Her gaze was one of steel as she pushed his hand aside. The sharpness of her domain permeated the room, prompting everyone else to stop any movements for fear of being struck with its naked edge. Even Xu Weizhe was taken aback by the suddenness of her actions. Still, Qin Yun showed no indication of getting involved.
"Do you even know what you are asking me?" she said, her voice cold yet laced with a subtle pain. Her eyes were full of fury, yet Xu Weizhe clearly knew the source of her ire; he couldn't help but sigh.
“What’s the alternative?” he replied. “Wait for the city to fall, then what? Do you really think the outsiders will stop at one measly city?”
“Considering what they endured to this day, I believe they won’t stop until they ensure their own prosperity,” Qin Yun added, fuelling the flame. “It might even mean a paradigm shift in the ruling class. Also, I doubt the world will take kindly to this invasion. The ramifications are more than they seem.”
"Then why don't you do something about it, instead of seeming so high and mighty?!" Zou Lan spat back, her eyes throwing daggers at him.
"Oh, but I have," he replied, showing a slight condescending smile. "Who do you think stopped this formation from imploding, razing this city to the ground? I've already done more than my fair share."
Hearing that they only narrowly evaded death, the gaze of the present disciples of the Moonlight Sword Palace grew solemn, feeling their heartbeat pound in their chest, just thinking of the consequences. Even Yao Ruolan could hardly contain herself if not for the intense pressure pinning her in place. Only the three in the middle of the room were able to move; the others could only be spectators.
“As for you,” Qin Yun added as he turned to face Xu Weizhe. “While I commend your bravery for what you are attempting to do, you are missing a crucial point. Only someone who has manifested their domain can fuse their souls with this formation. At present, only one person in this city meets the requirement.”
This revelation felt like a kick in the teeth for Xu Weizhe. Even the audience felt the temperature drop a few degrees, realizing their elder's will to sacrifice himself was all for naught. Their only choice was to watch as the city they had shed blood and flesh to safeguard would fall anyway. Except, Xu Weizhe noticed a single crucial detail.
“What about you?” he asked. “How can you keep it in check? As far as I can see, you are only at the peak of the Qi Refining realm. This shouldn’t be possible.”
“Of course, I didn’t do this alone,” Qin Yun sighed. “How could I? This barrier is a gift from the Heavenly Dao, and only someone blessed by it can commune with it. Usually, this takes the form of a domain, something one must earn of his own, but there are also exceptions.”
While all were bewildered by this revelation, Zou Lan turned to face him, a glint in her eyes. She remembered stories her predecessor had once told her about the eternal conflict that had raged upon this plane since time immemorial. Stories of being tasked by the Heavenly Dao to wage those wars in its stead, empowering them to fulfill their task in its name.
“A champion, is it?” she asked, her fury slowly subsiding. “Were you sent here for this?”
Qin Yun shrugged as he shook his head, his eyes filled with pity.
"Do not put your hopes in her," he finally said after letting the silence linger. "She does not care about your lives, only that the world is preserved. If she could banish this corruption at the cost of every living being on this plane, she would do it in a heartbeat. The Heavens are heartless, after all. Fortunately, such a choice would be pointless as corruption isn't that easy to be rid of. The best you can do is to choose for yourself."
His words stunned the audiences, as they had rarely been told of such things. After all, their cultivation time was short, and their strength was shallow, much too low to come into contact with such things. Zou Lan, however, wasn't so easily deceived.
“Stop evading the subject!” she spat back. “Were you sent here?! Answer me clearly.”
“She cannot dictate my actions, however much she would like to. I came here of my own will, although it may have coincided with her own intent," he finally replied.
Zou Lan looked deep into his eyes, yet couldn't find any signs of deceit. In fact, she felt clearly at the depth of her soul that this man was telling the truth. While his strength was far below hers, she couldn't help but feel slightly afraid of him. After all, since birth, every cultivator had been instilled with a fear of the world that sustained them. Few were those daring enough to rebel against it. The outsiders only did so because they had a force of equal strength to aid them in their quest.
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“However,” he added. “This doesn’t change the fact that you must make a choice. Now that you know the consequences, is your answer still the same?”
Zou Lan's gaze didn't waver as she replied, for her heart had already decided. They had already lost too much, only to be pawns in a conflict that wasn't theirs.
“Why should I sacrifice myself for a world that did nothing but take from me.”
Suddenly, the crackling of thunder appeared overhead, passing through tons of dirt and stone as if it wasn't even there. The sound echoed in their heads, yet it felt as if it originated from their core, shaking the foundation of the lotus inside them. Zou Lan could even feel her domain destabilize, almost as if the control she had over it had been denied by a stronger force. A slight trace of dread sprouted in her heart as she realized what was happening. After all, she only had to put the pieces together to learn the reasons why.
“Really now?” Qin Yun asked derisively as he raised his gaze to the tomb’s ceiling, almost as if he could peer through to the sky. “Resorting to coercion now that you can’t get your way? You must be desperate, indeed.”
