“If within the seas we have confidants, then even the ends of the earth feel close as neighbors. To have such righteous friends is proof that my path is not a lonely one.”
Su Bai spoke with rising enthusiasm, yet still felt unsatisfied, so she jabbed fiercely at Zhou Xuan a few more times, “People like you, who act against the natural order, will be overthrown and made to account for their deeds sooner or later.”
“You speak well.” Zhou Xuan listened, but instead of anger, he clapped softly. “But while that man walks a path beneath his feet, what is it that lies beneath yours, Master?”
Su Bai’s aged face flushed red, then quickly darkened.
“Eh? That Big Sister of blood seems about to break out.” At that moment, Su Xiao, who had been acting as a transparent bystander, suddenly spoke up, and both their gazes fell back onto the dark mirror treasure.
Within the mirror, where bloodlight collided with spells, even the space itself appeared twisted, as if unable to bear the burden.
Even though the Emperor’s Divine Mirror’s child-body spied on the scene, with many old ghosts lurking, the [Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Locking Array] isolating all, still, Heaven never truly cuts off all paths!
The overwhelming surge of energy spread violently in all directions, sending many flying. The blood-form seized the chance, moving like lightning towards the golden light barrier—she was going to shatter this line of defense and carve a bloody path out.
There are no true dead ends in this world, only those who despair at their own circumstances.
Su Bai’s gaze shifted slightly, falling on the body of the dark mirror treasure. Her own Emperor’s Divine Mirror—she had no idea what means this wretch used to subdue it, to the point that now she couldn’t even sense its exact location.
The dark mirror in front of her now was merely a child born from the Emperor’s Divine Mirror.
She’d been unconscious for two hundred years—what on earth had happened to this world in her absence? Besides the Emperor’s Divine Mirror, there was her Human Emperor Banner and Earth Emperor Cauldron. With only a few words from the simulator and scraps of information gathered by the blood-form, it was impossible to deduce the truth.
While she was pondering, she saw Zhou Xuan pick up the dark mirror. Within, the cultivator pressed forward with unstoppable momentum, as if in a land with no one to oppose them, cutting down all obstacles with ease.
Zhou Xuan’s palm twitched slightly, as if wanting to intervene from afar.
“A Heavenly Venerate bullying a Nascent Soul—disciple, do you have no shame?” Su Bai immediately mocked.
“Master’s words are most correct.” Zhou Xuan loosened his grip and shook his head. “It’s just the Myriad Dao Pavilion, let that thief take it if they can. In any case, the next era will no longer belong to cultivators. Without a foundation, even the grandest tower is no more than a castle in the air.”
“What do you mean?” Su Bai was taken aback.
Just as Zhou Xuan was about to explain, he saw in the mirror the figure shrouded in bloodlight suddenly toss something from their bosom. In an instant, the clear image within the dark mirror was swallowed by endless darkness and vanished completely.
What’s this?
Zhou Xuan instinctively tried to rise.
“Sit still for your teacher!!” With a crisp command, Su Bai’s feet precisely clamped down on his lifeline, forcing the man to sit upright.
“Master, you…” Zhou Xuan’s expression changed, but in the next instant, he suddenly smiled, clapping softly. “Interesting, interesting, this is truly interesting.”
“To fight with the heavens, with the earth, with others—there’s endless joy in it. This time I’ll let that cultivator go for now, but Master, you’ll need to try harder. If you can’t satisfy your disciple…”
“Then this disciple, the Heavenly Venerate, will personally take action, search heaven and earth to capture that cultivator, sever their limbs, and make them a human swine.”
As his words fell, the two black lotuses that had been idling suddenly grew serious, forming an encirclement. The jade toes wrapped in black silk nimbly danced over the zither.
When the performance ended, Lord Zhou rewarded with a flood of gleaming silver, splashing over the jade legs and scattering onto the ground.
“Not bad, I’ll spare that one for now.” Leaving these words behind, the satisfied man flicked his sleeves and strode off, leaving only Su Xiao and Su Bai behind.
With a purification technique, the area and the black-silk-clad legs were cleaned spotless. Su Xiao rushed forward to hug those beautiful legs, nuzzling his little head against them, gazing up at Su Bai with anticipation.
Su Bai kept replaying the conversation with that wretch in her mind. At last, she bent down and looked at the little one clutching the beautiful legs, asking, “Let me ask you, what does it mean that the next era won’t belong to cultivators?”
“Mother, do you really want to know?”
“Hehehe~ If you want to know, you have to let Little Black have a turn too. Little Black wants to do it on Mother’s legs as well.”
Su Bai:
“Get lost! You little pervert!!”
With a flying kick, she sent the little one tumbling three or five meters away. The Empress’s cheeks were flushed as she hurried into her bedchamber, cleaning herself as she silently reached out to her blood-form.
“Tsk, as expected, there’s always an antidote near a seven-step viper. The [Heaven-Deceiving Array Disk] from the Human Emperor’s legacy is really handy against the [Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Locking Array].”
After selecting appropriate cultivation methods for the children, the blood-form returned to her room, playing with a small stone array disk in her hand.
The [Heaven-Deceiving Array Disk], a countermeasure from the Human Emperor’s legacy against the [Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Locking Array].
It wasn’t hard to craft, the difficulty lay in acquiring the materials—especially destroying a [Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Locking Array] and extracting an intact child-body of the Emperor’s Divine Mirror as the core material.
In some sense, enemy and self originated from the same source.
The blood-form’s brows furrowed as she muttered softly to herself.
“The next era won’t belong to cultivators?”
“What does that mean? There’s no context at all.”
“Never mind. Since the main body needs it, I’ll keep a closer eye on things in these Five Domains. Maybe I’ll even meet a real cultivator who survived from two hundred years ago.”
With that, the blood-form gazed out the window, where rows of children sat cross-legged, absorbing spiritual energy.
Born with Dao bodies, top-notch cultivation methods, and her own excellent guidance—well, aside from that wretch’s attempts to corrupt her as master and mother, in terms of cultivation and achievement, her teaching was unmatched!
Moreover, though innate Dao bodies were rare, the Five Domains had a huge population now, and there were four more domains left to explore.
She could easily scour every genius from these Five Domains.
Of course, that depended on whether her main body could withstand the wretch’s constant PUA and temptations.
If the main body fell, degenerated into a wanton woman, developed Stockholm syndrome, and was completely conquered by that wretch, then there’d be no point resisting—she might as well embrace that inherited kink: “One woman after another, flying into the Azure Emperor Palace.”
A few months slipped by in a flash. The blood-form taught and nurtured students; Zhou Xuan appeared and disappeared unpredictably, whereabouts unknown, as did Su Xiao.
The pale moon hung high, shedding its cold light. The “illness” struck again. Beside a murmuring stream, spirit carp swam; Su Bai gripped a jug of Icy Heart Wine, her jade hand so tight the knuckles turned white.
The restlessness in her body surged like tidal waves, making her flush and tremble, like a lone leaf in a storm.
She raised the wine jug, icy liquor pouring constantly down her throat and dripping from the corner of her mouth, soaking her robe.
She tried to use the chill of the wine to suppress the blazing fire of desire, but that want seemed to have a life of its own, rampaging inside her, clinging like an incurable poison.
Just then, a white figure, ghostlike, drifted silently from the darkness. He reached out, taking the jade jug from the Empress’s hand, and sighed softly, “Master, don’t drink anymore, this stuff is bad for you.”
“Don’t suppress your true nature any longer, all right.”