BW Chapter 167

Dark Domain (9)

From the teleportation array beneath the lava to the interior of the high platform took approximately half an incense stick’s worth of time. Soon, Ning Buwei and the others landed on solid ground.

This high platform appeared square and regular from the outside, but from within it looked completely different. The uneven stone walls were carved with blood-colored runes, most of which had already become very blurred, and the remaining ones were disappearing at an alarming speed.

In the center stood a circular pillar that reached straight to the dome. Several black-scaled dragon sculptures coiled around it, holding luminous pearls in their mouths that illuminated a sword scabbard in front of the pillar.

“Hey, why is there only a scabbard but no sword?” Big Yellow curiously walked forward wanting to touch it, but was pulled back by Ning Buwei beside him.

“Don’t waste time, hurry and repair the—” Ning Buwei’s words were cut short as his gaze suddenly turned sharp. “Who’s behind us?! Come out!”

Ning Xiu moved slightly in Chu Jun’s arms, his small face pressed tightly against Chu Jun’s chest. Chu Jun, afraid he couldn’t breathe properly, reached out to support his face and turned him back around.

Looking up again, he saw Chu Linyuan standing beside the pillar with Shen Xi, bowing to him. “This disciple greets Grandmartial Uncle.”

Chu Jun said, “My name has long been removed from the sect records. There’s no need for such formalities.”

“This disciple knows that Grandmartial Uncle doesn’t want to put the Wushi Sect in a difficult position.” Chu Linyuan smiled bitterly. “It’s this disciple’s incompetence that has implicated the elder.”

Ning Buwei, holding the Suzaku narrow blade, stood in front of Chu Jun with an unfriendly expression. Shen Xi beside Chu Linyuan wanted to draw her sword but was stopped by Chu Linyuan’s raised hand.

“I’m not here to obstruct you from repairing the restriction.” Chu Linyuan glanced at Big Yellow, who was struggling frantically in front of the restriction. “The Suan beast was the divine beast that guarded the restriction back then. We cultivators are far less skilled than he is.”

Ning Buwei still didn’t lower his guard. “Then why did you instruct Ming Sang to obstruct us?”

“Ming Sang’s obstruction of you was a desperate measure. Entering from outside the high platform involves countless mechanisms and traps, taking far more time than entering directly through the teleportation array,” Chu Linyuan explained.

“From what you’re saying, you’ve been inside before?” Ning Buwei frowned.

“That’s correct.” Chu Linyuan said, “Ming Sang and I entered half a year ago. It took us a full half month. By then, most of the restrictions here had already been destroyed. We tried everything to repair them, but unfortunately our repair speed was far slower than the rate at which the restrictions were dissipating.”

“Why did you want to repair the restrictions?” Ning Buwei glanced at Chu Jun sideways. Chu Jun gently shook his head, indicating he didn’t know about this matter.

“This matter has nothing to do with Grandmartial Uncle.” Chu Linyuan said, “According to Xingyuan’s previous instructions, Ming Sang spent most of his time guarding the restrictions of the Dark Domain. Half a year ago, when we discovered something was wrong, we risked entering and found the restrictions disappearing. With no other choice, we could only temporarily use the Suzaku blade’s scabbard to guard this place.”

Ning Buwei looked toward the scabbard standing before the high pillar, his gaze condensing. “The Suzaku blade has a scabbard?”

In his memory, when Ning Xing Yuan carried the Suzaku blade, he never brought a scabbard. Most of the time it was wrapped in some kind of leather. He naturally assumed the Suzaku blade had no scabbard.

“We didn’t know initially either.” Chu Linyuan said, “It’s just that five hundred years ago, Xingyuan suddenly went to the Jiting Sect to find Ming Sang, entrusted this scabbard to Ming Sang for safekeeping, and told him that when the time was right, he should give this scabbard to you.”

The expression on Ning Buwei’s face changed unpredictably for a moment. After a long while, he said faintly, “So that bald donkey ‘safeguarded’ it for over five hundred years before he felt the timing was right?”

This scabbard obviously wasn’t an ordinary item. If there had been a scabbard back then, in the battle at Xingluo Cliff, the Suzaku wouldn’t have ended up shattered to pieces… Ning Buwei still felt heartache thinking about it now.

Chu Linyuan coughed lightly and said, “Indeed, now is the best time to give you the scabbard.”

Ning Buwei: “…………”

Then you should really put away that guilty expression of yours.

“Cough, in any case, the Suzaku blade’s scabbard is now entrusted to you.” As Chu Linyuan spoke, he reached out to pull the scabbard out and casually handed it to Ning Buwei. “The backup plan Xingyuan originally arranged for you was very secure. It’s just that through various mishaps and accidents, many unexpected things happened. But fortunately, the scabbard has still ended up in your hands now.”

These words sounded like “Although you’re so restless and capable of causing trouble, fortunately you haven’t managed to get yourself killed yet.”

Just as Ning Buwei grasped the scabbard, laughter came from behind him.

Both Ning Buwei and Chu Linyuan looked back simultaneously. Ning Buwei frowned, but Chu Linyuan showed surprise. “Xingyuan!?”

A young man in dark robes with gentle eyes and brows stood before them with his hands behind his back, showing them a familiar smile.

Behind Pei Heguang, the numerous Chongzheng Alliance cultivators who had been chasing him stood looking at each other in bewilderment.

In front of the high pillar, their Chongzheng Alliance leader Chu Linyuan and chief disciple Shen Xi stood together with the great demon, while the demon accomplice they had been chasing had suddenly changed faces the moment he landed. This left them unable to distinguish who was allied with whom.

They could only stay in place and observe the situation.

“You, you’re actually still alive?” Chu Linyuan was greatly shocked and couldn’t help walking forward, but was blocked by Ning Buwei beside him.

