Chapter 53 - 50: Xia Yutang
"The young girl had already comprehended the Time Dao. She suddenly had an idea: if she were stronger, could she reverse time? So she escaped into the void of time, tormenting herself in that nothingness for nearly a millennium, finally attaining Yao Guang."
’No wonder I could never find you.’
’You spent a millennium in time as an incorporeal being.’
"After the little girl attained her Dao, she traveled the long river of time, hoping to find a trace of the Young Physician, but she couldn’t find him..." Xia Lianxue’s voice broke. "She couldn’t find him. She searched for many, many years, but the Young Physician was nowhere in the river of time."
Lu Changyuan took a deep breath, his fists clenched tightly. "What happened after that?"
"After that? The little girl fought a battle of magic with the former Palace Master, gave her a sound beating, and became the new Palace Master. Then, she renamed the Immortal Palace to Miao Yu Palace. She felt she wasn’t strong enough, so she was willing to defy the Celestial Dao itself to ascend beyond Yao Guang. She thought that if she could just reach a realm beyond Yao Guang, she could reverse time and bring the Young Physician back to count the stars with her."
Life and death are fated. To reverse them is to act against the heavens.
But the Miao Yu Palace Master was determined to do just that.
Xia Lianxue wiped away her tears. "The little girl erased her own existence, re-cultivated the Time Dao, and walked the path of the Red Dust once more. She had calculated that as long as not a single person in the world remembered her, she could drift outside of time and truly attain a realm above the Seventh Realm. She almost succeeded."
’It’s true.’
’She almost succeeded, but in the end, she failed. Because she met the Young Physician, who hadn’t died, ahead of schedule.’
Fate always loves to play tricks on people. Everything is destiny; not a single bit is up to you.
"Han Shui Master brought the little girl back to Miao Yu Palace. The little girl then cultivated methodically for twenty years, until she received a mission to investigate the Heavenly Repair Pill."
Xia Lianxue said no more, simply watching Lu Changyuan with reddened eyes.
Lu Changyuan patted her little head. "What are you crying for? After all the twists and turns, didn’t I come back?"
"Did you?"
"I did."
"Then, Young Master, do you like your fiancée?"
"Whether I like her or not, I will marry her."
"Really?"
Lu Changyuan sighed. "Really. When have I ever lied to you?"
He finally remembered his fiancée’s name.
In a summer pavilion, a light whisper: the crabapple blossoms have opened.
Xia Yutang.
~~~~~~~~~~
Qiu Yuehan felt that something was amiss.
The Fairy placed a hand over her heart, only to suddenly feel a sharp pain.
She couldn’t help but look up towards where the three True Masters were, but strangely, only Han Ze Master and Han Qiu Master were there today. Hanyi Master was nowhere to be found.
Qiu Yuehan couldn’t help but recall what Lu Changyuan had told her last night—that something seemed strange about Hanyi Master. So, she rose and walked towards the high-up pavilion.
"Masters."
Up in the simple, ancient pavilion built of redwood, the two True Masters, Han Qiu and Han Ze, were playing a game of Go, occasionally glancing down at the Dao discussion below.
As Qiu Yuehan stepped into the pavilion, she realized that Hunting Deer Master was also there.
Han Ze Master put down the black stone he was holding, a smile on his face. "Ah, Yuehan. Is there something troubling you about the Dao discussion?"
"This disciple wishes to ask where Hanyi Master has gone."
The moment Qiu Yuehan’s voice fell, an earth-shattering crash rang out. In an instant, the sky seemed to fall and the earth to buckle as the ground shook violently.
Han Ze Master shot to his feet. "Something’s wrong with the Grand Array!? Someone has blocked my magical senses! A corner of the array has been breached."
Han Qiu Master said, "Isn’t the key in your hands?"
"It is!"
A tiny Glazed Short Sword appeared in Han Ze Master’s hand.
"Aside from six years ago, when I gave this sword to Hanyi to let her check the status of the Celestial Purity Dao Lotus once, it has never left my side."
Hunting Deer Master also stood up. "Fellow Daoists, is there anything I can help with?"
Han Ze Master gestured to Qiu Yuehan. "Han Qiu, you go check on the Dao Lotus and capture the intruder. Yuehan, you go back to the Dao discussion and stabilize the situation."
Hunting Deer Daoist spoke again. "Then let me go with Fellow Daoist Han Qiu to intercept them. It seems this scoundrel came prepared."
