Chapter 463: This Time, Their Calculations Will Fail
Kirin fell into deep thought.
"So this is… the space formed by his consciousness?"
Looking at the expanse before her—nothing but boundless mist aside from herself—the Empress's Mortal Alter Ego rubbed her chin.
Earlier, after noticing something abnormal about the Demon Sect Holy Saint, she had immediately tried to examine his body using her own methods, as she was the highest-cultivated person present.
She discovered the problem very quickly.
'A hidden seal at his brow has cracked… that should be the primary cause. There's also a power seemingly connected to the Ancient Heavenly Gate reviving within his body. On top of that, several different forces in his dantian are attempting to merge, releasing an enormous amount of spiritual energy…'
This whole mess of chaotic changes had triggered a chain reaction. Yet, because Luo Wusheng kept releasing spiritual energy nonstop—and because his body had been tempered through high-tier body-refining techniques—the rapidly surging spiritual energy was barely being held at the threshold where it wouldn't cause his body to explode.
On the contrary, in the midst of this process, the Demon Sect Holy Saint's physique began to change… or rather, awaken.
Even the bottleneck that had been blocking his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm showed faint signs of loosening.
Unfortunately, before she could investigate any further, her consciousness had been dragged into the space before her eyes.
This space seemed faintly connected to that awakening of his physique.
The ethereal mist churned and rolled, as though something were being born within it.
Judging by appearances, this place didn't seem fully constructed yet.
It didn't even qualify as a half-finished product—at most, it was like a foundation.
Who knew what it would become once it fully took shape…
"Still, if it's linked to his consciousness, perhaps I can wake him up from here?"
Although she didn't really want to face Luo Wusheng once he awakened, the situation outside in the royal city still required her presence.
And besides…
Kirin let out a soft breath.
At last, she no longer had to endure the pressure-inducing gaze of the Demon Sect Holy Maiden!
Whether as a Six Gate Bureau Golden Ranked member or as the Empress's Mortal Alter Ego, this was the first time she had experienced a situation like the one just now—one that left even her feeling unsettled.
The main reason was that what had happened in those special spaces earlier simply refused to leave her mind. On top of that, she had run into that pair of girls while she herself was in a rather flustered state… All these accidents combined made her inexplicably uneasy, giving her the constant feeling that her own socially mortifying experiences were about to be exposed.
Thankfully, the other young girl who appeared together with the Demon Sect Holy Maiden seemed to have no complicated thoughts. She easily grasped the part of Kirin's words that she wanted her to understand and smoothly steered the conversation elsewhere.
'Come to think of it, I don't know why, but this time that little Miss Lu from the Sword Sect gave me a sense of closeness I've never felt before…'
Forget it. No point thinking about that now.
Kirin steadied her mind and was just about to consider how she might use the current situation to wake the Demon Sect Holy Saint up and open a passage back to the real world when the change appeared on its own.
At some distance in front of her, the once-dense mist suddenly began to roil, rapidly gathering together. In this mist-filled world, it cleared out an open space.
The condensed mist gradually spread out, forming a small, square panel in front of Kirin.
There seemed to be something on the panel, but it was still blurred and obscured by fog.
Kirin raised an eyebrow.
According to what she knew from certain Daoist ancient texts, to awaken a sleeping person within a purely mental space, the key step should be to find that person's projection within the space and, through contact, provide sufficient stimulation.
But clearly, what she was facing now was not a simple consciousness space at all.
After hesitating for a moment, Kirin extended the finger of her consciousness and lightly touched the mist-formed panel before her.
A sensation like an electric shock came through the exchange of consciousness.
Immediately afterward, Kirin's consciousness began to tremble.
It wasn't that the shock was too strong—rather, in that single instant, she felt all the memories of her interactions with a certain Demon Sect Holy Saint over the past month replaying in her mind, bit by bit.
And not just the memories of this Mortal Alter Ego—all the memories of the three Alter Ego that had interacted with him!
Starting from their first encounter outside the royal city, the scenes played forward little by little: to the moment when her Imperial Alter Ego became "no longer pure" in the Imperial Pool; then to the successive scenes of her recently suffering backlash from Mortal Dust; and finally, to the present…
Memories she had painstakingly sealed away burst back out, displaying an overwhelming sense of presence.
The effect was astonishing—Kirin felt as though this strand of consciousness of hers was about to dissipate and return to her body.
But she ultimately managed to endure it.
'This… does it mean I've actually begun to accept those things little by little?'
No way—that kind of thing is absolutely not okay!
Kirin's emotions were extremely complicated.
Still, what exactly had just happened?
Her consciousness, still faintly twitching, followed the pull of her inner intuition and once more looked toward the mist-formed panel.
