Chapter 477 - 450: To Hell With You, Just Fight If You Disagree

The dark clouds that had suddenly gathered over Pinglan City were clearly not a normal phenomenon.

Rather, it was a disturbance in the celestial secrets, the influence of a distant, unknown entity on the Dao itself!

Beichen Sword Immortal, Wu City God, and the others had chosen to dissect Chi Hua Fairy’s Golden Core within the Bright Moon Grotto Heaven. They had even used the Spirit Treasure Red Lantern for added concealment, yet at this moment, they still failed to completely shield themselves from the response of the celestial secrets.

Within the Bright Moon Grotto Heaven, the light from the Red Lantern grew increasingly dim. Its hazy, faint glow seemed to reflect the full spectrum of life playing out in the Mortal World of Pinglan City.

Dark clouds pressed down on the city, heralding an imminent storm.

Pedestrians scattered and ran. A small child fell, and an elder in their family immediately scooped them up, tucked them under an arm, and hurried home.

An old woman fell, and several of her own children ran right past her, yet not a single one reached out to help.

Each child had their own reasons: one had to watch their own children, another had to secure their possessions, others were held up by this person or pulled away by that one... There was always some unavoidable matter.

A passerby shot the old woman a pitying glance, but a familiar neighbor just tutted and said, "Hah, this is all her own doing from years past. She played favorites, tormented her daughters-in-law and granddaughters, and doted on the youngest while the older ones suffered endlessly..."

Who was there to blame?

Ultimately, a young person emerged through the wind, pulled the old woman up, and helped her run home.

These were the ones with homes to return to.

But on the long streets, there were also many who were homeless.

In the corners of alleys, under the arches of bridges, by dilapidated shacks, there were always people whose lives were already difficult. Seeing the sudden arrival of the dark clouds, they could only wrap their tattered clothes tighter around themselves.

Shivering violently, they muttered prayers, begging to live through today, with no thought for tomorrow.

And then there were the deep courtyards of carved railings and jade steps, where a pampered youth leaned against a window to watch the clouds. A look of delight suddenly crossed their face as they took up a brush and wrote a new poem: "Sorrowful Clouds."

With such clear delight on their face, from where did these sorrowful clouds arise?

It was, after all, just feigning sorrow for the sake of a new poem.

...

Deep within the Bright Moon Grotto Heaven, Wu City God’s Red Lantern buzzed and trembled softly as Beichen Sword Immortal used his Sword Qi to deconstruct the Golden Core.

This was extremely delicate work, for Beichen Sword Immortal’s goal wasn’t just to destroy the Golden Core. More importantly, he wanted to truly unravel it and see what terrifying thing lay within!

During their past meeting at the summit, the Celestial Pride Song Zhao had spoken of the "Ancient Divine Insect Race." Beichen Sword Immortal had heard him loud and clear. Yet for some unknown reason, in the days since they parted, the more time passed, the more his memory of those four words—"Ancient Divine Insect Race"—had begun to fade.

He had tried to write those four words down several times, but every time he made the attempt, some inexplicable accident was bound to occur.

The stronger his desire to write them down, the faster the four words "Ancient Divine Insect Race" would slip from his mind!

It reached the point where he had to repeat those four words in his mind day and night, countless times, just to ensure he wouldn’t forget.

But even so, his memory would still occasionally become hazy.

Beichen Sword Immortal also tried to convey this information to others, but the most he could do was hint at it indirectly, beating around the bush to say that there was a problem with the Spirit Realm Secret Realm.

Anything more, anything more specific, he was unable to say.

As soon as the thought to express it formed, his mind would invariably grow hazy.

What a terrifying thing this was! One must understand that while Beichen Sword Immortal was not a True Immortal, among Celestial Immortals, he was absolutely in the top tier!

Compared to the Demon Venerable Void Mantis who had previously tried to assassinate the Celestial Pride Song Zhao, although the two seemed to be of the same realm, they were in fact worlds apart in power.

