Splitting rocks and piercing clouds
The younger sister suddenly shrank, transforming into a wisp of black mist, and broke free from her restraints.
With a loud crash, most of the earthen wall crumbled, and broken tiles mixed with dust rained down on them. The ground beneath their feet had cracked open, revealing a deep, bottomless fissure.
The spot where the three were standing sank rapidly, and the solid mud beneath them had long since turned into a churning mudflow.
In a dizzying moment, they crashed heavily onto a hard, cold ground, surrounded by jagged rocks.
Dust filled the air. Yunwei, enduring her dizziness, pushed herself up and stood up. Seeing Aya still lying on the ground coughing incessantly, she bent down and pulled her up, then pulled her behind her to shield her from the dust.
Looking up, one sees a massive rock formation deep underground, torn apart and stretched open by the elements.
A thick, black cloud hung overhead, as dark as ink, from which blood-red shadows continuously emerged—the villagers themselves.
Their expressions were blank, their steps stiff, like awakened puppets, as they surrounded them in layers.
“She’s sealed off this place, turning it into a dead end.” Aya looked around, her voice calm, showing no sign of fear.
Yun Wei glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and saw that Aya's fingers, which were gripping the corner of her sleeve, tightened. Aya had come out of the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, probably not expecting that the dangers outside were even greater than those inside the valley. However, she was stubborn and refused to show the slightest fear.
She released her hand, then patted the back of her hand twice. Her gaze swept over the surrounding desolate, strange rocks, and her brows furrowed slightly.
The mental blockage is complete, sealing off this place and cutting off all escape routes. The root cause must lie in the scorched earth behind the mountain, where the resentment of the deceased sister has taken root. She is connected to the earth's yin energy, her power inexhaustible. Only by destroying that nest of resentment can this predicament be broken.
"The root cause must be destroyed."
Before he could finish speaking, a familiar longsword was already presented to him.
"Do you know what I'm going to do?" Yun Wei didn't take it immediately, her gaze scrutinizing Xie Lanchen.
The young man raised an eyebrow slightly: "Back in the sect, you used a move called 'Splitting Stones and Piercing Clouds,' whose sword energy could circle a mountain three times. How could I forget it?" He paused, his tone carrying an even more ambiguous meaning, "Besides, who else but you has such skill, capable of piercing through the earth's veins with a single sword strike?"
Seeing that she still hadn't reached out, he suddenly chuckled and tapped the scabbard lightly with his fingertips: "Do you want me to recall for you? That time when your sword energy went out of control and you almost cleaved the Scripture Pavilion in two, I was the one who blocked half of the aftershock for you."
This was half true and half false. He was indeed nearby that time, but it wasn't necessarily to shield her from any aftermath.
But he spoke so frankly at the moment, as if it were really true.
Yunwei's fingertips twitched slightly, and she finally grasped the sword hilt.
Instead of getting entangled with him over these old issues, it's better to settle things quickly.
She looked up and caught the boy's gaze lingering on her pale face for a fleeting moment before he quickly looked away: "Save your last bit of strength! The life-sharing contract is still in effect. If you completely destroy yourself, wouldn't my life be buried with you for nothing?"
"A life-sharing pact..." Was he reminding himself to cherish his life, or was he simply worried about his own? It was undoubtedly the latter.
She said in a deep voice, "I need to gather my energy and draw my sword, and I need to be undisturbed for three breaths."
Xie Lanchen scoffed, but without hesitation, he took half a step to her side, facing the approaching ghost directly.
"Enough with the nonsense. Three breaths it is, no one can touch you."
"You're all bark and no bite, but you're all action." Nangong Ya saw that although he was speaking very aggressively, he had already stepped in front of Yun Wei and couldn't help but purse her lips.
With a flick of her wrist, several poisoned needles were already in her palm. She also moved half a step to Yun Wei's side.
"Don't worry!" the girl said loudly, "Even if that kid gets beaten down by those things, I'm still here! I guarantee they won't get a step closer to you!"
Upon hearing this, Xie Lanchen felt a barely perceptible weight on his shoulders, as if he wanted to turn around and scold her, but in the end he only let out a cold snort from his nose as a response.
The banter between the two lightened the tense atmosphere somewhat. A slight thought flickered in his mind, but he quickly suppressed it.
This is not the time to be distracted.
She said no more, knelt on one knee, placed the Lone Goose Sword upright on the rocky ground in front of her, made a sword incantation with her left hand and held it upright in front of her chest, and instantly a three-inch condensed blue light condensed at her fingertips.
This "Splitting Rocks and Piercing Clouds" technique was originally her own creation, capable of drawing upon the vast and righteous energy of heaven and earth.
The Lone Goose Sword had accompanied her in slaying countless demons and monsters. The power to ward off evil contained within its blade made it the perfect weapon to penetrate rock strata and strike directly at the earth's ley lines.
