Chapter 139: Things Change, People Change

Things Change, People Change

"Ever since the Heavenly Demon broke the array that day, Song Guo has seen frequent changes. The Masters of the Three Sects moved in immortal mountains and floating pavilions, uprooting array discs throughout the country and establishing branch temples. They also combed through the spiritual energy of the land, causing rivers to overflow and fields to turn green once more. They even moved mountains and transformed spiritual jade, and in just a year's time, Song Guo was reborn from the inside out. The people were overjoyed, and toward the Masters of the Three Sects, there was nothing but prostration and worship..."

Through the Crown Prince of Song's eloquent narration, the earth-shattering changes in Song Guo unfolded like a scroll. Such extreme transformation could only be achieved by cultivators. The Masters of the Three Sects were meticulous in their planning, mapping out thousands of miles of fertile land in the plains for Song Guo. They transformed the spiritual jade in the water veins and borrowed exotic treasures to regulate the yin, yang, and five elements, bringing with them countless crop seeds, vegetation, poultry, and livestock. It went without saying that the land, which had been barren for seven hundred years, was now teeming with vitality. The original talisman masters were now tasked with teaching the people of Song how to manage fields and hunt birds and beasts—skills that had gradually been lost over seven centuries, as the people of Song had only been proficient in mining. Now, they had to learn everything anew.

Half a year later, merchant caravans arrived one after another, purchasing spiritual jade at sky-high prices and bringing in gold, silver, copper, iron, precious materials, and medicinal herbs of every variety. The people of Song had all accumulated wealth, and they were all earning handsomely. The Three Sects also released large quantities of goods across the country to stabilize prices, and the talisman masters even stepped forward to select children with exceptional aptitude to be admitted into the immortal sects.

To the common people of Song, this past year was something they couldn't have imagined even in their dreams. They no longer had to search endlessly for spiritual jade mines in the wind and sand, nor did they have to boil jade for drink or rely on talismans to survive. They had been reborn. Who could have known that these immortals who changed everything would be willing to take them into their sects? The people of the country were immediately filled with gratitude and fanatical devotion toward the Three Sects, and even though the Three Sects had stated that more sects would come to recruit disciples in three years, the people still regarded the Three Sects as the highest order, all willing to die for them.

But as a member of the Song royal family, the Crown Prince knew more than the commoners. After the great change of the Blood Night, the Empress no longer restricted the Crown Prince from reading the archives. In the private treasury, he gradually read records from seven hundred years ago, before the change of dynasty in Song Guo. Judging from the lines of text, Song Guo was at a time of dynastic transition back then, and many Qi Refiners had manifested their powers, vying to assist wise rulers. This was a strange occurrence at the time, as according to the usual rules, the upper sects would always watch the changes in mortal kingdoms with cold eyes, neither assisting nor suppressing. But this transition was very special. The ancestor of the Song clan had also recorded a conversation with his military advisor in his notes. The advisor was an outer-sect disciple of the Lingxiao Sect, who had once said to him, "This is to compete for the fortune of establishing the Great Array."

The generals who founded the Song Kingdom all had shadows of sects behind them. The Crown Prince said, "Even the Ruan family, it is rumored, met an exotic person and were gifted several strange treasures. Naturally, judging from the descriptions, these treasures were merely magic tools that any Foundation Establishment cultivator in the cultivation world could obtain at will."

The three Ruans looked at each other, all thinking of the Earth-Thick Pendant that had caused the Ruan family's destruction. The Crown Prince seemed to have thought of the same thing; he pursed his lips slightly and said, "In fact, saying they met an exotic person was probably just a Lingxiao Sect disciple. The Earth-Thick Pendant was a common magic tool of the Lingxiao Sect. The Ruan family was the most deeply rooted in Song Guo and had the closest relationship with the royal family, sometimes intermarrying. Perhaps it was because they were both supported by the Lingxiao Sect."

He paused, then said in a low voice, "However, I had a doubt in my heart at the time, and I asked the Lingxiao Sect Master... I asked him when the Earth-Thick Pendant began to become popular in the Lingxiao Sect, and whether it had been less than seven hundred years."

