Chapter 42: Before Dawn, Rainbow Fills the Sky

The moment those eerie green eyes fixed on her, Ning Xiaoling was overcome with extreme terror, her limbs refusing to obey her.

Even though it hadn't yet come close, Ning Xiaoling could already envision its cold, sharp claws, like knives, slicing through her flesh and tearing her body apart.

As it truly lunged, her mind was filled only with the horrific scene of corpses from the previous night—bodies disemboweled and mangled. She could vaguely smell the lingering scent of blood in the air. As death approached, she suddenly felt that moment was incredibly real.

Dawn had not yet broken; the night was far from over.

Tonight, Ning Changjiu had attempted to kill many mountain demons. In his eyes, these demons were indeed weak, mere evil creatures of the Profound Entry Realm. Moreover, in this mind demon illusion, killing them was much easier.

But as this final mountain demon lunged at Ning Xiaoling, he unleashed several sword strikes with his fingers, yet not one managed to land on the demon.

Ning Changjiu understood then: this was Ning Xiaoling's true mind demon.

It was the greatest fear she had ever witnessed.

Throughout this night, the death of her loved ones, her disappointment in her younger brother, and her doubts about the world were all magnified infinitely as death approached. Her eyes were utterly black, like an abyss from which there was no return once one fell.

They were like truly stagnant waters, incapable of stirring even a ripple.

In the true past, a Taoist priest would have appeared at this critical moment, slaying the demon with a peach wood sword and saving Ning Xiaoling. Years later, he would then sell the girl at a high price to another old Taoist of the same sect, Ning Qinshui.

But this was a mind demon tribulation; only she herself could save her.

Only by killing this mountain demon herself could she break through this realm.

A cultivator who had normally reached the Purple Palace Realm would have already awakened, understood they were undergoing a mind tribulation, and then risen to draw their sword and overcome their greatest fear.

However, the real Ning Xiaoling had only just begun her cultivation; her current realm was merely a gift from that monster seed. And that monster seed was currently lurking in a corner, waiting for Ning Xiaoling's consciousness to be shattered by the mind demon, so it could take over.

A girl who had just embarked on the path of cultivation, unable even to see through illusions, was merely an ant to be slaughtered. How could she possibly escape this predicament?

At this moment, Ning Changjiu no longer hesitated. He stepped forward, blocking her path.

Clad in white, his face was cool and serene, his dark hair flowing.

His posture was upright. With fingers joined like a sword, a faint yet intricate halo appeared behind him, forming a circular array structured like countless snowflakes and tiny swords.

He pointed a finger at the mountain demon with its sharp head and monkey-like snout. The demon's lunging figure seemed to freeze in mid-air, unable to advance.

Ning Changjiu could not kill her mind demon, but he could hold it off for a moment.

But time flowed relentlessly. Even if he could hold it off for a moment, how could he stop the future that was bound to happen?

Ning Changjiu had now moved to stand directly in front of her.

The girl couldn't see him, but she seemed to sense something, instinctively leaning back.

Ning Changjiu extended a jade-like finger, and with extreme steadiness, he touched her brow, just as he had that night.

“Ning Xiaoling!” Ning Changjiu suddenly roared.

The girl seemed to hear this thunderous cry from silence. Her beautiful eyes widened, staring straight ahead.

“My surname isn’t Ning…” A hazy thought drifted through her mind. She knew her name was Xiaoling, but Ning wasn't her surname. Had he mistaken her for someone else…?

Ning Changjiu's voice, as if capable of piercing her soul, rang out again: “Kill it!”

“Kill…?” Ning Xiaoling was stunned. Her body trembled uncontrollably: “How could I possibly kill it…?”

Ning Changjiu's voice softened slightly as he tried his best to calm her: “Raise your finger, think carefully, recall everything that has happened in the past. Think hard, what is the most powerful move you have ever seen? Use it, kill it…”

The…most powerful move I've ever seen…

The whites of Ning Xiaoling's dark eyes gradually returned. She gazed blankly ahead as the mountain demon relentlessly closed in on her.

Vaguely, she seemed to recall many things, memories that shouldn't have been hers.

