The Villain Marked the Protagonist's Fiancée (Through the Book) - Chapter 36

Fang Zhiluo’s face turned deathly pale, tears welling in her eyes. How could she miss the mockery in Yun Xiao’s words?

Lowering her gaze, she forced her voice to remain steady. “The Heavenly Evolution Sect is barely holding its own. Given their current strength, they wouldn’t dare provoke the Azure Cloud Sect.”

“Your Azure Cloud Sect certainly struck gold this time,” Yun Xiao remarked, her tone dismissive. With that, she strode toward the rocky shore.

Having gone nearly a month without food, her stomach wasn’t hungry, but her mouth felt as bland as bird droppings.

It had been ages since she’d last tasted seafood, and she intended to indulge this time.

Perching on a jagged rock, Yun Xiao extended her Divine Sense, finally locking onto a Fifth-Tier Octopus about two hundred miles away.

Channeling her Spiritual Energy, she hovered above the sea surface and unleashed a beam of light at the creature.

The octopus struggled in vain to escape. Within a dozen breaths, its massive body slowly floated to the surface.

Yun Xiao stored it in her Storage Pouch, then scouted the surrounding waters for more Sea Beasts before returning to the island.

Her gaze lingered on Fang Zhiluo for half a breath before shifting away. Finding a relatively flat rock, she released the Sea Beasts from her Storage Pouch. With practiced ease, she manipulated Purple Frost to dissect and slice the meat, then used telekinesis to skewer the pieces onto sharpened wooden sticks.

Yun Xiao retrieved the grill and seasonings, placing the skewered meat on the grill to roast slowly. Soon, the savory aroma filled the air.

Fang Zhiluo approached and sat down a foot away from Yun Xiao, watching her grill the fish intently. “I’ve been to the Mortal Realm,” she said wistfully. “Their grilled food doesn’t even come close to yours.”

Yun Xiao’s hand paused mid-flip, then resumed its rhythm. She hummed softly, “Don’t think flattering me will get you any.”

“If I catch my own, would you grill it for me?” Fang Zhiluo asked cautiously.

Over the past five hundred years, she had rarely eaten Spirit Food. Each time she did, she couldn’t help but compare it to Yun Xiao’s cooking, even though she had only ever tasted Yun Xiao’s grilled dishes and hotpot.

Yun Xiao rolled her eyes. Grill meat for someone who had betrayed her? Did she look like some kind of pushover?

Refusing to give up, Fang Zhiluo took a step back. “Then can I at least borrow your equipment?”

Yun Xiao remained silent, picking up a grilled skewer and moving to the adjacent rock. She sat there, savoring the meat while enjoying the ocean view.

In the past, Fang Zhiluo would never have acted without Yun Xiao’s explicit permission.

Fang Zhiluo desperately wanted to get closer to Yun Xiao. She quickly caught a medium-sized sea beast and awkwardly placed the skewered meat on the grill.

Mimicking Yun Xiao’s method, she brushed the skewers with oil and flipped them regularly. Only when the meat was nearly cooked did she sprinkle on the seasoning.

Despite following all the steps correctly, the grilled sea beast meat turned out dry, tough, and unappetizing.

Yun Xiao didn’t notice the fleeting hint of frustration in Fang Zhiluo’s eyes. Suddenly remembering something, she focused her gaze into the air. The thick, crimson karmic thread that had been hanging there had snapped, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to withdraw her gaze, a golden light caught her attention. Her Divine Sense was involuntarily drawn into it.

Abruptly transported to this unfamiliar realm, she felt uneasy. Her mind raced as she calmly surveyed her surroundings, searching for a way out.

An endless Heavenly Ladder stretched before her. Compelled by some inexplicable force, she began to climb.

Just when she thought she would collapse from exhaustion on the ladder, she saw that the steps ahead had vanished, as if maliciously severed.

Three familiar orbs of light descended from the severed end of the Heavenly Ladder. Her gaze involuntarily followed them as they vanished into the Heavenly Origin Realm, leaving no trace.

Yun Xiao was about to focus her attention on searching for their traces when the surrounding scenery shifted again. Above her, countless swirling clouds of energy filled the sky.

The colors were limited to five: purple, red, orange, white, and black. The cloud directly above her glowed with a pale lavender hue.

A flash of insight struck her: the phrase “red turning purple.” Could these be manifestations of Luck?

With this realization, Yun Xiao immediately sharpened her focus, meticulously observing the changes in these energy clouds.

Sure enough, she noticed something peculiar. The red clouds were gradually fading, as if collectively nourishing the central cloud that was slowly turning purple.

After counting, she found only three purple clouds, excluding her own—a perfect match for the three Primordial Spirit orbs she had seen earlier.

Thus, the Primordial Spirits’ ultimate goal wasn’t possession, but to steal the Heavenly Origin Realm’s Luck.

