Southern City Altar, Bai Yao sat in the side hall for a full three hours.
Morning light cut through the window lattice, slowly crawling across the blue bricks until it became the blazing white of noon.
She stared at the movement of that beam of light, but her right eyelid kept twitching without stopping.
“Why has this eyelid been twitching since early morning… and besides, they left me here with no word at all. Something’s really not right.”
She rubbed the hilt of the Refined Iron Longsword at her waist.
The hall door creaked open.
The first to enter was Gao Luan, recorded on the archives as early Hundred Refinements Realm cultivation, his chin seemingly raised higher than his eyebrows.
He swept a glance at Bai Yao and spoke to her in a commanding tone:
“Junior Sister Bai, don’t say anything later. After the secret realm passage opens, the Elder will escort the three of us inside. You just follow along.”
Escort? More like an escort in name, but a prisoner escort in reality, right?
Bai Yao didn’t respond, simply letting her gaze fall on the figure silently standing at the door.
Mu Jingyue, water-attribute heavenly spiritual root, mid Hundred Refinements Realm, the true top prodigy of the Xuan Yu Sect.
She stood outside the threshold in a pale blue-white long dress, silent as a sculpture carved from winter ice.
When those eyes swept past Bai Yao, there was neither condescending contempt nor sympathy for a sacrificial lamb—only the calm and indifference of stagnant water.
“Mu Jingyue, current chief disciple of the Xuan Yu Sect, she’s the Saintess the sect truly wants to send in. As for me… in the end, I’m just a one-time key.”
Bai Yao sighed helplessly in her heart, and as she stood up, patted away dust that didn’t exist on her robes.
“Let’s go, Senior Brother Gao, Senior Sister Mu.”
Southern City Altar was built atop the highest observatory platform in Chuyi City, with seventy-two steps, symbolizing the seventy-two Heavenly Spirits.
Young cultivators holding Xuan Kingdom royal court Cave Heaven entry slots, as well as cultivators who believed themselves qualified to enter Cangjie Grotto-Heaven, had long since gathered densely around the altar.
Bai Yao followed Gao Luan and Mu Jingyue in large strides up the steps, but immediately spotted that crimson figure at the front of the crowd.
Liu Linglin?!
Today she wasn’t wearing that gauze-thin dress, but a dark red court robe, her hair coiled high, as dignified as a true princess.
Beside her stood officials from the Imperial Observatory, holding in their hands the royal court’s approved golden entry decree.
Bai Yao’s pupils contracted slightly. She never expected Liu Linglin to be a royally appointed entry candidate?
And Liu Linglin, upon turning her head and spotting Bai Yao, locked eyes with her across the distance.
A cold smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, but she showed no intention of provoking a confrontation.
She simply turned her head back calmly, as if looking at an ant about to be crushed.
“Liu Linglin, what exactly did you gain from Xiao Yi? Giving up on scheming against me—did you predict I’d run into big trouble inside the grotto-heaven?”
Bai Yao thought to herself.
Ever since she’d broken through, Liu Linglin had stopped scheming against her entirely.
Instead, Xiao Yi had been thoroughly drained dry by her.
This matter had always puzzled her, and she suspected Liu Linglin might have already activated some kind of trump card from the Hehuan Sect.
She withdrew her gaze, suppressed the unease in her heart, and pressed her palm tightly against her sword hilt, standing firm at the altar’s edge.
A sound of piercing through the air came from the horizon.
Sect Master Nangong Xuan descended through the air, his green robe billowing, followed by two heavenly immortals from the Xuan Kingdom’s Imperial Observatory.
The three landed at the altar’s main position, their pressure spreading out like tidal waves, and the crowd instantly fell silent.
“Cangjie Grotto-Heaven is about to open.”
Nangong Xuan’s voice was deep and resonant, carrying across the entire venue.
