The autumn mountain forest lacked the tireless cicada chirping and lush greenery of summer, but made up for it with the tranquil beauty of fallen leaves.
Suddenly,
A slender, graceful silhouette dropped down from the canopy, padding toward the man in the woods on bare, tender pink feet.
Seated cross-legged in a clearing, Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes.
"Shen Weixiu taken care of?"
"Mhm. Where's Tianrui?"
Her voice was crisp and melodious. As she spoke, her golden eyes looked around the surroundings.
Xu Yuan's answer was brief:
"Dead."
"..."
Tianyan halted instinctively, her beautiful eyes brimming with astonishment.
"You killed him?"
Xu Yuan's eyelid twitched.
"If not me, then who? You?"
Smiling eyes twinkling, Tianyan let out a soft huff. She walked up to Xu Yuan, crouched down, and leaned forward to pat him on the shoulder.
"Progress. Not even injured. Not bad, not bad."
Watching the young girl's antics, Xu Yuan fell silent for two seconds before suddenly letting out a soft chuckle.
An utterly clumsy imitation.
He looked up at her and said casually,
"I'm familiar with his Heaven-Deducing Art, but he wasn't familiar with my sword arts. Plus, he got distracted during the fight. So, he died."
Tianyan smoothed her skirt and sat down beside him, her voice crisp and pleasant.
"Distracted during the fight because of Shen Weixiu's voice transmission?"
A waft of the girl's delicate fragrance drifted past his nose. Xu Yuan nodded. "Pretty much."
"..."
At his words, Tianyan leaned back slightly, propping herself up with her small hands behind her. Gazing up at the sky through the canopy, she said with a beam,
"Then you ought to thank me. I'm the one who leaked the moves of the Heaven-Deducing Art to you, and I'm the one who created the opening for your sneak attack."
Xu Yuan gave her an odd look.
"Tianyan, since when were you so shameless?"
"Aren't I just learning from you~?" Tianyan glanced at him, the corner of her lips curving up. "Where's Tianrui's storage ring?"
Xu Yuan grew instantly wary, shooting her a sideways glance. "Didn't find it."
"Mhm~"
Tianyan narrowed her eyes, her tone unhurried. "As a reward, I think you might want to consider handing Tianrui's storage ring over to me."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan turned his gaze to Tianyan, a touch of scrutiny entering his eyes.
Tianyan's beautiful eyes curved into two shimmering crescents, her tone steady:
"I can trade Shen Weixiu's storage ring for it."
Xu Yuan grinned.
As the Holy Son of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, Tianrui's storage ring held not only a vast quantity of precious cultivation resources, but also many secret pieces of information regarding the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion.
Compared to the former, which could not be taken out of the illusion, the value of the latter went without saying.
Yet due to time constraints, Xu Yuan had only managed to skim over this information.
And as the Saintess of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, Tianyan would never allow such secrets to leak out.
Adults operated on interest and benefit; where was there room for lovesick delusions?
Xu Yuan shook his head and refused:
"What if I say no?"
Tianyan glanced at him and chuckled softly.
"In a situation like this, you've already taught me what to do."
"You want to fight?" Xu Yuan smiled.
"If you don't hand it over." Tianyan smiled back.
Xu Yuan chuckled and shook his head.
"Neither of us is heavily injured right now. If we fight, one of us might get hurt."
Tianyan fixed her gaze on Xu Yuan.
"Doesn't matter. We've got the Meishen cherry sapling anyway."
"Found out from Shen Weixiu?"
"Mhm. His Dao Charm is well-suited for fleeing, so killing him took a bit of effort. But I did manage to pry some information out of him. The Meishen cherry tree should be with you."
"..."
Xu Yuan stared at Tianyan for several breaths. Then, with utter candidness, he pulled out the Meishen cherry sapling from his Sumeru ring and said,
"Here's the Meishen cherry tree. You can take a look before deciding whether you want to fight me."
"..."
Puzzlement flickered in Tianyan's beautiful eyes as she probed it slightly with her senses.
The next moment,
The smile vanished from her face, and her voice rose slightly:
"Th-This is the Meishen cherry tree?"
Meeting her gaze, Xu Yuan nodded with absolute seriousness.
"I am very sure. It is the Meishen cherry tree."
"..."
Sunset had arrived. The slanting rays of the setting sun filtered through the canopy, dyeing everything in the woods crimson, including the girl's golden eyes.
She stared fixedly at the sapling before her, which was less than a zhang tall.
"Why... why are there no intent-soul fluctuations?"
Xu Yuan smiled and said softly,
"There are some. If you sense carefully, you'll feel it—it's just very faint, haha."
Hearing this, Tianyan immediately whipped her head around and glared at him.
"How could intent-soul fluctuations of this level possibly be the source? You still have the mood to joke around right now?"
"I'm used to it."
Xu Yuan waved a hand with a chuckle. "Life must go on. Surprises just keep piling up in this illusion."
Tianyan huffed and panted twice, then suddenly turned her eyes on him.
"Xu Changtian, it couldn't be that you..."
