usatvline Chapter 814: Return to Ruins
Chapter 814: Return to Ruins
Thick fog swirled over Guixu Fishing Village. Yun Yao, her fingertips gleaming with a wisp of green light, cautiously reached into the depths of the ancient well. The water shone an eerie, dark blue, like the open eyes of a sleeping beast, swallowing her consciousness. Chu Mochen stood by the well, sword in hand, his tense jaw glinting against the cold abyss blade. He watched warily the flickering fishing lights around him—his flickering lights concealed the faint ripples of runes.
"Be careful!" Chu Mochen suddenly shouted, unsheathing his Hanyuan Sword like a silver dragon, piercing Yun Yao's back. A dark shadow retreated like a ghost, but the moment the sword's tip touched it, it vanished into a wisp of smoke, leaving a nauseating stench of decay in the air. Yun Yao turned sharply, her consciousness spreading like a spiderweb, and she was shocked to find that the houses throughout the fishing village were slowly wriggling, and the peeling walls revealed dense black incantations.
"These villagers..." Yun Yao's pupils shrank. She used her spiritual sense to probe the nearest old woman, only to be shocked to find her sea of consciousness as dark as ink, as if some force had eviscerated all her memories. The old woman's hollow eyes swept over Yun Yao, and a twisted smile suddenly formed on her wrinkled face. A hoarse, rasping cry emanated from her throat: "Fairy... help..." Before she could finish her words, her body exploded, dissolving into a cloud of black mist and merging into the earth.
The system's voice was trembling with a rare sound: "The restriction here is the lost 'Heavenly Secret Soul-Locking Formation' from ancient times. The souls of these villagers are used to feed the chessboard! The fragments of Guixu are at the bottom of the well, but if they are forcibly taken out, the entire fishing village will become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!" Yun Yao dug her nails deep into her palms. She remembered the turbid tears of the old village chief when he knelt on the ground and begged for help, and the innocent smiling faces of the children - these living people were just abandoned pawns on the chessboard of Tianji Pavilion.
"I'll break the formation!" Chu Mochen suddenly grasped Yun Yao's hand, golden lines illuminating his fingertips. "The fragmentary mark left by the Primordial God may resonate with the fragments of the Guixu Relics." He pressed his hand against the wall of the well. The Cold Abyss Sword hummed, and the water in the well suddenly boiled. Yun Yao could clearly feel the spiritual energy within Chu Mochen surging like a tide, but the power pouring into the well was like a stone dropped into a deep pool, not even causing a ripple.
At that moment, a resounding sound of snapping chains echoed from the depths of the ancient well. A fragment, as black as night, burst forth from the water. A strange purple glow swirled across its surface, and countless tiny human faces struggled and twisted within it—the very souls of the villagers being devoured. Before Yun Yao could react, the fragment transformed into black mist and burrowed into her brow. The system interface exploded with a bang, and countless data streams reassembled in mid-air, revealing a gleaming golden "Cause and Effect Retracing" icon.
"This is..." Yun Yao subconsciously clicked the icon. A flash of intense light passed, and her consciousness was instantly pulled into a vortex of time and space. On the screen, an elder dressed in the attire of the Ten Thousand Swords Immortal Sect was engaged in a fierce argument with the Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion. The Pavilion Master held a Heavenly Dao chessboard with an icy sheen. "The Remnants of the Guixu Chapter must be suppressed. Otherwise, once the memories of those fallen cultivators awaken, the entire cultivation world will be plunged into chaos!" The elder's eyes widened in anger. "You are taking human life lightly! Those cultivators have long since repented and should not be kept like livestock!" Before he could finish his words, a talisman flew from the Pavilion Master's sleeve and sank directly into the elder's brow.
The scene suddenly switched, and the elder's eyes became empty. He knelt down at the feet of the Pavilion Master, his voice mechanical and numb: "I obey your command and will turn Guixu Fishing Village into a dead zone." Yun Yao felt cold all over. The elder in front of her was actually the old village chief who was watching at the village entrance!
