Silence descended upon the peak once more, heavy and suffocating.

The young man didn’t seem surprised by Zhang Xian’s sudden appearance. He slowly shifted his gaze, locking eyes with him. ” You flashed the Yunmiao Sect’s highest distress signal right in front of my face. Did you think I wouldn’t recognize it?”

Zhang Xian sat down with bold familiarity, unceremoniously grabbing the wine pot to pour himself a cup. “Ancestor Master, you wound me. I just thought she was getting in the way. I had to scare her off so we could talk.”

The young man remained composed. “Oh? Can that puppet body of yours appreciate fine wine?”

Zhang Xian lifted the cup, sniffed the aroma, and downed it in one gulp. He smacked his lips theatrically. “Tsk. Tasteless. What a tragedy.”

He refilled his cup. “It’s not often I see you, Ancestor Master, in such an elegant mood, drinking alone on a mountain peak. As your disciple’s disciple, isn’t it my duty to accompany you for a drink? Filial piety and all that.”

“You are very clever.” The young man set down his wine pot, his gaze deepening. “I am curious. How did you guess it was me?”

Zhang Xian shook his head, feigning helplessness. “I didn’t guess. The one who figured it out was my Master—your beloved disciple, Li Fuxi.”

“Oh?” A flicker of surprise passed through the young man’s eyes, quickly replaced by keen interest. “Xi’er? How did she deduce it?”

Zhang Xian didn’t answer immediately. He toyed with the jade cup in his hand, his gaze drifting toward the rolling sea of clouds in the distance as if stalling for time. “Ancestor Master, you seem quite leisurely. What exactly are you waiting for?”

The young man picked up his own cup, gently swirling the clear liquid. His voice was flat, yet it carried a bone-chilling coldness.

“Naturally, I am waiting for the annihilation of the Yunmiao Sect.”

The moment the words left his lips, his hand froze.

Without warning, he pressed his index and middle fingers together into a sword mudra and tapped the air in front of him.

BANG!

A beam of golden sword aura erupted point-blank!

Zhang Xian’s figure retreated instantly, blurring with speed, but he was still half a beat too slow.

His left arm and half of his chest exploded. Metal fragments and leaking spiritual energy sprayed into the air. The golden sword aura carried a strange, corrosive white mist that latched onto the remaining half of his body. In seconds, the puppet lost all spirituality, melting into a puddle of metallic sludge.

Clang.

The dim puppet core dropped to the ground, bouncing once before rolling to a stop.

The entire process was lightning-fast. From the young man’s strike to the puppet’s total destruction, it took less than a breath.

But the puppet had bought enough time.

Almost at the exact moment of impact, the massive flying ship hovering above the peak roared to life. The main cannon port on its underbelly lit up with a blinding, sun-like radiance.

BOOM!

A pillar of blazing white light, charged with enough energy to level a mountain, crashed down toward the young man with a deafening roar.

Facing this apocalyptic strike, the young man merely flicked the sword in his left hand.

A golden crescent moon, thin as a cicada’s wing, materialized out of thin air. It expanded against the wind, instantly transforming into a colossal arc of golden light that spanned the heavens.

CRACK!

The golden crescent collided with the white energy beam. Like a hot knife through butter, it split the terrifying pillar of light in two. The golden arc continued its upward momentum, unabated, and slashed viciously into the hull of the flying ship.

SCREECH—!

The sound of tearing metal screamed across the sky. The luxurious vessel, built with countless precious materials and defensive arrays, was sliced open like paper.

Violent sword qi rampaged through the breach, shredding the internal structure. The ship groaned and disintegrated, raining countless fragments and burning debris down onto Spirit Sword Peak.

The young man’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Through the falling debris, he noticed something wrong. The Golden Swastika Formation he had secretly laid—intended to envelop the entire Yunmiao Sect—was currently blocked. A massive screen of light had appeared out of nowhere, covering his trap.

Runes flickered across this barrier, emitting a powerful, purifying vitality that tangled with his golden formation, preventing it from activating fully.

“Six Paths Buddha Light?” A trace of surprise flashed in the young man’s eyes. “High-level Buddhist magic?”

WHOOSH!

A dazzling streak of light shot toward the peak, faster than before. It slammed into the ground near the young man, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the dust settled, Zhang Xian’s true body was revealed. His aura was steady, his expression calm. He didn’t seem the least bit heartbroken over the destruction of his expensive puppet or the priceless flying ship.

“Ancestor Master, we were having such a nice chat. Why the sudden violence? That’s hardly proper guest etiquette.”

For the first time, the young man’s gaze turned grave. He looked Zhang Xian up and down. “How did you return from the Spirit Ruins so quickly?”

Zhang Xian didn’t answer. He just smiled.

Crack!

A crisp sound echoed as the space beside Zhang Xian rippled like water. From the center of the distortion, a graceful figure clad in a white sword robe with gold trim stepped out.

It was Li Fuxi.

Her face was frost-cold, her eyes locked onto the young, unfamiliar face of Wang Chuan. Her voice trembled with suppressed emotion.

“Master… it has been a long time.”

The moment he saw Li Fuxi, the young man understood. Years ago, outside Cloud Raiment City, Zhang Xian had escaped using a high-grade teleportation treasure. He hadn’t expected the brat to possess more than one of such priceless items—and be willing to burn them just to use as a glorified bus ticket.

Li Fuxi’s gaze swept upward to the sky, where the Golden Swastika Formation pulsed with ominous light.

The last trace of hope in her heart was extinguished. She had defended her master countless times in her mind, lied to herself that the clues were just coincidences. But this formation… this sinister, ruthless layout… shattered her illusions.

“Is this… the Joy Formation?” Li Fuxi’s voice was icy, piercing, and filled with incredulous pain. “What are you trying to do? Do you intend to turn every female disciple of the Yunmiao Sect into… a cauldron for your evil cultivation?”

Wang Chuan fell silent. His face showed neither guilt nor joy. He merely let out a soft sigh.

“As you can see, most of the Yunmiao Sect disciples cultivate the ‘Nine Revolutions Condensing Jade Scripture.’ Their yin energy is exceptionally pure. It is of great benefit to my cultivation technique.”

Zhang Xian chimed in from the side, his tone dripping with icy sarcasm.

“Ancestor Master, you truly have a voracious appetite. You played ‘Luring the Tiger from the Mountain’ perfectly. First, you wipe out the Spirit Ruins. Then, you feign an attack on the Mountain Zen Monastery to draw away the Southern Domain’s top combatants. And your target all along was this mountain full of female disciples?”

Zhang Xian smirked, his eyes cold. “You want to harvest them all in one go? Tsk tsk. Master, you must have a pair of incredibly strong kidneys to handle that kind of workload.”

Wang Chuan shook his head slightly, ignoring the jab. He didn’t seem in a hurry to attack. Instead, he looked at Li Fuxi with a scholar’s curiosity.

“I believed my plan was seamless. I let the old Emperor die in my place. I had Qianji create a puppet body containing a wisp of my remnant consciousness to act as a decoy. Xi’er… how exactly did you see through it?”

Li Fuxi took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the grief churning in her chest. Her voice choked with a sob.

“It was Eldest Senior Brother.”

“Oh?”

“Eldest Senior Brother… even though you refined him into a puppet, he must have discovered your true purpose at the very last moment. He knew he was about to become a container for your consciousness.”

Li Fuxi’s eyes reddened. “He must have used a secret technique to forcibly erase his own key memories. He knew he had to deceive himself before he could deceive you. That is why his puppet body revealed small inconsistencies during battle—flaws that shouldn’t have been there.”