Chapter 31: Injury

Chapter 31: Wound

Eastern Domain

In the Carefree Palace, time within the Thought Pavilion stood still.

This three-story pavilion sat at the heart of Carefree Lake. As long as one walked along the corridor leading to it, one could watch the night slowly descend, with a moon radiating clear light forever hanging in the distant deep-blue sky, casting the pavilion into silhouette.

Whenever a gentle breeze passed, only the bamboo grove before the pavilion would rustle. Upon closer inspection, one would find that every bamboo joint was formed from broken swords—some still razor-sharp, others decayed beyond recognition—each sword mark above them bearing witness to fierce battles they had once endured.

Beyond this bamboo grove lay the Thought Pavilion.

But without the owner's permission, ordinary cultivators could never reach the pavilion itself. People could only wander futilely along the corridor, hesitate upon the lake, linger in the bamboo grove, or hover in midair—the closer they tried to get, the more the pavilion stood like a tranquil silhouette beneath the moonlight, nearly eternal.

On this day, however, a piercing scream erupted from that tranquil silhouette, startling a flock of waterfowl into flight.

"Ahhh—"

Immortal Lord Chana, however, could not afford to care about such things. He only felt that his hand throbbed with excruciating pain.

It was only when a medicine cultivator beside him hastily pulled a packet of medicine from a storage pouch and scattered it over the junction where Immortal Lord Chana's arm had reached into the cloud mirror that the searing pain lessened slightly, allowing the Immortal Lord to regain a sliver of his capacity for thought.

Unfortunately, those familiar with Immortal Lord Chana knew well that this Immortal Lord's head was purely decorative—what little brain he had was hardly worth mentioning—and in most situations, not thinking was far worse than thinking.

Now that he could finally think again, this Immortal Lord did not consider how to extricate himself. Instead, only boundless hatred surged forth.

Zhou Hui! Zhou Hui! Zhou Hui!!!

Never in his entire life had he suffered such a loss.

He had always been the one taking things from others! How dare anyone cut off his hand?!

But Immortal Lord Chana could not free himself for the moment, and his arm still burned with agonizing pain. Thus, his hatred inevitably turned on those around him:

"What are you all standing there for?! Get over here and help me!"

Someone asked hesitantly, "What exactly are we supposed to do in this situation?"

The reason the Carefree Palace had chosen the most empty-headed Immortal Lord Chana to oversee the scene was precisely because of his signature technique:

World-Turning Hand.

As long as there existed a communication object like the cloud mirror, he could reach across vast distances and seize objects—and regardless of how far away the object was or how massive its weight, to Immortal Lord Chana, it was as insignificant as a mustard seed right at his fingertips.

Clearly, this technique held considerable strategic value for the Carefree Palace.

It was also what gave Immortal Lord Chana the audacity to act so arrogantly.

Yet for the first time, the people of the Carefree Palace watched Immortal Lord Chana suffer such a great loss—like a kid who'd stuck his hand in a jar to grab a scorpion and couldn't pull it out.

The problem was that Spatial Spells were the hardest type of Immortal Arts to interfere with directly, since one wrong move could separate your head from your body. And in the current situation, how could they help? By grabbing Immortal Lord Chana's arm and yanking him back?

Thus, even though several Mahayana cultivators were present, they were like mice trying to drag a tortoise—completely helpless.

And at this point, Immortal Lord Chana didn't seem interested in fleeing either:

"Spiritual power! Give me spiritual power! I want to kill that bastard Zhou Hui!"

Immortal Lord Chana roared with bloodshot eyes, with not a shred of "Immortal Lord" dignity left.

The cultivators exchanged glances, and unable to defy him, they began channeling spiritual power toward him. It was at that moment that a voice shouted:

"Don't touch him!"

With this cry, a sword aura like moonlight shot toward Immortal Lord Chana's arm. Before anyone else could even react, it sliced his arm clean in two, blood spurting forth like a fountain.

At the same time, the cloud mirror connecting the two ends crashed to the ground, unable to hold its form, and evaporated into thick mist.

Yet even this didn't seem to satisfy the mysterious attacker. Several more sword auras swept through, scattering the mist that formed the cloud mirror until it was completely gone. Only then did a shadow appear inside the Thought Pavilion.

