Chapter Ninety-One: The Sage Vanishes: Reincarnation Collapses

Jiang Fan had always believed that Nangong Rou’s conduct was meant to lead him into the Inspectorate, help him climb to a high position, and make him useful to her in the future.

After all, with early support added to the bond of blood, it seemed a fairly reliable arrangement.

He never imagined that she would strike here so suddenly.

Before he knew it, Jiang Fan had already stepped into the palace and was leaning against one side, watching Nangong Rou enter in grand, unabashed fashion. Her frail bearing had changed; in her eyes lingered a faint, condescending nobility, as though she looked down upon all living beings.

“Greetings, Master!” The strange man did not even glance at Jiang Fan. He hurried forward and knelt before Nangong Rou, utterly respectful.

“Lowly bloodline, filthy demon slave, fickle sin!”

Nangong Rou struck out with a palm from the air, smashing the strange man into a burst of blood mist. With a casual point of her finger, a mass of flames descended from above the palace and burned the blood mist to ashes.

“This is...!” Jiang Fan’s pupils shrank. “This was your setup? You are absolutely not my cousin. Who are you?”

“You cultivate the Mysterious Dao Art and the Golden Radiance Art!” Nangong Rou did not answer. Instead, she smiled faintly, and her former brilliance returned. “Am I right?”

“You can see that?” Jiang Fan was stunned.

“Of course.” Nangong Rou said, “When you confronted Yuan Kun, I noticed something amiss, so I had you make the first move. Later, in your courtyard, I examined you further. And when you recognized my Violet Light Eye, I became even more certain. But you, boy, are truly deep of mind. Even toward me, your cousin from your mother’s side and your childhood playmate, you still harbored suspicion. A suspicious soul, a cold-hearted man. That left me no choice but to plan carefully.”

“I merely pointed out that you possessed the inheritance of the School of the Lifeless Sword and had comprehended the Sword Intent of Death, so that you would understand I knew you inside and out. Yet in your heart, there are secrets I do not know; even if you sensed something was wrong, you would not pay it too much heed. After all, you possess the inheritance of Master Jade Cauldron. In this world, how many at your level could catch your eye?”

“As for the inheritance of the School of the Lifeless Sword? So what if you obtained Master Jade Cauldron’s inheritance?”

“I had intended to act within the city, but unfortunately, once the Mystic Heaven Mirror was activated, I might have been exposed to the Human Emperor who controls its true body!”

“So I first won your trust, gave you the Hundred Treasures Pouch and the Returning-to-One Sword, and sincerely plotted on your behalf.”

“Then I did everything possible to lure you out of the city. The best way was to have you join the Patrol Office!”

“Once you join the Patrol Office, you will inevitably be examined, and one of those trials is the slaying of demons and monsters!”

“Within and around the county city, because of the last calamity, there are hardly any demons or monsters left.”

“So I enslaved one, and deliberately let the Patrol Office discover it, until it became one of your tasks!”

“Alas, time was too short. I could only arrange things in a crude fashion, nowhere near perfection. But you, little one, truly are clever. In the end you did notice the clues. Yet the grand design is already set. Though you have obtained Master Jade Cauldron’s inheritance, you will not be able to turn the heavens upside down!”

“After pursuing this for a million years, I have finally found my chance!”

“Jiang Fan, do you know that feeling?”

Nangong Rou clenched both fists, her whole body trembling, her eyes blazing with an unprecedented radiance of excitement.

She was exhilarated to the very limit.

From mind to body, she seemed utterly unbound, as though she had completed a great vow and transcended into perfect freedom and sublimation.

“A million years?”

Jiang Fan’s heart quivered.

Another million years? How could that be?

Because Yu Bo was a spirit of the mansion, a long life was understandable. But this woman was a living, breathing human being!

“That’s right, a million years!” Nangong Rou sat cross-legged in midair, tilting her head up. A lonely expression crossed her face, together with nostalgia for the past. “You do not know how long this search has been, how many turns of the mortal world I have witnessed. Even my Dao heart nearly lost its way!”

“Very well. I shall tell you, and ease my loneliness as well.”

