Soul-Binding Lock
The sword was suddenly pulled out, bringing with it a string of warm blood droplets that splashed onto the ground with a soft pattering sound.
Yun Wei let out a muffled groan, staggering to the side to avoid the boy's second sword strike that followed closely behind. The sword's wind was sharp, grazing past her ear and severing a few strands of her hair.
Warm blood was constantly soaking through her back and the front of her clothes. Her vision blurred, the hall swayed, and the candlelight turned into a blurry halo in her eyes.
"No need to waste your energy." Xie Qingfeng's voice carried an indifferent air of complete control. "When I took him in as my godson, I planted a 'Soul-Binding Lock' deep within his heart. This lock is formless and intangible, and he is no different from an ordinary person in daily life. It can even help him improve his cultivation. But as long as I have a thought, he becomes the sharpest knife in my hand. If I want him to kill you, he can only kill you, unable to resist or control himself."
Soul-Binding Lock?
No wonder Xie Qingfeng was so confident in bestowing the Lone Goose Sword upon Xie Lanchen; it turns out he had already laid this trap.
He never truly trusted anyone, including this adopted son whom he had raised and on whom he seemed to have high hopes.
In his eyes, Xie Lanchen was nothing more than a useful and completely controllable tool.
She looked up at the boy who was approaching again, sword in hand. Those familiar cobalt blue eyes had lost all their luster, leaving only emptiness.
But she could clearly see his fingertips trembling slightly...
He was struggling.
Even with his soul bound by chains, he was still fighting with his last ounce of willpower.
The boy was forcibly suppressing his own will and wielding his sword against someone who refused to draw it. What pain and struggle must he have been going through?
Yunwei raised her sword to parry his thrusting blade again, but the movement aggravated her wound, causing the blood to gush out even more rapidly.
"Xie Lanchen! Look at me!"
The boy's face remained expressionless, his attacks unabated. But his thrusting sword deviated by a mere half-inch.
This can't go on.
We cannot allow him to be manipulated into doing something irreversible, nor can we allow him to live in the pain of hurting her with his own hands in the future.
With a flick of her wrist, the Broken Dust Sword no longer parried, but instead swiftly slashed upwards along the blade of the Lone Goose Sword, striking directly at his wrist that was holding the sword.
With a crisp clang, the Lone Goose Sword slipped from the boy's hand and spun into the air.
Almost simultaneously, Xie Lanchen, who was being controlled, instinctively wanted to leap up and catch the sword.
Yunwei had anticipated this, and instead of withdrawing her sword, she advanced, twisting her wrist and striking the back of his neck hard with the back of the sword.
"You..." Xie Lanchen's body stiffened abruptly, a very soft syllable escaped from his lips, and the faint focus in his eyes completely disappeared as he fell straight backward.
Yun Wei, clinging to her last shred of clarity, transformed the Duan Chen sword in her hand into a streak of light and returned it to its sheath at her waist. At the same time, before Xie Lan Chen could collapse, she reached out and caught him.
With her other hand, she reached out and caught the fallen Lone Goose Sword, which had once belonged to her but was now stained with her heart's blood.
The hilt of the sword was icy cold to the touch.
He used her former sword to pierce her heart.
Even though she knew he was controlled by the Soul-Binding Lock and had no choice in his own life, the excruciating pain of being pierced by a sharp blade in that instant, and the almost absurd disbelief that surged in her heart, still sent chills down her spine.
But now, looking at him with his eyes closed, his long eyelashes casting faint shadows on his pale, bloodless face, leaning quietly and defenselessly on my shoulder, his breathing weak but even, the cold distance caused by being manipulated seemed to dissipate a little.
This is not his fault.
The root of it all lies with her father, Xie Qingfeng, who coldly watched everything from that high platform.
Yunwei's mind raced as she calculated, her heart sinking deeper and deeper.
Xie Qingfeng had clearly made thorough preparations. With Lan Chen under control and himself seriously injured, his revenge was now impossible to succeed.
Continuing this entanglement will only result in the needless loss of both of their lives.
They have to leave.
"It's just a death throes," Xie Qingfeng's voice rang out again.
"Yunwei, you are just like your mother, and you will eventually be defeated by your pointless soft heart and these so-called ties. Last time I let you escape with your remnant soul by chance, but this time, I will not give you any more chances."
As he spoke, he waved his hand seemingly casually.
The four elders standing by received the order and dared not delay. They quickly shifted their positions—three of them formed a triangular formation, while the remaining Elder Duan remained in place.
