Cultivation: I Can Traverse Otherworlds

Chapter 213: Chapter 200: Furnace Tripod’s Backlash (Part 2)

"You... would you like some tea?"

"Haha..." Zhu Ju was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"I like your kind of personality. You know how to seek advantages and avoid harm. In this world, you have to cling to the powerful to survive."

"The tea won’t be necessary."

Seeing Qii Yao get up to prepare the tea, his smile faded.

"Yuann Tong might not come back."

"Hm?" Qii Yao’s eyes lit up.

"That’s right!"

"Yuann Tong can run far away, and then your plan won’t succeed. You’re just a Two Acupoints Innate."

"To hell with tea!"

Muttering a curse, she slammed the cup on the floor and resumed her cross-legged position opposite him, continuing her ’stakeout’.

...

「A few days later.」

"DING..."

The Cave Mansion’s Copper Bell trembled lightly.

Qii Yao’s expression changed, and she hurriedly stood up.

"Yuann Tong is back!"

"Yes." A flicker of resignation, almost too quick to see, crossed Zhu Ju’s eyes as he rose unhurriedly.

"It seems she couldn’t bear to leave me after all."

"You..." Qii Yao gritted her teeth.

"Yuann Tong will see your true colors!"

"Hah..." Zhu Ju said with a flick of his sleeve.

"You’re such an impertinent handmaiden. Go prepare some hot water to welcome your lady’s triumphant return."

Qii Yao’s hands clenched into fists. She stomped her foot fiercely, but didn’t refuse, turning to make the preparations.

"SWOOSH!"

A rainbow-colored light descended from the sky, landing before the Cave Mansion. With red-rimmed eyes, Zhou Yuantong rushed forward and threw herself into Zhu Ju’s arms.

"My husband."

"You shouldn’t have come back," Zhu Ju sighed, patting her on the back. Then, a smile broke across his face.

"But, since you’re back, you’re back. Why did you bring a rabbit?"

"I found it on the road. It looked so pitiful, so I brought it back with me. I suppose the trip wasn’t for nothing," Zhou Yuantong said with a smile.

"Look, my husband. Isn’t it adorable?"

"Mm," Zhu Ju said, stroking the fluffy white rabbit. He then looked at the person behind her and frowned.

"And who are you?"

"I am Xiao Chengzai," the handsome, white-robed man said, giving a cupped-fist salute.

"Brother Zhu, I was ordered to accompany Senior Sister Zhou on her mission. In the past few days, I’ve heard your name so often my ears have grown calluses."

"You truly have an extraordinary air about you!"

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze holding a trace of resentment.

"That’s enough." Zhou Yuantong turned, her brow furrowed.

"I’ve arrived. You can go back now."

"My husband!"

She took Zhu Ju by the hand.

"Let’s go back to the Cave Mansion."

「Night.」

Zhou Yuantong lay on the bed, her long hair unbound, her eyes vacant as she spoke.

"That couple loved each other so dearly, but in the end, they couldn’t escape their fate. Even the rabbit they were raising didn’t survive."

"My husband..."

"I know I shouldn’t have come back, but I’ve already lost my parents and my siblings. I can’t lose you too."

"Now that you’re back, there’s no point in saying anything more," Zhu Ju said in a low voice, gathering her long hair for her.

"You don’t need to worry so much, and there’s no reason to be discouraged. The reason that couple failed was because their Cultivation was too weak."

"If you can become a Dao Foundation Cultivator, the Joyful Sect might not dare to send anyone for revenge. And if we can reach the Golden Core Realm..."

"As for this so-called ’betrayal,’ no one would even care. The Joyful Sect would welcome us back with open arms."

"Mmm..." Zhou Yuantong murmured, turning onto her side.

"You’re right, my husband."

"What’s wrong with Qii Yao today? She seems like a completely different person. Did you bully her while I was gone?"

"How could I?" Zhu Ju chuckled lightly.

"She’s much stronger than I am."

"That’s true."

*

*

*

「A few days later.」

"My husband!"

Clad in robes as white as snow, Zhou Yuantong stood upon a Colorful Silk Spiritual Artifact, hovering in mid-air. She raised a hand and summoned the Forget Love Sword.

"Take my sword!"

"SWOOSH!"

A flash of white light shot straight toward the figure below.

"CLANG..."

Wielding a long saber he’d borrowed from Ding Gui, Zhu Ju swung sharply and struck the incoming Flying Sword head-on.

Thousand Blades Unending!

Thousands of saber glints erupted, slashing at the Flying Sword from all directions.

"Hee hee..."

