Volume 4, Chapter 71 – The Outcome (Two-in-One)

The commotion on the official road alarmed many people, naturally including the little princess of Jieving Heaven, Shenmu.

Anyone with a bit of knowledge could tell the inner nature of that Illusory Realm just from its name and the ruling clan’s surname. Jieving roughly meant “intercepting the surplus of heaven and earth.”

That ought to have been a modest phrase. Within Daoist circles, it could even count as an orthodox one. But once paired with the ruling clan’s surname, Shen, its whole flavor changed at once. It went from modesty to the kind of people who skulked about stealing from outsiders while strutting about at home. Anyone with a shred of dignity would look down on that.

Shenmu was of mixed human and demon blood, twenty-four years old this year. In the field of Dao-Void Methods, she had only just barely entered the path. Not long ago, she had only just survived the third Body Tribulation, the so-called “third transformation.” Her once fairly pleasing appearance had begun to show signs of demonic molting. If she wanted to fully erase and restore that, she would have to endure a long period of cultivation, crossing Body Tribulations all the way to Body Nine, then go into the outer void and temper her body beneath void lightning tribulations. Only then could she truly attain the proper fruition, and thereafter shift freely between human form and demon form.

But Shenmu could not wait that long. She knew very well that her talent in this path was mediocre. Though twenty-four was still considered young compared with many around her, the Void World was full of prodigies her age, or even younger.

Even those people needed years, or more than a decade, to reach Body Nine and Lightning Tribulation. They still had to honestly grind their way forward. For someone as ordinary as Shenmu, how could that possibly be easier?

So Shenmu had no intention of restoring her looks by that route. She chose the shortcut instead: directly buying the human-skin shell of a beautiful woman.

In the Void World’s Illusory Realms, that counted as a fairly common sort of “cosmetic treatment.” Because the Sacred Court promoted and upheld Human Principle, all logic and aesthetics were forbidden from changing beyond their original basis. As a result, many female cultivators like Shenmu were deeply anxious about their appearance, and their demand for such things was intense.

Jieving Heaven had always been skilled at hiding. Its entire Illusory Realm shifted position constantly and fled from place to place. But whenever it found an opportunity, it would descend together with other “flies and mosquitoes,” clustering over those rotting corpses that were about to die and feasting to their fill, while also doing all sorts of shady business on the side.

So what if they were cultivators?

Cultivators were still sentient beings, still social creatures. Naturally, they had all kinds of needs.

Jieving Heaven was not powerful enough, and its reputation stank. That meant they had no right to openly conduct certain businesses in the Void World.

But they could still act as the lower-level suppliers for those businesses, slicing rotten flesh off corpses like Shenwu Heaven, namely those old and new organs, then storing them up and selling them to people higher up the chain, from which they could still earn quite a profit.

Shenmu relied on the fact that she was rather favored, and whenever such opportunities arose, she would sneak over and take charge. During that time, she did basically nothing else, focusing only on finding and selecting a desirable skin shell, then figuring out how to get it into her hands.

It was hard to describe what kind of feeling had gone through her as she watched Bai Xiang walking down the street a little over ten minutes earlier.

A pure white right-lapelled inner robe, draped on the outside with a pitch-black Daoist robe. The edges and sleeves of that robe were embroidered with Dao patterns in dark gold thread.

Then there was her waist. It was clearly bound tightly at the sash, making that waist look as though it could be grasped in one hand, yet her movements were not hindered in the slightest. That showed it was not some forced affectation. Her figure and proportions were simply that outstanding.

And on top of that, Shenmu had caught sight of Bai Xiang’s face, those half-bound pure white locks, even those strange golden eyes. A powerful sense of amazement surged through her heart, and on the spot she decided she had to have her. She absolutely had to peel off that skin shell.

Even if I cannot use it myself, it would still fetch a sky-high price if sold. How could such a treasure-like appearance be left to drift about the mortal world?

That was the origin of Bai Xiang being “wreathed in tribulation-aura.”

But no matter what, Shenmu had never imagined that this person possessed such strength. The guardian Daoist her father had sent, Daoist Zixu, had not even been able to withstand a single sword strike from her, and together with the Dao soldiers who had surrounded her, had been killed in an instant.

As confident as she had been a little over ten minutes earlier, she was now just as miserable.

She no longer dared remain on the viewing tower at the side to watch Bai Xiang, afraid even her gaze might draw Bai Xiang’s attention. She hurriedly stumbled back into the outer room, too panicked even to put on her shoes, and ran upstairs barefoot, intending to get to the small flying vessel parked there.

