GD Ch. 54

Chapter 54: Why Have You Come?

The two old immortals hurriedly emerged from the cave, their long sleeves fluttering as they swiftly summoned their divine instruments.

Unexpectedly, the divine instrument circled back without finding even the slightest trace. The two immortals quickly turned to Changying, breathless, and said, “Your Divinity, that…”

Changying’s expression remained unchanged. Without waiting for them to finish, she stepped into the cave.

The restraints were damaged, and the bound beast was struggling. The ropes binding it were incredibly sturdy, far from ordinary.

Changying extended her hand, and the thin ropes binding the eight-headed beast loosened, suddenly shortening and landing in her palm with a swirl of spiritual energy.

As she clenched the thin rope and was about to tuck it into her sleeve, she heard an elderly immortal behind her ask, “Does this object still carry the aura of that person?”

Changying extended her hand, letting the long rope dangle from her fingers. “You may investigate it yourselves.”

The two immortals quickly channeled their spiritual energy and respectfully took the rope, only to find no trace of anyone else’s aura on it.

“This…”

“Your Divinity, please intervene!”

Changying remained silent, her golden eyes slightly narrowing as an overwhelming pressure instantly spread in all directions.

The grass and trees rustled, and even the still water was disturbed.

The two old immortals, already so nervous they could barely stand straight, now found it even harder to remain upright, quickly using their staffs to support themselves.

This crushing pressure enveloped the entire Heavenly Palace, leaving no corner untouched.

Zhuyou, who had taken the Turbid Mirror and fled far away, shuddered, her ears ringing. Seeing the celestial gate ahead, she took advantage of the celestial soldiers being stunned by the pressure and leaped down from the clouds.

After the pressure dissipated, the celestial soldiers, pale-faced, straightened up and glanced back at the celestial gate, unaware of what had happened inside the palace.

Changying withdrew her pressure and said calmly, “It cannot be found.”

The two old immortals quickly bowed their heads. They had guarded the Moon-Watching Cliff for centuries and had never encountered such a situation. Who would have thought someone would dare to steal a sacred object?

Especially during these days of the birthday banquet, when immortals from all over gathered. Who would dare to steal from the Moon-Watching Cliff?

This act resembled the Devil Clan, but there was no trace of devilish energy on the Moon-Watching Cliff. If not a devil, then… it must be an immortal.

The two old immortals exchanged glances, realizing that the thief must be among the immortals attending the banquet.

“Your Divinity, we should not have secretly consumed the celestial wine. We beg for your forgiveness…”

Changying’s earlier overwhelming pressure had surely been felt by everyone in the Heavenly Palace.

Her pressure could make even immortals tremble, their souls feeling as if they were being gripped, with a bone-chilling cold seeping into their bodies, leaving them utterly frozen, unable to feel any warmth even under the sun.

If even releasing her pressure couldn’t locate the thief, it was likely they had already left the palace. Otherwise, how could they remain unaffected?

“Since the sacred object has been stolen, report it to the Heavenly Emperor immediately,” Changying said, her icy gaze like a blade, cutting into the immortals before her.

Since the Divine Venerable had spoken, they had no choice but to report to the Heavenly Emperor.

***

The birthday banquet had just ended, and Xuanqing was leisurely sitting by the Jade Pool with Kunyi when a terrifying spiritual energy suddenly descended upon them.

His expression changed, and he was about to summon the attending immortal when he saw the two old immortals who were supposed to guard the Heart-Questioning Cliff, along with a group of celestial soldiers, approaching with fearful expressions, their faces filled with shame.

“What happened?” Kunyi frowned and asked.

The two old immortals spoke one after the other, “We secretly drank the celestial wine from the banquet and got drunk.”

“Divine Venerable sensed the restrictions on the Moon-Watching Cliff being breached and came to wake us. However, the Turbid Mirror inside the cliff has been stolen. We beg for the Heavenly Emperor’s punishment.”

Hearing the first part, Kunyi thought they had merely drunk some wine, but upon hearing the latter part, she was stunned. She never expected something to be stolen within the Heavenly Palace, especially the Turbid Mirror.

Xuanqing slammed his hand on the armrest. “Outrageous!” He continued, “Negligence in guarding is a punishable offense!”

The two old immortals knew the consequences of failing to guard a sacred object, but this was their own fault. If they hadn’t drunk the wine, this wouldn’t have happened. They didn’t try to excuse themselves and quickly acknowledged their mistake.

“Go to the Falling Star Spring and receive your punishment,” the Heavenly Emperor said coldly, raising his arm.

The two old immortals quickly complied, and along with the celestial soldiers guarding the Heart-Questioning Cliff, they tremblingly made their way to the Falling Star Spring.

