After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 110

A few days ago, the Land of Ascension.

Shangguan Yu stepped onto the last rung of the Stairway to Heaven, and the scenery before her eyes suddenly transformed.

First, there was a vast expanse of whiteness, boundless and endless, with no discernible path beneath her feet.

The constantly shifting and abundant celestial energy surrounding her indicated that she had completely left the Xuan Tian Realm.

However, within this celestial energy, a few odd threads were mixed in.

Others might not have detected the anomaly in this celestial energy, but she was different; with just a slight touch, she could sense the hidden demonic qi within the celestial energy.

In the past, to seek tranquility and suppress herself, she had hidden her true nature from everyone. Now, with no one able to pry, Shangguan Yu merely flicked her sleeve, sweeping away the celestial energy that sought to approach her.

It was best not to touch false and filthy things.

A hint of imperceptible disgust flickered in Shangguan Yu’s eyes. Although she had already somewhat prepared herself for the falseness of the Upper Realm, the moment the nauseating demonic qi rushed up to her, a faint anger still surged within her heart.

Just as she was about to look around to find the source of this completely white expanse, a voice halted her in place.

“Lower Realm cultivator, why have you come here?”

An ancient, deep voice suddenly resonated in this world of whiteness.

Shangguan Yu’s eyelids twitched, knowing that the final step of the ascension—

The Heavenly Dao’s Inquiry of the Heart—was coming.

Yet, she was clear-headed; her entire body’s demonic qi was currently leaping with excitement. She feared that this “Heavenly Dao” was not questioning her true Dao Heart.

Indeed, just as Shangguan Yu expected, the so-called Heavenly Dao asked several questions, all extremely subtle in urging the demon seed within her body to jump, almost causing her to be unable to suppress it.

After once again playing a deceptive game with the “Heavenly Dao’s” words, Shangguan Yu still stood there steadily. She tidied the hem of her clothes, which had been slightly scorched earlier from the lightning tribulation, and looked up, composed:

“May I ask, has this junior passed the heart inquiry?”

These questions were originally intended to induce and stimulate the demon seed within her, but seeing that she did not fall for it and had not been completely devoured by the demon seed, the “Heavenly Dao” was clearly becoming a little impatient.

“The final question: I ask you, what do you seek in cultivation?”

This voice was deafening, even generating real sound waves, seemingly pressuring and urging. Although it was a deep, ancient voice, when it reached Shangguan Yu’s ears, it carried a sharp whistling sound, piercing her ears with pain.

She slightly furrowed her brows, and the smile on her lips faded a little, faintly revealing the displeasure of being offended.

But in the end, she still suppressed her temper and responded with what the other party wanted to hear: “This junior cultivates, naturally, to seek longevity, to distance myself from the mortal world, to transcend the ordinary, and to control the lifeblood of countless beings.”

Her eyes flashed with the light of ambition.

This greatly pleased the “Heavenly Dao.”

It was good to have ambition; what was feared was the lack of it. As long as there was ambition, the demon seed would grow and thrive, infinitely magnifying the dark side of her humanity. Sooner or later, it would devour the good thoughts in her humanity, turning her into a monster manipulated by evil.

This was what It wanted.

How could a body that was not utterly evil and dark be worthy of becoming Its vessel?

The “Heavenly Dao” was selectively and greedily observing Shangguan Yu’s body. This body was more delicious than any It had seen before, even… far surpassing the vessels deliberately cultivated by the Demon Race. The body before It was truly too perfect.

If possible, It wished to immediately devour and replace it.

But not yet, it was not enough right now.

The demon seed had not yet fully taken root in her body; even if It entered, It would be expelled.

No need to rush; It would be Its eventually.

Thinking this, the “Heavenly Dao” slowly retracted that sticky, greedy gaze, and once again assumed a lofty demeanor.

“Very good. You have passed.”

As the voice fell, an invisible door appeared before Shangguan Yu.

Through the distorted, illusory door, she could see a patch of grass outside, and celestial energy eagerly rushed to greet her through the door.

And this celestial energy was clearly different from what was inside the door.

It seemed It had not fully controlled the Upper Realm.

In an instant, Shangguan Yu realized this.

This also gave her more confidence; in that case, those who had ascended before her should all be safe.

