News reached us that Ye Ziyun had been sent to the Tianyun realm. The heavenly cloud domain served as the sect's most sacred cultivation ground.
I spent days trailing Xiao Ning through the sect, picking up intel on its strengths and offering advice on preparing for demon beast attacks. Through her master, I learned Ye Ziyun's bloodline was unusually suited to the realm's demands, promising a massive boost to her cultivation speed.
The situation was obvious. Nangong Xianyin, the sect leader, saw Ye Ziyun as the next in line. Xiao Ning never cared for leadership, and Ye Ziyun's order to dissolve their faction came right as she gained entry to the Cloud Hall. The timing fueled whispers across the sect.
Some gossiped that Ning was finally stepping up to rival Ye Ziyun for sect master. Others thought Ye Ziyun suspected Ning's ambitions. Faction members were torn, unsure who to back.
With Ye Ziyun gone, Ning's orders were straightforward: "Follow her lead." Xuan Ze hovered around Ning, fishing for details and spreading rumors.
I tracked Ye Ziyun's location in the realm and teleported there, slipping past its spatial barriers. Days had passed since our clash. Maybe she'd cooled off. I found her in a cultivation pose, but her breathing was off, heavenly energy swirling messily around her. Her troubled mind was blocking her progress.
I let her sense me.
"You… why are you here?" she asked, eyes still closed.
"You can't cultivate with a clouded mind. It's pointless."
"And whose fault is that?"
"I told you before, it was genuinely my misunderstanding. I failed to grasp the situation properly. I'm human, not a god." The irony struck me ~ I was technically a true god now.
"I make mistakes. I cannot always read your thoughts if you don't share them." Another irony ~ I could peek into her memories if I wanted and know exactly what she thought. Why did stating the obvious feel so guilt-inducing?
I decided to be direct. "Tell me what I can do to fix this. I don't know your side of the story, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes."
The past few days seemed to have calmed her somewhat. She looked at me with cold indifference before answering.
"When you plant a small fantasy in a young girl's mind and let it grow, then suddenly burst that bubble by revealing that your boyfriend and best friend have been hiding their relationship ~ the impact devastates completely. You can have her. But you both kept this secret for so long, then tell me it was just my one-sided delusion from the beginning. What am I supposed to do with that?"
"You're right ~ I should have been clear from the start. But what's your perspective on everything?"
"You told me you chose Xiao Ning because she'd been neglected by him for so long. She existed as an unknown figure in his first life, then in the second life, she competed with my version for his love until he finally accepted her."
She paused, her voice growing colder. "But consider my situation. I died early trying to rescue him. Multiple times I tried bringing Nie Li and Xiao Ning together in this new life. From my viewpoint, can't you see how difficult it was for me to stay close to him? I'm not someone who spent extensive time with him or has the deep background she does in his life. Think about it honestly."
"I understand, but tell me ~ what should I do to fix this? What do you want from me? I can do whatever is within my power to make things better between us. I'm truly willing to do whatever it takes."
"Whatever it takes?" Her expression hardened. "You can have her. I won't interfere anymore. Go then."
"I've spent enough years as a female to recognize that trap, whether the answer is yes or no. Make a real decision."
Instead of responding, she questioned me. "Tell me, did you have your first time with her?"
"No. I spent forty years in another realm. My first was with someone there. It was more of a mutual, consenting encounter."
Her opinion of me sank lower. "Of course. You're a heartless player. She's probably still pining for you."
"Don't say that. She wasn't some naive girl. She was ancient—over a hundred billion years old, with an endless lifespan. She told me directly it was more about satisfying her needs, though she reconsidered after I gave her a gift. "
Seeing her finally look at me, I went on. "I was trapped in a female body for nearly thirty-five of those forty years. When I finally got a chance for liberation and found someone willing to be intimate, I took it to reinforce my masculine consciousness. Being female had become too comfortable. I can't explain it without going into extensive detail about other matters."
A Dark Turn
"I have time," she said with the patience of a judge.
Seeing her stern expression, I felt mysteriously compelled to comply. I explained several adventures and the limitations I'd faced in that realm, how I'd helped the main character there. But I couldn't tell if she was actually listening. She kept staring at me with an unsettling smile that made me increasingly uncomfortable.
Suddenly, she leaned forward and kissed me, cutting off my words. After several minutes, she pulled back and looked into my eyes.
"You saved my father from certain death. You helped Glory City during the beast attacks and the Sacred Family's betrayal. You eliminated Ye Han, probably preventing a demigod assault on us. You took me on adventures outside Glory City and trained me. I'm grateful for all of that. I don't care about anyone else's plans for my life."