From her unassailable position in mid-air, Zhou Yuantong giggled as the Sword Formulas she formed with her hands shifted slightly.

"Endless Love!"

The white light below trembled violently, weaving like a needle and thread. It crisscrossed through the air, deflecting the saber glints and flashing back and forth.

The threads of love are the most tender, yet also the most resilient.

They cannot be cut, and grow more tangled when one tries to sort them.

"Hah!"

Zhu Ju’s expression grew taut, and he slashed out in a state of Human-Saber Unity.

One Slash Void!

The sword gleams coiling around him silently scattered.

"What an excellent Saber Technique, my husband!"

Zhou Yuantong’s voice was filled with admiration as she attacked again using Sword Control.

The Sword Formulas she cultivated were called the Nishang Celestial Sword. The name was beautiful and its forms were magnificent, yet all killing intent was hidden within them.

Take the move she was executing now, for example.

Cyan Simurgh Dance in the Sky!

The cry of the Simurgh Bird is exquisitely beautiful. The sound lingers in the ear, and if one’s concentration wavers for even a moment, the Flying Sword will seize the opportunity to strike.

"My Sword Formulas are driven by emotion. When I feel joy, the Sword Technique leaps and bounds. When I feel sorrow, the sword lets out a mournful cry."

Zhou Yuantong explained,

"Cultivated to the Great Success Realm, a single thought can make heaven and earth weep."

"SWOOSH!"

With a flick of her finger, the Flying Sword shot through the sky. It was as if a celestial maiden were dancing in the void, disrupting the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and obscuring his senses.

"A fine Sword Technique!"

Zhu Ju laughed heartily and swung his saber in a swift slash.

"Now you take a blow from me!"

Breaking Red Dust!

"CLANG..."

The Flying Sword was blasted backward.

"My husband, your Saber Technique is very strange. It looks like Ghost God Limit and Immortal Demon Slash, but it’s actually a little different."

Zhou Yuantong landed, her expression curious.

"But it is truly powerful."

’Anyone else would never have noticed the difference.’

But Zhou Yuantong, who spent every day with Zhu Ju, was also familiar with Ghost God Limit and Immortal Demon Slash, so she could sense the difference.

On the outside,

it was indeed Ghost God Limit and Immortal Demon Slash.

But its core was different, as if it held some other profound secret.

"This Saber Technique of mine doesn’t have a name. If you’d like, you can call it the Demon Saber," Zhu Ju said.

"It uses the seven emotions and six desires as its core, while its external form is without restriction."

"An excellent Saber Technique," Zhou Yuantong praised.

"Since it’s an excellent Saber Technique, I’ll teach it to you." Zhu Ju’s expression grew serious.

"Even though this Saber Technique won’t be of much use to you, it’s the best thing I can give you."

"Why so serious?" Zhou Yuantong pursed her lips.

"I’ll learn it."

...

Leng Xing was dead.

He had been flayed alive.

When Zhu Ju arrived, his body was hanging from a long pole, baking under the scorching sun.

To do such a thing to him when he was already dead was clearly a deliberate message.

"How horrible!"

"I heard that Junior Brother Leng was still conscious while he was being flayed, forced to watch as they peeled off his own skin."

"That’s right. They used an Awakening Spell on him, so no matter how excruciating the torture, he couldn’t pass out."

"Why?"

someone asked, confused.

"I knew Leng Xing. He was always very low-key, just tended the gardens for some Inner Sect Disciples. He shouldn’t have been subjected to such a cruel torture."

"I heard he let an Inner Sect Disciple’s Spirit Flower die, which angered them and led to this retaliation."

"Hah..." one person snorted.

"When an Inner Sect Disciple kills someone from the Outer Sect, they receive a light punishment at most. For killing someone like Leng Xing, there won’t be any punishment at all."

"Once you’re dead, you’re dead!"

Zhu Ju blended in with the crowd, unremarkable, simply staring up at the corpse. His eyes were dim.

He had seen his share of life and death, so Leng Xing’s fate didn’t surprise him.

’He wouldn’t blame Zhou Yuantong, either.’

’The Joyful Sect was full of power struggles. If Zhou Yuantong had offered Leng Xing protection, her enemies would have deliberately struck back at her through him.’

Ignoring him,

was, in fact, a form of protection.

It had been this way for years.

"I’ve found out what happened."

Qii Yao squeezed through the crowd and whispered,

"The Inner Sect Disciple who killed Leng Xing is named Xiao Chengzai."

"Xiao Chengzai?" Zhu Ju nodded slowly. He certainly wouldn’t forget the man he had just met.

"I remember him."