Volume 4, Chapter 191 – Erosion (Two-in-One)

The Fangjing secret realms referred to a natural phenomenon found within the Douyun Sea.

Illusory Realm planes were small worlds, self-contained spaces formed from lands split away from the main world. Under the interference of Loss of Order, these small worlds would produce all sorts of strange phenomena and rules.

For example, that wastrel Bai Xiang had killed earlier, the one whose ancestry could be traced back to Daoist Lingquan, founder of Yuling Heaven. The Yuling Heaven he lived in had given rise to a marvel known as “constellations pooling their power,” and he had drawn inspiration from that to create the constellation array.

The Fangjing secret realms were the same. Their concrete manifestation was this: while falling down from the Douyun Sea, every cloud-mass one passed through might contain a “square mirror of cloud and mist.” Once someone touched one of those cloud-mist square mirrors, they would be sucked inside, transported out of thin air into some nearby minor plane, and then moved back again after a certain amount of time.

That kind of spatial transfer was part of the “order” and “rules” of the Douyun Sea. It had even vaguely formed a powerful divine pool. Anyone unable to resist that divine pool by cultivation could not break free of the transfer. They would pass through countless worlds, then be sent back, fall again, and pass through them once more.

It sounded like an expanded version of Loki’s endless-fall gag.

Bai Xiang found herself thinking that the “rebirth” in Rebirth Hall referred to precisely this imagery. She glanced at Zhu Qingluo again, but this time said nothing.

Because compared with Qin Wuyang, Zhu Qingluo’s life as a split body had truly been miserable.

Both were split bodies, yet Qin Wuyang at least had the word “sincerity” to his name. He had been Chu Weiping’s embodiment of absolute sincerity toward certain things, and up until the very last moment his original self had hidden nothing from him. The two becoming one again could practically be described with that ridiculous phrase, “running toward each other from both sides.”

But what about Zhu Qingluo?

“The specifically stripped-away, overly immature portion of memories belonging to one’s younger self.”

Just listen to that. It sounded like peeling off unwanted trash from one’s own body. At the very least, judging only from the information currently available, Bai Xiang did not think Zhu Qingluo meant much to her original self.

“I refuse to accept it…!”

The memory ended. Zhu Qingluo sat on the bed, stroking the white fox, her tone grinding with hatred.

“What gives her the right to think she has thequalifications… when I was her original dream!”

Bai Xiang was silent for a while before saying, “She may not have done this of her own will.”

Zhu Qingluo froze. Then she wanted to ask whether Bai Xiang meant… that her original self had gone mad only because she was being coerced or controlled.

But before she could say the words, Bai Xiang’s next sentence made her face change drastically.

“Are you coming out on your own, or are we going to keep playing dumb and continue this little role-playing game?”

What did she mean?

Was she talking about my original self?

But I didn’t feel anything… oh no!!

Before her eyes suddenly flashed Pang Tiandao’s black-smoke avatar, along with the words he had left behind before departing: “Your refusal changes nothing.” Zhu Qingluo’s eyes flew wide, and when she lifted her hand to look, she discovered in horror that it had already turned into a man’s hand.

I—

“You’re quite sharp.”

But her body was no longer under her control, and the voice coming from her throat had become a deep male voice.

At this very moment, the one seated there had already become the black-smoke avatar cast down by Pang Tiandao. Without anyone noticing, he had completed his demonic power erosion of Zhu Qingluo. He could even use her this way as a temporary vessel.

If Bai Xiang had not discovered his presence, then just as he had said, whether Zhu Qingluo refused or not, he still could have achieved his goal.

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The little white fox instantly realized that the person stroking it had been replaced. It felt the threat, every hair on its body standing on end, yet the pressure was so overwhelming that it did not dare move. It merely curled up there and trembled.

“I’m very curious. Is that feeling innate to you, or was it brought by Emperor Feng’s eyes?”

Pang Tiandao stroked the little fox in his arms while fixing his gaze on Bai Xiang.

To have his plot seen through that swiftly was something he had never experienced once in his life.

“I’m curious too.” Bai Xiang tilted her head up. “Without the Loss of Order interference brought by demonic power, could all of you be considered worthless?”

She had every right to say that, because her transcendence had nothing to do with this world. Even whether the power of those golden pupils came entirely from Emperor Feng was still unknown. One must not forget that part of the reason she had gone so long without being adopted in her previous life was her “eye condition.”

Those people had feared her eyes.

They had feared meeting her gaze calmly.

That had not started only after she transmigrated.

Hm?

Pang Tiandao frowned, and his interest in Bai Xiang rose sharply.