In her memories, a Taoist priest had killed this mountain demon, and she had followed him for several years. Then, that priest told her that someone with more profound Taoist arts wished to take her as a disciple, so she switched masters and cultivated under him, also taking his surname, Ning.

Beside that Taoist priest surnamed Ning, there was a boy who looked delicate and handsome but was actually quite stiff and dull. He formally addressed her as 'junior sister,' and she reluctantly responded.

She recalled those things, and gradually remembered everything that had happened in the Imperial City.

Mind demon illusion…

This term suddenly burst into her sea of consciousness. She abruptly opened her eyes; the hazy veil before her seemed to vanish, and her pair of lively eyes once again became distinct with black and white.

She saw the white-clad youth, just inches away, his finger resting on her brow.

“Senior Brother…” Ning Xiaoling tentatively called out.

Ning Changjiu calmly said, “Stop talking nonsense. Strike, kill it.”

“Yes, Senior Brother!”

Ning Xiaoling's expression brightened. She took a deep breath, and with a shift of her will, a sword strike was unleashed from her fingers.

It was the same sword strike that the Taoist priest had unleashed with his lacquered gold peach wood sword back then—the very strike that had slain the mountain demon.

With a flick of her thoughts, she replicated the strike perfectly. The spiritual essence of this sword was several times more powerful than that of the old Taoist priest's back then.

However, as soon as the peach wood sword touched the mountain demon, it vanished into its body. The demon's body grew slightly larger after consuming the sword, and its expression became even more ferocious.

“How could this be…?” Ning Xiaoling's expression was panicked.

Ning Changjiu said, “Keep thinking.”

Ning Xiaoling subconsciously nodded. She tried her best to calm herself, her fingers trembling as continuous sharp white rays emerged. She unleashed one sword strike after another.

Though she had never truly learned any specific techniques back then, she had often followed her master to various noble households to subdue demons and slay monsters. She had witnessed many times those clean, sharp demon-slaying swords. Each of those sword strikes was imprinted in her sea of consciousness, refined by time, transforming into countless sharp lines, each seemingly capable of cutting through gold and shattering jade.

She narrowed her eyes, using her finger as a brush, dancing in the air as if painting in the void.

With each sword qi strike that fell, the lines within her heart seemed to lose their sharpness, dimming slightly.

The sword qi cut into the mountain demon's body like knives slicing through leather, flaying its skin and tearing its flesh.

The mountain demon's pupils turned scarlet red.

Yet its body grew ever larger. Under the repeated assault of her sword strikes, it transformed from the size of a thin wild monkey into a colossal ape.

The more Ning Xiaoling struck, the more alarmed she became. The figure drew closer and closer, like a dark cloud pressing down, interwoven with lightning and thunder.

She suddenly realized that if she were defeated in this mind demon tribulation, it wouldn't just be a simple fall in cultivation realm. The monster seed lurking in the shadows would truly kill her, refining her into its puppet.

That would be a complete loss of life, a damnation from which there was no return.

However, with her current abilities, even with Ning Changjiu opening her spiritual eye, she still couldn't vanquish the mind demon.

And the fear in her heart, waxing and waning with the mind demon tribulation, caused this originally not-so-powerful mountain demon to erupt with an unstoppable aura.

Ning Changjiu didn't withdraw his hand. Staring into Ning Xiaoling's eyes, he said earnestly, “Remember carefully… Have you exhausted all the swords in your memory? Which one in your heart is the most unstoppable?”

Ning Xiaoling clutched her head with one hand, her expression pained. “I… I really can't remember…”

Her lips were almost a thin line, her face devoid of color. The mountain demon had already surged past Ning Changjiu's head, its thousand-ton palm slowly descending towards her.

Ning Changjiu closed his eyes, saying nothing.

How he wished he could reveal that sword to Ning Xiaoling. But regrettably, he was not the protagonist of this mind demon tribulation.

Ning Xiaoling painfully rubbed her temples, trying to unearth something from all her memories.

