It was nighttime over the Great Azure.

Su Yi and company emerged from the mist-shrouded whirlpool and returned to the riverbank.

“Where is Jin Xiaochuan?” Su Yi’s gaze swept the area, and he asked calmly. 

“Your Excellency, this humble one is over here,” said a voice from far away.

Before long, the head of the Bluefish Gang, Jin Xiaochuan, dashed over. When he saw that Su Yi and his companions were all safe, a deep sense of awe arose within his heart.

They’d ventured into the tiger’s den, only to emerge without so much as a scratch. They really are like gods or immortals!

Su Yi glanced at Ning Sihua. “In a bit, you can take them back on your bird. I’ll carry Lingxue back over land.” 

“Why not travel together?” NIng Sihua was stunned.

Su Yi arched his brow. “Didn’t you say that your mount could only seat three people?”

Ning Sihua couldn’t help but break out into a grin. “That was just an excuse; I didn’t want to travel with a little girl like Zheng Muyao. Qing’er could carry ten people with power to spare.”

“.....” Su Yi didn’t quite know what to say. When will women learn not to deceive people!?

Ning Sihua saw that she’d made her point and said no more. Instead, a cool, crisp whistle escaped her rosy lips.

Before long, the majestic and extraordinary Bluescale Eagle shot the skies and landed right in front of them.

When he saw this, Tao Qingshan realized that Su Yi and his companions planned to leave right away. He hurriedly said, “Mystic Master, how about I carry this bundle back for you?”

“No need.” Su Yi waved his hand and placed the massive bundle into the black jade pendant hanging from his waist.

Tao Qingshan was instantly somewhat disappointed; he’d hoped to catch a glimpse of Su Yi’s residence. That way, he could visit and request further guidance. Now, it was obvious that that wouldn’t be possible.

“Mystic Master, in that case, this humble one shall first bid you farewell.” Tao Qingshan bowed at the waist.

“Going forward, focus on your cultivation. Don’t get mixed up in these sordid affairs. You must bear in mind that a nature spirit like you can only achieve success through persistent pursuit of the Dao,” said Su Yi offhandedly.

Tao Qingshan shook, then bowed once more.

Afterward, he scampered off, taking Teng Yong with him.

“Fellow Daoist, didn’t you say you were going to flatten this place? Might you permit me to watch?” Ning Sihua blinked and asked with a laugh.

“Why not? First, have this dirty beast of yours carry us into the sky,” said Su Yi flatly.

Hearing Su Yi insult it as a “dirty beast” again, the Bluescale Eagle sank into silence, but in its heart, it thought, I’d like to see just how you’ll level the place….

Soon, the Bluescale Eagle carried the entire group into the air. In just a few blinks of an eye, they reached the clouds.

Su Yi still carried Wen Lingxue on his back, but he gripped Guiding Mysteries in his right hand and sliced the air.

Whoosh!

Sword light streaked through the night skies.

The night was dark as ink, and everything was silent. Nothing happened at all.

That all you got? The Bluescale Eagle’s eyes flashed with ridicule, and it felt the urge to laugh.

But before long, it sensed that something was amiss.

The raging currents of this winding stretch of the Great Azure trembled, producing a low boom.

It was like an earthquake, and the river water surged. Massive, muddy waves soared into the sky!

The mountains of Thousand Whirlpool Ridge started to shake, their rocks, trees, and grasses rustling. The startled cries of all manner of beasts followed. Against the inky darkness, the sound was particularly startling.

When they looked closely, they saw rocks falling from the mountains. Vegetation snapped, trees fell, and swarms of beasts fled in panic. It was the very picture of chaos.

“This….” Even someone as dense as Jin Xiaochun couldn’t help but feel stunned.

The look in the Bluescale Eagle’s eyes changed erratically, filling with bewilderment. 

