After passing Xishan Qinxue Pavilion, one reaches the Fragrant Mist Cave.

After passing the Fragrant Mist Cave, Xianglu Peak becomes faintly visible at the foot of the mountain.

By moonlight, Chen Ji raised his hand to look at the wound on his wrist. The wound had clearly healed completely, yet the pursuing wildfires behind him still lingered.

Horn blasts echoed, growing closer and closer. Had he misjudged?

No, previously the Mountain Rangers had followed his tracks, their paths completely overlapping.

After the wound appeared, the Five-Fiend Soldiers’ pursuit of him was no longer constrained by “clues.”

His judgment was not wrong. But if the wound had healed, how could his pursuers still know his location?

The sky had changed from black to grey, and the stars were slowly fading behind the firmament.

Chen Ji had no time to ponder; he could only gamble that Xianglu Peak held what he sought.

The mountain slope grew progressively steeper, almost vertical.

Chen Ji grabbed the trunks of the slanted pine trees, scrambling upwards using both his hands and feet.

When he reached halfway up the mountain, he sensed three clumps of wild fire attacking.

Three Mountain Rangers moved like geckos on the mountain face; climbing was effortless for them.

As long as there was even a tiny crack on the cliff face, they could traverse it as if on flat ground.

The Mountain Rangers outflanked Chen Ji, climbing to a higher position.

Chen Ji activated his sword seed and thrust it towards a Mountain Ranger. Just as the sword seed was about to strike, the Ranger suddenly leapt, swinging from one pine tree to another.

The sword seed struck the stone wall, chipping off fragments that tumbled down the mountain.

Just as Chen Ji was about to pursue the Ranger on his right, the two Rangers on his left suddenly let go. They wrapped their legs around pine tree branches, hanging upside down from the cliff face, simultaneously drawing their bone bows and firing a volley of bone arrows.

Chen Ji’s heart tightened; he quickly jumped onto the branch he was holding, pushed off with his feet, and leaped onto another pine tree.

The pine tree he had just been on was repeatedly struck by bone arrows, breaking in half and falling down the mountain.

Chen Ji had no time to think; he leaped from one scattered pine tree to another, heading up the mountain, with bone arrows pursuing him.

However, the mountain face didn’t always offer footholds. When Chen Ji leaped onto the third tree, above him was a bare stretch of rock wall, with no further points of leverage.

In the nick of time, Chen Ji feigned another leap but didn’t exert force in his legs; he merely jumped slightly and then dropped back onto the original tree trunk. The bone arrows barely grazed his scalp before embedding themselves in the rock wall above his head.

The Mountain Rangers paused in surprise, watching as Chen Ji stepped on the bone arrows stuck in the rock wall and leaped onto the cliff face, as if they had intentionally built a ladder to heaven for him.

“This fellow…”

Above the rock wall, the slope was no longer as steep, but rather leveled out.

Only sixty zhang remained to the summit!

Chen Ji sprinted through the shadowy mountain forest. But at that moment, he suddenly activated his sword seed, thrusting it towards the trunk of a pine tree ahead. It was just an ordinary tree, with nothing around it.

The sword seed pierced through the soft tree trunk, emerging from the other side and forcing the Soul Collector hidden behind the tree to dodge. In that instant, Chen Ji abruptly changed direction, circling around the Soul Collector from the side.

The Soul Collector was behind Chen Ji, the bone skull it held in its hand shrieked, “You really can see our movements, who exactly are you?!”

Chen Ji did not reply, running towards the summit without looking back.

The black sword seed revolved around him, like a planet.

Horn blasts sounded again from behind, more powerful and resonant than before.

Only twenty zhang remained to the summit!

Chen Ji suddenly saw a centurion standing on a large rock ahead, holding a saber, blocking the path to the summit. The rest of the Five-Fiend Soldiers on the path converged, making escape impossible.

As Chen Ji approached, the centurion suddenly raised his saber high above his head and brought it down with mighty force.

The fierce wind from the saber strike instantly reached him from eight zhang away. Chen Ji hid behind a pine tree, but the saber wind completely stripped all the pine needles, and the tree trunk was worn down to a mere stump, as if scoured by sandstorms for a thousand years.

Chen Ji’s upper garments were also torn to tatters. The saber’s aura cut more than ten gashes into his body.

Yet, amidst this fierce wind, the black sword seed flew against the wind, arriving before the centurion.

The centurion raised his saber to chop, but a sudden anomaly occurred: one sword seed abruptly split into two before him, like nimble fish dodging the blade. One aimed for his eye socket, the other flew towards the back of his head.

Two sword seeds?

The wild fire beneath the centurion’s bone mask flickered wildly. He had seen it with his own eyes and was certain these were indeed sword seeds.

But who had ever heard of one person cultivating two sword seeds?

In a flash, the centurion forcibly twisted his face, causing the first sword seed to strike his bone mask, leaving deep sword marks.

The eight-foot long saber in his hand whistled, forming a circle as he spun it from in front of him to behind his head, perfectly striking the second sword seed.

In that instant, two resounding clangs echoed, and both sword seeds were knocked away to a distance.

The centurion was indeed the most formidable among the Five-Fiend Soldiers. Even though Chen Ji had hidden his two sword seeds for so long, they still returned without success.

But the centurion had too many doubts in his mind. He saw that the wound on Chen Ji’s wrist had also healed. No wonder the scent of blood and living souls had just disappeared.

A seemingly immortal body, the ability to discern the movements of the Five-Fiend Soldiers – all these things made the centurion’s mind reel. Yet this person could also wield sword seeds, and two of them?

How could the Way of Mutual Generation and Restraint in this world possibly manifest in a single person?

