Translator: THISBRO

Editor: Mimishijie

Proofreader: Bubbles

Xuanmen received news of Lin Xuan’s capture at the first possible moment. When this happened Qing XuZi was still in closed door cultivation, so instead it was Swordsman Yao who set out towards the Palace of Bliss. That very night, he left to try and retrieve Lin Xuan, but this journey resulted in seven continuous days of radio silence; not a soul had seen him. With Swordsman Yao’s cultivation, he couldn’t have disappeared so quietly even if he were faced with He Huan. Bu LingYun couldn’t control the worry she had for her father, which was why she had secretly come to Sky Veil Town with her shixiong.

Xuanmen had always pretended not to see the Palace of Bliss, just leaving it to develop due to their shared past. After all, Bu QingYun had been raised single-handedly by their sect leader and he and Bu YaoLian had been like brothers, since they grew up together. In the past, every time the sect was asked to join the Demon Extermination Campaign, they would all enter into a sect-wide seclusion to avoid answering. However, now that Lin Xuan had been captured and Swordsman Yao disappeared, they didn’t have any choice but to participate.

That white-clothed youth left so suddenly and Bu LingYun was unwilling to return to the inn, so the two of them wandered around the street at random. Looking in the direction of the distant Palace of Bliss with no knowledge of her father’s whereabouts, she became increasingly worried. “Lu-shixiong, could something have happened to father?”

The only reason Lu Wen was willing to leave Xuanmen was to protect his shimei, and now he gently reassured her, “Don’t worry, Shimei. Xuanmen’s successors have always had the protection of the heavens, so he won’t be killed. Even Bu QingYun survived being hunted down by both demonic and righteous forces.”

What he said was widely recognised by the Jianghu as a fact. Every generation, Xuanmen had no shortage of enemies, but after so many years, which one of them had actually been able to do something about it? Just like with Bu QingYun; back then even with all of his meridians broken and his name ruined, those influential powers had failed despite banding together to hunt him down. In fact, every single one that had participated had been foundationally destroyed until they eventually disappeared within the sands of time. Which was why there was a saying on the Jianghu: no one could kill Xuanmen’s successors.

Bu LingYun had also started to cultivate the founding sword intent, so naturally she knew just how many life-saving cards this technique had, which calmed her down. The two walked around town for a while longer before heading to where the Myriad Treasures Hall was staying to visit Yue FangZhou. Before they even got there, they heard a huge ruckus. From afar it seemed that there was a large bear plopped in front of the town’s gate.

Before the Xuanmen Righteous Sect was established there were a lot of spirit cultivators. The so-called spirits were originally creatures transformed after absorbing the naturally occurring spiritual energy and gaining spiritual wisdom. In essence, they had consciousness because they were alive1. As long as they continued to grow, they would inevitably form a golden core, far superior to the human cultivators at the time. However, with the immortal’s scattering of endless cultivation techniques, this standard was broken. It took at least three hundred years for a spirit cultivator to reach the Nascent Soul Stage while a genius human cultivator who had a suitable technique would only take a hundred years to get to the Calamity Crossing Stage. In addition to that, the first two Xuanmen Sect Heads had slain numerous powerful spirit cultivators to achieve peace. In a second, the situation on the two sides had reversed.

A spirit being’s inner core was a rare tonic for cultivators. Just thinking about it, one could imagine just how hard it was to be a spirit cultivator during that time. Fortunately, the current Xuanmen Head, Qing XuZi, pursued the path of benevolence and equality for all living things. He prohibited the righteous faction from hunting down spirits that had never committed atrocities, and it was only when he had made an agreement with the Snowy Mountain’s fox spirit clan a hundred years ago forbidding human cultivators from setting foot in their mountains, that spirit cultivators finally had a place of refuge. Because of this, the spirit cultivators’ feelings towards the Xuanmen Righteous Sect were extremely complicated.

The Jianghu hadn’t seen spirit cultivators for close to a century, so they hadn’t expected one to come to this town today. The white bear was very robust; it was only squatting on the street side yet it was taller than all of the inns. It was obviously a spirit with a developed spirit core, but what was even more shocking was that there were two people sitting on its back. The white bear was covered with several layers of thick fabric as if afraid of jostling its passengers. Upon closer inspection, one would find that the fabric was all made of the Snowy Mountain’s unique ice silk. Just having a tiny piece of fabric made from ice silk would be enough to have ordinary cultivators showing off and gloating, yet this person walked all over it as if it were the plainest carpets. Clearly, this new arrival was someone important.

The appearance of a spirit cultivator was naturally very eye-catching. When everyone looked over to see what was happening, they saw a boy dressed in brocade clothing and draped in a fur coat being slowly lowered from the back of the white bear by a man in black.