She just did not know where they were now.

“Are you not leaving yet?”

The “Heavenly Dao” impatiently urged her, seeming restless due to being able to see but not possess her.

Shangguan Yu waved her hand, not speaking, but proving with her actions that she would leave immediately.

Stepping through the door, the world transformed again. The view became blue sky and white clouds, and the ground beneath her feet became soft; the soft, thick grass felt particularly real to step on.

Shangguan Yu stood firm, looked left and right, raised a finger, and formed a seal. In just two breaths, she had determined the direction.

The surrounding celestial energy was clearly very fond of this counterpart from a thousand years ago. The Upper Realm’s celestial energy continuously drilled into her dantian and meridians, thoroughly assimilating the spiritual energy brought from the Xuan Tian Realm within moments.

The celestial energy nourished her meridians. In just a moment, Shangguan Yu felt a complete transformation. She narrowed her eyes and sighed, no wonder everyone pursued longevity and longed for ascension.

It was truly a world of difference!

However, that gaze still had not vanished.

Shangguan Yu knew that the “Heavenly Dao” was still watching her.

Whether It was afraid she would have rebellious thoughts, or for some other reason, in short, she was not absolutely safe right now.

Therefore, Shangguan Yu was not in a hurry to look for True Person Wen Qing. The world was vast; she could look for her whenever she liked. As for now—

She sat down cross-legged on the spot, breathing and circulating qi, drawing all the surrounding celestial energy towards herself. Since she was conveniently under a large tree, from a distance, it looked as if a vortex absorbing celestial energy had appeared under the tree, gathering all the surrounding celestial energy to one place.

And at this moment, Shangguan Yu could sense that the gazes watching her were far more than just the “Heavenly Dao.”

Not far around her, at least five different gazes were watching her.

It was as if they were observing something.

Although she did not know what these people intended, the fact that they did not launch an attack the moment she ascended to this place at least indicated that they bore no ill will.

Since you want to watch, then watch.

——————

At this moment, in a distant part of the Upper Realm.

True Person Wen Qing felt her eye twitching continuously today. After her eye twitched yet again, she vaguely realized something and, after a brief contemplation, formed a seal.

Two breaths later, True Person Wen Qing suddenly opened her eyes.

“Senior Sister is here!”

She was surprised and delighted, wanting to get up, but then immediately sat back down.

“I should first calculate Senior Sister’s location, otherwise, without a clue, I won’t even be able to find the person.”

True Person Wen Qing muttered. This time, she solemnly arranged her divination tools in front of her, determined to clearly calculate Shangguan Yu’s whereabouts.

It was only after arriving here that she learned that, to the cultivators of the Upper Realm, the Xuan Tian Realm was a barren land of the Lower Realm. The ‘Land of Ascension’ for Lower Realm cultivators ascending to the Upper Realm was fixed yet random.

This might sound strange, but after the other person explained it carefully to her, True Person Wen Qing also felt that the description was accurate.

The reason it was called fixed was because, for the Upper Realm, there were a total of one hundred and twenty-eight ‘wells’ of ascension—the places where Lower Realm cultivators ascended to the Upper Realm.

These one hundred and twenty-eight ascension wells were evenly distributed across four territories. However, the ascending location for each cultivator was different; although all were within the territory, the appearance of the ascending cultivator was highly random.

Upper Realm cultivators could only rely on the fluctuations of the surrounding celestial energy to determine if an ascending cultivator would appear there. After all, the spiritual energy in the Lower Realm was scarce. When any Lower Realm cultivator ascended, the moment they ascended and the celestial energy poured into their bodies, they would cause a massive commotion on the spot.

The Upper Realm was evenly divided and occupied by three forces, who held the most resource-rich areas: the Human Race cultivators, the Ghost Realm cultivators, and the Demon Race cultivators.

Cultivators of each race mostly ascended within their corresponding territories. Human Race cultivators ascended in the Human Territory, and Demon Race cultivators ascended in the Demon Territory.

The fourth unclaimed territory was considered a forbidden zone by all Upper Realm cultivators. It was a barren land with scarce celestial energy, a place where “not even birds would defecate.” According to Upper Realm cultivators, it was a land abandoned by the gods, and no cultivator would go there, unless—

She was not accepted by any of the three major forces.

