How dare you hit me!
My uncle has never done it to me!
Really?
But your uncle keeps saying every day that he'll break your leg.
He's just saying that.
What on earth do you want?
-Let me tell you-- -Hanguang Jun!
Hanguang Jun, I was wrong!
Hanguang Jun, I can explain!
Hanguang Jun!
This matter isn't over yet. I'll be back for you!
Little stupid.
I always thought
that Jiang Cheng would always stand by my side,
and Lan Wangji would be on our opposite.
It never occurred to me
that things today
would turn out to be the opposite of that.
Lan Zhan,
I'm fine.
What happened?
This is a common trace of an evil spell.
When it comes to find me,
I will make it dispersed anyway.
But you have to help me then.
I'm unable to cope with it alone.
By the way,
did you find him?
Where is he?
Is he the one we are looking for?
It was transferred from Jin Ling, wasn't it?
You met Jiang Wanyin.
As long as the two of us are alive in the world,
we'll meet sooner or later.
Let's go. Let me carry you on my back.
I‘m just whipped by the Zidian.
My legs just feel a little numb. They aren't broken.
Besides,
I'm an adult man.
It's so embarrassing!
Embarrassing?
It's not embarrassing?
You once wanted to carry me on your back.
No way did I want that.
You must have mistaken it.
It's impossible.
Never would you try to remember these.
Lan Zhan,
how is your leg?
Fine.
Don't pretend it's fine in every case.
How about
you let me carry you?
Everyone says that I have a bad memory.
Well, let it be so.
No carrying me.
What are you doing?
Lan Zhan,
you recognized me in Dafan Mountain.
How did you notice it?
Do you want to know the reason?
You told me that yourself.
Did I tell you that?
Because of Jin Ling?
Or Wen Ning?
I guess neither.
Think about it yourself.
Just tell me. Please.
QITING WINE HOUSE
Put on the mask.
So it's really that old friend of ours, isn't it?
I don't know. I...
I don't know anything.
I really don't know anything.
Hanguang Jun.
It's truly not me.
Hanguang Jun,
I was just passing by.
I know nothing at all.
Since you don't know,
let me tell the story.
Maybe you'll recall something
when I'm telling the story.
Who is this person?
Hanguang Jun,
is there any liquor?
About Walker Ridge,
there's a rumor about the Man-eating Ridge and Man-eating Bunker,
but no real victim was ever found.
Thus they are all merely rumors.
And these rumors will keep people away from Walker Ridge.
So it was used as a defense line.
And that's only the first defense line.
Master,
I feel we have met somewhere before.
Since there is the first line, surely there will be the second line.
The second line
is the evil beings in Walker Ridge.
If some ordinary people intrude Walker Ridge,
fearless of the rumors,
or accidentally,
they'll run away in terror
after seeing the evil beings.
As for the third line,
it is the Disorientation Trap near the stone bunker.
If the first two lines
were set for ordinary people,
then the third
is for the cultivators.
But only those ordinary cultivators.
If the cultivator possesses some spiritual tool or wonder dog,
or he specializes in Disorientation Trap,
or he is a well-known high-rank cultivator like Hanguang Jun,
then the last line
will be breached anyway.
The only function of these three defense lines
is to prevent the Man-eating Bunker
in Walker Ridge from being discovered.
As for who built the stone bunker,
the answer is clear.
The place is within the boundary of the Nie Clan of Qinghe.
Except for members from the Nie Clan,
no one can set these three barriers easily
within the boundary of Qinghe.
Besides, you happened to appear near the stone bunker
and left a piece of evidence.
What does the Nie Clan's aim for by setting up a stone bunker
in Walker Ridge?
Why are there so many corpses inside the wall?
Did it eat people?
Clan Leader Nie,
if you don't make it clear today,
you should expect the day when it will be exposed
and the other clans come together to confront you.
I'm afraid nobody would hear you
or believe you,
even if you want to explain it then.
It's not a Man-eating Bunker at all.
It's the ancestral grave of my family.
An ancestral grave?
Your ancestral grave isn't for corpses
but for blades?
Hanguang Jun,
before I tell you,
would you please swear?
Since our clans have been friends for generations
and our elder brothers are sworn allies,
no matter what I'm going to say, you...
and your friend
can never leak even a word to the public.
Even if it should be exposed one day,
please be my witnesses
and say something for me then.
Hanguang Jun.
