Chapter 036: Eruption

More than half a month ago, when Ye Wei was kicked out of the carriage by Wen Ci on the road to Ningyu, she had been intending to discuss the construction of the Myriad Phenomena with him. Once Wen Ci’s temper cooled, she finally had the chance to share her thoughts.

It had once been unable to function due to the overwhelming number of spiritual meridians required for its various arts. Now, by erasing all but the Thorn-Sprouting Art and the Smoke-to-Ash Art, it was safe to use, though admittedly a bit dull with only two techniques available.

"I think that if I want to use other techniques, I could instantly carve the corresponding spiritual meridian diagram onto the bracelet. When switching to another technique, I would simply erase it and carve a new one, which would prevent any conflicts. I have redesigned the structure of the Myriad Phenomena, and it should be achievable."

That was what Ye Wei had told Wen Ci back then.

"But that would require erasing and carving within an extremely short amount of time, and it would need to be incredibly precise. It’s very difficult to pull off."

"I designed a mechanism that syncs with my Vision Stone; it can carve onto the Myriad Phenomena according to my commands."

"Oh? That’s a very delicate mechanism indeed. Can you actually make it?"

"You help me make it."

"In your dreams!"

After the Golden Deity parade that day, Wen Ci readily fulfilled his promise to help craft the spiritual artifact, and so, Ye Wei’s bracelet finally gained this small buckle.

Perched on a white crane, Ye Wei adjusted the Vision Stone on the bridge of her nose, which displayed a freshly mapped spiritual meridian diagram for the Shadow-Tracing Art.

As the Vision Stone switched to the diagram for the Thread-Binding Art, the buckle moved nimbly across the Myriad Phenomena. Ye Wei turned and tossed several dolls behind her. Upon landing, the dolls transformed into "Zhen Yuanqi"—these were dolls Wen Ci had prepared for her over the past few days just in case. They were so lifelike that they caught the Xiaoyao Sect disciples off guard, leaving them bewildered.

The real Zhen Yuanqi, however, was already in a towering rage. With a roar from his giant tiger, he charged madly toward Ye Wei. Ye Wei steered the white crane in a dance through the air, dodging desperately, all while hearing Zhen Yuanqi’s furious bellows behind her.

"You wicked creature! You treacherous, shameless wretch! I intended to spare your dignity, yet you insist on throwing it away! Must you be so stubbornly self-willed?"

"Must you insist on proving that the Three Scriptures of the Profound Gate and the foundations of cultivation are all fallacies? Must you insist that even grass, trees, gold, and stone possess spiritual fields? Must you prove that arts can be performed without cultivation? Are you so unscrupulous that you cannot tolerate even the slightest error in yourself?!"

Ye Wei leaned low over the crane’s back, her white hair fluttering in the biting night wind. She looked back at Zhen Yuanqi, her expression calm and resolute.

"But I was correct all along."

Zhen Yuanqi’s eyes widened, the veins on his forehead bulging. He seemed to have heard the most absurd thing in the world and roared in thunderous fury: "Correct? Do you even know what your 'Azure Crystals' are refined from!?"

"What?"

"Humans! You refined living, breathing people into stones!!"

Zhen Yuanqi’s impassioned, word-by-word accusation coincided with the deafening roar of Mount Chongdan.

As the mountain groaned, the earth shook violently and then began to collapse. Buildings crumbled one after another, and the rising dust and dirt obscured the bright moonlight.

Ye Wei’s ash-wrought "white crane" came to an abrupt halt. In the shadow of the dust and smoke, she turned to look back, her figure and expression both ambiguous. Only the eyes behind the Vision Stone reflected a faint blue light.

"What did you say?"

The dust drifted over the crystalline, blue-flickering Vision Stone. Her voice cut through the haze: "You said the Azure Crystals are refined from humans?"

"They are people! They are! I saw it with my own eyes at White Cloud Palace. I saw it clearly—your precious disciple, Lin Xuegeng, slaughtered forty-seven people at White Cloud Palace and refined them all into Azure Crystals!"

"You tricked us into evacuating the commoners only to abduct them. Ye Wei, are you going to refine them into Azure Crystals too?!"

Zhen Yuanqi rode his giant tiger, closing the distance rapidly, his figure breaking through the falling houses and dust. Ye Wei, her eyes stained with blood, reflected him, yet it was as if she did not see him at all; she did not dodge or avoid him.

"You... Ye Wei, why have you become like this? Why!!"

Zhen Yuanqi’s spiritual sword pierced through the dust, pointing straight at the center of Ye Wei’s brow. In the dimness of the world, a sudden gale struck, whipping up all the dust into a rapid vortex, forming a wall of sand and stone that separated Zhen Yuanqi from Ye Wei.

They stood mere inches apart, one with bloodshot eyes full of hatred, the other with equally crimson eyes, yet hers remained vacant and lost.

The sound of bells rang out in a chaotic, disjointed rhythm. The gale suddenly dispersed, the powerful shockwave forcing Zhen Yuanqi and his giant tiger to retreat two steps. The world became clear again; the bright moon hung high, and the collapsed houses and sunken streets appeared refreshed, all dust having been blown away and vanished.

Suspended in the clear air was a beauty in colorful robes, draped in cold moonlight, looking like a deity descended from the heavens. He tilted his head and mocked, "I really didn't expect a righteous sect to stoop to such dirty sneak attacks."

"Su Zhaoqing?"

Zhen Yuanqi’s brows locked in a frown. He looked toward the silent Green Lotus Hall in the distance. Wen Ci snapped his fingers and said indifferently, "Don't bother looking. They are currently busy fighting me in another nightmare; they won't be able to make it here for a while."

