My Husband’s Ascension C69
Chapter 69 Mountain on the Move
“…The ghost talismans have been delivered to the six garrisons within Spectrahold City. In roughly half an hour, they will arrive to guard the palace.”
“Report! The city lord of Thousandfold Ruins (千墟城), having departed the imperial banquet, is preparing to mobilize troops in counterattack against Spectrahold.”
“Report! The envoy of the yao clan has vanished entirely from the palace. Does Your Grace wish to dispatch search parties?”
“Report! The party that breached the Heavenward Watchtower has met fierce resistance. Shall we continue the assault?”
The veiled Wu-Shaman, seated in the Ghost King’s bedchamber, suddenly rose. Her gaze fell upon her left-hand little finger, and her expression drained to the pale, lifeless hue of parchment.
…It had snapped.
The red thread that bound her heart to her older sister’s, severed.
“Continue! Of course we continue! Why would we not?” Her voice rose, sharp and terrifying, echoing like the keening of a vengeful spirit.
Her hands and the front of her robes were still stained with the Ghost King’s blood. On the bed behind her, the Ghost King lay with his chest ripped open, eyes bulging in disbelief, unable to fathom that the woman he had taken as a plaything would now claim his life.
The veiled Wu-Shaman had originally intended to marry the Ghost King in earnest.
But tonight, an unexpected order arrived from Wu-Shaman Xian: the plan had changed. She was to ensure her own safety while persuading the Ghost King to marshal his forces against Dao Lord Tianshu and his companions.
The veiled Wu-Shaman understood, then, that some calamity had befallen her sister.
And to her dismay, her pleas were met with no success.
Though the Ghost King was mad and unpredictable, he was still a coward at heart, clinging desperately to life and unwilling to confront Dao Lord Tianshu directly. Her mind raced with worry for her sister’s safety, yet all he desired was to undo her robes.
If he was a worthless coward, then it was better she devour this heart herself, and rely on her own strength to protect her sister.
Yet even so, she had not arrived in time to aid her sister.
The veiled Wu-Shaman lowered her head, tears plummeting in heavy drops upon her left-hand little finger.
She remembered the day her sister had bound this red thread around her finger, promising, ‘If Mi Yao ever faced danger, just a hook of a finger and I would come to your aid’.
With older sister’s formidability, how could her red thread possibly be the first to break?
The veiled Wu-Shaman’s eyes glowed with a fierce crimson as she slowly raised her head: “I need no one. I will kill them myself.”
Within the walls of Spectrahold City, almost all the ghost soldiers surged toward Heavenward Watchtower.
Its secret passages connected directly to the Mount Ling cavern. Her sister had once told her that, should Dao Lord Tianshu persist in opposing them, she would be forced to expend one of the few chances she had to open the Three Thousand Million Worlds.
Now her sister was dead. Whatever had transpired within the Three Thousand Million Worlds with Dao Lord Tianshu must have ended in mutual ruin.
The veiled Wu-Shaman could find no true culprit. She could only encircle the remaining fragments of the foe. “Where are the rest hiding?”
When she reached the exterior of Heavenward Watchtower, she realized there was only Li Feng. Yao Ling, Rong Yu, and Yao General Fu Xue mentioned in the intel were nowhere to be seen.
“Spare me the chatter,” Li Feng spat, wiping the blood that dribbled from his lips. “Against your ghosts and shamans, I alone am more than sufficient.”
The veiled Wu-Shaman of Mount Ling glared at him with venomous intensity.
He was the yao familiar of the sect master of Cloudculm Abode.
A pity… a pity indeed. If only the sect master herself were here. Word has it that Dao Lord Tianshu was hopelessly infatuated with her. To strike her down in his presence would surely make him understand the agony of losing someone precious.
“He is alone. Kill him,” The veiled Wu-Shaman commanded coldly, her orders sharp as ice to the ghost soldiers at her back.
Li Feng stared at the dark tide of ghostly troops closing in around him, a cold sweat beading his back.
Earlier, in his attempt to cover Yao Ling, Rong Yu, and Fu Xue’s escape, he had missed the final closure of the palace’s protective barrier, and failed to flee in time.
Now he was trapped by the veiled Wu-Shaman, who had consumed the Ghost King’s heart and inherited his power, and her army of ghost soldiers.
Curses! Wasn't Dao Lord Tianshu supposed to be incredibly capable?! How could he just vanish at a time like this?
“Stop deluding yourself! Even if you kill me, Mount Ling will never see the light of day!” Li Feng panted heavily, buying time however he could. “The yaos, the demons, and the Cultivation Realm, soon they will all learn you devoured the Ghost King’s heart and seized control of the Ghost Realm. Without the Ghost King as a figurehead, do you think the other three realms will indulge Mount Ling’s ambitions? Let me tell you the truth. The yaos and the demons will arrive with armies, and the Cultivation Realm will not remain idle. Mount Ling’s doom is already written!”
In the silent night, the veiled Wu-Shaman regarded his floundering form with a faint, knowing smile.