“Bai Yao, disciple of the Xuan Yu Sect, as the one who triggered Cangjie Grotto-Heaven’s opening, step forward and prepare to enter first with my sect’s disciples, Mu Jingyue and Gao Luan.”
But before the words even faded, an aged figure in Xuan Yu Sect Elder robes burst forth from the crowd, swiftly landing at the center of the altar.
The newcomer was none other than Law Enforcement Elder Hao Zhongyi.
His beard and hair bristled, clutching a Qinglan Sect Law Enforcement Hall token in his hand, his voice as sharp as a blade:
“Sect Master Nangong! Hold on!”
In that instant, the entire crowd erupted in uproar.
Seeing Hao Zhongyi holding the Qinglan Sect law enforcement token, Nangong Xuan frowned, a flash of anger in his eyes:
“Elder Hao, what are you doing?”
“What am I doing?”
Hao Zhongyi sneered, raising the token high.
“The Xuan Yu Sect has forgotten its debts! The sect’s entire legacy and inheritance comes from the Qinglan Supreme Sect, yet now you privately open Cangjie Grotto-Heaven, betraying the Supreme Sect—a crime deserving death! This old man has already reported your treacherous acts to the Qinglan Sect Law Enforcement Hall, and the Supreme Sect’s prodigies are in Chuyi City this very moment! I propose the immediate stripping of Bai Yao’s Saintess identity and the cancellation of the Xuan Yu Sect’s qualification to enter the grotto-heaven!”
Nangong Xuan roared in fury: “How dare you! As the Xuan Yu Sect’s Law Enforcement Elder, you actually—”
But before his words could finish, a gray figure flashed before him like a phantom.
The palm wind carried a faint, warm fragrance of ink, pressing straight toward Nangong Xuan’s face.
Nangong Xuan hastily raised his hand, and the domineering spiritual energy of two heavenly immortals collided violently, instant cracks splitting across the white jade steps of the altar floor.
Nangong Xuan看清 the newcomer, his pupils contracting sharply: “Hehuan Sect techniques?! You are… Princess Xiao, Lady Wang! You’re actually from the Hehuan Sect?!”
Though Lady Wang wore a monk’s robe, held prayer beads, and had a face as merciful as Buddha, her attacks were as vicious as a demon’s.
She stood before Hao Zhongyi, her voice calm: “Sect Master Nangong, calm your anger. I think your Xuan Yu Sect had better not enter Cangjie Grotto-Heaven, lest someone release what’s inside and bring disaster upon the world.”
Nangong Xuan’s pupils contracted to the size of needle tips.
He couldn’t believe this Hehuan Sect Princess Xiao actually knew the Xuan Yu Sect’s true intentions.
At that moment, the two heavenly immortals from the Imperial Observatory exchanged glances, about to step forward, when they saw the crowd part like tides.
Old King Xia, Xiao Yunshan, strode up the steps with the gait of a dragon.
Behind him followed a young man and woman wearing Qinglan Sect inner disciple robes with cloud-patterned silk sashes—none other than Ye Tingyu and Luo Huai’an.
At this, the two Xuan Kingdom observatory immortals halted their steps, not daring to act rashly.
Xiao Yunshan walked to the center of the altar, but didn’t look at Lady Wang. Instead, his gaze fell directly on Bai Yao, his voice hoarse:
“Bai Yao, stop this. As long as you give up entering Cangjie Grotto-Heaven and give up your identity as the Xuan Yu Sect’s Saintess, you will still be the lawful princess of my Xiao family. This old man can guarantee your life. When I pass from this world, you will be the Xia King’s Queen of my Xia Manor!”
Bai Yao stood at the altar’s edge, letting the shifting winds of change on this altar tousle her long hair, momentarily appearing at a loss.
She looked at Xiao Yunshan, at this Old King who had severed surveillance for her just the day before, yet today demanded she give up everything.
She understood—Xiao Yunshan seemed to have made some kind of compromise just so she could survive.
