VAP - Chapter 79
Chapter 79: Flawless Cold Bone, The Peerless Sword Venerable (3)
Yue Du did not set out immediately.
...Of course.
There were too many things to consider. First, Yue Du had to recognize a fact—she did not possess the Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivation of the Duyue Demon Venerable, Yue Zhuo.
The power ceiling in the cultivation world was too high, and the overall strength of its inhabitants was terrifying.
Yet the body Yue Du possessed was still the shell issued by the System Store. Even with her Five Elements Ability and the power of a Summoner, it was not enough to compare with the original Duyue Demon Venerable.
Beyond that, there were numerous other problems, such as whether her spirit root was compatible, how to convincingly play her role, and Ming Yezheng's murderous intent.
She had to resolve these issues first to ensure her safety...
As Yue Du listed them out one by one, the corner of her eye couldn't help but twitch.
It was bad enough that she had so many problems to deal with, but the Main System had to go and impose a one-month time limit on the mission!
It was such a bastard!
Angry as she was, she couldn't just appear before the Main System and beat it up.
Yue Du took a deep breath to calm herself and continued searching the room for any essays or letters that might reflect Yue Zhuo's personality and way of handling things.
Her System's special sensory perception expanded outward, observing and recording everything in the vicinity.
Since she couldn't inherit Yue Zhuo's memories, this was the only way to gather information.
About two hours later, Yue Du opened her eyes. The inorganic glint characteristic of a System flashed in her gaze before vanishing without a trace.
The Demon Venerable resided on a mountain peak, with her personal quarters at the summit, while numerous servants and attendants lived on the mountainside and at its base.
From the conversations and actions of these people, as well as various other details, Yue Du pieced together an incomplete image of the Duyue Demon Venerable.
Yue Zhuo's appearance was almost identical to her own, but due to her demonic cultivation, she had a vertical red mark between her brows. With that mark added, only someone intimately familiar with her could tell them apart.
While their appearances were similar, their personalities were completely different.
Yue Zhuo was always proud and competitive, a hot-tempered woman who handled matters with swift and decisive action. She revered absolute power and was extremely strict with her subordinates.
As for her preferences, the Demon Venerable's greatest hobby was cultivation. Enjoyment and indulgence were nonexistent for her; she was on a completely different path from most demonic cultivators who reveled in hedonism.
Yue Du, who was used to being a salted fish, wore a look of shame.
In short, the Duyue Demon Venerable was just such a stubborn and arrogant person.
Yue Du turned to face the only bronze mirror in the room.
Her upper body was clearly reflected in the polished surface of the mirror.
Perhaps due to the Main System's adjustments, her once shoulder-length hair now extended to her waist, and her white uniform had been replaced with the Demon Venerable's purple brocade dress and silver-patterned gauze robe.
The woman in the mirror had a clear and beautiful face, her deep amber eyes as gentle as water—calm and reserved. This was Yue Du.
But Yue Zhuo was not like this.
Yue Du spent ten points to exchange for special data that could alter minor features of her System body.
Her faintly glowing fingertip tapped the outer corners of her eyes, changing their originally clean, gentle lines into a slightly sharp upward tilt. Then, she drew a light red vertical mark between her brows, ending it with a subtle curve.
The moment the points of light dissipated, Yue Du lifted her eyes, the corners of her mouth curving into the Demon Venerable's signature smile of proud austerity.
No matter who looked at the face reflected in the mirror, they wouldn't be able to spot anything amiss.
As it turned out, Yue Du's performance was a success.
From Yue Zhuo's personal attendant to the servants at the base of the mountain, not a single person noticed anything amiss.
While Yue Du breathed a sigh of relief, she also felt a bit of pity and sorrow for the Duyue Demon Venerable.
True, she was doing her best to play the part.
But for one thing, she didn't have the original's memories, and for another, the information she could gather by searching the demonic peak was ultimately limited. Under these circumstances, no matter how careful she was, there would still be an indelible sense of incongruity.
An identical face could fool people, but a feeling couldn't be faked. If there were someone truly close and familiar to her, how could they not notice anything at all?
Did this Demon Venerable really not have a single person close to her?
Yue Du sighed to herself and lowered her head to study the bamboo slip in her hand—this was the cultivation technique she needed to practice.
She tested her body's spirit root, and as expected, it was a Five Elements Spirit Root.
A Five Elements Ability, a Five Elements Spirit Root... she really seemed to be tied to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
This was different from the Duyue Demon Venerable. Yue Zhuo possessed a proud and fierce Fire Spirit Root, and she had indeed achieved remarkable success practicing the demonic sect's Bloodflame Heart Method.
But the same technique was unsuitable for Yue Du, not just because of her spirit root, but also because of her temperament.
When she first learned of her spirit root's attributes, Yue Du actually had a headache, because the Five Elements Spirit Root was in a rather awkward position in the Qianhong Divine Province.
