Chapter 67: The Check

Chapter 67: The Vow

After confirming there was no inheritance left behind, Chu Jingxi turned back and asked, "All set?"

Chu Suye, whose theoretical knowledge was flawless, easily broke the seal on the space ring and soon found the black crystal that the immortal had hidden.

Ahead, Yan Zizhan was still fighting the mutated corpse, unable to free up a hand.

"I'll do it."

Chu Suye blinked in surprise, then saw Chu Jingxi manipulating the crystal from a distance, as if playing a chess endgame, mending the previous array's foundation.

Yan Zizhan noticed the change in the array's pattern and held his gaze for a beat. Upon realizing it was Chu Jingxi, one eyebrow quirked up.

Setting up an entire complex array on his own was beyond Chu Jingxi's ability, but when it came to repairing one, he was a natural at it.

In the dim glow of the lantern, each crystal stone clicked into place in its designated position without a hair's breadth of error.

What surprised Chu Suye wasn't Chu Jingxi's skill with arrays—just a few months ago, he'd been brought back to the family not knowing a thing, yet now he'd dipped his toes into nearly every field. It proved that what outsiders called a prodigy's path wasn't just luck and opportunity.

As the final Array Stone clicked into place, the crystals flashed in sync, spiritual light merging and linking into lines.

All the mutated corpses below, including the skeleton fighting Yan Zizhan, froze completely.

It was as if time itself had stopped. Chu Jingxi finally exhaled in relief, and only then did a cold sweat trickle down his forehead.

"Nice work."

Yan Zizhan, still nursing a few wounds, turned back immediately to offer his approval.

Repairing an array was no walk in the park—one wrong step and the spiritual energy could clash, shattering the Array Stones from within. One could only imagine the pressure Chu Jingxi had been under.

He approached and steadied Chu Jingxi's unsteady body in time.

After briefly sending his soul out of his body, Chu Jingxi hadn't fully recovered; his hands had been shaking a little while setting up the array.

Chu Suye, meanwhile, walked off to a cluster of corpses and drew a drop or two of blood from each.

Some had physical traits clearly not of the human race and could be skipped over. It didn't take long.

Soon, she turned to Chu Jingxi, who'd been watching her, and said, "There are no bodies of my Chu family cultivators."

That meant none of his immediate family were among them.

Even being obliterated was better than being trapped here.

These cultivators had died defending the Taichu Continent, only to be turned into pawns of the Ghost Emperor Wuliang in death, nearly becoming fuel for future wars—what a cruel, tragic fate.

The Rustless Copper Bell drifted to Chu Jingxi's ear and jingled twice. "I have a feeling I can't put these souls to rest."

The barbarians had been powerful in life too, but when releasing body cultivators, it had felt easy deep down.

Releasing cultivators, however, was a hundred times harder, let alone these mutated corpses that were on the verge of losing their sense of self entirely.

Chu Jingxi exchanged a glance with Yan Zizhan—they were on the same page.

Leave the rest to other sects. There was still the unknown black water and other debris above—one move could set everything off.

Yan Zizhan asked, "Did you keep the Array Stones?"

Chu Jingxi nodded, two black crystal stones lying in his palm.

They not only slowed targets down but also naturally held back the dead.

With fewer mutated corpses now, even an incomplete array could keep them down. Having just endured an exhausting fight, they'd need this aid when passing back through the faces hovering above.

"The energy inside seems to be draining," Chu Jingxi said, looking at the corpses, unsure how much longer they could be suppressed.

"Array Stones are consumables by nature. Let's go."

The exit went smoothly—the immortal had done at least one thing right, leaving the spatial passage unsealed for fear of being trapped.

The blood-red hue in the sky had faded considerably. Once out, Yan Zizhan and Chu Suye spoke almost simultaneously: "There's something..."

Chu Jingxi looked over, puzzled. In the end, Chu Suye spoke first, because as she spoke, she was holding a shell-like object in her hand.

There were no treasures from life around those corpses, but she had made some other discoveries.

"This is a Companion Shell," she said. "I just found it on the nine-headed demon clan's remains. In the Chu family's grand competition, victors who aided in battle would receive one of these as a bonus." Knowing he was about to ask, Chu Suye added, "The junior division didn't get them."

"..."

Chu Jingxi picked up the small object and found an inscription inside: "Not born on the same day, nor the same month, nor the same year—but may we die on the same day, the same month, the same year."

Chu Suye: "A little touch the family designed."

Chu Jingxi was suddenly glad he didn't have one of these.

It would be hard now to find complete records of all participants from hundreds of years ago, but perhaps this could serve as a breakthrough.

If they were bound to die on the same day, month, and year, the holder of the other shell had no reason not to be on the battlefield.