The three elders who formed the array simultaneously made a hand seal, which intertwined in mid-air, instantly forming a huge light shield that enveloped Yun Wei and Xie Lanchen, who were leaning against each other in the hall, intending to completely suppress the two.
Yun Wei supported the unconscious Xie Lanchen with one arm, struggling to stand up straight. She looked up at the rapidly descending, shimmering light barrier, and a cold smile curved her lips.
They're trying to use the same old tricks again, first trapping me with a formation to deplete my last bit of strength, and then unleashing the Xuan Tian Demon-Slaying Seal to completely obliterate my soul.
Don't even think about it.
She gripped the Lone Goose Sword tightly in her hand.
This sword had accompanied her through countless days and nights, witnessing her sweating profusely on the training ground, and helping her descend the mountain to slay demons and protect the peace of the region.
Later, it became the only place for her soul to find solace and refuge after she died unjustly.
Even after Duan Chen came along, the connection with this sword was never truly severed.
At this moment, she could feel a faint yet incredibly familiar resonance emanating from within the sword. It was the original sword intent that belonged to her, Yun Wei. Although it was nurtured and covered by Xie Lanchen's aura, the imprint rooted deep within the sword soul had never disappeared.
Perhaps... it's worth a try.
Yun Wei no longer hesitated. She closed her eyes and forcibly probed the depths of the Lone Goose Sword with her divine sense, seeking that faint connection to the sword heart that originated from herself.
The Lone Goose Sword emitted a low yet clear tremor, and its blade suddenly lit up for a moment. A long-lost, blood-connected sense of familiarity surged into Yun Wei's heart.
She suddenly opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of Elder Duan still standing there—his expression was constantly changing, and he looked at her and the unconscious Xie Lanchen in his arms with complicated emotions. His lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something.
Yun Wei had no time to ponder the meaning behind his unusual behavior; her gaze was fixed on the man she hated to the core on the high platform. "Father, do you think the three of them can stop me?"
Xie Qingfeng sneered: "At your last gasp, you still dare to spout nonsense? It's nothing but a cornered beast's struggle."
Yunwei said no more.
She was well aware of her physical condition: her heart meridian was damaged, she had lost too much blood, and her spiritual energy was almost depleted. She was only holding on by sheer willpower and had to give it her all to break through to safety, or she would have no other chance.
She took a deep breath, her left hand forming a sword shape with her fingers together. Ignoring the oppressive light barrier, she lightly pointed towards a seemingly stable but actually slightly stagnant point in the flow of spiritual energy within the barrier.
Those were the subtle flaws left when the three elders formed hand seals, due to their varying levels of cultivation and imperfect coordination. If she hadn't been extremely sensitive to spiritual energy, she would have had a hard time noticing them.
"break!"
With a clear shout, the seemingly solid light barrier shattered, turning into countless points of spiritual light that scattered and fell in all directions.
The three elders suffered a backlash from the formation, letting out a muffled groan and staggering back a step, their faces filled with undisguised horror.
They never expected that Yun Wei, who was already severely injured and on the verge of death, could still see through the weakness of the formation at a glance and break it in one move.
Yun Wei's face was deathly pale, devoid of any color.
She looked up at Xie Qingfeng and saw a familiar golden seal rapidly forming in his palm, its light growing brighter and brighter.
That is the Xuan Tian Demon-Slaying Seal.
Those who suffer from the Yin-Yang clash will not only experience excruciating pain, with their flesh and blood tearing apart and being burned by intense fire, but will also eventually have their bodies turned into golden dust, scattering away and their spirit and form utterly destroyed.
She couldn't just sit and wait to die.
It's either mutual destruction or... fighting your way out.
Thinking of this, she gently pushed Xie Lanchen, who was leaning on her shoulder, to the ground to avoid causing any harm.
He then raised the Lone Goose Sword high in his right hand, the tip of the sword pointing directly at the sky above the palace. With his left hand, he joined his index and middle fingers together and quickly slashed along the blade from the hilt to the tip.
As the fingertips passed over it, the faint blue light on the Lone Goose Sword suddenly surged, and the sword energy raged wildly, emitting a sharp whistling sound.
"With this remnant soul, I ignite my sword heart—!"
She let out a clear shout that shook the palace, and swung her sword forward with fierce force.
A brilliant, azure sword aura, spanning over ten feet across the main hall, hurtled towards Xie Qingfeng.
At the same time, the Xuan Tian Demon-Slaying Seal also broke free from his palm and headed towards Yun Wei Seal.
boom--!
