Chapter 915: The Reputation Destroyer Performs Consistently

Chapter 915: The Reputation Destroyer in Steady Form

How could the Withered Tree Sovereign have imagined the mix of shame and tangled emotions that Nightless would feel at openly admitting she was someone’s wife? He thought her single-word answers carried murderous intent, and found it rather baffling.

Why are you so fierce… Could it be that my mention of “one of them” displeased you? But you *are* one of them.

Nightless was seething with fury: Did Zhao Changhe send you here to wait for me?

The suddenness of the situation made it natural for the other party to be cautious and want to verify information—but did he have to phrase it like that?

In truth, the similar aura between Nightless and Zhao Changhe wasn’t entirely due to dual cultivation. Though they had shared a transfer, they had never truly engaged in it, so the mingling of their auras wasn’t that distinct. The real reason was that Nightless now carried the Star River Sword, and Zhao Changhe was, in this regard, her true inheritor—clear and unmistakable.

Nightless had originally expected the Withered Tree Sovereign’s first reaction to be that they shared the same lineage, or, even better, that he might assume she was Zhao Changhe’s master—that would have been far more satisfying. Instead, his first thought was that this came from dual cultivation…

How could a dignified Sovereign have such a twisted mindset? Does everyone who comes into contact with Zhao Changhe end up like this?

Who knew how deep a psychological shadow Night Jiuyou’s earlier remark of “not just the two of you” had cast on the Withered Tree Sovereign?

How was she supposed to answer? If she said no, it would only invite more trouble, forcing her to explain their actual relationship. If she claimed to be Zhao’s master, he might not believe it. If she said they were from the same sect, that wouldn’t imply closeness either—fellow disciples often turned against each other, and it would only invite unnecessary complications. After a few seconds of mental calculation, she realized the simplest solution was to admit she was indeed his wife—straightforward and most aligned with mutual interests.

The Withered Tree Sovereign received the answer he had anticipated, and indeed became simpler. Stroking his beard, he sighed: “Sisters on the Other Shore, like twin lotuses. Fellow Daoist Zhao’s handiwork is truly astonishing. It seems ‘not just the two of you’ was no empty boast…”

Sigh your sister. Nightless nearly thrust the Star River Sword at him right then, suppressing her anger as she said, “This is no time for idle chatter.”

The Withered Tree Sovereign nodded. “Just now, I escorted your esteemed husband to the vicinity of the black hole. He and your sister… ah, is she the elder or younger? … They said they intended to cultivate there… Could it be that they happened to discover Luochuan in that area? What is the situation now?”

Your esteemed husband, my foot. And what business is it of yours whether I’m the elder or younger sister?

Nightless took a deep breath, barely restraining her urge to stab him. “It’s possible that Luochuan’s lair is hidden there, and there may be other demon followers inside or out.”

The Withered Tree Sovereign asked, “Does your esteemed husband intend for me to deal with the others?”

Nightless replied, “If Luochuan witnessed the Sovereign escorting Zhao… my husband to the black hole, he will surely know that the two of us intend to cooperate. He won’t wait for us to join forces and set a trap; he will certainly strike now, while we are separated.”

“So?”

“We will use ourselves as bait to set a trap, confident we can break him, but not certain we can prevent his escape. This is the Sovereign’s domain—the surrounding stars are one entity, scattered like a chessboard, forming a heavenly net. We don’t need the Sovereign to fight directly; we only need you to bind him with the starry net.”

The Withered Tree Sovereign pondered for a moment. “It can be done… but it will cause a great commotion, possibly drawing the attention of the other two forbidden lands. Can you finish the battle quickly?”

Nightless said coolly, “We haven’t even begun—who can say for sure whether we can finish quickly? Whether we can withstand interference from others is precisely a key part of our cooperation. Surely the Sovereign hasn’t only just considered this now?”

The Withered Tree Sovereign smiled faintly. “I was merely testing whether you truly know the details of our cooperation. Now it seems you are indeed Fellow Daoist Zhao’s wife.”

