Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Ah—!!"

A blood-curdling scream. The disciple scrambled to his feet and fled towards the back mountain.

In the forest, Cen Yan and the others searched. One disciple noticed movement in the bushes, bent to look closer, when panicked footsteps crashed into the forest.

"S-Senior Brother Cen..." The man crawled to Cen Yan, disheveled, pale, trembling, eyes wide with terror.

Cen Yan's brow furrowed. He went to help him up. "What happened?"

He had gone to get Qing Ming. Why was he so frightened?

The disciple's teeth chattered. He pointed towards the inner sect, his voice shaking: "Qing Ming... he's dead!"

Everyone stared at him, shocked.

Dead?!

Cen Yan's eyes widened. Disbelief on his fair face: "How could Qing Ming be dead?"

He had been fine a few days ago.

With the mountain-guarding formation and nightly patrols, they had found nothing in four months. How could someone suddenly die?

"I don't know." The disciple stammered, describing what he had seen: "When I got back, the door was closed. I pushed it open, and he was lying on the bed, not moving. Black energy was pouring from his mouth, his eyes, his ears, his nose..."

Though rambling, his terror seemed genuine.

Black energy?

Could it be...?

Cen Yan's expression darkened. He gave the disciple to someone nearby and led the rest towards the inner sect: "Watch him. The rest of you, come with me."

They hurried to the inner sect. The door was still open. Cen Yan entered with a flint, finding Qing Ming on the bed, lifeless.

Just as the disciple had said, black energy poured from his seven orifices.

It filled the room, ominous, malevolent. The disciples' faces paled. Sweat dripped from their foreheads. "Senior Brother Cen, what is this black energy?"

Evil energy hadn't appeared in three hundred years. These disciples had entered only decades ago and had never seen it. Cen Yan was seeing it for the first time too.

His eyes cold, his heart sank. No wonder they hadn't found it. It had been hiding in Qing Ming's body.

Evil energy was highly corrosive. Judging by Qing Ming's state, his internal organs were likely gone, leaving only an empty shell.

"Step back!" Cen Yan shouted. "Don't touch it. Get out!"

If anyone touched it, they'd end up like Qing Ming.

The disciples, sensing something ominous, fled.

When they were out, Cen Yan extinguished the flint. As he prepared to leave, the evil energy rushed towards him like prey scenting food.

His face paling, he gathered spiritual energy to disperse it. He shouted without looking back: "Alert the Sect Leader and Elder He!"

The disciples outside ran to the main peak.

-

Main Hall.

Lian Ci and He Ming were discussing sect affairs when a disciple burst in, panicked: "Sect Leader, Elder! Strange black energy in the inner sect! Senior Brother Cen asks you to come!"

Evil energy!

Exchanging a look, Lian Ci and He Ming rushed to the inner sect.

Their cultivation high, they arrived quickly. Seeing disciples gathered, He Ming followed their gaze. Cen Yan was fighting off the energy with his sword.

"Yan'er, I'll help!" He Ming drew his sword and joined the fight.

Lian Ci guarded the disciples, his face grim. In just four months, so much evil energy had accumulated. As rumored, a single wisp could multiply endlessly.

Evil energy had no physical form. Attacks were useless. As had happened three hundred years ago.

As Lian Ci thought, Cen Yan and He Ming dispersed the energy repeatedly, but it quickly reformed, expanding visibly. Within the time it takes to burn an incense stick, it filled the room, threatening to spread outside.

He Ming realized the danger. He signaled Cen Yan to retreat.

Understanding, Cen Yan leaped from the room. As the evil energy pursued, He Ming produced a high-grade artifact—the Heavenly Shield.

As its name suggested, the Heavenly Shield was a defensive barrier. Not as vast as the mountain-guarding formation, but unbreakable. It could withstand powerful attacks and seal whatever it covered.

The Heavenly Shield floated into the air, expanding, descending over the room, sealing the evil energy inside.

Watching the energy thrash within, the disciples sighed in relief: "Sect Leader, it's over, right?"

Not necessarily.

Lian Ci's face was grim, silent. Evil energy was corrosive. Before the formation opened in two months, it could eat through the shield. This was just a temporary fix.

He Ming stroked his beard, his brow deeply furrowed, looking worriedly at Lian Ci.

Lian Ci understood. He sighed. "Back to the main hall."

They needed a long-term plan.

He Ming and Cen Yan prepared to follow. As they turned, a disciple suddenly shrieked: "The back mountain!"

He Ming's heart lurched. "What about the back mountain?"

"When we patrolled, I think I saw this black energy in the forest!" The disciple was certain. "Exactly the same!"

The back mountain was close to the formation. If evil energy was there, what about the formation itself?

Lian Ci could no longer maintain his composure. He rushed to the back mountain, He Ming and Cen Yan following.

With the disciple's help, they quickly found the bushes. They were thick, hiding any abnormality.

He Ming pushed them aside. A hole, half a person's height, the size of a cave entrance, gaped in the formation. Cracks spread around it. Malevolent black energy churned within—far more than in the inner sect!

All three paled.

-

Wusong Residence.

The faint smell of blood lingered in the dark room. Two white figures sat on the bed's edge, watching the man exhausted from his episode, their eyes dark.

He lay curled on his side, his hair spread behind him like a waterfall, sweat on his forehead and nose. Lips barely healed, now cut anew, bloodstained. The blood ran from his pale lips like fallen petals on snow.

This was the eighth episode in four months. Each time he was miserable, and each time they could do nothing.

The figures removed the room's restriction, used a cleansing spell, and leaned over him.

From the next room, a muffled cry: "Evil energy has corroded the mountain-guarding formation?!"

The figure paused, glancing indifferently at the wall.

One wall away, Xu Ziyang was unaware. He looked at the transmission talisman before him, his brow furrowed: "Wasn't Junior Brother Cen patrolling every night?"

Lian Ci's voice came through, his tone grave: "The energy hid inside a disciple. Hard to detect. Ziyang, come to the main hall. We need to discuss countermeasures."

Xu Ziyang had heard of evil energy. He knew the severity. He left immediately.

The white figures looked back at the man, their eyes dark, emotions churning.

Three hundred years of cultivation had taught him much. Even cultivators couldn't resist evil energy. How could a defenseless mortal?

The figures leaned low, their lips on the man's wounded ones. Their voices were cold, hoarse: "Wait for me."

Then their forms faded, vanishing without a trace.

-

Xu Ziyang quickly reached the main hall.

The atmosphere was heavy. Lian Ci sat above, rubbing his temples, looking at those below: "What do you think?"

He Ming shook his head grimly. He had only one Heavenly Shield. It could seal only one location. He had no solution for the back mountain.

Pei Zhan, who had arrived before Xu Ziyang, stood radiating hostility: "Break the formation!"

"No!" He Ming was first to object. "It will open on its own in two months. We can't touch it!"

If the formation didn't open or close automatically, it would be destroyed. Rebuilding would take at least thirty years.

In that time, the sects would tear Qingyang apart. It wouldn't last a decade.

That was why, even after Cen Yan and Chu Rong had fallen out, they had to wait six months for Chu Rong to leave.

"I think it's worth considering." Xu Ziyang spoke slowly. "Given how fast the energy spreads, it will reach the whole sect within two months. We'll all die anyway. We might as well take a chance."

Cen Yan agreed: "Once the formation is open, we can ask the other sects for help."

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait~ The main plot is approaching.