Gu Chengming decided to stop on the evening of the fourth day.
It wasn't that he was tired of fighting. After all, every additional Dad Coin he obtained increased his chances of conquering the Hundred Bones Resonating of Love, so he naturally wanted as many as possible.
The problem was that he had underestimated the lethality of the four words 'Loser Calls Me Dad' in the hearts of the cultivation world's younger generation.
The turning point occurred this afternoon. When he withdrew from the mirror as usual and was about to have a cup of tea and rest for a while, Yu Wenqiu leaned lazily against the doorframe, holding a stick of candied haws. She shook it at him and asked if he wanted to eat.
After receiving a negative answer, Yu Wenqiu grumbled and took a bite herself. She then remembered the interesting rumors circulating in Floating Islet City recently and said, "By the way, Little Gu, have you paid attention to the rumors about the grand competition in the city lately?"
"No, what happened?"
"Supposedly, the Floating Heaven Profound God Mirror in Floating Islet City is haunted," Yu Wenqiu said indistinctly while chewing on a candied haw. "They say there's a Third Realm monster inside the mirror who kills everyone he sees. He's undefeated against all the major sects, and his name is incredibly arrogant—something like 'Loser Calls Me Dad.'"
"The leaders of several sects were drinking together and discussing a joint petition to the Mohist Sect, demanding that this person's true identity be revealed. They say Zhongli Yuan, the Sect Master of the Taiyi Sword Sect, personally went to the Mohist Sect's main hall to slam his fist on the table."
Gu Chengming's hand holding the teacup paused slightly. "Oh, really? Maybe it's just good luck."
"Good luck allows someone to win dozens of matches without losing?"
Yu Wenqiu paused, as if she had thought of something, and then looked at Gu Chengming suspiciously.
Gu Chengming smiled and nodded, taking a sip of tea.
—Mm, has nothing to do with me.
...
After Yu Wenqiu left, Gu Chengming quickly returned to his room and, with a slight sense of reluctance, logged out of the 'Loser Calls Me Dad' account.
Although this name had only existed for four days, it had already left a vivid mark on Floating Islet City.
【The 《Hundred Bones Resonating》 laments: Why did Emperor Gu abolish his own title!】
【The 《Qingxin Art》 giggles: Consider it hiding his merits and fame.】
—Don't blame me; blame those doxxers from the other sects.
'Loser Calls Me Dad' disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. The geniuses of various sects, who had been holding their breath to reclaim their honor, flooded into the mirror only to find that the name no longer existed, as if that person had never been there at all.
After learning the news, Mu Chen of the Taiyi Sword Sect remained silent for a long time. He couldn't describe the taste in his heart. Relief? Unwillingness? Or perhaps both? He had even prepared a strategy specifically against the ten-flying-sword array and simulated it hundreds of times in his mind, confident he could last at least thirty breaths. In the end, the opponent had run away.
"He just left like that?" Chen Ming stood behind Mu Chen, his tone complex. "Without even giving an explanation?"
"What kind of explanation do you want?" Mu Chen asked back.
Chen Ming thought about it and found he couldn't say. He couldn't exactly chase the person down and ask, "Excuse me, who are you? I'd like to call you Dad just to set my mind at ease," right?
The disciples of the Taiyi Sword Sect were thus forced to accept the fact that 'this grudge has nowhere to be avenged,' carrying a stomach full of questions and frustration.
As the heated discussions among the sect disciples gradually died down, the story of 'Loser Calls Me Dad' did not perish. Instead, it took root and sprouted in Floating Islet City at an even faster rate, evolving into a detailed urban legend.
The storyteller at Wangyun Tower wove the matter into a script, saying that in ancient times, there was a supreme sword cultivator who, before falling, sealed his life's cultivation into the Floating Heaven Profound God Mirror, transforming into a wisp of sword soul to wait for future heroes to test their swords.
Anyone who could last a hundred breaths under his hand could inherit that supreme one's legacy.
Someone in the audience asked, "So, has anyone lasted a hundred breaths?"
The storyteller slapped his gavel with a crack. "To this day, no one has lasted more than ten seconds!" The whole place erupted in an uproar.
Of course, rumors were just rumors, nothing more than something to laugh about over tea and meals.
Beneath the prosperous lights of Floating Islet City, not everyone was immersed in the excitement of the approaching grand competition.
