Want to Ascend? Then Fall in Love

Chapter 3 – As If Light Clouds Covered The Moon

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Where black met the blue, two men looked at each other from a distance.

With just a glance, Gu Jiuyuan seemed to embody the vague shadow Shen Qingxian had of him in his memory. 

Far on the road that stretched from the Final Ashes, the man’s skin gleamed snow-white, his body was long while his shoulders were wide, and he wore a crimson robe, looking like a red spider lily blooming in the depths of the night, flaunting his strangeness openly and doing whatever he wished. 

He was far away, but Shen Qingxian still saw his eyes clearly: a pair of eyes as beautiful as rubies. 

He looked at him, and Gu Jiyuan also stared fixedly back at him. One side was still and calm, while the other side was persistent and sure. 

Shen Qingxuan frowned very slightly… On the heavenly dao side, everyone instantly drew their weapons!

Zeng Ziliang, Ye Zhan and the others all attentively held their breaths, waiting for a war that could be triggered at any moment!

Suddenly, a warm breeze  rose from beneath their feet, followed by a hard-to-describe fragrance. This smell was bewitching, like one’s greatest desire in one’s most beautiful of dreams, that kind of most anticipated aroma. 

It evoked the most innocent ignorance of youth, drawing out one’s deepest desires accumulated on the long road of life, and called upon one’s deepest yearnings and emotions.  

In an instant, thousands of heavenly dao elites sank into the sensation, and even the six sect leaders were left dazed and incapable of distinguishing between reality and illusions.

Reality…Illusions….

What were those?

A deep and charming voice sounded out, “Why trouble yourselves?”

These words were light and lazy, but they rang from the bottom of their hearts and rushed into their minds, trapping their reason and consciousness, making it so that people couldn’t help but get lost in it.

Joy, anger, worry, deliberation, sadness, fear, and surprise— the seven emotions that most disturbed people had at this moment, became one, merging into a straight line to sweep through the surging warmth and scorching pulse of their blood and spirits…

An ice-cold breeze then shattered this love and indolence. 

In an instant, the entire world changed, the warm and beautiful land collapsed, that fabricated warmth dissipated, and what poured into the bottom of their hearts chilled them to the bone. 

Ye Zhan’s cultivation was the highest, and he was the first to come back to his senses. This previously calm and proud man was now drenched in cold sweat, from his palms to his back!

It was illusion magic!

The Demon Lord Jiuyuan’s bewitchment!

He had never expected that even with Lord Lianhua here, that demon lord would still be that arrogant!

Long ago, they had heard that Demon Lord Jiuyuan was good at controlling people’s hearts; one mind-bewitching spell of his could make someone incapable of distinguishing between what was real and false for thousands of years, but he had never expected him to dare to use such a large-scale spell at this time and place. 

What was more terrifying was that everyone except Lord Lianhua had fallen to this technique.

You had to know, all the people of the heavenly dao present here were on high alert from the beginning, remaining intensely focused, and more or less, every single one of them was wearing magical artifacts to resist spells. 

Let alone their cultivators who had led the way into the sea; each of them possessed their own arts, never fearing any magic.

But that moment just now overturned everything.

If Lord Lianhua hadn’t intervened, then their entire army would have probably been wiped out. 

Waves of cold washed over their hearts; no one would ever underestimate the emperor of the Heart Domain again. 

He was as famous as the number one person of the heavenly dao, he …he was terrifying!

Only when the spell was undone did they discover how close the two sides were now. 

From a distance, it looked as if that Demon Lord Jiuyuan was standing right in front of their family’s lordship. He was a little taller, and his magnificent red eyes were filled with a teasing light. “Shishu, long time no see.”

In terms of seniority, Gu Jianshen really had to call Shen Qingxian ‘shishu.’

Back then, Shen Qingxian had been his shifu’s last disciple, and Gu Jianshen had been Shen Qingxian’s shixiong’s last disciple. Although they had hardly met and had no deep relations, they really had been part of the same sect before.

Of course, when both sides were facing off like this, saying that was an act of provocation. 

