"The Crescent Moon Sect was destroyed because of the Alliance of Righteous Unity, but my master vanished without a trace precisely at the Heaven-Slaying Alliance. Even though the Heaven-Slaying Alliance wiped out the Alliance of Righteous Unity, it can't change the fact that my master is gone…" Lan Xin's gaze darkened. Lin
"Is it not possible that your master isn't dead, but simply unable to contact you right now?" Qing Nan said.
Lan Xin was startled, and then a spark of light flickered to life in her eyes.
"But isn't such a possibility very slim…" she murmured.
Qing Nan smiled. "Whether it's true or not, wouldn't you know if you went to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance and looked? As the situation stands now, the Land of the Nine Heavens will likely have to face the Heaven-Slaying Alliance eventually anyway. Whether it's war, submission, or an alliance, there will be contact."
"Maybe you'll even be reunited with your master."
Hearing this advice, Lan Xin felt considerably more encouraged, the light in her eyes growing brighter.
Gu Xian'er, on the other hand, hadn't expected Qing Nan, who had always harbored deep hostility towards the Dark Clans and the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, to speak in the Alliance's favor at this moment.
"The person behind the Alliance of Righteous Unity was that Master of Fate?" This was the first time she'd heard this piece of information.
Qing Nan glanced at her and said, "I only heard it from some members of the Gu Clan. That Master of Fate was also said to be the great enemy of Zhong Jun in the past. The Radiant Ancestral Court, which Zhong Jun established, collapsed and disintegrated precisely because of his schemes."
"Zhong Jun's daughter, a princess of the Radiant Ancestral Court, is now in the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty."
"Wasn't Zhong Jun one of the five leaders who resisted the Black Calamity Catastrophe? He ultimately fell because of the Master of Fate's schemes? Doesn't that mean the Master of Fate was stronger than Zhong Jun? If so, how did Zhong Jun become a leader in resisting the Black Calamity Catastrophe?" Gu Xian'er was astonished and somewhat bewildered.
Qing Nan put down her wine cup and spoke unhurriedly, "Who knows? Of the five leaders back then—Zhong Jun, West Sage, Nan Zun, Bei Di, Dong Huang—very few people ever saw them. One thing can be confirmed, though: it seems none of those five leaders ever reached the End of the Path."
"What?"
Not only was Gu Xian'er stunned, but Lan Xin was also shocked by these words, her mouth slightly agape.
"Existences at the End of the Path don't appear in just any era. During the Black Calamity Era, the five leaders who resisted the Black Calamity Catastrophe weren't even at the End of the Path. How exactly that battle was won in the end is truly interesting."
"However, West Sage was somewhat special…" Qing Nan seemed to smile somewhat mockingly.
Gu Xian'er's brows furrowed slightly. Originally, these matters were far removed from her and had nothing to do with her.
But now, the Dark Clans had reappeared in the world, and even the Lord of Heaven's Proxy, who had single-handedly created the Black Calamity Era, had re-emerged.
In the worlds of the Vast Expanse, across endless spacetime, and throughout trillionfold universes, virtually no living being would be spared in the coming catastrophe.
She too had no choice but to learn about these secrets.
Moreover, because of her cultivation in the spacetime turbulence, she had been forced to accept some of the knowledge of the Ancient Ancestor of the Gu Family, so her understanding of the secrets and truths of heaven and earth was far greater and deeper than ever before.
Yet from the current situation, that battle which originally sealed the Lord of Heaven's Proxy seemed to conceal many unknown secrets.
"It feels… like you know quite a lot, Qing Nan," Lan Xin said, looking at her in surprise.
Qing Nan smiled. "Over these years in the Gu Family, thanks to Xian'er, I became an honored guest and had the right to browse the lowest few floors of the Sutra Repository, so I learned some secrets."
Though she explained it this way, Gu Xian'er still found it a little hard to believe.
Qing Nan gave her a very mysterious feeling. With her current cultivation and methods, she increasingly felt that their initial encounter had been shrouded in an impenetrable mist.
The few of them did not say much more on this topic.
Nor did Qing Nan continue.
Because of that earlier conversation, however, Lan Xin now had more hope that her master, Chen Yi, was still alive.
After the wine had warmed her, Lan Xin's face carried a tipsy flush. Gritting her teeth, she decided to leave the Land of the Nine Heavens and head to the Heaven-Slaying Alliance.
