The transparent ball rolled to the corner of the wall and finally stopped.

Fu Guan, who had just gone through soul-searching, was thrown by Chu Xinghui and couldn’t recover for a long time.

The ball was silent for a long time before Fu Guan finally weakly crawled up.

When everything was exposed, he actually became calm. He glanced at the three people present and mocked: “Cultivating and ascending is inherently against the heavens. As long as the goal is achieved, what does the life or death of a mortal realm matter? The weak are trampled by the strong and become prey, this is the law of the world. Do you dare to say that you have never engaged in such survival of the fittest?”

Xie Liufeng felt that this cursed thing was really noisy, so he picked up the ball and handed it back to Yue Yao, sealing Fu Guan’s mouth with spiritual power: “Senior is right, so your upcoming fate will fully follow your life principles.”

Selfish and self-centered people always believe in their own logic. Debating with such a person was meaningless other than wasting breath.

The best way to handle him was to send him to the position he deserved.

Yue Yao coldly stared at the thing in the ball for a while before putting the ball away.

Having temporarily dealt with Fu Guan, Yue Yao took a deep breath and prepared to address the second matter: “Now that the cause and effect are clear, let’s deal with the two things you brought.”

Chu Xinghui casually untied the sack he had brought, poured Xie Huai and the mouse out, and glanced at Yue Yao again.

He was still hesitant, wondering whether to take a break and have the disciples of Bihai Taohua Island come over to attend to Yue Yao.

After all, after the soul-searching was finished, Yue Yao’s complexion was terrible.

But when he looked at Yue Yao again, he found that she already looked as normal as ever, with no sign of injury or illness.

Chu Xinghui observed her for a while longer.

He seemed to sense something odd about Yue Yao.

Yue Yao noticed his gaze and covered half her face with a fan, revealing a polite smile that was the same as usual.

Chu Xinghui withdrew his gaze and didn’t look further.

Since Yue Yao’s condition seemed fine, he returned his focus to the matter at hand: “Cultivator Yue, can you tell me why you specifically wanted these two people?”

Qin Suyun could be said to have a connection to the Fate Book, but Xie Huai seemed rather puzzling.

Apart from hanging out with Cultivator Baiyun and the family of Lingxiang Sect for a while, it seemed he hadn’t had any chance to get involved with the core issues.

Yue Yao didn’t pay attention to Xie Huai for the time being and looked at the unconscious mouse, pondering for a moment: “I’ve already taken what I needed, and as for Qin Suyun… I didn’t know why the divination showed her to be useful until I watched the founder’s memory just now. Only then did I get a rough idea.”

Her gaze shifted briefly and landed back on Chu Xinghui: “This item is not meant for Bihai Taohua Island, but for you, Cultivator Chu.”

Chu Xinghui looked at the mouse with confusion: “For me?”

He didn’t have much interest in raising a mouse, especially since the mouse was connected to Qin Suyun.

Yue Yao nodded and continued: “After Bihai Taohua Island temporarily disappears from this world, the most pressing matter will be cutting off the Heavenly Ladder. But… Cultivator Chu, you probably don’t know how to do it yet, do you?”

Almost all cultivators had thought about ascending when they first started their journey, but the meaning of ascension was different for most cultivators, and not everyone could calmly accept the reality of never ascending again.

But now, except for cutting off the Heavenly Ladder and severing the connection with the place of exile, there was no second path for this world.

Currently, there were still some mixed opinions among cultivators regarding the Heavenly Ladder, but once Fu Guan’s memories were leaked, this matter would become a certainty.

Yue Yao slowly analyzed: “Now that we know the people and the sword needed to cut the Heavenly Ladder, what’s left is the final preparation—letting the Heavenly Ladder appear in this world. Under what circumstances will the Heavenly Ladder appear? I believe neither of you needs me to remind you?”

Her meaning was very clear.

The Heavenly Ladder would only briefly appear when someone from the lower realm ascended to the upper realm.

Chu Xinghui objectively introduced his own condition: “I’ve just broken through to the Nascent Soul stage. To reach the ascension realm, it would likely take a long time.”

Even though he had confidence in his talent, from Nascent Soul to ascension, it was impossible without at least a hundred years of effort.

If this was a necessary condition, whether this world could wait that long was still a question.

Xie Liufeng spoke up: “If it’s just about someone ascending, I can do it.”

Yue Yao shook her head: “That probably won’t work. Without being at the ascension realm, one can’t get close to the Heavenly Ladder.”

She took out a piece of paper, lowered her head, and used spiritual power to sketch on it. Then she showed it to Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng: “You two should’ve seen this in our founder’s memory. This is the spell Qin Suyun and the others used when they descended, to conceal themselves and escape the Heavenly Dao’s pursuit. You should have some seniors skilled in this type of magic look into it, and they should be able to find a way to break the spell and expose the pseudo-god back to the Heavenly Dao’s sight.”

Chu Xinghui linked the related images from Fu Guan’s memory and vaguely guessed: “Qin Suyun used this to attract Heavenly Thunder?”

Yue Yao nodded: “Exactly. You two should have noticed, in the founder’s memory, those Heavenly Thunders that sounded every day in the place of exile, they actually helped with rapid cultivation. However, they fell on karmic burdens, and the weakening effect on the punished would be much greater than the cultivation growth… But Cultivator Chu, you have no karmic burdens. These might help you quickly cultivate to the ascension realm.”

Her use of “might” made it sound extremely uncertain.

Xie Liufeng tried to remain calm: “Then what if something happens along the way? Is there someone responsible for it?”

“Senior Xie, no one will be responsible,” Yue Yao candidly admitted: “This… will be very painful and dangerous. After all, there has never been such a precedent before, and no one knows exactly what will happen.”

