Chapter 1040: The Peerless Palace Lord

Old Man Xuan You had no other method to employ. Now that he had been forced into triggering the forbidden technique, the whole Green Ancient Mystery Dimension had plunged into terror. With his cultivation, even the slightest leak of his power could destroy the entire Intentionless City, and he would lay waste to it if no one stepped up to stop him.

However, what everybody did not expect was for a woman to enter the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension at the most crucial moment.

A ball of hazy white light rose slowly from the eastern side of the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension. That ball of light seemed rather cold, like a lotus flower atop a snowy hill, but it did not make the people feel cold. Instead, a refreshing feeling rushed over them.

“Is that…”

Old Man Xuan You’s face froze. He looked at the horizon in a daze, his entire body rooted to the ground. The forbidden technique in his body did not stop—not that it could, even if he wanted to—but it seemed like there was a shapeless hand gripping his body and preventing him from unleashing any power at all. His power was completely trapped within his body.

His strength was terrifying beyond comparison because of the forbidden technique, and the terrifying power was currently bound within his body. Since it was trapped inside, it was constantly destroying his body.

At this time, Old Man Xuan You was overcome with overwhelming grief. It was that woman! That woman had come all the way to the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension!

He had not felt as unlucky in his entire life as he did now. He came all the way to this tiny Green Ancient Mystery Dimension, only to fumble at such an easy task and was forced to trigger the forbidden technique and terminate his path of cultivation. In the end, after he triggered the forbidden technique, the power had been forcefully contained within his body by someone else and had ended up destroying his internal organs before he could even take revenge.

His body had already been greatly damaged because he triggered the forbidden technique, but the damage had become more serious.

A beam of hazy white light approached him slowly and in it stood a beautiful figure. Dressed in palace garbs the color of the moon, she stepped over languidly.

Everyone turned their gaze to that ball of light as a hush fell over the dimension. No one dared to utter a single word; no one dared to even breathe too loudly. It was as if a single breath could disturb the woman.

That was a beautiful young woman with smooth, clear skin that seemed as cold as frost. Her eyes were vast and void, as though they could reflect the entire world within them.

Mo Wen had never seen this woman before, but there was something about her aura that had a distinct vibe. Her aura seemed hollow and expansive, completely illusory.

“What are you doing here, Palace Lord Nie?” Old Man Xuan You asked, his voice dry. The expression on his face looked worse than if he had eaten a fly.

Nie Wuxin! The second palace lord of Huatian palace! This was a woman who struck fear with a mere mention of her name, even in the hearts of the Peng Lai Immortal Realm. There was no telling how many high-level cultivators she had killed, and the Ghost King of the Ghost Lair had barely taken a glance too many at her before she had him executed. She had spared him no face.

A lot of people in the Peng Lai Immortal Realm feared her, and she was on the list of people not to mess with.

In the entire Huatian palace, Nie Wuxin’s cultivation was second solely to the grand palace lord Xiao Hongyu, but she was much more troublesome than him. The latter was to some extent still reasonable, but this woman did not have the slightest idea of that concept.

Old Man Xuan You’s temper had cooled after meeting this woman. He knew very well how terrifying this woman was, and rumor had it that even the grand palace lord Xiao Hongyu did not dare to anger her.

“Did you ask why I’m here, in the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension, Xuan You?”

Nie Wuxin looked mildly at Old Man Xuan You. Her voice was level, but that was also the reason why Old Man Xuan You plunged into extreme fear.

“No… no… I’m only curious. Why would someone as important as you, Palace Lord Nie, come to a place like the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension?” Old Man Xuan You said with a long face. Everyone in the world knew that it was difficult to talk to Nie Wuxin—one wrong word and you could lose your life.

“I was actually going to ask you the same thing. You are, after all, the Sword Valley Leader. So why would you come to the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension? Besides, did you report this to the authorities in Huatian Palace? If not, it means you snuck out, and the consequences of breaking the rules are dire,” Nie Wuxin said mildly.

She seemed reasonable on the surface, but Old Man Xuan You felt chills run down his spine and he could not hold back the shiver that wracked his body.

“I’ve been wronged, Palace Lord Nie. I was exploring ancient ruins before I accidentally teleported here. I didn’t know back then that this was the main space, and the people in this space are after my life, which led to this situation… You know that we of the Sword Valley have always been following Huatian Palace and absolutely adhere to the laws of Huatian Palace. We’ve never dared to go against them…”

Old Man Xuan You would never admit that he had snuck out through the channels of the heretic organization. The moment he was convicted, he would not be the only one to go down. His entire sect would be implicated with him.

Now that things had reached this point, Old Man Xuan You could only tug at her heartstrings and hope that Nie Wuxin would spare his life the on account that the Sword Valley had been following Huatian Palace for generations.

“Oh, you’re quite lucky then. You managed to discover a passageway just by stepping into an ancient ruin at random,” Nie Wuxin remarked mildly.

“A fluke, it was a fluke…” Old Man Xuan You was constantly wiping off cold sweat, afraid to even make an unnecessary move when he was standing in front of Nie Wuxin. Although his cultivation was not low and was high enough to be called a hero in the Peng Lai Immortal Realm, Nie Wuxin was likely able to wipe him out easily.

“You’re the leader of the Sword Valley but you barge into the main space to wreak havoc. Your crime is inexcusable. You will have to be punished, even if it’s not with a death sentence,” Nie Wuxin remarked, her face devoid of emotions.

