Chapter 29: Seeing Mountains and Seas, Saving Others and Oneself—That So-and-So Sword Cultivator’s Primordial Yang.

Chapter 29: Seeing Mountains and Seas, Saving Others and Oneself—That So-and-So Sword Cultivator's Primordial Yang.

Back then, Fu Yu had set up an Illusion Array in the room to ‘deal with’ Jun Bu Du.

This array could cloud the victim’s—no, the entrant’s—mind, making them temporarily forget the present and return to a past scenario.

In simple terms—“Let me see what kind of ‘good deeds’ you’ve done before.”

At that time, Fu Yu and Jun Bu Du didn't know each other well yet, but they were soon to be married.

It was only natural for her to want to learn a bit more about her fiancé before the wedding.

More importantly…

In her imagination, she and Jun Bu Du should have already successfully held hands on the mountain path, embraced at the pavilion, been all lovey-dovey at the tea table, and then entered the room hand in hand, likely to do things that decent storybooks couldn’t explicitly describe.

Before that, Fu Yu had to know whether his Primordial Yang was still intact.

Even though he looked cold and ascetic, what if it wasn’t?

Jun Bu Du came from a cultivation family.

Those great clans appeared noble and upright on the surface, but they were rotten to the core—concubines, attendants, cultivation cauldrons—even dogs would shake their heads at it.

If he had lost his Primordial Yang, Fu Yu wouldn’t sleep with him.

A major reason she could readily accept his pursuit was that she had heard many sisters rave about Sword Cultivators’ Primordial Yang.

Pure, blazing, inexhaustible, powerfully enduring—that’s the Primordial Yang, just the Primordial Yang.

Anyway, that was the situation.

Fu Yu hadn’t expected that what happened that day would be not just a little off from her imagination, but miles apart.

After she and Jun Bu Du scalded their hands together under the tree, they were hardly on 'sharing a bed' terms.

But the Illusion Array was already set.

Fu Yu didn't warn him. Both of them calmly walked into the room, their scalded fingers hidden under their wide sleeves.

Occasionally, they glanced at each other and nodded politely.

Once past the threshold, they entered the array.

Jun Bu Du was also someone who had fought his way through life and death. The moment he stepped into the array, his sleeves billowed without wind, and his slender, bamboo-like fingers were already forming a seal to resist her.

Fu Yu was thrilled.

She loved evenly matched opponents!

Now, Fu Yu’s Illusion Array had become the fourth trial of the secret realm.

“Venerable Yunshang has entered!”

As she crossed the threshold, Venerable Yunshang’s graceful figure immediately vanished from sight.

Hua Lang was frantic, a surge of unbearable anxiety filling his chest. Without a word, he chased after her.

Leaping over the threshold, space rippled like ink, swallowing his body.

The others followed, jumping into the Illusion Array one after another.

Li Xueke froze for a moment, then threw himself in, cursing in shock: “Am I possessed or something? I must be sick!”

The corner of the Foxtail Grass Spirit’s mouth twitched, staring at this fool as if seeing a ghost.

Fu Yu tilted her head, signaling it to follow.

As she entered the array, she formed a hand seal with her left hand while casually grabbing its foxtail with the other.

“Hey…”

The scene rippled before them.

An ancient, elegant courtyard slowly materialized—carved beams, painted rafters, winding corridors, and under ornate lanterns, attendants in palace attire stood with bowed heads along the veranda.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit widened its eyes, clamped its mouth shut, and looked around in amazement.

Where’s the master? Where is she?

Suddenly feeling a slight tug on the grass on its head, it looked up. First, it saw the hem of a robe hanging down, then further up, it saw that lazy person sprawled lazily on a crabapple branch, looking as if she didn’t want to wake from a spring nap.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit muttered weakly, “…Hey!”

Would you stop tugging my tail!

Outside the moon gate, a sweet, soft female voice suddenly rang out, “This spirit pigeon soup is stewed just right—a minute sooner or later, and it would lose its flavor. I must deliver it to my husband promptly.”

The Foxtail Grass Spirit’s gaze sharpened.

It recognized this as Venerable Yunshang’s voice and couldn’t help but tense up, whispering, “Master…”

“It’s fine,” Fu Yu said lazily without opening her eyes. “As long as you’re with me, you’re the array master. She can’t see you.”

Even Jun Bu Du back then couldn’t detect her presence in the array, let alone Venerable Yunshang, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator.

Fu Yu rarely recalled the past she witnessed in the array.

Until today, revisiting the old place brought back memories.

Back then, she had also seen the young Jun Bu Du in such a magnificent, exquisitely carved grand courtyard.

