Tang Zhen paused in mid-air, and thousands of ghost shadows froze along with him. Their faces were blank at first, and then a hint of subtle doubt emerged in them.

For a moment, the many thoughts in Tang Zhen's mind were like sparks flickering in the wind after a fire has died down, rising and falling in a chaotic manner.

He couldn't figure out who had touched his body?

Yan Zhengming and the others?

But how did they escape from the North Sea? And for what reason did they not follow these people's trail directly to Shuzhong, but instead returned to Fuyao Mountain?

Since they couldn't move freely in infinite space, how did they get back in such a short time?

Who betrayed them his true form hidden in Ice Heart Fire?

In a split second, Tang Zhen was filled with confusion and didn't even have time to get angry.

how can that be possible?

He clearly doesn't trust anyone, and has never shared a heart with any living thing in this world. He is alone, holding the authority over infinite ghosts... Even so, can't he be absolutely safe?

The ghost shadows in the sky looked like a group of unconscious hanged ghosts, standing in a daze in the air. The ghost and demonic energy lingering around them gradually began to fade away, and one after another were washed away by the unknown breeze, fading into ordinary souls and melting in the air.

Like a row of morning dew, after a night of wind and dust, it returns silently to the world, drifting freely and cleanly to the next destination.

It is full of a certain tranquil and timeless meaning.

You Liang held up Yan Zhengming's sword, which had lost its vitality, and saw all this from a close distance. He was shocked beyond words by the scene.

Tang Zhen's soul kept withdrawing from the dissipating ghost shadows, and was finally forced to merge into one. His powerful soul was still able to survive after losing his body.

Tang Zhen did not run away - perhaps he was too shocked to remember, or perhaps he had never thought of it and was stunned for a moment.

"It doesn't make sense..." Tang Zhen murmured, "The fate of millions of resentful souls is clearly destined to happen to me. This is impossible... How can something that is destined change? It doesn't make sense..."

Li Yun was the first to react and shouted, "What are you all still standing there for?!"

Shuikeng and Youliang reacted immediately - yes, this person is the master of ghost cultivation, and there is no one else in the world who is more proficient in soul cultivation than him. Once the tiger is released back into the mountains, maybe he can be given a break for a year or two, and then he can make a comeback with some unheard-of means.

The sword in You Liang's hand made a sharp sound, blocking Tang Zhen's way. Li Yun drew the sword from his waist, and the three of them rushed forward together with the puddle.

Tang Zhen's body had just been shattered, and he was attacked by the ghosts that kept flying away. His soul was at its most vulnerable moment, and he had no time to dodge, and was pierced by two sword energies one after another.

He straightened his body stiffly and faced the Samadhi fire that was coming towards him.

In the raging fire, Tang Zhen's still confused gaze slowly fell on the puddle.

The memory of his impending death was like a tide that came back again, rushing through the long period of deliberate planning, the even longer purgatory of life and death with the Soul Devouring Lamp, and the last life and death and separation...

Finally it landed on a feather.

The feather gently moved his heart, and Tang Zhen's lips moved slightly, but he couldn't say anything.

Some people's life is either black or white. All the bright colors that pass by are like a flash in the pan to them, fleeting for a moment and disappearing after they pass.

A puddle formed in Tang Zhen's pupils, and his broken soul disappeared into thin air.

The laws of nature are unpredictable, how can humans calculate everything?

I wonder if he figured this out at the last moment.

Li Yun felt like he was dreaming. He couldn't believe that the sword in his hand would one day see blood and kill a great demon that had never been seen before and would never be seen again. He maintained an expression of great surprise and thought that he could now take off his armor and return home to worship this sword that looked good but was useless.

He was at a loss when Han Yuan suddenly roared, "I'm going to die. This isn't over yet. Why are you standing there in a daze? Why don't you help me?"

Li Yun was brought back to his senses by his shout, and then he remembered the mess left by Bian Xu.

He landed on his sword in a panic and saw that Bian Xu's sacrificial technique had not been weakened much, and the evil spirit summoned by Tang Zhen just now showed no intention of dissipating.

