Chapter 32

The Sword Array was not built in a day. While the final formation took only a few months, the preceding work—constructing the Sword Mound, reshaping the spiritual veins, and casting the colossal Zhaoshui Sword to replace the Heavenly Pillar—had consumed over a decade of effort.

At that time, the Immortals had just fallen. Both the demonic and immortal cultivators were left in a state of mutual destruction, and powerful demons at the Tribulation Transcendence stage were still scattered across the four seas and two realms.

An Wuxue had led the disciples of Luoyue to remain stationed in Zhaoshui City for two years to repair the Heavenly Pillar. This was impossible to keep secret. Zhaoshui City faced demonic incursions nearly every day; cultivators dared not slacken even during meditation, rising at the first toll of the soul bell.

Once, a resident in the city, bewitched by demonic influence, abandoned the immortal path to cultivate the demonic way. They secretly opened the barrier, allowing a powerful Tribulation-stage demon to slip inside.

Song Wu, who was meditating in her quarters at the time, happened to be closest to the breach. She immediately sensed an unfamiliar, flickering pressure from a Tribulation-stage presence. She pursued the trail, arriving just in time to see the great demon slaughtering several Dacheng-stage cultivators who had been guarding the barrier.

When Lou Shuiming arrived after receiving a distress signal, Song Wu was in tatters. Her spiritual bags were shattered, and her face was deathly pale as she gripped her life-bound sword, blood dripping from the blade onto the ground. Before her lay the corpse of the great demon. Around her, the ground was littered with the bodies of fallen cultivators, and the mortals she had failed to protect were reduced to nothingness.

Lou Shuiming hurried forward: "Junior Sister!"

Song Wu seemed to have been holding her breath, finally exhaling the moment she saw him. "Senior Brother," she said, "I killed him!"

It was the first great demon she had slain since venturing into the world. She tilted her chin, looking like a proud child waiting for a reward, though her trembling voice betrayed the tension and helplessness she had just endured.

Lou Shuiming stepped forward and gently patted her head. "As the City Lord, I failed to notice the demon slipping in; it is my negligence. Do not fear, Junior Sister. I will handle everything." His fingertips pulsed with spiritual power as he carefully treated her wounds.

An Wuxue arrived shortly after and happened to overhear this. His gaze shifted with a flicker of worry, though he remained silent.

Back at the City Lord’s manor, he waited for Lou Shuiming to finish seeing Song Wu off before stopping him. "Shuiming, Miss Song is a Tribulation-stage cultivator."

Lou Shuiming paused. "Yes. What is it, Head Seat...?"

An Wuxue hesitated. He had intended to tell Lou Shuiming that as a Tribulation-stage cultivator, Song Wu should have been expected to face the enemy herself. Yet, Lou Shuiming’s words suggested he wished to shoulder everything alone.

In the state Zhaoshui City was in... could he really carry that weight? An Wuxue knew Lou Shuiming’s gentle nature and struggled to find a way to speak without sounding harsh.

Lou Shuiming, however, understood the look in his eyes. "Head Seat," he said, "once the Zhaoshui Sword Array is successfully set, the effectiveness of the Myriad Sword Array of the Four Seas will be proven. We will then proceed to the other three cities to set the remaining three swords, and the two realms will return to their former prosperity. It won't be long, will it?"

"I know it is no longer the time when the Immortals sat in command; Tribulation-stage cultivators must stand on their own. But to me, she is not just a Tribulation-stage cultivator; she is my Junior Sister. If I can protect her until the Four Seas Sword Array is set and the chaos of the two realms ends, is that not also a way to survive these troubled times?"

But in this world, is there truly anyone who can protect another for a lifetime? An Wuxue wanted to ask this. Watching Lou Shuiming’s resolute expression, he thought of Xie Zhefeng. If someone were to ask if he were willing to exhaust his entire life, suppressing the feelings in his heart, watching his Junior Brother reach the pinnacle of the Heartless Path, assisting him in securing the position of Immortal Venerable, and stabilizing the two realms—all to ensure a world of peace—he realized he had no other answer, either.

