Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Art of Ruinous Severance

“Pingchuan meant no offense, I hope you can forgive me.” Jiang Pingchuan retrieved his jade pendant, fastened it at his waist, felt it, and turned to leave.

“Wait, look at this.”

A thunderous boom erupted behind him at Fish Elder’s words. Jiang Pingchuan spun around in shock, only to see a towering mountain peak. At its summit stood a man and a woman, their clothes torn to rags, their bodies covered in wounds, their bearing utterly desperate.

Opposite them, a group of figures dressed in black relentlessly pressed their assault. Jiang Pingchuan’s eyes grew bloodshot, his fists clenching tight. Though the scene was blurred, he could feel with absolute certainty that the two embattled figures were his parents.

He could not make out the faces or details of their attackers, but he noted the emblem on their black robes—a stylized eagle. The vision flickered and vanished in an instant, yet the image seared itself into Jiang Pingchuan’s mind, playing over and over. It was a place he did not recognize, a place he yearned to reach but could not name.

“Where are they? Tell me—tell me, say it!” Jiang Pingchuan seized Fish Elder’s shoulders in a desperate grip. Fish Elder groaned in pain, struggling to break free before slumping into her rainbow-hued seat, gasping for breath.

“You truly wish to know?” Fish Elder pressed a hand to her chest, lips curling into a slight smile. At the sight of Jiang Pingchuan’s shattered composure, she felt a surge of satisfaction; after all, if things had gone otherwise, her own plans would have failed, and she would never see him again.

“Hurry and say it!” Jiang Pingchuan’s head hung low, eyes burning red, all calm and poise vanished. His mind reeled—he saw a mountain, black-robed figures locked in deadly combat with his parents. The vision had thrown his heart into chaos.

“Give me the seventh and eighth Dao Crystals within you, and I’ll help you find them,” Fish Elder said, blue eyes glimmering with greed. The way she looked at Jiang Pingchuan was as a hunter gazes upon long-anticipated prey.

Jiang Pingchuan paled at her words—the Dao Crystals, the seventh and eighth especially. He touched the field within his body where they lay.

Those two crystals had been silent since his arrival in this world, as if in a deep slumber, never once responding to his will.

“Fine. I will give them to you.” Jiang Pingchuan sat cross-legged, closing his eyes. The seventh and eighth Dao Crystals within him already surpassed what ordinary cultivators possessed.

He knew that extracting fully-formed Dao Crystals would severely damage his foundation, but those with only six still managed to succeed in establishing theirs. He had eight—losing two would not be fatal. As this thought crystallized, a golden script unfurled within his mind.

The Destruction Foundation Incantation—as its name suggested, it could shatter one’s Dao foundation and Dao Crystals, and could be used to destroy his own.

“Dao becomes the Way, Qi becomes the Form, disperse essence and soul, nourish all living things, shatter the foundation of the Way—command!”

A piercing ringing filled his ears.

“Aaah—” Jiang Pingchuan’s blood and energy surged backward, blood streaming from all seven orifices. Deafened, his sight gradually reddened until all light faded, and the liquid true Qi within his spiritual field churned and boiled.

He vomited mouthfuls of true Qi, his meridians shrinking with every breath expelled. All around him, plants and vines erupted into wild growth, soon wrapping him in a cocoon of flowers. His posture collapsed, and he lay on the ground, barely breathing.

As his true Qi was exhausted, Jiang Pingchuan raised trembling fingers to his forehead, his vacant eyes flickering with a faint hope.

He pressed his fingertips gently to the center of his brow. From his smooth, pale skin, fresh blood welled forth—thick, fragrant, tinged with silver, it ran down his cheek and dripped to the ground.

A brittle crackling sounded.

The seventh and eighth Dao Crystals fractured beneath the force of the Destruction Foundation Incantation. As the sound of shattering filled the air, Jiang Pingchuan slipped into a deep sleep, while Fish Elder watched the two translucent crystals float free from the cocoon.

They shrank rapidly, deprived of the nourishing essence of true Qi. Fish Elder caught them in her hand, her expression complicated. It was the first time she had seen Dao Crystals so clear, so colorless. Silver mist faded from around them—she knew it was the remnant aura of Jiang Pingchuan. Once that aura dissipated, the crystals would no longer be bound to him in any way.

“Well, I said all along you’d be the one to secure those two Dao Crystals,” came a sharp, venomous voice from the rainbow throne. Seated there was a figure masked with a dual-faced mask, clad in a black robe that concealed his form. His skin was jet-black, like ink, utterly devoid of luster, emitting only a faint black vapor. In his hand, a black-feathered fan waved gently. Fish Elder could almost sense the smirk hidden behind the mask, and felt only disdain.

“Now that you have them, will anything happen to him?” Fish Elder gripped the Dao Crystals tightly, glancing back at the cocooned Jiang Pingchuan. Though she could not cultivate or form Dao Crystals herself, she sensed that forcing a cultivator to shatter fully-formed crystals would surely damage their foundation, making the path ahead immeasurably difficult.

“Him? We have the Dao Crystals—why trouble ourselves with his fate? Give them to me.”

The man rose, extending a hand as black as midnight. His five long fingers lacked any palm, resembling the claw of some great bird rather than a human hand. This claw was once the White Nether Claw of Thousand-Feathered Crane, but had been seized, refined, and corrupted by the very figure before her.

“Tell me first—where is Thousand-Feathered Crane?” Fish Elder snapped, hiding the crystals behind her. She felt a knot in her heart. Everything she had done—helping this man seize Jiang Pingchuan’s Dao Crystals—had all been at his design. Now, all she wanted was news of Thousand-Feathered Crane.

“He’s alive and well. If anything, taking his venomous claw saved him from going mad with obsession. Give me the crystals, and I will take you to him.”

The black-robed man caressed the beast claw with his normal hand, clicking his tongue in admiration. It was no mere claw, but the distilled essence of an immortal crane from ages past. To obtain it was fortune indeed.

“Is he… is he truly all right?” Fish Elder opened her hand, offering up the two glimmering Dao Crystals. The masked man snatched them greedily, and though his face was hidden, his aura radiated an unmistakable hunger she could feel in her bones.

“Him? Not so well. He’s on the verge of death and oblivion.” The man tucked the crystals into his sleeve, his tone mocking and cold. Fish Elder’s face fell, her anxiety plain. It was clear Thousand-Feathered Crane meant everything to her.

The black-robed figure swished his sleeves, stepping close to Fish Elder. The beast claw grazed the soft, pale skin of her chest. She gritted her teeth but did not shrink away—not from any fondness for the man, but because this was the first time the beast claw had touched her. She loathed the black-robed man, but not the claw itself. It still bore the aura of its true master. She ignored the hand behind it, savoring only the remnant essence of the White Nether Claw.

“I have given you the Dao Crystals. Now, where is he? Will you take me to him?” Fish Elder’s voice was hoarse and grief-stricken, her heart a tumult. She had harmed Jiang Pingchuan, destroyed his Dao Crystals, all for her own selfish ends, forgetting the oath she had sworn at her awakening by the world’s primordial essence.

“I can, of course. With these Dao Crystals I can finally break the damned shackles of this continent and regain my peak strength. Every cultivator dreams of immortality. If you are willing to give me your Undying Exquisite Heart, I’ll take you to him at once. What do you say?” The black-robed man chuckled behind his mask, reaching towards her chest.

But suddenly, his normal hand was seized, gripped so tightly he could not break free.