It was the vague silhouette of a tall, slender swordsman, with the outline of a sword case on his back as its most distinctive feature. But a shadow was merely a shadow—the owner clearly had no intention of revealing himself directly.

The shadow spoke: "Tireless Immortal Venerable is a master at tracking spiritual power. If you make a move, you'll be marked in the Immortal Venerable's book!"

The Mahayana cultivators present immediately went pale and took a big step back from Immortal Lord Chana.

"Bullshit!" Immortal Lord Chana roared, clutching his severed arm.

Actually, after the arm was completely severed, the pain had lessened quite a bit. But looking at his mangled arm, even knowing Immortal Spells could fix it, he still felt utterly humiliated.

He shouted at the shadow: "Si Kongyao, you're getting back at me for personal reasons!"

"I've got no personal beef with you, so where would a grudge come from?" the shadow called Si Kongyao replied helplessly.

"Don't think I don't know—you've always treated this Thought Pavilion as your own property, even copying the True Immortal's swordsmanship!" Immortal Lord Chana sneered. "Too bad, so sad—your swordsmanship can never match the True Immortal's. Only your talent for running away surpasses the True Immortal's. How did it feel being hunted by Zhou Hui for seven years? You really have the nerve to keep on living!"

"It was indeed quite pleasant—after all, I survived in the end!" Si Kongyao said nonchalantly.

After all, he was in shadow form right now, so he had no face to lose—literally.

Si Kongyao advised: "As for you, you'd better get out of the Thought Pavilion right now and go to the Pure Heart Hall to beg your patriarch for a talisman. I can't guarantee that just cutting off your arm will be enough to save your life."

"Hahaha, Si Kongyao, admit it! You really did cut off my arm to get back at me!" Immortal Lord Chana was clearly not the type to listen to anyone. "I'm not like you—a coward who only knows how to run away! If you hadn't gotten in my way just now, I might have actually won!"

"Kids these days are way too confident..." Si Kongyao muttered.

Just then, a Mahayana cultivator—whether to break up the pointless argument or because he really couldn't hold it in—spoke up, trembling:

"L-Lord Absolute Shadow Sword, y-your shadow... why is it turning a bit pale?"

Everyone looked at Si Kongyao's shadow and sure enough, the deep black silhouette seemed tinged with a hint of moon-white.

"Holy crap!"

The shadow let out a yelp and vanished in an instant.

Before anyone could even look for him, Si Kongyao's voice came from way off at the lakeside corridor:

"Run! Zhou Hui is coming!"

His voice was still echoing—the first word came from the middle of the corridor, and by the last word, he was already at the end. Clearly, a corridor that would take ordinary cultivators four or five hours to cross, even with permission, had been cleared by him in the span of a few words.

The others didn't have Si Kongyao's reaction speed. Many of them, hearing the shout, dumbly looked up at the window, trying to see where Si Kongyao had gone!

But they didn't see Si Kongyao (or his shadow). Instead, they saw the moon, which had seemed so far away, now hanging right outside the window—like a giant jade eye, staring at everyone with utter indifference.

"Ahh!"

Everyone present was startled, and many, like Si Kongyao, scrambled down the stairs.

They vaguely heard a sigh:

"Let him get away again."

Upon hearing this, everyone knew who it was and ran even faster.

But there were also "brave" ones who showed no fear, such as Immortal Lord Shana.

"Haha, Zhou Hui! You dare to chase me here!" Immortal Lord Shana, instead of being angry, was delighted upon hearing the voice, revealing a ferocious smile. "This is my territory!"

"Theoretically so, but is this really your 'territory'?" a gentle voice said oddly. "The teaching at Carefree Palace is strange—boosting kids' cultivation recklessly is one thing, but even at the Tribulation Transcendence stage, they don't even teach them how to build their own small world. Can you really achieve Ascension like that?"

"Shut up!" Immortal Lord Shana shouted, hating this lecturing tone the most. "I don't need such useless procedures! This Thought Pavilion was left behind by True Immortal Yinian from our Carefree Palace upon his Ascension! Still better than someone like you who'll never ascend!"

