Chapter 34 Part 1

Lian Yunzhi stared blankly at him.

“You…”

Lian Yunzhi blinked, still unable to discern whether Mu Cheng was awake or not, so he leaned in and pressed against his forehead, sending his Divine Soul into Mu Cheng’s Knowledge Sea.

Mu Cheng obediently allowed the probe.

Lian Yunzhi saw Mu Cheng’s Primordial Spirit still lying on the ground, but it had “awakened.” Its head tilted toward the strand of soul Lian Yunzhi had left in the form of Spirit Capturing Grass. Though its entire body was ethereal, its features blurred without true facial structure, it had differentiated a mouth that gently nibbled on the leaves of the Spirit Capturing Grass.

The Black Mist behind its head also flickered in and out of visibility due to this contact.

Sensing the intruder, it slightly raised its head. Lian Yunzhi couldn’t make out the details, but he clearly perceived his strand of soul being lightly ground between two teeth.

Lian Yunzhi: “…”

Lian Yunzhi felt something strange, as if even his soul trembled lightly in rhythm with Mu Cheng’s teeth grinding. He retreated from Mu Cheng’s Knowledge Sea as if fleeing.

“It’s fine,” Lian Yunzhi said, his fingertip trembling as he pushed Mu Cheng’s face away. “But I think we need to hurry. Do you have a way out?”

Mu Cheng didn’t speak, only looked up at the sky.

In an instant, heaven and earth shook, Black Mist roiled, and all obstructions overhead scattered like dust in a gale. Lian Yunzhi saw a jade-colored dome.

This was… the top of the Pure Bottle?

Lian Yunzhi’s breathing quickened, his gaze burning hot.

He immediately flew into midair and reached out to touch the jade dome—he actually made contact.

The jade dome felt icy cold, inviolably stern, with golden patterns flowing across its surface, appearing impregnable.

Lian Yunzhi tried pushing upward with all his cultivation, but the jade dome didn’t budge.

Lian Yunzhi looked down and shouted, “Mu Cheng!”

Lian Yunzhi had intended to have Mu Cheng join him in pushing, but Mu Cheng waved his hand, and countless strands of Black Mist coalesced into a pitch-black long sword from his palm. Then he soared into midair, gripped the sword with both hands, and fiercely thrust upward—

Boom!

The clash of metal and stone echoed through the heavens. Lian Yunzhi watched as cracks spiderwebbed across the jade dome!

Elation surged in Lian Yunzhi’s heart, and he hurriedly made space for Mu Cheng to unleash his power.

Mu Cheng twirled the long sword in his hand, spun around, and lightly tapped his toe on a platform formed of Black Mist in the air. His figure flashed like a startled swan, shooting straight toward the dome like an arrow loosed from a bow!

Another thunderous boom shook heaven and earth. Cracks deepened on the jade bottle, and Lian Yunzhi even faintly glimpsed daylight through the fissures. But in the next instant, golden light flashed on the jade bottle, patterns roiled, and the cracks sealed instantly.

Mu Cheng halted his assault. He stood on Black Mist, sword lowered at his side, appearing solitary and forlorn, nearly blending into the night fog.

Lian Yunzhi’s heart inexplicably twinged.

Mu Cheng glanced sideways at him, his pitch-black pupils betraying no emotion. Then, the Black Mist long sword in his hand dissipated into thin air. He raised both hands overhead and slowly drew another sword-like object from his spine.

—It was his pitch-black spine, along with the Myriad Absorption Spiritual Root coiled around it like a serpent, equally stained pitch-black and filthy.

Lian Yunzhi’s pupils contracted sharply. His throat tightened, and he couldn’t help taking a step forward, only to stop himself abruptly—he couldn’t disturb Mu Cheng.

The world began to tremble violently. The sword in Mu Cheng’s hand turned into a massive vortex, madly sucking everything around him into Black Mist.

Even Fang Tianxin nearly dissolved into Black Mist and got pulled away. Fu Qing reacted instantly, enveloping them both in a massive bell, but even that bell couldn’t withstand the force and began visibly disintegrating. Fortunately, Lian Yunzhi quickly wove vines into a cover over the giant bell, barely halting the breakdown.

Sweat beaded in Lian Yunzhi’s palms as he continued looking up at Mu Cheng.

The long sword in Mu Cheng’s hand grew ever darker and larger amid the ceaseless absorption. He stood in midair, hair whipping wildly, robes billowing and snapping like flags in the wind. Countless Black Mists surged toward him, making him resemble a Demon God descended upon the world.

He charged toward the heavens—

Boom!!!!

Lian Yunzhi glimpsed daylight once more.

He heard the sounds of cracking jade, shattering stone, breaking bones, and ethereal chants.

Straining his eyes, he saw the golden patterns shift and transform into characters and inscriptions. Those radiant golden words clamped down on the cracks, then morphed into chains that wrapped around Mu Cheng, locking away his power and sending him crashing to the ground!

Lian Yunzhi hurriedly leaped into the air and caught him tightly in his arms.

The golden chains dissipated, reforming into unbreakable golden inscriptions plastered across the dome. Mu Cheng abruptly spat a mouthful of black blood, his entire form flickering like Black Mist. Even as Lian Yunzhi wrapped him securely in vine clothing, he couldn’t fully halt the dispersal.

Chill seeped through Lian Yunzhi’s body, every bone rattling. He looked up, only to see the golden inscriptions gleaming word by word.

【Mu Cheng, of cruel disposition, entered the demonic path, exterminated a clan, slaughtered a city, devoured human souls, summoned boundless inferno, and covered Xiaoze State…】

It was the content from that Thin Book.

Each word glowed gold, like inscriptions, like chains, carved like knives into Mu Cheng’s “sins,” as if this were the verdict of his life.

—But what did you know? What right did you have to judge him?!

Rage made Lian Yunzhi’s entire body tremble uncontrollably.

He gently laid Mu Cheng on the ground, flung out massive vines gleaming coldly from his fingertips, and leaped into the air to finish what Mu Cheng had started.

The vines lashed a whip across the Pure Bottle’s dome!

His power paled beside Mu Cheng’s; even his full-force strike left only shallow whip marks and tiny punctures from the thorns, like an ant shaking a tree.

But Lian Yunzhi suddenly paused, his gaze locking onto another familiar cluster of star-like punctures on the dome.

He had clearly struck only once, yet the jade dome bore countless marks as if left by him.

Lian Yunzhi’s eyes slowly widened as memories surfaced.

He turned to survey his surroundings, then looked down at the giant bell shielding Fang Tianxin and Fu Qing.

“Twenty-eight years ago, anomalies appeared in Xiaoze State, with radiant rosy clouds, rampant plant growth. Everyone said an Immortal Treasure had emerged…”

“That night in Xiaoze State, not only plants grew wildly, but also the waterways, one of which turned pink…”

Fu Qing’s words echoed in his mind.

But this time, Lian Yunzhi heard different information.