A small open area in front of the Inner Sect Management Office.
The disciples who had gathered to watch had not yet fully dispersed.
Li Daowei had gifted a book, and everyone’s eyes were filled with envy.
But Lin Shuang’s face was ghostly pale.
Her fingertips trembled lightly.
This was not her own emotion.
It was a tidal wave surging from her mind, reflecting fragments of memory that brought shivers—
‘It’s you, isn’t it? We’ve had an affair,’ a fifth-tier talisman.
Upon contact with the other person, one would recall everything related to past interactions with them.
Even the memory fragments or minor details previously forgotten or unnoticed by oneself would resurface.
Lin Shuang saw… ‘herself’ amidst splashing water, the forgotten childhood of her original body.
It seemed that the extreme terror had triggered a forced self-protection mechanism in her consciousness, causing her to forget until today…
Now everything surged up, appearing in fragments…
Confined underground in perpetual darkness, unseen by the sky.
Cold and damp.
So ‘she’ had seen it.
Back then, ‘she’ had seen the person who killed ‘her,’ no, who consumed ‘her.’
In the jade coffin, the ninety-eight little girls who had died before her were thrown beside him.
He closed his eyes, seemingly like a pupa, absorbing their flesh and blood.
His body surface pulsated, gradually turning jade-colored.
The red-black substance at his brow dripped like ink.
This ink-black coagulated material was collected by the black-robed man beside him into a jade cup.
“With these ninety-eight girls, after the Lord absorbs them, he should soon be able to separate his Seven Sufferings.”
“Seven Sufferings?”
“Yes, the Lord said before falling asleep that humans are born with seven sufferings.”
“He wants to discard these filthy things and ascend to immortality, leading us to the immortal realm.”
The Seven Sufferings:
Birth, aging, illness, death, meeting with those you hate, separation from those you love, and unfulfilled desires.
Lin Shuang felt ‘her’ fear, and her own body could not help but shiver with the surging images.
‘She’ saw him.
She saw the ninety-eight little girls dying before her, saw her own impending fate of being consumed by the strange man in the jade coffin.
‘Her’ hand reached out, pitifully small.
Unable to resist.
When half her blood was drained, ‘she’ was not even dead yet, feeling the bone-deep chill and drowsy despair.
‘She’ saw the strange man in the jade coffin give birth to another strange man.
Different from him in appearance.
Ordinary.
“I grant you… ordinariness.”
Ordinariness.
One of the seven sufferings: unfulfilled desires.
You want more, want to be more successful than others, but you fail.
You cannot get it, cannot achieve it—you can only be ordinary!
Suffering.
Suffering entangled the body, making it impure, preventing transformation and ascension to the immortal realm!
‘She’ was dazed, and her fearful body gradually stopped trembling.
She gazed at the plain-looking male body he had ‘given birth to.’
She saw his ordinary, forgettable face, his unremarkable, unaggressive eyes slowly opening.
…
This now overlapped with the ordinary, plain eyes of the man standing in front of the Inner Sect Management Office, looking at Lin Shuang with concern and suspicion.
Lin Shuang finally broke into a cold sweat down her neck, her chattering teeth stopping.
‘She’ memory ended.
The effect of the ‘It’s you, isn’t it? We’ve had an affair’ talisman ended.
She returned to her current self, here and now.
Lin Shuang clenched her fist shakily, hidden beneath the wide white silk robe of the Inner Sect.
Her entire fist was tightly gripped by Huangfu Yuan’s demonized fingertips!
Nine-tailed foxes naturally possess the talent of spiritual charm.
She had already heard him forcefully impose his charm on her, saying, “Master Li gave you lifelong gains, so you’re this happy…”
…
Lin Shuang closed her eyes, not resisting as he entered her consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, her gaze was already filled with the intoxicated joy of the nine-tailed fox’s charm, looking at Li Daowei before her.
“Master Li, thank you. Your disciple will definitely read your insights carefully.”
The corners of her mouth lifted higher than they had in the past ten years.
Her face turned red, sweat beads mingling with her heaving chest.
The nine-tailed charm, with Huangfu Yuan’s spiritual consciousness fully exerted under her silent permission, completely bewitched her.
Li Daowei was suspicious but felt her joy and nodded, “Well then, I’ll go handle the Inner Sect affairs now.”
Senior Xu Rui also urged, “Master, hurry, I have to organize the sect tasks in four incense sticks.”
Li Daowei quickly entered.
The disciples murmured around him, quickly dispelling his doubts.
“To have a disciple like Lin junior, making Master Li so happy that he breaks through two stages and enters the Inner Sect.”
“Yes, she’s so respectful, even receiving the master’s gift made her so excited she couldn’t stand still.”
“She’s pure-hearted, isn’t that well known!”
“Lin junior still doesn’t have a personal master. Master Li gave her his insights, of course she’s excited.”
“Ah, indeed, today is her great joy—the entrance into the Inner Sect, becoming an elite disciple, recognized by the Outer Sect Manager senior, and praised by the Outer Sect Instructor.”
“Suddenly, I feel closer to Lin junior.”
“Yes, after all this time, she finally shows some emotion! Lin junior is so adorable.”
Li Daowei gradually dispelled his earlier confusion about Lin Shuang’s odd behavior as he listened to these comments.
