Chapter 656: Wu Xian
After finishing The Rise and Fall of the Eleven Witches, Qi Xuansu found himself with even more questions.
His dreams always ended with him falling into a crimson pool. If the towering figure he saw was truly Wu Xian, what did it mean? Was Wu Xian calling out to him for help?
It was evident that Wu Xian had died, but not completely. Even a flawed Elixir of Immortality would grant undying abilities. Having tested it on herself, Wu Xian could likely resurrect from the dead. That was why Wu Luo and the other four witches sealed Wu Xian in a tomb and submerged her beneath a river of blood.
Since Wu Xian existed in this bizarre state between life and death, she would not be subject to the once-a-century Heavenly Tribulation.
However, Qi Xuansu had no idea where the Nether Valley was. Since it was explicitly mentioned in the book, it implied the Daoist Order knew about this old history and likely had already explored the place. Perhaps they had even unearthed Wu Xian and brought her into their ranks, granting her a title of Great Sage like they did with True Lord Taiyin.
Even if the Daoist Order was unaware of the Nether Valley, Qi Xuansu knew he could not seek it out. The four Great Witches did not kill Wu Xian for power. They only killed her because she had gone mad. As the head of Ancient Wuism, Wu Xian had to be an Immortal at the very least. If Qi Xuansu encountered a deranged Immortal, his end would be tragic. At best, he would die immediately; at worst, he would become a zombie puppet, a fate worse than death.
Aside from the suspicion that the shadow might be Wu Xian, there was another thing Qi Xuansu could not make sense of.
If the eleven shadows in his dream represented the Eleven Great Witches, then what could it possibly mean when one corresponding witch appeared and merged with him every time he fused with a Xuan Jade? Did each Xuan Jade correspond to a different witch’s lineage?
That would make some sense. After all, the Longevity Stone originated from Ancient Wuism, and the Xuan Jade was a derivative of the later Longevity Stone Heart. So it was reasonable that the Xuan Jade was linked to the Great Witches. But then Qi Xuansu could not help but wonder—would a manmade Banished Immortal like him be considered a Daoist disciple or a Wuist one? Was Wuism originally Daoism? Or was Daoism once Wuism?
If the Daoist Order intended to integrate Ancient Wuism while pursuing the unification of the Three Religions, how would they be any different from the Heavenly Court, which claimed to have unified five religions? Also, did Li Changge experience the same strange dreams? Did Li Changge see the Great Witches approach him when he fused with the Xuan Jades?
What was clear now was that Li Changge’s Longevity Stone Heart did not come from the Lingshan Paradise. Instead, it was a relic passed down within the Li family. There was also a possibility that the Li and Yao families had each altered their own Longevity Stone Hearts, making the two hearts differ.