Shen Qingxian’s expression didn’t change. “The emperor is too polite. There is no need to talk of seniority when we walk different paths.”

Gu Jianshen didn’t say anything, instead, he looked at him, his eyes going from from Shen Qingxian’s chilly hair to his pale forehead, before finally stopping at the mark on his brow – a blood-colored lotus blooming on his snow-white skin, adding graciously a hint of beautiful melancholy to him. 

Gu Jiuyuan’s thin lips rose, and he sighed, “As if light clouds covered the moon, and snow flutters like the wind is blowing.“

As soon as he said this, the heavenly dao people all immediately exploded right then and there!

The demon emperor actually…actually dared…

There was something even more willful awaiting them; Gu Jianshen asked with a smile, “Lord, has anyone ever praised your gorgeous face before?”

Shen Qingxian raised his hand to stop them, but Ye Zhan was so angry that he was about to explode. In the entire cultivation world, who would dare to speak such nonsense to His Lordship!

“Impudent!” Ye Zhan simply couldn’t bear it any longer, he just wanted to fight this demonic cultivator to the death. 

This demonic cultivator in front of them was really loathsome!

In contrast to his disciple’s anger, Shen Qingxian looked calm. He looked at Gu Jianshen and whispered, “With the fragrance of the red dew, the heart of the Mount Wushan fairy breaks in vain.“

Gu Jianshen was stunned.

Shen Qingxian stared at him. “The emperor’s bearing is youthfully stunning.”

Now, the ones to explode right there were the Heart Domain’s four protectors, eight generals, and the sixteen members of the death guard!

This Shen Lianhua had compared their emperor to a woman in a lord’s harem!

In just a few words, the heavenly dao and Heart Domain had already drawn daggers at each other, wanting to fight each other immediately. 

But the two people at the center actually smiled at each other after a short pause.

That’s right….they were smiling at each other!

The six heavenly dao sects thought they had gone blind.

The people from the Heart Domain thought their brains had been damaged.

As the saying went, ‘if one could not write a line of poetry that took the breath away, he would never stop writing more’. They had thought the demon lord would grow angry, creating millions of corpses and letting out thousands of li of blood… Yet, Gu Jianshen said in good temper, “I’m lucky to have been praised by Your Lordship in this life.”

The eyes of the Heart Domain’s Protector of the Left, Jian Lian, immediately grew wide: No, no, no, Your Majesty, that’s not it. That’s not praise!

Shen Qingxian smiled. “Your Majesty, please.”

Gu Jianshen said, “Your Lordship, please.”

They walked side by side, one stepping in the vast Astral Sea and the other on the bottomless road of the Final Ashes. The two slender figures standing together actually formed an unparalleled fine view for the ages. 

No, no, no, it doesn’t exist!

Everyone who had seen this sight was doing their best to try to hypnotize themselves. There is no beautiful scene happening; this is the most terrible sight in the world!

On this day, for the first time in thousands of years, the heavenly dao and the Heart Domain disciples shared the same thoughts.

Ye Zhan and the others caught up to these two figures, all the while feeling really vexed inside: This is all because we have not lived up to expectations and allowed His Lordship to be wronged!

The thought process of the six heavenly dao sects went like this: As soon as the two sides met, Gu Jianshen tried to cow the heavenly dao side into submission, casting a bewitchment spell that made everyone lose their senses. Even if His Lordship remained unaffected, they still felt a bit worried now. 

If the two sides went to war, and Gu Jianshen took the opportunity to control the heavenly dao members, they were afraid that His Lordship would be unable to deal with that, and people would get hurt. Therefore, His Lordship tolerated Gu Jianshen, planning to confer at length. 

Thinking like this, Ye Zhan and the others were filled with hatred. They hated that devil emperor’s unbridled arrogance, and also hated their own incompetence that was hindering His Lordship!

But on the Heart Domain’s side, they also had their own thought processes. 

Although Gu Jianshen had made a preemptive attempt with his mind bewitching spell to test the heavenly dao shrimp and crab generals while Ye Zhan and the others were unaware, all the Heart Domain people had also been left stunned. 