“Master Li, which cave residence would you like to choose?” Senior Xu Rui promptly presented the Inner Sect Elder’s cave options as well.
Li Daowei’s old eyes slightly narrowed, a trace of joy appearing, but quickly calming, “I’ve reached the Foundation Breaking stage, probably won’t improve further. Just give me a convenient location near the Teaching Hall for teaching talisman techniques.”
“Although… I’m only a fourth-tier talisman master, whether I can teach Inner Sect disciples still needs to be seen.”
Xu Rui couldn’t help but look up, offering some encouragement, “If you can’t do it, how can I be any better?”
Li Daowei waved his hand, “If Lin Shuang reaches my age, she’ll probably have already crossed the tribulation.”
Xu Rui raised his eyebrows, feeling a strange discomfort.
But soon thought it was just his imagination.
*
Outside the Management Office, Meng Zi flew rapidly on his sword back to Cave 6000.
Kong Miaoke and Bian Bochai had already returned to the Hundred Flowers Sect, flipping through the records of the elder’s life written by the elder himself, to identify other ‘black’ elders.
Xiao Qi and Zhao Ming also returned to the Mountain and Sea Sect. They cultivated Mountain and Sea Sect techniques, so staying long-term at the Clear Water Sect was not suitable.
Now arriving at Cave 6000.
Lin Shuang, still grinning foolishly, was effortlessly and deftly tossed onto the plush couch by Meng Zi.
Zhao Keran rushed down from the sword in a hurry, “What happened? Senior Huangfu, what did you do to Senior Sister?”
Meng Zi: “?”
He shouldered his blade, thinking for a moment, “Isn’t she just happy because she got valuable talisman techniques?”
Zhao Keran: “…Senior Sister wouldn’t smile this long.”
“It’s already time for the next schedule.”
Meng Zi: “!”
Huangfu Yuan leisurely stepped off the flying sword.
The cave door slammed shut behind him.
His black pupils slowly turned into vertical lines.
He walked up to the ‘stupidly smiling’ Lin Shuang.
“He is?”
Lin Shuang smiled, almost to the point of tears.
His index finger turned into a sharp point, gently touching the tear at her snowy corner, popping it…
With a ‘plop,’ the smile in her eyes slowly stopped.
Briefly dazed, her gaze gradually regained clarity and vitality within the cave’s spirit-gathering formation.
Then, a flash of fear.
“Ah.”
She lifted her eyes, bright like a pond, gazing into his black pupils.
“He is.”
Meng Zi: “??”
Zhao Keran’s eyes wildly turned.
Huangfu Yuan nodded, leisurely sitting on one corner of the homemade sofa.
His ten fingers extended.
“Lin Shuang, the seven sufferings you heard: birth, old age, illness, death, separation from loved ones, meeting with those you hate, unfulfilled desires.”
“He has seven avatars.”
“We’ve already found two.”
Lin Shuang’s eyes widened, pupils shaking.
Two?
“Besides ‘unfulfilled desires,’ you mean—”
Lin Shuang suddenly turned her head.
Lin Shuang and Huangfu Yuan spoke in unison.
“Illness Suffering? The Mountain and Sea Sect’s Master Wang?!”
“Love Parting Suffering, the cultivator friend who betrayed my mother, the Wood Elder who died mysteriously the next day.”
Lin Shuang, Huangfu Yuan: “…”
They looked at each other, both twitching their eyes.
At the same time, they spat out, “This is not in sync!”
Their tacit understanding was gone!
“You make sense. The third avatar is found.”
“What you said is possible, so it’s three.”
Their tacit understanding returned.
Meng Zi opened his mouth, then closed it, opened again, then closed.
What!
Can’t they show a little respect for their companion?
Yue Zhi was right, damn it, he shouldn’t have stayed with them.
“What does this mean, what does this mean, quickly tell me.”
Zhao Keran inhaled, “Senior Sister, did your talisman’s passive effect activate just now? Did you meet Elder Li…”
Then, Senior Huangfu noticed you were acting strangely and immediately cast his charm spell on you, forcibly altering your memories and emotions. After that, he simply released the charm and read the memory fragments triggered by the talisman moments ago.
“Then… you located three avatars.”
Meng Zi: “!”
Ah, this Senior Sister Zhao is great.
She explains everything on her own!
He suddenly understood, pointing shakily from Zhao Keran to Lin Shuang.
“Lin Xiaoshuang, your lost memories.”
“The truth about your ‘near-death’ back then… is related to Elder Li Daowei?”
This is a long story.
Lin Shuang nodded.
It was impossible to tell everything that had just happened.
Lin Shuang took a sip of tea, barely calming herself before speaking hoarsely, “Wait, let’s summon the defensive divine beast first.”
“?”
Almost simultaneously, one of Elder Chen Wu Shui’s avatars, accompanied by a blue-and-white porcelain bottle, landed in the hall of Cave 6000.
“Lin Shuang, did you look for me? I’m in the middle of persuading my father to recite talisman incantations.”
“…Ah, I think I’ve found the other person’s avatar, Elder.”
“!?!”
Elder Chen Wu Shui’s expression of urgency to leave froze instantly.
What the hell, say that again?
Unbelievable.
This disciple Lin Shuang always acts faster than anyone!
She, a peak Tribulation Crossing Elder, her father, the First Ancestor (just one step from immortality), still couldn’t keep up with her!