The man had a sword strapped onto his back and looked very strong and sturdy. Although his face was not very attractive, his eyebrows offered a uniquely heroic quality to his appearance. Unlike him, the boy in brocade clothes being carried did not disappoint. Like an exquisite pink jade, his eyebrows, nose, and lips seemed to be carefully traced by the world’s most skilled sculptor before he’d dared to carefully carve it onto this snowy canvas, so incredibly fine it was flawless.

However, it was his pair of bewitching fox eyes that made it harder to look away. With only the slightest raise, his gaze silently but firmly rooted itself in your heart, melting all defences and sensibilities like consuming a lingering aged wine, drunk without knowing it. At the moment he was put down by the man, there was only one reaction in the hearts of everyone present:?This was a fox demon who could bring disaster to a nation.

There were many fox spirits on the Snowy Mountains, but everyone knew which one he was the moment they saw him. There was only one person who had such an appearance and that was the youngest grandchild of the Fox Immortal, known as the young prince of the Snowy Mountains, the nine-tailed fox spirit Bai Chen.

At this moment, this peerlessly beautiful fox spirit glanced at the crowd with a faint smile hanging on the corners of his lips. He then slowly walked towards the two Xuanmen disciples, tilted his head towards Lu Wen, and asked with a smile, “Little Cultivator, aren’t you happy to see me?”

Their attire had long announced their identities. The moment the surrounding crowd heard what the fox spirit said, they all turned their attention towards Lu Wen, whose whole body was tense. They internally pondered,?This Xuanmen disciple actually has some kind of connection to this fox spirit? Could it be that following in the footsteps of Bu QingYun, another wave of commotion was about to be made?

Yet, before the gossip mongers even had the opportunity to gather together, the little prince’s smile fell. He stared at Bu LingYun, who was behind Lu Wen, as he mumbled, “It’s actually only today that I knew you were actually a Xuanmen disciple.”

His voice was complete with the uniquely coy charm of the fox spirits. It was supposed to be something very nice, but Lu Wen involuntarily shed a cold sweat and sternly reminded, “Bai Chen, this place is about to hold a Demon Extermination Campaign. Mind yourself wisely.”

There were already old grievances between them, so when the young prince heard this, he raised his eyes. The soul stealing air about him instantly transformed into sharp blades, his tone became cold. “Demonic Extermination? Oh right, I’d heard that you were going to rescue one of your disciples from He Huan. Coincidentally, he has also stolen one of our cubs. That is why I am here.”

Bu LingYun didn’t know why her shixiong became so tense when he saw this pretty person. When she heard why he was here, all she did was blink and ask, “You’re also here to retrieve people?”

“That was my plan before I met you guys, but now that I have, I’ve changed my mind.”

Peering at her, Bai Chen displayed a shy little smile that instantly made Bu LingYun blush. However, even though his tone was still light, the contents of what he said had Lu Wen immediately pull out his sword. “Say, if I use two Xuanmen disciples to trade, would He Huan return my family’s little cub?”

“Those not of our kind must therefore have different hearts. Spirit cultivators from the Snowy Mountains are not on the same path as us. Shimei, run and get reinforcements.”

Lu Wen knew from the moment they met that this wouldn’t end peacefully. So the moment he heard this, he pushed Bu LingYun behind him before slashing his sword towards Bai Chen in an effort to stop him. Yet his sword only traveled three inches before being unable to go further. Looking closely, a beast spirit flew out of the fur coat. Its spirit body wrapped tightly around the blade like a rope. Bai Chen idly appraised the sword pointed towards him, silently chuckled, and repeated, “What a great phrase, ‘Those not of our kind must therefore have different hearts’.”

Since Bai Chen dared to publicly announce that he would kidnap two Xuanmen disciples, he had to have something he could rely on. He unhurriedly looked in the direction of where Bu LingYun had flown off to before saying, “Dog Li, as my guard, how can you just watch as he bothers me?”

The man in black was originally resting by the large bear as he listened to their conversation. Occasionally he would even roar back as if they were communicating their findings. He hadn’t expected that just as he was getting absorbed into the drama, he would be called. Under the scrutiny of the crowd and a wave of ‘he looks so dignified, how could he have such a name’ stares, he lifted Bai Chen into his arms with familiarity. After that, he jumped up to the bear and deposited the youth back into the white bear’s paws and complained, “Why couldn’t you give me a better name?”

Bai Chen had seen his conversation with the large bear, so after finding a comfortable position to lay down on the bear paw, he icily laughed. “Was this farce entertaining?”

The young man was already used to such ridicule, so he pretended as if he didn’t hear anything. “At least it was more entertaining than watching the chickadees on your front lawn squabble.”

Hearing this, Bai Chen’s beautiful pair of eyes raised as he looked at him. His smile finally dropped. “Li Big Balls, capture those two. If any one of them escapes, tomorrow you will be Eunuch Li.”

