Chapter 72 : Think About What Fang Chang Would Do

Chapter 72: Think About What Fang Chang Would Do

Of course.

Dai Bojun had not originally obtained the Five Elements Treasure Seals during this storyline.

Without Fang Chang’s interference,

the Five Turbid Path’s assault on the mountain would already have been discovered by Canglan Mountain. They would have deliberately played along and lured the enemy into the grand formation before sealing the gates and slaughtering them all.

After this battle, the Five Turbid Path would effectively have been shattered by more than half.

The overwhelming majority of their experts would have perished here.

Their leader, Cui Gao, would have suffered severe injuries, yet still managed to forcibly escape using the Fire Element Treasure Seal and barely cling to life.

Instead, it would have been the twenty-third sect master of Canglan Mountain, Cui Xuan—

who, while pursuing the fleeing enemy, accidentally allowed turbid qi to invade his body, aggravating old injuries from years past. He would have returned to the sect gravely wounded and passed away not long afterward.

Perfected Water Mirror would then become acting sect master.

Thereafter, the sect would spend a full ten years without a proper sect master.

This section of the storyline was difficult for players to encounter.

After all, it belonged to Version 1.0, when everyone’s levels and experience were still pitifully low.

Including Fang Chang himself back then.

The reason he knew about it was because, during this period, he had used large numbers of Five Turbid Path corpses to improve his abilities in the Corpse Refinement Path.

Fang Chang placed the Tai Sui Flesh Body beside Cui Wenxi.

The Fire Element Treasure Seal floated above his palm, continuously emitting faint yet fierce firelight.

Tears streamed down Cui Wenxi’s face, her eyes filled with emptiness and pain.

She simply stared blankly at Fang Chang’s face, ignoring everything around her.

Only a small amount of turbid qi had entered her Violet Palace, so she was not suffering unbearable agony, but her soul had still been thrown into chaos.

Combined with such a devastating blow—

she had not gone insane, but she was not far from it.

【Proceed with ‘Soul-Link’?】

A notification from the Corpse Refinement Path Class System appeared.

Pitch-black text reflected before his eyes.

Cui Wenxi’s current state was so poor that she did not even need to be beaten into critical condition.

“Yes.”

【Binding Target: Cui Wenxi (First Realm · Uninitiated)】

【Soul-Linked Corpse Puppet: ???】

【Current Cultivation Feedback Available: 0】

Success.

It was just that simple.

Fang Chang wiped away the tears from Cui Wenxi’s cheeks, then took out a silk handkerchief stained with her blood.

He activated the secret art of 《Five Qi Returning to the Origin Grand Empowerment》.

In an instant—

his face turned deathly pale as the Spiritual Essence within his body was completely drained.

He had already prepared the formation in advance, merely making use of the formation diagram’s original functions. Sacrificing some Tai Sui Red Flesh was enough, so there was no need for concern.

As for this secret art—

it completely emptied all the Spiritual Essence in his body in a single stroke.

Red light burst forth from the Fire Element Treasure Seal.

Wind surged from all directions, sweeping up dust and fallen leaves into a silent vortex around Cui Wenxi.

...

...

Cui Wenxi discovered that she was still standing at the Listening Wind Grounds before the mountain gate.

But the dazzling, thunderous sky had become blue skies and white clouds.

There was no brilliance from formations, no heavenly tribulation triggered by tearing through the heavens, no enemies attacking the mountain.

And no younger sister Cui Shuyu holding a sword.

Nor her mother collapsed in a pool of blood.

Spirit cranes and immortal birds soared overhead, painting a scene of tranquil peace.

Cui Wenxi realized she had become much shorter.

Though she had never been particularly tall to begin with—

the direction her face faced only reached the height of the hand hanging from the arm of the person beside her. That was far too short!

‘Wenxi.’

Someone softly called out to her.

She snapped back to herself, joy unconsciously rising within her heart.

Looking up, she unsurprisingly saw her father’s face.

‘Father.’

Cui Wenxi instinctively reached for her father’s fingers.

But just as she was about to raise her hand—

she discovered that she was holding a snow-white rabbit in her arms.

Her expression stiffened slightly as she remembered what this was about.

——Her mother had demanded that she release the wild rabbit she had secretly raised for three months, claiming that it distracted her from proper pursuits.

‘Don’t blame your mother. She devotes herself entirely to the Cui Family. Many matters must be viewed from the greater perspective.’

Her father removed a fallen flower petal from her head.

His mouth did not move, yet his voice still appeared.

‘Just because your mother told you to release it means you have to?’

“But if I don’t, Mother will be angry.”

‘And if you do release it, then you won’t be angry yourself?’

Cui Wenxi’s eyes reddened.

She noticed a faint red glow flickering in the distance,

but paid it no attention.

“I just don’t want Mother to be angry.”

Her father still did not move his lips. He merely shook his head and quietly stayed beside her.

The scene dispersed like drifting clouds and mist washing toward her face.

Cui Wenxi instinctively raised her arm to shield herself.