Elder Chen Wu Shui stood on the spot, pinching her bamboo fishing rod.
Suspecting the Elder had gone mad!
“Wait.”
“Don’t you say—did you give me that talisman this morning, so I could give it to my father?”
Chen Wu Shui even suspected she was getting old and had gone stupid!
“Has it only been half a day now?”
“…Yes.”
“…”
Chen Wu Shui took a step back.
For the first time, she solemnly put away the blue-and-white porcelain bottle.
“Lin Shuang, wait, I’ll call the dead ghost over to listen together.”
She was afraid that Lin Shuang would be too fast, and she alone couldn’t keep up with her disciple’s pace.
…
Then came Elder Shui Qiantan, Elder Chen Wu Shui sitting together in Cave 6000 of the disciple’s quarters, their spiritual consciousness shaken.
Lin Shuang started speaking, and it scared them to death.
“I just found out now that Senior Yue Zhi had already told us the possible location of the avatar of that Heavenly Mechanism Elder long ago.”
Elders Shui Qiantan and Chen Wu Shui remained expressionless.
Meng Zi had already given up, showing them a ‘it’s okay, it’s normal not to understand, don’t be sad’ look.
Shui Qiantan, Chen Wu Shui: “…”
Zhao Keran pondered for a moment, then raised her hand in the quiet room where the elders had set up a barrier so no one could approach or eavesdrop.
“Senior Sister, it’s time for you to read your novels.”
“Why don’t you read for a while, and I’ll summarize? You can add anything I miss?”
Everyone: “…”
Lin Shuang patted her arm in appreciation.
The junior sister noticed her discomfort.
In the Outer Sect for ten years, she had not become close with the elders, nor had she been overly intimate.
Because being too favored by teachers would affect her schedule.
It would attract unnecessary disciple competitions, extra training sessions, etc.
Therefore, Lin Shuang’s familiarity with Li Daowei might not even be as much as Zhao Keran, an A-rated Outer Sect disciple who had interacted with Li Daowei for over two years.
Yet, she had never doubted Li Daowei.
For ten years, she had regarded him as a senior, revering his three-foot teaching platform.
Even just now at the Management Office, she had even felt a bit of sadness and empathy for Li Daowei’s sorrow due to his mediocre talent.
She even wanted to encourage him…
But his mediocrity was not real—it had been stripped from him by ‘that person,’ something ‘that person’ was eager to discard!
Lin Shuang took a deep breath.
Her time had been wasted, pitifully.
The hundred years of ‘Li Daowei’s’ existence had been wasted even more tragically!
He probably didn’t even know his own origin!
Lin Shuang felt sorrow and anger for this.
Only by seeing oneself clearly can one make suitable plans.
Denying oneself, discarding parts of oneself, will never allow one to make plans suitable for oneself!
That First Elder—a coward!
She was very angry.
Indeed, she needed to read novels to calm down.
Lin Shuang patted Zhao Keran appreciatively, indeed pulling out a novel. Then, she touched something moving and furry.
“!”
Lin Shuang secretly looked behind.
She found that a wide piece of indigo cloth seemed to have fallen on her shoulder, covering half her arm.
Among it, a soft, fluffy furry tip instinctively nudged and snuggled into her palm.
Her heart instantly constricted, warmth rushing to her cheeks.
With the smallest movement, she turned her head slightly and saw Huangfu Yuan pretending to be casual, standing half a step behind her.
But from below, she saw his earlobes, like red jade, also tinged with pink.
And he seemed to be holding his breath, afraid to move easily.
Yet that fluffy tail tip… like silk, almost flicked onto her forearm when she pinched it slightly.
He gritted his teeth.
From the side, she saw this and couldn’t help but lower her head, pinching again.
“What do you mean you’ve already found three of his incarnations!?”
Chen Wushui was still in shock.
Zhao Keran nodded. “The six past scenes shown by Elder Yueshi included apprentices, fellow apprentices, senior and junior apprentices, but no master. Thinking back now, it might have been a hint that the elder teaching Senior Sister had issues.”
Shui Qiantan and Chen Wushui were both sitting opposite Zhao Keran, astonished.
Lin Shuang continued stroking the fur.
Her fingers sank into the warm, soft fur, feeling the scalding texture beneath.
Huangpu Yuan gritted his teeth and couldn’t help turning to look at her.
But when his gaze met her delicate face and confused eyes, he felt as if he were seeing his younger self.
He had returned joyfully from studying in the Western Sea, only to find bloodshed from the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan.
So much blood had flowed, soaking into the yellow earth and blooming flowers, forming a thick red layer, blinding him with its vividness. The lingering scent of his mother and the smell of his paternal uncle still lingered in his nose…
Since that time, he had hated.
More than hatred, there was fear.
Except for his mother’s closest friend and the elders who died there, no one knew her weakness.
The Nine-Tailed Fox had been betrayed by the closest person.
Since then, he had never wanted a close friend like his mother had.
But now…
Huangpu Yuan lowered his head in silence. Seeing Lin Shuang’s delicate, trembling eyelashes and recalling her body trembling under restraint in front of Li Daowei…
He couldn’t help turning his head away, allowing her to recklessly and shamelessly pinch the tip of his tail.
Just now and at this moment, was she, like him then, filled with fear and anger?
