Nangong Liu backed into a corner. He could only wheedle,
"There there, of course I care for you. But this matter requires careful
consideration. Let's do as we agreed. First, as sect leader, you'll announce
that Jiangdong Hall will come under the auspices of Rufeng Sect. After the
two sects are merged, we'll…"
"I won't!" Qi Liangji exclaimed, the rims of her eyes red. "Back
then, I… I trusted you, and what happened? You turned around and married
Rong Yan… I won't settle this time! Give me a definite answer. Will you
marry me or not?"
Watching him hesitate, she grew even angrier. "Nangong Liu, how
long are you going to beat around the bush?" she growled. "I killed my
husband with my own hands, all for us—but you? Don't you even have the
guts to nod?!"
"Ah!" At this point, everyone watching gasped in horror.
Xue Zhengyong was no exception. He murmured to Madam Wang,
"She murdered Jiangdong Hall's former sect leader?"
Within the space of minutes, Jiangdong Hall, too, had fallen from
grace. The previous sect leader was dead, but many of his subordinates
remained in the sect, including two of his brothers. They flew at Qi Liangji,
holding nothing back.
"You killed Dage?!"
"H-how could you! Even if he was a decade older than you, he
treated you so well, you—you poisonous woman! Return my brother's
life!"
Fighting broke out on one side while the blazing inferno raged on the
other. Shocking scenes unfolded from the broken scroll one by one. In the
brilliant glow, painfully sordid events never meant to see the light of day
were bared before the world. Nor were these affairs limited to Rufeng Sect;
nearly all the sects of the upper cultivation realm were implicated.
Countless renowned figures and major cultivators, all gathered at Rufeng
Sect for the wedding, appeared in the leaping flames. After Jiangdong Hall
followed Wubei Temple, Huohuang Pavilion, and Bitan Manor. Even the
lofty, untouchable Kunlun Taxue Palace received this treatment: major
scandals involving senior disciples and elders lit up the night sky. Nangong
Xu supplemented his own memories with the memories of others that he
had collected from far afield, displaying them all starkly before the crowd.
There was even an old record of Nangong Liu scheming with the
previous sect leader of Wubei Temple, Master Tianchan.
"Great Master, the Spiritual Mountain Competition is tomorrow.
I must come out on top. My father already thinks I'm stupid; if I yield to my
younger brother's sword in the competition, I'll really have no future as sect
leader."
"Nangong-shizhu needn't panic. Have you mastered all the
techniques in the scroll this old monk gave to you before?"
"I have."
Master Tianchan twirled his beard and smiled. "Then you have
nothing to worry about. Just focus your efforts on executing the techniques
from that scroll, and your little brother won't stand a chance."
Still confused, Nangong Liu replied, "This humble one is slow-witted
and begs Master to explain more clearly."
"That cultivational scroll contains secret techniques your brother
Nangong Xu himself invented. He diligently poured his blood, sweat, and
tears into refining them in order to make a name for himself at the Spiritual
Mountain Competition."
"Ah." Nangong Liu was taken aback. "If Xu-di created these
techniques, how…how can I use them to defeat him?"
Master Tianchan's lips curved in a small smile. "Nangong Xu is
arrogant. After developing these techniques, he shunned his sectmates and
holed himself up in a cave to train day and night. Even if he claims himself
as the originator of these techniques, who would believe him?"
Nangong Liu stared.
"But you're different, Nangong-shizhu," Master Tianchan continued,
serene. "Four of Taxue Palace's elders and I will serve as the judges. As
long as we attest that we witnessed you master these techniques, and you
insist that you acquired them through your own meticulous study, then it
matters not how eloquent your little brother's claims. His reputation will
bear the stain of stealing his older brother's cultivational techniques. Once
his name is tarnished and he is criticized by all, he'll never escape his fate.
Even if he wins the competition, what use will it be?"
