AVL Chapter 72

Xi Jianlan: “But you—”

 

Sheng Jiao said quietly: “Shut up.”

 

Xi Jianlan had never imagined that the aloof flower who’d never spoken a harsh word or curse since childhood would one day so fiercely order him to shut up.

 

Thunder accumulated in the sky, brewing, as if it could descend any moment.

 

Xi Jianlan struggled to break free from Sheng Jiao’s restraint, his face turned deathly pale by the lightning.

 

“Sheng Wuzhuo, are you insane?”

 

Sheng Jiao said coldly: “You already knew the Tianyan Pearls’ verdict.”

 

Xi Jianlan was at a loss for words.

 

At that very moment, the long-brewing thunder finally crashed down.

 

A flash of silver-purple lightning struck straight down, but landed on a massive stone not far from them.

 

With a deafening boom, the stone was pulverized to dust. After the smoke cleared, not even a trace remained.

 

This was a warning to Sheng Jiao.

 

The Tianyan, derived from the Heavenly Way, ultimately couldn’t bear to slaughter “Kan Tiandao.”

 

The tribulation and “Kan Tiandai” were complementary. The stronger Sheng Jiao was, the greater the tribulation’s power would be.

 

Xi Jianlan watched the scorched mark in the distance and touched his ear. To that question, he gave no answer, only saying: “The tribulation will send down three bolts to intimidate you. If you don’t leave this place, we’ll truly have to die together in love.”

 

As if echoing Xi Jianlan’s words, two more bolts descended left and right of them, leaving only one direction’s path undamaged.

 

A sign urging Sheng Jiao to hurry and leave.

 

Sheng Jiao turned a deaf ear, raising his hand to grip the Winter Snow sword. Great Ascension stage spiritual power surged like tumultuous waves, crashing upward from below toward the thunder clouds above.

 

Boom!

 

Muffled explosions resonated overhead. Normally Xi Jianlan’s soul would have traveled ten thousand eight thousand li away by now. Yet his spirit remained steadfast and unmoved.

 

The tribulation, driven by Sheng Jiao’s resistance, seemed increasingly volatile. Thunder in the clouds grew louder, as if ready to disregard everything and directly slash down, pulverizing this pair of couple to dust.

 

Sheng Jiao didn’t know fear, or rather, he’d been prepared for the worst from the start.

 

If he couldn’t block the tribulation, then they would die together.

 

Sheng Jiao stood there without a word of protest.

 

Xi Jianlan watched him, fingers covering the ear adorned with earrings. In the flash of lightning, he suddenly gave a soft laugh and stepped forward half a pace, grasping his wrist.

 

“Sheng Wuzhuo.”

 

Sheng Jiao didn’t even look at him, saying coldly: “Get away.”

 

Xi Jianlan, without warning, opened his mouth amid the deafening thunder, speaking casually.

 

“My xiangwen is the thirteenth spiritual-grade xiangwen. Its name is…”

 

Sheng Jiao frowned, not yet understanding this sentence’s meaning, when Xi Jianlan had already lightly uttered the final three characters.

 

“—’Sound of Leisure¹pinyin – xiánting shēng.’

 

I wander freely through heaven and earth, idly listening to all things’ sounds.

 

Since awakening his spiritual-grade xiangwen, Xi Jianlan could hear every sound in the world.

 

Spirit beasts, spirit plants, all living things—even a mayfly’s lament.

 

A sprout breaking soil is life.

 

Thunder and lightning crashing is death.

 

A stirring heart is blooming flowers.

 

Despair is withering decay.

 

Xi Jianlan could even hear the voices of Tianyan and spiritual meridians—flowing water murmuring or dried riverbeds cracking.

 

Because of “Sound of Leisure,” Endless Period consumed half his xiangwen. Even after recovering his spiritual power, his hearing remained hazy and indistinct.

 

He could do nothing but listen to sounds.

 

Xi Jianlan had always thought that among the thirteen xiangwen, “Sound of Leisure” was the most useless, even inferior to some Earth-grade xiangwen.

 

Until one day he heard Sheng Jiao’s heartbeat of affection.

 

Clusters of flowers, accompanied by firelight and silver blossoms.

 

At that time, Xi Jianlan, ever skilled at finding joy in suffering, thought to himself: “At least it has some use, otherwise how would I know that beneath this expressionless high-flower facade lay such fervent admiration for me?”

 

That sound was the pure sound of blooming flowers. Xi Jianlan always felt he wasn’t worthy of it.

