Chapter 346

In the past, Chu He lost in the Autumn Duel and thus failed to gain access to the Heavenly Book; according to those captured, they did not abandon this goal.

Immortal fortune is within reach, far easier than sitting idle in cultivation, yielding far greater returns.

No one grows disheartened by one or two failures; instead, they grow even more fervent.

Under the arrangements of the Chu and Li families, they began secretly plotting the Dao Assembly.

Zhu Shun, Zhu Yao, Li Yunlang, Zhuang Zixin, Zhuang You.

These once-hotseed candidates of the Dao Assembly all ascended the arena with hidden agendas.

They fought their way through every round, aiming only to secure a ranking in the Dao Assembly and enter the Sacred Ground of the Ancients.

Just as Chu He’s entry into the Heavenly Book Academy was accompanied by Du Zhu and Bai Ruilong as backups, there were others who failed to make the Dao Assembly’s final cut—yet were still entangled in this matter.

For instance, Ba Yang, You Bai, and others who broke through just before the competition were all arranged as escorts to ensure these candidates placed in the top ten.

Ji You had already suspected this part earlier.

Because when he chased them all the way to Risheng City and saw Zhu Shun, Zhuang You, and others, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu—as if he had once entered the Sacred Ground of the Ancients with them—and vaguely guessed they had done something there.

This suspicion was confirmed by this testimony—or rather, supplemented with finer details.

“The Dao is linked to the fate of the human race, and the fate of the human race connects to all its people—this is universally known in Qingyun.”

“But few know that this is not an abstract concept.”

“The point where the fate of humanity intersects with the Dao lies deep within the Sacred Ground of the Ancients, in the Temple of Eternal Peace, built by the Seven Ancients in unison.”

“The Dao depends on controlling the world’s races; its dominion over the mortal realm stems from the collective fate of the people.”

“To eliminate the erasure force after consuming the elixir, we must enter the Sacred Ground of the Ancients and sever the most direct link between the Dao and the mortal world, thereby liberating the relics.”

Ji You lowered his head and reread this testimony from Zhu Shun multiple times.

Back then, he had indeed wondered why some who entered the Sacred Ground did not devote themselves to cultivation but rushed in and out daily, and why so many prodigies sought entry into the Sacred Ground, yet a few left soon after doing something there.

And a greater mystery came later: within the Sacred Ground, he sensed malevolent intent akin to that of Qiling.

Now, all these questions had answers.

Most crucially, he had long been puzzled over how the Chu family and others manipulated the Dao to bring relics into the world and pre-arrange everything—now, this mystery was finally solved.

Zuo Qiuyang, seeing him lost in thought, spoke: “Shortly after you entered the Sacred Ground of the Ancients, blood mist appeared over the Xuan Sea, followed by torrential rains lasting months, and some crops developed shells but no kernels—clearly a divine omen.”

“A warning from the Dao?”

“You may interpret it that way.”

The purpose of a warning is to be understood, and someone in this world must have been able to read it.

But there are no Night Watchers left.

After pondering for a while, Ji You raised his head: “If the fate of humanity is severed, does that merely liberate the relics, with no greater disaster?”

Zuo Qiuyang shook his head: “The concept of fate has always been elusive. We cannot fully grasp what else its severance might cause, nor how exactly they meant to sever it. Moreover, the Sacred Ground of the Ancients cannot currently be opened—we have no chance to investigate.”

The Sacred Ground of the Ancients is a shattered space, capable of self-repairing only once every five years.

If forcibly opened before full repair, the entire space would dissolve into nothingness, ceasing to exist.

Thus, for this matter, they cannot verify or remedy it in the short term.

But as Ji You had just asked, other Immortal Sects, upon reading this testimony, shared the same concern.

According to Qingyun history, the Lost Clan was overthrown and annihilated by the alliance of demons and humans precisely because they lost their fate, allowing humanity to rise and endure for a thousand years.

The previous Demon Emperor, believing fate no longer favored his race, journeyed far to the snowlands and swallowed a thousand years of blizzards.

Now that the fate of humanity has been severed, whether humanity will meet the same fate as the Lost Clan—and be utterly destroyed—is unknown.

They cannot even determine whether the demons and barbarians’ successful crossing of the Northern Border and southward advance is due to the Dao now protecting them.

If so, then humanity, no matter how desperately it struggles, may ultimately face its end.

“These demon folk truly don’t care about anything.”

“The Dao’s temptation is boundless; for them, if this succeeds, even if humanity perishes, they can still ascend early and gain eternal peace and bliss—no need for hesitation.”

At this moment, Ji You suddenly rubbed his eyes, feeling a sharp ache within them.