However, the Xuan Tian Demon-Slaying Seal destroyed half of her foundation. If she were to use this move again now, the price would be heavy, and it would probably consume more than 30% of her remnant soul.
A cold glint flashed in Yun Wei's eyes, and her clear shout echoed through the cave:
"With my remnant soul as my guide, and the lone goose as my bridge, I sweep away all resentment and filth! Open—!"
She clasped her hands together tightly, gripping the sword hilt. The sword's azure light surged, instantly transforming into an incredibly condensed pillar of light.
Where the sword tip pointed, a powerful sword intent, threatening to shatter mountains and pierce the sky, erupted and pierced deep into the earth.
Yun Wei stared intently at the Lone Goose Sword. When Gu Lin slew the demonic dragon, the sword was already covered in fine cracks.
The more intense and dazzling the cyan sword energy became, the more violently the sword trembled. Every existing crack spread and expanded wildly, emitting a faint cracking sound.
Yunwei thought to herself: Just hold on for a little longer, just a little longer.
Just as the cyan sword tip pierced the rocky ground, the thick black resentment above let out a shriek: "Don't even think about it!"
The figure of the deceased sister, enveloped in towering black energy, rushed straight towards her.
The young man who had been blocking Yun Wei seemed to have anticipated this. He brought his right hand together and swiftly drew a crimson-gold rune in the air in front of him. The spiritual power at his fingertips burst forth without reservation, making a crackling sound.
"Emberfire!" the boy shouted, and the runes suddenly burst into bright light.
A colossal dragon, composed entirely of blazing solar flames, roared forth, its crimson flames instantly illuminating the entire dark and chilly giant rock cave as if it were daytime.
The boy's arm trembled slightly beneath his sleeve, indicating that forcibly activating the secret technique had taken a toll.
"No...don't burn me to death!" She suddenly stopped, retreating frantically with uncontrollable fear, only able to watch helplessly as Yun Wei poured all her last strength into the soon-to-be-shattered Lone Goose Sword.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The beam of light formed from the cyan sword energy pierced into the depths of the earth's veins through the passage opened by the Lone Goose Sword, heading straight for the scorched earth behind the mountain where resentment lingered.
The rock trembled violently, and the "crowd" of dead souls that had gathered around suddenly froze, their movements frozen.
Immediately afterwards, tiny, yet pure blue specks of light, like fireflies, began to slowly drift out from their empty, numb bodies, growing more numerous and brighter until they coalesced into a hazy mist of light.
The sword shatters the nest of resentment, shaking the very source, and the mental blockage dissipates on its own.
"No—! They deserve to die! They all deserve to die!" Yi Mei watched as the villagers' bodies dissipated and their souls rose, letting out a heart-wrenching roar filled with endless resentment.
The dense black aura surrounding her surged and dissipated violently, finally revealing her true, thin, and frail figure.
She fell heavily onto the rocky ground, her fists pounding the hard surface with a dull thud.
“They watched me die! They’re heartless! They deserve it! They deserve to never be reincarnated! Why! Why did you save them! Why!” she demanded, her voice hoarse.
It is their fault, their sin, that they stand by and watch your suffering.
But you trap their souls, making them repeat your pain day after day, and this debt becomes a tangled mess, forever unresolved.
When will this cycle of revenge ever end?
The dizziness caused by the complete depletion of spiritual energy made Yun Wei's vision go black, and her body swayed uncontrollably.
She took a deep breath, walked to her sister, and slowly squatted down.
"Stop hitting me, does it hurt?"
The girl's pounding motion suddenly stopped, and she looked up at Yun Wei.
That face...that question, "Does it hurt?"...slowly overlapped with the image of the immortal who, twenty years ago, knelt down, wiped her wounds with a cloth soaked in spring water, and carefully applied ointment to her wounds.
But this fleeting moment of confusion was instantly overwhelmed by a deeper resentment.
"Hypocrite! You, a high and mighty disciple of the immortal sect, are born into a life of luxury and are revered by all! How could you possibly understand the kind of life I lead in Chishui Village?! You're here pretending to help them find salvation, what are you pretending to be compassionate for!"
Yunwei calmly met the overwhelming resentment and accusation in the girl's eyes, without immediately refuting her, but simply listening quietly until Yimei was panting from excitement.
The younger sister's pain stemmed from the betrayal of her blood relatives and the indifference of the villagers.
Although she did not experience its form, she understood its essence. Unexpected and unappreciated, simply because she was born a woman.
“You’re right. I didn’t experience the suffocation in Chishui Village firsthand.” Yunwei slowly stretched out her hands, palms open, displaying them to her sister without reservation.
Those hands, palms covered in calluses, were covered with countless tiny, crisscrossing old scars.