Changying walked over calmly, her face showing no trace of panic, and said, “The Turbid Mirror must be recovered.”

“Your Divinity, do you have any leads?” Xuanqing asked with a heavy expression. “Although the celestial gates are wide open, there are more guards than usual. No intruder should have been able to enter.”

“With so many attending the banquet these past few days, questioning everyone would take too long,” Kunyi said, frowning, her eyes showing a hint of disbelief. “After the great war, the restrictions on the Moon-Watching Cliff have weakened. We never expected something like this to happen.”

“It may not be an immortal,” Changying said, her golden eyes lifting with certainty.

Xuanqing, seeing this, asked, “Your DIvinity, what have you noticed?”

“When I sensed the change in the restrictions, the Turbid Mirror was already gone from the cave,” Changying said truthfully. When she arrived, the bronze mirror had already been taken by Zhuyou.

Although she had not yet ascended to her throne, her power was unmatched in the Nine Heavens, so even Xuanqing held her in great respect.

Xuanqing quickly said, “Your Divinity, please guide us.”

“I need to descend to the Mortal Realm. I will definitely bring back the Turbid Mirror,” Changying said, slightly turning her body. Her posture was elegant, but her aura was distant and cold, making it hard for others to approach.

Xuanqing cupped his hands and said, “We are grateful for your efforts, Your Divinity.”

Changying nodded slightly and in an instant moved a hundred steps away. As she walked, the white jade pendants hanging from her skirt jingled, and the golden ornaments on her waistband fluttered slightly.

Those pendants were the same ones that had injured Zhou Xizhao in the Huacheng Sect. At that time, the pendants carried a fragment of her soul from a thousand years ago. Before the divine power dissipated, that fragment had used her voice to command Zhou Xizhao to retrieve another artifact from the Wuwang Ravine.

When she scattered her soul fragments to the Mortal Realm to resist the Devil Clan, she had already calculated that she would regain her physical form a thousand years later. Once her body was restored, the seven soul fragments had to return, which was why she left a divine consciousness to guide Zhou Xizhao.

Now, recalling the past, Changying understood why the Wuwang Ravine, once a devil’s lair, showed no trace of devilish energy. It was because her soul fragment had suppressed it, completely vanquishing the devils, leaving no trace of their presence.

Indeed, she had returned to vanquish the devils.

She claimed to be searching for the Turbid Mirror, but instead of chasing Zhuyou, she turned to a very familiar place—the Huacheng Sect.

The last time she visited with Zhuyou, she was still in the form of a young girl. Though a hundred years had passed, she remembered the date Zhuyou mentioned clearly. Otherwise, after returning to the heavens, she wouldn’t have specifically summoned Jingyi to examine her spiritual threads.

In her young girl form, her physical body was not yet fully restored, and her spiritual power had not yet recovered. Now that her power had returned to its peak, even if Zhou Xizhao didn’t speak, she had ways to learn what had happened on the fifteenth day of the twelfth month in the 170th year of the Guangsu calendar.

The snow in Songling City had long stopped. Although the mountain peaks still bore snow, the ice on the lake had completely melted, and the water reflected the surrounding mountains and pine trees.

However, the bridge before the Huacheng Sect’s gate remained crystal clear, with carved cranes still lifelike.

A hundred years had passed, and it was unclear if Zhou Xizhao was still alive. He had a devil’s heart but refused to become a devil, and could no longer walk the path of immortality. His cultivation must have stagnated, but judging from his spiritual platform a hundred years ago, he should have been able to live another hundred years.

Unless… something unexpected had happened.

Changying, with her black hair and dark robes, looked stern and cold, hardly resembling a benevolent figure. Yet she was an immortal, and a Divine Venerable of the Nine Heavens at that.

She did not change her appearance but walked straight through the sect’s gate. The two disciples guarding the entrance felt a chilling breeze but saw nothing.

Once inside, she easily found the tall tower. Its eight sides remained dark, indicating the wooden planks inside had not been removed.

Changying entered the tower and saw Zhou Xizhao still sitting cross-legged on a cushion, his back to the stairs, motionless as if turned to stone.

Seeing his back, Changying felt a moment of disorientation, as if her last visit had been just yesterday.

Zhou Xizhao noticed nothing, his eyes tightly shut. His aura had weakened significantly compared to a hundred years ago, and his cultivation had not only failed to advance but had even regressed. It seemed the devilish energy within him was becoming harder to suppress.

In such a state, neither immortal nor devil, if heavenly lightning struck during his tribulation, he would surely be unable to withstand it. His fate seemed sealed.

