Volume 1, Chapter 69 – Treachery

As expected… one of the Demon‑Immortal Dao’s leaders was Chai Jingyuan.

Crouched behind a bend in the rock wall, Bai Xiang happened to witness the Demon‑Immortal Dao’s “infighting,” and she heard Chai Xuan’s peculiar way of addressing “Protector Yi.”

They were already at the core of the Demon‑Breeding Ground. She’d been inside the belly of that giant Egg Case earlier; guided down by the cicada demon, she found this open cavern—straight‑line distance was probably less than ten meters.

Bai Xiang had already wondered: even if you forced The Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi to point back toward Chai Jingyuan, why would it show up on a Demon‑Immortal Dao underling?

And it was a copied text at that, looking exactly like homework hastily assigned by the higher‑ups—“take it home and memorize, translate, recite.”

Now the truth was plain—this “Protector Yi” was Chai Jingyuan in disguise. After stepping down to “nurse his health,” he hadn’t been idle; he changed his face, infiltrated the Demon‑Immortal Dao, and even made a name for himself.

He must have learned of the Nine‑Tribulation Method from Huang Ye’s own Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi.

After that, in pursuit of the complete wondrous method, he abused his position—under the Protector’s title—to order the Demon‑Immortal Dao to gather the third version compiled by Chan Master Wenluo.

Not only did he study it daily himself, he ordered subordinates and servants to copy and recite it—no doubt hoping for “group brainstorming,” seeking inspiration from Wenluo’s commentaries.

It wasn’t hard for Bai Xiang to see why Chai Jingyuan did something that looked so scattershot. The logic was simple—he suspected Chan Master Wenluo was also a reincarnation of Daokong Chan Master.

Nine lives, nine tribulations… sure.

But there was no hard rule fixing that number.

Suppose reincarnation truly existed… If in one cycle Daokong had just reincarnated and died in infancy before doing anything—would that life even count?

Bai Xiang figured probably not.

Since the limit wasn’t rigid, who could say… After forging the “Zhenyuan” Sword, would Daokong Chan Master reincarnate yet again after death?

If so, then once past‑life insight awakened, the reincarnated self would likely seek to complete the “incomplete methods” of the prior life.

From that angle, Chai Jingyuan’s motive made perfect sense.

He believed the third version of The Scripture of Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi was also one of the nine methods!

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There’s a “Cicada Molt Method”—why not a “Transforming‑Qi Method”?

There’s no telling with things like this.

What if?

What if it was true—wouldn’t missing it be a lifetime of regret?

“Squelch!”

With a hard flick of the wrist, the blade split the skull from below, and Ao Lin’s body thumped to the ground, fully exposing Yi Tianzhi—no, Chai Jingyuan’s—features.

“Where are Huang Qian’s people?” There was little excitement on his face; he calmly asked after his daughter’s results.

Three forces stood in the way of the father‑daughter plan: the Demon‑Immortal Dao, the Qizhou University Sword Institute, and the Chilong Army.

He had already used the bronze cicada lure to draw the swarms and wipe out the Demon‑Immortal Dao; he’d kept this lone sprout, Ao Lin, only because he needed his essence‑blood to keep warming the Jade Phoenix Sword.

As for the Qizhou University Sword Institute—the Benling forces—he’d just seen their fate as well.

Chai Xuan had made fine use of foreknowledge—she maneuvered the most troublesome, Liang Wenbo, into grievous injury, so the sword embryo could drain him dry.

The other Benling disciples were all unconscious, so the only remaining variable was the Chilong Army.

“They should be dead too,” Chai Xuan said with a smile. “Proof is that Liang Wenbo led a team down alone—the two groups got split.”

Both she and Chai Jingyuan knew how terrifying an erupting insect tide outside could be; even an intact squad would struggle to hold—let alone a divided one.

Odds were the Chilong Army had been swallowed whole.

“Don’t get careless,” Chai Jingyuan frowned. “Have you forgotten what I told you? What you haven’t seen with your own eyes doesn’t count!”

“…Yes, Father. Understood.”

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Chai Xuan’s smile went stiff; she bowed her head and bent the knee in salute.