But the instant she emerged, her pupils constricted violently. By reflex she tried to shrink back down, yet the next moment a pale hand seized her by the throat and forcibly hauled her whole body out, no matter how she kicked and struggled.

The one responsible was naturally Bai Xiang.

She had spilled blood on the official road, and taking advantage of that, she had spread out her soul-awareness and absorbed some of the drifting remnant souls. Only then did she learn the cause of it all. Someone on the nearby tower had actually been coveting her body.

That included the so-called Daoist Zixu, the “Purple-Bearded Daoist” who could turn into smoke and shadow. Though “she” had the alluring appearance of a woman, “she” was in fact male. That outward form was simply the result of patching together and modifying skin shells and organs.

This group of people was so disgusting that Bai Xiang, who had already intended to cut through the mess in Shenwu Heaven with swift, decisive measures, came straight here after learning where Shenmu was. Sure enough, she waited in the right place. The moment Shenmu appeared, Bai Xiang snatched her up as easily as grabbing a rat.

“You… you cannot kill me!”

Shenmu was held by the throat and lifted into the air to face Bai Xiang. At this distance, she could naturally appreciate the beauty of that exterior even more clearly. But her fear of death had already far surpassed her greed. Trembling, she struggled and shrieked miserably.

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“My father is… is the Lord of Jieving Heaven, Shenquan… He is very formidable… If you kill me… he will not let you off…”

Crack!

Bai Xiang directly snapped her neck.

What was there to waste words on with this kind of bird-brained creature?

Her time was short. Anyone she found displeasing, she would simply kill.

With visible disgust, Bai Xiang tossed Shenmu’s corpse aside. The next moment, she narrowed her eyes in mild surprise as she stared at it. The originally quite delicate and pretty female skin shell suddenly swelled and split apart, revealing the corpse of a turtle-form demon carrying a shell on its back.

So it was a turtle demon.

Bai Xiang could not help curling her lips into a smile. All at once, she felt she could understand why Jieving Heaven acted the way it did.

Yet in the very next moment, the change continued. Out of nowhere, she sensed a mysterious force descending through the void onto the rooftop. It condensed into a fine golden line and poured directly into the turtle demon’s corpse on the ground.

With a bang, the turtle demon’s corpse exploded like a bomb. Fragments of shell, scraps of flesh, and bits of bone shot out like shrapnel from a land mine, hammering into and punching through the rooftop floor and creating an enormous racket.

Bai Xiang swept her sleeve and brushed aside the petty trick. Frowning, she saw that there was no turtle demon left before her. In its place appeared a snake-shaped phantom, glaring at her with a pair of cold, sinister eyes.

The moment those eyes met Bai Xiang’s golden pupils, the snake-shaped phantom also froze.

It seemed uncertain and suspicious. Tentatively, it slithered to one side, all the while staring fixedly at Bai Xiang, only to discover that those strange golden eyes followed its every movement. No matter how it changed position, they remained locked firmly on it.

This… this was obviously another expert in soul cultivation…

A chill ran through the snake phantom’s heart. It immediately abandoned all pretense. With a shake, it transformed into a bald Daoist with white hair and a youthful face, then properly cupped his hands in salute to Bai Xiang.

“This old Daoist is Shenquan, Lord of Jieving Heaven. First, allow me to offer my apologies, fellow Daoist…”

But in the next instant, his eyes flew wide as he caught sight of Bai Xiang placing a hand on her sword hilt.

Shing—

Shriek—

Along with the ringing of the sword, another birdlike cry burst from the void. A clean, direct sword light split the already shattered rooftop and the entire tower in two. Halfway through its flight, it even manifested the outline of a bird, cried out a second time, then exploded again, collapsing the entire building in one stroke.

For the nearby Dao soldiers, that scene was far too far beyond their level.

They had originally caught the movement above and wanted to come investigate, but now they hesitated and dared not approach. No one wanted to be the first to step forward.

Meanwhile, at the raised platform set up by the official road, the demonized broker came out to look after hearing the noise. The instant he saw the tower over there collapsing, his expression changed drastically.

“Even the little princess’s place could not hold her off?”

“This ominous feeling… could it be that Zixu provoked some major figure?”

His expression shifted through several changes. Then the broker turned and fled at once.

Money and resources could always be earned again, but this body could not be damaged. That too was one of the principles his master had taught him for surviving in the world.

Rumble…

The effect of that sword strike was far too vast. Although Bai Xiang did not want to implicate the local residents and had deliberately restrained her power, the dust from the collapse still swept across a broad surrounding area, drawing the attention of tens of thousands of people, all of whom poked their heads out and looked this way.

But Bai Xiang herself was no longer where she had been.