This time, the blurry image on the square surface suddenly began to change.
Threads of mist intertwined within the image, forming words.
First came [Primordial].
Then [Immortal Remnant].
The handwriting of these three words was crooked and ugly, yet they carried an inexplicable power that made it impossible for Kirin to look away.
Only after the two lines faded did they reassemble into a new sentence.
[Grant what the heart seeks.]
Kirin was taken aback.
She had no real understanding of the first two terms, but the meaning of this sentence was perfectly clear to her.
"If this is speaking to me… then what comes next is that he wakes up and sends me away without mentioning what happened before? Or perhaps he sends me away directly while still in that half-awake, half-dreaming state?"
Given the current situation, the first thing that came to her mind was leaving.
Returning to the royal city to reunite with her other two Alter Ego, put an end to the Netherkin chaos, and deal with the rest afterward.
Kirin felt that if she truly had a wish in her heart right now, it would most likely be this.
As for the small probability of other wishes… well, those were all unrealistic fantasies.
'I'm thinking too much. He's already helped me so much in this Netherkin chaos—that's more than enough.'
Besides, although that guy usually displayed power far beyond the norm, there was still quite a distance to go before he could take part in the final battle…
As she pondered this, further changes began to unfold.
On the mist-formed panel, the text that had appeared started to contract, returning once more to a vague blur.
Seeing this, Kirin again clearly sensed the incompleteness of this consciousness space—including the small plane condensed from mist, which also seemed to be in an unevolved state, as if it still lacked something crucial.
At this moment, this incomplete transformation continued to refine itself, producing chaotic images across the panel.
Vaguely, within this jumble of imagery, Kirin even saw the words [Sword Principle · Nascent Soul], [Luo Wusheng's Diary — Page One], [Star Moon ￭￭]…
Yes—there was a great deal of garbled text mixed in.
In the end, the entire misty plane contracted into a single mass, then twisted and dissipated.
But Kirin knew clearly that the changes before her were not yet over.
Just as she expected, the mist that had already cleared out an open area began to surge once again.
This time, a Daoist Alter Ego's silhouette stepped out from the mist.
A smile appeared on the face of Miss Kirin's strand of consciousness.
The figure before her was none other than Luo Wusheng.
'So that's what those words meant just now? Giving me a chance to awaken his consciousness—or to directly guide it into opening a passage to the outside world?'
"That should be the case."
Kirin examined the figure in front of her.
His appearance was exactly the same as Luo Wusheng's body in the outside world at this moment, and his eyes were likewise closed.
During this process, the young man continued to draw closer to her.
Kirin fell into silent contemplation.
When operating on the level of consciousness, the key lay in providing stimulation.
So, how was she supposed to stimulate someone's consciousness…?
Wait—wasn't that guy getting closer and closer to her?
"Eh?"
Though it was all taking place within consciousness, Kirin clearly felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist.
The owner of those hands gently held her. A strange sense of reassurance rose from the depths of her heart, smoothing over the anxiety she had been hiding deep inside about what she was about to face.
'Could this be what I was truly craving?'
Such a thought couldn't help but surface in her mind—but the scene before her eyes began to change.
The mist dispersed. Luo Wusheng's figure vanished, and her consciousness returned to her body.
Compared to the scenery that was gradually coming back into focus before her eyes, what Kirin sensed even faster was the complete restoration of her connection with her other Alter Ego.
Even without looking at her surroundings, she understood one thing.
She had returned to the real world.
...
The changes in the royal city drew the attention of many beings.
Some were openly watching, others hidden in the shadows.
This Netherkin chaos had, from the very beginning, attracted an enormous number of gazes.
"The Netherkinrace has suffered another loss… though this time it's somewhat peculiar. Those spatial rifts and the corresponding Netherkin targets that were attacked seem to have been linked from the start. The lightning and flames that surged out from within carried out the attack through that connection, which is why they didn't dissipate like ordinary techniques… Whoever did this is extremely skilled. It's a pity, though, this isn't the way of karmic links."
"Oh? Old Heavenly Ghost, even you think like that? Looks like this is one of Immortal Nation's hidden trump cards as well. Unfortunately, its power is still lacking. I imagine that big bird will soon come up with a countermeasure."
The voice known as Old Heavenly Ghost fell silent for a moment. "…Then you still don't plan to make a move? If I recall correctly, Fairy Yuqin, your Pure Maiden Vein has always had rather good relations with the Immortal Nation."
"Hehe~ The one from Sword Sect is still staying here just like us, if anyone's going to get anxious, it won't be my turn, will it?" The woman called Fairy Yuqin let out a soft laugh.
A steady male voice responded to her words, "I will not make a move."
