Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 63: Feeding the Array with One’s Body

The sky over the desolate land gradually darkened. A black sandstorm swept in, with a looming force that seemed to blot out the sun, almost as if it sensed someone was about to escape and wanted to destroy everything.

An ominous pressure spread through the entire realm. Everyone knew deep down that if they didn’t make it out this time, there might never be another chance.

Cheng Huai’an picked up his brush and sped up again, completing his part extremely fast.

Ye Su wasn’t slow either, but the central stone tablet’s runes were too complex and mentally draining. She still hadn’t finished.

As for Lian Lian, when she got halfway through drawing the array, her right hand holding the brush began to tremble, and she couldn’t continue.

The pain radiating from deep within her bones made her hand shake uncontrollably. Instinctively, Lian Lian just wanted to escape it.

"What’s wrong with you?" Zhou Yun, who was responsible for flying the sword with her, noticed she hadn’t moved in a while and couldn’t help but ask.

"I’m fine." Lian Lian forcefully gripped her right hand with her left, forcing herself to keep going.

Her injuries were already healed, there shouldn’t be any pain.

Her face pale, Lian Lian bit down hard on her teeth. With great effort, her left hand guided the right to continue.

……

By the time Lian Lian finished sealing the last rune, her entire body was soaked. As the approaching sandstorm wind hit her, it felt bone-chilling, but a surge of warmth rose in her heart. She had done it! She wasn’t someone who would stop after finishing just one rune anymore. She could do it!

As soon as the western stone tablet’s runes were fully completed, there was a noticeable change in the flow of energy in the realm. That oppressive, barren sensation began to fade, and even some spiritual energy started to return. Yet the black sandstorm only grew more violent.

"Fall back over here!" Xu Chengyu shouted to Lian Lian and Zhou Yun, urging them to move toward the central stone tablet. He soared into the air, gripped his sword, and struck at the approaching black sandstorm.

His sword energy was sharp and intense, slashing straight at the enormous storm that looked like a black dragon.

"Elder Tu…" Zhou Yun glanced back and saw Tu Shi’s body, now grotesquely swollen, completely engulfed by the black sandstorm. A bitter emotion welled up in his eyes.

Everyone gathered in front of the central stone tablet, shielding Ye Su from the black sandstorm’s onslaught. But the surrounding stone tablets were shaking and looked ready to collapse again at any moment.

No one noticed that Ye Su, still filling in the runes in front of the stone tablet, was also being attacked by the evil energy. But because she never slowed down not even for a moment, it went unnoticed.

Ye Su focused all her attention on the stone tablet’s patterns, her hand moving continuously while reserving just a bit of spiritual energy to protect her spiritual core and sea of consciousness.

"Rune complete."

Once Ye Su finished filling in the tablet’s rune patterns, the entire realm seemed to freeze for a moment. A golden flash burst from the forest of stone tablets as the array activated, and the black sandstorm slowly began to fade.

But it was still a deadlock. No one could leave yet.

"Elder Tu!" Ma Congqiu, quick to notice, saw that with the storm dissipating, Tu Shi was now half-kneeling in front of the western stone tablet.

Or rather his legs were already gone. Even the magic array had collapsed, because his hands had swollen and burst.

"Life and death reversed, the array responds to me," Tu Shi muttered the incantation, staring at Ye Su who stood before the central stone tablet.

His face was cracked open, faint pale light leaking from within, as if the next thing to explode would be his head.

At the same time, Ye Su was also chanting the same incantation: "Life and death reversed, the array responds to me."

From where the two of them stood, the array began to form and rotate.

—Reverse life and death. The array is complete!

A radiant light filled the realm. For those standing before the central stone tablet, the last thing they saw before leaving was Tu Shi offering himself to the array—his nascent soul shattered, and his true form completely vanished.

……

When did it all begin? Tu Shi no longer remembered clearly.

He had joined the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect later on, spending each day meditating with his masters and studying formations.

Day after day, year after year, his goals evolved from simply having enough to eat, to mastering formation arts, to eventually becoming the Buddha’s Chosen. And he achieved every single one.

