Skull Mountain Market, Blood-Clad Tower.
Lü Yang had just withdrawn his attention from the Myriad Spirits Banner when a sudden darkness clouded his vision. His mind grew hazy. He frowned and looked toward the distant sky.
The next second, he stood at the edge of the market.
A beam of light shot across the horizon, crackling with fire and lightning. It vanished at the market's entrance, revealing a tall, slender woman with a commanding presence.
"A fellow Daoist from the Sword Pavilion."
Lü Yang had cultivated the Divine Firmament Sword Control True Technique and recognized her origins at once. He cupped his hands in a polite greeting. "I am Lü Yang. May I ask your name, fellow Daoist?"
"Yushu—Yun Miaozhen."
The name struck Lü Yang like a thunderbolt. Yun Miaozhen? Yun Miaoqing? The similarity was too obvious to ignore.
"Have you come to retrieve a fellow disciple, fellow Daoist?"
Without hesitation, Lü Yang waved his hand. From the Blood-Clad Tower, Yun Miaoqing was seized by an invisible force and hurled through the air, landing neatly before Yun Miaozhen.
"Miss Miaoqing has suffered no injustice in the Holy Sect. Though she is nominally my cultivation vessel, I have not touched her in years. She remains a virgin. If you wish to take her back, please do so. My cultivation is too shallow to see her off."
In Lü Yang's view, he held no enmity with the Sword Pavilion. He had saved Yun Miaoqing's life—and her purity. As the righteous path's leader, the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion could hardly make trouble for him over such matters.
He was wrong.
"Miaoqing... remains a virgin?"
Yun Miaozhen lowered her gaze to her sister. Instead of joy, her expression twisted into disgust and helplessness.
The next moment, she sighed deeply.
"What a pity. Miaoqing, you cannot overcome this tribulation."
Even Lü Yang was stunned. Yun Miaoqing's face filled with disbelief.
"Sister... what do you mean?"
"You have not received the true teachings, so you do not understand."
Yun Miaozhen shook her head. "Your fortune is shallow. Your innate lifespan is insufficient, yet you forcibly pursued immortality. Ordinarily, you would face three calamities and nine tribulations. Failing even one would mean instant death. Therefore, I specifically asked Master to combine your three calamities and nine tribulations into a single ten-year tribulation."
"This ten-year tribulation is the ten years you have spent trapped in the Demonic Sect."
"During these ten years, if you endured all humiliation—if your lips were tasted by thousands, yet your Dao heart remained steadfast and your resolve unshaken—then this tribulation would be over."
"What a pity... you are still a virgin."
"Having remained untouched, unhumiliated, your tribulations are not diminished. They may even intensify."
Yun Miaozhen's gaze shifted to Lü Yang, murderous intent flashing in her eyes.
"This demon has ruined your cultivation. He appears benevolent, but in truth, he harbors evil intentions. He deserves to die."
"..."
Lü Yang stood speechless.
Yun Miaoqing's lips trembled. "So... my fall into the Demonic Sect, becoming a cultivation furnace..."
"Naturally, it was my design."
Yun Miaozhen nodded calmly. "Without this, you would have no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime. You are my younger sister. I must think of you. This is for your own good."
Lü Yang's mind went blank.
Even the righteous path has madwomen.
If he had ever harbored admiration for the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion—the revered leader of the righteous path—that admiration was now ash.
Better to stay in the Holy Sect.
Every disciple of the Holy Sect is a treasure. I love it here.
"Come back with me."
Yun Miaozhen ignored their expressions entirely. "I will find another way for you to overcome this calamity."
"No!"
Yun Miaoqing stepped back, staring at her sister as if at a stranger.
Ten years. Ten years of despair, of near-death, of being passed from hand to hand in the Demonic Sect—all orchestrated by her own sister. If not for Lü Yang, if not for preserving her chastity, she would have been ground into medicinal dregs and died in some forgotten corner.
"Listen to me."
Yun Miaozhen frowned at her sister's resistance. "You do not know great divine powers. You do not understand cause and effect. Naturally, you cannot comprehend my good intentions."
"Good intentions?" Yun Miaoqing's voice dripped with venom. "Scheming to throw me into the Demonic Sect, leaving me to be bullied and exploited—this is your good intentions toward me?"
"I act in accordance with cause and effect. I act on behalf of Heaven. When you achieve immortality in the future, you will thank me."
Yun Miaozhen's tone remained calm. In her eyes, her actions were perfectly justified. Natural. The very arrangement of fate.
Seeing her sister ready to argue further, she simply raised her hand. A beam of light enveloped Yun Miaoqing, knocking her unconscious. She tossed her aside carelessly.
"Arguing with you now is pointless."
Then she turned back to Lü Yang.
"Why are you looking at me, Fellow Daoist Yun?" Lü Yang raised an eyebrow.
Yun Miaozhen's beautiful eyes were cold. Her voice was light. "You have deliberately ruined Miaoqing's cultivation. I wish to borrow something from you to repay the debt."
Lü Yang laughed loudly. "You wouldn't be asking for my head, would you?"
Sarcasm dripped from every word.
Yun Miaozhen nodded slightly, unbothered. Her phoenix eyes narrowed, revealing a chilling killing intent.
"Fine. Then do not blame me for eliminating demons and upholding the righteous path."
She raised her hand.
Instantly, a beam of clear light illuminated ten miles in all directions. A crystal-clear, glass-like magical sword materialized, its blade reflecting the mountains and rivers stretching for miles.
"You think I fear you?"
Lü Yang laughed arrogantly—then turned and fled, vanishing into the market in a flash of light.
The Hundred Bones True Refinement Formation activated. The Blood-Sweeping Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram activated.
A hidden dragon lies in the abyss. Who can kill me now?
Yun Miaozhen smiled coldly. Without hesitation, she shot into the air—and crashed directly through the formations, entering the market.
Countless eyes turned toward her from inside and out.
Everyone remembered Ouyang Haoze's fate. Everyone knew the Blood-Clad Pavilion Master was a ninth-grade formation master, virtually invincible within his domain.
What gave this woman the confidence to enter the market alone?
Several figures appeared outside the market—Elder Ouyang Feng of the Divine Martial Sect, Luo Wuyai of the Three Rivers Society.
Both Qi Refining Perfection cultivators wore grim expressions.
Their gazes were fixed on another direction, on the ordinary-looking middle-aged man who had accompanied Yun Miaozhen.
"'Taiyi Sword'—Yun Zhiqiu?"
Luo Wuyai's face hardened. "Skull Mountain is not in your Jiangnan territory. The Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion oversteps."
Yun Zhiqiu chuckled. "My Sword Pavilion protects the righteous path. The righteous path knows no boundaries."
"Arrogant!"
Luo Wuyai laughed bitterly. "Pray your junior sister emerges alive."
Yun Zhiqiu glanced toward Lü Yang and Yun Miaozhen within the market, then shook his head.
"At the end of the day, they are but a demonic sect. They know only lowly tricks."
"But how can crooked methods compare to my righteous divine powers?"
As he spoke, Yun Miaozhen formed a hand seal and pointed. The glazed magical sword before her erupted in dazzling light.
"That is—"
Luo Wuyai and Ouyang Feng's expressions shifted dramatically.
"The Heavenly Escape Sword?! This woman possesses such a treasure?"
The next second, sword light encompassed the world.
Lü Yang activated his formations with all his might. Neither the Hundred Bones True Refinement Formation nor the Blood-Sweeping Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram could withstand the onslaught.
Boom!
When the light faded, only two great formations remained, still operational within the market.
But they were empty.
High above, a single crystal magical sword hung suspended in the sky.