From a young age, he was like a stern teacher.

Solemn, serious, and steady.

Fu Yu almost wondered if he was a living compass and ruler.

When he walked, each step was exactly the same length, as if measuring with an invisible ruler; every time he raised his arm, the arc was identical, as if guided by a compass.

Wake up, study, cultivate, receive instruction, sleep.

Each day repeated the same monotonous routine, with not a moment's deviation from one day to the next.

Even being scolded was precisely timed to the length of an incense stick.

He had no play, no friends. Aside from receiving instruction, no one would speak to him—the servants in the courtyard were all mute, but once outside, they would gather to gossip maliciously about others.

Fu Yu was utterly appalled.

Jun Bu Du's life... was seriously no way for a person to live!

He never got any praise for doing a good job, but if he did poorly... no, he was wise beyond his years and ridiculously self-disciplined, so he never did poorly, yet he was still often punished.

There he was, just a kid, taking the family punishment without making a sound.

Fu Yu was so mad she had to laugh.

The Jun family head's demands on him were utterly harsh, it was pure nitpicking—impossible for anyone to fulfill.

He was deliberately trying to discipline him, punish him, and suppress him.

Fu Yu, being rebellious, couldn't help but pantomime strangling the family head behind his back, cursing him as an "old bastard."

She was already certain that Jun Bu Du was definitely still a virgin; he lived like a monk.

Having achieved her goal, Fu Yu should have left the Illusion Array, but it didn't sit right with her.

He was so miserable; if even she left, he would truly be left all alone.

Fu Yu decided to stay with him one more day.

She plopped down beside him, rustling through and messing up his neatly stacked, precisely cut papers like a pesky gust of wind, just to mess with him.

He used a Shoushan Stone Paperweight to hold down the fluttering rice paper.

Fu Yu had a rebellious nature; the more he didn't want her to touch something, the more she had to.

She made it her mission to mess with that Shoushan Stone Paperweight.

And later...

There was no sense of time inside the illusion; she ended up staying with him day after day.

Every day she swore it was the last day, definitely the last day.

But then the next day would come, and either the weather was bad, the wind direction was wrong, or her fortune-telling said it was a bad day to leave, so she'd put it off till tomorrow.

In the end, Fu Yu and young Jun Bu Du spent a whole string of "tomorrows" together.

Actually, looking back on it, Fu Yu was very glad she hadn't ended the Illusion Array early.

She watched Jun Bu Du shoot up like bamboo.

Day after day, her presence etched scratches onto that Shoushan Stone Paperweight that always opposed her, and he grew day by day into the man she would fall for at first sight.

And at the end of this tedious memory, Fu Yu stumbled upon an utterly terrifying secret.

The words became a prophecy.

That Jun family head truly was an "old bastard."

The "old bastard" lacked the ability to ascend. To evade the death tribulation, he seized the bodies of the most outstanding descendants, generation after generation, slipping away time and again to escape fate.

Jun Bu Du was the next "vessel" the family head had cultivated for himself.

For years, the family head had been suppressing him, destroying him, using absolute authority to override his will.

Fu Yu nearly went mad with rage.

She had watched Jun Bu Du grow up day by day. Though they were still not close and had never spoken a word (he couldn't see her), she had long considered him one of her own.

Given her temper, she should have grabbed the nearest weapon and charged in.

But... she knew this was just an Illusion Array, just his past.

The past—that was karma already extinguished, unchangeable.

She could only watch everything happen.

She watched him plunge into hell.

He was in such pain he gritted his teeth until they cracked, blood seeped from his eyes, his fingers spasmed, unconsciously gripping that paperweight so tightly he ripped off nail after nail.

Fu Yu, having passed the peak of her anger, became eerily calm.

She stared intently at that family head, plotting out every gruesome death imaginable for him.

In that moment, she even forgot that Jun Bu Du hadn't actually been successfully possessed yet.

She was just quietly thinking about revenge.

Until the instant before the possession succeeded, Jun Bu Du suddenly moved. Spitting blood, his hand trembling, he slammed that Shoushan Stone Paperweight onto the family head's forehead.

"Bang!"

He slowly raised a pair of eyes so calm they seemed inhuman.

He had completely transformed into the Jun Bu Du she knew.

Utterly calm, utterly rational.

He had waited for the best moment, with deadly seriousness and focus, doing one thing—raising his hand, bringing it down, raising his hand, bringing it down...

Blood splattered across the room.

Fu Yu couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Jun Bu Du lowered his gaze to look at the family head's mangled corpse, holding the Shoushan Stone Paperweight, his expression calm and detached.