"Since you're here, stay here!"

With a roar, he spread his arms, and his shadow stretched and grew, spreading until it covered the entire Thought Pavilion.

In an instant, the Thought Pavilion was drained of color, becoming like its exterior—reduced to a black-and-white silhouette.

Even the ordinary cultivators who hadn't managed to escape the Thought Pavilion, the bamboo forest, or this area all lost their colors, frozen mid-step with looks of terror.

This was the legendary ultimate move of True Immortal Yinian: One-Thought Annihilation.

Immortal Lord Shana's cultivation was insufficient; even though he had refined the Thought Pavilion, he couldn't fully unleash One-Thought Annihilation, but he could borrow the pavilion's power to freeze time for a fleeting moment.

In that instant, within the entire Thought Pavilion, only Immortal Lord Shana could move.

"Zhou Hui, I know you're here—I'm going to kill you—"

Immortal Lord Shana stood up, clutching his still-bleeding arm.

At this moment, with disheveled hair, drenched in blood, and a ferocious expression, he looked less like an Immortal Lord and more like a specter.

But Immortal Lord Shana was oblivious to his own state.

"Zhou Hui—"

His mind was fixated on a single obsession.

He didn't even notice that as he walked, the color was draining from his body, until he merged with the pavilion's shadowy form, leaving only the crimson bloodstains on the ground casting an eerie glow in the pale blue moonlight.

*

Immortal Lord Shana's disappearance did not go unnoticed.

Although he was unaware of his own disappearance, every cultivator in Carefree Palace sensed the Thought Pavilion's disappearance.

Yes, at the same moment Immortal Lord Shana vanished, the Thought Pavilion began to vanish as well.

The Thought Pavilion sat at the heart of Carefree Lake, which itself lay at the center of Carefree Palace. Whether people in the palace were boarding treasure ships or riding flying swords, they could see the exquisite pavilion at the lake's heart, glowing with faint blue moonlight, a world unto itself.

Such a unique existence—even cultivators who had just entered the Qi Refining Stage could sense its distinctive spiritual energy.

Yet this pocket world was on the verge of vanishing.

It had existed there for centuries or millennia, yet now it was like a sheet of ink-soaked paper suddenly thrown into water, spreading large blotches of ink and dispersing like smoke.

The people of Carefree Palace could do nothing.

Even with the two Tribulation Transcendence Stage elders and dozens of Mahayana cultivators in the palace combining their power, they couldn't slow the "ink" from dispersing in the slightest. All they could do was watch helplessly as the emerald-green Carefree Lake turned into a lifeless, stagnant pool.

"It's not coming back?" a beautiful woman asked in despair.

Si Kongyao—no longer a shadow, but a white-robed sword immortal with a sword box on his back, looking quite young—shook his head silently.

He privately thought this loss was tolerable.

The only casualty was the Thought Pavilion.

Si Kongyao knew that Zhou Hui had previously wanted to raze Carefree Palace itself, but had never been able to locate its precise location, which was why he'd been hunted like a dog by Zhou Hui for seven years.

It was also fortunate that Immortal Lord Shana was fond of grand displays and occupied the Thought Pavilion day and night, and since the pavilion was a small space refined by a True Immortal, forming its own world cut off from the rest of Carefree Palace, Zhou Hui couldn't seize the chance to wipe out the entire palace.

Speaking of which, hadn't Zhou Hui supposedly calmed down considerably after establishing his own sect?

Why so merciless this time?

This was different from when he chased Si Kongyao—this time he outright killed a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator, and one of "noble" birth with deep ties to Carefree Palace's upper echelons. This was practically declaring a mortal feud with Carefree Palace!

Si Kongyao thought this over with a sense of unease.

But it wasn't appropriate to say this directly—it would be too easy to offend people.

In fact, some were already eyeing Si Kongyao with displeasure.

The beautiful woman pressed him, "Weren't you supposed to save my disciple?"

"I was a step too late." Si Kongyao raised an eyebrow. "What, you want me buried alongside him?"

The beautiful woman's face twisted with resentment, as if she wanted to say something, but a booming voice cut in:

"That's enough!"

