Considering that Immortal Elder Changcun was of great age and should avoid excessive joy or grief, Jiang Li decided to ask his question in a roundabout way.
“Red Dust Fairy has revived. What do you think?”
The blood rushed to Immortal Elder Changcun’s head, and he suddenly stood up, casting several body-cleansing Immortal Arts on himself. His hunched back straightened, and he began grooming before the bronze mirror, changing into his Immortal Robe.
Holy Maiden Jing Xin only felt her eyes blur for a moment before the old farmer who had been tending his fields transformed into a distinguished elder with a graceful bearing. Without saying another word, Immortal Elder Changcun turned into a stream of light and flew toward the Red Dust Pure Land.
Before he could leave the cave mouth, Jiang Li grabbed his ankle and hauled him back.
“Let go of me, let go of me! Don’t stop me from finding love!”
Immortal Elder Changcun struggled hard, but Jiang Li’s two hands clamped down tightly, leaving him helpless.
“You call that love? I’m too embarrassed to even say what it looks like,” Jiang Li said, curling his lips.
Back when Red Dust Fairy first descended to the mortal realm, she caused quite a stir. Immortal Elder Changcun, curious, went to see her—only to fall to his knees on the spot, declaring he had found love and would worship her for life.
Later, when he calmed down, he claimed Red Dust Fairy was the embodiment of “beauty” in the Heavenly Dao. He couldn’t say such words openly before Holy Maiden Jing Xin.
“Let go of me! Bullying an old man!”
Holy Maiden Jing Xin stared in astonishment—not at Immortal Elder Changcun’s loss of composure, but because Jiang Li was easily restraining a true Immortal. After quite some time, Immortal Elder Changcun calmed down.
“See the charm of Red Dust Fairy now?”
Jiang Li said to Holy Maiden Jing Xin.
“Even an Immortal cannot resist.”
This was a most convincing example. She had never personally witnessed the loss of control of figures like Dream River Emperor and others; nor did she understand the political upheaval caused by Daoist Nun Xuan’ai’s coup. This was her first time seeing anyone, much less an Immortal, driven to madness because of Red Dust Fairy.
“So Red Dust Fairy really did revive?”
Immortal Elder Changcun asked at last. Though he knew Jiang Li would not joke about such matters, he still couldn’t help but confirm it. Jiang Li and Holy Maiden Jing Xin took turns recounting the entire matter.
Immortal Elder Changcun pondered for a while and then said, “It seems to be a body-born spirit that has developed a new soul.”
“There are precedents for such cases in the Immortal Realm. When an Immortal dies but the Immortal Power remains sealed within the body and does not dissipate, the body remains undying. After a long time, spiritual intelligence may be born—without the original memories—becoming an entirely new existence. This happens most easily with body-tempering Immortals who reached Immortalhood through physical cultivation.”
“Didn’t you once propose the theory of new soul birth? The body-born spirit belongs to that category. Whether Spiritual Power or Immortal Power, in the end both can give rise to a new soul.”
“Then why has she been sleeping all this time?”
Jiang Li asked.
“A psychological matter. A newly born soul knows nothing about itself nor the world, yet it wields immense power. Such beings are often lost and afraid, choosing to escape through sleep.”
“When you told her about her past and found that her sleeping time shortened bit by bit, that was her gradually accepting herself.”
Having lived tens of thousands of years in the Immortal Realm, Immortal Elder Changcun was well-informed. Just by listening once, he could make a sound deduction and resolve Jiang Li’s doubts in a few sentences. Seeing the gleam of excitement in the elder’s eyes, Jiang Li gave a warning.
“Don’t you dare sneak into the Red Dust Pure Land now that Red Dust Fairy’s just regained awareness.”
“How could I! Do I look like that sort of person?”
Immortal Elder Changcun turned his head away, feeling wronged. This brat could read minds too easily.
“I’m not joking with you,” Jiang Li said seriously.
