Chapter 1280: The Secret of Lan Yu and Tiandu
Aboard the flying boat, Guan Xingxiu spoke with growing conviction. He began hesitantly, but his words soon flowed with an unwavering certainty, as if he were explaining a fundamental law of the Star Sea itself.
“The laws of the Star Sea are, in essence, a higher form of the laws we know from the Xuanhuang Realm. Therefore, the key to our breakthrough lies in finding the ‘Star Sea Dao’ that corresponds to our own cultivated path within this silent expanse. All of you have reached the Dao Integration stage, a testament to your considerable talent. If you can cast aside your fear of the Star Sea and approach this with a calm heart—just as you would in the Xuanhuang Realm—and focus on perceiving these laws, I am confident you will succeed without much difficulty.”
Guan Xingxiu went on to describe in detail how he had perceived his own Star Sea Dao. He was growing more animated when a voice, fraught with terror, suddenly cut him off.
It was Zi Mu, one of the survivors. “Old Guan, what if... and I'm just speculating... what if the Dao I cultivate no longer exists in the Star Sea? What am I supposed to do then?”
Zi Mu’s eyes were fixed on Guan Xingxiu. “Does that mean my path is severed? That I can never advance again?”
Guan Xingxiu was silent.
A mix of emotions flickered across the faces of the other Dao Integration cultivators.
Some turned deathly pale, while others looked profoundly relieved.
It wasn't a matter of lacking talent; they weren't failing to perceive their respective Star Sea Daos.
The truth was that those Daos had simply vanished from the Star Sea.
“Perhaps you could try to perceive other laws,” Guan Xingxiu suggested quickly after a moment's thought, seeing despair begin to ripple through the group. “After all, all paths under heaven eventually lead to the same destination.”
But his suggestion was met with a merciless rebuttal. “If we were below the Dao Integration stage, or perhaps cultivators from another world, that might be an option. But we are from the Xuanhuang Realm; we have devoured the very soul of heaven and earth, our bodies fused as one with its laws. Hmph. To change our path now... how could it be so simple?”
“In that case,” a Dao Integration cultivator named Qing Shuang remarked suddenly, his tone unreadable, “the one among us with the greatest potential for achievement would have to be Brother Lan Yu.”
An immediate silence fell over the flying boat. All eyes turned to Lan Yu.
Lan Yu himself did not deny it.
There was a simple reason: among all the Dao Integration cultivators present—indeed, in the entire Xuanhuang Realm—he was unique.
He was the only one who had reached Dao Integration through the ancient methods.
Unbound to the fundamental laws of the Xuanhuang Realm, he was free to comprehend and use any law in this desolate Star Sea to achieve his breakthrough.
“So, Brother Lan Yu, is the reason you've shown no sign of a breakthrough because you're spoiled for choice?” someone joked.
“My congratulations in advance, Daoist Lan!”
“Tch! This new method... a curse from the Heavenly Venerate!”
The room filled with a mixture of reactions.
Lan Yu maintained a solemn expression, offering only vague replies. Inwardly, however, he was utterly bewildered.
He hadn't sensed any of the Star Sea Daos in the void.
Could my aptitude truly be so abysmal? he wondered. Or have I grown so old that my spiritual sense has completely faded?
A haze of confusion settled over Lan Yu.
Ah, I think I remember now.
I, Wu Fuqiu... my talent was never anything special.
Lan Yu froze for a moment, his mind drifting back to his youth.
Back then, the way of the immortal thrived, and the Ten Great Immortal Sects reigned supreme. He was but one of countless ordinary cultivators living under their rule, a man of mediocre talent and no great fortune. The Golden Core stage should have been the pinnacle of his journey.
But on one fateful day, a single moment of curiosity altered the course of his destiny forever.
“Fellow Daoist, what's all the commotion up ahead?” Wu Fuqiu asked, his curiosity piqued by the sealed air route and the procession of city-sized flying boats of every imaginable design passing overhead. “What's going on?”
“Shhh, quiet down!” came the hushed reply. “Disturb the Ten Sects' ‘Grand Rite of Reverence,’ and you won't even know what killed you.”