The puddle immediately turned around and surrounded the forbidden sacrificial technique with a circle of fire, allowing Han Yuan, who was at the end of his strength, to breathe a sigh of relief.

Li Yun took out a handful of pills and threw them into Han Yuan's mouth as if they were free, blocking his next words. Han Yuan was choked to death and wanted to curse loudly, but he couldn't find the space to utter them.

After a short rest and taking medicine, Han Yuan's wounds began to heal slowly. Unfortunately, these medicines only treated the symptoms and not the root cause. Sometimes, if he failed to guard the puddle, the sacrificial technique that rushed out would leave him with another wound.

Until this point, Han Yuan finally admitted that he might have committed too many sins. Each blow was like being cut into pieces, and the feeling was so excruciating.

Li Yun waved his hand, and the army of insects that had just been knocked to the ground by Tang Zhen revived on the spot, jumping around to explore the surrounding terrain for him. The broken demon-slaying formation and the spirit-gathering formation that Bian Xu had set up for the sacrifice were all transmitted back to his eyes - the sacrifice was successful, and the spirit-gathering formation was no longer useful.

You Liang was a sword cultivator who had made no progress in the battle formation. He frowned and said, "Senior, this is not a solution. Even if you kill us all, I don't think the power of the sacrifice will be reduced."

"Uncle Master..."

Suddenly, a weak cry came from the side. Li Yun turned around and saw that Nian was pressed under a pile of rocks. He struggled to find a gap and showed his head: "I... I... I..."

Li Yun dug him out with great worry, feeling that he would definitely be punished by his master in the future.

“Ahem,” Nian Dada crawled out covered in dust. “I know… this place is not far from Mingming Valley. Behind Mingming Valley is a barren mountain. The cliffs behind are a thousand feet deep. Every step is dangerous and there is no one around.”

Li Yun asked curiously: "How do you know there is no one?"

"I fell off the mountain while flying my sword once," Nian Mingming said, "My father sent out all the people in Mingming Valley, and they searched for me for more than half a month before they finally brought me back..."

Li Yun: "Okay, save your embarrassing things for now, lead the way - Shuikeng, you and Youliang help Han Yuan block for a while, and everyone else who is still alive come and help me, we will build a spirit-inducing formation based on this useless spirit-gathering formation and lead the power of sacrifice into the barren mountain."

Han Yuan: "Hurry up!"

Li Yun flew away with everyone on his sword, shouting, "Just bear with it for now. If it really breaks into two pieces, I'll say a few good words to Senior Brother, and maybe he'll give you the True Dragon Flag."

Han Yuan was short of a dragon bone and had coveted the True Dragon Flag for a long time. Upon hearing this, he immediately became extremely quiet and stopped urging him with dirty words. He said cheerfully, "Thank you, Second Senior Brother. You can go without worry. I can hold on for another half a month!"

Li Yun got goosebumps all over his body after being thanked by him, and didn't even dare to turn his head.

Although the Soul-Devouring Lamp was broken, the Heart Demon Valley was still open, and the demonic energy on Fuyao Mountain had not retreated.

Yan Zhengming was connected to the Master Seal in mind and could feel the endless flow of demonic energy seeping in from the passage they had just passed through. He asked Cheng Qian directly, "Did your Ting Qiankun tell you how to seal this seal?"

"You don't need it to tell me this." Cheng Qian retracted the Frost Blade and turned to look in the direction of Qing'anju. "You can guess it..."

Yan Zhengming was stunned for a moment, then realized what he was referring to and was immediately shocked.

"You're not saying that we should bring that stone back to the No Regrets Platform, are you?" Yan Zhengming's anxiety, which had been stirred up by the Ten Thousand Feet Heart Demon Valley, had been mostly vented with that earth-shattering sword strike, and he briefly returned to his usual cowardly state, "One hundred and eight thousand steps, the No Regrets Platform, let's go up - my ancestor... you must be kidding me."

Cheng Qian glanced at him to show that he was serious.