Xie Liufeng couldn’t stay calm and immediately wanted to say something.

Chu Xinghui reached out and held him down, shaking his head.

Xie Liufeng reluctantly calmed down and stopped speaking.

Chu Xinghui, for the moment, had no objections about this matter, but he focused on a detail: “Now, Qin Suyun is not the only pseudo-god from the lower realm. Can’t we use someone else instead of Qin Suyun?”

He didn’t care about Qin Suyun’s life or death, he just felt that Qin Suyun’s current state wasn’t very healthy. If she were to be used, it would be better to prepare a replacement in advance.

Yue Yao pondered for a moment: “Theoretically, the other two pseudo-gods could also take his place. However, Qin Suyun now only has the consciousness of a mouse, so there will be much less interference from others during the operation—though, once everything succeeds, it’s best to use the same method to completely eliminate the other two pseudo-gods.”

Her gaze shifted to Xie Huai, who was next to Qin Suyun. She continued to explain: “As for Xie Huai… I recently found out when preparing for this, he had been working for my master and secretly took something my master had discarded.”

After saying this, Yue Yao didn’t elaborate further. She stepped forward and began searching through Xie Huai.

But she didn’t find what she was looking for.

Yue Yao sighed and turned back to seek the opinions of Xie Liufeng and Chu Xinghui: “Sorry, I’ll use some small techniques later. It might get a bit noisy, I hope neither of you minds.”

Xie Liufeng nodded: “This is Bihai Taohua Island’s territory, Cultivator Yue, please feel free.”

Chu Xinghui had no objections.

The two of them found a spot to watch.

Yue Yao extended her hand, took a spiritual pill, and stuffed it into Xie Huai’s mouth, forcibly waking him up.

Xie Huai opened his eyes, saw the situation around him, and immediately became cautious: “Where is this? What are you going to do to me?”

Yue Yao stood in front of him, carefully sizing him up for a moment, and then smiled at him: “Do you remember me?”

Xie Huai became a little scared and quickly greeted: “L-Little… Little Island Master.”

Yue Yao shook her head, correcting him: “It’s Island Master.”

After the evidence of Cultivator Baiyun becoming an evil cultivator was conclusive, she had officially become the Island Master when she returned.

Xie Huai felt the atmosphere becoming increasingly off. He stammered, realizing he needed to change his address: “Yue… Island Master.”

Yue Yao politely asked him: “Cultivator Xie, didn’t you pick up something from my master before? Where is it?”

Xie Huai’s expression became unnatural, and he shook his head repeatedly: “I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Island Master.”

Yue Yao sighed and reminded him: “Cultivator Xie, I’ve been very busy recently.”

Xie Huai didn’t quite understand her meaning, but tried to comfort her: “It must be hard, Island Master.”

Yue Yao kindly explained: “What I mean is, I don’t have much time. If Cultivator Xie doesn’t want to say it, I’ll have to use other methods.”

She stretched out her hand, grabbed Xie Huai’s wrist, and twisted it—

Xie Huai looked down, saw his limp arm, and belatedly felt the pain. He immediately screamed.

Yue Yao didn’t even look up as she casually broke his other arm.

Xie Huai was a bit overwhelmed and, ignoring his dignity, loudly sought help from Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng: “I’m a prisoner of the Beiyue Sword Sect! Sword Master, Cultivator Chu, are you just going to watch me like this?”

Chu Xinghui didn’t respond. He looked up at Xie Liufeng.

Xie Liufeng ignored him even more. He touched his storage bag and asked Chu Xinghui: “Do you want a snack?”

Chu Xinghui nodded.

Xie Liufeng then seriously began feeding his partner.

Yue Yao smiled as she broke all of Xie Huai’s limbs and finally released him. She asked again: “Cultivator Xie, think carefully. Where is my master’s item?”

She kindly added: “Please answer carefully, Cultivator Xie. You must understand, no one here cares about your life or death.”

Sweat beaded on Xie Huai’s forehead.

He knew Yue Yao was serious.

He gritted his teeth and admitted: “That item… I… I used it.”

Now unable to move his limbs and with his spiritual power sealed, Xie Huai could only shuffle a few steps toward Yue Yao and then continued: “It’s on my back.”

Yue Yao flipped him over, using a surge of spiritual power to tear his clothes open.

There, on his back, was the mark of a fully bloomed peach blossom.

She stared at the mark for a moment, her face growing darker.

She muttered: “Ah, this is really troublesome.”

After a moment of thought, she sighed: “Originally, after you used it, I planned to have Senior Xie and Cultivator Chu drag you back to the prison, but now… it seems we will have to keep you here.”

Yue Yao turned back to look at Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng, asking once more: “What do you two think? Is it acceptable?”

Chu Xinghui, a bit curious, asked: “What did he take?”

Yue Yao explained slowly: “It’s a legacy from Bihai Taohua Island, usually passed down from one Island Master to the next. My master, fearing any trace of her former identity, carelessly discarded it. Cultivator Xie must have thought it was something useful to him, but in reality, this item only works within Bihai Taohua Island—it’s used as a key for certain secret vaults.”

She sighed again: “I’ve been preoccupied with the sect’s survival and didn’t have time to deal with this. This item shouldn’t have left Bihai Taohua Island. Now, with the entire sect sealed in a small world, to prevent any mishaps, we’ll have to trouble Cultivator Xie to stay with us.”

Xie Huai, who had been imprisoned for a long time and knew little of the current situation, could tell from the looks on their faces that this wasn’t good. He hurriedly explained: “I didn’t know it had this kind of use… I just tried it out…”

After confirming where the item was, Yue Yao didn’t care to listen to any more of his explanations. She immediately used her spiritual power to knock him out again.

 

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