He couldn’t recall whether people had always doubted him, or if the doubts only began after he was named the Buddha’s Chosen. Some said that his personality and appearance didn’t suit the title. But he didn’t care. In fact, he even set his next goal to smoothly inherit leadership of the sect.

Unfortunately, before even completing his first year as the Buddha’s Chosen, he stepped into this secret realm and never got out again.

In the moment his golden core shattered, he thought he was going to die. But Tu Shi was unwilling to give up. He struggled for two hundred years, rebuilt his golden core, formed a nascent soul, entered the spirit transformation stage, and even reached the body fusion stage.

Sometimes Tu Shi thought: maybe he should just undergo tribulation right here and ascend to godhood. But the spiritual energy within the realm was growing weaker by the day. In the end, he still had to face the possibility of fading away.

And right at that moment, several young cultivators also fell into this place and even discovered a possible way out.

Tu Shi believed it was the blessing of the Buddha that had brought him this sliver of hope. But that joy didn’t last long. He discovered the formation was a dead array: the western stone tablet was broken, and evil energy surged wildly.

To reverse the Life and Death Array, someone had to stay behind to attract and absorb the evil energy.

Tu Shi had struggled with the decision. He truly wanted to see what the outside world had become.

But...

Tu Shi pressed his palms together, enduring the agony of his swelling, tearing body, and held the evil energy in place.

Even as death approached, there was a smile on his face: to save others in the name of the Buddha, Tu Shi had lived up to the title of Buddha’s Chosen.

……

The Life and Death Array was reversed, allowing everyone to escape the endless abyss. The desolate city's secret realm began to collapse for no reason, forcefully ejecting all the cultivators inside.

The group stood outside, unable to come back to their senses for a long time.

A senior they had only just gotten to know had sacrificed himself so tragically right before their eyes, none of them could accept it.

Ye Su looked down at the notebook Tu Shi had given her. Perhaps it was the only proof that the former Buddha’s Chosen had lived on for two hundred years.

"The Desolate City’s secret realm actually collapsed."

"Who took the Realm-Stabilizing Treasure?"

"Who was it? That powerful?"

"Look, isn’t that Cheng Huaian and Lian Lian from the Wuxing Sect?"

"The one next to them must be from the Sword Sect. These two sects must have worked together to take the treasure."

"No one even knows what the treasure from the Desolate City’s secret realm was, but it’s probably something good."

The cultivators who were kicked out gathered and began discussing it heatedly.

Only Ye Su and her group knew that they hadn’t gotten anything. In fact, in order to get them out, Senior Tu Shi had sacrificed himself.

"I’m about to break through," Lian Lian suddenly said.

Cheng Huaian immediately bid the others farewell. With a flick of his fingers, he revealed two teleportation talismans and threw them to the ground. The two of them vanished from sight instantly.

"Senior Brother," Ma Congqiu looked at the message jade and said to Xu Chengyu, "It’s about time we head back to the Sword Sect and fight for a spot in the sect competition."

Ye Su was also planning to check on her junior disciples and intended to return to the Sword Sect with them.

As for Lu Jiu, she wanted to enter the sect competition too. Since she belonged to no sect, she could only compete under the name of an unaffiliated sect, and first had to get an entry pass.

Each region had a limited number of spots. Rogue cultivators had to win in a preliminary selection to get an entry pass.

"I’m going to Tushou City too," Lu Jiu said. Since she was a sword cultivator, it was only natural that she’d fight other sword cultivators for a pass.

"We’re out of teleportation scrolls," Xu Chengyu said. "We’ll use a teleportation array instead."

"Senior Brother," Zhou Yun reminded, "we’re out of spirit stones."

While inside the realm, Ma Congqiu had already used up all their spirit stones. Now, even their internal spiritual energy hadn’t fully recovered—flying by sword wouldn't last long.

"If you don’t mind, you can wait for me to sell some talismans to gather enough spirit stones for the teleportation array," Ye Su offered, pulling out a thick stack of talismans.

Ma Congqiu was doubtful. "In Guizongfu, there are talisman makers everywhere. People draw talismans on the streets and in alleyways. Will yours even sell?"

"Let’s try," Ye Su said thoughtfully. "If not, I can sell them cheap."

Worst case, she could probably still borrow a little money from Huang Erqian—