“Evil spirits? What evil spirits?” All cultivators were utterly confused. Suddenly, screams erupted from the areas engulfed by the blood rain.
“What… what is this rain? How can even our magical artifacts not shield us?”
“This blood rain is corroding us!”
Amidst the clamor, cultivators drenched in blood rain began to cry out in pain. Some were in such agony that their scalps were melting away, revealing stark white skulls beneath.
Amid this chaos, a divine seal suddenly appeared above the floating palace of Daosheng Tian, shielding a portion of the sky and preventing the blood rain from entering.
“Daosheng Tian will protect this area. All cultivators heed my command: slay the evil spirits!”
The confused crowd looked up to see all the members of Daosheng Tian in action, their divine seals covering the sky like celestial beings.
Someone shouted, “We are willing to follow Daotian to eliminate evil!” Others quickly joined in, their pain transforming into murderous intent as they rushed towards the evil spirits that had plunged into the deep sea.
The surging crowd stirred up fierce winds, yet Nan Rao remained frozen in place. Elder Yinzhou approached her and asked, “Fragrant Lord, the Emperor has ascended. Should we assist Daosheng Tian in eliminating evil?”
Nan Yi frowned as she listened to the chaos around them. Seeing Nan Rao’s continued silence, she asked puzzledly, “Sister?”
“Yi Gu,” Nan Rao said, her eyes filled with inexplicable panic. She tore off the outer robe draped over her shoulders and stood up. “I’ll go check on the site of Father’s ascension. Yi Gu, stay here and monitor the situation. If anything seems amiss, order the cultivators from our state and Chen State to leave immediately.”
“Sister?” Before Nan Yi could react, Nan Rao had already leaped off the Peng beast, transforming into a crimson light that shot towards the source of the blood rain—the still-unhealed crack in the sky. The remnants of the shattered space lingered near the rift, and as she approached, she felt as if her physical body and Nascent Soul were being crushed.
Nan Rao attempted to use her divine sense to search for traces of the Vermilion Emperor through the crack. However, she discovered that even her divine sense could be crushed by the rift. As she tried to cut her wrist to use blood resonance, a force from behind suddenly pulled her back.
“The barrier between realms is different from the void within. If you’re sucked in, you’ll die without a trace,” Ying Zewei said softly, though his grip on her was uncomfortably tight.
After a brief silence, Nan Rao asked, “Ying Zewei, tell me, have the Lords truly ascended?”
“Of course,” Ying Zewei replied.
Nan Rao looked at his downcast eyes and said, “In your current position, the more lies you tell, the more unbearable your future days will become.”
Ying Zewei calmly responded, “I cultivate the righteous path of Heaven and Earth. My thoughts and actions align with the principles of the cosmos.”
“Let’s hope so,” Nan Rao said, shaking off his hand and turning to fly towards the demon-slaying crowd.
“Where are you going?”
“As you wish, to eliminate evil and uphold the Dao.”
With a phoenix’s angry cry suppressing the intense unease in her heart, Nan Rao, cloaked in phoenix fire, charged into the dense crowd without hesitation.
“Southern Fragrant Lord, you—”
“Make way for me!”
Some cultivators couldn’t dodge in time and were struck by a burst of flame. One after another, cultivators were sent flying as everyone watched Nan Rao dive into the deep sea where the evil spirit had fallen.
A moment later, a blood-red color began to spread through the deep sea. The entire ocean started to shake violently as a crimson vortex formed at its heart.
“This is bad! Retreat quickly!”
“Nan Rao! Come back!”
The aura emanating from the blood vortex was terrifyingly powerful, seemingly capable of destroying space itself. Most cultivators fled, especially those from Daosheng Tian, who retreated en masse. Several Daotian masters gathered around Ying Zewei.
“Dao Lord, we let the B… evil spirit escape.”
“With the Dao Lord’s ascension, you may now address me as Xuanzai within our sect.”
With the Dao Lord’s ascension, the title of Xuanzai was finally officially established.
“His cultivation is astounding, and he even expended his essence to perform a space-severing technique. We can’t track him. What should we do?”
The man who had finally attained this position looked down at his own hands. Hearing them refer to “him,” he took a step forward and entered the spatial rift. As he walked into the void, it seemed as if he was chasing someone else.
“It’s alright. As long as she’s still alive in this world, I’ll always bring her back.”
…
With a snap, the scroll closed, and Nan Yan suddenly awoke from this long-painted scroll. She then looked at Ji Yang, who had put away the scroll, with a hint of anger.
“Why won’t you let me see the rest?”
