novelzi Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Long Hidden Island.
Gu Jiang stood straight as a spear on a sharp, jagged rock, a thread of sword energy hooked on his fingertip. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from the rock, his shadow weaving through a chaotic storm of countless sword lights. Effortlessly, he dismantled the erratic sword energies, striking them down in order of their strength.
He had trained in this sword formation for ten years, advancing from the Golden Core stage to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. As his cultivation grew, so did the level of the formation. A single sword light, now at the Deity Transformation level, forced him to leap backward. Behind him, the sword lights formed a dense net, and even the slightest touch would undo all his progress.
In his cultivation, Gu Jiang didn’t want his future consciousness to influence his present self. Right now, he couldn’t avoid the intersecting sword energies behind him, and he would inevitably be cut and bruised.
He used to be so clumsy.
The memory of his master’s incessant scolding, like firecrackers going off, echoed in his ears. Gu Jiang was pierced through the chest by a sword light, spitting out a mouthful of blood. At that moment, he felt the force restraining his consciousness loosen for a split second.
It seemed Nie Yinzhi had tricked it.
Seizing the opportunity, Gu Jiang swiftly detached his consciousness from the past, pulling it out of his former self’s spiritual platform.
The narrative had tried to seal his consciousness in the past, but this went against the objective rules of the world. It could no longer rely on the Heavenly Dao, having already separated from it. After being locked in a stalemate with Gu Jiang for so long, it was now at its limit.
As the narrative crumbled, the clear characters on the pages began to blur, like ink dissolving in water, slowly spreading and disappearing.
With the vanishing text, the fragmented scenes floating on the paper also collapsed. Gu Jiang found himself at the collapsing Cliff of Reflection. The figure curled up on the frost-covered ground, along with the collapsing cave, dissipated into nothingness.
[What’s going on? What’s happening?]
[Is Gu Jiang’s consciousness finally leaving the past?]
[No! I haven’t had enough yet! I want to see more of the battle-worn and bleeding young Gu Jiang!]
[Honestly, even though young Gu Jiang now looks almost like the old demon lord from the future, I still find him inexplicably tender.]
[What’s going on? Is he really going back so soon? We just reached the Nascent Soul stage. Can’t you have a few more spiritual exchanges in young Gu Jiang’s spiritual platform? Let his past self benefit a little, maybe even sleep with his future wife!]
[Bring on a few more storms. I’d even be fine with a real *clouds-and-rain* scene. I really like clouds, especially the ones that sway back and forth.]
[Damn, the past self being embraced by the future self’s consciousness and spiritually connecting with the future wife—does that count as a threesome?]
[Nie Yinzhi, please be gentle with young Gu Jiang. I beg you.]
[Help, why did I suddenly get stuck? Stuck to death.]
[Stuck to the point of explosion.]
Gu Jiang glanced distractedly at the scrolling subtitles. He had seen these once before—during a moment of spiritual communion with Nie Yinzhi.
As these subtitles disappeared, the narrative completely collapsed. Gu Jiang was suddenly engulfed in a roaring flood. When he focused, he realized the multicolored flood was made up of lines upon lines of subtitles, far more numerous and dense than before, rushing toward him all at once.
In a hurry, he spread out his consciousness, instinctively catching subtitles that contained “Nie Yinzhi,” “A-Yin,” or “Yin-Yin.”
With the narrative completely shattered, his consciousness began to leave the past. Long Hidden Island grew farther and farther away in his vision. Gu Jiang heard his master’s familiar sigh, “Why aren’t you dodging? What are you standing there for? Getting hit by a Deity Transformation sword light—do you not feel pain?”
His past self, startled out of his daze, clumsily dodged the chaotic sword lights that had reset. He seemed to sense something and looked up.
Gu Jiang felt as though he had locked eyes with his past self.
---
The sword formation was suppressed, and Gu Jiang landed on the ground, barely steadying himself.
“You’ve been distracted all day. If you keep this up, you’ll be sliced into roast duck, and I don’t eat human flesh,” Daoist Jiguang said, smacking his lips. “Losing focus in the sword formation—do you not value your life?”
Gu Jiang looked dazed, ignoring his master’s nagging. Something was rapidly slipping from his mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp what it was.
He had just seen some strange subtitles and a name that seemed to flood his senses: “Nie Yinzhi.”
After the collapse of the four great sects, numerous large and small immortal sects emerged in the cultivation world. In the turbulent centuries that followed, few managed to thrive, but the sect established by this senior brother had risen to the pinnacle of power.
The conflict between the righteous and demonic factions continued unabated. As spiritual energy declined, righteous cultivators were increasingly oppressed, and most of the cultivation world’s territory fell under the control of demonic cultivators. Righteous cultivators were driven to harsh, desolate lands.
The senior brother united various immortal sects to form an alliance, gradually reclaiming lost territory. Gu Jiang participated in no fewer than a hundred battles between the righteous and demonic factions, and countless demonic cultivators fell beneath his blade.
