Has the City Lord Had a Nosebleed Today? (1)

His words had barely fallen when seven silhouettes materialised above the Underground Palace of Penglai Immortal Sect, each a renowned heavyweight from the major sects. Behind them hovered a swarm of onlookers eager for the spectacle.

Every influential name in the cultivation world had gathered, and every eye was fixed on one objective: to seize the Tianshu City Lord.

The crowd’s excited chatter washed outward; Lin Qianshuang’s released spiritual sense caught every word.

Most often she heard:

“The City Lord has joined forces with the demon realm to swallow the righteous cultivation world.”

“She secretly crushed the Four Great Clans and slipped spies into the Five Sects. Her schemes run deep.”

“The lord of Tianshu City had learned the whereabouts of the long-lost Glazed Temple Gem, an immortal relic belonging to Penglai Immortal Sect, and kept it for herself.”

Listening to these righteous shouts of condemnation, Lin Qianshuang decided the realm must truly be at peace if these upright cultivators had nothing better to do. Before she or Mu Weiyin had even arrived, these bandwagon hunters came strutting in to seize her.

Chen Shangqing had clearly spiced up every scrap of intelligence he’d gathered while undercover and released it today, deliberately choosing the birthday of the city lord’s dao companion Xiao Lanle to lay this perfect snare.

What surprised him was that she and Mu Weiyin slipped through a side gate of Penglai to spring a surprise on Xiao Lanle; they had never imagined the proud lord of Tianshu City would use a side gate instead of the main one.

Lin guessed that, to avoid alerting his quarry, Chen followed Zheng Mingxia, that foolish girl, and led them straight to the Underground Palace of Penglai Immortal Sect.

So now the hot-blooded worthies from every sect, originally lying in ambush at the main gate, had not only failed to capture Mu Weiyin alive but found themselves barred outside the trap-filled catacombs.

Lin Qianshuang’s face stayed calm, yet her mind was screaming a torrent of expletives.

We’re finished! The supporting man has come back from the dead to take revenge on the supporting girl!

Finished! Another big shot with a golden finger!

After reading dozens of rebirth stories, the revenge-rebirth type is the most ruthless!

To her own dismay, Lin Qianshuang found the man’s logic reasonable; switch their positions and she would probably choose the same.

But the life of the Tianshu City Lord is bound to hers. If Mu Weiyin dies, she dies.

Lin Qianshuang stared anxiously at the veiled girl in purple. When she saw Mu Weiyin standing at ease with an expression of “I know, but I can’t be bothered,” her racing heart slowed again. With Mu Weiyin’s cultivation, everything happening outside was crystal clear; if she could stay so calm, she must have a plan. Their own strength was solid, as long as they weren’t worn down by a wheel battle, they should escape.

The moment Lin Qianshuang relaxed, a sparkling emerald bead appeared in Chen Shangqing’s palm. The pure cultivation and legacy force sealed inside it left her slack-jawed. If she wasn’t mistaken, this bead was exactly the first patriarch’s Inheritance Pearl she had come to find!

Lin Qianshuang clicked her tongue. Chen Shangqing had moved too fast, he had already slipped into the main tomb and taken the pearl. No wonder he was so confident.

Even Mu Weiyin blinked in surprise, her gaze toward Chen Shangqing turning thoughtful. “Traitor, where did you obtain that Inheritance Pearl?”

“Chen never wished to draw upon a senior’s soul,” he answered, “but for a demoness like you, I will break that vow and cut you down! Do not imagine that hiding in the Underground Palace leaves us helpless.”

He inhaled; the pearl flashed red and shot into the space between his brows. Without another word he raised his spirit sword, its field glowing pale blue-white, and unleashed a flurry of ruthless strikes at Mu Weiyin.

Lin Qianshuang stood so close to Mu Weiyin that she seemed unwilling to give an inch, blocking him with everything she had. A careless slash severed half of the strands that drifted around her face.

Chen Shangqing’s sword-sharp eyes narrowed; he lowered his blade. “Senior Lin, stand aside. Chen has no wish to injure the innocent.”

Yet harming the City Lord was the same as tightening a noose around her throat.

The demon infant inside Lin Qianshuang’s dantian flared to life. Her eyes regained their deep-sea blue, and she spread her arms. “Junior Chen, if you insist on striking the City Lord, you’ll have to cross my corpse first.”

She shot him a frantic look, urging him to flee. Even if he had absorbed every spark of the founding patriarch’s power, he could never overcome Mu Weiyin, the paragon of all rogue cultivators; her swordcraft left them both far behind.

Chen Shangqing acted as though he had not seen. “Demoness,” he said coldly, “if you have skill, face me alone. Dragging in an uninvolved party—don’t you find that contemptible?”

With a flick of her sleeve, Mu Weiyin flung Lin Qianshuang aside. Veiled and haughty, she summoned her life-bound spirit sword. “This city lord needs no one to fight in her stead. Certainly not against an opponent like this.”

Lin Qianshuang landed hard; her arm throbbed. Rubbing her bruised wrist, she scrambled up and watched in terror as the two exchanged killing blows in the narrow, trap-filled passage.