“What should we do about Red Dust Fairy? It’s fine as long as she stays in the Red Dust Pure Land, but what if she tries to leave? Should we let her? I still have no clear plan, and only a few people know about her revival. Don’t you cause trouble.”
Seeing Jiang Li’s solemn expression, Immortal Elder Changcun realized he truly wasn’t jesting. The fact that Jiang Li had told him of Red Dust Fairy’s resurrection was already a deep token of trust. As a senior, he naturally could not fail that trust.
“Understood,” he said gravely.
Only then did Jiang Li relax his expression.
“There’s another matter.”
He then told Immortal Elder Changcun about the black-robed man who had spread the Demonic Path and laid his arrangements three hundred and eighty years ahead of time. It had been over two months since Jiang Yixing’s Demonic Path cultivation incident. Jiang Yixing had long been executed.
As his cousin and a descendant of the Human Emperor himself, Jiang Li personally sent Jiang Yixing into the Heavenly Prison. The shocking affair had by now spread throughout the Nine Provinces, stirring nationwide discussion.
Some said Jiang Li was righteous and put justice above kinship, some said he should have slain Jiang Yixing the moment he discovered his demonic cultivation, sparing the need for legal procedures, and others claimed that sending one’s own brother to prison was heartless. But no one suspected Jiang Li himself of cultivating the Demonic Path.
The most direct consequence was that the bronze cauldron in the Human Emperor Palace now gathered the Power of Faith at a slightly slower rate. However, Immortal Elder Changcun had long secluded himself within the Dao Sect, and Holy Maiden Jing Xin had only recently descended the mountain; neither had heard of it.
“How could that black-robed man have arranged things so far in advance? If I weren’t strong enough to no longer rely on faith power, his scheme might well have succeeded.”
Jiang Li no longer treated this as a coincidence of someone randomly teaching the Demonic Path to Jiang Yixing. To raise Jiang Yixing from the Mid Foundation Establishment Stage straight to the Golden Core Stage with a flick of a finger—such a thing required at least the cultivation of a Spirit Transformation Stage expert.
At that time, Jiang Yixing’s talent was mediocre, and he had no backing. Who would waste their effort on him? This was no accident; it must be a plot directed against him—or rather, against the Human Emperor himself.
Immortal Elder Changcun stroked his beard silently for a while before saying slowly, “Either someone has glimpsed your future through the Dao of Time, or someone proficient in the Law of Fate or the Qi Observation Technique has seen that you are fated with the Human Emperor’s throne, or that you bear the Human Emperor’s Qi.”
The Dao of Time was not unique to the Great Zhou Imperial Family; somewhere in the world there might well be a reclusive cultivator who had grasped that Dao.
“Law of Fate? Qi Observation Technique?”
Jiang Li asked, a little confused.
“It’s not surprising you haven’t heard of them. The Law of Fate deals in destiny—what is destined to be yours will surely come to you, and what lacks fate will be empty no matter the effort. The Qi Observation Technique holds that every person bears a Qi above their head; its color differs, and so too their destined achievements.”
“These cultivation methods have long been lost. Who knows—perhaps a broken temple or decayed Daoist shrine still harbors the remnants of such a art, accidentally falling into someone’s hands.”
Though he now had clues, Jiang Li had no idea where to begin searching.
“Why would someone want to weaken the Human Emperor’s faith?”
Holy Maiden Jing Xin wondered aloud. Wouldn’t a weaker Human Emperor make it easier for the black-robed man’s enemies—the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons—to invade? It was a simple truth, but Jiang Li and Immortal Elder Changcun had overlooked it.
Now reminded by Holy Maiden Jing Xin’s innocent question, they both came to a sudden realization. They exchanged glances, silently confirming the answer that rose in both their hearts. A weakened Human Emperor only benefits the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons.
There was a traitor in the Nine Provinces. Perhaps… one of those demons had already slipped into the land of the Nine Provinces.
(End of Chapter)