She stepped closer to Zhou Xizhao, her slender fingers slowly rising, but instead of touching his forehead, they hovered in the air.

Zhou Xizhao suddenly felt a chill throughout his body, but his fatigue seemed to dissipate, leaving him feeling refreshed, as if touched by an immortal.

He was startled and tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were too heavy. He felt a continuous stream of divine energy pouring into his crown, unblocking his meridians and clearing the devilish energy tangled in his consciousness.

Not daring to think too much, he quickly entered a meditative state, believing an immortal had come to his aid.

Changying delved into Zhou Xizhao’s consciousness, easily finding the nearly destroyed spiritual thread and nurturing it with her spiritual energy.

The damaged thread slowly regenerated, but it was different from a new one, marked with traces of resentment and obsession.

As the thread grew, Zhou Xizhao’s body trembled, and his consciousness was filled with pain. The suppressed fear in his heart began to fill his chest. Though he couldn’t remember anything, his heart was overwhelmed with sorrow, and tears streamed from his tightly shut eyes.

It was too bitter, as if reliving that day. When he carried the corpse out of Shenhua Mountain, he was in a daze, thinking only that his lineage had ended.

He couldn’t save him… He couldn’t save him…

His cultivation was nearly at the level of glimpsing the heavens, yet he couldn’t save even one person!

In his consciousness, the spiritual thread swayed slightly. Under the continuous nourishment of divine energy, it was fully restored in less than three hours.

Changying then sent a fragment of her consciousness into the thread, finally seeing what Zhou Xizhao had experienced on that fifteenth day of the twelfth month.

With the thread fully restored, she could see more than what Zhuyou had seen that day.

In the cold ravine, the devil gate was no different from the one she had seen in Shenhua Mountain—it was identical.

Before the devil gate, a mortal lay dying, his blood nearly drained, his face as pale as a shroud.

Zhou Xizhao cried out in grief, rushing forward but afraid to touch the disciple, fearing even the slightest touch would end the already weak life. In his panic, he looked up and saw a figure dressed in red robes made of phoenix feathers, her face only moderately beautiful.

It was Jingyi.

Jingyi stood before the devil gate, seemingly frightened, but as an immortal, she was far more powerful than the two mortals before her.

She didn’t move, watching as the devilish energy from the gate, like thick smoke, reached for the dying mortal. Zhou Xizhao frantically used his sword to repel the energy.

Jingyi’s voice trembled as she threatened, “Dare you speak of what happened today?”

Zhou Xizhao, thinking she was a demon, mustered all his strength to slash at her with his sword, only to find the attack ineffective.

The person in the pool of blood loosened his clenched teeth and shouted, “She’s lying! She’s not an immortal—she’s a devil!”

The terrifying devilish energy from the gate surged again, devouring the man’s legs until only bones remained.

Jingyi, already panicked, trembled even more at the sight. Hesitantly, she looked back at the devil gate, then suddenly covered her ears as if hearing something.

Through the spiritual thread, Changying could only see and hear what Zhou Xizhao had experienced, so she didn’t know what Jingyi had heard.

But she could guess—it was likely the devil gate summoning Jingyi. The devils longed for their old master’s return, and Jingyi… was the reincarnation of the Devil Lord’s final soul!

Jingyi lowered one hand from her ear and shakily reached into the devil gate, feeling no pain.

Startled, she quickly withdrew her hand, trembling like a leaf, muttering, “I’m not… I’m not… How could I be a devil? I should be the reincarnation of an ancient god…”

“She’s a devil!” the dying disciple hoarsely shouted.

Jingyi suddenly struck out with her palm, ending the mortal’s life. As the life faded from the man’s eyes, her own pupils trembled, and she covered her ears again.

Though she had taken a life, she seemed more like the one being strangled, panicked as if she had lost her mind.

She intended to extract Zhou Xizhao’s spiritual thread but was startled by his sudden descent into devilhood. In her panic, she fled, telling Zhou Xizhao to seek her in Shenhua Mountain if he wanted revenge.

Zhou Xizhao’s lingering resentment and obsession were all thanks to Jingyi of the Phoenix Clan.

Changying withdrew her consciousness from his mind, her cold face showing no emotion, truly like a goddess of the Nine Heavens—without joy, anger, or sorrow.

She turned and left, the dragon-scale robes fluttering slightly as she reclaimed the divine energy she had bestowed upon Zhou Xizhao.

Zhou Xizhao collapsed, falling to the ground with a thud, trembling like a child and softly sobbing. The devilish energy within him could no longer be suppressed, and the wooden planks inscribed with runes on the tower’s windows shattered, releasing tendrils of gray-black devilish energy.

