Firmament Sword

Leaving aside the various grievances between Sun Xiaohong and Li Yin, Xu Luo was stunned by the sight inside the warship after following Yuwen Ji aboard.

This wasn't a warship, was it? It was clearly a mobile palace!

The level of luxury within far surpassed any palace Xu Luo had ever seen before!

Who would have thought that a massive warship would contain pavilions, rockeries, and flowing water inside?

It was like a Small World unto itself, with pavilions and terraces nestled amidst the fragrance of flowers and the songs of birds.

"In all my years, I have never personally received any young disciple. This time, I have deployed my personal vessel to bring you here myself. Do you know why?"

As Xu Luo was surveying the warship's interior, Yuwen Ji spoke from the side, looking at him.

Xu Luo bowed to Yuwen Ji again. "This junior does not know. I ask that Senior enlighten me!"

"'This junior...' 'Senior...' Heh, you are truly a Star Monarch descended to the mortal world, with pride in your very bones." Yuwen Ji's words held no mockery, but rather a touch of emotion.

Xu Luo's brow twitched. He was slightly taken aback, then said, "This junior does not understand what you mean."

"You don't understand?" Yuwen Ji sat down in a wicker chair and gestured to another chair beside it.

Xu Luo gave a wry smile. "I'd better remain standing. How could I dare to sit in Senior's presence?"

"Suit yourself."

Yuwen Ji remained seated and began to speak, as if to himself. "Since childhood, I have practiced a type of Divination Skill called the Heart Inference Skill. Its power is immense. As long as the person I am divining has a lower cultivation level than my own, everything about them is laid bare before me, with nowhere to hide!"

"The drawback is also obvious. Because this Divination Skill is so heaven-defying, every time I use it, I suffer a backlash. At best, I suffer months of bad luck; at worst, I sustain grievous injuries... I haven't used this skill for several hundred years."

"The Nether Flower Seed has a deep connection to me. Thus, when that seed appeared, it reminded me of old friends and past events, and I couldn't resist using the Heart Inference Skill once more…"

"As a result, the Heart Inference Skill divined a great star…"

Yuwen Ji glanced at Xu Luo and said with a wry smile, "That was a complete accident… The power of the Heart Inference Skill is that it can completely manifest everything related to the matter being divined! So, it's not that I wanted to pry into your private affairs. Let's just say… I discovered this matter unintentionally."

The corner of Xu Luo's mouth twitched. He wasn't afraid, because since Yuwen Ji had already discovered his identity and knew his purpose, he wouldn't need to appear personally or go to such great lengths if he wanted to deal with him.

He was simply horrified by the power of the Heart Inference Skill!

Back then, the Inference Skill of the Huo Family's ancestor from the Ancient Race was already shocking enough. He never imagined that a Divination Skill even more powerful than that—the Heart Inference Skill—existed in this world. And this Heart Inference Skill was simply too heaven-defying!

Seeming to read Xu Luo's thoughts, Yuwen Ji shook his head slightly and said with some bitterness, "You can rest assured. The more powerful a person is, the less willing they are to use the Heart Inference Skill. The price is too high! Do you know that in order to divine this matter, I fell directly from an Early-stage Ultimate Venerable to a Great Saint Peak?"

"What?"

This time… Xu Luo was truly shocked. He stared at the white-haired old man before him in disbelief.

Xu Luo was shocked by the price of using the Heart Inference Skill—falling from an Ultimate Venerable to a Great Saint… and he was also shocked by what matter could possibly make an Ultimate Venerable willing to pay such a huge price to forcibly use it!

"It's not as terrible as it sounds. It's just a drop in my cultivation realm. I can recover within a hundred years." Yuwen Ji didn't seem to mind the drop in his realm. He sighed and said, "Since I mastered the Heart Inference Skill, I have only ever used it twice."

Xu Luo stood there without interrupting, listening quietly. He had a faint feeling that what Yuwen Ji was about to say had something to do with him.

"The first time I used it was when the woman I loved most in my life left…"

Yuwen Ji's gaze grew distant. Sitting in the wicker chair, he caressed the armrest, which was already worn smooth as a mirror, and murmured, "I was young back then, in the prime of my life. I thought my Alchemy Skill was good enough to travel the world, so I left Celestial Brilliance to wander, and then I met her…"

"She was beautiful and gentle, the finest woman I had ever met!"

Yuwen Ji paused, looked at Xu Luo, and said, "Do you think I'm being a bit unreliable? An old man like me, getting so personal with someone I've just met?"

Xu Luo shook his head and smiled. "I think you're just being true to your nature, Senior!"

"True to my nature, my ass! The truth is, I've never told anyone these things before!"

Yuwen Ji sighed lightly, glanced at Xu Luo, and said, "It's just that now that I've accidentally learned your secrets, I'm telling you about my past so you won't overthink things. This way… we're even!"

Xu Luo's mouth twitched. He felt an urge to laugh. He found the old man quite interesting; it was the first time he had met someone with such a personality.

"When we were together back then, it was the happiest time of my life. She would get all affectionate and ask me what we would do when we got old, when her beauty faded, and whether I would still want her…"

"And my words to comfort her back then were: 'When your beauty fades, my hair will have long since turned gray…'"

Xu Luo glanced at Yuwen Ji's salt-and-pepper hair, the smile on his face vanished, and he felt a stir in his heart.