Of course he could hear that she was throwing his own words back at him in mockery. Because of that, he gained an even clearer understanding of the personality described in the rumors about her, and just how overbearing that personality truly was.

He had no doubt that if she were not trying to preserve this split body of the Rebirth Hall Master, she would not even have bothered with that barb. She would already have cut him down with a sword.

“If you hadn’t noticed me, you would have died.” The man’s voice was cold and steady, so flat it sounded like he was stating a mathematical formula. He had already decided that what he was saying was an axiom.

“But since you did notice, that changes things. Perhaps you are qualified to join my plan.”

“Don’t think about resisting me. Don’t make that choice.”

His cadence was extraordinarily strange. The speed itself did not sound particularly fast, yet the words flowed on without break, to the point that there seemed to be no gap at all for anyone else to insert even a single syllable.

“After all, you understand nothing.”

“You do not understand the threat that is about to descend—”

“And what threat is that?” Bai Xiang cut in. “You can’t keep saying all these strange things while imposing your own will at the same time.”

Pang Tiandao stared at her for several moments more, then said, “There is no Great Saint in the Void Realm now. Do you understand how dangerous that is?”

Bai Xiang shook her head.

Of course she did not understand.

“The threat of the Void Tribulation stacks.” Pang Tiandao looked toward a point in empty space. “All souls that lose in the tribulation struggle do not die completely. They are interfered with, induced into change, and turned into part of ‘it.’”

“I don’t care whether the world is ruled by demons or ruled by humans.” He lifted his head again and looked at Bai Xiang with striking sincerity. “But at the very least, the world must possess the power to resist ‘it.’”

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. “That’s why you’re cooperating with Blood Soul Heaven?”

“They are merely chess pieces.” Pang Tiandao smiled. “I need them to forge ‘weapons.’ That too is power. There is no reason not to use it.”

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Bai Xiang reminded him, “The new Path of Qi methods are power too.”

“It is not the same.” Pang Tiandao shook his head.

“I’ve read your book… the Shenming Qi-Refining Formula. It truly is a brilliant theory.”

“But haven’t you noticed it yourself? If the world follows the Qi methods in exploring the future, the predicament all sapient spirits will suffer will only become even more intense than it is now.”

“Because when something reaches an extreme, it reverses.”

“If not even the slightest trace of erosion is permitted, then once that order-preserving goes beyond its proper limit, heaven and earth will see it as demonic…”

Bai Xiang shook her head. “If power must be bought by selling those things away, then I would rather have no such transcendence at all.”

She did not care what others thought.

What she had lived through in her previous life made her unable to tolerate even the slightest sense of helplessness. Having lived again, she would not permit anything to dominate her.

“You do not need to give me an answer yet.”

Pang Tiandao shook his head.

“My original self still has some things to do. The fact that you discovered me means this wisp of smoke is not enough to kill you.”

“I am giving you one final ten days.”

“Ten days from now, I hope to see a peaceful you in Yujing.”

With that, his body dispersed into strand after strand of black smoke and began to melt into the surrounding void.

When the smoke had fully scattered, Zhu Qingluo’s appearance returned. She still looked a little dazed and bewildered, clearly unaware of what had just happened.

“He came!”

She looked at Bai Xiang, and yet her tone was one of certainty.

“What did he say to you?”

“He actually didn’t kill you?”

Those few lines alone were enough to show just what kind of authority Pang Tiandao possessed within the Sacred Court.

Bai Xiang did not answer. She merely walked to the window, drew back the curtain, and looked up at the sky outside.

The sky above Tongyun Circuit showed a hazy spread of light, dark in some places and bright in others, like looking up at a mottled water surface from beneath a shallow shoal.

Zhu Qingluo stared blankly at Bai Xiang and watched her gaze at the sky for a while. Then Bai Xiang returned and turned on the television, the computer, and the sound on her phone. At once, the room filled with a chaotic jumble of news broadcasts.

[Judging from the current trend in the Tongyun tournament zone, Shenming Sword Dao should have no problem securing one berth in first place.]

[The following is a general analysis of the final sixteen berths…]

[Warning: due to interference from cosmic rays, a “solar eclipse” phenomenon will occur at the mapped location within half an hour. This phenomenon carries an extremely high probability of causing demonic transformation. Residents in the affected region are advised to take protective measures. The best option is to evacuate as quickly as possible.]

