As Su Han's final words echoed, Zhen Qin's eyes reddened with tears. She wanted desperately to stop him, but her mouth refused to cooperate.
Su Han continued to speak softly, "I am only passing on my cultivation to you. Once I'm gone, burn my body to ashes. Be sure to take my storage bag. Anything related to the Ephemeral Blossom Ghost Mother has already been discarded…"
Blood began to trickle from the corners of his mouth, then from his nose and eyes. The vivid red streaks stood out against his pale face, appearing grotesquely bright in the icy, snowy landscape.
As Su Han's eyes transformed into blood-red orbs, Zhen Qin's heart ached unbearably. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
Her robes fluttered as her cultivation surged uncontrollably.
"The Inverse Fate Divine Art is prone to causing inner demons, but this technique was always meant as a sacrificial method. When passed to another, its power becomes pure, enabling a complete cleansing of one's body and meridians…"
"Junior Sister, thank you for still remembering me…" Su Han's voice grew increasingly faint.
Zhen Qin felt an unprecedented heaviness in her eyelids, and her vision blurred. She could no longer see her senior brother's face clearly.
"Please… tell our master one thing for me… I'm sorry… I let him down… He helped me establish my foundation, yet I repaid him with nothing but trouble…"
"This life of mine, though extraordinary, is riddled with regrets…" Su Han's voice faded as Zhen Qin's consciousness sank into chaos.
The snow continued to fall heavily, as if heaven and earth mourned.
An indeterminate amount of time passed.
Zhen Qin's awareness gradually returned. She awoke abruptly, like emerging from a nightmare.
She found herself lying in the snow. Beside her lay another figure—her senior brother, Su Han.
She scrambled to her feet and rushed to check on him. As she turned his body over, she recoiled in horror.
Su Han was dead. His body had turned a sickly purple, reduced to skin and bones as though every ounce of blood and flesh had been drained. The sight was utterly horrifying.
"Senior Brother… no… it shouldn't be like this…"
Zhen Qin sat in the snow, staring blankly at Su Han. She could feel the overwhelming spiritual power surging within her, but there was no joy in her heart.
Suddenly, she threw herself over Su Han's lifeless body and began to sob uncontrollably.
As she flipped him over, she noticed his purple, bloodless lips were slightly curled into a faint smile, as though he had passed without pain.
After a long time.
Having vented her emotions, Zhen Qin slowly stood up. Her face was streaked with tears, but her expression was now colder than ever.
She raised her right hand and gestured in the air, summoning a golden ring from Su Han's waist into her grasp.
She could sense the immense power within the ring. Even with her newly transformed state, she felt a tinge of fear.
This must be a Mahayana artifact!
Zhen Qin's gaze returned to Su Han. She bit her lip, her eyes filled with conflict.
Her trembling right hand ignited with a flame of spiritual energy.
"You truly intend to burn the body of the one who gave you his cultivation?"
A voice came from nearby, startling Zhen Qin. She turned quickly and saw a small figure in white perched on a tree branch, wearing a mask.
She froze momentarily before crying out in surprise, "Mountain God!"
Without hesitation, she knelt down and began kowtowing repeatedly to the Mountain God.
Gu An, observing her from above, adopted a playful tone and asked with a smirk, "What are you doing?"
Zhen Qin lifted her tear-streaked face and pleaded, "Please, Mountain God, save my senior brother!"
"He killed so many. Why should I save him?"
Zhen Qin panicked and retorted, "How many has he killed? Look around this world—are there any great cultivators whose hands are not stained with blood? The cultivation world is inherently a struggle. My senior brother never wanted to kill, but countless people forced him onto this path!"
"He cultivated the Heaven-Hating Divine Sword. The legend says the more hatred one harbors, the stronger the sword becomes. Yet, my senior brother did not achieve invincibility with it, proving his hatred was not as deep as others assumed!"
"He also cultivated the Inverse Fate Divine Art of the Ephemeral Blossom Sect, a technique capable of stealing the cultivation of others. If my senior brother had no moral limits, his cultivation would have reached even greater heights!"
As she spoke, her emotions overflowed, her voice trembling with indignation.
Her heart burned with a profound sense of injustice for Su Han.
Su Han had lost his mother early, and his father had died when he was young. He carried the burden of blood vengeance and entered the Tai Xuan Sect, where he practiced the Heaven-Hating Divine Sword taught by his father. What was his crime?
Should he not fight back when others hunted him?
Su Han had never harmed ordinary mortals. Even in his quest for power, those he killed were cultivators.
Zhen Qin refused to believe that the so-called righteous path had no innocent blood on its hands. Were all great cultivators truly guiltless?
Gu An looked down at her and spoke calmly, "The cultivation path offers countless choices. He must bear the consequences of his. Do you know what is the fairest thing the heavens grant to all beings? Death."
"For every life he took, his own was claimed in turn."
Zhen Qin wanted to argue but feared offending the Mountain God.
Gu An continued, "You believe he had no other path, and he thought so too. But if you truly reflect on it, was that the case? I don't think so. You and your senior brother come from the same sect—why are you alive and well while he fell to such a fate?"
Zhen Qin paused, her breathing uneven as Gu An's calm words began to break through her emotions.