“He’s not Ning Xingyuan, but Ning Xingyuan’s twin brother, Pei Heguang.” Ning Buwei stared coldly at the familiar person before him and sneered lightly. “Pei Heguang, you’re finally willing to tear off that fake skin and use your original face?”

“Heh.” Pei Heguang’s sinister gaze swept over Chu Jun and Ning Xiu in his arms, landing on Ning Buwei’s face. He suddenly chuckled and sighed, “Chengfeng, back in Danhuai Courtyard, I spent far more time with you than Xingyuan ever did… You’re always like this, making me feel very disheartened.”

“So what? You’re nothing but a shadow secretly stealing his identity.” Ning Buwei curled his lips, not concealing his disgust at all. “People like you simply can’t live as yourselves.”

These words were extremely venomous. The smile on Pei Heguang’s face slowly faded. “Ning Chengfeng, do you think you’re living so well yourself? If Ning Xingyuan saw what you’ve become as a great demon before his death, I’m afraid he would die with his eyes wide open and personally clean house.”

Ning Buwei’s hand gripping the scabbard tightened. The veins on the back of his hand showed due to excessive force. His sinister gaze swept inch by inch across Pei Heguang’s face, the murderous intent in his eyes gradually intensifying.

The already thin air became increasingly viscous, carrying a blood scent that wouldn’t dissipate.

“You killed Ning Xingyuan.” Ning Buwei heard his own somewhat hoarse voice.

Pei Heguang looked at him with satisfaction and pity.

“The Ning Mansion, Ning City, the entire Xun Prefecture—” Ning Buwei’s eyes rolled with crimson. He said word by word, “All died by your hand.”

He had carried this blood feud for too long, burying it so deep that even he didn’t know where it was. He had always thought he no longer cared, but now he spoke it out so calmly in front of so many people, in front of the true murderer.

The moment he spoke it aloud, his internal organs along with all the bones and blood in his body ached faintly, making his hand holding the Suzaku blade scabbard tremble uncontrollably.

“More than that.” Pei Heguang’s smile deepened. Those eyes, almost identical to Ning Xingyuan’s, flashed with crazy and joyful light. He looked at Ning Buwei like looking at a bird that had fallen from the clouds into mud, powerless to resist, and then inserted the final poisoned arrow into the other’s heart.

He stood before Ning Buwei, malicious yet pitying. “Ning Gu and Li Xiaohan also died by my hand.”

Ning Buwei suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. In an instant, the surrounding crowd and scenery became blurred, even Pei Heguang’s twisted smile became very distant. The backs of his parents leaving that year and their death scenes replayed countless times in the water mirror in that dark, cramped room came crashing down before him again.

Ning Gu and Li Xiaohan had never fallen into demonic ways at all, much less harmed the entire city’s people. He had always firmly believed this point, but could never find evidence to clear his parents’ names.

Pei Heguang’s demon-like voice rang beside his ear. “Back then, after you underwent bone expansion and reconstruction, although you managed to save your life, you were still weak. Your father, in order to use Nine-Leaf Lotus to supplement your body, sought help all the way to the Ning City Lord’s family.

However, the Nine-Leaf Lotus was the clan’s sacred object—how could it be given away casually? When your father was at his wit’s end, he happened to encounter me. Ha, Ning Gu, as a city lord, humbly bowed to me and called me Young Master Xingyuan. I naturally bestowed the Nine-Leaf Lotus upon him…

Later I discovered that you were originally fated to die young but were forcibly saved through bone expansion and reconstruction. I was suffering from this mortal body’s inability to live long, and your spiritual roots and body were perfectly suitable for me. So I had Ning Fan use some methods. Your parents, being only mediocre in talent, didn’t even last three days before their bodies exploded…

Originally keeping you with Ning Fan would have been fine, but Ning Xingyuan discovered it and interfered, causing the plan to fail.”

“Do you think Ning Xingyuan knew that the mastermind behind it all was me?” Pei Heguang said regretfully, “Chengfeng, ultimately this matter still comes down to blaming yourself. A life fated to die young, just like your son transformed from the Linglong Bone, shouldn’t exist in this world to begin with. You insisted on fighting for that breath of life. Living would only harm others and yourself, becoming a star of misfortune. If you had obediently died, why would so many people have been implicated?”

Before Ning Buwei’s eyes was a bloody, gloomy haze. Ning Gu, Li Xiaohan, Ning Xingyuan, and the millions in Ning City slid into the abyss before him. Countless vengeful souls in the Suzaku narrow blade pressed against his arms, wailing and crying. The air seemed filled with countless hands tearing at his soul and heart. Evil qi arose from the ruins in his sea of consciousness, as if to drown him in endless darkness.

In the void, many people seemed to be roaring and shouting. Spiritual energy surged and swords clashed, but before his eyes was a sheet of blood. He could only see the countless corpses and bones that had died miserably and the vengeful souls circling above the scorched earth, unable to find peace.

He wearily closed his eyes, his jaw tightening as he sank both his divine and spiritual consciousness deep into his dantian, saying slowly word by word, “Pei Heguang, you only have these underhanded, shameful tricks.”

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in front of the circular pillar, still gripping the Suzaku blade’s scabbard in his hand. Beside him, Chu Jun was looking down, covering Ning Xiu with clothing, while in the distance were numerous cultivators shocked into stone sculptures.

Pei Heguang concealed the excited light in his eyes, leaving only astonishment. “You actually truly cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness.”

A ferocious smile appeared on Ning Buwei’s face. The Suzaku narrow blade emerged in response to his thoughts, and countless formations appeared behind him, crashing down toward Pei Heguang with a thunderous roar.