...
Floating Islet City, East District, quiet residence.
Late at night, Ji Yixi sat cross-legged behind a low table. Spread out before her was a map drawn with spiritual energy, marking the fluctuations of various spiritual vein nodes in Floating Islet City, as well as the anomalies she had collected through various channels over the past seven days.
Ji Yixi closed her eyes and sank her consciousness into the sensing state of the 《Great Record》.
Countless parallel world lines interlaced in her cognition. She scanned the world lines that eventually collapsed one by one, trying to find a common trigger point. In those world lines, the grand competition in Floating Islet City proceeded normally.
Disciples fought, sparred, and prepared for battle in the secret realm, everything in perfect order. Then, at an inconspicuous point in time, disaster struck without warning, as if time itself had been deleted.
All the world lines of the Floating Islet City disaster had a period of time 'deleted,' leaving only a single clue.
—It was a name being spoken.
When that name is triggered inside the mirror, every cultivator who has established a soul link with the Floating Heaven Profound God Mirror will become a sacrifice.
Ji Yixi opened her eyes.
A name.
The Longevity Sect's hidden move was anchored to a 'name.'
But what specific name was it? Whose name?
She tried to deduce further, but the feedback given by the 《Great Record》 at this node was as blurry as a thick fog.
This was abnormal in itself. Generally speaking, the more critical a karmic node, the clearer the perception.
There was only one situation that could make perception blurry: the karmic node itself was still in an 'undetermined' state. In other words, that name might not have been fully activated yet.
Did the Longevity Sect need to find the true name of a specific person to use as a medium to launch the blood sacrifice?
Or did the Longevity Sect plan to plant a 'name' inside the mirror, so that any cultivator who spoke it or developed a karmic connection with it would be contaminated?
Or was it the original name of the Red Dust Immortal, about to reappear in the world through this grand competition...?
In mid-air, the little dragon woke up from its nap at some point and tilted its head to look over.
"Worrying again?"
Ji Yixi sighed.
"Did your worrying produce a result?"
"I have a direction, but I'm just one step away from the answer."
The little dragon yawned and scratched its chin with the tip of its tail.
"So, what do you plan to do?"
Ji Yixi did not answer. Instead, she closed her eyes again and sank back into the state of deduction.
The little dragon looked at her and shrank back onto the roof beam.
It was already used to it. Once this girl entered this state, even if the sky fell, one shouldn't expect to distract her. But the clue of the 'name' indeed made it quite concerned as well.
Binding a true name to the law of causality was a method that could only be achieved if one's understanding of the Dao reached a nearly absurd height.
—Hopefully, it won't be what it suspects.
...
Meanwhile.
At the North Gate of Floating Islet City, a flying boat slowly landed at the docking station. The team consisted of about twenty people, their red robes like fire and their skirts fluttering.
The leading girl wore the formal red robe of a sect master, her hair tied neatly. It was none other than Fu Xiaoxiao.
She habitually used the Red Dust Technique to glance at the city. The atmosphere in Floating Islet City was as lively as expected.
Desire for victory, tension, excitement, and eagerness—various fresh emotions belonging to young cultivators were intensely interlaced. However, beneath the normal background, Fu Xiaoxiao captured a slight anomaly.
The red lines of karma that should have been pure now seemed to have been quietly flicked by an invisible hand, their direction slightly skewed.
Fu Xiaoxiao frowned.
That bunch from the Tianji Pavilion is truly getting more and more unscrupulous.
In her understanding, the deduction techniques of the Tianji Pavilion themselves carried a slight effect of karmic interference.
Every time there was a grand competition, they would more or less meddle in the dark. This was something all the major sects tacitly understood; as long as it wasn't excessive, usually no one cared.
Fu Xiaoxiao attributed this anomaly to the routine operations of the Tianji Pavilion and didn't look into it further.
After all, her mind was currently occupied by another matter.
—Gu Chengming was also in Floating Islet City.
This thought hadn't stopped since the moment she stepped onto the flying boat. Along the way, she had forcibly suppressed it over a hundred times with 'I'm here to participate in the grand competition, not to look for a man,' but every time she pushed it down, it bounced back twice as hard, making her absent-minded throughout the journey. She even held her teacup upside down while drinking.
However, as the Acting Sect Master, the things that needed to be done still had to be done.
The process after entering the city was compact and efficient.
