Chapter 61 - 58: Ancestor Red Simurgh
"Young Master, Ancestor Red Simurgh left an order back then: if a disciple with the Red Simurgh Tribulation Body was ever found, she must be brought back to the Sect and forbidden from having any worldly attachments."
Xia Lianxue reluctantly rose from Lu Changyuan’s chest and helped him get dressed. Like a newlywed wife, she carefully smoothed the wrinkles from his robes.
Lu Changyuan asked in confusion, "Were there any other orders?"
Xia Lianxue shook her head. "No more. It was just passed down from one Miao Yu Palace Master to the next that the disciple with the Red Simurgh Tribulation Body must be brought back. Ancestor Red Simurgh also said that the Immortal Palace would face a great disaster in the future and would need the Red Simurgh Tribulation Body to overcome it."
That part, at least, was true.
Miao Yu Palace was nearly wiped out in the century of turmoil; it was Xia Lianxue who carried the entire palace on her shoulders.
Feng Xianlong had told Xia Lianxue all of this after their great battle.
"But the Palace Master isn’t sure of the reason why, either. Perhaps it’s been passed down for too many generations, and the Ancestor’s original intent has become unclear."
Lu Changyuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.
’Yuyue Immortal Palace’s Ancestor Red Simurgh lived a very, very long time ago. She was probably from the same era as Jian Guyang.’
If Lu Changyuan remembered correctly, Jian Guyang had written that Ancestor Red Simurgh had sealed a Great Demon. She had been grievously wounded in the process and eventually passed away.
’There were no other records. Too much time has passed; Miao Yu Palace probably doesn’t have much information on it either.’
Xia Lianxue carefully folded her wedding dress, gave it one last, lingering look, and then placed it in the box.
The little Fairy holding the large box, combined with the hanging chignons in her hair, made for an exceptionally cute sight.
"Where do you plan to go next, Young Master?"
"I need to make a trip to the Netherworld."
Lu Changyuan patted the Fairy’s head. "I’m planning to go to the Netherworld to get a clear look at my memories."
He was stuck just before the Fifth Realm and needed to comprehend the Dao once more. A trip to the Netherworld would save him a great deal of effort.
Xia Lianxue carried the box out of the thatched hut. The sky had already begun to brighten, and in the golden morning light, the small grave mound was surprisingly conspicuous.
The Fairy stretched out her hand, and another small pit appeared in the ground. Xia Lianxue placed her box inside, covered it with dirt, and dusted off her hands. A second small grave mound now stood there.
She had never told anyone how she felt when she first built the grave for Lu Changyuan, and she had no intention of telling anyone how she felt building a grave for herself.
Lu Changyuan asked, "What’s this for?"
The Fairy’s lips curved into a smile. Pointing at Lu Changyuan’s small grave mound, she said, "Your grave is all lonely by itself. So I made one for me. Now we’re a pair, isn’t that nice?"
’She’s a strangely kind soul.’
Lu Changyuan chuckled.
"Come on, it’s time for us to leave."
Xia Lianxue nodded. She glanced one last time at her grave mound, then followed Lu Changyuan, leaving behind this little home of hers.
As the two of them emerged, a torrential downpour, uncharacteristic for autumn, was sweeping across the entire mountain of Miao Yu Palace.
Xia Lianxue suddenly asked, "If I’m no longer by your side in the future, will you still remember me, Young Master?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
Lu Changyuan sensed something was wrong, but he didn’t get a chance to question Xia Lianxue further.
The ink-like rain made Lu Changyuan feel deeply uneasy. It seemed to contain Demonic Qi, yet it was somehow different. An Ink-Wash Person materialized before their eyes.
Immediately after, a clap of thunder exploded in the sky. A sword ripped through the curtain of rain, but only for an instant before the downpour continued unabated.
Lu Changyuan recognized that sword style. It belonged to the Innate Sword Body, to the one who had almost become his disciple.
Lu Changyuan averted his gaze, frowning as he looked at the Ink-Wash Person. "Xian Qingqiu?"
