Sang Dai hadn’t heard Zhiyu’s voice in a long time. Back on the battlefield, the Zhiyu Sword had used its last bit of strength to protect Sang Dai’s soul and then fell into a deep slumber. That blade, the greatest sword under heaven, had shattered.
Her mental state suffered a severe blow and has yet to fully recover, even now. Although she possessed the cultivation level of the early Grand Ascension stage, she couldn’t fully wield the corresponding power of that stage.
But now, her mental state had returned, and an even more vast spiritual energy coursed through her meridians.
The Changmang weapon spirit within her sea of consciousness noticed something unusual. It had been gnawing on the Guixu spiritual energy moments earlier but suddenly froze and turned to look to the side.
A phantom sword stood upright in Sang Dai’s sea of consciousness, radiant and warm in its aura.
It was the once faintly breathing spirit of the Zhiyu Sword.
“Master, I have awakened.”
At the same time, the Zhiyu Sword, which Sang Dai had stored in her Qiankun Pouch, began to hum and vibrate. The sword broke through the restrictions of the pouch, unsheathing itself and bursting forth.
The glowing blue longsword hovered in the void, its exquisite tassel hanging from the hilt. The word “Zhiyu” were carved onto the hilt with dragon and phoenix patterns. The blade, entirely silver-white, was narrow and slender, and faint streams of light flickered across its intertwined engravings.
This sword, forged personally by the Sword Sect’s master, the greatest sword under heaven, had now returned to the world.
The Changmang spirit on Sang Dai’s wrist exclaimed with excitement, “Zhiyu!!”
The Qingwu Sword whimpered, “…Fine, you really are stronger than me.”
The powerful aura of the sword spirit was something it naturally couldn’t ignore.
Sang Dai slowly raised her hand and grasped the Zhiyu Sword.
When that longsword was truly in her hand, as she gazed upon the perfectly intact weapon that seemed as if it had never been broken, she couldn’t help but feel her nose sting.
“…Zhiyu.”
“Master.”
Zhiyu’s words were few, neither as lively as Changmang nor as chatty as Qingwu.
But during countless days and nights, it had been the Zhiyu Sword alone that accompanied her.
A single tear suddenly fell from Sang Dai’s eye.
“Miss, the matter you wish to know, I will tell you.”
What Sang Dai wanted to know—
Was whether Ying Heng had truly met Tian Yuxue all those years ago.
Tian Yuxue suddenly appeared before her, as cold and indifferent as ever.
She extended her hand toward Sang Dai.
Sang Dai met her gaze coldly and understood her intent.
Back then, she had dared to spend ten days alone with Tian Yuxue. Now, after only a brief moment’s hesitation, Sang Dai resolutely took her hand.
A bone-chilling coldness surged into her meridians through their clasped hands, and Sang Dai’s consciousness became clearer than ever before.
Tian Yuxue said, “The power of bewilderment can show you my memories.”
The void dissipated, and the chaos vanished.
Rising skeleton-like structures were replaced by towering trees, and in an instant, they were no longer in the cold, Snow Abyss but in another place entirely.
A dense forest.
“The answer you seek is here,” Tian Yuxue said before letting go of Sang Dai’s hand.
She stood beside Sang Dai with her hands clasped behind her back, her youthful face carrying an expression of maturity and composure.
Sang Dai didn’t speak. She channeled her spiritual energy to melt the frost that had formed on her body from the extreme cold.
The forest was filled with faint rustling sounds, like someone running…
No, it seemed there were two sets of footsteps, and someone was chasing behind them.
Sang Dai had a suspicion.
Sure enough, in the next moment, a figure clad in white flickered into view, immediately followed by a flash of sword light.
The sword light was a pale green, its aura pure and solid. Sang Dai hadn’t seen such a sight in many years.
The sword light struck in front of the figure in white, and a long sword descended from the sky, piercing straight into the ground. The sword intent condensed into a barrier, forcibly halting the white figure’s escape.
When the figure in white stopped, Sang Dai finally saw her face clearly.
