usatvline Chapter 764: The Fragments of the Bookshelf
Chapter 764: The Fragments of the Bookshelf
Torrential rain lashed the eaves of the Wanjian Pavilion like a silver whip. Yun Yao clutched Chu Mochen's hand tightly, treading through the swamped ground and rushing into the pavilion. Behind them came the roars of the demonic cultivators. Tracking talismans imbued with the Heart-Erosion Curse glowed dark blue in the rain, following like a thorn in the flesh. The Heaven-Defying Fate Coil burned against Yun Yao's chest, a warning that they had been completely targeted by the Blood Demon Sect.
"Let's go to the restricted books section first," Chu Mochen lowered his voice. The Candle Dragon bloodline condensed into a pale golden shield at his fingertips, repelling the pursuing demonic shadows. Yun Yao's eyes swept across the forest of bookshelves in the library, and her memory raced. Three days ago, she had browsed through ancient books here, and vaguely remembered a torn copy with patterns similar to those on the Heaven-Defying Fate Plate carved into the corner.
As the two descended the spiraling bronze staircase deeper into the third underground floor, a familiar hint of sandalwood suddenly mingled with the damp, musty odor. Yun Yao's pupils constricted. It was the scent of the jade pendant worn by the Celestial Saint in her Netherworld illusion! She yanked Chu Mochen's sleeve and pointed to the corner ahead. Moonlight streamed through the air vents, illuminating an ancient tome covered in spiderwebs. The six seal characters on the cover, "Three Thousand Divine Realms: A Chronicle of Strange Things," glowed faintly with a golden light.
"Be careful." Chu Mochen shielded Yun Yao behind him, the shadow of a halberd suddenly materializing from his sleeve. The moment his fingertips touched the tome, the entire library suddenly trembled violently. Countless jade slips soared from the shelves, forming a rotating Bagua formation in the air. Yun Yao felt a sharp pain in her sea of consciousness. The Heaven-Defying Fate Disk flew out uncontrollably, hovering above the ancient tome, resonating with the seal within.
The ancient tome fluttered silently, its yellowed pages fluttering like butterflies. Yun Yao's gaze was riveted by a passage: "The Heaven-Defying Fate Disk is a supreme treasure of the Primordial Chaos. Its bearer must be 'the chosen one of Heaven.' Their blood can rewrite the divine record, their soul can travel through time and space. However, fate is unpredictable, and those who have wielded the disk throughout history have met with untimely end. Only by gathering the three thousand origins can one..." The words stopped abruptly, as if forcibly erased by some force.
"This is impossible..." Yun Yao's voice trembled. She recalled the time in the Netherworld, when the Heavenly Saint, holding the Heaven-Defying Fate Disk, finally transformed into a sky filled with starlight. The curse recorded in the book now mirrored that fateful ending. Chu Mochen grasped her cold hand, suddenly embracing her in his arms. A dark shadow suddenly rose from behind the bookshelf. It was a pavilion guardian formed from countless resentful souls!
"Be careful! It's emitting chaotic demonic energy!" Yun Yao exclaimed. The Pavilion Guardian's sharp claws tore through Chu Mochen's shoulder, and a black poisonous mist quickly spread. She bit her tongue and sprayed her heart's blood onto the Fate-Defying Disk. The disk suddenly appeared with the light and shadow of seventeen reincarnations. When the scene of her and Chu Mochen fighting hand in hand in the Hongmeng Secret Realm appeared on the screen, the Pavilion Guardian suddenly let out a shrill scream and began to disintegrate.
Taking this opportunity, Yun Yao grabbed an ancient book and began to search. A yellowed portrait fell to her face. She picked it up with trembling hands. The woman in the painting was dressed in a Hongmeng Taoist robe. Her features bore a striking resemblance to her own, though her gaze held a touch of compassion and vicissitudes. The annotations beside the portrait were blurred, but the words "Saintess of Heaven" and "Lord of the War Halberd" were still legible. Even more astonishing was the fact that the jade pendant around the woman's neck bore the exact same pattern as the core of the Heaven-Defying Destiny Plate she now wore!
