In the Taiyi Sect.
A half-moon hung in the sky, illuminating the pine forest. Twisted branches stretched low, their shadows slanting across the ground. A cliff wind blew through, causing the clear moonlight to shimmer like flowing water, while the pine needles on the ground drifted along with it. The sound of the pines roared like waves, harmonizing with the low calls of birds roosting in the woods—a scene of profound solitude.
A figure clad in a dark robe embroidered with golden dragons appeared in the pine grove. Her cloud-stepping boots crunched softly on the pine needles—it was Cang Lang.
She gazed up at the moonlight for a moment before shifting her eyes to Xie Chaosheng in a small pavilion nearby. She pursed her lips, a conflicted expression crossing her face, and finally strode forward.
“It’s you.” In the pavilion, Xie Chaosheng snapped out of her reverie at the sound. She quickly stowed a small jar of wine into her Universe Pouch and turned to face the newcomer. A faint smile tugged at her lips, but it vanished like a fleeting epiphyllum flower in the blink of an eye.
Cang Lang caught the scent of alcohol on the wind, and her brows furrowed in disbelief. “You’re drinking?”
Xie Chaosheng offered no reply. Her clear, serene gaze settled on Cang Lang as she asked gently, “Shi— Do you need something?” She cut off the title that Cang Lang despised just in time.
“I heard the Sect Master wants you to train at the Joy Sect?” Cang Lang cut straight to the point.
Xie Chaosheng nodded.
Cang Lang’s eyes darkened. “Why go there? Can’t the cultivators of Taiyi Sect teach you anymore?”
Xie Chaosheng replied, “My master told me to go, so I will.”
Irritation churned in Cang Lang’s heart. “Do you have to be so obedient?” Her own status was unique; she couldn’t leave Taiyi. How long would Xie Chaosheng be gone? If the issues in Taiyi Sect weren’t resolved here, could they really be sorted out at the Joy Sect?
Xie Chaosheng said nothing, merely watching Cang Lang with calm composure. Only when impatience flickered across Cang Lang’s features did she change the subject. “You’re injured.”
Cang Lang touched the wound on her brow bone dismissively. “It’s nothing.” She’d gained plenty of experience from her beatings, and now when she sparred with those people, she no longer lost every time.
Ever since her identity had been exposed, her nerves had been on edge, her emotions turbulent. She didn’t know what lay ahead for her. Was she doomed to hole up in Taiyi for life, never returning to the Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace? Was she to watch everything fall into Ji Qingye’s hands? She hadn’t completely severed ties with the Demonic Prison Heavenly Palace and had learned that many of her mother’s old retainers had been killed by Ji Qingye. Anxiety and frustration boiled within her, yet she was powerless—Taiyi’s people wouldn’t help her.
To vent her foul mood, she sparred with Taiyi’s cultivators on one hand and vented some of her anger on Xie Chaosheng on the other. She vaguely realized this was wrong; she might have become Xie Chaosheng’s heart demon. Xie Chaosheng had kindly saved her, and she—in Dan Li’s words—had been somewhat ungrateful.
Cang Lang wanted to apologize, but her pride and arrogance made the words “I’m sorry” stick in her throat. She opened her mouth, and under Xie Chaosheng’s autumn-water gaze, she uttered two words instead: “The wine?”
Xie Chaosheng retrieved the jar and handed it to Cang Lang.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Xie Chaosheng said softly.
But Cang Lang just drank deeply, coughing repeatedly from the burn.
Suddenly, Xie Chaosheng had nothing left to say.
The Taiyi Sect did not change in the slightest due to Xie Chaosheng’s departure.
It was common for the Immortal Dao Seven Sects, on good terms with one another, to exchange disciples.
In the Tianyan Mirror, someone mentioned it in passing while discussing storybooks, and people eagerly placed bets: What would she be like after a stint at the Joy Sect?
On an isolated island beyond the East Sea.
After giving Chen Buyan some advice, Li Ruoshui continued her secluded cultivation. Thanks to the Empire cultivators’ generous “donations,” after absorbing the Fire Element Cinnabar, she had advanced another layer in the Universe One Qi Palm.
It was midday now.
A dazzling blaze suddenly erupted from the island’s lone peak, followed by a massive cloud of mist billowing out like steam from a steamer, surging upward vigorously. Amid the mist, the rocks trembled, and with a thunderous boom like rolling thunder, the fierce flames shot even higher.
The noonday sun vanished in the thick fog. Amid the astonishing momentum, the sounds of wind and thunder grew faster and more intense until a earth-shattering crack rang out. The isolated peak seemed as fragile as tofu, eroded away entirely in the crimson fire.
Moments later, a figure shot out from the fog.
It was Li Ruoshui.
She didn’t bother wiping the soot from her face and instead planted her hands on her hips, laughing heartily. Both the Universe One Qi Palm and the Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light had improved significantly; she finally felt a touch of peace in her heart.
She formed a hand seal to summon the Tianyan Mirror and, upon checking her reflection, realized she looked utterly disheveled—grimy enough to beg for copper coins if she sat in a marketplace. Li Ruoshui frowned, ducked into a cave, and emerged in a new guise.
She now wore a blue-and-white slanted-collar robe embroidered with cranes, draped in a water-blue cloak, with a lotus jade pendant at her waist, its red tassels swaying gently in the breeze. Li Ruoshui straightened the small braid hanging over her chest, admired herself for a bit, then projected her intent into the Tianyan Mirror.
Her two periods of seclusion had totaled over half a year; she needed to catch up on the Nine Provinces’ news.
