NOVEL NEXT chapter 185 - Where Is the Dao
"Good! Good! Good!"
A cold, obsessive voice drifted faintly through the void.
She could only transmit some fragmented sound from the space between realms — from the rift where one had yet to fully ascend.
But to even accomplish that much, it meant Yin Qingcheng had likely already ascended to the Seventh Heaven.
Her growth was terrifyingly fast.
"Since you still refuse to awaken in this life, then we'll love each other in the next!"
Shen Xitong clutched Lu Ye tightly.
"In the next life, I’ll still be with my husband!"
"You... should... die..."
The distorted, wrathful voice grew weaker and weaker.
Lu Ye’s figure plummeted back toward the earth, while Shen Xitong, having thoroughly angered Yin Qingcheng, looked especially delighted.
Ding ding ding...
Lu Ye, supported by Shen Xitong, touched down.
He immediately activated the Nine-Life Undying Body, attempting to complete the cultivation of the Fourth Tribulation.
This tribulation’s might had been truly ferocious.
But Lu Ye’s focus hadn’t been on cultivation — it had been on killing Jiang Die.
A pity.
Even though he had gone all out, he still hadn’t managed to kill her.
Even the mother Gu of the Yin-Yang Devouring Dao Gu had returned from the past...
"System, just how much stuff came back from the previous life?"
Lu Ye couldn't help but ask.
Ding. A portion returned. Anything entangled in the karmic ties between you and your eight beloved wives was dragged back. At the time, I was practically exhausted to death — I simply didn’t have the strength to sever all the causality.
It was Shen Xitong who answered.
"Didn’t I self-detonate? Shouldn’t that have erased the poison too?"
Ding. No. Your self-detonation only destroyed the eight Yin-Yang Devouring Dao Gu. It didn’t eliminate everything else.
Lu Ye understood, roughly.
The effort required to reverse time had already pushed the system to ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) its limits.
There were many things the system simply couldn't control completely.
The Fourth Tribulation wasn't yet fully refined.
Still a bit short.
Lu Ye’s figure vanished.
At this moment, despair engulfed the entire Second Heaven.
Especially among the sects and factions that had provoked Lu Ye.
Initially, these forces had simply responded to the Jiang Clan and Eternal Teachings Sect’s call.
They thought — Just another genius who hasn't even risen yet.
A newly ascended talent, already targeted by two great powers — what chance did he have to survive?
So they eagerly jumped aboard.
Later, when Lu Ye truly arrived...
They had rushed to surround and kill him — only to discover, in horror, that they couldn't win.
Couldn't kill him.
Lu Ye, calm and imperious, openly declared that there would be a reckoning.
What could they do?
The road they had chosen was already wrong.
There was no turning back.
They could only follow it to the bitter end.
Because the Lu Ye they faced —
He was no longer a man.
He was a demon.
None of them could be certain —
If they defected now, would Lu Ye really spare them?
Slaughter after slaughter.
In the end, among so many factions, only the Divine Wind Sect gambled everything —
They repented.
They intercepted Jiang Die.
If not for that interception, Lu Ye truly might not have had enough time.
Jiang Die might very well have succeeded in passing her tribulation and ascending.
They had made the right bet.
Lu Ye agreed to spare them.
As for the others — that was another story.
This time, there were twenty-two sects and forces that had struck at Lu Ye.
Even though he had only just ascended to the Second Heaven, Lu Ye, in his past life, already knew the Second Heaven’s faction map by heart.
He remembered clearly who had participated in the hunt.
These forces —
Not a single one would escape the reckoning.
(Continued: Third Heaven Scene)
In the Third Heaven—
As Lu Ye had expected, the moment Jiang Die ascended, a crowd of powerful cultivators surrounded her.
Being at the Destiny Realm was barely noteworthy.
"Hm? Weren’t you Jiang Clan’s so-called strongest genius?
Why has only a bug ascended?"