Ten years in the outer sect, her closest teacher was the very person she had been seeking for revenge.
She, like his mother, had been betrayed by someone closest to her.
Her fingers pinching the tip of his tail felt like desecration… He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, let his wide sleeve fall onto her shoulder, and grabbed her slender shoulder tightly.
Lin Shuang: “!”
It was intense.
At this moment, the cave dwelling numbered 6000 fell into a brief silence.
Shui Qiantan and Chen Wushui stood solemnly in front of Zhao Keran and Meng Zi.
Lin Shuang, as the victim, sat limply on a small couch beside them.
Huangpu Yuan stood behind her.
Zhao Keran spoke a sentence, Meng Zi gasped, and the two elders inhaled sharply.
Lin Shuang even switched hands, reached into Huangpu Yuan’s wide sleeve, and pulled more of his fur cloak over.
That’s right.
Yueshi’s reminder—those six images she had felt strange about and experienced so vividly at the time.
Just as Huangpu Yuan had previously said, Elder Yue wanted to tell them that the person he suspected might have problems was indeed suspicious.
‘Lin Shuang, be careful of those around you…’
In the scene where ‘Shui Qiantan went to the Shanhai Sect to find Elder Yue,’ the only missing figure was the instructor of the Transmission Hall.
And in the battle where ‘Shui Qiantan and Elder Yue led the sect against evil cultivators,’ the sect leader was absent.
Combined with Elder Yue’s accusation at the mountain gate previously: ‘It’s you impersonating me…’
And the words she had thought at the time were just his stubborn denial: ‘Soul searching—spiritual consciousness can also be faked…’
These clues combined into one final message.
“It’s Wang Sect Leader impersonating me.” Since “me” is suspicious, if we remove “me” = “Wang Sect Leader impersonating” = Wang Sect Leader might be an incarnation.
“Soul searching—spiritual consciousness can also be faked”—linked to the previous sentence, soul searching on Wang Sect Leader would be useless.
Combining this with her conclusion from observing the puppets in Li Family Village:
The creation of the puppet room required a blacksmith, a talisman master, and a formation master—that is, the ‘Old Man of Fate,’ who wanted to hide later crimes in Zhenchuan, must have had the help of disciples from these three sects.
Yueshi, formation techniques;
The Nine-Tailed Fox’s close friend ‘Elder Mu who died,’ blacksmithing;
Li Daowei, who was skilled in talismans = Old Man of Fate skilled in talismans = Elder Mu who died was skilled in talismans (because they were all incarnations of the Old Man of Fate).
The missing talisman master piece finally clicked into place.
Lin Shuang silently pressed her fingers against her forehead.
The suspicious stone layers in the Nine Thousand Trials—all the talisman markings and blacksmithing were handled by ‘this incarnation of Elder Mu.’
Wang Sect Leader and Li Daowei were in key positions (illness) and had low cultivation, not participating in everything.
But because Yueshi was already a genius figure within the sect and had frequent contact with Wang Sect Leader, plus his control over information in the Donghua Realm of the Heaven’s Will Association,
He gradually began to suspect Wang Sect Leader’s identity.
As for Li Daowei…
He had previously only reached the peak of the Lianshen stage, serving as an outer sect disciple of Qingshui Sect. Theoretically, he had no connection with Yueshi.
Lin Shuang pondered and quickly figured it out.
Indeed, Elder Chen Wushui also spoke up, “That makes sense now.”
She looked at Lin Shuang and the others. “After you three passed the Wang Jian level, Li Daowei’s cultivation suddenly improved. At the time, this seat thought it was because your disciples had achieved great progress and broken through bottlenecks.”
“But now it seems…” Elder Chen sighed, “you touched upon the Wang Jian level—the flaw in the Old Man of Fate’s Dao heart he tried to hide.”
Meng Zi widened his eyes. “We found out he shouldn’t have survived, right? Wang Sect Leader being ill and weak fits the logic of ‘flawed Dao heart, self-destruction,’ so why would Li Daowei break through?”
Elder Chen Wushui smiled bitterly and shook his head. “False passage was caused by the tiger demon Li. True passage was caused by Wang Jian’s evil deeds. The real name of the Old Man of Fate is Xie.”
Meng Zi: “!”
Zhao Keran: “…”
Lin Shuang and Huangpu Yuan: “…”
The disciples’ incorrect passage was the Li family’s filth.
The true passage, damn it, was the Wang family’s filth. What did that have to do with a Xie!?
Lin Shuang pressed her hand to her head. At that time, right after they came out of the Nine Thousand Trials, they indeed first suspected someone with the Wang surname and painting cultivation techniques.
The Heaven’s Will Elder, Xie Dong.
—Thank you all, I’ve borrowed your surname!
Lin Shuang was speechless.
They didn’t suspect his true self, instead firmly believing that the elders of the Shanhai Sect were the problem—this increased his ‘purity.’
As an incarnation, Li Daowei was reborn and broke through.
Because the Old Man of Fate had essentially cleansed his past sins ‘once.’
“He was the first-generation elder of both Qingshui Sect and Shanhai Sect, and his real name was Xie.”
Lin Shuang finally had enough information to complete the deduction.
She began trying to piece together the entire criminal motive and process.
