novelraw Chapter 105 : The Correct Use of the Sun-Moon Sundial
Chapter 105 : The Correct Use of the Sun-Moon Sundial
Chapter 105: The Correct Use of the Sun-Moon Sundial
Qiu Yuehan jolted awake.
She sat up, her back already soaked with sweat.
The dream from last night still lingered vividly before her eyes, her memory crystal clear.
“Another change of clothes, then.”
Qiu Yuehan did not take the matter too seriously.
It was merely an occasional lucid nightmare—nothing particularly strange.
Perhaps it was because she had a premonition of going to the Spirit Clan, and so she dreamed of herself growing up among them.
“Spirit Clan... Spirit Clan.”
She had read The Record of Myriad Races in Cihang Palace before, when she was helping Lu Changyuan search for Drunken Red Luan.
The Spirit Clan’s hair was mostly a ghostly blue—the color of the dead—though fiery red sometimes appeared. Most notable of all, every Spirit clansman bore a pair of pointed ears. It was said that the sharper the ears, the clearer one could hear the voices of the dead.
If Feng Xianlong had conceived her with a man from the Spirit Clan...
Then why did she not bear a single trait of that race?
Who was her father?
Qiu Yuehan stopped dwelling on the thought. She pushed open the door and let the warm sunlight wash over her, squinting comfortably.
“Um…”
A voice came from behind. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a little girl in a Daoist robe.
Qiu Yuehan asked, “What is it?”
There were only four of them living on Heavenly Mountain, and usually, unless it was something important, disciples of the Dao Sect would never disturb them.
The little girl walked closer, somewhat shyly. “Um… I’m called Bai Lu.”
Bai Lu?
What an odd name. Who had given it to her?
“What is it?” she asked again.
Bai Lu fidgeted with the hem of her robe. “Someone’s here to see you. She’s been waiting outside since morning.”
Someone looking for them?
Had that old monster come back?
The thought immediately filled Qiu Yuehan with irritation. The memory of kneeling in humiliation at the door last night was still vivid.
“It’s a woman,” Bai Lu added softly.
A woman?
Had that old monster gotten himself entangled again?
“Bring her in,” came a voice.
Xia Lianxue had emerged from the house at some point. The white-robed fairy of the morning looked like mist dispersing in sunlight—beautiful to the point of unreality.
“Senior Sister.”
“How did you rest last night?”
“Fairly well.”
“I thought you were restless before sleep. I half expected you’d have a nightmare,” Xia Lianxue said, covering her lips with a light laugh.
She had had one.
Thinking of it, Qiu Yuehan clenched her teeth slightly.
Before long—
Bai Lu returned with a woman.
She was a young girl in a pale-blue Daoist robe, eyes blindfolded with white cloth—so beautiful it was almost painful.
Su Youwan bowed slightly. “Miss Qiu, Miss Xia.”
Xia Lianxue frowned. “Why are you here? Where’s the Young Master?”
“He’s still in the Nether Kingdom.”
Whoosh—
Xia Lianxue reached out her hand and caught the Sun Dial that Su Youwan had tossed toward her.
“He told me to bring this to you. It conceals the secrets of Heaven, so with it, you may leave Heavenly Mountain unrestrained.”
The little fairy nodded softly, shrinking the sundial and hanging it around her neck.
Then she asked, “Why is the Young Master still in the Nether Kingdom?”
The silver-haired girl shook her head. “I’m not too sure. It seems he… consumed my emotions, and then was corrupted by the Desire Demon.”
The wind atop Heavenly Mountain stilled for a heartbeat.
Everyone felt time stretch unbearably long—
As if something had stopped the flow of air, choking even space itself.
Xia Lianxue narrowed her eyes. “And then?”
If Su Youwan’s next words displeased her…
Then the gentle, white-robed fairy would vanish—and the Palace Mistress of Jade who had killed for a hundred years would reappear in her place.
“He said he was fine, and told me to leave first.”
Su Youwan spoke honestly.
Air began to flow again.
Xia Lianxue exhaled, still worried but relieved. “Since the Young Master said he’s fine, then perhaps…”
The fairy looked at Qiu Yuehan.
The meaning was clear.
Senior Sister, how’s your Demon Mark?
Qiu Yuehan was already used to it. Her face didn’t flush, her heart didn’t race. She thought of that old monster—so dangerous, yet still playing with her Demon Mark last night—and replied calmly, “He’s fine. Alive and well.”
Xia Lianxue nodded, suppressing her urge to rush to the Nether Kingdom. “You were wise to leave. Staying would only hinder the Young Master.”
Su Youwan blinked in faint surprise. This level of faith in one’s man… bordered on foolishness.
The fairy fiddled with the sundial. “Since we now have the Sun-Moon Sundial, and Jiang Jiayi is busy holding the fort, then, Senior Sister, it’ll be up to me to take you to the Spirit Clan.”
Qiu Yuehan nodded.