But his Junior Brother was different to him than Song Wu was to Lou Shuiming. Protecting someone often does not mean shielding them from every speck of dust in the mortal world. That only clips their wings and prevents them from seeing the true bitterness and sweetness of life.

Yet, he had already spoken his mind twice. Once is an attempt, twice is a warning, but a third time is futile. If words are useless twice, they are useless two hundred times. And so, he swallowed his words.

Night fell. Qin Wei, having spent the day slaughtering mountains of demons, dragged him into the courtyard to drink and wash away the scent of carnage. They happened upon Lou Shuiming sitting by a stone table with a lantern, using a square of spiritual cloth to hand-stitch a new spiritual bag.

Qin Wei raised his wine jar for a gulp and stumbled over. "Yo, what is our City Lord doing? Can't you just buy a spiritual bag with a few spirit stones?" He reached out to pull at Lou Shuiming. "Come, let me take you to buy one. This thing you're sewing is all crooked."

An Wuxue stood behind with a lantern, watching Lou Shuiming turn red from embarrassment, unable to explain, and finally burst into laughter. He stepped forward and tapped Qin Wei on his dense head.

"A-Xue, why are you hitting me?"

"Miss Song’s spiritual bag was destroyed today while she was fighting the great demon," he said.

Lou Shuiming immediately replied, "I was just trying... if it doesn't look good, I won't give it to her."

Qin Wei blinked, took another gulp of wine, and nodded. "An ugly bag for a beautiful immortal, that fits."

An Wuxue: "..."
Lou Shuiming: "..."

—The first one he made was indeed unattractive.

But the City Lord possessed an unexpected talent for this; the second bag, while simple in design, was delicate and refined enough for anyone to wear.

Lou Shuiming smiled and tucked away the finished bag, intending to discard the first, but Qin Wei snatched it up and hung it at his waist.

Qin Wei was not like An Wuxue, born into a blessed mortal family, nor was he a genius like Xie Zhefeng who entered the sect in his youth. He had grown up on Luoyue's Law-Enforcement Peak. Before his parents fell, they were Immortals of the Luoyue Peak, and he had never lacked for spirit stones, treasures, or elixirs. Even in these chaotic times, the gold thread on his robes was so meticulous not a single stitch was out of place.

With the crooked, poorly sewn bag hanging at his waist, it looked utterly out of place. Yet, drunk as he was, he felt no shame. He patted the bag and said, "Perfect. I fought some monsters a few days ago and my bag broke; I haven't had time to buy a new one. It would be a waste to throw this away, so just give it to me."

Lou Shuiming smiled helplessly. "Brother Qin, what are you doing? Didn't you just say a few spirit stones could buy a bag? Take it off and return it to me; I'll buy you one tomorrow." He reached out to help him take it off.

Qin Wei retreated in a hurry, his voice thick with drink. "You aren't allowed to grab my bag."

An Wuxue sighed. "How did it become yours?"

Lou Shuiming couldn't do anything with him, so he took out three spirit stones and solemnly placed them beside the never-wanting Qin Wei.

An Wuxue: "?"

The City Lord said earnestly, "To buy a bag for Brother Qin; you can't really use that one."

He didn't actually lack spirit stones. An Wuxue didn't say it out loud. He knew Lou Shuiming was the type to treat everything with such sincerity that others often wondered if he had ulterior motives. When he first met Lou Shuiming, he never imagined that there could truly be someone in this world who could reach the Tribulation-stage, hold the power of a city, witness the treachery of hearts in these chaotic times, and still remain as pure as an unblemished pearl.

He sat on the courtyard veranda, watching Lou Shuiming’s back disappear into the depths of the night, and looked at the drunken Qin Wei by the stone table.