Mu Weiyin had never studied the pattern of the floor bricks, yet each time her foot was about to trigger a hidden tile she skimmed past light as a swallow. Lin Qianshuang broke into cold sweat on her behalf and felt her legs go weak.

His blade clashed against her scabbard again and again.

Sword-light wove a deadly net around Chen Shangqing; killing intent poured from him. “Fiend,” he snapped, “draw your sword. Do you scorn Chen?”

Mu Weiyin kept one hand behind her back, the other holding the sheath. “That rabble you set above to hinder my Spirit-Locking Array did a decent job. If I draw, it will be the same as having no sword at all.”

Chen Shangqing let out a cold laugh. His left hand had been cut by Mu Weiyin’s sword energy, so he kept silent; he knew very well that with half her cultivation sealed and her body still that of a child, Mu Weiyin, unable to free her sword, could not last much longer.

Lin Qianshuang stood to the side, racking her brains for a way to separate the two without either getting hurt. A grating scrape of stone came from the wall. She turned: Xu Zheng had appeared in the tomb passage at some point and was twisting the disc set into the rock left and right.

“What are you doing!”

Lin Qianshuang rushed to stop him, but it was too late.

The floor bricks suddenly split down the middle. Feeling her spirit sword sag toward the ground, Mu Weiyin shifted its angle and slipped aside. Chen Shangqing seized the opening to drive at her throat. She twisted; the blade slid past and punched through her shoulder.

At the sight, Lin Qianshuang, heedless of everything, condensed a long sword in her hand and plunged between them.

Mu Weiyin drew the bloody blade free as though she felt no pain, her silhouette flickering like a ghost. She whirled and sent her sleeve whipping toward Chen Shangqing’s back.

Chen Shangqing glanced over his shoulder; Xu Zheng stood beside the bronze disc set into the rock. His pupils shrank and he shouted, “Look out!” then bolted toward him.

The tomb bricks beneath Mu Weiyin’s feet yawned open without warning. From behind her veil, her cold gray-black eyes grazed Chen Shangqing once before she dropped into the black maw and vanished.

Lin Qianshuang flinched at the sudden turn; she was only a step away. She lunged to catch Mu Weiyin’s hand while the trap was still open, but her fingers closed on empty air.

She leaned over the brink. A chill draft rose from the darkness below. If wind could get out, so could a person.

The stone jaws were already closing. No time to weigh right or wrong, profit or loss. Lin Qianshuang hesitated a heartbeat, gritted her teeth, tightened her grip on her sword, and leapt after Mu Weiyin.

Xu Zheng had been spitted by the sword clean through the heart and pinned upright to the rock of the tomb passage, the last tremor of life still in him. Mercury poured over his chilling body in bright sheets, and, one after another, the corridor’s murals split apart; venomous liquid gushed from the fractures without end.

Beyond the main crypt, the passage was slowly filling with silver water. The vaulted way itself began to fail, rubble clattering from overhead.

Chen Shangqing stood in silence, gazing at the dying man. “I can’t save you, Shangying.”

Xu Zheng coughed up a mouthful of blood, his sight glazing, yet beamed at his elder brother. “Big brother… you’re the Chen clan’s last hope. You mustn’t perish. I regret nothing; my death is deserved. I’ve sown too many wrongs. You, though… you’ve done no wrong. You merely… loved a woman you should not have loved.”

Chen answered with only a tighter clench of his fist, which he slammed against the stone door until knuckles split and bled.

Xu Zheng’s breath faltered. “The Tianshu City Lord bears guilt, yet you know deep down who the real culprit is. If you cling to any private purpose… you know it. Big brother, to restore our Chen line… cast away every thread of personal longing. Forget Xiao Lanle. She is but a stone set to trip your feet.”

Chen Shangqing caught Xu Zheng’s hand before it fell. Watching the last breath leave him, sword-bright eyes brimmed with tears, and pain flickered across his handsome face. “Big brother promises you, Shangying. Go in peace. The one you loved most in life was Senior Sister Lin; I will find a way to have her wedded to you. You won’t be lonely in the Yellow Springs¹—someone will walk the wheel of rebirth beside you.”

The passage beyond the main tomb had already half collapsed; he dared stay no longer. He gave Xu Zheng’s body a final look, summoned his life-bound spirit sword, and rode it through the falling rubble to safety.

Inside Penglai Immortal Sect, Xiao Lanle knew nothing of the calamity. She sat in her cave dwelling, eyes shut in meditation, waiting for Lin Qianshuang. Senior Sister Lin had promised her a surprise tonight, and anticipation fluttered in her heart.

As she meditated, she suddenly felt herself being lifted onto someone’s back. At first she thought Senior Sister Lin was carrying her—until she heard an odd clack of jade ornaments. Penglai’s jade slips were all wood; how could they ring so clear?

Xiao Lanle realized something was wrong and opened her eyes with a start to find herself already inside the Inheritance Secret Realm of the sect-leader trial; the gate she had come through had sealed shut behind her. The realm allowed only entrance, never exit. Once inside, she could not leave until she had passed every harsh test the trial demanded.