Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

The air went quiet for a brief moment.

The fact that she could create a Dao field meant that mad woman was not a spirit puppet, but a sentient living being. But according to what the Sage’s remnant soul had just said, the Splendor Blom Sect had already been destroyed for 10,000 years even in his era, which itself was 10,000 years ago.

That mad woman had lived far too long. 20,000 years...

After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan turned his eyes toward the Sage’s remnant soul and asked in a low voice, “Old Luo, do you know of anything that can live for more than 20,000 years?”

The Sage’s remnant soul seemed to be pondering the same question. After a slight hesitation, he shook his head. “Not really. Aside from wraithfiends and ghosts, even a 10,000-year turtle couldn’t possibly live that long.”

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Haven’t you lived for over 10,000 years?”

“My cultivation art is special, and I spent most of that time asleep. Besides...” The Sage’s remnant soul sounded helpless. Then he spread his hands. “I can’t use a Dao field now either.”

Xu Yuan frowned. “That black dome you created back in Stillwater wasn’t a Dao field?”

The Sage’s remnant soul grinned. “How could some half-baked soul domain count as a Dao field? I don’t even have a body. I can’t refine or store source qi. Where would I get a Dao field from?”

Xu Yuan roughly understood. This so-called Dao field was probably a kind of domain formed through the interaction between one’s own source qi and soul intent.

The ghost domain Gui Qi had used before his death was likely something similar.

At that thought, Xu Yuan reined in his wandering mind. There was no point saying more now. Better to go see it with his own eyes.

The observation array was an extremely practical compound array. It was often carved in conjunction with certain grand formations that protected mountains or cities, allowing the user’s soul intent to connect with the array and thereby control other formations.

The god’s-eye view Xu Yuan had experienced when activating the teleportation array earlier had been the effect of the observation array.

The instant his soul intent linked with the array, Xu Yuan immediately entered that same state from before, looking down from the clouds upon all creation. Only this time, things were slightly different from before, because every array within the Dome Palace that could still operate had already been activated.

After a brief daze, Xu Yuan quickly understood. Most likely, Tian Yan’s battle with that mad woman inside the sect had triggered the conditions for the sect-protecting formations to activate automatically.

Gathering his thoughts, he began searching through the jade towers and celestial pavilions for traces of Tian Yan and that mad woman. His gaze swept through the palace grounds and soon locked onto the Sakura Leech Lake from earlier.

The lake was no longer as calm and peaceful as it had been when he left. The Beguiling Divine Sakura was still the same cherry blossom tree, but the vermilion soul bewitching corridor around the outer ring had been cut straight through the middle and had collapsed onto the surface of the lake.

Aside from that, the lotus leaves and lotus flowers that had once floated quietly across the water had all vanished. In their place were densely packed corpses of water leeches. Looking down from the sky, the entire lake was one great, oppressive sheet of black.

In Azure Point, these leeches had not even displayed health bars. But now that everything had become reality, the entire pond of leeches had been slaughtered clean.

Xu Yuan swept his gaze across the dome, but all he saw was the devastation left behind. Tian Yan and that mad woman were already gone.

Following the craters and ruins carved out by the aftershocks of battle, he traced their path.

Finally, above a cluster of palaces, Xu Yuan found the two of them. Tian Yan and the mad woman’s battle was still ongoing. Rows upon rows of palace halls collapsed one after another under the shockwaves of their clash, and dust and smoke had almost swallowed the entire area.

Just as Xu Yuan had expected. That mad woman was indeed the boss from the Sect Master’s bedchamber. Her appearance was similar to how she had looked in Azure Point. She wore a red dress, her hair hung loose and wild, and she kept muttering incomprehensible things like, “I’ll kill you,” “Impossible,” and “They’re all dead.”

At the same time, Xu Yuan finally saw what a so-called Dao field looked like.