The most talented were undoubtedly those with a Single Spirit Root, the highest grade of which was called a Heavenly Spirit Root. Only the Chaos Spirit Root, which possessed all seven attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, ice, and lightning, could compare with it, or even surpass it.
As for the Five Elements Spirit Root?
There were corresponding cultivation techniques for the five elements, making it better than having three, four, or six spirit roots, but it was still inferior to a Dual Spirit Root.
Reaching the Integration Stage was still possible, but the Mahayana or even Tribulation Transcendence Stage? Sorry, you could have anything you wanted in your dreams.
But Yue Du had to become a Tribulation Transcendence expert.
After a moment's thought, she requested permission from customer service to access the host version of the System Store to exchange for a cultivation technique suitable for a Five Elements Spirit Root.
The customer service representative this time wasn't the overworked employee from before. He replied tremblingly, "This is against the rules..."
Yue Du said coldly, "I believe the mission I'm currently required to carry out is also against the rules. Why don't you give that feedback to the Main System?"
The customer service rep was on the verge of tears. "No, no, that's not necessary! I'll grant you access right now! You absolutely must complete the mission properly!"
Yue Du remained noncommittal, giving only a casual reply.
She browsed the store and selected a cultivation technique from another small cultivation world that was perfect for a Five Elements Spirit Root.
While making the exchange, she also took a look at other items produced by this small world. They all seemed more potent and effective than those from the Qianhong Divine Province.
This didn't necessarily prove anything, but Yue Du made a mental note of it, deciding to come back and look again when she had free time to see what similarities and differences existed between the various similar world systems in the System Store.
Exchanging for this technique alone cost her nine hundred points.
Yue Du wasted no time and began cultivating, racing against the clock. Fortunately, there seemed to be some common ground between one set of five elements and another; the Esper Ability she had obtained in the first mission world actually began to gradually transform into spiritual energy as the heart method circulated, flowing through her flesh and meridians.
Yue Du: "..."
So what kind of magical principle was this!
Still, it was a good thing, and there was no point in delving too deeply into it.
When converted into a cultivator's realm, her Esper Ability placed her right at the mid-Integration Stage. Although this was still two major realms lower than the Duyue Demon Venerable, it was a good start.
Yue Du didn't want to delay any longer.
If the Main System hadn't set a time limit, she would have preferred to be more cautious.
But there was a one-month deadline. If she delayed any further, she wouldn't even be able to meet Yun Yijiu, let alone follow her.
An excellent opportunity was right before her.
One afternoon, Yue Du received a messenger paper crane from the Sect Master of the Minghe Sect.
In the original worldline, just half a month after Yue Zhuo's death, it was time for the competition between the young disciples of the Qianhong Divine Province's righteous and demonic paths.
Immortals and demons had been opposed since ancient times, but for the past several thousand years, they had coexisted in relative peace. It was hard to say whether this was due to the deterrent effect of the Wushuang Sword Venerable or some other reason.
Since they couldn't just fight it out, how were the limited resources to be distributed? If it were simply a matter of "to the victor go the spoils," things would be far too chaotic.
The Grand Competition of Immortal and Demonic Disciples was one way of distributing resources. Held once every hundred years, all talented and powerful members of the Divine Province's younger generation were required to participate.
In the end, whichever side achieved better overall results would receive more resources. This had long been an established convention.
At seven hundred years of age, Yue Zhuo could hardly be called part of the younger generation, but as a demonic cultivator who had just entered the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, she was obligated to accompany the disciples of the demonic path to the competition.
It was basically a matter of standing on the clouds with the other Tribulation Transcendence venerables, watching the competition below, and preventing the righteous path cultivators from inflicting fatal injuries on their side's young ones... something like that.
The Sect Master of the Minghe Sect had sent the message to inform her of this.
This sect master's title was Youming Demon Venerable, the big boss of the demonic cultivators. In his eyes, becoming Dao Companions with the Duyue Demon Venerable was purely a consideration for his cultivation; her personal affairs were not worthy of his attention.
Therefore, he of course had no idea what his own son had done.
Even in the original worldline, when he investigated the cause of Yue Zhuo's death and discovered Ming Yezheng's involvement, he merely gave his son a beating and let the matter drop.
How could a dead rogue Demon Venerable be more valuable than a living son at the Mahayana Stage?
—Then again, Yue Zhuo herself had also planned to use the Youming Demon Venerable as a tool for dual cultivation, so their mutual indifference was understandable.
And now, "Yue Zhuo" hadn't died, and the Youming Demon Venerable still didn't take her seriously.
After the messenger paper crane finished relaying the official business, it paused for a moment before adding an understated reminder:
"Yue Duqing, once the grand competition is over, we will exchange our Eight Characters. This is a major matter of cultivation and cannot be delayed any longer."
Yue Du sneered.
She sent back a paper crane, simply agreeing to attend the competition but not mentioning the exchange of Eight Characters at all.