Gu Xian'er was also surprised by her decision.
But as Lan Xin said this, she too felt somewhat stirred, because she had never been certain whether the Heaven-Slaying Alliance in the Vast Expanse was established by the same person as the one in the Dao Chang True World.
Today at the Gu Clan's Ancestral Shrine, she had also seen Gu Wuwang, the Ancestor of the Gu Family from the Dao Chang True World, but the two had not exchanged a single word.
"Will the Gu Family let me leave?"
Gu Xian'er gazed at the immortal mist and radiant clouds beyond the island, clenching her fists and then loosening them again.
Beside her, Big Red Bird flapped his wings. Greedy for the wine, he had secretly drunk some as well and, slurring, said, "It's not that you want to leave the Gu Family, you just want to go see that guy…"
Gu Xian'er instantly became annoyed and reached out to tear at his beak.
The girl and the bird began to tussle right there.
In the purple bamboo grove, white mist swirled. Lan Xin was drunk, sprawled across the stone table.
Qing Nan continued drinking on her own, the expression on her fair, delicate face gradually deepening. She reached up to tuck a few strands of hair scattered by the breeze, gazing into the distance, then glanced at Gu Xian'er and Big Red Bird playing in the bamboo forest.
In terms of age, Gu Xian'er was, in her eyes, just a simple and pure-hearted girl. Perhaps this carefree innocence was the way she should be.
She truly shouldn't have to bear such a heavy, profound destiny.
In the depths of the Eternal Life Dao Lord's dao field, within the Nine Layered Heavens.
"Master…"
Ji Yu stood respectfully behind the Eternal Life Dao Lord.
"You say you once met a deranged Mad Granny in the destroyed Crescent Moon Sect?" The Eternal Life Dao Lord sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his face indistinct, the stars of the revolving heavens flowing upon his Daoist robe.
"I dare not conceal it from you, Master. It was also that Mad Granny who personally brought Gu Xian'er to the Crescent Moon Sect. Before the sect's destruction, she was briefly lucid for a time," Ji Yu said respectfully.
He too had now condensed a Dao Realm Seed and successfully stepped into the Dao Realms, though compared to Gu Xian'er, the gap had been infinitely widened.
The Eternal Life Dao Lord furrowed his brows. Only today, having learned of some stirrings from the Gu Family, had he summoned Ji Yu to ask about some past matters.
But this one inquiry instantly made him realize something was wrong, and in that moment, his entire being was struck with a creeping horror.
"Mad Granny…"
The Eternal Life Dao Lord murmured, his expression heavy.
Ji Yu asked, puzzled, "Master, is that Mad Granny's origin truly so startling? I suspect she was very likely the last disciple of the Heaven-Restraining Sect."
"Startling origin?"
The Eternal Life Dao Lord suddenly laughed, as if mocking the notion, then said gravely, "Your ancestor was Zhong Jun, who established the Radiant Ancestral Court. Zhong Jun was a being from the Innate Era and was a great enemy of the Master of Fate who fell at the hands of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance's Alliance Leader."
"But do you know that Zhong Jun once received guidance from the one behind me, your master, and was considered one of their nominal disciples?"
"If not for the word of the one behind me, do you think I would have taken you as a disciple? With your aptitude—I've seen far too many like you, and it can only be described as utterly mediocre."
His tone was indifferent, utterly merciless.
Ji Yu's face alternated between ashen and white, but he did not retort. Though he was nobly born as a descendant of Zhong Jun and a bloodline heir of the Radiant Ancestral Court, in the eyes of the Eternal Life Dao Lord and the existences behind him, he was no more than a speck of dust—unworthy of even taking root amidst the tides of the eras.
A single Master of Fate could overturn seas and rivers in the Vast Expanse, stirring up endless epochs and boundless storms, yet in the eyes of the one behind the Eternal Life Dao Lord, he was merely a junior.
An existence in the Dao Realms like himself—the Master of Fate could annihilate him a trillion times over with a single thought.
The higher one stood, the more one could feel the terror and minuteness brought by such disparities.
"It is all thanks to your guidance, Master, that I have my accomplishments today."
Ji Yu lowered his head. He had already guessed that the reason his master would help him restore the Radiant Ancestral Court was very likely due to the one behind him, who, out of some slight regard for its founder Zhong Jun, had merely mentioned it.
