Chapter 85

Ming Liu shook his neck, emitting a faint crackling sound. “As for you, it’s better to just say farewell.”

The moment his words landed, killing intent surged.

A dense aura mixed with strong pressure rushed towards her, forcing her to immediately spit out a mouthful of blood.

Chen Lubai was unwilling.

After waiting for a whole year, enduring endless hatred day and night, she was so close.

Just a bit more, and she could avenge everyone in the city.

Could it be true, as the Locust Tree Ghost said, that everything she did was like an ant trying to move a tree?

The oppressive feeling grew stronger, almost shattering her internal organs. The intense pain gradually consumed her consciousness. In a daze, Chen Lubai suddenly saw a beam of sword light.

…How could there be sword light?

In an instant, lightning struck.

A familiar figure burst in from the door, holding a sword. The long sword, like the ever-changing Milky Way, pierced straight towards the man’s throat.

Ming Liu sensed the sword wind, quickly dodged, and glanced over to see the elusive sword cultivator.

“Walked right into the trap.”

He chuckled hoarsely and said, “I like it.”

Ning Ning quickly locked eyes with Chen Lubai, tightened her grip on the Xinghe Sword in her hand, and raised her gaze to say in a deep voice, “Don’t even think about touching her.”

There might be something amiss in the Lingquan Temple. After some discussion among the other three, they decided that Zheng Weiqi, He Zhizhou, and Pei Ji would continue to attract attention, while Ning Ning, with her fastest agility and proficiency in stealth, was best suited to sneak into the Lingquan Temple to investigate.

Ming Liu wasn’t foolish; he could tell they were all here to disrupt the Soul-refining Formation. The sword cultivator who suddenly appeared was not important. He had to deal with Chen Lubai first.

With murderous intent in his heart, before he could move forward, another beam of sword light came at him.

…Damn it!

This girl unexpectedly proved to be troublesome. The sword shadows split into several lightning-fast strikes, each aimed straight at his throat. Ming Liu hurriedly avoided them, bloodlust flashing in his eyes. He bit his wrist, and the gushing blood formed into a long blade.

The swords collided, making a harsh and loud sound. Ning Ning’s strength was not as strong as his, and she nimbly turned over and jumped back to avoid the blood mist coming towards her face.

Though she was at a disadvantage, Ning Ning managed to fight Ming Liu throughout, her swordsmanship ever-changing and swift, often using clever tactics. She didn’t deliberately fight to the death but instead kept him firmly entangled by her side.

Unfortunately, Ming Liu, though intending to stop the tampering of the formation, had no time to spare for Chen Lubai. He could only focus all his attention on the battle, quickly trying to deal with this reckless sword cultivator.

Chen Lubai took advantage of the situation to cut open her other wrist with a wooden twig, using her own blood to alter the large formation outlined with the blood of the people of Goose City.

Between refining souls and capturing souls, a single thought could change everything in just a few strokes.

Ming Liu cursed loudly, but with most of the demonic cultivators in the city chasing the escaped sacrifice and the few lackeys guarding outside the temple already dealt with by Ning Ning, there was little hope left.

As he cursed, he started to sound panicked and desperate, pleading, “Please, please, don’t activate the formation! I’ll give you all my gold, and if you want my cultivation, you can have that too!”

After a moment’s pause, he continued, “Why bother? If you activate the Soul Crossing Formation, you won’t survive either! It’s better to stay in the mortal world and enjoy life—don’t jump!”

Ning Ning took a deep breath, then quickly turned her head back, coincidentally locking eyes with Chen Lubai.

She had already altered the formation, standing in front of the blazing altar. Her face was bathed in the intense crimson glow of the fire, her pupils shimmering with a bright spark, like stars falling from the sky, hidden in the dark eyes of the young girl.

Chen Lubai’s back trembled slightly, but her gaze was as resolute and determined as never before. She looked straight at Ning Ning, finally curling her lips into a relieved smile.

“Miss Ning Ning, actually, what I said back at the Chen Mansion, I wasn’t lying to you.”