She browsed the Dharma Realm for a bit and heard no reports of trouble in anyone’s Return to Ruins Gap—though plenty of nonsensical gossip abounded. While checking on Joy Sect gossip, Li Ruoshui suddenly spotted the news of Xie Chaosheng going to the Joy Sect as an “exchange disciple.” She blinked in surprise, muttering to herself.
Why would the female lead leave Taiyi for the Joy Sect out of nowhere? And going alone, without Cang Lang.
This never happened in the plot. With the female lead’s gentle, kind-hearted, sheep-like personality, what would happen at the Joy Sect?
Li Ruoshui shivered, not daring to think further.
If she couldn’t figure it out, she wouldn’t dwell on it.
After wandering the Dharma Realm, Li Ruoshui’s attention fell on Chen Buyan’s dim nameplate.
What was her close friend up to? Teaching her disciple? Why wasn’t she surfing the Tianyan Mirror?
As she pondered, Chen Buyan’s nameplate lit up brilliantly.
Chen Buyan: “Fellow Daoist out of seclusion? Still in the East Sea?”
Li Ruoshui: “Yes.” Isolated islands dotted the sea—who knew if there were treasures.
Chen Buyan: “Changes in the East Sea—flee at once, Fellow Daoist!”
Li Ruoshui: “?” Was she really that unlucky? After a moment’s thought, she cautiously asked, “What changes? Why no news in the Dharma Realm?” The Empire’s largest Return to Ruins Gap, the Nation-Securing Chart, had been sealed after burying several Cave Heaven experts; there shouldn’t be any anomalies.
Chen Buyan: “Empire secret—not spread yet.” After a pause, she added, “The imperial family’s Dong Wang was abducted by Anti-Empire Alliance cultivators. The entire court is searching for Dong Wang’s whereabouts; the Tianming Marquis is personally leading troops to besiege the alliance’s forces in the East Sea.”
Dong Wang? Li Ruoshui paused before recalling—the bastard who’d tried to seize her Wood Element Cinnabar in Azure Wood Canyon. She gloated inwardly and asked eagerly, “Is Rong Ji dead?”
Chen Buyan: “Unknown.”
Without a definitive answer, Li Ruoshui felt a twinge of regret. She wanted to watch the spectacle in the East Sea, but with Cave Heaven True Persons mobilized, one misstep could mean death. Li Ruoshui lived freely but wasn’t recklessly “brash” about everything. After thanking Chen Buyan, she prepared to leave the East Sea.
But just as Li Ruoshui stowed the Tianyan Mirror, a gale stirred. A streak of yellow escape light hurtled from the horizon, accompanied by a loud splash as it crashed onto the reef.
A Daoist in a tall crown and wide belt emerged from the light. Spotting Li Ruoshui, his eyes sharpened. Before she could leave, he leaped forward, brandishing a long halberd to block her path.
“Who might you be?” the Daoist demanded gravely.
Li Ruoshui’s eyelids twitched. She’d just thought of escaping, and trouble had arrived first. Had her luck soured again? Unhappy, she replied coolly, “An itinerant cultivator.”
The words “itinerant cultivator” put the Daoist on high alert. He raised his voice. “From where?”
The wind billowed his wide sleeves like raised sails. Li Ruoshui reined in her impatience. “From Taiyi.”
The Daoist pressed, “Proof?” Seeing no answer, he produced a talisman from his sleeve and declared loudly, “The Empire is capturing thieves—bystanders keep away. Fellow Daoist, your identity is unclear. Please accept this ‘Redemption Talisman’; once verified at an Empire yamen, it can be removed.”
Li Ruoshui wondered if her ears had failed her. “Redemption Talisman” evoked some religion’s indulgences. Redeem with what? Money?
The Empire Daoist wasn’t negotiating. As his words ended, he pointed at Li Ruoshui, sending the talisman streaking toward her like lightning.
Li Ruoshui had been wary of this odd Empire Daoist. With a cold sneer, she unleashed a burst of Taiyi Blazing Fire Profound Light. Flames roared, incinerating the talisman to ash.
The Empire Daoist’s expression changed abruptly. “You dare resist orders?”
Li Ruoshui rolled her eyes. She wasn’t an Empire cultivator—why obey them? “Out of my way,” she snapped.
But the Empire Daoist didn’t budge. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he slapped his palm forward. “If Fellow Daoist won’t cooperate, don’t blame me for being rude!” Both stood on the shore amid raging winds and crashing waves. As he formed seals, the sea boiled like a cauldron, bubbling furiously. With a roar, a ten-foot wave surged up.
Li Ruoshui had some sense of Empire cultivators’ style by now. She sneered mockingly, unafraid! He was merely at the Fixed Heart Third Layer. Her mana surged, her aura skyrocketing. A crimson palm like a red cloud blotted out the sky, slamming down on the wave. The rising curtain of water halted midair, then evaporated before falling, shimmering with rainbow hues in the sunlight.
The Daoist paled in shock. In a daze, he found himself engulfed in mist.
Li Ruoshui watched the struggling man impassively and smiled. “As you wish—I’ll send you on your way!”
A few breaths later, thunderous flames, gales, and floods receded, leaving the sea calm once more. Only a Universe Pouch remained, buoyed by qi into Li Ruoshui’s hand.
She pocketed the spoils and scanned with divine sense. Several auras lingered in the East Sea—Empire or Anti-Empire Alliance cultivators, she couldn’t tell. With the Empire besieging the alliance’s itinerants, leaving now or staying spelled trouble. She had a Taiyi outer sect Identity Badge, but with the Empire’s arrogance, it might not work. Perhaps she needed a local alias?
After some thought, Li Ruoshui retreated to her hiding cave on the island.
She first searched “Redemption Talisman” and, sure enough, the Dharma Realm was full of curses.
