Chapter Seventy-Five: Love, Useless and Powerless
After Jiang Wang left in haste, Shuanzi and Xiaoxiao stood outside the courtyard, facing each other in silence.
The sunlight was quite gentle at this moment, warming their bodies and driving away much of the chill in their hearts.
But some corners, the sunlight could never reach.
Shuanzi spoke first: "What do you think Lord Dugu went off to do?"
"How would I know the Master's business?"
Another silence fell.
Shuanzi glanced at Xiaoxiao, took two steps toward her, then stopped.
He said: "You... you've suffered."
She remembered how he had knelt before Hu Shaomeng, kowtowing until his head thudded against the ground. Of course, she understood his feelings.
She had been moved, once.
But...
"Shuanzi." Xiaoxiao said slowly: "You and I are both so ordinary, so mundane. No one can control their own fate."
As she spoke, she walked toward the pile of ashes in the courtyard.
"Forget me. In this world, ordinary people have no future."
"Xiaoxiao!" Shuanzi called out, mustering his courage, but inexplicably, that burst of courage suddenly drained away.
Right here in this courtyard, an innocent young girl had jumped into a well. Dozens, even hundreds of miners had gathered around, yet not one dared even speak Ge Heng's name.
What grounds did he, Hu Shuanzi, have to claim he could protect her for a lifetime of peace?
She was right. An ordinary person's "future" was too fragile.
With nothing but "love," the best one could do was crack one's skull open—useless and powerless.
The words hovered on his lips, finally turning into a question: "What... what are you going to do?"
Though Xiaoxiao was much younger than Shuanzi, perhaps because she had endured more suffering, she clearly saw through the ways of the world more clearly and with less attachment. Hence, no emotion showed on her face.
"I'm going to scatter his ashes."
She paused, then suddenly turned back to ask Shuanzi: "Tell me, if I scatter them in the latrine, will he never be reincarnated?"
Her voice was soft and gentle, but the hatred ran deep.
Shuanzi was stunned for a moment: "Probably... probably, yes."
……
The exploration of the mine shaft yielded nothing.
The reaction Jiang Wang had been waiting for—the one Hu Shaomeng should have—never came.
It was as if the other party simply didn't care what he did in the mining district.
Patience was a fine quality. It made an opponent far more troublesome.
But Jiang Wang was in no hurry. Time was on his side.
Even if, in the end, there turned out to be no other hidden secrets—that the truth was simply the Xi Family reaching into Green Ox Town—he could deliver that result to the Chongxuan family, and he would lose nothing else.
For Jiang Wang, his own strength was the foundation of everything.
In the endless cycle of day-and-night cultivation, several days passed in the blink of an eye.
……
"After pushing open the Heaven and Earth Gate, I had just begun exploring the Trunk Sea when I sensed the Divine Ability Seed. The place where it resides is the first Inner Mansion."
In the Illusory Realm, Chongxuan Sheng said this: "But I'm in no rush. I'll wait until I've fully explored the Trunk Sea and maximized my potential before striking at the Inner Mansion."
While Jiang Wang had been lingering in the State of Yang, Chongxuan Sheng had already pushed open the Heaven and Earth Gate.
The benefits of the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm manifested here—at the very start of the Soaring Dragon Realm exploration, he had already sensed resonance with the Divine Ability Seed.
The Divine Ability Seed itself marked the location of the Inner Mansion.
This meant that if Chongxuan Sheng so desired, he could skip the Soaring Dragon Realm entirely and ascend to the Divine Ability Inner Mansion right now. Of course, one with such limitless prospects as Chongxuan Sheng would never make such a choice.
This state bore a striking resemblance to Dou Yuemei. But back then, driven by the urgency of the battle at Jade Pivot Peak, Dou Yuemei had been forced to break through prematurely, shattering five mansions in a single attempt just to grasp her Divine Ability—thereby severing her path of cultivation forever, doomed to remain at the Inner Mansion Realm for life.
Chongxuan Sheng, however, had ample leeway to explore the Trunk Sea at his own pace, laying a solid foundation for his future path.
This was Jiang Wang's regular sparring session with Chongxuan Sheng. Every few days, they inevitably had such a bout, and neither held back. Since they fought by direct agreement rather than through the matching system, there was no issue with differing realms.
To maximize the merit consumed by the Sword Discussion Platform, they would chat for a while before each fight, catching up on recent developments.
"My Heaven and Earth Gate is still in the process of manifestation," Jiang Wang said.
"No rush. The stronger the cultivator, the harder the Heaven and Earth Gate is to push open. I exhausted myself to break through this quickly—it wasn't actually perfect," Chongxuan Sheng sighed. "But there was no choice. I had to make trade-offs."
Even though he was busy as a spinning top every single day, Chongxuan Sheng still carved out time each day to fight in the Illusory Realm's matching battles—using, of course, an entirely separate combat system with the Chongxuan Clan's secret techniques stripped away.
He knew full well that strength was the foundation of everything. But so many clan affairs existed, and there weren't enough trustworthy people to delegate to.
Their conversation centered mainly on cultivation matters. Chongxuan Sheng never inquired about what Jiang Wang was doing in the State of Yang.
The second topic was the help and advice regarding Lian Que. Chongxuan Sheng, such a socially adept fellow, naturally wouldn't overlook Jiang Wang's opinions.
After a grueling battle, Jiang Wang withdrew from the Illusory Realm.
He had now reached the seventy-eighth level of the Heaven-Ascending Realm in the Illusory Realm's matching battles. The combat intensity was far greater. After fighting Chongxuan Sheng, he had no energy left for another round.
Crossing an entire realm and facing an opponent like Chongxuan Sheng—even though Chongxuan Sheng had only recently pushed open the Heaven and Earth Gate, Jiang Wang was already completely outmatched.
