Chapter 66 Part 1

Perhaps due to the influence of the Cultivation World, the Heavenly Dao’s will in this world was very strong, staunchly blocking any intruders from outside.

After stepping into the spacetime rift of this world, a fierce gust of wind instantly assaulted them head-on.

The airflow was so powerful, like a pair of hands wielding divine might, mercilessly slapping at them and nearly knocking both man and system to the ground.

The wild wind howled as Shen Yu was forced to bend at the waist to lower his center of gravity. He clutched 007 tightly in his arms with one hand while crossing the other in front of his face to shield it. The gale whipped up the black hair on his forehead, revealing his fair and handsome brow.

Shen Yu furrowed his brows and asked 007 in a low voice, “What’s going on? Is this world blocking our entry? Were we discovered before even getting in?”

007 poked half its body out from his embrace. The White Dumpling’s fur flew wildly, nearly swept away by the turbulent flow.

It hurriedly shrank back and clung tightly to Shen Yu’s arm.

The White Dumpling shook its head, its tone grave. “No, the world will of the Cultivation World has always been extremely sensitive, with astonishing perception of unusual fluctuations. It’s just detected a hint of anomaly now and habitually launched an interception. We must seize the opportunity to pass through the airflow and enter the world, or we’ll be pursued.”

Amid the raging winds, Shen Yu narrowed his eyes and peered between the dim vortex and the turbulent flows. After confirming there was indeed an opening, his brows gradually relaxed, and the corners of his mouth curved into a slight arc.

“It seems the Heavenly Dao of this world is quite strong. Very challenging.”

007 nodded. “In any case, we must be extremely careful.”

Shen Yu soon spotted the entrance to the vortex obscured by the wind flows. “I see the entrance.”

He turned sideways to reduce the direct impact of the wind and inched toward the center of the vortex step by step. The closer he got, the greater the resistance and the fiercer the winds, which seemed to tear in from all directions.

Shen Yu felt like a piece of clothing tossed into a washing machine, tumbling and twisting every which way. As he drew near the entrance, he called out in a strained voice, “007, hold on tight.”

Hearing his voice, 007’s entire White Dumpling form hugged the man’s arm.

Shen Yu’s heart pounded like a drum. Staring at the entrance that resembled a black hole capable of devouring everything, he pursed his lips, held 007 close, and leaped downward without hesitation, plunging into the vortex.

…

【Strategy Target: Wen Liuhe.】

After passing through endless, rolling vast seas of clouds, they beheld towering mountain ranges amid the cloud veins. That was the renowned Changliu Immortal Mountain of the entire Nine Provinces, the home of the Cultivation World’s number one sect, the Taichu Sect.

Celestial music played endlessly atop the jade steps.

The Changliu Immortal Mountain, silent for nearly twenty years, bustled once more due to the long-awaited Apprenticeship Ceremony.

“Emotionless Dao?”

Hidden amid swirling clouds and mists on the Golden Summit of Taichu Main Peak, the palace beams and brackets were carved with soaring dragons and fierce phoenixes. In the vast front courtyard outside the hall, disciples from various immortal families of age entered first.

At the registration desk, a little boy dressed in fine clothes hunched over and tried to sneak away amid the crowd. He appeared to be about seven or eight years old, but his brows already held a sharp edge, like two short swords. His movements were swift, almost too quick to catch.

But he was still just a child, after all.

Wen Siyuan frowned, stretched out an arm, and yanked his own little rascal’s collar, hoisting him into the air without mercy.

The child immediately wailed loudly, his short legs kicking wildly in the air. “Wen Siyuan! Put this young master down!!”

“I’ve told you how many times—no manners. Call me Dad.”

Wen Siyuan raised one hand and, in front of everyone, smacked the kid’s butt hard twice. He didn’t hold back, making the child twitch in pain as he unleashed a torrent of curses at Wen Siyuan.

The surrounding little turnips immediately craned their necks to peek over.

Hearing the murmurs, Wen Liuhe scowled fiercely, whipped his head around, bared his teeth at them, and snarled, “What are you looking at? Never seen someone dragged here to apprentice?”

His momentum was fierce enough to scare the onlookers, who quickly shrank back.

After disciplining his little rascal, Wen Siyuan turned to the blue-robed disciple handling registration and nodded confirmation. “Emotionless Dao.”

“Wen Siyuan! I don’t want to cultivate Emotionless Dao. You killed my mom and that’s not enough—you want to kill this young master too? I refuse to join this crappy immortal sect. Put me down if you dare!”

Wen Siyuan’s expression changed. He smiled at the blue-robed disciple, hoisted the kid, and strode toward the main peak, the curses fading into the distance.

After registering this little ancestor, it was the next one’s turn. The blue-robed disciple looked up to see a pink-and-jade-carved little dumpling hand over his token with a shy smile.

“Emotionless Dao as well.”

Two Emotionless Dao cultivators in a row, both from great immortal families. The blue-robed disciple was somewhat shocked.

Emotionless Dao severed emotions and desires. Advancement was swift, with many ascenders, but even more who fell. If one avoided the emotional tribulation, all was well, but if it struck, one either killed their Dao companion to prove the Dao or suffered a shattered Dao heart and wasted all prior efforts.

Logically, these disciples from immortal families had plenty of spirit stones and treasures as cultivation resources. They shouldn’t choose this high-risk Emotionless Dao. Most peculiar.

Thirty li away at Question Sword Peak, a waterfall cascaded down from a thousand-zhang cliff, ancient runes faintly visible within the falls.

A sharp sword light pierced the air in an instant.

