Chapter 87
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Chapter 87: Title
After the Canghai incident, sect disciples across the Nine Realms grew scarce in secret realms, leaving mostly rogue cultivators. The major sects waited in tense silence—waiting for the great families to decide their next move.
Qingyun City’s formation masters stayed guarded at their rear base. The weakened Canghai sect, now led by Jiang Liu, quietly rebuilt strength. Divine Doctor Valley remained secluded as ever. All eyes now turned to Sanqing Realm, Taiyi Sect, and Liujin Pavilion.
Taiyi Sect made the first move. Sword Immortal Feng Yi recalled all disciples a month prior. Since then, storm clouds of breakthrough tribulations constantly gathered above their mountain.
Liujin Pavilion stockpiled elixirs and artifacts at outrageous prices, recruiting Nascent Soul rogue cultivators to bolster their defenses.
Only Sanqing Realm appeared unchanged—spirit cranes circling above its tranquil peaks. Yet this very inaction drew more scrutiny than any preparation.
Rogue cultivators flooded into Baihe Town and surrounding areas within days, cautious after Canghai’s fall but still hungry for opportunity.
"Sanqing Realm has Master Fu Qing, Sect Leader Ye Xiao, and ten elders. The Thirteen Ghost Domains couldn’t reach them even with their longest claws."
"Didn’t we say the same about Canghai? Yet the Ghost Domains slithered in like vipers."
"Canghai fell because Jiang Feng invited wolves into his house for power. Sanqing stands united—they’d never make that mistake."
"True. They even protected Xia Wuwei after her crimes, didn’t they?"
…
The conversation circled back to Xia Wuwei, and a figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat pushed through the crowd.
She descended from Chengxian Restaurant, her silhouette darting across the street before halting at an alley corner.
The narrow passage lay in utter darkness, flanked by heaps of abandoned debris.
Clad in black, the woman nearly merged with the shadows.
She flexed her fingers, releasing crimson-gold spiritual power that coalesced into threads, weaving together to form a spirit butterfly.
The golden insect beat its wings twice before colliding with the Void and disappearing.
"This is dangerously reckless."
A translucent figure gradually solidified from the gloom.
It was the Fortune-teller who’d performed three divinations for Xia Shi.
"She’ll be safe there. Yan Ge… wouldn’t harm her." The words carried palpable uncertainty.
The hat-wearer tilted her head upward, obsidian eyes piercing the Fortune-teller with glacial intensity.
"Who are you? From Beauty Manor to Yunze, Lingyang City, now Baihe Town – you’ve trailed me throughout."
The Fortune-teller’s smile hinted at confirmation, yet after a pause, he shook his head.
The hat-wearer raised her palm. The air crystallized into shimmering ice blades aimed at the spectral figure.
"Explain."
"Your possessions led me to you." As the Fortune-teller spoke, the frozen weapons disintegrated into dust.
"I dislike cryptic talk."
The woman narrowed her eyes, defenses fully raised.
Even after splitting her consciousness to control this puppet body – its power barely reaching the transformation stage – she still felt suppressed by her opponent.
This Fortune-teller was at least a Great Ascension cultivator, possibly beyond.
"Shall I reveal Pei Jiu’s origins?"
Without awaiting consent, the Fortune-teller yanked them into an illusion.
Within the fabricated realm, the woman’s consciousness manifested her true form – breathtakingly beautiful, yet dominated by bottomless sorrow swirling in those pitch-dark eyes.
"Behold the primordial Immortal Capital."
Xia Shi turned, expecting the Fortune-teller’s milky-white gaze, but found only a shapeless spiritual mass beside her.
What manner of being existed as pure consciousness without form?
The energy sphere emitted an annoyed click under prolonged scrutiny.
The luminous mass stretched and contorted, approximating human contours without facial features.
"Proceed."
"Your name?" Xia Shi demanded.
The entity rippled playfully. "All in due time."
Despite claims of witnessing the Immortal Capital’s dawn, Xia Shi saw only infinite corridors flanked by muffled rivers, their flows hidden behind veils of mist.
The two walked onward and saw a figure seated beneath the tree.
Meanwhile, Xia Shi noticed the ground shifting beneath her feet—she now stood upon a water’s surface, its reflections of the Nine Realms merging strangely with the ancient tree above.
In those ripples, she glimpsed Kunlun, the Sanqing Realm, and Canghai…
These were the Nine Realms, yet not as they existed today.
Vast as the Nine Realms were, Xia Shi could see them all from this single tree.
The meditating woman beneath it was familiar—Yan Ge.
Why was Yan Ge here?
Before Xia Shi could speak, the spirit answered.
"The first immortal born of the Nine Realms’ Heavenly Dao."
The vision shifted once more.
Xia Shi watched the Immortal Capital take shape—from Yan Ge alone to twenty-four immortals over ten thousand years.
She frowned. In recent Four Hundred Years, many had reached Great Ascension. Ascension to immortality seemed inevitable, yet only twenty-four immortals had emerged in ten millennia. Had no cultivators possessed Heavenly Spirit Bodies before?
