“A battle at the Void Stepping level!”
Someone murmured, their voice unusually clear in the suddenly silent surroundings.
The light waves bursting in the sky were so intense that they not only illuminated Cliff City as bright as day but also momentarily quelled the commotion caused by the collapse of the strange structure atop the Heavenly Wings Pavilion.
The higher a cultivator’s realm in the city, the more intensely they felt it. Near the now-unrecognizable Heavenly Wings Pavilion, several Core Refinement cultivators wore subtle expressions. The gap between Core Refinement and Void Stepping might be just one level, but the true difference was like heaven and earth—a realization most evident at this moment.
For a time, the fierce battle at Dan Cliff shifted, as everyone processed the impact of the sky’s light waves.
Yet two individuals remained unaffected.
The first was “Tu Du.”
Having witnessed thousands of Void Stepping battles in his lifetime—and even higher-level conflicts—such scenes were commonplace to him. Though in Cliff City he was merely a soul-splitting puppet with fragmented memories, his instincts remained unchanged. When the light first shone, his intended technique faltered, but he swiftly adjusted his method. Where there was light, there were shadows; where there was brightness, there was darkness. To him, it made no difference. Soon, his Yin Spirit phantom merged into the intense light, vanishing without a trace.
The second was Yu Ci.
“What is ‘Shadow Void’?”
He asked Zhao Ziyue, who had just shouted something about “Shadow Void” and “Northern Demon Sect.” But Zhao Ziyue was dazed, failing to respond immediately—and then, it no longer mattered.
"Hē mó luó, xī hē lǔ duō, tú suō lā ne sū hē luó…" (G: This is like a mantra, and doesn't really have a meaning.)
A low chant drifted past their ears. Everyone around Heavenly Wings Pavilion—whether Yu Ci’s group of high-level figures or the terrified cultivators and civilians below—heard the incantation. None of the ten people present understood its meaning, yet the sensation it evoked was unmistakable.
It was a whisper beneath the starry sky, a hymn to the boundless void.
The light waves illuminating Cliff City had their limits, reaching ten or a hundred miles but no further. Only the sky above, the earth below, and the infinite void encompassing them were beyond surpassing.
At a human level, the boundless void’s form and nature were incomprehensible—only its vast grandeur could be imagined. People bowed before its majestic splendor, lost in its limitless expanse, adrift without support or shelter. From awe came a sense of insignificance; from insignificance, fear; from fear, humility.
Then, the chant’s rhythm shifted.
A deeper, ghostly murmur diverted their thoughts down a dark path. Before the endless void, moral barriers crumbled, giving way to deeper negative emotions sprouting like vines in the dark, seeking something to cling to—handing their weakest, darkest aspects to an unseen force, seized and manipulated by a mysterious hand.
At that moment, though light still bathed the area around Heavenly Wings Pavilion, shadows spread within their hearts. Some unknowable force drew out these emotions, binding them with those of others nearby, instantly weaving a twisted shadow web that ensnared nearly everyone—like mosquitoes on a spider’s web, the more they struggled, the tighter they were bound.
“Void Heart Demon Spider Shadow Curse!”
Two voices cried out in unison: Zhou Youde and Zhao Ziyue.
Zhou Youde, protected by the “Heart-Connected Rhino Ring” and bolstered by Buddhist light, resisted the curse’s power.
Zhao Ziyue, by some unknown means, also snapped out of his mental daze in time.
But others weren’t so fortunate.
At Heavenly Wings Pavilion and the adjacent bridges, cries of anguish erupted. Whether civilian or cultivator, the curse exposed their deepest vulnerabilities, its power siphoning a significant portion of their soul energy to form the shadow web. Worse still, the web’s countless negative emotions knew no boundaries—every dark thought and pain merged, felt by all.
In that instant, a tide of fear swept the shadow web. As it took shape, countless minds collapsed—some screamed in despair, others fainted outright. The four strongest Core Refinement cultivators resisted longer, but under the onslaught of dark emotions, their mental defenses teetered. The initial taint of the curse, carelessly absorbed, now spread rapidly.
For most, it was mere emotional shock. But for them, the stirring in their hearts was a deadly inner demon!
Few, like Nan Songzi, could manipulate demons for cultivation; most diligently purified their souls to keep them clear. When demons arose, they were swiftly purged to avoid disaster.
Now, triggered by the curse, inner demons surged fiercely.
