Volume 1, Chapter 199 – Identity

When Shi Lan came back to herself again, she found nothing but boundless whiteness all around her, stretching off without end.

That familiar, dense true qi had already returned to her body.

The Yueji Skirt she wore was still the same as yesterday.

“Shi Lan?”

Hearing that familiar voice of Samsara in her mind, Shi Lan slowly gathered her thoughts, looked toward the gray figure sitting cross-legged not far away, and asked,

“Where is this? Who are you really?”

“This is the Guiyun Realm. I am Wu Xu.”

Wu Xu’s expression remained utterly calm, as still as an ancient well.

“The Guiyun Realm?”

“This is the crystallization of Guiyun’s life’s efforts.”

Wu Xu slowly raised his hand. A clump of illusory light condensed in his palm.

Within the light appeared a phantom space, divided into three layers.

As Shi Lan stared at that clump of light, she suddenly felt a pulling force. Her whole self seemed to float up, her consciousness merging into the radiance.

A small-looking continent gradually came into focus in her vision.

Right now, it was as if she no longer had a body, only consciousness. The sensation was strange and hard to describe.

On the continent, war flared everywhere, campaigns raging without end. A blood-reeking miasma, visible to the naked eye, was slowly gathering in the sky above the land.

“This is…” Shi Lan was stunned.

“This is the small world you were just in, a part of the Guiyun Realm.”

Wu Xu’s voice sounded in her ear.

Shi Lan guided her consciousness forward, slowly approaching the continent and arriving above a battlefield.

Hundreds of thousands of troops were surging like a tide toward a city.

Smoke and dust billowed. Logs, stones, molten metal, and boiling oil poured down from the city walls, while the air rang with shouts of killing and hoarse screams.

On the battlefield, aside from the generals and officers giving orders, the common soldiers were no different from wild beasts.

All they knew was to swing the steel blades and long spears in their hands with mad abandon, to stab through the enemy before them—or be stabbed through—utterly fearless of death.

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Watching scene after scene unfold, Shi Lan’s heart remained oddly calm, without the slightest ripple, as if an invisible screen, like a curtain of light, separated her from this world and kept them from resonating with each other.

Time sped by. In the blink of an eye, with the rising of the moon and setting of the sun, three days passed.

Shi Lan could barely feel time moving. It was as if only a few moments had gone by.

The whole world seemed like a film stuck on fast-forward, yet she could still see every second of what played out.

The defenders in the city grew fewer and fewer.

At dawn of another day, the filthy city gates suddenly swung open with a thunderous bang.

Three thousand cavalry, formed into a battle formation, poured out of the eastern gate first to strike.

“Those who bring disaster to the realm and plunge their sovereign into chaos… their nine clans shall be wiped out! Kill!!!”

The leading general, wielding a crescent-bladed saber, let out a long shout. His voice boomed like a great bell, its echoes lingering.

“Kill!!!”

Three thousand iron cavalry, with nowhere left to retreat and their backs to the river, fought a desperate battle. Their morale soared to its peak as they charged toward an enemy force dozens of times their number.

From the northern and southern gates, a thousand-strong formation of troops rushed out from each side to assault the army besieging the city.

The last western gate, however, was much quieter. Only a few dozen riders slipped out, but the people in their saddles were all masters of deep internal strength, protecting several young men in the center as they left the city.

Shi Lan’s line of sight shifted away from the battlefield and turned toward the interior of the city.

In the resplendent imperial throne hall, the vast space lay empty. A man in dragon robes sat upon the dragon throne, holding the black-gold Imperial Sword inlaid with jade. His face was full of unwillingness, and in his eyes flickered a hint of guilt.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, the palace doors shattered, and a white-clothed figure stepped into the hall.

“Tao Yufeng, twenty-seventh Sect Master of Tianshan Sect, has come to see the Qianyuan Emperor off on his dragon’s return to heaven.”

His tone was calm, yet brooked no refusal.

Zhao Yi slowly rose to his feet, a cold smile on his face.

“Tao Yufeng, back then you were defeated by Wu Xu. It was at my word that your cheap life was spared. Has a mere twelve years been enough for you to forget?”

“I wouldn’t dare forget. But Qianyuan now defies heaven above and betrays the people below. Its mandate is spent. I am merely going with the will of heaven,” Tao Yufeng replied unhurriedly.

As he spoke, Tao Yufeng frowned slightly and held his breath. A rich, sweet fragrance filled the hall, making him slightly uncomfortable.

“I, Zhao Yi, am ashamed before my ancestors above and guilty toward the common people below. The thousand-year foundation of Qianyuan is cut off in my hands. Ten thousand deaths would not redeem my sin… But as for you martial-world riffraff, I only regret not pulling you up by the roots from the start, exterminating the lot of you along with all those heretics and demonic cults!”

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Zhao Yi’s gaze dimmed, then his aura suddenly soared. Eyes wide, he shouted, “If not for that, how would a cheap life like yours have lasted until today? How would you have the chance to spout such big words in front of me?”

Tao Yufeng’s eyes turned cold. His expression was indifferent as he said, “If not for Wu Xu’s obstruction, killing you would be no harder than slaughtering pigs and dogs.”

“You, Tao Yufeng, a mere low-born wretch, dare to speak of taking my life?!”

Zhao Yi let out a long laugh. The Imperial Sword in his hand flashed from its scabbard, and in the same motion he drew it across his own neck.

Hot crimson blood sprayed across the dragon throne.

Tao Yufeng froze for a moment, not having time to stop him.

Zhao Yi’s decisiveness was far beyond his expectations.

