CHAPTER 490
Time Passes
============================================================
Shangguan Rou did her best to appear unconcerned, for she understood.
The notion of dying once and coming back to life didn't mean killing her and then resurrecting her. It meant making her lose the most precious thing she possessed, then emerging from that loss.
"What your eyes can see is too little, yet your mind dwells on so much."
"You need to shed all that clutter, focus straight ahead, and only then will you grow."
"When you shed that baggage, you'll become stronger."
"You'll become a pure warrior, just like me."
Shangguan Rou rose slowly, smiling.
"If you wish to do so, feel free to try. But I doubt it would be meaningful."
"Perhaps I need to truly die once to understand your purity."
"Besides, I don't think you're as pure as you claim to be."
The Great Fox seemed genuinely surprised. "How so?"
"For instance, it seems you've never actually met Su Cheng."
The Great Fox was amused, laughing so hard she shook like a leaf~
"Haha, you're quite something~ So adorable~"
"You know what? A lot of people question me. They question all sorts of things. Some even say I'm actually a man~"
"But questioning my abilities? That's a first for me, ha ha ha!"
"Why don't you go ask Su Cheng? Tell him I'm waiting for him at the Heavenly Path Pavilion. See if he dares to come meet me?"
"Hahahaha!"
Truth be told, many say Ye He never smiles, but when she does, it’s truly beautiful.
This sly fox, Ye He, has always maintained a stern demeanor—professional, you might say—having undergone rigorous etiquette training where expression management was paramount.
But today, she simply couldn't hold it in!
She wouldn't dare claim to be the strongest Godslayer King, for after all, the Godslayer Martial Arts existed. Even she wasn't invincible.
But if you asked who could defeat her, she honestly couldn't think of anyone~
Even the once-unrivaled Godslayer King Bingling had only managed a draw against her.
And Ye He believed she held the upper hand! If they fought another thirty rounds, who knows? Bing Ling might not stand a chance against her!
As for Su Cheng? A desk-bound bureaucrat challenging her?
He'd have his head knocked off!
"Anyway, you don't have much time left. Rather than training here, I think you should focus your efforts outside these mountains."
"The authority to sanction is the fiery flame that slays gods—it's not something you can master through cultivation alone. You must nourish it with blood, the blood of your enemies."
With that, the great fox turned and departed.
In truth, Shangguan Rou had scarcely found time to cultivate lately. The plague of death grew ever more rampant, spreading with accelerating speed. Each new Apostle proved stronger than the last—nothing like the early days.
It was like an incurable plague—though not contagious, it killed relentlessly.
Wherever the black mist and the Apostles passed, not a blade of grass remained—truly a land of death.
The Apostles emerged from nowhere, yet they always appeared within the black mist.
All Shangguan Rou could do was hold the realm together as best she could—the realm her master had built.
With a mere flick of her wrist, a flaming blade materialized before her.
It is called the Authority, the Divine Throne Blade, the Sword of Judgment.
This was the flame of judgment, capable of severing all things in the world—including longing and love.
As the Great Fox had said, this blade possessed the power to destroy the entire world—such was its inherent might.
Yet because she was too weak, the authority she could steal amounted to less than one ten-thousandth of its full might.
Yet the Great Fox also stated that even she herself could not truly master the Authority.
Deities cannot be killed; their destruction merely obliterates their physical form.
The authority they wield does not vanish with their bodies, but transforms into energy.
And this energy capable of shattering heaven and earth—this force that punishes evil and upholds justice—was now in her grasp.
"Big Fox, your smile is rather amusing."
Shangguan Rou rose slowly, her crimson ceremonial gown now draped over her form. It was said this dress had once been gifted by Su Cheng to the one he loved.
Shangguan Rou entered the main hall of the Celestial Path Pavilion and slowly approached her master.
"Master, please rest."
"Rou'er? How did you come here?"
"Your disciple missed you~"
Cheng Liang smiled and drew Shangguan Rou into his embrace.
Their relationship was no secret within the Celestial Path Pavilion, as Shangguan Rou had never made any effort to conceal it.
Immortals, immortals—they are divine beings, yet they are also human.
"Stay and talk with your master, Rou'er? It's been so long since I last held you!"
The Cheng Liang of this moment seemed transformed, stripped of his former arrogance and disdain.
It seemed that ever since Ye Qinghan became a disciple at Lingxian Hall, he had lost the protection of the Heavenly Way.
Was it then?
Or when the Great Fox declared that Heaven's Mandate rested upon Shangguan Rou, not him?
When fortune ceased to favor him, he seemed no different from any ordinary person.
Realizing this, Cheng Liang smiled.
Only when the blade of death pierced him did he understand he was no chosen one. He grasped the truth: beyond every man stands another man; beyond every heaven lies another heaven.
He seemed to grasp Su Cheng's silence and the Way of Heaven's choice.
For he had witnessed the true bearer of destiny, clad in blazing flames, standing before her.
Shangguan Rou possessed innate talent and would be a valuable ally on his path to immortality.
Moreover, Shangguan Rou was beautiful—curvy, fair-skinned, and stunningly attractive.
This was why Cheng Liang chose Shangguan Rou. She seemed destined for him, the favored son of fortune, as if born solely for him, born to be his.
Shangguan Rou was born for him, lived for him, and would die for him.
Cheng Liang believed this was Shangguan Rou's destiny, the arrangement of the heavens.
He believed Shangguan Rou should be grateful to him, grateful that he had discovered her.
Without him, Shangguan Rou was nothing.
He dismissed it with contempt. Even when the Great Fox declared that the Mandate of Heaven rested not upon him, but upon Shangguan Rou, he cared not.
But when that blade pierced his chest, Shangguan Rou appeared like a divine warrior, standing before him.
He seemed to let go. In truth, he had been the one acting foolishly all along.
He was accustomed to standing high above others, lecturing this one, admonishing that one.
The very obsession he constantly preached to others about—he never imagined he harbored it himself.
As Su Cheng would say, he took himself far too seriously.
He was nothing.
"Oh dear, it's all this teacher's fault for neglecting my First Disciple!"
When he realized this, much of the fog obscuring his vision gradually dissipated.
He still had his First Disciple. Shangguan Rou hadn't abandoned him.
"It's alright, Rou doesn't blame you, Master!"
The Celestial Path Pavilion now housed more disciples than ever before, and he served as the leading figure of the Immortal Alliance.
It seemed that in this world, aside from Lingxian Hall, only the Tian Dao Pavilion could find a corner to settle in peace. Ye Qinghan had spoken well—with the Apostles descending, the Immortal Alliance and the Four Realms were humanity's last line of defense.
But the Lingxian Hall was not a refuge for mortals. The Tian Dao Pavilion, however, welcomed all who came.
His last meeting with Su Cheng had been at Ling Mountain. From start to finish, Su Cheng had spoken only two sentences to him.
First: "Master Cheng."
Second: You seem to have changed.
Cheng Liang merely smiled. He believed it was thanks to Shangguan Rou that he had found his place.
He replied: "A gentleman judges by deeds, not intentions. This Master has his own reasons for acting."
============================================================