The Cruel Truth — After All, a Day as Husband and Wife Means a Hundred Days of Grace
The Cruel Truth — After All, a Day as Husband and Wife Means a Hundred Days of Grace
Hearing those words, the Feathered-Robe Daoist Sage burst into jeering laughter, as if he had just heard some kind of joke.
“This old Daoist is nothing but a corpse to begin with — where would something like a Dao Heart come from?”
He sneered mockingly, full of disdain, as though looking at a fool.
He had never expected that a casual bit of bluffing back then would actually be taken as gospel truth by Jiang Chen.
Utterly...
Jiang Chen’s expression turned uglier than ever, and he even felt a sense of humiliation, his heart stifled with extraordinary rage.
“You’ve schemed so much — what exactly is it all for?”
Upon the Platform, Ji Shengchu had been watching coldly from the sidelines all along, and now he couldn’t help but ask in a deep voice. By this point, he too had seen the truth of the matter.
Jiang Chen releasing the Feathered-Robe Old Daoist had not actually been his own plea — rather, he had been used by the Gu Changge standing before them.
This made his heart tremble slightly, and he dared not underestimate Gu Changge in the slightest.
“Old friend, the grudge between the two of us should still be settled by the two of us.”
The Feathered-Robe Daoist Sage cut him off, stepping forward with a cold laugh.
Although he was not the original Ancient Feather Supreme Being, he had nonetheless inherited quite a few of his memories.
Among them was the account of how he had been ambushed by Ji Shengchu, and how he had been sealed outside the underground cavern.
At once, he wasted no more words and charged straight at Ji Shengchu ahead.
He could tell that Ji Shengchu had only just escaped his predicament and was incomparably weak.
At a time like this, one naturally had to strike while he was down and take his life.
“A mere corpse turned spirit dares to act fierce?”
Ji Shengchu’s face turned slightly cold. Although he had only just broken free and possessed little strength of his own, he was by no means someone a mere corpse could look down upon.
At once, with a sweep of his great sleeve, a small jet-black sword flew out — less than three feet long, incomparably crystalline, wreathed in dragon patterns, ringing with a zheng zheng sound as it spat out strand after strand of terrifying Sword Qi.
This was a weapon forged from the Dragon-Patterned Divine Gold he had obtained from Kun Mountain — indestructible.
It didn’t even need him to channel it; it could spew forth terrifying Rules and Order on its own, incomparably powerful.
“I’d say you’re not much better off — all bluff and bluster, nothing but an empty shell.”
The Feathered-Robe Daoist Sage sneered in turn, displaying powerful techniques as a horsetail whisk appeared from who-knows-where.
A single sweep produced the sound of thunderous tremors, causing the void to collapse and explode, with even Chaos Qi gushing out.
The two clashed upon the Platform, the commotion utterly terrifying, with all manner of radiant light shooting skyward, threatening to blast this place apart.
Were it not for the fact that this place was once the Immortal King’s bedchamber of the True Dragon Clan, inscribed with numerous Array Patterns and Restrictions...
...it would have exploded at the very first moment, collapsing into dust, unable to withstand such matchless fluctuations.
But even so, this aura was heart-palpitating, seemingly disturbing time itself. Numerous phantom images emerged, throwing this place into utter chaos, as though the heavens had been reversed and the cosmos annihilated.
“It seems your last backer can’t be relied upon after all.”
Seeing Ji Shengchu and the Feathered-Robe Daoist Sage locked in battle, Gu Changge smiled faintly, looking toward Jiang Chen before him, and spoke casually.
At this moment, Jiang Chen’s face was deathly pale, his entire body ice-cold, chilled from head to toe, unable to move even an inch.
He was enveloped by a terrifying pressure, his breathing nearly suffocated, all the blood in his body seemingly flowing backward.
Before this, he had never imagined he would see a day like this.
Devoid of all hope, utterly despairing.
Gu Changge’s strength was absolutely not something he could contend with — even if he exhausted every means at his disposal, it would be utterly useless.
The gap between the two of them was simply too vast — so vast it was despair-inducing.
Gu Changge unhurriedly walked closer to him and sighed, “I originally wanted to keep you around and kill you later. What a pity you insisted on courting death yourself.”
Jiang Chen couldn’t understand the meaning of those words, but he could feel Gu Changge’s undisguised killing intent.
“As long as I don’t die, I will definitely kill you one day and take my revenge.” He gritted his teeth, bloodshot veins surfacing in his eyes, his hatred towering to the heavens.
“And what would you kill me with? The Celestial Boat of Creation? Or the Demonic Arts you’ve learned?”
Gu Changge paid it no mind, smiling faintly.
“What...”
“How do you know about these things?!”
Jiang Chen’s mind went boom, as if struck by a great bell, his eyes widening — at this moment he was even somewhat dazed.
He had never imagined that his greatest secret would one day be spoken aloud by his own enemy’s mouth.
Didn’t that mean Gu Changge had known of the Celestial Boat of Creation’s existence long ago?
He also knew that his identity as a Source Master was actually all fake.
That he had accomplished everything entirely by relying on the Celestial Boat of Creation?
Jiang Chen simply couldn’t believe it. A terrifying chill swept through his entire body, making him shudder involuntarily.
“Are you suddenly feeling that your life has been rather pitiful? Not only do I know your greatest secret — even the cultivation technique you practice was given to you by me.” Gu Changge chuckled softly, though his gaze was calm and rippleless.
“What do you mean by that? What do you mean, even the technique I cultivate was given by you?”
Jiang Chen’s whole body was steeped in cold dread. He didn’t even notice that his own voice was trembling, laced with fear.
