Chapter 59 : The Five Turbid Path Was Once Called the Grand Void Orthodox Lineage

Chapter 59: The Five Turbid Path Was Once Called the Grand Void Orthodox Lineage

The bamboo sea surged, and the fresh scent of bamboo leaves swept past.

“If your cultivation were still intact, would you be confident in taking a Direct Disciple Trial spot?”

Fang Chang’s words still echoed.

The trailing tone faded into the not-so-large room.

Cui Wenxi shut her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth, her nails nearly digging into her palms.

She felt that the person before her was unbearably annoying.

“So what if I do? So what if I don’t? Leave! Go back! Tell Cheng Hua that I… I hate her to death! Tell her not to come again!”

“What if I told you there’s a way for you to return to the Dao Realm and avoid bitter cultivation?”

Fang Chang’s words were like a demonic whisper.

Cui Wenxi paused for a moment.

Yet she didn’t believe it in the slightest.

Her round almond-shaped eyes finally filled with anger.

“You’re putting on an act here just to toy with me and attract my attention! But I’m no longer the Cui Family cultivator who once drew everyone’s focus. If you want to climb connections, go find someone else!”

“……”

Why are you reacting exactly the same as Cheng Hua? No wonder you’re fellow disciples.

Fang Chang curled his lips. If you keep this up, I’m going to start attacking.

“Have you ever thought about why, that day beneath the abandoned well of One Lamp Temple, that mere Third Realm ancient tomb dried corpse was able to disturb your mind?”

Cui Wenxi stiffened.

Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to speak but stopped.

She stepped back, gathering strength, as if trying to reject hearing certain words, forcefully pulling the door again and again.

But it didn’t budge in the slightest.

Fang Chang laughed—truly laughed out loud.

“So you did know—knew that it was your own Cui Family people who planted the Gu in you.”

Back then, before entering the dungeon at One Lamp Temple,

Cui Wenxi had her mind disturbed by the small boss—the abbot’s withered corpse. Once the boss died, the effect should have naturally disappeared.

Yet she still attacked Cheng Hua afterward.

That was precisely because of the Gu insect within her.

“Shut up!”

Cui Wenxi’s voice suddenly rose sharply.

“No, I’m just a bit curious—”

Fang Chang stepped half a pace closer, his eyes carrying mockery and scrutiny.

“You knew you were being manipulated like a tool. You knew you were planted with a Gu insect. And then? You just accepted it? You didn’t even shout a single ‘why’?”

“You don’t understand anything… I—I am a cultivator of the Cui Family, so of course… of course I must bear it…”

Cui Wenxi’s voice began to tremble.

“Look at you—you don’t even have much resentment. So calmly ‘passively’ harming others, and afterward you’re so dispirited, without even a trace of the sharpness a cultivator should have… With such weakness, how did you even reach the Fourth Realm?”

“I was raised by the Cui Family since childhood. I… what I can do… is only…”

Cui Wenxi’s shoulders trembled violently.

“You raise pigs, you raise dogs—you’re just a tool. Raised up, then slaughtered when needed, used when needed—and you call that kindness?”

“Then what do you want me to do! That is my mother!”

Cui Wenxi exploded, her voice trembling as it broke.

Fang Chang fell silent.

He simply looked at her—watched her chest heave violently, watched tears gather in her eyes yet stubbornly refuse to fall.

After a while, he let out a soft laugh.

He reached out and patted her head.

Good.

That means there is still resentment in your heart.

Cui Wenxi angrily slapped his hand away, glaring at him.

She was small, yet with her head raised like that, she carried a trace of cuteness.

Fang Chang casually formed a hand seal.

This spell was very simple—called Ghost Blinding.

It was usually used by wandering cultivators to deceive mortals for money or pleasure, effective only on those without cultivation.

But at this moment, it was perfectly suitable.

Fang Chang’s tone softened:

“So, don’t you want revenge?”

“That white-robed female cultivator who bullied you—she’s probably also from the Cui Family, right? Don’t tell me you don’t want to beat her back.”

