Chapter 43: Night Bells Reach the Guest Boat at Midnight

When Ning Changjiu stepped outside, the snow in this world began to melt. It was spring now, and this snow was never real snow, but merely the cold fluttering within her mind.

"Why do you kill me?"

Beyond the increasingly sparse snowflakes, spring light shone through, and a voice slowly emerged from the wind and snow, its precise direction impossible to discern. That was the demon seed of the fox demanding an answer.

In the tribulation of inner demons, realm mattered not, only one's mental fortitude. Thus, when Ning Changjiu had touched Ning Xiaoling's glabella with his finger, the demon seed had considered killing him. But in the end, it did not act. This was because when it probed Ning Changjiu's consciousness, it saw only an abyssal, man-eating darkness that seemed bottomless, where all rays of thought that touched it were swallowed without a trace.

It had never seen such a sea of consciousness; it was as if this sea was no longer a sea, but a profound, invisible, true starry sky. It was unsure what kind of being this young man truly was. If he was indeed possessed by a demon lord, how powerful must he have been in his previous life? If he was possessed by a god, gods were known to be cold and indifferent since ancient times, so why would one be so kind to a girl with whom he shared no familial bond?

Yet it still didn't believe the other party could find it. In this tribulation of inner demons, it could manifest into anything using its innate divine abilities. It could be a fisherman, a porter, a soldier, a hawking merchant, a dancing courtesan...

Ning Changjiu paid no heed to the challenge, nor did he try to trace its origin, because he knew it was merely an attempt to distract him and waste his time.

"Junior sister, watch the sword." Ning Changjiu held one hand behind his back and extended the other palm forward. When Ning Xiaoling looked in the direction of his voice, a peach wood sword, drawn by his qi, swiftly flew into his palm with a whoosh.

Elsewhere in the city, a waiter serving dishes saw the sword box of the old Daoist sitting alone at a table suddenly become empty, and his expression turned blank.

Ning Changjiu slowly ran two fingers along the blade of the sword. The peach wood sword actually emitted a true metallic clang. With a flick of his wrist, the peach wood sword flew from his palm, transforming into a streak of light, a fleeting shadow, traversing the world horizontally and vertically.

Then, the people walking in the city were pierced through by the sword as if skewered like candied hawthorns. Before they could react, they shattered like fireworks.

The demon seed's voice rang out in horror: "Are you going to kill everyone in the city?"

If everyone died, the demon fox would have no more bodies to inhabit or hide within, and would naturally have to appear and face him.

Ning Changjiu did not answer, and the sword light continued its work.

The demon seed's voice was like iron seared by fire, yet infused with an extreme, bone-chilling cold: "You truly are a devil, a devil who kills without batting an eye... As they die before your eyes, do you not feel even a shred of compassion? Though this is an illusion of inner demons, the people within this illusion believe themselves to be alive..."

Ning Changjiu's voice was calm and indifferent: "You and I both know well that everyone in this city is an illusion. How can they die if they were never truly alive? I won't ponder such philosophical questions, because they are meaningless."

Ice and snow melted, and spring light shone brightly. Yet many figures shattered and vanished the moment they saw the spring light. Only the delicate, newborn-like blossoms on the branches innocently gazed upon the world. This was a city of slaughter, a city of slaughter without blood.

The demon seed sneered: "You are ultimately a cruel executioner. A ghost resides in your heart, and one day, it will emerge to devour you. Your current calm rationality is merely because the ghost within you is still dormant."

Ning Changjiu replied: "You want to probe my origin and then open a gap in my mental state. Unfortunately, you cannot, because I don't even know where I come from..."

How could the demon seed believe his words? It merely said coldly: "If one day, killing all the living people in a city could save the world, would you kill them or not?"

Ning Changjiu seemed to have pondered this question long ago and answered without hesitation: "I do not wish to face such a dilemma, so at this moment, I will do my utmost to kill you."

If the demon seed were to safely withdraw from the tribulation of inner demons, and Ning Xiaoling were to awaken then, it would be a catastrophe that would destroy cities and nations.

The last snowflake in the city fell onto his shoulder. He lightly brushed it off as if it were dust and sighed: "I have not killed a single person, yet I am saving all the people of Zhao Kingdom. What guilt could I feel in my heart? And you..."

He paused his words and said no more, because the city was growing increasingly silent. That silence was a deathly stillness, like war and plague had swept through, or as if it were merely the deep quiet of night.

Thus, in this deathly stillness, any sound, no matter how small, became incredibly clear.

"Rouge Pavilion, Brocade Garden, pear trees covered in snow, peach blossoms abound. Behold tonight's lantern feast in the small tower, brimming with good times and beautiful company..." The singing in the pavilion continued. The strings, plucked and strummed by delicate, fair hands, vibrated with a desolate and graceful melody.

The seats were now empty of all elegantly dressed figures, utterly empty. The woman, however, did not look up, merely playing the zither from behind a veil. The bright lights in the pavilion seemed as if they would never extinguish.