"I see…" Nangong Liu's eyes widened as if he'd suddenly seen the
light. He cupped his fist in his hand respectfully. "Many thanks to the Great
Master for his guidance! Once this humble one rises to power, I will
assuredly pledge an alliance with the Great Master. In the future, Rufeng
Sect and Wubei Temple will enjoy centuries of friendship!"
That long scroll tumbled onward, illuminating the night and gouging
wounds for everyone to see into all whom Xu Shuanglin loathed, all who'd
wronged him. The great blazing images even lured a handful of commoners
from around Rufeng Sect, who joined the cultivators in watching these
hidden scandals that were like foul lice swarming beneath sumptuous robes.
When the rift to the ghost realm had opened, Xu Shuanglin had said
with a brilliant smile, I'd like to destroy every single one of your hearts.
Only now did they understand what he'd meant. Under the name of
Shuanglin Elder, Nangong Xu had been hibernating within Rufeng Sect for
years. He hadn't merely planned to destroy Rufeng Sect's seventy-two
cities and centuries of prestige. He intended to destroy every person he
detested. Everyone who had turned their backs on him, blackened his name,
and forced him onto a path of no return, all for their own selfish gain. His
elder brother Nangong Liu had been only the first head to roll on these
sacrificial grounds of vengeance. Not one among the parade of sect leaders
and elders who followed him could escape the fires of judgment. It didn't
matter who they were, as long as they had offended Xu Shuanglin.
Standing amidst that endless night pierced by flames, Chu Wanning
recalled the young man from Luo Xianxian's memories. That young man,
covered in blood, who had grinned as he said, There was a man from Linyi
whose heart died at twenty. A young man with unparalleled spiritual talent,
an exceptional prodigy who'd never been afforded a fair chance, who had
been schemed against, conspired against, and pushed away by his own
family. The techniques he'd poured his heart into had been stolen, and the
people who'd stolen them levied false accusations against him, calling him
the thief. The kind of absurdity that was…
His heart died at twenty.
When they'd met Xu Shuanglin via his white chess pieces at
Jincheng Lake and Peach Blossom Springs, he'd said he was a ghost who'd
crawled out of hell to demand the blood of the living.
Chu Wanning watched the chaotic scene before him. The sects of the
upper cultivation world had fallen into complete disarray. The saying
"monkeys scatter when the tree falls" applied to more than just Rufeng
Sect. Xu Shuanglin had used the latter half of his life as dry tinder to kindle
this fire of vengeance. And he'd succeeded.
A massive explosion rocked Rufeng Sect's seventh city—the shadow
city. Purple fire streaked toward the sky, so bright the onlookers closed their
eyes against it.
Ye Wangxi's sword-straight brows immediately drew together. "This
is bad!"
She had already turned her sword toward the shadow city when
Nangong Si grabbed her. Within this brief interval, his haughty features had
grown haggard; he seemed on the verge of collapse. Yet still he gripped
Ye Wangxi's shoulder tightly and rasped, "Don't go."
"The demonic spirits under the Golden Drum Tower will escape!
Rufeng Sect's suppressed thousands of spirits there over the centuries… If
they manage to break the seals and come into the world…" Ye Wangxi
trailed off, shuddering with fear.
"What can you do if you go?" Nangong Si said.
"I…"
"Ye Wangxi, you've done enough for Rufeng Sect." Gaze distant,
Nangong Si raised a hand as if to wipe a speck of mud from Ye Wangxi's
cheek. But in the end, he aborted the gesture. "Don't waste your energy," he
said. "Securing Golden Drum Tower requires the combined strength of the
sect leader and ten elders. To go alone would be a death sentence."
"I know—but still…" Ye Wangxi paused, her expression full of pain.