Fu Xiaoxiao personally led the team to the Mohist Sect's main hall to register and receive the sub-mirrors. She then tirelessly inspected the guest courtyard assigned to the Hehuan Sect, checking the specifications of the protective arrays room by room to confirm there were no residual listening artifacts, and set up a set of the Hehuan Sect's own privacy restrictions.
Next were routine meetings with other sect leaders, confirmation of the match schedule, inventory of logistical supplies, and arrangement of disciple accommodations.
After a busy round, several days had passed.
Only then did Fu Xiaoxiao call the two core disciples participating in the competition for the Hehuan Sect to her room.
Su Xiaoshao and Su Qiuzhi stood side by side in front of her.
Su Xiaoshao waited quietly for instructions. Although Su Qiuzhi's posture was upright, her eyes had already begun to drift out the window, looking like 'I know what you're going to say, but my heart has already flown out of this room.'
Fu Xiaoxiao glanced at her, and Su Qiuzhi immediately pulled her gaze back.
"For this grand competition, the Hehuan Sect will focus on observation, supplemented by competition," Fu Xiaoxiao said in a businesslike tone. "The two of you represent the Hehuan Sect. Your primary task is to showcase the character of our disciples; rank comes second."
Su Xiaoshao nodded in response.
"However—" Fu Xiaoxiao's gaze lingered on Su Qiuzhi for half a breath longer. "During the competition, everything must prioritize preparation. Do not go where you shouldn't go, and do not look for people you shouldn't look for."
This was spoken very bluntly. Su Qiuzhi's mouth twitched, but she still nodded honestly. "Yes."
"Very well, you may withdraw."
The two saluted and left, leaving the room silent.
The twilight outside the window was slowly sinking. In the distance, the lights of various sect stations lit up one after another, outlining Floating Islet City like a reflection of the starry river.
Fu Xiaoxiao listened to the footsteps fading away, feeling that she had finished everything an Acting Sect Master should do today. So, for the time remaining, she could probably be a little self-indulgent, right?
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and confirming that Su Qiuzhi's footsteps had completely vanished, Fu Xiaoxiao suddenly stood up.
The dignity of the Acting Sect Master shattered instantly. She rushed to the bronze mirror in three steps, untied her hair, changed out of her sect master's red robe, pushed open the window, and leaned out to check the sky.
It was night. Good.
Fu Xiaoxiao flipped out of the window, her figure blending into the night, and then she gritted her teeth in her heart.
That damnable Little Gu, he always waits for me to take the initiative.
Last time at the Hehuan Sect, she had taken the initiative to find him, and now that they were in Floating Islet City, she still had to be the one to find him. As the grand Acting Sect Master and the Fish-Managing Elder of the Hehuan Sect, she was acting like a sixteen-year-old girl in this matter. It was truly embarrassing.
But despite the complaining, her footsteps didn't slow down at all.
The window of the guest room was slightly ajar. Fu Xiaoxiao gently pushed it open a crack and slipped inside.
The first thing she did after landing wasn't to say hello, but to wave her hand, silently spreading a layer of restriction that enveloped the entire guest room. Any spiritual sense probe below the Fifth Realm would be like a clay ox entering the sea before this restriction.
Only after doing this did she heave a long sigh of relief and turn around.
Gu Chengming was sitting on the couch looking at her, with a hint of surprise and joy.
On the other hand, the complaints Fu Xiaoxiao had accumulated all night on the road vanished the moment she saw Gu Chengming, replaced by a very spineless joy.
"How did you know I would come?" she asked in a low voice.
"The Hehuan Sect entered the city today. I saw your registration record at the Mohist Sect's main hall."
Fu Xiaoxiao's ears turned red, and she grumbled, "Couldn't you take the initiative to find me once?"
"Hadn't you just settled in? I was planning to visit tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Really."
Fu Xiaoxiao looked at him suspiciously for a moment but didn't press further.
She sat down opposite Gu Chengming and took the tea he handed her.
"Is this Hundred Flower Brew from the flask I packed for you?"
"Mm, there's still more than half a flask left."
The corners of Fu Xiaoxiao's mouth curled up, then were immediately pressed down.
"How have you been lately?"
"Not bad."
"Have you been tricked by any other bad women?"
This question was identical to Yu Wenqiu's. Gu Chengming found it a bit funny as he answered, "No."
