***
Save myself…?
Wu Guanyue was dazed for a moment. She had never imagined that this would be the answer she received.
From the time she was little, she had wanted to ask, countless times—why?
Why had she become paralyzed for no reason? Why had Heaven treated her this way? Why could everyone else run and jump while she was destined to spend her life in a wheelchair?
When she had asked these questions as a child, her parents had been unable to give her an answer.
As she grew older, she came to understand for herself that this was simply a question with no answer.
—There was no why. This misfortune had happened to you, and this unfortunate person happened to be you… That was all.
But now… she had actually received an answer.
So that was how it was… So… that was how it was…
And yet, questions still remained in her heart.
She immediately asked Wu Guizhen one of them.
“What exactly do I have to do to save myself?”
Yan Shouyi was utterly vile, but there was no question about the strength of his cultivation. He had been able to control Wenren Ying with ease, and Wu Guanyue and Wu Guizhen together were probably no match for a single palm strike from him.
She knew the truth… but what now? What was she supposed to do?
Wu Guizhen gazed at her in silence. For a long while, he said nothing.
Only after quite some time did he continue. “Everything I did… using soul fire to disguise certain game quests and having you level up the inn—was all so that your soul could better adapt to this world. The more karmic ties you formed with this world, the more firmly your three souls and seven spirits could be bound together by those threads of karma.”
So that was it… This was the truth behind [Returning the Three Souls and Seven Spirits to Their Proper Places].
Wu Guanyue asked, “Then… have I formed enough karma?”
Wu Guizhen shook his head. “No. After you and Wenren Ying came to understand each other’s feelings, you lost the heart to manage the inn. You are still far from reaching the amount of karma I had set out for you.”
Oh, come on…
Wu Guanyue bit down on her lip at once.
But before she could fall into self-blame again, Wu Guizhen spoke once more.
He said slowly, “However, precisely because you have not formed enough karmic ties with this world, its Heavenly Law cannot see you. You are not bound by it. That may well be a blessing in disguise.”
This seemed to mean that if she did things as heinous as those Yan Shouyi had done, she would not suffer the backlash of evil karma.
Wu Guanyue: “…”
But she had never intended to do anything heinous!
No, wait. The Heavenly Law… could not be understood in such a shallow or narrow way.
The Great Dao numbers fifty, Heaven’s Derivations number forty-nine, and humanity escapes with one.
In the future Wu Guizhen had deduced and seen through, Yan Shouyi had indeed seized that one variable. Bearing all his evil karma, he would successfully ascend. Yet within that single variable, another variable still lay hidden—and that variable was her.
She too could “escape with the one,” seeking a variable within the variable.
She was not subject to the constraints of this world’s Heavenly Law. The Heavenly Law could not impose evil karma upon her… nor could it impose upon her the power of any of its laws…
A vague spark of inspiration seemed to flash through Wu Guanyue’s mind. Her expression grew extremely solemn as she lowered her head and pondered, and pondered…
Wu Guizhen simply watched her in silence.
Wu Guizhen was not omnipotent. Even his Taiyi Divination could not grant him complete knowledge of all things.
In the future he had divined, he could see only that Wu Guanyue was the variable. What exactly she would bring about, however, was beyond his ability to know.
At that moment, he watched Wu Guanyue quietly.
Suddenly, she raised her head.
A flame seemed to ignite in her eyes. It was not the radiance emitted by the black jade eyes of her spirit puppet, but the soul itself—the blaze bursting forth as her soul began to burn!
“Grandpa Wu, can you teach me your ‘Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell’ technique?”
She shook her head slightly, seemingly talking to herself. “There’s no way I can cultivate to a level higher than Yan Shouyi’s in such a short time… But I’ve already thought of a way to deal with him!”
Wu Guizhen’s gaze flickered.
Without the slightest hesitation, he nodded. “I’ll teach you.”
Wu Guanyue asked another question. “Grandpa, I have one more question… If Yan Shouyi really dies, will the Yuntai Yan Clan come after us?”
Wu Guizhen studied her deeply before replying calmly, “I have evidence that he was the one who single-handedly orchestrated the Donghua Blood Moon. I am already nothing more than a remnant soul… How you use this evidence will be up to you.”
Wu Guanyue finally felt reassured and nodded heavily.
***
Wu Guanyue had expected Yan Shouyi would not be able to wait much longer, as his physical body was already on the verge of collapse.
She was, of course, right.
Yan Shouyi had ordered Wenren Ying to capture Wu Guanyue and bring her to him. He had thought that, at the latest, he would see her by dawn the next day. Yet an entire day passed, and not only had Wu Guanyue failed to appear—he had not even seen a single bird.
Had something gone wrong?
Of course something had gone wrong… Wenren Ying was a useless fool.
As the saying went, “When a journey is a hundred miles long, those who have traveled ninety have gone only halfway.” Over the years, Yan Shouyi had done countless things and lain low for an unknown length of time for the sake of his ascension. Yet the closer he came to the final moment, the more restless and impatient he became, and the less able he was to keep his composure.
Ascension was right before his eyes… right before his eyes. He would not allow anything to go wrong—not the slightest error.
Since something had gone awry on Wenren Ying’s end, he would have to go there himself!
As for that inn…
Wu Guizhen—humph. Wu Guizhen was nothing more than a defeated old opponent, an old man barely clinging to life… He would never be allowed to stand in Yan Shouyi’s way! Not even in his dreams!
Yan Shouyi snorted coldly and strode out of the grotto-heaven. His entire body rose lightly into the air, riding the wind. The Golden Lotus White Jade Crown on his head gleamed beneath the sunlight, casting layer upon layer of dazzling radiance. Behind his body, which floated effortlessly on the wind, lotus petals seemed to bloom in succession.
