Chapter 507 473: Who Impersonated Me and Deceived Nangong Jin

After that, Liyuan had an unexpected accident, and the Forgetfulness Sword Dao lessons for Yueqiu came to a halt.

Now, seeing Junior Sister Nangong so cold and mechanical after reaching the Mahayana Stage in the Forgetfulness Sword Dao, Pei Yuhang felt an inexplicable worry for Yueqiu.

'Thank goodness Yueqiu didn't continue down that path.'

However, Pei Yuhang still felt an inexplicable agitation. He had a nagging feeling that something had quietly happened without his knowledge.

'And it profoundly changed something!'

Pei Yuhang licked his dry lips and kept reading.

This was the last of the three letters from Nangong Jin. It was long, but aside from a crucial piece of information in the first sentence, the rest was just a record of her experiences over the past year.

If there was one difference from the first letter, it was that Nangong Jin had become much more verbose, even describing what she ate for every meal in painstaking detail.

It was just... this pathological chattiness that made Pei Yuhang feel something was wrong.

'Too deliberate.'

'It's as if she was reminding herself not to lose her grasp on these mundane, everyday details.'

"Forgetfulness Sword Dao."

'Junior Sister Nangong must have advanced far in the Forgetfulness Sword Dao by then, but why...'

Pei Yuhang stared blankly at the bottom of the letter. There, a long-dried tearstain was permanently imprinted on the paper.

'Why... was Junior Sister Nangong resisting the way the Forgetfulness Sword Dao was reshaping her heart?'

'Didn't she choose this path herself? Did she regret it, or was it something else...'

Pei Yuhang's breathing grew heavy.

His hand hesitated, but he picked up the final letter anyway. It was the thinnest of the three, containing only a single sheet of paper.

In the blink of an eye, I have been away from the Dao Sect for thirty years.

Pei Yuhang subconsciously held his breath upon reading this.

This letter had been written eight years after the second one!

Brother Pei, forgetting you was harder than I ever imagined.

Fortunately, I am, after all, the once-in-a-millennium prodigy our master spoke of. After eight years, I have finally succeeded.

The deeper one delves into the Forgetfulness Dao, the more profound it reveals itself to be.

Throughout history, countless brilliant talents have faltered on this path. We are not unfeeling plants; the threads of emotion are not so easily severed. As long as a single trace of attachment remains in the heart, one's Dao Heart can never be perfected.

But I am different.

In both talent and determination, I surpass all who came before.

Now, I am but a single step away from the "Uninhabited Realm," a state no one in history has ever reached.

Thinking back, you were right on the eve of your wedding to Ye Liyuan.

The Forgetfulness Sword Dao is indeed the path best suited for me. It's a shame my Dao Heart was clouded then. I misunderstood you, Brother Pei, believing you were trying to avoid me so I wouldn't disturb your life with Ye Liyuan. I even left the Sect in a childish fit of pique...

Brother Pei, Nangong still remembers the wager you made on the eve of your wedding:

If I reached the pinnacle of Forgetfulness, I would transcend the shackles of emotion. If I failed, you would renounce Ye Liyuan and spend eternity with me.

It seems now that you were right, Brother Pei. It was I, Nangong, who was shallow and arrogant back then.

Thirty years have passed, and I have sent twenty-two letters. From this year forth, Nangong will send you a letter annually.

I only wish that in reading this, you see me as I am now and understand the transformation I have achieved over these thirty years on my path. I hope this brings you gratification. —Penned by Nangong Jin.

RUSTLE—

Pei Yuhang's fingers went slack, and the letters fluttered from his grasp like withered leaves.

"How could this... be?"

He took a deep breath but still felt suffocated, as if a great, absurd hand had seized his heart.

"Who the hell impersonated me and deceived Nangong Jin!"

Pei Yuhang gritted his teeth, a murderous glint in his eyes. The surge of his Spiritual Qi instantly blotted out the clear sky within a ten-mile radius, filling it with dark clouds and a flurry of icy snowflakes.

...

...

Nangong Jin sat by the window, her slender fingers resting lightly on the ornate lattice.

The white snow drifting past the window illuminated her cool profile. A rare ripple disturbed the tranquil pools of her eyes, deep as ancient wells, and a flicker of reminiscence passed through them as her long lashes trembled.