Only after realizing it truly was nothing but mist did she dare open her eyes again.

The scene before her changed once more.

...

Inside a pitch-black hall, green smoke curled upward from a bronze incense burner.

Her mother wore Daoist robes and carried a white jade sword upon her back, her entire figure concealed within shadows.

She raised a hand and pushed over a sachet.

A cold voice echoed through the sealed hall.

‘Give this item to Cheng Hua. It will ensure that the Cui Family’s position among the direct disciples remains unthreatened.’

Affected by the emotions of the scene, Cui Wenxi inspected the Gu Path methods hidden within the sachet and anxiously replied:

“Junior Sister Cheng has no aspirations in this regard. There is no need to use such methods. Even if she obtains the direct disciple position, I can persuade her not to compete for it!”

‘And because you say so, it will be so?’

“Mother!”

‘The Cui Family has raised you to this point. I have raised you to this point. And yet you cannot even accomplish such a trivial matter?!’

“But Junior Sister Cheng and I have been close friends for many years. Your daughter... truly...”

‘Enough nonsense! This matter concerns the inheritance of the Cui Family! If you cannot do it, then we can only let someone else handle it! At that point, it will not be as simple as crippling Cheng Hua’s cultivation!’

Cui Wenxi panicked.

Compared to losing one’s life, losing one’s cultivation was easier to accept.

She accepted the sachet, seemingly never noticing that a strand of silk thread from the sachet at her waist had also burrowed inward.

At this moment—

the incense burning within the bronze furnace emitted a faint red glow.

Someone’s voice spoke from within it.

It was not her father’s voice.

It sounded somewhat familiar, yet she could not find it anywhere in her memories.

‘What exactly are you pretending for?’

“What?!” Cui Wenxi asked in alarm.

‘You clearly noticed that she tampered with your sachet, so what are you pretending for?’

“I... I...”

‘Do you think that by obediently following along and leaving the course of events to others, you are somehow uninvolved?’

“I never thought that! When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten itself out. Wh-when the time comes, the future me will naturally have a... way to handle it!”

‘There it is again.’

The voice within the red glow sneered.

‘Not only do you hand your choices over to others, you even hand them over to your future self. This is nothing more than avoidance and procrastination.’

Cui Wenxi trembled.

The hidden thoughts in her heart had been exposed. Even she herself had never consciously realized this underlying logic.

She felt the clear spiritual aura within her body gradually being suppressed and dispersed.

In its place, the Five Elements Turbid Aura surged into her Violet Palace, throwing her soul into chaos!

Her head felt as though it were splitting apart.

...

The scene suddenly shattered.

When it reformed again, she found herself standing before a ruined temple.

One Lamp Temple, Tomb General, Cheng Hua, Fang Chang, the Yin Corpse—

they continuously flashed before her eyes before finally settling into place.

Cheng Hua said, “It’s a gu insect. The same Gu Path method as the one inside my sachet.”

Her tone carried relieved understanding, as though trying to excuse her.

Fang Chang sneered.

“Since ancient times, loyalty and righteousness have always been difficult to preserve together. But then again, when you’re useless, who even cares whether you possess loyalty or righteousness at all?”

Cui Wenxi felt as though she had been struck over the head.

“Yes... yes... that’s right... it should be like this!”

The severely blurred light in her eyes became even more hollow.

She raised her palm, Spiritual Essence blazing brilliantly within it, and prepared to strike her own Crimson Palace.

But a slender, bony hand seized her wrist.

It was Fang Chang.

He pressed her hand down.

Fang Chang shook his head in disappointment.

“You torment yourself like this... Since you don’t want to choose, then don’t make choices at all.”

“From today onward, don’t listen to unpleasant words. Avoid people you dislike. Don’t suffer even the slightest hardship. Your foremost task is to cast aside pain and cast aside guilt.”

“Abandon the Cui Family. Abandon the responsibilities in your heart.”

“All decisions. All gains and losses.”

“Use me, Fang Chang—the solitary man with nothing—as the standard for everything. Whatever I would do, that is what you should do.”

“One sentence.”

“‘Think about what I, Fang Chang, would do.’”

Within the darkness—

upon the Listening Wind Grounds illuminated by dazzling techniques—

Cui Wenxi raised her head. That man’s voice still echoed beside her ears, gentle as though coaxing her.

As she looked into Fang Chang’s eyes, the emptiness within her gaze gradually dispersed, replaced by uncontrollable brilliance and dependence.

The next moment—

Dao resonance surged.

The red light exploded outward and poured into her body.

Cultivation flooded through her like a raging torrent as layer after layer of realm barriers shattered apart.

The agonizing pain within her soul became increasingly intense.

She raised the Red Lotus Sword and, following Fang Chang’s guidance with complete obedience, thrust it straight into Cui Shuyu’s body without the slightest hesitation.

In that instant—

her Violet Palace became perfectly clear.

An unimaginable sense of satisfaction filled Cui Wenxi’s heart.