"It’s the Sect's Shadow Projection Art," Ye Shuyao said with a bitter smile. "The Sect Master set up an Illusory Shadow to keep the news under wraps."
Gu Qianli was stunned. "No wonder every time I saw him, it felt like looking through a fog. Nine times out of ten, any attempt to talk was cut short by urgent business, or he simply ignored me—so it was all just a mirage? I’ve been pouring out my feelings to a shadow?
Belatedly, he recalled the details of their journey south—the way Xie Wulei looked at him didn't have even a hint of the warmth one would show a future brother-in-law. It was complete, detached unfamiliarity.
For ten years, all the effort he’d put into building a connection and currying favor had been a one-sided joke from the very beginning.
He had even thought he was quite well-acquainted with the man—at least on a familiar basis.
As it turned out, the man had no impression of him at all.
Yu Huan’s knuckles tightened abruptly around her teacup.
When the Southern Border Great Plague first appeared ten years ago, she had always thought it was her own intervention that had kept him away—
Was the truth actually that he was in a deep sleep, unable to attend to anything else? Was it all just a stroke of luck?
Gu Qianli gave a self-deprecating laugh. "The Soul Burial Abyss cracking in the Donghai, Brother Xie falling into a slumber… even I, the Junior Deputy of the Xuntianjian in charge of intelligence, didn't know. Yao-yao, you kept me in the dark until now too. Your Sect Master is truly afraid the demon race will find out he’s fallen."
Ye Shuyao said sheepishly, "The Sect Master wouldn't let me say anything."
"The old injury from the Soul Burial Abyss is one thing, but the injury from the Life-Tracing Backlash is older and more severe. That is a Soul Dao Injury; no medicine can cure it. The imperial physicians and the Sect's alchemy masters were all helpless. They said he is burning through his life, relying entirely on his heaven-defying cultivation to hold himself together and maintain a semblance of health."
Gu Qianli pondered. "But a thousand years ago, the Director of the Qintianjian who possessed the 'Spirit Channeling' Divine Ability was famous for peeking into forbidden secrets and was frequently struck by Heaven's Punishment. Even his backlash didn't seem this miserable. Brother Xie, he…"
"I’ve been cultivating for over seventy years. Since I was old enough to remember, Senior Brother has been using Trace Fate every few days, leaving himself half-dead every time."
Ye Shuyao said helplessly, "It’s as if he’s obsessed with finding something. He’s been doing it for ten years as if it were a single day. The Sect Master advised him countless times, but he wouldn't listen. He’s practically playing with his life. He’s terrifyingly stubborn."
Yu Huan fell into deep thought, while Gu Qianli’s expression grew solemn. A Heaven-rank Divine Ability came with a massive price; how could it be used so lightly? And to have pushed himself to this point repeatedly?
His understanding of this prospective brother-in-law deepened: he was ruthless to his enemies, ruthless to his own people, and even more cruel to himself.
"Wait!" He suddenly remembered something, and his face changed drastically. "Yao-yao, do you know the internal details of that battle at the Donghai Soul Burial Abyss?"
Ye Shuyao shook her head. "No one in the Sect knows. Senior Brother went into a slumber as soon as he returned, so there was no way to find out. The records only state that the Soul Burial Abyss cracked in the Donghai, and if it wasn't sealed, it would have devastated the people of Dongzhou. At the time, the Spirits of the Nine Nether caused the sea to flow backward, triggering a colossal tsunami. Fortunately, the Spirits of the Nine Nether were suppressed by Senior Brother in the end, and the event was only reported as a natural disaster."
She added with a bit of schadenfreude, "That tsunami affected the Three Plains and Seven Domains outside the Donghai—that’s the demons' nest. I heard they suffered heavy casualties…"
Yu Huan had also heard of the Dongzhou tsunami, but she had known nothing about the Soul Burial Abyss cracking. The disaster hadn't harmed the coastal citizens, and Jiuzhou remained peaceful, so naturally, no one paid much attention to it.
"The demons did indeed suffer heavy deaths."
