Eat when it's time to eat, drink when it's time to drink.
Dustless Island, Bright Moon Peak.
In a quiet chamber untouched by sunlight, Elder Changyu, clad in pristine white robes, exuded an air of serene detachment as he glanced at his eldest disciple. "Did you not bring me any roast chicken this time?"
Xu Shulou ignored the question. "Master, I have something to ask you."
Chang Yu poured her a cup of clear tea. "Speak."
"I had a dream. In it, you said something to me, so I came seeking answers."
"..." Elder Changyu remained silent, raising a hand to perform a divination spell.
Xu Shulou eyed his fingertips. "...I hope you're not calculating whether I've lost my mind."
Chang Yu smiled faintly, like ice melting under the sun. "How could I ever describe my beloved disciple that way? Go on, what troubles you?"
"Master," Xu Shulou traced the rim of her teacup, "do you truly trust the results of your divinations?"
"Hmm, not entirely," Chang Yu admitted. "It's more of a habit. If the outcome is favorable, I'm pleased. If it's grim, I pretend it doesn't exist. No matter what the future holds, one must still do what needs to be done in the present."
"Why the skepticism?"
"In the past, I did believe," Chang Yu reminisced. "I took you as my disciple precisely because the divination foretold our master-disciple bond."
"And then?"
Elder Changyu's gaze grew distant. "Then, you repeatedly defied my expectations at every turn—especially when you completely let go of your hatred. Watching you, I often thought: living by the script of divination, ascending to immortality step by step—that would indeed be the easiest path. But where's the joy in such an existence? We don't live for the ending; it's the journey that matters."
"..."
"Following nature's course is one path; plunging into the mortal world is another," Elder Changyu elegantly lifted his teacup. "Compared to the will of heaven, human nature is far more unpredictable. What alters my divinations has always been human agency, not fate. If I foresaw my ascension to immortality, could I laze about indulging in food and drink without cultivation and still achieve it? At life's crossroads, a single thought can forge an entirely different destiny. Why obsess over divinations?"
"..." The master was unusually profound today.
"So," Elder Changyu concluded, "eat when it's time to eat, drink when it's time to drink, cultivate when it's time to cultivate, and rest when it's time to rest. Why overcomplicate things?"
Xu Shulou nodded in agreement and handed him a roast chicken. "You didn't foresee this, did you?"
Chang Yu beamed but feigned indignation. "Impudent disciple! How could I waste celestial divination on something as trivial as roast chicken?"
Soon, the fragrance of tea mingled with the savory aroma of roast chicken in the chamber.
"Sheng Wuyou..." Xu Shulou ventured another question. "Master, on the day before you proposed the marriage for Second Junior Brother, I saw you performing a divination. What did you see?"
"I foresaw Sheng Wuyou's death," Chang Yu set down the chicken, his expression solemn. "She will eventually pass away as a mortal."
Xu Shulou sighed inwardly.
"The old me would have coldly severed their ties, forbidding Song Ping from seeing her again. But..." Elder Changyu gestured with ethereal grace, "Nothing is certain until the coffin is sealed. Which choice is right or wrong? Who can say until the very end? Even if they one day reach the fate I divined, the richness of their journey is still theirs to shape."
"Master, you are truly enlightened."
The enlightened master glanced at her approvingly. "This roast chicken is excellent—even the breast meat is tender. Where did you buy it?"
"A new shop in Ruzhou City called Xue's Roast Chicken. Their wine is good too."
"Speaking of which, where's the wine? Did you drink it all on the way?"
"..."
Xu Shulou covered her face. In her dream, it seemed Elder Changyu's attitude had influenced his disciples, yet in reality, he claimed she had changed him.
Who influenced whom? The answer was lost to time.
Leaving the chamber, Xu Shulou hadn't resolved any of her doubts, yet the fog in her heart had inexplicably lifted. She marveled at her master's uncanny charisma—if he ever set up a fortune-telling stall in the mortal world, he'd undoubtedly steal all the other diviners' business.
Bai Roushuang was waiting outside, crouched on the ground watching ants march.
Xu Shulou joined her, observing the tiny laborers for a while before fretting, "It looks like rain. Will they finish moving before the storm?"
"They should," Bai Roushuang replied. "In all my years, I've never seen ants fail to relocate in time."
The two stubbornly waited until the rain began, cheering when the ants completed their mission just as the first drops fell.
Bai Roushuang finally remembered to ask, "What did the master say to you?"
Xu Shulou summarized succinctly: "Man can conquer nature, and the roast chicken was good."
Bai Roushuang looked utterly bewildered.
The rain intensified, cascading like a waterfall from the heavens, accompanied by lightning and thunder, transforming Bright Moon Peak's scenery.
On a whim, Xu Shulou practiced a sword form in the downpour.
Bai Roushuang sat under the eaves, chin in hand, watching the figure blur through the rain. The sword flashed like lightning, its movements stirring curtains of water—a breathtaking dance.
What should have been a graceful routine became, in Xu Shou's hands, a defiant challenge to fate itself.
In the torrential rain, she channeled the frustration left by her dream.
———
That night, Xu Shulou sat by flickering lamplight, tracing the chain-ring on her finger.
It glowed ice-blue in the light, radiant and enigmatic.