The severed Heavenly Ladder, then, was a divine omen from the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Ladder connecting the Heavenly Origin Realm to the Upper Realm had been broken, explaining why no one had ascended in over a thousand years.

The question now was: could this broken Heavenly Ladder be repaired, and if so, how?

Yun Xiao didn’t want to waste time puzzling over it. She asked directly, “How do I repair the Heavenly Ladder?”

“You must gather three pieces of Breathing Earth to revitalize the Heaven-Reaching Tree.”

Yun Xiao pressed further, “Where can I find Breathing Earth?”

She recalled reading about it in a manual describing the Upper Realm, where Breathing Earth was mentioned.

In essence, even a Spirit Herb on its last breath, when planted near Breathing Earth, would not only recover its vitality within a month but also thrive remarkably.

Spirit Herbs grow by absorbing the Spiritual Power of the heavens and earth. The higher their grade, the more stringent their requirements for the surrounding Spiritual Energy. But with Breathing Earth—this cheat-like artifact—anything planted near it would flourish.

Even in the Upper Realm, Breathing Earth was a rare treasure.

Without a clue, how was she supposed to find such a rare item?

Was she supposed to turn the entire Heavenly Origin Realm upside down?

“North of the horizon.”

Yun Xiao was about to ask another question when her Divine Sense snapped back into place. It was as if the vision she had just witnessed had been nothing more than a fleeting dream.

No longer the naive newcomer she once was, Yun Xiao knew the vision was real. The Heavenly Origin Realm’s Luck was being drained by the three Primordial Spirits that had descended from the heavens.

Rising to her feet, she returned to the barbecue grill and placed the remaining skewers on the rack. Without looking up, she asked, “When did Xie Yunfan’s cultivation stagnate? In the past five hundred years, has the Heavenly Evolution Sect produced any cultivators with exceptional innate talent and good luck?”

Fang Zhiluo quickly composed herself, suppressing her disappointment. Though puzzled by Yun Xiao’s sudden question, she answered truthfully, “After Xie Yunfan recovered five hundred years ago, his cultivation advanced rapidly. He reached the Great Ascension stage three hundred years ago and achieved Tribulation Transcendence within fifty years.”

Setting down the skewers, she continued, “Cultivation becomes increasingly difficult at higher levels. Ordinary cultivators often take centuries, even millennia, to advance from Great Ascension to Tribulation Transcendence. Xie Yunfan’s breakthrough to Great Ascension in just over two hundred years already marks him as a dragon among men.”

Considering Yun Xiao’s second question, she paused before replying slowly, “There should have been some. The Four Great Sects hold a Sect Grand Tournament every decade. While the Heavenly Evolution Sect doesn’t always win first place, they’ve never ranked last either.”

In the past five hundred years, aside from mandatory sect duties, Fang Zhiluo had devoted herself almost entirely to cultivation. She wasn’t even fully aware of everything happening within her own sect, let alone the Heavenly Evolution Sect.

Hearing this, Yun Xiao already had a good idea of the situation.

For most cultivators, spending over two centuries to advance from Great Ascension to Tribulation Transcendence would be considered rapid progress. But for Xie Yunfan, whose cultivation was as effortless as drinking water, it was practically glacial.

Flipping the skewers over the grill, she asked, “Do you know the current cultivation levels of the Heavenly Evolution Sect’s prodigies?”

Fang Zhiluo shook her head. “Junior Nephew Bai, as Sect Leader of the Azure Cloud Sect, is well-versed in the affairs of the Three Great Sects. If you wish to learn more, why not return to the Azure Cloud Sect with me and ask him yourself?”

This was also Fang Zhiluo’s personal motive—to invite Yun Xiao to visit the sect where she had lived for centuries. Moreover, she hoped to use this opportunity to demonstrate the Azure Cloud Sect’s sincerity in maintaining friendly relations with Yun Xiao.

Yun Xiao remained silent, lost in her own thoughts.

The breaking of the Heavenly Ladder in the Heavenly Origin Realm was a matter concerning the entire realm, and its inhabitants had a right to know the truth. Furthermore, the Heavenly Evolution Sect had only managed to persuade the Tribulation Transcendence cultivators of the other three great sects to assist them because of the manual provided to Xie Yunfan by the Primordial Spirit. This clearly showed how desperately these cultivators yearned for Ascension.

Besides the Primordial Spirit she had sealed away, there were two others. If her guess was correct, these two were also hidden within the Four Great Sects.

Water flows downhill, and people strive for higher ground. Anyone with even a decent Innate Talent would choose the Four Great Sects, renowned for their profound foundations and formidable power, including members of noble families.

As for why Xie Yunfan’s Cultivation had stalled at the Great Ascension stage, she suspected it was either because the Primordial Spirit’s growing appetite had increased its consumption, or because the Spirit’s ability to steal Luck had diminished, forcing it to rely solely on Xie Yunfan, its host.