And at this moment, True Person Wen Qing was in this so-called Land Abandoned by God.

Not only her, but also many other cultivators who had ascended from the Xuan Tian Realm during this period were here.

The reason was simple: these cultivators who ascended from the Xuan Tian Realm were all entangled with demon seeds that could not be removed. These demon seeds had now merged into their bodies, and some had even taken root in their Divine Souls. The Human Race cultivators of the Upper Realm were completely helpless regarding their situation.

When True Person Wen Qing first ascended, because she was the first Lower Realm cultivator to ascend in a half-human, half-demon form, she instantly startled the Human Race cultivators who were greeting her.

In a half-human, half-demon form, it was difficult to settle in the Human Territory regardless of the circumstances. Although the Human Race cultivators did not mind her complex situation and even thoughtfully allocated a separate residence for her, True Person Wen Qing did not want this.

She moved out of the Human Race cultivators’ territory and came to the place everyone called the Land Abandoned by God.

Although the celestial energy was a bit scarce and the environment was a bit harsh here, at least she found peace.

The demon seed was extremely unstable. Even though the Human Race was generous, she could not bury this ticking time bomb of herself in the heartland of the Human Race cultivators.

Moreover, she loved freedom by nature. She was accustomed to being unrestrained at the Sword Gate, and now that she had ascended, she was required to live under the surveillance of others. Naturally, she was unwilling.

The divination result appeared. True Person Wen Qing looked at the result and sank into thought. She rarely doubted her ability to divine.

“Could it be wrong?”

Looking at the divination result, True Person Wen Qing was completely puzzled.

She performed another divination, but the result was exactly the same as the previous one.

This time, she had no choice but to believe it.

“Why would Senior Sister be here?”

She frowned, extremely puzzled by what the divination result showed, and for the first time, she was at a loss because of a divination.

“Why would it be here?”

“This is too strange.”

——————

The ‘strange’ place True Person Wen Qing spoke of was Shangguan Yu’s current location.

Not only did she find it strange, but the others who were spying on Shangguan Yu also found it very strange.

“How is the location of her ascension so peculiar?”

“It’s truly incomprehensible.”

These people whispered in the shadows.

Shangguan Yu was still continuously absorbing the celestial energy. Her dantian was currently like a sponge, greedily absorbing the surrounding celestial energy.

Her strength was also rapidly increasing with the absorption of celestial energy. The strength that could no longer be boosted by the spiritual energy of the Xuan Tian Realm was now increasing rank by rank. It seemed as if it had been suppressed for a long time and had finally found an outlet here.

The “Heavenly Dao’s” scrutiny had vanished half an hour ago.

It made sense; this place was not entirely under Its control.

And the surrounding voices entered Shangguan Yu’s ears without missing a beat.

Peculiar? What was peculiar?

Her strength had increased enough. Seeing that the surrounding celestial energy was almost entirely absorbed by her, Shangguan Yu paused. Her dantian contracted, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The few gazes around her became excited because she opened her eyes.

“It’s over, it’s over!”

“Six ranks of increase. This should be the highest achievement in nearly a century, right?!”

“Nonsense! It’s clearly the highest in a millennium!”

The whispering grew louder. Shangguan Yu raised an eyebrow, stood up, and looked towards the places from which the voices were coming.

“Fellow Daoists, since you have been here for a long time, why not come out for a chat?”

As her voice fell, the surrounding areas fell silent for a moment, and then rustling sounds came again. People popped their heads out from several places.

There were five people in total. Except for one who was alone, the others were in two pairs. After she called them out, the five people walked towards her.

They did not seem to have any ill intentions, but since she was new here and had no ties, the purpose of these people was a cause for vigilance.

Shangguan Yu’s eyes sharpened, and she discerned the identities of the approaching people.

If she was not mistaken, these five people were cultivators from the Human Race, the Ghost Race, and the Demon Race.

She just did not know why these five people had been guarding her ascension spot and watching her for so long.

The five people walked up and stopped several tens of meters in front of Shangguan Yu. After exchanging glances, they bowed and congratulated her:

“Congratulations to Fellow Daoist on your ascension.”