The fearful silence and reverent gazes of the onlookers only deepened Wu Fuqiu's curiosity.
It took half a day for the grand procession of the Ten Sects to pass. Only then was the air route reopened.
Yet Wu Fuqiu remained, staring in the direction the fleet had vanished, long after the skies were clear.
After making some inquiries, he learned that this "Grand Rite of Reverence" was a centennial celebration held by the Ten Great Immortal Sects to express their gratitude to the Tiandu Grandmaster for the gift of his teachings. All the most important figures from the Ten Sects would be in attendance.
Wu Fuqiu had no idea who the Tiandu Grandmaster was.
But even as a rogue cultivator from the untamed wilds, he was intimately familiar with the resounding fame of the Ten Great Immortal Sects who ruled the cultivation world.
If the Ten Sects are already so magnificent, how unimaginably powerful must the Grandmaster who taught them be?
If I were ever fortunate enough to earn his favor...
Wu Fuqiu’s heart pounded. In that moment, an ambition greater than any he had ever known ignited within him.
After long and careful consideration, he found he could not rid himself of the obsessive thought that had taken root in his mind.
He set out for the legendary Heavenly Capital, Tiandu.
After a journey fraught with hardship, he finally arrived outside Tiandu, only for his soaring hopes to burst like a bubble.
The Heavenly Capital was nowhere in sight. There was only a single Daoyuan Palace, perched among the mountains, its form half-hidden by the shifting clouds.
At the foot of the mountain, a crowd of young cultivators just like him had gathered, all having traveled far and wide, clinging to a sliver of hope for a life-changing encounter.
Wu Fuqiu was utterly bewildered.
He knew Tiandu was the Grandmaster's residence. So what was this Daoyuan Palace?
“You don't even know of the Daoyuan Palace? What kind of backwater hick are you? This is the source of all laws, the origin of all Daos! Even the direct disciples of the Ten Great Immortal Sects must get in line here!”
“Just think about it! Who is the Grandmaster? Do you think a legend like him would meet with commoners like you? If you wish to gaze upon his divine countenance, you must first enter the Daoyuan Palace and pray with utmost sincerity. Only if you catch his eye will you be summoned to the Heavenly Capital.”
“What's that? You want to go in? Simple. Pay a thousand high-grade spirit stones, and you can join the queue!”
Dejected, Wu Fuqiu was jostled aside by the tide of new arrivals.
A thousand high-grade spirit stones—that was enough to purchase a decent Nascent Soul cultivation method. If he possessed such wealth, would he have needed to travel a thousand miles just to beg for an opportunity?
Though his pockets were empty, Wu Fuqiu had no intention of leaving.
He noticed there were many others like him, unable to afford the fee and thus barred from ascending the mountain.
Wu Fuqiu spent a fortnight mingling with them and eventually learned a crucial piece of information.
The so-called Daoyuan Palace had been built much later by the Ten Sects. It had no actual connection to the real Heavenly Capital.
The true land of the Dao's origin was the entire vast area below Tiandu. The Ten Sects had simply claimed the largest portion for themselves and built the Daoyuan Palace there.
But they hadn't been entirely heartless; they had left this small patch of land at the mountain's foot for the rest.
“The Grandmaster hasn't been seen in countless years,” one of them said. “They claim you're more likely to catch his eye up on the mountain, but that's just wishful thinking.”
“That's right. The Grandmaster resides high in the nine heavens. From his perspective, what difference is there between the summit and the base?”
Listening to the chatter of the men huddled on the ground, Wu Fuqiu decided to make his home there as well, at the foot of the Daoyuan Palace's mountain.
He stayed for twenty long years.
People came and went. Some died filled with regret. Others, their hearts twisted with resentment, dared to curse the Grandmaster aloud and were beaten to death for their insolence.
Wu Fuqiu himself aged from a young man into a middle-aged one.
He no longer knew what compelled him to stay.
Perhaps for a man of his meager talents, one place was as good as any other.