Zhen Yuanqi’s tone deepened: "They are struggling against you? Then how are you here?"

"Why? What kind of question is that? Because I am not a fool like you who can't do two things at once. I can be in reality one moment and in a dream the next. As long as the transition is fast enough, it’s as if I’m in several places at once. Is that not allowed?"

"But to act in different places simultaneously, your sanity..."

"Are you worrying too much about whether or not my mind can handle it?"

Wen Ci raised his hand, and the gale rose again, whipping his and Ye Wei’s robes into a frenzy.

Looking down from above, he said calmly, "Vice Sect Master Zhen, will you not retreat? The night belongs to the Nightmare Master. Your arts follow logic, but nightmare arts are entirely unreasonable."

Zhen Yuanqi gripped his sword. The Xiaoyao Sect disciples had all caught up, standing amidst the ruins of the collapsed buildings. A young disciple named Sui Qing demanded, "Senior Su, with such great ability, why do you insist on assisting the tyrant?"

"Assisting the tyrant?" Wen Ci sneered without answering, as if he couldn't be bothered to engage with the young disciple. He glanced back at Ye Wei, and seeing half her face stained with blood, which trickled down her neck, his expression darkened instantly.

The gale suddenly hammered down, blasting a hole into the ground, forcing the Xiaoyao Sect members to scatter. Wen Ci turned back, saying every word with icy precision: "What tyrant? What cruelty? I help whoever I want; do I need you here spouting nonsense? I will say this again: if the matter of the missing disaster victims is true, go investigate it immediately, and I will help you! But I tell you this, it has nothing to do with me, nor does it have anything to do with Ye Wei. Stop hurling false accusations!"

Zhen Yuanqi said in a deep voice, "Su Zhaoqing, I see your concern for the people does not seem feigned, but do you truly know what the person you are protecting has done?"

"What has she done? She has done things you hate, of course. She has shaken your foundations, she has changed this world, and she has shared your power with commoners. You want her power for yourselves, yet you wish to eliminate her!" Wen Ci retorted.

"Enough nonsense!" Zhen Yuanqi pointed at Wen Ci, his anger mixed with hesitation: "Who on earth are you?"

Wen Ci chuckled, narrowing his eyes: "Who I am is none of your business. What you need to know is that if you don't have the ability to kill me, don't even think about touching Ye Wei!"

The moon shone brightly, casting dark shadows across the mountains. As the two sides stood in a standoff, the dark silhouette of the towering Mount Chongdan suddenly began to shake violently, emitting a roar louder than any before, shattering the confrontation with brute, overwhelming force.

Countless blinding flashes of crimson erupted from the mountain peak, as if a burning heart were buried beneath it, pumping fire-red blood in rhythmic bursts. The sky turned a brilliant orange-red, the world as bright as day, as if hell itself had fallen into the mortal realm.

The crimson light shone on everyone’s faces, illuminating the shock in their eyes. Wen Ci muttered, "This is..."

A disciple below shouted, "Oh no! Mount Chongdan is erupting! It... it wasn't supposed to happen for another two days!"

Zhen Yuanqi’s gaze sharpened. He turned to the disciple: "How many commoners have not been evacuated?"

"About two thousand or so, scattered in the surrounding areas. It’s too late..."

"Go evacuate them now!"

The scorching lava flowed down from the peak at a visible speed, destroying everything in its path. Billowing thick smoke rose into the sky, covering the heavens and blocking the moon.

The sudden turn of events interrupted all arguments. Neither side had the heart to quibble anymore, and Zhen Yuanqi quickly led his disciples to save the people. Before leaving, he glanced at Ye Wei, who stood upon the ashes of the white crane, his expression heavy, but he said nothing more.

In the nightmare, Wen Ci forced Ren Tang and the other disciples, who were in the midst of a heated battle, to stop, informing them that the volcano had erupted early. The immortal sect disciples received the signal, and both sides dispersed; the nightmare naturally dissipated.

Almost simultaneously, Wen Ci turned in the ruins to look at Ye Wei. He reached out to wipe the blood from her face, frowning, "How are you? Can you still move?"

Ye Wei seemed to have only just returned to her senses, nodding slowly, "I am fine."

"Then let’s find a way to save the people."

Wen Ci turned to walk forward. Ye Wei took two steps after him before suddenly asking softly, "Wen Ci, do you know how my Azure Crystals are refined?"

Her voice was as steady as ever. Wen Ci had arrived at an opportune moment; he hadn't heard the conversation between her and Zhen Yuanqi, and thus sensed nothing amiss.

"Azure Crystals? Who knows how they're refined? Now is not the time to talk about that!"

Ye Wei blinked, her grey-black eyes quietly reflecting Wen Ci’s back. She said nothing more.

While they spoke, the lava had already reached the foot of the mountain. The heat was overwhelming, and the earth trembled. A suffocating, pungent smell filled the air, with thick smoke and dust rolling toward them.

Just then, a blue light suddenly lit up on the slope of a nearby mountain. Countless blue rays leaped out from there, surging like swimming fish through the pitch-black night sky, heading toward the lava and smoke rushing down below. These lava and ash were actually swallowed by the surging blue "fish," stopping at the mountainside and flowing no further.

Wen Ci and Ye Wei looked up at the mountain peak where the blue light danced. Wen Ci asked in astonishment, "Swallowing Fish... is that a disciple of the Fu Guang Sect using the Fish-Swallowing Art? How could the Fish-Swallowing Art possibly swallow all the volcanic discharge? What are they doing?"

The blue light on Ye Wei’s Vision Stone flickered. She shook her head and said, "No, that is not a cultivator’s art."

"Someone is using a spiritual artifact."