Xie Lanchen stared at the scar on her palm, his eyes flickering as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he held back.
“But the feeling of being ‘unliked’ and ‘unexpected’ is etched in my memory.” Yunwei raised her gaze from her palm, locking it back into her sister’s shocked eyes, her tone calm, “simply because I was born a woman, not the son my father hoped for. No matter how hard I practiced my sword, how well I did, how I defeated those fellow disciples who mocked and looked down on me on the dueling stage, in his eyes, I was never as good as those male disciples.”
She continued, “I too have been in the mire, betrayed by my closest relatives. But I did not choose to wallow in resentment, nor did I punish myself for the mistakes of others, nor did I allow myself to become a monster consumed by resentment. I chose to grip my sword tightly, so that no one would dare to underestimate me when my blade points.”
Xie Lanchen's expression changed upon hearing this.
She was talking about the Guiyun Sect. She knew all about the disciples' unrestrained gossip and the elders' subtle disdain.
Nangong Ya stood aside, listening to Yun Wei recount her heavy past in such a calm tone, and looking at the shocking scars on her palms, she felt a pang of sorrow.
She turned her back, her shoulders trembling slightly, and quickly wiped away the tears that welled up in her eyes with her sleeve.
She couldn't bear to listen any longer.
"Where is the Immortal Master..." Yi Mei suddenly grabbed Yun Wei's sleeve, her voice trembling uncontrollably, carrying the last shred of weak, stubborn hope, "The Immortal Master... she loved you so much! Why didn't she take you away? Why didn't she take you away from that place?"
She remembered the tenderness in the immortal's eyes when he spoke of her daughter. He had said to her, "I also have a daughter, just turned one year old, named Yunwei. I hope she will grow up to be as intelligent and kind as you..."
Now, watching Yunwei show genuine compassion for the numb souls of the villagers, and watching her protect her companions in times of danger, her kindness is exactly as the immortal described.
Look, Yunwei is indeed a kind person, just as the immortal wished... The immortal loves her so much, he must have taken her away from the sea of suffering long ago, right?
Yun lowered her eyes, the habitual "She's fine" almost slipping out.
But the truth is the truth, that's what Xie Lanchen said.
She looked away, unable to bear the expectation in the girl's eyes any longer, and said in a voice as soft as a sigh, "My mother... passed away when I was six years old."
"She...is dead?"
The younger sister was struck dumb, murmuring, "Such a good person...so gentle to me...the person who gave me hope to live...is actually...dead?"
“I killed everyone in the village… I have countless blood debts… My sins are heinous… I deserve to be annihilated… It was me… I failed the immortal… It’s a pity… I don’t even have the chance to apologize to her in the next life…”
"If your mother were here, she would only wish for your liberation, not your descent into despair. The sins have already been committed, and regret is useless. Rather than dissipating in despair, it is better to completely sever this cycle of suffering," Yunwei said softly.
She joined two fingers together, gathering the last wisp of spiritual energy at their tips, and gently touched the girl's cold brow. "Resentment has vanished, obsession must be resolved. Past sins end here."
May you be born into a peaceful and happy family in your next life, loved by your parents, no longer living with hatred, and no longer destroying yourself because of resentment.
A soft halo of light suddenly shone from between Yi Mei's eyebrows, enveloping her small body.
Tears streamed down her face as she trembled and carefully took out a sachet from her bosom—a sachet she had treasured for twenty years, its edges worn and frayed, yet still exuding a faint, delicate orchid fragrance—and gently placed it into Yun Wei's equally cold palm.
"Thank you... This sachet... I'll leave it to you..." After saying that, she transformed into specks of pure light and merged into the rising blue soul mist.
As she disappeared, the surrounding collapsed rocks, jagged stones, and charred dome peeled away and vanished like faded, old paintings.
The sky was bright.
Yunwei stood up, and suddenly the true appearance of Chishui Village appeared before her eyes.
Ruins and broken walls. Ruins and broken walls are everywhere.
The charred beams leaned against the crumbling earthen wall, and broken pottery jars and rotten farm tools were scattered in the overgrown courtyard. The wind howled through the empty doors and windows, stirring up wisps of fine dust.
Now, those souls who once stood by indifferently have been freed, leaving behind only this desolate landscape.
Yun lowered her eyes and tightly grasped the sachet, whose edges were worn but still emitted a faint fragrance.
Only today did she learn that her mother, far from Guiyun Sect and far from her identity as "Sect Master's Wife," had once helped children she didn't know at all, and had traveled all over the country to help people.
How could such a bright person be the fragile woman the elder described as "introverted and unfit for great responsibilities"?
The thought had barely formed when a sharp pain exploded in her chest, instantly overwhelming all her turbulent thoughts.
In the instant her consciousness sank, she felt herself being steadily supported by someone, carrying a familiar yet chilly aura.
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