It was identical to the person standing beside her now. After so many years, Tian Yuxue’s appearance showed no signs of aging.
This was Tian Yuxue from more than a century ago. Back then, Ying Heng had descended the mountain specifically to subdue her.
Tian Yuxue said nothing, and Sang Dai silently observed this scene from over a hundred years ago.
A figure clad in white gracefully landed. Ying Heng wasn’t wearing the elder’s robes of the Sword Sect but rather his usual plain attire.
He lived simply, just like Sang Dai. His long black hair was loosely tied with a wooden hairpin, and he wore an unadorned white robe, free of any embellishments.
Sang Dai held her breath as she saw a face she hadn’t laid eyes on in over a century.
Like all those with awakened Heaven-grade spiritual roots, Ying Heng possessed an exceptionally striking appearance.
His tall figure stood as straight as a pine tree, his brows as if painted with ink, his eyes like the stars, and his thin lips curved with a beautiful arc. His aura was warm, like a gentle piece of jade. At a glance, one could tell he was a kind and gentle person.
“Tian Yuxue, stop running. I have no intention of harming you.”
His voice was as pleasant as a mountain spring flowing over rocks.
The woman in white turned around to face the young man behind her and said coldly, “I have never harmed anyone on purpose. I am simply looking for certain people.”
Ying Heng replied gently, “I know, which is why the Four Realms haven’t killed you. But you cannot leave. If you cannot control the extreme cold within you, stepping out of the Snow Realm will harm others.”
“I need to find someone!”
“Who are you looking for? I can help you.”
Tian Yuxue pressed her lips tightly together, refusing to speak.
The Weisheng family lived in seclusion. While she could assist the snow owl in its search, she couldn’t allow the Weisheng family to be exposed to the world, lest it bring them calamity.
Ying Heng still didn’t get angry. He merely sighed and said, “I have been out for five days now. Tomorrow is my disciple’s tenth birthday. I need to return to celebrate with her. If you refuse to come back, I will have to act.”
Hearing this, Sang Dai curled her lips into a faint smile. So, he had always remembered.
But in truth, Ying Heng hadn’t made it back in time to celebrate her tenth birthday. He returned to the Sword Sect several days after her birthday had passed. Because of this, Sang Dai had thrown a tantrum and even refused to eat the birthday meal Ying Heng had prepared as a belated gesture.
As she looked at Ying Heng now, her eyes unknowingly reddened.
In the distance, the woman in white sneered coldly, “What if I simply refuse to go back?”
Ying Heng fell silent for a moment, lowering his gaze as though lost in thought.
A soft sigh escaped his lips.
Then, Ying Heng’s voice rang out again.
“In that case, I must apologize for being discourteous.”
The sword embedded in the ground flew into the air and landed in Ying Heng’s hand. His jade-like hand twirled the sword into a sharp, fluid arc. The warmth on his face vanished entirely.
In stark contrast to his gentle appearance, Ying Heng was ruthless in combat. Every strike was precise, every move deadly. Like Sang Dai, he appeared good-natured but never held back when it was time to fight.
Compassion and gentleness had no place in a battle.
Ying Heng, who was at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage and close to entering the Spirit Transformation stage, faced off against Tian Yuxue, who was of equal cultivation. With his well-honed swordsmanship, he easily gained the upper hand.
Tian Yuxue rarely ventured into the world and possessed only raw cultivation power. On the other hand, Ying Heng had polished his skills through countless rigorous trials. It took him less than the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn to subdue Tian Yuxue.
With practiced ease, he tied her up with a spiritual rope. The young woman shouted, “Let me go, Ying Heng! How dare you tie up your grandaunt! I’ll freeze you to death!”
Ying Heng ignored her completely, holding the rope and continuing forward.
Tian Yuxue struggled violently. “Let me go! I need to find them!”
“I told you, I can help you.”
“Who needs help from your Immortal Realm? Get lost!”
No matter how much Tian Yuxue cursed along the way, Ying Heng remained calm, utterly unbothered.
