Chapter 54 - 51: A Fairy Falls into the Red Dust
A sinister wind carrying the stench of blood rushed toward her face.
Caught off guard, Qiu Yuehan was swept up by the wind, about to fall into the pool of blood. The moment she fell in, her Dao Practice would be instantly corrupted, and she would then be devoured by Xue Ya’s Blood Slaves.
’This is unbearable. I’m stuck halfway through my Realm-Breaking.’
’What exactly is the Red Dust Sword Dao?’
’Why didn’t that Old Monster explain it more clearly!’
’If only I had swallowed my embarrassment that day, explained to my junior sister that we were just discussing the Dao, and properly asked that Old Monster what the Red Dust Sword Dao was.’
’My junior sister would have understood, right?’
Qiu Yuehan bit her lip, her expression grave. She was preparing to shatter her incomplete Dao for a desperate, final struggle, but a quiet warmth spreading from her shoulder made her abandon the thought.
She suddenly heard Lu Changyuan’s voice.
"Take a good look at the Red Dust."
Flowing through the Demon Pattern was a state of mind—a transcendent state of being within the Red Dust. Qiu Yuehan felt as if she could see the path of Red Dust that Lu Changyuan had once walked.
It was a vision both clear and indistinct. Amidst the mountains and rivers, a wisp of Red Dust Intent soon emerged.
And so, the Fairy fell into the Red Dust, and the sword in her hand transformed into Finger-Wrapping Gauze.
Qiu Yuehan murmured, "A single sword... from the west."
With this wisp of Red Dust Qi, the great barrier of the Jade Balance realm shattered. Wielding this Breaking Power, and reflecting Xue Ya’s hideous face, Qiu Yuehan’s heart was as still as water, yet she unleashed an incomparably tyrannical sword strike.
The Eternal Eight Sufferings Hell was instantly leveled.
The Red Dust purifies the heart, and the Fairy vanquishes the Demon.
Beneath the moon over the Sea of Blood, Qiu Yuehan Entered the Dao with her hovering sword.
"Cough!"
The Hell before her dissipated inch by inch. Qiu Yuehan supported herself with her sword, half-kneeling on the ground.
The joy of Breaking the Realm could not erase her injuries. Her internal organs ached as if they had been completely scrambled, but thankfully, Xue Ya was dead. She had a moment to catch her breath.
"I have to... save the others."
At some point, a thick fog had risen around her, obscuring all vision.
Just as Qiu Yuehan was about to get up, she found herself unable to move as her body was lifted into the air.
A soft *pop* echoed as the air began to twist strangely. Someone spoke softly, "Not a bad strike."
Qiu Yuehan looked up in astonishment, only to find that a red figure had appeared before her at some unknown time.
Merely looking at this red figure made Qiu Yuehan feel as if she were being pricked by needles. It was as if the sharpest thing in the world was this Female Immortal before her.
Her own sword was vibrating—no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was trembling.
’An enemy?’
Qiu Yuehan pushed herself up again, trying to raise her sword, but the other person simply reached out and made a gentle grasping motion. Both Qiu Yuehan and her sword froze in midair, completely unable to move.
"Fearless before a powerful enemy, willing to fight to the death. Your temperament is acceptable."
The Fairy finally got a clear look at the red figure.
It was a Red-clothed Maiden who didn’t look much older than herself, yet she exuded an incredibly terrifying aura, as if the heavens, earth, mountains, and rivers would all be cleaved in two by a single strike of her sword.
Qiu Yuehan asked hoarsely, "Who are you?"
The red figure replied, "Daoist Sect, Jiang Jiayi."
The name was so renowned it struck like thunder, to the point that Qiu Yuehan found it difficult to even think of resisting.
This person was a Seventh Realm Yao Guang.
The one who had shattered the gates of Shifo Temple with a single strike.
"Don’t move. No one else will see this."
The red-clothed woman reached out, and a crimson haze blurred the surroundings, preventing anyone else from seeing them. She gently lifted Qiu Yuehan’s shoulder and pulled her clothing slightly aside.