Fu Xiaoxiao stared at him for a few breaths, and after confirming it was true, her shoulders finally relaxed.
"I missed you."
Gu Chengming reached out and gently pressed the top of her head.
It was the exact same action as when they had parted at the Hehuan Sect last time.
Fu Xiaoxiao let out a 'hmpf' but didn't bother to fix her messy hair.
"Did you miss me?"
"Every day I was thinking about when it would be appropriate to write back to you."
"I received the letters, three in total." Fu Xiaoxiao took three jade slips from her sleeve and placed them on the table. "I replied to every one. Why didn't you reply to my replies?"
"Because by the time I finished the third letter, you had already arrived in Floating Islet City."
Fu Xiaoxiao calculated the dates and found they did indeed match up. She put the jade slips back into her sleeve and snorted.
That night, the two talked about trivial daily matters. Fu Xiaoxiao spoke of the progress of the Hehuan Sect's cleanup, Su Qiuzhi's performance, and Elder Jingxin's recent situation; Gu Chengming talked about the grand competition's system and the sights of Floating Islet City.
When they talked about the competition, Fu Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, I felt some strange things when I entered the city."
"What?"
"The karma lines in the city have been tampered with." Fu Xiaoxiao frowned. "I originally thought it was the Tianji Pavilion's doing, but thinking about it now, the method doesn't quite seem like theirs."
Gu Chengming did not respond, but in his heart, he had already linked this information with Ji Yixi's clue. However, it was not appropriate to tell Fu Xiaoxiao the details yet.
He didn't want her to get involved before he obtained more definitive intelligence.
"I'll keep an eye out," he said.
The night grew deep.
【Yin Yang Creation Strategy Favorability +5】
...
It wasn't until the eastern sky began to pale that Fu Xiaoxiao reluctantly stood up.
"I have to go."
She retied her hair, straightened her clothes, and regained a bit of the Acting Sect Master's demeanor. However, her slightly red ears still betrayed her.
"Next time, you don't have to climb through the window. I'll go find you," Gu Chengming said.
"You said it." Fu Xiaoxiao pointed at him. "No lying."
She pushed the window and flipped out, her figure vanishing into the morning mist. The red dust restriction was withdrawn, and that hidden power dissipated like a receding tide.
The early morning Floating Islet City was still shrouded in a thin layer of mist. Most cultivators were still asleep, and only the sound of the spiritual spring channels was particularly clear in the silence. Everything looked no different from any other ordinary dawn.
But no withdrawal of a technique can ever be one hundred percent clean. The Red Dust Technique uses emotions and aura as a carrier, and it's inevitable that a faint trace remains when it dissipates.
This trace was so subtle that the vast majority of cultivators couldn't perceive it at all.
But someone happened to perceive it.
...
Yu Wenqiu's sleepiness vanished instantly. she sat up with a 'whoosh,' her eyes wide in the darkness.
A residue of the Red Dust Technique? Drifting out from Little Gu's courtyard?
Alarms instantly rang in Yu Wenqiu's head.
Hehuan Sect! Bad woman! Dead of night! Little Gu's room!
She had always known that something had likely happened while Little Gu was on his business trip to the Hehuan Sect.
That crudely made bracer, those subtle changes in aura—she wasn't blind.
But knowing and seeing with her own eyes were two different things.
With the former, she could still lie to herself and say it was perhaps a misunderstanding. The latter directly tore away the last layer of pretense.
Yu Wenqiu stood by the window, looking at the sliver of white on the horizon, a sense of urgency surging in her heart.
Originally, she had planned to wait until the grand competition was completely over, pick an auspicious day, prepare herself mentally, and express her feelings to Little Gu in a proper and graceful manner.
But now, this wisp of red dust aura had completely disrupted her plans.
If she hesitated any longer, her own fresh and succulent cabbage was going to be completely uprooted by a wild pig from outside!
No, it was already being uprooted!
Yu Wenqiu bit her lip; she had to speed up the progress.
But then again, speeding up was one thing, but her heart was still pounding.
After all, her experience in 'confessing to someone' in this life was zero. She had dealt with swords far longer than she had dealt with people. Asking her to stand in front of Gu Chengming and say 'I like you'—
Just thinking about it made her legs weak.
What to do?
Calm down, calm down... When in doubt, perform a divination.
