Editor: Sahloknir

Gong Wei recovered from his shock at seeing Xu Shuangtze to consider?why?he would be seeing him at this time.

In this life Gong Wei just had to be a member of Xu Shuangtze’s Sect, this had to be..Cang Yang Sect!

Why did it have to be here of all places?

The Immortal Alliance was vast—forged by two sovereigns, there were three key sects with four immortals, six noble families and eight smaller sects. On top of this, there were also twelve lesser houses and more than a hundred?Xuanmen?families around.

Why did it have to be Cang Yang Sect?

Gong Wei heard a buzzing noise in his ears. He could not clearly hear Yuchi Xiao’s response nor make out what the crowd had said. The heavy wounds inflicted by Xu Shuangtze’s divine sword were carved onto the soul of its victim for all eternity. This severe pain nearly overwhelmed all his senses.

It was only the timespan of a few short breaths, yet it felt like several interminable decades before Xu Shuangtze, in his robe of delicate, golden embellishment passed him by and walked away into the distance.

Gong Wei’s violently spasming heart finally felt a hint of relief. Still trembling, he exhaled deeply, only to hear Yuchi Xiao’s taut voice from not far away, “..I was passing through Linjiang City when Young Master Meng sent me a letter asking for help. I could not ignore these tragic incidents..”

After annulling the marriage proposal with Gong Wei, Yuchi Xiao was dragged by his ear down Can Yang Mountain by his mother. They were preparing to return to their ancestral hall at Golden Gate, for him to receive punishment from the Sword Sect leader in accordance with the family laws, for being a disobedient and unfilial son. However, on their way through Lingjiang City, they encountered some strange incidents.

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Not just any people either, rather it was twenty-eight stunning beauties.

The first victim was the number one courtesan in Linjiang City. She was eighteen years of age and nationally proclaimed beauty. It was said that her song and dance performance alone was worth a thousand gold pieces. Just half a month ago, she was summoned to a prince’s residence for a zither performance.

It was an exceptionally elegant event with guests drinking merrily while awaiting her grand appearance. The courtesan arrived, decked in joyous smiles and politely excused herself to change into her performance robes only to go missing for over an hour. The prince sent his servants to look for her. They found her in the room, hung from the ceiling beam with still-warm tears dampening her face. Before she died, she had maniacally chewed and swallowed tree bark and leaves. Her precious bejewelled hairpin was tossed on the floor.

The same night the courtesan mysteriously died, a wealthy man in the city was marrying off his daughter. It was yet another grand event, lavishly decorated in a festive red. The groom was in the front hall entertaining their guests when the beautiful bride rabidly shrieked and dashed out of their bridal chamber with a pair of razor sharp scissors in hand. She jumped on any living thing that came within her sight, slashing at them savagely. When she noticed her helplessly shocked groom, she became even madder and pounced on him with an intent to kill. The terrified groom was saved by the group of guests. But before they could restrain the bride, she screamed a few times in anguish before stabbing her own throat with the weapon.

The two fatalities were not the end of that bloody night. Just as it approached dawn, at a local immortal cultivation sect within Linjiang City, a handsome young practitioner ran out all of a sudden as if he was possessed. He did not have the poise and mannerism of before as he drew his sword and madly cut at the rocks in his training grounds.

Fellow disciples who heard the commotion gathered around, but could not approach. They could only helplessly witness him exhaust his spiritual power before jumping into the freezing pond and then cutting his own throat with his sword. His blood gushed out like a waterfall and when he was finally rescued, he’d already stopped breathing.

These three bizarre deaths marked the beginning of the chaos in Linjiang City. In the half a month that followed, there was at least one such case each day. Among the victims, there were some who cried themselves to death, some who were frightened to death, some who turned maniacal, and there was even a remarkably beautiful performer who desperately kowtowed to the air, and then died from crushing the top of her?skull.

As soon as Yuchi Xiao received his friend,?Meng Yun's?call for help, he immediately brought his men to Lingjiang City. Being a veteran at dealing with demonic evils, he personally examined the twenty corpses and discovered that all of them had extremely Yin?Four Pillars of Destiny?characters. This could only mean that the cases were not random acts of suicidal violence. It had already been half a month of deaths. If it was an evil spirit, then by now it would have shown signs of evolving to a greater demon. If not stopped the consequences for the next century would most definitely be disastrous. Strangely though, even when Yuchi Xiao used his enchanted weapons, he was not able to detect a trace of?Yin energy?in Linjiang City. In fact, there was no trace of evil spirits, demons or even ghosts.

