Swing the sword at the future female devil

Chapter 469 The Variable that Breaks the Taiqing Stalemate

Behind him followed closely a beautiful little girl with her hair in two buns—it was Zhang Zhiyao! Her face was tense, and her clear eyes were filled with complex emotions—guilt for the crisis at Longhu Mountain, fear for the future, but more than anything, a resolute determination to burn her bridges!

"Girl, are you afraid?" The old Celestial Master's voice was aged yet gentle, but carried a hint of barely perceptible weariness. He had been forcibly deducing the secrets of heaven, and his life force was already exhausted. This journey was his final one.

Zhang Zhiyao shook her head vigorously, her small hands tightly gripping the old Celestial Master's robes. Her voice was clear yet resolute, "I'm not afraid! Grandmaster! That wicked woman used me and almost ruined Longhu Mountain! She even caused you, Grandmaster... I must settle things with her! Right here!"

A hint of relief flashed in the old celestial master's eyes, and he gently patted Zhang Zhiyao's head with his withered hand: "Good child... karma is a cycle that must eventually come to an end. This place... is where the calamity begins and ends."

The Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain has arrived in person! The news spread like wildfire throughout the entire Kunlun Ruins Military Command!

Inside the command center, Zhang Dingyuan received the report, his brow furrowed in surprise and disbelief: "The Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain? Why would he come by himself? Didn't we just send someone to invite him? Judging by the time, he shouldn't have even arrived at Longhu Mountain yet, right?"

There is only one explanation for this situation—the Old Celestial Master had already left Longhu Mountain before the people he sent went there.

He instinctively felt uneasy. Longhu Mountain held a transcendent position within Taoism, and the Old Celestial Master was highly respected; his arrival at this time was certainly not for anything simple!

He dared not delay, but he was also unsure of what to do. So he braced himself again and contacted Taiqing in the secret chamber through the secret magic array.

On the monitor, Taiqing's figure appeared. When she heard that the Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain had brought Zhang Zhiyao to Kunlun Ruins, her eyes, which were burning with scarlet light, suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly brilliant light! An irrepressible excitement and pleasure surfaced on her cold face!

“Longhu Mountain… Zhang Zhiyao…” Taiqing’s voice carried a strange fluctuation, as if the prey he had been waiting for had finally been caught in the net.

“Fairy, what should we do? What about that old Celestial Master…” Zhang Dingyuan asked cautiously.

"How to deal with it?" Taiqing slowly stood up, her dark palace dress fluttering without wind. A pressure that was far more terrifying and solid than before, as if it had merged with the entire Kunlun Ruins, made Zhang Dingyuan feel suffocated even through the water mirror!
"This is the moment I've been waiting for! The pieces... are finally all in their places!"

A captivating yet chilling smile curved her lips:

"There's no need to stop him. Please, Elder Celestial Master...enter Kunlun Ruins!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Taiqing's figure blurred in the water mirror and then disappeared. Inside the secret chamber, the pale white Nine Nether Soul-Suppressing Lamp suddenly flared up, then... with a soft "poof," it went out completely!

An indescribable, terrifying aura, a mixture of demonic power, destruction, and a sense of rebirth, slowly awakened from the deepest part of Kunlun Ruins, like a slumbering ancient beast!

...The churning chaotic clouds ahead seemed to be parted by an invisible giant hand! A figure stepped into the void.

Dressed in a deep black palace gown, with cascading black hair, her stunningly beautiful face held eyes burning with crimson soul fire as she coldly gazed at the old man and young woman on the flying boat. It was none other than Taiqing!
Her aura was completely different from before! It was no longer just the cold resentment of a soul, but had gained a vastness and weight that resonated faintly with the shattered earth and distorted space of Kunlun Ruins!

It was as if she was no longer a remnant soul dwelling here, but... a new god born from this desolate world! The invisible pressure was like a tangible tsunami, plunging the entire fortress entrance area into a deathly silence, even the wind stopped howling.

Taiqing's gaze first fell on the old Celestial Master, his eerie eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of surprise flashing across them.