“Please punish me, Palace Lord Nie!”

Old Man Xuan You was relieved and he immediately fell into a bow, looking as if he admitted to his crime. Truth be told, he knew that the chances of Nie Wuxin killing him were not high at all. Although it was true that he had snuck into the main space, it was not something the Huatian Palace could corroborate with evidence. What he had mentioned before—that he had been investigating ancient ruins before somehow being teleported here—was not implausible, because the Peng Lai Immortal Realm was, indeed, home to such mysterious ruins. As such, if there was no definitive evidence, it was difficult to claim that he had stolen into the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension.

Besides, he was still the Sword Valley Leader, the head of a sect. As long as there was no definitive evidence, it was ill-advised to kill him. Perhaps the Huatian Palace did not care much for the Sword Valley, but there were still a lot of sects in the Peng Lai Immortal Realm, so killing him with no evidence would definitely arouse displeasure amongst the rest of the sects. As the sovereign, killing someone without a shred of evidence would cause all the sects in the Peng Lai Immortal Realm to feel imperiled. Even the Huatian Palace had to take into account the pressure of public opinion.

Of course, if it had been the Huatian Palace Lord who had come here, Old Man Xuan You would not be the least bit worried that the man would kill him, but Nie Wuxin was different. Perhaps someone else would not, but it was highly likely that Nie Wuxin would, which was why he was so terrified of her appearance here.

It was a good thing that Nie Wuxin sheathed her sword instead of killing him for being an eyesore. It was unlikely that he would die.

“Well, then your punishment will be to reflect on your mistakes. From this moment on, you are not allowed to take one step out of the Sword Valley for the next thousand years. In addition to that, the disciples of the Sword Valley are not allowed to leave the Peng Lai Immortal Realm, not even by a step,” Nie Wuxin said mildly.

Reflecting upon his mistakes was not severe punishment, per se, so the real issue was with the time he had to do that.

Old Man Xuan You almost fainted when he heard that. Confinement for a thousand years? Was she serious? Although he was a cultivator at the Supreme Profundity Realm, how many thousands of years were there in a lifetime?

Besides, she forbid the entire Sword Valley from leaving the Peng Lai Immortal Realm, which was as good as cutting off all ties the Sword Valley with the outside world. This also meant that the people of the Sword Valley could no longer go to the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension to seek revenge since there was nothing they could do as long as Mo Wen hid in the main space.

Because of this punishment, the people of the Sword Valley would not dare come to the main space—even if they could sneak out—because they would be committing a crime once the Huatian Palace found out. If that happened, the Huatian Palace would be justified in prosecuting them and no one could say otherwise.

He finally understood why the Huatian Palace had been so strict in prohibiting the cultivators of the Peng Lai Immortal Realm from coming to the main space, and why they were especially strict at this time. Indeed, there was someone in the Huatian Palace protecting Mo Wen and they did not want the cultivators hounding Mo Wen.

It was just that he never imagined—not even in his wildest dreams—that the one protecting Mo Wen would be the terrifying woman, Nie Wuxin. When did Mo Wen and Nie Wuxin establish such a relationship?

He could not understand, and he was in equal parts indignant and furious. He had paid such a huge price and had even gone as far as to trigger the forbidden technique, thereby severing his path to immortality. Not only did he not get his revenge, but he had also even ended up being confined for a thousand years, and no one else in the Sword Valley could come out to take revenge either.

He knew that Nie Wuxin was protecting Mo Wen, but she was shielding someone who was obviously in the wrong, no? You’re confining us for a thousand years because you want to protect this brat?

“Palace Lord Nie…” Old Man Xuan You was distressed. You’re going too far.

“What? Do you have anything you’d like to say?” Nie Wuxin glanced at Old Man Xuan You. She was indifferent, not the least bit riled up.

And yet Old Man Xuan You shivered. Even before the words could leave his mouth, he swallowed them, afraid to even make another sound.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Old Man Xuan You said, on the verge of tears. He knew that there was no way for him to reason with that woman.

“Scram, then,” Nie Wuxin said mildly.

“Then I take my leave.”

Old Man Xuan You took in a deep breath. His fists as were his teeth were clenched so tightly that he could shatter them, but he could only swallow his indignance and fury as he turned to leave. He was afraid that he would lose the chance to leave if he did not do so.

“One more thing. Help me relay this message once you’re back. Tell them that I’m going to be cultivating here for a hundred years, in privacy. No one, for whatever reason, should be coming here to disturb me while I cultivate, or they’ll bear the consequences,” Nie Wuxin said indifferently.

Old Man Xuan You almost fell over when he heard it. Nie Wuxin was going to cultivate in privacy for a hundred years in the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension? Was she for real? What was so good about a rundown place like the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension that she wanted to cultivate here? You don’t have to go this far to protect Mo Wen, just who was he to you?!

Old Man Xuan You could not believe his ears—Nie Wuxin actually wanted to cultivate in privacy in the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension for a century. He naturally knew who she wanted him to pass the message to. If she really stayed in the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension to cultivate in privacy for a century, even if the sects had a hundred guts, they would not dare wreak havoc here.

Nie Wuxin’s words completely severed any possibility of those sects coming to the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension. They could not afford to provoke this woman.

The only thing was if she was really going to cultivate in privacy in the Green Ancient Mystery Dimension for a century. Did she really have to go this far to protect Mo Wen?