Wei Yuan shuddered from head to toe when he heard this.

Ji Liuli’s sudden appearance also caused Xiao Yu’s eyelid to twitch violently. With this, the last vestiges of his goodwill died with a whimper. As it turned out, he had never been the one and only. He was just the first one to show up!

Wei Yuan, you absolute bastard! Just how many people did you contact?!

Zhang Sheng tensed up after heeding Ji Liuli’s warning and inspecting his surroundings. While wearing a furrowed brow, he asked, “It feels like a seal on all immortal swords. What happened, Yuan’er?”

Wei Yuan replied expressionlessly, “A battalion of Shamans just assaulted us. They had unleashed a curse that modified heaven and earth and sealed all immortal swords as soon as they arrived. They must have been prepared.”

Zhang Sheng was well aware that a curse that could warp the very world was no minor curse. It could only be cast by a Great Warlock and by sacrificing a thousand human lives. The humans had fought against the Shamans for over a hundred thousand years, so this was hardly their first rodeo.

But how did the Shamans know to seal the immortal swords before Zhang Sheng had even shown up?

After mulling over this for a moment, Zhang Sheng wore a look of rare seriousness and said, “My fourth immortal sword is close to completion, and I have one foot out of the world already. Not even an ordinary True Lord would be able to figure out my karma. Despite this, the Shamans still managed to divine my arrival and block my path ahead of time. This could only mean that whoever is behind this is exceedingly powerful! This won’t be an easy battle. We must be very cautious.”

Ji Liuli was wearing a solemn look as well. “This explains why the Palace had increased the merit earnings of this region by thirty percent. How many life-saving methods have you brought with you?”

“I don’t have any.”

“It’s fine, I have two. I’ll lend you one.”

“Okay.”

Incredibly, Zhang Sheng had accepted her goodwill without fanfare. This was the battlefield, and it would seem that a powerful Shaman was overseeing this war. Not even he was arrogant enough to think that he could shield himself from such a formidable foe without great sacrifice. In this situation, it was critical that he possessed at least one life-saving method.

Ji Liuli added, “I’ll send a letter to the founder right now and see if he’s free to pay us a visit. If not, he can at least improve our fortune for us. In the meantime, we would need to hold on for a couple days.”

Zhang Sheng cast Wei Yuan a glance before nodding to Ji Liuli. “I’ll leave it to you, then.”

Seeing how serious Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli were acting and plotting various life-saving methods, Xiao Yu could not hold it in any longer. He let out a grunt and said, “The reason the Shamans have sealed the immortal swords is not because a powerful foe has divined your arrival, I believe. It’s because of a man-made accident.”

“Man-made accident? What do you mean?” Zhang Sheng asked in puzzlement.

Xiao Yu replied, “You’ll understand when you’ve seen your disciple’s immortal swords.”

Zhang Sheng was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. He looked at Wei Yuan and said, “You cultivated an immortal sword as well? Show it to me.”

Expressionlessly, Wei Yuan manifested a Fake Sun.

Aghast, his master rebuked him in anger, “You call this an immortal sword? It’s not even in the Earth-tier! What on earth possessed you to refine such a thing? Is it because your path to immortality has been too smooth as of late, or is it because your days have been too boring?!”

Wei Yuan bowed his head and kept quiet.

At the side, Xiao Yu added in an inscrutable voice, “This is not the only immortal sword Junior Brother Wei has cultivated, senior.”

“Oh? You have more? Show them to me.”

Zhang Sheng’s complexion improved slightly when he heard this. It would seem that his disciple’s insight wasn’t too bad after all. It wasn’t easy to comprehend multiple immortal swords even if the grade was poor, not to mention that Wei Yuan already had the Great Realm. He believed that the reason his disciple was grasping multiple immortal swords was because he admired him and wanted to give his shifu’s path a try.

Zhang Sheng thought to himself: I should find the time to correct his behavior later. No matter how amazing I am, attempting to emulate me in all things is only going to limit his growth. Only those who walk their own path can truly—

Zhang Sheng was still coming up with the perfect plan to educate his disciple when his vision blurred, and over a hundred immortal swords piled up on the ground in front of him. When he looked, he noticed that they were all Fake Suns.

Ji Liuli gave him a slap on the shoulder and declared, “I know that it hurts, but for everyone’s sake, you should just purge him and get it over with!”

Both Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli were exceptionally intelligent individuals. With Xiao Yu’s reminder and the huge pile of evidence in front of them, they immediately figured out that Wei Yuan had intentionally provoked the Shamans into sealing the immortal swords. He wasn’t an immortal sword cultivator, so their painstaking efforts could not affect him one bit. Zhang Sheng, on the other hand....

It was at this moment Bao Yun spoke up. “Junior Brother Wei is a man who respects his betters. I’m sure he didn’t do this on purpose.”

This was the first real sentence she had spoken after arriving.

Zhang Sheng’s face was conspicuously blank as he stared at his disciple. Wei Yuan fixed his gaze to the ground, avoiding eye contact at all cost.

Zhang Sheng ultimately did not explode, at least not yet. Instead, he pointed at the summit of the central peak and said, “I’ll be waiting for you up there. You have one ke to come up with a proper explanation. Come find me when you’re ready.”

With that said, Zhang Sheng rose into the air and reached the summit in just a few steps.

Bao Yun chased after him without a word as well.

