Chapter 395

Chapter 395: The Dao Text of Rebellion

The Heart Refining Branch emerged to suppress the women sent to the cold palace by the Grand Xia royal family.

Here, there is suffering, there is struggle, there is resentment.

Perhaps it was fate that brought Li Hui here, leading him to meet Wu Zhao. In this place, he also encountered the Grand Princess, the most cherished sister of the current ruler, Li Xiuning, who had already reached the All-Manifestation Realm. Her sharp gaze seemed to see through every secret.

Li Hui came to realize that it was her divine thought that caused the Bai Ze’s divine eye to jump around. He suddenly recalled the scene he had seen while divining and couldn’t help but become a bit distracted, pondering: "This woman hides her true face; although I only caught a fleeting glance before, I know she is extraordinarily beautiful."

“Who are you?” Her voice rang like a striking chime, echoing with a jade-like clarity.

The Grand Princess spotted Li Hui at a glance and noticed that he was disguised as a male. Yet, with his masculine demeanor, wouldn’t this disguise in the cold palace stir feelings in the women? Moreover, his gaze did not resemble that of a female. With the emergence of malevolence in the cold palace, he might be a flower thief lured by demons suppressed underground. It was regrettable that Wu Zhao encountered trouble at this moment; they could not act recklessly.

Before Li Hui could speak, someone stepped forward and said, “In response to the Grand Princess, her name is Li Yingxiu, a lady official from the Ministry of Attire. I have heard Wu Zhao mention her before.”

The speaker was none other than Yang Bixie, the chance Li Hui had come seeking, drawn here by the Dao texts from the scripture repository.

Wu Zhao had skillfully established a connection with someone close to the Grand Princess in less than two days. Today, she was hanging by a thread, using her hidden fortunes to ferry the Grand Princess to meet Li Hui alongside Yang Bixie.

“Surname Li, given name Yingxiu?”

The Grand Princess pondered, taking another look at Li Hui, thinking to herself: “Li Yingxiu? Could she be here for me? Knowing that I long to be a man, she takes this name and dresses as a male. Hmph, I will keep her by my side for a while and see what she plans.”

Li Hui felt relieved; his aim was simple, just to get closer to Yang Bixie and check the scriptures.

“Take her back to the palace,” commanded the Grand Princess, pointing at Li Hui as she turned to leave.

Yang Bixie looked at Wu Zhao in concern and instructed those around to take good care of her as they hurriedly departed with Li Hui.

Upon reaching the Grand Princess’s sleeping quarters, they found them resplendent with gold and jade, surrounded by fragrant scents, and adorned with spiritual beasts. However, through the Bai Ze’s divine eye, Li Hui saw that beneath this splendid surface lay shadows and ill will, with malevolence seeping out.

Li Hui suddenly understood that this palace was like a lid over a volcano, having long surpassed the point where blocking it was better than letting it flow. It suppressed boundless resentment and had reached the level of threatening national fortune. The departure of Wu Zhao’s female protagonist fortune only worsened the situation, and calamity would surely ensue within three days.

Suddenly, the air rippled like water, and two figures floated in.

It was familiar faces, Lian Luosha and Qian Qiu Yue, but Li Hui quickly discerned that they were not their true selves but rather the body refinement forms of the two senior sisters.

“Princess, what are you doing?” Qian Qiu Yue questioned. “Once the dark moon appears, alterations in the cold palace are inevitable. The woman with female protagonist fortune can no longer contain the backlash; even your residence, filled with royal treasures and thirty-two imperial edicts, cannot suppress the resentment. At this rate, the entire Heart Refining Branch may turn into Dark Soil. Why not seek help from the court?”

“Are you afraid?” The Grand Princess erupted with fury, her presence sharp and overwhelming. “I intend to use this boundless malevolence to forge a sword. Without such ambition, how can I become an unrivaled sword cultivator?”

Lian Luosha suddenly turned to Li Hui, her gaze fixed. Qian Qiu Yue, sensing this, also stood in a daze.

“What are you two looking at?” The Grand Princess asked, perplexed.