The group of cultivators investigating this case suspected that the evil spirit, demon or ghost had fled. But late last night, it revealed its horrifying trail. It was as though it deliberately provoked the immortal cultivators, eight died in a night. One of them was a female with a longstanding reputation and from a reputable sect. She died in the room next to Yuchi Xiao—she was face down in a wash basin, having drowned herself. From the start to the end of the deaths, there was none who sensed anything awry. Even Yuchi Xiao who was in the room next door did not detect any evil aura in the vicinity.

Any time an evil spirit harms humans, they will definitely leave traces of?Yin energy. It is the same as humans who radiate life energy, ghosts with ghost energy, corpses with corpse energy. If there were no traces of residual energy whatsoever, that could only mean that there were no external forces which harmed these people, and that the twenty-eight victims turned insane one day and caused their own demise. But how was this possible? Clearly there was no reason for any of them to want to kill themselves.

The community of immortal cultivators knew that they had met a rare and powerful opponent in their lifetime and were at a loss. Yuchi Xiao suddenly thought of a sure way to bait this evil spirit out of hiding—The Four Pillars of Destiny. Eight characters, pure?Yin. A person with birth characters that could not be more Yin and one with exceptional beauty. It had to be Xiang Xiaoyuan.

“At this point the death count is eight men and twenty women, most of them are Taoist by birth, including four cultivators who have developed their golden cores. I have ordered all the cultivators with heavy yin in their birth characters to be transferred out of the city, but the situation is of utmost urgency and cannot be delayed for even a moment.” Yuchi Xiao was kneeling with one knee on the ground and sincerely pleaded, “The people say ‘one clan, two sovereigns, three sects’, Cang Yang Sect is the number one sect in the world. I would like to ask Lord Xu to lend a helping hand to save Lijiang City from this disaster. I will forever be grateful!”

Xu Shuangtze seemed to have heard nothing.

The crowd was still kneeling down with heads lowered without even daring to breathe. The peach blossom forest was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. Only Xu Shuangtze’s unhurried footsteps paced along the rows of bowed heads, as if looking for something. He suddenly stopped in front of a disciple and said indifferently, “Raise your head.”

The disciple raised his head with trepidation, Xu Shuangtze rested one hand on the hilt of his sword, measured him for a moment without emotion before turning to another disciple, “Raise your head.”

The air was heavy with suspicion and fear, and only Gong Wei could hear another hidden vibration—the call of the sword,?No Way Out.

No Way Out?could sense the scars it had branded on nearby souls.

Gong Wei’s hands were pressed hard against the ground, each breath brought him severe pain. After an unknown amount of time, he caught a glimpse of Xu Shuangtze’s robe stopping in front of him.

A deep voice commanded, “Look up.”

“..” Gong Wei raised his gaze inch by inch, and in the midst of the excruciating pain, finally, after sixteen years, saw the still familiar face of Xu Shuangtze.

Xu Shuangtze’s eyes were horribly black, like two lifeless wells, which were frightening to witness. That ice cold face seemed to be frozen with age, especially when his gaze fell onto someone, it was as if he were standing on top of the ice peaks and snowfields, looking down on all beings from a distance.

Gong Wei, using Xiaoyuan’s innocent gaze, looked at Xu Shuangtze with a confused and intimidated expression, without a trace of irregularity.

It was a long time before Xu Shuangtze finally turned, the tone of voice cold and still, “Harsh punishment will be used for anyone who causes disturbances in this forest in future.”

He walked back where he came from, and Yuchi Xiao, full of surprise, suddenly raised his head, “Lord Xu! I implore you to help us, save Linjiang City from the disaster! Many lives are at stake..”

Xu Shuangtze passed in front of him, his eyes glancing at him from top to bottom, “Life and death are predestined. There is a time and place for everything. This is the Taoist law of nature.”

The pupils of Yuchi Xiao’s eyes constricted.

Xu Shuangtze, with his hands behind his back, walked on. Without looking at the crowd again, he disappeared into the depths of the peach forest.