Sang Dai and the current Tian Yuxue followed the two phantoms, one of them blushing slightly, seemingly embarrassed.
The other had a complex expression, glancing occasionally at the younger version of herself.
So, Tian Yuxue could curse like this?
Decades ago, when Sang Dai spent ten days alone with her, Tian Yuxue had only repeated the same few phrases:
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them. Go away.”
Sang Dai had assumed Tian Yuxue wasn’t much of a talker.
Ying Heng, half-forcing her, brought Tian Yuxue back to the Snow Realm.
Tian Yuxue struggled desperately. “I’m not going in! I haven’t found them yet! I need to find them!”
“No. If you leave, tens of thousands will die.”
“That’s not something I can control!”
“So you cannot leave.”
Ying Heng raised his hand, preparing to form a seal to suppress Tian Yuxue and confine her. In the girl’s frightened gaze, just as the spiritual seal was about to be completed—
The jade token at his waist chimed first.
Three flashes and a pause, then three flashes again, extinguished briefly, and repeated.
And it glowed red.
Sang Dai furrowed her brows. Three flashes, a pause, and red light—the universal highest-level distress signal in the Immortal Realm.
Every cultivator above the Golden Core stage in the Immortal Realm was issued a jade token by the Immortal Alliance. These tokens were linked to others, and when someone encountered a life-threatening situation, a distress signal would be sent to the nearest cultivators.
Ying Heng immediately stopped, his brows knitting together as he picked up the jade token.
“This is Ying Heng of the Sword Sect. Fellow Daoist, please speak.”
“Ah… ah… cough, cough…”
A strained, rasping breath answered him, as though something were blocking the person’s throat.
Having experienced numerous trials, Sang Dai instantly recognized it as the sound of blood clogging the throat, rendering speech almost impossible.
Ying Heng clearly recognized it too. His expression shifted abruptly.
“Fellow Daoist, what is your situation?”
“Imm… Immortal Lord… trouble… at Cangwu Daoist Temple… come quickly…”
The remaining words were abruptly cut off, followed by the sound of a blade piercing flesh.
The jade token disconnected.
The girl who had been restrained was also stunned. She muttered softly, “Why don’t you go take care of that first? Let me go?”
Ying Heng put away the jade token, his expression impassive as he completed the spiritual seal.
“Ying Heng, you dog!!!”
Before being suppressed, Tian Yuxue only had time to hurl this one insult.
The memory ended abruptly after Tian Yuxue was sealed.
When Sang Dai returned to consciousness, she didn’t find herself back at the snow owl’s skeletal remains but standing amid a vast expanse of snow.
It was still the Snow Abyss.
But this time, it was the real Snow Abyss. Not long ago, it was here that Tian Yuxue had pulled her into the snow owl’s power of bewilderment.
Sang Dai’s long lashes trembled, and the hand gripping the Zhiyu Sword quivered slightly.
Tian Yuxue spoke: “Back then, I hated Ying Heng so much. He was so stubborn and unyielding. That’s why, when you asked me back then… I didn’t want to answer, and I didn’t want to help anyone from your Immortal Realm.”
After all, the Immortal Realm had obstructed her far too many times. For so many years, she had failed to find the Weisheng family, and the Immortal Realm was largely to blame.
Sang Dai murmured, “So my master went because he received the distress signal from Cangwu Daoist Temple… That means the temple had already been massacred by the time he arrived. He clearly went to save people… So why was he framed as the murderer?”
Tian Yuxue sneered coldly. “Ying Heng may be stubborn, but he doesn’t have a bad heart. He chased me for five days without suppressing me, just trying to persuade me to go back. It wasn’t until he was rushing to celebrate your birthday that he became impatient.”
Unlike the other cultivators who had suppressed Tian Yuxue in the past, Ying Heng hadn’t hurt her; he had merely restrained her.
“With his mild temperament, it’s hard to imagine him slaughtering Cangwu Daoist Temple. Your Four Realms are truly disgusting—branding him as a criminal with such flimsy evidence.”