She had originally thought they had already made a pact, but it turned out they hadn't even exchanged their Eight Characters. They were merely fiancés in name only.
That was great.
In this lifetime, he could forget about ever getting the Duyue Demon Venerable's Eight Characters!
After making thorough preparations, Yue Du set off with an attendant—the same girl who had knocked on her door when she first arrived, named Shui Zhuzi.
Miss Shui appeared shy and timid, but she was actually an Integration Stage cultivator, a step higher than Yue Du's true realm.
At this moment, however, the aura around Yue Du was unmistakably that of a mighty Tribulation Transcendence expert, carrying the unique ferocity and scorching presence of demonic fire.
The Aura Concealment Spell from the System Store, available for just one hundred points!
When Yue Du arrived at the agreed-upon meeting point for the demonic cultivators, almost all the young disciples had already gathered.
Four Demon Venerables were supposed to come, but only two had arrived so far: a dashing young master sitting on the back of a giant bird, gazing at the sun and fanning himself, and a silent woman in black standing in the bird's shadow.
"Duyue, you're finally here!"
Seeing Yue Du, the dashing young master perked up. With a light tap of his toes, he leaped gracefully from the bird's back, arriving before her in an instant.
Yue Du lifted her chin slightly and said proudly, "Gu Ling."
Gu Ling Demon Venerable snapped his fan shut. "Aiya, still the same fiery temper? Goodness, your aura is even more intense. You must have been in a bad mood lately."
Yue Du sneered and ignored him.
Gu Ling Demon Venerable was at the mid-Tribulation Transcendence Stage. As his title suggested, his most common method involved using gu-insects.
Among Yue Zhuo's miscellaneous belongings—letters, paper cranes, recording pearls, and so on—Yue Du had sometimes found items sent by Gu Ling or scenes involving him. Their dynamic was basically always the same: one would tease relentlessly, and the other would tear him down with a sneer.
They weren't close, but he wasn't someone she needed to treat with polite courtesy either.
The woman in the giant bird's shadow was the Yin Demon Venerable. Skilled in shadow assassination, she was reclusive, had a very weak presence, and disliked interacting with others.
Yue Zhuo hadn't had much contact with her either.
After a short wait, the third Demon Venerable arrived.
His title was Budong Demon Venerable, and as the name implied, he was a massive man with a steady build, as immovable as a mountain.
Beside Budong Demon Venerable was a young man of a similarly large build, likely a junior from his family who was there to participate in the competition.
Once everyone was gathered, they exchanged greetings and set off immediately.
The grand competition was held in Xuanyu City, which was roughly equidistant from the Minghe Sect and the Lingtian Sword Sect.
Almost every competition was held here, and over time, it had developed into one of the most prosperous major cities. It wasn't bound by the division between immortals and demons; the population of righteous and demonic cultivators was almost evenly split.
Just after entering the city gates, Gu Ling Demon Venerable frowned.
"The atmosphere doesn't seem right..." He covered the lower half of his face with his fan and said quizzically, "My little guys are all a bit restless. Why is that?"
Little guys.
Looking at his spider-gu, snake-gu, and butterfly-gu, Yue Du silently turned her face away. Out of sight, out of mind.
But the atmosphere in the city was indeed a bit strange.
The righteous cultivators coming and going all wore tense expressions, but upon closer observation, one could see that their tension was mixed with admiration and joy.
In contrast, the demonic cultivators were also tense, but their tension contained only fear.
The five senses of a Tribulation Transcendence expert were incredibly sharp. By relaxing them just slightly, she could hear what people further away were discussing.
Budong Demon Venerable's expression changed drastically.
"It's the Wushuang Sword Venerable," he said, his face grim.
"They're saying the Wushuang Sword Venerable has come as well."
"How is that possible?" Gu Ling Demon Venerable was incredulous. "Hasn't she stayed within her sect for several thousand years? A small competition held once a century, just some roughhousing among children—that was enough to draw her out?"
Budong Demon Venerable said, "What they're saying is only a rumor. I don't know if it's credible. We'll just have to see what the situation is tomorrow."
The demonic cultivators all looked completely dejected.
A figure like the Wushuang Sword Venerable, Yun Yijiu, was the demonic path's nightmare. Even knowing she rarely meddled in the affairs of the two sides, they still feared her instinctively.
Gu Ling Demon Venerable said in frustration, "If it's true, we should have called for more people. Are the four of us combined even enough for her to fight?"
Yin Demon Venerable's soft, hoarse voice sounded, "You should be asking if we could withstand a beating from her even if we called another four."
Yue Du appeared to be listening quietly, but inwardly, she had already breathed a sigh of relief.
She also knew that Yun Yijiu hadn't left the Lingtian Sword Sect for thousands of years, and that her coming this time was merely an excuse to use the authority of the righteous venerables to see her.
But if she came in person...
...that would save a lot of trouble.
Yue Du thought, harboring a secret anticipation as the corners of her mouth curved up slightly.
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