"Old man... I never imagined that you would burn your very essence to glimpse that elusive future, only to end up in such a state." Taiqing's voice remained ethereal, yet now held a hint of condescending indifference. "Exhausted and dying... was it worth it?"

The old Celestial Master slowly raised his head, his cloudy yet clear gaze meeting Taiqing's cold gaze, a peaceful smile, even tinged with a hint of compassion, appearing on his face:

"Whether it's worth it or not, I, the old Taoist, have my own scale in my heart. I can see a corner of the future, know that there are still variables in this calamity, and be able to do my last bit of effort for this world and all living beings. This crippled body... is worth it."

He paused, his voice filled with earnestness and admonition: "Fairy Taiqing, stop. Once the Kunlun Heavenly Road opens, it will trigger the backflow of the Ruins of Nightmare, and all realms will perish! Your hatred should not come at the cost of destroying all living beings. Leave the Kunlun Ruins, let go of your obsession, and there will still be a glimmer of hope for transcendence..."

"Transcendence?" Taiqing seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, a cold and scathing sneer curling at the corner of his mouth. "Old man, how can you still be so naive at your age! Can you even imagine the pain of being betrayed, sacrificed, and never being able to rise again?!"

The fierce flames in her eyes suddenly intensified, and her gaze instantly locked onto Zhang Zhiyao behind the Old Celestial Master!
"As for variables? Ha... Do you think what you see is all there is? A clown trying to manipulate cause and effect in front of me? Utterly foolish!"

Before she could finish speaking, Taiqing's gaze suddenly locked onto Zhang Zhiyao! Her slender, jade-like finger pointed in the air!
"Seed of Demonic Thought! Summon!"

Zhang Zhiyao let out a painful scream, his small body arching violently as if he had been struck hard by an invisible giant hammer!

She clutched her head tightly with both hands, her clear eyes instantly filled with bloodshot pain! A cold, resentful aura, bearing the mark of Taiqing's destructive will, exploded deep within her soul! Countless black, vein-like lines spread rapidly beneath her fair skin!
"Master...it hurts...it hurts so much..." Zhang Zhiyao curled up in pain, tears mixed with sweat streaming down her face. Her small body trembled violently, but she still gritted her teeth and desperately resisted the demonic thought that was trying to completely devour her consciousness, relying on the tenacious Dao heart bestowed upon her by the Daoist magic of Longhu Mountain and an indomitable stubbornness.
"Taiqing! Stop!" The old Celestial Master's hair and beard stood on end as he roared. His withered hand instantly formed a hand seal, and a golden talisman imbued with the power of Longhu Mountain's origin was about to be unleashed, attempting to sever the invisible connection!
"Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!" Taiqing sneered, drawing an unfathomable arc with his hands in front of him! A terrifying Daoist aura, transcending time and space and surpassing the laws of the mortal world, spread out!
"The flow of cause and effect reversed! A future incarnation... descends upon this world!"

With a clear shout from Taiqing, a phantom, distorted river of time flowed from her fingertips! She forcefully locked onto the demonic seed in Zhang Zhiyao's soul, which she had personally planted and which connected to the possibility of the "future," and used it as an anchor point to unleash the supreme Dao of Cause and Effect!

A blurry figure, carrying an aura of the same origin as Zhang Zhiyao but more mature and powerful, seemed to have been forcibly pulled from the endless flow of time! The figure gradually solidified, revealing itself to be a tall, slender, and beautiful adult Zhang Zhiyao with a clear and refined face, yet with a lingering hint of coldness and weariness between his brows!
Her body stiffened abruptly! The blankness in her eyes was instantly replaced by boundless ferocity and malevolence! A terrifying aura, a mixture of the destructive will of Taiqing and the powerful cultivation of the adult Zhang Zhiyao, erupted with a deafening roar!

Using the principles of cause and effect, and with the seed of demonic thought as a bridge, Taiqing successfully descended and occupied the body of Zhang Zhiyao in the future! This body is young, powerful, and has boundless potential, and... it is not within the cause and effect of the current timeline! It is the biggest loophole and variable in Yan Qiuxi's reverse-flowing time causal arrangement!
(End of this chapter)