A deafening roar erupted, instantly engulfing everything in the hall.
The ground cracked inch by inch, the massive beams shook violently, and dust mixed with gravel fell from the roof, filling the entire space and instantly obscuring everyone's vision.
Exhausted, Yun Wei knelt on one knee, only managing to keep from collapsing completely by digging her Lone Goose Sword deep into a crack in the ground.
Her vision was blurry, her ears were ringing, her body was cold and stiff, and she could barely feel her limbs.
As the smoke and dust cleared up, she managed to lift her heavy eyelids, only to be shocked to find a figure blocking her way.
It is Elder Duan.
His chest was visibly dissipating, turning into specks of gold dust that drifted in the air—it turned out that he had shielded himself from the Xuan Tian Demon-Slaying Seal.
Yun Wei slowly stood up, a faint look of confusion on her face.
Elder Duan's body rapidly became transparent in the golden light. He looked down at Yun Wei, who was kneeling on the ground, her breath faint. His face was no longer stern, but instead held a complex, indescribable, yet relieved, calm. "Yun Wei... after Shitang Town... I... I couldn't sleep at night... I committed a grave mistake, aiding and abetting evil... These past days, seeing you return... I've been filled with remorse, ashamed to face you... I'm sorry to you, and even more sorry to your mother..."
He spoke with difficulty, and a jade pen, no longer than the palm of his hand and pure white, slid out from his sleeve. The jade pen floated lightly and landed right in front of Yun Wei.
"This is the 'Pen That Can See You Yet So Far'... My secret treasure... I write down the places I want to go in my mind... It can take you away..."
Yunwei looked at the jade pen in front of her, and then at Elder Duan, whose body had mostly dissipated, and felt a mix of emotions.
She stretched out her left hand, grasped the cool jade pen tightly, and then bowed deeply to Elder Duan's fading phantom.
This salute was for his defection at the last minute, for his final act of assistance, and for the last vestige of conscience that remained in his heart.
Suddenly, Xie Qingfeng's violent coughing could be heard from afar.
He was badly injured by Yun Wei's desperate sword strike. His once magnificent sect leader robes were tattered and covered in dust and blood. His body was covered with fine sword wounds, dripping with blood, making him look extremely disheveled.
The jade throne he had been sitting on had been reduced to ruins in the earth-shattering collision, and now he was kneeling on the ground, his face filled with disbelief.
Elder Duan's body had completely transformed into specks of golden light, dissipating into the world without leaving a trace.
Yun Wei turned to help Xie Lanchen up, but before she could move, she lost control and fell forward, crashing heavily beside him. Blood from her chest soaked the ground in front of her.
“Cough cough… It’s true what they say, mother and daughter are of the same mind, equally foolish.” Xie Qingfeng struggled to his feet, summoned his natal sword, and walked over step by step. “How does it feel to have your heart pierced? Your mother felt the same way back then… This time, it’s the person you willingly protected who personally gave you this ‘gift’.”
Mother……
Yunwei's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she regained consciousness for a moment.
She absolutely cannot die here.
She hasn't avenged her mother yet, nor has she witnessed Xie Qingfeng pay the price.
She gripped the "pen that seems to reach the ends of the earth" tightly, wanting to write the three characters "Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons".
Aya is skilled in medicine and poisons; perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope to save her.
But my vision was so blurry that I couldn't see anything clearly, and I didn't have time to write down the complete name.
She could only scribble a single word crookedly—
"valley".
She didn't know if this would succeed, so she could only place all her hopes on the spirit of the magical artifact, hoping it could understand her broken heart and lead them to a place where there was a glimmer of hope.
Just as Xie Qingfeng's sword was about to fall and sever all her life force, the "Brush That Reaches the Ends of the Earth" suddenly burst out with intense light, completely enveloping Yun Wei, who was lying on the ground, and Xie Lanchen, who was unconscious beside her.
The light flashed and disappeared in an instant, as fast as an illusion.
Along with the two figures, they vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving behind only an empty ground covered in wreckage and bloodstains.
Xie Qingfeng's sword missed its mark and struck the ground heavily, leaving a deep sword wound.
He clutched his chest, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his face turned ashen.
He never expected that Yun Wei, even when she was critically injured and on the verge of death, could still injure him to this extent.
"The Soul-Binding Lock is still there..." He stared at the spot where the two had disappeared, his voice filled with endless coldness, "No matter where you escape to, my daughter and I will meet again."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