 

Only when completely clean and unblemished, unfettered by Tianyan’s heavenly laws and free from fear of tribulation that might come at any time, and after closing the chapter on the Xi family matter entirely—only then could he truly listen to the sound of blooming flowers.

 

Even if it cost him half his life.

 

Sheng Jiao watched him intently, an ominous premonition stirring in his heart.

 

Xi Jianlan rarely spoke truth, and now in this moment of life and death, why would he suddenly reveal the xiangwen he’d always concealed?

 

After Xi Jianlan spoke rapidly, his striking face showed a smile without any pretense amid flashes of thunder.

 

“The Heavenly Way has sent its warning. If you protect me further, it will advance your Great Ascension tribulation.”

 

Ninety-nine eighty-one bolts of Great Ascension tribulation—it would likely pulverize this entire secret realm for tens of li in all directions.

 

Though Sheng Jiao had reached Great Ascension stage, he’d been suppressing his cultivation and hadn’t attracted a tribulation.

 

Should the Heavenly Way forcibly descend such a tribulation, even survival would leave Sheng Jiao mortally wounded.

 

Sheng Jiao was unmoved: “You’re lying.”

 

“I’m not—when I awakened my xiangwen, my parents repeatedly warned me never to tell anyone about ‘Sound of Leisure.'” Xi Jianlan said lightly. “You’re the third person who knows.”

 

Neither Chunyu nor Yu Tuishan knew. Not even Lady Wan.

 

Sheng Jiao remained silent, resolute in his decision to never leave his side.

 

Xi Jianlan smiled and stepped forward, fingers pressing gently on his shoulder as he spoke softly: “Let’s go.”

 

The moment the words fell, a sharp crystalline shattering sound rang in his ear.

 

Butterflies suddenly flew up.

 

Sheng Jiao seemed to sense something, his pupils contracting sharply. He instinctively reached for Xi Jianlan, but the hand extending became countless butterflies.

 

“Dream of Yellow Millet” seemed controlled by Xi Jianlan, forcing Sheng Jiao’s entire form to appear as if congealed from butterflies. As they scattered violently, his spirit was drawn through the cracking void, being extracted inch by inch.

 

Xi Jianlan stood alone in the thunder punishment, black hair disheveled and flying, watching him calmly.

 

Sheng Jiao cried out sharply: “—Xi Jianlan!”

 

The thunder that had brewed for so long finally condensed into an overwhelming tribulation the moment Sheng Jiao left the secret realm.

 

Shaking heaven and earth, it struck straight down at Xi Jianlan.

 

The pallid lightning outlined his features in stark black lines. He seemed to part his lips and say something, but as burn scars fell inch by inch, Sheng Jiao completely exited the secret realm.

 

Butterflies became powder, falling like heavy snow.

 

****

 

Thunder rumbled.

 

Sheng Jiao’s heart raced wildly. His spirit returned to his body as he suddenly opened his eyes, pressing his chest as he gasped violently.

 

It was as if he’d had a terrible dream. As his vision focused and he looked around, he still saw the butterfly flower sea.

 

Sleeping Qin Banban beside him had her spirit outside her body, leaving only an empty shell.

 

The scene of Xi Jianlan being struck by thunder until his soul scattered was too real. Sheng Jiao’s shock hadn’t subsided when he struggled to stand, supporting himself with the Winter Snow sword.

 

Before he could settle his mind, a familiar spinning sound suddenly rang in his ear.

 

Sheng Jiao turned back in a daze.

 

One hundred and seven Tianyan Pearls were still rapidly spinning in the distance, each one displaying the ominous crimson “Execute.”

 

Winter Snow suddenly transformed into human form, speaking in terror: “Master, I can’t sense Spring Rain anymore…”

 

Sheng Jiao froze.

 

Winter Snow and Spring Rain were forged from the same spiritual stone, their souls naturally connected from birth.

 

Suddenly losing the connection meant either the Spring Rain sword’s spiritual connection had shattered, or its wielder Xi Jianlan…

 

Had something happened.

 

Sheng Jiao’s breathing stopped. He vaguely felt something was wrong.

 

After entering the secret realm, the butterflies activated the formation to enter the dream. But he should have already broken through the dream and returned to reality. Why break through it again?

 

Sheng Jiao’s pupils constricted. His gaze fell not far away where, after a swarm of butterflies dispersed, a Tianyan Pearl gleaming with golden patterns sat quietly among burn scars.

 

That was the “Zhuo” character Tianyan Pearl that Sheng Jiao had fused into Xi Jianlan’s body.

 

In that instant, Sheng Jiao’s face turned deathly pale as paper.

