55: I see

This thought was like a sudden thunderclap, exploding in Zhang Xuanyi's mind. It shook him so hard his blood surged, a sweetness rising in his throat as he nearly coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Saving the Tianshi Mansion?

Could a Grand Elder of the Tianshi Mansion, who was trying to suppress Corrupt Qi with forbidden arts and was willing to have his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, be the culprit who slaughtered nine generations of stall owners to prolong his life with the living?

This logic simply didn't hold up!

Just as his mind was reeling, that blurry talisman shadow floating on the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion—the "Mountain Suppressing Talisman" condensed from Li Zhiyai's lifelong cultivation and a drop of Pseudo-Three Caverns True Qi Liquid—actually drifted toward the street stall at the bottom of the mountain like a guttering candle in the wind, flickering yet incredibly determined.

It was like a traveler who had been lost for a long time and finally found the way home. Carrying a resolute and tragic will, it passed through layers of Restrictions and over solemn guards, drifting silently through the night of the Tianshi Mansion.

All the Taoists patrolling the night only felt a light breeze brush past their faces; none could perceive this talisman shadow that contained monstrous Evil Qi and supreme Power Of Will.

Zhang Xuanyi's pupils constricted as he stared fixedly at the approaching speck of light.

Beside him, Su Qingzhu had already turned pale with horror. She instinctively grabbed his sleeve, her voice tight. "It... it's coming over! Zhang Xuanyi, this thing isn't right. The Evil Qi is too heavy; it's almost materializing! Close the stall quickly! This is no longer a trade—this is a demand for your life!"

The Old Earth Vein Turtle also poked its head out from under the stall cloth, its cloudy eyes full of solemnity. "Kid, this talisman is no good thing. It carries the decay of a lineage's Luck and is wrapped in the death wish of a dying man. Once tainted, the Karma will be immense. Your little stall... might not be able to withstand it!"

However, Zhang Xuanyi remained motionless.

He didn't close the stall, nor did he retreat.

His gaze passed over the drifting talisman shadow, as if he could pierce through thousands of feet of distance to look directly at that blind, lonely figure on the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

Why would someone who wanted to save the Tianshi Mansion use such sinister and overbearing methods?

Why would the trade request of someone burdened with the wish to save the world be introduced through the "Dao-Protecting Token" left behind by his Master?

There must be a trick in this!

Or rather, there was a truth hidden here even more terrifying than a Cloth Master slaughtering others to prolong their life!

"Buzz—"

Finally, the talisman shadow drifted before the street stall and hovered in mid-air, vibrating slightly.

It did not drop down rashly, like a guest standing outside the door waiting for the host's permission.

Above the talisman shadow, the magnificent aura of suppressing mountains and rivers intertwined with the extreme Yin and Evil Qi of a collapsing Dragon vein, forming a bizarre balance.

Amidst the flickering light and shadow, it was as if one could see countless vengeful souls wailing and hear the prayers of ten thousand people chanting.

This contradictory and twisted scene nearly suffocated Su Qingzhu standing nearby.

Just then, the long-dormant surface of the street stall cloth glowed with golden light once more!

The dao market ledger covering it moved without wind, flipping noisily to a new page.

This time, what surfaced in the air was no longer cold laws, but lines of wild cursive characters burning with golden flames. They carried an unquestionable authority, as if appraising and judging the talisman shadow:

"Order Type: Wish to Sustain the Vein."

"Item Requested: Recognition from the Dao Market, allowing the performance of the 'Demon-Suppressing Heaven-Mending' method once."

"Cost Submitted: One bottle of Pseudo-Three Caverns True Qi Liquid (Paid), three volumes of forbidden books from the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion (Pending), one portion of Seal talisman ash (Verified as the token of 'Zhang Yuan')."

Seeing this, Zhang Xuanyi's heart sank abruptly.

The ledger had confirmed it; that talisman ash was indeed his Master's work!

But immediately following that, the text appearing on the ledger made his blood nearly freeze solid:

"Additional Cost Assessment in progress..."

"Assessment complete. Additional Cost: The Dao foundation, soul, and three hundred years of Lifespan of the Tianshi Mansion's Zhixuan Pavilion Grand Elder, 'Li Zhiyai', as well as... the 'Nine-Turn Pure Yang Qi' nurtured within the corpses of the 'Nine Generations of Stall Owners' buried by his own hand beneath the Nine Springs!"

In an instant, all the contradictions and confusion had an answer!

