Chapter 233 Three Lifetimes(1/2)
Just at that moment, the big Arhat was shocked and about to attack.
But someone had attacked before him.
It was of course Li Ye.
Li Ye had seen the opportunity. The big Arhat had already entered his attacking range first before he was about to enter the big Arhat’s attacking range. Li Ye did not hesitate, the rune on his Luke Sword was glistening, so he suddenly made a backward attack. The move was the Sword Method of ‘Step-by-step lotus’.
Now the Arhat formation had been completely shattered. For Li Ye, the thirty-six Arhats that came up were only thirty-six ordinary Kong Kim Realm men. Without the support of the Arhat formation, Li Ye had no concerns at all. Li Ye’s Sword Method of “Purple Clouds from the East” was not something a bunch of disjointed cultivators of the same realm could withstand.
the moment Li Ye made the reverse attack, the big Arhat felt a sense of danger, and he trembled all over. Seeing Li Ye make the slightest move had made the big Arhat immediately realized that Li Ye was going to attack.
No matter how much he thought about things, the big Arhat did not predict that Li Ye would conspire against him. The big Arhat could not suppress the hatred in his heart. He couldn’t refrain from swearing. “That devil, he is indeed insidious.”
Big Arhat was indeed one of the leading figures of the thirty-six temples in the Western Region. His reflex was second to none. Though he had no time to warn the Arhats behind him, however, in such an extreme situation, he was still able to launch his own territory.
Li Ye turned back and the split second before he launched his Sword Method of Step-by-step lotus, he saw a golden light flash between the big Arhat’s eyebrows. It actually formed a miniature Buddha statue, which looked solemn and emanated rays of golden light.
At the same time, the space below the big Arhat’s feet was distorted, and suddenly a round pool was born, which spread for hundreds of feet. The moment that round pool was formed, the purple lightning was entangled inside like small snakes, which hissed.
When the thunder-pool formed, dark clouds began rolling above the dome on top of the big Arhat’s head. Instantly, lightning erupted and countless bolts of purple lightning landed in the pool, forming a frightening lightning curtain. The purple lightning kept flashing within hundreds of feet, thick as a rain-curtain.
Between the thunder pool under his feet and the dark clouds on top, countless purple bolts of lightning connected together. And the big Arhat was in the middle of the lightning. His feet were stepping on the thunder pool, and his head was linked to Buddha’s voice, looking just like a posture of God.
That was the territory of the big Arhat, the Tianyin Thunder Pool.
Not only was the big Arhat’s territory, the Tianyin Thunder Pool, but the other thirty-six arhats’ territories were also the Tianyin Thunder Pool.
Cultivating the same territory was exactly what the thirty-six temples in the Western Region intended. Although the territory had lost its complexity, the effect would definitely be greater than the simple superposition when the territories were combined together. Once the thirty-six Tianyin Thunder Pool territories were united, it was where the prestige of Heaven sat, at least within a range of thousands of feet.
It mattered not whether you were a Spiritual Master of the Spiritual Pool or a Spiritual Master of the Yin, you had to retrieve. And even if your retrieval speed was a tad bit behind, you’d be struck by the purple lightning bolts. Then you would turn into dust in the thunder pool.
The moment the territory was about to be generated, the big Arhat’s heart was at ease, and the sense of crisis beforehand had weakened quite a bit. And he was more determined after seeing Li Ye’s eyes.
Through Li Ye’s efforts, although the Arhat formation was distorted, the thirty-six Arhats’ Tianyin Thunder Pool territories were not affected at all, which was why the Arhats were still confident. As long as such the territory was extended, they would at least be in an invincible position.
The moment Li Ye had seen the Thunder Pool beneath the Big Arhat’s feet, and the dark clouded Buddha’s voice on his head, Li Ye felt a sense of danger, even missing a heartbeat.
In his vision, although the big Arhats was at the forefront of the crowd, the thirty-six Arhats were not completely scattered. There were still too many people after all, even if many were left behind, but many still kept up.
There were a lot of companions behind the big Arhat, as soon as the big Arhat’s territory was launched, other Arhats would feel it and inevitably launch their own territories at the same time. It would take only a split second to combine their Tianyin Thunder Pool territories.
As long as they could delay Li Ye for a moment, the Arhat formation would have a chance to recover. At that time, with the Tianyin Thunder Pool and the Arhat formation, Li Ye would definitely be defeated.
It was as though the danger had materialized into a sharp sword and stabbed Li Ye in the chest. But he did not lose composure. After two lifetimes of cultivation, his heart was not what you’d call still water, but at least he would not be shaken easily, even under the direst circumstances.