Her expression intensified. "I've developed deep feelings for you over such a long time that losing you would leave a permanent void in my mind. Nie Li can go screw himself."
Then, with a strange glint in her voice, she asked, "Can you change someone else's gender, not just yours?"
"Yeah… why?"
"Perfect. What if Nie Li woke up female? Problem solved, right? I'll deal with him if you're too squeamish."
"That's twisted. Are you possessed?"
She didn't answer.
"Besides, he's got tricks. He'd switch back once he hits Ancestor stage." I added. This wasn't the shy Ye Ziyun I knew.
"It'd stall him chasing me for now. But first, you promised to do whatever I want. Your first was with some woman. Ning's was with you. I know how to fix this. I want your first."
"This isn't a revenge drama, and I already gave my first..." I stopped, realizing her intention. "Wait, you're not planning to..."
"Yes. Transform back into a female. Now." She stood up, her voice taking on a commanding tone.
"That's not a reasonable request." I began backing away, sensing the situation taking a dark turn.
"You perform this shapeshifting act constantly and lived as a woman for so long, but now when someone actually asks you to be female, you're uncomfortable? Why? You bent the rules to be with me first, but now when I ask, you're having second thoughts?"
She activated heavenly energy to restrain me. " I will do just as you did on me on our body refining bath back then"
"You know I could break free anytime," I replied, feeling the binding energy.
"Yes, do that. I'll hate you for life. You derailed me from the life I was destined with someone else, and now I am uncomfortable being associated with that same person. You refuse to take responsibility for me? Either do this to repair our relationship, or I'll hate you forever. I won't associate with Xiao Ning anymore, even if I can't control you. I'll haunt you for life."
With each step she took toward me, my mind raced through calculations of what I should do. Finally, she came close to my face and whispered in my ear, "Transform back, and do that for me too."
I remained silent.
"Good girl," I heard her voice in my ear. From that point, events escalated rapidly. What followed was the beginning of endless developments over the next week that I prefer not to elaborate on.
The Weight of Consequences
Back from the Cloud Domain, I scrubbed myself raw, exhausted. I handed Ning Ye Ziyun's communication token to share with both faction groups. It carried her voice and aura: "The conflict was a test to find faction flaws. It was a misunderstanding - we'll work better now."
***
Another impulsive decision added to my growing collection of regrets. The weight of my actions pressed down like a suffocating burden.
"I need sleep." I collapsed onto Xiao Ning's bed, overwhelmed by exhaustion. She had witnessed mostly everything from within my soul space, understanding the complete scope of what had happened. When I finally woke, her question cut through the silence.
"Was it worth it?"
The words hung in the air, reminiscent of Gamora's haunting question to Thanos after the snap.
I couldn't answer immediately. The memory replayed with painful clarity ~ how I'd gone along with everything until Ye Ziyun recovered her normal mental state. The awkwardness that followed. How things escalated beyond original intentions even after she recovered. The silence toward the end and her flushed face as she struggled between panic and laughter. The soul corridor I'd connected to her afterward, forcing her to reconsider the faction dismissal before somehow managing to return.
"I unlocked something darker inside her," I continued, my voice heavy with self-judgment. "Something that was never meant to surface in Ye Ziyun. I need significant time to recover from this trauma. I'm leaving. Good luck dealing with her."
Return
Before she could respond, I teleported directly to my rented room in the Divine Feather sect. A week passed as I attempted recovery, seeking mental clarity necessary for cultivation. Finally, I managed to transform back to my original form. Looking down at my restored body, relief flooded through me. You never truly appreciate what you have until it's gone.
The unusual dual cultivation produced unexpected consequences. A new fate star had begun forming, the 10th one, as soon as I reapplied rule domain, requiring only additional energy for completion. It was as if it waited to bloom for all this time. Ye Ziyun experienced similar changes ~ her cultivation jumped from middle stages to late-stage heavenly axis realm.
I released Shen Xiu, Xiao Huo, and Yu Yan from my soul space. Yu Yan remained unaware of her true memories buried deep within her soul.
At the Central Institute, I could register followers even as outsiders. After paying required fees, I registered all three and placed their fate souls in the soul hall.
Little Flame had grown massive, though she retained the ability to shrink and perch on my shoulders. Her power now rivaled dragon dao realm cultivators. With my companions exploring the sect, I focused on stabilization.
