Yin Hanjiang had been buried in the snow for over three months, but not managed to regain much spiritual essence. He had drained it using the Burning Sky Drum to fend off the heavenly tribulation. If he didn't care about the mortals living near the Ice Plains and absorbed all the spiritual energy around, he could recover most of the way, but he refused to.
He flew slowly, reaching the Blood Hell after half a month.
He had found out several weeks ago during the battle here that he could absorb the primordial chaos energy. This was the best place for him to recover his strength.
Slowly, he climbed to the edge of the cliff and looked down. The expanse of crimson made him dizzy, and he sat weakly atop the cliff. In his eyes, there were countless Wenren È's, jumping downward, beckoning warmly for Yin Hanjiang to follow them.
"Without Sect Leader Yin, this Venerable is quite lonely," one said, sitting by his side. "Didn't you swear to follow this Venerable throughout every life?"
Yin Hanjiang gazed at Wenren È's attentive expression and shook his head. "Venerable, I want to follow you, but I can't. You forbade me."
"This Venerable is allowing you now," Wenren È said.
"This subordinate has unfinished business," Yin Hanjiang said quietly.
He took out the ghost mask, now riddled with cracks. Gazing down at it, he seemed to be looking at his old self.
The Wenren È at his side looked on with him.
"Venerable, do you still remember this mask?" Yin Hanjiang asked.
Naturally, he didn't answer. He was only a creation of Yin Hanjiang's imagination.
"You thought this subordinate was loyal, right? I may not have been a gentleman like Zhongli Qian, but at least I was open and honest, right?" Yin Hanjiang ran a hand over the cracks in the mask, his voice restrained. "But it wasn't true."
His family had been slaughtered at five. He had lain in a corpse pile for days; he had been picked up by Wenren È then abandoned for a decade. How could he be open and honest? How could he not hold resentment?
Before he turned eighteen, Yin Hanjiang had lived a harsh life. He knew he'd been saved by a powerful person, whom he had very little contact with. That person wanted him to become a sword cultivator, and he understood that he had to win that person's favor if he wanted to survive, so he dedicated himself to practicing the sword.
But Yin Hanjiang had never said that he liked the sword.
Before he turned eighteen, he wanted to survive and become stronger, so he did all he could to win that man's favor. When he turned eighteen, he returned to his village, saw the man who had saved him, and found out his name was Wenren È.
While he watched quietly at the sidelines as Wenren È led his troops to protect the village, longing, admiration, and worship filled his heart. Yin Hanjiang wished to be someone like Wenren È, but he could not. After eighteen years, his temperament was already formed. He would always be a dark and twisted person.
Wenren È didn't know that the enemy troops who had fled his battles had all been hunted down by Yin Hanjiang, one by one, and stabbed to death with triangular blades.
He had already found the corpse pile where his family members were now all bones, impossible to recognize. He had buried them and put up steles, then dragged the enemy tribesmen's corpses before the graves, setting them alight one by one, illuminating the graveyard.
Yin Hanjiang's face was shadowy in the firelight. The warmth of the flames didn't reach him.
After Wenren È successfully drove out the enemy tribe, he drank with his surviving soldiers. Yin Hanjiang hid in a corner, watching him.
After everyone around Wenren È had passed out and Wenren È, with his spiritual energy sealed, was also drunk, he looked over to the only person still upright and dragged him over to drink with.
Yin Hanjiang's face turned red after taking only a sip from Wenren È's bowl. He fled in embarrassment, taking a mask from Wenren È's belt in order to cover his face. It was a custom in the little border town. After battles, they wore the ghost masks to pray, to prevent the evil spirits of the enemy soldiers from harming them. During the festivities, Wenren È had also worn the mask and prayed.
Yin Hanjiang felt at ease after putting on the mask. With it, no one could see his expression, and he no longer had to act proper.
He hid the mask, and whenever he could no longer keep up the act, he would secretly put it on for a moment.
After pretending for so long, he had fooled himself into thinking he really was someone who lived up to his Venerable's expectations. Only the presence of this mask reminded Yin Hanjiang that it was a lie.
There was no need to pretend now. The person he wanted to fool was gone.
Yin Hanjiang released his hand. The crack-riddled mask fell into the sea of blood, dissolving into nothingness.
He paid no more attention to the illusions by his side. He called out the Burning Sky Drum, set up a protective array, and sat cross-legged on its surface, meditating.
The people of Xuanyuan Sect had always thought the Burning Sky Drum was a first-grade immortal artifact. It wasn't; it was a divine artifact.
Yin Hanjiang hadn't known himself. Despite having cultivated on it for three months, he had never realized. It was when he had forcibly used it during the Great Sect War and had its vicious energy invade his body that he had gained a connection to it.
During their thirty years of seclusion, Shu Yanyan had gotten to meditate on the drum for a year. After a year had passed, Wenren È was still in seclusion, so Yin Hanjiang had gone there to wake her up and shoo her away.
After she left, Yin Hanjiang leapt into the ravine. He stood on the drum, hearing the sounds of war drums by his ears. He wanted to gain power quicker, hoping to sharpen his sword will by cultivating on the drum and help his Venerable.
But this time, he was completely unable to make progress.
He didn't understand why. He was able to cultivate while wielding the demonic sword, but now he could not with the Army Crushing Sword.
He stared at the blade. There seemed to be a voice deep inside him, telling him over and over that the weapon wasn't right.
Yin Hanjiang knew that swords weren't suited to him. Swords were too slow at killing people. When a triangular spike stabbed someone, the wound was difficult to close and the bleeding difficult to stop, so it was his favored weapon.