Qin Yun's words brought the group out of their stupor. Yao Ruolan had been so shocked by the sound that she had forgotten to breathe. She let out a long, slow breath as she desperately tried to regain control of her own speeding heartbeat.
“Was that..." she began to say, but the words remained stuck in her throat as she couldn't voice them out owing to the absurdity of the situation.
“It's exactly what you think," Qin Yun replied as his sight left the ceiling. His gaze had lost all sharpness and became somewhat gentler. She couldn't afford to have this place fall apart, yet she also couldn't intervene directly. The most she could do was show her will and hope that people would follow it.
The group remained silent, mulling his words; Yao Ruolan was the first to break it.
“Why do you refer to the Heavenly Dao as she?” she asked, perplexed. “While I’ve heard some do the same, you speak of it almost as if you’re acquainted, but that’s obviously impossible...”
“I wouldn't be so sure," Zou Lan interrupted, her gaze darker than it was as a frown marred her features. "I've heard my master talk of individuals chosen by the Heavenly Dao into enforcing its will. They receive boons in exchange for their loyalty. Usually, their cultivation rises explosively, towering above those of their own generation. Some even call them the Sons and Daughters of Heaven."
“Slaves would be a more appropriate description," Qin Yun sneered. "Do you really think such cheats do not come without any downsides? Have you ever heard of them living out long lives? Their fall is always just as fast as their rise. After all, the Heavenly Dao gives and takes in equal amounts. Everything that exists in this world is merely on loan...”
“Quite the bleak perspective,” Zou Lan scoffed.
“That’s enough of this,” Qin Yun said as the flame surrounding him suddenly sprung to life, prompting a deep frown to appear on his face.
The golden characters on his body shone brighter, resisting the instability of the dragon vein, yet his efforts were in vain. With every minute that passed, the formation edged ever closer to its own destruction. There was only one way to stop its impending doom.
“If you still intend to go through with this, then there may be a way for you to do so,” Qin Yun added as he turned to face Xu Weizhe, only for Zou Lan to object once again.
However, just as she was about to open her mouth and spring her domain to life, Qin Yun waved his hand, prompting a piece of the blue flame to detach from the whole, only to create a cage of intangible blue flame around her, imprisoning her in place, but also making it impossible for her to recruit any outside qi. She could only use the qi remaining in her core.
Despite the immense reserves her cultivation at the early stages of the Soul Formation realm afforded her, it was far from enough to compete with the might of the Dragon Vein itself. She could only stand there, unable to interact with anything beyond its threshold. She could only watch.
“Is that really possible?” Xu Weizhe asked, his mind made up.
He could clearly feel the state of his own body. While a full recovery might be possible, it would easily take more than a hundred years, even utilizing the full might of the Moonlight Sword Palace, something he had no intention of doing. After all, that would mean stunting the growth of many promising youths, only to regain an elder with little chance of advancing further.
“It should be," Qin Yun replied. "Actually, you are quite lucky that you cultivate the sword. Otherwise, there would have been no chance of me being able to bring you to the next step."
“What do you mean?" Yao Ruolan asked, perplexed. "I thought a domain was necessary to fuse with the Dragon Vein. Master is only in the Nascent Soul Realm, far from the Soul Formation realm. This should be impossible."
“Using the orthodox way, you are right. However, more than a single path exists to reach a destination."
Qin Yun extended his hand, prompting the flame around him to dance, almost as if a large gale had blown through it. If not for the fact that he clearly knew they were deep underground, Xu Weizhe would have thought they were in the middle of a storm.
A cyclone spun around Qin Yun's body, gathering the flame around him until it condensed above his hand. Still, as the power of the dragon vein was collected in a single spot, ever more spewed out from the earth, only hastening its destabilization.
Qin Yun closed his eyes, walking a fine line at the edge of destruction. Only a single mishap and the remains of this battered city would be blown sky high. Yet, he showed no hesitation. In fact, there was a slight smile on his face, even as blood began to spill from all his orifices.
After all, this was something he was good at, the culmination of many lives brought forth for one single moment. He had tapped into it more than once and relied on it to carve a path for himself out of many dangerous situations, yet this was the first time he used it in this way.
Silence reigned as everyone held their breaths. Even Zou Lan was amazed by the sight in front of her eyes. She could scarcely believe what she saw despite having been witness to it from the beginning.
A small sphere began to take shape into Qin Yun's hand: a mix of the blue flame and the red of his blood, while also somewhat ethereal, but also a piece of the world. All it lacked to become an Innate Treasure was a blessing from the world, yet no such blessing ever came. As the sphere came into existence, the world stood still.
“What... is that?” Yao Ruolan couldn’t help but mutter aloud.
“The prototype of a Sword Domain, filled with the purest Sword Intent I can presently create,” Qin Yun said as he couldn’t mask the grin of satisfaction on his face.