Chapter 381

Chapter 381: The Chaos Settled

Once the sealing of the Demon Suppression Tower was repaired, the passages leaking from the containment zone into the outside world finally closed. Above Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain, no new black rifts appeared.

Skirmishes still flared across the mountain, but the prisoners who had already escaped were being dealt with at a frightening pace.

Outside the Parted Clouds Palace, smoke drifted into the air. With help from the Thunder Titans and the kingdom army, the Mountain-Guarding Disciples held the most pressured line. After cutting down wave after wave of beasts charging the main path, Xuan Che began leading people to sweep the mountain, hunting down stray escapees.

Near Ten Directions Pavilion, Immortal Yuan He stood guard with several hundred Inner Disciples before a massive mechanism known as the Mountain Guard Pass. It looked like a giant bell, towering atop a stone platform. Spiritual light flowed across its surface, and deep, solemn tones echoed constantly from within. Hundreds of beast corpses littered the surrounding plaza. Surviving demons and indestructible animated entities had been resealed, shackled, and were now waiting to be sent back into the Demon Suppression Tower.

In the spirit-rich Mid-Mountain Bamboo Grove, wolf-pack phantoms prowled through the shadows, working with patrol guards in white dao robes to search every suspicious hiding place.

Dorothy’s drone swarm swept over the peaks, confirming whether any hidden leak points still existed in the sea of clouds. Spirit Mountain cultivators on swordflight passed through the swarm, inspecting the Mountain-Guarding Barrier that now covered the entire range.

On the path between Cloud Viewing Terrace and the Parted Clouds Palace, scattered fights still hadn’t ended—but the victory music had already started.

At the same time, ethereal celestial sound drifted down from the clouds, echoing through every forest:

“By decree of the Vice Sect Master: the Demon Suppression Tower is now stable. All cultivators are to investigate carefully and search the forests thoroughly…”

“The sealed mountain state will remain in effect. The time to reopen will be announced separately.”

“Any escaped vicious beasts or Class-A containment bodies: kill on sight.”

“Intelligent monsters, Class-B containment bodies, or prisoners: those who surrender or can no longer resist are to be captured and sent back to the Demon Suppression Tower. Those who continue to resist will be killed.”

“If any bizarre entities or unknown variants are discovered, cultivators are not to make direct contact. Report it, then wait for retrieval from the Demon Suppression Tower.”

“Submit the roster of demons, prisoners, and entities that have been killed or recovered to the Parted Clouds Palace…”

Yu Sheng rode on Foxy’s back, Irene perched on each of his shoulders, heading toward Xuan Che at the Parted Clouds Palace.

Luna walked beside them like a silent, loyal knight.

A flying pumpkin carriage drifted low along the path. Cinderella sat inside the cabin, leaning out to watch the distant forests still smoldering. Zheng Zhi sat at the front, staring around with wide eyes.

Princess Rapunzel was also riding on Foxy’s back. She leaned close to Yu Sheng and nodded toward Zheng Zhi. “Hey—how’s the rift situation?”

She didn’t mean the leak rifts that had opened above the sea of clouds. She meant the enormous black crack Zheng Zhi had seen at the very beginning, the one that looked like it had split the entire mountain in two.

Zheng Zhi swallowed and stared toward the Demon Suppression Tower. After a long moment, he said softly, “I can still see it. A huge black line—like someone drove a giant cleaver into the mountain and left it there. The good news is, it looks stable now. Earlier it had spiderweb branches spreading out, but those branches are gone.”

So the Great Rift was still there.

Yu Sheng didn’t respond. He only frowned, thinking.

Irene (Rebar) on his shoulder immediately tipped her head back and started yapping. “Hey, big nephew, your vision is insane. At this point you can’t even call it high sensitivity anymore…”

Zheng Zhi scratched at his hair. “I dunno. I just finished basic training last week…”

“Honestly, it’s pretty creepy,” Princess Rapunzel said, nodding with grave sincerity. “I’ve been a Spirit Realm Detective for years. I’ve seen high-sensitivity cases. I’ve even seen someone look at an abnormal entity once and sprout tentacles from their eyes. But I’ve never heard of a high-sensitivity, low-stability patient like you. Your eyes are basically wallhacks. So what—do you always see people outlined like drawings or something?”

Zheng Zhi blinked, then finally understood what she meant. He gave a helpless smile. “No. Not that bad… but my condition really has gotten worse.

