The immortal dress fluttered, long hair danced in the wind, sword at her side, she stood alone.
“So, it’s you all after all. I didn’t come looking for you, yet I never expected you’d come courting death yourselves.”
Upon seeing these people clearly, how could she not understand?
Weren’t these the very people who had ambushed and tried to assassinate her back then?
She had hurriedly responded at the time, caught unprepared and gravely injured, ultimately ending up with amnesia.
But it was also thanks to that amnesia that she met Xu Ping’an.
For this reason, and with the Floating Cloud Sect currently unstable within, she really hadn’t intended to go seek out these troublesome Magical Path cultivators for the time being.
Yet no matter how well she planned, she never imagined that without her looking for them, they would instead come looking for her.
Recalling how Xu Ping’an had just broken three ribs to protect the three women, Pei Qingxuan’s expression darkened further.
“Pei Qingxuan, last time you got away, but this time… you won’t escape!”
Surrounded by Magical Path cultivators, most of whom she’d only heard of but could now match to their faces, she kept her composure.
“Qi Guan Xuehe, Wu Xin Du Gu, Bai Can Zhang… Seems I, Pei Qingxuan, am quite significant, to have even you famed Magical Path cultivators coming after me.” Pei Qingxuan looked toward one of them.
Wu Xin Du Gu.
“It’s said you practice only the sword, belonging to neither good nor evil. Is Wu Xin Du Gu going to throw in with the Magical Path today?”
The man named was slow to raise his head, arms folded across his chest, a longsword slanting at his side.
“I have not come today to join the Demonic Sect, but because I heard that Pei Sect Leader is fated to face calamity. I came specially to challenge you, lest your dao perishes without my sword being tested!”
“Good… in that case, come!”
With a sudden flourish, Pei Qingxuan’s sword was drawn, a spark of fire flashing instantly.
“Phoenix Soars!!”
A soft chant rang out, and a fiery blaze blossomed along the crimson sword.
“Well done! Pei Sect Leader, let me learn from you!” The moment Pei Qingxuan raised her sword, Wu Xin Du Gu, not to be outdone, drew his blade and dashed forward.
“Bloodthirsty Sword Style!”
Clang!!
The sound of metal colliding echoed at their ears.
As their swords crossed, their eyes locked.
In the next instant… their figures flickered rapidly, the resounding sword cries marking the rhythm of this duel.
Both were sword cultivators: one, famed and renowned, was Sect Master of the Floating Cloud Sect, Pei Qingxuan.
The other, a man who cultivated the sword alone, belonging to neither good nor evil—Wu Xin Du Gu.
Among their peers, sword cultivators were always the most lethal, and since neither was using large-scale sword techniques, instead fighting in close quarters, their battle was all the more dangerous.
This left the other Magical Path cultivators watching helplessly, unable to interfere.
Bai Can Zhang furrowed his brows tightly.
“This Wu Xin Du Gu… I knew we shouldn’t have brought him. Now that he’s fighting Pei Qingxuan, we can’t even get close. What do we do?”
Nothing could be done—sword cultivators were too fast, far too hard to pin down.
“No need to worry, everyone,” someone said. “Don’t forget, we’ve learned the grand formation. While the two of them are dueling, hurry and set up the formation. Once it’s in place, even if Pei Qingxuan has the greatest of abilities, she won’t be able to escape today!”
Hearing this, a few of the Magical Path cultivators quickly nodded.
It was Qi Guan Xuehe, the veteran Magical Path cultivator, who made the final call:
“In that case, as previously discussed, everyone move to your positions and set up the formation—quickly!”
With that, Qi Guan Xuehe took the lead, heading straight for the northeast corner.
Seeing this, the others hurried forward as well, beginning their preparations.
Meanwhile, on the Golden Boat that had fallen unnoticed to the ground.
Xu Ping’an stood inside the Tianming Bell, the three women at his side, all with expressions tinged with fear.
He understood all too well how dire the situation was outside, but for now, he could only keep the three women calm.
“Mister, what exactly is happening?”
Of the three, Li Yuer was the most level-headed.
She quickly composed herself and turned to Xu Ping’an, glancing around at their surroundings.
“And where are we now?”
The space around them was not small at all.
Rather than the inside of a treasure, it resembled a round-roofed room, about ten meters in diameter—quite spacious.
With four people together, there was still room to move.
At the moment, though, Xu Ping’an had three people clinging to him.
Li Yuer on his left, Xiao Jing’er on his right, and Li Zhi’er in the middle.
“It’s just a bit of trouble, nothing serious.”
While watching the fight outside, Xu Ping’an replied calmly.
Suddenly, his Chaos Golden Eyes caught a hint of something unnatural.
These Chaos Golden Eyes were innate treasures, once shattered with the world itself.
Of course, the System was always extraordinary; before Pangu split the heavens, it had already embedded these in his eyes.
As for whether the lack of this innate treasure’s fragments would affect that world—
Xu Ping’an didn’t know, nor did the System care.
If anyone with cultivation used these eyes, just a single glance could shatter one’s very soul.
But, fitted in his eyes, their only remaining function was to see through illusions.
Not a huge advantage, but it did allow him to notice changes in the situation outside.
