Chapter 30: The Winds of Change

Far beyond the mortal world, in a place where even the concept of direction seemed to have lost its meaning, darkness stretched endlessly in every direction.

There was no light here, no sound, no sense of distance or space. Anyone who entered this place would find their five senses stripped away, leaving behind nothing but an endless, suffocating void.

Yet, in the midst of that darkness, a man sat cross-legged.

His body was emaciated to the point of looking almost skeletal, his skin clinging tightly to his bones. He looked less like a living cultivator and more like a corpse that had somehow forgotten to die.

He had remained motionless for who knew how long.

Then, suddenly, his eyes opened.

Two sharp gazes pierced through the darkness, crossing an immeasurable distance and falling upon the mortal worlds.

For a moment, his expression remained unchanged.

Then his brows furrowed slightly.

There had been a trace of power just now.

It was incredibly faint, so faint that even he could not be certain he had truly sensed it. Yet there had been something strangely familiar about it... something that should not have appeared in the mortal world.

His gaze remained fixed in that direction for a long while.

"Have I sensed it wrongly?"

Silence answered him.

After another moment, the man finally closed his eyes again.

No.

It couldn’t be them.

They would never descend into the mortal world without making their presence known, and even if they did, they would never allow their power to leak out so carelessly.

Perhaps it had only been an illusion brought about by his seclusion.

With that conclusion, he stopped thinking about it.

The darkness swallowed his figure once more, and the man returned to his motionless state as though he had never opened his eyes at all.

-----

Back in the mortal world, on another continent, a secluded secret realm existed far from the eyes of ordinary cultivators.

Deep within that realm, a group of cultivators stood in complete silence.

None of them dared to speak.

At the center, an old man sat cross-legged with his eyes tightly closed. His hands moved slowly through a series of profound seals, while strands of invisible energy gathered around him.

His expression became increasingly solemn.

The surrounding cultivators watched him without daring to interrupt.

For a long time, nothing happened.

Then the old man’s body suddenly trembled.

"Puff!"

Blood sprayed from his mouth.

Several cultivators instinctively took a step forward, but stopped themselves. They knew better than to disturb him while he was calculating.

The old man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and slowly opened his eyes.

There was no fear in them.

Only profound solemnity.

For several breaths, he remained silent, as though contemplating whether he should even speak of what he had discovered.

Finally, he let out a long sigh.

"It seems..."

His aged voice echoed through the silent place.

"The winds of change foretold by our ancestor are finally beginning to blow across the Cangchen Mortal World."

The expressions of everyone present changed.

One of the elders, dressed clearly better than the rest, lowered his gaze and sighed.

"So it has begun."

He was silent for a moment before adding with some helplessness, "I had hoped it would happen after I handed the position of patriarch to my son."

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

"Unfortunately, it seems fate has other plans. I suppose I’ll have to face it myself."

-----

Back to the forest where the Cause and Effect Tree had once stood, and the battle had just came to an end. Ji Yue was already moving around the clearing, carefully erasing the Array Formation from the ground, while Gu Yuan went through the corpses, searching for their storage treasures.

He quickly found the ones belonging to the two cultivators he had killed.

But, there was the one belonging to that elder.

Could it have been survived? He wondered.

"Unfortunately, nothing remained of that cultivator." Ji Yan said from side, noticing his action.

Her tone carried a guilt Gu Yuan hadn’t expected her to show, and the surprise left him momentarily still. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Instead, he quietly searched the area for a while, confirming her words, before returning to the twins, who already looked prepared to leave.

Strangely, however, Ji Yue had yet to take out her flying treasure.

Had they forgotten something?

Gu Yuan looked at the two sisters questioningly, only for Ji Yue to suddenly extend a small jade box toward him.

"Actually, I planned to give you this before the ceremony, but I forgot."

She placed the box in his hands.

"It’s our dowry."

"Dowry?" Gu Yuan repeated, clearly taken by surprise. He quickly shook his head. "It’s not as though we are ordinary mortals. There’s no need for something like that."

Despite his words, Ji Yue didn’t take the box back. She merely looked at him with a gentle smile, and for some reason, that calm smile sent a faint chill down Gu Yuan’s back.

He immediately decided not to argue any further.

"It’s a gift from both of us sisters," Ji Yue said, her smile widening slightly. She then took out another intricately decorated box and handed it to him as well. "And this one is from me."

Gu Yuan accepted both boxes.

"Thank you. I’ll treasure them."