It wasn't that Li Zhiyai didn't want to break the Restriction; he wanted to use a grander, more tragic method to complete an earth-shattering "Restriction breaking"!

He wasn't the murderer; he... was the sacrifice!

Or rather, he was the final sacrifice!

The so-called suppression of Corrupt Qi was nothing but a front!

The true purpose was to sacrifice himself along with the "Nine-Turn Pure Yang Qi" transformed from the lifelong cultivation of those nine generations of stall owners to some terrifying existence!

And that talisman ash left by his Master wasn't a distress signal at all—it was a warning!

A warning to him not to take this order! Not to become the final push for this sacrifice!

"So that's how it is... so that's how it is..."

Zhang Xuanyi muttered to himself, his eyes bloodshot. "Nine generations of Cloth Masters, all martyred in secret chambers. They weren't offerings; they were fuel! Li Zhiyai, you are not the one who slaughtered the masters; you are the gravekeeper! You guarded those nine corpses until you yourself were about to become fuel!"

Having figured it all out, he felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

The waters of the Tianshi Mansion were even deeper and darker than he had imagined!

Meanwhile, on the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

Li Zhiyai seemed to sense something. His withered face turned toward the direction of the street stall, and his cloudy, blind eyes seemed to shed two lines of bloody tears.

He opened his mouth, and a spray of black blood erupted, splashing onto the scrolls before him with a corrosive "sizzle."

"The Dao Market... really... saw through everything..." His voice was weak, yet it carried a smile of relief. "Good... good... Zhang Yuan, oh Zhang Yuan, you took a good disciple... Unfortunately, he is one step too late after all..."

Before his voice finished, the clothes over his heart spontaneously ignited. A "Seal" character brand, tattooed with blood and resentment, was writhing frantically on his skin like a living thing, greedily devouring his vitality.

In front of the street stall.

Zhang Xuanyi suddenly looked up at the still-hovering talisman shadow.

By then, his Master's disappearance would become an eternal mystery, and he would have to face a terrifying enemy who had devoured the lifelong cultivation of ten masters.

He couldn't retreat!

At this moment, he was calmer than ever before.

"Su Qingzhu, get back!" he barked. His voice wasn't loud, but it was filled with an unquestionable resolve.

Su Qingzhu was startled. She wanted to say something, but was intimidated by Zhang Xuanyi's flaming eyes and instinctively took several steps back.

Zhang Xuanyi took a deep breath. No longer paying attention to the talisman shadow, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the "Heart Imprint Yellow Paper" he had drawn with his own blood on the stall.

This yellow paper, which replicated the Origin of his Master's token, was currently resonating with the talisman ash, becoming slightly hot.

He didn't choose to accept or reject the trade; he chose a third path!

He was going to flip the chessboard!

"The Dao Market has the Dao Market's rules, and I, Zhang Xuanyi, have my own rules!"

His voice was ice-cold as he forced out another drop of heart's blood and dabbed it onto the "Heart Imprint Yellow Paper."

"I don't care who you are or what you've planned. Since you used my Master's token to set this trap, be prepared to be uprooted by me!"

"Order!"

With the command, the Heart Imprint Yellow Paper burst into flames. But the resulting ashes did not dissipate; instead, they condensed in the air into a gray beam of light a hundred times thicker than the previous Qi threads. Like an arrow from a bow, it ignored spatial distance and shot fiercely toward the Scripture Pavilion!

Its target was not Li Zhiyai, nor even the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion!

What it pointed toward was the place where the "Dao-Protecting Token" talisman ash, acting as the source, had truly been created!

It was the place of his Master Zhang Yuan's final secluded meditation!

He was going to strike at the root to save the situation!

However, just as that gray beam of light was about to shoot into the depths of the mountain gate, a sudden change occurred!

In the direction of the Scripture Pavilion's seventh floor, the moonlight seemed to be distorted by an invisible force.

At the window where Li Zhiyai sat cross-legged, light and shadow flickered; it seemed something had been disturbed.

Immediately after, an indescribable, terrifying aura—as if coming from the depths of the Nine Serenities—flashed and vanished.

A hundred yards from the Scripture Pavilion, the gray beam of light suddenly stalled in mid-air, as if it had hit an invisible wall, unable to move an inch further.

At the front of the beam, a blurry outline was slowly emerging. In the center of that outline, there seemed to be a character.

A character even more ancient and more sinister than the one branded on Li Zhiyai's chest... the character for "Seal."