The unfortunate soul who picked Wu Xingxue was the first "immortal envoy" that they found, Zhao Qinglai.

Zhao Qinglai’s fingernails, which were previously hidden in his sleeves, were long and as sharp as knives. He could easily make grooves into the stone wall if he slashed at them.

He picked Wu Xingxue because he looked like a weak, thin, and defenseless aristocrat, the type who only played around and enjoyed their carefree life. This young master wasn’t even wearing a scarf, only holding a hand warmer and leaving his neck open for an attack.

All he needed to do was give that neck a gentle slice, then blood would come surging out…

No effort, and job done!

Zhao Qinglai licked his teeth and slashed his hands towards Wu Xingxue’s neck.

Clang!

When the noise sounded, Zhao Qinglai didn’t even have time to react.

After all, as someone who died already, he had a slightly slower reaction time. When he realized that it was the sound of a sword being drawn—

The hand that he slashed towards Wu Xingxue’s neck was already gone.

The raging sword energy and the vast sharpness that exploded forth were like the inescapable freezing winds of deep winter, sweeping over Zhao Qinglai’s body.

His tightly-wrapped coat was ripped into pieces, and the pressure keeping his body together suddenly disappeared.

Zhao Qinglai opened his eyes wide.

At this time, Wu Xingxue had already vanished, the person blocking in front of him was someone else. That person was extremely tall, and as he gently touched the ground with the tip of his sword, he said coldly, "Come."

……

I can’t…

Zhao Qinglai collapsed to the ground in an instant, and his roar changed to hoarse sharp. Like a whistle, his sound echoed in the entire catacomb with a strong sense of unwillingness.

It wasn’t only Zhao Qinglai.

The others who went for the three cultivation disciples also had their coats sliced into pieces by the flying sword energy.

Those cultivation disciples stabbed at their opponents with their swords but didn’t hit anything. Those enemies who were fierce just a second ago had suddenly collapsed into their piles of fabric.

When they had been “ordained” to come to the Valley of Great Sorrow, their limbs had already been completely cut apart. With deep resentments and grievances, they should have been terrifying sinister beings.

But when their stiff and pale body parts covered with mottled scars fell and started rolling on the ground, and when their red eyes were straining to stay open…

It was a bit unbearable to watch.

After all, they were also once living humans.

The little cultivation disciples were still young, and their reactions were the most obvious. With ghastly pale faces, they backed up a few steps, not even knowing what to do with their swords. In the end, they looked towards the Xiao Fuxuan at a loss.

As one of the four Elders of the Hua Sect, Yi Wusheng had seen many similar situations before, so he was not as affected. But a doctor, he couldn’t bear to just watch. He also subconsciously gazed toward Xiao Fuxuan.

In the mortal realm, there actually weren’t that many rumors regarding him. The only people he dealt with were the evil and the despicable. He didn’t have to do with others’ fortune, and he wasn’t in charge of prosperity and disaster. So, people didn’t pray to him and he would never offer protection over anything either.

There were few portraits of him, let alone divine statues. Most of them stood in places like the Jiaming Wilderness, where few people dared to go.

Others, like the Lingtai Immortals, all showed smiles in their portraits and divine statues, like a spring breeze brushing the world.

Only him, no matter which divine statue, no matter if the statue looked like him or not, he would always have a cold expression without a trace of smile.

No wonder the people didn’t like to worship him in their homes. Because it seems that normal families’ reunions and separations, births and deaths, sorrows and joys, could never make a single ripple in his eyes.

Just like right now, his eyes were downcast, and his gaze shot out from his long eyes, scanning over the limbs and heads scattered all over the ground, scanning over those eyes that couldn’t bear to close. Still, there was no emotion on his face.

After he finished looking at them, he only lifted his thin eyelids.

Zhao Qinglai’s screams became extremely shrill and mournful, echoing in the catacomb, ending with a sorrowful cry.

Xiao Fuxuan paid no attention to that sound. He put away his sword energy and returned his sword to its sheath.

In that second, everyone in the catacomb suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.

It was a discomfort of emotions, it was due to the sharpness of the sword energy that gave everyone a discomforting chill.

It was like a sharp blade that has killed countless things. Even if it was washed clean of blood, stored inside a precious jade sheath, and dappled with a ray of moonlight, it would still be a murderous weapon that no one would dare to touch.

