Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

“Success.”

“My judgment was correct. The Dust Shattering method from the Divine Record of Artifact Forging is effective. The stone statues here will not attack me.”

Gu Xiu’s expression remained as calm as ancient waves, but deep within, a storm of excitement brewed.

He had spent a considerable amount of time in the large chamber of the ruins, systematically shattering and gathering the spiritual souls of every scrap of forging material inside.

It was an immense harvest.

Gu Xiu had absorbed a portion of the extracted ‘Dust’ to refine his own cultivation base, but the vast majority had been sealed into the Shadow Chasing Sword.

Restoring the Shadow Chasing Sword to its peak would be a long, arduous road, requiring a mountain of resources. But this haul, combined with the Unfailing Sword Heart and Unfailing Sword Spirit he had obtained earlier, gave him a solid foundation.

Gu Xiu was confident. He would restore his sword to its former glory.

“Old Gu! How did it go? Did you find a way?”

Lu Dongshan scrambled over the moment Gu Xiu emerged. The burly man had been guarding the door for two days straight, refusing to leave until he saw his friend.

Gu Xiu smiled and nodded. “I have a way.”

“Ha! I knew you could do it!” Lu Dongshan’s eyes lit up. “So? Did you bring the treasure out?”

Gu Xiu shook his head. “Not yet. Where exactly is this Thousand-Faced Illusion Jade you’re looking for?”

“Uh…” Lu Dongshan scratched his head awkwardly. “I haven’t actually been inside. But I heard from the survivors that if you stick to one of the branching paths—I think the one in the Kan position—you can see it from a distance.”

Gu Xiu nodded, signaling he understood, and immediately turned to head back in.

The Dust Shattering method was potent, but its primary application was stripping raw materials of their essence. Using it on a finished Dharma Treasure like the Jade was less effective. A treasure was more than just materials; it was a complex weave of formation patterns and spell enhancements. Shattering it into dust would destroy the intricate craftsmanship he needed to replicate.

However, Gu Xiu had a workaround.

The Thousand-Faced Illusion Jade’s unique property lies in its material. The crafting technique is secondary. If I can lay eyes on it, absorb the ‘Dust’ of its material essence, and then visually analyze the formation patterns… I can forge a replica outside.

With the Divine Record of Artifact Forging in his mind, he wasn’t just a scavenger; he was a creator.

As he walked back toward the entrance, he passed Ren Liuyun’s group. They were busily hauling the mountain of raw materials from the outer cavern to the edge of their newly constructed formation, clearly intending to smuggle everything out at once.

One of the cultivators spotted Gu Xiu and sneered. “Back again? I thought you gave up. Don’t tell me you’re eyeing our Grand Formation now?”

“I have no interest in your formation,” Gu Xiu said indifferently, stepping over the boundary lines.

However, as he passed Ren Liuyun, Gu Xiu paused for a split second and offered a piece of advice. “The formation is decent, but it’s not enough.”

“Excuse me?” Ren Liuyun frowned, his pride stung. “Are you questioning the legacy of my ancestors?”

He spun around to retort, but the strange man was already gone, vanishing into the shadows of the ruins.

“Great Boulder City, the Ren Family…” Gu Xiu murmured to himself as he walked. Five hundred years ago, he had ties with that clan. The old acquaintances were long dead, but reminding a descendant was a small courtesy. Whether Ren Liuyun listened or not was his own fate.

Back in the chamber, Gu Xiu scanned the maze of dark tunnels. He located the passage in the Kan position and strode in.

The tunnels were a nightmare—dense, intricate, and winding like a labyrinth. Danger lurked in every shadow. Over the past two days, many cultivators had fallen to the stone statues, mechanical traps, or simply lost their minds in the darkness.

But for Gu Xiu, the path was clear.

At every fork, he reached out with his spiritual sense, communing with the Heavenly Dao Rhyme. His affinity with the Dao acted as a compass, guiding him effortlessly through the correct turns. When the choice was ambiguous, a simple puppet scout solved the problem.

He moved with supernatural speed.

Three hours later, Gu Xiu stopped.

The twisting tunnels had straightened into a long, narrow corridor. The ground was littered with corpses, their deaths gruesome—limbs twisted, bodies crushed. The traps here had been triggered and destroyed by the vanguard of cultivators who had come before.

And further ahead… there were people.

Gu Xiu checked his surroundings, confirmed there were no immediate threats, and stepped out of the corridor.

The view instantly opened up, revealing a massive underground cavern.

Immediately, a heavy pressure slammed onto his shoulders. Flight Prohibition.

He stood on a stone cliff platform. Before him lay a bottomless abyss, ten thousand zhang deep. A chilling, howling yin wind screamed up from the darkness, carrying the scent of death. Under the restriction of the flight ban, falling here meant death, even for a Golden Core cultivator.