He hesitated for a moment before adding somewhat awkwardly, "Unfortunately, I don’t have anything worthy enough to offer as a betrothal gift in return."

"Fufufu." Ji Yue covered her lips as she laughed softly. "Who said you don’t?"

The unexpected reply caught him off guard.

What could he possibly have that was worthy of being offered to them? The thought barely formed before Ji Yue continued.

"Give me the first saber you forged after becoming a Spirit Artifact Forging Master."

He took it out and held it toward her, still unable to understand why she would want such a thing.

"Are you sure you’re satisfied with this? It’s not exactly a worthy gift."

The saber was crude and unrefined, especially compared to the treasures that a cultivator like Ji Yue could easily obtain. Calling it an ordinary weapon was already being generous.

Yet Ji Yue accepted it without hesitation.

"The first work of a Forging Master is special," she said softly, running her fingers along the saber’s blade. "No matter how many weapons you forge afterward, you can never truly recreate the first one."

She looked at the saber in her hands with quite care.

"It carries the beginning of your path. Perhaps one day, as you continue to cultivate and your understanding deepens, something within it may awaken."

"Even if it seems ordinary now, I don’t think it is meaningless."

Her purple eyes softened.

"So yes. I am happy with this saber."

Gu Yuan looked at the plain weapon in her hands. Even after hearing her explanation, he still found it difficult to imagine the crude saber ever becoming something truly powerful. But if it somehow did... he did not mind.

-----

Riding on Ji Yue’s flying sword, Gu Yuan finally began the journey back to the Black Desolation Sect.

Just like their journey out of the sect, the return trip was uneventful. No cultivators appeared, and the silence between Gu Yuan and the twin felt far less awkward than before.

When the outer sect of the Black Desolation Sect finally came into view, Gu Yuan looked down at the hands wrapped around Ji Yue’s waist. Unlike a year ago, the hold now felt far more familiar and natural.

For a moment, he wondered whether he should let go now that they were approaching the sect.

Then he glanced at the ground far below and tightened his arms instead.

It was safer this way.

By the time they reached the teleportation array leading into the inner sect, the surrounding disciples had already noticed them.

"Who is that man riding on our Moon Fairy’s flying sword?"

"He’s that Foundation Establishment cultivator from a year ago, isn’t he? The one who left the sect with the Heavenly Twin Stars."

"What? He went away with them for an entire year? Is he actually worthy?"

Murmurs of jealousy and curiosity spread around them, but Gu Yuan acted as though he heard nothing. He had expected something like this. There was little he could do about the rumors now, and the only thing he could rely on was becoming strong enough that no one would dare pick on him.

Ji Yue continued flying until they reached Elder Luo Yunjin’s hall, where she finally descended to the ground.

"Actually, aside from the sacred ceremony we held privately, I want to hold an official ceremony in the sect and publicly announce our status as Dao companions. We should also consummate our relationship. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time for that right now, so it will have to wait until later."

There was a hint of apology in Ji Yue’s voice.

"No, no, that’s fine," Gu Yuan quickly shook his head. "There’s really no need to go out of our way to make it so elaborate."

He secretly thanked whatever heaven was listening that the two sisters were still busy with whatever they had to deal with.

Unfortunately, Ji Yue seemed to have no intention of letting the matter go.

"No. I want to announce to the entire world that you are our Dao companion. So, look forward to it. Hopefully, it won’t take us too long to finish everything on our end."

Gu Yuan’s expression stiffened.

"Yes... I’ll be eagerly awaiting that day."

Ji Yue’s smile deepened at his words. She reached out and lightly brushed a strand of hair from his face.

"Then, be good and cultivate diligently while we’re gone. Don’t make me worry."

With that, she turned and flew away.

Gu Yuan watched her leave, then finally turned toward the hall, intending to go inside and inspect the gains he had obtained from the battle... and the gifts.

Before he could take more than a few steps, however, Ji Yan, who had remained on her flying treasure instead of descending with them, suddenly flew down.

She stopped beside him, shoved something into his hand, and immediately turned around.

"This is for you."

Before Gu Yuan could even ask what it was, Ji Yan had already flown back into the sky and disappeared.

Gu Yuan lowered his gaze.

A bracelet.

After probing it with his spiritual sense, he quickly realized that it was another storage treasure.

"Is this another dowry?" he muttered.

He looked back toward the sky, but Ji Yan was clearly nowhere to be seen.

Gu Yuan stared at the bracelet for a moment before a faint smile appeared on his face.

He had to admit...

Her behavior was becoming more and more endearing lately.