The speaker was a burly man eight feet tall, with eyes bulging with fury and muscles that even silk robes couldn't hide, like a bandit playing dress-up as a rich man. But most terrifying was his spiritual might—so overwhelming that it made his already towering frame seem even larger. He stood there like a mountain.

The burly man roared, "What's all this bickering! It's too late to point fingers now."

Si Kongyao said nothing.

The beautiful woman sobbed in defiance, "So my disciple just died for nothing?"

"How could that be?" the burly man said through gritted teeth. "Zhou Hui has repeatedly provoked our Carefree Palace, and we've backed down time and again, yet he doesn't know when to stop! I'll personally write to the Heavenly Dao Alliance and ask them where justice is?!"

The people around listened quietly, knowing this wouldn't end with just words.

Sure enough, the burly man continued:

"Furthermore, as of today, seal all trade routes to the Central Region! Block all grain, pills, talismans, and other supplies from entering the Central Region! Let's see if his Central Region sects can hold up under that! I'll make sure Zhou Hui has nowhere to stand in all Five Regions and Six Abysses!"

*

The Central Region, Tianling Mountain

"Master, how did you do this?"

Guan Ye, Zhou Hui's fourth disciple, eyed the small paper house on the table with curiosity.

It was an exquisite paper model, crafted from black-and-white paper—white lakes, black corridors and pavilions, with only the bamboo grove in front of the pavilion fashioned from iron spikes. Some little paper figures ran between the pavilion and the bamboo grove, their mouths open in terror as if mid-flight in panic, looking quite "cute."

Well, if you didn't know where this paper house came from, you might think it was cute, right?

Unfortunately, Guan Ye and the others had sat with Zhou Hui before the jade screen and watched the whole spectacle from beginning to end, including the final moment when the jade emitted smoke, and the smoke formed this little paper house.

That's right, the paper house is the Thought Pavilion, and Zhou Hui took it over without a scratch.

Any cultivator worth their salt knows that this is more difficult than simply destroying it—at least, the Carefree Palace believes the Thought Pavilion has been thoroughly destroyed by Zhou Hui.

However, Guan Ye doesn't care so much about how Zhou Hui took it as he does about how the paper house was built.

"Is this a magic artifact?" he asked curiously.

"Not quite. Its rules are already self-consistent. It really is a small cave heaven made by a True Immortal—what a shame..." Zhou Hui looked at the paper house, also looking at it with admiration.

Then he smiled at Guan Ye and said, "Don't worry, this will be a required course once you reach Void Refinement. But before that, you still have a ton of fundamentals to build, and they must be solid. Otherwise, even if I leave something good behind, you'll just waste it like this one here."

Guan Ye's head throbbed at Zhou Hui's smile.

He glanced at the jade screen and said, pretending to be casual, "Second Senior Brother seems to have the secret realm handled and should be back soon. I'll go meet him." He then shot his fifth junior brother a look.

Lu Shulong quickly said, "I'll go too."

"Then I'll go too," Ran Deng said, also eager to get away.

But before they could leave, Yu Wenxuan, who had been lazily resting his chin on his hand, watching Zhou Hui, suddenly asked, "Master, what's this about 'leaving something good behind'?"

Zhou Hui raised an eyebrow.

Ran Deng thought the question was out of line and pouted, "Obviously, it's about Ascension! What else would it be?"

Yu Wenxuan said nothing, just stared at Zhou Hui.

Zhou Hui gave him a gentle smile and said, "Like your junior sister said, what else could it be? Did you think I was going to die? Unfortunately, with a Tribulation Transcendence Stage lifespan, if you don't cultivate properly, I'll still be around long after you're all dead."

"Then I feel better." Yu Wenxuan nodded solemnly. "With the way you just went all out, I thought you'd given up on us!"

"What are you talking about?" Zhou Hui said.

"Because you founded the Celestial Spirit Sect... no, after you picked up Second Senior Brother, you've gotten more and more cautious," Yu Wenxuan accused. "You don't say it, but I know you're trying to leave a way out for these little brats! I even seriously thought about killing them off if they kept holding us back."

Ran Deng shuddered, along with her two junior brothers.