"I'm warning you, don't make trouble out of nothing," Xu Yuan said, casting a flat glance at her.
Tianyan raised a slender index finger, lightly biting it between her teeth, her gaze flustered.
"True... You wouldn't have had the time to hide it. But if the source isn't the Meishen cherry tree, what could it be? That makes no sense... As long as it's an illusion, there has to be a source..."
At this point,
Tianyan's pupils suddenly contracted.
"Xu Changtian, when you killed Tianrui, did you sense..."
"I sensed it."
Xu Yuan cut Tianyan off directly.
Talking to smart people really saved effort.
After a moment of silence,
Tianyan asked hesitantly, "You're sure you sensed it too?"
Xu Yuan sighed and flopped straight back onto the dead leaves and twigs.
"Yeah. This illusion of the Meishen cherry tree truly is bizarre.
"Heh... It actually dispersed the source across every single figure in the illusion. No wonder the people in this illusion can react and respond to our actions."
Having said this,
Xu Yuan, lying on the ground, glanced sideways at Tianyan.
"So, my recommendation is that we put our infighting on hold and resolve the current problem first. What do you think?"
"What current problem?" Tianyan asked.
Xu Yuan suddenly rolled over and sat up, enunciating each word:
"Tianyan, we have to escape the Qionghua Realm."
"..." Tianyan fell silent.
After a long while,
She looked up and said,
"Even though Tianrui and Shen Weixiu were killed by us, they were the ones who initiated this attack."
Xu Yuan sighed, looking up at the darkening sky through the tree canopy. His reply was terse:
"Doesn't matter."
Tianyan frowned, looking at the man on the ground.
"You're that certain the Qionghua Sect will hand us over?"
Xu Yuan shook his head and said softly,
"Not to that extent. The Qionghua Sect is a major sect, after all; in all likelihood, they wouldn't do something so humiliating that forfeits their dignity and sovereignty—at least not openly."
The two of them had essentially slain the head disciple of the Dao Palace and the Holy Son of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion unscathed. Such combat power and talent would make them treasured gems in any sect. What was more, when Shen Weixiu was acting with utter impunity, the two had stepped forward and struck him down, making them "heroes" of the Qionghua Sect by any standard.
Having reached this point,
Xu Yuan paused for a moment, then grinned.
"Given your intelligence, it shouldn't be hard to deduce that there's a mole among the Qionghua upper echelons, right?"
"Mhm." Tianyan nodded, a hint of confusion in her eyes. Hesitating slightly, she asked, "What are you getting at?"
"Guess you're still not smart enough," Xu Yuan said with a curl of his lip.
"..."
Tianyan's pure, lovely face twitched, and her fists clenched.
After staring at each other for two seconds,
Xu Yuan clicked his tongue. "Tsk... you really aren't cute at all."
"Just say the word if you want to die," Tianyan said, kicking him.
Xu Yuan sighed and waved two fingers in front of Tianyan.
"What I want to say is actually very simple. A traitor appearing among the upper echelons only happens in two scenarios. Either the ship is about to sink, and if they don't abandon ship, they'll drown along with it; or the benefits gained far outweigh what is being betrayed—at least from the traitor's perspective, the reward exceeds the cost. Tianyan, which scenario do you think the Qionghua Sect falls under?"
Judging from the reality of later generations,
The Meishen cherry tree to the Qionghua Sect was practically equivalent to nuclear fusion technology to a nation in his previous life.
Higher-ups selling out the sect was one thing, but selling out something of this magnitude was simply absurd.
Although Xu Yuan thought the infighting Qionghua upper echelons were foolish, there was no way they could be stupid to such an extreme.
"..."
Tianyan looked thoughtful as pieces of information swirled in her mind.
After a while,
She said softly,
"You mean to say... the Qionghua upper echelons don't know that the Meishen cherry tree requires Yuchu's constitution to unlock?"
"Exactly." Xu Yuan nodded with a smile.
In all likelihood, there was a "lock" on the "nuclear fusion" technology that was the Meishen cherry tree. The traitor within the Qionghua Sect's upper echelons had discovered this, but didn't know the "lock" required Yuchu's constitution to be unlocked. Rather than keeping a useless item, they chose to trade it for tangible benefits.
With that,
Xu Yuan slowly stood up from the ground.
"The Qionghua upper echelons will make their move on us soon."
The established reality ten thousand years later where one became a cherry tree and the other a leech; the ambush by Tianrui and Shen Weixiu; the ugly faces of the two factions among the Qionghua upper echelons; not to mention a high-ranking traitor concealed in their midst...
Piecing together all the information,
Even though the present illusion had shifted substantially due to the butterfly effect brought by the two of them, it still wasn't difficult to deduce what had transpired ten thousand years ago.
Jinghe and Yuchu had survived the ambush and preserved the Meishen cherry tree. But through this attack launched by the two geniuses of the Dao Palace and Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, the Qionghua upper echelons also learned of the uniqueness of Yuchu's constitution.
Because of this,
The sect withstood the pressure from the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and Taiqing Dao Palace to protect them.