She slowly extended a pale hand, her fingertip reaching out to a drifting snowflake.

The crystalline, six-pointed flake landed on the jade-like pulp of her finger. She lowered her head slightly, watching it with a hint of fascination. But the snowflake was too fragile; in an instant, her body heat melted it into a droplet that vanished into thin air.

"A pity,"

Nangong Jin murmured, her voice so quiet it was nearly lost to the wind.

"What's a pity?"

Lu Ruoxi suddenly approached. Seeing her perpetually cool junior sister looking wistful over a single snowflake, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Junior Sister, your Divine Abilities are peerless. With a single breath, you could make that snowflake last forever. What's there to be troubled about?"

Nangong Jin frowned slightly at her words, pausing as she withdrew her hand.

She lowered her gaze, her thick lashes casting shadows on her cheeks.

"That would be an external force. It would be meaningless."

Nangong Jin's voice remained calm, but her fingers unconsciously rubbed the spot where the snowflake had landed.

Lu Ruoxi blinked, tilting her head. "But as Cultivators, don't we train to make the world bend to our will?"

She puffed out her chest and stretched her lithe body, the hem of her cyan dress rippling with the movement.

"External force, Inner Strength—as long as it helps you achieve your desire, it's a good method!"

But Nangong Jin simply turned her head away. Her silky black hair slid from her shoulder, obscuring half her face in a clear sign that she did not wish to debate the point with Lu Ruoxi.

Lu Ruoxi didn't seem to mind.

She turned to look out the window, where heavy snow, like goose feathers, was blanketing the sky.

Then, Lu Ruoxi sensed a familiar aura within the storm. Her brow furrowed, and her slender fingers went to her chest unconsciously.

"Strange... the weather is changing because of Junior Brother Pei... Is he in a bad mood?"

"Senior Sister."

Nangong Jin suddenly spoke. Her voice was quiet, but it immediately brought Lu Ruoxi back to her senses.

She raised a hand and closed the carved wooden window, her movements graceful but firm, shutting out the wind and snow.

She lifted her gaze to meet Lu Ruoxi's, and her perpetually calm eyes now held a hint of gravity.

"What is it, Junior Sister?"

"When we get back to the Sect, I'll certainly be dragged away to give a report. I don't care for it, so I'd like to ask you, Senior Sister, to report in my place."

Before she had even finished speaking, Nangong Jin raised a hand and cast a Sound Insulation Barrier, plunging the room into an eerie silence.

"What I am about to tell you is a vital secret."

"The Endless Sea is home to countless members of the Alien Demon Race, all tainted by Demonic Qi. A few months ago, I ventured deep into their heartland and seized a [Key].

This key is what opens the Abyssal Sea Palace."

"The Abyssal Sea Palace?!"

Lu Ruoxi's expression instantly turned serious.

The Abyssal Sea Palace, as it was called, had been the home of the Divine Race during the age of the Divine Spirits, countless eons ago. Back then, it stood atop the highest mountain in the world, a perch from which one could look down upon all of creation.

That was until the rule of the Divine Spirits was overthrown and the Outer Demons tore through the fabric of the world to descend upon it.

The six Great Powers of the Mahayana Stage at the time joined forces to move the Divine Palace—which still pulsed with the residual power of the Divine Spirits—from the world's highest peak to the bottomless Abyss of the Endless Sea, where it became the lynchpin of a formation to suppress the Sea itself.

Thereafter, the prehistoric Hall of Gods was transformed into a ruined palace at the bottom of the Abyss and was renamed the Abyssal Sea Palace.

Ever since, countless people have coveted the divine treasures within the Abyssal Sea Palace and attempted to find it, but all have become lost in the mists of the Endless Sea, utterly failing to locate it.

'And now... Junior Sister Nangong was saying that the key to that legendary palace was in her hands.'

Lu Ruoxi couldn't help but hold her breath.

'This was information precious enough to shake the entire world!'

Before Lu Ruoxi could fully process this, Nangong Jin's next words made her gasp in astonishment.

"I suspect our master, who has been missing for years, is trapped inside the Abyssal Sea Palace."

"What?!"