“There are things beyond that you shouldn’t see,” Ji Yang said, genuinely putting the scroll away and dodging Nan Yan’s attempt to snatch it back. “If you just want to see your mother’s story from back then, knowing up to this point is enough.”
Nan Yan said with a dark expression, “That’s my mother. Why can you know about it and I can’t?”
Ji Yang replied, “Because I’m not afraid of Daosheng Tian.”
Nan Yan: “I’m not afraid either!”
Ji Yang: “But I’m afraid that the more you know, the more determined he’ll be to kill you.”
Nan Yan fell silent for a moment, and Ji Yang continued:
“Masters never kill indiscriminately. When he kills, it’s always calculated. If you’re just an ignorant orphan of the Southern Fragrant Lord, he might even protect you. But if you know too much, he’ll treat you as a variable.”
Nan Yan asked, “Like how he treats you?”
Ji Yang paused briefly, then nodded slightly: “Yes, just like how he treats me.”
“Nan Yan isn’t one to act rashly, she won’t—”
“When it comes to your matters, I am.”
In the silence that followed, perhaps due to Nan Yan’s resolute gaze, Ji Yang softly said, “Alright, I’ll compromise. I’ll fill in the rest of the scroll with everything I know. But after you learn it, I’ll seal away your memories. I’ll only release this memory when the time is right after you’ve achieved significant cultivation.”
“Shao Cang.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
“It’s something you should know anyway. I was just being selfish. As long as you don’t resent me, it’s fine.”
…
On a beach in Fan State, Nan Rao emerged from the sea. After sensing the concentration of spiritual energy in the surroundings, she clicked her tongue and decided to use less spiritual energy. She dove back into the sea and dragged out a figure with a head full of white hair.
After pulling him onto the shore, Nan Rao finally collapsed on the beach, exhausted.
“It is you.”
He had been unwilling to kill, so he repeatedly used space-severing techniques to prevent other Nascent Soul cultivators from tracking him through space. From what Nan Rao could see, even an immortal would probably need to seclude themselves for a decade to recover after such an ordeal.
After catching her breath, Nan Rao sat up and saw that his body had been pierced by at least thirty sword wounds. Such a sword formation technique couldn’t have come from Wei State; it was most likely Daosheng Tian’s famous move, the Celestial Chant.
Thinking of the Vermilion Emperor, Nan Rao bit her lip, trying to suppress the terrifying speculation in her heart. Despite the hatred in her eyes, she knew she couldn’t act rashly now. She had to gather evidence to expose Daosheng Tian’s actions to the world.
After composing herself, she reached out to undo Ji Ming’s robe to check his injuries, but he caught her hand, stopping her.
“You’re awake so soon? You… hm?”
Ji Ming slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were blood-red, like a river of blood.
For a moment, Nan Rao almost thought he would kill her.
But Ji Ming just stared at her, his gaze alternating between confusion and bewilderment. Nan Rao met his eyes for a while, then waved her free hand in front of him.
“How many fingers?”
“That’s you.”
“Then who am I?”
“You’re… Nan Rao.”
It was the first time Ji Ming had called her by name, and he had never looked at her like this before, gazing at her without averting his eyes. Nan Rao began to sense something was amiss.
“Do you remember what happened to my father, the Vermilion Emperor, and the old Dragon Lord couple during the ascension?” Nan Rao asked, but Ji Ming remained silent. She boldly probed his divine sense and her expression darkened.
His primordial spirit and consciousness were almost shattered. If he were forced to remember, it could be life-threatening.
Fearing discovery by passing cultivators on the beach, Nan Rao gritted her teeth and hoisted Ji Ming onto her back. “Don’t you dare die? I can’t fight Daosheng Tian alone.”
Night fell quickly. Fortunately, they were in Fan State, where most cultivators were not highly skilled. Along the way, Nan Rao managed to avoid the patrolling Fan State cultivators who seemed to be searching for something.
When the moon reached its zenith, Nan Rao finally found an abandoned, dilapidated Taoist temple and brought him inside.
“Wait here for a moment. I’m going outside to set up a formation,” Nan Rao said, turning to leave. But she felt a tug on her sleeve and exclaimed in surprise, “What’s wrong?”
This man should be her elder, a highly revered monk among all Buddhist cultivators. Yet now, he clung to her sleeve like a helpless child, unwilling to let go.
Nan Rao crouched down and asked, “What are you trying to tell me?”
Ji Ming seemed to have made a difficult decision and said, “You should leave quickly. Don’t worry about me.”