"Wait until midnight, when the jade toad hangs in the sky, then ascend to White Cloud Temple..." Midnight had long passed, and bright morning glow already appeared on the horizon.

A small peach wood sword, swift as an arrow, pierced through her glabella. The woman slowly looked up, touched the bloodied hole in her glabella, and gently blew on it. The blood on her fingers transformed into butterflies, one after another. The woman's skin-shell gradually dissipated, revealing a snow-white demon fox with four tails. Its demonic claws remained pressed on the zither strings, causing faint echoes of music to vibrate.

After piercing her glabella, the wooden sword returned. The demon fox's tail twitched, scattering the wooden sword.

"Then let me experience your true power." There was not a trace of emotion in the snow fox's words. The next moment, the entire street where Ning Changjiu and Ning Xiaoling stood shattered. All the houses were swept away, leveled to the ground. An old fox, with a dharma-body dozens of feet high, stood amidst the ruins, its scarlet eyes staring indifferently at the man and woman, who seemed like ants.

Ning Xiaoling looked at the completely snow-white figure. She knew that it was the anomaly resulting from the fusion of her innate spirit and the demon seed. That pitiful little fox with a severed tail had now become so tall and arrogant. Its body shed light like snowflakes, resembling a creature forged from holy fire.

Ning Xiaoling instinctively took two steps back, her heart filled with an innate fear.

The snow fox stared at them and said: "Perhaps I should have acted sooner. Now that you've killed everyone in the city, your sword intent is at its peak, making me somewhat fearful."

Ning Changjiu calmly shook his head: "That sword was nothing at all."

"Nothing at all?" The snow fox's eyes narrowed, and it asked: "Do you also have a sword in your heart?"

The tribulation of inner demons was a test of the heart, unrelated to cultivation realm. The greater one's heart, the higher the sky would be. The brighter one's sword intent, the brighter this world would be.

Ning Xiaoling suddenly felt a warmth spread across her back. That warmth slowly melted the frost and snow in her heart, dispelling her fear. She turned slightly and felt an orange-yellow glow covering her cheeks. The light was like a furnace fire against her cheek. She shielded her forehead with her hand and peered through her fingers, dimly seeing the reddish-orange sun, emanating magnificent orange light, struggling to emerge from the horizon, embracing the entire world in its soft radiance. In that pure and immense light, even the dozens-of-feet-tall snow fox seemed to fade.

It gazed in horror at the great sun, unsure of what it was.

High above, in the nine heavens, the maiden, like an ice-sculpted jade figure, whose ice-covered eyes were illuminated fiery red by the great sun. She furrowed her brow, extended her hand, and all light dimmed and retreated as it passed her side. She looked at the young man in the city, her eyes flickering with shock and uncertainty, carefully scrutinizing him.

"This is impossible..." She bit her lower lip lightly and said: "I clearly have never seen him... How could I forget anyone I've met? Even if he were the reincarnation of a powerful expert who had surpassed the five paths, I would never mistake him... Who exactly is this person?"

Ning Changjiu gently exhaled. In this tribulation of inner demons, his body was merely consciousness, without weight. Yet at this moment, his consciousness was connected to the great sun, and the two shone upon each other, erupting in a dazzling light.

Indeed, a sword was buried within his heart. In the memories of his previous life, on a night of a full moon, with lanterns filling the sky, his fellow disciples, senior and junior, gathered. Starting with the Eldest Senior Sister, one by one, each wielded a sword, severing moonlight to achieve enlightenment, piercing the firmament to ascend. Within him also lay twenty-four years of accumulated vast righteousness. Twelve years of cultivating the Dao, twelve years of seeking the sword. He should have unleashed the sword in his heart that night, ascended to the Immortal Court, and forgotten both sword and self.

However, just as he was about to draw his sword, a thought arose in his mind, and he turned back for one more look. That single glance delayed his sword by half a moment, and he never again had the chance to unleash that ascending sword. Yet after that, he saw an even more powerful sword light. In front of that sword, he had no room to resist. How bright the moon shone...

Ning Changjiu closed his eyes, recalling the increasingly blurry face and sword shadow in his memory. That was the moonlight hidden deep within his eyes. That was also his ascending sword, suppressed and unreleased.

The snow fox could not see it, but it could feel a sword tip already pointed at its chest. It actually felt an inescapable and unavoidable sensation, as if the next moment, its own body, and even this huge city, would be split in two.

At the pinnacle of the inner demon's domain, a soft sigh was heard.

"True love truly causes trouble," the maiden complained, and pointed a finger at the great sun. As if a celestial dog had swallowed the sun, day and night shifted, and all light in the world, like flowing water, vanished, turning pitch black. The place where the sun had been turned into a pale full moon, utterly devoid of patterns, possessing only the simplest, extreme whiteness.

Ning Changjiu glanced sideways. The world stilled. Ning Xiaoling and the snow fox both remained motionless.

Behind him, with the full moon as a backdrop, the figure of a little girl, shrouded in clouds and mist, emerged.

"That's enough," the little girl said somewhat angrily. "Although a lion uses its full strength even to hunt a fox, if this sword strikes here, I won't clean up your mess."