The divine phase-less fruit's effects proved enhanced. The essence I'd absorbed from Ye Ziyun during our dual cultivation carried traces of her bloodline talent in heavenly cultivation, remarkably compatible with divine principles energy cultivation. My adaptable body found direction, optimizing the bloodline in unexpected ways. A single divine fruit now sufficed to condense the final star when I opened my rule domain.
Drawing heavenly energy from the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains painting, my cultivation advanced to mature Heavenly 10-star realm. The aura remained unchanged yet carried a mysterious quality I didn't want to expose to the Sage Emperor's clone.
I kept it carefully contained, knowing that if I could target people's aura through divine sense, so could he.
Mounting Troubles
Unlike the original storyline, Nie Li couldn't fully claim Gu Heng's territory. Long Tianming had supported Gu Heng with dragon dao realm cultivators after suffering repeated defeats at my hands. Recently, when the Gu Family investigated complaints filed by Gu Heng, Gu Bei had successfully bribed even his usual opposition. Gu Heng found himself convicted of crimes against the sect, against Gu Lan, and against various elders. Evidence Gu Bei presented from smaller sects resulted in thirty years of confinement without cultivation resources.
This unexpected development struck Long Tianming hard. He deployed Li Yunfeng's team to hunt down any Demon League exploration outside the sect, including his cousin Long Yuyin's Profound Note League. When I was called to a meeting about handling this situation, I sensed Long Tianming departing the sect. The Void Illusionary Divine Palace had become active again after six years ~ its usual cycle ~ and countless experts were already converging on it.
The space-time seal on Xiao Yu wouldn't activate normally. This meant her bloodline aura, upon reaching Martial Ancestor realm or becoming intimate with a man, would contain powerful heaven divination technique aura capable of attracting Deity Beasts.
***
"Everyone, we lost Dayu Lake after the battle with Li Yunfeng and Yi clan forces," Gu Bei began his report. My thoughts drifted to whether I should notify Nie Li, especially since Xiao Yu's expected spatial transmission hadn't occurred.
"Will you assist in recovering the site? Yin clan forces have dragon dao realm cultivators, but we've got a shot" someone asked when my name was called.
I noticed Long Yuyin, Nie Li, and Li Xingyun staring at me expectantly. "What happened?"
"You seem distracted," Long Yuyin observed. "That's the last lake outside our territory. An established faction without a deity lake damages our reputation. Your abilities would be invaluable in reclaiming it."
"About that ~ don't you already have ways to supply spirit stones directly? You provide spiritual stones for every member. What's the point in defending some isolated territory? Can't you simply cultivate independently?"
"He wasn't listening to anything we discussed," someone muttered. "Tao, this is important for our standing."
Void Illusionary Palace Adventures
"Fine, but before that, Nie Li ~ I heard news about the Void Illusionary Divine Palace opening after six years. I visited recently and found the place swarming with axis realm and dragon dao realm cultivators from demon god sects, plus some humans. I sensed Long Tianming heading in that direction just before coming here."
"Void Illusionary Palace?" Nie Li's interest immediately peaked.
"If we go there, either Long Tianming will kill us and take our treasures, or the demon god sects will," Gu Bei warned.
"Don't you know transformation techniques? Converge your aura, change your appearance, even alter your body shape?"
"We don't," came the collective response.
"I have such techniques," Nie Li admitted. "We could go, but avoiding death by demons remains difficult. They sense demon bloodlines and innate appearances more easily. One thing they particularly hate is summoning demon spirits to fight against them."
I reached out telepathically to Nie Li. ( Actually, I believe only you need to go. Fighting for treasure will only result in low-level cultivators becoming cannon fodder. If you know how to enter, that's better. You have your small world ~ I've seen you survive death and still claim deity lakes. That dimension can store whatever treasures you find. My ring world would be lost if I died. )
( They're not afraid of death. What about you? )
( It's not just about that. My cultivation is near breakthrough. I can't come. What's the point? You could bring Li Xingyun ~ he might help in battle. Besides him, no one else. You'll be dealing with heavenly axis and dragon dao realm opponents. Even martial ancestors might join later. Bringing others will only divide your attention. )
"I've decided," Nie Li announced, repeating the same reasoning I'd provided telepathically.
Later, he transformed, maintaining his preferred orange shirt but altering his facial features and hair. Li Xingyun achieved better concealment. I helped portal them to a nearby location.
Though I appeared to leave early, I actually went to study the Void Illusionment Array. Standing outside, the entire realm exceeded my copying capability's scope, but I only needed to examine the Evil Warding Jade Talismans. Perhaps they contained inscriptions beyond the knowledge in the Demon Spirit Book.
