Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 208: The Affairs of Awakening Spirit Valley Must Be Exposed!

Yi Zhiyin’s confession hung in the air, leaving the crowd in stunned silence.

It was inconceivable. He knew Xu Wanqing’s true nature. He knew she saw him as nothing more than a disposable tool. Yet, he harbored no anger, no resentment. Instead, he offered her unwavering, fanatical devotion.

He was willing to die for her.

“Physician Xu is a monster,” Wan Xiaobei blurted out, unable to comprehend his logic. “What could she possibly have done to earn such loyalty from you?”

“In my childhood, my family was slaughtered. In my youth, my sect was erased,” Yi Zhiyin said softly, his voice carrying the weight of old scars. “I was humiliated, hunted like a dog. I should have died in a ditch, my bloodline ending in disgrace, my vengeance unfulfilled.”

He looked up, his eyes distant. “It was Peak Master Xu who saved me. She gave me the means to survive. She gave me the power to wash my enemies away in a river of blood.”

“Her methods may be ruthless. Her schemes may be as deep as the sea. But none of that changes the fact that without her, I am nothing.”

He looked at Gu Xiu. “If there is hatred, it must be avenged. If there is kindness, it must be repaid.”

“You… you should be the same kind of person as me.”

Gu Xiu looked at him deeply, the Crossing Immortal Sword resting quietly in his hand. “Do you want to fight me?”

“I do not know your current strength, but I have enough self-awareness to know I am not your match.” Yi Zhiyin shook his head. “I did not stop you to kill you. I only wish to prevent you from approaching that mother and daughter.”

Gu Xiu raised an eyebrow. He turned his gaze toward the iron cage.

With a single glance, his eyes narrowed.

On the foreheads of the Tantai mother and the young girl, a faint, crimson seal flickered. It pulsed with a dangerous, chaotic energy.

“That is the Soul Piercing Seal,” Yi Zhiyin’s cold voice explained. “I planted it in their bloodline the moment the child took her first breath.”

“If you approach, the seal will trigger automatically. It will sever their meridians and scatter their souls instantly.”

“And if you kill me? The seal is tied to my life force. The moment my heart stops, the seal detonates. Aside from me, no one in this world can undo it.”

The expressions of the onlookers changed drastically.

Despicable.

They hadn’t expected Yi Zhiyin, who carried himself with such tragic dignity, to use such underhanded means against two powerless women.

“Will you kill them?” Gu Xiu asked calmly.

Yi Zhiyin pursed his lips. “I don’t know.”

“You are threatening me.”

“Yes.”

“What are your terms?”

“Your life for theirs.”

“Do you really think I will accept that?”

“Yes!” Yi Zhiyin answered without hesitation, his gaze intense. “You once begged Tantai Shi to save Xu Wanqing. In the end, your actions—however unintentional—led the Tantai Clan to this ruin. The karma is yours. It is too heavy for you to bear.”

“Only your death can balance the scales.”

Yi Zhiyin had studied the legend of the Azure Mystic Sword Immortal. The more he learned, the more convinced he became. Gu Xiu was a man bound by duty and debt.

“If you commit suicide, I will dissolve the Soul Piercing Seals. I will even transfer my lifelong cultivation to the girl. Then, I will follow you in death to atone for my sins.”

The crowd erupted in panic.

“Senior Gu, don’t listen to him!” Wan Xiaobei shouted.

“It’s a trap! Don’t be impulsive!”

“This isn’t your fault! You were deceived! Ignorance is not a crime! Do not let a villain guilt you into suicide!”

“This is Xu Wanqing’s sin, not yours! If you die, you let the true culprit laugh from the shadows!”

It was an open conspiracy. Yi Zhiyin was weaponizing Gu Xiu’s own morality against him.

“I apologize,” Yi Zhiyin sighed, sounding genuinely regretful. “I know this is shameless. I know it is despicable.”

“But this is the only way I can repay Peak Master Xu’s kindness.”

He closed his eyes, preparing himself. He truly intended to follow through. Once Gu Xiu was dead, he would keep his word.

“Your scheme is clever,” Gu Xiu said softly. “But you made one mistake.”

Yi Zhiyin frowned. “What mistake?”

“I have faults, that is a fact. But I also know the correct way to fix them.”

As the words left his mouth, reality shifted.

Several puppets appeared silently inside the cage, materializing out of thin air beside the Tantai mother and daughter.

Buzz.

A golden rune ignited on the floor of the cage. Then a second. A third.

In the blink of an eye, a complex formation roared to life, encasing the captives in a sphere of radiant golden light.

Yi Zhiyin’s face went pale. He frantically formed hand seals, trying to detonate the Soul Piercing Seal.

Nothing happened.

The connection was dead. The formation had completely severed the link between him and his victims.