Always bringing up the one thing she wanted to avoid. Nightless’s mind was a stampede of alpacas. “Of course. Only a man as open-hearted as my husband, who makes friends across the martial world, would consider someone with whom he hasn’t even discussed cooperation details as a potential ally. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have come at all. I hope the Sovereign will not betray my husband’s trust.”

With that, she flicked her sleeves and vanished. “The battle has begun. Sovereign, decide quickly.”

Even if the battle hadn’t started, Nightless couldn’t go on. Each “my husband” rolled off her tongue more smoothly than the last, turning from writing praise into speaking it aloud—a sheer torment. If no familiar ears were around, it might be bearable, but Ling Ruoyu was coiled right there in the Star River, watching with her chin propped up…

Nightless dared not even glance at Ling Ruoyu’s expression as she swiftly returned to her true form.

Her true form, the Heavenly Book, was at that very moment erupting in fierce battle.

…

Luochuan’s first move was to shove the Heavenly Book toward the depths of the black hole.

From his earlier observations, he sensed that Zhao Changhe seemed to have already broken through to the Other Shore, and Night Jiuyou beside him seemed to have done the same. By extension, Nightless, who was originally the ceiling of the Heavenly Book’s world, should also have reached the Other Shore.

A family of three on the Other Shore… even if only at the initial stage. The wise choice would be to flee as far as possible and never appear before this family again.

But a millennia-old obsession was not so easily dispelled. Luochuan still chose to believe that their strength was somewhat illusory.

Less than twenty days ago, Zhao Changhe had been fleeing in panic under his pursuit, utterly powerless to resist. How could he have broken through to the Other Shore in just twenty days? Did he think the Other Shore was some mere acupoint?

And the Night sisters, without merging, were theoretically forever incapable of reaching the Other Shore—Luochuan, as the instigator, knew this well.

There was a high probability that this family was bluffing…

Of course, Luochuan also believed that if given more time, they might truly break through. This was the last chance.

If he pushed the Heavenly Book into the core of the black hole, the world would be thrown into chaos, everything ground to dust. Their strongest combatant, Nightless, as the book’s spirit, would have to protect all life within the book, using all her power to resist the black hole. That would neutralize her combat effectiveness. As for the others, he could deal with them at his leisure—his most feared opponent had always been Nightless.

Luochuan flashed to the side of the Heavenly Book and extended his hand to push.

The book, hidden in the void of another dimension, was shoved directly into visibility, turning into a meteor hurtling toward the black hole.

Luochuan followed like a shadow, striking again with his palm, thrusting straight into the interior of the Heavenly Book.

He knew better than anyone where the source of derivation within the Heavenly Book lay—it was Night Jiuyou’s Abyss of Netherworld. If he could destroy that root, he could once again intervene to define the rules of this world and contend with the Night sisters for control.

Just moments ago, he had witnessed Zhao Changhe carrying Night Jiuyou into the Heavenly Book while kissing her. If nothing unexpected happened, the pair of dogs and bitches were now coupling. Faced with this sudden attack, wouldn’t they be caught off guard?

His hand pierced into the Heavenly Book. To the eyes of the beings within the book, a giant’s palm descended from the sky, as if about to crush the entire earth with a single slap.

A gleeful smile spread across Luochuan’s face.

The next moment, the smile froze.

A blade of light spanned heaven and earth, splitting the cosmos, slashing at the wrist of his intruding hand, as if trying to sever the entire palm and leave it within the book.

And the earth beneath his descending palm seemed to transform into a dark vortex. Night Jiuyou floated within it, her long hair drifting, her eyes closed.

At that moment, Luochuan couldn’t even tell whether this was Night Jiuyou or Nightless. He only knew that her strength was truly that of the Other Shore!

Outside the book was a black hole; inside the book was also a black hole. Where Night Jiuyou stood was the purest realm of chaos and annihilation.

His palm struck into the vortex, sinking deep, unable to escape. The terrifying power of annihilation dissolved heaven and earth, reducing everything within to ash, returning it to the primordial “nothingness” of the vacuum.

