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Chapter 57: Crossing Paths on a Narrow Road

The sky within the Eastern Emperor Secret Realm was an inverted mirror of light, a sea of snow-white clouds dotting its surface, reflecting a vast expanse of land stretching countless li.

Chen Moqing was randomly teleported into a valley thick with green forest. Before he'd even landed, he caught sight of a figure out of the corner of his eye.

The Hei family young master turned his head and spotted a lone cultivator not far off—dressed all in black, with only faint gold thread patterns embroidered at the hem and cuffs, a round little jet-black bird chick perched atop his head. Not a single piece of valuable jewelry to his name; man and beast relying solely on each other, utterly down-and-out.

Clearly some country bumpkin from a lower prefecture.

He let out a cold laugh and pressed two fingers together; a massive sword, several dozen zhang long, hung suspended above his head, then crashed down in a heavy arc as his arm fell. "Die!"

He was utterly confident, this strike would surely kill!

Before setting out, his father had entrusted him with the family's treasured heirloom, instructing him to make a brilliant showing at the tournament and wash away the shame of the Hei family having once been saved by that demonic fiend, Chen Moqing.

This shabby, unaccompanied cultivator was lucky enough to become the first person he'd slay with his own hands—perfect, using his blood to pave the way for the glorious future of the Hei family!

The shockwave of the massive sword's strike split open the forest, sending flocks of birds scattering in fright. The Hei family young master watched the black-robed cultivator stand utterly still, letting the blade come crashing down on him—clearly frozen stiff, terrified out of his wits by the sheer force of his attack.

He laughed uproariously. "Next up, that bitch from Qiushui Sect—"

Before he could finish speaking, a pair of jet-black eyes suddenly appeared right in front of him, impossibly close.

The corners of those eyes tilted up in a faint smile at him, as slender, well-defined fingers came to rest gently against his neck.

Crack.

Outside the Eastern Emperor Secret Realm, dozens of massive silver mirrors hung suspended before every viewing platform, reflecting the myriad happenings within the secret realm. That scene from a moment ago played out across every platform, leaving the assembled great sects and clans speechless.

They watched, wide-eyed, as the Hei family young master had unleashed a treasured weapon on a young talent right from the start, while leaving himself utterly undefended—and in the blink of an eye, his opponent had closed the distance and snapped his neck, clean and swift.

Less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea after entering the secret realm, and the Hei family young master had already been flung back out, defeated the instant he landed.

"That person turned out to be a body cultivator? Rather rare, that."

"That Hei family young master was far too careless... won't amount to much..."

The powerful onlookers didn't think much of the black-robed talent's strength—it was nothing more than taking advantage of a fool, a lucky win at best.

Body cultivators refined the body, and that was all they refined. Even with decent talent, they might overpower other cultivators through sheer physical strength while at a low stage, but as their realm advanced, they'd easily be left behind by cultivators who refined their techniques—not to mention sword cultivators, favored by the heavens themselves, who possessed physiques no less formidable than body cultivators'.

In past Grand Cultivation Tournaments, there had always been a scattered few body cultivators, and they were invariably among the first to be eliminated.

The powerful figures on the viewing platforms lost interest in the black-robed talent. The silver mirrors rippled, the image shifting to focus on a refined, elegant talent in white-and-gold robes.

With a sweep of his wide sleeve, over a dozen cultivators facing him burst instantly into clouds of blood mist, teleported out of the secret realm in the next moment.

"It's Gongsun Bushi!"

"Impressive as ever, suppressing powerful opponents with a mere wave of the hand. Now that's a true clash of talents!"

Amid the rising chorus of praise, the unconscious Hei family young master was quietly retrieved and brought back to his family's immortal ship, which turned and departed at once, leaving behind only two Hei family cultivators at the peak of Deity Transformation.

They hovered high in the air, eyes narrowed with hostility, fixed on the entrance to the secret realm.

A mere body cultivator, how long could he possibly last in the tournament? The family head's order had already been given: this same day next year would be his death anniversary!

In a place beyond the reach of prying eyes outside the secret realm, Chen Moqing sped forward through the air, cradling the little snow-white beast.

He moved so fast that even when he crossed paths with other talents along the way, none of them could catch up—they could only watch, dumbstruck, as his figure vanished into the distance in an instant.

Passing through ten thousand li of forest, heading due east, he soon came upon a bottomless cliff. Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Moqing leapt straight down, casually reaching up to smooth the little snow-white beast's fur, ruffled by the wind.

The little snow-white beast nuzzled against his palm, poking its small head out from his sleeve to look below.

The cliff stretched down for who knew how many thousand zhang, growing darker and colder the further down it went, all light swallowed up, mist and shadow gathering thick on every side, as if plunging into the underworld itself.

Chen Moqing glanced down. The little ball of fluff in his arms curled up round and soft, every strand of its snow-white fur giving off a moonlit-frost glow—in the depths of that darkness, it looked just like a tiny little moon.

