Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 282 - 157: Revising the "Taiyin Talisman Scripture

Chapter 282: Chapter 157: Revising the "Taiyin Talisman Scripture

"What’s the use of speaking? To tell him that his Uncle Gu Yan has always been scheming to have him killed? That his Uncle Gu Yan would even kill those around him just to protect more people by his side?

What’s the point of mentioning all this?

The path of cultivation is always filled with helplessness; sometimes, one must weigh options and decide what to forsake.

For the sake of your daughter, you could give up on Zhou Yan. For the sake of my lineage at Tianji Mountain, for ’her,’ I could also give up Zhou Yan."

"Death is inevitable for everyone. Death, to those who live in suffering, can actually be a bliss. Sometimes, I wish to die, but I can only continue to live in agony."

The man in colorful clothes gave a sorrowful smile. In that moment, his gaze displayed an incredible complexity, as if it harbored endless pain.

Zhou Han felt a chill in his heart and an inexplicable sense of sorrow.

Soon, he also came to accept it.

Because he understood that in the path of cultivation, everyone has their own helplessness, their own powerlessness against fate.

Zhou Han was no different, so he could only apologize to Zhou Yan. And what about the ’awakened’ existence of Gu Yan?

To survive to this life, many cultivators chose silent reincarnation, keeping their pure souls to be reborn and start anew, braving the tremendous risk of losing their memories and souls, just to achieve something in this era of Nine Origin Reincarnation.

Before awakening, Gu Yan was simply a brother to him, everything was ordinary, even Gu Yan himself did not know what his end would be.

But once awakened, it was different.

Just as before awakening, Jiang Yuning was merely a girl adopted by the Zhou Family, but once her memories awakened, Jiang Yuning became the greatest and most talented Holy Daughter—without equal!

This was the predetermined fate. Although they knew this outcome just before planning their reincarnation, many genius cultivators did not hesitate to live out another life.

With the souls of the strong, the spiritual wisdom of geniuses, they walked to the end of life, sealed their bloodlines, and entered reincarnation, starting over with a Sword Spirit.

Blood Essence embodies Sword Intent, only in this way could everything reset at birth.

And after returning to the starting point, they were no different from ordinary infants. If anything unexpected happened, death would be an irrevocable outcome.

Hence, few cultivators were willing to take such risks.

Yet, for the chance of this era’s Nine Origin Reincarnation, many ancient geniuses still chose to go through generations of reincarnations.

Each reincarnation meant being an ordinary person for many years, experiencing birth, aging, sickness, and death, even marrying and having children. However, since they were just bodies of reincarnation, born of ordinary bloodlines, their children naturally wouldn’t be acknowledged by them.

Like Gu Yan, his feelings for Gu Xi might not be as deep as imagined anymore.

Zhou Han felt somewhat melancholic.

Actually, sometimes it’s better to be a little ignorant, not knowing who one is—it’s a kind of...happiness.

But does this world still have happiness?

Feeling the lack of security and trembling of his daughter next to him, Zhou Han’s heart suddenly became extremely heavy.

"Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. The Ancient Array is about to activate its self-recovery. While we can, let’s leave, follow me."

The man in colorful clothes, Gu Yan, said, his colorful aura gradually fading away. He then transformed back into the appearance of an Ancient Evil Spirit.

"Where are you going now?"

Cai Ling asked concernedly.

"I have another matter to attend to. I’ll leave this place to you for now." In the fading colorful light, the apparition of the man in colorful clothes, Gu Yan, spoke, quickly almost vanishing.

Cai Ling nodded, "Alright, then I’ll see you at the Despair Abyss. Are the Eternal Spirit and Wuhen Spirit certain to have found the ’Mingxin Mirror’?"

"Of course."

The man in colorful clothes replied, his figure completely disappearing.

"That’s good. I hope there are no more accidents. This situation has tired me as well. After this is completed, I also need to extract a strand of Essence Blood from the Emperor Qi Sword Body to study the Sealing situation," Cai Ling continued.

"Most certainly. I won’t forget the favor I owe you," the man’s voice affirmed in response.

"You’re so good to me, I’m quite flattered!" Cai Ling’s voice was teasingly sweet.

"Cut it out. Didn’t you offer your Void Body to Zhou Yan? It’s better for a woman to be faithful," the man’s voice implied helplessness.

"That Void Body has already run off, become independent! That’s a huge loss! Besides, why is it okay for men to have concubines but not for a woman to have multiple men? Moreover, it was only the Void Body that was involved with Zhou Yan; I myself am still pure. How am I not worthy of you?"

Cai Ling’s voice clearly manifested some dissatisfaction.

"No more talk, I’ve discovered that Zhou Wangchen and Li Yunjin are about to meet. Everything must proceed according to plan," the man’s voice sounded hurried, clearly trying to avoid further discussion.

...

In the Void, remnants of the man’s voice still lingered, but it swiftly dissipated.

And the Ancient Evil Spirit looked somewhat perplexed at Cai Ling the Spiritualist, with a trace of infatuation in its eyes.

The Cailing Fairy didn’t have much regard for the Ancient Evil Spirit, solely eligible to be a Ding Furnace, and seeing it look at her, she just snorted coldly, "Stop looking. When you are qualified to become a Void Body or even the main body, then we can talk."

"You’re really realistic!" the Ancient Evil Spirit sheepishly smiled, expressing its irritation.