The Sword Method of the Step-by-step Lotus was not stagnant at all. Li Ye would not give thirty-six Arhats the opportunity to unite their territories with each other. He had to kill the Arhats who were close to him before that happened.
Li Ye summoned a charm and he disappeared, at the same time, layers of purple clouds suddenly appeared in midair and spread the range of a thousand square feet. There bits of starlight in the stratus, and at its most marginal place, a dawn-like stream of red connective clouds had appeared.
The starlight then connected into lines, which turned into rays of morning light, covering the lofty purple clouds. When the first rays of the morning sun were scattered, hills appeared in the purple clouds, as though the immortals were looking up from the clouds. The rolling hills rose and fell, making it look more magical in the purple clouds.
The Morning Purple Shower.
That was Li Ye’s territory, and it was also the extraordinary effect brought about by the cultivation of “Purple Clouds from the East ” after reaching the Spiritual Master Realm of the Spiritual Pool.
If you had seen the sunrise at the top of the deep and continuous mountain range, you would find that the scene before his eyes was, the sun rising from the east, the morning rays scattering and the mountains showering in the clouds.
Morning rays lighting up, purifying heaven and earth, mountains appearing from the clouds, and Purple Clouds from the East.
When one stepped into the Spiritual Master Realm and generated the Morning Purple Shower, he had come along on the path of cultivating the ‘Purple Clouds from the East’.
Green lotuses were blooming in the purple clouds, one after another. It was beautiful beyond words.
The scene of the Morning Purple Shower had extended to the Tianyin Thunder Pool territory. As they crossed paths, the bolts of purple lightning were hidden in the sea of clouds and disappeared. Even the sound of the thunder had been buried. It was as though all the noise had been swallowed and purified by the morning rays.
Apart from the lofty atmosphere of the Purple Clouds from the East between heaven and earth, the only thing left was pure and natural air.
When the big Arhat saw that the purple clouds had spread to the Tianyin Thunder Pool’s range without any resistance, just like the clouds floating in the mountains, his expression changed. He suddenly felt cold all over.
The scene before his eyes was one of pure and serene, but the big Arhat’s sense of danger, which had just dissipated a little, was suddenly expanding several times. He felt terrified, just like falling into hell and being bitten by countless ghosts.
The last scene that the big Arhat remembered was seeing a green lotus blooming quietly in purple clouds before his eyes. The blooming green lotus looked pure and beautiful against the flawless clouds. And there were crystal dewdrops slipping quietly down from the lotus leaves, the scenery was beautiful beyond expression.
The big Arhat couldn’t help reaching out, wanting to touch that purple lotus, but before his hand lifted, it had dropped halfway.
Then, blood sprinkled in his throat, and the golden Buddha statue between his eyebrows quietly dissipated. The Tianyin Thunder Pool also disappeared into oblivion. His strength also disappeared instantly like the open flood. He could no longer stay in the air and involuntarily fell to the ground.
The Morning Purple Shower had totally defeated the Tianyin Thunder Pool in the battle between the two territories.
The scene of the Morning Purple Shower was quietly spreading in the air. Purple clouds soon engulfed several Arhats, and everything happened so naturally.
The moment the Arhats wanted to flee, they were horrified to find that the purple clouds, which seemed pure and harmless, were like an abyss, they could not get out of it at all. When the Spiritual Qi was released, it was without response like a muddy cow entering the sea, which filled their faces with terror.
At the same time, seven green lotuses were in full bloom in the purple clouds successively. With the blooming of the green lotuses, bloody fog sprinkled out, then, bodies kept falling down from purple clouds one by one.
When Li Ye showed his figure again, he saw twenty-nine Arhats in different directions before his eyes. At that moment, they looked at Li Ye with overwhelming shock and surprise.
Obviously, these Arhats did not expect that Li Ye, knowing that Li Ye could not beat them, would suddenly return instead of fleeing to Chencang. They also did not expect that he would attack so ferociously.
Li Ye’s movements did not stagnate. He was calm and quiet, and he maintained his Morning Purple Shower territory. He then rushed to these twenty-nine Arhats as lotuses appeared every step at his feet. He shouted in a low voice, “Boundless Sea of Lotus!”
A lotus pond appeared at Li Ye’s feet and the blossoming green lotuses turned into blue Sword Qi. Then the blue Sword Qi shot out from under Li Ye’s feet as he charged forward covering over the Arhats overwhelmingly.
The Arhats had all come to their senses after their initial shock. At this moment, they were all glaring and screaming, and all kinds of techniques came towards Li Ye.