With weakened Luck, the probability of obtaining Heavenly Treasures would plummet, and even Cultivation would become far less smooth than before.

However, if the Heavenly Dao of the Heavenly Origin Realm was aware that Primordial Spirits were draining its Luck, why hadn’t it intervened directly to eliminate them?

After much deliberation, she arrived at an unsettling conclusion: the Heavenly Dao of the Heavenly Origin Realm might also be facing its own crisis.

Shaking her head clear of these thoughts, Yun Xiao took a skewer of grilled meat, retreated to sit on a reef, and replied, “Alright.”

To swiftly uncover the remaining two Primordial Spirits, she couldn’t avoid the Four Great Sects. To prevent others from exploiting the situation, having the Azure Cloud Sect take the lead would indeed be better than acting alone.

Fang Zhiluo was taken aback at first, but her beautiful eyes quickly curved into a gentle smile as she said to Yun Xiao, “Then let’s return to the sect after you finish eating.”

Bathed in the warm sunlight, Fang Zhiluo’s smile seemed to radiate a soft glow, momentarily dazzling Yun Xiao.

Realizing her lapse in composure, Yun Xiao immediately turned her head away.

Hearing her own heart racing, she inwardly cursed herself for being so weak-willed, for losing herself in the smile of her enemy.

Channeling her annoyance into appetite, she quickly devoured the skewers in her hand.

A satisfied burp escaped her lips. She was full.

Fang Zhiluo’s eyes twinkled with amusement as she suggested, “I can wrap up the rest for you. You can eat them later if you get hungry on the way back.”

“Fine, no need to waste it,” Yun Xiao replied, tossing the remaining demonic beast meat into the sea to feed the creatures below.

Seeing Yun Xiao pack the grill and seasonings into her Storage Pouch, Fang Zhiluo feigned helplessness. “I can’t use teleportation. Could you possibly give me a ride?”

Yun Xiao’s lips curled into a disdainful pout. “So much trouble.”

With a flick of her sleeve, she reluctantly teleported Fang Zhiluo back to the Azure Cloud Sect.

Sensing the aura of a powerful cultivator, Bai Mofeng had just risen to his feet when Yun Xiao strolled leisurely into the main hall, Fang Zhiluo following close behind.

After surveying the grand and majestic hall, Yun Xiao settled into the nearest chair, her gaze sweeping over Bai Mofeng. “You truly can’t have your cake and eat it too,” she remarked. “With so many responsibilities, your cultivation must take a backseat.”

Given Bai Mofeng’s innate talent, he should have long surpassed the early Body Integration stage if he had diligently cultivated.

Bai Mofeng smiled wryly. “Senior Yun speaks truly. I have no regrets.”

“I understand. Protecting the Azure Cloud Sect is your paramount duty, isn’t it? You’d sacrifice not just your cultivation, but even your life, if necessary.” Yun Xiao’s tone shifted. “Today, I came to the Azure Cloud Sect to ask you about something.”

Bai Mofeng sat up straight. “Senior Yun, please ask whatever you wish.”

Yun Xiao cut straight to the chase. “I want to know if, in the past five hundred years, the Four Great Sects have produced anyone with innate talent and luck comparable to Xie Yunfan’s?”

At the mention of Xie Yunfan, Bai Mofeng’s gaze sharpened slightly. “Yes, there have been such individuals,” he replied. “Please forgive my boldness, Senior Yun, but may I ask why you suddenly inquire about this?”

Yun Xiao leaned back, resting her chin in her hand. “There are three Primordial Spirits in the Heavenly Origin Realm. I extracted one from Xie Yunfan’s Sea of Consciousness, leaving two unaccounted for.”

Bai Mofeng’s heart skipped a beat. He glanced sideways at Fang Zhiluo, who sat beside Yun Xiao.

Fang Zhiluo nodded slightly, confirming the truth of Yun Xiao’s words.

Yun Xiao didn’t expect Bai Mofeng to believe her immediately; after all, words alone meant nothing.

She calmly retrieved the Soul-Locking Bottle and shook it gently. “If you’re still alive, make a sound.”

Old Qiu’s voice erupted in indignation. “If you’re so capable, release me!”

Yun Xiao coaxed, “Tell me where your two companions are hiding, and I might consider it.”

Old Qiu denied it. “No, I have no companions.”

Yun Xiao set the Soul-Locking Bottle on the tea table, exposing the truth. “Enough. I know everything. The three of you came to the Heavenly Origin Realm together, your sole purpose being to drain its Luck.”

She turned to Bai Mofeng. “If I’m not mistaken, some disciples in the Heavenly Evolution Sect with exceptional Innate Talent and Luck have seen their Cultivation inexplicably stagnate. Their Luck has plummeted, to the point where ‘misfortune’ would be an understatement.”