Guide to the Rebirth of the Evil Woman in the Immortal Realm - Chapter 42

The pain of forcibly breaking open one’s spiritual apertures is unimaginable to ordinary people.

Shen Fuxin dragged Shen Sha to the side and instructed her to begin the most basic absorption of spiritual energy. Shen Sha’s muscles were taut; what flowed from her was not just sweat, but beads of blood seeping from her skin.

During their time traveling together, Shen Sha had appeared unexpectedly easygoing, even somewhat slow and soft-hearted. But the moment she swallowed the pill, Shen Fuxin saw the shadow of her former invincible self within this mortal body. Enduring the agony, Shen Sha pursed her lips and took a deep, steady breath.

The shadow of the moon changed.

Countless thin, dark red threads rose from the ground, wrapping around Shen Sha like spider silk. At the same time, even more threads surged toward the vast galaxy. These threads shimmered with a faint light. After piercing the clouds, they dropped specks of luminescence. Shen Fuxin stood frozen, hesitantly reaching out to catch them. The spots of light felt warm and soft upon contact with her palm before silently vanishing into her hand.

Could these lines be spiritual energy?

This scene was too shocking; Shen Fuxin had never seen the manifestation of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy. She immediately turned to ask Ji Ting, who was walking toward her, “Did you see that?”

Ji Ting asked, “What?”

“Those threads,” Shen Fuxin looked up at the star-studded sky, as if she could see the dark red lines bypassing the human realm to reach the Divine Realm. “Dark red ones, as many as raindrops.”

Ji Ting looked confused. In her eyes, everything was normal. Aside from the meditating Shen Sha, she could see nothing.

The threads continued to burrow outward. They began to knot and twist together, becoming indistinguishable from one another and transforming into a crystal-clear giant tree that raced toward the night sky beyond Shen Fuxin’s sight.

This epic scene unfolded before Shen Fuxin’s eyes. She stepped back. Shen Sha had been encased in these threads like a cocoon. The spiritual energy wound around her, and Shen Fuxin could almost hear the rustling growth of her spiritual veins as she attained enlightenment within the cocoon.

Shen Fuxin’s perception was very sharp.

After Chu Huaizhuang mentioned there were no cultivators in Taiyin, Shen Fuxin had sensed the spiritual energy here. Like the State of Ruo and other lands they had traversed, the spiritual energy in the mortal world was sparse, and there were few cultivators who could use it. Perhaps it was because the spiritual energy had dried up that they had not encountered a single practitioner on their journey.

Where did the spiritual energy go? Shen Fuxin now had the answer in her heart. She whispered, “The Divine Realm.”

The stars seemed to turn into countless eyes watching her. Shen Fuxin could almost hear soft laughter echoing from above the nine heavens. The remaining spiritual energy from that golden lotus stayed within Shen Fuxin’s body. No longer worrying about Shen Sha, who was now on the right track, she turned and returned to her room.

She was about to break through her cultivation boundary.

During the days Shen Fuxin and Shen Sha spent in closed-door cultivation, subtle changes occurred within Taiyin.

The discoveries unearthed from the Si Dynasty imperial mausoleum shook the entire nation. Before this, everyone knew only of the God of War, Jie Fanyin, and were unaware that thirty thousand years ago, there was another God of War named Wuzhen. Wuzhen’s history had been completely severed thirty thousand years ago, as if she had vanished abruptly. However, countless citizens began to search spontaneously, finding more and more traces of her former existence.

The blindfold over their eyes was torn away. Many people removed the statues of Jie Fanyin from their home shrines, either discarding or smashing them. The once unquestioning worship of Jie Fanyin now made many feel their skin crawl. It was as if their consciousness had been manipulated and pushed along; they had lived like this for a full thirty thousand years.

Taiyin was vast, and everyone’s will was different. While some smashed statues, others protected them with their lives, such as Chu Tian, who lived in the Taiyin Imperial Palace.