Though Xia Lianxue’s realm had fallen, she was still Sixth Realm Dawning Sun, walking the Dao of Time. Forget visiting the Spirit Clan—she could probably slaughter them all if she wanted.
Su Youwan said faintly, “By the way, Miss Xia, when we were inside Ancestor Red Luan’s Painting, you asked my opinion on Noodle Granny’s marriage.”
The wind froze again.
Qiu Yuehan took a step back.
At times like this, her junior sister was terrifying!
Yet the silver-haired Bodhisattva seemed oblivious and continued, “I recall telling you then that I thought it was quite nice.”
Xia Lianxue’s smile was beautiful—and chilling.
“At that time, I thought I was going to die, so I intended to find the Young Master a warm maid to keep his bed from being cold. But now that I’m alive, there’s no need.”
Marriage? Engagement? What nonsense.
Just hearing it grated her ears!
Su Youwan seemed not to notice the killing intent laced in Xia Lianxue’s voice, and said serenely, “The Young Master doesn’t feel cold when he sleeps. He’s quite warm.”
Qiu Yuehan took another step back.
She couldn’t handle the surge of aura rolling off her senior sister.
She glanced up at the sky.
Wow, the clouds had covered the sun. Was it about to rain?
“And how would Miss Su know that the Young Master is warm?”
“In the Nether Kingdom—it was dangerous. To help you obtain the sundial, the Young Master forced me to remove my clothes… and pressed skin to skin with me.”
Boom!
Not far away, a cluster of bamboo exploded as if crushed by an invisible hand.
Su Youwan didn’t even turn around. “It was all for your sake.”
Xia Lianxue barely restrained the urge to hit someone. “To what extent?”
“Nothing beyond holding each other. I hid his fate.”
She paused. “We were only wearing our inner garments when we held each other.”
Holding each other half-naked and doing nothing?
Xia Lianxue completely refused to believe it.
If it were her, she’d have taken full advantage of the situation!
But… Su Youwan didn’t seem like someone who’d steal a man.
So the little fairy finally exhaled. “A moment of urgency, that’s all. Since you’re from Cihang Palace and cultivate the Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions, best to forget it altogether—for your future cultivation’s sake.”
Su Youwan stepped forward. “That was my initial thought as well. I believed the Young Master and I were merely friends, that our closeness was a helpless act under crisis, nothing born of true intent.”
Xia Lianxue narrowed her eyes. “That’s good, then.”
Qiu Yuehan thought to herself: Here comes the twist.
“But…”
There it was.
“But the Young Master ate my emotions,” Su Youwan said softly. From where the two stood, she even seemed… sad.
Only now did Xia Lianxue and Qiu Yuehan notice—the Bodhisattva was no longer carrying her birdcage.
The white-robed fairy stared blankly. “What do you mean?”
“The cage held my emotions—my preparations for the Seventh Realm. Now the Young Master has consumed them.”
Xia Lianxue understood instantly.
So she wants to cling to my man, does she?
No chance!
“I’ll help you find a new path to enlightenment,” she said coldly. “No need to trouble the Young Master. The Jade Palace will aid you with all its strength.”
But the silver-haired girl only shook her head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“Since the Young Master has eaten my emotions, he’ll soon have many improper thoughts about me. Perhaps for a time, his mind will be filled entirely with me. What he might do afterward… I truly don’t know.”
Of course, Lu Changyuan would not. The Bodhisattva’s emotions—merged with the Desire Demon—had long since been refined by him. Su Youwan was purely fabricating nonsense.
But Xia Lianxue and Qiu Yuehan were completely taken aback by her words, for it all sounded rather reasonable.
The notion of “eating one’s emotions” was utterly shocking—there had never been such a precedent in the cultivation world.
The little fairy gritted her teeth. She could kick out the shameless girl who wanted to climb into bed, but if the Young Master himself pinned that girl beneath him—what could she possibly do to stop it?
Su Youwan continued speaking, “Not only that—because Young Master Lu ate my emotions, when a person becomes too far detached from their own emotions… you two wouldn’t understand, but I can describe it—it’s like constant unrest in the heart, easy to fall into inner demons.”
That, of course, was pure nonsense.
One who cultivated the Supreme Path of Forgetting Emotions had no need for emotions in the first place.
But Xia Lianxue and Qiu Yuehan had never practiced such a path, so they truly had no idea whether it was true or false.
Feeling that the air could circulate again, Qiu Yuehan looked at her junior sister’s expression—cold enough to kill—and finally asked, “Then what do you want?”
At last, Su Youwan revealed her true intent.
“I wish to cultivate beside him. When I reach the Seventh Realm and no longer need emotions, I will leave.”
The silver-haired Bodhisattva’s expression remained blank. “I have no interest in Young Master Lu. As long as Miss Xia keeps her man in check, nothing will happen.”
She was one who had transcended worldly attachments.
Indeed, she did not seem interested in men.
