Chapter 345: The Origin and End of the Calamity
“Young Master, it’s time to rest.”
In a flash, night fell, and stars and moon rotated.
Ji You, who was meditating at the tea ceremony, heard Ding Yao’s call and gently opened his eyes.
He had just examined his body internally and found that it was truly a mess, with alarming traces of injuries still present.
And this was after three months of recuperation; he didn't even know what his body had been drained into at the very beginning.
That wife-remarriage formation, he would have to be more careful when using it in the future.
Ji You let out a soft sigh, then walked to the wall for support and sat down on the bed.
Ding Yao and Zhuo Wanqiu, with their bare, snow-white feet, got off the made bed and helped him sit down.
“The clothes still need to be put away properly.”
“?”
Ding Yao was startled, then suddenly saw a pink bellyband under the pillow. She immediately reached out and pulled it away, her face slightly red as she handed it to Zhuo Wanqiu.
They strictly followed Master Jian’s instructions, staying by his side and never leaving, fearing that someone from Tianshu Academy might harm him. So, for the past three months, they had been taking turns guarding the bed, sometimes changing clothes on the spot for convenience.
Zhuo Wanqiu took the bellyband and glanced at it, thinking, “Senior Sister is a bit much, mine is already put away.”
Seeing this, Ji You narrowed his eyes imperceptibly, thinking, “These two girls must have done something intimate to me while I was unconscious.” This reminded him of the only part of him that was full of vigor when he first woke up.
He had no consciousness at the time; if it wasn't an internal thought, then there must have been external forces at play.
After a night's sleep, Ji You slowly awoke in the morning. Danyang Zi’s first batch of Medicinal Pills was then delivered and given to Ji You to consume, with Danyang Zi using his Pill Light to catalyze it.
The medicinal power continuously deepened into his limbs and bones through his Meridians. Ji You gradually felt a warm current continuously flowing within his body, and his body slowly relaxed.
It took half an hour to activate the medicinal power, and Danyang Zi slowly retracted his Pill Light into his palm: “Your original body was extremely weak and couldn't withstand the medicinal power, absorbing it slowly. But now that you’ve awakened and can eat independently, the subsequent treatment time will be greatly shortened, and your recovery speed will gradually increase.”
Ji You clenched his fists, feeling a pang of pain in both arms: “But I still feel a sense of powerlessness, like I can’t hold anything, and my legs also have difficulty supporting me.”
“This has nothing to do with your injuries, but rather because you’ve been depleted for too long, and your Origin has been severely lost. This aspect can only be slowly replenished. Before that, I suggest you use a wheelchair.”
“Use a wheelchair?”
Danyang Zi stroked his long beard: “I have already instructed the Master's Courtyard Disciples to go down the mountain to buy one, and it will be delivered shortly. In your current depleted state, any exertion must be minimized.”
Ji You shrugged, thinking, “A wheelchair it is then.”
After Cultivating his Physical Body, he had always presented himself as a brute, appearing like a simple-minded person with developed limbs. A wheelchair might make him seem more unfathomable.
After giving some other instructions, Danyang Zi stood up and left Jixiang Hall.
Ding Yao, who was accompanying him, stood up and began to help Ji You comb his hair and change his clothes.
“Where is Wanqiu?”
“She went to get breakfast. I’ll help Young Master wash up first.”
Ding Yao fetched water for him, adjusted the water temperature, and then stood aside with a silk handkerchief.
Soon after, Zhuo Wanqiu returned to the hall with food and dishes: “How is Young Master’s physical condition?”
“I’ll still be a cripple for a while. You all will have to work hard for a few more days.”
“It’s not hard. Our task is to take care of Young Master.”
Ji You took the silk handkerchief from Ding Yao’s hand and wiped his face, thinking, “Your answer sounds a bit happy.”
Then the three of them ate breakfast together. The Master's Courtyard Disciple also delivered the wheelchair at this time and brought Zuoqiuyang’s verbal message, asking him to meet him at Zizai Hall.
The calamity was over, and Ji You almost lost his life to sever the last Heavenly Dao sacrifice. He needed to know the full scope of this matter.
Yesterday, when he had just woken up, he had asked about it, but You Yingqiu said he was not in good spirits and should rest for a night, then talk about it tomorrow. Now, Zuoqiu Hall Master asking to meet him was probably for this matter.
After breakfast, Ji You sat in the wheelchair and was pushed out of the main hall by Ding Yao, heading towards Zizai Peak.
The wooden wheelchair moved very slowly, bumping whenever it encountered a pit, and even getting stuck if the pit was slightly deeper.
“The roads in Tianshu Academy are so bad, not at all like our Lingjian Mountain.”