Because of this,
Yuchu became the Saintess, while Jinghe became a true disciple.
And then,
One day in the future, for the prosperity of the sect, the two were sacrificed together in a blood sacrifice to the Meishen cherry tree.
In the silence, the sunset faded away, leaving the mountain forest pitch-black.
Looking at Xu Yuan, Tianyan asked softly,
"How soon do you think they'll make their move?"
Xu Yuan thought for a moment and said,
"It could be on the day you're crowned Saintess, or a few years later, or even decades later."
Hearing his words that were no different from saying nothing at all, Tianyan took a deep breath.
"Do you have a way to escape this Qionghua Realm?"
"Tianrui had an escape route. The traitor in the Qionghua upper echelons provided him with the location of a randomized teleportation array. We can use it."
This was likely the secret teleportation point the Saint's remnant soul had asked him about earlier. He hadn't found it in Cangyuan in his past life, yet ended up discovering it this way in this illusion.
"Let's go," Tianyan said decisively.
Xu Yuan suddenly looked at her with a grin.
"What? Not trying to snatch Tianrui's Sumeru ring anymore?"
Tianyan raised a foot to kick him, but Xu Yuan dodged.
Pulling back her fair, tender jade foot, Tianyan flipped her hair.
"No need. It's yours. With Tianrui's level of cultivation, he wouldn't have had access to anything important anyway."
"Fickle woman."
"..." Tianyan glared.
Ignoring her glare, Xu Yuan glanced in the direction of their residence and asked,
"Hey, do you need to go home to grab anything?"
Tianyan stood up as well, giving him a scolding look.
"At a time like this, what is there to grab?"
Xu Yuan glanced over the charred, battle-damaged outfit on Tianyan.
"Are you sure?"
"It seems... I do."
"Heh, let's go. We're not so pressed that we can't spare half an hour."
The two returned home, packed their bags for running away, and rushed all the way to the entrance of Vault Palace—only to find it in utter chaos.
Before the majestic white jade palace gates, cultivators bustled back and forth, Source Qi surging in turbulence.
Among the crowd, Xu Yuan even spotted an influential elder of the first-rank Transcendent Realm.
Witnessing this, both Xu Yuan and Tianyan felt their hearts sink.
Fortunately, however, the chaos was not due to the deaths of Tianrui and Shen Weixiu, but because of an old acquaintance Xu Yuan had just met earlier today.
Xiao Jianqing.
He had bolted.
The moment he secured the resources promised by the Second Elder, he had immediately made a run for it.
Relying on the humble persona and goodwill he had cultivated in the past, he poisoned the third-rank Deacon Elder, two core disciples, and several inner disciples guarding the teleportation gate completely off-guard, then escaped to the outside world directly through the teleportation array at the Vault Palace gates.
By the time others discovered what had happened at the front gates of Vault Palace, Xiao Jianqing had already been gone for nearly half an hour.
Well, fancy running into someone with the exact same idea of fleeing.
Yet upon learning the news, Xu Yuan wasn't surprised in the least.
Handing the lion's share of resources to their direct descendants while forcing others onto the line for life-and-death wagers—who wouldn't run?
Still, that Xiao Jianqing actually managed to pull off an escape did catch Xu Yuan a bit off guard.
The guy had some real skill.
Thanks to Xiao Jianqing "setting the precedent," most of the Qionghua Sect's attention had shifted to the teleportation array at the realm's exit, making his and Tianyan's plan to flee to the ends of the earth go far more smoothly.
After dealing with a few acquaintances in the palace, Xu Yuan and Tianyan arrived smoothly at their destination.
The back mountain of Zhenhua Hall.
Holding the token from Tianrui's Sumeru ring, Xu Yuan sensed it slightly, then waved his hand.
*Buzz—*
A concealed array instantly materialized around the two of them. Infused with Source Qi, it activated.
Soon,
A pitch-black teleportation portal appeared before them.
Standing there for a moment,
The surroundings were completely silent. The wind blew through the woods with a rustle, brushing past the ends of her waist-length hair.
He extended a hand toward her.
"Come on, let's go."
She glanced at his hand and wordlessly placed her small hand in his.
Holding Tianyan's hand, Xu Yuan stepped forward to enter.
Right then,
The girl behind him suddenly spoke:
"Hey."
"What?"
"You do know what you're doing right now, don't you?" she asked.
Escaping now meant the Qionghua Sect would no longer shield them from the pressure of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and Taiqing Dao Palace.
On the contrary, the Qionghua Sect would send pursuers after them.
What was more,
Whether because of the Meishen cherry tree or because of Tianrui and Shen Weixiu, both behemoths—the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion and Taiqing Dao Palace—would send hunters of their own.
After a brief silence,
Xu Yuan smiled, his eyes curving. Tugging her forward, he said,
"Don't worry.
"The world is vast. It's plenty big enough for us to hide."
"Idiot."
"Tsk..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Inside the Hall of Dharma Transmission, all was dead silent. Through the hole in the vaulted ceiling, rays of sunlight spilled inside.
Suddenly,
Xu Yuan opened his closed eyes.
Chapter 134