And although they couldn’t see it, deep below the river, in the center of Ninebends City…

The ritual grounds were a thousand feet in diameter. Bronze doors rose up around them, but it was as if they were on fire. They surged with elemental energy and the power of the moon, sun, and stars. Terrifying currents of destructive power intermingled, spreading like mad throughout the entire area.

Bang!

The first to fall was the central nine-foot-tall black altar. It burst into powder and scattered almost instantly.

Afterward, the surging current of destructive power swept outward, spreading throughout the entire grounds.

Rumble! Rumble! Boom!

The rows of dark, coffin-like buildings instantly turned to ash. The ghosts wandering the streets all shrieked in despair as their souls dispersed into nothingness.

The destructive power was far too terrifying. It swept over like a hurricane, spreading throughout the entire city in the blink of an eye.

A bolt of blood-colored lightning obliterated the old ghost fiddling with his bone abacus. To the very end, he was immersed in calculating just how many lives had been lost in Ninebends City.

The ghost children playing tag in the city streets had no time to run before a sea of fire enveloped them.

The old women sewing clothes of human skin, the vendors of flesh carved from still-living bodies, the peddlers selling soups of stewed heads….

All of them seemed as fragile as tissue paper. The current of destructive power left nothing behind.

In the end, massive as Ninebends City was, the towering sea of flame enveloped it completely. Lightning danced in a mad frenzy, fierce gales ran rampant, and blood-colored light spread outward…

It was as if purgatory had descended upon the entire ghostly domain.

Some of the visiting yao and guests, those who’d come to partake in the festivities, had only just fled Ninebends City when they witnessed this terrifying scene from afar. They were so scared that their entire bodies went limp, and their faces filled with fright.

Now, they finally believed that the young mystic master really did have means of flattening the entire city!

“Run! Hurry up and run!”

“Waaaah! This is just too terrifying! ….It’s enough to scare even a ghost!”

The survivors fled with all their might, overcome with panic. They were scared completely out of their wits.

Behind them, Ninebends City crumbled. It was like the collapse of a grand building, shattering in the face of limitless destructive power.

Finally, the vast underground space caved in on itself. The vast waters of the Great Azure poured into the hole, submerging it completely. 

Looking down from the skies, the group atop the Bluescale Eagle could clearly see the dense reefs of this winding stretch of river suddenly sink deeper into the riverbed, forming an incomparably massive and deep pit in the surface of the water.

But before long, the surging current flowed in. The pit in the river’s surface rose, then flattened. Before long, the river’s surface looked just as it had before. 

“That attack borrowed the force of the mountains and rivers and called upon the power of the grand formation to sever the underwater currents and destroy the underground ghostly domain. Not even stealing fortune from the heavens could be more impressive than that!”

Ning Sihua sighed, looking completely amazed.

As she considered the power and subtle mysteries embodied in that sword, even she felt somewhat shaken.

Jin Xiaochuan, meanwhile, was completely stunned. Just one thought echoed repeatedly through his mind: A miracle! This was a miracle!

The Bluescale Eagle lowered its head in dejection. It finally understood: with the power and methods at Su Yi’s disposal, he really was qualified to call it a “dirty beast.”

But Su Yi only shook his head. “I borrowed pre-existing power, that’s all. It’s not worthy of praise.”

The Nine Palaces Slaughter Formation once covered this stretch of winding river, linking the underground currents and the mountains. Over the years, the Wuhuan Water Monarch had used its power to stir up winds and waves and destroy countless passenger ships.

But back in the underground ritual hall, Su Yi had successively carved symbols into the nine bronze pillars, seizing control over the formation.

His sword was now like the "key" controlling the grand formation’s power.

Su Yi’s attack might have looked miraculous, but in truth, all he’d really done was trigger the explosion of the Nine Palaces Slaughter Formation’s power. 

“Fellow Daoist, you needn’t be so modest. Heaven and earth might have lent you their power, but even so, you destroyed an entire ghost domain and altered the layout of the mountain and water. Passing ships will no longer encounter danger here. You’ve done the world a great service,” Ning Sihua said softly.

