How did she view it?
How else could she view it?
In any case, the cultivation method given to her by the system could never be inferior to ancient remnants. While its origins could be spun into any nonsense story, its actual strength was bound to be ironclad.
One was a civilization lost in the currents of time, while the other was a form of super-technology capable of transporting humans across realms; Fu Jinyue naturally trusted the capability of the latter.
However, this question was indeed difficult to answer, primarily because she possessed far too little information regarding the cultivation world.
No matter.
Fu Jinyue calmly asked her savior in her mind: “How do you view it?”
The system said with a trembling voice: “Ho–Ho–Host, quickly weave a lie to fool him! Just like before!”
The super-technology was actually so frightened by a mere Golden Core cultivator that its voice hitched.
Fu Jinyue cursed: “Useless thing.”
Having been a figure forged through the trials of a shifting battlefield in her previous life, Fu Jinyue crossed her arms over her chest, pressing her upper arms tight against her body to forcefully suppress her instinctual trembling. With a brief turn of her thoughts, she pulled up a smile and said coldly:
“How do I view it? Why doesn’t Senior ask the Stargazer how he views it instead? Since he could deduce my existence, he could likely deduce events from thousands of years ago as well.”
She deliberately threw a counter-question back at him in a slow, calculated manner: “I, for one, would like to ask—why did the people of the world erase the traces of our history?”
What history was erased? She had no idea.
But she could not display any weakness. Fu Jinyue asked without blinking an eye, “Has Senior ever pondered carefully why the Dingshan Fu family only has a single descendant left in the world today?”
That was naturally because the system had only bound a single host.
In fact, Fu Jinyue, this supposed descendant of the Dingshan Fu family, didn’t even know where her old home, Dingshan, was located yet.
The pressure was terrifying, but Fu Jinyue pushed forward rather than retreating, pressing further: “And has Senior ever pondered carefully why a sect fallen so low that only a single person remains happens to be the key to saving the world in the mouths of others?”
Yes, this question was crucial. Because she didn’t know the answer either.
She would definitely have to find a way to fish for more details in the future.
Fu Jinyue wore a sorrowful expression but spoke no further.
Her little mouth babbled, the words rolling right off her tongue.
In any case, it was a matter of countering questions with questions, relying entirely on intuition for whatever she could think of. With a profound master who made no omissions in his calculations personally stamping her as the person of the Heavenly Mandate, the ambiguous phrasing Fu Jinyue could employ from this was limitless.
She only detested that the cultivator’s pressure was too frightening. Fu Jinyue wanted to take a sip of flower tea to display a sense of composure, yet she feared that under the pressure, the water would splash everywhere from her trembling hand the moment she picked up the cup, which would ruin the effect and turn into a misstep. Thus, she endured it forcefully, looking coldly at the man across the table.
Yun Heyin maintained his usual expression. Those eyes of his were a pond as deep as an abyss, showing no trace of pleasure or anger, let alone indicating whether he believed her or not.
“……”
The atmosphere grew somewhat heavy.
After a long while, Yun Heyin withdrew his pressure, lowered his eyes, and softly offered an apology.
He seemed to have believed her.
That toxic, serpent-like sensation from him dissipated entirely.
Yun Heyin had a fair complexion and dark hair. His facial features weren’t naturally suited for a stern or cold disposition, yet as he lowered his eyes now, he actually gave off a fleeting illusion of a deity’s statue.
What was a deity’s statue?
Existing within the human world, yet not belonging to the mortal realm.
Devoid of desires, emotions, love, and demands, untainted by a single shred of the mundane world.
If he hadn’t apprenticed under the Danding Sect early on, relying solely on this aura permeating his entire body, holding a sword in hand would likely make him appear even more heartless than those who practiced the Heartless Dao.
However, Yun Heyin had indeed come close to practicing the Heartless Dao.
During these past few days when she came to knock on his door three times a day, what she consumed was not just food, but also plenty of gossip. From the mouths of Sinian and Siyan, Fu Jinyue had pieced together the life history of the man before her.
Yun Heyin was born into the prominent Yun clan, and both of his parents were members of the Sword Sect. They both possessed high cultivation and superb sword skills, so the child they gave birth to ought to have practiced the sword and walked the path of a sword cultivator as well.
To everyone’s surprise, although this child possessed a top-tier single fire spiritual root, his three souls and seven po were naturally deficient from birth.
