Beneath the moon, the silvery white beast let out a low growl of fury. It pinned the giant serpent beneath its claws and sank its teeth into its neck. The serpent’s tail thrashed wildly as it let out a piercing wail.
The cultivators formed seals in unison, using what remained of their spiritual energy to shelter Xiushui City’s surviving mortals within a barrier. Overhead, the Tianluo Parasol covered nearly half the city.
No one dared let their guard down. The serpent’s cultivation rivaled that of a late Mahayana cultivator, and cornered at last, it had poured nearly all its divine will into that wail. Without a barrier to withstand it, even a Golden Core cultivator’s soul would have been torn apart in an instant.
Yet that final counterattack could not save it. The silver beast kept its jaws locked around the serpent’s neck. Blood thick with demonic aura poured like a river into the earth beneath them, spawning more demon thralls without end.
The wail soon dwindled to silence, but the serpent’s blood kept flowing. As if bewitched, countless thralls swarmed over its body, frantically gnawing at its flesh. Before long, they covered the mountain of a carcass. They were the lingering thoughts of everyone fed to the serpent over the past century, driven by the thralls’ instinct to devour their master until nothing remained.
The silver beast watched coldly, as though since time immemorial it had looked on with the same indifference as karma came full circle and the world passed through greed and anger, sorrow and joy. Perhaps the only difference now was the mortal it sheltered within the curl of its long tail.
Everyone stood transfixed, as though the sight had carried them back to ancient times. At last, someone swallowed and asked in a trembling voice:
“Is that… a sacred beast?”
“But didn’t sacred beasts die out before the Heavenly Catastrophe? Where would one come from in Xiushui City?”
“The old texts say sacred beasts carry the fortune of heaven and earth. Even a hair they shed can turn into spiritual energy, and their flesh and blood hold the resonance of karma and the Dao. I wonder if it’s true.”
“Why is a sacred beast here? And why is it protecting Xiushui City’s young lord?”
“Where’s Immortal Venerable Shuanghua?”
“…”
People talked excitedly among themselves. Only Jing Feishuang stood deathly pale, her heart sinking as though into icy water.
No one had ascended in the three thousand years since the Heavenly Catastrophe. Across the Nine Provinces, countless people longed for a chance from the Heavenly Dao to ascend in a single leap. For them, nothing could rival the bloodline of an ancient sacred beast.
Human greed knew no bounds. Her grandmaster and senior martial uncle had kept the secret for nearly a century because they feared others would covet her master’s bloodline. That was why she had been so desperate to find him in Xiushui City. Yet in the end, the secret had come out anyway.
The next moment, something even more frightening happened.
White motes drifted ceaselessly from the silver beast like feathers scattered on the wind. To mortal eyes, the sight was as beautiful as a dream. The cultivators knew it meant the beast was losing spiritual energy.
A cultivator who lost their spiritual energy would become a mortal. A sacred beast would die. Its wounds were too severe, and it had forced itself back into its true form. Now it could no longer hold on to its spiritual energy. It could only let it ebb away, and it would not be long before it died.
As the onlookers grieved for it, white light suddenly rose around the sacred beast. Its enormous body shrank until a man stood in its place: tall and slender, with long silver hair, blue and white robes, and a striking, finely chiseled face.
“Immortal… Immortal Venerable Shuanghua?!”
“Is that Immortal Venerable Shuanghua? Why did the sacred beast turn into him?!”
“Immortal Venerable Shuanghua is a sacred beast in human form?!”
“How is that possible…”
Yun Yao, Chen You, and the others stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what they had seen. Then Jing Feishuang sprang onto her sword and flew toward him.
Back in human form, his eyes shut tight, Xue Yan fell soundlessly from the sky.
Song Liang’s pupils contracted. He gritted his teeth and hurled himself forward to catch Xue Yan, but a streak of iridescent light suddenly tore across the eastern sky. In an instant, it crossed half of Xiushui City through the haze of demonic aura and resolved into a figure in deep blue robes. Right before Song Liang’s eyes, the man caught Xue Yan, gravely wounded and unconscious.
Song Liang fixed him with an icy stare.
“Give him back.”
The handsome man in deep blue robes and a silver crown frowned. He was about to speak when Song Liang said again:
“Give him back to me!”
The man’s brow drew tighter. His voice dropped.