“What great service? I just wanted to save Lingxue.” Su Yi laughed. “Let’s hurry; it’d be best if we made it back to the Imperatorial Provincial Capital by daybreak.”

“Alright!” Ning Sihua nodded.

Shortly after, the Bluescale Eagle let out a sonorous cry. Its wings sheared through the clouds, and they disappeared into the night sky.

Meanwhile, in a patch of distant mountain wilderness, Teng Yong tilted his head and stared intently at the stretch of river that once contained Ninebends City. His entire body broke out in cold sweats. 

“Was that immortal magic?” 

Moments ago, the ground shook, the mountains shifted, the waters of the Great Azure surged into the air, and a low rumble reminiscent of lightning echoed throughout the night skies.

Although he couldn’t see what exactly had happened, all of this left Teng Yong scared to the point that his soul threatened to leave his body. He almost thought he’d just witnessed a natural disaster. 

“Is the mystic master really an immortal? I don’t know, but what I do know is that this world’s martial artists couldn't possibly accomplish what he just did!” Tao Qingshan’s eyes blazed with fervor, his expression worshipful.

He dared say with certainty that as of tonight, the Wuhuan Water Monarch’s Ninebends City would cease to exist!

“Run away!”

“Hurry up and flee!”

Within the darkness of the night, the ghosts and yao lucky enough to survive wailed and scampered away.

“Look at them! No prospects at all!” Tao Qingshan shook his head disdainfully, turned, and left.

From that day forth, a legend sprang up in the area around Thousand Whirlpool Ridge, a story that would circulate for a long time after—

The legend spoke of an immortal in blue who cleaved a mountain in two, executing countless aberrations!

For a hundred years, people had paled at the very mention of this stretch of water, but that night, it changed completely.

Because of this, and because of the legend of the immortal in blue, the common folk living near Thousand Whirlpool Ridge went so far as to build a temple in which they worshiped the statue of an immortal. The offerings never ceased, and the temple was supplied with incense year-round. 

…

A murky, tainted world. Everywhere you looked, there were piled corpses, oceans of blood, and mountains of white bone.

“Bastard! Bastard!” An infuriated roar rang out. “You dared slay my divine emissary and ruin my plans? Just you wait! The day I recover my vital energy and escape from this ‘Den of Worms’ will be the day you die!”

Atop a mountain of bones, a Nine-Headed Bird threw back its heads and called out.

Its wings were festering and riddled with holes. Its body was fully thirty meters tall, but it was covered in shocking wounds. It had nine necks, but only two of them still had heads attached. 

It was truly a pathetic sight.

“This glorious one might not be able to escape right now, but I can rally limitless worshippers to my cause!

“You, the one surnamed Su! Just you wait!”

A long time passed before the Nine-Headed Bird’s furious roars gradually died down.

That corpse-filled, bloodied, filthy world gradually sank back into their former silence.

It was as if every living thing in that world had perished countless eons ago, leaving behind nothing but bodies and bloodied water. Only one creature remained alive: the grievously wounded Nine-Headed Bird.

This is kind of a silly joke, but the author has made it before and it doesn’t make sense in English, so I thought I’d explain. 

Raw: “嗚嗚嗚……太嚇人了……不，太嚇鬼了！！”

Literal tranlation: Wu wu wu…. It’s too scary for people…. No, it’s too scary for ghosts!”

My much less-literal Translation: “Waaaah! This is just too terrifying! ….It’s enough to scare even a ghost!”

The Chinese word “terrifying” combines the characters “to terrify” and “person”, so you could translate it as “terrifying to people” or “enough to terrify a person.” This is a somewhat common way of forming adjectives in Chinese. (ie 粘人=sticks to people=clingy， 累人=tires people out=exhausting)

But these aren’t people, per se: they’re ghosts! (and yao, but shh)

So the speaker corrects himself, replacing the character for “person” with the character for ghost. 嚇人 becomes 嚇鬼.