Yu Wenqiu's eyes lit up.
She remembered someone. In her early years of wandering, she had met a female Daoist in a small city who was proficient in divination. The woman was from the Tianji Pavilion, and during their last correspondence, she had mentioned she was coming to Floating Islet City to watch the excitement.
If she could ask her to perform a divination, at least she would have some idea of whether this confession plan was auspicious or ominous, and whether she should proceed or retreat.
Having made up her mind, Yu Wenqiu acted immediately.
She dug out an unremarkable rogue cultivator's robe from the bottom of her chest and changed into it, then wrapped herself tightly with a veil. A grand elder of the Wenjian Sect running to the Tianji Pavilion to ask for a marriage divination—if her fellow disciples saw her, her face for the rest of her life would be completely gone.
Taking advantage of the early dawn when most cultivators had not yet risen, Yu Wenqiu slipped out of the Wenjian Sect station like a thief, walking along the walls of small alleys. She made a large circle before finally reaching the outskirts of the Tianji Pavilion station.
After spending some effort to give the secret signal and confirm her identity, she was finally led into that female Daoist's guest room.
The female cultivator who opened the door was about thirty years old. Her gray-white Daoist robe was stained with a lot of ink, and her hair was tied in a casual bun with two wisps of hair hanging by her ears. Her features carried a relaxed temperament unique to scholars. This was Zhou Xiaoyue, a strange person among the third-generation disciples of the Tianji Pavilion who wasn't very famous but had very accurate divination skills.
Yu Wenqiu grabbed her hand, looking at her expectantly. "Sister Xiaoyue, I have a favor to ask!"
"It's about this: I have a very important thing to do recently, but I'm not sure about the timing. So, I'd like to ask you to perform a divination for me to see the luck of this matter."
"So, what is the matter?"
"It's... a major life event."
"Can you be more specific? Divination requires a clear question. The more vague you are, the less accurate the result will be."
Yu Wenqiu bit her lip and lowered her voice. "Calculate marriage."
Zhou Xiaoyue was shocked. "You have a partner?"
"Not yet." Yu Wenqiu's face burned. "It's... someone I want to confess to."
To be honest, after knowing Yu Wenqiu for so long, this was the first time she had heard of such a thing...
It had to be said that it caused quite a shock to Zhou Xiaoyue's worldview. Only after a long time did she ask, "Who is the other party?"
"Don't worry about that. Just help me calculate if my confession will be successful."
Zhou Xiaoyue didn't press further. She placed three copper coins on the array plate and guided spiritual energy with her fingertips.
The copper coins spun, spiritual light flickered, and the array patterns lit up one by one.
Yu Wenqiu held her breath.
A few breaths later, the three copper coins stopped spinning and settled. Yu Wenqiu leaned over to look. The combination of heads and tails of the three copper coins formed a clear character on the table.
—Ominous.
The confession is ominous?!
It's over, it's over, it's over. Even the heavens aren't on her side. Does this mean Little Gu simply—
A montage of her life was already starting to play in Yu Wenqiu's mind.
However, just as her mental state was about to completely collapse, the female Daoist opposite her didn't rush to speak.
She frowned, staring intently at the copper coins on the plate, her gaze scanning back and forth several times.
Yu Wenqiu noticed her anomaly. "W-what is it? Is it particularly ominous? Greatly ominous?"
"Don't worry."
Zhou Xiaoyue shook her head and reached out, her fingertips resting on the edge of the array plate.
Then—
She rotated the entire array plate ninety degrees on the table...
The originally glaring character for 'Ominous,' with the rotation of the array plate, turned upside down.
Yu Wenqiu was stunned. Zhou Xiaoyue pointed at the inverted character:
"It's not 'Ominous'; it's 'Area.'"
"?"
A question mark appeared over Yu Wenqiu's head.
...
Yu Wenqiu never did understand what that 'Area' character meant.
Zhou Xiaoyue flipped through classics for a long time and performed the deduction three more times. Every result pointed to the same character, yet she could never provide a reasonable explanation.
Yu Wenqiu left the Tianji Pavilion station with a heart full of suspicion. Along the way, that nonsensical 'Area' character spun in her mind, and she couldn't shake it off.
But she was someone who had experienced great storms after all, and she soon forcibly suppressed this confusion. Whether it was 'Ominous' or 'Area,' what needed to be done still had to be done. Moreover, the most pressing matter right now wasn't the mystery of a single character, but the imminent grand competition.