But this kind of “survival” in Bai Yao’s eyes was like being a caged bird with its fangs pulled, locked in a cage.
Life and death at the whim of others, completely meaningless.
She turned her head in indignation, her determined eyes meeting Mu Jingyue’s for a single moment.
Perhaps because she saw that intense light in Bai Yao’s eyes, a ripple finally stirred in Mu Jingyue’s stagnant-water gaze.
It wasn’t encouragement, nor pity—just an ice-cold resonance between two tools of the same sect.
Bai Yao quickly raised her head again, looking at Nangong Xuan in the sky.
The Sect Master was now not only entangled by Lady Wang but also under siege by Law Enforcement Elder Hao Zhongyi, clearly unable to break free for the moment.
“Do they want me to hand my life and death over to someone else? How is that possible? How could that ever be?!”
In just an instant, Bai Yao had already made her decision in her heart.
She took a deep breath, Righteous Qi thundering through her dantian, her voice as clear and crisp as a sword’s ring, piercing through the chaotic clamor on the altar:
“Sect Master! Open the grotto-heaven!”
Bai Yao’s cry was as clear as a lark in the mountains.
Hearing this, a flash of resolve crossed Nangong Xuan’s eyes.
He fiercely bit the tip of his tongue, spraying a mouthful of essence blood onto his palm, and the secret art he had prepared for years blazed with dazzling light.
The entrance to [Cangjie Grotto-Heaven] tore open above the altar, a profound swirl of light slowly rotating downward, forming a stable, luminous gate.
“Go!”
Gao Luan roared, seizing the moment, grabbing Bai Yao’s arm and charging toward the entrance.
Seeing the opportunity was not to be missed, Mu Jingyue immediately followed the two, rushing toward that profound gate of light.
But in that very moment, a fiercely sharp cyan sword light moved faster than all of them.
Ye Tingyu had drawn her sword.
“Xiao Yunshan, it’s not that I didn’t give her a chance. It seems she just doesn’t know how to cherish her own life.”
Between her confident and playful words, her peak late Hundred Refinements Realm cultivation poured out without reservation, sword aura like a rainbow, striking straight for Bai Yao’s back.
The speed was so fast that even Gao Luan had no time to react.
Mu Jingyue formed a hand seal in an instant, but her true-qi water barrier had only condensed halfway before being casually torn apart by the sword aura.
This was peak late Hundred Refinements Realm cultivation—known as the pinnacle combat power beneath the heavenly immortals—unmatched, terrifying beyond measure!
“I… am I going to die here?”
Bai Yao’s Righteous Qi instinctively surged toward her back, but she knew full well she couldn’t block this fatal sword strike from one step below the immortal realm.
In that critical moment of life and death, a black figure burst forth from the crowd.
He wore a cloak veiling his face, features unseen, with only a standard-issue long blade held before him.
Clang!
The sword light pierced through the blade, and the sound of it sinking into flesh was dull yet clear.
The black cloak was torn open at a corner by the terrifying sword aura, revealing Xiao Yi’s pale yet handsome face.
Ye Tingyu’s dreadful sword aura rapidly ravaged his internal organs, but because Xiao Yi shielded her with his very life, the sword aura’s angle deflected, grazing past Bai Yao’s side.
“Xiao Yi?!”
Bai Yao’s mind went completely blank, only her voice crying out in shock.
Xiao Yi looked back, and in his eyes was still that same clarity and admiration he had shown Bai Yao while playing chess, with a sense of fulfillment and redemption hanging on his face.
“Go!”
He forced that single word out through clenched teeth, and his body predictably crumpled and went limp.
Gao Luan unhesitatingly pulled Bai Yao and leaped into the gate of light, while Bai Yao desperately twisted her head back, wanting to see Xiao Yi once more—just once.
The last thing she saw was Xiao Yi collapsing on the altar, and the face of Liu Linglin nearby that suddenly changed color.
Then, the profound light before her eyes swallowed everything.