“Such a trivial matter, I am naturally aware of it,” she said, her voice light, unhurried, not a trace of panic. “Mount Ling’s plans have always been my sister’s doing. I am no strategist, no manipulator of hearts. I simply follow the course my sister taught me. But now, my sister is dead, and Mount Ling’s grand design lies in ruin…this I understand better than anyone.”
Li Feng’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Wu-Shaman Xian is dead? How… how did she die? Could it be—”
“Of course, it was that damned Dao Lord Tianshu!” the veiled Wu-Shaman cut him off.
Her eyes blazed with fiery wrath, the words at her lips seeming to scorch the air themselves. “Alas, the one he loved most in this world is already gone. I cannot kill the dead twice. Yet… I have thought it through, and there is one more way—”
“The Mountain-Shifting Array can be used once more. Do you know what happened the last time Mount Ling descended upon the Ghost Realm?” The veiled Wu-Shaman’s delicate features contorted into a chilling, eerie laughter. “That land, every living being and object within it, was ground to dust beneath Mount Ling, hahaha! If Mount Ling is to fall, then we will take Dao Lord Tianshu’s second most beloved, Immortal Realm of Kunwu, down with us!”
Li Feng stared at the veiled Wu-Shaman as one might a madwoman, her reason clearly lost.
Yet hearing her words, he found his own mind growing unexpectedly calm.
He did not belong to the Cultivation Realm; Mount Ling’s threat to Immortal Realm of Kunwu bore him no consequence. His sole concern now was Dao Lord Tianshu.
That man’s life held little value, but even in death, he was to ensure Xie Tanzhao’s safety before he fell.
“—I stand here in person. There is no need for such theatrics,”
A familiar voice drifted from within Heavenward Watchtower.
It sounded slightly weakened from usual, but its presence jolted Li Feng to alertness. “You’re not dead!”
The veiled Wu-Shaman’s eyes widened with disbelief, veins of fury and shock threading her gaze. “Impossible! How did you escape? None but Mount Ling descendants could depart the Three Thousand Million Worlds with mind intact. You cannot be Dao Lord Tianshu—”
The silver-haired youth, drenched in blood, said nothing to defend himself.
Behind him, Yao Ling crossed her arms, her tone sharp. “To think there could be another person in this world with a face this infuriating… that would truly be terrifying.”
At the sight, the Wu-Shaman’s heart sank into a pit of despair.
…Why?
Why had her sister died, while these people still lived?
Li Feng stepped closer to them, scanning left and right, yet saw no trace of Zhao Zhao. “Where is she? Where’s your spirit-storing pouch?”
Xie Lanshu remained silent. Li Feng snatched the pouch from his hands and opened it. The once-vibrant spiritual tree had withered completely, its branches and leaves reduced to a carpet of yellowed detritus—no ashes remained, not even a trace.
The blow left Li Feng reeling.
How could this be?
Hadn’t she been on the verge of revival? How could all that remain be a scattering of dead leaves?
“No, this can’t be…”
The veiled Wu-Shaman’s expression shifted, as though some intriguing truth had snapped her from her grief. Wiping the tears from her face, she curved her lips into a cunning, almost sinister smile. “She has not died… she’s already resurrected, hasn’t she?”
If Xie Tanzhao had truly been reduced to ashes, Dao Lord Tianshu would not bear such a calm expression. There was only one explanation.
Yao Ling’s face paled slightly.
“She has been resurrected, but not here. It is said Xie Tanzhao was originally buried on Beaconlight Mountain. Though you forcibly dug her up and carried her with you, using some arcane means to awaken her prematurely, the truth remains: fallen leaves return to their roots. She lay buried on Beaconlight Mountain for fifty years, and there she will rise again.”
Xie Lanshu’s long lashes trembled; his cold, unwavering gaze was fixed upon the veiled Wu-Shaman.
The veiled Wu-Shaman’s eyes swept over Xie Lanshu and Yao Ling in silent calculation.
Of these two, one’s beloved resides in Cloudculm Abode, while the other is a disciple of the sect itself.
She had miscalculated. What meaning was there in dragging Immortal Realm of Kunwu to its grave? No, she would take Cloudculm Abode, she would take the people and the sect most precious to the two who had slain her sister.
That was true vengeance.
“Stop her.”
“Reopen the barrier! Order all ghost soldiers to enter Mount Ling with me!”
The commands rang almost simultaneously.
Without hesitation, Xie Lanshu surged forward, attempting to prevent the veiled Wu-Shaman from returning to Mount Ling and activating the Mountain-Shifting Array.
Yet the veiled Wu-Shaman, having devoured the Ghost King’s heart, proved far stronger than he had expected, and the wound on his right arm was far more severe than he had imagined.
The Single Intent Sword he swung was flung aside in an instant.
Even the veiled Wu-Shaman herself felt a flicker of surprise. But quickly, a mad, exultant gleam spread across her face. “So you were wounded so severely… I would love to kill you here and now. But I cannot rush. You have yet to witness the loved one you guarded for fifty years, the loved one who was reborn after fifty years, die before your eyes once more. Only then will my heart’s fury be sated.”