Only Wu Xingxue felt differently.

Because his finger was pressed against Xiao Fuxuan’s back, when Zhao Qinglai and the others collapsed onto the ground, their limbs and heads rolling chaotically around, he clearly felt Xiao Fuxuan slightly tilt his body.

It was an extremely subtle movement, so slight that Wu Xingxue didn’t even immediately feel it.

It was only until he could no longer see those broken limbs and those unwilling eyes did he realize that Xiao Fuxuan was blocking in front of him. This way,he didn’t have to witness those things on the ground.

How absurd.

As a devil who wouldn’t hesitate to kill, there was someone who helped to block in front of his eyes.

And only after being blocked did Wu Xingxue slowly realize that he indeed didn’t want to see those things.

Perhaps it was the long dream about Que City that changed his nature. When he saw those fragmented limbs and heads, he felt very uncomfortable in his heart. It was the same feeling after he killed those yin beings, how he couldn’t bear the blood on his hands.

Wu Xingxue was silent for a moment, then the finger that was pressed on Xiao Fuxuan moved a little.

"Xiao Fuxuan."

"Mm," Xiao Fuxuan answered in his deep voice.

Wu Xingxue leaned forward and was about to speak, but he saw that before he was able to say anything, Xiao Fuxuan had already turned his head around.

At that moment, they were extremely close to each other, their breaths almost hitting each other’s noses.Wu Xingxue pursed his lips and then straightened his body back up.

Xiao Fuxuan asked quietly, "What is it?"

"Nothing, I forgot."

Xiao Fuxuan raised his eyes, the thin corners of his eyelids pressing into a sharp crease.

Wu Xingxue looked at him and then said softly, "Then um… thank you?"

"……"

Hearing this, Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu felt like they were almost going to die.

***

Those fragmented body parts that had collapsed on the ground didn’t stop moving as one would expect them to. Instead, they were constantly struggling, their sharp fingernails scratching against the floor, making creaking noises. It was almost as if they wanted to piece themselves together and stand up again.

The cultivation disciples’ hairs stood up on end as they listened to this. Rubbing their necks, they desperately searched all over their bodies

"Where’s our Qiankun bag? Martial Brother, did you bring one? Should we store these, these…"

Gao’e and Zhao Qinglai’s eyes were still rolling, glaring at them. Their mouths opened and closed, as if they were trying to say something. Being stared at like this, the disciples didn’t dare to call them "sinister beings" out loud.

"These people into the bags? We can’t just leave them here like this, or should we also stick a talisman on them?"

"But how? We didn’t bring that many talismans!"

Before, at least that lumberjack was still in one piece, so sticking a talisman onto him to prevent him from suddenly coming back to life and causing trouble still worked. But as for the scattered mess in front of them, with limbs everywhere, they didn’t even know which ones to stick to.

Finally, after searching everywhere, the little disciple had finally found his Qiankun bag. He squatted down beside a limb. But just as he was about to put it in, the hand on the ground suddenly grabbed him.

"Ahhh!!!"

He jumped up, pulling out his sword and ready to slice it apart. But then, a hoarse voice sounded, "I beg you, young man, I beg you…"

The little disciple was about to cry too, he even almost started to beg along with her, “What are you begging for, you, you let go of me first.”

Those sharp fingernails had pierced into his flesh, gripping him extremely tightly, “I’m begging you, young man, I can’t be here, not here, I really have two daughters, I really do…”

The hoarse voice began to whimper and sob.

Listening to that voice, the crowd recognized that it was Gao’e speaking.

"I can’t be here, I need to find a replacement, I need to go home…"

"I need to go home, I need to go home…"

Her head pitifully rolled around, and another hand on the ground crawled quickly, grabbing onto the nearest person’s ankle.

That person wasn’t a disciple this time, it was Ning Huaishan.

"Ayo—" Yi Wusheng called out to stop him.

Ning Huaishan’s face has already pulled down, and there is a flash of fierceness in his expression.

He was from Zhaoye City after all, one who has fought his way through mountains of corpses. He didn’t have the humanity of those cultivation disciples.