It was for this reason that the Eternal Life Dao Lord valued him so highly.
The Eternal Life Dao Lord said coldly, "You need not thank me. I tell you this only so you understand: do not meddle further in the affairs of that Gu Xian'er, and even more so, do not harbor any other intentions. The forces involved behind her are utterly beyond your reach…"
"Do not speak of you; even I, upon the slightest perceptive deduction, felt a creeping horror. Had I not promptly withdrawn my thoughts, I fear you would no longer be seeing me now."
"That the Heaven-Restraining Sect's legacy fell into her hands is likely no coincidence either."
Ji Yu's face was filled with shock and disbelief.
All these years, he had harbored the thought of seizing the Heaven-Restraining Sect's legacy from Gu Xian'er. He had naturally informed the Eternal Life Dao Lord of these matters, expecting that his master would be interested in the Heaven-Restraining Sect's legacy. Who would have thought that upon hearing this, his master's expression would change drastically and, with a sweep of his sleeve, he would be driven out of the dao field, shunned as if plague-ridden.
"Heh, don't say I didn't warn you."
"If not for the karmic ties between us now running too deep, I would already have expelled you from my sect." The Eternal Life Dao Lord's expression was heavy as he sneered coldly.
"Your disciple understands and will strictly remember your words." Ji Yu hastily prostrated himself on the ground.
The Eternal Life Dao Lord reined in his aura, returning to an ancient, unruffled calm. He naturally dared not easily expel Ji Yu from his sect. After all, it was a matter the one behind him had mentioned. That he could govern the Land of the Nine Heavens was also because of that one.
At his level, he had no idea what kind of game that existence was playing.
That Ji Yu would go to the Crescent Moon Sect was, in truth, also the arrangement of that one.
Now, the entanglement of various karmic threads was like a terrifying layer of mist; no one knew what they would see once it was parted.
"You ought to know the honored title of the one behind your master," he said coldly.
Ji Yu's heart jolted. Ju Zhu? The Heaven-Restraining Sect? Could it be that there was a connection between the two?
The Eternal Life Dao Lord seemed to know what he was thinking and sneered, "Do you think that at that level, names can be chosen casually? It represents a certain destiny, a certain Heavenly Will, an ineffable karmic rule…"
The Alliance Leader of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance had appeared outside the Ancient Treasure Civilization, forcefully taken the Epoch Mother Tree, and replanted it deep within the Heaven-Slaying Alliance. Across the Vast Expanse, no one knew how many regions were blanketed by shock and uproar.
Countless universal civilizations were shaken by this matter. Though the Dark Clans had retracted their claws and seemed to be recuperating, the Heaven-Slaying Alliance had now extended its own.
Moreover, the Alliance Leader's declaration to gather the strength of all worlds and slay Heaven together triggered endless waves of upheaval.
The repercussions continued to spread across trillionfold spacetimes and endless universes.
During this period, the Heaven-Slaying Alliance had without question become the most prominent and largest force in the Vast Expanse.
Its fortune surged like a tide, like flames fueled by oil. With the spread of its tenets and doctrines, countless believers emerged, and among them, many Fortune's Favored Children were born, stirring up storms in every direction in a short time.
The momentum of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance's growth terrified the various civilized True Worlds.
The Epoch Mother Tree stood deep within the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, its fortune blessing the operation of the great trend in the unseen world.
Although rumors spread in many areas that the Heaven-Slaying Alliance was intolerable to Heaven and earth, they could not withstand the Alliance Leader's thunderous prestige, which shook all True Worlds. These rumors had no effect on him whatsoever. Even existences in the Ancestral Dao Realm chose to bow their heads and come to pledge allegiance.
Deep within the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, where the Epoch Mother Tree was located, rows upon rows of magnificent palaces stretched out, veiled in rosy clouds and colored mists. Towering immortal mountains stood, and various immortal lakes and starry islands were scattered like celestial chess pieces.
The Ji Chan Clan had completely relocated away from the Epoch Mother Tree. The vast, boundless leaves rumbled daily, inhaling and exhaling endless chaotic matter that nourished the surrounding void worlds.
Faced with someone as overwhelmingly powerful as Gu Changge, even the stubborn elders of the Ji Chan Clan ultimately chose to submit.
