Shen Qiyuan:?
It was rare for this person to be so attentive – no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like simple rest. He looked at Ruyi suspiciously several times, but saw that she truly just changed clothes and lay down, hugging his arm and obediently closing her eyes.
The room was filled with soothing, warm incense, and beside him was the sound of warm, steady breathing. Shen Qiyuan felt something wasn’t quite right, but with so many events today, he was truly exhausted. After being puzzled for half an incense stick’s time, his eyelids grew heavy.
Ruyi was indeed lying on the bed, but her consciousness wasn’t there – instead, she coincidentally and very politely kicked open the door to Emperor Qian’an’s dreamscape.
Emperor Qian’an was a person with heavy defensive instincts. After the previous incident with Puhua, he secretly ordered the destruction of all Puhua statues in the palace, and even pasted yellow talismans to prevent demons and gods from entering dreams both inside and outside his sleeping quarters.
Those talismans were personally drawn by enlightened practitioners. Since posting them, he had never seen Puhua in his dreams again – they could be said to be extremely effective.
Unfortunately, Ruyi didn’t play by those rules.
She transformed into Elder Chu’s appearance and spent the entire night floating around Emperor Qian’an with bared fangs and claws. The emperor fell ill the next day, the morning court was canceled, and sorcerers filed into the palace like fish, pasting yellow talismans layer upon layer.
Sadly, when he closed his eyes that evening, the emperor still couldn’t escape those terrible nightmares.
Immortals cannot harm mortals, but demons can. Regarding this emperor protected by the Blue God, Ruyi showed no mercy in her actions.
Within a few days, Supreme Lord sensed something was wrong. He hurriedly went to find Shen Qiyuan, saying in panic: “Mortals have fragile lives – how can they withstand such frightening? Why don’t you find a way to stop her?”
Shen Qiyuan watched Elder Chu’s coffin leave the city, then turned his head innocently to ask: “How to stop her? When demons enter dreams, what methods can immortals have?”
“You could confine her.”
“I do confine her every night.” He sighed. “But dream-entering techniques have little relation to where the original body is located.”
“Then.” Supreme Lord clapped his hands. “Then you should kill her.”
Shen Qiyuan was silent for a moment, then spoke with a complex expression: “The Supreme Lord has fought with her before.”
Whether she could be killed or not – don’t you know in your heart?
Supreme Lord slapped his thigh and said irritably: “You’re deliberately indulging her, aren’t you?”
Shen Qiyuan was even more puzzled: “The Blue God’s duty is precisely to protect Great Qian’s imperial family – what benefit would indulging her bring me?”
The Supreme Lord was speechless. After pacing back and forth in front of him several times, he sat dejectedly in a chair: “You’ll soon be able to return to the Nine Heavens – why delay your future over this matter? Liu Ruyi is already a demon. Even if her humanity isn’t completely lost, she’s still part of the corrupted stream. How can you… sigh.”
Listening to this, Shen Qiyuan smiled slightly without arguing.
He had indeed contemplated this problem before – those who associate with the virtuous become virtuous, those who associate with the corrupt become corrupt. Spending so much time with Liu Ruyi, his thoughts would inevitably waver, causing him to forget the boundaries between good and evil and lose his qualifications to be a deity.
But now he suddenly understood.
Perhaps this world was never clearly divided between good and evil from the beginning. Take Emperor Qian’an, for instance – he treated loyal ministers’ lives as nothing, caring only for his interests, yet he was also an emperor capable of stabilizing the court and balancing his subjects. Or take Puhua – deeply scheming and crafty, yet he could also earn the Celestial Emperor’s trust and the Divine Lords’ protection.
Everyone has more than just one side of good or evil, and all matters are not simply black and white. If so, why must he walk one path to the end? As long as the destination is the same, why couldn’t he choose a better path to walk?
Of course, facing the Supreme Lord’s questioning gaze, he still said with a resolute expression: “When I think of a solution, I will stop Liu Ruyi.”