Looking at Zhao Yi’s gradually cooling corpse, Tao Yufeng’s expression grew even colder, yet he could not help letting out a quiet breath of relief in his heart.

He had come with no small amount of worry, after all—he had not personally seen Wu Xu enter the Void-Shattering realm and depart.

The instant his mind relaxed, after only two breaths, Tao Yufeng sensed that something was off. The cloying sweetness in the hall seemed to be mixed with another smell.

Sulfur… saltpeter… gunpowder?

Tao Yufeng carefully distinguished the scents, and suddenly his face changed. He immediately tried to turn and flee, true qi surging—yet just as his qi began to circulate, a massive wave of force erupted from beneath his feet.

“Boom… boom…”

A string of thunderous explosions rang out, shaking the entire city.

Flames shot up into the sky. The imperial palace became a sea of fire in almost an instant.

A battered figure burst out of the flames and vanished into the horizon.

The cavalry who had taken the initiative to sally forth and meet the enemy outside the walls were wiped out one after another by the rebel tide. The elite few dozen riders at the western gate were also blocked by the great army and quickly swallowed completely. Not a single person managed to escape.

The city gate was also broken in one fierce push by the rebel forces.

…

In a remote corner of the city, four or five figures had gathered. At their head was none other than the Qianyuan Dynasty’s Second Prince, Zhao Hanyi.

Right now, he was staring fixedly at the pillar of fire erupting into the sky, his fists clenched tight, his eyes bloodshot and shining with tears.

“Your Highness, the gates have fallen. Please quickly change into this rebel armor and use the chaos to escape.”

A middle-aged man at his side handed him a suit of armor and spoke in a low, steady voice.

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“…”

Zhao Hanyi closed his eyes briefly, then barked,

“Go!”

His life had been bought by his imperial father and several of his blood brothers with their lives. It could not be thrown away here. As long as he lived, there remained a sliver of hope for Qianyuan’s restoration.

Thinking of that woman from before, a wave of regret surged in Zhao Hanyi’s heart. If he had trusted his own judgment, reported to his master earlier, or mobilized the army to surround and kill that woman…

Perhaps today… would not look like this.

…

Watching everything that had happened in the city, a faint ripple rose in Shi Lan’s heart. The end of a dynasty always stirred a few sighs.

But only that much, nothing more.

Shi Lan guided her consciousness back to the valley where she had originally been.

There were already more than a dozen corpses in the valley.

A black-clad youth whose blood and qi were nearly exhausted sat on the steps before the wooden house, his clothes stained with great patches of blood. He gripped a folded set of blue clothes tightly in his hands, his eyes vacant.

An old man in his sixties sat beside the youth, equally silent, grief hidden in his eyes.

Seeing this scene, Shi Lan let out a soft sigh. This string of upheavals had clearly frightened the boy badly.

After more than two years together, even a dog would have earned some affection, let alone a person.

In this world, she had still left behind a few attachments after all.

Shi Lan slowly approached A Qi and reached out to gently touch the top of the youth’s head, silently thinking in her heart:

“May you live a life of peace and joy and never be troubled again.”

After only a few breaths of contact with A Qi, Shi Lan felt a wave of dizziness. A pulling force yanked her out of that world in an instant.

A Qi, sitting on the steps, suddenly raised his head, a trace of movement in his expression.

“Old Hong, Sister Lan is still here…”

At A Qi’s words, Old Hongtou shook his head and said sorrowfully, “A Qi, Shi Lan is already dead…”

“I know.”

A Qi nodded. Light gradually returned to his eyes as he stood up and said, “But she really is still here. I can feel it…”

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“A Qi…” Old Hongtou looked worried.

“If Sister Lan’s soul remains here and she’s unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation, then she must have regrets in her heart…”

“The one who harmed Sister Lan is still alive. How can I wallow here?”

A Qi’s gaze shone bright, as if he had found a new goal.

“Wu Xu has already ascended and become an immortal. How will you ever find him?” Seeing A Qi’s growing obsession, Old Hongtou could not help pouring some cold water on him.

“That dog Wu Xu has merely flown up to the Immortal Realm. If he can go, why can’t I? He was only born a hundred years earlier than me!”

“By the time you ascend, who knows what realm Wu Xu will have reached? He may already be friends with a whole crowd of immortals by then. How could you possibly…”

“If people block my path, I’ll kill people. If immortals block my path, I’ll slaughter immortals!”

A Qi’s eyes turned cold as he swept his gaze around, silently thinking in his heart, “Sister Lan, rest easy on your way. In the future, I will definitely take that dog Wu Xu’s head and send him down to hold a lantern for you on the road through the Yellow Springs… If…”

If… I can’t do it, then I’ll hold the lantern for you just the same.

Though he had very little confidence in truth, he refused to show cowardice in front of Old Hongtou and Sister Lan.

This was the only shred of dignity he had left.

…

“What just happened?”

Shi Lan shook her slightly throbbing head, looked at Wu Xu, and asked in puzzlement.

“Just now, you merged with the Heavenly Dao of the Guiyun Realm. Your words became law, and you granted someone a lifetime of peace. If I hadn’t pulled you back, you would already have fused into the Dao with your own body.”

Shi Lan frowned. After offering a word of thanks, she asked,

“Can you tell me why you decided my trial was passed?”

“I believe you passed it. So you passed it,” Wu Xu said calmly.

“Who exactly are you?” Shi Lan asked, brows knitted. She was more curious than ever about Wu Xu’s true identity.

“I am not a person.”

Wu Xu shook his head. “I am Guiyun’s imperial armament, the sword spirit of the ‘Wuxu Sword.’”