 

“Dream of Yellow Millet” had never been a secret realm from the start—it was a place that could lure souls into a yellow millet dream.

 

Peculiarly, none of the people who entered had realized they were in a dream. Then they were dragged into an even deeper dream by Yu Tuishan’s butterflies.

 

Two layers of dreams broken—now was reality.

 

Yet everything experienced in that dream was real.

 

—Xi Jianlan’s soul had scattered completely. He was already dead under the thunder punishment.

 

As this thought surfaced, Sheng Jiao’s head throbbed agonizingly, the deafening thunder still seeming to echo in his ears.

 

The thunder wasn’t an illusion.

 

The 107 Tianyan Pearls’ brewing tribulation was still in the sky, as if all the thunder that pulverized Xi Jianlan’s soul to scatter in the secret realm was merely false fantasy.

 

Sheng Jiao dimly understood—Xi Jianlan couldn’t possibly seek death so obediently.

 

He must be scheming again to deceive him.

 

Sheng Jiao forcibly suppressed all his uncontrollable emotions, his expression blank as he looked around.

 

On a distant banyan tree, Yu Tuishan sat grinning on a thick branch, swinging his legs. Seeing Sheng Jiao wake first, he said with interest: “That fast?”

 

Sheng Jiao looked at him coldly.

 

Yu Tuishan wasn’t intimidated. He raised his hand and hooked it. All the butterflies around flew toward him, circling endlessly around the banyan tree.

 

Suddenly, “Clap.”

 

Yu Tuishan, as if playing, snapped his palms crisply.

 

The area erupted with a muffled boom. All the cultivators in “Dream of Yellow Millet” had their spirits return to their bodies, jolting awake violently in an instant.

 

In the dream of “Dream of Yellow Millet,” Wen Gubai had mistaken it for returning to reality. Upon learning of Xi Jianlan’s death, he’d returned to his Master’s cave to enter seclusion.

 

But opening his eyes again, he was back at the secret realm entrance.

 

The tribulation in the sky rumbled deafeningly.

 

The thunder for the Xi family matter… hadn’t fallen yet?!

 

Wen Gubai suddenly rose, dimly understanding something as he stared intently at the distant Yu Tuishan.

 

“You plotted against me?”

 

Yu Tuishan sat cross-legged on the tree branch, chin propped up as he grinned: “What are you saying, Dean Wen? I’ve already ground his bones to dust and scattered his soul. The Tianyan Pearls pulverized him until nothing remained—exactly as we agreed at the start, no?”

 

Wen Gubai said coldly: “‘Dream of Yellow Millet’ is merely a dream. What use is killing him in a dream?!”

 

“If the spirit dies in ‘Dream of Yellow Millet,’ it cannot survive in reality either,” Yu Tuishan said lightly. “So how is that useless?”

 

Wen Gubai: “You…”

 

Yu Tuishan said generously: “Oh, Dean Wen, don’t be angry. He’s already dead—isn’t that exactly what you wanted?”

 

Wen Gubai looked at the tribulation overhead, his expression dark and silent.

 

If Xi Jianlan died in the dream, why was the tribulation still there?

 

Suddenly, Wen Gubai seemed to react violently, staring at Yu Tuishan in horror.

 

The current tribulation’s power…

 

Was completely different from the tribulation in the dream!

 

Wen Gubai said incredulously: “You forged ‘Worthy of Heavenly Dao’ in ‘Dream of Yellow Millet’ to kill Xi Jianlan?!”

 

Yu Tuishan said innocently: “Huh? What? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

 

Wen Gubai clenched his teeth.

 

“Kan Tianyan” could forge any spiritual-grade xiangwen, but couldn’t completely and perfectly restore one. The “Worthy of Heavenly Dao” tribulation that killed Xi Jianlan in the dream was clearly only Spirit Transformation or Void Return stage—nothing like the one overhead now, which was a thoroughly Great Ascension stage tribulation that could pulverize a soul to dust.

 

“You resent Xi Jianlan for stealing your life,” Wen Gubai said coldly, as if seeing through him. “You also want me dead.”

 

He finally understood why Yu Tuishan would create such a useless xiangwen as “Dream of Yellow Millet.”

 

Because in the yellow millet dream secret realm, countless cultivators’ spirits were within it. Even if the true Tianyan Pearls’ judgment was hidden in the dream and tribulation was drawn, it wouldn’t strike immediately.

 

Once the tribulation rained indiscriminately on “Dream of Yellow Millet,” all the cultivators’ spirits within would scatter and perish.

 

Yu Tuishan had planned from the start to bind a multitude of cultivators’ spirits in the dream, so the Tianyan Pearls’ tribulation would have scruples and not dare carelessly strike down the lightning.