Yan Zhengming was so confused that he said, "It's not like you haven't seen the No Regrets Stage before. Last time, I was knocked down after taking just one step. After walking 180,000 steps, maybe I can see the Grandmaster right there!"

If it were in the past, Cheng Qian would definitely not listen to his nonsense and would have picked up the stone and left by himself. But since some time ago, he gradually began to realize that this attitude was actually harmful to his senior brother.

He had used up all his life's patience on Yan Zhengming. He waited until Yan Zhengming finished complaining before he calmly asked, "Are you going?"

Yan Zhengming glanced at the demonic energy all over the surrounding mountains and fields with annoyance, and his shoulders slumped: "... go."

After saying that, he picked up the sword and walked towards Qing'anju first: "Let's give it a try. Sima is just trying to save the situation. There are always more problems than solutions... Bah!"

His physical exhaustion, bad words, and bitterness were all reflected in this slip of the tongue.

When we arrived at Qing'anju, we saw that the Wishes Come True Stone, which originally looked like a stagnant pool of dead water, now had a halo of light slowly flickering in it, and it almost looked like it was "flowing", which had an incomparable attraction.

The flowing halo was like the eyes of a lover, which made people fall into it involuntarily. Yan Zhengming only looked at it for a moment, then stretched out his hand foolishly.

However, when his hand was about to touch the stone, he finally remembered that the "real thing" was right next to him, so he turned around in the air and landed on Cheng Qian's shoulder in a roundabout way.

Yan Zhengming hooked his arm around Cheng Qian's neck, heaved a long sigh of relief, and sighed, "Luckily you're here."

Cheng Qian did not reach out to touch it rashly. He brought the Ice Heart Fire that was pried open by the Frost Blade. One end of the Ice Heart Fire stone had been cracked, but the other side was still relatively intact. It had been polished by Tang Zhen, so that the stone could be barely stuffed into it, temporarily isolating the thick demonic energy that was entangled around the Wishes Come True Stone.

Cheng Qian: "Stop talking nonsense, use the Master Seal to open the passage for me."

Yan Zhengming knew that there was no time to lose, so he quickly followed instructions and opened the passage to the Heart Demon Valley. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel angry and asked, "Why have you been unaffected?"

Cheng Qian carried the stone of wish fulfillment on his shoulders, striding ahead, without looking back, and said, "How do you know it has no effect on me?"

Yan Zhengming was stunned, and hurriedly followed him, chattering: "Really? What impact does it have on you? If it's just some messy and irrelevant thing, forget it, but if it has something to do with me, can you show some interest occasionally and make me happy... Why are you walking so fast!"

Cheng Qian: "So that you can dry your brain a little."

This time, the two of them found the Buhuitai with ease.

Yan Zhengming's crow's mouth once again showed its unparalleled charm, and he was right - there are more problems than solutions.

The two tried countless methods, whether it was trying to use the Yuanshen Sword to send the stone to the platform, or all kinds of strange magic weapons, but all failed here.

The 18000-step suspended No Regrets Platform reaches straight to the sky. It is terrifyingly high and looks down on all living beings coldly, not tolerating any trickery.

Cheng Qian took the lead and took a step forward. The true energy in his body seemed to have evaporated, leaving no trace of his existence at all. Before he could stand firmly, a violent gust of wind came from above and blew straight towards the two of them.

The protective true energy had long since vanished, and his hands and feet felt as heavy as a pair of shackles. Cheng Qian felt that he was no different from an ordinary person in this matter. He drew out the Frost Blade and swept it out. Without true energy, all his strength came from his flesh and bones. His wrist shook violently after the collision. If he had not practiced swordsmanship for many years and had not turned sideways to relieve the force in time, Cheng Qian would have nearly fallen off the stone steps.

Yan Zhengming held his lower back and said, "Be careful - how can we get up here? The master must be a living beast."

Cheng Qian rubbed his numb wrist and said, "Master, verbally insulting your master is also insulting your master. You have to go up even if you can't. Otherwise, what do you think we should do?"

what to do?