Yan Zizhan worried that if Chu Jingxi hoped for too much, the disappointment would be too great. "For now, we can only confirm that a demon clan member had a close relationship with a Chu family scion."

As for which specific one, there were many possibilities, and it wasn't necessarily connected to the person before him.

Chu Jingxi: "I have confidence."

The parents of a prodigy must surely be prodigies themselves.

Even now, relations between the human and demon races were mediocre. Back then, inviting demon clan aid in battle must have been huge news.

Aside from his blood relatives, who else could be such a figure?

"Truly a great scion of the proud."

The sudden voice was three parts fainter than usual. It didn't seem to come from within his mind, but more from outside it. Chu Jingxi's body jolted as if struck by lightning—System?!

But it only said that one line before vanishing again.

His reaction was too obvious; the other two looked over with concern.

Chu Jingxi pretended nothing was wrong and asked Yan Zizhan what he had been about to say.

Seeing that he was deliberately changing the subject, Yan Zizhan didn't call him out and answered along: "After the Array Stones were taken, these corpses should have been unsealed long ago."

Logically, they shouldn't have lasted until their arrival.

Chu Jingxi pursed his lips at that, speculating that it might have something to do with the System.

Chu Suye once mentioned a legend about the Ghost Emperor Wuliang—how a single drop of his essence blood could turn into a blood mist, and that the mist retained a faint trace of the Ghost Emperor's will before his death.

But later, it seemed as if he'd been toyed with like a fool—could the system have been behind that? Now that the system had suddenly vanished again, was it because it didn't agree with the battlefield? Or had it gone off to deal with other hidden threats?

Just as he was mulling it over, news suddenly arrived from afar. Chu Jingxi's expression darkened sharply, and he darted toward the city gate without a word.

*-

Outside the city gate, a classic case of the hunter becoming the hunted was playing out.

After the black crystal had been used to re-lay the formation, the blood mist outside had once again been weakened to an absurd degree. The Immortal Alliance at the mine stronghold, after suffering heavy casualties, had mostly cleared the fog.

With the crisis over, the two immortals did not immediately notify the Immortal Alliance.

All these years, they'd been backing Zhao Gang; everything he did had their silent blessing. After putting in all that work, how could they stomach walking away with nothing?

"The spatial seal's been lifted—that Chu kid's got some real skill."

As for the war dead's remains being exploited by the ghost clan, they couldn't care less about honoring the dead. They only got one thing out of that statement: were the war dead's belongings still there?

If they were, then those who made it out alive must have scored something insane.

"Without Zhao Gang leading the team to the spatial point, how would they have found anything?"

They didn't just want a cut—they wanted to take the whole damn pot.

Which is how we ended up with this scene at the city gate.

The two immortals flanked Chu Tiannan from front and back, boxing him in. No matter how formidable the Warship was, without escaping at the first opportunity, holding off two immortals at once was a serious strain.

"What exactly are you all doing?"

An icy voice cut through before its owner even showed up. The moment Chu Jingxi appeared, he saw Chu Tiannan penned in like a caged animal.

One of the stronghold immortals casually swept his gaze over Chu Jingxi, figuring out how to bleed him dry, one step at a time.

Soon, he found the breakthrough point.

"You said you were dealing with a crisis, and you strong-armed Zhao Gang into handing over the treasure. But why didn't Immortal Liu, who went to assist, come out with you?"

He suddenly snapped: "Could this be a scam?"

Liu Ziji, who hadn't come out, was probably dead. With that damning Recording Stone footage from before, they could easily frame Chu Jingxi for his death.

The immortal figured Chu Jingxi knew that too, and hinted that if he handed back the "treasure," they'd be willing to let it slide.

Facing the threat, the array artifact behind Yan Zizhan was already about to launch, but Chu Jingxi gave a slight shake of his head.

They'd burned through too much energy underground. While Chu Tiannan hadn't fully fallen into enemy hands, if things devolved into an all-out fight, the demon beasts on the ship probably wouldn't make it.

In the past, Chu Jingxi would've mulled it over. This time, he didn't.

He took out one of the black crystals and tossed it over.

The two immortals exchanged glances and sneered—his moves were still too green, thinking he could split them up with that.

One immortal took the item, and the other didn't fight over it. This was just an appetizer.

But right then, Yan Zizhan locked eyes with the one holding the Array Stone. Before coming, his master had specifically told him that a sword qi had been left inside one of the stronghold's immortals long ago, and from the messed-up aura, it wasn't hard to tell who it was.

"You were struck with a sword qi in your body years ago, and it's been holding back your breakthrough. This thing can suppress dead stuff, so of course it can suppress sword qi too. However—"

However what, he didn't say, but the immortal had already noticed it too: the energy in the black crystal was bleeding away by the second.