The Heart-Devouring Demon Pattern was exposed to the air.
Qiu Yuehan felt as if she’d been struck by lightning, and her cheeks instantly flushed crimson.
’The fact that I, the Miao Yu Chief, am someone’s slave has been exposed!’
But the red-clothed woman didn’t mock her. She simply said, "It is you, then. Come back with me."
"Back where?"
"The Daoist Sect."
In her panic, Qiu Yuehan didn’t look closely at the woman’s eyes. If she had, she would have clearly seen a trace of reminiscence and envy within them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Han Ze Master arrived in an instant at the place where Hanyi had been the previous night. With a wave of her hand, she revealed the concealed, cracked earth. The butterfly-wing-like Grand Array of Miao Yu Palace had been torn open here, leaving a vexing gaping hole.
It was as jarring to the eye as a drop of ink on a perfect sheet of white paper.
This was the breach in the Grand Array. Han Ze Master touched the Array, then suddenly condensed a sword in her hand. She swung it once, slicing open space itself and revealing the void within.
"Stop skulking around. Show yourself."
From the spot Han Ze Master had slashed open, a wisp of bloody energy emerged. Soon, this viscous wisp writhed and squirmed, finally coalescing into a person.
"My, what a temper, Han Ze Master."
"Cyan Blood? Instead of staying put in your Blood Demon Palace, you’ve come to my Miao Yu Palace to run wild?"
Cyan Blood Master revealed a smile. "My Blood Demon Palace has always gone wherever there are benefits to be had."
Han Ze Master shouted coldly, "If you think your Blood Demon Palace and the Canglan Sect can break through my Miao Yu Mountain Gate, then you can prepare to meet your end here today."
"We wouldn’t have dared to come without some preparations. But your Palace Master Gong Yao Guang has already passed into the Dao. We are most certainly here to ’request a lesson’ on your Miao Yu Immortal Techniques."
"The Palace Master is merely in seclusion."
Before her words had even faded, Cyan Blood Daoist’s Daoist Technique struck. A giant, blood-red skull, large enough to cover half the night sky, suddenly rose and swallowed Han Ze Master in an instant.
Cyan Blood Master said, "Han Ze, the Blood Demon Lord has been observing your Palace Master’s Dao for a long time. But the Miao Yu Palace Master’s Dao trace is no longer visible, and the Dao Star of that Great Dao has been extinguished! The Miao Yu Palace Master is certainly no longer in this world! A few years ago, a Yao Guang Dao trace appeared in your palace, and my palace gave up hope. But what a pity... that Dao was never firmly established!"
He was talking about Han Shui Master.
Han Shui Master had tried to force her way through the Yao Guang Pass, but she never managed to successfully imprint her Dao upon the three thousand stars and announce it to the world. In the end, she passed away.
Cyan Blood Master laughed malevolently. "We originally just came to test the waters, but I never expected we could actually swallow you whole. Heh, everyone in your Miao Yu Palace will become nutrients for my palace’s blood pool!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The light of the setting sun shone down on Miao Yu Palace, as if trying to drag it down into Hell.
Patches of frost already covered the cliff’s edge. It was clearly not yet winter, but the chill of winter was already in the air.
It seemed the frigid air from the bottom of the cliff had surged upward, freed from its restraints.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, is this the place?"
Han Qiu Master nodded. "This is it. The Celestial Purity Dao Lotus is below... Who cut my palace’s chains!"
She had already seen the marks on the chains.
"The Moonlight Method?"
There were only four people in the palace capable of cultivating the Moonlight Method to this level: the Palace Master, and the three True Masters.
And since she, Han Qiu Master, had been with Han Ze Master the entire time, it was self-evident who had done this.
Han Qiu Master said in disbelief, "Hanyi has actually betrayed the palace!"
She and Hanyi had known each other in the palace for at least two hundred years. The other’s sudden betrayal was something she found truly hard to accept.