Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Lu Dongshan’s gaze was sharper than a blade, locked onto Gu Xiu’s face with unblinking intensity. He seemed determined to drill through the younger man’s skull and lay bare the thoughts hidden within.

Gu Xiu, however, remained an unreadable void. The mention of “Azure Mystic” caused no ripple in his expression, his face as calm as a stagnant pool.

He simply replied, his voice devoid of emotion, “I have already signed the Sect Severance Treaty.”

“What?”

Lu Dongshan froze, his jaw going slack. “The Sect Severance Treaty? Doesn’t that require the Sect Leader’s personal seal? The Azure Mystic Supreme actually signed it?”

“He did.”

“Did that old Supreme cultivate himself into idiocy? Has he lost his mind?” Lu Dongshan looked as if he’d just seen the sun rise from the west.

He had guessed that Gu Xiu had fallen out with Azure Mystic—meeting him here, then seeing Nian Zhaoxi’s reaction, the signs were all there. But a full severance? A complete cutting of ties endorsed by the Sect Leader? That was madness.

Then, a wide, raucous grin split Lu Dongshan’s face. He threw his head back and laughed.

“Good! Good! Hahaha! If that’s the truth, then this is perfect!”

Seeing Gu Xiu’s slight frown, Lu Dongshan leaned in, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “Let me let you in on a secret. My attempt to kill that little girl from Tiance Mansion? I was commissioned. Someone is plotting against Azure Mystic. Big time.”

“Are you referring to the Red-Robed Ancestor?” Gu Xiu asked calmly.

Lu Dongshan choked on his own breath. His eyes bulged. “How… how in the hell do you know that?”

Gu Xiu didn’t explain. He simply shook his head and steered the conversation back on track. ” tell me about this ‘Fated Chance’ you mentioned.”

“No, hold on! Even I don’t know the Red-Robed Ancestor’s true identity, cultivation level, or specific plans. I’m just a hired blade! How do you know?” Lu Dongshan scratched his head in frustration, practically vibrating with curiosity.

But Gu Xiu remained silent, sipping his wine with infuriating composure.

“Fine, fine! Keep your secrets, you stone-faced brat,” Lu Dongshan grumbled, waving his hand dismissively. “Let’s talk business. You’ve heard about the catastrophe at the Azure Wave Sect’s Spirit Stone mine, right? The ‘Great Evil’ they unearthed?”

“A Great Evil?” Gu Xiu raised an eyebrow.

“The rumors say the Azure Wave Sect accidentally dug into a nest of peerless horrors while excavating a vein. The Azure Wave Sect Leader was gravely injured trying to suppress it. You must have heard.”

Gu Xiu nodded. It was common knowledge. Yu Xueqing of the Azure Wave Sect had been blackmailed by Ding Daoan precisely because she was desperate to find a cure for her Master, who had been wounded in that very calamity.

“Everyone thinks they dug up a monster,” Lu Dongshan grinned, his voice dropping to a whisper. “But I got some new intel from the Red-Robed Ancestor’s crew.”

“They didn’t find a monster. They found an ancient ruin.”

As Lu Dongshan spoke, the truth behind the Azure Wave Sect’s crisis unraveled.

During the excavation, they had breached the seal of an ancient site. It was indeed guarded by a terrifying entity—a guardian beast so powerful that even the Sect Leader had nearly perished in a single exchange.

Naturally, the Azure Wave Sect couldn’t let word of such a tremendous Fated Chance leak out. They had tried everything to slay the beast and claim the treasures within, but their strength was insufficient.

“You know about the Red-Robed Ancestor, so you probably know he’s built an alliance of sects surrounding Azure Mystic to strangle them. The Azure Wave Sect is part of that alliance,” Lu Dongshan explained.

“When they realized they couldn’t eat this pie alone, they went crying to the Red-Robed Ancestor. A bunch of experts gathered to breach the ruin. They couldn’t kill the guardian, but they managed to strike a… bizarre agreement with it.”

“The guardian will not attack cultivators below the Golden Core stage who enter or exit. However, there is a catch. You cannot take anything out.”

Lu Dongshan’s eyes glittered. “No matter what method you use, if you try to carry a treasure from the ruin out past the threshold, the guardian senses it instantly. And then? Slaughter.”

“That is where you come in.”

Lu Dongshan leaned back, watching Gu Xiu expectantly, waiting for the shock to register.

He was destined for disappointment.

Gu Xiu’s expression didn’t flicker. Thanks to his “Glimpse of Ten Thousand Years,” he already knew about this mine. He knew the ruin, the guardian, and the restriction.

He also knew that in the original timeline, this Fated Chance would eventually fall into the hands of Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun possessed a special method to bypass the restriction—a method Gu Xiu did not currently have. Furthermore, the mine was now a fortress, heavily guarded by the alliance. Even with the Three-Body Mask, breaking in would be difficult. That was why Gu Xiu hadn’t moved on it yet.

But now…

“How do you propose we cooperate?” Gu Xiu asked.

