"A few months later, a baby named Ji Bo was born. That baby was innately precocious and brilliant, displaying differences from ordinary infants since infancy…"
Gu Changge stopped here and did not continue.
Because Ji Hanjing already knew much of what followed; when she had accompanied Gu Changge back to that reconstructed past, she had witnessed many truths with her own eyes.
"I could have guessed it—it was all the Master of Fate's scheme." Ji Hanjing's face was full of agony, her voice filled with remorse, pain, and boundless hatred.
Ling Yuling's heart was now violently shaken. Had she not been listening to Gu Changge's account all along, she would probably have had difficulty grasping the matter clearly in an instant.
The Master of Fate, Zhong Jun's mortal enemy, had devised a plan to have a Body of Five Aggregates of his own fall in love with Zhong Jun's younger daughter, and then had that Body of Five Aggregates reincarnate parasitically in her womb, becoming a descendant of Zhong Jun.
Such a deed that went against all ethics and morality—had she not heard it with her own ears, she would have found it hard to believe.
However, for Innate Beings like that, so long as it was profitable, so-called ethics and conventional reason were but fleeting clouds, hardly worth a care. They simply did not care about such things.
"It seems the rumors are true. This must be the true princess of the Radiant Ancestral Court, and moreover that unfathomably mysterious eldest princess about whom little has been recorded." Ling Yuling glanced at Ji Hanjing with a complex expression, guessing her identity. She also did not know by what means Gu Changge had found this princess and made her serve his purposes.
"You already know most of what followed; there's no need for me to elaborate further. The reason I was unwilling to tell you the truth before was that I felt, given your current strength, knowing everything would be of no avail. Even if you located the Master of Fate, you couldn't take revenge and would only alert the snake." Gu Changge glanced at Ji Hanjing lightly, his tone casual.
"I know. I won't act impulsively." Ji Hanjing nodded, her pained expression easing somewhat.
She had never been one easily angered or impulsive; it was just that being sealed and imprisoned as the artifact spirit within the Book of Scavenging, enduring boundless loneliness and torment, her mind eroded by Sinful Fire and Karmic Force, she was often in a daze and found it difficult to remain clear-headed for long. This had led to her being prone to violent rage even after recovering, no longer as calm and composed as before.
Gu Changge bore no sympathy for Ji Hanjing's past experiences. He had no intention of having Ji Hanjing deal with the Master of Fate; the Master of Fate alone was not worth him wasting so much energy and thought. It was just that this grand play was somewhat too dull. A princess of the Radiant Ancestral Court who knew the truths of ancient times and had been resurrected in the present age would add a good deal of interest to this grand play.
Ling Yuling glanced at Ji Hanjing with a trace of sympathy. She could now roughly guess what had befallen Ji Hanjing in the years that followed. But logically speaking, having disappeared in that era, shouldn't she have been completely eradicated by the Master of Fate? How had she reappeared in the present world? Truly through that ruin in the Radiant Ancient Domain?
Ji Hanjing took a deep breath; her emotions had already calmed.
"The Master of Fate still doesn't know you've returned to the world. I look forward to the day you give him a surprise." Gu Changge lifted his teacup, took a sip, and smiled.
The Master of Fate's Body of Five Aggregates had countless connections with his true body; it could be called the Master of Fate himself, or equally called his clone. Through this method of parasitic rebirth, the Master of Fate successfully bypassed Zhong Jun's bloodline limitations, while also making it easier to gnaw away the remaining fortune of the Radiant Ancestral Court and take over the many treasures Zhong Jun had accumulated.
And witnessing this scene that "defied all natural order" was an even heavier blow to Zhong Jun, who, already locked in a life-and-death struggle with the Master of Fate, had long been mentally and physically exhausted.
Subsequently, through that Body of Five Aggregates, the Master of Fate corroded Ji Hanshuang's mind, causing her to become suspicious and paranoid, groundlessly suspecting that her husband's accidental death might be related to her older sister Ji Hanjing, while deliberately fabricating false clues that led Ji Hanshuang step by step to investigate the "truth."
In the end, incited by her "own son" Ji Bo, Ji Hanshuang came to thoroughly hate her sister Ji Hanjing and began plotting in secret how to avenge her husband.
Ji Hanjing, wholeheartedly devoted to cultivation and diligently attending to state affairs, had never imagined she would be secretly hated by her own flesh-and-blood sister, still less that an invisible, earth-shattering conspiracy was slowly closing in on her.
After she bore the Epochal Winter on behalf of the entire kingdom and returned dragging her gravely wounded and broken body, what greeted her were neither gratitude nor cheers, nor support and adoration, but a terrifying killing formation that had long been laid in wait.
Ji Hanshuang, colluding with many ministers, schemed against the severely wounded Ji Hanjing, successfully refining her into the artifact spirit of the Supreme Treasure of Civilization, the Book of Scavenging.
And Zhong Jun, watching with his own eyes as his two daughters turned against each other—one losing her reason and under control, the other perishing and her Dao dissipating—while he remained locked in a death struggle with the Master of Fate, completely abandoned his last hope.
Thereupon, the Master of Fate thoroughly refined Zhong Jun's remnant soul and divine thoughts, swallowing the remaining fortune of the Radiant Ancestral Court.