Supreme Lord left Shen Manor, shaking his head, muttering as he walked down the street: “Such a good prospect ruined just like that. Liu Ruyi is truly heinously wicked, heinously wick… ah!”
The ground beneath his feet suddenly loosened, and he fell right in. Dust scattered down around him, blinding him for quite a while before he could open his eyes.
Supreme Lord spat for a good while, then looked carefully to discover he had somehow fallen into a half-ruined temple. The stone statue ahead was tall and sinister, with strange rustling sounds coming from the darkness.
He squinted to examine the statue’s appearance carefully, then suddenly felt his spine turn cold.
Puhua’s face had been smashed until only half remained, but even this half was like a bottomless black well that, sensing the immortal energy on him, wanted to suck him in.
Not having experienced such a thing for a long time, the Supreme Lord didn’t know how to react for a moment.
A hand suddenly broke through the air, grabbed his arm, and yanked him sharply upward.
Dust hit his face, and the Supreme Lord began coughing, waving away the dust with his hands and taking quite a while to catch his breath.
“I wondered who it was.” A pleasant female voice came from beside him, tinged with mockery. “I’ve heard that immortals walking in the mortal realm have some of their powers sealed, but I never heard of having their brains sealed, too.”
Supreme Lord turned his head to see Ruyi wearing a sky-blue long dress, sitting very improperly on a stone guardian lion nearby, looking down at him with eyes full of ridicule.
He frowned: “You, what demon trick are you up to now!”
Ruyi’s face fell: “Little old man, the one playing demon tricks is your colleague. Keep wrongly accusing me, and I’ll stuff you back into his mouth.”
After saying this, she made a gesture as if to grab him.
Supreme Lord retreated two steps, only then realizing that the previously bustling street had become a ruined temple. He looked around in confusion: “What’s going on here?”
Ruyi jumped down from the stone guardian and walked outside, snorting with laughter: “The palace no longer worships Divine Lord Puhua, many of his statues in the mortal realm have also been smashed, and he can no longer enjoy the incense offerings from Great Xia that only demon kings should have – naturally he must find other outlets.”
“You mean?” Supreme Lord followed behind her, frowning deeply. “Impossible – what’s the difference between this and demon behavior?”
“Hey, show some respect. We demons wouldn’t do this kind of thing – using stone statues to deceive people damages one’s virtue.” She rolled her eyes.
Supreme Lord fell silent, looking back at the ruined temple with lingering fear, then quickened his pace to keep up with Liu Ruyi: “In the end, you did save me out of kindness. Though I can’t thank a demon, you understand my meaning.”
He made a gesture of bowing to her.
Ruyi sneered: “Who cares for your thanks? I just happened to be passing by. Shen Qiyuan is already troubled enough lately – if he had to worry about you too, he’d become a Buddha before becoming a Divine Lord.”
“Buddha?” The Supreme Lord didn’t understand.
Ruyi gestured: “Full of bumps on his head, isn’t that right?”
His expression changed dramatically, and Supreme Lord jumped up to cover her mouth: “You little girl, speak without restraint – how can you talk so recklessly!”
Ruyi pushed him away and said irritably: “I’m not a Divine Lord – you can’t control me.”
“Don’t demons also have to endure heavenly tribulation and lightning strikes every thousand years?” He said with a stern face. “Aren’t you afraid that accumulating too much karmic debt from your words will result in a single lightning bolt scattering your soul?”
How could she not be afraid? If not for fearing this, she wouldn’t have needed to take refuge in Liu Ruyi’s mortal body in the first place.
Relying on having a mortal body to protect her now, Ruyi waved the rope knot in her hand and said: “Everyone says Buddha is compassionate and magnanimous – if he can’t even tolerate such words, then cultivating to become a god or Buddha is all deception, specifically deceiving simple-minded people like Shen Qiyuan into devoted cultivation, only to regret it later.”