"They've come!" Shangguan Yu's brows furrowed deeply.
"Small as they are, they're still carrying that contamination. We can't let them get close to the Overwhelming Palace or the Hall of the Honored Ancestors!" Grandpa Qin growled indignantly.
The Hall of the Honored Ancestors was nestled in the rear of the Overwhelming Palace, housing the memorial tablets of every generation of Sword Pavilion's ancestors.
"Aunt Yu, take care of the disciples from Sword Pavilion," Senior Sister Zhao instructed solemnly, a glint of life-and-death resolve in her eyes. Turning her gaze to the young man in white nearby, she softened her tone and said, "You should go with Aunt Yu."
The young man hesitated, pressing his lips together before finally nodding with a faint smile.
Senior Sister Zhao sighed with slight relief. Without lingering any longer, she took to the skies, her black skirt fluttering as she wielded her sword, with one purpose set in her heart—to fight to death to protect the Sword Pavilion.
Clang!
The last four elders of Sword Pavilion, filled with righteous fury, raised their swords and charged toward the thousand Divine Sea sword cultivators like moths drawn to a flame.
"Will Senior Sister Zhao and my grandfather… survive?" Qin Tong asked in a trembling voice, tears streaming down her face.
Shangguan Yu was silent for a moment before replying, "They won't."
She didn't want to deceive the young disciples. They wouldn't survive.
Tonight, the Sword Pavilion faced not just an enemy bent on eradicating them but one determined to sully their legacy. It wasn't merely a change of leadership—they wanted the Pavilion's name to rot for eternity.
Because of Ye Guying, Zhao Xuanran might be spared, but could anyone prevent her from laying down her life in defiance?
"Even if they die, they must prevent this vile pollution from reaching the mountain, keep them from desecrating the graves, from invading the Overwhelming Palace, from dishonoring the ancestors…"
Cai Maomao's eyes reddened with fury. He could no longer contain himself.
"It's disgraceful! I've lived dishonorably for three years; how can I bear this any longer?" He turned to the youth beside him. "Junior Brother Yun, let's… Junior Brother Yun?"
Everyone turned to look, but the figure in white had vanished.
"Oh no!" Shangguan Yu's expression darkened.
Yun Xiao was Sword Pavilion's last hope, Zhao Xuanran had staked everything on him, forgiving even his recklessness today. If that hope were lost, her and the elders' sacrifice would be for nothing.
"Zhao Jianxing…" Shangguan Yu's heart pounded wildly. With tears in her eyes, she looked in the direction of the Overwhelming Palace.
"Bless them…" she whispered.
---
At the foot of Sword Pavilion Mountain, five sword lights stood defiantly, halting the advance of over a thousand Divine Sea sword cultivators.
Bang! Bang!
Hundreds of the sword masters stood their ground, coldly mocking the five who dared to stand in their way: a young woman in a black skirt, a blind elder, and three of the Pavilion's final elders.
Could these five truly hold back an army?
"Clear the way! Or be dealt with!" Zhang Jian, the Seventh Sword Revered, called out coldly, casting a swift, disdainful glance at the group of five.
His voice carried, piercing the silence even as he hid within the crowd of a thousand sword cultivators. Ye Tiance, Yao Manxue, and the others kept their distance, ensuring the danger would fall upon others first—keeping themselves far enough back to safely orchestrate the siege.
However, Zhao Xuanran and the others had intercepted them long before they could reach the Overwhelming Palace.
"Such recklessness!" Ye Tiance smirked, hands folded behind his back, eyes fixed on the woman in black.
"Perhaps she thinks Ye Guying might spare her because of their past," Yao Manxue sneered.
"Shall we proceed?" Zhang Jian and Liu Xuan quickly asked Ye Tiance.
"Announce it!" Ye Tiance commanded, releasing a vast aura that swept across the assembly.
"Yes!"
At once, over a thousand Divine Sea sword cultivators turned solemnly to face Sword Pavilion, their complexions darkened yet uniform in resolve. Among them were even former Sword Pavilion members.
The thousand-strong chorus echoed through the Blue Soul Hills, filling the sky with their voices:
"Zhao Jianxing, Patriarch of Blue Soul, lacks the virtue befitting his position! He condoned wickedness, corrupted his disciples Zhao Xuanran and Yun Xiao, allowed lawlessness and bloodshed on the streets, and tarnished the honor of our land. We, the Council of Sword Revered, have decided unanimously: Zhao Jianxing is hereby stripped of his position, and from this day forth, Ye Guying shall assume leadership as the rightful patriarch of Blue Soul. Sword Pavilion will be restored to its former purity under his authority!"