The mysterious white-robed man now appearing within the Alliance of Righteous Unity, opposing the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, was in fact Ji Hanshuang's offspring, Ji Bo, who could also be called one of the Master of Fate's Bodies of Five Aggregates. Countless epochs had passed since the Radiant Ancestral Court's collapse and destruction, and with the Innate foundation bolstered by the Master of Fate's Essence of the Five Aggregates, along with the various inherited blessings and fortune of the Radiant Ancestral Court, Ji Bo, having cultivated until the present, naturally possessed unfathomable strength. Even facing Ling Yuling, a former senior sage, he had the power to contend.
After thinking all this through, Ling Yuling finally understood why she had felt that sense of familiarity when she'd faced that mysterious white-robed man. The descendant of an old acquaintance naturally carried the aura of that acquaintance.
After learning the ins and outs of the matter, Ji Hanjing did not linger long. Once Ling Yuling had taken her leave, she, too, learned from Gu Changge what that "grand gift" he'd mentioned entailed. Afterwards, she also took her leave and returned to the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, so as not to be noticed by some within the dynasty for having been away too long.
Not long after Ji Hanjing, Ling Yuling, and the others had departed, a red-clothed girl with an alluring and peerlessly elegant appearance, skin like snow, came running all the way through the peach forest, hastily pushing open the courtyard gate and rushing over.
Yao Yao, who had left Gu Changge's side to train alone in the outside world, had finally returned. Without even having time to drink tea, she immediately and urgently told Gu Changge about the Black Lotus Cult, looking as if the matter was of the utmost urgency.
She recounted every detail, down to the smallest point, of how she had accidentally stumbled upon a Black Lotus Cult ceremony and was brutally hunted, afraid of missing anything. Previously, when she had encountered State Preceptor Xingming of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, Gu Changge had appeared once but disappeared again before she could finish speaking. Thus Yao Yao had to rush all the way back to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance to report this matter to him personally.
In her view, this absolutely had to be because some power wanted to frame the Heaven-Slaying Alliance and Gu Changge, which was why they had established the Black Lotus Cult, an evil cult connected with Dark Beings, right near the Heaven-Slaying Alliance. Along the way, she had not stopped for rest; after returning to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance's territory, she had passed through multiple large teleportation arrays before arriving here. Jiang Weiyang and her several maidservants had all been left by her in the city.
Seeing the slightly elated look on Yao Yao's face, as if waiting to be praised for a few words, Gu Changge could not help but smile.
As for the Black Lotus Cult she mentioned, he actually did not care very much, because he had long anticipated something of this sort.
"If such an evil cult appears near the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, then simply send people to exterminate it. No need to worry too much." Gu Changge said with a faint smile.
"But I truly saw that the Lord of the Black Lotus's appearance was very similar to yours, Master…" "Could there really be someone in this world who dares to impersonate you?" Yao Yao's slender, fine brows furrowed; she was still a bit worried, feeling that Gu Changge did not seem to take this matter to heart. Yet one could never be too careful. Or was it that this Black Lotus Cult truly had some connection to Gu Changge?
"Naturally, no one in this world dares to impersonate me. But how can you be certain that the scene you saw is true? During this period of training in the outside world, what you have seen and experienced has likely bred inner demons and karmic obstacles within your heart. The more you worry about something, the more likely you are to see it. Yao Yao, are you suspecting that I am connected to the Dark Beings?" Gu Changge chuckled softly.
Hearing this, Yao Yao quickly shook her head and said, "How could I suspect Master? It's just that this matter feels somewhat odd. The methods of the Black Lotus Cult are a bit too strange. After an ordinary person is corrupted by dark matter, how could they recover their original form? Shouldn't they be lost in the darkness?"
"From what you've said, it does seem somewhat strange and suspicious. Later, I'll have Chu Xiao send someone to investigate and see just what the origins of this so-called Black Lotus Cult are." The smile on Gu Changge's face faded slightly, as if he were seriously pondering the matter, before he spoke.
Receiving this reply, Yao Yao nodded with some satisfaction. "I brought back a Sacred Child of the Black Lotus Cult. If Master has time, you could also look into him…"
Gu Changge smiled and reached out to pat her head. "I understand. You've been quite thoughtful. You've been rushing about and are weary from your journey; go rest first. Concerning the Black Lotus Cult, once Chu Xiao and the others have investigated and found some leads, I'll discuss it with you in detail."
Yao Yao froze for a moment, then felt somewhat dejected. She could tell this was Gu Changge's way of showing her the door, yet she had only just returned, hadn't even warmed her seat, and hadn't properly reunited with her master or recounted her experiences training outside.
Was Master very busy? Or did Master not want to see her?
"Then I won't disturb Master. I'll go rest first."
Yao Yao suppressed her disappointed emotions and said quietly. Though she had acted very forceful and proud when training outside, before Gu Changge she had always been obedient and well-behaved, never going against his words.
"It seems they can't restrain themselves and want to force me to appear…"
"Choosing the name Black Lotus Cult and appearing near the Heaven-Slaying Alliance—are they afraid I won't notice, that I won't know this has something to do with me?" The corner of Gu Changge's mouth curled into a faint smile, but his gaze was extremely deep and indifferent.