"Could you stay alive if you weren’t realistic? Lead the way!" Cai Ling’s words were very direct.

In the distance, Cai Xuan, Gongcheng Diewu, and others were all somewhat dumbfounded by this scene; they could clearly discern the lack of status of the Ding Furnace and Void Body, as well as the supreme arrogance of their original forms, witnessing this true reality.

Ding Furnace, Void Body, even at the Void Seventh Realm, they are still lowly existences...

With such an attitude towards the Ding Furnace of the man she fancies, how would Cai Ling treat her own Void Body?

Cai Xuan also had to think this way, but she did not dare to delve deeper, as once her original body sensed it, that would mean a doom from which there was no returning.

"As a Ding Furnace, it’s truly sad."

Zhou Yuntian sighed with emotion.

"You’re neither a Ding Furnace nor a Void Body, so you don’t need to sigh about anything. Moreover, Ding Furnaces or Void Bodies are not necessarily sad; with capability, they can even surpass the original form. Zhou Lingyi is the best example. Her original form, Ling’er, has been completely suppressed by her.

Now, Ling’er is Zhou Lingyi! I just hope she doesn’t come to cause trouble this time, or else it will be too amusing."

Cai Ling glanced at Zhou Yuntian, her charming demeanor making the latter gape.

However, hearing Cai Ling’s words, Zhou Yuntian also started to look intrigued, and he said with a somewhat speechless, bitter smile, "The Great Zhou Family is just a declining clan, yet unexpectedly, this generation has produced so many startling and brilliant geniuses, putting a lot of pressure on me!

My bit of confidence isn’t even enough to withstand their trampling, and I can’t be arrogant anymore.

Even that lofty demeanor I once had can’t be displayed now, it’s truly a great shock."

"After the Heavenly Destiny project, no one will be able to shock you anymore, just don’t let us down. You should know, the higher-ups have put a great deal of thought into this preparation."

Cai Ling said coldly.

"Of course, how could I not understand the weight of it?"

Zhou Yuntian quickly replied, his tone extremely solemn.

Cai Ling nodded approvingly, she looked up to observe the waves of the Ancient Array between Heaven and Earth, and only after confirming there were no major fluctuations did she wave her hand and say, "Those who don’t want to die, better keep up."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the Ancient Evil Spirit had already started moving forward with a strange movement technique, and she followed right along with perfect timing, without any hint of rush, as if the two had reached a terrifying understanding.

This scene caused a chill to rise in the hearts of some Cultivators who wanted to break away from the group—both being a Void Seventh and a Void Three, with such understanding. Those who thought to leave the ranks would find it likely impossible.

So, at that moment, there was only a momentary hesitation before many Cultivators directly followed.

...

Purple Flame Void.

Zhou Yan, like a bystander to the outside world, saw everything very clearly.

And because he saw clearly, from a bystander’s perspective, he understood the ins and outs of this operation, and he also understood this Heavenly Destiny project.

Therefore, he was even less hurried.

He was waiting, waiting for an opportunity to understand Sword Soul and have his body seized.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. He intended not to be the oriole but the existence hunting the oriole.

Purple Flame Void, which was derived from his Master’s flesh and body, was a space created by his Master himself. Now fully refining and combining with him, it was enough to shield any Heavenly Mechanism.

If before he was not certain, now Zhou Yan could be one hundred percent sure that this place could shield any Heavenly Mechanism, because in it, he had tried to condense the Sword Dao of his original form and could not sense the rules of the Sword Dao, unable to cultivate his physical Realm.

This showed that this was a place beyond the reach of the Heavenly Dao.

But here, he could comprehend all the doubts of the outside world and fortified his own Realm by using the environment and Energy.

Having seen this play and the whole sequence of events, Zhou Yan finally had a rough clarity and, combined with his own conjecture, was now certain that he had completely moved from light to darkness this time.

Not only that, but he now had the ability to control this scheme—in other words, unwittingly, he had become the player, not the chess piece.

Although to others, he seemed not only to be a chess piece, but actually to be an abandoned child.

"This operation of deceiving Heaven and crossing the sea could be called perfect, it’s just a pity that the Split Body still aroused a moment of doubt from the Ancient Evil Spirit. Luckily, with such a unique Split Body, there was no precedent, and although there were doubts, the Ancient Evil Spirit could not find anything abnormal.

But I cannot let my guard down yet."

"Also, that ’Mingxin Mirror’, I don’t know what kind of treasure it is, but it can apparently trace back to the origin, it must be very incredible. Using this, I wonder if it will be possible to see through the illusion of the Split Body? I must be wary of this, because once it’s seen through, it could break all of my arrangements."

"It seems I should delve deeper into the secrets of those Ancient Runes that were burned in the Purple Flame, consider every possible scenario, and make contingency plans."

Zhou Yan kept planning in the Purple Flame Void.

Taking advantage of this interval, he intended to seriously re-cultivate the Taiyin Talisman Scripture, carefully comprehend its Tao, and cultivate the Undying Rebirth Technique to a deeper level, paving the way for the violent changes that might occur.

Additionally, knowing his parents had also become chess pieces manipulated by others, Zhou Yan felt a touch of sympathy in his heart.

But for the time being, he had not thought of any good way to help the two, so he planned to wait and see.

And regarding the upcoming chance to see his mother, deep down Zhou Yan was actually feeling a little bit of anticipation—despite the current dismal environment.

...