 

First kill Xi Jianlan in the dream, then kill Wen Gubai.

 

Truly, every step was well calculated.

 

After seeing through Yu Tuishan’s plan, Wen Gubai suddenly realized Yu Tuishan had placed a “Calamity Redirecting” curse on Xi Jianlan’s body.

 

Yu Tuishan grinned wickedly. Before Wen Gubai could react, his hands suddenly formed a seal.

 

—Redirect calamity eastward.

 

With a thunderous boom, the tribulation lingering in the sky finally found its culprit and surged toward Wen Gubai’s head.

 

Wen Gubai cried out: “Yu Tuishan!”

 

Yu Tuishan seemed intensely interested in his own fingers, casually saying: “Don’t shout, I can’t hear you.”

 

The Great Ascension tribulation that Sheng Jiao had drawn couldn’t compare to the one in the dream at all. The formed tribulation circle instantly covered a dark shadow, driving all people within a li radius away.

 

Only Yu Tuishan, Sheng Jiao, and Wen Gubai remained.

 

Wen Gubai’s gentle facade had completely torn away. His form moved like a gale as he appeared before Yu Tuishan, his fingers like pincers gripping his neck and pressing him against the banyan tree.

 

“Bang—”

 

The towering banyan tree was struck so hard that leaves fell rustling down, and the thick roots nearly split open.

 

Wen Gubai had regained rationality, cold yet frenzied. He gambled everything, strangling Yu Tuishan’s slender neck, using all his strength to nearly break his neck.

 

“If Xi Jianlan truly died, how could you activate the Calamity Redirecting curse?” Wen Gubai said coldly. “You conspired with him together, wanting to shift all the blame onto me and clear yourselves of involvement.”

 

Even as Yu Tuishan was about to be killed, he remained grinning. He extended a hand and plucked a sliver of soul-essence thin as a hair.

 

“I left him a fragment of remaining soul.”

 

Wen Gubai froze.

 

“Crack.” Yu Tuishan applied slight pressure with his fingers, directly crushing that soul fragment. Grinning, he said: “Now he’s completely dead.”

 

Wen Gubai stared at him expressionlessly.

 

This lunatic…

 

“Holding me won’t help,” Yu Tuishan said leisurely. “Now that there are fewer and fewer Tianyan throughout the Thirteen States, and I possess ‘Kan Tianyan,’ the Heavenly Dao won’t let me die.”

 

Saying this, he even spread his arms wide and laughed maniacally.

 

“Why don’t you try? Can you kill me?”

 

Wen Gubai was completely enraged, crying out sharply: “Xi Jue—!”

 

Yu Tuishan laughed even louder.

 

The mask on his face, which had several cracks from Sheng Jiao’s earlier strikes, finally couldn’t hold together. Pressed by Wen Gubai’s murderous intent, it suddenly shattered with a crisp “crack,” falling to pieces from his face.

 

Sheng Jiao, who had been observing coldly, suddenly froze.

 

That face was identical to Xi Jue, except the features had matured and grown—evil and wicked, completely unlike Xi Jianlan’s youthful air. His reckless laughter was almost chilling.

 

“Xi Jue… hahahaha!”

 

Yu Tuishan’s golden pupils streamed with scalding tears across his face. In the pallid lightning, he laughed almost mad: “So you still remember me. I thought the ‘Twelfth Xiangwen’ had become my name.”

 

Wen Gubai: “You…!”

 

“Dean Wen,” Yu Tuishan smiled with tear-stained face, his expression deranged and wicked. In the rumbling thunder, he spoke obediently, his voice lowered: “Give my regards to Father and Mother.”

 

The moment the words left his mouth, the Great Ascension tribulation that had brewed for so long heavily descended!

 

Wen Gubai’s pupils contracted sharply.

 

Serpentine, winding massive lightning flashed—from ten thousand zhang in the sky to the ground in an instant. A thunderous boom erupted.

 

That moment, the sky within hundreds of li became snow-white. An eerie silence fell.

 

The pallid radiance continued for ten breaths before gradually being drawn back toward the sky.

 

Countless cultivators didn’t understand, thinking perhaps some Great Ascension master had ascended.

 

Secret realm entrance.

 

Even Sheng Jiao had his eyes dazzled by the lightning. When the surroundings returned to quiet, he could still hear Yu Tuishan’s laughter.

 

Sheng Jiao looked carefully.

 

Yu Tuishan stood alone. With him as the center, burn scars from the lightning strike covered the ground, winding and sprawling for a li in all directions, still crackling and hissing with scorching sounds.