Yun Heyin’s primary soul, Taiguang, was missing a tiny fraction. His parents and clan searched through every spiritual pill and miraculous medicine to do their utmost to mend it, yet they were never able to resolve it completely.
A person missing a portion of their Taiguang soul would have emotions that fluctuated easily. His parents feared that practicing the sword and killing living beings would inevitably lead to him falling into a demonic state, degenerating into an evil cultivator. Consequently, when Yun Heyin was five years old, they sent him into the Danding Sect to follow the elders of various factions to study the path of alchemy, all to seek peace of mind.
Yet children were mostly active and rowdy.
To ensure peace of mind, others naturally thought of many methods, such as soaking him in freezing spring water twice a day, an hour each time, unchanging through the four seasons. Another method was setting down numerous detailed rules: no shouting, no walking in a rush, no discourtesy, no reckless words, no disrespecting elders, no bullying juniors, no letting one’s gaze wander askance…
Through such various forms of day-and-night admonishment, they dedicated themselves to forging a serene environment where actions were measured, movement and stillness were appropriate, and both the interior and exterior were solemn, all to remold a person who by nature ought to have fallen into a demonic state, washing away his demonic heart.
Over time, the clear and otherworldly True Monarch Yun was born from this process.
He wore a robe as white as snow, with black hair like satin, his back straight like a pine or bamboo—a cold face, cold eyes, but a warm heart, treating and curing the people of the world regardless of wealth or poverty.
Everyone praised his goodness, marveling that he possessed a natural demonic heart yet lacked any demonic form, practicing medicine to save people with wondrous skills and a benevolent heart.
But… was that truly the case?
With his disposition educated and suppressed since childhood, could he truly be completely devoid of desires and demands in the deepest depths of his heart?
Fu Jinyue felt quite interested in this.
After piecing together Yun Heyin’s life history, she felt like a child who had discovered a treasure.
An intriguing mystery unfolded before her layer by layer. Especially after tasting the flavor of humiliation under Yun Heyin’s interrogation, Fu Jinyue desired even more to know whether he would present a clear, clean, and exquisite heart in her hands once he was dismantled layer by layer by her, or a puddle of… sticky, dark, foul mud.
The interrogation at the dining table concluded with Yun Heyin’s concession.
Neither of them brought up the truth or falsehood of the Orthodox Hehuan Sect again, tacitly leaving it in silence. From then on, however, Yun Heyin went out less and less. Whenever Fu Jinyue came over to sponge meals, she could see him eight times out of ten.
A more detailed surveillance? Or some other reason? Fu Jinyue appeared entirely unconcerned on the surface.
The barrier on the bamboo mountain had not been undone yet. Perhaps knowing that Fu Jinyue had no way to descend the mountain as she pleased, Yun Heyin no longer maintained a defensive posture against her, and many matters were half-laid out in the open.
Thus, Fu Jinyue discovered that this man’s previous excuse did not seem fabricated; he truly was researching something.
His appearance resembled someone scrutinizing a difficult problem.
Fu Jinyue grew thoughtful.
One afternoon, the brilliant sun shone radiantly.
Fu Jinyue came over to sponge a meal as usual, and a patch of spiritual plants was laid out flat upon the stone bricks within the courtyard.
The spirituality of these plants was much higher than those in Fu Jinyue’s own courtyard. While absorbing spiritual energy could not increase her cultivation, the Hehuan cultivation method could still be studied.
Ever since she accidentally resonated with a tiny patch of grass at the gate of the Sword Sect, allowing Fu Jinyue to discover the clues to the technique, she had practiced in private without interruption. The plants in her own courtyard grew rapidly and were extraordinarily lush, and Fu Jinyue had gained quite a few insights into the derivative wonderful uses of the Hehuan method through her scrutiny.
Seeing so many spiritual plants she hadn’t seen before now, her interest was piqued, and she paced around the little things laid out on the ground to size them up.
Most of them were on the verge of death. Either their main stems were snapped, or their leaves were curled and charred black, and without exception, the fractures were all as pitch-black as charcoal.
Fu Jinyue recalled the miserable sight of the Sword Sect gate when she first saw it.
She asked Sinian beside her, “What happened to all of these?”
Sinian was cradling a storybook with her gaze entirely focused. Hearing this, she raised her head: “They were struck by lightning. Quite pitiable.”
“Lightning?” Fu Jinyue asked.
