Dawn in the pine forest was deathly still.
Yun Qingyu applied the final concealment talisman to a tree trunk, immediately isolating the vital energies within a radius of ten paces from the outside world. Returning to the makeshift ice house, he saw Chu Yao using Cold Moon True Qi to soothe the rampaging Nether Qi within their daughter's body.
Little Nianyao lay in her mother's arms, the bloody rune between her brows flickering erratically. More worryingly, several spiderweb-like green veins had already surfaced on her delicate, fair arms.
"Has it spread again?" Yun Qingyu asked softly, setting aside a freshly hunted snow hare.
Chu Yao nodded, her eyes heavily bloodshot. "The Cold Moon Soul-Sealing Technique can hold for three days at most. We must reach Mount Taixu as quickly as possible; Senior Lingxiaozi may have a way."
Yun Qingyu squatted down and lightly touched the green veins on his daughter's arm. The moment he made contact, a bone-chilling, sinister energy surged up his fingertips! He immediately circulated his White Lotus Purifying Fire to dispel the malignant force.
"This is no ordinary Nether Qi..." His expression turned grave. "It possesses strong corrosive properties, capable of affecting even my Nascent Soul."
Hearing this, Chu Yao grew even more anxious. "Nian'er is only three years old. How can she endure this..."
Before her voice could fade, Little Nianyao suddenly convulsed violently, her eyes snapping open—her pupils, normally stark black and white, had turned completely eerie green!
"Daddy... Mommy..." The child's voice sounded hollow and bizarre. "The uncle with green eyes said... he wants to take me out to play..."
Yun Qingyu immediately pressed his fingers against his daughter's brow, channeling Jiuxiao Sword Qi mixed with White Lotus Purifying Fire into her meridians. At the same time, Chu Yao blew her Jade Flute, and a melody of clarity and tranquility echoed through the ice house.
With both methods applied in tandem, the green light in Little Nianyao's eyes gradually faded, and she lapsed back into unconsciousness. But the couple knew all too well that this was only a temporary reprieve.
"We can wait no longer." Yun Qingyu dismantled the ice house barrier. "We set off now."
Daylight in the far north was pitifully short. As the three of them stepped out of the pine forest, the sky was already darkening. Even more bizarrely, the nine green moons had surfaced once more, casting a ghostly green glow over the snowy landscape.
"Be careful." Yun Qingyu suddenly pulled Chu Yao to a halt. "There is something ahead."
A hundred paces away on a snowy slope, a dozen "snowmen" stood in silent stillness. These snowmen were bizarrely shaped—some had multiple hands and feet, while others grew sharp horns on their heads—looking exceptionally eerie under the illumination of the green moons.
Chu Yao's pupils constricted slightly. "Snow corpses! Corpses eroded by Nether Qi!"
As if in response to her words, the snowmen suddenly turned their heads in unison, their hollow eye sockets glowing with green light!
"Run!" Yun Qingyu scooped up his daughter and took flight on his sword alongside Chu Yao. The snow corpses emitted piercing shrieks, rising into the air to pursue them with undiminished speed!
"How is this possible?" Chu Yao glanced back, her face draining of color. "Ordinary snow corpses cannot fly!"
Yun Qingyu shifted his sword incantation, transforming the Jiuxiao Sword Qi into dozens of golden rays that shot backward. Most of the snow corpses were pierced by the sword qi and plummeted, but five suddenly accelerated, the snow shells on their surfaces peeling away to reveal metallic-lustered black bodies underneath!
"Nether Iron Guards!" Chu Yao recognized their origins. "Mid-tier combat forces of the Nether Palace, equivalent to Golden Core cultivators!"
Worse still, one of the iron guards grasped a green banner, continuously releasing Nether fire akin to signal fireworks!
"They are calling for reinforcements!" Yun Qingyu made a prompt decision. "We must end this swiftly!"
Understanding his intent, Chu Yao sharpened the tune of her Jade Flute. The two simultaneously channeled the power of their Fate Pact; though they had not fully merged, their spiritual energies began to intertwine. Yun Qingyu's sword blade was coated with a layer of icy blue light, and every slash carried the freezing effect of the Cold Moon Sword Will.
