless' into the ground with violence. A roar of fury erupted from him, the sword, the earth's veins and the desecrated bones.
[Crescent Moon Slash · Fourth Form: Full Moon Burial of Shadows]!
Centred on Xiao Wuchen, a crimson-black inferno erupted in a 360-degree explosion. It was no longer mere sword energy, but a funeral rite reaping shadows.
A crimson-black halo swept over the three colossal puppets like a dim full moon, unleashing a horrifying spectacle: every shadow within its reach was forcibly torn from its source and ignited by the inferno.
As the shadows burned away, the bodies themselves collapsed.
The three puppets, formed from the bones of legendary generals, emitted piercing cries of agony and release. Their metallic shells shattered piece by piece in a jerky, stuttering collapse. The fragmented souls imprisoned within the bones finally found long-awaited liberation the moment they touched the Netherflames.
The battle ended and bone fragments drifted down like snow.
Xiao Wuchen knelt amidst the ruins, trembling as he picked up a shattered skull fragment from the rubble. It belonged to his beloved former junior commander — the young man who had shielded him from arrows on the First Division battlefield.
[System Notice: Residual warmth of subordinate Xiao Liuzi from the First Chapter recovered. Current synchronization rate: 99.99%. Warning: The Lock of Indifference is about to activate. The host will forget all memories of warmth.
'Sir, don't scare me like that.' Chi Kui approached cautiously, staring at Xiao Wuchen's almost expressionless face, which was like that of a cold, lifeless statue.
Xiao Wuchen rose slowly, tucking the skull into his robe. He cast one final glance towards the south, the direction of the mortal realm. Yet the colour in his eyes faded rapidly, leaving only the stark black-and-white logic of slaughter.
'Next target: the Outer Sect Hall.'
With his sword in hand, he strode resolutely deeper into the Qingyun Immortal Sect, stepping over the bones of the brothers he had personally sent to their final resting place.
He stepped over the shattered town-guarding golem and entered the core territory of the outer gate of the Qingyun Immortal Sect—a floating island shrouded in spiritual mist. Waves of mournful zither music washed over him like tides; each note striving to pierce the Lock of Indifference on his spine.
At that moment, Fairy Miaoyin was sitting cross-legged in the void. Before her lay her infamous life-bound artefact: the 'Lament of All Beings Zither'. Its strings were not spun from silk, but fashioned from the heartstrings of ninety-nine mortals bound by profound love.
"Xiao Wuchen, you destroyed your own spiritual roots to cultivate this self-mutilating demonic art. Was it worth it?' Fairy Miaoyin raised her white hand slightly. The zither's notes transformed into countless pink sound blades, each with the power to steal souls. 'If you lay down that wicked sword, I can grant you eternal coexistence with your subordinates within "Red Dust Like a Dream".'
Xiao Wuchen remained silent. The system interface rippled and stuttered violently within his retinas under the qin's interference.
[System log: Divine consciousness assault detected — 'Lament of All Beings' sonic array, synchronisation rate 99.99% (critical threshold alert!).
[Current Buffs: Pain Suppression activated. Vitality decreasing by 0.1% per second.
"Blah blah." Xiao Wuchen croaked out the two words, his right hand, fused with the demonic sword, clenching violently. The overclocked operation of the cyber runes instantly amplified his strength by 300%.
Sixth Form: Cold Moon Piercing the Bones.
Seeing this, Fairy Miaoyin's gaze turned icy. Her fingers danced across the strings like a storm, conjuring the wails of countless ordinary people into the air. The sound waves crystallised into ice shards, attempting to seal off all signs of life within Xiao Wuchen.
"Sixth Form..."
Xiao Wuchen traced a crimson line through the swarm of sonic blades, moving so fast that the laws of physics lagged behind.
[Crescent Moon Slash · Sixth Form: Cold Moon Pierces the Bone]
The demonic sword, 'Rootless', transformed into a bone-chilling thrust in his grasp. The Netherflames ceased their frenzied burning and instead coalesced into a point of extreme cold at the sword's tip. The blade pierced the weakest node of the sound wave array precisely, striking the Fairy of Divine Melody's zither directly.
A deathly chill swiftly spread along the strings as the Netherflames burrowed through the wound into her marrow. This froze the flow of spiritual energy within the Fairy of Divine Melody and instantly 'froze solid' the mortal consciousnesses imprisoned within the strings.
"No! My life-bound artefact!" The Fairy of Divine Melody realised in horror that, upon contact with this demonic chill, her prized immortal instrument was beginning to show signs of 'logical collapse'. Even worse, the flawless beauty she had maintained for centuries began to crack and shatter inch by inch as her spiritual energy depleted.
Xiao Wuchen stood with his sword mere inches from the Fairy of Divine Melody's throat.[System Warning: Spine-Heartless Lock activated. Continuing pursuit will result in the complete obliteration of the 'Red Phoenix' memory fragments.'
Xiao Wuchen's eyes had now turned into a void of utter darkness. Glancing at the screaming Fairy Miaoyin, he then looked at the freshly recovered fragment of the minor general's skull in his embrace.
"Chi Kui, smash this zither." Xiao Wuchen coldly sheathed his sword; his voice was devoid of pity. 'A zither forged from these "medicinal dregs" (the divine consciousness of mortals) is unworthy of remaining in this world.'
"Got it, boss!" Chi Kui emerged from the ruins, three hands jointly heaving a broken spear — some celestial patrol weapon scavenged from who knows where — and began smashing the frozen 'Lament of All Beings Zither' with frenzied blows. "Play that! Pretend to be noble! Before me, you're all trash!"
As the instrument shattered, countless faint specks of light were newly liberated and scattered towards the mortal realm. However, Xiao Wuchen walked with his back to these glimmers, striding purposefully towards the inner sanctum of the Qingyun Immortal Sect. The Heartless Lock on his back emitted waves of icy radiance, as if waiting to devour the last remnants of his humanity.