In that brief moment of entanglement, Zhao Changhe’s blade light swept across his wrist.

Luochuan let out a pained roar. The hand he had yearned for two epochs to finally thrust into the book now wished it had never entered.

But he was no easy prey. The next moment, the hand that Zhao Changhe and his wife saw suddenly turned ethereal and vanished.

Outside the Heavenly Book, Luochuan clutched his hand. Blood dripped from his wrist, and parts of his fingertips had already disintegrated, as if flayed alive.

Before his eyes flickered, Zhao Changhe had already emerged from the book to the outside, leaping like a toad in a classic pose, bringing down the “Scattering of Gods and Buddhas” upon his head: “I’ve been waiting for you!”

“Clang!” A flying sword materialized before him, blocking this dimension-shattering strike.

The ripples of energy from the collision spread across the void, and distant floating celestial bodies silently turned to ash.

Night Jiuyou’s form appeared like a ghost behind Luochuan, her jade hand slamming toward his back, her eyes filled with murderous hatred as tangible as substance.

She was the one who hated Luochuan the most—even more than Nightless. And this was her very first direct confrontation with him.

A strange soul banner materialized behind Luochuan, blocking Night Jiuyou’s strike.

In an instant, ten thousand souls howled, and the cosmic void turned into a prison of ghosts.

A sword and a banner… This was also the first time Luochuan had deployed all his treasures in battle.

The front and rear strikes collided almost simultaneously. The three of them each grunted. Luochuan remained unmoved in his original position, while Zhao Changhe and Night Jiuyou were blasted apart, floating tens of thousands of miles through the void.

Blood trickled from the corners of both their mouths, but their eyes grew even colder as they stared at Luochuan in the center.

Indeed, at full power, Luochuan was still stronger than either of them. Nightless could withstand him only by borrowing the full strength of the Heavenly Book’s world. They did not have that advantage.

But compared to earlier, when they couldn’t even block a single blow and fled coughing blood—this slight gap was nothing new in Zhao Changhe’s lifetime of battles. He had faced far greater disparities countless times.

This gap, in Zhao Changhe’s eyes, hardly counted as “showing a health bar.” It could almost be called “evenly matched”!

Looking at Luochuan’s stunned expression, Zhao Changhe flashed a brilliant white grin: “Surprised? Shocked?”

Luochuan took a deep breath. “Did you know I was nearby all along?”

“Knowing all along? Not quite. I’m quite surprised and delighted to have discovered you myself.” Zhao Changhe smiled faintly. “Originally, we were racking our brains over how to find the doghole you’re hiding in—whether the shamanic arts would backfire, whether it would alert you and make you flee far away—all that annoying deliberation. But you popped out and gave us a pleasant surprise, so we won’t refuse. So, old pal, obsession leading to demonization does no good. You’ve already reached the Other Shore—how can you lack even this basic understanding?”

Luochuan neither agreed nor disagreed: "Twenty days ago, you were far from having this strength."

"Then I must thank you, sir. Your instruction that day is unforgettable, and I will surely repay it."

Luochuan: "..."

I taught you a hammer—back then I had already used my divine powers and nearly obliterated you outright. That you survived is one thing, but to absorb the Other Shore experience from that strike and turn it into your own nourishment—such talent is unmatched under heaven. In all my years roaming the Vientiane Star Domain, I've never seen a second like you.

"It seems Zhao Changhe's rise in this world is no accident... I originally thought you rose so quickly by borrowing the power of the Heavenly Book, perhaps even receiving a direct infusion from Ye Wuming. Now I see I was mistaken. With talent like this, even without the Heavenly Book, you could have summarized and learned from battle yourself."

"Flattery... Without the Heavenly Book, I wouldn't have been so fast. Still, compared to you, I'm far better off—after all, when you encountered the Heavenly Book, you, the once-thriving Other Shore maniac, came to a halt and were driven out like a homeless cur."

Luochuan: "..."

"What isn't yours isn't yours. You must be well-versed in karma, so why force it?" Zhao Changhe sighed. "Heaven-born treasures belong to those fated to possess them. When you first saw the Heavenly Book, if you had treated its spirit kindly, even if you couldn't tame it, you could at least have made a friend. Look at the mess you made."