The three Ruans felt their breath hitch. Ruan Ci's heart skipped a beat, and she thought to herself, "The Crown Prince is indeed brilliant. I had to stay by Sister Sister Xie's side to vaguely sense the clues, but he thought of the loophole immediately. One cannot assume that just because the Earth-Thick Pendant was popular in the Lingxiao Sect, the one who helped the Ruan family must have been a Lingxiao Sect member. It could also be that Sister Sister Xie secretly supported the Ruan family and planted pieces in the Lingxiao Sect, which led to the appearance of the Earth-Thick Pendant."

That Earth-Thick Pendant was merely a transformation of a pattern on Sister Sister Xie's sleeve. To Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan, perhaps it was a seed of the Heavenly Demon's thought, or perhaps it was a token for disciples secretly attached to her to recognize each other. At that time, she broke the array, causing spiritual energy to surge wildly, and by borrowing the power of the various Grotto-Heavens' attacks, she broke through the air and left. Ruan Ci thought about it afterward; the Dao Rhyme Barrier was not something easily dealt with. Even if a true spirit wanted to escape, it would require great effort. Outside the Hengze Heaven, True Person Qingshan's full-strength strike with a universe-level spiritual treasure, combined with the Dao slaves' intrusion into the imaginary numbers, only then managed to expose a gap in the Dao Rhyme Barrier. Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan was only at the Nascent Soul stage. Even if she had practiced secret techniques and sacrificed her physical body, she could not have crossed the boundary between Nascent Soul and Grotto-Heaven. If it weren't for the two great forces of the spiritual energy tornado and the Grotto-Heaven attack, she would not have been able to escape.

Thinking about it carefully, if Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan was truly guilty of an unpardonable crime, how could the three pillars of the Profound Heaven Sect fail to deal with a Nascent Soul cultivator? She was linked by cause and effect to the Sect Master, making it very difficult to hide her tracks. Moreover, Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan had betrayed her master first. Ruan Ci could not imagine a Grotto-Heaven True Person failing to kill a Nascent Soul disciple. At the very least, even if True Person Wang had not yet become a Grotto-Heaven, True Persons Chu, Xu, and Qiu would have been enough to rival the power of the Yanshan Demon Lord. At the very least, for the Profound Heaven Sect, killing Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan immediately after her betrayal and re-entering the game to cultivate a sword seed would have been the most appropriate course of action. After all, Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan could have been recruited by any sect, but she could never have returned to the Profound Heaven Sect.

Not to mention the Grotto-Heaven attack, the secret support for the Three Sects, ordering them to set up the array—ostensibly to trap the enemy, but secretly to protect her—and then, at the most opportune moment of cause and effect, handing the Donghua Sword to the sword seed and breaking the array to leave... If one were to say that every single one of these events was personally arranged by Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan and Wang Wang Panpan, that might not necessarily be the case, but Sister Xie Sister Xie Yan Yan Huan must have pushed the initial cause and effect, which led to the tragedy Ruan Ci witnessed during the Blood Night.

"So Sister Sister Xie told me that she had no grace or righteousness toward me... But my answer at the time was not wrong. Perhaps the ancestor of the Ruan family was able to survive and multiply to this day because of Sister Sister Xie. Without her, the Ruan family members seven hundred years later would not have died, but without her, there would not have been a Ruan faction seven hundred years later."

Her mind whirled, thinking through the cause and effect, and she reached only one conclusion: "Sister Sister Xie escaped the Zhou Heaven, seemingly without anyone's help. Perhaps only the Demon Lord supported her from the shadows. But thinking about it carefully, the so-called righteous cultivators who hunted and imprisoned her—wasn't their behavior also secretly cooperating, opening the door for her?"

"Is it... is it because that Dao Ancestor does not want any true spirits to escape the Langhuan Zhou Heaven? Yes, yes, thinking about it carefully, apart from those commoners who know nothing, are muddled, and cannot distinguish between grace and hatred, anyone who opens their meridians and cultivates, born in the Langhuan Zhou Heaven, is cast into the imaginary numbers upon death, unable to leave the Zhou Heaven until they die. This... this may not be the norm. Master... no, Wang Wang Shengyu also told me that all cultivators who practice the Heavenly Star Dao must travel to the universe to observe the stars after reaching a certain cultivation level. This shows that in other Zhou Heavens, even if there is a Dao Ancestor's protection, the movement of cultivators between Zhou Heavens should be quite free."