"If you truly believe your senior brother was without fault, you will walk the same path as him. But that's not what he would have wanted," Gu An said, his tone growing distant, carrying an ethereal quality.
"The dead cannot return to life. I am merely a Mountain God, not a deity with omnipotent powers. However, I can take your senior brother's body and give you a sliver of hope. What do you think of this?"
Hearing this, Zhen Qin hesitated, her mind torn. After a long silence, she gritted her teeth and said, "Then, I implore the Mountain God to take him. Someday, I will find you again, and I will seek a way to bring him back."
Gu An did not oppose her determination. If Zhen Qin could find a goal to focus on, it might fuel her drive for cultivation.
He raised his right hand, and Su Han's body shrank into his palm, vanishing entirely, leaving only a storage bag in the snow.
Zhen Qin, despite her sorrow, couldn't help but marvel at the miraculous display of Gu An's power.
She rose to her feet and asked, "Mountain God, why are you here?"
Gu An's figure disappeared from the tree branch, his voice lingering in the air, "Who says a Mountain God must remain in one place? Besides, I am more than just a Mountain God."
These parting words left Zhen Qin with a deep sense of awe and reverence, elevating Gu An to an almost celestial stature in her mind.
Wiping her tears away, Zhen Qin infused her spiritual energy into the golden ring. The barrier surrounding her dissipated immediately.
Sensing the distant auras of Ye Lan and the others, she quickly made her way back to their encampment. The dispersed team was clearly searching for her, their movements hurried.
Inside the Xuan Tian Cave Mansion.
Gu An carefully placed Su Han's body on a stone table, gazing at the lifeless face with a tinge of melancholy.
He recalled their time in the forests of Xuan Valley years ago, when he had guided Su Han in swordsmanship. Su Han had generously offered his family's secret technique, the Heaven-Hating Divine Sword, without hesitation.
He remembered the time demonic cultivators attacked Xuan Valley, and Su Han stood before him without fear, protecting him.
In truth, Gu An didn't owe Su Han anything, but neither had Su Han ever wronged him. Their differences simply stemmed from the paths they chose to walk.
Channeling his power, Gu An began to freeze Su Han's body, preserving it to prevent decay and keeping his spirit within his body temporarily.
He whispered to himself, "I cannot revive the dead, but I can at least do this much."
As the freezing process progressed, Gu An's expression changed as he noticed something unusual.
"Hm?"
Within Su Han's body, the Heaven-Hating Divine Sword's sword intent remained intact, a residual aura laced with complicated karmic threads. Among these threads, one stood out, connected to a cultivator at the Loose Immortal Realm.
How could Su Han have ties to a Loose Immortal?
"Could it be the creator of the Heaven-Hating Divine Sword?" Gu An mused.
Lifting his hand, he extracted the sword intent from Su Han's body, forming a swirling mass of blood-red energy in his palm.
Once Su Han's body was fully encased in ice, Gu An set it aside and turned his attention to the sword intent.
Years ago, when he reached the Nirvana Realm, Gu An had developed the ability to perceive karma, glimpsing up to ten years of an individual's past. Now, his comprehension had grown even sharper.
As he focused, the threads of karma began to form a line that stretched far beyond the Xuan Tian Cave Mansion, extending toward the ends of the earth.
Gu An followed the thread with his divine sense, traversing countless mountains and seas until it settled on a vast island.
This island was home to millions, with nearly a third of its inhabitants being cultivators of considerable strength. Among them were seven Mahayana Realm cultivators, one Nirvana Realm expert, and one Loose Immortal.
The Loose Immortal resided deep underground within a complex array of formations.
Suddenly, a notification appeared in Gu An's mind:
[The Heaven-Hating Ancestor harbors enmity toward you. His killing intent toward you rises. Would you like to use Lifespan Investigation?]
How does he know about me?
Startled, Gu An clenched his hand, dispersing the sword intent, and chose to activate the investigation.
[Heaven-Hating Ancestor (Loose Immortal, Second Layer): 14,809/25,000/28,000 years.]
Second-layer Loose Immortal.
Gu An hesitated for a moment before disappearing from his original location.
In a hidden underground chamber, the Heaven-Hating Ancestor sat cross-legged on a mat, his gray robes blending into the dim surroundings. His eyes were closed, but his brows furrowed deeply.
"Mountain God…" he muttered, his voice tinged with unease. "Who is playing these tricks? I didn't expect such a figure to exist on that continent…"
Opening his eyes, which glowed a menacing blood-red, the Heaven-Hating Ancestor continued to mumble, "The Mountain God—was he merely disguising himself to evade the Seven-Star Spirit Realm? Or could he be one of their own?"
The thought of Su Han's death left him irritated.
The cultivation world's knowledge of the Heaven-Hating Divine Sword's price had already ruined its reputation, hindering his plans.
His frustration deepened. "No, I must go there personally and pass on the teachings again."
The Heaven-Hating Ancestor closed his eyes once more, calming his emotions. "This cannot be rushed. I will wait until the so-called Great Demon Catastrophe ends before infiltrating the continent."
His thoughts shifted to the Seven-Star Spirit Realm, which he suspected had already begun fostering a new human dynasty.
Suddenly, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, causing him to snap his eyes open.