Resting his elbows on his knees, he squatted down, and licked his teeth, showing a much more frightening smile than even those of the sinister beings, “You’ve really begged the wrong person. Miss, don’t think that you can hold onto me just because I’m skinny, I have an extremely bad temper. If you dare to even scratch the tiniest bit of my skin on my ankle, —"

"I beg you, I beg you young man, the two little girls are still waiting, they’re still very young."

"My man has already passed, if I’m not there, they won’t survive."

"This world, they can’t survive, they’re really too young, I beg…"

Gao’e said as she held onto his ankle.

Yi Wusheng stepped over, wanting to pull them apart, but Gao’e’s long, sharp nails had already pierced Ning Huaishan’s ankle, causing fresh blood to flow down along his prominent bones.

His fingers were already curled up, and his green veins were clearly visible through his pale skin.

He was already gathering his internal energy, but he didn’t go ahead and smash that reckless hand into pieces yet.

For some reason, he stopped halfway and was listening to Gao E’s words.

"I only have these two children, they’re my life, I beg you."

"What’s the use of begging me ma’am?" Ning Huaishan suddenly replied, still in his provocative tone, "You’re dead already, you can’t return. You’re two girls doomed to die as well. I’ve seen people like you, a lot—"

His voice became softer, "My mother also begged others like this back then, was it of any use? It was not."

Yi Wusheng heard this last line and was stunned.

Ning Huaishan was still squatting in a way that others couldn’t see his expression. But he could notice that his claw-like fingers were trembling.

Yi Wusheng suddenly remembered when he saw this little devil decades ago. He was just thirteen or fourteen years old, as scrawny as firewood, looking like he could die from just a single hit. Only those two eyes revealed a defiant aggression

At the time, he thought: Who’s child is this, falling to evil ways and embarking on the wrong path.

Now, decades later, looking at this devil again, he wasn’t as thin as before, but still looked a little frail. When he squatted, his body seemed to be full of killing intent, but he held back his attack.

Perhaps Gao’e reminded him of his beginning of embarking on that wrong path.

"It’s of use, it’s of use, there is a way…" Gao’e continued to cry relentlessly.

"Ha, what way? If you had a way, how come you still ended up in pieces like this? Look at you, worshiping those deities all day long. Now with you crying like this, is there any immortal willing to come down to help you?" Ning Huaishan said, "Let me teach you a lesson. Either try your hardest to live, or let everything go and die. Stop begging and stop crying, just accept—"

Before he could say the word "destiny", someone kicked him from behind.

It wasn’t a hard kick, and that was previously what made him mad!Ning Huaishan turned his face around, full of killing intent, and met eyes with his City Lord.

Ning Huaishan: "……"

What did I do wrong this time!

"You talk too much, chatterbox. After all that you’re still standing here and not doing anything. Go to the side." Wu Xingxue used his feet to nudge him.

Ning Huaishan: "……"

"I can’t, she’s still grabbing onto my feet," Ning Huaishan had a sense

Wu Xingxue looked at that sharp, severed hand, “You said that it is a way, I’m guessing that’s not something you made it. Let’s hear it, what is the way you got?”

Gao’e immediately shouted, "Find a replacement! Find someone to replace me!"

"As long as someone replaces me, I can return," she said in a loud voice that almost cracked from excitement.

"Oh? Are you that certain? Did someone tell you that?" Wu Xingxue asked.

Those few cultivation disciples were stunned for a moment, suddenly sparking insight. Not everyone knew about and could recognize a spirit-raising talisman. If a normal person was trapped inside this array and turned into a sinister being, causing trouble, they would mostly just abide by their fundamental nature— they’re hungry, so they’ll come out to find some food to eat.

Even if they subconsciously wanted to find someone to replace them, they should be wandering around in the valley, hoping an unlucky soul hits upon them.

But these few were special. They knew to disguise, they knew to leave the valley to find people, and they even knew that the smell of incense could cover up their smell of corpses, making others unable to notice that they have already turned sinister.

This indeed didn’t seem like the instinct of a sinister being, it seemed more as if someone told them to do this.

"Yes! Someone did, someone did…" Gao’e said.

Her reaction wasn’t as fast as a living person’s, so she kept repeating those two words.

Everyone else immediately asked, "Who?"

Gao’e said softly, "An immortal, an immortal told me."

