The colossal fortress city perched upon the cliffside still stood, but across the sky above, an immense black curtain had unfurled, enveloping everything within.
Looking down from the heavens, wisp after wisp of dusky gray gas leaked and spread across the smooth black curtain's surface, writhing like countless grotesque tentacles.
Deep within a dark karst cave at the bottom of the Thousand Thorns Chasm, watching everything unfolding above, a gentle and refined woman's voice suddenly spoke:
"Is this the nascent form of the ten-thousand-year catastrophe you spoke of?"
The sound echoed through the silent cave.
Only after a long pause did another aloof, cool female voice ring out quietly from the cave entrance:
"Regarding the catastrophe, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion has never engaged in alarmism."
Miss Wen did not reply at once. After several breaths of silence, she offered a languid, soft laugh:
"From the perspective of an individual—or even a minor state—Mu Nuo's existence could indeed be called a cataclysm. But looking across Great Yan today, wouldn't calling this a catastrophe seem rather farcical, Pavilion Master?"
Having made her escape with the White Emperor's intervention, Tianyuan took light steps, her palace dress fluttering as she walked through the darkness:
"Mister Wen, you should have already realized that this thing is devouring the heaven-and-earth Source Qi to expand itself, and you should also be able to see everything occurring within this ghost domain."
"I am indeed well aware of that."
Miss Wen's voice was placid and unhurried, slender and gentle as water. "Were it in some desolate, uninhabited land, it might well become a scourge upon an entire region. To be reborn and endure forever within it—in the mortal realm, whether those who have lost loved ones or those who fear death, all would flock to it like moths to a flame, only to become its nourishment. But unfortunately for it, it has appeared before our eyes."
At this point, her voice paused slightly:
"As for the current catastrophe, the White Emperor alone could reduce it to ash."
Tianyuan's cool golden eyes lit up in the darkness:
"The White Emperor cannot kill it."
Hearing this, the woman submerged in the shadows seemed to chuckle softly:
"Mankind always lives in the ashes of the past, attempting to seek the wreckage of history among remnant sparks. Ten thousand years ago, when the ancient sages first encountered aberrant ghosts, they also believed them to be immortal.
"Pavilion Master...
"You came looking specifically for me; surely it wasn't out of concern over Mu Nuo?"
"..." Tianyuan remained silent.
In the dark of the karst cave, the gentle, delicate voice continued on its own:
"If not Mu Nuo, then it must be Xu Changtian. The Young Master Zhou mentioned earlier by the Insect Saint and the other two seems to have been his alias. Mu Nuo descended upon Zhenxi Manor specifically to devour him; conversely, can Xu Changtian devour that yin ghost as well?"
Tianyuan replied:
"The Overseeing Heaven Pavilion does not have a definitive answer to that either."
"Heh..."
A light laugh sounded from the depths of the cave, and Miss Wen's voice carried a hint of doubt:
"Your Overseeing Heaven Pavilion is unsure? If you were unsure, why did you pay such an immense price last year just to assassinate Xu Changtian?"
At this, the rustle of clothes came from deep within the cave; Miss Wen seemed to have stood up, her voice gentle as water:
"Although the Chancellor's Manor immediately sent men to impose martial law over Huizhou County afterward, based on the results of my personal investigation, there lingered within those ruins an ominous Qi akin to Mu Nuo's.
"Moreover, I discovered an extremely peculiar thing there. Could you resolve my confusion, Pavilion Master?"
With that, accompanied by soft, measured footsteps, Miss Wen's figure slowly drew closer to Tianyuan:
"Feng Jiuxuan seems to have arrived late and did not clash with the experts of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, yet among the ruins of Huizhou County, sword marks left by him remained. May I ask, Lord Pavilion Master, who was that Sword Saint clashing with? Surely it couldn't have been Lou Ji?"
Tianyuan's golden eyes gleamed brightly in the dark, and she answered truthfully:
"You have guessed correctly, Mister Wen. The person who crossed swords with Feng Jiuxuan was indeed Xu Changtian. At the time, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion had indeed identified him as the genesis of the catastrophe."
Her words fell.