Ji Liuli was in no hurry. Her gaze lingered on Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er for a moment before she turned to Wei Yuan. “The little one truly has grown up, hasn’t he? It hasn’t been that long since we last met, and yet you’ve already had so much fun. Anyway, since we still have some time, I’m going to take a look around and see if there’s anything fun to do!”

As for Xiao Yu, he cast Wei Yuan an indifferent glance before walking toward the summit as well, his immortal sword between his arms.

Fifteen minutes later, Wei Yuan finally appeared on the summit, glancing at the three presences holed up in the only relatively intact house in the vicinity. They were all formidable and intimidating in their own right. On the cliffside, Xiao Yu was hugging his sword and gazing into the distant clouds.

Wei Yuan really, really wanted to kick him off the cliff.

Xiao Yu didn’t say a word when he saw Wei Yuan. Instead, he stuck out his lips and nodded in the house’s direction. He didn’t do it just one time, either. He did it again and again until Wei Yuan was clenching his teeth in fury and dreaming about cursing Xiao Yu to an eternity of facial spasms.

Looking up at the three gorgeous and vast auras in the house, Wei Yuan sucked in a deep breath and slowly stepped forward. It was at this moment he suddenly recalled a story he had known since he was a child. In fact, Zhang Sheng was the one who first told him about it. There was a famous passage in the story titled The Three Heroes Fight Against Lü Bu[1]. He felt that his current situation shared great similarities to that passage. Specifically, he felt that he was the invincible and unstoppable Lü Bu about to do battle against the three heroes!

Thinking about his situation like this, Wei Yuan’s courage grew, and his footsteps quickened slightly.

However, Wei Yuan had become used to setting a fengshui array prior to facing any enemy as of late. As a result, his attainment in the Dao of fengshui had been growing by leaps and bounds. That was how he was able to achieve the groundbreaking feat of blocking a Great Warlock’s blood curse via combining a fengshui array and a Purify Spirit Array. Without warning, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he recalled that Lü Bu, for all his prowess and fame, had actually lost the battle against the three heroes! This was not a good omen!

His footsteps slowed down a little.

But then, Wei Yuan tried calculating his chances against those three in the house and realized that the answer was a big fat zero. At most, he would be able to put on a whimper of a struggle. If the outcome was the same either way, then he might as well go down with dignity. It was like encountering a ferocious tiger in the wilderness: If you stand tall and face the beast head on, then you would be able to die with your honor intact!

Wei Yuan strode valiantly up to the house and slapped his hand firmly against the wood. Then, he—!

—gently pushed it open, and lightly closed it behind him. Thus, the world was divided into the world outside the door, and the world inside the door.

An octagonal, nine-level pagoda suddenly manifested into existence. Divine beasts were crouching atop the eaves of each level, and treasures such as bells and chimes were hanging on each corner. The moment the pagoda appeared, heaven and earth stood still, and all demons and monsters were subdued.

It was the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

This was the first time Xiao Yu saw it manifesting. Despite standing outside the house, the Immortal Sword The Sun felt heavy and unresponsive to Xiao Yu’s touch. He could only imagine how those trapped inside the pagoda must feel.

This was just the beginning. An exquisite, jeweled tree sprung into existence atop the pagoda, casting down countless ribbons of lights and cutting off the world inside from the outside. Now, even if a powerful being successfully calculated the karma, they would not be able to “fish” a certain person out of existence without first overcoming the incredibly challenging hurdle that was the bejeweled tree. The only way they could circumvent it was if they knew exactly where this place was.

Still, it wasn’t over yet. Four immortal swords descended from the heavens and surrounded the pagoda, guarding each cardinal direction. As an immortal sword cultivator, Xiao Yu naturally recognized three of the swords and knew how potent they were. However, despite the fact that the sword to the north was just a blurry, indistinct shadow, it chilled him from the bottom of his heart.

Moreover, the four swords naturally formed a united whole like heaven and earth. He instinctively knew that anyone who dared to enter the sword formation would provoke a simultaneous assault from all four immortal swords, and the resulting power would be far greater than just the sum of their individual strengths.

In Xiao Yu’s opinion, three of him could probably fight the three completed immortal swords to a standstill. However, the one guarding the north was probably strong enough to fight two of him. Moreover, if the four immortal swords were to form a sword formation, even ten of him would be no match for them!

The nine-level pagoda suppressed all power, the Seven Wonders Treasure Tree blocked all reinforcements, and the four immortal swords formed a sword formation that slew everyone and everything that dared to enter its range. Wei Yuan could grow a pair of immortal wings right now, and he still wouldn’t be able to escape his predicament!

Try as Xiao Yu might, he simply could not stop the corners of his lips from turning up. He never knew how enjoyable it was to rejoice in another’s misfortune until now. A tune was even threatening to burst out of his mouth!

Suddenly, Xiao Yu sensed a hint of déjà vu from the scene and tried to puzzle out why. A long time later, he finally remembered a tale he had read in a novel. Xiao Yu had been honing himself in the western regions for years, so it was only natural that he had read some novels. But of course, they were different from the kind served by the Lie Flat Inn. There was a famous story in one of the novels he had that somewhat matched this scene. It was titled The Three Mothers Discipline Their Son[2].

1. For those who are still confused, remember that transmigrators occasionally appear in this world. That is why stories that shouldn’t belong in this universe exist. ☜

2. It’s really the Third Mother Teaches Her Son because three and third shares the same character, but you get the idea. ☜