“Indeed! What are we looking at?” Lian Luosha and Qian Qiu Yue found themselves in a dazed state, their spiritual senses revealing Li Hui to be a woman, yet there was an inexplicable feeling they couldn’t quite articulate.

Li Hui felt delighted, thinking, “It seems the calamity power does not have a limit. Once the two senior sisters reach a certain height, they should be able to awaken on their own. But there’s no time for reunion now; I didn’t realize the issue was this complicated and must think of a way to avert the disaster.”

Although Li Hui also intended to resolve the impending calamity, his approach differed from that of the Grand Princess and the others. This palace was established here to protect the national fortune of the Grand Xia, and the sect leader had little regard for the nation’s fortune! Therefore, they would seize opportunities with zeal, perhaps seeking to gain from the situation, as it was not the first time that they had taken the initiative. They were accustomed to taking advantage of things in the Grand Xuan Dynasty.

Now, Lian Luosha and Qian Qiu Yue, as the heads of the Heart Refining Branch’s northern and southern divisions, were deemed half the leaders. The two women conferred about national affairs with the Grand Princess and naturally chose to keep their discussions private.

Yang Bixie arranged accommodation for Li Hui, but he shook his head in refusal until he was finally satisfied to share the same quarters with her.

By staying close to her, he immediately locked on to a Dao text hidden in his bag of treasures. There was no need to steal; just by getting closer, the Bai Ze’s divine eye revealed paragraphs of text, allowing Li Hui to carefully examine and dismiss everything else from his mind.

“What a rebellious Dao book.”

“No wonder it’s hidden so cautiously; if seen by others, they would call it demonic speech to confuse the crowd.”

“The Dao text I found in the scripture repository could serve as the general framework, yet it was empty! This text collected by Yang Bixie has the details but lacks an overarching structure, making it hard for her to read.”

“Fortune, oh fortune, so this is Yang Bixie’s destiny.”

“The virtue of heaven and earth lies in the Dao; each person walks their own path. This book insists on cutting the Dao. First, it aims to cut its own path, and then to sever the great path of heaven and earth, even more audacious than mastering the calamity path.”

“Ha! It may seem impractical to others, but it suits me just fine. I can cut Buddhist powers and sever the causes and effects brought by the Arhat fruit.”

“Actually, all changes do not stray from the root; this Dao text, too, is a method of heart refinement, just taken to a certain extreme. Ordinary methods of refinement require soul and spirit cutting, while this text requires cutting the Dao to carve a brand new path for myself.” Li Hui pondered rapidly, thinking of a plan that could leverage the malevolence suppressed in the palace.

On the third day, by afternoon, the sun suddenly vanished.

A crescent moon with dark purple hues appeared in the sky, marking the beginning of yet another calamity.

Demons and Specters inhaled dark energy from the moon, and desolation spread across the world. As death tolls rose, the number of ghostly entities multiplied, transforming the world into a hellish realm, and the people were in despair.

However, this emerging dark moon became the last straw that broke the camel’s back, as the Jin Tian Sect’s Heart Refining Branch, which had sealed its walls for years, rumbled violently, showing countless cracks.

“It’s starting, prepare to perform the ritual.” Lian Luosha and Qian Qiu Yue waved outside the cold palace, and thousands of disciples from the Heart Refining Branch hurriedly set up the altar.

“Boom, boom, boom…” The ritual altar shattered repeatedly, unleashing a surge of malevolence into the sky.

With a buzzing sound, dark energy converged from a radius of tens of thousands of miles, attracting Demons and Specters who flew in baring their fangs, while many surrounding towns were shocked to see the hundred ghosts roaming the night swell into a ghost wave moving in the same direction.

The Grand Princess was polishing her treasured sword; she had prepared herself to sacrifice her life for the Dao, thinking that living held little meaning, bound by royal interests, with those she wished to marry taken by others, and those she didn’t wish to marry instead marrying her.

Even though she had achieved a high level of cultivation, she could perhaps break free from her shackles in smaller countries, yet in the Grand Xia, she had no freedom at all. It was unclear when she developed thoughts of self-destruction, which is why her plea for help came late.

“Who is it?” A new presence suddenly entered the palace, charming and carefree.