She said, “At that time, I really didn’t want to leave the mansion… Thank you all; I was very happy in the illusion.”

Only in that dream she woven could Chen Lubai say those words to Ning Ning again, returning to Goose City in the misty rain, as the naive and innocent Miss Chen from a year ago, rather than the transformed half-demon she became later.

She used to dream of wandering the world freely, being a carefree heroine, but now she really, truly loved Goose City, and she really, truly loved the Chen Mansion. She didn’t want to leave for the rest of her life.

Her father always wanted to hurry her into marriage, never refusing any request from his daughter.

Chen Lubai wanted to know what that “unexpected gift” on her birthday next year that her father mentioned was, but she waited day after day, never getting an answer.

Her clingy older brother and sister-in-law were disgustingly lovey-dovey, but since they were so good to her, Chen Lubai forgave them graciously.

Her sister-in-law always asked if she had any favored suitors in her heart, and every time, the young girl would vigorously shake her head. She didn’t want to marry, and to be honest, she secretly liked the idea of sitting alone on the street corner selling calligraphy and paintings when she grew old.

But she never got to grow old.

Then there was Yueming, who loved playing with mud and was no different from a tomboy.

Because she watched her little sister grow up little by little, Yueming always obediently listened to her. Even if sometimes she brought back muddy water from outside to play house, she would be the first to come to her, holding the bowl in front of Chen Lubai with sparkling eyes and sillyly asking if she wanted to eat.

The day the demon cultivators entered the city, she was chatting with Yueming behind the courtyard. Hearing the screams, she knew something was wrong, so she hugged her little sister and hid behind that locust tree.

The Chen Mansion was filled with cries—cries that Chen Lubai had never heard before, but she was powerless to do anything. All she could do was cry silently, covering Yueming’s mouth with tears streaming down her face.

Their sobbing was faintly audible in the night as they saw two blood-covered demon cultivators approaching step by step, soon to bypass the locust tree and reach them.

Yueming, for the first time, didn’t listen to her and didn’t stay still. Instead, she suddenly broke free from Chen Lubai’s arms and ran in the opposite direction.

Her usually obedient little sister never turned back, not even once until she died, never looking in the direction where Chen Lubai was.

Then blood filled the air; the stench was overwhelming, and Yueming died. The two demon cultivators did not continue their search inside.

That was the first time Chen Yueming acted on her own initiative, and also the last.

Chen Lubai had always understood that she was timid, indulgent, and reckless.

But even so, she wanted to do something for the Goose City that she deeply loved.

Their plan was already halfway done.

Just a little more effort, a little more courage.

She and the Locust Tree Ghost could avenge everyone in the city.

The girl lifted her head in silence, casting one last deep glance at the land she loved so deeply—perhaps it was not Goose City she loved most, but the people in the city who she would never see again.

Father, brother, sister-in-law, Yueming, the servants frightened by the horse, the vendors who always greeted her with a smile, and the children playing with mud in the streets and alleys.

They were all so good, and she couldn’t bear to leave any of them behind.

Midnight had arrived, and the sound of the bell rang out.

The next moment, clothes fluttered, and flames surged.

The fire rose from the ground, its brilliance intensifying.

The blood formation on the ground seemed to react; its dull reddish-black color was now emitting bursts of golden light, illuminating the dark twilight for a moment and casting light on the partially destroyed face of the Buddha in the main hall.

The golden light rose slowly, more and more, denser and denser, eventually converging into a mighty force, forming a beam of light that soared into the sky like a dragon.

The thin mist and thick clouds were dispersed, and the dazzling golden light quickly illuminated the dome, revealing a serene golden moon.

Then came a loud buzzing sound, and the beam of light suddenly burst open without warning, turning into countless bright golden lines, pouring down like raindrops on this long-abandoned small city.

As if gods had descended, the demon cultivators had nowhere to hide, all turning to dust.

On the fifth day of the sixth month, the Soul Crossing Formation was activated.

Hundreds of demon cultivators in Goose City died under the formation painstakingly created by themselves.

And also because of a young girl’s scheme.