Chapter 171: Ten Deaths Without Life

The night had fallen silent.

Between the four peaks, cultivators remained busy, coming and going.

The shattered mountain-guarding formation had to be repaired quickly, or it would be impossible to retain spiritual energy.

The tattered peach curtain also began to be rewoven, but the destruction of the Spirit Silk Garden significantly slowed down the current progress.

Ring Waterfall Mountain, which had utterly crumbled, had become an enormous earthen mound. People were sifting through it, collecting and organizing the relics from the hall one by one.

These tasks continued day and night. Within a month, the previously dilapidated four peaks had regained new vitality.

And the various peaks, which previously had infrequent contact, also began to communicate more closely after this disaster.

The various peaks' cold prisons were also granted a general amnesty. Many demonic beasts and convicts were released to help rebuild the sect, atoning for their sins through meritorious service.

Ning Xiaoling sat on the cliff, her calves gently swaying with the night wind. She had grown much thinner, and was now wearing a white dress with a delicate yellow flower tucked into her sleeve. Her features, due to her recent thinness, appeared even more delicate.

She leaned against a snow cherry tree, her head slightly tilted, gazing at the lights illuminating the peaks, the sword energy streaking across the night sky, and the gradual revival of everything from ruin.

By now, the snow cherry blossoms had long since withered completely. Its luxuriant leaves drooped in the wind, with a few occasionally falling and brushing past her.

Though only fourteen, her once charming demeanor had rapidly transformed within a month, already showing the nascent form of a cool and aloof female sword immortal.

Light footsteps approached from behind.

Le Rou carefully walked to the cliff edge and sat down beside her, then turned her head to gaze at Ning Xiaoling's perpetually expressionless face.

Though Ning Xiaoling remained expressionless, she could never truly conceal her sorrow.

Le Rou looked at her and felt she was like a pool of spring water frozen solid by a night's bitter wind; only that young man could melt the ice and snow in her heart.

These past few days, Le Rou had often sought her out to talk.

Ning Xiaoling would simply keep her head down, quietly listening to Le Rou, occasionally nodding or shaking her head to offer simple responses.

"Your senior brother is such a good person. To think we used to misunderstand him so terribly. Looking back now, it's truly both embarrassing and ridiculous..."

"I still remember the first day you two arrived; honestly, I didn't like you much back then..."

"Oh, are you and your senior brother really not blood relatives? You're both so beautiful."

The wind swept across the plains, stars hung low over the peak valleys. Two girls sat on the cliff edge, their voices as faint as the wind.

The myriad wails from Heaven Cave Peak, carried by the wind through its caverns, always stirred emotions whenever they sounded.

"Le Rou, you don't actually need to tell me all this," Ning Xiaoling suddenly turned her head, looking at her very seriously. She said, word by word, "Thank you for your care during this time."

"I... because I'm the senior sister, after all." Le Rou gazed at Ning Xiaoling's face; in her eyes, she felt a strange illusion, as if she were looking at her master. Her heartbeat quickened slightly.

After speaking, Ning Xiaoling lowered her head again, watching the wandering lights and busy figures among the four peaks.

"Actually..." Le Rou hesitated for a long time before finally speaking carefully, choosing her words. She began recounting past incidents, those times she had tried to prank Ning Changjiu only to get herself into trouble.

Le Rou enumerated them one by one, her words filled with deep apology.

Ning Xiaoling also seemed to recall something, a fleeting smile appearing on her face. "Of course you couldn't beat him, Senior Brother... he's truly formidable."

Le Rou nodded vigorously, comforting her. "Yes, he's so formidable, he'll definitely come back."

"Really..." Ning Xiaoling murmured, as if asking herself.

Le Rou affirmed, "If I had such a lovely junior sister, I would never leave, not even if I died." Ning Xiaoling's calves swayed gently. She looked at the young girl beside her who was constantly trying to cheer her up, and managed a faint smile. "Aren't I your junior sister..."

"Junior sister..." Le Rou's heart suddenly tightened at her words.

Ning Xiaoling said nothing more. She silently rose from the cliff edge and walked towards the Inner Peak.

Le Rou turned to look back, wanting to speak but holding back. In the muggy summer night, the starlight on Ning Xiaoling's skirt hem gradually dimmed.

She walked past the Inner Peak's wooden staircase, touched the key at her waist, hesitated briefly at the stairwell's corner, and then walked towards her senior brother's room.

Currently, the key to Ning Changjiu's room was in her care.

Ning Xiaoling entered the room as usual. She unfolded and folded the quilt, dusted the floor and windowsill. The books on the desk were meticulously straightened, every corner perfectly aligned. After completing these tasks, she would sit down, mimicking her senior brother, leaning against the chair back and picking up a book to read.

The scroll papers from when Ning Changjiu taught her to read were still preserved, covered with corrections and drawings in different handwritings. Looking at these, Ning Xiaoling felt that her own writing, compared to her senior brother's elegant script, was like a lowly grey duck standing before the majestic Vermilion Bird God.

She would always gaze at them for a long time.

Ning Xiaoling also knew that some things could be held onto, while others could never be retained.

In the dead of night, she left Ning Changjiu's room and returned to her own.

Inside the porcelain vase, Han Xiaosu was meditating and cultivating by moonlight. Seeing Ning Xiaoling enter, she voluntarily stopped her practice and retreated into the vase.

Han Xiaosu was naturally afraid of this world, and her only benefactor had left. Now, her young mistress was cold and aloof all day long, making her fear becoming a nuisance and being cast out.

