World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 501: Strategic Defeat

Day one thousand and... since Junior Brother left.

The numbers after "one thousand" in the diary had been crossed out.

It's been four years and one month, yet he still hasn't sent any messages. Fortunately, the soul lamp he gave me has remained relatively stable.

Lately, while cultivating, I keep feeling that there is still some hidden balance even in the Dao of Imbalanced Yin and Yang. Maybe this is the path to immortality.

Master recently entered seclusion and will soon head to the Small Immortal Realm again. Big Sister and Huai Jing plan to go to the entrance of the Realm of Exiled Immortals to take a look; maybe they'll discover something.

I've been practicing my pronunciation during my breaks from cultivation. I want to surprise my junior brother when he returns.

I must work hard!

Mu Wanxuan closed the diary and stared out the window for a moment, her long hair falling loosely. She then sighed softly, set the diary aside, and tapped on the table with her slender fingers. Rising to her feet, she walked to the nearby meditation mat.

The soul lamp flickered gently, just as it had for over a thousand days and nights. Sadly, it only conveyed that Wang Sheng was alive; it gave no hint of what he was facing.

It'd be fine if he had just spent the past three years chasing the enemy in the Realm of Exiled Immortals. However, if he had already exited more than two years ago and had been chasing Ziyun outside for over two centuries, then he'd already be far older than the oldest cultivator on Earth.

Over the past year, Mu Wanxuan often imagined that when she next emerged from seclusion, her junior brother would descend from the skies. Yet each time she awoke, all that greeted her was the lamp's trembling flame.

She pressed her lips together as she silently recited a mantra to calm her mind. Easing herself into a state that made her forget herself and her surroundings, she examined the changes in her Great Dao of Yin and Yang and slowly walked down her cultivation path.

If Junior Brother has left the Realm of Exiled Immortals, and he's been thinking of me too, does that mean he has already been missing me for two hundred years?

Mu Wanxuan suddenly opened her eyes, walked to the window, and looked at the soul lamp.

Her deepest concern was the sorrow of her heart. Their souls were united, yet they couldn't walk side by side.

She opened her diary again, picked up her wolf-hair brush, dipped it into the still moist ink, and let the longing in her heart gather at its tip.

(╥﹏╥)

(╥﹏╥)

She admired the symbol for some time, then turned and sat down to meditate.

***

Celestial Wind Sect's restricted land.

The blood mine spiraled into chaos as the blood mist spread. The grand array protecting the place released intense light, completely sealing off the entire area.

The instant the fiend-blood energy wrapped around Wang Sheng, he hung motionless on the celestial rope, appearing no different from the other mortal cultivators that it had swallowed. Unlike them, however, he neither screamed nor lost his mind. He just quietly remained upright with his eyes closed.

His shackles bound his immortal power and Primordial Spirit within him, preventing him from using immortal techniques or spells. However, they didn't hinder his cultivation or stop him from stirring trouble inside his own body.

He had spent so long trying to solve this problem, but he only ever came up with vague, incomplete ideas. Now, forced to face it head-on for the first time, those vague ideas immediately turned into clear insight.

Fiend-blood energy was essentially a powerful immortal's hatred and primal qi converging after death. It was no different from pure resentment itself.

Since heavenly tribulation was the bane of all resentment and karmic debt, his enhanced heavenly tribulation will likely have unusual effects on it.

With that in mind, Wang Sheng had immediately stopped Yaoyun from acting rashly. Spiritless could certainly cut through his shackles, but with the grand array fully active and the aura of the Heavenly Immortal suppressing the area, escape was impossible.

Even though the mine was in chaos and the immortals of the Celestial Wind Sect were focused on the four mine shafts, there was no guarantee that a celestial soldier wouldn't notice Spiritless.

After two hundred years of chiseling and enduring, Wang Sheng had grown steadier, calmer, and less rash.

As streams of fiend-blood energy entered him, layers of gray clouds formed within him. He was certainly tough. Now that he had become an immortal, he could endure his summoned heavenly tribulations without difficulty, even when they struck from within.

Moments later, Wang Sheng opened his eyes, lightning flickering within them. He smirked.

Bolts of heavenly tribulation lightning instantly struck the fiend-blood energy inside him, completely cleaving it away. From where it had been, pure primal qi infused with traces of heavenly tribulation slowly spread out.

Wang Sheng used the Pure Yang Immortal Mantra to convert the primal qi into Pure Yang Immortal Power and circulate it.

He then made a quick calculation, determining that he still lost out since he had used more immortal power to summon the tribulation cloud than the primal qi he gained. However, the tribulation cloud would persist for quite a while longer. It would also disperse into primal qi on its own later.

For as long as he had a supply of fiend-blood energy, he would quickly turn a profit.

Wang Sheng stared at the crack in the stone wall.

Come on, give me a bit more.

To his disappointment, the tremors soon subsided, and no second wave of fiend-blood energy came.

Bound by the celestial rope and weighed down by shackles, he couldn't go fight other cultivators for the fiend-blood energy. All he could do was regret the lost opportunity for both sides.

