CH 188

Chapter 188 – Different Means to the Same End

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/4). Last one for today, both of today’s chapters were pretty long.

“Where are you going, Senior Martial Sister Lu?” Lu Qing asked, turning to look at Lu Ling.

Lu Ling’s soft black hair flowed past her delicate nape, forming a contrast with her intricately designed moon white dress and her skin, which was pale as snow. She painted a picture of a cold, lone beauty.

When she heard what Lu Qing said, she turned around, emotion flashing in her eyes. She bit her lip and said, “To clarify some things.”

As she turned back around, the white crown atop the crest of her head swung with her, accenting her female charms that were bright like the autumn moon, sculpted like icy jade.

Lu Qing was baffled, but she didn’t inquire further. She bent over and picked up the spirit stone that Lu Ling had left on her cloud seat. She stared blankly off into the distance as she watched Lu Ling leave, her thoughts a mystery.

Lu Ling’s departure didn’t startle too many people. When they saw from her figure that she was a disciple of the Ancient Nuwa Sect, they didn’t pay her too much mind and turned back to the fight going on between the two geniuses in the mist arena.

Yan Wuji turned to the side and addressed Hong Zhao. “You aren’t going to go after Lu Ling to see where she’s gone off to?”

Hong Zhao glanced over at him. “Lu Ling is the direct disciple of Pervasive Dark Primordial Lord. You think I have the right to stop her from wherever she’s going?”

“Why not? Wasn’t Pervasive Dark Primordial Lord planning to betroth her to you?” Yan Wuji asked, a hint of a ridicule showing through his smile. “Lu Ling’s bloodline is rich and she’s beautiful. She’s more than a match for you.”

A hint of annoyance flared in Hong Zhao’s heart, but he didn’t know where this irritation came from. He turned back without a word, focusing his attention back on the fight between Mo Yue and Xiao Yingzong taking place in the arena.

… …

“I am a disciple from the Ancient Nuwa Sect. I’m here to see an acquaintance from the Mingxin Mountain Range. Sorry to trouble you with this, Junior Martial Brother,” Lu Ling said to the patrol disciple in front of her.

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The patrol disciple was staring at Lu Ling and her slender, elegant figure. He had trouble taking his eyes off her, and was only able to come back to his senses a few moments later. He turned to look at the majestic palaces behind him and said hesitantly, “There’s only one person from the Mingxin Mountain Range here. Could you be referring to Senior Martial Brother Xu?”

Lu Ling nodded her head.

“Uhh… Since you said you know Xu Disheng, you can go ahead.”

This was the sea of clouds at the center of the Luminous Cloud Abyss. Although there were patrol disciples posted around, it was mainly just for show. He didn’t go out of his way to block her and easily opened the way.

“Then thank you very much, Junior Martial Brother.”

Lu Ling was at the peak transformation-stage, which was the equivalent of a human Dao Foundation stage cultivator. She had the right to call this patrol disciple Junior Martial Brother, but she was modest and polite, without the slightest hint of disdain towards him.

The patrol disciple was unable to take his eyes off her as he watched her figure disappear into the distance. Her moon white dress fluttered in the wind with each step she took, and her silky black hair flowed down like a waterfall from the white crest at the top of her head. He was struck dumb as he took in her beauty. He murmured to himself, “As expected of an unparalleled genius of the Shangqing Eight Mountains like Xu Disheng. Even an acquaintance he knows from outside is like a goddess amidst mortals.”

These twenty majestic palaces were prepared for the top 20 disciples of the Sea of Qi division, providing them with a place to rest. After beating Chen Chengwang, Xu Disheng had returned to the great hall of the palace he had been provided.

A light ripple was transmitted from the protective array surrounding his great hall.

Xu Disheng picked up his jade identity tablet and lightly activated it, opening up the protective array outside the hall. Moments later, a young woman in a moon white dress entered.

Xu Disheng’s eyebrows furrowed. Before fully seeing her face, he had already detected the pure qi of a demon race coming from Lu Ling’s body. “Who are you?” he asked.

He suddenly thought of the disciples from the Ancient Nuwa Sect who were in the sea of clouds watching the tournament, and some guesses appeared in his mind. But he was still unsure why one of them had made their way here. He never had any interactions with the Ancient Nuwa Sect, and had only run into them back during the time with Vast Ocean Primordial Lord’s inheritance.

When Lu Ling walked into the hall and saw Xu Disheng, her eyes gleamed. Her cherry pink lips parted as she spoke. “You don’t recognize me?”

Xu Disheng became even more puzzled. The girl in front of him had a white crest on her head, and her facial features were beautiful and refined. But after flipping through his memories, he concluded that he had no recollection of her.