Throughout the years, he hadn't neglected his cultivation, but with no income of spirit stones, he was slowly depleting his reserves. And while the land of Daoyuan was rich in spiritual energy, it couldn't possibly sustain so many cultivators drawing from it at once.
He made no progress; in fact, his cultivation even showed signs of regressing.
Having reached this point, Wu Fuqiu accepted his fate and abandoned his unrealistic dreams.
He had been an orphan since birth, drifting through life with no one to rely on. After more than two decades at the foot of this mountain, he had grown accustomed to the landscape. In a strange way, he had come to think of it as home.
Whenever a hopeful young face arrived, begging for the Grandmaster's favor, he would simply smile and say nothing.
It was like seeing his younger self.
He never shattered their illusions, however.
Anyone who did was swiftly... dealt with by the Ten Sects.
But the world works in mysterious ways.
Just when Wu Fuqiu had finally cast all thoughts of the Grandmaster's blessing from his mind...
...one day, the sky exploded in a brilliant, seven-colored radiance.
Below the Daoyuan Palace, thousands of cultivators froze in astonishment.
Someone—no one knew who—cried out, “The Grandmaster has revealed himself!”
A wave of frenzied excitement and terror swept through the crowd, and in an instant, a vast sea of cultivators fell to their knees.
Only Wu Fuqiu remained standing, his mind utterly blank.
“How audacious! You dare show disrespect to the Grandmaster!”
A furious roar echoed from the distance, followed by a streak of sword light.
Just as Wu Fuqiu was about to be cut down, a single blue feather drifted gently down from the sky.
The white sword light was launched first, moving with incredible speed.
The blue feather descended later, floating down with an almost lazy slowness.
Yet, a bizarre scene unfolded. Before the eyes of all, the blue feather somehow outpaced the sword light, landing gently upon Wu Fuqiu.
The sword light arrived a moment later, passing harmlessly through Wu Fuqiu’s body and instantly killing three of the kneeling cultivators behind him.
As for Wu Fuqiu...
...bathed in the azure glow of the feather, he began to rise uncontrollably into the air.
He floated ever upward, accompanied by the gasps of the crowd below.
He passed over the Daoyuan Palace, soared through the clouds, and in the blink of an eye, found himself before the gates of a purple-gold dojo.
Wu Fuqiu stood there as if in a trance, and it was a long while before he came to his senses.
His body trembled with such excitement that he forgot all decorum and pushed the doors open.
This was not the divine Heavenly Capital he had imagined. The place was deserted.
It was silent, deathly still.
Only the faint sound of chanting drifted from deeper within.
Cautiously, Wu Fuqiu followed the sound to the deepest part of the dojo.
There stood a quaint, purple-gold wooden building from which a faint fragrance emanated.
Wu Fuqiu knelt and paid his respects. After a long wait with no reply, he summoned his courage and pushed the door open.
The scene inside the wooden building unfolded before him.
A hazy figure sat cross-legged, muttering an endless stream of words.
Behind this figure stood a young attendant in a blue and white Daoist robe, eyes closed.
The attendant had rosy lips, pearly teeth, and a delicate, androgynous face.
Lan Yu's memory was sharp; he recalled noticing that the attendant seemed to have been in a fight. Their robes were slightly torn, with faint traces of blood on the fabric.
Not daring to be presumptuous, Wu Fuqiu knelt and kowtowed once more.
Yet neither the hazy figure nor the attendant gave any sign of acknowledgment.
That figure must be the Tiandu Grandmaster, he thought.
After a long while, Wu Fuqiu dared to rise and, emulating the hazy figure, sat down cross-legged.
He listened intently to the ceaseless chanting.
Slowly, it felt as if he began to understand.
The blue feather, which had vanished upon touching him, suddenly materialized within his dantian.
“Myriad Tribulations Feather Transformation Technique...”
“Heaven and earth cycle through infinite eons. Countless worlds rise and fall, like feathers drifting through the void.”
“Transform your body into a feather, attune yourself to the world, and you can drift with the turning of eons. Life and death become indeterminate as you traverse calamities and achieve eternal transcendence...”