He had known for a while that Xian Qingqiu was close to having Fallen into a Demon state, but he never thought it would erupt at this moment.
Xian Qingqiu shrieked, raising a long spear and thrusting it toward them while muttering, "Why...? Why are you so lucky?"
Xia Lianxue’s Dao Realm was currently unstable, so Lu Changyuan raised Broken Thought. With a single flash of the blade, Xian Qingqiu was sliced in two at the waist.
But as the ink-wash body splattered onto the ground, it reformed into even more Ink-Wash Xian Qingqius all around them.
In this new crowd of figures, only the heads were Xian Qingqiu’s; the rest of their bodies were formed from ink-wash, creating a deeply unsettling sight.
"Young Master, something’s wrong."
Lu Changyuan, of course, knew something was wrong. He circulated the Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique. Illusion-Breaking.
Only then did he see it: a fine, almost invisible thread was connected to every drop of rain and to the back of every Xian Qingqiu, all of them converging at a single point.
"Where does that lead?"
Xia Lianxue looked in the direction Lu Changyuan was pointing. "That’s the Scripture Pavilion, Young Master."
Lu Changyuan frowned. "Who in your Miao Yu Palace has cultivated the Illusion Moon Dao to the Seventh Realm?"
The Little Fairy thought for a moment. "Young Master, as far as I know, only one person has ever done that. Ancestor Red Simurgh cultivated the Illusion Moon Dao to attain the Yao Guang realm."
If Han Ze’s True Moon Dao was about turning oneself into the moon to exist for eternity, then the Illusion Moon Dao was about fabricating a moon from illusion and then turning that illusion into reality, forcefully creating a moon out of thin air.
And the aura Lu Changyuan was sensing with his Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique was precisely that of the Illusion Moon Dao.
’But how is that possible?’
’The Illusion Moon Dao still exists in this world?’
The rain fell harder and harder, until it obscured all vision, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
But the line of text in Lu Changyuan’s vision only grew more scarlet.
[Yuyue Immortal Palace’s Ancestor Red Simurgh has plotted for thousands of years and has finally found the second Red Simurgh Tribulation Body. She intends to use Possession to be reborn before the Celestial Tribulation descends. This is her second, and final, chance.]
The Immortal Mountain, which Xia Lianxue had only just restored with her power over time, seemed to be losing its color.
No.
Everything was losing its color.
In this downpour, all colors were being washed away, leaving behind only pure, stark white.
The green and yellow leaves turned an ethereal white, and the very mud and stone were gradually vanishing.
Xia Lianxue’s pupils constricted. She had experienced this before.
The scene before her was just like the ink-wash painting from her mind before she regained her memories. As the ink-wash faded, everything would restart.
"Young Master!"
Lu Changyuan reacted in a flash, pulling Xia Lianxue into his arms and holding Broken Thought before him in a reverse grip.
The sky was now a blur of black and white. The Scripture Pavilion of Miao Yu Palace began to rise from the ground as the landscape painting upon it suddenly expanded, growing until it blotted out the sky.
Stained by the falling drops of ink, an Immortal Palace slowly began to emerge within the landscape painting.
It was Miao Yu Palace.
As Miao Yu Palace was rendered in the painting bit by bit, countless people also appeared within it. Before long, the figures of Lu Changyuan and Xia Lianxue also began to slowly materialize on the canvas.
"Young Master!"
Lu Changyuan said softly, "Don’t be afraid. It’s alright."
’The Little Fairy clearly still doesn’t understand what’s happening, which is understandable.’
Who could have guessed that the order passed down through generations of Yuyue Immortal Palace Masters—to bring the Red Simurgh Tribulation Body back to the palace—was all so this Ancestor could pull off a grand deception and return to the mortal world?
Lu Changyuan dismissed the red text from his vision. He held the Fairy’s delicate form, letting her head rest against his chest.
Black and white inverted; illusion and reality reversed.
The painting devoured everything.