Chapter 83 - 80: Lu Changyuan, Corrupted by the Desire Demon
On the day of Su Youwan’s birth, the Buddha’s Voice echoed from every Buddhist Temple in the Glazed Dynasty, and a brilliant golden light shone from the horizon.
All of this signified that she was no ordinary person.
Later, she entered the Compassionate Palace and met her master.
Her master told her, "I have a method that can sever your emotions, allowing you to become emotionless without actually cultivating the Emotionless Dao."
Those who cultivate the Destined Celestial Dao have no need for emotions.
So, her master forged a birdcage for her. She locked all of her emotions inside it, and in this way, she cultivated the Destined Celestial Dao.
"You are the first person to cultivate this Dao, and you will also be the last."
She remembered these words from her master for many years.
The Dao of Heaven takes from the surplus to supplement the deficient.
Su Youwan was still young, and her comprehension of the Dao was insufficient. Her master thus sent her to experience the Red Dust. There, she met many people; the world of mortals was always filled with a kaleidoscope of emotions.
All sorts of people came and went like fleeting passersby, never causing the slightest ripple in her life—until she saw the Profound Robe Youth on that ship.
The aura of Supreme Forgetfulness.
Just like her.
The youth, like her, was extremely sensitive to Desire Demons. This was a privilege unique to practitioners of Supreme Forgetfulness.
Because they were without desire, they were sensitive to it.
Su Youwan suddenly caught the scent of a Desire Demon on the youth.
’Has he been tainted by a Desire Demon?’
It was unmistakably the scent of a Desire Demon, yet for some reason, Su Youwan couldn’t find any trace of its proliferation.
’That shouldn’t be possible.’
Su Youwan thought that even if Lu Changyuan had lost his state of Supreme Forgetfulness, he shouldn’t have been tainted by a Desire Demon so soon.
He had no attachments.
’How could someone with no attachments be tainted by a Desire Demon?’
’I must have been mistaken.’
"Third Prince?"
Lu Changyuan’s voice seemed to drift, now near, now far.
Su Youwan clutched her forehead, nearly stumbling.
She saw it again.
That sword strike.
The sword strike Lu Changyuan had unleashed at the sky—a strike so brilliant it had nearly killed her.
"I’m fine. Is this your bed, Young Master Lu?"
"It is."
"Youwan will meditate for a moment. Would you like to join, Young Master Lu?"
When he didn’t answer, Su Youwan sat cross-legged on the bed, placed the birdcage beside her, and entered a state of Meditation. The Five Desires emptied, and destiny became unfixed.
She was going to use the Destined Celestial Dao to divine the truth.
Su Youwan was not the only one who had sensed the Desire Demon.
Lu Changyuan had sensed it too, though only for an instant.
The moment Su Youwan sat cross-legged on the bed, Lu Changyuan whipped his head around to look at her birdcage.
He narrowed his eyes at the silver-haired maiden meditating on the bed, then picked up Broken Thought.
’So beautiful.’
’Someone so beautiful shouldn’t exist in the Mortal World.’
Lu Changyuan walked over to Su Youwan’s birdcage. It was perpetually covered by a black cloth, so no one knew what was inside.
"May I have a look inside your birdcage, Third Prince?"
"As you wish, Young Master. There is nothing inside."
Lu Changyuan lifted the black cloth off the birdcage and looked inside. It was completely empty.
The birdcage being empty was just as Lu Changyuan had expected.
No one could see what was inside unless it was Su Youwan herself, because the cage contained the Third Prince’s emotions.
Lu Changyuan thought, ’I’ve used this method before. When I walked the path of the Red Dust again, I created a tribulation body from half of my being and locked my emotions within it. That was how I managed to walk the Red Dust again and attain the Dao of Yao Guang.’
’Wait.’
At this thought, a very strange idea suddenly occurred to Lu Changyuan.
’I’ve already determined that this world isn’t some game, so where did my memories of it being a game come from?’
’I definitely transmigrated here, but this concept of a ’game’ and these memories... could it be that I altered my own memories in the past, turning them into a game, all to cultivate the Emotionless Dao?’
’Because it was a game, I could be an emotionless executioner. Because it was a game, I could see all living beings as equal.’
’And thus, I became Supreme.’
’A savior ought to be Supreme.’
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do not touch the Spirits, and do not provoke them. Not unless you want to die."
Mei Zhaozhao, clad entirely in black robes, snapped coldly.
Wang Lian and Xiao Hai followed behind her, their expressions reverent.
Before them was a giant character written in blood: "West."
This was West City.
Behind them were many others, from the Sword Control Sect and the Beast Taming Palace. All of them were soaked to the bone, gasping for breath.
They had battled the Sea Demons for a full half-day before the sky split between day and night.
Not long after, the great gate to the Netherworld had opened.
Because of the "whale fall," these cultivators had been forced to battle the Sea Demons in the water, leaving them disheveled and covered in blood and seawater.
Mei Zhaozhao paid no mind to the others.
She hadn’t come to the Netherworld to seek Dao illumination, nor for the Three-Life Fruit. She was here to find someone.
Wang Lian said, "Saintess, we should find a place to stay first."
Mei Zhaozhao did not answer Wang Lian.
She walked onto the Stone Bridge leading into the city, her gaze drawn to its ancient, simple construction.
"Are you hearing anything?"
Wang Lian and Xiao Hai both shook their heads.
But Mei Zhaozhao had definitely heard someone speaking. It wasn’t the babbling of a Spirit, but a real human voice. She shook her head, and in a daze, she seemed to see words on the Stone Bridge.
Five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, five hundred years of rain.
Through such a cycle, the return is inevitable.
"Saintess! The lanterns are changing color!"
Mei Zhaozhao jerked her head up and saw that the lanterns at the city gate had begun to turn white, the red of the candles slowly fading.
Night was falling.
"Go! We have to find shelter, now! Or we’ll be in deep trouble."
Mei Zhaozhao rushed into the city, and Wang Lian had no choice but to drag Xiao Hai along with her.
Wang Lian pointed at Xiao Hai. "Saintess, we have him."
Mei Zhaozhao turned her head and looked at Xiao Hai. "Take out the memorial tablet."
Xiao Hai stared in a daze, realizing the memorial tablet was trembling even more violently now. Then, it transformed into a streak of light and shot off into the distance.
Mei Zhaozhao said coldly, "Follow the tablet."
A cultivator who had clearly made no preparations whatsoever—Li Lang, as it happened—spoke up. "Why are they in such a hurry?"
"You came here without making any preparations at all, did you?"
A member of the Sword Control Sect sneered, then also turned into a streak of light and entered West City.
They weren’t about to explain the rules of the Netherworld to someone like that.
But someone was kind enough to say, "You’d better hurry. If you’re still outside after dark, you’ll die."
Li Lang was horrified. He had only heard about the wondrous effects of the Three-Life Fruit and, in a fit of greed, had entered the city knowing nothing of its rules.
Hearing the warning, he scrambled into the city.
The kind person was still speaking: "Find an empty house! There should still be vacant houses in the Netherworld."
But Li Lang could no longer hear him. Desperate to survive, he ran toward a small house nearby as soon as he was inside the city and yanked the door open.
There was someone inside.
It was a Spirit that looked like a small child.
Seeing him intrude, the Spirit grew enraged and charged at him with a hoarse cry.
Li Lang snorted, drawing his sword to fight the Spirit. But as the child-like Spirit reached him, it suddenly swelled in size, transforming into a monstrous creature that swallowed Li Lang in a single gulp.
The other cultivators who watched this unfold from outside the door felt a chill shoot down their spines, the cold seeping from their very bones.