Yao Ling charged forward to intercept her, shouting, “I killed your sister! Take it out on me if you must! My master did nothing!”
The veiled Wu-Shaman fixed her gaze sharply on Yao Ling. “…No hurry. After your master dies before your eyes, I will send you to meet her.”
With ghost soldiers flanking her and the millennia of the Ghost King’s cultivation coursing through her, Yao Ling and Li Feng could not hope to approach her.
Yao Ling recalled the scene she had witnessed in that small world.
Mount Ling had towered over all, blotting out the sun, hovering above Beaconlight Mountain. Soil and jagged stones rained from its heights, smashing Cloudculm Abode’s pavilions and alchemical chambers to ruin.
The mountain continued its descent, an unrelenting weight crushing every disciple who had not escaped in time beneath it…
Yao Ling had thought it a distant, nightmarish, unreal world.
Yet now, she realized it could indeed manifest in reality.
“…It’s too late.”
Xie Lanshu’s gaze fell upon the direction where Mount Ling blazed with golden radiance, his heart sinking into an abyss of despair.
The veiled Wu-Shaman no longer heeded the casualties of the ghost soldiers, nor her own wounds. With a resolve fixed on death, she intended to drag all of Cloudculm Abode to the grave. Everything unfolded in an instant; no one could stop her.
Shhhrrrk—
Xie Lanshu shredded the hem of his robe, binding the Single Intent Sword layer by layer with cloth strips to his right hand, now too damaged to grasp the hilt.
“Signal the Yao and Demon forces to converge at Beaconlight Mountain.”
This time, there could be no repeat of past mistakes.
…
Jimo Sea.
At Mistflow Peak on Beaconlight Mountain.
Upon receiving Xie Lanshu’s summons that their sect master would be reborn today, the entire Cloudculm Abode halted its daily routines. Disciples gathered noisily on the cramped Mistflow Peak, chattering and bustling as they awaited the return of their sect master.
At Moonlit Peak, Daoist Ming Jue had been sleeping for longer stretches each day. A disciple who had intended to rouse him to accompany the others to Mistflow Peak saw that he had drifted back into slumber. After a moment’s contemplation, the disciple quietly closed the door.
There was still plenty of time for the reunion; there was no need to tire the grandmaster.
“It’s been fifty years… When the sect master departed, we were children, barely reaching her waist. I wonder if she will even recognize us now,” one of the disciples who had been taken in by Zhao Zhao back then whispered excitedly.
“I’ve never even seen our sect master,” said those disciples who had joined after Zhao Zhao fell into slumber, their curiosity piqued. “What’s the sect master like? Is she strict? I heard from friends in Kunwu that their elders are frighteningly harsh… I hope our sect master is kinder…”
“Kind? She’s far better than that! Our sect leader is far superior to them!"
Amid the bustling crowd, Zhao Zhao, gradually regaining her senses, felt something unusual stir; a subtle, disquieting fluctuation she could not yet name.
She could not identify the cause of this ominous premonition, only focus on gathering her spiritual energy to reform a corporeal body from her soul.
The ashes of the pulverized spiritual tree slowly coalesced, branch by branch, leaf by leaf, restoring its verdant splendor before the awe-struck eyes of all.
Then, from the verdant tree, the shape of a human began to emerge.
Leaves became flowing garments, branches lengthened into hair, the trunk solidified into a body, and roots embedded in the soil transformed into bare feet upon the earth.
Bathed in the abundant wood elemental energy, the figure gradually took form, and in a hushed breath across the gathered crowd, opened her eyes.
A woman wreathed in spiritual aura, as though a goddess from the Nine Heavens had descended into the mortal realm.
She drew the wood-spirit energy of the world into her body as effortlessly as one might breathe.
At the forefront, Zhongli Shun stared at the familiar figure. Though now fully grown, he ran forward like a child, tears streaming, and swept Zhao Zhao into a tight embrace. “Master!”
Zhao Zhao, regaining her senses, gently patted his back. “Oh A’Shun, though Master always told you to eat more, you’ve eaten far too well. How have you grown so tall?”
Zhongli Shun had not expected his master’s first words to be about his height. Flustered, he released her and scratched his head. “It’s Master that’s too weak, too small. From now on, I will prepare meals for Master every day, and I will make you strong and healthy again, just like before…”
He spoke with fervent excitement, eager to lead her to Mistflow Peak, recounting how, over fifty years, he had kept her chambers spotless, unchanged since her departure.
Yet Zhao Zhao remained rooted in place, unmoving.
She lifted her gaze to the sky, where a dark shape grew ever closer, and the uneasy premonition she had sensed at last solidified into reality.
“A’Shun.” Zhao Zhao drew back her eyes and addressed Zhongli Shun with solemn authority, “Send the orders. Everyone in Cloudculm Abode must evacuate Beaconlight Mountain immediately.”