That solemn and magnificent manifestation caused the people throughout Meishan City to look up.
“It’s a mighty cultivator! Which mighty cultivator has come out of seclusion?”
“Could it be our Verdant Cloud Adept?”
“Doesn’t look like it. I’ve seen Verdant Cloud Adept’s show of force. To be honest, it’s still not as impressive as this one!”
“Hey… he-he’s heading toward Qihua Road!”
“What would a mighty cultivator be doing on Qihua Road?”
Indeed, what was he doing?
Verdant Cloud Adept was wondering the same thing.
The Supreme Elder of the Xuantian Sect had arrived in Meishan, yet he had known nothing about it. As for Elder Renhua… he did not seem to have any intention of visiting Verdant Cloud Grotto-Heaven. Instead, he had gone straight into Meishan City, and no one knew what he intended to do.
But very soon, he found out.
A bolt of heavenly lightning suddenly crashed down from the clear sky!
The heavens and earth themselves seemed to tremble beneath its force!
A terrifying force suddenly erupted from the inn on Qihua Road. Even the shop banners more than a hundred miles away were whipped into violent motion. The wind howled with such ferocity that it seemed capable of slicing a person’s ears clean off. Yet even more frightening was the pressure—the utterly terrifying pressure—
It was the dreadful spiritual pressure that erupted only when a great adept ascended!
Perfected Renhua—he was actually… actually attempting to ascend within Meishan City?!
Verdant Cloud Adept could scarcely believe his eyes!
Everyone knew that when an adept ascended, it would draw down the Heavenly Thunder Tribulation. There were eighty-one bolts of heavenly thunder in all, and every single one contained enough power to reduce even a Mahayana Earth Immortal to ashes—
If even an Earth Immortal at the Mahayana stage could not withstand the heavenly thunder, what chance did ordinary people have?!
Perfected Renhua had chosen to ascend within Meishan City. Was he not placing the people of Meishan directly beneath the heavenly thunder?!
Did he not care?
He truly did not care?!
Verdant Cloud Adept was so furious that his mind buzzed, and even his hands trembled. He immediately rose to his feet. Without so much as a moment to give his disciples and subordinates any instructions, his entire body transformed into a shooting star and streaked straight toward the heart of the lightning tribulation!
“Perfected One, have mercy! Take pity on the people! Please go to the mountains to ascend!”
“Perfected One, have mercy! Take pity on the people! Please go to the mountains to ascend!”
Verdant Cloud Adept was frantic with worry. He did not even have time to land before using his art of transmitting his voice across a thousand miles.
By this time, all of Qihua Road had been reduced to a colossal crater. The inn, the tavern, the Four Treasures Hall, the little teahouse… everything had vanished without a trace. Only Yan Shouyi still sat upright at the very center of the crater.
He remained completely spotless. Beneath the onslaught of the lightning tribulation, the layered golden lotus blossomed with ever greater force. Its solemn, radiant light pierced through the incandescent lightning, proving that he was still handling the heavenly thunder with ease!
The merit jade hovered quietly before him.
Its lustrous jade light was not particularly forceful, yet each time the heavenly thunder struck, it completely enveloped Yan Shouyi’s body. With every bolt that descended, another fine crack appeared across the surface of the jade.
And beside Yan Shouyi lay the corpse of a young girl. Her twin ponytails had come loose in disarray, as though they would never move again.
The girl was, of course, Wu Guanyue.
A thousand years ago, when Sword Lord Taibai sealed the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord, the entrance to the rift in that seal had been located inside the well at the inn.
Once Yan Shouyi arrived at the inn, he immediately seized Wu Guanyue and, without the slightest hesitation, used her to open the seal. He then retrieved the merit jade from within the rift.
And then… he struck Wu Guanyue dead with a single palm.
From beginning to end, he had not once looked her in the eye. He could not even be bothered to say a word to her. He had given some thought to the girl earlier, but that was only because she was the key to opening the seal.
In his eyes, she was nothing more than a key. Certainly, she was an extremely important one—but no matter how important, she was still merely an object.
Was it not only natural for an object’s fate to be decided by its owner?
Who would bother asking a key what it wanted? Would that not be utterly ridiculous?
After killing Wu Guanyue with a single palm strike, Yan Shouyi casually tossed her corpse aside, then sat down where he was and immediately circulated his spiritual power to ascend. The heavenly thunder was summoned at once.
He understood all too well the dangers of allowing matters to drag on.
The merit jade of Sword Lord Taibai was not a secret known only to him. Countless people throughout the world coveted it. Yan Shouyi would never allow the jade to be taken from him, so he had chosen to act decisively!
The heavenly thunder had already been drawn down. Before all eighty-one bolts had descended, no living person besides him would dare step into this place.
And once the eighty-one bolts of heavenly thunder had finished striking, he would have ascended into an immortal! Nothing here would be able to shake him any longer!
As for the ordinary people caught in the lightning tribulation and killed in the process… dead was dead. Their lives had been nothing more than a dreary, mediocre existence. What difference was there between living and dying?
Yan Shouyi fought the heavenly thunder with all his might!
At that very moment, the purest spiritual energy of heaven and earth circulated through the spiritual abode in his dantian. He concentrated completely on resisting the heavenly thunder. Even with the merit jade shielding him from its blows, he still intended to break through the Mahayana realm amid these eighty-one bolts, completing his transformation and shedding his mortal body to become a true immortal!
Because he was so utterly focused, he failed to notice that the corpse lying beside him—Wu Guanyue’s corpse—had not been struck by lightning even once.
Then her finger moved ever so slightly.