Traces of law clung to the crystal, clearly showing Chu Jingxi had quietly used the Space-Time Law to speed up the decay, backing the immortal into a corner to use it fast.

Once he broke through and faced his tribulation, the Immortal Alliance would lose its edge in suppressing him.

Chu Jingxi crossed his arms and smiled: "Hurry up and choose—the Array Stone won't wait."

The immortal shot him a cold glare. He definitely had more stashed away, but pushing harder would just make the guy pull the same stunt again.

Facing what might be the only breakthrough chance he'd ever get, the immortal said in a deep voice: "Brother Zheng, hold the line for a sec. Once I break through, I won't touch any of the loot that comes after. If they run, I'll split half my fortune with you."

"You—!"

But the speaker had already backed off, unleashing his domain. With all those years of buildup, if it weren't for that sword qi in his gut, he'd have made First-rank Celestial Immortal ages ago!

The moment he took it, the violent sword qi within him was automatically suppressed.

The immortal felt an unprecedented ease throughout his body, and his aura began to surge wildly.

The remaining Immortal Alliance cultivators stood on high alert, fearing that Chu Jingxi and his group might strike back at any moment.

On the other side, with the immortals no longer flanking him, Chu Tiannan finally broke free. He was about to ask Chu Jingxi whether they should attack immediately, but saw the latter whispering with Yan Zizhan.

Showing no intention of making a move, Chu Jingxi stood there like a perfect gentleman. His waiting, strangely enough, made those around him feel uneasy.

As seconds ticked by, even the immortal who had directly broken through his bottleneck within the domain sensed something amiss.

What was he waiting for?

But at this point, there was no way the other party could stop him.

Dark, heavy clouds had already drifted together and begun to coalesce in the sky.

Clouds turning to thunder—just as the first bolt struck, the immortal's domain loosened, and Yan Zizhan suddenly moved!

Even a Golden Immortal couldn't forcibly kill someone in the midst of their tribulation, yet Yan Zizhan didn't hesitate for a moment. After his Sword Bone transformation, his speed had undergone a qualitative leap, and in an instant, he was near the tribulation-crossing immortal.

He didn't waste effort on a futile killing blow. Instead, he flicked his fingertip, and some black water poured into the tribulation clouds without warning.

It was the same trick that Gold Immortal Xuanlu had once tried to use when Chu Jingxi was crossing his tribulation at the realm boundary.

Certain evil substances would provoke heaven's wrath, making heaven believe the tribulation-crosser was a heretic or demon, thereby intensifying the thunder punishment.

The immortal saw through this malicious scheme and sneered coldly: "You think such petty tricks can harm me?"

The loopholes of heaven weren't so easy to exploit. Though he didn't know what that black water was, such a small amount shouldn't be enough to anger heaven.

Below, even his own allies hadn't expected this move. Chu Suye asked: "Is that the black water from the spatial corridor earlier?"

Chu Jingxi nodded. He had had the Realm Spirit collect some, originally intending to hand it over to the alchemy plant for sample analysis.

Chu Suye: "Will such a small amount be enough?"

Chu Jingxi smiled: "Heaven only needs one reason to kill."

And coincidentally, he wanted to see whether the system was paying attention to this place—after all, it had vanished again without a word, which was rather unsettling.

"??"

In the span of a few exchanges, the second thunderbolt was poised to strike. As the distance closed, the immortal's pupils suddenly dilated.

This wasn't one thunderbolt—it was a sea of thunder! It was like every tribulation bolt that was supposed to come next had been mashed into one.

A tribulation this strong left you completely helpless. The immortal scrambled to dodge in desperation.

He dodged half of it, but paid the price with an arm sliced clean off by the tribulation lightning, while the rest of the lightning was unavoidable, crashing down from the top of his skull and blasting through his whole body.

It all happened so fast he didn't even get a scream out before his soul was snuffed out.

Silence settled over heaven and earth. The way those tribulation clouds rolled in and cleared out was easily top three in cultivation history.

But someone moved even faster—Yan Zizhan caught the severed arm cleanly and tossed the spatial ring to Chu Jingxi.

The Immortal Alliance didn't even have time to chew them out for swiping the ring right in front of them. "How the hell..."

How the hell could a tribulation be that terrifying?

No sooner had one crisis settled than another one cropped up. The last immortal left sensed a messy, chaotic aura barreling toward them—the Beast Taming Sect!

While the blood mist had blanketed the sky and ground, the Beast Taming Sect had been quietly watching from the shadows. The second the spatial seal broke, they moved.

Now, a few Beast Taming Sect elders stood with their spirit beasts, glaring icily at the Immortal Alliance. The beasts looked like they were dying to charge in and eat them alive.