As an elder of the Wenjian Sect, she couldn't participate in the ceremony with a mind full of romantic troubles.
Over the next two days, the atmosphere in Floating Islet City became increasingly lively.
Gu Chengming hadn't been idle either.
He cultivated in the guest courtyard during the day to consolidate his Third Realm foundation. In the evening, he met with Shen Qianqiu, Han Zhe, and others to discuss the Wenjian Sect's arrangements for the competition.
On the other hand, Ji Yixi also told Gu Chengming about the clue she had discovered—the 'name.' After thinking for a long time without a result, the latter simply put the matter aside for the time being.
The most important thing right now was tomorrow's grand competition ceremony.
The night after the grand competition ceremony, the Hour of the Ox.
After nightfall, Floating Islet City was actually quieter than during the day.
The normally brightly lit markets had closed early, and even the busiest Wangyun Tower had shut its doors ahead of schedule. The guest courtyard of the Wenjian Sect station was so quiet that only the gurgling of the spiritual spring channels could be heard.
Gu Chengming sat cross-legged on the couch, his eyes slightly closed, circulating the final cycle of the 《Hundred Bones Resonating》 for the night.
The blood and qi in his body surged like a tide. The body-tempering power of the Hundred Bones Resonating ran through his meridians for a complete cycle, further solidifying the foundation of the Third Realm.
Gu Chengming slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes.
The sky outside the window was still pitch black. There were probably two or three hours until dawn.
He did not continue cultivating. Instead, he lay down, planning to take a short nap to recharge his energy for tomorrow.
...
Morning light filtered through the window lattice, casting regular shadows on the floor.
Gu Chengming woke up the moment the light hit his eyelids. The feeling of full blood and qi left over from last night's cultivation of the Hundred Bones Resonating hadn't completely faded; his whole body felt warm, as if soaking in a hot spring.
He sat up and moved his wrists. Footsteps came from outside the door.
Then came Yu Wenqiu's voice—
"Little Gu! Are you up? Today is the competition ceremony. Don't be late!"
Gu Chengming answered through the door, "I'm up, coming right now."
He quickly washed and changed into the formal sword cultivator attire of the Wenjian Sect, a standard longsword hanging at his waist. He looked spirited and restrained.
When he pushed the door open, Yu Wenqiu was leaning against the osmanthus tree in the courtyard, munching on a piece of osmanthus cake. She was also wearing formal elder robes today, which was a rare sight of tidiness. However, the crumbs at the corner of her mouth somewhat spoiled the solemnity.
"Let's go, let's go," she urged while eating, heading toward the courtyard gate.
Gu Chengming followed.
Shen Qianqiu, Elder Han Zhe, and the other participating disciples had already assembled at the station entrance. The group set off in formation toward the Guanlan Pavilion in the center of Floating Islet City.
On the way, teams from various major sects were also converging from all directions.
Banners obscured the sun on the main street, and the noise of the crowd was deafening. Cultivators in various sect uniforms formed a long river, slowly flowing in the same direction. Su Qingmeng walked beside Gu Chengming, her gaze calmly fixed on the approaching octagonal tower ahead.
Yu Wenqiu was slightly behind the team, stealing glances at Gu Chengming's back as she walked, then quickly looking away and pretending to watch the roadside scenery.
The decision was made, but as for when specifically to confess, she hadn't decided yet.
Today definitely wouldn't work; today was the opening ceremony, not appropriate. Tomorrow wouldn't work either; the disciples would be entering the secret realm tomorrow, too rushed.
Wait until the competition is over?
No, wouldn't waiting until the end just bring her back to the starting point!
Yu Wenqiu argued with herself in her head all the way. By the time she snapped out of it, they had arrived at Guanlan Pavilion.
...
Guanlan Pavilion.
This landmark of Floating Islet City was even more grand than Gu Chengming had imagined.
The octagonal tower towered into the clouds, built entirely from an unknown dark gray metal. Its surface was covered in dense array patterns that reflected a faint blue light under the morning sun. Each floor of the tower extended into a wide viewing platform, and at the very top hung a massive bronze mirror—the body of the Floating Heaven Profound God Mirror.
The square was already packed with people.