Ning Changjiu smiled, but did not extinguish the sword-fire between his fingers.

The little girl glanced at his fingers and said: "Tell me about your origin."

Ning Changjiu said: "I'm not sure myself. If you know something, you can tell me."

The little girl's eyes widened, and she clicked her tongue in amazement: "Who taught you this trick of getting something for nothing?"

Ning Changjiu smiled innocently and said: "I'm truly not lying to you."

The little girl sighed and said: "I'll believe you for now... A great secret is hidden within you, a secret even I cannot clearly see."

Ning Changjiu asked: "How great?"

The little girl's expression became uncharacteristically calm. She stared at him for a moment and finally sighed: "I dare not speak lightly, but you are too weak now, and knowing too much is not good."

Ning Changjiu did not press further; pointing at the snow fox, he asked: "What about it then?"

The little girl said confidently: "Leave it to me. In mastery of the mind, throughout heaven and earth, besides the shopkeeper, I am unparalleled."

As she spoke, the snow fox, which seemed to be frozen in the river of time, showed signs of painful struggle. But that expression lasted only an instant before quickly fading. It closed its eyes, its body gently rising and falling, as if it had entered a deep slumber.

The little girl said: "If I were to completely erase it, it would greatly harm your junior sister. Now the primary and secondary roles have swapped; it's your junior sister who holds the dominant position. As for it, it sleeps deep within her consciousness. As long as there is no immense external stimulus, it will not awaken. How to resolve this issue moving forward is your concern."

Ning Changjiu bowed: "Thank you."

"And junior sister's realm..." Ning Changjiu asked again.

The little girl said: "Naturally, it has fallen into slumber along with the fox." She glanced at the utterly pure full moon behind her and said: "Time is up. I look forward to our next meeting; I hope you don't make me wait too long."

Ning Changjiu nodded.

The full moon dissolved, and the world turned pitch black. Everything he touched beneath his feet seemed to crack open, yet his body did not fall. Instead, his consciousness was flung high, ascending towards a glowing anchor point somewhere.

Suddenly, the little girl's expression subtly changed. The snow fox, which should have been asleep, abruptly opened its eyes. It let out a low growl, baring its sharp fangs, and a strained smile squeezed through its teeth: "You want me to die? Heh heh... heh..."

The little girl said in disbelief: "How strange, why is there such a strong spiritual will? Could this little fox have also reached beyond the five paths?"

The demon seed was connected to Ning Xiaoling's innate spirit. In a sense, they were one.

"Birth, death, soul, fall..." The snow fox uttered each word slowly and distinctly. This was a technique of shared life and death.

The tribulation of inner demons was collapsing. Even she, the master of this domain, found it hard to break it off.

Meanwhile, Ning Xiaoling's eyelids suddenly trembled. "Senior brother, I'm so sleepy..." Under the snow fox's influence, she seemed about to fall into a deathly slumber with it. If so, it was unknown how many years it would take for her to awaken.

The method to interrupt this soul-death curse was very simple: to awaken Ning Xiaoling in the real world. But now Ning Changjiu was also within the tribulation of inner demons. Who would wake her?

The snow fox stared at Ning Changjiu's face, hoping to see his astonishment, breakdown, and helpless defeat, even if it had to pay an immense price itself. But on Ning Changjiu's face, it saw only a faint smile.

In the hazy indistinctness, they suddenly heard the toll of a bell. The bell's sound was deep and resonant, ancient and lingering. At this moment, as the tribulation of inner demons was about to break, they were between reality and illusion, and naturally could hear the bell. That was the temple bell, which would ring every two hours to dispel the hundred ghosts in the city. Today in the imperial city, this bell had rung many times already. Now that they were inside the temple, they naturally heard it with even greater clarity.

It was precisely the hour of Hai (9-11 PM). With this toll of the bell, Ning Xiaoling's eyelids trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes. Light poured in.

In the last moment before the tribulation of inner demons collapsed, the snow fox stared intensely into his eyes: "Is this a coincidence or... did you even calculate this..."

Ning Changjiu's voice seemed to be comforting: "Just a coincidence."

Heaven and earth collapsed.

On the altar of the ancient temple, the sandalwood incense had just finished burning. In the lingering echoes of the bell, the boy and girl slowly awakened. Above the temple, rolling thunderclouds seemed to be drawn by something, surging towards this spot, growing thicker and thicker, like a lake on the verge of overflowing its banks.

Ning Xiaoling struggled to tear apart the white cocoon wrapped around her. Everything that had happened in the tribulation of inner demons stung her brain. Her expression was dazed, but she still clearly knew that the heavenly lightning was coming for her. She shrank back in fear, knowing that her current strength could only allow her to await slaughter helplessly.

She looked at Ning Changjiu. After a moment, she couldn't help but say: "Senior brother... your clothes are so dirty."

Only after hearing that "senior brother" did Ning Changjiu relax.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Ning Changjiu grumbled playfully. He said no more; he unlatched the door, pushed it open, and walked out.

Above the firmament, tribulation lightning pressed down upon the city.