Ning Xiaoling, however, suddenly spoke, "Just cultivate on your own; don't mind me."

Han Xiaosu was slightly surprised. The essence of the moon soul was extremely tempting to her, yet she hesitated for a moment before softly saying, "No, I'm tired today..."

Ning Xiaoling said nothing more. She seemed to feel a little cold, slowly crawled into her quilt, then turned her head to watch Han Xiaosu gradually disappear into the porcelain vase.

At that moment, Han Xiaosu, no matter how much she pondered, could not fathom Ning Xiaoling's fleeting thought.

Zhang Qiyu had never been to a place like this before.

He didn't know how this weapon-roc had arrived here, but the moment he looked up, he was utterly stunned.

The scene before him was not entirely unfamiliar.

It was like a flat, monotonous drawing, the entire plane consisting of black and white. Every line in the distance appeared as a mere point in his vision, but as the weapon-roc drew nearer, that point slowly extended into a line, and then, closer still, the line transformed into a three-dimensional surface.

They were clearly flying upwards, yet at some point, his senses conveyed the sensation of falling.

As they arrived, the entire world seemed to stretch, lines rapidly elongating exponentially, stopping only upon contact.

The weapon-roc steadily landed within what appeared to be a pictorial scroll of time.

Zhang Qiyu carefully stepped down. He looked up and discovered that as his gaze moved upwards, the black and white world began to take on colors.

The colors were not monochromatic but richly layered, almost indistinguishable from reality.

After surveying his surroundings, Zhang Qiyu realized that this place now looked like an utterly ordinary high mountain, with a stele pavilion in front and a surging sea of clouds behind. Everything appeared incredibly real.

Zhang Qiyu was originally a demigod who wielded a portion of spatial authority. Upon arriving here, he felt like a minor sorcerer encountering a great one. The preceding techniques had seemed ordinary, but to someone "in the know" like him, they were astonishing divine powers.

"Are those white houses, that row of them, styled after the ancient witch tribe from a thousand years ago?" Zhang Qiyu pointed to the cluster of buildings halfway up the distant mountain, almost embedded in the rock face, and recalled some past events.

The girl surnamed Si said, "That is merely white in your eyes."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Qiyu asked, puzzled.

The girl surnamed Si explained, "Here, the world everyone sees is different. The only truly fixed elements are the points and lines you first observe; everything else is merely your subjective interpretation."

Zhang Qiyu frowned, meticulously examining everything around him. He attempted to change his perspective to view the world, but he found that no matter how he tried to trick himself, the world in his eyes did not change much.

The roc disintegrated, its eighteen types of weapons flying out, whooshing back into their cases, swords returning to their scabbards. The petite yet upright girl ascended the steps.

Zhang Qiyu carefully followed.

This world was so peaceful, yet it gave him a true sense of lurking danger. He didn't even dare to look up at the end of the mountain path, vaguely feeling that an ancient god's throne might be hidden there.

"Is this... a divine realm?" Zhang Qiyu asked in a hushed voice.

The girl surnamed Si shook her head. "This is 'Unobservable'."

"Unobservable?"

"Yes." The girl nodded, offering no further explanation. She merely said, "I rank fourth in the Observatory, which is why my surname is Si. I have three senior brothers and sisters, and two junior brothers. If you wish, you can meet them sometime."

Zhang Qiyu carefully pondered the three words "Unobservable" as he followed the girl surnamed Si up the high mountain shrouded in clouds and mist.

He thought to himself that since this was not a divine realm, its status must be much lower. But what kind of sect in this world could allow a mere disciple to defeat a fierce god on the verge of entering the Fifth Path with just a few moves?

Or... was this girl simply exceptionally gifted?

He pondered for a moment before asking, "Among your Observatory's other disciples, how do they compare to you?"

Although the girl surnamed Si appeared cold, she was not stingy with answering these trivial questions. She thought for a moment and replied seriously, "I haven't fought with my third senior brother, but my second senior brother can defeat me in just one move. As for my eldest senior sister..."

"Eldest senior sister has a heavy hand; I wouldn't dare provoke her." The fourth senior sister gently shook her head, recalling the painful years when her eldest senior sister taught her weapon techniques. Later, she painstakingly acquired a superficial grasp of each technique from her eldest senior sister. Then, she descended the mountain to travel with her saber and sword, initially lacking confidence. But soon, she was surprised to find that she could actually traverse the world unrivaled.

After Zhang Qiyu casually asked a few more questions about the Observatory of the Unseen, he finally couldn't help but ask, "By the way, Immortal Master, may I ask about the legend of the headless god in the center of the Southern Wilderness..."

The fourth senior sister gave him a cold glance, and all of Zhang Qiyu's words froze on his lips.

"This is a forbidden area personally designated by Master; none of us are allowed to set foot there," the fourth senior sister said coldly. "The only thing I can tell you is that for those who fall into the abyss, except for the supreme Divine Lord, everyone else faces certain death."

In the heart of the Southern Wilderness, at the bottom of the abyss.

Time seemed to stop flowing; even the descent of a speck of dust was agonizingly slow.

A white-robed young man lay on the ground.

There were no obvious injuries visible on the young man's body. His eyes were closed, and his serene face gave no clue as to whether he was alive or dead.

It took him an extremely long time to fall to the ground, and then he drifted into an even longer slumber.

After a long time, the young man's finger twitched.

From an external time scale, the process of his finger twitching took a full hour, as long as the blooming of a flower bud.