Chapter 333 - 328: Wu Fei Gave You to Me

This Jie Yu lacked the seductive, flirtatious air of her previous life. Instead, she was so holy as to be almost unearthly, possessing a sanctity that even surpassed that of the Beautiful Daoist Nun, a True Inheritance Core Formation Master.

Du Youqian figured she was having a grand time with her cosplay, so he decided not to tease her about it.

He just said obsequiously, "Master, I’m just a petty man, and petty men are always arrogant at first and deferential later. But enough about that. Please, sit down. Let me give you a shoulder rub!"

Jie Yu felt an urge to roll her eyes, but concerned with maintaining her image, she settled for a forced smile. "You wicked disciple!"

With that, she took out a Jade Scroll.

Du Youqian joyfully reached for it, but Jie Yu snatched her hand back in a flash. "You’re just going to take it? With nothing to offer in return?"

Du Youqian declared self-righteously, "Master, I am doing this to carry on your knowledge and skills, to be a worthy inheritor. What more could you ask for?"

"Let me ask you," Jie Yu said solemnly. "You want to leave Momenan and travel to the Human World, correct?"

Given how much he had asked her about the passage and the Human World, it was hardly surprising she had figured it out.

So he simply nodded. "Yes."

"I won’t ask why. However, since you want to learn this Array, you must be preparing for when Lin Sha and Fang Hua’s lifespans end, to preserve their souls. You must intend to return someday, retrieve their souls, and take them to the Human World for reincarnation. Am I right?"

After a moment of silence, Du Youqian replied, "Not exactly. Perhaps they’ll be willing to brave the journey out with me. But if the risk is too great, then I’ll leave them here. In the future, though, I will absolutely find a way to return and take them with me."

Jie Yu blinked her bright, shining eyes. "In that case, can you swear that you’ll take me with you as well?"

Du Youqian gave her a puzzled look. "Master, you came to Momenan in the first place because you didn’t want to stay in the Human World. Why the sudden desire to go back?"

Jie Yu fell silent for a long moment before murmuring, "A fox dies facing the hill where it was born."

Du Youqian grew a little anxious. "Master, are you all right? Didn’t you say that thanks to the Creation Jade Scroll Fragment, your soul took on some immortal characteristics and you were no longer bound by a Celestial Lifespan?"

A faint smile touched Jie Yu’s exquisitely beautiful and holy face. "But didn’t you, my wicked disciple, refine that Creation Jade Scroll Fragment?"

Now it was Du Youqian’s turn to be silent.

After a long while, Jie Yu smiled. "Actually, this might not be a bad thing for me. Across dozens of reincarnations, my cultivation would never advance an inch after I reached Core Formation, nor could I comprehend any new Divine Abilities. The Creation Jade Scroll may have granted me some immortal traits, but it also shackled my cultivation. The outcome of every life was preordained. Now, though I can only live this one life, this life holds an unrestricted future. Isn’t that a good thing? Perhaps, in this very life, I can achieve Enlightenment."

Du Youqian sighed. "So you’re saying I’m your great benefactor?"

Jie Yu finally lost her composure and gave him a huge eye-roll.

Unfortunately, she was just too beautiful. Even her eye-roll was stunning. Du Youqian’s plan to use a Memory Stone to record an unflattering expression failed miserably.

"So, are you going to agree or not?" Jie Yu pressed.

Du Youqian said with great solemnity, "I will definitely return and get you out of here."

Jie Yu sighed again. "If it proves too difficult... then forget it. I only managed to get in here back then through a series of lucky chances. That passage... even for someone like you who reached Core Formation through Body Refining, the attempt to leave is a life-or-death gamble that depends on luck. You’d have a much better chance if you reached Nascent Soul Formation, but if you can do that in Momenan, why would you even need to leave? And if by some fluke you do get out, your cultivation would be suppressed if you tried to return after reaching Nascent Soul Formation. So, really, just forget it. Unless... you become a high-ranking figure in the Human Race and can one day oversee the repairs on this Teleportation Array. Only then would there be a sliver of hope to get me, Lin Sha, and Fang Hua out."