The cave sank into momentary silence before Miss Wen's sighing voice slowly sounded:
"In that case, are there two ten-thousand-year cataclysms? Or rather, between the two monsters that are Mu Nuo and Xu Changtian, whichever survives is the true one?
"Originally, to take the greater picture into account, I did not wish to execute Xu Changtian here. But now it seems there is no longer any need for such restraint.
"Rest assured, Pavilion Master. I will assist your Overseeing Heaven Pavilion in once again eliminating the genesis of this catastrophe."
"No, Mister Wen, you misunderstand my purpose in coming."
Yet contrary to the expectations of the woman surnamed Wen, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master shook her head upon hearing this:
"I did not come here seeking to execute Xu Changtian. Rather, I came to tell you, Mister Wen, that the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion wishes for you to stand by with folded arms regarding the matter of the ten-thousand-year cataclysm."
Silence followed.
The somewhat petite woman surnamed Wen raised her eyes slightly, squinting as she stared at the pair of golden eyes before her, as if attempting to see through what the woman was thinking.
Yet the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master was like a formation artifact endowed with human thought; not a shred of emotion could be sensed from her, let alone any information gleaned.
Turning, her profile catching the dim light, the woman surnamed Wen spoke in a voice that remained gentle, yet its pitch dipped slightly:
"Records within my clan state that your pavilion's Saintess is equal in status to the Pavilion Master. In the past, I merely regarded this as a joke, but it seems there was indeed truth to those words. That Saintess whose body was usurped can actually alter your decisions, Pavilion Master."
Tianyuan met her gaze and asked calmly:
"Is Mister Wen refusing, then?"
The woman surnamed Wen retracted her gaze and walked toward the depths of the cave, answering with a question of her own:
"I wonder how much effort the Pavilion Master believes she has contributed to this trip to Zhenxi Manor? And how much convenience have you afforded your pavilion's Saintess? For a sect, shifting one's stance from morning to night is hardly a virtue."
Her footsteps remained light, her tone completely unaltered:
"Pavilion Master...
"Although Mu Nuo's ghost domain has yet to be deconstructed and we do not yet know its mechanisms, observing its manifestations, every human below the Bodily Fusion Realm within the prefectural city seems to undergo endless cycles of rebirth. You should be well aware of what the outcome would be if Xu Changtian—if the Chancellor's Manor—were to obtain such a ghost domain. They would possess an elite force that is completely immortal.
"So long as our overarching interests align, I have never liked interfering excessively with allies. I hope your noble pavilion will abide by this principle as well."
Tianyuan slowly closed her eyes and asked:
"Is Mister Wen planning to employ that final measure next?"
The woman surnamed Wen did not deny it, her soft, languid voice carrying a hint of mockery:
"Do we have any other choice? Because of infighting, because of your Overseeing Heaven Pavilion's petty schemes, that Xu Changtian has already reduced the absolute superiority we held over Zhenxi Prefectural City to ashes.
"Of course, if you are willing to personally step onto the field to execute Xu Changtian, Pavilion Master, I could still hand that heart over to the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion as originally promised, allowing you to control the Dachao people with far greater ease. Unfortunately, it seems you have no such intention, Pavilion Master.
"In fact...
"It looks as though you wish to turn around and obstruct me."
"..."
The cave fell silent, a murderous chill rapidly spreading.
Tianyuan kept her eyes closed, remaining silent.
From beginning to end, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion had acted around the impending catastrophe. Tianye's emergence had provided her with an alternative resolution to the catastrophe, which was why her attitude toward the entire venture to Zhenxi Manor had become ambivalent.
And now, having arrived at the moment of final decision, she needed to weigh the pros and cons, to consider whether the solution offered by this 'Tianyan' from twenty thousand years ago was truly reliable.
Amid the chilling silence, Tianyuan dispersed the Qi gathered around her. Her tall figure slowly turned, her starlike golden eyes fixing upon the woman in the darkness:
"I will coordinate with Qin Ke to intercept Feng Jiuxuan and the Saintess for you. There is no need for haste, Mister Wen. The current Mu Nuo is formidable; you can wait until the outcome between the White Emperor and Mu Nuo is decided before making your move, leaving that Lord of Guyuan behind in this Western Desert as well."
Chapter 678