When Nie Li managed to enter and others noticed, I blocked the same exit with an energy shield until the second layer opened. Nie Li obtained treasures as expected. The fight in the life gate proved difficult, but he and Li Xingyun found their way through. He discovered the God's Tongue method and successfully entered the crystal jade wall, leaving Li Xingyun behind.
The demon lord from the tiny world finally arrived and entered as well. Despite his dramatic style of calling seated observers idiots, I blocked several opponents to ensure his successful entry. For myself, I simply walked through hyperspace to another location.
The events proceeded as expected, except I blocked the broken crystal jade wall path that even Holy Son Li Huo of the Demon God Sect couldn't break. The space's consciousness proved temperamental, attempting to make people kill each other while inspecting anomalies like my interference.
Nie Li reached the underground palace after navigating two separate arrays. I lifted restrictions, trapping those who flew in within the array field. He collected all treasures, including the consciousness that tried to trick him. To facilitate his advancement and keep him aligned with the storyline, I intentionally copied blood essence from the primordial raccoon clan member when he was nearby, placing it as treasure alongside instructions for demon blood sacrifice.
The racoon clan member Wu Yazi also sensed his own bloodline materializing somewhere through connection, and was quite confused as well. Though Nie Li knew the technique, just adding the technique to the side may seem like a treasure prearranged. This would make the story proceed as I had known it would.
Upon returning, he found Yan Yang also trapped in the space. After helping him transform back to normal appearance, they prepared to leave together. When they nearly encountered Long Tianming, I blocked the others' path to prevent that meeting. Outside, Black Nether Martial Ancestor saw through both disguises but let them go after finding no treasures. Without Nie Li's interaction with Li Huo, the others left with nothing but frustration.
Black Nether pursued many suspicious individuals afterward, finding nothing.
Shifting Fates
Nie Li considered hiding in the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains painting, knowing he couldn't outrun a martial ancestor. He didn't want to lose his fate soul and risk falling from his recently condensed heavenly star 1 realm.
Fortunately, my earlier planning worked. I'd told him and Li Xingyun to find me at a safe location if everything went right, and he followed through. I sent him back to the sect.
My presence initially served mainly to ensure my recent adventure with Ye Ziyun didn't cause luck backlash affecting him. However, my Library of Heaven's Path space revealed a major flaw in my operation. Nie Li's fate had become turbulent enough that the realm restrictions he would normally experience when entering Heavenly Axis realm might not appear. If his fate showed even tiny defiance against the Sage Emperor's plans, it would be sensed by the Sage Emperor's deity beast, bringing hunters.
That's why I'd told him I would return after breakthrough and to meet at the specified location if he encountered difficulty. Luckily, he followed through.
I couldn't take my eyes off anyone or they would stumble into some trap. Using divine sense from afar, I sent a message to Ying Yueru to come to me. Meanwhile, I decided to cultivate and monitor Nie Li's actions, upgrading my realm before Ying Yueru's arrival.
Every available resource represented opportunity. I'd previously copied numerous gold crystal essences and cultivation-enhancing elixirs within my fifteen-mile scope, gathering more than even Nie Li had accumulated. Using these resources, I practiced the Boundless Spirit Ascension Sutra to form my first star axis.
After rapidly consuming spiritual stones and refining elixirs sufficient for major realm advancement in normal cases, within my soul space, ten stars revolved around my ten fate souls in distinct circles. Feeding heavenly energy to the fate stars made them glow increasingly bright until one star stepped into a single stellar axis below its plane of normal revolution, distinct from other revolving stars. The new axis drew in heavenly axis power from the star unlike before.
I'd tried using temporal pages to accelerate cultivation before, but dragging myself into time stasis proved difficult due to my higher life level. A week inside felt like a moment at maximum, compared to Nie Li's twenty-year to an instant experiences. Still, a week inside sufficed.
Returning outside, I found Long Yuyin and Ying Yueru waiting. I called them in.
"Master, sorry for keeping you waiting. I was discouraged by the idea that my life was simply part of some greater arrangement I couldn't understand. My sister helped enlighten me to return." Relief washed over me. Was this how masters typically felt when disciples overcame their mental struggles?
***
Examining Ying Yueru, I noticed her fate had heavily altered. "You're nearing the final stages?"
"Yes, but I sensed a crisis that then disappeared."