When Lu Ling saw the confusion and lack of familiarity in his eyes, her chest filled with disappointment. But she still clung onto a shred of hope. “Then have you ever seen me in a dream? A dream where the sky and earth were overturned, large waves surging, purple lightning tearing the heavens asunder, torrential rain pouring down like a river in the sky? And… a woman that looks just like me.”

Xu Disheng shook his head. He lowered his gaze, no longer looking at her. There was a hint of coldness in his tone when he spoke. “You must have the wrong person. I don’t know you. You may leave.”

After a while…

“Why are you still…”

Xu Disheng looked up. He saw misty tears brimming in the young woman’s eyes, which were filled with disappointment and sadness. He inadvertently held his tongue, and he unexpectedly felt his heart pound for a moment.

“Fine, I’ll leave.” Lu Ling turned around and hopped on her demonic cloud. With a flutter of her white dress, she flew out of the great hall.

“A peak transformation-stage demon race disciple from the Ancient Nuwa Sect…” Xu Disheng muttered quietly to himself.

When Xu Disheng thought back to the lightning symbol on that young woman’s forehead, something flashed through his mind.

A small fragment of a memory gradually became clear in his mind. In his sea of consciousness, the cyan jade flute began to emit a vague glow. Waves of rumbling echoed out as innumerable memories that seemed simultaneously both real and fake appeared once more like a tapestry in his mind.

… …

“Grandmaster, would you please save these innocent beings of this realm?” she cried out as she watched the world collapsing below. There were innumerable beings screaming and struggling as they tried to escape the destruction, but to no avail. Her heart throbbed painfully as she pleaded with the youth in the white Buddhist robes.

The youth she referred to as ‘grandmaster’ looked at all of the beings that were suffering the calamity. After a moment’s hesitation, he replied, “I am no longer one of the gods of the Heavenly Court’s 72 Divine Houses. I have vacated my position as a Rank 2 Divine Lord to return to Sahā Heaven and am now on the verge of ascending to a Bodhisattva, so I should not muddle the karmic ties any further at this point.”

She could only watch as an all-consuming flood washed out one village and town after the other. She saw countless people, young and old, weak and innocent, meet tragic deaths. Her eyes were filled with tears as she begged, “Grandmaster, if you don’t save them then I won’t leave!”

“Impudent!” the youth roared, angrily flicking the sleeves of his white Buddhist robe. “Don’t think that because I normally pamper you that you can just cause trouble as you please! Don’t tell me you want to destroy all the achievements that I built to cultivate my position as a Bodhisattva?!”

She replied stutteringly, “Grandmaster, I know that you have invested untold efforts to achieve the supreme position of Bodhisattva, not only resigning from your position as Divine Lord, but also returning to Sahā Heaven to receive the title of grandmaster, joining the ranks of the arhats. But these beings are all innocent, and you can clearly save them all with a flip of your palm. How could you just turn a blind eye to them? Even if you do end up muddling the karmic ties, with your power, saving them would only cost you another few tens of thousands of years.”

The youth’s expression turned cold. He directly sealed her Rank 4 Divine General cultivation and tossed her towards a coral reef in the madly seething waters below. With a flick of his sleeves, he left. “Soft-hearted fool! Stay here and thoroughly reflect on yourself!”

… …

Purple thunder continued to tear the heavens asunder. Heaven and earth were collapsing, and the ocean waters raged. Near a certain coral reef jutting out of the ocean, there was a blazing golden Buddhist light shining amidst the destruction.

Her eyes were tightly closed as she felt the warmth of the youth’s embrace. She murmured, “Grandmaster, I knew you would come back for me. I just knew you couldn’t leave me behind. Did you save those beings?”

The youth wrapped her up, basking the two of them in a golden glow. They gradually rose into the air, leaving this world. In a sullen tone, he replied, “I saved some of them.”

… …

Xu Disheng opened his eyes. The golden Buddhist light within began to glow even brighter in his gaze.

After a few moments, he fully came back to his senses. And when he did, there was only anger in his eyes!

“Who are you?! You aren’t me, you definitely aren’t me!!” Xu Disheng roared. He had completely lost his normally calm and tranquil composure. His head was filled with a splitting pain as he thought back on the shattered and smashed fragments of memories he had just witnessed.

Those fragmented memories seemed to be from the time before he became a Bodhisattva, based on that youth’s cultivation. But Xu Disheng had clearly seen that the face of that woman in his memories, beautiful and picturesque, was the very same as Lu Ling.

In his sea of consciousness, the cyan jade flute was still emitting a dull cyan glow. It seemed to be causing the pounding he felt in his heart.