The major sects were arranged according to the positions determined by the draw, banners like a forest. Further away, the red banners of the Hehuan Sect fluttered in the morning breeze.
Fu Xiaoxiao stood at the front of her team, the Acting Sect Master's red robe complementing her slender figure, looking solemn and dignified.
Across the distance of hundreds of people, her gaze crossed the sea of humanity and accurately found Gu Chengming in the Wenjian Sect formation.
Their gazes met briefly in mid-air.
Fu Xiaoxiao's mouth curled almost imperceptibly, and then she immediately withdrew her gaze. At the third quarter of the Hour of the Dragon, the ceremony officially began.
The Mohist Sect Master personally ascended to the platform on the highest floor of Guanlan Pavilion and delivered a short speech to the thousands of cultivators below.
The content was roughly welcoming everyone and wishing for a smooth competition. Gu Chengming only listened to the general idea, his attention focused more on the stone platform in the center of the square, which was enveloped in spiritual light.
The stone platform was about three zhang square, carved from a single piece of ink-black spirit stone. A spirit pearl the size of a fist was embedded in each of the four corners, and golden array patterns connected the pearls to form a precise array circuit.
In the very center of the stone platform sat an object.
It was a polyhedron about the size of a palm, translucent and amber in color. Countless tiny patterns slowly flowed on its surface. If one looked closely, they would find that those patterns were not carved array lines, but a spontaneously generated law, as if a miniature world were encapsulated inside this polyhedron, running its own time.
As the Mohist Sect Master finished his speech, a white-haired Mohist elder slowly ascended the stone platform under everyone's gaze.
Gu Chengming estimated that this elder's cultivation was at least at the middle stage of the Fifth Realm, which showed the importance the Mohist Sect attached to this matter.
That elder walked to the center of the stone platform and gently lifted that amber artifact.
The moment the artifact was picked up, the spirit pearls at the four corners of the stone platform lit up simultaneously. Golden array light flowed rapidly along the circuit, and the spiritual energy concentration of the entire square suddenly soared several times.
Fu Xiaoxiao slightly narrowed her eyes. Her Red Dust Technique sensed a trace of fluctuation that didn't belong to the normal ceremony process at this moment.
But before she could distinguish it, the ceremony entered its most critical phase.
The Mohist elder held the artifact with both hands and began to chant the opening incantation in a low voice.
The sound of the incantation was low, but with the support of spiritual energy, it clearly spread across the entire square. It was an ancient language, and every syllable seemed to carry the weight of time, making those who heard it involuntarily feel a sense of trance, as if they were being slowly pulled into a time and space completely different from the present world.
The light of the artifact grew brighter and brighter, and the operation speed of the miniature world inside was also accelerating sharply. Countless patterns interlaced and rotated, releasing wave after wave of visible ripples in time and space.
Gu Chengming's gaze was tightly locked on that artifact, a strange sense of unease rising in his heart.
This unease had no source, but it was exceptionally strong.
—Then, the world stopped.
The breeze stopped. The spirit birds flying above the square were suspended in mid-air, their wings held open and motionless. Thousands of cultivators were all frozen in place. Someone's hand was still raised in mid-air; someone's mouth was slightly open; someone was in the middle of turning their head. Shen Qianqiu's gaze was frozen toward the stone platform, and Han Zhe's hand resting on his sword hilt was stuck in place. The half-eaten osmanthus cake in Yu Wenqiu's mouth was suspended between her teeth.
Even the Fifth Realm Mohist elder was no exception. His chanting stopped abruptly, his hands maintaining the posture of holding the artifact.
The entire Floating Islet City was dead silent.
Only Gu Chengming's consciousness remained clear, but he could not move.
In that dead silence, the sound of footsteps rang out.
Gu Chengming couldn't turn his head and could only use his remaining perception to capture the location of the sound.
The footsteps started from the edge of the square, passing through the first row of frozen cultivators, the second row, the third row.
Getting closer.
Then a figure appeared at the edge of his vision.
It was a young man in a moon-white brocade robe with complex patterns. A jade belt was tied around his waist, and he held a folded fan in his hand. His features were handsome and his bearing was elegant, like a noble young master who had walked out of a painting.
He walked through the frozen sea of people as if strolling in a garden, his pace neither fast nor slow. He even stopped with interest to look at a disciple who was yawning, shook his head slightly, and smiled.