Three of the iron guards were quickly frozen and plummeted, but the remaining two suddenly fused into a single entity, transforming into a two-headed, four-armed monster whose aura rivaled that of a Nascent Soul cultivator!
"Damn it!" Yun Qingyu narrowly dodged a streak of green light. "Chu Yao, take Nian'er and go!"
As Chu Yao opened her mouth to object, Little Nianyao in her arms began to struggle in agony. "It hurts... so painful..." The bloody rune between her brows was rapidly fading!
"Her seal is breaking!" Chu Yao was forced to make a choice. "I will wait for you at the ice lake thirty miles away!"
Yun Qingyu pinned down the iron guard with all his might, buying time for his wife and child. Seeing their figures vanish into the horizon, he finally unleashed his full strength, combining the Jiuxiao Sword Arts with the White Lotus Purifying Fire in a total offensive!
"First Form of Jiuxiao—Cloud Splitter!"
The sword qi surged like a rainbow, cleaving the double-headed iron guard in two. Yet the monster refused to die; its two halves regenerated independently, instantly transforming into two complete entities!
"Endless nuisances..." Yun Qingyu gritted his teeth, preparing to strike again when a cyan beam suddenly shot from the horizon, striking one of the iron guards with pinpoint accuracy. The iron guard instantly froze, then shattered into ice powder with a loud bang!
"This is... Taixu Sword Qi?" Yun Qingyu raised his head in surprise.
In the night sky, a flying boat inscribed with a Taiji pattern cut through the clouds. A youth in cyan robes stood at the bow, gripping a three-foot azure blade; the sword strike moments before had come from him.
"Senior Yun!" the youth shouted. "Board the ship quickly!"
Recognizing the attire of an inner disciple of the Taixu Sword Sect, Yun Qingyu immediately took flight on his sword. On the deck of the flying boat, besides the cyan-robed youth, a dozen other Taixu disciples had formed a formation to resist the swarming Nether creatures from all directions.
"Junior Lin Qingyang of the Taixu Sword Sect, here by order of the Sect Master to provide reinforcement." The youth cupped his fists in salute, his eyes filled with reverence. "My master, Lingxiaozi, sensed Jiuxiao Sword Qi fighting fiercely here..."
Yun Qingyu interrupted him, "How did you know our location?"
Lin Qingyang produced a bronze mirror. "This is the 'Thousand-Mile Heart-Linked Mirror', capable of tracking Fate Pact fluctuations. Junior brothers have also been sent to intercept and assist Senior Chu."
Relieved somewhat, Yun Qingyu helped clear the enemies from the deck. The Taixu Sword Sect truly lived up to its reputation as the premier sword sect of the era; though young, these disciples had already mastered their sword techniques, especially after forming arrays where their sword qi wove into a net, decimating the Nether creatures.
"Hold on, Senior, we are going to accelerate!" Lin Qingyang formed hand seals to urge the flying boat forward, shrouding the hull in cyan light and tripling its speed.
Standing at the stern, Yun Qingyu gazed at the receding far north, a deeper worry gripping his heart—what was the current situation at the Cold Moon Palace? Were Chu Yao and Nian'er safe? Why was the Nether Palace so obsessed with a little girl?
Two hours later, the flying boat pierced through the grand protective array of Mount Taixu. Yun Qingyu's eyes brightened; nine sword peaks pointed toward the heaven like sharp blades, and the Taixu Hall on the main peak gleamed resplendently, grander than he remembered.
The moment the flying boat landed, a young Daoist hurried over. "Senior Yun, the Sect Master is waiting for you in Taixu Hall! Senior Chu and the little junior sister have already arrived!"
With a heavy weight lifted from his chest, Yun Qingyu followed the Daoist, flying straight to the main peak. Inside Taixu Hall, Lingxiaozi was discussing matters with several elders. Chu Yao stood to one side holding Little Nianyao, accompanied by a white-bearded elder taking the child's pulse.
"Qingyu!" Seeing him, Chu Yao's eyes flashed with joy.
Yun Qingyu strode forward, discovering that his daughter was still unconscious, though the bloody rune between her brows had been replaced by a silver needle. "This is..."
"The 'Soul-Fixing Needle' of the Xuantian Sect." The white-bearded elder looked up. "I am Simiao of the Valley of Medicine Kings, come to assist."