There had been many.
Xia Shi saw the Nine Realms of a thousand years past, where rogue cultivators from the mortal realm outnumbered sect disciples. They’d known compassionate gods and carried the Dao in their hearts.
But hearts hold both light and darkness. Breakthroughs demanded resources. Not all could ascend, so conflicts arose.
The first sects formed—the Sanqing Realm and Canghai’s domain.
The vision changed. The ancient tree reappeared, now shedding withered leaves.
"The Heavenly Dao falters."
The spirit’s voice echoed softly as she caught a falling leaf, tracing its veins with care.
Xia Shi saw sorrow in that gesture—this was no ordinary leaf.
"You’re right," the spirit murmured, laying the leaf gently down.
Xia Shi wasn’t startled the spirit knew her thoughts. It felt inevitable.
"These leaves mirror all life in the Nine Realms."
The tree was bonded to both the Realms and the Heavenly Dao.
How could any Fortune-teller grasp this truth through mere Turtle shells and Copper coins? Unless—
"You’re the Heavenly Dao."
Xia Shi’s declaration hung heavy in the stillness.
Suddenly, a soft laugh broke the silence. "I wasn’t wrong about you after all."
"Yan Ge and I share the same origin from this ancient tree before you," the Heavenly Dao paused. "Technically speaking, Pei Jiu too."
Xia Shi froze, struggling to accept this revelation.
Pei Jiu being part of the Heavenly Dao? What nonsense…
"When creating Yan Ge, the Heavenly Dao granted her divine nature and emotions. But all things have opposites – where good exists, evil follows. As cultivators of the Nine Realms grew selfish and malicious, these dark thoughts corrupted the ancient tree. The Heavenly Dao can’t harbor evil, so we concentrated the corruption onto a single leaf. It withered before maturing… and was discarded."
"Guilt drove the Heavenly Dao to send Yan Ge searching for that leaf, but it remained lost. She was Heaven’s abandoned child – born with a broken spiritual root, foreshadowing her bleak future. Shunned by her family and disliked by all, even her rare talent for formations meant nothing without proper spiritual roots."
"Time passed and the Heavenly Dao forgot… until leaves started withering endlessly. Cultivators transformed into half-human monsters, bathing the Nine Realms in bloodshed."
That discarded leaf became Pei Jiu. But Xia Shi refused to accept this as justification for her crimes.
No pity softened Xia Shi’s eyes. She could never sympathize with Pei Jiu.
She simply wanted her dead.
The Heavenly Dao continued recounting the thousand-year-old war.
The Blood Demon outbreak originated from Pei Jiu, who carried Heavenly Dao’s essence. Bound by cosmic rules, the Heavenly Dao couldn’t interfere – only Immortal Capital’s denizens could act.
"They were cultivators first. Slaughtering them all wasn’t possible – only containment. The Qinghu Region, heart of the Nine Realms and root of the ancient tree, became our prison."
Xia Shi’s gaze turned stormy.
"We planned to seal Pei Jiu too… until Lingyang stole the golden seal and delivered it to her."
"Why?" Xia Shi frowned. "If she has a seal, you can’t seal her? What’s so special about this seal?"
The Heavenly Dao answered quietly, "Because I’m inside it."
Xia Shi: "…"
Heaven can’t seal itself.
Pei Jiu escaped punishment while the Heavenly Dao fell dormant.
For six centuries, until the Nine Realms neared the birth of a new immortal.
The Tribulation of Becoming an Immortal would rouse the Heavenly Dao – and shatter the demon suppression array.
Thus Pei Jiu targeted Xia Wuwei.
"Wait!"
Xia Shi opened her palm, revealing a slowly spinning golden seal.
"…The golden seal?"
So this was why the Book of All Knowledge called it an Immortal Capital relic. Why the Heavenly Dao chose her.
"Only half remains with you," the Heavenly Dao said. "Pei Jiu holds the other fragment."
"Why split it?" Xia Shi demanded, bewildered by how it came to her.
"Tell me – why do you think your realm deteriorated these Four Hundred Years? Where do you imagine your leaking spiritual power vanished?" The Heavenly Dao’s counterquestion hung heavy.
Xia Shi stood frozen, cold creeping through her limbs. The golden seal had never left her since she started learning the art of formations. Now she understood why Senior Sister Huaiwen couldn’t diagnose her condition – why they’d mistaken her drained spiritual power for tribulation failure or broken resolve.
Pei Jiu had been stealing her power daily through this cursed trinket. That traitor deserved endless deaths! Rage surged as Xia Shi’s consciousness jerked back violently. Controlling the puppet body required effort – she clenched her fists until the wave passed.
"Did you tell me this to make me find Yan Ge?" she demanded of the Heavenly Dao. If Yan Ge and Pei Jiu embodied cosmic balance, the answer must lie with Yan Ge. But why had Tiansui shattered her Divine Bone centuries ago, dooming all twenty-four immortals? The Heavenly Dao couldn’t have intended this.
"You’re both clever," the voice echoed. "Tiansui reached me before I sought Yan Ge."