It absolutely should not appear in the same person! The centurion, holding his long saber, asked in a deep voice, “How do you, young man, possess two sword seeds? Who exactly are you? Do you recognize us?”

Chen Ji did not answer. He had already taken advantage of the centurion blocking the two sword seeds to circle around to the side of the large rock.

The centurion wanted to move and intercept Chen Ji, but the two sword seeds entangled his form, revolving around him at a distance of nine chi, like twin stars.

He moved one step, and the sword seeds followed him one step, waiting for an opportunity to stab his head.

The centurion watched Chen Ji’s climbing back and sneered, “Where did these two little flies come from?”

He casually swung his long saber, unleashing a fierce wind that resembled a tornado, sweeping the two sword seeds off their path and sending them flying over ten zhang away.

“Chase him, he can’t escape.”

The centurion led all the Five-Fiend Soldiers to surround the summit.

On the mountainside, Mr. Liao, with his hands clasped within his wide sleeves, quietly looked up towards the summit.

A loyal guard asked in a low voice, “Mr. Liao, should we go up and attack together?”

Mr. Liao calmly replied, “No need. This young man, in his panic, has chosen the wrong path and is sure to die. We only need to wait patiently. It’s strange, with so many escape routes, why did he specifically choose to run to Xianglu Peak? Isn’t that just seeking death?”

The loyal guard said nothing more.

Mr. Liao glanced sideways at them. “How long have you all followed His Highness?”

One loyal guard cupped his hands and replied, “To answer you, Mr. Liao, we have followed His Highness since he was fourteen years old, which is now thirteen years.”

Mr. Liao smiled. “When this matter is concluded, you may rest. When you reach Taiyuan Prefecture, there will be a merchant waiting for you. You will pretend to be clerks in his trading firm and go to Guyuan. Beyond Guyuan is a vast world. I have already prepared houses and beautiful wives for you in Fengsheng Prefecture, where you can raise children.”

The twelve loyal guards exchanged glances. One of them whispered, “Dare I ask, Mr. Liao, have you truly prepared an escape route for us? We are not afraid of death. As long as it is for the Ning Dynasty’s territories and the unification of the two dynasties, we are willing to die to protect His Highness’s secrets. We only ask that Mr. Liao tell us the truth, and perhaps grant us a bowl of wine before we die.”

Mr. Liao’s eyes narrowed slightly, but his face wore a reassuring smile as he said, “What nonsense are you speaking? His Highness is kind-hearted; how could he cut off your path to life? Don’t worry, it won’t be too late to drink wine when you reach Fengsheng Prefecture.”

The twelve loyal guards said nothing more.

Mr. Liao looked up towards the summit. A streak of white morning light emerged from the outline of the mountain peak. “The sky is about to brighten,” he said.

Chen Ji, surrounded at the summit, had absolutely no chance of survival.

The next moment, Mr. Liao suddenly flicked his sleeve. As the sleeve brushed past his face, he donned a red-faced, fanged mask. His entire body transformed into a cloud of black smoke, which then lunged towards one loyal guard after another.

Inside the black smoke, there seemed to be countless faces and hands. Once it enveloped a loyal guard, in just three breaths’ time, the guard would collapse to the ground.

As the black smoke, like an ominous wind, swirled towards the next loyal guard, it revealed the fallen guards lying in the mountain forest, their faces devoid of features.

Only a complete, smooth patch of skin remained. As the black smoke churned, it instantly eliminated six people.

One loyal guard roared, “You all, run separately!”

He drew the sword from his waist and slashed at the black smoke, but the black smoke circumvented the blade and wrapped itself around the loyal guard.

After three breaths, the black smoke flew towards the next person with extreme speed, rendering the loyal guards’ attempt to flee separately useless.

The mountainside gradually fell silent. The last loyal guard, knowing he had no chance of escape before a Seeker of the Way official, grit his teeth and turned back to look at the black smoke. “Why are you killing us all?” he asked.

The black smoke settled before him, revealing Mr. Liao’s figure.

Mr. Liao, with his hands clasped within his sleeves, calmly said, “The moment you asked that question, you already harbored rebellious thoughts. Why ask another word? A true loyal guard would not ask.”

The loyal guard, his face contorted in rage, retorted, “You led us twelve out alone, wasn’t it precisely to separate us from our comrades and make it easier to kill us and silence us? You old man have long harbored murderous intent; do you really think we couldn’t see it?”

Mr. Liao walked towards him, step by step, calmly stating, “His Highness is a rare enlightened ruler. What he cannot bear to do, I, this old man, naturally do on his behalf, so that his hands need not be stained with blood. And you, too, are blemishes on this world; I shall personally erase you for His Highness.”

The loyal guard sneered, “Seven years ago, the fifth-rank Prefect of Shaan Province discovered he was privately minting copper coins and was poisoned by us in his concubine’s private residence. Four years ago, a seventh-rank Censor in the capital discovered he was secretly associating with scholars from humble backgrounds and also died of poison at home. You must have personally carried out these acts… And the thirty-four members of the Chen family? With such a malicious heart, what kind of enlightened ruler is he?”

Mr. Liao sighed, “To achieve great things, one must not be constrained by minor details. As the saying goes, ‘the winner takes all.’ If one becomes the victor, naturally no one will record these matters in history. Do you truly believe that emperors throughout history achieved success solely through open strategies?”

The loyal guard said in a deep voice, “We don’t understand these grand philosophies. We only know that he is definitely not an enlightened ruler.”

Mr. Liao smiled. “Your minds are already in disarray, which is why I cannot let you live.”

As his words fell, he transformed into a cloud of black smoke, enveloping the loyal guard.