“If there is hatred, avenge it. But do not become a beast blinded by rage,” Gu Xiu said, walking slowly toward him.

Yi Zhiyin stumbled back, panic setting in.

“If there is kindness, repay it,” Gu Xiu continued, his voice steady. “But do not repay it blindly. If your ‘repayment’ pushes your benefactor further into the abyss of evil, can you really call that kindness?”

Gu Xiu stopped right in front of him.

“You and I have never been the same kind of person.”

“Never.”

The sword thrust forward.

It was a simple strike. Plain as water. No earth-shattering aura, no blinding flash. It looked like a child poking with a stick.

Yi Zhiyin instinctively raised his hands to block.

But as the tip of the Crossing Immortal Sword reached him, he suddenly lowered his arms. He gave up.

Pu.

The blade pierced his Dantian. It shattered his Golden Core. It impaled his Nascent Soul.

His cultivation, his vitality, his future—all of it drained away like water through a sieve.

Yi Zhiyin didn’t seem to care about his death. His eyes widened, filled not with fear, but with a sudden, crushing realization.

“I…”

“I was wrong, wasn’t I?”

For a hundred years, he had guarded the Awakening Spirit Valley. He had prided himself on his “integrity.” He never personally tortured the victims. He never stained his own hands with innocent blood. That was why the vengeful spirits ignored him.

He thought he was repaying a debt while keeping his soul clean.

He thought he and Gu Xiu were alike.

But in this final moment, staring at the man who refused to compromise, he understood.

And Yi Zhiyin? He knew right from wrong. He saw the piles of bones. Yet he hid behind “loyalty” to justify his inaction.

He was aiding a tyrant. He was an accomplice to slaughter.

He told himself he was clean because he didn’t hold the knife. But did that save a single life in the valley? Did it dissipate a single wisp of resentment?

No.

He had merely been deceiving himself.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Yi Zhiyin crumbled to his knees, muttering apologies to the air, to the ghosts, to himself. He wanted to repent.

But his repentance came too late.

Gu Xiu withdrew his sword and didn’t spare him a second glance. He walked past the dying man, grabbed the cage encased in the formation, and vanished.

Saving people took priority. This place was too chaotic for medical treatment.

Before he disappeared, Gu Xiu swung his sword one last time, shattering the restriction array that trapped Wan Xiaobei and the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion group.

Freed, the group looked around the ruined valley. The silence was heavy.

“What do we do now?” someone whispered.

“Look at this place,” an elder said, his voice trembling. “The resentment in the air is thick enough to birth a Ghost King. It is unimaginable how much slaughter happened here.”

“The Azure Mystic Sacred Land… a pillar of the righteous path… and Xu Wanqing, the ‘Bodhisattva Doctor’… they have committed crimes against the heavens themselves.”

“This must be exposed!” Wan Xiaobei clenched her fists. “The world needs to know!”

“Agreed!” another cultivator shouted. “The Azure Mystic Sacred Land must give an account to these souls!”

Cultivators killed each other all the time. Vengeance was normal. Cruelty was expected.

But to harvest fellow cultivators like crops? To extend one’s hand against mortals for resources?

That was the ultimate taboo. It was the kind of evil that united the world in a crusade. Even the Demonic Sects wouldn’t dare be this brazen.

“The souls of the Azure Mystic disciples haven’t dispersed yet,” a cultivator pointed out grimly. “Capture them. We will perform Soul Search. Every dirty secret of this valley will be brought to light!”

“We cannot let the Awakening Spirit Valley staff escape either!”

“My generation of cultivators stands between heaven and earth,” a young man declared passionately. “We may seek immortality for ourselves, but we also stand for the people! This atrocity cannot be buried!”

Any cultivator with a shred of conscience knew what had to be done.

Even a Sacred Land could not be allowed to do this.

…

While the experts of the various sects began capturing souls to secure evidence, Gu Xiu had traveled dozens of miles away.

In a secluded spot, he was busy infusing spiritual energy and medicinal herbs into the two frail figures inside the cage.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Inside the cage, the bloodline power of the mother and daughter began to resonate, coalescing into a phantom figure.

It was an old man.

If anyone from five hundred years ago were present, they would have recognized him instantly.

The Divine Doctor. Tantai Shi.

However, the projection of the legendary doctor did not scream in anger. He did not blame Gu Xiu for the torture his descendants had endured.

Instead, the phantom bowed deeply to Gu Xiu, his expression filled with profound apology.

“I am sorry, Gu Xiu.”

“The Tantai Clan… we were destined to never escape the Suffering of the Void.”

“I had no choice. I had to borrow your hand. I had to scheme across ten generations of my own bloodline… just to break this terrible fate.”

“Now that you see me, it proves that the curse of the Tantai Clan…”

“Is finally broken.”