Chapter 1063: Unbroken Past Thirty-Two

Old Dragon and Lord Lu Shan were fine. Their cultivation had reached its peak, and they were only a short distance behind Ji Yuan. Although the gap widened, they could still keep up by flying at full speed. Zao Niang, however, could not. By the time she reacted, the courtyard was empty. She could only faintly sense their direction, but within a few breaths, even that trace was gone, indicating their incredible speed.

The next moment, Zao Niang realized something. She left Juyuan Small Pavilion, using spatial contraction to instantly arrive outside the Sun Residence. Her eyes widened as she peered inside; Sun Yiqiu's life force had already disappeared.

She transformed into a gentle breeze and drifted into Sun Yiqiu's room. While the rest of the Sun family slept soundly, she stood before Sun Yiqiu's bed, staring blankly at the young man lying stiffly on it.

"How could this be?"

Sun Yiqiu was a young, healthy man, free from illness or misfortune. How could he have died so suddenly and inexplicably?

Zao Niang gradually discerned something: his death was far from ordinary. His vitality, or perhaps his "luck" (qishu), had been completely stripped away. She raised her head, looking around the Sun family residence. The aura of the Sun household was now weak and chaotic. It seemed the Sun family's fortune had been plundered, and Sun Yiqiu, as the sole male heir, bore the brunt of this calamity, leading to his death.

Zao Niang recalled Mr. Ji's words just before he left and murmured them aloud.

"It calculated everything, it calculated everything... It must be what Mr. Ji went to pursue."

Zao Niang felt a slight pang of annoyance. She stood in Sun Yiqiu's room for a while, then looked back at the bed. Sun Yiqiu seemed to stir.

A chill wind blew in from outside. Zao Niang sighed, took a step back, and vanished from the room.

Approximately a few breaths later, accompanied by a gust of cold wind, several underworld emissaries entered Sun Yiqiu's room.

"How strange. This Sun family has always been a stable and blessed lineage. Yet Sun Yiqiu just died like that."

"Indeed, if it weren't for the manifestation in the Netherworld Register, we wouldn't have even known. Alas!"

The emissaries conversed as they walked, reaching Sun Yiqiu's room. The leading emissary stepped forward and called for the soul.

"Sun Yiqiu, it's time to depart."

On the bed, besides Sun Yiqiu's corpse, there was a slightly blurry image of Sun Yiqiu, clinging to his body and occasionally swaying. However, his soul and physical form were now separated by the boundaries of yin and yang.

Sun Yiqiu seemed to have just woken from a dream, sitting up and looking at the bedside in surprise.

"Officers, what is this?"

"Sun Yiqiu, you are dead. It's time to depart. Come with us to the underworld."

"Me? I'm dead?"

The officers before him had terrifying expressions and grim voices. Startled, Sun Yiqiu instinctively tried to flee the moment he jumped off the bed, but a cold iron chain wrapped around his waist, instantly immobilizing him.

The soul-reaping emissary walked up to Sun Yiqiu, grabbed his face, and turned it towards the bed, making him see his own corpse, which had not yet fully stiffened. This sight left Sun Yiqiu's soul stunned on the spot.

"You are dead. You needn't worry about the affairs of the living world anymore. Come with us."

"No, no, it can't be! I won't die! Father, Mother—Grandfather—"

Sun Yiqiu began to struggle violently, but he was no match for the Soul-Reaping Chain. The emissaries were accustomed to such resistance, but today, they could not afford to delay.

"Sun Yiqiu, your soul power is extremely weak and fragile. The longer you remain in the mortal realm, the greater the danger—you'll either become a malevolent ghost or be reduced to ashes. Hurry to the underworld and cleanse yourself in the Yellow Springs. Let's go!"

The emissary ignored Sun Yiqiu's struggles and led him away.

Not long after, Zao Niang reappeared. She did not intervene, as there was no point. The separation of life and death was a natural law and an immutable rule of the underworld. Furthermore, it would be better for Sun Yiqiu to go now. For both emotional and logical reasons, she had no grounds to prevent the emissaries from collecting his soul.

High in the sky, Ji Yuan used his divine essence to shape his form and his form to transform his spirit, allowing his body and spirit to traverse the heavens and earth. His remaining magical energy was pushed to its limit, rapidly closing the distance to the golden light at a speed incomprehensible to ordinary cultivators. Yet, his lock on that specific aura was continuously slipping, and the golden light itself had ceased to be visible.

Ji Yuan was effectively chasing while simultaneously calculating the elusive wisp of aura, feeling as though he was on the verge of losing its trace entirely.

"Remarkable! I shall borrow the Book of Heaven and Earth!"

As he spoke, Ji Yuan opened his left hand and swept his wide sleeve towards the horizon.

In the distant Cloud Mountain Holy Land, high above the Cloud Mountain Star Observation Hall, a sound seemed to arrive from thousands of miles away. Immediately after, a stream of light, like a dragon ascending to the heavens, reversed course like a meteor and streaked across the sky.