"Are you stupid?
That’s not a bug — it’s a Gu.
And a terrifying one at that.
This Gu’s standing must be astronomical."
"Doesn’t matter how terrifying — where’s Jiang Die?"
Jiang Die, who had fallen unconscious from the pain, now woke with a start —
Dragged back into suffering by agony once more.
Screams tore from the Gu's mouth —
So sharp, so wretched, many of the onlookers couldn’t help but frown.
"What kind of torment could provoke screams like that?"
"Even I feel a chill just hearing it..."
Some tried to communicate with the Gu —
But there was no effective response.
The Jiang Clan took control, swiftly sealing the Gu.
They would wait —
Wait until it survived this ordeal —
Then question it further about why Jiang Die herself had not yet ascended.
The news spread quickly.
The Gu — was Jiang Die herself.
Jiang Die had suffered catastrophic injuries during her tribulation, battling against the demon Lu Ye.
Her body shattered.
She had been forced to take refuge in Gu form.
So it was true.
This horrifying Gu was indeed Jiang Die.
But listening to its pitiful, endless cries, many in the Jiang Clan feared:
Could Jiang Die even survive this?
Yes, Jiang Die had lost to Lu Ye in the Second Heaven.
But without a doubt —
She had also proven her worth.
She was strong!
With careful nurturing, if Jiang Die continued to grow...
In the future, who would win, and who would lose — it was still uncertain.
Seven days passed in a flash.
The screaming ceased.
Three more days later, the Gu finally opened its eyes.
"Jiang Die?"
"You’re awake?"
"How did you turn into a Gu?
Can you turn back?"
At that moment, Jiang Die felt utterly exhausted.
The past seven days —
They had been the most painful days of her entire life.
Pain beyond words.
Primordial Mist of Creation...
Primordial Mist of Creation...
"I need... to recover."
Jiang Die rasped —
Her voice hoarse, squeezing out of the Gu's body.
"Good, good, good — you recover first.
Do you need our help?"
"No."
Everyone withdrew.
Jiang Die sat in silence for a moment.
The pain was unbearable —
Even just remembering it made her soul tremble.
Her soul had nearly been torn apart by the agony.
She couldn’t even imagine enduring that level of pain again.
Was this... the price of making an enemy of Lu Ye?
She forced herself to stop thinking about it.
She began examining her condition.
Her Dao...?
Where was her Dao?
Ah — still there...
But why had it become so feeble?
The Dao she had copied from Lu Ye through the mother Gu —
Gone.
Not a single thread remained.
Memories — yes, those remained.
Knowledge of divine abilities and techniques — those remained too.
But without Lu Ye’s Dao,
Even if she had memorized all of Lu Ye’s divine powers — what was the point?
Shangguan Huanling also knew Lu Ye’s Heaven-Sovereign Fist technique.
But when she used it, it was enough to make people laugh until their sides hurt.
And now — without Lu Ye’s Dao —
Would Jiang Die be the same?
A droplet of blood seeped from the Gu’s mouth.
Within that blood, life force surged —
But it trembled violently.
Even her Undying Body seemed to be malfunctioning —
Her recovery speed had slowed down drastically, by more than just a little.
At this rate, if she tried to regenerate from a drop of blood —
It would probably take fifty years.
The Dao — was the foundation of a cultivator.
Divine abilities were merely the outward manifestation of the Dao’s power.
A powerful divine ability could magnify a Dao’s strength several times over.
But without a compatible Dao —
No matter how strong your divine abilities were,
When you used them, they would be pathetically weak.
In his past life, Lu Ye had often found powerful techniques —
Only to realize they didn’t fit his Dao.
He would rather cultivate an entirely new supplementary Dao just to match a technique.
As the saying went:
"All for the vinegar, he bought the dumplings."
But Lu Ye had the system —
He could simulate new Daos at lightning speed, evolving them to powerful levels.
Jiang Die —
Did not.