Immortal?

Wu Xingxue remembered that Xiao Fuxuan had once said that there were many immortals from the Immortal Capital who did not have a peaceful end, like Yun Hai. Eventually, those immortal’s divine statues would end up just standing there, like a huge immortal tomb.

Therefore, Gao’e’s reply was not too surprising for him.

But as for the others, they didn’t hear Xiao Fuxuan see that, so they were still puzzled, "How could an immortal tell you? How did you even know he was an immortal? Did you see him?"

"No, I didn’t," replied Gao’e, "It’s a dream, an immortal sent me a dream."

Hearing this, the broken body parts on the ground started to move riotously. Zhao Qinglai and the others confirmed her words, "Yes, it’s the same for us, we received a dream."

With their mouths talking at the same times, everyone got a general sense of the situation—

These people were ordained to come to the Valley of Great Sorrow like they were sleepwalking. They ripped their limbs off and then folded themselves into the vacant little girl and boy statues.

When everything happened, they didn’t even have any clue about it, as they thought that it was just a bizarre dream.

In the dream, they were inside a celestial temple, sitting cross-legged on the altars at each side of the temple, holding incense burners in their hands. They looked like real immortal envoys.

As they recited scripture with other immortal envoys, they suddenly saw a tall shadow walk in from the door, telling them: You all are still tied to mortal affairs, and your burdens are yet to be cleared, so you become immortal envoys for now. I have to trouble you all to invite someone else to come.

When their replacements had come, they could go home.

When they were startled awake, they found out that they were sealed in the little girl and boy statues already.

They could never forget the terror they felt at that moment.

"What did the immortal look like?" Yi Wusheng asked.

This time, Gao’e and the others could even utter a word no matter how hard they tried. It was as if someone had deliberately sealed their mouths, casting a silencing technique on them.

Learning that they had been cast with a silencing technique only made the crowd even more curious.

However, after a round of asking, they still didn’t get anything out of their mouths, so they could only give up. They asked instead, "Then did he ever tell you all what type of replacement you should be looking for?"

Because logically, if these commoners wanted to find a replacement, they could easily find some orphans, widows, or elderly people at the outskirts of the town. That would also meet the immortal’s requirements, so why did these people have to go through all the trouble and risk to find disciples from a cultivation sect?

"He did, he said that the temple has everything it needs, but is only missing some celestial energy in the north, south, west and east sides."

They surmised that celestial energy probably meant those in cultivation sects, after all, those people were cultivating to become immortals. Being the average commoner they were, they didn’t dare to go find any powerful cultivators, and after thinking about it, they decided that the easiest target would be those young disciples who had just entered the sect.

Speaking of which, they had pretty good luck. One, there were many families who requested for help from cultivation sects, so what they did could be almost seen as completely normal.

Two, the Northern Frontiers had just collapsed, and the most powerful cultivators from the big sects were either yet to return, or had just returned not too long ago, not having enough time to deal with such matters. And just like that, they caught these three little disciples.

One of the cultivation disciples asked, "But aren’t you still missing one?"

Gao’e said hesitantly, "We deceived as many as we could, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just… just find another opportunity later."

"……"

Only now did the disciples realize what a terrifying event they had just avoided. The more they thought about it, the greener their face got.

Yi Wusheng’s expression was also a bit complicated. He glanced at Wu Xingxue, then looked at Zhao Qinglai and asked, "Then why did you choose him… Young Master Cheng?"

The disciples said they needed to find people with celestial energy. Here, other than the three cultivation disciples, there were at least two others they could pick. One was Xiao Fuxuan, and the other was Yi Wusheng himself.

Even if they could tell at a glance that Xiao Fuxuan did not seem like an easy opponent, he was still him wasn’t there? He was just some vestigial soul, and if he really fought, maybe he couldn’t even compare to the three little disciples.

Zhao Qinglai also had some pretty terrible insight, intentionally skipping over him and choosing the one most diabolic one.

Yi Wusheng originally just wanted to casually remark this, but then Zhao Qinglai grumbled and replied, "Out of the people with celestial energy, he looked the easiest to deal with."

Yi Wusheng: "……"

Of the people with what???

At that moment, Yi Wusheng felt like either he was deaf, or Zhao Qinglai must be blind.

***