"Looks like you're the same as us, then… In your case, was it the one inside the Sword Tomb who gave the order?"
Faced with Fairy Yuqin's follow-up question, the man gave no further reply.
"Actually, that's not so bad," Old Heavenly Ghost said in his slightly hoarse voice. "I, too, would like to see who it is that will ultimately come to the royal city's aid."
"Whether it's forcing out that Immortal Nation's former emperor who's been missing for three years, or drawing in that Daoist Sect Master… heh, those old fossils rotting away inside their coffins have planned things quite well. Even if you wanted to intervene, they'd probably already prepared methods to stop you."
"Heh~ This time, their calculations will fail."
Another woman's voice rang out.
"Oh? Even Tower Master Yue is here?" Fairy Yuqin's voice took on a hint of sudden interest. "And what does Tower Master Yue mean by that?"
The Tower Master of the Heavenly Divination Tower—although her martial strength ranked at the very bottom among the Divine Transformation realm cultivators—was someone whose true terror everyone present understood all too well.
If one were to offend this person, even a fellow Divine Transformation realm cultivator might die without ever knowing how it happened.
It was said that eighteen years ago, a mysterious, reclusive Divine Transformation realm expert had, for unknown reasons, hunted down the Tower Master of the Heavenly Divination Tower. Judging by their relative strength at the time, Tower Master Yue of that time should have been all but doomed to certain death… Yet not long afterward, news spread that this mysterious Divine Transformation realm cultivator had somehow offended the previous Netherqueen and was slapped to death with a single strike.
Even to this day, no one has been able to figure out how Tower Master Yue managed to make that happen.
Coupled with the fact that Tower Master Yue's whereabouts were unpredictable—she would participate in important meetings of the major sects, yet never reveal her true appearance, and even the voice she always used seemed to be layered with multiple disguises—her sense of mystery only deepened further.
Fairy Yuqin was also filled with curiosity about this Heavenly Divination Tower Master.
In her imagination, Tower Master Yue must surely be a mature and dependable fairy—one influenced by the Heavenly Secrets themselves, stern and unsmiling, never acting out of line, using the arts of divination to perceive all facets of sentient beings, and single-handedly supporting the entire Heavenly Divination Tower.
She had never expected that in today's Netherkin chaos, even this person would appear.
Unfortunately, Tower Master Yue did not answer her question.
"Heavenly Ghost Daoist, this time you misjudged it… The method used to attack the Netherkin race may not be with the Dao of Causality, but it is by no means regrettable," Yue Xuanji said calmly. "The one capable of employing such a method—even if their cultivation is still insufficient—cannot be underestimated."
"Not causality, yet— hm?"
Old Heavenly Ghost's voice seemed as though he wanted to say something more, but his tone abruptly changed.
At that moment, another abnormal change appeared in the scene within the royal city.
Beyond the rift in the heavens meant for the Netherking's descent, the golden beastly pupils that had appeared there suddenly lit up with a strange glow.
In the next instant, a surge of power erupted from the bodies of the Netherkin who were about to be dragged into the spatial rifts. Their bodies were forcibly pulled away from the rifts, breaking free from the flames and lightning.
However, their agonized shrieks did not stop.
One could see that although their bodies had escaped, entities identical in appearance to them—yet shrunken to the size of a fist—were still wrapped in flames and lightning, dragged into the corresponding spatial rifts.
Those were their netheric infant—just like the Nascent Souls within human Nascent Soul cultivators, they were far more important than the physical bodies of these Nascent Soul realm Netherkin!
As the netheric infants were pulled into the spatial rifts, the Netherkin bodies that had broken free fell silent in the blink of an eye, as though dead.
It was clear to see that upon witnessing this scene, the golden beastly pupils in the sky darkened instantly.
Especially when they saw the Immortal Nation's empress—who had been barely holding on while wielding the Human Emperor Sword—suddenly take a step forward.
To the north of the royal city.
Within the formation that led to the space where the Immortal Platform resided, a pillar of light appeared out of thin air, shooting straight into the heavens. It formed a massive white vortex amid the previously oppressive, dark clouds.
At the same time, a phantom ray of light flew out from both the imperial palace of the royal city and from within that pillar of light, merging into the Immortal Nation empress's body.
The radiance of the Human Emperor Sword enveloped her completely.
Her aura surged upward, rising step by step.
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Cultivation Realm:
1, Qi Refining
2, Foundation Establishment
3, Golden Core
4, Nascent Soul
5, Divine Transformation (Formerly Known as Tribulation Crossing)
6, Tribulation Transcendence
7, Land Immortal
Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 571: To See or Not to See?[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/chapter-571-to-163855664
[2] https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/chapter-571-to-163855664