She still occasionally got very angry at True Person Wang, and relying on the suppression of the Donghua Sword and the fact that there was no one else in the Zhou Heaven whose cause and effect was more deeply linked to her than True Person Wang, she stopped using the honorific and called him by his name as her cultivation grew. However, this thought lasted only for a moment, and she thought again, "That Dao Ancestor blocked the movement of the Zhou Heaven, and even sent Dao slaves to watch over the imaginary numbers. What exactly is this for... Sister Sister Xie wanting to travel across, does it have something to do with this tight blockade?"

"Wang Panpan... Wang Panpan really dislikes Dao Ancestors. I originally thought she just didn't want to see Dao Ancestor's pieces placed on me, making it harder for Sister Sister Xie to get the sword back. But actually, if Sister Sister Xie could return, what would it matter if the sword was obtained or not? Could it be that Wang Panpan hopes Sister Sister Xie's combat power will be stronger, so she hopes I will die on the spot after returning the sword?"

"No, Wang Panpan is definitely not that kind of cat. Sometimes she is very heartless, but actually, she is quite soft-hearted. If Sister Sister Xie can return, does she need the Donghua Sword to do something?"

Thoughts were flying, but it was only for a moment. Her face showed no signs of abnormality, and she pretended to be curious, listening to Ruan Rong ask, "What did those so-called Masters answer you?"

The Crown Prince smiled at her, as if teasing Ruan Rong, who clearly didn't want to forgive him but couldn't help but chime in. However, he had always been very graceful and didn't keep them in suspense. He said in a low voice, "The Master said that if my aptitude weren't so thick and I weren't the royal family of Song, I would have been set aside by the Lingxiao Sect long ago to be offered to the Central Continent's Sheng Sect. Just asking such a question was enough to get me killed."

Such intimidation was, in fact, a kind of answer. The three Ruans were not dull, and hearing this, they looked at each other in silence. Ruan Qian sighed, "Plots within plots, mysteries within mysteries. The affairs of the mortal world are like clouds and mist, all floating dust on the spiritual platform."

He had entered the Buddhist sect, and these words were full of Zen. The Crown Prince also sighed and said softly, "I thought the same at the time. How could mortals know the methods of immortals? I was just a little more knowledgeable than the commoners in the fields and the noble ladies in the boudoirs. If I were to investigate carefully, I wouldn't even be able to distinguish between grace and hatred. Even if I wanted to pursue it, I wouldn't know who to ask. Whether it's the Three Sects or that demon, they have done great favors or committed great crimes against the people of Song. Even now, I don't know. Forty or fifty years have passed. My parents are likely no longer here. Who among the people living on that land still cares about these grudges?"

Mentioning noble ladies, Ruan Ci couldn't help but think of the day she went to the palace to pay her respects. She and the Crown Prince had a meal together, and their conversation made her think that the Crown Prince knew a lot. Now that she thought about it, he was actually full of confusion, knowing only a tiny bit more than she did. She thought that on that day, in his gaze looking out the window, there must have been some regrets about not being able to be with the one he loved, and doubts about the world.

If Ruan Rong still held resentment toward the Crown Prince, Ruan Ci had never blamed him for anything. Now that she knew the Crown Prince had actually tried his best to protect the Ruan family, and that the fate of the Ruan family was not something any mortal could reverse, she said softly, "Even the Crown Prince is no longer a mortal. It's better to forget the past."

The Crown Prince looked at her, then looked at Ruan Rong, and smiled again. He said, "I have forgotten a lot. Now I only focus on cultivation. My master said that my desire to seek the Dao is extremely pure, because when I left the country on the boat, my heart was thinking that being a mortal is really not a good feeling. I couldn't even marry the girl I liked, and I couldn't even protect her family. I never want to experience that feeling of powerlessness again in this life. Isn't the reason we cultivate immortality and ask about the mysterious to hold the things we care about in our hands?"