Changying rose into the air, standing atop the tower and looking down, her golden eyes calm.

Inside the tower, Zhou Xizhao summoned his life sword and pressed the blade to his neck…

Changying paused for a moment, then her eyes narrowed, her black robes billowing like ink spreading in the wind.

She had intended to bring him to the Heavenly Palace, but he chose death.

So be it. He was never meant to be involved.

The path to becoming a devil was set; he was beyond redemption.

His life was already nearing its end, but her desire to see the past had driven him to take his own life. No wonder it was said that all suffering was found in the Mortal Realm.

She turned and headed toward the East Sea. As she entered the water, her massive dragon form shattered the surface, sending waves and fish splashing onto a nearby fishing boat.

The fisherman, dozing off, was startled awake by the commotion. He turned quickly, but the water was already calm, with no sign of what had happened.

He bent down to pick up the fish on his boat, wondering if it had rained fish. But how could fish fall from the sky?

***

Deep beneath the sea, the Obsidian Dragon’s descent sent a deafening roar through the water, startling the shrimp soldiers and crab generals. Even East Sea Monarch woke abruptly and hurried to greet her.

The Divine Venerable had not returned to the East Sea since her ascension to the Heavenly Realm. The egg had been lost in this palace, and he wondered if she had come to settle old accounts.

The dragons exchanged uneasy glances, and East Sea Monarch felt anxious. If she had intended to reprimand him, she would have done so during the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday banquet.

The four-clawed Obsidian Dragon coiled forward, its sharp horns glinting, its golden eyes cold and piercing. As it reached the Dragon Palace, it transformed into a human figure. Dressed in black with dark hair, tall and slender, her golden eyes still bore the dragon’s pupils, making even East Sea Monarch hesitant to meet her gaze.

East Sea Monarch’s heart raced as he cautiously glanced at her, unable to read her expression. Before he could ask her purpose, she coldly glanced at him.

Changying spoke first, “Let’s talk inside.”

East Sea Monarch nodded and gestured for her to enter.

The palace was adorned with jade, the main hall resplendent. Changying sat on the throne, her black hair cascading over her chest. She lightly touched the armrest and said coolly, “I didn’t expect a hundred years to pass before I returned here.”

East Sea Monarch sat beside her, instructing the maids to bring fine wine. Apologetically, he said, “If our hospitality is lacking, we beg your forgiveness, Your Divinity.”

“No matter. I came in haste,” Changying said, glancing around the empty hall. “I’ve been occupied and haven’t had the chance to visit the East Sea.”

“Your presence is an honor for the East Sea,” East Sea Monarch said, taking the wine jug from a maid and personally pouring a cup for her.

Changying accepted it but didn’t drink, instead toying with the cup. “I’ve come for the Cold Eye.”

East Sea Monarch was momentarily stunned.

The Cold Eye had not been seen for a long time. Even among the immortals of the Heavenly Realm, few knew of its existence. For Changying to mention it now…

East Sea Monarch was silent for a moment, then waved for the maids to leave. After all the maids had left, he asked, “Your Divinity… could it be that you wish to enter the Cold Eye?”

Changying lifted her golden eyes but did not give a direct answer. Instead, she said, “This matter concerns the Dragon Clan. Please summon your sons and daughters.”

East Sea Monarch immediately called for Mangfeng and the other dragon children, among whom was, naturally… Jingyi.

A hundred years ago, Jingyi had been suddenly summoned to the Heavenly Palace. Over the past century, she had nearly forgotten the incident. But now, with Changying’s unexpected visit, she was forced to recall those events.

Changying swept her gaze over them, barely lingering on Jingyi, and said, “There is a white mist in my consciousness, seemingly a strange poison, likely related to the war between gods and devils. This mist cannot be dispelled by phoenix fire, nor can it be completely dissolved by divine power. It can obscure vision and drown the consciousness. I wonder what it truly is.”

She rarely spoke so much, and her tone did not sound like a question but more like a narration.

Moreover, the mist in her consciousness… had actually been completely suppressed when she broke through her cultivation realm.

“I believe only the sacred herb from the Cold Eye can cure this poison,” she continued.

East Sea Monarch’s gaze darkened, and he cupped his hands respectfully. “I have never encountered such a poison, but I have heard that the blood of the ancient Devil Clan possesses such power.”

“Then open the Cold Eye and bring it into the world. Coincidentally, a hundred years ago, Shenhua Mountain underwent a great change. This is an opportune time to allow mortals to seek new opportunities,” Changying said unhurriedly.

She glanced at Jingyi, her gaze as if she were not looking at a living being.