“You have a transformation technique that even I can barely see through,” Lu Dongshan said eagerly. “I can get you inside. I can smuggle you past the guards so you can access the Fated Chance.”

“Once you’re in, how you grab the loot and how you smuggle it past the guardian is your problem. But if you make it out, I will use a technique called ‘Deceiving the Heavens to Cross the Sea’ to wipe your spiritual signature. I guarantee no one will be able to track you.”

“And your price?”

“If you succeed,” Lu Dongshan said, his gaze intense, “I want one item from inside.”

“What item?”

“The Thousand-Face Illusion Jade.”

Gu Xiu recognized the name. In his vision of the future, Jiang Xun had obtained the Three-Body Mask and discarded the Thousand-Face Illusion Jade as an inferior toy. But for anyone else, it was a supreme treasure of disguise, second only to the Mask itself. For a man like Lu Dongshan, who was constantly being hunted, it was worth risking his life for.

“Deal,” Gu Xiu said without hesitation.

He wasn’t certain he could smuggle treasures past the guardian yet, but gaining entry was the first step. Besides, this was an opportunity to probe the unknown.

Through this trip, perhaps I can finally uncover the truth about Jiang Xun’s foundation, Gu Xiu thought, his eyes darkening.

The “Glimpse of Ten Thousand Years” had shown him the future, but it had blind spots. The biggest blind spot was Jiang Xun.

That man was always shrouded in a strange mist. His actions often defied logic, yet every step he took was blessed by fortune, as if the heavens themselves were paving his road.

Gu Xiu had never underestimated him.

During the trip to Falling Rain Valley, Yu He had held back a secret. She had hesitated, her words caught in her throat. Gu Xiu had sensed it then.

Whatever she was hiding… it was related to Jiang Xun.

While Gu Xiu and Lu Dongshan plotted their heist, the atmosphere in the Azure Mystic Sacred Land was far more somber.

Valley of Ten Thousand Puppets.

A woman in a pristine white dress walked through the gloom. Her hair was as white as snow, and her face was devastatingly beautiful, yet cold as ice. She moved through the swirling Yin energy and scattered corpses as if walking through a garden.

“Greetings, Grandmaster Aunt.”

“Greetings, Pavilion Master Nian.”

Along the path, disciples bowed respectfully, fear evident in their eyes.

These disciples wore the robes of various peaks—Sword Peak, Pill Peak, Beast Peak—but none bore the mark of the Valley of Ten Thousand Puppets. They were not here to learn; they were here to suffer.

The Valley was a place of punishment. The Yin energy was corrosive to the living, and the Valley Master, He Mengyun, had never taken a disciple. She lived here alone amidst her puppets. The only other living souls were these sinners, sent to perform menial labor as penance.

Nian Zhaoxi ignored them.

She wound her way through the eighteen bends of the valley path, finally arriving at a secluded residence. There, she found He Mengyun.

The Valley Master was hunched over a workbench, a small carving knife in her hand, meticulously etching formation runes onto a wooden limb. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn’t sense Nian Zhaoxi’s arrival.

“Done!”

He Mengyun exhaled, wiping sweat from her brow. A smile of pure, childlike delight lit up her face as the final rune glowed.

Then she turned and saw Nian Zhaoxi.

The smile vanished instantly, replaced by panic. She scrambled up, nearly knocking over her chair. “Senior Sister! I… I’m sorry! I was too focused, I didn’t see you…”

“It is fine,” Nian Zhaoxi said, her voice softening. She knew her Junior Sister’s temperament—timid, anxious, always afraid of taking up space. “What are you making?”

“A puppet for Junior Sister,” He Mengyun stammered, clutching the wooden limb. “Last time… my soul power went out of control and I accidentally hurt her. I feel terrible. I wanted to make her a guardian puppet so she might forgive me.”

Nian Zhaoxi looked at the lifeless wooden limb, then at He Mengyun’s hopeful, terrified eyes.

“Mengyun,” Nian Zhaoxi said gently. “Junior Sister cultivates the Beast Taming Dao. She is surrounded by living, breathing creatures. You know she has always… disliked puppets. She finds them eerie. If you give her this, she will not appreciate it.”

“Ah?” He Mengyun froze. The light died in her eyes. “Then… then what should I do?”

She looked down at her hands, trembling. “She’ll hate me…”

Nian Zhaoxi felt a pang of heartache. In He Mengyun’s frantic desire to please, she saw a shadow of her former self.

Once, she too had walked on eggshells, desperate to be useful, desperate to be loved by the sect.

“Don’t panic,” Nian Zhaoxi comforted her. “Junior Sister is not so petty. She knows your condition. If you truly want to apologize, send some rare spiritual herbs for her beasts. She will like that far more.”

He Mengyun’s face brightened immediately. “You’re right! Thank you, Senior Sister!”

“No need for thanks.” Nian Zhaoxi stepped closer, her expression turning serious. “I came because I have a question for you.”

“Ask anything, Senior Sister.”

“The gifts Gu Xiu gave you in the past…” Nian Zhaoxi locked eyes with the timid woman. “Did Junior Brother Jiang Xun take them all?”