Wu Fuqiu listened, completely captivated, his expression shifting from a frown of concentration to a smile of delight.
For a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Myriad Tribulations Feather Transformation Technique was impossibly profound.
Yet even grasping a fraction of its meaning was like a sudden, pure enlightenment, and his cultivation level soared.
He lost all track of time, completely immersed in the profound teachings.
Suddenly, a flicker of light and shadow before his eyes jolted him from his meditative state.
He saw the attendant, who had been standing silently with closed eyes, waving a hand at him.
No words were spoken, but Wu Fuqiu understood. It was time for him to leave.
Though a thousand regrets filled his heart, he could only retreat in silence.
Before leaving the purple-gold building, he politely closed the door behind him.
Just before the doors shut completely, a streak of light shot out.
Wu Fuqiu caught it instinctively. It was a miniature, ring-shaped structure.
“A magical artifact... a martial arts arena.”
“It has a storage function, too.”
A look of delight spread across Wu Fuqiu’s face as he briefly inspected it.
He knelt and kowtowed three more times toward the building before finally departing from the Heavenly Capital.
It was only then that he realized he could no longer hear the chanting of the seated figure once he had left the purple-gold building.
A pang of loss struck his heart, and for a moment, he felt a powerful urge to go back.
But this was the Grandmaster, the teacher of the Ten Great Immortal Sects. In the end, he did not dare overstep his bounds and left the celestial domain.
When he returned to the world below, he was stunned to find that the Daoyuan Palace had vanished.
Even the surrounding terrain had been drastically altered, as if a great battle had taken place.
Wu Fuqiu searched for a long time before he finally found other living cultivators.
From their deeply respectful demeanor, Wu Fuqiu realized with a shock that he had, without any awareness of it, become one of the most powerful experts in the Xuanhuang Realm—a cultivator at the Dao Integration stage.
And hundreds of years had passed.
The iron grip of the Ten Great Immortal Sects had weakened, and a new power, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, had risen to challenge them...
“Daoist Lan Yu?”
Guan Xingxiu's voice pulled Lan Yu from his reverie.
“Yes... I am nothing but a man of mediocre talent who reached Dao Integration through a stroke of impossible luck.”
“For so many years, the praise of my disciples and subordinates nearly made me forget that truth.”
A sense of relief washed over Lan Yu.
“If my aptitude weren't so poor, I wouldn't have been stuck at the Dao Integration stage for so long, despite possessing the profound Myriad Tribulations Feather Transformation Technique.”
“Without the Grandmaster's direct guidance, I have made no further progress in thousands of years.”
Lan Yu shook his head to himself, his thoughts returning to the present. He looked at Guan Xingxiu. “I trust your judgment. Since the killer is hiding among us, we simply need to stay together and wait for them to make a mistake.”
Lan Yu paused, then continued, “This person acted immediately after their breakthrough. If it isn't some psychological compulsion, then their cultivation method must require them to offer blood sacrifices after advancing. In that case, they will not stop.”
Everyone nodded, affirming Lan Yu's grim assessment.
For their own protection, the Dao Integration cultivators of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance resolved to remain together in the main hall of the Wangzun flying boat, keeping a close watch on one another.
The killer's cunning, however, far exceeded their expectations.
Nine days later, after they had successfully navigated the flying boat through a lingering cosmic calamity in the void...
...another body was found on the boat.
Lan Yu and Guan Xingxiu exchanged a glance, confirming that the victim was Zi Mu.
The pressure weighing on their hearts grew heavier still.
“Old Guan! We were all together this time, weren't we? You're the strongest here—did you see which bastard made a move?!”
Facing their expectant gazes, Guan Xingxiu could only shake his head in frustration.
The hall erupted in chaos.
“Everyone, calm down!” Guan Xingxiu urged. “We were all concentrating on navigating the void calamity. In that moment of distraction, the killer struck again.”
“What do we do now? If we don't evade these calamities, we'll die. If we do, we get assassinated...”
“Hmph! In my opinion, we should stop bothering to avoid these calamities. If worse comes to worst, we'll all just perish together!”