Although Ding Yao was a cultivator and it wasn't strenuous for her, she couldn't help but grumble a little.
“This road is said to have not been repaired for a hundred years, because the Disciples on the mountain come and go at high speeds, so the demand isn’t high, but it really should be repaired.”
Ji You murmured, then saw the current Head Teacher, You Yingqiu, approaching from the cliff on the right. He clasped his fists and bowed slightly.
Seeing this, You Yingqiu nodded gently.
Then the wheelchair continued to roll along the bumpy road, stopping only at the entrance of Zizai Hall.
Zuoqiuyang was already sitting in the main hall waiting for him. Seeing him arrive, he stood up from within the hall: “How are your injuries?”
“Thanks to the Hall Master, my recovery is quite good. Elder Danyang Zi said my injuries are no longer serious, only some depletion that needs nourishment.”
“That’s good.”
Zuoqiuyang led them into the hall, then sat down in the tea pavilion of Zizai Hall: “I heard from Junior Sister that you asked about the investigation into the calamity yesterday?”
Ji You nodded: “Everything before was based on speculation, and after waking up, I can’t help but be concerned. I wonder if Hall Master Zuoqiu has captured any survivors.”
“We have, and we’ve interrogated them. The situation differs slightly from what we discussed at Cloud Mist Mountain Cliff, but the difference isn’t significant. For the specifics, you can find out by reading the case files.”
As Zuoqiuyang spoke, he took out a thick stack of case files from his hand.
Ding Yao reached out and took them, placing them in front of Ji You. The ink-scented papers were slowly turned open by his hand movements.
The first major part consisted of the testimonies left by the captured survivors, and the content detailed everything from the initial planning of the incident to the outbreak of the tide.
“The timing isn’t the same?”
“That’s right. According to their testimonies, besides the Chu Family, Li Family, Zhu Family, and Zhuang Family, the other Sects involved in this matter joined at different times.”
Ji You’s gaze returned to the case files, scrutinizing them carefully.
The Du Family, Bai Family, Liu Family, and other century-old Sects were all invited at different times by the Chu Family, Li Family, Zhuang Family, Zhu Family, and other Sects to conspire for a great cause.
The reasons for their invitation were, on one hand, their existing close private ties with these Sects, and on the other hand, their shared enmity with Immortal Sects or their long-held ambitions.
Their activities at that time were mainly centered around Qi Ridge, and the first relic they opened was also there.
However, just as speculated, they soon discovered that the items of the Lasting Peace Race were not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao.
For this, they paid a heavy price, suffering countless casualties among their Disciples. Then began a long period of experimentation, attempting to deceive the Heavenly Dao to bring out the Immortal Destiny within.
According to them, the Immortal Destiny within the relic had a high degree of compatibility with any substance, and the fruits brimming with Heavenly Dao power were an example.
Therefore, the key to bringing out the Immortal Destiny lay in the container.
They tried all the Materials they could find in Qingyun World, and finally, by chance, discovered that infants were the best containers.
Seeing this, Ji You’s fingers couldn't help but tighten slightly, creasing the page.
Zuoqiuyang glanced at the passage he was reading and said: “Infants are new life, pure throughout. I asked Junior Sister, and she said that according to the Heavenly Pivot Art’s definition of the Heavenly Dao, although the Heavenly Dao is supreme, it has no right to destroy new life. This is also why they could bring out the Immortal Destiny.”
“Using the body of an infant, they shielded themselves from the Heavenly Dao’s punishment.”
“Indeed.”
Ji You remained silent, continuing to read.
After discovering that infants could serve as containers, these demon cultists prepared batch after batch of infants, using them to absorb the Immortal Destiny and bring it out.
They refined it into Medicinal Pills and consumed them.
But what they didn't expect was that even with such elaborate efforts, the cultivators who consumed the Medicinal Pills would still transform into monsters like Evil Seeds, and would even face annihilation again upon reaching a certain Realm.
So they began to search for various different absorption methods, experimenting with cultivators who had a weak sense of presence, attempting to circumvent this point.
This description wasn't overly detailed, but it answered a question that had been on Ji You's mind: the differences among the Evil Seeds.
Li Ruilin, Tan Chen, and others, who Huang Yueniang had searched for years, had no consciousness, similar to ordinary Evil Seeds.
However, the demon cultists in the relic, including the lower-ranking members, were able to retain their sanity.
There were also differences in combat power and ferocity.
It seemed these were all results of different absorption experiments.
The subsequent content was similar to what Chu Xian had said.
After long attempts, they found a method to purify the power with a cultivator's Spirit Origin, dividing each infant-pill into several portions.
Through continuous advancement and consumption, they cultivated monsters called Reapers.