"Nie Li's fate is turbulent enough that his realm might advance to heavenly axis if he cultivated in time stasis. That would make him visible. I brought him to the sect earlier than planned. By my calculations, it will take several days for him to return to cultivation as he'll be busy with demon league affairs. You can transfer his fate now ~ I'll augment you to speed up the process."
She nodded and began. I enveloped her in my senses, using the Library of Heaven's Path to transfer refined divine principles, evolving the heavenly path technique within her faster according to flaws I detected. What would have taken months resolved in days. Nie Li's fate completely shifted.
During this time, Nie Li didn't immediately cultivate but first noticed the demon blood sacrifice technique I'd written lighting up as if activated. Following the familiar technique, his realm rose to 3 stars. He went outside, sharing his demon blood-sacrificed enhancement with Li Xingyun, Gu Bei, and Lu Piao. When he asked for me, I send a message to him I'd already reached heavenly axis realm and didn't need it.
He was equipping league members with new resources and learning about Long Tianming's return and plans to suppress the Heavenly League when something stopped him mid-speech. He felt he'd lost something meaningful and collapsed, startling everyone nearby.
On our side, "Well, it seems your job is done," I told Ying Yueru. "So what will it be ~ going to the small world or staying in the space outside? You can remain within my nine miles radius."
"I'll stay and cultivate in the courtyard outside for now." She departed, passing along an explanation of what happened to Nie Li. Instead of revealing death, she revealed her intention to pass the fate and seclude herself somewhere, along with instructions for future use, including temporal pages to cultivate faster as the acting sect master election would come sooner.
A Dangerous Thought
Nie Li had remained unconscious for nearly a month. Long Tianming's faction had moved swiftly, suppressing the Demon League while its core leadership lacked instructions.
I visited him once, just once, drawn not by concern but by temptation.
As I stood beside him, watching the soft rise and fall of his chest, I remembered Ye Ziyun's suggestion from before ~ half joke, half temptation.
Should I really do it?
My mind split into battling voices.
"It would be an injustice."
"But why do I care?"
"A means to an end."
"He'll notice the change eventually."
"Risky."
"Funny and Thrilling."
"Off-script"
"It would make things interesting."
For a moment, I stood on the edge of indulgence ~ not cruelty, not mercy, but a subtle shift into something I couldn't yet define. I realized the outcome wouldn't change much. Except, perhaps, my own amusement. And that was the part that disturbed me.
No. This was not the kind of mentality I should let grow within me.
I spoke while maintaining minimal perception around the demon league camp. "In truth, I could have rewritten your memory the moment I saw you. Made you fall in love with Huyan Lanruo. Or even Yang Xin. A simple push of your spirit, and your path would have wandered off, harmless and poetic."
I opened the seal to his primordial spirit ~ that knot of soul-memory formed over lifetimes. Within it, the name Ye Ziyun formed the axis of his many dreams and thoughts.
Could I erase that? Yes. Should I? That was harder. Because it wouldn't be an edit ~ it would be disintegration. To remove it completely would unravel part of his very personality.
So I compromised.
Using the Library of Heaven's Path, I unraveled five hundred years of past-life recollection in a flicker of divine thought.
I didn't erase Ziyun. That would be crude.
Instead, I dulled her presence. Using memory manipulation, I pulled away the emotional weight ~ stripped it like old lacquer from a painting, until what remained was dry history. He would remember loving her the way one remembers watching a film ~ a third-party observer, watching from behind glass.
Then I did something more deliberate. I excised every subtle link that tied Xiao Ning, the ghost mask face in his memory, to Xiao Ning'er in his subconscious. No emotional drift. No deja vu. No mysterious longing. Clean. Isolated.
And finally, at the ending of his past lives ~ where souls drifted under the sage emperor's control ~ I removed Ye Ziyun entirely from the final scene.
Did I change memory? No. Just hidden something that he doesn't need, or what I think he doesn't require anymore.
The manipulation was seamless. A flawless rewrite without any option for restoration according to the Library of Heaven's Path. In the process of his growth, if another memory was overwritten in the future, it would be like a past he had forgotten. Nothing more.
I stood over him for a long moment, a thread of something almost like guilt flickering before it vanished into the void. "I wonder how you'll react," I whispered, "when you awaken to find that in this life, Ye Ziyun loves me."
Be grateful, Nie Li. Among the four roads I weighed ~ to end you, to remove everything, to make you a woman, or to try and reason with you ~ I chose what I believed was kind.
But know this: if one day you become too much of a disruption, too stubborn, then your existence, too, is a narrative thread I will not hesitate to cut.