“At that time, the founding sect leader was surnamed Li, another elder from the Mountain Sect was surnamed Wang, Elder Mu was surnamed Mu, and now Elder Chen is still alive…”
Elder Chen Wushui nodded, that was indeed correct.
“After completing the Nine Thousand Trials, some ascended, some continued cultivation, and some perished due to lifespan limits.”
“Among them, Xie Dong was the one ‘left behind, watching others successfully ascend while he himself could not.'”
Xie Dong, the talent of the Old Man of Fate, was slightly inferior compared to the founding sect leader Li and the Mountain Sect Elder Wang at that time.
So they ascended, but he could only continue cultivating.
And behind him were weaker elders who had died due to lifespan limits.
Xie Dong began to fear.
He was jealous of the founding sect leader Li and the Mountain Sect Elder Wang who ascended first, and he was afraid of becoming one who perished without achieving Dao.
Thus, his Dao heart gradually became unbalanced.
Fear, jealousy, anxiety…
Unable to ascend through normal means, he began seeking a path of forbidden cultivation.
To avoid being discovered by his fellow sect members, he faked his death and left the sect.
But as his cultivation improved, he found it increasingly difficult to escape the stains of his past.
So he resorted to a series of methods to shift blame—creating incarnations, the seven sufferings of life, none of which bore his true surname; burying the layers of his crimes in the lands of Wang and Li.
Lin Shuang felt she had grasped the entire criminal mindset.
Elder Chen Wushui nodded. “Yes, what you’re saying is probably correct.”
Shui Qiantan’s expression was complicated; the information left by Yueshi was all useful.
“Looking at it now, the several competitions he selected in the Shanhai Sect all had hidden meanings.”
Lin Shuang nodded.
The Wang Jian level was now clearly a topic Yueshi had deliberately chosen.
Then he wavered fiercely and set another question to guide learning—previously, she thought this was to test the hidden Zhao family, the Deep Sea Demon Clan, and the Northern Royal Family.
Now thinking in reverse, after his wavering, it might have been a double-edged sword.
On the surface, it was to test for the Heaven’s Will Association, but it could also be a warning to these three families: ‘You’ve already drawn the Heaven’s Will Association’s attention. Be more cautious.’
The subsequent Queen level also made sense.
Deliberately including the poison shadow related to the tribute and auction house outposts might lead the Heaven’s Will Association to believe he was sending elite disciples as bait.
But it might also have been Yueshi giving them a chance to discover the truth.
The cancellation of tribute, now that she thought back, she understood the reason.
That was because Yueshi didn’t want the ‘Old Man of Fate’ to reach his peak again.
He no longer wanted to continue offering tributes.
So he used the disciples’ encounter with the poison shadow mission as an excuse to cancel the tribute.
Even if she and Meng Zi couldn’t destroy the outposts and rescue the missing disciples, Yueshi would not offer them as tributes to the Old Man of Fate.
At the very last moment, he stopped.
Lin Shuang lowered her head.
Therefore, after Wang Heng’s exposure, Yueshi had already become the ‘good guy.’
His accusation of the Wang Sect Leader was true.
The other was a sickly incarnation, almost confirmed.
“Yueshi was trapped in the Shanhai Sect and then allowed into the Nine Thousand Trials.”
Huangpu Yuan pondered.
“Therefore, someone must have helped him. If the Wang Sect Leader hadn’t ‘awakened,’ it would be the Heaven’s Will Association’s hidden agent beside him.”
“!”
Chen Wushui and Shui Qiantan silently looked at Lin Shuang, Huangpu Yuan, and Zhao Keran.
The future of Qingshui Sect and Shanhai Sect is entrusted to you!
If the Wang Sect Leader is an incarnation, then the real Wang Sect Leader might have died and been replaced at some point in the past.
Li Daowei is the same.
Therefore, it’s very difficult to find them.
In the past, how could the sect find those who ‘do evil without knowing they are evil’?
“Now we can locate them.”
Huangpu Yuan withdrew his wide sleeve from Lin Shuang’s shoulder.
He took out the elder books he had exchanged multiple times in Zhenchuan from his storage pouch.
Shui Qiantan noticed, stood up dripping wet, and suddenly looked enlightened.
“The seven sufferings of his all bear the surnames of those he resented back then?”
Who did he resent?
Naturally, those who had created the sect together with him, but who had great talent, waved their hands, and successfully ascended!
Lin Shuang nodded.
Huangpu Yuan immediately took out the elder scroll—[The First to Ascend: Li Rusheng (Founding Sect Leader), Wang Yu (Great Elder), Mu Wensheng (Second Elder)…]
Exactly seven people had ascended.
“The seven sufferings: birth, old age, illness (already found), death, separation from loved ones (already found), meeting with enemies, and unfulfilled desires (already found).”
“Now we have the surnames.”
“Elder, plus Lin Shuang’s talismans to help you filter, any problems?”
Chen Wushui and Shui Qiantan: “…”
Zhao Keran clapped her hands. “Senior Sister, you’re amazing, solving it in a day!”
Chen Wushui and Shui Qiantan: “…”
Lin Shuang waved her hand. “Not at all, not at all.”
If she hadn’t triggered Elder Yueshi’s layer 6000, she wouldn’t have obtained the information.
If the sect hadn’t purchased the fifth-grade memory-reflecting talisman, she wouldn’t have been able to create a new talisman to trace Li Daowei.
These two things were both tied to her.