Of course, fighting the current Chongxuan Sheng gave Jiang Wang far more room for improvement.
Jiang Wang's own Heaven and Earth Gate was still manifesting, and it had already taken a rough shape.
It was an ancient stone gate, tall and massive.
Faint inscriptions adorned its surface.
Jiang Wang had tried ramming it; the gate hadn't budged an inch.
Every cultivator's Heaven and Earth Gate could only be seen in full detail by themselves alone. Others could at most perceive a shadowy outline.
The feedback from heaven and earth received after opening the Heaven and Earth Gate was the foundation upon which a cultivator existed within the fog of ignorance.
The stronger the manifested Island of Heaven and Earth, the safer the exploration of the Trunk Sea.
Jiang Wang carefully washed the Heaven and Earth Gate with Dao Essence before temporarily ending his cultivation.
He heard the footsteps of the maidservant Xiaoxiao.
A thought stirred within him, and he pushed open the door.
Xiaoxiao was about to knock when she saw Jiang Wang and reported: "Master, the Hu family's young master is here, requesting an audience outside the courtyard."
So he had waited all these days—he had quite the composure, Jiang Wang thought.
But aloud he said: "I'll go greet him."
The courtyard was extremely small. Before Jiang Wang had taken more than a few steps, Hu Shaomeng, hearing the commotion outside, called out from a distance: "Has the Emissary been comfortable these past few days? Is there anything amiss that Shaomeng might improve?"
"I come from humble origins. I'm comfortable anywhere."
Jiang Wang invited him into the courtyard: "Come in and sit."
The two sat facing each other in the main hall. The maidservant Xiaoxiao promptly served fragrant tea before withdrawing.
She had been busy sewing clothes lately and had already made Jiang Wang two long robes.
Hu Shaomeng glanced around the empty courtyard and asked with a smile: "Is this maidservant to your satisfaction? My family recently acquired a singing girl from out of town. Shall I send her over to the Emissary?"
Jiang Wang thought to himself: That singing girl—could it be the new mother your father found for you?
The man addressed him as "Emissary" at every turn, which showed respect. But Jiang Wang understood that, to some extent, this merely indicated that the other party was essentially respecting the Chongxuan family he represented.
"I appreciate Young Master Hu's kind offer. But I'm used to being alone and not accustomed to too many people." Jiang Wang deflected this idle topic and changed the subject: "But what about you, Young Master Hu? Isn't the training at Fishing Sea Tower demanding? You've been staying in Green Ox Town for quite some time now. I suppose the local air agrees with you?"
"Haha, that's not much of a worry. As long as our realm keeps up, the sect doesn't constrain us much," Hu Shaomeng replied, then abruptly shifted: "By the way, the Emissary must surely come from a prestigious school, given such remarkable talent. Might I ask who your teacher is?"
"An unnamed wandering cultivator, self-taught."
"The Emissary is truly a heaven-blessed genius!"
Hu Shaomeng seized every opportunity to flatter, without the slightest trace of embarrassment.
For some reason, Jiang Wang felt inexplicably uneasy, as if something unusual lurked nearby. But when he carefully looked around, he couldn't find the source.
He offered only a perfunctory smile before asking directly: "I wonder what brings Young Master Hu here today?"
"It's this," Hu Shaomeng sighed, seemingly quite melancholic. "I heard that the Emissary was the victor of the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, so I came to ask. Do you happen to know my Senior Sister, Zhu Suyao? She's a genius cultivator of our Fishing Sea Tower, and she also participated in the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm."
"Oh?" Jiang Wang was in no rush, so he played along: "What are the distinguishing features of this Senior Sister of yours?"
"My Senior Sister..." A nostalgic look crossed Hu Shaomeng's face. "She was a very gentle person. When I first arrived at the Fishing Sea Tower, she took great care of me. Unfortunately, later during a journey, an accident left her with a hidden ailment that blocked her before the Heaven and Earth Gate, preventing any further progress."
"Her temperament gradually became more extreme. When the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm reopened this time, she expended tremendous effort to enter, hoping to find a cure for her hidden ailment within."
Hu Shaomeng's voice grew low: "But alas..."
Jiang Wang remembered nothing of what had happened inside the Heavenly Capital Secret Realm, and naturally had no impression of his Senior Sister either. He had no idea that the first female cultivator to die from the death-energy poison had been none other than Zhu Suyao of the Fishing Sea Tower.
"And your relationship with this Senior Sister?"
Hu Shaomeng nodded: "We once harbored secret feelings for each other, but later parted over a misunderstanding. In truth, I've been waiting for her all along. I never imagined..."
Jiang Wang listened in bewilderment, unable to understand why the man was suddenly confiding all this to him.
He could only offer a half-hearted consolation: "Please accept my condolences."
At that very moment, he suddenly sensed a fluctuation of elemental energy.
"Who's there?"
Jiang Wang flicked his finger, and where his gaze fell, a blossom of flame seared through space.
A figure, half-virtual and half-real, tumbled out, revealing the form of a beautiful young girl.
Such powerful illusion arts! She had been concealed right in their vicinity, completely undetected.
Now Jiang Wang finally understood the source of the unease he had felt earlier. He rose to his feet, forming a seal with one hand, ready to seize this intruder.
Hu Shaomeng suddenly lunged forward, placing himself between them: "Wait!"
Jiang Wang saw that Hu Shaomeng's eyes still held the lingering pain from before, his face carrying three parts shock. Beyond the pain and surprise, there was a hint of unmistakable tenderness in his voice: "Bi Qiong, how are you here?"
Though ignorant of the circumstances, seeing this scene made everything crystal clear to Jiang Wang.
This kid had turned his place into a stage! Used him as a supporting actor to set the scene for his little drama.
What a performance!
Le Wen