The Demon Palace had clearly just experienced a large-scale internal conflict. At this moment, the area from the foot of Kunlun Mountain to Tianmen was in chaos. The original post stations and watchtowers were only guarded by a few low-level disciples, while the responsible leaders had long since disappeared.
Huo Zhanbai lightly touched the glacier and landed on the jade steps in the middle of the Heavenly Gate.
On the towering South Heavenly Gate, a person wearing a bronze mask was already quietly waiting.
Miao Kong?
"You've finally arrived." Seeing the Seven Swords leap from the glacier, the man sighed from behind his mask. Though masked, the relief in his voice was palpable: "I've waited eight years for you."
He reached out his hand to Huo Zhanbai.
The sleeves were woven with flame patterns symbolizing Wu Mingzi's identity, but there was a horrific scar on his pale hand, extending from the tiger's mouth to the inside of his sleeve—a sword wound that severed the tendons in the tiger's mouth, leaving the hand crippled and unable to hold a sword again.
Huo Zhanbai and the other six swordsmen were startled when they saw the scar, and bowed in greeting. The eight of them raised their swords together in front of the South Heavenly Gate of the Great Bright Palace and did the same thing: they turned the hilts upside down and pressed them against their foreheads, as a greeting between the eight swordsmen of Dingjian Pavilion, and then looked at each other and smiled.
"Sixth Brother." He stepped forward and grasped the outstretched hand, his eyes filled with an indescribable expression. "Thank you for your hard work."
“Huo Qi,” Miao Kong smiled, “you’ve worked hard for the past eight years.”
He raised his hand and removed the bronze mask he always wore from his face, revealing a weathered and uniquely handsome face. He raised an eyebrow and smiled at the group—a face that had long been declared dead in the Central Plains martial arts world, a face that the Seven Swords of Dingjian Pavilion could never forget, even in life and death.
Xu Chonghua, the sixth-ranked of the Eight Swordsmen and the eldest son of the Xu family of Runan!
Eight years ago, in order to infiltrate the Kunlun Great Bright Palace and stop the ambitious Demon Palace from conquering the Central Plains martial arts world, this once brilliant young man, who was on par with Huo Zhanbai, endured so much—
In order to escape the martial arts world of the Central Plains, he pretended to compete with Huo Zhanbai for the position of the new sect leader. After failing, he killed and injured many elders and fled to the Western Regions. In order to gain the trust of the sect leader, he fought a life-and-death battle with Huo Zhanbai who had come after him by the Starry Sea. In the end, Huo Zhanbai crippled his right hand with a sword and pierced his chest.
Severely wounded and on the verge of death, he struggled to reach the South Heavenly Gate and was finally taken under the command of the King of Pop.
From then on, a mysterious master ranked among the Five Bright Ones appeared in the Kunlun Great Bright Palace, while in the Central Plains martial arts world, he was a traitor who had already "died".
Even his newlywed wife was unaware that her infamous husband was still alive somewhere in the world.
Having removed the "Miao Kong" mask, Xu Chonghua smiled at his companions as he saw the light of day again, but deep lines appeared at the corners of his eyes, and his temples were gray—so many years of enduring humiliation and hardship had prematurely aged this man who had just turned thirty.
Huo Zhanbai held his hand, recalling the complicated and unresolved grudges and affections between the two of them over the years, and was filled with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy.
He was his colleague of many years, his rival, and a brother to whom he could entrust his life. However, he was also the rival who stole Qiu Shui's heart. When the two of them received the old pavilion master's top-secret order together, he admired the other's courage and patience, but was also angry at his decisiveness in abandoning his wife and children.
In that battle at Xingxiu Sea, he went from faking it to actually killing this person with his sword.
He could not forget the look in Xu Chonghua's eyes when he crippled the opponent's right hand with a single sword strike.
At that moment, the two people who were risking their lives to cooperate for this extremely confidential mission must have truly wanted to kill each other, right?
Eight years have passed, and so many joys and sorrows have come and gone in the blink of an eye. At this moment, the two people on Kunlun Mountain, their hands clasped together again, are filled with countless complex emotions. They hold hands and look at each other, but ultimately remain silent.
"Quickly, let's hurry!" However, Xu Chonghua, who was always calm and reserved, was the first to withdraw his hand and urged his companions who had come with him, "Follow me! The palace is in chaos and empty right now, which is the perfect opportunity to take it down in one fell swoop!"
"Okay!" the companions responded in unison.
Eight years later, the eight swordsmen of Dingjian Pavilion reunite and head straight for the deepest part of the Demon Palace!
Huo Zhanbai led the group, following Xu Chonghua as they flew by. However, along the way, he couldn't help but glance back at Xu Chonghua—he had switched his grip on the sword to his left hand, and his graying temples danced in the air before his eyes. Eight years later, that spirited young man had aged considerably. But was his heart still the same as it had been eight years ago?
— Equally ambitious, obsessed with establishing fame and reputation, wanting to become the number one martial arts master in the Central Plains, and willing to pay any price for it.
Even when they reunited, he didn't ask a single question about his wife.
Huo Zhanbai suddenly felt a surge of anger—though he knew that at such a critical moment, this anger was ill-timed.
“Qiushui, she…” He couldn’t help but speak, wanting to tell him about what his wife and children had gone through over the years.
This person, who left the Central Plains martial arts world eight years ago, probably doesn't even know that he has a son who died young and whom he will never see.
However, Xu Chonghua frowned slightly, stopping him from continuing: "We'll talk about these things another day."
Huo Zhanbai felt a chill in his heart, but before he could speak again, a large group of disciples from the Demon Palace appeared before him. These leaderless people were searching for the traces of the Pope King or the Five Bright Children under the leadership of Star Saint Salo. However, the entire Great Bright Palace was empty, and not a single leader was to be seen.
"Envoy of Wonderful Void!" Star Saintess Sal exclaimed, covering her mouth.
—The only remaining member of the Five Bright Ones, Miao Kongshi, actually colluded with the Central Plains martial arts world and led his men into the Great Bright Palace!
This Uyghur princess, accustomed to a life of luxury, had never witnessed such a chaotic and dangerous situation.
Amidst gasps of alarm, eight swords scattered and struck the crowd like thunderbolts!
That was practically the culmination of the new generation of martial arts power in the Central Plains. Once the eight swords came together, how could the disciples of the Great Bright Palace, who were without a leader, possibly withstand the power they unleashed?
That battle turned into a massacre in the blink of an eye.
"She escaped!" Xia Qianyu suddenly turned around and shouted—outside her sight, Star Saintess Salo was staggering away, disappearing between the jade towers and golden palaces.
"Chase!" Xu Chonghua shouted in a low voice, and led the way, flying away and disappearing in a few leaps.
The other eight swords exchanged a glance, and after sweeping away the wind and clouds, they reassembled and immediately followed.
Only Huo Zhanbai hesitated slightly.
“Feng Xing,” he whispered to his colleague beside him, “have you noticed that we haven’t encountered anyone from the Shura Field along the way?”
Wei Fengxing was surprised: "Yes."
He paused for a moment, then replied, "Perhaps, because of Tong's betrayal, the Shura Field has already been completely wiped out by the Pope?"
The Star Saintess, Sal, was running wildly, her face filled with fear and resentment.
Her sister was dead… the King was dead… Wu Mingzi was dead… everyone who had weighed on her was finally dead. This Great Bright Palace was practically hers—but at this moment, had the martial arts world of the Central Plains arrived?