With the help of the observation array, Xu Yuan could vaguely see ethereal jade towers and celestial pavilions drifting like shifting mist within a thousand feet of the woman in red. Celestial music curled through the air. Beautiful women dressed in silk robes moved between the buildings, and soft, decadent melodies lingered without end. It was a garden overflowing with spring.

Even though he was only observing those clouds and mist through the array, Xu Yuan’s mind swayed at once. His gaze fixed uncontrollably on the mad woman’s Dao field, and he fell into a daze.

In the span of a breath, a tangle of desires began to rise within his heart, and his breathing gradually grew hurried.

Inside the Deep Archive, the atmosphere was antique and elegant. The spirit puppet young matron still stood in attendance, while Ran Qingmo sat before the array platform with her eyes closed in quiet rest.

Xu Yuan subconsciously walked toward her. His gaze locked onto the crystalline skin exposed through the torn parts of this iceberg of a woman’s clothes. He came to her side, bent down, and raised his hand.

“Focus your mind!” The Sage’s remnant soul barked in a low voice.

Xu Yuan instantly snapped awake.

At that moment, Ran Qingmo also slowly opened her eyes. She looked at Xu Yuan’s hand, which was reaching toward her and now frozen awkwardly in midair, with faint confusion.

“Xu Yuan... what is it?” Her voice was still cool and clear.

Xu Yuan fell silent for a few breaths. Then, without changing expression, he pointed at the tear in her clothes and said, “Your clothes are torn. Remember to change into another set later.”

Ran Qingmo looked down, then nodded. “Oh. All right.”

After saying that, she blinked at him, waiting for what came next.

Xu Yuan gave a light cough. “That’s all.”

Hearing this, Ran Qingmo simply closed her eyes again and continued resting.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, then heard the Sage’s remnant soul laughing in his mind.

“As expected of a sect descended from the Joyous Union Sect. That mad woman’s Dao field really does have some flavor to it. Let your mind slip for even a second and you’ll sink right into it.”

Xu Yuan’s voice was cold. You did that on purpose?

The Sage’s remnant soul replied with a beaming smile. “I let you experience what a Dao field feels like. Besides, it’s all going to happen sooner or later anyway. And didn’t I stop you at the end?”

Xu Yuan wanted to curse, but in the end, he held it back. He only said in a low voice, Protect my mind later.

The Sage’s remnant soul only smiled and said nothing.

Xu Yuan once again sank his mind into the observation array.

Tian Yan and the mad woman were still in the same place, and the Dao field formed from clouds and mist remained as before.

Only this time, with the Sage’s remnant soul reinforcing him with soul force, Xu Yuan’s mind was no longer affected by it.

When he focused and looked closely, Xu Yuan finally realized that those flourishing jade towers and celestial pavilions were only the surface. Hidden beneath them was murderous intent.

Whenever the celestial music rang out, whenever the women within swayed their graceful bodies in dance, wave after wave of violent tremors would erupt around the young girl Tian Yan.

The powerful wind pressure made the girl’s pale red palace dress snap and flutter loudly.

Just as the Sage’s remnant soul had said, Tian Yan really was strong.

Although she had been casually drawn into the mad woman’s Dao field, Tian Yan seemed completely unaffected by those decadent sounds. Her little face was cold as frost. She neither dodged nor retreated. Her red lips parted slightly, and one Heaven Mantra after another poured from her mouth.

Every time Tian Yan uttered a single word, the mad woman, despite being inside her own Dao field, would be forced to flee in a sorry state.

Meanwhile, the barefoot girl stood firmly in place like a fixed artillery battery.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan felt a trace of confusion.

Hadn’t Ran Qingmo said just now that Tian Yan could not beat this mad woman? From the way things looked below, no matter how he looked at it, Tian Yan was the one beating the mad woman into the ground.

Old Luo, can you see what’s happening down there? Xu Yuan suddenly asked.

“Of course I can,” the Sage’s remnant soul replied, his voice no longer carrying its earlier amusement.