At almost the same moment the bewitchment was undone, Shen Qingxian’s colossal divine consciousness had nearly blotted out the sky, instantly enveloping all the Heart Domain disciples.

The Heart Domain’s cultivation relied on “idealism” as the most important factor, but Shen Qingxian’s divine consciousness was too strong. With it pressing down on them with a force akin to the sky falling down or being trapped under a landslide, it caused the Heart Domain people to start venerating him like a god. 

Faith and idealism were mutually exclusive. If Shen Qingxian had continued to put pressure on them, these Heart Domain people might have all changed their ways and started following the heavenly dao!

Of course, Gu Jianshen also put up a barrier in time to block Shen Qingxian, but the huge pressure from that moment had left an indelible trauma in the hearts of those from the Heart Domain.

Therefore, the Heart Domain people also felt that their emperor had been greatly wronged! It must be in order to protect their hundreds of years of cultivation that he was pretending to be polite with that mouthpiece of the heavenly dao.

The disciples on both sides thought a lot, but the result in the end was good; not only did they not start fighting, but also managed to sit together sincerely and calmly as they began to discuss their beliefs!

Actually, there wasn’t much to discuss in the way of beliefs.

The heavenly dao respected the way of heavens and regarded it as an eternally unchanging faith.

The Heart Domain believed that the heart was the heavenly principle and that one should follow one’s desires. 

If these two really started discussing their beliefs, sadly, they might start fighting in a few minutes. 

Their ideas were too different; to say it more crudely, even bullshitting a bit would be too much effort. 

Shen Qingxian also didn’t want to talk to Gu Jianshen. He checked the jade scroll— that “First, meet Gu Jianshen” had already turned light gray, which meant that it was completed. At the same time, he noticed that the faint shadow of the heavenly ladder in his sea of consciousness now had a small step added to it. 

Although this was very much like a kid’s game, it seemed that following the instructions on the jade scroll could really repair the heavenly ladder.

With obvious results now in hand, Shen Qingxian grew more and more motivated.

“Second, share a drink and get drunk with Gu Jianshen.”

Drink alcohol? Although Shen Qingxuan hadn’t touched that thing for thousands of years now, it was just a common thing, and couldn’t possibly topple Lord Lianhua. 

It was just…how should he bring this matter up?

One thing that Ye Zhan and the rest had guessed correctly was that Shen Qingxian really was worried about them, but it was not about them falling to the bewitchment spell, but rather them being frightened into doubting life.

For example, when the sect grandmaster, who never touched a drop of alcohol, starts to ask for alcohol to drink…

Just when Lord Lianhua was distressed, Emperor Jiuyuan “handed him a pillow.”

Gu Jianshen said, “In order to converse this time, the Heart Domain has prepared some small gifts. I wonder if Your Lordship would save me some face and try it?”

As soon as he said that, the Heart Domain disciples filed in in a single line, all lithe and graceful, with long veils trailing, holding gleaming jade bottles filled with vintage wine in their fine and slender hands.

When the bottle stoppers were taken out, the rich aroma of the wine instantly permeated the entire hall.

Who knew about the taste, but everyone could definitely get intoxicated off the smell of the wine alone. 

A disciple was about to pour wine for Shen Qingxian, when Gu Jianshen took hold of the jade bottle and said, “I’ll do it.”

The disciple’s eyes were full of shock, but they didn’t dare to disobey. They simply bowed and backed away. 

Below the main hall, the hearts of the heavenly dao’s people were filled with anguish again. 

Wine… Wine… Wine!

Everyone knew that His Lordship was removed from the world and had not touched this vulgar thing for a long time already. Now, for them, he would actually…actually…

Ye Zhan clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth in hatred.

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The author has something to say:

Hahaha! Isn’t it funny 2333

When I made this up, I thought it was very fun. 

Today, I still send red envelopes ~ Mwah!

By the way, the gong is Gu Jianshen, formal name Jiuyuan. Is there any doubt about this question? I don’t know why many girls are asking…

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Juurensha: Hahaha, the poor disciples on both sides! But it’s sweet how they care!