“Every meridian in your body is ruptured…”
“Shuanghua!”
“I’m his senior martial brother!”
“…”
Song Liang paused for a beat, then gripped the Shuanghua Sword and leveled it at him.
“Being his senior brother gives you the right to hold him whenever you like?”
Xu Moxing had never imagined that the person at the heart of his junior brother’s fated tribulation would turn out to be someone like this.
“I’ve seen him without his trousers on!” he snapped. “What’s wrong with holding him for a moment?!”
“Who knows what designs you have on him?”
“…”
Since reaching the Mahayana realm, Xu Moxing had rarely lost his composure. Now a mere mortal had infuriated him enough to shake his divine will.
“He’s like a brother to me. What designs could I possibly have on him? Are you asking to die, mortal?!”
“Martial Uncle!”
Jing Feishuang had seen them arguing from a distance. She hurried over and stepped between them.
“Is Master all right?”
“He might not have been if I hadn’t come. Now that I’m here, he’ll be fine.”
Xu Moxing looked at Song Liang again, then at the sword in his hand. His brows knitted so tightly they nearly tied themselves in a knot.
“Give me the Shuanghua Sword.”
Song Liang didn’t move. He kept his eyes on the unconscious man in Xu Moxing’s arms.
“You’re taking him back to the Yaoshang Sect.”
“Where else would I take him?”
Xu Moxing had little patience for the mortal who had drawn his junior brother into his fated tribulation. If it hadn’t been for this man, a few injuries would hardly have mattered. But now Xue Yan’s sacred beast bloodline had been exposed for all to see. People were greedy. They might be grateful to him for saving their lives today, but who could guarantee they would keep the secret tomorrow? Once word got out, his junior brother and the entire Yaoshang Sect would become targets, and there would be no end to the trouble.
The more he thought about it, the more it irked him.
“The sword.”
Song Liang paid no mind to his tone. He stepped forward and handed the Shuanghua Sword to Jing Feishuang, then approached Xu Moxing and looked at the unconscious man in his arms. He took in Xue Yan’s bloodless face, the high line of his brows and his deep-set eyes. At last, he gently brushed aside a lock of silvery white hair that had fallen across Xue Yan’s face and plucked a single strand.
Xu Moxing’s eyebrows shot up. He was about to speak when he saw Song Liang wind the strand around his hand, loop by loop. He stopped short.
“If someone else had come just now, someone who wanted to hurt him, there wouldn’t have been a thing I could do.”
Song Liang kept his head down as he wound the silver hair around his hand. His fingertips trembled, but his voice was calm.
“It’ll probably be a long time before we see each other again.”
Xu Moxing watched those trembling fingertips and knew exactly why they shook. Every meridian in the mortal’s body had ruptured. An injury like that would make even a cultivator howl in pain, yet Song Liang stood calmly before him, winding that strand of hair with painstaking care, as though he were afraid it might break.
Remembering how easily the man had summoned his junior brother’s life-bound sword with a single call, Xu Moxing couldn’t help asking:
“How long have you two even known each other?”
“Longer than you’ve known him.”
“…”
“I’ve known him for ninety-three years,” Xu Moxing said irritably. “You weren’t even born then.”
“When I met him, he wasn’t in this world yet.”
Song Liang coughed softly, and another trace of blood welled at the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away, took the Spirit-Locking Ring from inside his robes, and fastened it around Xue Yan’s neck.
“This will keep his spiritual energy from leaking away.”
Xu Moxing recognized the ring at once. It was a fine artifact, a precious possession even for the young lord of a mortal city. Yet Song Liang had simply given it to Xue Yan.
Xu Moxing softened a little and decided to offer the mortal a few words of friendly advice.
“Your meridians are all severed, and you have no spiritual roots. You and Xue Yan aren’t meant to be. Best to let go of this obsession now and make the most of the years you have left.”
A moment later, something else occurred to Xu Moxing. He glanced at the unconscious Xue Yan and added:
“Besides, my junior brother may already be an immortal venerable of the Mahayana realm, but by the reckoning of his sacred beast bloodline, he isn’t even a hundred yet. He hasn’t reached adulthood. He won’t fall for anyone so easily.”
“…”
Song Liang let out a doleful sigh.
“No wonder I’ve had such rotten luck. Turns out I nearly got involved with a minor.”
3085: 【…】
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