After these several rounds of purification, the Immortal Fate within the ruins gradually transformed into flesh and blood on the monsters, absorbed by them in the form of Qi and blood.
However, the problem was that this transformation process still had flaws.
First, the method of purification using cultivators' Spirit Origin consumed an immense amount of Immortal Fate; by the final step, less than half would remain.
More critically, even with this method of absorption, the Power of Annihilation would reappear once the Soul Wandering Realm was reached.
According to these people's conjectures, the Soul Wandering Realm could directly connect with the Heavenly Dao, and perhaps that was why the secret was exposed.
In the testimonies, this story had a different branch, which was the Zheng Family Old Ancestor who appeared in Qi Ridge at that time.
The Zheng Family Old Ancestor was nearly two hundred years old at the time, with not much Lifespan left; he was unwilling to undertake such a tedious and lengthy attempt again, and instead thought that since he couldn't leave the ruins after ingesting Immortal Fate, then Ascension within the ruins would also be a method.
In fact, this was also because he was forced into a corner by his constantly dwindling Lifespan, so he had no choice but to take this risky move.
At that time, they had entered and exited the ruins countless times, causing the Evil Seeds within the ruins to gradually spiral out of control, especially on that New Year's Day in the early years of Taiyuan, when multiple Evil Seed riots had already attracted the attention of the Immortal Sects.
Thus, the other Sects also agreed to the Zheng Family Old Ancestor's decision.
Simply put, the Zheng Family Old Ancestor wanted to gamble on a chance for Immortal Ascension within the ruins, while they wanted to use this event to erase any traces in Qi Ridge and simultaneously observe whether this method was feasible.
On the eve of the Qi Ridge catastrophe, they used batches of infants to absorb the Immortal Fate from Qi Ridge and bring it out, temporarily storing it within those millennium-old Sects.
As for the Zheng Family Old Ancestor, he began to directly absorb the ruins' Immortal Fate, breaking through to the Linxian Realm, and then released a large number of Evil Seeds to attract the Immortal Sects.
In their plan, those high-quality cultivators who entered the ruins would surely greedily devour it.
And the Zheng Family Old Ancestor could then refine them and soar to the heavens.
This line of thinking was actually the same as their method of taking out the Immortal Fate, distributing it to their Disciples for purification, and finally devouring it in stages.
But in the end, the Zheng Family Old Ancestor still failed his Ascension, completely severing everyone's idea of "Ascension might be possible from the ruins," and they began to seek other solutions.
This was the content of the first case file, which made Ji You ponder endlessly after reading it.
The villains in this world were really serious about their business, unlike those who were brave but foolish.
"The Zheng Family Old Ancestor risked his life because his Lifespan was nearing its end; we had guessed this at the time, but never thought it was just one part of it."
Zuoqiuyang saw that he had finished reading the first volume and couldn't help but speak to him.
Ji You raised his eyes after hearing this, and after a long moment of thought, said, "Regarding the matter of infants being used as containers, I actually knew about it before."
"You knew about this?"
"Indeed, after the incident in Qi Ridge that year, a group of refugees fled to Shengjing. One of their children had seen a convoy transporting infants on the road, and I overheard it from him by chance."
Zuoqiuyang's mouth slightly opened upon hearing this: "Why didn't you say anything then?"
Ji You put down the first case file: "If I had spoken then, perhaps there wouldn't be this incident of Linxian Realm demons fighting for Sacred Artifacts today, but all the infants in this world might have died out that year."
Hearing this, Zuoqiuyang immediately fell silent.
He only cared that if they had known in advance that another group of people had transported infants out of Qi Ridge, the various Immortal Sects would have surely taken strict precautions, and this catastrophe might not have occurred.
But he overlooked that before temptation, everyone could become a demon.
"Which is the second one?" Ji You looked down at the table.
"This one," Zuoqiuyang pulled out a volume, "the next events are very much related to you."
"?"
Ji You raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and after a moment of thought, opened it.
After only a few lines, he knew why Zuoqiuyang said the later events were related to him.
Because after the Qi Ridge incident, those hidden in the dark were still plotting, and one of the catalysts was Chu River.
According to the testimony, the Chu Family sending Chu River to Tianshu Academy was not, as the outside world said, because they didn't want to tie their entire Family to the Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion.
Their actual purpose was for the Celestial Book, or more precisely, to send Chu River to see the Celestial Book.
Among the Seven Great Immortal Sects of the current era, six were Family-based Legacies, where outsiders were rarely able to see the Sacred Artifact itself; the only exception was Tianshu Academy.
The Celestial Book Institute Head Teacher had left no descendants and was not exclusive like the other Immortal Sects.