With the examples of the Master of Fate and the Grand Priest of the Ancient Treasure Civilization set before them, no one dared resist.
Ji Xiangmiao once again took charge of the Ji Chan Clan, with Ji Ziyi assisting her. With the Ji Chan Clan's presence, the rationale and rules of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance's operation became much smoother.
This was a great trend—though invisible and intangible, it truly existed.
And the consolidation of a great trend often encountered many obstacles in the unseen world. The arrival of the Ji Chan Clan happened to serve as a conduit, better coalescing the hearts of the people and the trend.
After all, the Ji Chan Clan was an exceedingly ancient and venerable clan in the Vast Expanse, known as the Official Historians of Heaven and Earth. They pursued the truth of historical facts and the truth of righteousness, recording gains, losses, rises, and falls, chronicling history for heaven and earth. In the Ji Chan Clan's library, one could find many records of ancient secrets, and traces of civilizations that had once vanished between heaven and earth…
In a way, by chronicling heaven and earth, one could more clearly understand the so-called "gains and losses" of heaven. That even the Official Historians of Heaven and Earth had joined the great plan to slay Heaven already indicated that this Heaven had thoroughly "lost its virtue" and needed to be overthrown to replace heaven and change the earth.
The emerald lake was like a washed, flawless piece of jade inlaid upon the earth. The lush green grass was like a carpet, and one could see many heavenly horses, heavenly cattle, and spirit deer drinking from the distance, unafraid of people.
"All of this really feels like a dream…"
Qingyi walked side by side with Gu Changge. They strolled through the green grass, the half-grown blades glistening with crystalline dew, carrying a delicate fragrance and swirling with white mist.
From Gu Changge, she had already learned of the series of events that had occurred after she fell into slumber in the Realm of Reincarnation he had created. She also learned of the many things that had happened in the Shanhai True World after Ji Ziyi brought her back to the Ji Chan Clan.
To be precise, the Shanhai True World no longer existed; it had become the Dao Chang True World.
Back then, she had taken the Immortal Dao Civilization Spark from her clan, allowing the Shanhai True World to skip through long epochs of development and lay the foundation of the Immortal Dao, even welcoming its first Cataclysmic Tribulation in a very short time…
In that unknowing Great War Against Heaven, she had met Gu Changge, who was then called the Demon Lord.
Now, thinking back, from that very first meeting, the gears of fate had turned and began binding the two of them together.
In the blink of an eye, a vast and long period of time had passed.
"It's so good to have you here; it truly puts my heart at ease."
"But I'm also afraid all of this is a dream, that it isn't real."
Qingyi reached out and held Gu Changge's hand, leaning her head gently against his shoulder.
She did not ask about Gu Changge's origins, nor did she ask what his identity had been before he was known as the Demon Lord. She only knew… that he was her former Dao partner, and still was now. That was enough.
"If your heart is at ease, then why do you weep…"
Gu Changge reached out and wiped the tear stains from her fair cheeks.
"Am I weeping…" Qingyi smiled.
Gu Changge revealed a smile, lowered his head, and kissed away her tears, saying, "Not anymore."
Qingyi wrapped her arms around him in return.
"Master…"
From the green-grass ocean, a silver divine rainbow shot over. Little Wangyue was frolicking joyfully, free and happy, rarely enjoying such a moment. But before he could get close, an invisible large hand caught him by the neck and tossed him far away.
Gu Changge had given the Imperial Ruler of the Ancient Treasure Civilization half a month's time—and how was this half a month not also meant for the entire Vast Expanse?
Qingyi was very virtuous and gentle, not greedily clinging to the time Gu Changge could spend with her.
He gave her the Master of Fate Pill, refined from the Dao Fruit of the Master of Fate. If she completely refined it, she would inherit the former Dao Fruit of the Master of Fate and directly break through to the End of the Path realm.
In the Vast Expanse today, only Gu Changge possessed such godlike, inconceivable methods.
Generally speaking, even a trace of origin aura that scattered after the fall of an End of the Path existence would be enough to cause an ordinary Ancestral Dao Realm cultivator to burst apart. To refine it was utter fantasy—they couldn't even contain it, and they might even face possession by its residual will.
But this Master of Fate Pill was a genuine medicinal pill, without any drawbacks. Even a mortal who consumed and digested it could ascend directly to sainthood.