Yun Qingyu quickly bowed in gratitude. The Valley of Medicine Kings was the supreme medical sect in the realm of cultivation, and Sun Simiao was revered as the medical saint of the age, rumored to possess the ability to bring the dead back to life.
Sun Simiao continued, "There are two forces tugging within the child—one is her innate Jiuxiao Cold Moon bloodline, and the other is the acquired Nether Mark. For now, the Nether Qi has been suppressed, but..."
"But what?" Chu Yao asked tensely.
"But the child appears to be actively merging with the Nether Mark." Sun Simiao dropped a bombshell. "She is instinctively adapting to this power rather than repelling it."
Yun Qingyu was struck as if by lightning. "How is that possible? Nian'er is only three years old!"
"Age has nothing to do with it." Lingxiaozi finally spoke, his voice ringing like striking metal. "She is the first child in three thousand years to possess both the Jiuxiao and Cold Moon bloodlines. The Nether Lord has placed a heavy stake upon her."
Outside the hall, an urgent bell suddenly chimed. A disciple rushed in frantically, reporting, "Urgent news from the Cold Moon Palace in the far north!"
Lingxiaozi accepted the jade slip, swept his divine sense across it, and his expression altered drastically. "The Nether Lord has awakened prematurely! The Cold Moon Palace... has fallen."
"What?" Chu Yao swayed unsteadily. "My grandmother..."
"Grand Mistress Su is unharmed and has broken through the siege with the remaining disciples," Lingxiaozi said gravely, "but the Nether Palace has obtained the Cold Moon Palace's 'Moon-Reflecting Mirror', which can accelerate the unsealing of the other eight locations."
Yun Qingyu clenched his fists. "We must act swiftly."
"Precisely." Lingxiaozi waved his hand to unfurl a map. "Of the nine sealed locations, three have now manifested—the far north Cold Moon Palace, the Xuantian Sect, and the Sword Burial Valley in the southwest. Based on our calculations, the next will be..."
He pointed toward the eastern region of the map. "The Eastern Sea Return to Void!"
"Return to Void?" Yun Qingyu frowned deeply. "Is that not an ancient battlefield?"
"Indeed," Lingxiaozi nodded. "Suppressed beneath Return to Void is the Nether Palace's 'Myriad Soul Banner'. Once unsealed, it can command a million ghostly soldiers."
Sun Simiao interjected abruptly, "I just received a transmission from the Valley of Medicine Kings. Strange green tides have appeared in the Eastern Sea recently; wherever they pass, fish and shrimp perish, and fishermen turn into walking corpses—exactly identical to the situation in the northern frontier."
Yun Qingyu exchanged a glance with Chu Yao, both realizing a terrifying possibility: "The Nether Palace is tracking Nian'er!"
Lingxiaozi sighed deeply. "I fear so. The mark within this child resonates with the nine seals; whichever place she approaches, the seal there will loosen faster."
Dead silence fell over the hall. This meant that no matter where they took Little Nianyao, they would bring apocalyptic disaster to that place!
"There is a way." Chu Yao spoke suddenly, her voice trembling yet resolute. "Leave Nian'er here on Mount Taixu; this place is protected by a great array. We two can divide our forces: Qingyu will go to Return to Void to assist in defense, and I will go to the Xuantian Sect to rescue my father."
"No!" Yun Qingyu refused flatly. "Too dangerous!"
"This is the optimal solution." Chu Yao grasped his hand. "With the Fate Pact between us, we can sense each other's safety at any time. Nian'er needs the dual protection of the Taixu Sword Sect and the Valley of Medicine Kings."
Just as Yun Qingyu opened his mouth to object further, Little Nianyao stirred. "Daddy... Mommy..." she called out weakly. "The uncle with green eyes said... he wants to play hide-and-seek with me..."
Sun Simiao immediately administered another needle, plunging the child back into unconsciousness. The old medical sage's expression was grim: "The Nether Lord is connected to the child's consciousness through the mark; staying on Mount Taixu is unsafe as well."
"Then there is only one option left." Lingxiaozi stood up abruptly, sword qi surging around his body. "I shall personally guard Mount Taixu, and Physician Sun will remain to tend to the child. The two of you shall journey together to Return to Void—there rests an ancient divine artifact, the 'Sea-Calming Pearl', which may temporarily isolate the Nether resonance."