Gu Qianli’s voice turned cold. "I was ordered to scout the Donghai coast back then. To call that scene hell would be an understatement! The surface of the sea was covered in ten thousand miles of demon corpses, and the stench of blood reached the heavens. It’s been ten years, but if I close my eyes now, I can still smell it."
"I was almost paralyzed with fear on the coast, hunted by lingering Demon Souls. I had to fight my way inland."
He looked at Ye Shuyao, his eyes lighting up. "I fled to the foot of the Shangqing Immortal Sect's mountain. That was when we met in the teahouse below."
Ye Shuyao rolled her eyes.
Gu Qianli smiled and said, "Back then, I also took it for a natural disaster. I didn't know the Soul Burial Abyss had cracked, nor did I know Brother Xie had gone to suppress it. At the time, I didn't dare—and had no way—to get close for an investigation, so I didn't suspect a thing. But thinking about it now, it’s all wrong—demon bodies are a hundred times stronger than humans. How could they die so easily in a tsunami?"
Ye Shuyao was startled. "What do you mean?"
Gu Qianli said, "The Soul Burial Abyss just happened to crack in the Donghai, right next to the Three Plains and Seven Domains where the demons are entrenched. The demons are extremely sensitive. How could there be such a coincidence!"
He let out a cold laugh. "Furthermore, Brother Xie has a Great Perfection Peak cultivation. Even if he couldn't beat the Spirits of the Nine Nether, he could tear through space and escape at any time. How could he have almost died? I understand now… those demons didn't die from a natural disaster at all! That was a battlefield, a carefully concealed slaughterhouse!"
The expressions of Yu Huan and Ye Shuyao changed simultaneously. A battlefield?
"The Donghai is the area most strictly watched by the Jiangyaosi. The demons must have calculated that Brother Xie would go to suppress the rift to prevent the Spirits of the Nine Nether from harming the people, so they set an ambush in advance! While he was fighting the Spirits of the Nine Nether, he was being besieged by the demons. Attacked from both sides, he suffered such grievous injuries!"
Ye Shuyao was shocked. "Be… besieged?"
Yu Huan also frowned. "The demons used the opportunity of the Soul Burial Abyss cracking in the Donghai to set a death trap?"
"Most likely!" Gu Qianli said decisively.
Feeling that words were not enough, he abruptly flourished his red sleeve, a golden light flaring in his eyes.
In an instant, a hazy, blood-scented scene unfolded before the three of them—
The Word Spirit Divine Ability limitedly reconstructed the tragic scene of that year: a sea of blood surged toward them, thousand-foot waves carrying broken dragon spines and charred phoenix wings. Mountains of demon corpses floated in the blood-colored currents, and the residual light of high-level demon cores pierced through the shattered void. Countless remnant souls shrieked from the cracks.
Between heaven and earth, there was only the blue World Incinerating Flame and the soul-freezing Netherworld cold. The sun and moon were dyed in blood, as if the end of the world had arrived.
Ye Shuyao suddenly covered her mouth, and the hand Yu Huan used to hold her tea suddenly grew heavy.
The two of them turned pale with horror.
Gu Qianli gritted his teeth. "Based on the remains, the old Gold Dragon Emperor led his elites to set up the Spirit Devouring Forbidden Domain. the Phoenix Lord of the Fire Phoenixes led death soldiers to ignite the World Incinerating Flame. The Black Dragon King drew the Netherworld Water of the Nine Nether to flood the area, and the Yinglong Dragon King set up the Four Seas Space Locking Array… low and mid-level demons were used as fuel for the formation! This wasn't a common ambush; it was a mobilization of the entire race’s high-level combat power just to kill Xie Wulei!"
"The power of the entire race?" Ye Shuyao was in disbelief.
"Why? Do they hate Senior Brother that much?"
If that were true, how did he survive?
"Hate? Of course they hate him! But more than that—they fear him! They would pay any price to get rid of him!"
Gu Qianli said in a deep voice, "All of this dates back to the Human-Demon War ten thousand years ago!"
"Back then, although the humans won, they were severely weakened and unable to clear out the millions of remaining Demon Beasts—the demons. To eliminate future troubles, the First Generation Human Emperor burned his soul and used his own essence blood to carve a blood pact onto the Transformation Disk: 'The demon race shall never set foot in the human Jiuzhou'! Because of this, the demons were driven to the Three Plains and Seven Domains beyond the Donghai."
