Chapter 328: Conclusion 10.

After that, the route became much less peaceful.

The first sign was a sharp sound from somewhere inside the mountains.

It sounded like metal striking stone.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Mo Yuxin’s expression changed.

"Sword qi."

Su Yubing looked ahead.

"A sword formation?"

"Probably."

They entered a narrow canyon.

Sword marks covered the walls.

Some were fresh.

Others were ancient.

A faint current of sword intent moved through the canyon like wind.

An ordinary Core Formation cultivator would have struggled to walk through it.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing walked side by side without any problem.

A group of young sword cultivators appeared ahead.

They were struggling badly.

One had a bleeding arm.

Another was sitting on the ground, unable to move.

Their leader was trying to maintain a barrier.

Mo Yuxin walked past them.

Then stopped.

Su Yubing looked at her.

"You want to help?"

"Yes."

Mo Yuxin raised one hand.

The sword intent filling the canyon immediately became calm.

The air stopped vibrating.

The sword marks on the walls dimmed.

The young cultivators stared.

One of them whispered, "She suppressed the canyon’s sword intent."

Mo Yuxin looked at him.

"Only for a moment."

The leader bowed.

"Senior, thank you."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Take the left path. The formation is stronger on the right."

The leader looked surprised.

"You can tell?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Mo Yuxin pointed.

"The rocks are cleaner there. Sword qi has been cutting them for years."

The cultivator stared at the wall.

Then realized she was right.

They thanked her again and moved away.

Su Yubing walked beside Mo Yuxin.

"You could have joined a sword sect."

"Too many rules."

"You would have hated the elders."

"Definitely."

"You would also have caused trouble."

Mo Yuxin thought about it.

"Probably."

They left the canyon before evening.

Beyond it was a wide plateau dotted with small cultivation villages.

One of the villages was preparing for a local festival.

The festival was called the Hundred Lantern Night.

Every family hung spirit lanterns outside their homes, and young cultivators competed in friendly sword and spell demonstrations.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing had no reason to stay.

They stayed anyway.

Su Yubing wanted to see the lanterns.

Mo Yuxin wanted to see Su Yubing looking at the lanterns.

The result was predictable.

They spent the entire evening walking through the village market.

There were spirit cakes.

Candied fruit.

Small talismans.

Wooden toys.

Handmade bracelets.

Decorative hairpins.

And an old woman selling small paper lanterns with wishes written inside.

Su Yubing chose one.

The old woman smiled.

"Write your wish and hang it in the tree."

Su Yubing took the brush.

She wrote for a long time.

Mo Yuxin tried to look.

Su Yubing blocked her.

"No cheating."

"Why?"

"It is a wish."

"You can tell me."

"No."

Mo Yuxin accepted defeat.

Later, when Su Yubing hung the lantern in the tree, Mo Yuxin secretly used divine sense to read the writing.

She smiled.

The wish was simple.

I hope we can keep traveling together for a very long time.

Mo Yuxin did not say she had seen it.

Instead, she bought her own lantern.

She wrote a single sentence.

I hope she never gets tired of having me around.

Su Yubing saw it immediately.

She stared at Mo Yuxin.

"You read mine."

"Maybe."

"You cheated."

"Maybe."

Su Yubing laughed.

"Then your wish is already fulfilled."

Mo Yuxin smiled.

"Good."

They hung the lantern together.

The villagers did not know who they were.

They only saw two beautiful women holding hands beneath a tree full of lights.

It was peaceful.

And for a while, they were simply travelers.

The next day, they returned to the road.

The festival village gave them directions toward the Central Spiritual Highway.

The route passed through a place called Falling Bell Gorge.

The gorge was narrow and deep.

Old bells hung from the cliffs.

Whenever the wind moved through the gorge, the bells rang.

Each bell contained a small formation that produced a different sound.

Some were deep.

Some were high.

Some sounded almost like voices.

Su Yubing listened.

"Beautiful."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Yes."

A bell suddenly cracked.

Then another.

Then ten.

A strong pressure spread through the gorge.

Mo Yuxin looked upward.

"Someone is fighting."

Su Yubing nodded.

They followed the sound.

At the center of the gorge, two groups of cultivators were fighting over a large golden bell.

One side wore blue robes.

The other wore black.

The golden bell was floating between them.

The battle was already fierce.

Spells filled the air.

Sword lights struck the stone.

The cliff walls began to collapse.

Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing stood at the edge and watched.

Su Yubing whispered, "Should we stop them?"

Mo Yuxin looked at the bell.

"It is going to fall."

"Then?"

"The bell is heavier than it looks."

"How heavy?"

"About three mountains."

Su Yubing blinked.

"Then we should probably stop them."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

The next moment, the bell broke free.

It dropped.

Every cultivator screamed.

Mo Yuxin raised one hand.

The bell stopped in midair.

The entire gorge became silent.

The two groups stared upward.

Mo Yuxin gently lowered the bell onto the ground.

Then she looked at the cultivators.

"Stop fighting."

One black-robed elder objected.

"This is none of your business."

Mo Yuxin looked at him.

"You nearly dropped a three-mountain bell on the road."

The elder paused.

That was, in fact, everyone’s business.

The blue-robed leader stepped forward.

"Senior, this bell belongs to the Falling Bell Sect. They stole it."

The black-robed elder immediately shouted, "It was ours first."

Mo Yuxin sighed.

"Whose name is carved on it?"

Everyone looked at the bell.

The ancient characters were very clear.

Falling Bell Sect.

The black-robed elder became silent.

Mo Yuxin pointed at him.

"Then give it back."

He clenched his fists.

But before he could speak, Su Yubing stepped beside Mo Yuxin.

She smiled.

The elder immediately remembered that the woman next to Mo Yuxin had sealed a Nascent Soul cultivator at an inn several days earlier.

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TO BE CONTINUED.