Chapter 336 - 328: Crossing Mountains and Rivers to See the True Intent

Song Ciwan stood in the cave, peering through the thick mountain rock to silently observe the storm-like transformation into a Deceitful occurring in the valley outside.

A long time ago, Song Ciwan had worried about this whenever she killed an enemy. What if the foes she slew transformed into Deceitfuls after death? How would she handle that?

After all, this world was full of too many strange and supernatural things. Sometimes, even after you ground an opponent’s bones to dust, you might still face their revenge countless years later at some unexpected time.

But if they were dead, how could they get revenge?

The sources were numerous—

It was possible they hadn’t truly died. They might appear dead, but their soul could have already revived thousands of miles away.

Of course, feigning death was nearly impossible in front of Song Ciwan. She possessed the Divine Artifact, the Heaven and Earth Scale. The scale would only collect a person’s Death Qi after they had truly died. Any absence of Death Qi could be considered a faked death.

Since she didn’t need to worry about faked deaths, she had to focus on the transformation into a Deceitful.

This whole business of transforming into a Deceitful was far more unpredictable.

Song Ciwan had never witnessed it firsthand. She only knew from her research that even if a person’s soul was utterly scattered, a single lingering trace of Resentment could still spawn something strange and deceitful one day, many years later.

A common Deceitful, at the Gray Travel Level, could move but was very weak. Basically, anyone with abundant Qi Blood, even a Mortal Martial Artist who hadn’t reached the Innate realm, could kill a Gray Travel Level entity using various methods.

But upon reaching the Village Level, they would often generate a Deceitful Realm.

A Deceitful within a Deceitful Realm usually couldn’t move and would be trapped within its domain for its entire existence.

So, if a Deceitful couldn’t move, did that mean one needn’t worry about its revenge?

The answer was... uncertain.

In short, the whole phenomenon was mysterious, strange, and challenged the limits of imagination. From the materials Song Ciwan had been able to find, even the authors of those texts were vague on the subject.

Perhaps they didn’t know either, or perhaps they did but couldn’t accurately express it in words.

This world has never been short of things that cannot be expressed in words.

For example, Song Ciwan desperately wanted to reveal the secret of the Insect Eggs hidden within the Golden Core, but she couldn’t—

Not because she was trying to hide anything, but because a distant, yet immense and solemn power was stopping her from speaking!

She knew that if she insisted on speaking, even with her greatly increased Power, her vast Lifespan, and the Heaven and Earth Scale to back her up, she would instantly suffer a devastating blow, resulting in her death and the dissolution of her Dao!

Dying without being able to say what needed to be said—was that something a sane person would do? It was pure suicide.

Song Ciwan, at any rate, certainly wouldn’t.

So, was there a way to forge a new path, to convey the secret in a different manner?

Song Ciwan had been pondering this for a while, but her thoughts remained hazy and without a clear direction.

But now, witnessing the birth of a Village-Level Deceitful Realm with her own eyes, Song Ciwan suddenly felt as if she had grasped a thread of inspiration.

Yes, outside the cave, in the valley, Resentment was gushing forth. It was clear that a Village-Level Deceitful Realm was about to take form!

The ever-mysterious Deceitful Realm was lifting a corner of its veil right before Song Ciwan’s eyes.

This was a corner that was normally invisible to the naked human eye, a Cultivator’s Spiritual Sense, and even ordinary Pupil Techniques. If not for the mysterious and unique Magical Treasure she wore, the Eye of Cyan Nether, she would never have been able to witness this in person.

She saw plumes of Resentment surging from deep within the earth and flying in on clouds from distant villages in all directions. This Resentment was mostly gray, occasionally interspersed with deep and pale shades of red and blue.

But regardless of the color, all of it carried a dense feeling of gloom and foreboding.

This Resentment met with the strange aura that had drifted from the Skeleton Cultivator. They tangled and intertwined. Then, with the Skeleton Cultivator’s aura as the epicenter, the various energies spread out far and wide. Gradually, a series of images began to appear.

The images were both illusory and real. They settled upon the valley, forming scattered houses, crisscrossing paths, distant mountains, and nearby waters... and villagers with ferocious faces!

The scenes shifted, spinning like a lantern.

A group of "people," tall and thin as bamboo poles with insect-like limbs, barged into the village. They seized a pale-faced young girl who was surrounded by the other villagers.

The scene quickly changed again. The pale-faced girl had grown a Snake Tail. In a scarlet cave, she flicked out her serpentine tongue. The tongue coiled furiously, binding the "bamboo pole people" one by one and sucking them dry of all their flesh and blood.

...

All sorts of bizarre images, resembling reality, yet detached from it.

Almost none of the "people" in the images were normal. Of course, Song Ciwan’s focus wasn’t on observing these strange "people" or the peculiar stories unfolding in the scenes.

She saw something deeper.

At that moment, Song Ciwan’s Spiritual Sense trembled slightly. The deity in her Sea of Consciousness, the Nine-Layered Treasure Tower in her Dantian, the Talent and character glyphs above the deity, and even the Sitting Forget True Qi dormant in her meridians all began to pulse in a rhythmic unison with her Spiritual Sense.

This was especially true for the Nine-Layered Treasure Tower.

This Treasure Tower was born on a sea island and now stood garrisoned in her Dantian. Each of its layers possessed a unique attribute.

From bottom to top, they were: Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, Yin, Yang, Space, and Time.

After forging her nine-layered Tao Foundation, Song Ciwan’s sensitivity to the Five Elements had far surpassed what it once was. As a result, even a Minor Magic like the Blazing Flame Technique could produce all sorts of mystical effects in her hands.

By extension, she could also cast the derived Five Elements Techniques, such as the Wind Manipulation Technique or Palm Thunder, with masterful ease.

The Golden Core Dao’s sensitivity to the myriad things of heaven and earth was, without a doubt, far superior to that of the Refining Spirit Dao.

It was like the difference between one path that required complex deductions, bypassing countless traps and even feints and false conditions just to apply a magic technique, and another that could bypass all those deductions, simplify the steps, and directly see the formula—or even the answer!

Comparing the two, how could the Golden Core Dao not have an advantage?

Of course, the reason Song Ciwan could feel this way might also be related to the pure, Purple Ribbon Level Foundation Establishment Pill she had used during her Foundation Establishment.

It was hard to say whether an ordinary Golden Core Cultivator, lacking such a pill, could also perceive the formula directly.

But in this moment, through all sorts of profound resonances, Song Ciwan once again saw a formula directly as the Deceitful Realm formed!

It was an ancient Huaxia seal script character, woven from countless strands of Resentment. Though it was distorted, fragmented, and flickered in and out of existence, Song Ciwan was still able to recognize it after careful observation. It was the character for "Void"!

’Void?’

’What kind of void?’

’Was it the "void" of emptiness, the "void" of the great vacuum, the "void" of nothingness, the "void" of futility, or the "void" of space?’

In the valley, countless lines of Resentment continued to weave together. A Deceitful Realm that was both there and not there took shape. It seemed to be forming in this world, yet at the same time, it seemed to be hidden on the other side of it—the reverse side of the Mortal World, in a nothingness that mortals could never touch.

Song Ciwan suddenly had an epiphany. She was inside the cave within the mountain, but with a flicker of her body, she abruptly appeared in the newly formed Deceitful Realm the very next moment!

The Empty Character held countless meanings.

And in that instant, the meaning Song Ciwan grasped was the traversing of space!