Feeling a bit rattled under all those stares, the immortal spoke up: "What brings you all here?"

Halfway through, the immortal kept his face neutral and shot a glance at Chu Jingxi: "Did he say something on the side? Don't fall for it. This guy just..."

A Beast Taming Sect elder cut him off: "Our disciples keep running into trouble one after another. You really think we haven't done our own digging?"

The beasts that had come to stir up trouble were all kin and cronies, quietly scheming about how to wipe out the outpost.

That statement ripped off the last shred of pretense.

The cultivators there were a bit on edge, but they also let out a small sigh of relief.

The fact they weren't making a move openly meant the Beast Taming Sect was basically scared of crossing them. A little compensation would smooth things over.

A sharp rip cut through the air as sword light flashed out of nowhere, nearly slicing the immortal's cheek open.

Yan Zizhan's sword was out in a flash. Chu Tiannan followed right behind, blasting toward the Immortal Alliance. And the Beast Taming Sect, which had been holding back the whole time, wasn't about to be left out—they led their spirit beasts to circle around the outside, making sure nobody got away.

The crowd's faces changed in an instant. Zhao Gang, who'd dragged himself here despite his injuries just to watch Chu Jingxi get humiliated, roared: "Are you all insane?! I've already messaged the Alliance! Once word of this gets out, they're not gonna let it slide!!"

Then he turned to the Beast Taming Sect: "The Chu family can shield Chu Jingxi! But they won't shield the Beast Taming Sect too! And these spirit beasts—aren't you scared of getting your whole clan wiped out?!"

The beasts that were cornering the enemies froze up a little.

The next second, a soft laugh echoed out.

Chu Jingxi had Chu Suye toss something in front of Zhao Gang. Zhao Gang flinched back in a panic, only to see it was just a jade slip.

"Go on, open it and take a look."

Seeing Zhao Gang hesitate, Chu Jingxi, all gentle and patient, made the jade slip hover in mid-air. A lot of people couldn't help but glance over, confirming it was just a standard mission jade slip.

The part he'd deliberately zoomed in on was exactly about this mission—saying suspicious activity had popped up at the old battlefield and they'd been sent to check it out.

Zhao Gang was totally lost.

"You dummy, haven't you noticed there's no reward section at the end?"

Chu Jingxi looked at Zhao Gang: "At first, I wondered why there was no mission reward. The second I saw you guys, it clicked."

No mission reward meant they'd been handed a blank check, free to fill in whatever they wanted.

Chu Suye put on a fierce front on the outside, but privately sent a message: "What if we read this wrong?"

I mean, this was an Immortal Alliance stronghold—why would it just become their reward?

"It can't be wrong." He'd only been guessing before, but now he was almost dead sure.

When Zhao Gang secretly used a Message Talisman, he'd seen it but didn't stop him.

And even now, he hadn't gotten any order from his family to back off—that alone said plenty.

"Gah!"

Chu Jingxi turned his fingers into a blade and stabbed straight through Zhao Gang's dantian, then chucked him aside like garbage to the Rock Antelope on the Warship. Then he turned to the other cultivators who'd been ganging up on Chu Tiannan earlier.

"Stand trial, or die?"

A few cultivators looked like they wanted to back out. The immortal, mid-fight, caught it out of the corner of his eye and yelled: "You think the Beast Taming Sect will go easy on you? Fight your way out! The Alliance will set things right, and I'll double the compensation!"

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. When the immortal whipped out his killing artifact and looked like he was gaining the upper hand, they charged right in.

These guys had one clear target—they made a beeline for Chu Jingxi, trying to grab the leader as a hostage.

A clatter rang out, slowing their charge.

The Rustless Copper Bell played bodyguard, tearing through everyone in sight.

It wanted to show Chu Jingxi just how awesome it was!

Meanwhile, a Beast Taming Sect elder made a gesture. The beasts that had formed the encirclement in the distance charged in, locking the cultivators in a brutal fight.

Some cultivators started regretting their choices and begged for mercy. The spirit beasts, scared Chu Jingxi might take pity, roared over and over to drown out those voices, fighting even harder.

The beasts needn't have worried. Chu Jingxi had just realized the Realm Spirit Origin had vanished somewhere and was scanning around for it.

As he looked around, he caught a familiar aura.

The Realm Spirit Origin had been zipping through the fight like a silver dragon earlier. Now it had a single strand of hair threaded through a bunch of spatial rings from the Immortal Alliance cultivators, all gleaming bright once bunched together.

Thunk.

It plopped back onto Chu Jingxi's head, setting a little handmade crown on him.

Author's Note:

Mini Theater:

Realm Spirit Origin: He looks broke. I'll help him rake it in.

Rustless Copper Bell: ...