Du Youqian had, of course, already told Jie Yu about the Teleportation Array.

In fact, he had shared more secrets with Jie Yu than with anyone else.

Even more than he had told Lin Sha and Fang Hua.

For example, he hadn’t even told Lin Sha and Fang Hua that Xue Tu and Jiang Shan Duojiao were no longer in this realm; he had only told Jie Yu.

After all, with enough debt, you stop worrying, and with enough lice, you stop itching.

Jie Yu even knew he possessed the Creation Jade Scroll Fragment. What was there left that he couldn’t tell her?

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Du Youqian took his leave from Jie Yu to prepare for the Nine Countries’ Grand Heaven-Worshipping Ritual.

He committed the contents of the Jade Scroll to memory before destroying it.

The Jade Scroll contained a secret method Jie Yu had kept hidden—an Array that could protect the soul of a cultivator whose Celestial Lifespan had run its course, allowing it to temporarily forestall reincarnation.

A Tier Three Array could protect the soul of a Core Formation Master, while a Tier Four Array could protect the soul of a Nascent Soul Master.

By his calculations, Lin Sha was even a little older than Elder Wu Fei, already four hundred and eighty years old.

She was only at the Golden Core Middle Stage. If she failed to break through to the Golden Core Late Stage within the next one hundred and twenty-odd years, her lifespan would end, and she would perish.

One hundred and twenty years was not a long time at all.

Although she had Dual Spirit Roots and her aptitude was considered good, that was only in comparison to the average cultivator.

In truth, her talent could hardly be called top-tier.

Her mastery of the Wuqing Dao was profound, arguably the greatest in the thousand-year history of the Heavenly Emotions and Oceanic Resentments Sect.

But the Heavenly Emotions and Oceanic Resentments Sect hadn’t produced a Golden Core Late Stage cultivator in over three thousand years...

Therefore, it was highly probable that Lin Sha would never break through to the Golden Core Late Stage.

Furthermore, Fang Hua wasn’t young either. She was nearly forty years younger than Lin Sha but faced the same predicament: her life would soon end if she failed to reach the Golden Core Late Stage.

Luo Jinyu was around the same age as Fang Hua, just a few years older, and likewise had only about one hundred and fifty or sixty years remaining.

Meng Xiao was in an even more precarious position. He was several decades older than Lin Sha, and his end was already imminent.

He had already consumed what few Longevity Spiritual Objects he could afford. If he didn’t break through to the Golden Core Middle Stage, he would die of old age in as little as one or two years—ten at the absolute most.

None of them acted desperately, as if they were completely unconcerned.

But Du Youqian couldn’t help but worry on their behalf.

This Array was one of Du Youqian’s strategic moves.

If they were willing to trust him, they could preserve their souls and postpone reincarnation.

Then, once Du Youqian reached a higher realm in the future—say, Tier Five Divinity Transformation—he could come back for them and escort them to the Human World for reincarnation.

At that point, a Divinity Transformation True Monarch should be able to swiftly locate their reincarnated selves and provide the Guiding for them to embark upon the Dao once more.

Of course, this was merely an option he was providing. Du Youqian would never force their hands.

Life sometimes forces your hand.

But the path of the Dao must always be one’s own choice.

If you didn’t even have the right to choose, what was the point of cultivation?

Back at the Celestial Master’s Mansion, Ai Miao was engrossed in his Puppets.

Zeng Baoming had already hinted that from now on, he no longer needed to return to the Lingxiao Sword Pavilion. He could simply stay by the Celestial Master’s side and do as he pleased, such as tinkering with his Puppets.

At the Lingxiao Sword Pavilion, such "will-sapping trifles" as Puppets were absolutely forbidden for disciples to study.

Ai Miao was more than happy with this arrangement.

He finally understood that he had never been obsessed with the Sword itself, but with the power that came from mastering it.

Puppets, however, were his one true love.