Fu Yu slowly opened her eyes.

She thought: Jun Bu Du would definitely not record this part of the trial.

In the long years that followed, the two of them had an unspoken agreement, never mentioning the past.

She withdrew her thoughts and looked under the tree.

The Illusion Array before her was Venerable Yunshang's memory scene. At this moment, Venerable Yunshang moved with lotus-like steps, the hem of her skirt just brushing against the shadow of the crabapple tree.

A maid followed behind her, head deeply bowed, holding the soup that had been simmered just right—Venerable Yunshang, not sleeping in the middle of the night, had made soup to bring to Ghost Lingjun.

Late into the night, on the window paper of Ghost Lingjun's room, the silhouette of a beautiful woman suddenly appeared.

The silhouette was graceful and alluring, with flowing sleeves, a slender waist, every gesture oozed charm.

Venerable Yunshang seemed rooted to the spot, completely frozen under the tree, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Her eyes instantly filled with tears, her lips trembling as she asked the maid beside her in a hoarse voice, "Who is she? With whom is my husband? With whom is he together in the middle of the night?"

The maid shuddered, terrified, and immediately dropped to her knees. "This lowly one didn't see!"

The commotion in the courtyard startled the graceful silhouette on the paper-paned window.

She pivoted lightly and moved away from the window.

In that moment of turning, her profile was clearly reflected on the window paper.

Venerable Yunshang gasped sharply, her eyes instantly turning bloodshot, her silver teeth clenched in a ferocious grimace.

Though it was just a silhouette, it was not hard to tell she was a stunning beauty.

"Slut! I'll kill you!"

Venerable Yunshang lost control of her emotions and launched herself up the steps.

The maid was horrified and hastily threw down the soup tureen to chase after her. "Madam, you mustn't! Madam, you mustn't! You mustn't anger the Lord..."

Venerable Yunshang was beyond listening. She flung open the two carved wooden doors with great force and charged inside. "So what if I kill that slut right in front of my husband!"

Fu Yu dropped down from the crabapple blossom branch and followed.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit scurried eagerly after her to watch the drama. "Master, wait for me!"

"Where is she? Where is that slut!"

Venerable Yunshang rushed into the room, but she was already a step too late.

The night breeze blew through the open rear window. In the room, only her husband was present, his temples slightly damp, his collar slightly open, his hand resting on his knee as he sat upright on the edge of the canopy bed, his black boots tapping lightly on the footrest beneath the bed.

Venerable Yunshang nearly fainted.

What more did she need to understand after seeing this scene?

She could vividly imagine how that woman had just seduced her husband.

Blinded by rage, she rushed toward the rear window.

A faint afterimage flickered behind Ghost Lingjun as he grabbed her wrist, preventing her from giving chase.

"Madam must be mistaken," he said lightly, dismissively. "There's no one else here."

She bit her lip resentfully, her eyes filled with sorrowful accusation.

"Alright, alright," Ghost Lingjun soothed her. "Your husband has important matters to attend to. You should go back to sleep now."

Venerable Yunshang trembled with rage.

His voice lowered slightly with a nasal tone. "Hmm?"

The maid chasing after her was already terrified and prostrated on the floor.

Venerable Yunshang also sensed the oppressive aura.

Although his mask was smiling, she belatedly realized his displeasure.

"Husband..." she said plaintively, "you said you loved only me. Say it again, say you love only me!"

"I love only you," he said quickly, not bothering to hide his perfunctory tone.

"Then swear it! Swear you won't look for anyone else!"

"I won't." He raised his hand to push her away, the motion not heavy but firm and unyielding.

Venerable Yunshang had no choice but to leave, looking back with every step.

She nearly ground her silver teeth to dust.

"Slut, slut, slut, slut, slut!"

"Damnable seductress, fox spirit!"

Fu Yu tugged at the Foxtail Grass Spirit twice but couldn't move it.

Its feet seemed rooted, planted firmly on the threshold, its eyes fixed intently on Ghost Lingjun, flames practically shooting from them.

Fu Yu: "If you keep staring like that, the grass on your face is going to catch fire."

Foxtail Grass Spirit: "..."

Fu Yu told it, "This is just a memory scene, not the real Ghost Lingjun."

The Foxtail Grass Spirit nodded. "Master, I know. I just wanted to see if the woman who sneaked out the window would come back."

Fu Yu: "Pfft."

The person and the grass left the courtyard and followed Venerable Yunshang.

Venerable Yunshang did not return to her own bedchamber.

Her eyes darted intensely, her chest heaving violently. She turned and walked straight out of the house.