This seventy-odd-year-old girl seemed to recall something and trembled: “Yes, the heavenly lightning is fierce. These guys were merely grazed by it and turned into this state. I’m afraid they are completely useless now, which is why they were brought here to serve as practice medicinal materials for Master Yun.”
Siyan had long since transformed into his original form, a red-crowned crane stretching its white feathers to sunbathe, and chimed in: “Little Fellow Daoist Fu hasn’t built her foundation yet, so you haven’t seen heavenly lightning before, right? Before this, because Sinian and I are demon cultivators, on the day we transformed into human forms, the sky was covered in tribulation clouds. It was the Nine-Fold Transformation Tribulation.”
That slow, soft tone of voice carried a bit of whimpering, “It struck for a full three folds and twenty-seven bolts. Our feathers were scorched bare. It hurt terribly.”
“Idiot Siyan.” Unlike her brother’s almond eyes, Sinian possessed a pair of narrow cat eyes. Blinking them, she said rather proudly, “It’s all because you don’t cultivate properly on ordinary days, refusing to practice the Fire Formula just because you complain about the heat. Crossing a tribulation means either life or death; it’s already decent just to stay alive.”
Fu Jinyue seemed to gain some realization: “Could it be that the sudden torrential rain and bouts of thunder that night were because someone was crossing a tribulation?”
That night, she and the youth had been intimate in the cave. She hadn’t given any detailed thought to the anomaly, merely assuming the weather had suddenly changed.
Crossing a tribulation, bouts of thunder, near the Sword Sect…
Thinking about it this way, it was highly likely that someone was crossing a tribulation, and then the heavenly lightning inflicted damage upon the surrounding sect, causing the miserable state of the sect gate and the charred spiritual plants. She still recalled that most of the Sword Sect disciples had lowered expressions that day, indicating that the person was a member of the Sword Sect, and…
Perhaps they had even failed their tribulation.
Sinian could no longer absorb herself in the storybook she held, saying with a mix of fear and curiosity, “Could it be that little Fellow Daoist Fu saw it?”
“Perhaps,” Fu Jinyue recalled. “But I didn’t see it clearly. I only heard the constant roaring of thunder lasting the entire night, and the dim sky lit up and darkened alternately, appearing as though it were about to be torn to pieces.”
She lowered her eyes, simultaneously recalling the most profound memory of that night.
Amidst the roaring of thunder, the youth was burning hot, his gaze focused, not diverting his attention by half a fraction.
He gazed at her, his passion carrying a touch of rawness, racking his brains to please her, yet clumsily only knowing how to lick, like a helpless puppy.
Even after many days, it was a rare occasion for Fu Jinyue to think of him. She wondered if this man had managed to climb up to the Sword Sect yet; when she rode the sword with Cui Zai, she had seen just how rugged that mountain was.
Sinian didn’t know what Fu Jinyue was thinking, merely pressing on: “It rang for an entire night? How terrifying. As expected of the Ninety-Nine Grand Tribulation, to be able to strike for so long. For the Sword Sect to still remain safe and sound, it truly deserves to be called…”
As she spoke, Sinian suddenly cut off her words, as if aware that she had made a slip of the tongue.
Fu Jinyue seemed to sense something and turned around. The man behind her had arrived at some unknown point.
Yun Heyin bypassed her, bending over to inspect the spiritual plants drying on the ground, saying, “Sinian, watch your words at all times, so as to avoid forging a great mistake.”
Sinian felt ashamed, stammering out a quiet admission of her mistake.
Fu Jinyue, however, said, “The great mistake has long been forged, so why watch one’s words?”
Thanks to the spiritual plants being dried today, the difficult problem she had pondered for several days finally yielded its key, allowing it to be successfully resolved.
She continued, “That night featured flashing lightning and roaring thunder, an immense momentum. I’m afraid anyone with eyes and ears could see and hear it. Furthermore, when I arrived at the Sword Sect back then, I saw the plaque of the Sword Sect broken in half, and the interior of the sect was miserable. Anyone with a brain could make the connection—I’m afraid that grand figure within the Sword Sect failed their tribulation.”
Having said that, Fu Jinyue actually grew bold enough to snatch away the spiritual plant the man was about to pick up, holding it in her hand.
The spiritual plant was on the verge of death. She lowered her eyes to stroke its damaged fracture: “Senior, they say crossing a tribulation means either life or death. But that powerful figure of the Sword Sect is just like this spiritual plant—they failed their tribulation but didn’t perish, right?”