"Women… who doesn't want to stay young forever? Plus, I thought my Alchemy Skill was already quite advanced back then, so I told her I would definitely refine the best Anti-Aging Elixir for her so she would never grow old."

Yuwen Ji sighed softly and continued, "Later, we heard about a flower called the Netherworld Flower. Its petals, when processed with a Secret Technique and made into a tea, could grant a woman eternal youth when she drank it."

"We were both thrilled when we heard this news and vowed to find the Netherworld Flower. And so… we began our long search."

The warship flew steadily through the sky, with no turbulence felt inside. There was no one else around, only the sound of Yuwen Ji's aged voice, echoing continuously.

"But since this flower was a worldly treasure, how could it be so easy to find? We traveled to many places, covering almost the entirety of Xi Hezhou, yet we found nothing."

Yuwen Ji's voice grew mournful as he murmured, "Later, we started fighting over it. I was… too young and arrogant back then, and I didn't understand a woman's heart. The truth is… she didn't have to find the Netherworld Flower. What she cared about was having me by her side."

"But I didn't understand that back then. I just thought she was being too willful and that her feelings for me weren't that deep. I thought all she cared about… was staying young forever."

"She left me in a fit of anger. Before she left, she left only a single sentence: 'When the Netherworld Flower appears, I will return…'"

"After she left, I used the Heart Inference Skill for the first time. The consequences… I won't speak of them. But I could only find a vague direction. Our cultivation realms were similar at the time, and she knew my capabilities, so she used some methods to prevent my search…"

As Yuwen Ji spoke, a glint of moisture appeared in his eyes. He then heaved a long sigh and looked at Xu Luo. "Now do you understand why I became so crazed when news of the Nether Flower Seed reached me? Why I was willing to get it at any cost? And why I would use a Heaven-Defying Skill like the Heart Inference Skill, even if it meant my cultivation realm would fall?"

Xu Luo nodded. "I understand. Then…"

Yuwen Ji shook his head with a bitter smile and murmured, "Under the Heart Inference Skill, I first saw the seed in a treasure vault. Through that vault, I saw a massive Golden Toad, and behind the Golden Toad was a field of chaos! That was clearly… an existence I could not touch."

"I didn't try to forcibly deduce anything about that chaos, because it was very likely I would have alerted that existence."

"Then, I saw you. I didn't want to let any clue slip by, so I began to divine your past. The result… my realm dropped in an instant!"

Yuwen Ji smiled wryly. "I saw only a vast star! It emanated a brilliant, dazzling radiance that one dared not look at directly. Even at my level, I could not bear it. Only then did I realize… that by coincidence, I had stumbled upon something extraordinary."

"Then I saw a young woman whose body had been seized, and only the Soul Scripture… could save her."

"Your identity is self-evident. You are the reincarnation of a star. I also understand your purpose for coming to Celestial Brilliance. You need the Soul Scripture…"

Yuwen Ji looked at Xu Luo and said, "Unfortunately, even after paying the price of a drop in my cultivation realm, I still didn't see her…"

Xu Luo also gave a wry smile. He never thought that by a strange twist of fate, before he had even joined Celestial Brilliance, all his secrets would be completely exposed. This… left him at a loss for words.

Besides, even if the old man before him had suffered a drop in his realm, Xu Luo was still no match for him!

"Then, Senior… how do you plan to deal with me?" At this point, Xu Luo had no choice but to be direct.

Yuwen Ji had already said so much; it would be improper for him not to address the elephant in the room.

"Deal with you? Why would I deal with you?" Yuwen Ji looked at Xu Luo with a serious expression. "You are loyal and righteous, willing to do anything to save your confidante. A person like that… why would I want to deal with them?"

"I am the reincarnation of a star… Refining me can help one advance to the Ultimate Venerable realm…" Xu Luo said.

"Refining, my ass! My Alchemy Skill might not be unparalleled, but it's at least at the Grandmaster level. So what if it's the Ultimate Venerable realm? If I could reach that realm back then, do you think I can't do it again now? To reach that realm by refining a human… I'd rather just smash my head against a wall and die! Do you think I would stoop to doing something so disgraceful?"

"My goal is to obtain Celestial Brilliance's Soul Scripture… That item is a Holy Scripture in Celestial Brilliance… ordinary people are not allowed to see it. When the time comes… if… wouldn't I be implicating you, Senior?" Xu Luo added.

"I am all alone in this world. You think I'm afraid of being implicated by you? Even if the Sect Leader… wanted to deal with me, he would have to think carefully about the consequences." Yuwen Ji said lightly, as if speaking of a completely ordinary matter.

Then, he thought for a moment and said, "Speaking of which, the matter of the Soul Scripture is indeed a bit troublesome. Even if I wanted to take a look… I couldn't. Only the successive Sect Leaders and a very small number of people are allowed to read it. It is said to contain the profound mysteries of creation."

"However, many geniuses in the past crippled themselves trying to comprehend the Soul Scripture…"

"So… if you want to obtain the Soul Scripture through normal means, you have almost no hope!"

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