The claw's wind had descended. Ning Xiaoling couldn't help but let out a short scream, feeling as though her scalp was about to explode. A biting cold pierced down like a chisel, nailing all her joints in place.

At a certain moment, she suddenly looked up, her eyes wide. Reflected in them was the mountain demon's terrifying face, almost pressing against hers.

And in that shadowy reflection, a light suddenly streaked across like a rainbow in the sky.

“I see it…” Ning Xiaoling murmured. She raised her hand and lightly traced a line.

Ning Changjiu's tense finger left her forehead. The young man let out a long breath of relief.

It was a sword light that gushed forth like a spring, spanning the entire room. Everything it touched melted into its snow-white color.

It was the very sword strike Lu Jiajia had unleashed against Lord Bloodfeather at the Imperial Palace gates that day.

That sword strike had illuminated the Imperial City's sky, making every raindrop gleam like a shining silver needle. It also lit up the young girl's upward-gazing eyes, filling her empty heart with a bright aspiration.

“Senior Brother, will I ever be this powerful?”

“Senior Brother, you mustn't lie to me.”

“Oh, what if I accidentally choose the wrong path one day?”

“Senior Brother…” Ning Xiaoling's lips trembled, too excited to speak.

A rainbow spanning thousands of miles pierced through the sky.

This was a sword strike she had never dared to imagine before.

Because she dared not imagine it, she had never been able to conjure it. But as death arrived, the immense fear ignited the blood in the girl's heart. She finally gathered the courage to directly face the brightest sword light she had ever witnessed in her life.

The only difference was that this light now had seven colors.

“What a beautiful rainbow,” Ning Changjiu exclaimed.

Above their heads, a rainbow arched across the sky, leading nowhere in particular. The mountain demon melted away within the colors, as if after a clearing rain.

Ning Xiaoling laughed joyfully. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, though in a mind demon illusion, where could real sweat possibly come from?

“Thank you, Senior Brother.” At this moment, the girl still appeared to be seven or eight years old. She bowed respectfully, earnestly and reverently.

Ning Changjiu smiled, ruffled her hair, and accepted her gratitude calmly.

“And thank you, Sister Jiajia,” Ning Xiaoling silently added, pressing her palms together.

Ning Changjiu looked outside the door and said, “Don't let your guard down. That old demon fox is still hiding in this city.”

“Ah,” Ning Xiaoling gasped softly, immediately becoming alert. “Yes! I'll be vigilant.”

Ning Changjiu glanced at the increasingly brightening sky, understanding. Once the morning sun fully emerged and shone over the entire city, the mind demon tribulation would dissolve. And at that time…

Ning Xiaoling also thought of this. She said in alarm, “If it keeps hiding and doesn't come out, then after we leave, I won't be able to fight it off!”

Ning Changjiu nodded gently. That monster seed's realm was too high; it would be difficult for Ning Xiaoling to gain dominance over her body. In this mind demon tribulation, the significance of one's cultivation realm was merely to allow the tribulation-taker to remain more clear-headed and possess stronger willpower. Even Ning Xiaoling, with his help, had unleashed that world-shaking sword strike.

Therefore, the monster seed was deliberately hiding from her, waiting only for the end of this mind demon tribulation to settle the score.

“Senior Brother… what should we do?” Ning Xiaoling asked nervously.

Ning Changjiu patted her shoulder, calmly saying, “Don't be afraid. Leave the rest to me.”

With that, he walked out of the house.

Above this world, a young girl floated silently. Her figure was slender yet graceful, like a soft dream woven by a poet from clouds and mist. Her childlike eyebrows were delicately drawn, and her ice-covered eyes seemed to hold countless flickering stars. Milky Way-like ribbons coiled around her elbows, and her flawless skin was of the purest white, imbued with a faint, rouge-like luster.

She appeared to be only twelve or thirteen years old, yet the eyes with which she gazed down upon the city seemed to have witnessed centuries of change. If she were to fully mature, there was no telling how devastatingly beautiful she would become.

She watched Ning Changjiu emerge from the house, wondering curiously what he was about to do. Then, the girl's eyes brightened slightly, rippling with a captivating luster.

“How interesting.”