You Yingqiu was right—his spiritual strength was severely weakened; even after a day’s rest, prolonged reading still caused discomfort.

“My vision is blurring, and my forehead aches. Please, Lord Zuo, narrate the rest to me.”

“Understood.”

Zuo Qiuyang picked up the remaining case files and laid them out one by one.

The Head of the Heavenly Book Academy held a position second only to the Emperor, wielding immense power—even the Elders of the Elder Council treated him with respect, let alone disciples.

Yet now, Zuo Qiuyang showed complete deference; had anyone else seen this, they would have been stunned.

For the feeling was unmistakably that of a subordinate reporting to a superior.

“The subsequent events match our earlier suspicions: the Immortal Sects’ opening of the relics due to the Dao Fruit was itself their setup.”

“After the Qiling incident, all relics were placed under the Immortal Sects’ control, making them inaccessible; their supply of Infant Elixirs was nearly exhausted. Their goal in entering the Sacred Ground of the Ancients to liberate the relics was to force the Immortal Sects to open all relics themselves.”

“Dou Yuan Kong, the Bu family—they were merely the bait.”

Ji You looked up: “Dou Yuan Kong never actually went to the Bu Family Winery, right?”

Zuo Qiuyang raised his eyes: “You know that too?”

“After I forcibly killed Bu Qirong in the Dongping Mountains, I returned near the Bu Family Winery and asked local villagers. They said the winery was always heavily guarded, forbidding strangers from approaching—Dou Yuan Kong lacked such capability.”

“Correct. Dou Yuan Kong never went to the Bu family—he was invited by the Du family.”

According to the testimony, the colluding noble families, after severing humanity’s fate, planned to reignite the Immortal Sects’ greed for relics without exposing themselves, forcing them to open the relics themselves.

Thus, they orchestrated a scheme: Dou Yuan Kong as the bait, the Bu family as the hook.

After Ji You returned from his mission to the snowlands, his first act upon entering the capital was to sever the lion-heads of the Dou household—a major scandal at the time.

Later, when Dou Yuan Kong vanished, Dou the Minister blamed Ji You entirely, searched everywhere, and even sought help from other noble families.

Frankly, the disappearance of a son of a Great Xia official would never draw the attention of cultivators.

But the issue was that this involved Ji You—and at that time, Ji You was already the most prominent figure in Qingyun.

Perhaps precisely because of this, Dou Yuan Kong was chosen, lured by the Du family to Qingzhou.

The head of the Du family confessed they secretly threw Dou Yuan Kong into a corpse pit, forcing him to witness humans transforming into demonic seeds, then left him near the Bu family, chosen as the pawn.

The Bu family indeed served as corpse carriers—the most useless role in their plan.

They knew only what the colluding noble families wanted them to know; of all they were not meant to know, they knew nothing.

The scratches on Dou Yuan Kong’s body did attract the Immortal Sects’ attention, and the Bu family thus entered their sight.

According to the original plan, the Bu family’s enhanced combat power and ability to transform demonic seeds would inevitably spark the Immortal Sects’ greed, leading them to investigate and ultimately trace the relics.

But no one expected that Bu Qirong never even had time to speak before Ji You killed him, right under the eyes of countless Divine Travelers.

Zuo Qiuyang looked at Ji You: “When you traveled thousands of miles to the Dongping Mountains and slaughtered every last Bu family member, many wondered why.”

“Because I didn’t know the relics had been liberated. I only knew that to extract the Immortal Fortune from the relics, infants had to be harmed as vessels.”

“Just that?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“It’s not insufficient—it’s just that you may not realize that many among the Seven Immortal Sects suspected you of involvement in the relic calamity, yet none imagined your motive was so unexpectedly simple.”

Zuo Qiuyang spoke truthfully: after Ji You risked his life to kill Bu Qirong, many suspected his intent, believing he was still tied to the Qiling calamity.

In their view, unless he was hiding something, why would Ji You rush so desperately to kill Bu Qirong?

Especially since Ji You’s combat power was so bizarre—he had even bested Fang the Elder of the Wujiang Realm, deepening their suspicions.

Yet no one imagined his reason for killing was so simple.

If anyone else gave this excuse, Zuo Qiuyang would have dismissed it as nonsense.

But knowing Ji You’s past deeds, it felt utterly real and unquestionable.

“What happened next? After I killed Bu Qirong, how was the Great Wilderness Forest opened?”

Ji You avoided further inquiry into his motive and turned to the aftermath.

“Once human greed is ignited, it is hard to extinguish—especially for those nearing the end of their lifespan, who would never abandon such an opportunity.”