Several beautiful young maidens walked through the darkness, each visibly on edge. They knew someone was following them, yet they could not sense his presence in the slightest. Absolute pitch-black darkness enveloped them on all sides, blinding their sight and forcing them to move forward purely by instinct.
After much effort, light blossomed before them as they stepped into a ring of hazy luminescence. The maidens still could see nothing beyond it; turning in unison, they retreated into the darkness. But the invisible man remained behind.
Sky light from an unknown source illuminated a small patch of ground. A man clad in grey materialized, looked up toward where the sky light originated, and only then strode forward to stop before a youth.
The youth was carving a stone figure. Without looking up, he said, "To think you dared step into an illuminated area this time. You're quite bold."
The grey-robed man said indifferently, "Even here, let alone whether you could kill me, even if you succeeded, would the Venerable Lord spare you?"
The youth laughed heartily and finally set down the stone statue in his hands. "Cangwu, there is no need to frighten me with the Venerable Lord. Lu Changhe is dead; if something happens to me as well, I fear the Venerable Lord won't even be able to sit still above Immortal Heaven. Besides, though you and I have no deep friendship, neither do we bear any grudges. Why would I kill you for no good reason? But as for whether you want to kill me, that I wouldn't know."
Cangwu remained expressionless, standing quietly.
Xu Wangu, appearing as a youth, set down his carving knife and asked, "Why have you come?"
"The Venerable Lord instructed me to come see you."
"See me?" Xu Wangu pondered a moment. "Now you've seen me. What are your own thoughts?"
Cangwu replied, "I have never had thoughts of my own."
"True enough." Xu Wangu stood, walked up to Cangwu, turned a full circle, and said, "Well?"
Cangwu maintained his wooden demeanor. "I don't know."
Xu Wangu smiled. "Since you've seen, please see yourself out."
Cangwu slowly stepped back, retreating into the darkness before vanishing entirely.
Xu Wangu frowned slightly and murmured to himself, "He possesses such methods? Indeed, if I wanted to keep him here, it would likely be impossible."
Behind him came the slightly hoarse voice of the green-eyed woman: "With only the conventional methods of you and me, naturally it would be impossible. But add this, and he won't be able to run."
Xu Wangu turned around to see the green-eyed woman appear. In her hands, she held a transparent glazed pure bottle, at the bottom of which sat a shallow layer of pale white water.
Upon seeing this pale white water, a flicker of excitement surfaced in Xu Wangu's eyes. "Harvested?"
The green-eyed woman nodded. "Yes. Originally it was still far from time, but the number of Dao Foundations among those children far exceeded past expectations, and each of them has cast their body. Seeing that the time was ripe, I struck to harvest once, and indeed succeeded."
With that, she handed the glazed pure bottle to Xu Wangu.
Xu Wangu took it, his hands trembling faintly. "All for me? You're not keeping any for yourself?"
The green-eyed woman said, "I don't need it for now. You only need to remember what you promised."
Xu Wangu immediately replied, "Rest assured! In all my life, Xu Wangu has only one thing worthy of pride, and that is keeping my word."
The green-eyed woman said, "This item cannot be preserved for long. While Cangwu has just left and the disturbances in heavenly secrets here have yet to settle, use it quickly so it will not manifest karmic ties."
Xu Wangu pondered briefly. His gaze wandered back and forth among the unfinished stone carving, a broken small sword, and a small artificial rockery. In the end, he walked over to the rockery at the center of the sky light and poured the bottle of pale white water over it.
The green-eyed woman finally showed a trace of expression. "Water of karmic luck is hard to come by. I thought you would use it on the stone carving to avenge your great grudge, or repair the immortal sword to leave an ancestral legacy for future generations. Both would have been viable choices. Yet you actually used it to strengthen this realm?"
Xu Wangu said, "This place is my mindscape world. Once it grows stronger, everything becomes possible."
The green-eyed woman nodded. "I hadn't expected you to harbor such ambition."
Xu Wangu, in youth form, laughed loudly. "This is grand ambition!"