Yan Zhengming's first reaction was to hastily seal the crack and leave this difficult problem to future generations. If any of his disciples or grandchildren were to produce another talented person like Tong Ru, he would be given the opportunity to do more work.

Unfortunately, he still had to save face in front of Cheng Qian, so he thought about this secretly, but he didn't dare to say it out loud. He could only sigh and walk up to the No Regrets Stage with Cheng Qian.

After walking only a hundred or so steps, Cheng Qian's breathing had become noticeably heavier. He kept moving his wrists, and his wrist bones made "crackling" sounds as if they were injured. Every step he took seemed to be filled with lead.

Yan Zhengming stuffed the big rock into his arms and snatched the Frost Blade: "Why don't you speak when you have no strength left? From now on, we will take turns every 100 steps, and neither of us should be stubborn."

The Wishes Come True Stone plus the Ice Heart Fire only weighed about a hundred pounds, which was no different from a feather to a cultivator. But at this moment, it pressed heavily on the hand of Cheng Qian, who was almost exhausted. Cheng Qian almost staggered and his wrist almost cramped.

He raised his head and glanced at the Infinite Heaven Stage, and said with a wry smile: "If you don't change back to being a mortal, you really don't know that you are not good enough in your skills."

Yan Zhengming waved his sword to block a gust of wind, took the time to glance at Cheng Qian, and said jokingly: "Such a handsome young man, even if he were a mortal, who would be willing to let you move stones and do physical work?"

As soon as these words came out, Yan Zhengming did not wait for Cheng Qian to reply, and he began to fantasize proudly, saying to himself: "If we were both mortals, I would definitely be a wealthy man, and you, well... you would probably be a poor scholar."

Cheng Qian: "...Why am I a poor scholar?"

Yan Zhengming said confidently: "You are a person who only knows how to spend but not earn. Even if your family has mountains of gold and silver, it can't stop you from being a prodigal. If people like you can become rich, the sun will have to rise from the west. As for me, I will probably be a lawless playboy. It will be convenient for a playboy to meet a poor scholar. I don't have to worry about anything. I can just rely on my wealth and power, bring a bunch of lackeys, and snatch you back!"

Cheng Qian: “…”

He was very impressed by the senior brother's self-awareness.

"After I take you back, I will coax you into a safe place first, and give you whatever you want. If you refuse to understand the situation, I will threaten your relatives and friends. In short, I will do whatever it takes. After a while, do you think you will surrender?"

Yan Zhengming's words sounded very concise, as if they were true. Cheng Qian listened silently, and the gloom on his brow gradually disappeared completely with his words.

He showed a little indulgent smile on this dangerous step and said, "Not necessarily."

Yan Zhengming sighed: "Ah, yes, you have been stubborn since you were a child, pretending to be gentle, and your temper is as bad as a stone in the toilet. It must be difficult to get you. Well... then what should I do?"

Cheng Qian: "If you are willing to try seduction, it might work."

Just then, a gust of wind blew towards him. Sect Leader Yan, who was lulled into wild thoughts by the word "seduction", didn't come back to his senses. He awkwardly blocked the frost blade forward, took two steps back, tilted to one side and almost rolled off the No Regrets Stage. Fortunately, Cheng Qian freed up a hand to grab him.

Cheng Qian stuffed the Wish Come True Stone into his arms and took back his sword: "We are at the hundredth step again, let's switch."

Then, for some reason, he turned around and added, "...beautiful woman," while his skin was covered with goosebumps.

Yan Zhengming rubbed his nose awkwardly: "I dared to tease your head. I really spoiled you to the point of rebellion... Well, have you recovered from that damn inheritance now?"

The smile on Cheng Qian's face gradually disappeared. He was silent for three or five steps, and the sword and the strong wind collided with each other, making a series of clinking sounds.

Just when Yan Zhengming thought he was not going to say anything, Cheng Qian suddenly said: "In the secret realm of the Great Snow Mountain, in order to resist the painting soul, I borrowed your sword energy to forcibly break the seal of Ting Qiankun and accept the inheritance..."

Cheng Qian paused for a moment, the rest of his words being blocked by the restriction. He remained silent for a while longer, and whispered, "It almost melted my consciousness into it."

