Chapter 138 - Azure-Jade City and the Sealed Truth
Chapter 138: Chapter 138 - Azure-Jade City and the Sealed Truth
Yue Cangyu and Lu Canghai walked through a quiet corridor behind the main pavilion.
The noise of Moon-Reflection Garden gradually faded behind them.
Only when they reached a secluded courtyard did Lu Canghai finally stop.
"I thought you were teaching them about mystic realms."
Yue Cangyu also stopped.
Lu Canghai looked at him.
"But your advice was too specific."
Yue Cangyu did not answer immediately.
Lu Canghai’s eyes narrowed.
"You were not teaching them how to survive mystic realms in general. You were teaching them how to survive the Fallen-Star Sanctuary."
Yue Cangyu looked at the old stone wall ahead.
After a long silence, he said, "Yes."
Lu Canghai’s expression became heavier.
"You know something."
The wind passed quietly through the courtyard.
Lu Canghai continued, "But how? Even the Zhuge Clan admits they still do not know the true origin of the Fallen-Star Sanctuary."
Yue Cangyu remained silent for a long time.
Then he said, "Old friend, do you think it is a coincidence that Azure-Jade City was built here?"
Lu Canghai froze.
Yue Cangyu did not look at him.
"The city is too close to the Sanctuary. Close enough to guard the entrance."
His voice was calm.
"Do you think our ancestors chose this place because the scenery was pleasant?"
Lu Canghai’s face slowly changed.
A thought struck him.
No.
It was a realization.
Azure-Jade City was not merely a city near the Fallen-Star Sanctuary.
It might have been built because of the Fallen-Star Sanctuary. Or for it.
Lu Canghai looked at Yue Cangyu again.
"You inherited something."
Yue Cangyu did not deny it.
Lu Canghai’s voice lowered.
"Records?"
Silence.
"An array?"
Still silence.
"A command?"
Yue Cangyu finally closed his eyes for a moment.
"I inherited responsibility."
Lu Canghai’s expression became grim.
That answer was heavier than any of the others.
Records could be studied.
Arrays could be repaired.
Commands could be questioned.
Responsibility was different.
It meant generations had died carrying something they could neither discard nor explain.
Yue Cangyu opened his eyes again.
"There are things I cannot say."
Lu Canghai’s face changed slightly.
"Is this related to the thing you are afraid of?"
Yue Cangyu remained silent.
But silence, between old friends, was sometimes louder than confession.
Lu Canghai slowly pieced things together.
His expression shifted.
"The Fallen-Star Sanctuary... is related to immortals?"
Yue Cangyu gave a wry smile.
"I am more afraid of how quickly you piece things together."
That was confirmation.
Lu Canghai fell silent.
Immortals. In the current cultivation world, that word was more legend than reality.
But if the Fallen-Star Sanctuary was involved...
Then the matter was far more dangerous than anyone had imagined.
Yue Cangyu looked toward the direction of Moon-Reflection Garden.
"Since you are trustworthy, I can tell you what I am permitted to say."
Lu Canghai listened.
"The last advice I gave them. The Boundary Pillars. That was not casual."
Lu Canghai’s eyes sharpened.
Yue Cangyu continued, "The Boundary Pillars are not merely navigation markers. They... are sealing nails."
Lu Canghai’s expression changed.
"Sealing nails?"
Yue Cangyu nodded.
"The world calls the Fallen-Star Sanctuary a mystic realm because it opens every hundred years. But according to what Azure-Jade City inherited, the hundred-year opening is not a simple cycle of opportunity."
His voice became lower.
"It is a breathing gap."
Lu Canghai did not interrupt.
"The sealing nails require spirit Qi to maintain themselves. Every hundred years, the Sanctuary opens just enough to absorb outside spiritual energy, stabilize its outer layers, and keep the inner regions suppressed."
Yue Cangyu paused.
"But this time, the rhythm is wrong."
Lu Canghai’s eyes narrowed.
"The early anomaly."
"Yes." Yue Cangyu looked at the stone wall. "The opening pressure arrived too soon. The outer miasma readings rose unevenly. I suspect at least one Boundary Pillar has broken, shifted, or malfunctioned."
Lu Canghai was silent for a long time.
If the Boundary Pillars were sealing nails, then damaging them was not merely dangerous.
It meant the seal itself could weaken.
Lu Canghai asked, "What are they sealing?"
Yue Cangyu shook his head.
"That, I do not fully know."
"You do not know, or you cannot say?"
Yue Cangyu glanced at him.
"This time, I truly do not know everything."
Lu Canghai stared at him.
Yue Cangyu said, "And I will not make careless assumptions. Some things become more dangerous when named wrongly."
Lu Canghai frowned.
That sentence itself sounded like a warning.
After a while, he asked, "So the City Lord Mansion has always been studying the Fallen-Star Sanctuary?"
Yue Cangyu nodded.
He continued, "Unfortunately, no one has ever reached the deepest part and returned with a complete account."
Lu Canghai frowned.
"Not even your ancestors?"
"They reached deeper than most. That is why Azure-Jade City still stands here." Yue Cangyu’s voice became quieter. "But even they only left fragments."