After one such battle, Gu Jiang wiped the blood from his red-leafed blade and abruptly announced his intention to leave.
The senior brother looked at him with confusion. "The secluded Long Hidden Island is gone. Whether in the cultivation world or the mortal realm, everyone is caught up in this war between righteousness and demonic forces. Where else can you go?"
Gu Jiang thought for a moment. "To find the Five-Colored Dew."
The senior brother was even more perplexed. "The Migu Tree is dead, and Long Hidden Island has sunk. What use is finding the Five-Colored Dew now?"
Before he even realized it, Gu Jiang spoke with certainty. "It will be useful someday." He paused, startled by his own words. A long-forgotten feeling flickered through him, but he couldn’t grasp it in time.
Gu Jiang left without delay, and no one could stop him. He ventured into dangerous, collapsed secret realms, his cultivation level rising steadily. After obtaining the Five-Colored Dew, to avoid the relentless stream of letters from his senior brother, he went into seclusion to cultivate.
The impending heavenly tribulation loomed over him, drawing the attention of both the righteous and demonic factions.
As Gu Jiang faced the final stage of his tribulation, his physical form began to be consumed by the heavenly dao. Realizing something was wrong, a long-buried thought in the depths of his subconscious was awakened, and he instinctively resisted the heavenly dao.
Having slain countless demonic cultivators, even if he were to fall into demonic cultivation, he would not be accepted by the demonic faction. The righteous faction, meanwhile, could not stand by and allow another demonic overlord to rise. Gu Jiang turned against his senior brother and, defying the heavenly will, fought off both factions until no one dared to challenge him. Covered in blood that could never be washed away, he found a quiet place to sleep.
When he was awakened by a little ghost in the flames, it was unclear how many years had passed. Gu Jiang watched with amusement as his demonic energy was excitedly drawn out by the little ghost, and curiosity got the better of him. He nodded in agreement.
Black and red demonic energy surged into the other’s spiritual veins, instantly unlocking their spiritual apertures. The flames and sores were dispelled by the demonic energy, and only then did Gu Jiang see the little ghost’s true form.
And so, he gained a disciple.
Gu Jiang found raising a disciple to be quite troublesome. Even as a master, he couldn’t understand the endless lectures that Daoist Jiguang had once poured into his ears, breaking down every detail and mixing it into a heap of nonsense.
It was torture. Gu Jiang decided to spare Feng Hanying and adopted the opposite approach to teaching—letting him fend for himself.
Watching Feng Hanying stumble his way to foundation establishment and gain some ability to protect himself, Gu Jiang breathed a sigh of relief. Taking advantage of his disciple’s sleep, he stepped onto his red-leafed blade and fled.
The world was much calmer than before. Both the righteous and demonic factions were in decline, so peace prevailed.
Gu Jiang had been born in Floating Cloud Valley and still loved its climate the most. He found a ruined palace in the remnants of the Law Sect and settled down to sleep.
The crumbling formation occasionally shifted, waking him. Sometimes he would go back to sleep, and other times he would venture out. Occasionally, he would hear news of his accomplished disciple. But compared to the cultivation world, he preferred wandering the mortal realm far from the immortal mountains, sampling local delicacies and receiving handkerchiefs from girls during the Lantern Festival.
Holding a rabbit lantern gifted by a shopkeeper, Gu Jiang strolled slowly along the brightly lit streets. His keen senses could pick up every sound in the city, and the frantic cries of servants searching for a lost child on the neighboring street stood out starkly against the festive backdrop.
The little girl they were searching for had chased after a candied hawthorn vendor and ended up on this street. The delicate child, bundled in a fluffy cloak, barely reached the height of an adult’s leg. She stood on tiptoe, holding up a jade pendant to trade for candied hawthorns.
The fine mutton-fat jade was engraved with a small character: "Yin."
She exchanged it for a large bundle of candied hawthorns, so many that she couldn’t hold them all.
Gu Jiang paused on a distant stone bridge, his divine sense drifting to the other street. He left a message in the ear of one of the servants, guiding them to the girl. Once the servants arrived and scooped her up, Gu Jiang turned and walked down another street.
He carried the rabbit lantern back to Floating Cloud Valley and fell asleep once more.
The new lantern slowly eroded from the moisture, becoming mottled and yellowed until, over time, it turned into a shapeless, tattered mess.
Gu Jiang was awakened by the usual shifts in the formation. The barely functional formation buzzed, and something flew into it. Half-asleep, he was pulled into the formation.
Gu Jiang found himself transported to another place. The dense spiritual energy indicated it was an immortal mountain. Concealed within his demonic energy, he listened to the excited ramblings of the hunched figure before him and laughed softly. "You offer this ruined body and a soul riddled with holes as a sacrifice to me? Do you think I collect trash?"
He raised his eyes, looking directly at the figure hidden among the bamboo leaves.
A sweet, bloody scent reached his nose. A wisp of demonic energy followed the motion of his finger, winding through the night air to coil around her wrist.
How delicious.