“Before, at most I could see some weird shadowspawn, and sometimes I’d get lost and stumble onto some random side path. But ever since what happened to my uncle…”

He paused, then let out a quiet sigh.

“Ever since I came into contact with that angel umbilical cord, my symptoms got a lot heavier. What I see keeps getting clearer. And when I get lost now, it’s not just taking a wrong turn—I can end up walking into the otherworld.”

“What did the experts at the bureau say?” Rapunzel asked, eyes bright with curiosity.

“What else could they say?” Zheng Zhi groaned. “They were shocked. Mostly shocked I’d even lived this long. Then shocked that my symptoms had already been this bad since I was little, and now they’re still getting worse. They said they’d witnessed the possibilities of humanity.

“But later they said it also made sense. Basically, it’s a change caused by contact with angel contamination.”

He shrugged, trying to sound casual and failing.

“According to them, it’s very abnormal. But because it’s related to dark angels, it’s also very normal.

“And they said I’m lucky. For most ordinary people, angel contamination doesn’t just boost spirit vision. Most of them don’t even look human anymore.”

Princess Rapunzel’s expression softened. Then she asked again, “That rift is still there? Any changes compared to earlier?”

“…No change,” Zheng Zhi said, glancing toward the Demon Suppression Tower. “It’s completely stable—if you can call that good news.”

“I guess it counts,” Yu Sheng finally said. He exhaled, brow still furrowed. “As long as it doesn’t expand, we won’t get new leak points in the Demon Suppression Tower.”

Immortal Yuan Hao’s voice drifted in from nearby. “What exactly is that rift? Do you have any ideas?”

“No idea,” Yu Sheng said, shaking his head. “But I’m pretty sure it isn’t a normal space crack. I’ve seen those. I’ve even touched them. I can feel them without looking. But the rift Zheng Zhi sees… it’s something more complex. More abstract.”

As he spoke, his gaze lifted to Immortal Yuan Hao.

The so-called number one pretty boy of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain—with Xuan Che firmly in second—was traveling by swordflight behind Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage.

Yu Sheng had grown used to swordflight. Most of the time, Xuan Che and his Master simply turned into streaks of light and shot off. Sometimes they rode swords to save effort. After you saw it enough, it stopped being shocking—though it never stopped being cool.

But riding a chainsaw sword was a different category.

Yu Sheng’s eyes drifted to the thing under Immortal Yuan Hao’s feet: the hard lines of a metal casing, chain teeth, a trigger mechanism at the hilt, and faint stamped markings. He stared for a while before he finally blurted, “…That sword doesn’t look local.”

Immortal Yuan Hao chuckled. “This sword truly is not a product of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. I obtained it by chance during my travels beyond the domain long ago. At the time, my Celestial Ship malfunctioned…”

Yu Sheng cut him off instantly. “Okay. We already know the rest.”

Immortal Yuan Hao smacked his lips, clearly dissatisfied. “Hey, I still had a long story after that.”

While they talked, the group left the path that led toward the rear mountain. They circled a shattered platform still smoking with green fumes, and the towering Grand Hall of the Parted Clouds Palace finally came into view.

The earlier leak had thrown much of the mountain into chaos. From Cloud Viewing Terrace all the way here, destruction marked the route—damage left by escaped entities, demons, and beasts. But as one of the five great sects anchored on the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain had powerful protection systems built into every major facility. Beyond the overall mountain-protecting grand formation, each palace and pavilion had its own shield. In the critical moment, those shields had protected weaker disciples, held layered defenses from top to bottom, and saved many key buildings, including the Parted Clouds Palace.

So even now, though the surrounding plaza, paths, and pavilions lay in ruins, the Grand Hall still gleamed under daylight.

Foxy stepped lightly over broken stone and stopped in front of Xuan Che, who was organizing Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters to clean up the battlefield.

Yu Sheng leaned forward atop Foxy’s head and looked down. “How are things here?”

“Mr. Yu, and Elder Senior Uncle,” Xuan Che said with a smile, clasping his fists in greeting. “Thanks to the might of the giants and the help of the mages, the line before the Parted Clouds Palace held to the end. Many were injured, but with the shields taking the worst of it, we had no deaths. It truly is a blessing.”

He had barely finished when a wailing, curse-filled voice rose from a corner of the plaza:

“You bastards didn’t have any deaths—can you just let me die?! I should just die! Ah! You scruffy old daoists are so damn cruel…”

Yu Sheng froze and looked up.

A seven-headed serpent more than ten meters long lay sprawled on the plaza, tied into a knot and cursing nonstop.