180: Chapter 180 Master, I forgive you!

Fairy Jiyue was bewildered. She had already borrowed the power of the moonlight to enter the Moon Immortal State. More importantly, the white crescent moon she had just unleashed was formed by condensing thousands of moonlight Sword Qi. Even if the opponent were an old ghost in the Spirit Transformation Realm, logically, they should have been slashed into blood mist on the spot!

Unexpectedly, that drunkard opposite her blocked it with just a single punch!

Dust-Forgetting Master and Fairy Jiyue refused to yield to each other. Both exerted force from their feet simultaneously, leaving several afterimages in the air as they clashed once more!

In the Void Realm of the Southern Territory, a dense series of crisp metallic clashing sounds rang out continuously, making one's eardrums vibrate violently and ache faintly!

On the other side of the battlefield! After his body experienced a brief rigidity caused by his brain stalling, Immortal Master Xuan Qing rapidly formed hand seals. A palm-sized golden bell slowly flew out from Immortal Master Xuan Qing's Sea of Consciousness.

The palm-sized golden bell instantly grew to a hundred zhang in size. Dense golden scriptures flowed across the surface of the golden bell, protecting Immortal Master Xuan Qing tightly within.

That's right! This golden bell was none other than the Chaotian Sect's treasure, the chaotian bell!

However, the true form of the chaotian bell had long been shattered by Jiang Lan using eighteen 'Top-Grade Nascent Soul Realm Attack Talismans'. What Immortal Master Xuan Qing had manifested was merely the spirit of the chaotian bell.

"Boom!" Accompanied by a deep, resonant toll of the bell, a thousand-zhang-long Nether Dragon slammed fiercely into the hundred-zhang golden bell, creating a massive spiderweb-like crack!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Three more deep tolls rang out, and three thousand-zhang-long Nether Dragons with ferocious expressions slammed fiercely into the hundred-zhang golden bell!

"Crack!" Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal shattering, the spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread across the hundred-zhang golden bell. After a few breaths, it completely crumbled into golden dust, dissipating into the night sky!

Immortal Master Xuan Qing's life-bound golden bell was destroyed, and he was instantly struck by a backlash. His expression changed drastically, a sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying!

Immediately after! Ghostly mist suddenly filled the air! The white moonlight shone down quietly, but was torn apart by the ghost mist into flickering halos, appearing exceptionally eerie and terrifying, making one's spine chill!

From within the ghost mist, a thousand-zhang headless ghost corpse slowly walked out! The ghost corpse was entirely rotten, reeking of a pungent stench of decay, and was carrying a blood-dripping ghost head blade over five hundred zhang long!

Immortal Master Xuan Qing was completely dumbfounded. To be honest, he wasn't afraid of death; after all, having come from a background as an assassin, he had long regarded life and death with indifference.

But seeing this thousand-zhang headless ghost corpse, completely rotten, carrying a blood-dripping ghost head blade, walking slowly toward him—who wouldn't be afraid?

With each step the headless ghost corpse took, the ground of the Southern Territory shook and trembled, dust rose, and pebbles bounced continuously.

Suddenly! The headless ghost corpse stopped at a position about 300 zhang in front of Immortal Master Xuan Qing! The headless ghost corpse raised the five-hundred-plus-zhang blood-dripping ghost head blade high above its head and slashed down fiercely toward Immortal Master Xuan Qing!

Watching the ghost head blade slashing down toward him, Immortal Master Xuan Qing knew he was going to die!

He suddenly ripped the blood-soaked God of Killing jade pendant from his chest, gripped it in his palm, and looked into the Void Realm. His eyes were filled with reminiscence, and two trails of tears actually slid from the corners of the eyes of this former 'Living Yama' assassin!

"Revered Master, I forgive you for exterminating my entire clan! I hope that in the next life, and the life after that, we never meet again! Yu Hengzi, I return this life to your Shu Mountain; I, Xuan Qing, no longer owe you anything!"

After saying this, Immortal Master Xuan Qing slowly closed his eyes, quietly welcoming the arrival of death!

Immortal Master Xuan Qing, whose real name was Chao Jingran, was born into a wealthy merchant family in the Taixu Realm. His ancestors had been merchants for generations, operating thousands of shops across over two hundred towns in the Taixu Realm.

As the saying goes, where there are people, there are grievances, and where there are grievances, there is Jianghu. To increase profits, the Chao family dabbled in the Medicinal Pill business, incurring the hatred of the then-prominent Medicinal Pill family, the Ji family!

The Ji family spent a huge sum to hire the top-tier assassin 'Silent' from the Taixu Realm's Shadow Gate to slaughter the entire Chao family!

'Silent' was famous in Jianghu for three types of silence. First, killing without a sound; he could infiltrate like a ghost and slay his target without making a single noise. Second, his blade was too fast; those killed often couldn't make a sound before being slain! Third, total extermination; leaving no one alive, after killing everyone, the entire residence would fall into dead silence! At this moment, silence was more profound than sound!

However! When 'Silent' infiltrated the Chao family and slaughtered all 200 members of the household, just as he was preparing to leave, the sound of a baby's giggles unexpectedly came from a hidden room!

'Silent', holding his blood-dripping blade, followed the sound and pushed open the door. He pulled open a brown wooden cabinet and was instantly stunned! There was a baby in swaddling clothes, sucking on its little finger, looking at him with his blood-dripping blade, giggling in a milky voice, its eyes full of joy.

At that very moment, 'Silent's' long-frozen heart melted, and he felt a touch of compassion!

The reason 'Silent' was able to become a top-tier assassin of the Shadow Gate was that he had built his reputation literally upon the corpses of the dead! For so many years, everyone who saw him felt only fear, despair, and collapse. This was the first time he had seen someone giggle upon seeing him, and it was actually a baby!

'Silent' brought the Chao family baby back to the Shadow Gate and took him as his Personal Disciple. The two were like father and son, and their bond was extremely close! For the first time in his life, 'Silent' felt the taste of family affection.

That's right! This baby was none other than the future Ancestor Chaotian, Immortal Master Xuan Qing.

However, all assassins trained by the Shadow Gate had a coming-of-age ceremony called the 'Thousand Blood Rite'! To put it bluntly, it meant that over 1,000 newly adult Shadow Gate assassins would chase and kill each other on a desolate island. The only assassin who survived would have completed the 'Thousand Blood Rite'! Only then would they be considered a truly qualified assassin of the Shadow Gate and be able to carry out assassination missions!

After so many years of living together, 'Silent' had long regarded Immortal Master Xuan Qing as his own son; he had developed genuine feelings! And for an assassin, feelings were a luxury, existing like a poison!

Time passed like a white horse galloping past a crevice. The baby from the Chao family had grown into an eighteen-year-old sunny and handsome young man. Before Immortal Master Xuan Qing participated in the 'Thousand Blood Rite', 'Silent' gave all of his Magic Treasure to Immortal Master Xuan Qing to wear.

In the Taixu Realm's Shadow Gate, on the roof of a pavilion that towered into the clouds, sat two figures, one black and one white. 'Silent' wore a black outfit, and next to him sat a man in white named 'Soul Chaser'. The two often cooperated to execute difficult missions. 'Silent' was responsible for infiltration and assassination, while 'Soul Chaser' was responsible for guarding outside and hunting down those who escaped. Although there was no real brotherly love between assassins, their relationship was quite good.

Above the night sky, the moonlight cast by an imperfect bright moon was torn apart by clouds, turning into faint halos that shrouded their bodies.