Pei Qingxuan was battling Wu Xin Du Gu fiercely, neither able to gain the upper hand.
If Pei Qingxuan unleashed her full sword arts, she would surely overwhelm Wu Xin Du Gu—after all, their cultivation realms weren’t equal.
But in a pure close-combat sword duel, Wu Xin Du Gu’s swordsmanship was not inferior.
Xu Ping’an could guess why Pei Qingxuan was choosing this form of close combat.
Because he was inside the Golden Boat.
While the other Magical Path cultivators hadn’t paid attention to the Golden Boat, Pei Qingxuan wouldn’t take that risk.
If she used large-scale attacks, she might destroy the Golden Boat’s structure—and if that happened, the Tianming Bell hidden within would be exposed.
For no reason, those cultivators would surely suspect Pei Qingxuan had some special purpose for using the Tianming Bell.
That could turn all their attention to him.
She was doing it to protect him.
But because of that, she was completely tied down, and the lack of attacks from the others meant she had surely noticed this as well.
Xu Ping’an swept his gaze outside. The Magical Path cultivators had begun moving to various directions, seemingly to encircle them.
“This is… the Ten Directions Blood Grudge Bone-Corroding Grand Formation?” Xu Ping’an didn’t know much else, but when it came to formations, he could see it at a glance.
Though he had no cultivation, relying solely on external items to activate formations, his understanding had long surpassed the ordinary.
“Ten Directions Blood Grudge Bone-Corroding Grand Formation? Mister… what kind of formation is that? Just hearing the name sends chills down my spine.”
Li Yuer’s face was tense, but it wasn’t the name that frightened her.
It was because the formation was already beginning to take shape, and every region it encompassed was being affected by the impact of blood grudge.
“Don’t be afraid, as long as I’m here.”
He comforted Li Yuer, glancing back outside.
This couldn’t go on. Once the formation fully activated, Xu Ping’an was not confident he could handle it from inside.
After all, he was just a mortal.
Although some pills had made his body a bit stronger than normal, his foundation was still human.
Even with a thousand-year lifespan, his body wasn’t much different from any other mortal.
If he had cultivation, he could try to break the formation from within—but he had none.
If he didn’t destroy it before it fully formed, not only would the three women die, but Pei Qingxuan would likely meet the same fate.
Xu Ping’an did have a way to survive—at least to save his own life—but that kind of ending was absolutely unacceptable to him.
“You three stay here, I have to go out for a bit.” Xu Ping’an gently freed himself from the two women at his arms and pushed Li Zhi’er away, looking at the three of them.
“Remember what I say: no matter what happens, do not trust anything else. I will definitely resolve the problem outside. Later, there might be some illusions—you must hold fast to your hearts, understand?”
Though cultivator duels were completely overwhelming to ordinary people, Xu Ping’an still felt it necessary to warn them in advance.
If they could resist, all the better. If not, they’d deal with the consequences later.
“Mister…..”
Li Yuer’s brow tightened as she grabbed Xu Ping’an’s sleeve, her peach blossom eyes filled with worry.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
Xu Ping’an patted her hand and took a deep breath.
Although he couldn’t activate formations or use magic treasures himself—
But these Chaos Golden Eyes could easily see the connections between formations and treasures.
After all, all magic treasures were connected to formations in some way.
Powerful treasures owed their strength to the formations inscribed on them.
Or perhaps, some treasures were inherently attuned to certain formation operations.
Thus, though Xu Ping’an couldn’t control the Tianming Bell, no one could stop him from leaving.
Three steps forward, seven diagonally, then one step back, followed by three more steps forward.
The next instant, the scenery before his eyes twisted, the rounded chamber rapidly shrinking and distorting, then receding swiftly behind him.
When things cleared again, he was now standing outside the Tianming Bell.
The Tianming Bell behind him was currently in an activated state, about as tall as a person.
The reason the interior had a ten-meter circular space was because the treasure had activated a spatial expansion ability.
Similar to things like the Sumeru Ring.
It was likely there were several spaces inside; Pei Qingxuan’s usual possessions might all be stored there.
As for why he’d never seen her carry such a thing before, he had no idea.
But that wasn’t important now—what mattered was the problem at hand.
He looked around.
Though the formation wasn’t fully formed yet, traces of blood-fiend energy had begun to fill the air.
Once this energy condensed, it would become blood grudge energy.
When that happened, it would be too late to act.
“The Ten Directions Blood Grudge Bone-Corroding Grand Formation gathers the blood-fiend and resentment of all vengeful spirits and evil ghosts within a hundred kilometers… This formation shouldn’t even exist, so how did someone use it?”
Xu Ping’an searched his memories.
He’d studied many things, all kinds of formations among them, and this one… was definitely not something that should exist in this era.
This formation originated when the Wu Tribe slaughtered the Human Tribe—created by a few minor shamans, intended to collect the souls and blood-fiend of the Human Tribe to disrupt the souls of the Yao Clan.
Though it never made an appearance in the Great War of Wu and Yao, since those minor shamans were even more insignificant than nobodies, this formation was never a big deal.
It should have been lost forever with their deaths.
How could it appear here?