"Madam, Madam..." the maid scrambled after her, disheveled. "Where are you going so late? The Lord... it won't be easy to explain..."

Venerable Yunshang slowly turned her head, revealing a chilling smile.

"Tell me, am I not beautiful enough? If I were more beautiful, even more beautiful..." she stepped forward, her pupils trembling in their sockets, "...my husband wouldn't look at other women!"

The maid shivered, forcing herself not to retreat. "Madam is already very beautiful."

"No, it's not enough." Venerable Yunshang's face darkened. "I must be even more beautiful."

The Foxtail Grass Spirit shrank its shoulders and sidled up to Fu Yu. "Master, she's really creepy."

Fu Yu wholeheartedly agreed. "Mhm."

The streets were silent in the night.

Moonlight fell on the uneven bluestone pavement, footsteps echoing from one end of the street to the other.

Ahead, a wooden door suddenly creaked open.

A faint candlelight spilled from inside as a young woman stepped out carrying a basin of water to pour out.

"Splash."

The water's reflection caught the moonlight, suddenly illuminating her face.

This woman wore coarse cloth and simple hairpins, yet she possessed a naturally enchanting and graceful beauty.

Venerable Yunshang's gaze settled on the woman's face.

She curled her lip, her sleeves fluttering as she appeared before the woman in the blink of an eye.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit jumped: "Master, what's she up to!"

Fu Yu raised an eyebrow, lifting her hand to gently stir the air.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit was amazed to see the woman's face had transformed into Hua Lang's.

It was shocked: "Th-th-th-this... H-h-h-he?!"

Fu Yu smiled: "Call it being bewitched."

Hua Lang entered the Illusion Array, woozy and disoriented. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Venerable Yunshang's lovely face right in his own.

Hua Lang: "?!"

He blinked dizzily, feeling a wave of infatuation wash over him, an unconscious smile spreading across his face: "Venerable..."

*Smack.*

Venerable Yunshang raised her hands, adorned with vibrant red nail polish, and cupped his cheeks.

Hua Lang was flustered by the unexpected attention: "Ah... V-Venerable..."

The next moment, he saw Venerable Yunshang purse her lips at him.

Th-th-th-this... this isn't appropriate... although... but...

A searing, peeling pain suddenly struck!

"Agh! Wah!"

In an instant, Hua Lang's pupils contracted to pinpoints!

His mind, previously bewitched by her beauty, felt as if struck by a thunderbolt, plunging into an icy abyss, his entire body trembling violently.

"What... is this!"

He could clearly feel his skin rapidly aging!

The other party was using some sinister method to suck away his youth, his beauty, to nourish herself.

"Ch-Charm... technique... so... so... insidious..."

Before his eyes, Venerable Yunshang's face up close was like a petal saturated with dew, radiant and alluring.

Yet Hua Lang felt as if he had seen a fiend.

When Venerable Yunshang let go, he could no longer stand steadily. Clutching the doorframe, he staggered and fell to the ground.

Instinctively, he raised a hand to touch his face.

Dry, withered, like old tree roots.

He could clearly feel his vitality had been drained, the shadow of death descending upon him.

"Ah, I'm dead!"

A dizzying whirl, and he left the Illusion Array.

Fu Yu patted the Foxtail Grass Spirit reassuringly: "He's fine, don't worry."

"Mm!" The Foxtail Grass Spirit nodded vigorously. "Master did great! They need a harsh lesson to cure them of being bewitched!"

Someone inside the house heard the commotion.

A young man, holding an infant in his arms while rocking it, walked out to see.

"Pingniang? Who's outside?"

Seeing the woman lying on the ground, the man was horrified. "Pingniang? Pingniang!"

Venerable Yunshang turned and left: "Clean it up. Leave no traces."

Behind her, the maidservant pursed her lips and bowed her head: "Yes."

The Foxtail Grass Spirit felt its blood run cold: "She's going to silence them... not even sparing the infant..."

It trembled as it looked at Fu Yu.

Fu Yu wasn't surprised: "I guessed as much. Would she have turned into an earthworm-headed thing otherwise?"

Foxtail Grass Spirit: "?"

What earthworm head?

The matter was handled cleanly. Venerable Yunshang remained the benevolent Bodhisattva praised by everyone in Yulong City.

People lined up to receive the charitable cakes she distributed while sighing over the young couple whose home had caught fire the previous night.

"So pitiful, the child was so young. Tsk, truly careless. How could they sleep so soundly at night!"

The Foxtail Grass Spirit glared daggers at Venerable Yunshang's figure.

"Master, even disregarding Grandpa's matter, she deserves to die!"