The announcement echoed across the hills, reverberating through the thousand trees, painting a twisted version of events. To outsiders, it would be an irrefutable truth, and Blue Soul's citizens would regard Zhao Jianxing as the embodiment of dishonor, forever disgraced.
Zhao Xuanran, hearing the accusation, felt a sharp, familiar pain—a memory of Yun Xiao being falsely accused, and the agony of injustice.
She said nothing. The blade in her hand—the Black Palm Sword—trembled with rage, dark Sword Qi coiling around it like a vengeful spirit, resonating with her seething spirit and soul.
Tonight, the Blue Soul sword line would fight to the end.
Clad in black, she stood at the heart of the Sword Pavilion Hills, silent yet resolute, her sword's deadly intent announcing to the thousand swordsmen before her:
This ends with either your death or mine.
"Fools," Ye Tiance sneered, shaking his head. "Do they think they can stand against the Sword Revered?"
"Proceed!" he commanded, turning to the Pavilion with a solemn expression. "Zhao Jianxing has sullied his position. We shall cleanse the Overwhelming Palace and Hall of the Honored Ancestors!"
"Seventh Sword Peak is ready to act!" Zhang Jian responded swiftly.
"But wait!" Ye Tiance added, a smile creeping onto his face. "I propose we establish a new Hall of the Honored Ancestors at First Sword Peak, enshrining only our Ye ancestors as Blue Soul's true representatives."
"Agreed!"
A nod of approval rippled through the ranks.
Standing aside, Chen Dong and Li Chenlong watched helplessly, enraged yet powerless against the corruption playing out before them.
"Begin!" Ye Tiance couldn't contain his eagerness to honor his ancestors, a ruthless glint in his eyes.
"Manxue, take Zhao Xuanran!" he ordered.
"With pleasure!" Yao Manxue and over thirty Sixth Sword Peak cultivators moved toward Zhao Xuanran, while Zhang Jian's group pushed toward Sword Pavilion and the Overwhelming Palace.
The dark veil of night shrouded the beginning of a tragedy, casting a shadow of disgrace upon the ancient grounds.
"Father!" Zhao Xuanran whispered, her face determined as she prepared to meet the invaders head-on, wielding her sword with unyielding resolve.
The first clash was imminent.
Suddenly, not far off, flames flared up into the night sky, blazing fiercely and illuminating the darkness.
Bang!
"What's that?" The crowd startled and turned toward the source of the noise.
Atop the mountain, the Blue Soul Cauldron appeared in all its glory—a treasure seized by Yun Xiao. It sat on the summit, surrounded by intense azure flames that licked upward, the heat radiating fiercely.
"Someone lit the fire in the Blue Soul Cauldron!" someone exclaimed. It was said that the flames could reduce even the hardest steel to ash.
"Who is it?" The onlookers squinted to see inside the cauldron. There stood a young man in white, indifferently balancing a large sack of plain white cloth at the edge of the cauldron.
"Yun Xiao?!" The realization swept through the sixth and seventh Jianfeng disciples, their faces paling in shock. Yun Xiao had made his appearance! And he stood closer to Ye Tiance and the others than expected.
Was he courting death?
Ye Tiance's fury over his daughter's death surged within him. He could hardly contain his rage and wondered if Yun Xiao dared to draw near.
"This boy is audacious," Yao Manxue remarked coldly. "He's digging his own grave by approaching us."
"I'll capture him!" Zhang Jian volunteered, emboldened by the support of his fellow seventh Jianfeng disciples.
Yun Xiao had killed the Divine Sea Realm's complete leaf Ziyan, and it was no surprise that only these three sword reveres could suppress him.
"Let's go!" Ye Tiance's eyes burned with the fire of determination. He dared not take action just yet but remained vigilant against the threat posed by the Blue Soul Cauldron.
"Yes!" Zhang Jian grinned wickedly as he charged toward Yun Xiao.
"Junior Brother Yun!" Zhao Xuanran felt a surge of rage within her as she watched the young man. She didn't want him to appear in this confrontation. Yet she understood that this was a trial he couldn't escape.