A ripple surfaced upon that habitually indifferent expression. Yun Heyin reined in the shift, looking at her silently.
“Reckless words,” he concluded coldly.
Fu Jinyue had tested him multiple times previously, so she had long since known that whether it was Yu Feichen or Yun Heyin, they both harbored some wariness toward the Stargazer’s prophecy.
Therefore, while she appeared to possess a feeble cultivation and be incredibly passive, in truth, as long as she sat firmly in her identity as the savior of the Heavenly Mandate, the upper echelons of the Sword Sect and Yun Heyin would not easily kill her. Unless she danced straight into their faces, crossing that line of forbearance. But that line was still far off.
Thus, right now, facing Yun Heyin’s cold gaze, Fu Jinyue was not only unafraid, but instead continued to speak:
“Are they truly reckless words? Senior, you know that my knowledge is shallow and I don’t know much. After descending the mountain, I heard of the Dao Discussion Banquet, but I discovered that rogue cultivators don’t refer to it as a discussion of the Dao to the outside world; they only call it a celebration. I have always been highly curious as to why that is.”
Fu Jinyue: “Thinking about it, perhaps everyone is aware that while this event is called a discussion of the Dao, it is in truth using a pretext to invite everyone to gather here. What does the Sword Sect want to do? The matter it wants to carry out won’t involve flashing blades or drawing swords, won’t cause fear among rogue cultivators, and won’t damage the interests of the Sword Sect; it will only make everyone clearly aware of it yet still feel compelled to come and investigate to find out the truth.”
“For instance… the successful breakthrough of a powerful figure,” she said.
Fu Jinyue paid attention to Yun Heyin’s changes at all times. The girl’s eye color was faint, her glass-like pupils moving precisely and subtly, following his every minute shift to hammer down the evidence for the guess in her heart, just as he had done to her previously.
Fu Jinyue said, “This would have been a display of military deterrence without spilling blood, consolidating the status of the Sword Sect and warning petty characters, while simultaneously inviting people to discuss the Dao could establish a good reputation.”
Her palm covered the pitiable wound of the spiritual plant, her analytical words never stopping.
“The breakthrough must have been a certain success, which was why they dared to release word early on.”
Cultivators from all over the world came rushing upon hearing the news, which was why she had the bad luck of running into the rogue cultivator Cui Zai.
Fu Jinyue: “While the failure was likely sudden and unexpected, which was why their actions appeared hurried when dealing with the outside world.”
The incident occurred suddenly, and manpower was insufficient. Lu Liuru was busy with various matters, having to handle the pacification of rogue cultivators while simultaneously managing the direction of the disciples. Yet even while being this busy, she still had to act as if facing a formidable enemy upon hearing there was an evil cultivator spy, rushing over in person to use the Truth Talisman to confirm the truth or falsehood.
Sinian said crossing a tribulation meant either life or death.
“They say crossing a tribulation means either life or death, yet that powerful figure survived, just like this patch of spiritual plants—covered in wounds and hanging by a thread.”
Both of Yun Heyin’s parents were members of the Sword Sect, but he himself had apprenticed under the Danding Sect. Not only did he practice alchemy and draw talismans, but he was also a medical cultivator of exceptional talent.
“The Sword Sect secretly invited medical cultivators, requesting seniors to treat the powerful figure’s injuries, yet the results have been minimal. This kind of injury, obtained due to a lightning tribulation, cannot bypass the hurdle of the lightning tribulation if one wishes to resolve it.”
It required research, which was why Yun Heyin accepted or requested these spiritual plants that had been struck by lightning and were entirely useless.
Fu Jinyue thought to herself that the system was a minor useless thing.
This information ought to have been gathered more simply, quickly, and efficiently.
Yet she had arrived freshly without knowing a thing, and even carried the mission of the Hehuan Sect on her head, making her an evil cultivator with a notorious reputation to the outside world. Having managed with great difficulty to blend into the Sword Sect, she was then silently confined within the mountain. Such an unfavorable situation was akin to walking a tightrope alone; a single careless move would lead to her body being smashed to pieces.
Having arrived in the cultivation world for several days, Fu Jinyue could only pretend to be perfectly composed. She listened a bit at a time and watched a step at a time, appearing unmoved on the surface while deducing carefully in her heart. Today, the spiritual plants delivered the final puzzle piece, and she thus strung the entirely unrelated trivialities into… an opportunity.
Now that the opportunity had arrived, could she grasp it?
Fu Jinyue raised her eyes.