Across the void, floating in the distance, was a magnificent sight.

A colossal Forging Platform hung suspended in the dark, radiating a blinding, divine light. Even from a thousand zhang away, the supreme power emanating from it made the air vibrate.

In front of the forge stood a weapon rack laden with divine armaments—war hammers, treasured swords, golden hooks, giant blades.

And among them sat Gu Xiu’s targets.

An ancient piece of jade swirling with infinite radiant light, and a Pill marked with the supreme patterns of the Dao.

The Thousand-Faced Illusion Jade. The Mystic Yin Soul Protecting Pill.

“Hey, look! That forging weirdo is here too!”

A voice broke Gu Xiu’s concentration. He turned his head to see a group of about a dozen cultivators standing near the edge of the cliff. Most wore the robes of the Bi Bo Sect, and Yu Xueqing was among them. They stared at him with blatant curiosity, clearly having heard the rumors of the eccentric man who hammered air in the outer ruins.

Gu Xiu ignored them. He walked to the edge of the abyss, frowning slightly.

The distance to the Forging Platform was exactly one thousand zhang. There were no bridges, no ropes, and flight was impossible.

“Save your energy,” a cultivator from the group sneered. “It’s a dead end. We advise you to turn back. Go scavenge elsewhere; maybe you’ll find some scraps.”

“If it’s a dead end,” Gu Xiu asked calmly, “why are you still waiting?”

“I…” The man stammered.

RUMBLE!

Before he could finish, a deafening boom echoed from the abyss.

Hundreds of stone pillars shot up from the darkness like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, locking into place to form a disjointed path of stepping stones across the void.

“It’s starting! Quick!”

“Don’t step on the wrong one!”

The hesitation vanished from the group. The leader leaped instantly, landing on the first pillar. The others followed in a chaotic rush, crowding onto the narrow platforms.

As soon as they landed, the pillars began to shift and rotate, changing positions rapidly.

The leader was decisive, jumping to the next pillar with practiced precision. It was clear they had tested this mechanism before. These pillars contained a hidden formation; one wrong step meant slipping into the eternal doom of the abyss.

They moved fast, jumping from stone to stone. Within moments, they had covered half the distance.

But as they progressed, their movements grew sluggish.

Gu Xiu narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t just physical fatigue. The pillars were emitting a suppression field, torturing the cultivators standing on them.

Faces turned pale. Cold sweat beaded on foreheads.

“Pfft!”

One cultivator couldn’t withstand the pressure. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and swayed, nearly toppling into the darkness before a companion yanked him back.

They continued, dragging their injured bodies forward.

But the difficulty was ramping up exponentially.

Another cultivator leaped, but mid-air, a wave of pressure slammed into him. He lost control, vomiting blood as his trajectory faltered. He screamed, eyes scared out of his wits, and barely managed to crash-land onto a nearby pillar, shattering his leg.

Panic exploded in the group.

“Run!”

“Retreat! It’s a trap!”

The vanguard turned to flee, scrambling back toward the cliff. But the moment they reversed course, the ground beneath them roared.

CRACK! BOOM!

The stone pillars detonated from the base, collapsing like dominoes.

“Save me! SAVE ME!”

“No! I don’t want to die! I am at the Grand Perfection of Foundation Establishment, a half-step Golden Core! I cannot die here!”

“HELP!”

Screams of pure agony rang out, echoing off the canyon walls. But there was no salvation. The abyss swallowed them whole. Even their companions on the cliff could only watch in horror, unable to lift a finger.

In the blink of an eye, the pillars were gone. The abyss returned to its silent, empty void.

Of the dozen who had charged out, only three or four stumbled back onto the cliff, their faces grey with grief and terror. The loss was catastrophic.

To the side, Gu Xiu watched the entire calamity with an impassive expression.

He stared at the empty void where the pillars had been, a thoughtful glint appearing in his eyes.

While the cultivators in the ruins fought and died for a sliver of opportunity, a different kind of disaster was brewing in the Azure Mystic Mountain Range.

Yuchi Chunlei wiped sweat from her forehead, her chest heaving with exertion. She glanced affectionately at Jiang Xun, who lay charred and unconscious on the ground, waiting for his body to heal.

She grinned, a confident, radiant smile. “Little Junior Brother, Senior Sister is here to help. Make sure you praise me when you wake up!”

With a flourish, she slammed the final formation flag into the ground.

“Activate!”

WHOOSH!

A fierce wind began to howl through the mountains. Birds scattered in terror as the air grew heavy.

Within a hundred-mile radius, the ambient Spiritual Qi began to churn violently, drawn by a terrifying suction force. It spiraled inward, converging rapidly on a single point.

It was a gift from Yuchi Chunlei, Peak Master of Artifact Resonance Peak.

A well-intentioned, lovingly crafted gift that was about to turn Jiang Xun’s recovery into a living hell.