Although he wasn't staring at Ruan Rong, these words were clearly meant for her. Ruan Rong's shoulders trembled slightly, and she lowered her eyes, making it impossible to see the expression on her face. Ruan Qian gave Ruan Ci a wink, and the two smiled knowingly. They stood up and walked to the side. Ruan Ci looked back a few times and saw that Ruan Rong had already raised her head and was talking to the Crown Prince. The distance between them was not as distant as before, and she couldn't help but chuckle, "Could it be that the predestined fate was set long ago, and now that the dew has met, new branches are sprouting?"

Ruan Qian also glanced over, but he was not as carefree as Ruan Ci. Instead, he exhorted Ruan Ci, "You must be extremely careful on this trip. You don't know how many people are going to attack the Sword Envoy in the Cold Rain Swamp. This might be the last chance to change the situation before the Sword Envoy forms the Golden Core and draws the sword, so many forces are placing heavy bets. It's better not to pick the Cold Rain Flowers. You must prioritize your survival. Just grab a few flowers at will before the flowering period ends to fulfill the mission. You must remember what I said."

He couldn't help but reveal the tone of an older brother who had taken care of her back then, which made Ruan Ci feel quite nostalgic, but her heart skipped a beat: "Brother Qian clearly doesn't have a high status in the Wugou Sect, and he can't even go to the Cold Rain Swamp. How does he know so much about the movements of the sects?"

She stared at Ruan Qian for a moment, and Ruan Qian shook his head slightly at her. Ruan Ci understood and promised casually, then asked, "By the way, Brother Qian, do you feel uncomfortable hanging your name in the Wugou Sect? The actions of the great monks of the Wugou Sect are really unusual."

As they were speaking, Monk Seng Yu and Qi Yueying had already flown over. Seng Yu squatted on the ground, seemingly carefully inspecting the damage to the mountain, then flew up and said a few words to Qi Yueying. Qi Yueying looked helpless and nodded reluctantly, handing a storage bag to Seng Yu. Ruan Ci found it strange, and when she asked about the amount, Qi Yueying said, "Monk Seng Yu just estimated the loss of soil and water on the mountain and calculated the spiritual jade we need to compensate. Since the Daoist friends from the Fanghe Hall have already left, I have to compensate them all."

Speaking of the amount, it was only a few hundred spiritual jade. Everyone felt it was unbelievable. This mountain had no spiritual energy, nor was it an important place. For a Golden Core cultivator, a few hundred spiritual jade was nothing, not to mention the Wugou Sect, a Buddhist Sheng Sect. Ruan Qian answered Ruan Ci's previous question, saying, "The senior brothers are also discussing it. It is said that the Wugou Sect was not like this a hundred years ago. Anyway, our Wangyou Temple does not act like this."

A hundred years was just a short time for the cultivation world. It seemed that the changes in the Wugou Sect had not yet spread. After all, this was within the mountain gate array of others, so it was not good to discuss too much. After talking for a few words, they stopped. The Crown Prince of Song and Ruan Qian said goodbye one by one to find their respective sects. Even though they were old friends meeting again, it was not as intimate as their sects. After such a hurried meeting, they had to separate again.

The purpose of this trip had been achieved, and Ruan Rong had indeed used two magic treasures. Qi Yueying was impatient to take her back to the boat to rest. Ruan Ci did not dare to delay. The group returned to the boat and turned back to the northwest, heading toward the Cold Rain Swamp. Ruan Rong adjusted her breath for several days before successfully coming out of seclusion. Ruan Ci immediately found her to chat, and the first sentence was, "Sister Rong, what did you and the Crown Prince say in private? Have you forgiven him? Are you... are you back together?"

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Updated, sorry for the wait, everyone. I'll send out the red packets from the previous chapter after I eat.

Don't look at how little time has passed in the story, but in the mortal world, fifty years is at least two generations... People don't remember what happened before anymore.

I watched Super Young Lady's live stream and the KPL competition yesterday, so I only wrote one chapter. I have 4 chapters in stock. Sob, I have to go out tomorrow. I'll be lucky if I can write one chapter. Fortunately, I'm not going out much lately, so I can grind at home. My stock anxiety isn't too serious yet...

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