Taoist priests with cultivation within Cloud Mountain Temple all noticed this sight. Some were surprised, some puzzled, some nervous, some thoughtful, some suddenly enlightened, and others, after initial confusion, became immensely excited.

Daoist Qingsong, who had long since ceased concerning himself with the sect's affairs, along with the current abbot of Cloud Mountain Temple and others, immediately arrived outside the old Star Observation Hall. Looking inside, the Book of Heaven and Earth had vanished, and among the two hanging portraits, Ji Yuan's portrait subtly emanated a divine glow.

Daoist Qingsong let out a long sigh of relief.

"Grandmaster, does this mean there is hope for the Great Master's return?"

"Shhh, be careful what you say!"

Daoist Qingsong smiled, bowed towards the hall, then turned and departed.

In fact, the Wei family had previously sent word that Juyuan Small Pavilion had reappeared and that the Great Master seemed to have returned. However, Cloud Mountain Temple had made no response, and even this news was known only to a select few, not widely disseminated within the temple.

Firstly, similar false reports had occurred more than once over the past thousand years, with many individuals attempting to impersonate Ji Yuan. Secondly, even if the news were true, they dared not disturb the Great Master.

But at this moment, Daoist Qingsong and the others felt a great weight lift from their hearts. Although heavenly secrets were not to be divulged, Daoist Qingsong was now impatient and immediately left Cloud Mountain Temple. He had to find Sun Yaya at once, hoping she had already located that item.

Cloud Mountain Temple was the ancestral home of Taoism. While it had always maintained a serene and unburdened demeanor, and indeed harbored no grand ambitions, there was one task it had secretly upheld. After the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion fragmented and dissolved, the responsibilities they once shared, along with a significant portion of their Taoist lineage, were transferred to Cloud Mountain Temple. Sun Yaya, despite not being from Cloud Mountain Temple, possessed profound cultivation and shared the same spiritual lineage, thus also bearing an important mission.

High in the sky, not long after Ji Yuan swept his sleeve, a light resembling a celestial meteor, yet moving far faster, approached from a distance. With each flicker, the light traversed an immense distance, continuously flashing to form a streaking glow. In an instant, it arrived in Ji Yuan's hand: it was precisely the Book of Heaven and Earth.

The Book of Heaven and Earth was no longer in the form Ji Yuan had created when he first conceived the Heaven and Earth Genesis. While its outline remained that of a book, it now encompassed both upper and lower volumes, with Yin and Yang energies continuously flowing, making it impossible to gaze upon directly. Yet, within moments of reaching Ji Yuan's hand, all its radiance dissipated, transforming into a book with a grey cover, bearing only the words "Heaven and Earth."

Holding the Book of Heaven and Earth, Ji Yuan felt as if that familiar sense of the world bending to his will had returned. With an inspired thought, he could calculate the next step of change, making his pursuit more composed.

Mountains, plains, wetlands, and forests—the landscapes changed, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly, and at times seemed dreamlike. If they hadn't been following Ji Yuan so closely, and if Ji Yuan hadn't left a wisp of his aura behind, Lord Lu Shan and Old Dragon weren't sure they wouldn't have lost him. Their hearts were greatly shaken, and they increasingly understood that what they were pursuing was truly extraordinary.

Meanwhile, Mi Huang, who had been chasing for half the night, had a different experience. At first, he felt as if the golden light was within reach, and he even managed to maintain a very close distance for a while, shaking off potential competitors. But the more he pursued, the more disoriented he became. The golden stream of light was still in his sight, yet it felt increasingly distant, as if the perceived shortening of the distance was merely an illusion.

As he chased until nearly dawn, Mi Huang looked at the fleeing golden light and suddenly stopped short.

"No, this cannot continue. My spiritual perception has been deceived by it!"

Mi Huang continuously performed divinations on the spot, but the more he calculated, the blurrier it became. As he calculated, that subtle wisp of aura he had initially grasped actually seemed to be escaping! Mi Huang was greatly alarmed, having never encountered such a situation; the aura he was trying to track seemed to be alive, like silk being pulled away from his grasp.

Realizing the predicament, Mi Huang quickly understood that he couldn't forcibly divine the treasure. His mind raced, and suddenly, an idea struck him: to do the opposite. The more he desired it, the more confused he became; the more eagerly he chased, the further it seemed to recede. Therefore, he would calculate in reverse, starting again from She Ji.

One thing after another flashed through his mind, connecting all possible calculations. Mi Huang was no longer relying purely on his cultivation; he was truly combining divination with precise calculation, continuously sifting through information and distinguishing among countless possibilities. Finally, his heart jolted, and he realized a person he had overlooked.

"Sun Yiqiu? Was breaking the Sun family's fortune not truly my own desire, but rather a result of influence? Was She Ji's acquaintance with Sun Yiqiu also influenced? Was its original purpose for that specific moment... was it I who discovered it and She Ji, or did it discover me?"

Mi Huang was somewhat incredulous, somewhat chilled, and also felt an excitement that was more than ten times greater than usual.

"Good, good! I must obtain you! Hahahahahahaha!"

Before his wild laughter faded, Mi Huang had already vanished from the spot.