Chixiao Immortal Lord fell silent. He wanted to speak, yet discovered that he did not even know how to refute her. Should he say that in the Upper Realm, in three thousand years, spiritual energy had not surged? Or that the miasma had not devoured the Dragon God’s vitality?

He could not say it.

This was common knowledge that many people had been taught from birth over the past three thousand years. Chixiao instinctively wanted to deny it, yet he had no way to refute it.

But what shook Chixiao Immortal Lord’s heart the most was perhaps not the truth, but that he discovered he had never truly seen this disciple clearly.

He had thought she was weak, yet now she was as resilient as a cluster of green bamboo; he had thought she was young—when he learned she had actually mixed with that fiend, his first reaction was that his little disciple could not distinguish right from wrong; when he discovered that she had done it willingly, he was filled with disappointment, only feeling that she had gone astray.

But only now did he realize he had been wrong.

He could not refute a single word she said. Her Dao heart was firmer than many others’, and given time, she would absolutely become an astonishingly brilliant great medical cultivator.

It was also at this moment that Chixiao Immortal Lord finally realized what exactly that one separated soul fragment from eighteen years ago, that seal, had truly concealed.

To turn such a medical cultivator with a steadfast Dao heart, destined to be renowned under heaven—into a fool, into a puppet to be used… how cruel was that?

Yet he, the one who had done such a thing, had come before her now entrusted by the sect to make her agree to dissolve the Soul-Seizing Array, to erase the remnant divine sense of Void Abyss Ancestor lingering within the elders’ souls.

Suddenly, he felt that he could not say the words.

He had always claimed it was for responsibility, and for years had been trapped between guilt toward her and the greater righteousness of the world. But at this moment, he suddenly felt his Dao heart waver.

Because… he discovered that all these years, he had lived rather absurdly.

The sect was his responsibility, the world his great righteousness.

Why should he or the people of Tianji Sect make an innocent young girl sacrifice herself to fulfill others’ great righteousness?

He had been wrong for eighteen years—must he continue being wrong?

Chixiao Immortal Lord remained silent for a long time. Shu Tiantian asked whether he had anything else to instruct; he shook his head.

In truth, from the moment he picked her up eighteen years ago, it had been destined that they would walk two utterly different paths—one heading east, the other west.

One could never forgive the sect’s exploitation and coldness; the other could never put down the sect’s kindness and responsibility.

Chixiao Immortal Lord watched as his little disciple gave him a deep bow, then ran toward Void Abyss Ancestor, who was waiting for her in the distance.

Chixiao made a decision.

He was not certain whether what his little disciple said was the truth. He was the foremost in the Lower Realm—naturally, he could not possibly defect because of a few words. But he was unwilling to raise sword or blade against his little disciple; to become a deserter, that he could do.

For Chixiao, who bore a blood-deep enmity with Ji Wushu, this was an enormous concession.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Dao Xuzi and the others were still waiting for Chixiao Immortal Lord, but after waiting for a long time, there was still no sign that Ji Wushu’s remnant divine sense had been eliminated. Everyone grew somewhat anxious.

As soon as Chixiao Immortal Lord reached the door, he heard the discussions inside—half saying he had handled matters poorly, half saying his little disciple was ungrateful.

Chixiao Immortal Lord stood quietly at the doorway for a while, his expression indifferent. At that moment, he felt a trace of relief and even gratitude.

Little disciple, from now on the mountains are high and the waters vast—do not look back.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

No one knew what Chixiao Immortal Lord and Shu Tiantian had talked about. Only that afterward, Chixiao Immortal Lord did not remain in Void Abyss to prepare for the thousand-year calamity. He only said he was injured and needed seclusion, then returned to Tianji Sect.

Dao Xuzi was furious, cursing loudly, asking what injury he had when his whole body looked perfectly fine. Chixiao Immortal Lord covered his chest and said expressionlessly: a love wound.

Dao Xuzi was so enraged he stamped his feet, cursing Chixiao Immortal Lord for three days and three nights.

Such behavior of abandoning one’s responsibilities naturally displeased the Eight Great Sects, and the people of Tianji Sect understood even less why Chixiao would do this. But his cultivation was high—he was the foremost in the Lower Realm. If he said he had suffered a love wound, then it was a love wound; no one could control his decision to enter seclusion.

However, Tianji Sect’s prestige was greatly affected because of this. Already mocked openly and in secret for being poor, this time they were subjected to even more backbiting.

Among the Eight Great Sects, there were four sect leaders whose divine senses still concealed Ji Wushu’s remnant divine sense. With the great battle on the verge of erupting, these four leaders could be controlled by Ji Wushu at any time; naturally, they were replaced.

Logically, they only needed to have other elders step in. But… the elders of Tianji Sect had been wiped out entirely. The only ones left were Elder Bu Nanxing, a fragile medical cultivator; and Chixiao Immortal Lord, in seclusion due to a love wound.

For such a major matter as this Dragon-Slaying Grand Plan, if Tianji Sect did not have a single representative, once it ended, forget about being the number one sect in the Lower Realm—they would be kicked out of even the top ten.

Just thinking about it made Dao Xuzi feel faint. No matter how shameless he was, he could not send his eldest disciple, who was only two hundred years old, could he?