Since you never lie,
I will trust you
if you swear.
As you wish.
Answer my question.
You said it isn't a Man-eating Bunker,
so does it eat humans or not?
Yes.
-What? -I mean, no.
But...
It's not what you are thinking about.
These things shouldn't be blamed on my clan.
It's been dozens of years
since the rumor came up
that there was a Man-eating Bunker in Walker Ridge.
I only exaggerated the rumors
to spread them widely.
Please elaborate on this.
Hanguang Jun,
you all know
that our clan is different from the other clans.
Decent cultivators all practice swords as cultivation since ancient times.
But...
Surely, not including Wei...
You know who.
He practiced talisman as cultivation.
The founding ancestor of the Nie Clan was a butcher.
So we all practice blades.
The blades carried by our previous clan leaders
all showed strong hostility and killing will.
Almost every previous clan leader
ended up possessed by the devil and died a violent death.
Besides, their fractious temperaments
also had a lot to do with it.
When the previous clan leaders were alive,
the agitation of blades could be controlled by their owners.
But after their owners died, without control,
they became ominous weapons.
This sounds like wicked tricks.
It's different.
Wicked tricks are called so because they are wicked and they murder.
Our blades don't need human sacrifices,
just ghosts or spirits and so on.
They have killed so many evils
in their whole life.
If no evil beings were left for them to kill,
they would be restless
and haunt our clan.
Moreover, each blade only recognizes one owner.
Hence they can't be wielded by the others.
Offspring like me can't melt down the blades.
First of all, it's a great disrespect to our ancestors.
And secondly, the problem may still remain.
They have such an arrogant existence!
Tell me about it.
Those blades which followed my ancestors through countless battles
and accompanied their cultivation
are arrogant existences indeed.
As the cultivation achievement of our clan leader
increased gradually,
the problem became worse and worse.
Until our sixth clan leader
came up with a solution.
Build a Man-eating Bunker?
Similar to it.
But at first, what he came up with wasn't this one.
He just built two coffins and a stone bunker
to place the blades of his father and his grandfather.
What's strange is that
even if nothing valuable was placed inside the bunker,
hundreds of evil beings were oppressed there.
Hanguang Jun, let me explain.
We collected those evil beings out of no spite.
Our sixth clan leader said
since these blade spirits wanted to fight with something wicked,
then we should give them something wicked to fight with.
So we buried them together
as funerary objects
to reduce the agitation of the blade.
That way,
the following generations could lead peaceful lives.
Then why do you call it "man-eating"?
Not man-eating.
Even if it did eat someone,
it's not what you're thinking.
What they first built was a big tomb for blades.
So it's quite a common tomb.
But it was later unearthed by a group of grave robbers.
It's bearding the lion in his den.
Exactly!
The grave robbers heard that there was
a big tomb of the previous dynasty in Walker Ridge.
So they surveyed it first
and came prepared.
They rummaged around inside it
to find gold or jewelry.
But the blade spirit oppressed inside was aroused.
The blade spirit was wakened.
Right!
BLADES SHRINE
So with that said,
the oppressed evil beings broke through the wall
and sacrifices were needed less
because the group of robbers was taken as sacrifices.
You are right.
Since they entered Walker Ridge,
no one saw them out.
Not even their corpses.
Thus rumors came
that something inside Walker Ridge was eating people.
Our clan thought
it would be beneficial to let the rumors spread.
That way, no one would go near that place again.
Hence,
we instigated the rumor about a man-eating bunker.
You two can look at this.
As for Young Master Jin,
I don't know what method he took
to explode a hole in the wall.
At the same time,
a skeleton of a robber was also smashed by the explosion.
Thus instantly after he entered,
the Disorientation Trap inside was triggered off.
When he became dizzy,
he was instructed to bury himself inside the wall.
I often go there to check it up regularly
and I saw it when I just arrived today.
When I picked up this stone,
a dog came after me and bit me.
I was really...
This Blades Shrine is kind of our ancestral grave.
Ordinary cultivators won't go there for night hunting
after knowing it's within our boundary.
Who knows...
Who knows that you would be so unlucky
to meet Jin Ling, who's an undisciplined boy?
Tell me about it.
Hanguang Jun
and Master,
may it be necessary or not,
I've told you everything today.
You must keep it a secret.
I'll keep my promise.
Thank you so much, Hanguang Jun.
So...
May I leave first?
Wait!