 

Wen Gubai hadn’t even exerted his full strength in resistance when he scattered and perished under the tribulation.

 

If this tribulation truly fell on Xi Jianlan’s head…

 

Yu Tuishan was completely unscathed. Not even a single strand of hair was damaged. He laughed so hard he coughed, lazily brushing dust off his sleeves. Tilting his head, he grinned.

 

Though Yu Tuishan and Xi Jianlan’s faces looked extremely similar, Sheng Jiao felt no familiarity—only disgust and rejection.

 

His eyes were ice-cold as he said indifferently: “Where is Xi Jianlan?”

 

Yu Tuishan waved that face in front of Sheng Jiao, curious: “Don’t you find this face familiar?”

 

Seeing Sheng Jiao’s expressionless face, he even pinched his own face into various expressions, hoping to catch a glimpse of shock or horror on that frozen face.

 

“Clang—”

 

Sheng Jiao coldly placed the Winter Snow sword against his neck, speaking word by word: “I’m asking. Where. Is. Xi. Jianlan?”

 

Yu Tuishan: “…”

 

Yu Tuishan lowered his hand, saying softly: “The last person who held a sword to my neck is now working as a lucky cat statue in a gambling house…”

 

He hadn’t even finished his threatening words when Sheng Jiao, seemingly completely impatient, let his murderous intent spike to its peak. Completely unwilling to wait for his answer, he directly slashed his sword across.

 

Yu Tuishan was startled and quickly retreated.

 

Sheng Jiao’s expression remained blank as he raised his sword, pursuing in an instant. The blade cut through the void with a hunting wind pressure that nearly shattered Yu Tuishan’s dispersed spirit.

 

“Wait! I’ll talk!” Yu Tuishan could bend or be rigid. He immediately begged for mercy.

 

Sheng Jiao’s sword pressed against his neck again. This time it even sank half an inch. Yu Tuishan’s body was formed from dispersed spirit—no blood flowed, only Tianyan spiritual power spraying out like water from a fountain.

 

Hissing.

 

Yu Tuishan’s eyes flashed with annoyance, but his expression remained obedient.

 

Sheng Jiao’s eyes moved.

 

Yu Tuishan’s temperament seemed cut from the same cloth as that little liar Xi Jianlan. Sheng Jiao only needed one glance to know he was about to cause trouble. He immediately prepared to cut off Yu Tuishan’s neck with a horizontal slash.

 

But Yu Tuishan said: “Your classmates haven’t exited ‘Dream of Yellow Millet’ yet.”

 

Sheng Jiao froze.

 

“I didn’t extract their spirits,” Yu Tuishan said innocently. “You can kill this dispersed spirit of mine with no consequence—I won’t actually die anyway. But my grudge-bearing nature is quite strong. If you really do it, the first thing I’ll do upon returning to my main body is destroy ‘Dream of Yellow Millet,’ and your five classmates’ spirits will shatter within it.”

 

Sheng Jiao’s brow furrowed deeply.

 

Taking advantage of his moment of hesitation, Yu Tuishan slipped away like an eel, his feet fleeing. The dispersed spirit congealed from Tianyan spiritual power instantly pounced onto the banyan tree.

 

Accompanied by a crystalline shattering sound, “Dream of Yellow Millet’s” secret realm and “Karma’s Course’s” banyan tree transformed into countless butterflies flying into the air.

 

The originally blooming secret realm dispersed into the void, leaving no trace behind.

 

Yu Tuishan avoided the question about Xi Jianlan.

 

He escaped.

 

These two definitely had involvement with each other. And Wen Gubai called Yu Tuishan…

 

Xi Jue.

 

Recalling Xi Jianlan’s earlier nonsense, Sheng Jiao seemed to understand something. His expression became difficult to look at as he gripped the Winter Snow sword tightly. His dark pupils almost flashed with grim blood-streaks.

 

The “Zhuo” character Tianyan Pearl that had been in Xi Jianlan’s body for so long dazed for a long while before slowly drifting back to Sheng Jiao’s side.

 

The 107 Tianyan Pearls that had already concluded the Xi family matter finally wilted and stringed together into a pearl string, timidly drifting back. Perhaps sensing Sheng Jiao’s mood was worse than ever, the pearls gently touched his wrist, not daring to wind around him directly.

 

“Xi Jianlan.”

 

Sheng Jiao’s expression was cold and severe, his fingers nearly crushing the Tianyan Pearls. His hoarse voice seemed to drift from between his lips.

 

“…You’d better spend your whole life running.”

 

**

 

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