Yun Qingyu looked at Chu Yao, and seeing her nod, he agreed to the arrangement. Just as they were discussing the details, a heaven-shaking explosion erupted outside the hall!
"Enemy attack!" The warning bells rang loudly. "The Nether Palace is assaulting the mountain!"
In an instant, Lingxiaozi transformed into a beam of sword light and charged out of the hall. Yun Qingyu and the others followed closely, only to see dense swarms of Nether creatures pouring in like a tide beyond Mount Taixu's protective array. Even more terrifyingly, the nine green moons had now converged into a single gigantic eye, coldly gazing down upon Mount Taixu!
"There is no time," Lingxiaozi commanded sternly. "Lin Qingyang, take your junior brothers and sisters to escort Daoist Yun's family through the secret passage to the teleportation array! Teleport directly to the Eastern Sea Market!"
"And Mount Taixu..." Lin Qingyang hesitated.
"This old man has not drawn his sword in three hundred years; today is a fine day to stretch my bones." Lingxiaozi's white hair fluttered as seven spirit swords of varying forms materialized behind him. "Go! The future of the cultivation world rests in your hands!"
Yun Qingyu bowed deeply, scooped up his daughter, and rushed toward the secret passage with Chu Yao and Lin Qingyang. Along the way, he glanced back—catching sight of Lingxiaozi standing alone atop the peak with a single sword, while seven spirit swords pierced the sky like rainbows, instantly shredding hundreds of Nether creatures that had breached the array.
The secret passage wound downward, eventually leading to a stone chamber covered in runes. The central teleportation array was already activated, guarded by six Taixu disciples.
"Senior Yun, please step to the center of the array," Lin Qingyang guided. "The teleportation process takes about ten breaths; you may experience some dizziness."
Chu Yao suddenly pressed down on her husband's arm. "Wait... Nian'er's condition is wrong!"
Yun Qingyu looked down, his soul nearly leaving his body—the silver needle between his daughter's brows was slowly turning green, and her small face contorted in agony!
"She is resisting the teleportation!" Sun Simiao cried out urgently. "The Nether Mark does not want to leave Mount Taixu!"
The entire mountain shook violently, and rubble rained down. Lin Qingyang's face turned ashen. "The array has been breached! We must teleport immediately!"
With a hard bite of his tongue, Yun Qingyu handed his daughter to Chu Yao. "You go first! I will cover our retreat!"
"No!" Chu Yao grabbed him tightly. "The Fate Pact dictates that we must face things together!"
As they reached an impasse, Little Nianyao suddenly opened her eyes—they had turned completely eerie green! A hoarse male voice issued from her lips:
"Can you run... my little vessel..."
The child's small hand suddenly clamped around Chu Yao's throat with startling force! Yun Qingyu rushed to pry her fingers loose, only to be repelled by a tremendous shockwave. At the critical moment, Sun Simiao drove a golden needle into the back of Little Nianyao's neck; the child immediately released her grip, but the bizarre voice continued:
"Return to Void... I await you... The bloodline of the Cold Moon of Jiuxiao... shall ultimately belong to the Nether..."
The voice gradually faded, and the child lapsed back into unconsciousness. Yun Qingyu picked up his daughter and stepped into the teleportation array alongside Chu Yao. Amidst the blinding white light, the last sounds he heard were the earth-shaking ring of swords from the direction of Mount Taixu, followed by... a half-human, half-beast roar.
When vision returned to them, a moist sea breeze brushed their faces. They stood upon a rudimentary stone platform where distant fishing lights flickered—they had arrived at the Eastern Sea Market.
Yet before they could catch their breath, a patch of green light suddenly flared where the sea met the sky. Immediately afterward, the entire ocean began to churn, countless dead fish floated to the surface, and further out... a water tornado connecting heaven and earth was forming, within which the faint outline of a palace could be seen!
"The Return to Void seal... has opened prematurely!" Lin Qingyang's face turned pale as paper.
Yun Qingyu held his daughter tighter, feeling the Nether Mark pulse excitedly within her body. Chu Yao gripped his hand, and as they exchanged a glance, both saw the unyielding resolve in each other's eyes.
This calamity had only just begun...