The Void Mantis couldn’t have withstood a single finger from Beichen Sword Immortal!

Yet, a man as powerful as Beichen Sword Immortal still showed signs of haziness and memory loss when it came to matters of the Ancient Divine Insect Race.

Eventually, his only recourse was to transform this matter into Sword Intent and carve it, bit by bit, into his own Sword Bone. Only then did the forgetfulness and haziness begin to slow.

And so, today, he had finally found the opportunity to extract the Golden Core from Chi Hua Fairy’s Dantian.

Naturally, his intention couldn’t be just to destroy the Golden Core. If it were only about destruction, it might not have been difficult. The difficulty lay in the fact that he wanted to see inside the Golden Core, and even more, he wanted to reveal what he found to the world!

The Sword Intent was as fine as a scalpel, yet the Golden Core was at constant risk of shattering.

Wu City God’s Red Lantern buzzed and trembled even more violently. Beichen Sword Immortal felt an infinite pressure squeezing him, coming from some unseen, unknowable place in the void.

It was as if countless beings from every corner of existence—the heavens, the earth, the Nine Provinces—were roaring in anger and shouting.

And it was also as if life itself was weeping and withering away.

A heavy power—pitch-black, bottomless, and full of a gray despair—climbed onto his back and veiled his eyes. In that instant, his perpetually bright eyes were cast in shadow.

His vision began to blur. He formed a sword-hand sign, but his hand was also trembling slightly.

And Wu City God’s voice was trembling too. "Ye Chen, are you done yet? Can you handle this?"

Beichen Sword Immortal retorted out of habit, "Hilarious! How could *I* not be able to handle it? You’re the one who..."

Before he could finish his retort, the wisp of Sword Intent under Beichen Sword Immortal’s control suddenly shot skyward.

The Sword Intent burst through the void, piercing the sturdy spatial barrier of the Bright Moon Grotto Heaven.

In that instant, he saw something amidst an infinity of chaotic lines.

But the next moment, a torrent of black light suddenly erupted from Beichen Sword Immortal’s eyes.

He couldn’t see anything!

Blood dripping from his eyes, Beichen Sword Immortal yelled, "This is bad! The powers behind this thing run too deep! We can’t dissect it! We have to go, now!"

BOOM!

As he spoke, the Sword Intent detonated.

A starlit radiance descended from above, and in the briefest gap in spacetime, it blasted the suddenly twisted and grotesque Golden Core into dust.

In an instant, the ash dissipated into nothingness.

Above Pinglan City, the layers upon layers of dark clouds seemed to have finally found their target. They looked as if they were about to brew something terrifying, then unleash a frenzied bombardment from above.

Beichen Sword Immortal spat out words at lightning speed, telling Pavilion Master Qionghua, "Take Yingxia back to recuperate. If she can cultivate anew, then she’ll cultivate anew. If she can’t, then just let her be a mortal. Living out a full century as a human isn’t necessarily an incomplete life!"

He then spat, "Shit, I have a feeling I’m in for some seriously bad luck! Can’t stay here any longer. Old Wu, I’m counting on you to look after Qionghua Pavilion. I’m outta here!"

Before his voice had even faded, his entire being had merged with his sword, transforming in an instant into a streak of sword light and departing the Bright Moon Grotto Heaven.

To describe it more precisely, his body left first, and his voice only drifted down afterward.

The sword light shot up into the sky, piercing through the heavy layers of dark clouds.

Over Pinglan City, the clouds broke. A hole was torn in the sky, and a myriad of golden sunbeams spilled down from the opening.

Beichen Sword Immortal’s wild and arrogant voice echoed throughout the entire city: "Fuck you! You want a piece of me? Then let’s go! What the hell are you?! Come on, you want to blind me? The countless sons and daughters of my Nine Provinces will fucking end you!"

Amidst the torrent of crazed curses, a muffled groan could be faintly heard.

The sword light fled like a shooting star, and the dark clouds swirled madly, instantly following the sword light into the distance.