"Zhao Xuanran, you can't save him!" Yao Manxue shouted, rallying over thirty followers to surround them.
With synchronized precision, they advanced on Yun Xiao, every sword cultivator's gaze fixed on him. In the daylight, they had aspired to slaughter; in the evening, the sword cloud had descended to kill.
"Yun Xiao, my seventh sword reveres will deal with you personally. You're just a sixteen-year-old disciple; how could you possibly think you stand a chance?" Zhang Jian sneered.
"What surface? Is that all you've got?" Yun Xiao replied nonchalantly, pulling out an ancestral tablet from his white package.
"Yes! This is from my first Jianfeng!" Yun Xiao shouted, waving it in front of them. "I've returned it to the sixth and seventh Jianfeng, just as I promised."
"What?" Zhang Jian's expression shifted to one of disbelief. "How did you get my grandfather's ancestral tablet?"
"Your grandfather?" The sword cultivators surrounding the overwhelming palace and loyal and heroic hall exchanged puzzled glances.
"The very one! How can a dishonorable descendant like you even claim his name? He must be rolling in his grave!" Yun Xiao said with a mocking smile.
"Yun Xiao, return that ancestral tablet!" Zhang Jian's voice turned ferocious.
"Return it? Of course!" Yun Xiao said, flinging the tablet back toward Zhang Jian. But as he did so, it slipped from his grasp and fell directly into the Blue Soul Cauldron's flames.
Crackle! Crackle!
In an instant, the tablet was consumed by the fire, reduced to ashes.
"Oops! I guess my hand slipped. Sorry about your grandfather," Yun Xiao shrugged, feigning innocence.
"YOU!" Zhang Jian's eyes blazed with fury.
"You're telling me that your disciple insulted my seventh Jianfeng martyrs?" a cold voice bellowed from the crowd, filled with outrage.
"Isn't it you who planned to open my Sword Pavillion's overwhelming palace and tarnish our loyal and heroic hall?" Yun Xiao shot back, his tone icy. Those who bring shame deserve to be shamed.
"You're asking for death!" Zhang Jian seethed, fists clenched.
"Not so fast," Yun Xiao interrupted, reaching into his white package once more.
This time, he pulled out a staggering seventy-eight ancestral tablets.
"Let's see, Zhang Yunfeng, Zhang Mu, and Zhang Yue... are these all your ancestors?" Yun Xiao asked, smiling wickedly.
"They're my uncle! My great-grandfather! My ancestral line..." Zhang Jian was struck dumb, horror dawning on his face.
"Yun Xiao!" Zhang sword cultivators surrounding him seethed, their faces dark with rage as they abandoned their original plan to breach the overwhelming palace and instead focused on encircling him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Yun Xiao shook the tablets, watching as they fell into the Blue Soul Cauldron fire, igniting in a flash.
"Are you all so easily frightened? These are your ancestral spirit tablets burning, so don't blame me!" Yun Xiao said nonchalantly.
"YOU!" Zhang Jian's face went white with rage.
Once passed, even the remnants of their souls clung to those tablets, nourished by the incense and candles of future generations. This fire held no warmth, only shame!
An insult to the martyrs!
Most importantly, the Blue Soul Cauldron was traditionally used to burn demons and monsters.
Are you saying that Yun Xiao's ancestors were demons and monsters?
The realization shattered the seventh Jianfeng's pride, their expressions contorted with anguish. They had hoped to rub the first Jianfeng's ancestral hall into their new loyal and heroic hall. But now? They were the true unfilial descendants!
"Yun Xiao, how dare you commit such treason and heresy?" Yao Manxue's voice sliced through the air like frost.
"Hand over the ancestral tablets!" Ye Tiance demanded, his voice cold and menacing.
"Don't rush! Are you from the first or sixth Jianfeng? I'm just getting started!" Yun Xiao taunted, reaching into his package yet again.
Suddenly, in his hand was the spirit tablet of the Ye and Yao ancestors.
"Which unfilial ancestors do these belong to? Ye Tiance and Yao Manxue?" Yun Xiao's cold laughter rang out.
With a flick of his wrist, he let them fall.
"Wū wū..."
From the tablets, remnants of the spirits that had once lingered began to wail, shrieking in agony as they ignited in the Blue Soul Cauldron's flames.
"Brat!!" Ye Tiance and Yao Manxue felt blood rush to their heads in fury!