He held it up in both hands, using it to probe the surroundings like a candle.

Cang Shun: "?"

Held aloft in midair, the demon emperor let out an indignant huff, gripping tight to his fingers, then lowered his head.

And planted a quick kiss on the tip of his finger.

Chen Moqing fell silent, and wordlessly tucked the little ball of fluff back into his sleeve.

The little snow-white beast swished its tail, tilted its head to press against him, and lifted its chin high.

Some unknown span of time later, scattered points of silver light began to surface before Chen Moqing's eyes amid the pitch darkness, faintly illuminating a small patch of the deep cliff.

A single mote of silver light drifted near him; the little snow-white beast in his arms raised a paw to catch it, and caught nothing but air.

Chen Moqing raised a finger and touched the silver mote, pouring his mastery of soul path into it.

The faint silver light burst outward, in an instant scattering into a thousand thousand points of silver, drifting down to settle across the depths of the cliff. More and more motes of light kept surfacing, quickly gathering into a vast, molten sea of silver, staining the pitch-black depths with a broad wash of soft, silvery light.

——The Eastern Emperor Secret Realm was not merely an arena for talents to compete in; it was itself a place of great fortune, rich with hidden opportunities. Long ago, while studying Tianshu Sect's texts, he had learned that within the secret realm lay a spot of soul path spiritual ground, one that could only be unlocked by a cultivator who practiced the soul path.

And here it was.

Chen Moqing floated above the sea of silver, his black hair and white robes both gilded in a frost-pale silver sheen.

At first, he had studied the soul path only to sever the contract between himself and Cang Shun, but now—

Chen Moqing lowered his silver-lit eyes to meet that pair of ruby-red demonic eyes.

He hoped this little Mimi's soul would remain safe and untroubled.

Silver light blazing in his eyes, the young cultivator lightly tapped his long, slender knuckles together, and countless silvery-white runes swirled around him, like a galaxy pouring down from the vast sky, surging into the soul sea below.

Spiritual energy collided, stirring up wave upon wave; the silver sea, imbued with his mastery of soul path, rose dozens of zhang high, swallowing the young cultivator's figure whole.

His soul sank into the sea, submerged in silence. In that hazy space, it seemed as though both Chen Moqing and Cang Shun drifted through some long, distant dream—or perhaps it was only an illusion of their own minds.

The waves settled back into the sea's surface, and the soul sea returned to stillness. Chen Moqing slowly opened his eyes, meeting a pair of demonic eyes impossibly close before him.

The little snow-white beast floated in midair, pressed against him without a hair's breadth of space, forehead touching his.

The heartbeat within its chest raced, drumming without pause. Cang Shun's gaze was heavy and fixed, locked tight on the figure before him.

A moment ago, his soul had suddenly stirred, sinking into a brief dream.

In the dream, he had returned to the demon realm, sitting alone atop a high peak, gazing up at the moon in solitude, with only a frost-colored longsword beside him.

That sword was not Ran Cang, the one he himself had forged, and his human was nowhere by his side.

If it had been only a dream, perhaps he could have laughed it off—but that scene had felt so real, as if...

Cang Shun gently stroked Chen Moqing's cheek, feeling the warmth within reach beneath his palm, and said softly, 【What did you dream of?】

Chen Moqing's fingers moved slightly, pinching the furry paw against the side of his face. "Only soul path insights."

Cang Shun nodded, nuzzling against him with a muffled sound, and recounted what he had seen in his own dream.

Chen Moqing listened quietly until he finished, his gaze shifting faintly. "That was Chenjie."

"If Chenjie is there, that means I'm there too." He smiled, flicking a finger at the little snow-white beast's tail. "Seems it was a good dream, then."

Cang Shun stared unblinking at those eyes.

If Chenjie was still with Tianshu Sect now, but ended up in his hands in the dream, that would mean Tianshu Sect had already fallen by then.

Which meant his human would surely still be by his side.

The little snow-white beast fell silent again, floating over to Chen Moqing's hand, quickly burying its head into his palm, nuzzling against him softly.

Above the silver sea, a fruit of pure, flawless silver rose up. Chen Moqing raised his other hand, and the fruit drifted before him, hovering still in the air.

Surging soul path mastery poured out from the surface of the silver fruit, as if it had absorbed the very essence of this soul path spiritual ground.

Cang Shun leaned in, batting at it with a paw a couple of times, setting the round little fruit spinning in place. 【Just eat it now?】

"Not yet," Chen Moqing said. "It'll take some time to digest it. When that happens, I'll need Mimi to guard me."

Cang Shun hopped up onto his head, nestling into his black hair, tail drooping long behind him. 【Okay!】

Just then, a voice laughed out from above them:

"Fellow Daoist, put it down."

The silvery-white mirror surfaces churned with clouds for several more hours.

On the viewing platforms, the assembled powers had been watching quite the show for a good while now.