The green-eyed woman said, "Back then, you were willing to accept my proposal and dared to take such a perilous gamble. You truly are no ordinary man. Today, this bottle of water of karmic luck is what you deserve."
Xu Wangu said with deep meaning, "A single bottle of water of karmic luck is far from enough."
"That is beyond what you and I can control." Having spoken, the green-eyed woman withdrew into the darkness, silent and traceless.
Xu Wangu looked up toward the sky. He could sense the sky light growing stronger bit by bit, the area illuminated within the darkness steadily expanding.
He smiled faintly, retracted his gaze, picked up the unfinished carving, and casually tossed it into a corner.
The statue rolled over, revealing the rough outline of a face. At this point, the face had only been touched by a few strokes of the chisel, utterly devoid of detail, yet one could already sense an exquisite beauty. Moreover, the top of the head was completely hairless.
***
In the wilderness beside the Sword Palace, Bai Kaishui sat inside a thatched hut built specifically to receive outside guests, browsing through scrolls of calligraphy. Some of the writings were cursive and wild, others seemingly solemn, yet all inevitably leaked a sharp edge—either an extra dot here or a few wisps flying out like sword qi there.
The room suddenly grew chilly. The grey-robed Cangwu materialized quietly, gazing at the calligraphy scrolls as well.
Bai Kaishui sighed and gathered all the scrolls. "I can't even get any peace while looking over the calligraphy I wrote in my youth."
"Palace Master Bai, suit yourself. I will look and then leave."
Bai Kaishui eyed Cangwu askance. "Not even a ghost would believe those words. You're an immortal after all, so stop spouting such useless nonsense; you're only diminishing your own stature for nothing. Did you truly come just to look?"
Cangwu said, "The Venerable Lord ordered me to come take a look, so I came to take a look. I have no other thoughts."
Bai Kaishui said coldly, "The Venerable Lord treats you like a dog, and you've truly taken to being one? Think back to how dashing and spirited you were in your prime—a Ten Thousand Tribulations Golden Roc soaring up through the heavens and plunging into the nine underworlds, hunting down formidable foes to the bitter end! Back then, even I admired that Ten Thousand Tribulations Roc, yet today, all that remains is a butterfly. Does a creature like you even deserve to look at the calligraphy of my youth?"
Cangwu's expression did not waver. "Back then, Liumiao had nothing to his name. He hacked his way through thorns and brambles, enduring ten thousand hardships to achieve immortality, yet didn't he still perish without a sound? In scheme, bearing, and vision, he surpassed me in every way. In the end, he lacked only a single thread of fortune, and he died stripped of all dignity.
"Yet was fortune truly all he lacked?"
This final question came out of nowhere, yet it stumped Bai Kaishui. After pondering for a moment, he finally replied, "Indeed. Even if Liumiao had been granted sufficient karmic luck, he was still doomed to die."
Cangwu finally showed a hint of emotion. "Indeed! Even if given karmic luck, he still had to die—unless he possessed grand fortune equivalent to one hundred million mortal karmic luck... Yet once mortal fortune exceeds a hundred million, not even the Venerable Lord would let go of it lightly. Why would it ever be spent on Liumiao? Relying on himself, it was impossible for him to attain that level of fortune; no one else would give it to him, and he had no family elders to guarantee his survival. And so, he died.
"In truth, what he lacked was not karmic luck, but background—a family lineage sufficient to offset a killing tribulation of one hundred million mortal fortune."
Bai Kaishui let out a sigh.
Cangwu continued, "Liumiao always believed that wealth and honor were sought amid danger. He braved deadly perils, fighting for a slim thread of life, turning danger into safety countless times before finally crossing the immortal gate. But he crossed someone he never should have provoked. No matter how many times he had gambled and won before, losing just this once cost him everything he had ever gained, including his own path to immortality.
"Bai Kaishui, if it were you, would you gamble?"