Although the Arhat formation was broken, there were still twenty-nine Arhats. His Morning Purple Shower did defeat the Tianyin Thunder Pool, but every time Li Ye killed a person, his Spiritual Qi was consumed fiercely.
Although twenty-nine Arhats could not form a complete Arhat formation, such an interchangeable formation could still be formed even with half the numbers. And its power was not to be underestimated even if it had weakened.
Li Ye and the twenty-nine Arhats battled.
...
Shushan.
On the jade steps in the clouds before the Immortal Inquiring Palace, Wu You climbed up. She leaned her head slightly and stared at the Immortal Inquiring Palace, her pace was light and steady, not too hasty or slow.
Wu You came to the front of Immortal Inquiring Palace.
The palace before her was bigger than she had imagined. It was almost thirty meters high and sixty meters wide. There was immortal Qi hovering above it making it look majestic. All the nine doors were open, revealing a deep and wide space inside. It seemed there was nothing inside, but frightening air seemed to be spreading out from inside.
Wu You was pale, she couldn’t refrain her delicate lips from trembling. Her big eyes were obviously full of fear but she did not stop, even though her shoulders started to tremble too. She quickly walked into the Immortal Inquiring Palace.
The palace was vast with a high roof. The pillar was so big that it required dozens of people to hug it. The ground covered with white jade. Above the jade steps dozens of feet in front, there was an open place where an immortal chair was supposed to be. In its place, there was only an ancient sword hanging quietly.
Since there was still quite a distance and Wu you’s cultivation was still quite low, so she could not see it clearly. As she approached, her footsteps sounded very loud in the silent hall.
There was a lotus pond in front of the nine-level jade steps. In this hall where almost no one could enter, lotuses were in bud, and various fish were swimming in the pond.
Wu You looked at the ancient sword where only its outline was visible, she felt a sense of summoning. It seemed to have a voice that kept echoing in her mind, making her approach step by step.
Stepping a path through the middle of the lotus pond, Wu You walked up to the high platform and came before the floating ancient sword.
The ancient sword floated on the raised stone platform, and the decoration clearly showed that it was a sword for women. On the hilt and scabbard, there were blue patterns, kind of cloud like, kind of flower like. Upon a closer look, it was as though someone had randomly splashed ink on it. The pattern had no origins and thus could not be traced.
The quiet and elegant moonlight cast from the roof, and the light column just covered the ancient sword. Behind the ancient sword, there was a huge screen wall, which was carved with a vast pattern, judging from figures and the background, it was telling a story.
Wu You reached out her hand towards the ancient sword through the moonlight.
Just at that moment, the sound of a deep sigh went through her mind. That sound was illusive and far, she did not know from where it had come, but it was full of helplessness towards fate and some kind of unexplainable empathy.
“Are you sure you have thought this through?” asked the voice.
Wu You lifted his head up and looked around but saw nothing. Apart from himself, there were no living things in this large and empty temple.
“I have thought this through,” answered Wu You in a calm voice. After arriving at this place, she was no longer afraid. She had become more determined about the future.
“So tell me then, how do you want to proceed in the future?” asked the voice again.
Wu You replied without hesitation, “Wield the Immortal Inquiring Sword, gain power and seek the Great Tao.”
“Can you really let go?” asked that voice, which now seemed a little heavy.
Wu You bit her lip and replied, “Yes, I can let go.”
“Fine, then I’ll show you what your Last Life looks like.” That voice sighed again.
Then the screen behind the ancient sword projected a bright light, which covered Wu You from head to feet.
Wu You senses became blurred and everything went dark, then she began feeling like she was floating.
She did not know how long it took her to gather her senses. But when her sight recovered, she realized she was in a strange place. The place was a vast barren land without any wind like the desert in Saiwai. It also resembled the endless Yellow River where the sun’s reflection was round, or like the barren land inside the Shanhaiguan Pass.
Wu You realized that she was in her subconscious. She had entered the story inside the screen.
That had to be the work of the Great Power.
But what did the story on the screen have anything to do with her?
There was a city within the barren land, but quite small, much smaller than Chang’an. The city wall was gray and the architecture was rough and bland. It was a military village at the border. Wu You’s senses went blurry again, she suddenly felt that she knew this city. It looked so familiar but she couldn’t recall when and where she had seen this city before.
There were two words on the city wall, and it wasn’t the official script used widely today but the small seal script.
The two words were, ‘Jiu Yuan’.
‘Jiu Yuan’, such a familiar name, but Wu You just couldn’t remember what kind of place Jiu Yuan was.
Wu You’s conscience floated into the city and it was like there was a strand of will from somewhere that was guiding her forward. She saw many border guards, black-armored guards and soldiers without helmets as she moved along. The armor on the guards she passed was not from the Tang dynasty.