Nan Rao looked down at his hand, still firmly grasping her sleeve, and thought to herself, “Master, your words don’t match your actions at all.”
Nascent Soul cultivators could absorb spiritual energy from nature to recover their cultivation. Seeing that he couldn’t recover well like this, Nan Rao could only comfort him, “We’re both depleted of energy now. If Ying Zewei sends people after us, we might not be able to escape. You should rest here and recover while I go set up a formation outside. I’ll be back soon.”
Ji Ming’s gaze followed her until she left. The red glow in his eyes began to surge uncontrollably again. He stood up, supporting himself on the incense table in front of the Three Pure Ones statue, and looked up at the dilapidated figures. Slowly, some memories seemed to return.
“Seven Buddhas creating karma… Dao law of Heaven and Earth…”
“Soul-nurturing pool…”
“Self-created path of reincarnation…”
Chaotic fragments flashed before his eyes until the sound of the door opening behind him made him turn. He was about to speak but saw that the silhouette in the moonlight wasn’t Nan Rao’s.
“I remember the Dao Lord repeatedly inviting the Buddhists to ascend. I wonder why the Buddhist was so attached to the mortal realm?”
Ji Ming closed his eyes, a hint of anger in his voice: “Ascension? Using others’ lives as a soul-nurturing pool, attempting to usurp the cycle of reincarnation? The Dao Lord… was wrong.”
“The Dao Lord is never wrong,” Ying Zewei’s words now carried a stubborn and fanatical tone. “That year, the Dao Lord gazed at the stars and asked me, ‘If there’s no heaven beyond the sky, why would cultivators embark on this path?'”
If cultivators reached the end of their journey only to find an impenetrable barrier beyond the sky, even with godlike powers, they’d be trapped in the mortal realm waiting for death. Would cultivators still pursue the great path of immortality?
“Cultivators seek immortality, to live as long as heaven and earth. If there are no immortals or gods in this world, we should create one—for example, by mastering reincarnation, making people immortal and indestructible. This cultivation world would then persist.”
“Absurd,” Ji Ming said, the blood color in his eyes intensifying. “The universe has its order. What if the netherworld doesn’t exist?”
Ying Zewei replied, “Win, and we live with heaven and earth. Lose, and all people perish together. It’s that simple.”
The sound of the formation activating outside reached them. Ji Ming, not wanting to involve Nan Rao, said, “What value does this broken body of mine hold that you’d personally come to persuade me?”
“This junior wishes to invite the Confessional Master to cultivate the path of slaughter from now on, to guard a soul-nurturing pool for the cultivation world.”
In other words, he wanted Ji Ming to be an accomplice.
“What if I refuse?”
“I’ve already lost one master. I don’t want to lose another…” Ying Zewei paused, glancing at the faint red light in the night outside the temple. He chose his words carefully. “Another friend.”
“…Will you kill her?”
“Does the Master know why the Dao Lord betrothed Nao Niang to me?” Ying Zewei raised his hand, revealing half of a damaged, crystal-like heart. “Before sacrificing himself, the Dao Lord said that the Six Harmonies Dao Heart, the Vermilion Emperor’s Demon Heart, and the Buddhist Bone Zen Heart, when combined into one, could break through the barrier beyond this realm and truly ascend.”
He understood now… The Dao Lord wanted to keep Nan Rao by Ying Zewei’s side, so if one day he decided to kill for ascension, he could do so at any time.
No wonder the Dao Lord wanted him dead, no wonder…
“This Six Harmonies Dao Heart belongs to the Dao Lord, but it’s incomplete. Although I know that among the Buddhist cultivators in the world, Master should have cultivated a Buddhist Bone Zen Heart, this path seems hopeless. So, I’ve been hesitating for years. Therefore… please guide me, Master. Should I choose to combine the three hearts to ascend myself, or…”
…Nan Rao would die.
“Alright, promise me you won’t harm her life,” Ji Ming said hoarsely.
…
Outside the temple, Nan Rao had just finished setting up the formation. She tried to keep herself busy to suppress the surging hatred in her heart.
She thought of Nan Yi, Ao Guanghan, and many others… She also knew what a behemoth Daosheng Tian was, which meant she had to learn to control her emotions.
If only Ji Ming could guide her.
With these thoughts, Nan Rao put on a smile she knew looked forced and pushed open the door.
“Why did you close the door? It’s not like we haven’t—”
Under the dark, demon-like statues of the Three Pure Ones, Ying Zewei had been waiting for her for a long time.
“Nao Niang, will you come back with me?”