"This pact, integrated into the human Heaven's Dao through the 'Dominion' Divine Ability, became a Bloodline Suppression Barrier covering Jiuzhou. As long as the Transformation Disk exists, any demon entering Jiuzhou is suppressed. Forcing their way in results in an immediate backlash, destroying both form and spirit!"
He sighed softly. "The one who founded an era of peace didn't live to enjoy even a day of its glory. The First Generation Human Emperor sacrificed himself to the heavens so that humanity could enjoy peace in Jiuzhou."
Ye Shuyao listened in silence.
"However, the blood pact has a loophole," Gu Qianli continued, "and that is the site of the final Human-Demon battle, the 'Ashen Sky Battlefield'."
"The laws there are broken, and the blood pact cannot fully cover it. It became the only bridgehead for the demons' counterattack. In the nine thousand years since the Immortal Dynasty was founded, cultivators have followed one after another, fighting a nine-thousand-year war of attrition against the demons in the Ashen Sky Battlefield, guarding the Sea Pacifying Pass at the Donghai. The casualties were immense."
"Until a thousand years ago, the then-Palace Master of the Law Enforcement Celestial Palace—the last human in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, who walked the Path of Slaughter—used a world-shaking power to sever the passage between the Ashen Sky Battlefield and the demons with a single strike! This prevented any large-scale demon invasions, bringing about this thousand years of relative peace."
"Law Enforcement Celestial Palace?" Ye Shuyao was startled.
"It was the predecessor to the Jiangyaosi and the Zhenmosi. Its power reached the heavens, specializing in slaying demons. Later, when the Palace Master broke through and ascended, the Palace's power grew so great it made the Human Emperor wary, so it was split into two bureaus."
Gu Qianli glossed over the details and added, "Although the Ashen Sky Battlefield was destroyed and the demons couldn't attack openly, they turned to secret infiltration—they needed to use secret techniques to strip their demon cores and become 'Yao Guai', non-demon monsters, to temporarily bypass the blood pact and infiltrate in human form."
"For a thousand years, Yao Guai slaughtered cities and caused chaos, committing heinous crimes. Until two hundred years ago, when Brother Xie took command of the Jiangyaosi."
He summarized in a few simple sentences: "The Trace Fate Divine Ability is the nemesis of the Yao Guai. No matter how deeply they were disguised, he could see their true forms with a single glance. The 'Twelve Bone Masks', high-ranking infiltrators who had been hidden in the heart of the Immortal Dynasty for a thousand years, were all dragged out by him within three months."
"In the years following, he achieved what generations of Jiangyaosi commanders couldn't in their entire lives: he purged the entire thousand-year-old Demon Network within the inland, bringing about these two hundred years where demon threats are almost non-existent—this is a period of absolute peace never before seen in human history."
Gu Qianli chuckled. "Don't think two hundred years is short. In the ten thousand years since the founding of the human dynasty, this is the only time there hasn't been a major Yao Guai uprising. You should know that in the past, a city being slaughtered by demons was a common occurrence."
Yu Huan remained silent, knowing he spoke the truth.
The original owner of her body had been involved with the demons three hundred years ago, and afterward, the demon influence inland had been uprooted, causing humans to lose contact with them—this was exactly why she could completely cut off the original owner’s connections after transmigrating.
Ye Shuyao realized. "No wonder the new disciples of the Sect always say the Jiangyaosi is just for show. They even suspect the demons are extinct because they’ve never seen one… they always say the Jiangyaosi is tyrannical, only pointing its blade at its own people."
"Two hundred years of peace have made many people forget the horror of the demon plague."
Gu Qianli lightly fanned his folding fan. "Many young people only see the demon race as a distant legend, unaware that someone has been keeping the blood and storm outside of Jiuzhou. They dare to say the demons are not to be feared only because Brother Xie gave them the right to think that way."