People from the Eight Great Sects arrived one after another. The three cities of Void Abyss were packed with righteous cultivators, and independent cultivators also received the summons and came to participate in the dragon slaying. In merely two days, tens of thousands of cultivators had gathered within Void Abyss.

Seeing that this time Tianji Sect would score nothing, seeing that they would not receive a single strand of battle merit, Dao Xuzi grew more and more agitated.

It was precisely at this time that a message arrived from the Upper Realm.

Tianji Sect was the sect most closely connected with the Upper Realm. Of course, this was not only because Tianji Sect was the largest sect, but because… one of the Three Saints of the colossal force in the Upper Realm, the Three Saints Sect, the Sword Saint, was the grand-master uncle who had ascended from Tianji Sect.

Of the several envoys sent by the Three Saints Sect, all but one had been killed by Ji Wushu, completely enraging the Three Saints Sect. Moreover, the reason the Three Saints Sect had initially sent so few people was naturally because they believed that the Sinful Dragon was now on its last breath. There was no need for the Upper Realm to mobilize greatly; after all, three thousand years had passed. No matter how formidable he had once been, now he was merely lingering on in a feeble state. If the Lower Realm sent more people to fill in, they could simply reap the benefits without effort.

But the news from the Lower Realm was too terrible. Ji Wushu had even appeared openly in Dongwu City; it was evident that the situation was far worse than they had imagined. Perhaps the events of three thousand years ago had been too tragic, and finally drew the attention of the Three Saints Sect.

…Moreover, was it not said that the daughter of the Medicine God had been found? In any case, someone had to come and see personally.

Thus, the Sword Saint was coming to the Lower Realm.

The Sword Saint was Tianji Sect’s grand-master uncle, and naturally could represent Tianji Sect. Tianji Sect would not end up with nothing. After receiving the news, Dao Xuzi’s tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed.

In Dongwu City, Dao Xuzi and the elders all let out a sigh of relief.

As for whether they harbored resentment toward Shu Tiantian for not dissolving the Soul-Seizing Array—it was impossible not to. But that little wretch had followed Ji Wushu, and now they did not dare act rashly. They could only harbor silent resentment in their hearts. Even Chixiao Immortal Lord’s withdrawal at the brink of battle was counted on Shu Tiantian’s head.

“Once the Sword Saint arrives in the Lower Realm, Ji Wushu will undoubtedly die. At that time, we will bring this rebellious disciple back…”

One of the younger elders, who had witnessed Ji Wushu’s power, spoke with some apprehension, “Even if Grand-Master Uncle is the Sword Saint of the Upper Realm, that Sinful Dragon is currently in excellent condition. What if…”

Dao Xuzi sneered, “Do you know what the technique was called that once nailed this Sinful Dragon through upon the great array, gathering the power of heaven and earth to slay a god?”

“The creator of the array named it the God-Slaying Sword, precisely because this sword was not wrought by human strength, but borrowed the power of the Heavenly Dao. And now, our Grand-Master Uncle, the Sword Saint, is the inheritor of this God-Slaying Sword technique. The one who created this sword technique in the past was only half a step away from becoming a god—one can see how formidable it is. Now, as long as Grand-Master Uncle is present, even the Sinful Dragon in his prime could be nailed through with a single sword!”

Of course, the small matter that the person who created the God-Slaying Sword had been killed by Ji Wushu in his prime was unnecessary to mention.

“This God-Slaying Sword only needs to be paired with the God-Slaying Array to unleash its greatest power.”

The God-Slaying Array—everyone knew it was the massive array within the Scarlet Flame Flower Fields.

Thus the elders understood. In other words, for this sword technique to take effect, it had to be within the range of the great array to gather the power of the Heavenly Dao.

Yet no one worried that the Dragon God’s true body would leave the Scarlet Flame Flower Fields—

After all, during the previous thousand-year calamity, had not the Sinful Dragon barely survived precisely because his true body did not even have the strength to move? Unable to flee, unable to hide, unable to evade—he could only stand and be cut down. Had not the last thousand years passed exactly like that?

Even if their founding ancestor had failed once, allowing that Sinful Dragon to survive by chance, this time, they had brought the Sword Saint’s God-Slaying Sword, had they not?

If they stabbed that shattered dragon body once more—even Ji Wushu in his prime, so long as he remained within the God-Slaying Array, would only be able to wait for death, would he not?

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

At the summit in the center of Void Abyss, Ji Wushu watched the movements of these people, yet his heart was without ripple or wave. Not even a trace of fear arose.

He even had the leisure to send a few rains down upon Void Abyss. Only, because he had overheard the conversation between the little medical cultivator and her master, these past few days he had been tormenting the Dragon Bone Sword with reading comprehension.

Ji Wushu was the Dragon God. The dragon race originally possessed bloodline inheritance, and he was the god born of this clan, so he knew things innately. But the Dragon Bone Sword was not; it was merely a weapon spirit. Not only was it uncultured, its mind did not work very well either.

Yet because of a single sentence from the little medical cultivator, the Ancestor of Void Abyss began tormenting the Dragon Bone Sword with various ancient texts, insisting it answer him—what did “My Dao, is to save” mean?