Chapter 114: The Eye of Gui Xu and the Path to Survival

“Now, are you willing to hear me out?”

No one answered.

Silence implied consent.

Or perhaps, they simply had no other choice.

Yan Wusheng remained indifferent, as if everything was unfolding according to her script. She calmly turned to face the east, towards Penglai Immortal Palace, her tone as detached as if stating a fact unrelated to herself.

“Do you know why this epoch is named ‘Xuanwei’?”

No one answered.

Yan Wusheng did not need their response, continuing on her own. “Because the Heavenly Dao collapsed, the Great Dao was damaged, and all myriad laws were fractured. The path to ascension was severed, and all cultivators who reached the Dao Integration Realm became prisoners trapped in this broken world, able only to watch themselves succumb to the Five Declines of Heaven and Man, sitting in meditation until death. Immortality became a joke.”

‘Xuanwei.’ As a peak Dao Integration Realm cultivator, Ling Shuangjue understood more clearly than anyone the despair of being relentlessly suppressed by an invisible ceiling, where a step forward meant death, and a step back also meant death, leaving only an unwillingness to accept.

“And Shen Zhaoqing,” Yan Wusheng’s tone shifted, finally mentioning that name, “her ‘Dao Source Body’ is not some mere cauldron. It is a wisp of the most primordial vitality, a fundamental Dao principle, lost to the mortal realm when the Heavenly Dao collapsed.”

“She is the only variable in this epoch, and the only antidote.”

“Antidote?”

As if a keyword had been triggered, a flicker of focus finally appeared in Ling Shuangjue’s hollow blood-red eyes. She spoke hoarsely, “What do you mean?”

“It means,” Yan Wusheng turned her head, her left eye, bright as a star, quietly gazing at her, “the Heavenly Dao needs to be mended. And to mend the Heavenly Dao, a sufficiently powerful ‘container’ is required to bear and integrate the fragmented laws scattered across heaven and earth. This container is the ‘Dao Source Body,’ perfected to its absolute zenith.”

“So, your Heavenly Derivation Pavilion wishes to sacrifice her to mend the heavens?”

Gu Chang’an’s voice was as cold as the frost on her sword. She slowly straightened, leaning on her blade, and a trace of sharpness rekindled in her shattered gaze.

“No.”

Yan Wusheng shook her head, correcting her. “Not sacrifice, but ‘achievement.’ When she becomes the cornerstone of the new Heavenly Dao, she will live and die with this world, sharing the lifespan of the Great Dao, becoming the only truly ‘eternal’ being in this epoch. This is her true destiny as the ‘one destined for tribulation.'”

These words, laden with immense information, stunned all three women.

Turn a person into the Heavenly Dao?

Yuange frowned, being the first to grasp the blind spot. “From what you’re saying, she isn’t ‘perfected’ yet? How then does she achieve perfection?”

“A good question.”

Yan Wusheng nodded approvingly.

To allow the Dao Source Body, this unpolished jade, to reach perfection, a place is needed to refine, catalyze, and burn her to the extreme. Across the entire cultivation world, only one such place exists.

She paused, then enunciated those two words, one by one.

“Penglai.”

“What?!”

Ling Shuangjue and Yuange roared in unison.

Though Gu Chang’an remained silent, the sword intent that had re-coalesced around her, potent enough to freeze space, clearly conveyed her stance.

So, after all this roundabout explanation, they were still expected to watch Shen Zhaoqing be refined like medicine by those hypocrites?

“Holy Master Yaoguang desires to refine the Nine Revolutions Soul-Returning Pill, driven by selfish ambition to defy fate,” Yan Wusheng’s tone remained calm. “However, she does not know that the ‘Longevity Cauldron,’ passed down from ancient times, is not used for alchemy. Instead, it is a supreme cauldron for forging Dao bodies and completing Dao principles.”

“Holy Master Yaoguang believes herself to be the hunter and Shen Zhaoqing the prey. Little does she know, they are both merely pawns in this Great Dao tribulation. And that Longevity Cauldron is the only crucible to catalyze Shen Zhaoqing, the child of tribulation, to fully mature.”

“So, your plan is for us to do nothing, just watch as that old hag Yaoguang throws her into the cauldron to be refined?” Ling Shuangjue asked through gritted teeth, the Abyssal Slaughter Sword humming in her hand.

“Of course not.” Yan Wusheng finally revealed the most crucial part of her plan.