Nie Huaisang!
What's so interesting? Let me see.
Be careful!
This one is my favorite folding fan.
Look. It is exquisitely painted and uniquely constructed.
How's it? It is of the highest grade, isn't it?
In my opinion,
it's just so-so.
What do you mean "just so-so"?
The folding fan is exquisitely painted and uniquely constructed.
It is of the highest grade in the world.
Master, you have good taste!
I shall leave.
Lan Zhan,
what are you doing?
Cleaning the evil spell.
It's fine. I'll do it myself.
It has come to the upper thigh.
We should play "Requiescat."
Play it well.
You must have felt uncomfortable,
to have to endure the noise I made that day.
What happened?
Is it used to the noise
and can't accommodate my beautiful tune this time?
These days,
I've never seen it as restless as it is today.
As if it was stimulated by something.
It's the thing on your leg.
A trace of the evil spell.
Jin Ling got it when he was trapped in the stone bunker.
The sword ghost reacts so intensively to the evil spell.
Does it mean...
Could it be that
Blades Shrine of Nie is the place
where the sword ghost is leading us?
Mend the wall over there.
Be careful.
Hanguang Jun and Master...
Clan Leader Nie, are you mending the wall?
Yes, I am.
I'm sorry
that you may have to
-mend it again later. -It's fine.
Wait!
Clan Leader Nie, don't worry!
We just want to check the things buried inside your Blades Shrine.
We'll return them soon.
Help me.
You...
This...
Use the evil-subdue Qiankun bag.
Later.
We don't know what's the thing the sword ghost is leading us to.
It's too dangerous to unseal the evil-subdue Qiankun bag now.
You...
What are you looking for?
Could it be that we assumed it wrongly?
The sword ghost was not leading us
to the murder.
The sword ghost
is pointing out its owner.
No.
You must have made a wrong assumption.
None of us in the Nie Clan practice swords.
We all practice blades.
Hanguang Jun.
I'm not lying to you.
You...
Clan Leader Nie, you surely aren't lying to us.
We made a mistake.
And it's a big one.
The wicked spirit can attach to the sword
which can only prove that it's a spiritual weapon
But no one can say that it's definitely a sword ghost.
Clan Leader Nie.
May I bother you with something else?
Another?
It's nothing tricky.
Please help us
take all blades
out of the Blades Shrine.
What?
Hanguang Jun, doesn't it cross the line?
Please, Clan Leader Nie.
Open it.
-Yes. -Yes.
This is the last one.
It's so strange.
All these blades here.
They don't have a trace of Stygian Tiger Amulet,
nor did the blade spirits leave them.
Could it be...
Clan Leader Nie,
are all the blades in the Nie Clan here?
They are all here.
What?
You haven't dug the ancestral grave of others?
I'm afraid not.
You... What do you mean?
Baxia.
You mean Baxia, the blade owned by Red Blade Master, isn't here?
Mingjue!
-Mingjue! -I'll kill you!
Huaisang!
Mingjue!
Don't go there!
Nie Mingjue can't recognize us!
Mingjue!
Mingjue! It's me!
Mingjue!
It's me.
Mingjue!
Mingjue...
The Red Blade Master broke all his tendons
in the Jin Clan's Floral Banquet,
but he fled away anyway.
And no one has ever seen his body.
Exactly.
This is similar to my case.
Lan Zhan,
if the blade spirit
is Baxia, the blade owned by Red Blade Master,
then it led us here
to inform us
of who its owner is.
Say,
where could it take us next?
To the west.
It seems the blade spirit won't let us off.
What do you say?
Do you think it'll take us to find Red Blade Master?
It makes sense.
Whoever left this blade spirit
in Mo's Manor,
he wants us to find Red Blade Master.
Hence,
his being possessed by the devil wasn't an accident.
Besides the blade spirit seems so uneasy.
I'm afraid Red Blade Master...
Was murdered.
But even if he was murdered,
how was I...
My Stygian Tiger Amulet involved?
Is there anyone who wants to frame me up again?
Time will tell.
Clan Leader Nie,
we brought you trouble just now.
We're sorry about that.
You exaggerate it.
If it's really
Mingjue's Baxia who committed the crimes,
we, the Nie Clan, won't sit idly by and watch.
After I finish mending our Blades Shrine,
I'll come to see you
Hanguang Jun and Master Mo.
If...
If Mingjue's body can be found,
then I...