Some talents struck out the moment they landed, cutting a swath through all around them; some lay low in hiding, waiting for their moment; others worked every angle, quickly gathering allies into small groups within a short span of time, so that wherever they went, others gave way.

By the midpoint of the first day, nearly a thousand talents had already been eliminated, almost all of them from the middle and lower prefectures.

The mirrors shifted, and on one of the silver surfaces there appeared a figure in white-and-gold immortal robes, standing atop the shimmering, flowing silver sea.

"Gongsun Bushi? Looks like he's stumbled onto some great fortune!"

The moment those words were spoken, they immediately drew the attention of many of the great sects and clans, who quickly turned their mirrors to bring up the very same scene.

Soon, an old, startled voice rang out from one of the pavilions: "It's the Immortal Soul Sea! The soul path land of fortune hidden within the Eastern Emperor Secret Realm for a thousand years! Only a cultivator with the deepest mastery of soul path could ever awaken this soul sea!"

At these words, a wave of discussion broke out at once: "When did Gongsun Bushi start cultivating soul path? And to such a high level? This one's talent is terrifying!"

"Wait, it's not him—it's the person across from him! That person actually obtained the soul fruit! That's the very essence of the Immortal Soul Sea!"

"Why does he look a little familiar... isn't that the body cultivator who killed the Hei family young master? How does a body cultivator end up cultivating soul path too?"

"Heh, sheer luck, that's all. What good is soul path? Utterly useless before sword path. Such rotten luck, running into Tianshu Sect's number one talent, he's done for."

At the entrance to the secret realm, the two Deity Transformation cultivators of the Hei family were also sneering, releasing their treasures in advance, ready to strike the moment that body cultivator was expelled from the realm.

Above the soul sea, Gongsun Bushi descended with graceful, elegant bearing. "I have a beloved pet who's recently taken an interest in soul path. This soul fruit would be of great help to him. If you're willing to part with it, fellow Daoist, I'll let you go. What do you say?"

At these words, one of the powers outside the realm sighed in admiration. "Worthy of being Immortal Venerable Yu Bai's beloved disciple, a man of noble character and lofty integrity."

"That little body cultivator really is lucky, dodging disaster yet again."

Just as everyone assumed this thoroughly one-sided battle would dissolve without incident, something happened that no one expected—without the slightest hesitation, the man facing Gongsun Bushi flipped his wrist and put the silver fruit away into his storage pouch!

"If you want it, come and take it yourself." The silver sea churned with waves as the young talent's black robes drifted, his tone light and easy. "Though, you'll bear the consequences."

Gongsun Bushi's peach-blossom eyes narrowed slightly, as if he'd come across something rather novel, and he laughed. "Good. Very good."

"Fate has brought us together, fellow Daoist. I truly can't bear to watch you die for the sake of a treasure."

Chen Moqing held the little snow-white beast steady, his palm stroking its soft fur again and again, his smile undimmed. "How many substitute life-tokens do you have?"

"That's a rather suggestive question," Gongsun Bushi said, the corner of his mouth curling up. "Eight."

Chen Moqing nodded slightly. "Dying here only gets you teleported out of the secret realm, but the pain right before death is still perfectly real. No faking that."

"So that's what you're worried about." Gongsun Bushi lowered his voice, sounding for all the world like he was murmuring sweet nothings to a lover. "Don't be afraid. Even though you're no great beauty, you're still worth some pity. I'll make sure you go without any pain at all."

Outside the secret realm, someone had already burst out laughing. "They say men die for wealth, birds die for food. But to die over a mere spirit fruit, that's lower than a beast."

"How many strikes do you think it'll take Gongsun Bushi to kill him?"

"Why would he even need his sword? One blow will do."

The words had barely finished when, within the secret realm, Gongsun Bushi, still smiling, let his wide sleeves flutter as he pressed two fingers together and pointed once through the empty air—

Sure enough, no sword was drawn. Just a single strike.

One strike, to decide it all—one to live, one to die.

Black robes fluttered, dark gold cloud patterns rippling across the fabric, as blood sprayed outward, carving a sharp, straight line across the air, scattering wildly.

Thud.

The headless body dropped—but just before it sank into the silver sea, it transformed into a palm-sized jade puppet, which burned away entirely into nothing in midair.

It had been a substitute life-token.

Outside the secret realm, dead silence fell across every viewing platform—quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Gongsun Bushi opened his eyes, staggering as he clutched at his throat, the sensation of his throat being slit and his head severed still vividly fresh, his fingers trembling violently.

As if jolted awake from a nightmare, he raised his eyes with a shudder, only to be met with a second nightmare—

The lightless depths of the cliff, the ice-cold silver sea, the black-robed cultivator's robes fluttering, his high-bound black hair streaming wild, his bearing tall and straight as a sword freshly drawn from its sheath.

He held a talisman crackling with silver lightning, lowered his eyes, and amid the lightning pouring down from the sky, said with a light laugh:

"Don't be afraid. There are still seven more times."

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