Caught off guard, cultivators like Yu Chi felt their Qi Cultivation disrupted, their inner demons resonating with the external tide of fear. If unchecked, the collision of inner and outer demons could drive them into fatal madness!
“What is this technique?!” someone shouted, clearly missing Zhou Youde and Zhao Ziyue’s earlier cries.
But Yu Ci heard them.
Though his cultivation paled compared to these Core Refinement cultivators, he remained lucid within “ Tu Du’s” shadow web.
He couldn’t block the curse’s invasion—it didn’t attack the soul directly but seeped through the six senses, pervasive and unstoppable, rendering the Heart-Binding Horn in his mouth useless. What truly saved him was the faintly warm True Void Violet Mist Jade at his chest.
Its gentle purple Qi bathed his body and soul like warm water, purging the nascent inner demons instantly.
This caught him off guard. Since acquiring the jade, Yu Ci had kept it close, testing its cultivation-boosting effects. Its mild, gradual nature showed no obvious results short-term—yet now, it proved its worth spectacularly.
Still, this was no time to relax.
Without hesitation, as the demon’s influence waned, Yu Ci leaped upward. Behind him, the chanting ceased abruptly, and a malice like a red-hot needle pierced from the void, locking onto him.
Glancing back, he saw “Tu Du.”
The sky’s swirling light waves were fading fast, and around Heavenly Wings Pavilion, the scene transformed. Countless shadow threads stretched from the tower and bridges, weaving a crisscross web. “Tu Du” crouched at its center like a grotesque spider, plucking the strands, toying with the struggling “insects” and feeding on their energy to grow stronger.
This must be the origin of the “Void Heart Demon Spider Shadow Curse” name.
Such a demonic spell, though eerie and sinister, was undeniably awe-inspiring. Compared to the crude methods “Tu Du” used in Sky Rift Valley, this was on another level.
As Yu Ci watched “Tu Du,” “Tu Du” stared back, his Yin Spirit phantom grinning coldly before the shadows surged toward him. The web stretched suddenly, and the hundreds of cultivators and civilians ensnared within groaned in unison, their wails echoing mournfully.
Amid these cries, “Tu Du’s” Yin Spirit grew more solid, the mottled shadows on the cliff wall stirring in response, as if to bind Yu Ci’s limbs.
With a hiss, misty sword Qi slashed through the shadows’ grasp, and Yu Ci pressed upward.
“Tu Du” cackled inexplicably, pursuing him, passing Zhao Ziyue and Zhou Youde.
Zhao Ziyue showed no intent to intercept, while Zhou Youde—unsettled since hearing “Shadow Void” and “Northern Demon Sect”—hesitated.
As “Tu Du” approached, Zhou Youde reached out, only to be rebuffed:
Zhou Youde’s sturdy frame shuddered, doubt stalling him.
“Tu Du’s” speed was blinding—shadows swept past, breaking through. The Buddhist light of the “Heart-Connected Rhino Ring” dimmed, and Zhou Youde felt a dull pain in his chest, his old injuries flaring from the earlier clash.
Yu Ci didn’t bother wondering if Zhao Ziyue or Zhou Youde could stop “Tu Du.” In a crisis, relying on others was the greatest danger—he knew this well.
Without a glance, he pulled a new jade talisman from his storage ring. Unlike the previous Sinister Yin Demon Binding Talisman, this one was deliberately sharpened at one end. With a deliberate press, the tip pierced his palm, blood gushing out, instantly soaking the intricate talisman patterns.
Stimulated, the talisman glowed, its light mingling with the blood, pooling and surging in his palm, its power swelling as if to burst through his fingers. Guiding this force, Yu Ci took the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror in hand and, with bloodied fingers, pressed seven vivid red dots onto its polished surface.
The space before him cleared—he’d reached the cliff’s summit. A place he’d frequented recently, where he’d met Zhao Ziyue before the Treasure Exchange Banquet. Zhao Ziyue hadn’t noticed, but between the shallow, weathered grooves in the rock where they sat, there lay an intricately precise connection.
In the sky, the blinding light of the Void Stepping battle had vanished, the dark canopy unfurling once more. Under the relatively bright moonlight, a few sparse stars dotted the scene.
Ignoring how close “Tu Du” had come, Yu Ci tilted his head skyward.
A white light rose to his shoulder—the Scripture Mastery Path Treasure Seal.
A faint chant of talisman incantations began to sound.