I'll have...
Clan Leader Nie,
once we make sure it's his body,
Hanguang Jun will send you an urgent letter.
Let's go.
YUEYANG
How's your trace of evil spell?
Almost healed.
With little remains.
I'm fine.
It's not this trace of the evil spell that troubles me.
What do you mean "little"?
A little means a little.
How can I tell you that?
Or do you want me to undress and show you?
Lan Zhan, let me ask you.
Do you think
those who unleashed the blade spirit in Mo' Manor
and those who killed Red Blade Master
are the same group?
Not the same.
I agree with you.
If he is the one who killed Red Blade Master
and doesn't want the body of Red Blade Master found by us,
it's impossible for him to have used the blade spirit
to hurt the people of the Lan Clan.
Because it's easy to be investigated
and discovered.
One tries hard to hide,
yet the other wants everyone to know it.
So they aren't on the same side.
The man who killed Red Blade Master
seems to know a lot of secrets from the Nie Clan.
However, the man who left us the blade spirit
knows a lot of our activities.
Both of them must be tricky to deal with.
Secrets are becoming abundant.
Step by step.
Then how did you recognize me?
Think about it yourself.
Lan Zhan!
It's late. Let's find an inn first.
QITING WINE HOUSE
This is good liquor, Lan Zhan.
Sir, the haunted house of the Chang Clan has been there for years,
you'd better not go there!
It's very dangerous!
I heard scores of people from the Chang Clan
were all killed overnight.
These ghosts who were trapped in the mansion
kept haunting around at night.
It happened more than ten years ago.
Nothing like this happens nowadays.
Just because several cultivators passed by this place
and rested in our inn.
I remember they sat just at the seats where you are.
Cultivators?
Lan Zhan,
it's so unbelievable
after going here and there,
we're back here again.
Lan Zhan,
you did it on purpose.
You don't know that the sky was tainted red that night,
it was so bloody.
And the whole night resounded the sound of door-knocking.
So scary!
What happened later?
Later, several sword cultivators came
and took the man away.
Who was taken away?
I don't know that.
Please enjoy.
You guys don't know?
It's Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan who caught Xue Yang,
the courtier of the Wen Clan here.
But now he's a courtier of the Jin Clan.
-Drink. -Let's Drink.
The little jerk didn't die
and became a courtier of the Jin Clan?
Not a courtier.
Sixteen years ago,
Xue Yang appeared at the Carp Tower suddenly.
All clans agreed to punish Xue Yang.
Only Jin Guangshan objected.
You said that he murdered about 50 people of the Chang Clan,
did anyone see it in person?
I can't even guarantee the life of one man?
What happened later?
Later,
the only survivor of the Chang Clan, Ping,
withdrew his confession.
Really?
Chang Ping declared
the massacre of the Chang Clan
had nothing to do with Xue Yang.
That was to set the tiger back to the mountain.
It's not until Jin Guangshan died
and Lianfang Zun Jin Guangyao became the clan leader
that Xue Yang was punished.
That Xue Yang should have died later, right?
I heard he was pursued by his enemy.
Who cares?
Anyway, he was never seen later on.
Even if he didn't die, he wouldn't come for us anyway!
Come on, drink.
I heard he had some association with the Yiling Patriarch.
Really?
Drink.
-Me again? -Drink. Bottoms up.
It never came to me that after 16 years
people still hold a deep hatred to the Yiling Patriarch.
All bad things have connections to me.
Strange.
When Xue Yang was set free at that time,
didn't Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan appear?
Xiao Xingchen disappeared
and Song Lan wandered far away.
They were not seen again.
So many years have passed.
Not even any news about them?
Lan Zhan.
Sixteen years ago,
Chang Ping died of slow slicing
and lost his eyes overnight.
The weapon used to slice him was
Xiao Xingchen's sword, Frostwork.
What? Impossible!
So,
everyone believed
it was the disappearing Xiao Xingchen who killed him for revenge.
Since we parted at Yueyang,
I have only met Song Lan once.
And I thought we would meet again,
but the world was turned upside down now.
I've never seen him since we parted.
To be honest,
I actually admire Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan.
We had the mission of tracking the Yin Iron then.
But neither of them were from big clans,
nor were they acquainted with Chang clan.
They ended up so miserably
only for what has nothing to do with them.
I just want to say things are...
Things are so unpredictable.
Yes, things are unpredictable. Quaff down the liquor!