“I was wrong. I think I prefer Dog Li.”

When the new names came up, the young man went rigid. He smiled bitterly as he apologised, but he still instantly flashed behind Lu Wen. He leaned his head to the side to avoid Lu Wen’s strike, his right middle and index fingers coming together and pointing to the sky. The heavy sword strapped to his back came out of its scabbard. The sword’s entire body was ink black, but under the light of the sun it was like flowing molten gold. When the young man started infusing his spiritual energy into the sword, countless golden symbols erupted out of nowhere.

The symbols were extremely complex; they were clearly ancient scripts that ordinary people couldn’t possibly decipher. Along with the fluttering strands of gold, all of the sword-like weapons at the scene started uncontrollably shaking. Sword after sword cried out, as if greeting their hero.

There was only one sword that could arouse such a scene. Feeling the fear coming from his sword, Lu Wen’s face went pale. He shouted, “You are using the Sword of the High King.”

Cultivators have inhabited this land for who knows how many years, so naturally there wouldn’t only be those from Xuanmen who’d ascended. After ascension, ordinary immortals couldn’t return to the mortal realm, but there were those that had been unable to complete the Calamity Crossing stage who had still achieved an immortal body. The only reason why they hadn’t ascended yet was because something was still tying them here. Such beings were called wandering immortals. In the present, there were only two wandering immortals in this world. One was the Fox Immortal of the Snowy Mountains and the second was one who’d only existed in legends, the White Sword Saint. This Sword Saint had made his home on the Snowy Mountains at least 500 years ago, but no one had ever really seen him. They only knew that he could cut off the peak of the Snowy Mountains in one slash and his cultivation was immeasurable.

And in these legends, the sword that immortal used was the king of all swords, the Sword of the High King. This young man’s cultivation obviously wasn’t on the level of a wandering immortal, but judging from his age, he was probably the sword saint’s disciple. However, the Fox Immortal and the Sword Saint had always been like fire and water. How did their successors end up working together?

As a Xuanmen disciple, Lu Wen was immediately able to guess this young man’s identity and asked, “As the disciple of the White Sword Saint, you actually heed the orders of evil spirits. Aren’t you scared of bringing your master shame?”

“Excuse me, but it’s our sect’s tradition to be entangled with foxes.”

Hearing his words, the black-clothed young man was indifferent. He had a face of ridicule as he flipped his palm. An invisible force overtook Lu Wen’s sword and within the blink of an eye, he was restrained. Finished on this side, he looked to Bu LingYun who’d already flown quite far away. His hand signed another technique as he turned to the crowd and smiled. “My brothers, I’ll just borrow these.”

Before they even understood what he meant, their swords suddenly shot up into the sky without their control. They then watched as dozens of treasured blades came together to form a cage, forcefully trapping Bu LingYun inside and bringing her back.

He didn’t expect that although the sword saint’s successor looked around their age, he was already in the Nascent Soul stage. As two Golden Core stage cultivators, they were completely outmatched. When Lu Wen saw that Bu LingYun had also been captured, he completely lost control. He faced the person on the bear paw and shouted, “Bai Chen! My shimei has nothing to do with this. Do whatever you want to me, but let her go!”

Since the targets had already been captured, the young man resheathed his sword. When he heard what Lu Wen said, he revealed an appreciative smile. “At least you’re not a coward.”

After that, Bai Chen raised his hand and three red marks appeared on that person’s handsome face. Hissing as he rubbed at his cheek, the young man glanced at Bai Chen’s jade-like fingers and translucent nails, sighing helplessly. “Say, fox, I’ve already helped you capture them. Isn’t scratching me a little petty?”

Shooting him a look, the fox spirit raised an eyebrow before this time clawing the back of his hand. Only after that was he appeased. “I’m happy.”

What else could the young man say? He could only once again pat the reliable white bear behind him and sigh. “Bear, it must have been hard following him for so many years.”

Seeing that he wasn’t in their eyes at all, Lu Wen looked to the restrained Bu LingYun and became more worried. “Bai Chen, are you intending on breaking the Snowy Mountain’s promise?”

Once this was mentioned, Bai Chen finally looked at him. His eyes were cold as he slowly intoned, “Qing XuZi had promised our Fox Immortal that human cultivators would never step foot into the Snowy Mountains, yet you have come before. It was you humans who broke the promise first.”

As he was saying this, he seemed to suddenly remember something as he cocked his head to the side and looked the man up and down. His tone became aristocratic and aloof, his expression that of a nine-tailed fox’s arrogance.

“Warrior Lu, nobody other than family and close friends can address a fox spirit by name. You are the same as everyone else on the Jianghu, so call me Young Prince.”