Yan Zhengming instinctively asked: "Which place?"

Cheng Qian didn't say a word. He gripped the slightly trembling hilt of the Frost Blade with both hands. After forcing back a gust of wind, he turned the tip of the sword flatly around, drawing a circle over and over again. Then he raised his head and looked up at the sky above the Heart Demon Valley where the sun was not visible.

Yan Zhengming seemed to have grasped something in an instant.

Cheng Qian might not even take the heavenly tribulation seriously, so what could melt his consciousness and devour his soul?

Listen to Qiankun...Qiankun?

Yan Zhengming looked at his back in doubt, remembering the chime he had heard through the wooden sword, and whispered, "Is the 'it' in the universe... the true way of heaven?"

As usual, Cheng Qian could not answer.

"Integrate into the Way of Heaven" sounds like "ascend to heaven", but Yan Zhengming did not hear much yearning in Cheng Qian's voice. When he just came out, Cheng Qian was even a little dazed, as if he was trapped in a dead end and was haunted and couldn't come back to his senses.

He remembered what Han Muchun said when he was young: "To ascend to heaven is to die."

For a moment, a bizarre guess suddenly popped up in Yan Zhengming's mind - is there really an "upper realm" where monks can ascend?

"Ascending to heaven" means "achieving the right result in cultivation", which means "attaining the Tao". So, will those who have attained the Tao re-establish a fairyland in the "upper realm"?

Do people who have attained enlightenment also differentiate between good and evil, and engage in intrigue?

But when you start practicing, no matter which school or sect, isn’t the first lesson taught by the master "The Tao is invisible, heartless, and nameless"?

If a person is truly invisible, heartless, and nameless, and his consciousness melts into the world, then is he still a person? Does he still know who "I" is? Does he remember his past loves and hates? Is he still... alive?

Yan Zhengming whispered, "In fact, there is no such thing as immortality in this world, right?"

Cheng Qian remained silent. Three strong gusts of wind suddenly came. He flipped his wrist and swung out three swords in succession. The veins on his wrist were throbbing, and his back had an indescribable desolate meaning.

For thousands of generations of monks, "immortality" has been like a carrot dangling in front of them, binding them in long and lonely ascetic practices, preventing them from engaging in production and competing with mortals for profit.

Most sects of cultivation are like Mingming Valley, which protects a certain area and accepts offerings from mortals, or sells talismans to mortals. Except for a few times of great disasters and chaos, cultivators and mortals have always lived in peace.

Even someone like Tang Zhen, who has been corroded to the core by the Soul-Eating Lamp, would still be unwilling to shed blood because of the constraints of heaven.

An ambitious person like the Third Prince would give up the throne in pursuit of immortality... although he did end up going astray.

But if one day, these monks knew that they would eventually die like ordinary people, and that what they were pursuing were nothing but illusory illusions, then what would happen to these powerful people who could call the wind and rain at will?

They have supreme power and can turn rivers and seas upside down at will. Mortals are like a group of precarious ants to cultivators. There is nothing in the world that can restrain them, and emperors and generals in the world are even more like a joke... Then the strong are respected, and the collapse of rites and music is simply inevitable. How chaotic will this world be?

So was it because of this that the ancestors of the ten major sects sealed this secret into Ting Qiankun, signed the Ten Directions Oath, and allowed the existence of Tianyanchu?

Yan Zhengming didn't know whether this was just his own fantasy, and he had no way of tracing the truth.

Cheng Qian could never tell it.

Yan Zhengming asked: "Then how did you escape from it?"

The bright sword light of the frosty blade illuminated the dim No Regrets Stage. Cheng Qian, holding the sword, paused for a moment. He stood with the sword in his hand, tilted his head slightly, and looked deeply at Yan Zhengming.

Yan Zhengming couldn't help but think of Cheng Qian's extremely solemn "thank you" in the Snow Mountain, and his heart beat so fast that his mouth became dry.

There are so many things to say, no need to explain, you have become my unbreakable bond in this world.