Under the night in Zhaoshui City, one could not see the stars, only the ripples of layer upon layer of barriers. As darkness descended, the candle in the lantern beside him flickered—the only light in the four corners of the world. He took his scrolls on array theory from his own spiritual bag, lowered his head, and listened to Qin Wei’s drunken ramblings as he studied through the night.

A month later, when Song Wu recovered and stepped out, she was indeed wearing the spiritual bag Lou Shuiming had made that night. A few days later, Lou Shuiming also changed his own bag; the embroidery on it lacked his usual restrained style, and one could tell at a glance it was a gift returned by Song Wu.

Because Qin Wei had said, "An ugly bag for a beautiful immortal," and An Wuxue had teased him for being that "beautiful immortal," the Peak Master was too stubborn to admit defeat. He insisted it wasn't ugly and wore it every day, claiming it was unique and elegant, leaving the other Luoyue disciples speechless.

Beneath the dark clouds of Zhaoshui City, where bones lined the roads and life and death were relentless, those few spiritual bags and jars of immortal wine seemed like rare moments of respite.

The day the Zhaoshui colossal sword was driven into the earth, Lou Shuiming and Song Wu were married. The entire city could not scrape together ten lanterns, and the cultivators dared not bring out their fire essences for fear of drawing demons to attack the city. Their union was exceptionally simple. An Wuxue and the disciples brought from Luoyue Peak stood with the cultivators of Zhaoshui behind the City Lord and his wife, bowing only to an incense burner to heaven and earth.

After that, because the colossal Zhaoshui Sword was finished and pierced the heavens, it became a massive target in the vast expanse. Demonic incursions grew more frequent, and even Xie Zhefeng, who traveled the four corners to seal demons, came to assist several times.

Lou Shuiming seemed to have achieved what he told An Wuxue that day—even in this vast and chaotic world, in the eyes of the mortals and cultivators of Zhaoshui, the City Lord’s wife remained an innocent young girl who had yet to experience the world.

Though born in chaos, she grew up within her sect, protected by her elders. Her exceptional talent allowed her to easily reach the Tribulation-stage, a level where other cultivators struggled their entire lives. After coming to Zhaoshui, Lou Shuiming protected her; though she saw the pain the Immortal disaster had brought to the world, she never truly faced "suffering" herself.

She would walk the streets in red robes, smiling as she helped fallen children and using her spiritual power to clean them. She would pretend to be a mortal without cultivation, sitting among those struggling for food in dilapidated houses, roasting sweet potatoes and humming songs that brought warmth. When An Wuxue led the forces out of the city to battle demons, she would wait at the city gates for the wounded to return, giving them elixirs and healing their wounds...

Everyone said the City Lord’s wife was radiant, beautiful, pure, and kind. She lived up to the name.

Another year passed.

Lou Shuiming and Song Wu’s child was born. Qi Xun happened to be in Zhaoshui City at the time, discussing with An Wuxue how to plant the Myriad Swords.

As the infant’s crying began, Qin Wei rushed over, eager to hold him, only to be stopped by An Wuxue: "No need to rush."

Qi Xun cast a divination, saying the boy was clever and steady, taking after both his parents, but that he carried an aura of great misfortune and feared he might die young.

Lou Shuiming and Song Wu named the boy Lou Wushang, hoping he would live a life without illness, pain, or injury—safe and smooth, regardless of his talent or cultivation.

His parents never expected him to be an astonishing genius, yet his talent was exceptionally high, and he was precocious. Before the age of five, while playing in the courtyard, he would encounter An Wuxue practicing his swordplay and could sit quietly by his side, watching for an entire day.

Qin Wei often said, "With Wushang’s talent, he must go to Luoyue to cultivate once he undergoes inedia, so as not to waste it. How about he joins my Law-Enforcement Peak? Who knows, maybe one day he'll be able to snatch the Head Seat position from A-Xue."