He put on the ghost mask. After hiding his emotions, he felt his heart become unfettered, and he easily harmonized with the Burning Sky Drum.
His cultivation progressed quickly this time. After ten years, his sword had become the Army Crushing Spike, a weapon that truly suited him, and Yin Hanjiang had risen to the peak of Mahayana.
But once he left the drum and took off the mask, his realm dropped back to Void Boundary and his weapon returned to being a sword.
Wenren È had once said that if one's mental state didn't match their realm, it was like giving a three-year-old child a magic sword. They could have the greatest treasure in the world, but be unable to use its power. Yin Hanjiang knew that after taking off the mask and suppressing his true self, his mental state was insufficient for wielding Mahayana level power. In order to grow stronger, he had to let go of his pretenses.
He didn't dare. He couldn't imagine his Venerable's expression upon seeing that he held a triangular spike instead of a sword. So Yin Hanjiang decided it was best to remain this way for now.
When Altar Master Yuan had beaten him and was about to take the Burning Sky Drum, Yin Hanjiang had no choice but to put on the mask and unleash his true power.
The mask wasn't special at all. It was only a shield to allow Yin Hanjiang to show his true nature.
Now that it had no use, it might as well accompany his Venerable. After Yin Hanjiang finished what must be done, he would return to the Blood Hell.
After ten months, Yin Hanjiang opened his eyes atop the Burning Sky Drum. Only a god could absorb chaos energy. Using the divine weapon's power, he had already recovered, and had another breakthrough.
Yin Hanjiang didn't know how strong he was now. He faintly felt he had already passed the point of his heavenly tribulation, and the heavenly lightning he had faced while pursuing Hè Wenzhao a year back had, aside from enforcing the laws of heaven, also been meant for his breakthrough.
He seemed to have immortal essence, but not quite.
Oh well, it didn't matter. He just needed enough power.
Yin Hanjiang put away the Burning Sky Drum and Wenren È's robe. After a long gaze at the sea of blood, he returned to Xuanyuan Sect in a light flash.
Xuanyuan Sect had been a bit chaotic this past year. First Sect Leader Yin and Protector Shu joined forces to kill Altar Master Yuan, then the Sect Master had been surrounded and killed at the Blood Hell. Sect Leader Yin, who had previously been unassuming as a shadow, had snapped and scared the Shangqing Sect Master and his chief disciple into hiding in their sect for over a year. The battle had shaken the entire cultivation world.
After gaining renown in battle, Sect Leader Yin had vanished. The Xuanyuan Sect was left without a leader, Altar Master Yuan's subordinates fought and killed over his position, and the rest of the Altar Masters began to eye Yin Hanjiang's position after a year had gone by with no news. The Altar Masters and Qiu Congxue would fight with each other several times in a month. Right now, they were nursing their injuries and saving up strength for the next fight.
Shu Yanyan, who had once overcome all four Altar Masters, was comfortable in her position. She never participated in the fighting, lazing about on her new large bed all day, occasionally going to mess with Baili Qingmiao and Zhongli Qian.
Baili Qingmiao had been injured after her bonded weapon was destroyed at the Blood Hell and had been recovering at Xuanyuan Sect all this time. Zhongli Qian had made his agreement with Wenren È, that he had to tell something to Yin Hanjiang, so he couldn't leave before meeting Yin Hanjiang.
The two, along with Su Huai, had been guests in Qiu Congxue's cultivation grounds. Since Qiu Congxue was powerful and didn't have many subordinates, their stay was quite peaceful.
"The Left Protector's cultivation grounds are more deserted than a haunted house." Shu Yanyan had come to "visit" the injured Baili Qingmiao again, striking up a conversation when she saw Zhongli Qian helping Su Huai study. "Where's Protector Qiu?"
"She has an appointment to fight the three Altar Masters in the Main Hall today." Zhongli Qian signaled for Su Huai to stop and rose to greet Shu Yanyan. "Long time no see, Protector Shu."
"It hasn't been long, just three days." Shu Yanyan yawned languidly. "She sure can fight. She's just managed to get her flesh back and already turned into a skeleton again, yet she's still fighting."
Zhongli Qian poured a cup of tea for Shu Yanyan, saying warmly, "Protector Qiu is an honest woman with a straightforward nature, but she tends to overlook details. I must thank Protector Shu for keeping an eye on her over this past year."
"It was nothing," Shu Yanyan said with a wave of her hand.
"Is there a reason for your visit today?" Zhongli Qian asked.
"I can never fool you." Shu Yanyan gazed at Zhongli Qian's face. "You're smart, Young Master Zhongli. What would you say I want?"
Zhongli Qian picked up his own cup of tea, saying in an unhurried pace, "The people of Xuanyuan Sect are inconstant and Protector Shu wishes to join in the fray, so is hoping for my support."
"It sure is convenient talking to someone intelligent," Shu Yanyan said, gazing at Zhongli Qian with her chin in her hand. "What does Young Master Zhongli think? I know your relationship with Protector Qiu is better, but she doesn't have a brain, and the Xuanyuan Sect would collapse after three days under her leadership."
"My thoughts? I hope Protector Shu will wait a few more days," Zhongli Qian said.
He had barely finished speaking when the wards around Xuanyuan Sect broke. A terrifying force charged into the sect.
Shu Yanyan stood and said seriously, "Was this what you were waiting for, Young Master Zhongli?"
"Right." Zhongli Qian put down his teacup and said to Su Huai, "Go prepare medicines and a spirit gathering array. Your martial ancestor will be getting a lot more injured today."
Su Huai: ...