Gu Changqing descended on his sword. His pristine white boots embroidered with golden flowing clouds touched down. He formed a hand seal to retract his sword into his Sword Bone and looked ahead.

A figure like frost and snow bathed in the waterfall. Ink-black hair floated ethereally on the water’s surface. Further in, the water lapped over subtly undulating pale chest lines.

A pool of water gathered in the hollow of his exposed collarbone, swaying with the man’s turning motion.

Shen Yu lifted his fan-like long lashes and turned his head, revealing his face fully in view.

His lips were full like beautiful petals on a branch, his nose bridge high and straight, his brows and eyes clear yet profoundly deep. His eyes held a lazy smile, and those rippling peach blossom eyes seemed all the more amorous amid the spring-like warmth of his grin.

It was hard to imagine that his junior brother, with this strikingly handsome face, had been secretly in love for a full three hundred years.

That year, Shen Yu fell in love at first sight with Yinghong Fairy at the Sword Trial Assembly. Once smitten, it lasted three full centuries.

Over those three hundred years, despite his junior brother’s exceptional talent, he always fell just short of Mahayana ascension.

Until three months ago, when Wei Yinghong failed to kill her husband to prove her Dao, her Dao heart shattered. A red sword kissed her neck, and she took her own life in the Ten-Li Long Sky Sword Tomb.

Either achieve the Dao or die. Since she couldn’t achieve it, she martyred herself for it.

The day he heard the news of her death, Shen Yu finally formed a Ruthless Dao Heart and had been in seclusion for days to consolidate it.

Just as everyone thought Shen Yu’s ascension was set, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion observed the stars at night and detected his emotional tribulation once more. His junior brother’s tribulation truly seemed endless.

Shen Yu brushed back his dripping wet hair and smiled as he spoke. “Is Senior Brother peeking on Junior Brother bathing?”

Despite years of familiarity, Gu Changqing still couldn’t get used to his unserious nature. He halted his forward steps and glanced at the rune-flowing waterfall.

Behind the waterfall was Shen Yu’s seclusion grounds.

Gu Changqing withdrew his gaze and frowned. “You’ve only been in seclusion for three months. Why emerge now?”

“Isn’t today the Apprenticeship Ceremony?” Shen Yu formed a hand seal to summon the clothes by the waterfall’s edge. Cloud patterns instantly draped his body. He formed another seal to dry his wet hair, then summoned the Evil-Exorcising Sword from his Sword Bone. Relying on instinct, he mounted the sword and rose smoothly.

The Cultivation World was fun.

This world consisted of the Cultivation World and the Nine Provinces, mainly telling the tale of the love-hate entanglement between the protagonist top Gu Changqing and protagonist bottom Xu Buchan, that master-disciple pair on the Emotionless Dao.

Shen Yu’s identity in this world was the master of the major villain Wen Liuhe—seemingly carefree but actually rigidly righteous, devoted to upholding the orthodox Dao.

It was rare to draw such a good persona, so Shen Yu couldn’t help but get excited. 【Great! A positive role! We’re saved at last!】

007: 【But in this world, given the villain’s personality and his cultivation ideology that’s eight hundred li off from the righteous path, it seems like being the antagonist might actually make it easier to raise favorability?】

Shen Yu: 【…】

007: 【During his key vulnerable period after turning to demonic cultivation, you’ll hunt him down repeatedly, pushing him to desperation time and again.】

Shen Yu: 【…】

As expected, no strategy target was easy. Moreover, this world’s Heavenly Dao had been greatly strengthened, so he had to meticulously follow the persona and plotline.

For Shen Yu, this was undoubtedly a tough battle, but fortunately, the strategy timeline in this world stretched out long.

In the plotline involving him, after Shen Yu exceptionally took Wen Liuhe as a disciple because the boy’s brows resembled his white moonlight, this rebellious brat—wild from childhood and astonishingly talented—would, upon adulthood, be unable to tolerate what he saw as hypocritical righteousness of the orthodox path and defect to the demonic path.

Shen Yu would then sever the master-disciple bond upon discovering Wen Liuhe’s demonic turn, personally clean up the sect, but ultimately be unable to deliver a fatal blow due to the villain’s face resembling his mother’s. He would be counter-killed by Wen Liuhe.

Thus, Shen Yu’s Ruthless Dao Heart would shatter completely, leading to his death and dissipation—serving as a negative example for educating the protagonist bottom.

So when Xu Buchan finally killed Gu Changqing to prove his Dao, though he hesitated briefly, he showed no mercy. A cold gleam pierced Gu Changqing’s unguarded heart in an instant. In the end, Heaven Gate received him, and he successfully ascended.

Two master-disciple pairs, four Emotionless Dao cultivators.

In the end, neither master succeeded, but both disciples did.

007: 【In a sense, it’s also a victory for the masters. At least it proves you two taught well.】

How to be a good master? How to deepen the master-disciple bond? These were indeed good questions.

Shen Yu smiled faintly. 【But this world’s timeline is nice and long. Finally, I can rest properly while doing the tasks.】

007 agreed.

The exchange between man and system happened in an instant.

Gu Changqing mounted his sword and rose as well, asking, “So?”

Shen Yu winked at him, his lips naturally curved in a smile. “Cultivation is so boring. I thought I’d take a disciple to raise.”

Gu Changqing wasn’t swayed. He cut straight to the point. “The Wen Family’s young one is also participating in this Apprenticeship Ceremony. You want to take that child as your disciple?”

Shen Yu was candid. “What if I do?” He acted on his heart’s whims, free and unrestrained, fearless of all things. The only time he blushed was when Wei Yinghong pinned a flower in his hair.