“A million years of time!”

“The loneliness pressed deep in my heart, the despair of never transcending the past—that feeling, you will never understand!”

“I was once an immortal maiden attendant of the Purple Star Imperial Palace. My status was noble, my power boundless. I looked down upon the heavens, and even True Lord Erlang would have greeted me with a nod!”

Nangong Rou said slowly.

“Purple Star Emperor?” Jiang Fan was shocked again.

“You even know that? It must be recorded in Master Jade Cauldron’s inheritance!” Nangong Rou’s tone was gentle. “In those days, the Heavenly Court controlled the myriad worlds of heaven and earth. Whether demons, devils, or buddhas, all had to bow their heads. And the Emperor, as one of the Four Sovereigns, commanded the Four Saints of the North Pole and the others, along with the Eleven Great Stellar Lords, the Seven Northern Dipper Primals, the Left Assistant and Right Assistant, the Three Terrace Stellar Lords, the Six Offices of the Southern Dipper, the Three True Ones of the Central Dipper, the Two Messengers of Mighty Ram and Heavy Snare, the Twelve Fate Stellar Lords of the Year, the Sixty Tai Sui Stellar Lords of the Sexagenary Cycle, the Twenty-Eight Stellar Mansions of the Celestial Vault, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Spirits of the Dipper, the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, the countless spirit officials and immortals of the Dipper, the Stellar Lords of the Whole Heavens, the Great Saints of the Heavenly Gang, the Stellar Lords of Kui and Gang—gods and stars over all beneath heaven, true immortals of the Milky Way.”

As she spoke, her face filled with profound reverence.

“Yet the sages vanished, and reincarnation collapsed!”

“Outer Heaven fiends suddenly appeared, and the Blood Sea seized the chance to rise!”

“The Brilliant Buddha of the Great Sun abandoned Buddhism, recovered his identity as the Demon Emperor’s Crown Prince, and led the demon clans to contend with the Heavenly Court!”

“The shaman lineage threw heaven and earth into turmoil!”

“The dragon race became independent!”

“The ancient races emerged!”

“Cosmos itself descended into total chaos, and in the end one brutal war after another broke out!”

“Even several of Master Jade Cauldron’s fellow disciples, the former Twelve Immortals, perished in battle!”

“Alas...!”

“The wars spread across the starry expanse of the universe, across all the worlds of heaven and earth!”

“Finally, an even more terrifying war erupted in the Vast Grand Immortal Realm!”

“I followed the Emperor and saw with my own eyes Master Jade Cauldron’s body pierced by the God-Slaying Spear. The God-Slaying Spear—once struck, there is only death, no life. Even he, with his Creation Lotus Seed, could not escape!”

“The Creation Lotus Seed—one must admit, Master Jade Cauldron was blessed with profound fortune to obtain such a treasure. Alas, before he could refine it for his own use, he was grievously wounded by the God-Slaying Spear.”

“The Emperor was also heavily injured. For certain reasons, he knew that Master Jade Cauldron possessed the Creation Lotus Seed and had intended to seek it out, but he too fell!”

“Even I was left with nothing but a remnant spirit!”

“Later, the Vast Grand Immortal Realm was brutally shattered. Its origin power was nearly exhausted, and it was beaten down to one ten-thousandth of its original size, its rank reduced until it became a mortal world!”

“A once-immortal realm was nearly annihilated. That battle... ha. Even now, just thinking of it makes my entire body tremble.”

“But perhaps that was for the best. In a mortal world, immortals cannot descend, and the Vast Grand Immortal Realm was ultimately preserved. It is the Vast Grand World of today.”

“I was left with only a remnant spirit, almost impossible to restore, let alone return to my former realm!”

“With the Emperor fallen as well, I was then utterly hopeless!”

“Later I remembered that Master Jade Cauldron was very likely trapped here, so I searched ceaselessly and finally found a thread of clues!”

“When my lifespan was exhausted, I reincarnated!”

“When my cultivation reached the earthly immortal stage, I cut myself off and reincarnated again!”

“Searching without end, cycling without rest, I lost myself more than once!”