The white Lotus beneath Han Feng's feet didn't just look pure; it felt like a hole in the universe—a vacuum of absolute cleanliness in a world of grime. As the Phase 2 Evolution of the Mirror stabilized, the pillar of white light receded, leaving the grotto bathed in a soft, ethereal glow that smelled of mountain rain.
Han Feng exhaled, a cloud of grey, soot-like vapor escaping his lips—the last of the impurities from his Stage 3 Qi Condensation breakthrough. His skin now had a faint, translucent quality, like fine porcelain layered over steel.
On the shore of the now-crystalline Jade Spring, Lin Xiruo stood trembling. The "Sword-Saintess" was a title earned through coldness and slaughter, but as she looked at her own hands, she saw something she hadn't seen in years: the pink of healthy flesh, no longer strained by the purple tint of miasma.
"You... you didn't just kill the Lotus," she whispered, her silver eyes locked on Han Feng. "You rewrote the laws of this place."
Han Feng leaped from the flower, gliding through the air with a weightlessness that shouldn't be possible for a Stage 3 cultivator. He landed silently on the grass, which was already beginning to sprout tiny, white Spirit-Lilies.
"I didn't rewrite anything, Senior Sister," Han Feng replied, his voice calm but carrying a new, resonant depth. "I simply reminded the world what it used to be before the 'Gods' started bleeding into it."
The Shadow in the Jade
Before Lin Xiruo could respond, a frantic splashing came from the edge of the spring. Su Yue was pointing toward the center of the pool.
"Han Feng! Look! The center... it's not empty!"
As the emerald sludge settled into clear water, something became visible at the very bottom of the spring. It was a jagged, obsidian chest, wrapped in chains of Sinking Soul Iron—a material used only to contain things that the Heavens themselves want forgotten.
Han Feng's Mirror vibrated violently.
"An Ancient Ruin anchor," Lin Xiruo said, her professional instincts overriding her shock. She stepped forward, her longsword returning to her hand. "The Jade Spring was never just a pool. It was a seal. By purifying the Lotus, you've weakened the lock."
"Then let's open it," Han Feng said.
"Are you mad?" Lin Xiruo hissed. "That chest is a Tier 3 Earth Treasure container. If what's inside is as toxic as the Lotus, even your 'clean air' won't save us if it explodes."
"I'm not going to break it," Han Feng said, walking toward the water. "I'm going to refine it."
Han Feng knelt at the water's edge and placed the Purification Mirror face-down on the surface. White ripples spread out, and the obsidian chest began to rise, lifted by a pillar of purified water.
As the chest broke the surface, the Sinking Soul Iron chains began to hiss. The black metal turned to grey ash, falling away to reveal a sword hilt protruding from a block of unrefined Star-Core Ore.
Lin Xiruo gasped. "That... that's the Broken Wing of the Azure Phoenix. It's a legendary weapon from the Pre-Fall era! It was said to be lost when the first Miasma Storm hit the sect!"
The sword was a wreck. The blade was snapped in half, and the remaining metal was pitted with deep, weeping sores of corruption. It looked like a dying animal.
Han Feng reached out.
"Don't touch it!" Su Yue screamed. "The corrosion on that blade is concentrated enough to melt a Nascent Soul expert's hand!"
Han Feng's fingers closed around the hilt.
The grotto turned white. The Mirror didn't just pulse; it screamed. A vortex of energy centered on Han Feng's hand, dragging the black rot out of the sword and into the Mirror's void. The Star-Core Ore block shattered, and the blade began to knit itself back together, the shattered steel growing back like living bone.
When the light faded, Han Feng held a short-sword that shimmered with the color of a summer sky.
[Item Identified: Azure Phoenix Wing (Restored)]
[Grade: Earth Treasure (Low) - Purity: 100%]
[Special Trait: Sanitizer's Edge - Deals 300% damage to Evil Cultivators and Miasma Beasts.]
The Vow of the Saintess
Lin Xiruo looked at the sword, then at the youth who held a legendary weapon as if it were a common kitchen knife. She realized then that the power balance of the Cloud-Mist Sect had just shifted forever.
If Han Feng returned to the sect now, the Elders would kill him to take the Mirror and the Sword. If he stayed here, he would be hunted.
She walked over to him and, to the absolute horror of Su Yue, the Sword-Saintess of the Inner Peaks dropped to one knee. She placed her own silver sword on the ground.
"Han Feng," she said, her voice like iron. "The Sect is a den of vultures. They have fed us poison and called it medicine for a thousand years. I, Lin Xiruo, have reached the 5th Stage of Qi Condensation, but today I realize I have been a blind woman walking in a sewer."
She looked up at him, her silver eyes burning. "I cannot follow a Sect that thrives on filth. I will follow the one who brings the light. From this day until my soul returns to the Void, my sword is yours. I will be your shield while you cleanse this world."
[System Notification: First 'Pure' Follower Acquired.]
[Reward: Shared Purification Aura.]
Han Feng looked at the proud woman kneeling before him. He didn't offer her a hand up yet.
"If you follow me, Lin Xiruo, you are an enemy of the Cloud-Mist Sect. You are an enemy of the Great Empires. You are an enemy of the 'Gods' themselves. We aren't going back to the Sect to report our findings."
He pointed the Azure Phoenix Wing toward the mountain peaks where the Sect sat like a parasite.
"We are going back to burn the trash."