“Mm.” Chai Jingyuan nodded, tugged at his beard, and instructed, “Tell me the process.”

Chai Xuan didn’t dare disobey and described how she’d used the terrain mechanisms and deceived Liang Wenbo—drawing frequent nods from Chai Jingyuan.

“Good!” He was very pleased with his daughter.

“To achieve great things, trifles of benevolence and righteousness, feelings and niceties, aren’t worth a fig!”

“You’ve learned well—seems you truly took your father’s words to heart!”

“But that Bai girl is truly unsettling…”

After praising Chai Xuan, Chai Jingyuan lowered his head with a frown.

Truth be told, if he didn’t know his daughter’s temper—knew she wouldn’t lie about this—he would never have believed Lü Ran died under Bai Xiang’s sword.

He had long designed her death—after all, one bronze cicada was handed to her—but how does a Three‑Tribulation body get slain by a Sword‑Track student?

“Here’s what we’ll do.” He told Chai Xuan, “Go ask the ‘Cicada Ancestor.’ Doesn’t it hear outside movement through sound waves? Ask it where Huang Qian’s people are.”

“Where they died is immaterial. So long as it’s within the Illusory Realm, life force and blood will flow back to the Egg Case—that’s one reason we sought them…”

“But we must confirm they’re dead!”

“Go, quickly!”

“Yes!” Chai Xuan bowed, then raised the longsword she held with both hands to present it.

“This is the ‘Zhenyuan’ sword embryo.”

“The Cicada Ancestor dislikes seeing it—please keep it for me, Father.”

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“Mm…” Chai Jingyuan took the sword; the edge fell into a sliver of light, finally revealing the blade in full.

Han‑style jian, with four cutting ridges.

The grip bore about nine raised rings, and the blade’s central ridge was dense with Sanskrit inscriptions; the edge itself shone frost‑white.

Bai Xiang looked down at the cicada demon, which whispered to her as well.

“They’re coming to find me… I’ll trick them; you hold steady first…”

“Remember—don’t strike until they begin the cicada molt and forging…”

Bai Xiang nodded, and the cicada demon flew up the other side of the tunnel and vanished.

This damned place really did connect in all directions.

Left alone, Bai Xiang wanted to poke her head out to see what Chai Jingyuan was doing, but worried that when someone was alone their focus sharpened—and any rash move would get her noticed.

Then… try her spirit‑soul?

She’d tested it—her spirit‑soul could leave the body, but not far; at most within half a meter around her—a big limitation.

But at a moment like this, half a meter would do.

She wasn’t going to strike—just scout.

She acted on the thought: a transparent wisp only she could see slipped from her body, extended to just under half a meter, and caught sight of Chai Jingyuan meditating in the cave, the Zhenyuan sword embryo and his own longsword laid across his knees.

That in itself was nothing—but then, locking on with her spirit‑soul behind him, Bai Xiang couldn’t help her eyes going wide.

It was a transparent figure very much like her spirit‑soul.

Not nearly as clear or solid—its form frayed like thin smoke—but she could still make out a robed monk.

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Its lower half, like a layer of mist, coiled around the sword embryo; its upper body pressed palms together, eyes bulging, fixed on Chai Jingyuan as if on a priceless treasure.

And Chai Jingyuan seemed utterly unaware—he couldn’t see the monk’s shade at all.

He was Daokong.

On a hunch, Bai Xiang guessed the monk’s identity.

Forge the Sword Method.

Cicada Molt.

Relics (sarira).

Sword embryo.

Add in the reincarnation legend—and the Ancestral Ground lost for who‑knew‑what reason.

The clues linked into a whole in her mind; a chill crept through Bai Xiang’s heart, and she finally grasped what “the human heart is treacherous” truly felt like.

Perhaps there was no reincarnation at all…

She quickly reeled her spirit‑soul back in, held her breath as much as possible, and let not a wisp of aura leak out.

And that cicada demon… Did Chai Xuan consume the Demon Pool it offered?

Heh~

Thinking it through, Bai Xiang’s lips quirked.

If her guess was right, that might not be a good thing at all.