“Brother Xu, don't say such things in anger. There are still many of us left!”
“This is unacceptable! I'm leaving this boat!”
As the arguments raged, a sharp cry cut through the noise, silencing the hall.
Lan Yu and the others turned to see Qing Shuang, who had been relatively composed until now, suddenly looking as though he had suffered a complete mental collapse.
His expression was vacant, his eyes flickering with madness.
Mumbling to himself, he made a break for the exit, intending to leave the flying boat.
“Stop him!” Guan Xingxiu roared.
Only Lan Yu and a few others moved to intercept him.
Confined within the boat and afraid of causing damage, they were all forced to hold back.
For a moment, they found themselves unable to contain the frenzied Qing Shuang.
Just as they reached a stalemate, Qing Shuang froze.
The expression on his face locked into place, and he stood rooted to the spot.
Before anyone else could react, Guan Xingxiu's expression shifted, and he lunged forward to examine him.
“He's dead.”
A moment later, he turned back, his face a grim mask.
A cold dread instantly fell over the survivors.
Compared to the first murder, the killer's methods seemed to be growing more refined.
The distraction of the void calamity could be used as an excuse before, but this time, everyone had been watching with their full attention.
And still, the killer had struck with impunity...
How could they possibly defend against this?
A deathly silence descended upon the flying boat.
“I'm starting to think,” Sun Luchang said, breaking the silence, “that what Qing Shuang said before he died... wasn't entirely without reason.”
“From what we've seen, this killer is growing stronger far too quickly. Soon, after they've killed a few more of us, they won't need to hide anymore. They'll just reveal themselves and kill us all openly. Staying on this boat is a death sentence. We'd be better off abandoning it and taking our chances in the void.”
Sun Luchang's words resonated with the others. “He's right. The Wangzun is incredibly fast. If we leave one by one, at intervals, the distance between us in the Star Sea will quickly become immense. The void is vast. Even with heaven-defying power, the killer can't possibly hunt all of us down!”
“Besides, we are still within the gravitational pull of the Immortal Ruins. We just have to follow it back to the Xuanhuang Realm. And since we all have the Clear Void Flowing Crystal artifacts the Alliance provided, returning safely shouldn't be an issue.”
...
One by one, they voiced their agreement, slowly reaching a consensus.
In the end, more than half of them chose to abandon the expedition and leave the boat.
Guan Xingxiu looked to Lan Yu, seeking the counsel of the most senior Dao Integration cultivator among them.
Lan Yu sighed softly. “Heaven and earth are vast, but one's life is paramount. Their choice is understandable.”
“To avoid further casualties, let it be so.”
“Elder Lan, you're not leaving?”
Lan Yu shook his head. “My time is nearly at an end. To return would be to simply wait for death. I would rather seek that one sliver of hope out here in the void.”
His words surprised them all. After offering him their best wishes, they departed the flying boat one by one, heading back toward the Xuanhuang Realm.
Their grand expedition into the Star Sea had ended in shambles. It was a pathetic end.
But it was better than losing their lives.
When the exodus was over, only five people remained on the boat.
Lan Yu, Guan Xingxiu, Sun Luchang, Xu Guanhai, and Zi Mei.
Guan Xingxiu looked at Xu Guanhai in surprise. “You stayed?”
Xu Guanhai chuckled. “I figured with so many people gone, the boat is probably safer now.”
“Besides,” he added, “no matter what happens, I still want to see the Mysterious Immortal Boat with my own eyes.”
Xu Guanhai then turned to Sun Luchang. “Brother Sun, you're the one who's acting strangely. Weren't you the loudest when everyone was demanding to leave? Why did you end up staying?”
Sun Luchang looked embarrassed. “My cultivation is too weak. I fear I wouldn't be able to make it back to the Xuanhuang Realm on my own. It's safer for me to stay here.”
The others were left speechless.
They could see he was telling the truth.
Unlike the rest of them, who had volunteered for this mission, Sun Luchang had been assigned by the Alliance, and his cultivation was the weakest of the entire group.