Therefore, she naturally had more information than the elders.
“It’s all thanks to the sect for nurturing my growth.”
Lin Shuang comforted the two elders.
The two elders: “…”
“By the way, may I ask about the late blacksmith Elder Mu?”
Lin Shuang’s eyes flickered.
Her gaze casually swept over Huangpu Yuan’s silent face and turned to Shui Qiantan and Chen Wushui.
The Nine-Tailed Fox King was betrayed by a close friend—this friend was likely the Heaven’s Will Elder’s incarnation in the mortal realm.
This finally explained why the powerful and perceptive Nine-Tailed Fox King had been deceived by someone close.
Whether a friend is sincere can be sensed.
Especially by someone at the Transcendent stage.
It turned out the reason was so simple, yet despicable.
Because as an incarnation, only when the Heaven’s Will Elder recalled him would he know he was the villain.
Before that, ‘he’ had sincerely lived as a descendant of the Mu family, earnestly being the Nine-Tailed Fox King’s most trusted companion.
Until the Heaven’s Will Elder restored his true memories…
Lin Shuang glanced at Chen Wushui. “After the Nine-Tailed Fox King’s death, the Mu Elder who passed away not long after was likely the Heaven’s Will Elder’s incarnation. What exactly happened to him at that time?”
Huangpu Yuan’s phoenix eyes, with their black pupils, turned icy cold, but soon the ice melted, revealing a hint of softness as he glanced sideways at her.
So, Mother, you were right in the end.
There are true friends in this world who will never betray you.
It’s just that you were unlucky and didn’t meet one.
He gently closed his phoenix eyes.
Chen Wushui’s bitter sigh soon softly echoed in the cave dwelling.
“When our Clearwater Sect ventured into the Demon Realm, the Nine-Tailed Fox King had already descended into madness.”
(Note: “Qingshui Sect” is translated as “Clearwater Sect” following the convention of translating Chinese sect names meaningfully when possible. “妖境” is rendered as “Demon Realm” to convey the supernatural nature of the setting. The Nine-Tailed Fox King is kept in title case as a proper title.)
“My father suspected she had been implanted with Xie Dong’s heart demon.”
Huangpu Yuan’s eyes flew open in an instant.
Lin Shuang frowned but soon relaxed.
“I had always been puzzled before. Logically, the Nine-Tailed Fox King was at her peak at that time, so why did she suddenly suffer such a tragic fate?”
Chen Wushui pondered.
“Saying it like this now solves all the mysteries.”
“At that time, Elder Mu, or perhaps I should call him the Old Man of Fate, gained her trust and forcibly transferred his heart demon to her.”
“The Nine-Tailed Fox is an ancient divine beast. He probably wanted to test whether she could absorb his heart demon, thereby purifying himself and allowing him to recall his incarnations at any time for unification.”
But it turned out it didn’t work. The Nine-Tailed Fox couldn’t serve as a vessel, so he still had to keep his seven incarnations bearing the sufferings scattered outside.
Fearing the sect would uncover his true intentions and expose Elder Mu’s connection to his real identity, he secretly took away the frenzied Nine-Tailed Fox and the corpse of the deceased Yao clan elder.
Huangpu Yuan’s index finger pressed against the center of his eyebrows.
The human cultivator had no choice but to intervene and kill the Nine-Tailed Fox King.
Because she had truly gone mad.
She had been forced to bear a heart demon.
“After Master Mu returned to the sect, my father realized something was wrong with him.”
“He bore a grave wound inflicted by the Nine-Tailed Fox King.”
Chen Wushui shook his head helplessly. “My father has lived a long life and felt that the matter of the Nine-Tailed Fox wasn’t simple. He tried to force the truth out of Master Mu, but in the end, Mu committed suicide in front of a group of elders.”
Lin Shuang looked up in shock.
But soon she understood.
That clone had regained his memories and, fearing that the ancestral Chen of Qing Shui Sect would perform a soul search, staged a suicide under pressure from the ancestral Chen in front of the elders.
Qing Shui Sect was thus smeared with ineradicable suspicion over this incident, unable to defend themselves.
To perform a soul search on Master Mu’s corpse afterward, there was first no prior suspicion, and second, no evidence—Mu had already been driven to suicide. Further searches would only make the elders feel that the ancestral Chen of Qing Shui Sect was bullying others with power and acting unreasonably.
Therefore, the Qing Shui Sect could only hastily declare Master Mu’s death due to old age, arranged a grand funeral, and ceased all exchanges of his cultivation techniques.
The magical artifacts crafted by “Master Mu” were also quickly disposed of.
Because the ancestral Chen suspected him and didn’t want any artifacts made by him remaining within Qing Shui Sect.
This explained why Huangpu Yuan received news that Master Mu had been killed jointly by Qing Shui Sect and Shan Hai Sect, while the official announcement from the sect stated that Mu had died peacefully of old age—a contradiction.
It also explained why, yesterday, when they left Zhen Chuan, Elder Chen Wushui hadn’t proactively mentioned the past events concerning Master Mu.
Because to the Chen family and Qing Shui Sect, this Master Mu was simply too despicable.
Lin Shuang sighed.
“As for the Mu family’s later disappearance, it was most likely the work of the Celestial Mechanism Elder.”
Later, when Huangpu Yuan investigated the Mu family again, he discovered that they had all been silenced.