"What fragments?"
Yue Cangyu’s gaze lowered.
"Frightening ones."
Lu Canghai waited.
Yue Cangyu did not continue.
Lu Canghai looked toward the direction of the Sanctuary.
"Then why allow the younger generation to enter at all? If it is as dangerous as you say, why not seal the entrance completely? Why not announce the truth and forbid entry?"
Yue Cangyu gave a bitter smile.
"I do not own the Fallen-Star Sanctuary."
Lu Canghai’s eyes darkened.
"The sects would not agree."
"No." Yue Cangyu said calmly, "They would not. Some would call it cowardice. Some would call it monopoly. Some would suspect Azure-Jade City had discovered an inheritance and wanted to keep it alone. Some would force the issue. Some would enter secretly."
Lu Canghai did not refute him.
That was the cultivation world.
When danger and opportunity appeared in the same place, many cultivators only saw opportunity.
Yue Cangyu continued, "And even if everyone agreed, sealing the entrance from outside may not solve anything. The Sanctuary opens because it needs spirit Qi. If we forcibly block it, the pressure may build inward or tear open somewhere else."
Lu Canghai’s eyes narrowed.
"So letting people enter is also part of maintaining the cycle."
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps?"
Yue Cangyu looked at him.
"There are too many unknowns."
Lu Canghai disliked that answer.
But he understood it.
Yue Cangyu said, "There is another reason."
Lu Canghai looked at him.
"The mystery must be uncovered."
His voice became very soft.
"It may be related to the sealed immortal path."
Lu Canghai froze.
The courtyard seemed to grow colder.
"The sealed immortal path..."
Yue Cangyu nodded.
"This is only a possibility. But if it is true, then the Fallen-Star Sanctuary is not merely a dangerous mystic realm. It is one of the few remaining doors to an answer the entire cultivation world has failed to find."
Lu Canghai’s expression changed again and again.
If the Sanctuary was related to why no one could ascend, then it was indeed impossible to simply close it and pretend nothing existed.
A dangerous truth was still a truth.
And cultivators, by nature, walked toward truth even when truth had teeth.
Lu Canghai finally understood why Yue Cangyu had gone so far.
He was not only preparing the younger generation to survive.
He was preparing them to possibly see something the older generation could not.
"Why thirty and below?" Lu Canghai asked suddenly.
The Fallen-Star Sanctuary had always restricted entry to cultivators thirty years old and below.
Most people treated it as an ordinary mystic realm rule.
But now, every ordinary rule seemed suspicious.
Yue Cangyu’s expression became unreadable.
"I cannot say."
Lu Canghai’s mouth twitched.
"If you continue saying that, I may start charging you spirit stones for every sentence you refuse to finish."
Yue Cangyu looked at him.
"Then you will become rich."
Lu Canghai was speechless.
...
Meanwhile, the younger generation in Moon-Reflection Garden knew nothing about the conversation behind the pavilion.
The distance between factions had changed after the trial.
It had not disappeared.
But it had changed.
A Myriad Swords disciple who had fought near a Tang Clan disciple hesitated for a long time before saying, "Your needle earlier was accurate."
The Tang Clan disciple looked at him suspiciously.
"Are you praising me or asking whether it was poisoned?"
The sword disciple paused.
"...Both?"
The Tang Clan disciple smiled faintly.
The sword disciple immediately took half a step back.
Elsewhere, a Scorching Sun Valley disciple was explaining loudly that he had never panicked during the trial.
Unfortunately, his junior brother helpfully reminded him that he had shouted at a stone bridge.
The senior brother immediately coughed and said the bridge had insulted him first.
Near the center of the garden, the Radiant Sky Sect disciples had also become the focus of many glances.
Before the trial, some people had only heard rumors.
Now they had seen the Radiant Sky disciples fight.
And Su Bai...
Many gazes shifted toward him.
Several young cultivators approached.
The first was a disciple from a mid-sized sect. He cupped his hands politely.
"Brother Su."
Su Bai looked at him.
The disciple hesitated, then said, "Earlier, in the trial, Brother Su did not enter Holy Maiden Bai’s lotus barrier."
Su Bai’s expression remained calm.
"Yes."
The disciple’s eyes brightened.
"As expected. Brother Su must have realized from the beginning that the place was not the true Fallen-Star Sanctuary."
Su Bai paused.
"No."
The disciple continued, "There is no need to be modest."
Su Bai looked at him.
"I am not being modest."
Another disciple joined in.
"Brother Su, you also remained calm when the red mist touched your sleeve. Ordinary cultivators would have panicked. You must have already seen through the nature of the trial."
"I did not."
"Brother Su is truly low-key."
Su Bai fell silent.
This conversation was moving by itself.
He had not agreed to participate.
A third disciple said excitedly, "And your movement technique! During the fight, your needles struck the joints so precisely. I could barely see your hand move."
Another added, "That heavenly fire hidden inside the hollow needle was also frightening."
"Brother Su, did you deliberately avoid the barrier to draw out the monsters’ weakness?"
Su Bai looked at them.
A faint sense of déjà vu rose in him.
He had learned something.
When people wanted to misunderstand someone, explanation was only seasoning.