Yun Heyin’s gaze as he watched her was calm, his pleasure or anger unrevealed, his sorrow or joy un-overflowing. Compared to him, the two crane demons possessed a bit more of a human appearance.
From their encounter to this moment, he had only lost his composure a mere handful of times under her pestering behavior.
He resembled a deity’s statue offered upon a high altar, artificially carved with eyes, tongue, mouth, nose, and ears. What if his appearance was handsome? What if his aura was otherworldly? As the crowd surged past in a bustle, he lowered his eyes to look upon all living beings, yet his eyes clearly contained nothing but a motionless, waveless void.
Devoid of desires, emotions, love, and demands, untainted by a single shred of the mundane world?
Unfortunately, she loved making deities fall into the mortal realm the most.
Let’s drag this flower of the high peaks down from his sacred altar; the desire for conquest within Fu Jinyue’s heart was itching to move.
“You cannot resolve the injuries of that powerful figure. Furthermore, the incident occurred suddenly and is likely difficult to conceal. I guess the subsequent situation ought to involve hearsay flying all over the sky, and the purpose of deterring others fell through, instead attracting the covetous eyes of petty characters. If it isn’t defused as quickly as possible, is a fierce battle going to come toward the Sword Sect later on?”
Yun Heyin’s expression remained faint, neither sorrowful nor joyful, as if looking at a child’s nonsense or listening to the chirping of insects.
Fu Jinyue didn’t care; she had her own judgment and felt confident that her deduction ought to be mostly accurate.
The spiritual plant held in her hand was withered, yet its life force was not severed. She pointed the blackened fracture straight at Yun Heyin, saying, “Senior, regarding this matter, I have a method.”
That spiritual plant was a rare Xining Flower, its main stem snapped by heavenly lightning, looking highly miserable. Now shoved before his nose, the structural damage at the fracture appeared even more terrifying, as pitch-black as charcoal, its life force entirely sealed and cut off.
Just like the ruptured primordial spirit of the Sword Sect Elder, offering no further possibility of reversal.
She had a method?
Heh, ignorant and reckless words.
Yun Heyin thought to herself: “Countless medical cultivators are helpless regarding this matter, so what method could she possibly have?”
While thinking thus with pity, he watched as dots of fresh green emerged from the fracture of the plant, breaking through the pitch-blackness that sealed its life force. Growing, the stem formed in an instant, and a tiny flower bud was born.
It was clearly a spiritual plant that maintained stringent demands regarding sunlight conditions; if it wasn’t satisfied, it could fail to bloom for a hundred years until the flower bud withered and dropped.
Yet now, when Yun Heyin’s gaze landed upon its peak, this skinny and small flower bud expanded from small to large, its plump flower form standing atop the branch, gently swaying beneath the gentle breeze, unfolding unhurriedly.
Blooming petal by petal.
The floral fragrance was alluring.
Fu Jinyue looked at Yun Heyin with a radiant smile.
This proud and aloof deity’s statue always loved displaying an emotionless appearance to others, being exceedingly aloof, as if no one could enter his heart regardless of what they did. That face was held rigidly, woodenly, completely motionless, like a mud sculpture plastered over his face, unchanging all day long.
However, the flower had bloomed; a matter that was absolutely impossible had been easily accomplished by a woman he had always slighted.
What would Yun Heyin do?
Fu Jinyue was highly curious.
She raised her eyes to size him up with amusement, only to see this man’s pupils contract for a brief moment, those dark eyes widening in astonishment. Vivid emotions seemed like a downpour crashing down upon his head, soaking that clear and otherworldly person until his white robes turned semi-transparent and his dark hair fell into a mess, leaving him dazed and at a loss, appearing utterly disheveled.
That expression of his which resembled a mud sculpture, the illusion of being habitually calm and waveless, dissolved like mud within the downpour, dripping down to become tiny stains upon his robes.
He resembled a porcelain piece played with by a malicious person, spitefully knocked against the corner of a table. The pure white, pristine glaze surface he had always been proud of cracked with lines of fractures; after being tainted with flaws, it broke.
Those eyes of his widened, no longer able to remain aloof and lofty, and within his eyes, the appearance of the person before him was reflected in precise detail.
Her appearance.
Fu Jinyue unconsciously curled the corners of her mouth.
Quite right; holding a rigid posture all the time is far too boring, isn’t it?
Why don’t you descend into the mortal realm with me? Being like this is much more interesting, after all.