To the masses, divine ruins signified something that they could not comprehend and understand. However, the divine ruins that the lady boss mentioned, was an actual location.
No one knew much about where the place came from. Within it, there were a lot of rare items, and there were even occult techniques, supernatural powers, and things unfathomable to one’s imagination.
“Divine ruins” drifted between the heaven and the earth, and it never stops at one place purposefully. If one wanted to go in, one must have a token to the divine ruins.
The tokens to the divine ruins were actually things that came from the divine ruins, and because of the aura they carried, they would not be repelled during the entry to the divine ruins.
However, not a lot of people knew about it. Those who had been there before would not breathe a word about it when they came out. One could only discern traces of hints from Daoist scriptures, or through the calculation of an almighty.
There was an impressive individual from the Nine Lotus Secret Order who got into the divine ruins. The Sutra of Total Annihilation of the Dharma was a Dao formula brought out from the divine ruins.
If not for the fact of their previous relationship, lady boss Zhou Ling would not have taken such a risky move.
Because the both of them were from the same sect, they knew the root of certain things. The lady boss had tried to get the token back from Zhao Xiaoyu, but to no avail.
This was why Zhou Ling did not expect Zhao Xiaoyu to approach her.
Zhao Xiaoyu waved her sleeve, and there was an oval-shaped leaf between her porcelain-white fingers. The leave was green and thick. It emanated hints of warm light, and the tip was slightly curved downwards.
A hint of abstruse aura seeped through, and the room was brightened immediately.
Zhao Xiaoyu shook her fingertip, and the leaf floated towards the lady boss, eventually falling into her hands. The black air on her seemed to be frightened and retreated within seconds.
“You’re giving it back to me just like that?” The lady boss asked as she glanced at Zhao Xiaoyu.
“Senior Apprentice-Sister, did you think that I’m purposely going against you? Not to say that you might not have the established practices to find that place, even if you managed to find the place and cultivated supernatural power, you have no hope of challenging that person,” Zhao Xiaoyu sighed.
The lady boss remained silent and did not retort.
“With his level of cultivation, by the time you have successfully cultivated your supernatural power, she will definitely sense it. From thereon, she can work out the cause and effect. She has always been one to remove the weeds by digging up its roots, I’m afraid that the day you attained Dao would be the day you meet your end,” said Zhao Xiaoyu. Actually, the lady boss was fully aware of this without Zhao Xiaoyu’s mention.
She said it simply because she wanted to.
She wondered what made her Senior Apprentice-Sister decided to do it despite knowing that there was no chance of success. Given her character, there was no way that she could understand her Senior Apprentice-Sister even if she were to put herself in her Senior Apprentice-Sister’s shoes. To her, it all seemed too unreasonable, just like how Shen Lian refused to be emotionless.
The mortals were caught up in all of these because they were unaware of the Law of Detachment, and they did not have the prerequisite wisdom to understand it.
As for people like her who seek to be detached and posited themselves above the masses, there was truly no reason, and completely meaningless to be caught up in the hatred in the mortal world.
If it was not for the conflict in her Dao path and that of the Empress, she would be fine with putting the past behind her even if she was battling the Empress to death just moments before.
“Do you know the reason why I decided to break apart our relationship? Because when Master died, you were not sad at all, not even the least bit,” said the lady boss.
“But what is the point of being sad? If I were to die during my battle against her this time, would you be sad too?” Zhao Xiaoyu queried casually.
“Of course,” the lady boss replied.
“But I wouldn’t be sad even if you were to die,” Zhao Xiaoyu replied softly. When she was dwelling in the human realm, she could be gentle, and she could also be elegant and refined.
But that was merely a way to deal with matters when she was in the mortal realm; her heart of Dao remained the same through and through.
To her, all these ways of dealing with things were the same as using a spell. When she used it, she could be better than those people with the richest of emotions.
However, a way to deal with things would remain as a way, and it would not affect what she was truly pursuing.
“Actually, I really don’t understand why you insist on walking on a path of Dao as such. You were not like that when you were young.”
“Senior Apprentice-Sister, have you seen the flowers on the cliff? Only when they posit themselves above the masses, they could bloom so beautifully. To me, it is the same.”
The room door was pushed open, and it was still raining heavily. Zhao Xiaoyu did not use an umbrella. When the raindrops were about to fall onto her, they were pushed away by an invisible force.
Her shadow disappeared in the rainy night too.
******
It rained for the entire night up till the morning of the second day. Even then, it had no signs of stopping. The Anping Canal was deep enough. It carried all the rainfall out of Shendu City, sparing Shendu from the flood.
Shen Lian looked at the rain, and he knew that the timing of the rain was not a coincidence.
Ever since the speechless clash at the Xiangji Temple, the Qi dynamic at Shendu was undergoing drastic changes.
It was as though a giant dragon in slumber was woken up out of a sudden.
If the Feng Shui tactical formation of Shendu City and its surrounding mountains and water were to be akin as a giant dragon, then Xiangji Temple would be where the dragon scales are, and the Imperial City would be the dragon belly.
The Empress would be the spirit of the giant dragon. The Qi of earth and the wishes of the masses that gathered would be the blood that coursed through its vein.
The Daoists had an ingenious state; it was known as the Unity of Universe and Human. By melting one amidst the heaven and earth, the strength of heaven and earth could be engaged to generate an immense power.
There were some similarities between the Empress’ state and a Daoist’s state; in the Shendu City, her power would be the highest.
However, as compared to the heaven and earth, the Empress was still unimaginably weak. This was why she decided to build the Xiangji Temple. Through a certain occult technique, she could confer a title of deity and could relay the additional power that she was conferred upon.
As the Xiangji Buddha grew, she might be able to improve accordingly; a mystical bond was formed between the two.
Actually, if the Xiangji Buddha were to be changed into a Daoist deity, there would not be any difference; if the Xiangji Temple were to be changed into a Daoist temple, there would not be any difference either. However, since the previous dynasty was fond of Daoist, and Buddhism gathered believers more effectively, the Empress did not hesitate to opt for Buddhism.
The long arrow broke through the spell of the Xiangji Buddha, and seemed to have brought forth quite a bit of hassle to the Empress. This broke the balance.
The changing of Dynasty by the Empress was not done according to the heavenly fate, which was why the Qi of dragon was not very strong and had a lot of hidden weaknesses. As the chain of reaction took place, even the Earth point of Shendu was changing, causing these natural phenomena.
Zhao Xiaoyu saw through this and acted according to the way of heaven. With the aid of external influences, she managed to break away the formation at Xiangji Temple.
The Empress might have sensed something, which was why she decided to station herself at the Xiangji Temple. She did not expect the arrow of black air to be something that suppressed the spell at Xiangji Temple, which was why she did not succeed.
Regardless of everything that Zhao Xiaoyu had done, the best outcome was just her gaining the right to fight the Empress on equal grounds.
The time for the final battle seemed to be near and would be coming soon.
Shen Lian was not happy with the analysis that he came up with. Despite that the Feng Shui tactical formation that controlled the Qi of earth, the abstruseness of it still did not allow for him to figure out the way to deal naturally with the eight Qi of Taixu.
He knew that he was only a step away from mastering the basics of Taixu Strategy, and all he needed was an opportunity. Maybe that would arise during the final battle between the Empress and Zhao Xiaoyu.