After a brief chat with Ai Miao, Du Youqian went to find the Beautiful Daoist Nun.

"Thank you."

"There is no need for thanks," Master Wu Ai said placidly. "You have given much, Fellow Daoist. It is only right that you receive this reward."

Du Youqian asked her, "Do you know what my reward was?"

"A Cultivation Technique, or a powerful Secret Technique," the Beautiful Daoist Nun said with certainty. "Or perhaps a Longevity Spiritual Object."

Du Youqian asked in surprise, "So you really don’t know?"

Seeing his expression, Master Wu Ai had a bad feeling. "What exactly did Ancestor Wu Fei give you?"

"You!"

"What?"

"You! Wu Fei gave you to me," Du Youqian said, feigning apprehension. "You’re not... going to refuse, are you? That won’t do. If you don’t agree, I’ll have to go demand an explanation from Wu Fei. He can’t just swindle people like this."

The Beautiful Daoist Nun feigned a mild outrage. "Mr. Baili! You’ve gone too far! How could Ancestor Wu Fei possibly give me away as a gift? You must be lying!"

She knew perfectly well that while Elder Wu Fei wanted to set her up with Master Baili, hoping they would become Dao Companions, he would never utter words like "giving her away."

She was a True Inheritance Core Formation cultivator, after all, with a transcendent status. How could she be passed around like a piece of cargo!

Hearing her so flustered that she forgot to use her customary "this humble Daoist" self-address, Du Youqian let out a sly chuckle. "Fellow Daoist Wu Ai, why would I lie about something like this? If you don’t believe me, go ask Elder Wu Fei!"

How could the Beautiful Daoist Nun possibly ask about such a thing? She would die of embarrassment.

With that, she shot Du Youqian a withering glare, stomped her foot, and stormed off.

Du Youqian felt a distinct sense of accomplishment at having flustered the graceful, ethereal Daoist Nun enough to make her act like a common mortal.

「Half a month later, the Grand Heaven-Worshipping Ritual of the Nine Countries was held as scheduled.」

Its magnificent scale and orderly proceedings far surpassed what Du Youqian had seen during his sixtieth birthday celebration.

Hundreds of millions of people, acting in perfect unison, converged into a mighty torrent of Human Dao to worship the Celestial Dao.

Although there were moments of unavoidable chaos and a few minor errors, they were of no great consequence.

At the zenith of the torrent of Human Dao, Du Youqian and Master Wu Ai acted in concert. One unleashed the Human Dao Sword, the other, the Celestial Dao Sword.

In that instant, the sun and moon hung in the sky together as the very winds and clouds changed color. A Divine Dragon seemed to drag its tail across the firmament, and the three billion inhabitants of the world fell to their knees in pious worship.

Amid the fervent atmosphere, Du Youqian took the lead, commanding an unprecedentedly vast wellspring of Human Dao Fortune, while Master Wu Ai struggled to wield the slightly weaker Power of the Heavenly Dao.

The two formless, intangible forces—Human Dao Fortune and the Power of the Heavenly Dao—entwined. Though they remained clearly distinct, they were able to influence one another.

The very essence of the world slowly unfolded before their eyes.

The world was revealed to be a place of spectacular and intricate detail. Had they not been in control of the Human Dao Fortune and the Power of the Heavenly Dao, it would have been impossible to observe the world from such a perspective.

Aided by the Human Dao Fortune, Du Youqian felt as if he controlled the entire world. He nearly lost himself in that boundless, majestic power.

But a jolt from Master Wu Ai, delivered via the Power of the Heavenly Dao, shocked him back to his senses.

Du Youqian was drenched in sweat. That moment had been far too perilous.

He focused his mind, not daring to immerse himself in that feeling again.

Working together with extreme care, the two began to regulate the world’s Yin and Yang and sort out the Earth Veins of the Momenan Desert.

From that day forward, the rate of Momenan’s decay slowed considerably.

「Four years later, Du Youqian broke through to the Golden Core Middle Stage. He was one hundred and seven years old.」