Sun Luchang sidled closer to Guan Xingxiu and Lan Yu. “The two of you... do you think the killer is one of us?”
The other four exchanged uneasy glances.
Until the killer's identity was revealed, no one could be trusted.
“Since we have all decided to stay, our route remains unchanged,” Guan Xingxiu announced after a moment of silence. “We can reduce the internal space of the Wangzun to increase its speed.”
“By the way, Xingxiu,” Lan Yu asked, frowning, “why is this boat called ‘Wangzun’? I can't help but feel the name is... inauspicious.”
Guan Xingxiu paused, startled by the question. “I do not know,” he replied. “The name was decreed by the Dharma Spreaders themselves. I always assumed it meant ‘A Journey to Meet the Heavenly Venerate’.”
At these words, Lan Yu's frown deepened.
He looked around the interior of the vessel and posed a question that sent a chill down the spines of the other four. “Besides us... is there anyone else aboard this boat?”
“There... shouldn't be,” Guan Xingxiu replied hesitantly.
Just then, Zi Mei, who had been silent until now, spoke up. “Perhaps... the boat itself is alive?”
Sun Luchang jumped. “Daoist Zi, what makes you say that?” he asked quickly.
Zi Mei spoke softly. “As I was perceiving the Dao of the Star Sea, I also observed the lives of the Dao Integration cultivators aboard this boat withering away like ants. It led to a breakthrough.”
“And in my perception... this boat...”
“...it feels as if it has a life of its own.”
Zi Mei's words made their blood run cold.
Guan Xingxiu hesitated. “If that were true, the Alliance would have surely...”
He stopped short.
The golden Falling Star Divine Sword above his head blazed with light. Guan Xingxiu gathered all the black threads he had extracted from the bodies of the murdered cultivators.
The threads writhed like living worms, merging into a single, thicker strand.
He had tested this strange weapon against every cultivator present, and none had shown any connection to it.
But he had forgotten to test one thing—the boat itself.
The last five survivors on the boat exchanged a look, an unspoken agreement passing between them.
They formed an array, trapping the black thread in the center.
“Old Guan, go to the control nexus,” Xu Guanhai said grimly.
His words seemed to enrage the black thread, which began to thrash wildly against the seal containing it.
The five of them combined their power to hold it fast.
They proceeded to the central chamber of the Wangzun.
Guan Xingxiu took a deep breath and activated the boat's main control array.
In the center of the array, a holographic image of the Wangzun hovered in the air.
As if drawn by an invisible force, the trapped black thread began to drift uncontrollably toward the holographic boat!
The faces of all five cultivators turned deathly pale.
Boom!
At that exact moment, the boat began to shudder violently.
The thick black thread erupted with several times its previous strength, instantly shattering their containment.
It shot back into the holographic image of the boat.
And with that, the truth was laid bare.
The murderer, the one responsible for the deaths of so many Dao Integration masters, was the very boat they were traveling in!
It was an utterly unimaginable conclusion.
Even with the proof right before his eyes, Guan Xingxiu could hardly believe it.
“Why...” he ground out through clenched teeth.
He was the nominal commander of this expedition, appointed by the Alliance, with authority over the Wangzun.
And this vessel, this creation supposedly under his command, had been murdering his comrades right under his nose!
It was the ultimate humiliation.
Shing!
The Falling Star Divine Sword flew from its sheath, its tip aimed squarely at the boat's holographic image.
In the next instant, Guan Xingxiu prepared to cleave the boat in two.
Just then, a cold, mechanical voice echoed through the chamber.
“Ultimate Mission Objective: Meet the Heavenly Venerate.”
“Deduction complete. Mission success probability: Low.”
“Searching for solution...”
“Deduction complete. For each Dao Integration cultivator converted into vessel energy, mission success probability increases by...”
The boat's emotionless, synthesized voice plunged them all into an icy abyss.
But what appeared next on the holographic display—the dozens of corpses of their former comrades floating in the void—made their eyes burn with rage.
It was them—the Dao Integration cultivators who had supposedly "left the boat" just a short while ago!
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