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Her figure shot up into the sky. Looking down, she stared at the snake-shaped phantom trapped in her grasp and attempted to use Golden-Pupil Illusory God directly on this soul-form.

“You… what exactly are you trying to do?”

“Do you not know that I too am a registered name under Lingxuan Mountain? The Sacred Court’s decree forbids Immortal Venerables from engaging in excessive conflict… You… you are, exactly…”

Bai Xiang’s gaze carried the force of her far too vast soul-consciousness. That power surged into the snake-shaped phantom like a flood, and without the slightest suspense, it simply burst him apart.

Pop, pop, pop!

The snake phantom’s face twisted first. Then bulges erupted across his body one after another, exploding in succession. His soul-form turned into streams of gray smoke that scattered in all directions, only to vanish completely after flying a few meters.

“Failed.”

Bai Xiang frowned.

She had originally wanted to see whether she could directly control Shenquan with Golden-Pupil Illusory God.

Although Shenquan was also an Immortal Venerable, with formidable cultivation, so there was no precedent for success. But the Shenquan here was not his true body descending in person. It was only a strand of will, left behind on the woman through some kind of soul-path technique.

The other party was not in peak condition, and judging from his methods, he knew a little about soul arts. That was why she had felt like trying.

Unfortunately, it had not worked. She could only hurry to spread her soul over those remnant soul fragments rapidly fleeing into the void, trying to salvage as many memories from them as possible.

Closing her eyes, she continuously absorbed and refined those memory fragments.

Though they were incomplete, and much of the information lacked proper context, she still used Jade Spirit Derivation to reason out the rough course of what had happened to Shenwu Heaven.

Simply put, Shenwu Heaven, and Wu Emperor himself, had actually been plotted against by these people.

After Wu Qing and his group were wiped out, Wu Emperor had originally intended to lead the entirety of Shenwu Heaven, that is, the “enormous stone wrapped in swirling haze” that Bai Xiang had seen from the outside before entering, and hurl it directly at the main-world plane.

From the outside, that stone did not look especially large. But in truth, it was a torn-off continent, with an overall area even greater than Maozhou.

If something like that came crashing down out of nowhere, then no matter what cultivation realm one was in, it would be enough to make them choke on it. Bai Xiang could not help feeling that Wu Emperor had truly loved his son deeply. He had actually intended to use such a method to perish together with her, just as she had once done.

This was clearly the ultimate move he had prepared for her. She had no doubt whatsoever that if it had come down, she would definitely have been the one taking the impact.

But unfortunately, Wu Emperor’s plan had not succeeded. The root of the matter here actually lay with Purple Soul Monastery, Shenwu Heaven’s own native dojo.

Their little world was on the verge of collapse, and its protector was nearing the end of his lifespan. Originally, going to the main world to seize territory had been Shenwu Heaven’s last hope. Once that failed, hearts would naturally waver, and many undercurrents would begin converging.

The logic of it was obvious enough. Many people understood that eggs could not all be placed in one basket.

Aside from following Shenwu Heaven’s armies and following Wu Emperor’s tribulation-struggle plan, they would naturally also consider whether they should make a second set of preparations.

Among them, Purple Soul Monastery’s new master, Wang Li, chose to betray Wu Emperor in order to seek higher methods and go further. Taking advantage of Wu Emperor’s emotional turmoil after Wu Qing’s death, when he had no time to maintain surveillance, Wang Li leaked the truth that the dynasty’s defenses were hollow. That brought in a number of Illusory Realm forces, who directly took control of Shenwu Heaven and even took control of the aged Wu Emperor himself.

The logic of that, too, was roughly connected, because Wu Emperor was equivalent to Shenwu Heaven itself.

The character Wu was the fifth of the heavenly stems, and in the Five Elements it corresponded to central earth.

Wu Emperor’s true body was, in fact, Shenwu Heaven itself, that is, the very continent he had planned to drive into Maozhou.

No wonder she had smelled a rotting stench the moment she came in.

Bai Xiang understood. So the source of that stench was not anything else at all. It came from the earth beneath her feet, emanating from the inner flesh and blood of that earthly body.

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“Land and soul as one,” that was Wu’s divine pool.

Within Shenquan’s memory fragments, she saw one brief scene. Deep in the imperial palace of the former immortal dynasty, some enormous force had already excavated a massive pit. At the bottom of that abyss, descending for who knew how many thousands of meters, stood four phantoms. Taking the four corners, they surrounded an exposed mass of flesh below. As they continuously inhaled and exhaled, faint blood-colored mist was steadily refined out of the flesh and drawn into their bodies.

How miserable…

His son was dead, and even his wish for revenge had been snuffed out by a traitor. Before the end of his lifespan, his enormous body, which should have been nearly impossible to kill off entirely, was being steadily refined in this way. How was that any different from being forced to watch people drink your blood and eat your flesh alive?