Then he continued walking, straight toward the stone platform. The process of ascending the platform was without any hindrance. The protective arrays that would normally be enough to resist the powerful attack of a Fifth Realm great cultivator were like nothing before him. He didn't even intentionally break the arrays; they simply moved aside to make a path, as if welcoming back their master.
He walked in front of the Fifth Realm Mohist elder and then casually took the artifact from the elder's hands.
The movement was gentle, as if he were just taking a cup of tea from a friend's hand.
After the artifact was in his hand, he held it up to his eyes and examined it for a moment. The amber light reflected in his deep, bottomless eyes.
Gu Chengming watched all this, the chill on his spine never stronger than now.
There was no evidence, but a guess surfaced in Gu Chengming's heart.
The person before him was the Red Dust Immortal.
Just then, the man withdrew his gaze from the artifact and slightly turned his head.
Those eyes looked past the thousands of cultivators on the square toward Gu Chengming, and their gazes met.
He smiled, his voice very light, carrying a sentiment like an old friend reuniting.
"We meet again."
However, the man had no intention of waiting for Gu Chengming's response. He simply lowered his gaze and looked back at the artifact in his hand.
Then, he squeezed the key that the generations of Mohist Sect Masters had devoted their lives to guarding with a brutal grip. The process of his fingers closing was slow—slow enough that Gu Chengming could clearly see the patterns on the artifact's surface beginning to crack under the pressure.
"Crack." A snapping sound rang out as the first crack appeared on the surface of the artifact.
"Crrrack."
A second and third crack spread like a spiderweb, and amber light leaked from the fissures.
The man's fingers continued to tighten, like crushing a piece of rotten wood.
"Pop."
The artifact shattered into dust in his palm.
Then, the world began to reverse.
The clouds in the sky moved backward at a visible speed. The morning light that had retreated to the east regathered and then darkened, as if someone were pulling the sky back frame by frame.
The frozen crowd on the square began to 'revive' in a bizarre way, but they weren't resuming their actions; instead, everyone's movements were playing in reverse. Frozen arms were withdrawn, heads that were halfway turned turned back, and open mouths closed.
Footsteps retreated, banners rolled back, and spiritual light flowed backward.
Everything was backtracking rapidly in a way that defied heavenly logic.
Gu Chengming's consciousness was caught in the backflow, like a fallen leaf swept away by a flood. Everything in his vision became blurrier and faster.
Day turned to night, and night turned to day again. The speed of the reversal continued to accelerate.
The square disappeared, the main street disappeared, and Guanlan Pavilion disappeared.
The last remaining image in his vision was the young man in the moon-white brocade robe standing on the shattered stone platform, still holding a handful of dust.
He was looking at Gu Chengming.
His lips seemed to move, but the sound was swallowed by the backflow.
Then, everything fell into darkness.
...
Gu Chengming snapped his eyes open, gasping for air.
His chest heaved violently, and cold sweat soaked his inner shirt. He instinctively sat up, his breathing gradually stabilizing.
The morning light happened to filter through the window lattice and hit the floor, its angle and brightness exactly the same as when he had woken up this morning.
The spiritual energy in his body was circulating normally, his meridians were intact, and his blood and qi were full. Everything was exactly the same as his state just after finishing his Hundred Bones Resonating cultivation this morning.
It was as if everything that had just happened hadn't occurred at all.
"Little Gu! Are you up? Today is the competition ceremony. Don't be late!"
It was exactly the same as the 'first time' he heard it.
Were those scenes that happened on the square just now real? Or had he fallen into some kind of illusion?
Or rather, had he truly returned to this morning?
Just as Gu Chengming was thinking about the situation, a somewhat lazy and dissatisfied groan suddenly came from the blankets beside him.
Gu Chengming's body instinctively tensed. He turned his head and found a figure curled up in the blankets with their back to him.
A head of snow-white hair was scattered on the pillow, reflecting a silver shimmer in the morning light. She wore a pure white training uniform, her clothes a bit messy, as if she had wrinkled them while turning over in her sleep.
Gu Chengming stared blankly at the person curled up in his bed, a question mark appearing over his head.
—Emperor Bai?
Outside the door, Yu Wenqiu's voice rang out again.
"Little Gu? Why is there no sound? Are you still not awake? I'm coming in!"
Wait, who can tell me what the hell is going on right now?
Rate on N.U.