“The Cui Family trimming branches like this, treating you as a tool, discarding you after use… don’t tell me you don’t want to smash their entire ridiculous plan to pieces and sit alone upon that Direct Disciple throne?”

“Even your Junior Sister Cheng Hua—she wouldn’t hate you. She would probably even defend you… don’t tell me you don’t want to return to the Dao Realm, shine brilliantly again, scold her for her naïveté, and then hand her a Direct Disciple spot yourself?”

Cui Wenxi trembled.

Each of Fang Chang’s words seemed to replay before her eyes, hazy and dreamlike, as though everything were becoming real.

In that blur,

she seemed to see herself lying in a sea of flowers, with no one else around.

The fragrance of flowers surrounded her—fresh, light, carefree.

And then—

the scene shattered abruptly, like bursting bubbles.

The bruises on her face and body still ached. The man before her still had that gloomy, handsome face.

Cui Wenxi turned her head away and slowly walked to a chair inside the room, sitting down.

Lowering her head, utterly desolate.

“What’s the point of saying all this now? My Crimson Palace has been severely damaged. The Grand Void Path enters Dao through qi transforming into the Five Elements. Without the Dantian heart palace that refines qi into spirit, I can no longer walk this path.”

“Who said you can’t stab without a spear tip… uh, I mean, who said the Grand Void Path only has one route?”

“……”

Cui Wenxi raised her eyes, seeing his confident and frivolous expression.

For some reason, a trace of hope rose in her heart.

Fang Chang flipped his hand, revealing a box of ointment for external injuries.

He first took out a silk cloth, wiped away the blood, and put it aside.

Then he scooped out a portion with his finger and, ignoring Cui Wenxi’s resistance, rubbed it onto the bruises on the back of her hand.

Cui Wenxi’s eyelashes trembled slightly, her legs drawn together.

Her skirt clung to her form, outlining a rounded curve.

Fang Chang’s gaze lingered for a moment, then moved away.

“You weren’t sent by Junior Sister Cheng Hua, were you? Someone as dishonest as you, touching a girl’s hand the moment you meet—she wouldn’t trust you to come.”

What kind of statement is that?

I, Fang Chang, am very honest, alright? With two beautiful Yin Corpses by my side—when have I ever taken the initiative?

Passive doesn’t count.

“The Grand Void is qi. Qi transforms into the Five Elements. The orthodox Grand Void Path uses the Crimson Palace as a ‘furnace,’ refining qi into spirit and commanding the Five Elements.”

“Canglan Mountain follows the orthodox Grand Void Path—qi is the origin of all things, pure, orderly, controlled.”

“But in the Outer Regions, there is also a path that pursues ‘the Grand Void is qi, qi transforms into the Five Elements.’”

“They simply believe that the ‘Grand Void’ is chaotic, all-encompassing—not only containing pure qi, but also ‘turbid qi.’ Thus, they bypass the Crimson Palace and instead coexist with the mortal world’s impurities through the physical body’s organs.”

Listening to Fang Chang’s words,

Cui Wenxi frowned deeply.

“The Five Turbid Path?”

“As expected of a Cui Family cultivator—well-informed.”

“That is one of the Thirty-Six Deviant Paths.”

“The Thirty-Six Deviant Paths are still cultivation.”

“Do you know that the Five Turbid Path once contested orthodoxy with our Canglan Mountain? Even now, they still hold one of our Five Elements treasure seals.”

A single one of those had an S-rank evaluation—Hidden Treasure Five Elements Seal.

When all five were combined, it was terrifying—only appearing in later versions.

Fang Chang knew.

That thing could blast someone straight into the sky.

He scooped another portion of ointment, about to apply it to her facial wounds.

But halfway through—

from within the Black Tortoise Square Cauldron came the grating sound of nails scraping against a coffin lid, filled with jealousy and madness, harsh and unsettling.

Fang Chang didn’t want someone going insane here.

He placed the ointment into Cui Wenxi’s hand instead, smiling as he said:

“The methods of the Five Turbid Path—before they split off—were also called the Grand Void Orthodox Lineage.”