In a palace with closed doors and windows and dim lighting, he huddled on his bed, clutching the statue he once held as his faith, covering himself with a quilt and shivering. Outside the door was the sound of palace attendants knocking. “Fourth Imperial Prince, the Crown Princess has ordered us to come and take the statue.”

His whole body shook like a sieve, his teeth chattering. He murmured, “Impossible, this is impossible. Something must be wrong! Lord God of War cannot be wrong!”

His body heat seeped into the cold statue. Chu Tian felt as though the sky were falling. They were all saying the true God of War was named Wuzhen and that Lord Jie Fanyin was a fake from an unknown origin. How could this be? Were there not enough goddesses in Taiyin? Why did a woman have to occupy the position of God of War as well?

They were truly too narrow-minded. It did not matter if the God of War was female or male, Chu Tian thought. He only wanted to keep Lord Jie Fanyin. Was that a crime?

The attendants waiting at the door grew impatient. After whispering to each other, a personal guard sent by Chu Huaijing drew a blade and split open the tightly closed door of the side hall.

“What do you want!” Chu Tian screamed, shrinking into the corner of the bed. “I am the Fourth Imperial Prince of Taiyin! I am on the Crown Princess’s side! My Imperial Sister will hold you accountable!”

Amidst the chaos, he heard someone chuckle softly. A voice whispered to another attendant, “The Crown Princess, the Second Princess, and the Third Princess share a solid bond. Does an imperial prince like him even have a right to choose a side?”

Chu Tian felt as if he had been slapped in mid-air, his face burning hot. In the next moment, the slap became reality. He covered his face and looked up in terror at the head eunuch who had raised him. This eunuch had a heart of iron and was specifically hired into the palace to discipline Chu Tian. He delivered several resounding slaps to Chu Tian, causing his head to slump to one side and leaving clear palm prints on his face. The eunuch grabbed him and dragged him toward the hall exit. “What do you think you are, daring to comment on the Crown Princess? Come out with me!”

Chu Tian stumbled as he was dragged, tears streaming down his face. He finally could not help shouting at the eunuch, “Are we not both men? Why does a man not help another man?”

“Is there any profit to be gained from you? My monthly salary is provided by Her Majesty,” the eunuch rubbed his fingers together in disdain. “Do not think you are anything special. You cling to the Crown Princess not because of her status or wealth, but to gain something for yourself. Fourth Prince, do you dare say your admiration for the Crown Princess is sincere?”

“I”

“Stop playing that game with me,” the head eunuch ordered the hall doors to be slammed shut and took out a ruler. “We are both men; who does not understand those little thoughts?”

When Chu Huaizhuang sneaked out of the palace to find them, Shen Fuxin and Shen Sha were still in seclusion.

Ji Ting stopped the Second Princess at the door, unobtrusively blocking her attempt to enter the room. “What business does the Second Princess have?”

“It is nothing much, really.” For some reason, Chu Huaizhuang felt a bit intimidated seeing Ji Ting alone. Without Immortal Shen present, she felt Immortal Ji Ting’s aura was different than before. “Someone found the hometown of the God of War, Wuzhen, here in Taiyin. I came to ask if the Immortals would like to go see it.”

Dressed in jade-colored robes, Ji Ting stood under a pomegranate tree with a gentle smile. Chu Huaizhuang had never seen such a beautiful deity. After hesitating, she handed over a long wooden box wrapped in her sleeve. “Imperial Sister, Imperial Younger Sister, and I thought about this for a long time and decided to return this to the Immortal.”

Ji Ting opened the box, her long lashes fluttering slightly. The statue in the box, buried for tens of thousands of years, was worn and scratched, yet its original appearance was still discernible. She wore magnificent clothing and had a cold expression, looking noble and inviolable, while holding a long sword meant for saving people from suffering.

“This is Immortal Ji, right?” Chu Huaizhuang said. “Do you remember? That day on the way to the library, I told you I found a statue that looked exactly like you.”