"A powerful spiritual entity is likely deep in this blood mine," Yaoyun whispered. "On the other hand, the mine could have just been overflowing with fiend-blood energy, and the laborers happened to hit an area that's already under stress, rupturing it."

"So it's a mining disaster, huh?"

Wang Sheng sighed and waited quietly.

Using voice transmission, Lan Huilin asked from the side, "Are you okay, Daoist Friend Wang?"

Wang Sheng turned, finding her hovering nearby with a concerned look.

Can she still use voice transmission even though the shackles have sealed her cultivation? Is she hinting at something, or has she slipped up and exposed her hidden cultivation?

Wang Sheng let a hint of depth show in his eyes, and Lan Huilin responded with a calm smile and a knowing look.

Wang Sheng slowly nodded. Only the heavens know what you think we both understand.

Their cellmates had been relatively fortunate. Two to three had died, while seven or eight were severely injured. There was no helping it. Primal qi had likely drawn out the fiend-blood energy, causing it to seep out of the cliff face.

Two to three hours later, the celestial ropes began to retract, lifting Wang Sheng and the others. Before long, corpses were lined up beside the cliff. Of the hundreds of cultivators who had been chiseling, anyone still alive, wounded or not, was thrown back into the wooden cages.

Soon, flames rose along the cliff, consuming the bodies. Most of those killed in the disaster hadn't even ascended to immortality yet. Now, not even their ashes remained.

A trace of helplessness flashed in Wang Sheng's gaze. He began to understand how someone like Ziyun could develop such a cruel heart. In a place where low-level cultivators were worth no more than insects, survival truly demanded ruthlessness.

However, ruthlessness still required boundaries. Otherwise, most cultivators would end up stuck like Ziyun, unable to undo the knot in their own hearts.

"Daoist Friend Wang," Lan Huilin once again transmitted, making Wang Sheng raise an eyebrow.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her sitting behind him, eyes closed as if forcing poison out. He leaned back against the railing and blankly stared at celestial soldiers moving about in the distance.

Calmly, he replied, "What is it?"

"Now that the blood mine has burst, those who'll go down next will suffer fatal injuries. Once the fiend-blood energy stabilizes in a few days, they will need Ascended Immortals to fill the vacant miner positions. You and I will be picked, and when we do, I hope you remember the bond we've formed as cellmates over the past two hundred years. Please look after me."

"She's right," Yaoyun noted. "You could form an alliance with her."

"This woman is scheming too much," Wang Sheng replied. "Bargaining with a tiger is a good way to get eaten. Let me question her first."

A short silence followed.

Finally, he almost inaudibly murmured, "Why would a True Immortal ask a fairly new immortal to look after her?"

Lan Huilin's eyes snapped open. She cautiously looked around before frowning at him.

With a hint of resignation, she transmitted, "I knew it. You're not just some average cultivator. I realized you were remarkable when you kept breaking through despite the harsh conditions, even reaching the final step to the late-stage Ascended Immortal Realm in merely two hundred years. Still, I didn't expect you to see through my disguise."

"Don't worry. I don't know you are."

Lan Huilin nodded slightly. "Would you be willing to form an alliance with me, then?"

Wang Sheng momentarily grew silent. The last female immortal who had called him "Brother Wang" had already perished, her soul completely erased.

Still, he calmly nodded. "Alright, fine. If we get the chance to escape or start an uprising, I'll be sure to take it with you. However, I have a condition."

Lan Huilin's lips curved into a charming smile that reminded Wang Sheng of Ziyun. "What is it?"

"I want whatever it is you used to conceal your cultivation."

"Very well. I'll teach you the incantation for the spell now."

Wang Sheng nodded.

He memorized line after line that she recited. Once he had gotten down the lengthy incantation, she regarded him with even greater appreciation.

Here, people promised precious cultivation resources one day, then denied the promise the next day. Meanwhile, "Wang Qiu" asked for something extremely practical but modest in value, a clear evidence of his foresight and his refusal to resign himself to his current fate.

Lan Huilin hadn't told him everything. She had paid special attention to him not only because his cultivation progressed abnormally fast. Any Ascended Immortal, if personally captured by the Celestial Wind Sect's Heavenly Immortal, was bound to draw attention.

Despite her precise calculations, though, she still made one mistake.

***

The mines reopened three months later. Apart from the dozens of new kidnapped unaffiliated practitioners, whose realms ranged from late-stage Ascended Immortal Realm to mid-stage Primordial Immortal Realm, the sect also turned its sights toward their wall chiselers.

A True Immortal dressed as a scholar approached and jerked his chin at Wang Sheng.

"Making an early-stage Ascended Immortal chisel a cliff is such a waste. Send him to the Tian Division for a few years." He then glanced at Lan Huilin. "Mid-stage Ascended Immortal, huh? Send her there, too."

"Sir, the Tian Division already has thirty members. The Xuan Division is short a few."

"Then send her to Xuan." The scholar shook his head. "Such a pity. With a higher cultivation, she could've served as the young sect master's sword attendant instead of suffering here. Tsk."

He chuckled and walked off. The wooden cage door opened, and Wang Sheng cooperated by stepping out on his own.