During her mission escorting Fifth Junior Brother Jiang Yan's nephew to his post, the Void-Traversing Ring—capable of crossing three thousand worlds—had fused with the bracelet that seemingly transported her consciousness into dream realms, forming this hybrid artifact. At the time, she hadn't had leisure to study its properties.
Xu Shulou pondered. The demon realm affair had temporarily concluded, with major sects of the cultivation world announcing that rumors of a demonic invasion were mere misunderstandings. Practitioners were advised to focus on cultivation and disregard baseless claims.
With matters settled, Xu Shulou found herself at loose ends. After leaving the demon realm, she'd indulged in mortal delicacies to her heart's content. Now satiated, it was time to examine the chain-ring.
Cautiously, she left a written note on the table before channeling a wisp of spiritual energy into the artifact.
A flash of icy blue light brought a wave of dizziness. Unlike previous experiences with the Void-Traversing Ring, this time—
Xu Shulou found herself in a dim, narrow corridor. The walls, lined with carved wooden doors, exuded a musty chill that pierced even her cultivated resilience. The intricate carvings of hibiscus flowers were faded, their paint peeling from age.
The hallway was oppressively silent, its cold seeping into her bones.
A ghostly woman drifted past her side, startling her slightly. When she looked closely, she realized the woman had a face identical to her own.
Xu Shulou called out to her, but the woman seemed deaf to her voice, continuing forward expressionlessly until she vanished into the darkness at the end of the corridor.
What kind of cursed place was this?
She followed the direction the woman had disappeared, groping her way down the hallway. But whether she had unknowingly turned back or the corridor simply had no end, all that appeared before her was the same stretch of darkness flanked by carved wooden doors.
Xu Shulou marked one of the doors with a scratch and began observing carefully. Apart from varying degrees of wear, she couldn’t distinguish any differences between them.
Whatever. Xu Shulou pushed open the marked door. With a creak, it swung open easily, and a blinding white light engulfed her, pulling her inside.
When the glare faded, she found herself standing in a room. The furnishings weren’t shabby, but neither were they luxurious—more like the kind of side chamber reserved for maids in a wealthy household.
She felt a flicker of excitement. In the previous worlds she’d visited using the Void Ring, there had only been monkeys and jellyfish. She had hoped that this time, with the Chain Ring, she might land in a world full of fluffy creatures. But to her surprise, there were actually people here.
Xu Shulou strode to the door and pushed it open, ready to explore the outside world.
But before she could step out, she was blocked by an elderly matron who eyed her cheerful expression with disdain. "Young lady, where do you think you’re going? Hurry up and change. If you miss the auspicious hour, no one will wait for you."
Xu Shulou studied the woman—one nose, two eyes, no different from the people in her own world.
"Go on, go on! Don’t waste my time." Before she could think further, the matron unceremoniously ushered her back inside. Only then did Xu Shulou notice a red wedding dress laid out on the bed. She walked over and touched it—the fabric was ordinary, the style unremarkable, even the embroidery was sloppy, as if no care had been put into it.
"Change clothes?" Xu Shulou touched her face. "Is everyone here face-blind? Did she mistake me for someone else?"
The matron didn’t leave, instead standing guard with a hawk-like gaze. Xu Shulou, unsure of the situation and unwilling to argue, simply threw the dress over herself and tied the belt loosely. "Done."
The matron nodded. "Follow me."
Xu Shulou cheerfully trailed after her. Outside the room was a courtyard, and she frowned slightly, struck by a vague sense of familiarity—though she couldn’t place where she’d seen it before.
The courtyard was remote, and after winding through a maze of paths behind the matron, they finally arrived at their destination.
"Wait…"
Xu Shulou stared at the decorated wedding hall before her. "This… this is…"
The matron turned back impatiently. "Isn’t this what you schemed so desperately for? What are you dawdling for?"
Xu Shulou froze. Now she knew why it felt familiar. This was the Lingxiao Sect.
The Lingxiao Sect, a wedding hall, and Xu Shulou…
Her gaze swept over the guests, their eyes filled with open disgust and contempt. Ignoring them, she quickly picked out a few distinctive, punchable faces from the crowd.
A dream wedding?
A terrible thought struck her. "If Lu Beichen walks through that door, I’ll cut him down on the spot."
She muttered the last part under her breath, so the matron only caught the first half and sneered, "Who else would it be but Sect Leader Lu? You schemed so hard to marry him—who are you pretending to be crazy for now?"
Xu Shulou had only one reaction: "Where’s my sword?"
Her mind raced. Was this the wedding from a dream? If she was here, where was the original Xu Shulou?
She tested her spiritual energy and found it flowed unimpeded. She pondered—why had she come here? If this was a dream world, why now? If only she’d arrived a little earlier…
At a nearby table sat Shen Zhuang and her sixth junior brother, Ji Ci. The latter shot her a glare as she passed, his disdain undisguised.
Xu Shulou casually smacked the back of his head. "Who the hell are you glaring at, brat?"
"…" Ji Ci looked up at her in stunned silence, too shocked to speak.
Xu Shulou exhaled. Whatever the reason, since she was here, she might as well make the best of it.
Ignoring the scornful gazes around her, she swept a bold look across the room. "So many guests! Eat and drink to your heart’s content. Later, I’ll treat you all to a little entertainment—single-handedly butchering Lu Beichen."