“I don’t care who you are. Even if that was who I was in my previous life, I have already reincarnated, so I am just myself, Xu Disheng. I refuse to think of any insignificant emotions from others!” Xu Disheng channeled his Soul Force, using it to suppress the unnecessary emotions in the deepest recesses of his heart. He temporarily forgot about that memory fragment and his expression gradually returned to tranquility.

“Master, that was you.” A deep voice resounded from Xu Disheng’s sea of consciousness, sounding like it came from before ancient times.

“Are you the true artifact spirit of the Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda?” Xu Disheng responded in an indifferent tone, as if his appearance wasn’t too far out of his expectations.

“Yes. I was in hibernation all this time, waiting for Master to fully awaken and resume cultivating the Immortal Dao.” The voice of the Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda’s artifact spirit was similar to Little Sky’s, but it was much thicker.

“I am not your master,” Xu Disheng said, as cold and indifferent as before.

“You just haven’t fully recovered your memories yet, Master. There’s no need to deny things prematurely,” the artifact spirit said patiently, as if he had infinite tolerance to guide him.

“Who was that woman?”

“She was a disciple that you took when you were in the Heavenly Court, before you rose to your position as Bodhisattva, Master.”

“Then if I have already acquired the position of Bodhisattva, why did I choose to abandon such a supreme cultivation boundary and recultivate the Immortal Dao?”

The Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda’s artifact spirit paused, as if it didn’t expect Xu Disheng to ask this question. “It’s because of that woman… But the story is too long, and too much happened for me to explain adequately. Once you fully regain your memories, you will remember everything, Master.”

Xu Disheng’s cold and indifferent tone was like a fire that had burned the last of its kindling. “If you’re going to keep calling me Master, then let me ask you this.”

“When I was sent flying by that half-transformed wolf monster and left on the brink of death, where were you?”

“Back at the Zhaojiang River Tributary and was being humiliated and trapped like an ant in an array by that Dao Foundation stage genius from the Ancient Nuwa Sect, where were you?”

“When I was in the Zhao Realm, being ambushed by a peak Dao Foundation stage cultivator and three Evil Spirit stage ghosts, again, where were you?! If it wasn’t for Little Sky sacrificing himself, shattering his soul to forcefully activate a portion of your main body, I would have been dead a long time ago!” Xu Disheng shouted, recalling vividly how he had asked Little Sky whether or not he could hold out for another breath of time, and the way Little Sky had responded ‘Yes, Master’.

The artifact spirit was silent for a while, before responding, “Little Sky… he was just one of my clones. Although he was given an independent consciousness and some memories, he was just a damaged true spirit. There is no need for you to feel sorry for him, Master.”

The artifact spirit continued, “Furthermore, I was extremely weak at that time, trapped into a deep slumber with no way of awakening. If Master died, you would just reincarnate again when I awakened once more. Now that you have completely broken away from Sahā Heaven, as long as you have my protection, your true spirit will never die, and you will continue to reincarnate.”

Xu Disheng’s heart turned even colder. “What is the point in reincarnating? What is the purpose of recultivating the Immortal Dao?”

The artifact spirit of the Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda seemed to be oblivious to Xu Disheng’s mood. “Reincarnating is naturally to reopen the Immortal Path of Reincarnation, strip all beings of their longevity, and completely revive her. Is this not what Master would give up the status of Bodhisattva for?”

“Then that woman who came into the hall just now… who was she?”

“A trace of a true spirit projection of Divine Elder Lu Ling. When Master fully revives her, the memories from her time in the Human Realm will return to her main body.”

Xu Disheng smiled self-deprecatingly. “What revival, what reincarnation in the Human Realm, what does this have to do with me? Was I just a puppet all along, unconsciously being manipulated by you?”

At that moment, Xu Disheng began to move the power at the origin of his soul. In a low tone, he said, “I just so happen to be very interested in this Immortal Dao that towers above all else, and I will cultivate it on my own. But anything regarding you, her, or that Bodhisattva from my previous life, none of it has anything to do with me. You hear me?”

An acute pain worse than death began to shoot through him from the depths of his soul. Xu Disheng resisted the piercing pain as he tried to strip the cyan jade flute away from his very soul!

“Master, that Bodhisattva is you. Once you fully recover your memories, you will understand everything.”

The artifact spirit of the Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda felt a hint of crisis. The cyan jade flute transformed into a beam of light and submerged itself in the depths of Xu Disheng, disappearing without the slightest sound.

“Get out here, you stupid dog,” Xu Disheng seethed, his tone frigid and filled with boundless killing intent. “You bastard, no matter what previous incarnation, or who it is that wants to manipulate me, I will cast you all deep into an endless abyss before long. I will let a thousand ghosts feed on your sins, rendering you unable to reincarnate for eternity as you suffer the torment!”