"Mm."

"Aren't you angry, Master?"

"What's the point of getting angry with the dead?"

The one person and one grass followed behind Venerable Yunshang, watching her successively drain the faces of Xu Shuangqing, Le Zhou, Zhao Qing, and Li Xueke.

After being drained, each wore an expression of someone waking from a deep dream, stunned as if struck by lightning.

The Foxtail Grass Spirit asked timidly: "Master, they've all left the Illusion Array. Shouldn't we also..."

Fu Yu patted its head: "If you don't want to face that matter, should I send you away first?"

The Foxtail Grass Spirit pursed its lips tightly. Its fluffy grass fur gradually smoothed down, clinging tightly to its body like a drenched chicken.

Gritting its teeth, it shook its head very slowly and very firmly: "Master, I want to see."

"Alright."

Sunset, small town.

Under a large tree, Venerable Yunshang encountered a grandfather and his granddaughter.

The granddaughter was lively and charming, fluttering around her grandfather like a lark, chattering and pestering him to tell stories from the past.

The two were on their way home.

Venerable Yunshang suddenly made her move, grabbing the granddaughter.

"Eh? Venerable!" The granddaughter wasn't initially afraid, exclaiming in surprise, "I know you! You're the best fairy in the city!"

Venerable Yunshang smiled. "Then help me improve, so I can keep my husband's heart firmly mine."

The grandfather had already sensed something was wrong. Bent at the waist, he forced a smile and stepped forward to pull his granddaughter away. "Venerable, Venerable! The child doesn't know any better. If she has offended you, I beg for your forgiveness."

Venerable Yunshang shot him a displeased glance.

Her maidservant quickly stepped forward, raising her hand to block the grandfather aside.

The granddaughter began to feel afraid. "Venerable..."

Venerable Yunshang grasped her face.

"Hiss... Ah!"

"Stop!"

A pulse of spiritual energy suddenly rippled through the air.

Venerable Yunshang's pupils contracted as she flicked her sleeve to strike back.

"Crack!"

Two streams of spiritual energy collided and cancelled each other out mid-air.

Fu Yu and the Foxtail Grass Spirit turned toward the sound, seeing a familiar figure stepping out from the wind.

It was Elder Xie—Xie Yun—and he was awake.

Xie Yun had the visage of a man in his early thirties, with delicate, elegant features that held a feminine beauty.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the trembling granddaughter covering her face. Seeing her cheeks as if scalded by boiling water, he frowned, his anger rising. "Venerable Yunshang! How dare you commit such an atrocious act!"

Venerable Yunshang was displeased. "Since you know who I am, how dare a mere cultivator interfere in my business?"

Xie Yun sneered. "You practice this demonic sorcery. The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance will never tolerate it! I will take you to the Alliance for judgment immediately!"

He summoned his longsword and charged forward.

Venerable Yunshang retreated in panic.

Her cultivation was gained through dual cultivation and was hollow. She dared not face a proper Sword Cultivator of the same level head-on.

The two maidservants stepped forward to engage Xie Yun.

Venerable Yunshang frantically used a secret method to contact someone. "Husband... husband, come save me!"

Xie Yun quickly overpowered the two maidservants and pursued Venerable Yunshang with his sword.

At the critical moment, Ghost Lingjun arrived.

Initially, Ghost Lingjun merely blasted Xie Yun away casually, not intending to kill him.

"A disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect? This lord spares your life. Get lost!"

The difference in cultivation was too vast. Xie Yun didn't even have the strength to fight; he couldn't withstand a single blow from Ghost Lingjun.

Xie Yun gritted his teeth. "Lord, your actions with the Venerable violate the natural order and defy righteousness..."

Ghost Lingjun had no time for his nonsense. "Get lost!"

With a surge of oppressive might, Xie Yun was sent flying again, coughing up blood and tumbling to the ground in the distance.

He struggled to rise, leaning on his sword, his body swaying unsteadily. He turned his head and spat out another mouthful of blood.

Ghost Lingjun sneered. "Wife, continue. If he dares to come again, I'll kill him myself."

Venerable Yunshang chuckled coldly, turning her gaze to the girl collapsed under the tree with a sinister glare.

She easily caught her.

Under the tree, their forms gradually twisted and writhed.

The granddaughter knew she had no chance of survival. Biting back the pain and tears, she only cried out to her grandfather. "Run! Grandpa, run!"

Fu Yu sighed softly.

She did not turn to look at the Foxtail Grass Spirit.

She pretended not to know that it was also clenching its fists tightly, silently screaming.

"Run! Grandpa, run!"

Elder Xie looked back.