Finally, Wu You reached a courtyard. It was neat and the building was well structured, which meant that the people who lived here were not ordinary.
Inside a half-opened room, she saw a young woman who was crying on her knees next to a childe. She was holding his leg and trying to talk to the childe as tears poured down her face.
The Childe in white robes had a well defined face that was full of honor. He didn’t take much notice about her crying. He wore a determined expression but his eyes were full of desperation, then he sank the goblet of wine in his hand.
When Wu You saw the Childe’s face, she was shocked like she had been struck by lightning.
It was Li Ye!
As her eyes fell on the girl’s face, Wu You froze.
“That face, that’s me.”
Suddenly, countless pictures rushed into Wu You’s mind. That was a lifetime of the girl before her and the white-robed Childe.
The girl’s name was Wan Rong, nobility of Xianyang. She had grown up with the white-robed Childe. The two of them had long had a lifelong covenant. The Childe was the son of an emperor, whose intelligence was second to none. He had been advising the emperor since the tender age of 15 and all the prime minister had nothing but compliments about the Childe.
However, the emperor had gotten angry last time he had given the emperor advice. So the emperor had banished him here to lead the border forces.
The ambitious and patriotic Childe did not complain about the fact that he had to follow the army to the border city of ‘Jiu Yuan’. He was not at all depressed or beaten about it, instead, he lived and ate with the soldiers and fought enemies with them on the battlefield, which was where he found the opportunity to showcase his talents. He led the border army to many victories and Northwestern tribes suffered big losses at his hands. Before long, he had won the respect of the border army.
The girl missed the Childe so much that in Xianyang she couldn’t even taste the flavors in her food, so she decided to go to the border much to the dismay of her family. But when they saw each other again, tears poured from their faces. From that point on, the girl followed the Childe and stayed by his side. She was the daughter of Duke Wang, and yet she learned how to cook and clean. And since the Childe had shoved aside his status and lived humbly at the border, so she followed suit and put aside her status and personally took care of the Childe.
All was going well, and the Childe had earned many military exploits. Since he was the oldest son of the emperor, and the emperor was the hero praised by the people and was building a great dynasty. It would not have been long before the emperor summoned the Childe back to take his place. By then the Childe could take a wife and make her the empress and they could live happily ever after.
But what came was not a summons for him to go back but a goblet of poisonous wine.
A goblet of wine meant for him to end his own life.
Wu You’s delicate body trembled from shock, then she focused back on the scene before her eyes. The white-cloaked Childe was about to drink the wine to end his life and the girl was trying to talk him out of it.
The Childe had nothing but respect and loyalty for his father, who was the emperor of the Great Qin empire. He was the son, but he was also a minister, and when an emperor ordered his minister to die, the minister must obey.
The Childe finished the goblet of poisonous wine and painfully fell on the floor.
The Childe’s name was Fu Su.
His father was Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of Qin.
The girl was desperate and sad.
Shortly after the Childe’s death, the girl found out it wasn’t the emperor that gave the order to poison the Childe because by then the emperor had already died. The emperor’s original order was to summon the Childe back, but someone did not want that. That someone was Hu Hai. It was he who ordered the Childe’s death, before long, the Great Qin empire perished.
If the Childe had not drunk the poisonous wine so hastily, he would have the opportunity to ascend the throne. And the Great Qin might not perish.
The girl was in excruciating pain and resentment, so she killed herself before the Childe’s grave.
Wu You’s Hands and feet turned cold.
That girl named Wan Rong was her Last Life and the Childe Fu Su was Li Ye’s Last Life.
She remembered everything now.
“Do you hate him?” That mature and compassionate voice asked again.
Wu You’s whole body was slightly trembling, the picture of the girl killing herself in front of the grave was still in her mind. That was her Last Life, which meant it was her. The kind of excruciating pain, desperation, anger and unwillingness was going through her again.
“Why? Why were you so determined to drink that poisonous wine? Why would you refuse to listen to me? Even I couldn’t waver your loyalty to the emperor?”
“Is love nothing compared to ambition and patriotism in your eyes?”
She heaved a sad and compassionate sigh.
Then the scene changed again before Wu You’s eyes.
Wu You recognized that it was Shushan.
A girl with a splendid figure was practicing her sword at the back of the mountain.
Unsurprisingly, Wu You saw that the girl had the exact same face as her.
Again, this girl was from her other last Life.
The girl’s cultivation had already reached the Qi-refining high-level, and yet she was but 16 years old of age. She was once in a century type of talent, and also the daughter of the Imperial Clan. Her mother was the princess.