"So... I'm truly the reincarnation of the Saintess of Heaven," Yun Yao murmured. Memories flooded back like a tide. The blurry figure in the mirrored world, the past events in the divine realm reflected by the Pure World Lotus, all now had answers. Chu Mochen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and his gaze fell on the crack below the portrait. It seemed as if there had once been writing there, but someone had deliberately scraped it away.
Just then, footsteps were heard outside the library. Yun Yao and Chu Mochen exchanged a glance, quickly hiding the ancient tome in their arms. However, when she turned around, her pupils suddenly constricted—the one who appeared at the doorway was Liu Yan'er, who was supposed to be sealed in the rift of time and space! No, to be more precise, it was a black mist shrouded in chaotic aura, staring coldly at them through the puppet's shell.
"Yun Yao, it's been so hard to find you." Liu Yan'er's sharp laughter came from the black fog, "Do you think you can hide here? But don't forget that the origin of the Heart-Eroding Curse is still in Chu Mochen's soul." Before he finished speaking, Chu Mochen suddenly covered his heart and knelt on one knee, with a trace of painful struggle in his eyes.
Yun Yao immediately summoned the Heaven-Defying Fate Disk, only to discover that the patterns on its surface were strangely distorting. Liu Yan'er's puppet body suddenly expanded, transforming into a massive causal compass, trapping the two of them. "See?" Countless tentacles extended from the black mist, wrapping around Yun Yao's limbs. "This is the true power of the Heaven-Defying Fate Disk—it not only reverses cause and effect, it can also devour it! And you are merely a vessel cultivated by the Chaos Demon Sect!"
Just as Yun Yao felt despair, the ancient book in her arms suddenly glowed with golden light. A shadowy figure emerged from the book. It was the portrait of the Heavenly Saint! The Saint raised her hand and waved it, shattering Liu Yan'er's causal compass. "Seventeen generations, it's time to end." The Saint's voice was ethereal and distant. Her fingertips touched Yun Yao's brow, and a dusty memory instantly flooded back—
In the ancient divine realm, chaos reigned. To prevent the collapse of the universe, Yun Yao, a Saint of Heaven, was forced to condemn the divine nature of her beloved, the War Halberd Lord, to reincarnation. But at the last moment, she secretly used the Heaven-Defying Fate Plate to plant twin soul seeds, undergoing seventeen reincarnations, waiting for a chance to rewrite her fate. Yun Yao's transmigration was no accident; it was the result of her exhausting divine power, tearing a rift in the vast river of time and space!
"So... you arranged all of this." Yun Yao looked at the Saint's shadow, feeling either shocked or bitter. The Saint smiled and shook her head, "Fate is never controlled by humans. I simply gave you a chance to choose. And your relationship with Chu Mochen is the most dazzling variable in this myriad of causes and effects."
Liu Yan'er's black mist roared in frustration, attempting to condense into form again. But the Saint's shadow sighed softly, and a Primordial Chain flew from her sleeve, completely sealing the black mist. "She's merely a pawn of the Chaos Demon Sect. The true threat lies beyond." The Saint looked at Yun Yao, her eyes filled with hope. "Child, go and complete our unfinished mission."
As the Saint's shadow dissipated, the library returned to calm. Chu Mochen slowly rose, the light of the Candle Dragon bloodline radiating once more. He embraced Yun Yao and whispered, "No matter who you are, I will always protect you." Yun Yao leaned on his shoulder, pondering the Saint's final words—what was the true threat? The secrets hidden in the Heaven-Defying Fate Disk were likely far more profound.
The torrential rain continued to fall. Outside the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion, sounds of retreating demonic cultivators could be heard. Yun Yao grasped Chu Mochen's hand tightly and walked out of the library. Moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the ancient tome in her hands. The words that had been scraped away reappeared: "Only by gathering the three thousand origins can the shackles of the Heavenly Dao be broken and the laws of reincarnation be reshaped."
She gazed at the starry sky, her mind already resolved. Seventeen lifetimes of reincarnation, countless karmic entanglements—all of it would end in her hands. And what lay ahead for her and Chu Mochen would be even more thrilling challenges, and a truth that could overturn the entire universe.