He had always suspected that the true culprits who harmed his mother were Qing Shui Sect and Shan Hai Sect.
But that wasn’t the case.
The Celestial Mechanism Elder—this guy had orchestrated everything himself.
“Elder, I have no more questions for now.”
Lin Shuang stood up, looking at the two elders.
“Time to take action.”
Chen Wushui and Shui Qiantan: “…”
After finishing this mission, they both wanted to retire.
“Lin Shuang.”
“Hmm?”
“Quickly cultivate. Once you reach the Void Integration stage, the sect will be handed over to you.”
“…”
*
Dong Hua Realm.
Before many disciples from various sects and wandering cultivators even noticed, the elders of various sects and major cultivation families who had reached the Heavenly Tribulation stage had already begun to act.
In the past, they had been unable to trust each other.
Because of the presence of the Celestial Mechanism Elder’s clone, and the Celestial Mechanism spies being everywhere.
But now, they had sufficient basis for judgment and could cooperate with each other.
“Let Old Chen participate, no problem. He’s such a fool, still hasn’t ascended even until now, hahaha! Old Celestial Mechanism must have looked down on him, not even giving him a clone. That really cracks me up.”
“What about the Zhao family? No problem either. What? Jealous of him? Jealous of him staying indoors raising silkworms and farming, or jealous of him being a junior?”
“Yeah, the Zhou family is also fine. The first generation died naturally when their lifespan ended. Hey, the Celestial Mechanism Elder must have refused to even borrow their surname.”
“Then my clan definitely doesn’t have any infiltrating clones either. Our ancestor also failed the Heavenly Tribulation and passed away.”
“But could there be any of your clan members who later turned to the evil path and were possessed by the Celestial Mechanism Order?”
“Wait a second, let me check. Hmm, your family isn’t even mentioned in the ‘Chronicles of Elders’ Rise and Tragedy’ compiled by the young man from Hundred Flowers Sect.”
“You don’t have any of those ‘tragic villain’ stories like the Bian family’s, right?”
“Oh, then I feel relieved.”
“Oh no, your family has one listed in the ‘Suspicious Tragic Villain’ category. Quick, check it out and don’t let him join the secret encirclement and suppression plan!”
Bian Bo Cai from Hundred Flowers Sect had agreed to Lin Shuang’s request to compile the gossips about elders into the “Chronicles of Elders’ Rise and Tragedy”—specifically to identify corrupted elders like Yue Zhi who had been misled.
Now, every sect leader had a copy.
—The tragic villain aura is exclusively for villains.
If you don’t have it, even the Celestial Mechanism Elder wouldn’t look down on your evil soil!
Thus, various sects and families, having moved past their once-distrustful history, had now entered an era of mutual trust!
The twenty-some locations in Dong Hua Realm provided by Yue Zhi, including suspicious corrupted elders and cultivators, as well as several clones, were swiftly located and eliminated!
*
In the middle of countless mountains, suddenly a formation pattern on the ground began to glow.
The ground slowly opened, and a black-robed figure stealthily walked in.
Inside, beneath the earth, lay a long coffin made entirely of extremely cold ice essence.
Elaborate formation patterns were carved on the coffin lid, within which lay a young and handsome man with a gentle smile.
Even with his eyes closed, his expression appeared serene and gentle.
He wore white robes, his exposed skin resembling jade carvings, spotless and pure.
Even the black-robed figure holding a three-colored kitten by the scruff of its neck and tossing it into the coffin caused the cat to let out a piercing scream and fluff up in fear—but it calmed down instantly.
As it fell onto the sleeping man’s shoulder, it strangely seemed to absorb his gentle and pure aura.
Its black vertical pupils appeared to forget their vigilance, relaxing and curling up on the sleeping man’s arm.
It closed its eyes comfortably.
“Finally, the Lord has achieved the immaculate state of unity with heaven and earth.”
The black-robed figure exclaimed in delight.
“Hmph!”
But the gray-robed guardian beside him was clearly dissatisfied.
“Your offerings have been slow lately. With Yue Zhi dead, what about the others!”
As he spoke, the black-robed figure looked at the complex formation patterns on the extremely cold ice essence.
Currently, the icy patterns had already climbed to six-sevenths of the coffin, almost completely covering it.
“Just a little more!”
“The Lord will soon reach the peak of Ascension, triggering the Heavenly Tribulation and ascending to immortality.”
“But we still need a bit more. With Yue Zhi gone, the others must step up!”
As the black-robed figure was about to speak,
Suddenly, the gentle aura of the white-robed man in the coffin rippled like lake water. His skin began to wrinkle, and his black eyebrows started to fall out.
Several of the dozens of carved patterns on the ice coffin lid instantly dimmed by one or two!
“What’s happening!” the coffin guardian exclaimed in fear.
The black-robed figure looked at his communication stone and froze.
Then panic set in.
“…The twenty-some locations in Dong Hua Realm have all been surrounded and eliminated!?”
“…And several hidden elders in various sects and cultivation families corresponding to the Celestial Mechanism Orders have also been destroyed!?”
The coffin guardian: “!!”
In an instant, black qi coiled around the man in the coffin, and his aura began to decline…
“We’re finished. We spent a hundred years establishing the Celestial Mechanism branch in Dong Hua Realm… it’s all gone…”
The black-robed figure staggered back a step, “Yue Zhi betrayed us and revealed the list.”