She looked at the three peerless women before her, at the intense, unyielding emotions seemingly overflowing from their eyes, and slowly said, “The Longevity Cauldron is prepared, and Shen Zhaoqing, the primary ingredient, has entered it. However, one most critical item is still missing.”

“——Fuel.”

“To ignite the cauldron, to catalyze the Dao Source, allowing it to undergo Nirvana rebirth amidst extreme pressure and tempering.”

Her gaze, almost palpable, swept over Gu Chang’an’s Supreme Forgetfulness Sword Intent, Ling Shuangjue’s world-ending demonic flames, and Yuange’s Golden Crow bloodline.

“And the three of you.” She spoke each word distinctly, her voice clearly reaching their ears. “That deep-seated, bone-piercing power of love tribulation you hold for her, potent enough to burn the heavens and boil the seas, is the most perfect fuel in this world.”

“You mean…” Gu Chang’an’s voice trembled. “You want us to personally push her into the fiery pit?”

“It is to awaken her,” Yan Wusheng corrected. “Under the tempering of the Longevity Cauldron, Shen Zhaoqing’s divine soul will be honed to its utmost, but it will also fall into the deepest chaos. At that time, only your three purest, most intense powers of love tribulation, acting as a catalyst, can penetrate the cauldron’s barriers and infuse her sea of divine soul, awakening her from chaos and allowing her to complete her final metamorphosis in the raging flames.”

“Otherwise, she truly will be refined like a medicinal herb, transformed into primordial vitality, and completely dissipate.”

“This… is your path to survival.”

“A path that requires you to personally ignite the flames, placing her in a near-death situation, yet it is also the only way for her to survive and truly break free from this predicament.”

‘This plan is too mad and too malicious.’

‘It transforms their love into a double-edged sword.’

‘To save her, they must first harm her.’

‘To protect her, they must push her into the most dangerous abyss.’

“Why should I trust you?” It took Ling Shuangjue a long moment to force these words through her teeth. “This is all just your side of the story. Who knows if this isn’t a lie concocted by your Heavenly Derivation Pavilion to reap benefits?”

“Precisely,” Yan Wusheng coldly echoed. “Using us as pawns, only for your Heavenly Derivation Pavilion to pick up the spoils in the end? We won’t participate in such a deal.”

“Whether you believe me or not is up to you.” Yan Wusheng seemed to have anticipated their doubt. She extended a slender finger, pointing towards the depths of the distant eastern sea.

“I do not ask for blind obedience. Before you go to Penglai, I will guide you to a ‘correct’ roadmap, directly to the ‘Eye of Gui Xu’ in the abyss of the East Sea.”

“Eye of Gui Xu?” Gu Chang’an had heard of this name. It was a forbidden land from ancient legends, said to devour everything, with no return.

“Precisely.” Yan Wusheng’s tone carried a rare hint of solemnity. “That is the final resting place of the ancient Immortal-Demonic War, and the core singularity where the Heavenly Dao shattered. There lies a key that can both make you believe my words and, at the last moment, break through Penglai’s protective array.”

She opened her palm. At some point, a translucent, illusory light projection had appeared there. Within it, a fragment of an ancient stone, seemingly weathered by eons, floated quietly.

“——A celestial fragment of the Three Lives Stone.”

“One of the fragments of the Three Lives Stone, a primordial spirit treasure rumored to reflect the past, present, and future.”

“If you can pass the trial of the Eye of Gui Xu and obtain it, you will naturally understand that my words are not false. It will not only allow you to see Shen Zhaoqing’s past karma but also resonate with Penglai’s array origin, opening a direct path to the source of life.”

“At the same time,” Yan Wusheng’s gaze deepened, “the chaotic spatial-temporal laws within the Eye of Gui Xu are the best trial ground for Shen Zhaoqing before her ultimate awakening. All of this is predestined by the Heavenly Mechanism, interlinked at every step.”

She withdrew the light projection and finally looked at the three, presenting her ultimate condition.

“Now, the choice is in your hands.”

“Will you continue to follow your ‘instincts,’ rushing towards Penglai and triggering the ‘dead end’ I just showed you?”

“Or will you temporarily set aside your hatred and prejudices, abide by the ‘rules of my game,’ and retrieve the only ‘path to survival’ from the Eye of Gui Xu?”

“My words are finished. The three of you may do as you wish.”

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