"The Soul Burial Abyss cracking in the Donghai was a god-given opportunity for the demons to eliminate Brother Xie. The Donghai isn't inland; there’s no blood pact suppression. With the time and place in their favor, if they didn't act then, when would they? This assassination attempt was their frantic counterattack after being pushed to a dead end."
Ye Shuyao murmured, "I see… stripping their cores to infiltrate already damaged the demons' foundation, and then Senior Brother uprooted them all. No wonder they wanted to kill him for revenge!"
Gu Qianli said, "Not just for revenge, but to remove the person blocking their path back to Jiuzhou!"
"Otherwise, if Brother Xie didn't die, any Yao Guai who infiltrated would die."
"Jiuzhou was originally the demons' homeland. Led by the Dragon and Phoenix clans, with ten thousand races under them, they held themselves in high regard. Yet they were exiled to the barren Three Plains and Seven Domains… For ten thousand years, the Dragon clan has wanted to reclaim their homeland and establish their hegemony, while the Phoenix clan wants to release the Demon God imprisoned in the Abyss of Ten Thousand Demons and restore their old lord—the two factions are opposed, but their goal is Jiuzhou. This is a blood feud that spans generations!"
"But as long as Brother Xie is around, the demons can't even send in a spy, let alone reclaim Jiuzhou. In the battle at the Soul Burial Abyss, the Dragons and Phoenixes even joined forces, gambling at least fifty percent of their high-level combat power, swearing to eliminate him… unfortunately, they didn't succeed… instead, both sides were heavily wounded."
The room fell silent, with only the sound of rain pattering against the window.
Yu Huan lowered her gaze, the tea reflecting the complexity in her eyes. A dark thought surfaced once more—
To have survived such a siege, his life truly was stubborn.
But if he had died, the demons would no longer be a threat.
The strategic value of the Trace Fate Divine Ability was far beyond that of a normal Great Perfection Peak cultivator.
Gu Qianli’s tone grew grave. "Now that the Transformation Disk has been stolen, the implications are terrifying. The restriction seals of the Tianhuang Pavilion that protected it were set by the first Director of the Qintianjian ten thousand years ago using the 'Heaven's Mandate' Divine Ability. It’s unbreakable; even the Human Emperor couldn't open it. How could it be broken during these ten years while Brother Xie was asleep?"
"The demons have coveted the Transformation Disk for ten thousand years without success. Perhaps the battle at the Soul Burial Abyss was also to seize a portion of his Retrocognition Origin, even just a sliver—Trace Fate and Heaven's Mandate share the same source; they might have used it to break the seal! And he was heavily injured and asleep…"
His scalp felt numb. "Ten years is enough for the demons to take advantage of the situation and send in a large number of spies… and steal the Transformation Disk! Now that the clues lead to the Nanjiang, what that implies is obvious… Once the blood pact is broken and the barrier vanishes, the demon army can march straight into Jiuzhou!"
The night rain struck the plantain leaves with a dull, heavy sound.
Yu Huan remained silent.
The plot of the book seemed to be coming true, but she remembered that a great war between humans and demons never actually broke out.
Compared to the survival of the human race, she was more worried about the threat to her own life.
Xie Wulei was staring her down simply because he was afraid the two hundred years of peace he had protected would be destroyed by a suspect like her.
Ye Shuyao kept her head down, clearly lost in a heavy hypothetical scenario.
Gu Qianli gave a bitter smile. "Forget it, guessing is useless. We can only see if Brother Xie can find the Transformation Disk before the demons break the pact. However, there is one thing I’ve been curious about for a long time."
He looked at Ye Shuyao. "Brother Xie is a sword cultivator. Logically, the Divine Ability he awakened should have been of a combat type, like 'Sky Cleaving' or 'Water Severing'. How did he awaken one that deduces the secrets of heaven? Is there any story about this in the Sect?"
Ye Shuyao, still immersed in worry, said casually, "There are many theories, but nothing certain. In any case, the price is enormous…"
Seeing her troubled face, Gu Qianli forced himself to cheer up and leaned closer, a faint gold light flashing in his eyes. "Be happy, give us a smile."
In an instant, Ye Shuyao felt the gloom in her heart dissipate, and the corners of her mouth inexplicably turned up.