"Even if it's suicide, how can I do nothing? If Golden Drum Tower falls and
those spirits descend upon the land, everyone…will blame Rufeng Sect…
You…"
"Do you think if the Golden Drum Tower remains standing, Rufeng
Sect will escape blame?" Nangong Si laughed, the blood at the corner of his
mouth lending a bleakness to his smile. "Don't be stupid. Rufeng Sect is
lost. But you need to stay alive, okay? I really…" Nangong Si closed his
eyes, his lashes trembling, and his voice sticking in his throat. "I really
don't want anyone else to die for this sect… It's not worth it."
Lit by the surging flames, Ye Wangxi stared fearfully at Nangong Si.
She was still considering her reply when she heard the rumble of a tower
collapsing from the direction of the shadow city. She turned to see
thousands of brilliant streaks of white light flying from the lofty Golden
Drum Tower. They split in all directions, vanishing into the fathomless
night.
All the color drained from Ye Wangxi's face. "Golden Drum Tower…
is falling…"
With a thunderous boom, the ground beneath their feet began to split.
As those spirits crowded for centuries beneath Golden Drum Tower
returned to walk the earth, a blinding beam of bloodred light coalesced to
form a colossal fish with a tail like a crimson lotus in bloom. With an earth
shattering roar that shook the leaves on trees a thousand miles away, the
huge fish sped toward the East Sea. In an instant, the magnificent tower
exploded into a million tile fragments. The giant demon's slipstream
bowled over a number of cultivators flying too close to the tower on their
swords; they tumbled into the apocalyptic fire and were burned to ash
before they could open their mouths to scream.
"What was that?"
"The gun!"
Another listener took offense at this. Clutching their own sword
tightly against the force of the gale, they snapped, "What do you mean,
again? Isn't one monster enough?!"
"Who said again? I said, that's the 'gun'! The fiercest beast from
ancient times! Legend has it that Rufeng Sect's first leader, Nangong
Changying, made the East Sea surrender that monstrous gun to him, then
built Golden Drum Tower to imprison it. Who would've thought… Who
would've thought the legend was actually true!"
Although the ferocious beast had escaped, it had yet to fully recover
its strength. Wary of cultivators after being trapped beneath Golden Drum
Tower for centuries, it fled toward the East Sea with all haste, leaving
billowing gusts in its wake. The consequences were disastrous—
apocalyptic fire soared scores of feet higher as the winds fanned the flames.
Areas previously untouched by the blaze instantly began to burn.
Xue Zhengyong was a veteran of the battlefield. He immediately
cried at the top of his lungs, "Run! Everybody run!"
Shards of brick rained down around him as he sent the iron fan
carrying himself and Madam Wang skimming out of the conflagration. The
remaining cultivators fled in every direction. Some, like Qi Liangji, caught
up in a vicious, unrelenting battle with elders from her own sect, were
unable to react in time and were swallowed by the flames. Or perhaps they
had no desire to do so. Even as the inferno overwhelmed them, their eyes,
glinting with hatred, were still riveted on their opponents.
Just like that, they vanished into ash.
Nangong Si leapt onto Naobaijin's back and held out a hand to
Ye Wangxi. "Get up here, hurry!" He turned to look at Chu Wanning
nearby. "Zongshi—you too—"
"It'll be too heavy; you go ahead."
"But…"
Mo Ran made a decision on the spot. "Go!" he cried to Nangong Si.
"I'll carry Shizun out on my sword!"
The great fire was drawing nearer, flames speeding toward them in
leaps and bounds. Nangong Si swore under his breath and wrapped his arms
around Ye Wangxi to secure her from behind. The two astride the faewolf's
back quickly dwindled to nothing in the vast darkness.
Trees toppled one after another. The tangerine grove emitted loud
popping noises as it burned, the unexpected sweetness of citrus filling the
air. There was no time to waste—Mo Ran summoned his oathbound sword
and fled with Chu Wanning toward lands the inferno had yet to reach.
Behind them, Rufeng Sect in all its centuries of glory, the epitome of
the elite, privileged, and upper class, suffered the same fate as its soaring
colonnades and magnificent grassy fields. Amidst the surging tide of
flames, it perished in the course of a single night.