“Isn’t this the very shifu who bestowed the technique upon you?”
Gu Changge smiled. With a flick of his sleeve, a familiar figure suddenly appeared before Jiang Chen, causing his pupils to contract violently. He stumbled straight backward, nearly tripping and falling to the ground.
All the blood drained from Jiang Chen’s face, revealing terror and disbelief, as though he had been petrified.
“Black-Robed Senior...”
He clenched his teeth tightly, his entire body trembling.
All this time, he had been searching for the Black-Robed Senior who had saved him back then and bestowed the technique upon him.
But he had found no clues whatsoever.
That person seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth — or rather, as if he had never existed in this world at all.
This had even left Jiang Chen sorrowful for a time, thinking the Black-Robed Senior had run into some enemy and met with misfortune.
But he never in a million years imagined that even the Black-Robed Senior who saved him back then had been arranged by Gu Changge all along.
This made Jiang Chen nearly unable to breathe, feeling as though he were drowning in a whirlpool.
No matter how he struggled, he could not escape the fate of being drowned.
At this moment, Jiang Chen figured everything out, his eyes filled with despair. “So it turns out you are the true Successor of Demonic Arts, hidden the deepest. Your maid was nothing but a smokescreen to fool the world.”
The Artifact Spirit of the Celestial Boat of Creation within his Knowledge Sea was likewise terrified to the extreme, never having imagined that from beginning to end, they had been living within Gu Changge’s calculations and arrangements.
This feeling of fate being manipulated like threads on a puppet filled them with despair.
This cruel truth was something Jiang Chen could hardly accept — his vision nearly went black, and he almost fainted dead away.
Gu Changge smiled faintly, offering no explanation for any of it.
“You’ve watched for so long — still not planning to show yourself?”
“If you don’t save him soon, then I’m going to kill him. And the Celestial Boat of Creation you want will be forever out of reach.”
Just then, Gu Changge suddenly looked toward a certain patch of void outside, his gaze carrying a strange hue as he spoke.
Jiang Chen, trembling in despair, was stunned upon hearing these words, and involuntarily looked in the direction Gu Changge was gazing.
Besides them, was there someone else here?
The next moment, the void quivered gently like a scroll painting, and then ripple-like waves spread outward.
A tall, graceful figure in white stepped out from within — dark hair cascading like a waterfall, skirt hems fluttering, her features breathtakingly beautiful and cold, exuding an otherworldly air untouched by mortal dust, like a fairy from the Moon Palace.
“Ruoyin...”
Jiang Chen’s eyes went wide as he stared at this familiar yet unfamiliar figure, hardly able to believe it.
Xiao Ruoyin — how could she also be in Kun Mountain?
Could she have come to rescue him?
And at that moment, the space between Jiang Chen’s brows suddenly glowed, his crown turning crystalline.
Immediately after, the Artifact Spirit of the Celestial Boat of Creation rushed out, transforming into a palm-sized little bronze boat, crying out in delight, “Master!”
It was extremely sensitive to auras — almost instantly, it determined that the Xiao Ruoyin before it was no longer the Xiao Ruoyin of before.
She was its true master — the High Priestess of Destiny, who had recovered the memories of her past life!
After appearing, Xiao Ruoyin did not go speak with Jiang Chen. Instead, she looked at Gu Changge.
Then she sighed softly and said, “In the end, you still discovered me.”
In truth, she should have noticed earlier.
Back when Gu Changge struck down the people of the An Clan and the War Immortal’s forces, he should have already detected her presence.
It was only because he never pointed it out that she didn’t think much of it and continued following along.
Everything that happened in the underground palace today, she had witnessed with her own eyes.
Even if Gu Changge hadn’t spoken up, she would have revealed herself anyway, to find a way to save Jiang Chen — she could not allow Gu Changge to destroy the Celestial Boat of Creation.
“Ruoyin, you truly disappoint me.”
Gu Changge’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He merely shook his head gently, as if rather regretful.
“Though I wonder — should I call you Ruoyin now, or the High Priestess of Destiny?”
Xiao Ruoyin’s expression was calm, as if neither joy nor sorrow could touch her, unmoved by external things. “A form of address is but an external thing. I am still me, in the end.”
If she had any other choice, she truly would not have wanted to expose her identity before Gu Changge.
“You’re not being honest at all. Do you still remember what you said to me that night?”
Gu Changge seemed to smile, his tone still casual, as though he didn’t care at all about the change in Xiao Ruoyin’s identity.
Xiao Ruoyin sensed he was implying something. Thinking of that night, a faint blush surfaced on her face.
But it quickly faded, and she returned to her natural composure. “My identity then was different from now, so naturally what I said was different too.”
“What a fine ‘different identity.’ So now you intend to stop me? Shall I kill you along with him?”
Gu Changge said indifferently.
“Jiang Chen was transformed by the Celestial Boat of Creation. If you kill him, you destroy the Celestial Boat of Creation. So I must save him.” Xiao Ruoyin shook her head, explaining her purpose.
“And do you think you can stop me?” Gu Changge’s gaze fell upon her, his tone carrying a trace of interest as he asked.
Xiao Ruoyin shook her head. “With my current strength, I cannot stop you.”
“It seems you’re not entirely foolish.”
Gu Changge smiled faintly, then suddenly walked toward her, reaching out to pinch her smooth, jade-like chin, making her meet his gaze.
“I’ll give you two choices now. After all, a day as husband and wife means a hundred days of grace — I can’t quite bear to kill you.”
“Hand over the method of refining the Celestial Boat of Creation to me, and I’ll let you go, letting bygones be bygones for everything before. Otherwise, I’ll kill you along with him.”