"Spare me your sarcasm. The demonic path contends with heaven for fate; all we do is conquer. If we cannot conquer, we destroy."

"Actually, I want to conquer too, but the battlefield I envision is different."

Luochuan: "..."

In just a few exchanges, Luochuan had been left speechless three times.

This was his first formal conversation with Zhao Changhe and the others, and he never imagined it would follow such a script. What baffled him even more was that though Ye Jiuyou's eyes burned with hatred for him, longing to tear him limb from limb, when Zhao Changhe spouted these irrelevant nonsense, she showed not a trace of impatience, quietly restraining her emotions and listening from behind.

It seemed Zhao Changhe's battlefield of conquest was indeed more effective—an emotional one, from body to heart.

But this trick wasn't something ordinary people could learn; at least Luochuan, a lifelong virgin, was no better than a novice in that regard.

Of course, Luochuan also knew Zhao Changhe wouldn't waste time chatting idly; this conversation clearly served to stall. His heart stirred, and he suddenly demanded, "Where is Ye Wuming?"

He had originally thought Ye Wuming must be protecting the world, but now the scent was off.

The Heavenly Book was no longer being drawn into the black hole; instead, it had willingly slipped into Zhao Changhe's arms. Zhao Changhe didn't move, and the Heavenly Book sat as steady as Mount Tai.

A tremor ran through Luochuan's heart—this Heavenly Book clearly hadn't acknowledged a master, yet its behavior was no different from having done so.

Imagining Ye Wuming cuddling like a little bird in a man's embrace, Luochuan shuddered.

Behind him, Ye Jiuyou spoke calmly: "Did you think Ye Wuming would obediently stay within the realm to protect it, wasting a top-tier combatant on such a matter?"

Luochuan tensed: "Damn!"

Far away in the depths of the black hole, at the intersection of annihilation and creation, Ye Wuming held a river of stars, blocking a figure who was constructing a spatial tunnel to attack the battlefield: "Friend, please stay."

The familiar words did not originate from Earth.

They came from a time when the family of three had been traveling, and Ye Wuming's spatial tunnel was intercepted—back then, the other party had said exactly that.

That battle had leaked their presence, leading Luochuan to find them, and Zhao Changhe, pregnant, had fled and been injured. The deeper consequence was that Ye Wuming had abandoned her own soul to merge with Ye Jiuyou, resulting in days of humiliation by those scoundrels.

If anyone harbored resentment, it was Ye Wuming who felt the greatest.

And the figure she now blocked was the very demonic cultivator who had intercepted the family of three back then.

The demonic cultivator, seeing Ye Wuming appear abruptly, was also shocked: "You are... that cave-dwelling cultivator from before? How did you find this place?"

Ye Wuming said flatly, "I only came to cut off Luochuan's retreat, but I didn't expect to find an extra prize."

The demonic cultivator recovered from his shock and sneered, "Back then, your whole family of three dared not contend with me. Now you come alone with your sword—are you here to die?"

A mocking smile curled at the corner of Ye Wuming's mouth. Her form flickered, and the river of stars swept past: "Did you really think I didn't fight you back then because I was afraid of you?"

The demonic cultivator, horrified, tried to strike back, but found the sword unavoidable—it cut through time, pierced space, severed the river of eternity, and broke the changes of the four dimensions.

The void tunnel froze, shattered into pieces, and with it, the demonic cultivator's entire body disintegrated into thousands of fragments, losing all form.

Ye Wuming didn't even glance at the carnage behind her; she stepped forward toward Luochuan's lair: "You didn't have to die so miserably, but you said the wrong thing."

The demonic cultivator died without ever knowing what he had said wrong—was it that "here to die" remark that displeased this enchantress?

No matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't have guessed that what Ye Wuming was thinking was: Why does everyone call me his wife? Even a passerby says we're a family of three...

Ling Ruoyu sighed within the sword.

Just admit it, why bother...