And during her break from sword training, she would sit on the side and stare in the direction of Chang’an
Before long, she had found out the prince who grew up with her had taken the throne. But he was being manipulated by the powerful prime minister, and he was suffering. She disregarded her master’s objection towards them and went down the mountain with her sword. She was headed for Chang’an
Later, the girl became the prince’s wife and eventually became the empress.
The talented and intelligent emperor could not free himself from the powerful prime minister’s confinement, therefore he could not showcase his talents and rule the country. The girl was not interested in being the empress, she just wanted to be with him. She tried countless times to convince the prince to leave with her to Shushan.
But the prince kept on saying that he had to govern his country.
Eventually the world had turned into chaos and the emperor was forced to leave Chang’an for Xuchang. The girl followed him. When they got to Xuchang, there was a power struggle and the prime minister won, so they restricted the prince within the confines of the Imperial Palace. They even ordered the feudal prince in the name of the emperor. The girl wanted to leave with the prince but he still refused. Even knowing there wasn’t any hope, he was still thinking about the country.
In the end, the Qi-refining Level 9 girl could not bear to see the prince wash his face with tears every day, so she decided to assassinate the prime minister alone.
Of course she was wounded and caught by the prime minister’s cultivators and then locked up in the palace. She could no longer see the prince and before long, she died from her serious wounds.
In that life, she was called Fu Shou, the prince’s name was Liu Xie and that prime minister was Cao Cao.
Tears filled Wu You’s face.
“Do you hate him?” That mature and compassionate voice asked again.
Wu You didn’t know what to say.
She wasn’t watching a show. She was remembering her past lives. All the feelings while witnessing those events again had evoked the feelings hidden deep in her soul. Her feelings towards Fu Su and Liu Xie, and the pain she felt while with them had all come back like a tidal wave.
To be fair the Wu You from those past lives had done nothing wrong. She loved both Fu Su and Liu Xie, but what about them? They both shoved their love to the side for their country.
Wu You was blankly silent, but tears had dripped down her white cheeks.
That mature, compassionate voice heaved a sigh and asked no further questions.
The scene before Wu You had changed again. This time, it was the Chang’an City of the Tang Empire, with which she was familiar.
This life was Wu You’s present life. Her experiences since she was a child had flashed before her eyes. Though it was her own experience, Wu You was still mesmerized. A lot of gaps in her memory had been filled, and many of the memorable events were played out in front of her once again, which made her smile with tears.
Li Ye couldn’t practice cultivation as a child, which made him angry and miserable. He even gave up on himself. It was her companionship day and night that had given him hope again. Later she discovered her gifts for cultivation and became the talent of the Imperial Clan, whose cultivation managed to reach Qi-refining mid-level. She’d since been celebrated and praised.
Li Ye on the other hand was still in a dark place, suffering pain and loneliness. Every time he was in that state, Wu You would leave her comfort place and enter the deep valley of loneliness with Li Ye. She would stand by his side and go through the suffering with him.
It didn’t matter what the others said, whether they laughed at her or teased her. She just ignored them and persisted. She did not waver even when Wu Hongshan scolded her, just like she did in the two past lives.
However, the ensuing scene was different from Wu You’s own experience. The dichotomy appeared when Li Ye went to Cloud-engulfed Mountain. Because the scene in front of Wu You’s eyes was a different story.
Li Ye got to Cloud-engulfed Mountain, but was schemed by Li Yao. He lost the jade medallion and did not get Yuan Tiangang’s inheritance. In the end Li Yao drove him out of Prince An’s Manor and onto the streets. Wu You, on the other hand, was locked up by Wu Hongshan. She was forbidden to go outside and to contact Li Ye.
Wu You still did everything she could and snuck out to see Li Ye. And yet gradually she got the cold eye from Li Ye. He drove her out time and again. Wu You did not know why he would do that, she was suffering immense pain.
Later when Huang Chao breached Chang’an. Wu You did not follow Wu Hongshan to Sichuan but ran out alone to protect Li Ye. A few times she was seriously wounded trying to protect Li Ye. She even fell down in front of Li Ye a few times. Li Ye thought that she had died, but she didn’t because she knew she had to live to protect Li Ye and wouldn’t allow herself to die first.
And just like that, Wu You watched Li Yan send for Li Ye and pass the throne to him. Thus Li Ye, just like in the past lives, was full of his country. Not even resting for a day. But when Li Ye’s white hair grew before the candle flames at night, he did not notice that in a corner not far away, a delicate figure was watching him.
historical
Alas Li Ye’s experience was not that different from his two past lives. Though he was talented, the country was already broken beyond repair. It wasn’t something he could save alone.
In the end, Wu You -->>