Ji Ting closed the box and said seriously, “Thank you.”

“It belonged to the Immortal in the first place; Taiyin was merely keeping it on your behalf. There is no need for thanks,” Chu Huaizhuang could not help but ask curiously. “Immortal Ji is indeed a deity, right? Are you a civil god or a martial god?”

“Just an ordinary minor immortal,” Ji Ting smiled slightly and glanced back at Shen Fuxin’s door. “Immortal Shen is protecting me.”

Chu Huaizhuang gasped, her respect for Shen Fuxin growing even deeper.

“By the way, where did you say Wuzhen’s hometown was?”

“Ah, I almost forgot. The God of War Wuzhen’s hometown is south of Taiyin, a place called Caiwei.”

Caiwei, Caiwei, we say we are returning.

After Chu Huaizhuang left, Ji Ting stood quietly in the courtyard for a moment. She did not disturb Shen Fuxin, who was still in seclusion, and stepped out of the courtyard alone. The wind whistled past her ears. A solitary shadow flashed by. She left alone and returned alone. The road home was long; Ji Ting had spent thirty thousand years swallowing the sun and moon.

Once when I left, the willows were green. Now when I return, the snow falls thick.

The willows of Caiwei and Qingqiu had long since withered. On this land, more changes than thirty thousand years of history had passed. Ji Ting stepped onto her ancestral soil. Her former home had long been eroded, turning from a plain into rolling hills covered with white wildflowers. Naturally, the home in her memory no longer existed.

The one who returned was not the God of War Wuzhen, but Ji Ting of Taiyin’s Caiwei.

She closed her eyes and lay on the soft grass of Qingqiu, listening to the heartbeat coming from deep within the earth. She could slowly see and remember. It turned out the poems and essays of later generations praising her were all wrong. She was not some noble or a goddess who stunned the world from birth. She was Ji Ting. Back then, she was just Ji Ting, the little Ting in the arms of her mother and grandmother.

The child who used to run here wore coarse hemp clothes, teased cats and dogs, and waved a small wooden sword her mother had carved for her, shouting that she wanted to be the world’s greatest sword immortal hero. Her mother and grandmother were inside kneading dough; they looked at each other and laughed.

“Alright, then be the world’s greatest sword immortal hero,” her mother called out through the window. “Little Ting, come back and eat your egg custard.”

Yay, egg custard. Ji Ting smiled, yet two lines of tears fell down her cheeks. Her mother and grandmother were the most ordinary farm women in Taiyin, raising chickens and ducks and owning a few small fields. By now, Ji Ting had forgotten their voices, but she still remembered that the eggs were always reserved for her. A precious drop of sesame oil would be added to the egg custard, making it so fragrant. She used to stand on tiptoe by the wooden table her mother made, peeking at it, which made them laugh.

She waved her little wooden sword and ran in the yard. As she ran, she grew up, and the wooden sword was replaced by an iron one. Ji Ting still remembered when she left; her mother helped her onto her horse and hung a bag full of dry rations on her back.

“Little Ting, go be a hero. Caiwei is too small to hold you,” her mother gripped her hand, a smile in her eyes. “If you pass by your hometown in the future, Little Ting, remember to stop for a while.”

Her grandmother had passed away, and her mother’s hair had turned gray. Remember to stop for a while, Little Ting. Come back and see your mother.

Ji Ting forgot what she had said, and she forgot whether she had actually dismounted to hug her mother. She only remembered that many willows grew in Caiwei that year. The spring breeze brushed her face, and her horse galloped away, leaving her tiny mother and tiny Caiwei behind.

Caiwei indeed could not hold her, nor could Taiyin. Little Ting’s horse galloped all the way, taking her to the distant Celestial Realm.

I should have stopped back then.

Ji Ting closed her eyes, thinking of her mother and grandmother’s faces, and fell asleep among the lush flowers of Caiwei.