Han Ze gave Hunting Deer Daoist a deep look, then said, "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Fellow Daoist Hunting Deer."
~~~~~~~
"Senior Sister... Senior Sister, someone is asking to challenge you."
Qiu Yuehan had just returned to the Dao discussion platform when a junior sister at her side repeated this several times.
Looking over, she saw a disciple from the Canglan Sect, their head covered by a hood, their face obscured.
’Was this person in the Canglan Sect’s group before?’
She didn’t think much of it and stepped onto the martial stage.
"Please enlighten me."
The opponent spoke softly, then forcefully transformed into a red shadow and charged.
Qiu Yuehan’s expression changed drastically. "You’re not from the Canglan Sect... Blood Demon Palace!"
The opponent’s Cultivation Technique was too easy to recognize. That bloody aura undoubtedly belonged to someone from the Blood Demon Palace.
The wind blew back the hood of their robe.
The opponent had a mouth full of blood-stained teeth, was missing an ear, and had a ferocious expression.
Elder Xue Ya of the Blood Demon Palace, at the Fifth Realm Jade Balance.
’Why would someone from the Blood Demon Palace be here?’
There was no time for Qiu Yuehan to think. She had already drawn her sword.
Qiu Yuehan’s sword was as cold as if it had been drawn from a ten-thousand-year-old Cold Pool. Even her voice carried a bone-chilling frost. "What are you trying to do!?"
"You should worry about yourself, little girl!"
Elder Xue Ya had appeared behind her at some unknown moment, striking straight for her heart as if to tear it right out of her chest.
Miao Yu’s Fifth Sword—Cicada’s Chirping on the Moonlit Branches!
Qiu Yuehan reacted with extreme speed. Her lotus steps barely touched the ground as she pulled away, then used the momentum to thrust back in a counter-attack.
The principle of Cicada’s Chirping on the Moonlit Branches was a high-pitched, resonant, and continuous barrage, just like the cry of a cicada.
CRUNCH!
Before the sword light could even arrive, Xue Ya had already opened his mouth and chewed the sword light to pieces. He then clamped down hard on Qiu Yuehan’s blade with his teeth and kicked the Fairy square in the abdomen.
The tremendous impact made Qiu Yuehan grunt in pain. She flew out like an arrow, snapping several trees before finally slamming into a stone cliff wall.
"Nice sword, little girl. A pity you haven’t Entered the Dao."
Xue Ya spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking closely, one could see broken tooth fragments within it.
A few of his teeth had been snapped off, but in an instant, the broken teeth began to regenerate.
Qiu Yuehan pushed herself up with her sword, gripping it tightly, her eyes like ice.
She was at the Fourth Realm, while her opponent was at the Fifth Realm—and a Fifth Realm master from the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces at that.
’Can I win?’
’I don’t know.’
’So I have to strike first.’
Moonlight!
Unlike other people’s Moonlight, what rose behind Qiu Yuehan was a fragmented, crescent moon.
The sword, imbued with Qiu Yuehan’s ferocity, came straight for him.
Xue Ya couldn’t help but be startled. This was the first time he’d ever seen such a reckless woman. The coldness radiating from her blade made even his blood run cold.
So Xue Ya no longer held back. His body instantly inflated, and he spat out a cloud of blood mist. But the tip of her sword still shot out from within it.
Miao Yu’s Seventh Sword—Moon on a Rocking Boat!
With a single strike, she shattered Xue Ya’s teeth once more, and Elder Xue Ya’s inflated body was pierced.
’Did I win?’
’No.’
Qiu Yuehan stood tall and alone. At some unknown point, her surroundings had transformed into the Blood-Colored Eight Sufferings Hell.
This was Xue Ya’s Dao.
The Dao of a Fifth Realm master!
Countless figures with blood-red hands held high emerged from this Hell. These Resentful Spirits, refined by Xue Ya into Blood Slaves, seemed to want to drag Qiu Yuehan down to join them.
’I’m going to be devoured.’
’I’m going to die.’
The gap between the Fourth and Fifth Realms was simply too vast, especially when her opponent was a Fifth Realm master from the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces. Her decades of single-minded Sword Cultivation were not enough to bridge it.
’What should I do?’
’Why not just Break Realm?’
The aura around Qiu Yuehan suddenly surged. A clear, bright energy shot upwards like a rainbow, but got stuck halfway.
"Trying to Break Realm mid-battle? A fine idea. But it’s a pity you still don’t understand what your own Dao truly is."