The coffin guardian flew into a rage, “Fools! He knew the locations, but he shouldn’t have known the identities of our hidden elders in various sects. How did they find them!”
The black-robed figure was also curious and immediately checked his communication stone.
His expression turned strange.
“It seems my subordinates said it was the Hundred Flowers Sect figuring it out through stories.”
The elders’ biographies!
The coffin guardian was stunned.
The black-robed figure was also terrified, “Then, could the Lord’s clones formed over the past hundred years also be found? If the clones are discovered and destroyed, causing the Lord’s divine consciousness to be annihilated, it might result in a backlash to his soul, causing his cultivation level to drop to the early stage of the Heavenly Tribulation?”
Early stage of the Heavenly Tribulation…
Then the Celestial Mechanism Order would become a joke!
Any sect’s grand elder could easily destroy them.
The reason the Celestial Mechanism Order could rival the sects was because their Lord had reached the Ascension stage of cultivation!
“No way.”
The coffin guardian soon calmed down, laughing with sinister malice.
“The clones all believe they are the real elders or even disciples of the sects, thinking they are ordinary people.”
The black-robed figure was taken aback.
“But ordinary people, aren’t they the ones carrying the Lord’s evil heart?”
The coffin guardian lowered his head, letting out a hoarse chuckle from his throat.
“The most evil people in the world are often those who wear human skin yet don’t even realize they are committing evil.”
The black-robed figure fell silent.
“Even I can’t identify the clones. How could those sects?”
“Enough! We can’t count on Dong Hua Realm anymore!”
“Accelerate the offerings from the demon realm! When will these demons be slain? Tell the Tiger King to make haste!”
The black-robed figure quickly bowed and complied.
He rapidly ascended the stone steps from underground, step by step, returning to the surface.
Without thinking, he glanced back and noticed that the ice coffin, pure and clean throughout, lay amidst pitch-black, hideous soil, from which blood-red oozed.
Some exposed white bones were slowly dissolving.
As if being absorbed bit by bit by the living ice coffin with each breath.
The surrounding pitch-black thick fog, mixed with a strange sandalwood scent suppressing a foul stench, could never disperse.
Though so filthy, they could not spread onto the coffin, nor enter it even for an instant.
As if it absorbed the purest essence from these bones and flesh, rejecting all evil, malice, and ugliness.
In a unique way,
Transferring it to the clones, the Celestial Mechanism Orders… and even the nine thousand trials of various sects.
The more people sharing the burden, the more pure essence he could draw from these “offerings” to reach the peak of Ascension.
Then he would awaken.
Once he awoke, there would be no one left among the twelve sects and four realms who could stop him!
The black-robed figure shuddered and dared not look back again.
But as he took a step forward, he heard the coffin guardian’s startled anger and fear.
“Lord… Lord’s clone… gone!”
The black-robed figure turned in shock, instantly seeing five more spirit lines on the ice coffin go dark!
The gentle gentleman inside the coffin aged instantly!
His aura… Ascension Stage… Late Heavenly Tribulation… Early Heavenly Tribulation?
“!”
“!!”
Damn it!
Didn’t we just say no one could find the clones!
*
Within Qing Shui Sect.
Lin Shuang stood behind Chen Wushui and Shui Qiantan, watching the five cultivators sent from various locations.
Among them were Li Daowei and Master Wang.
They were all sitting with their eyes closed inside seven-tiered lotus treasures, resembling those six-thousand-layered restrictive lotus seats.
Elder Wunan from Wanseng Gate struck a wooden fish, guarding this place.
Elder Ming Chongmen inscribed containment formations, firmly locking the five figures in place.
Elder from Qidan Sect crafted magical artifacts, binding this area.
“Lin Shuang, besides that Master Mu who’s already dead, one more is missing—”
“Sheng Ku (Birth Suffering).”
Lin Shuang raised her brow. “Is there a possibility he’s not in Dong Hua Realm?”
“Or… he hasn’t detached from this suffering.”
Sheng Ku could precisely resolve the deficiency of Qing Shui Sect’s supreme cultivation technique—transforming into water!
Experiencing Sheng Ku in real-time, reminding himself not to transform into water.
As someone who had fallen into the evil path, abandoning family, friends, and sect, he no longer had anyone around to remind him that he wasn’t water.
Only the suffering entwined with his own birth could accompany him.
“If so, then all the clones have been found.”
With just one sentence, Lin Shuang caused Chen Wushui and Shui Qiantan to contract their pupils.
“It’s time to find the original body’s location.”
“In layer nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, there’s the heart blood of all the founding elders as a reward, which will point to the original body’s location. Isn’t that right, Elder Wushui?”
Chen Wushui nodded solemnly.
Looking at Lin Shuang before him, he saw—
Meng Zi holding a blade, Huangpu Yuan pressing a hand warmer.
Zhao Keran waving arms and legs.
Zhou Xuanwu, brought back by Elder Wunan, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Lin Shuang slowly and composedly smiled, pulling out a storybook from her spatial pouch.
“It’s time for us to ascend to the nine thousandth level.”
The one who made her waste so much time deducing, the one who caused her ‘original body’ to die…
The one who now wanted to consume her again…
She would make him repay this debt of time—twofold!
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