In that moment, they felt the killing intent radiating off Yu Wenxuan—clearly, the senior brother meant it.

Zhou Hui was so pissed he laughed: "You haven't been hung up for three days, and you're itching for another round, huh?"

"Good thing the way you just acted doesn't seem like you were thinking about us," Yu Wenxuan said with a feigned look of relief.

Zhou Hui didn't feel like talking; his head hurt.

This eldest disciple—how should he put it—was always annoyingly perceptive at the wrong times.

He really hadn't considered the Celestial Spirit Sect when he decided to deal with Immortal Lord Chana—after all, the sect's destruction was already destined, so why bother saving face for the Carefree Palace?! Zhou Hui even felt that dying an unknown death at the hands of some so-called "protagonist" was worse than going out with a bang!

Of course, he couldn't say that out loud.

Otherwise, Yu Wenxuan might just beat him to it and pull off something big.

Zhou Hui sneered, "Why overthink it? It's just an inflatable doll—gone with a wave of the hand."

"As expected of Master, really impressive—" Yu Wenxuan drawled.

Suddenly, he lunged forward, trying to hug Zhou Hui.

Zhou Hui instinctively raised a hand to push him away, but the spiritual power pressing down on him made him momentarily unable to muster any strength, and Yu Wenxuan caught him in a hug.

"Hmm, gone with a wave of the hand, huh?" Yu Wenxuan's face was buried against Zhou Hui's waist as he looked up at his master. "Master, your spiritual power usage says otherwise!"

Zhou Hui smacked him upside the head.

Zhou Hui hadn't lied—that watered-down Tribulation Transcendence cultivator could have come in droves and still wouldn't have been able to touch him.

What actually took some effort was taking the Thought Pavilion and using its location to figure out the Carefree Palace's exact position—which hadn't worked yet, suggesting the Carefree Palace had a formation master even better than him.

But that had really drained his spiritual power a bit. Plus, Yu Wenxuan's way of using spiritual power was a bit unique—even when the kid was little, Zhou Hui had to focus completely to dodge this brat's leg-hugging antics, which was why he got caught.

Zhou Hui thought this was just another day, but then he heard Ran Deng's voice choke up:

"So, Master used up all his power just now?"

Huh? Why are you crying?

Zhou Hui looked at Ran Deng in surprise, only to find that not just Ran Deng, but Guan Ye and Lu Shulong's eyes were also getting wet.

"Even I know that an enemy at that level couldn't force Master to drain his power!"

"Besides, Master hasn't used his power like this in a long time, since he's been saving up for Ascension."

"Senior Brother, could it be that Master..."

"Yes!" Yu Wenxuan slid down from Zhou Hui's waist, sat up straight on the floor, and nodded very seriously with a pained look. "At first, when I heard you and Second Senior Brother talking about it, I thought it was ridiculous. But based on what I've observed over this period, Master was really severely injured in the last Heavenly Tribulation!"

...Why don't you just say I'm dead?!

Zhou Hui's mouth twitched: "Who's severely injured?" There was some injury, sure, but the concept of "injury" at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was beyond what low-level cultivators could understand. If anything, it might hinder Ascension, but it wouldn't stop him from smacking the kids around.

Zhou Hui laughed in frustration: "Didn't I already say it? I've given up on Ascension! So even if I use a bit more power now, it's no big deal, right?"

"If you've given up on Ascension, why did you say 'leave something behind'?" Yu Wenxuan asked sharply. "You just said that if you don't ascend, you'll outlive us, so why still 'leave something behind'?"

Where did you come from, you contrarian? It's because destiny has decreed...

Zhou Hui wanted to explain but couldn't.

But seeing Zhou Hui seemingly unable to explain, Ran Deng and the others seemed even more convinced.

The worst part was that, at some point, on the jade screen showing Qu Qianxing and the others' status, the jade carvings representing them also turned around, looking out of the screen:

"Master is severely injured?"

Since when is this two-way?!

Zhou Hui stared at Yu Wenxuan in disbelief, using his Divine Sense to feel out the great peach tree outside the mountain gate, sizing up which branch would be best for hanging Yu Wenxuan.