The question came abruptly. A dazzling gleam suddenly flared in Cangwu's eyes, so intense that it actually forced Bai Kaishui to look away. This was not merely a matter of immortal power; it struck at the very core of things.
Bai Kaishui sighed. "I would."
Cangwu reined in his aura and spoke slowly: "You would gamble, and so would we. The difference is that you have the Sword Palace behind you. If you lose a gamble, you can start over, and others won't go so far as to take your life. But if we lose once, we lose everything."
Bai Kaishui smiled bitterly. "Back then, I invited both of you to join the Sword Palace with me, yet neither of you would come."
"You entered as the personal disciple of the deputy palace master, whereas we would have had to start as outer disciples. Back then, young and arrogant, we both wanted to forge our own distinct paths, so we each ventured out on our own. Speaking the truth now, I indeed regret it, but it is too late. If Liumiao were still alive, he would surely regret it as well.
"You were fundamentally different from the two of us. You were born a cut above us; we were simply unwilling to admit it back then. And for that youthful arrogance of ours, we truly paid a tremendous price. For hundreds of years, we have run ourselves ragged for meager cultivation resources, entirely stripped of dignity."
Bai Kaishui hesitated, then finally asked, "What about Feiyang?"
Cangwu paused briefly before replying, "To resolve her family's crisis, she married a core Scenery Command elder of an elite clan early on. She originally thought she could live a peaceful life from then on, never expecting to be tormented and cultivated as a furnace until she was barely recognizable. By the time I found out, her foundation had already been ruined. Later, I begged the Venerable Lord to step in and deal with that clan's elder, and the Venerable Lord then refined her body into a secret puppet. If I fall, the one who comes looking for you next will be her."
"This... Why did you two have to go this far?" Bai Kaishui wore a look of utter helplessness.
Cangwu said indifferently, "That man was the direct great-grandson of an immortal, with prospects of ascending to immortality. To touch him, Feiyang alone was not enough. I had to offer myself as well to gain the Venerable Lord's intervention. Were it not for the Venerable Lord, who else in this world would have avenged her? Would it be that Old Ancestor of yours known as the 'Edgeless Divine Sword'?"
Bai Kaishui was left speechless. He naturally knew that his own Old Ancestor was most adept at the art of balance—commonly known as smoothing things over. He would never clash to the death with a true immortal for the sake of an ordinary woman whose foundation had been ruined.
That Old Ancestor had attained the position of deputy palace master entirely by virtue of the word 'edgeless.' Yet precisely because he lacked that sharp edge, he ended up halted at the peak of Scenery Command for the rest of his life, unable to cross the immortal gate.
Having said this much, the grievance Cangwu had suppressed for who knew how long was finally vented. He reverted to his original cold and detached demeanor. "By my own estimation, the Venerable Lord wishes to ask whether the words you spoke back then still count, and whether you still intend to repay that kindness."
Bai Kaishui immediately put on a broad smile. "I am a man who has always valued promises most, and I never fail to repay kindness! But back then, that favor was simply too enormous. I never expected that what I agreed to would end up turning into having an affinity with bald donkeys. How about this: since the debt of gratitude is truly too vast to repay all at once, I break it into small installments and pay it back slowly, bit by bit. How does that sound?"
Cangwu gazed at him quietly.
Bai Kaishui offered an apologetic grin. "I know this is somewhat shameful, but don't I have no other choice? Besides, the Venerable Lord is a senior of seniors, and I am the junior among juniors. A figure of his stature—how could he bring himself to bicker with a mere junior like me? Don't you agree?"
Cangwu was left speechless, able only to squeeze out: "You... truly are shameless!"
"Hahaha! You've hit the nail right on the head. Think about it: for my edgeless Old Ancestor, even scraping into the position of deputy palace master was already punching far above his weight. So on what basis was I able to overpower Feng Hanzhou and become Palace Master? Sword dao was only part of the reason. The real reason..."
Bai Kaishui patted his own cheek. "...was still relying on this face of mine!"
Cangwu had no words left; he could only flee far away.
Chapter 1160