[(Federal): Everyone knows that changes in the atmosphere have been growing more frequent recently. Witnesses in many places have even reported seeing “atmospheric creatures” hidden in the clouds, saying they eat people, that they eat anything alive. Our Post Evening News intends to launch an observation program on this, and we sincerely invite volunteers to sign up…]

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[(Federal): As you can see, I am now at the scene, Mogu Beach. It was here last Wednesday that someone claimed to have seen that “big guy.” He swears that this time it wasn’t just a phantom in the waves. I plan to do a follow-up report on it…]

[(Federal): My God! Look at that shadow!]

[(Federal): Could this be an ancient lifeform released by melting glaciers? It’s at least three hundred Federation feet long…! This is insane!!]

The astonished exclamations corresponded to the enormous hazy shadow sweeping across the screen.

But Zhu Qingluo understood that this was not “cosmic rays,” nor was it “glacial thaw.” It was simply because the passage between the two sides had opened again. And once that happened, it was not only Void People who could return. Those enormous demonic beasts, along with the Void Demons wandering the void, could invade this place as well.

But she did not understand what Bai Xiang was trying to see by watching all this.

Yes.

It did look overwhelming.

Sightings like these were happening all over the world, so frequently that it felt like the final carnival before the apocalypse.

But wasn’t it already the apocalypse?

If they could not seize a favorable position in the tribulation struggle, then the fate awaiting everyone was this very world itself… everything visible to the eye shattered to pieces, everything stripped away by the Void Tribulation. Was that not the apocalypse in itself?

Compared to that sort of heaven-toppling, earth-overturning devastation, what did these scattered attacks amount to?

Even if a million Demon Pools were dropped into every settlement at the same time, the destruction they produced would still be nowhere near that.

She stared at Bai Xiang, waiting for an answer from her.

But Bai Xiang merely narrowed her eyes halfway.

Her left hand gripped the new scabbard and quietly rubbed the Dao sword at her waist.

…

At the same time, in Yujing, another mass of black smoke gathered into form, shaping itself into Pang Tiandao’s silhouette within a Buddhist temple courtyard.

“Hm?”

Li Huiran was instantly alerted. He opened his eyes and saw the Transmission Venerable Saint standing right before him.

“You have nearly missed every major development.”

Pang Tiandao narrowed his eyes as he looked down at him.

Li Huiran frowned, but said nothing.

Proud as he was, before this man he could only remain dormant for the moment.

Still, he had to ask for the reason. “Wasn’t it you who told me to remain in Yujing and keep watch over ‘them’?”

“There are priorities and urgencies to all things. If you do not even possess the ability to make decisions on the spot, then why would I ever have sent you to serve as Heaven-Patrol?”

Li Huiran sneered. “You never had the authority to appoint a Heaven-Patrol in the first place.”

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The position of Heaven-Patrol was not something the Transmission Venerable Saint could decide.

The rank of that office was extremely special. On the surface it stood below the Hall Masters of the Thirty-Three Heavenly Halls, yet in some of its privileges it exceeded them.

Its degree of freedom, in particular, was far beyond that of ordinary Hall Masters. Thus, it had always been filled by recommendation, requiring a sufficient number of Hall Masters to agree before a candidate could be chosen.

Earlier, Li Huiran had lain low because he had not been sure of the reason. Now that he realized he was in the right, he absolutely was not going to indulge the man before him.

Because he and Pang Tiandao had never been of the same camp.

He belonged to the faction of the Heaven-Monitoring Hall and the Immortal Works Hall, that is, what Zhu Qingluo had called “neutral.”

“I am not here to waste words with you.”

Pang Tiandao drew out a sheet from his sleeve and handed it to Li Huiran.

“I like putting young people forward.”

“Before we argue, why not take a look at these first.”

What exactly is he trying to do?

Li Huiran frowned and accepted the page with suspicion. He unfolded it and swept a careful glance across it. After just that one glance, his face changed dramatically.

Rustle!

He lowered the page, eyes wide, and looked at the man before him in utter disbelief.

“You…”

“Do you even know what you’re doing!?”

“Of course I do.” Pang Tiandao smiled.

“Any extreme decision made at a moment like this will provoke enormous controversy. I know very well what their reactions will be.”

“But you are different. You are young, and in truth your ideals are far more radical than theirs.”

Li Huiran’s gaze flickered violently, as though his mind were racing through fierce calculations.

Pang Tiandao continued to persuade him. “Since you already accept that humans and demons can transform into each other, why remain attached to those things?”

“The Heavenly Dao is formless by nature.”

“Divine awareness is what gives it form.”

“If there were no divine awareness, then all of us would live like beasts, muddled and half-conscious. If that were the case, then no matter what the world turned into, would it make any difference to us? Would it have any meaning?”

“From that, one can see that divine awareness is our true foundation.”

“Outward form?”

“It is nothing more than a shell that imprisons divine awareness.”