The two of them soared through the air, gliding over green mountains and crossing cloudy ravines.
They continued until they reached the entrance of Senior Brother Yun Zheng's former cave dwelling.
Though long abandoned and uninhabited, the exterior remained pristine, free of any overgrowth.
It seemed someone cleaned it regularly, yet it still lacked a certain spark of life.
Jiang Wanyin stopped, and the youth paused beside her.
She glanced at him and said softly, "I will leave you here."
Xu Xian felt a strange confusion. Why did it feel like a final parting?
He was only going to see his master.
"Aren't you coming in?"
"No." Jiang Wanyin shook her head and added, "When you see Master, give him my regards and those of your senior brothers and sisters."
Xu Xian agreed. "Alright."
He walked a few steps forward, stopped, and looked back. Jiang Wanyin was still watching him, her gaze steady and unyielding.
"Sister."
"Yes?"
"Is everything okay?"
Jiang Wanyin tilted her head, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.
Xu Xian hesitated, then muttered, "I am going in then?"
Jiang Wanyin waved him off. "Go on."
Xu Xian looked away, lost in deep thought. As he stepped into the cave, he could not help but look back every few steps.
Until the darkness swallowed his vision and her figure became a blur.
Something was wrong.
He felt as if something was off.
Xu Xian thought his sister was surely hiding something from him.
Could there be some unspoken history between her and Senior Brother Yun Zheng that she had not mentioned...
Lost in thought, Xu Xian reached the ancient stone gate left behind by Senior Brother Yun Zheng.
The youth looked up, staring at the gate.
He shook his head to clear his cluttered thoughts.
"Stop thinking."
"I will see Master first and get some answers..."
After all, even if Jiang Wanyin was keeping secrets, Xu Xian did not believe she would ever harm him.
He pulled out the stone plaque from his robes and pressed it against the gate.
He channeled his Great Ascension aura into it. The ancient gate glowed, dust and stone flakes fell away, and it slowly ground open.
A screen of light appeared, leading to an unknown shore.
Xu Xian took a deep breath and stepped forward, disappearing into it like a raindrop into a pond.
Finally, the light screen shrank and vanished, and the gate slammed shut. The cave was empty and silent once more.
It was as if no one had ever been there and the gate had never been opened.
...
At that exact moment, the mountain-protecting formation of the Wendao Sword Sect stirred as the gate opened.
Ordinary disciples noticed nothing. Even Pavilion Elders at the Great Ascension stage felt nothing.
But those above the tribulation transcendence stage sensed it clearly.
The sect's formation had been awakened for a split second.
They immediately sent their divine senses across the mountains toward the gate.
There was nothing out of the ordinary.
However, beneath One Sword Gorge, three immortal swords vibrated without cause, letting out faint hums.
Some who knew the truth sighed. Those who did not fell into deep contemplation.
A stir in the formation with no enemy attack—was it coincidence or accident?
Why had the three immortal swords awakened simultaneously?
The fisherman,
The wanderer guarding the grave,
The general on the lightning-struck wood,
The old man on the green mountain peak,
The girl in the Peach Blossom Immortal Abode,
And Jiang Wanyin outside the cave.
Jiang Wanyin looked back at the mountains, standing under the mulberry tree Yun Zheng had planted. Her deep eyes flickered.
She remembered the past, specifically Yun Zheng's instructions before the battle in the East Desolation.
His figure was still vivid in her mind, his voice echoing in her ears.
That day, her senior brother had told her that if he were gone and their junior brother reached the Great Ascension stage and entered that gate, she must prepare for war.
Jiang Wanyin had not understood and asked him what he meant.
Yun Zheng explained that their master once said Fanzhou would face a Great Cataclysm.
The one who could break the sword stele was born for this tribulation.
He was the key to breaking the deadlock, but also the omen of the disaster's beginning.
At the time, Jiang Wanyin had not realized he meant Little Eleven. She thought his appearance would bring a disaster to Fanzhou.
Yun Zheng clarified that the cataclysm was not because of him; he arrived because of the cataclysm.
It was inevitable, and the Wendao Sword Sect would be the first to face it. The entire world would be affected.
The Great Cataclysm would arrive, and all spirits would face life or death.
Blood would stain the lands, and the sun and moon would lose their light.
As for what the tribulation was, Yun Zheng could not say.
However, Jiang Wanyin knew that in every era, as fortune accumulated, a great disaster eventually broke out.
In the cultivation world, they called it the reckoning of the Heavenly Dao.
It was the same as the changing of dynasties in the mortal world.
Historical records of Fanzhou mentioned similar instances—eras ending and the fall of the powerful.
There was more than one great master of divination who predicted chaos in Fanzhou in the near future.
She had even performed a reading for it herself.
However, from the sect's perspective, the tribulation they foresaw was simply their master and senior brothers reaching the end of their lifespans.
Once the everlasting lamps went out and the formation collapsed, the Three Sects, East Desolation, Demon Abyss, and North Sea would surely tear up their treaties and return.
The Wendao Sword Sect would likely be destroyed, triggering a global war.
The tribulation would start in the Northern Borders.
Senior Brother Yun Zheng believed this too.
So, before his death, he took his sword to the East Desolation to settle that threat and cut off five thousand years of their fortune.
She knew he was determined to die and asked him who the enemy would be when they had to prepare for war.
Yun Zheng told her to prepare for war against the entire world.
That was the worst-case scenario.
She asked him if the tribulation was simply the world seeking a reckoning against the Wendao Sword Sect.
Yun Zheng shook his head and said he did not know.
He had asked Master, who said the true enemy was not within Fanzhou, but outside it.
This Great Cataclysm was not an internal conflict, but an external invasion.
Enemies from the heavens? Extraterrestrial invasion? The collapse of the Great Dao?
That was all she and her senior brother could imagine.
Yun Zheng said that regardless of the enemy, the Wendao Sword Sect would inevitably become the spark for the conflict.
Thousands of years of hatred and karma would finally be settled.
The whole of Fanzhou wanted the Wendao Sword Sect to fall.
It was a simple truth: the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be struck by the wind.
When the tide of history surged, the most prominent entity would be hit first.
Jiang Wanyin understood and gave her promise to protect it with her life.
Yun Zheng said if a cataclysm must fall, let the fires of war burn in the Northern Borders.
This was the mission and destiny of the Wendao Sword Sect.
He told her that the sect protected not just the Northern Borders, nor just the human race.
The swords of the Wendao Sword Sect protected all living beings.
This was the original intent of their master and the foundation of the sect.
As Master once said, "Some things must be done by someone, so why can it not be me? If someone must die, let it be me first."
So, since Yun Zheng's death, Jiang Wanyin had been worried about this day.
She had found Xu Xian and told him to take his time with his cultivation.
She hoped he would reach the eighth stage slowly, allowing her more time to prepare.
But things did not go as planned.
Little Eleven was too fast.
She sighed, "How I wish Master and Senior Brother were wrong..."
Jiang Wanyin left.
Then, the bell of the Sword Pavilion rang.
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