When they ate you, you were even still alive.

But he had it coming.

Bai Xiang only sighed over it a little. She had no intention of offering a hand to the wretched Wu Emperor.

Who told your son to set his sights on me?

Cause and effect circled back; retribution never failed. Every sentient being had to pay the corresponding price for the choices they made.

How did that saying go again?

You cannot follow this supreme principle only when you are the one winning.

Opening her eyes, Bai Xiang looked toward the town below, then took out from her waist sash a wooden token inlaid with jade and examined closely the two characters, “Spirit Command.”

The Spirit-Command Sect had once been a major power in the Void World, one that ranked alongside Tianfu Mountain, and it too had been dominated by humans.

There was no scene of these people interfering in Shenquan’s memories, so what exactly had that dark-skinned monk’s background been?

A wandering cultivator from the Spirit-Command Sect?

Thinking back over the information she knew about the sect, Bai Xiang found that it was especially skilled at excavating ancient spirits.

Put in modern terms, they were not only adept at controlling demon beasts and living in harmony with them, they also seemed to possess special methods for sensing and even uncovering the remains of ancient demons, with some chance of reviving them.

The reason they were described as a power that had “once” been major was that this ability was far too sensitive in the demon-ruled Void World. Not only did Blood Soul Heaven target them, nearly every notable demon-cultivator force looked on them with hostility.

It seemed that Sun Yaoming’s information had mentioned that the Spirit-Command Sect had once gone to the main world. If so, could they have had some connection with the Xuandi back then?

The Xuandi’s ideal was coexistence between demons and humans. That was similar to the Spirit-Command Sect in some respects, so there was no way Bai Xiang would not make the connection.

“Shenquan’s true body is down in the imperial palace pit, suppressing Wu Emperor together with three other Immortal Venerables. He cannot move for the moment.”

“I will first head in that direction and see whether I can find the foundations of that Yiin Angel faction.”

“If I find them, I will clean them up on the way.”

“If I do not, then I will settle accounts with those four.”

Having set her objective, Bai Xiang’s figure shot straight eastward.

At the same time, deep within the imperial palace of the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty, in that unfathomably deep pit, one of the four figures suddenly trembled and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Hm?”

The change immediately drew the attention of the other three, and one of them even spoke in mockery.

“What is it, Shenquan? Getting this swollen just from eating earth-veins? Do not tell me it is too rich for you.”

“It has nothing to do with the earth-veins!” Shenquan’s face was dark and venomous. “An outsider has entered! She killed my daughter! She even shredded the soul seal I left behind!”

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“What did you say?”

At that, the other three were finally startled.

“Who would be so bold?”

“Did you announce your name to her?”

“Though we cannot be counted as great figures on Lingxuan Mountain, we are at least registered Venerables. How would this person dare strike you directly? Does she dare disregard the Sacred Court’s decree?”

The matter was too novel. The three of them could not understand it, and all began discussing it at once.

“It should be someone from Tianfu Mountain…”

Shenquan said in a low voice to them.

“I recognize that sword… its name is Tianxuan. It is a lower holy weapon. Back then that Zhang fellow used it to make a great splash at the Xuan Mountain grand gathering. I remember it very clearly.”

“Tianfu Mountain?”

“A mere human force. Instead of honestly lurking like rats in the gutter, why are they coming out to compete with us for anything?”

The other three still did not understand.

There was simply no need for this. If you came openly and said you wanted to talk, then it was not as though they could not let you share a little of what they were eating below.

So why did it have to become a matter of life and death the moment she arrived?

Even for an Immortal Venerable, a soul seal was a tremendous loss. If Shenquan wanted to replenish it, it would likely take no less than ten years.

All of them shook their heads again and again, unable to understand what fit Tianfu Mountain had suddenly thrown.

“Enough of that!” Shenquan said through clenched teeth.

“I had originally intended to make friends with her, but she herself failed to appreciate the favor!”

“Gentlemen!” He rose to his feet.

“Permit me to leave for a moment.”

“How can we let fellow Daoist go alone?” Two more figures beside him stood up as well.

“Count this old Daoist in.”

“And me as well.”

“Liming, stay here and watch Old Wu. Guard the talisman formation well, and remember, do not listen to his nonsense.”

After discussing it, the three of them flew up out of the pit and vanished, leaving only a young Daoist seated in the abyss, staring at the exposed flesh below.

“Alas…”

A faint sigh drifted up from the bottom of the pit.

The Daoist said nothing. He only drew a deep breath and extracted another strand of pure blood-qi from the flesh.