"Be careful!" Chu Mochen's exclamation interrupted her thoughts. Three sword beams pierced the air, aiming directly at Yun Yao's back. Chu Mochen spun around and swung his sword, the Cold Abyss Sword clashing with the opponent's sword, producing a sharp metal sound. The moment Yun Yao turned around, her pupils suddenly constricted—the one who came was Xiao Cui, the maid she had once saved. Xiao Cui was now dressed in the gorgeous attire of the Lord of the Karma Hall of the Tianji Pavilion, with a blood-red Karma Wheel printed between her eyebrows.
"Master, do you still remember the bowl of medicine that saved me in the palace that year?" Xiao Cui raised her lips in a sarcastic arc, and the chain of cause and effect in her hand moved like a poisonous snake. "It turns out that since then, I have been planted with the 'seed of cause and effect'. Every time you are kind, you are a pawn of Tianji Pavilion." Yun Yao's sea of consciousness rumbled, and she finally understood why she could always get opportunities at critical moments, and why every breakthrough seemed like a carefully designed script - even the system she traveled through was just a bait to lure her into the game -
"Impossible..." Yun Yao muttered, memories flooding back. That little maid shivering in the rainstorm, that girl clinging to her thighs and crying, "Sister, help me!"—were they all fake? Xiao Cui flipped her wrist, and the chain of cause and effect transformed into a blood-soaked web. "The Tianji Pavilion predicted that you would be soft-hearted, that you would take Chu Mochen and flee to Guixu Fishing Village. Now, hand over the Guixu Chapter, and perhaps I can spare your body."
At that moment, the old village chief suddenly burst out from the shadows, a rusty dagger in hand, and stabbed Xiao Cui in the back. "Let go of Fairy!" Xiao Cui sneered, and with a flick of her hand, the causal chain sent the old village chief flying. Yun Yao, quick-witted, used a stream of spiritual energy to hold the old village chief's falling body back, but at the moment of contact, she triggered "Causal Reversal" again.
This time, the scene nearly froze her blood. Xiao Cui knelt before the Pavilion Master, a jade bottle filled with the souls of the villagers in front of her. The Pavilion Master's voice was as cold as a knife: "If you don't betray Yun Yao, the entire fishing village will be slaughtered. You have a choice: trade one life for a hundred, or watch them all die before you." Xiao Cui trembled as she took the Karma Wheel. Tears dripped onto the wheel, creating eerie blood flowers.
"So that's how it is..." Yun Yao's voice was deep and firm. She infused Xiao Cui with the power of the Remnant Chapter of the Return to Ruins, energizing her Chaos Dao Body to its full potential. "Now, you can choose your own path." Xiao Cui trembled violently, the Wheel of Karma humming under the weight of her grasp. She looked up suddenly, the coldness in her eyes fading, replaced by tears. "Master, take the village chief and the others away! I repay you for saving my life!"
With that, Xiao Cui slammed the Wheel of Karma to the ground. A blood-red light shot up into the sky, transforming into a blazing fire of karma that enveloped the pursuers from the Tianji Pavilion. Yun Yao seized the opportunity to help the old village chief up, only to discover that his sea of consciousness was rapidly recovering, and those erased memories were flooding back like a tide. The old village chief looked at Xiao Cui's fighting figure, tears streaming down his face: "I have let her down..."
"Hurry!" Chu Mochen's voice rang out, his Hanyuan Sword stained with blood. "Support from the Tianji Pavilion will be here soon!" Yun Yao nodded and led the villagers towards the Taixu Illusionary Realm of the Guixu Remnant Chapter. Behind them, Xiao Cui's laughter mingled with the enemy's screams. In that laughter, there was relief, a sense of relief, and the joy of finally being able to live for herself.
The moment Yun Yao stepped into the illusion, she looked back and saw Xiao Cui transformed into a blood-red meteor, crashing straight into the Tianji Pavilion's flagship. Amidst the violent explosion, Yun Yao clenched her fists—this time, she would not let anyone become a pawn. Whether it was the chessboard of Heaven or a conspiracy within the divine realm, she would tear the truth apart and restore order to this world.