Tianye's Objective

"Twenty thousand years..." Hearing Tianye's seemingly threatening words, Wen Xinyun murmured under her breath. She stared at the radiant smile blooming across the other girl's face, her voice calm and steady. "You hardly seem like someone who has lived for twenty thousand years, Your Excellency." Tianye froze slightly upon hearing this, but a faint smile soon spread across her face. "Are you trying to say I'm lying to you?" "No, I believe you are the Tianyan from twenty thousand years ago." "Then you think I spent those twenty thousand years sleeping?" "..." Wen Xinyun did not answer, but the look in her eyes gave Tianye an affirmative response. Tianye pondered for a moment and sighed softly. "To escape the great terror between life and death, living beings are always striving for immortality. Yet how immense is the agony of immortality! Time can wear away everything in a person—memories, emotions, and even one's very existence will fade with the passing rings of time. But it is precisely because I forgot everything from the past that I can have the temperament I do now." Wen Xinyun frowned, failing to understand the latter half of her words. Tianye, however, did not keep her in suspense, laughing straightforwardly: "To put it simply, it was a dream of the past—a dream like Zhuang Zhou dreaming he was a butterfly." Upon hearing this, Wen Xinyun understood and nodded in thanks. "I see. Thank you for enlightening me." Tianye gave a noncommittal shrug of her delicate shoulders. "So, does Miss Wen want to test my Tianyan Dao Method now?" Wen Xinyun looked around at the frozen world. "I have no intention of making an enemy of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion." Tianye teased with a soft laugh, "That's quite a sudden change in attitude. Still, knowing when to yield and when to stand tall is the mark of a true hero." Wen Xinyun shook her head and said softly, "No. It is precisely because I take it seriously that I wish to pry into the Tianyan Dao Method." Ever since erasing her own existence in the chaotic era of dynastic transitions, she had operated in the shadows to accumulate strength. Yet across this thousand-year span, she had never caught the slightest trace of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, while they seemed to have been watching her all along. Her cooperation with the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion had stemmed from their initiative to contact her a century ago. During the era of "Daylight," the Heaven Deduction Method had been completely insoluble. Even if an individual's cultivation had reached a level beyond deduction, the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion could still infer their existence through the people around them. For this reason, Wen Xinyun had always maintained a healthy degree of awe and wariness toward the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. Even now that the "Long Night" had arrived, she had never underestimated this faction that had once dominated the world for tens of thousands of years. However... Wen Xinyun slowly raised her hand, and ripples began to stir at her fingertips. The surrounding space, frozen by Tianye's Dao domain, began to tremble along with those ripples. Invisible cracks spread across Tianye's Dao domain in an instant, web-like and dense. Then— *Crack!* The chirping of insects and birds once again filled the mountain forest. Tianye's Aeon Art Dao domain shattered without any warning. The Void Realm that had broken Xu Yuan's Life-Death Dao domain back at Zhenxi Manor manifested once more before the world. Having done this, Wen Xinyun looked at the frowning golden-eyed girl and spoke slowly: "However, if Your Excellency intends to stop me from slaying Xu Changtian, I wouldn't mind testing your Tianyan Dao Method." The "Tianyan" from twenty thousand years ago standing before her was exceedingly powerful. Ever since that day at Zhenxi Manor, Wen Xinyun had recognized the terrifying strength she possessed, yet Wen Xinyun was equally confident in her ability to kill her. Tianye showed no emotional fluctuation at this offense. In fact, had the woman backed down directly, she would have found it surprising instead. Anyone capable of rising beyond the Saint Realm was an extraordinary talent who had dominated an entire era. Without a battle, neither could claim a guaranteed victory. With her Dao domain shattered, Tianye showed no sign of panic. Sensing the aura radiating from her opponent, she drew a slender index finger through the air and said at an unhurried pace: "Disrupting my connection to the heaven-and-earth Dao charm to shatter my Dao domain? An impressive domain technique, but unfortunately, it is useless against me." Wen Xinyun raised an eyebrow, and then, as if realizing something, a flicker of surprise crossed her dark eyes. "You truly lived for twenty thousand years?" "Why would I lie to you?" Tianye rolled her eyes at her. As her fingertip cut through the air, golden radiance shimmered, and her crescent-curved eyes flashed with a breathtaking golden light. "Ordinary cultivators cast Dao domains by drawing upon heaven-and-earth power because the Dao charm within their bodies is insufficient. But I don't need to. Twenty thousand years is a very long time—long enough for the Dao charm inside one's body to overflow, isn't it?" As the girl's soft voice echoed, the surrounding space began to freeze once again. Sensing this, Wen Xinyun rapidly gathered all her focus, swiftly analyzing the battlefield like one facing a formidable foe. Her gentle voice deepened: "It seems I have no choice now but to be forced to experience your sect's Tianyan Dao Method..." Yet before her words could settle, Tianye suddenly dispersed her technique and giggled: "I was only telling you. What are you getting so nervous for?" "What?" Wen Xinyun frowned. Without warning, Tianye completely dismissed the Aeon Art Dao domain that had been coalescing. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared at Wen Xinyun with a beaming smile: "Slaying you here wouldn't do me any good aside from exposing the Tianyan Dao Method. After all, this isn't your true body, is it?" Sensing that the other girl truly had reined in her technique's aura, Wen Xinyun fell silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice: "That joke wasn't funny in the slightest." Tianye waved her hand dismissively, glancing in the direction Xu Yuan had departed, and chuckled lightly. "If it's not funny, bear with it. My wicked sense of humor has always been like this. As long as you stay here to keep me company until the battle over there concludes, I won't raise a hand against you. Although it's only an external incarnation, with cultivation like this, losing it would still be a tremendous loss for you, wouldn't it?" "..." Wen Xinyun remained silent, offering no reply. At this moment, she could no longer decipher the thoughts or the stance of the old monster in the guise of a young girl before her. She despised dealing with lunatics like Tianye. Because you never knew whether they were doing something purely for amusement or out of some deeper objective. Once the aura belonging to those beyond the Saint Realm dissipated, the entire mountain forest returned to tranquility once more. The two women hovered in the empty air, the post-rain breeze continually rustling their skirts. After half a quarter-hour of silence, Wen Xinyun suddenly spoke up: "Your Excellency, as far as I know, Xu Changtian is the catastrophe ordained by your Overseeing Heaven Pavilion. Protecting him like this—what is your true objective?" "Protecting him?" Tianye withdrew her gaze from the horizon and asked with a half-smile, "Why would you think I'm protecting him?" Wen Xinyun knitted her delicate brows. "If you and I strike together, supplemented by the Sword Sect's two grand arrays, there is no chance he would survive." "Theoretically, yes." "Theoretically?" "Well, how should I put it?" Tianye tilted her head, thought for a moment, and asked, "Do you believe in karma?" "..." Wen Xinyun did not respond, waiting for her explanation. Tianye slightly tilted her exquisite face and said leisurely: "If he is the catastrophe, the karma dictates that before he grows into his complete form, you will never be able to kill him." "Absurd," Wen Xinyun evaluated. "I think so too," Tianye chimed in, sounding somewhat helpless. "Yet it is a fact, and a truth that my Overseeing Heaven Pavilion paid for with countless attempts and the lives of countless powerhouses." Having said this, the emotion in her eyes faded into cold indifference, and her tone abruptly shifted: "However, being unkillable does not mean he cannot be restrained through other means."