She was startled, then turned angry. "You’re using Word Spirit to mess with me again!"
"Don't you look better when you smile?" Gu Qianli winked.
Ye Shuyao wanted to scowl, but the corners of her lips wouldn't obey. She punched him in frustration. "I hate you! Who told you to meddle! I don't want to smile!"
Gu Qianli nimbly dodged. "Yes, yes, I’m meddling. Lady Ye is magnanimous. Since you don't want to smile, how about—a kiss?"
Ye Shuyao: "??!"
She backed away in shock, thinking she was about to be hit by another 'word becomes reality', but she realized he hadn't used his Word Spirit when he said those three words.
Looking up, she met his handsome face, his ears flushed red.
He suddenly looked away. "Um… Yao-yao, I’ll go find something for you to eat…"
Before he could finish, he had already stepped onto his Union of Joy Fan and flown out the door.
Ye Shuyao: "?"
Yu Huan: "…"
Yu Huan couldn't help but find it amusing. A scene from the original book suddenly flashed through her mind: When Yu Huan saw that Gu Qianli had completely fallen for Ye Shuyao, she was consumed with jealousy. On the night before they left the Nanjiang, she had poisoned him with a 蛊, triggering the 'Union of Joy Flower Bloom' tribulation of the Joy Union Sect's cultivation technique—this tribulation was fatal unless it was tempered through dual cultivation with a woman.
Unfortunately, on the night the flower bloomed, Yu Huan had intended to go to Gu Qianli's room, only to die under Xie Wulei's sword.
Through a twist of fate, the one who ended up spending that night with Gu Qianli was Ye Shuyao.
"Sister Yu, do you want to come sit in my room? I… have some things I want to ask you in private."
Taking advantage of the annoying man’s departure, Ye Shuyao pulled Yu Huan all the way to her elegant pavilion.
On the purple sandalwood table, the Spirit Focusing Incense curled upward.
"Sit, sit." She industriously poured Spirit Tea and, as if presenting a treasure, opened a jade box to reveal the translucent white Dew Condensing Fruits inside.
"Here, a Nanjiang specialty Gu Qianli insisted on giving me."
She picked one up and popped it into her mouth, squinting in satisfaction. "The taste is good, but the person who gave it is annoying!"
Yu Huan tried one; it was sweet and moistening to the throat, truly top-grade.
Just as she was about to speak, Ye Shuyao leaned over and, in a few swift motions, pulled off her silk socks and tossed them aside, revealing a pair of snowy white feet with ten toes slightly curled. She then unfastened her belt and threw it on the couch, causing her dress to immediately loosen.
"Phew—I’m finally back to life! Wearing socks in this weather is practically torture!" She stretched and sighed, completely abandoning any pretense of decorum.
Yu Huan was stunned by her smooth "disarming." "…Princess?"
Ye Shuyao’s cheeks were flushed, but she held her head high. "Do I still have to put on an act in front of you, Sister? It’s better than having to hold my breath around certain people!"
With that, she began removing the pearl hairpins from her temples. "These things… my neck was almost breaking after wearing them all day!"
Yu Huan: "…"
"Sister, why don't you relax a bit too?" Her eyes darted around, looking at Yu Huan's dignified purple dress. Her gaze seemed to say: 'Come and join me in this "depravity"!'
Yu Huan quickly leaned back and waved her hand. "No need, I still need to cultivate later."
"Cultivate, cultivate. You’re always so tense, Sister."
Ye Shuyao pursed her lips and suddenly leaned in. Her nose almost touched Yu Huan’s collar, and her almond eyes sparkled as they swept across her chest. She said mischievously, "Speaking of which, this body of yours, Sister…"
Before the words had even faded, her fingertips swiftly reached out—
"Heaven is truly biased; how did this part grow so lush?"
Before Yu Huan could react, she curled her lips into a smile. Just as she was about to succeed—
"What are you doing?!"
A bone-chilling voice pierced her Sea of Consciousness. Though it should have been melodious, it carried an icy pressure.
"??!"
Ye Shuyao felt as if she’d been struck by lightning. Her fingers jerked back, and she tumbled back onto the cushions in a panic, her face turning deathly pale.