Personal Disciples like He Lingxiu had seen the Celestial Book itself multiple times.
And in the plots of those demons, the purpose of sending Chu River, the second Young Master of the Chu Family, was to get him to come into contact with the Sacred Artifact.
They had already arranged everything beforehand. Ji You remembered that there were even rumors at the time that Chu River was bound to enter the Inner Courtyard, and that he would be taken as a Personal Disciple once he entered the Inner Courtyard.
However, to prevent problems, those demons did not put all their eggs in one basket.
Besides Chu River as the catalyst, they also arranged for Du Zhu and Bai Rulong as backups to ensure everything was foolproof.
At this point, Ji You's thoughts were instantly pulled back to the Autumn Tournament of that year.
At that time, the Qi Ridge incident had just ended, Chu River was taken home to receive the Dao, and Du Zhu also suddenly went into secluded cultivation, reappearing with greatly increased Realm.
But at that time, no one thought that behind them hid a colossal disaster.
"What was their purpose in sending Chu River to interact with the Celestial Book?"
Zuoqiuyang rested his hand on the table and spoke in a deep voice: "I think they already had the idea of seizing the Sacred Artifact with the Power of Origin at that time. After all, the Sacred Artifact is connected to the Heavenly Dao, and this might solve the Power of Annihilation brought by the Immortal Fate, resolving their long-standing predicament."
This plan now seemed somewhat simple, but at the time, it was indeed flawless.
Because among the Tianshu Academy Disciples of that generation, Chu River had the highest talent.
That year, when the second Young Master of the Chu Family did not enter the Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion but instead entered Tianshu Academy, it attracted great attention in the Qingyun World.
With his Seven Apertures Exquisite Body, Innate and close to the Dao, Chu River had already become a Prodigy while still immature. In everyone's eyes, no one else but him could enter the Inner Courtyard.
But no one expected that in that very year, Cao Jinsong, an Instructor at Tianshu Academy, brought back a self-Cultivated Perfection student from Yuyang County.
What was even more unexpected was that as soon as that person entered Tianshu Academy, he advanced like a broken bamboo, first sensing the Celestial Book, then breaking through to the Profound Realm, and along the way, he suppressed Chu River so much that he couldn't recover.
At that time, the Chu Family made many efforts, pulling strings and promising benefits, finally sending Ji You to Qi Ridge to die.
However, they still didn't expect that Ji You, who was only at Junior Third Realm Completion at the time, almost killed Gongshu Chou, who was already in the Integration Realm. Not only did he bring back all the Tianshu Academy Disciples, but he also rescued the Dan Sect siblings.
At the time, all the actions of the Chu Family seemed to be for Chu River's future, for the so-called Chu Family Integration Realm.
But looking back now, it was a root of disaster that was brutally nipped in the bud by Ji You before it could grow.
Two and a half months ago, Zuoqiuyang learned about Chu River's role during the interrogation of the Du Family Head. Even though he was at Upper Five Realms Perfection and usually unperturbed by honor or disgrace, he couldn't help but feel a slight tremor in his heart upon hearing it.
Because, in other words, if Feng Province hadn't produced such an astonishingly talented Junior Third Realm Completion like him that year, a great disaster would likely have befallen them much earlier.
"Five years ago, I also blocked a calamity for Tianshu Academy?" Ji You now looked up at Zuoqiuyang.
"It certainly seems so now."
"Shouldn't I get some money for this?"
Zuoqiuyang's eyes twitched upon hearing this, and after a moment of silence, he pulled out two Spirit Stones from his sleeve.
"So, not just anyone can enter an Immortal Sect. With a Sacred Artifact, the Immortal Sect's status is Innately transcendent, but if people who only consider cultivation and not character enter an Immortal Sect, it's like a snake entering a rat's nest, extremely risky."
Ji You handed the Spirit Stones to Ding Yao, who was standing by, thinking that compared to the deeply scheming Chu Family, being greedy for money seemed clean and pure instead.
Master Zuoqiu then spoke in a deep voice: "The Sacred Artifact has suppressed the world for many years; I never thought someone would be so far-sighted and cunning."
"Habit is a terrible thing. Once an Immortal Sect gets used to being high above, it will subconsciously feel that everything is under its control."
"Indeed, we all trusted the Sacred Artifact too much, which is why we overlooked that human thoughts can also disrupt the heavens."
Ji You then picked up the third case file and gently opened it.
The content of this part was even more complex, and the layout was even more meticulous, involving the missing Dou Yuankong, the subordinate families in the Dongping Mountain Range, and even that Tiandao Conference was within their calculations.
Ji You had previously not understood how they could make the Heavenly Dao allow the appearance of items from the ruins; now, he had found the answer.
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