Her request sounded reasonable enough. Xia Lianxue had no grounds to refuse, and besides, Heavenly Mountain was not theirs to govern.
So, Heavenly Mountain would now have one more room—for the Little Ancestor of Cihang Palace to cultivate in.
**[The Spirit Clan Is About to Be Annihilated]**
**[The Blood Demon Is About to Emerge]**
Golden words shone brilliantly before Lu Changyuan’s eyes.
Lu Changyuan thought to himself, “Just what are you anyway? Speak up—after all, I helped you drive away the Desire Demon, and now you’re parasitizing me. I’m practically half your father; shouldn’t we be honest with each other?”
The cat within his eyes stayed silent.
It seemed angry.
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes. These eyes had exploded once while fighting the Desire Demon, then later reconstructed themselves.
There was no discomfort at all—if anything, his vision was sharper than ever.
*The Spirit Clan is about to be annihilated?*
What kind of logic was that? Was the Nether Lord planning to slaughter the entire Spirit Clan?
As for the Blood Demon…
Lu Changyuan knew that being—one of the Three Thousand Great Demons—but why would these glowing words suddenly mark its emergence?
From past experience, when two such lines appeared together, they were always connected.
Lu Changyuan muttered inwardly again, “Can you stop with this cryptic stuff and just tell me how to get back?”
“Mmm.”
At some point, the girl in his arms had fallen asleep, her long hair cascading naturally across his legs.
Her peaceful sleeping face seemed to glow softly—as if she were a harmless, adorable girl without any power at all.
But that was an illusion.
In his arms slept the Nether Lord—a terrifying being.
Yet to Lu Changyuan, her sleeping face was almost identical to Qiu Yuehan’s: unguarded, innocent as a child—and then, once awake, as cold as ice.
They were the same person, after all, so the resemblance was unsurprising.
How the Nether Lord had become Qiu Yuehan—that question did not particularly concern him.
She would wake up sooner or later. He could just ask her then. The person was in his hands—how could he not learn the answer?
He truly would have to use the Demon Mark to control this Moon Fairy.
Lu Changyuan’s fingers brushed through the Nether Lord’s hair. The girl tightened her body, curling into a small ball.
The Nether Lord was, in truth, an incredibly lonely being.
Lu Changyuan understood that now—otherwise she would never behave this way toward him, as if terrified he might run away.
The loneliest souls longed most for companionship.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
The Nether Lord spoke softly.
At some point, she had awakened—but instead of moving, she stayed nestled in his arms, blinking up at him.
Lu Changyuan shook his head. “The World Tree is near.”
The Nether Lord hummed in reply.
Suddenly, a familiar artifact appeared in her hand.
The **Sun-Moon Sundial**.
“This is the Sun-Moon Sundial,” she said quietly. “I gathered materials from the Demon Clan and refined it within the Stone Clan. It is my life-bound artifact.”
The World Tree loomed ahead, its countless lights blazing through the dark night. The sight reminded the Nether Lord of her childhood—of another deep night when those hunting her had raised torches that shone like fireflies, like ghosts claiming her life.
The Nether Lord looked toward Lu Changyuan and asked, “Yu, if you were hunted as a child, and now, with your strength grown, you found those who pursued you—what would you do?”
Lu Changyuan paused for a moment. “Kill.”
“Exactly.” The Nether Lord turned to the World Tree. “I am the last of the royal blood. The Spirit Clan was always meant to be mine.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Closer. I can sense the Nether’s aura.”
Atop the colossal World Tree—
An old man with red hair furrowed his brows. “The Nether has truly returned? How could she possess such strength?”
This was **Chi**, one of the elders of the Spirit Clan. He was of the Sixth Realm—almost at Jade Radiance—and a titled venerable of the clan.
Beside him, **Du** clutched her severed, bleeding arm, the blue blood flowing thickly. She nodded with difficulty. “She’s strong—perhaps even stronger than you, Venerable Chi.”
Venerable Chi murmured, “We failed to find her back then, and now it has indeed turned into the greatest calamity. She must have returned for the position of Venerable. The title bestowed by Heaven’s Dao—she cannot be allowed to claim it.”
Du asked softly, “Venerable Chi, is the Nether truly the last of the royal bloodline?”
Through the night sky, Chi seemed to see the Nether Lord’s murderous form.
“She’s the only one left.”
The Spirit Clan was divided between common spirits and the royal line. The royals served as banners; the common spirits guarded them.
But over the past century, the royal line had grown increasingly weak—far inferior to the common spirits—thus deepening the division between them.
Years ago, Heaven’s decree descended:
**[Each race shall select its strongest. Heaven’s Dao will bestow a title of Venerable; those who attain it shall step upon the Great Dao.]**
To “attain the Dao” was to reach Jade Radiance.
That decree had driven the final wedge between the royals and the commoners.
By coincidence, the strongest of the royal line had perished, and under the leadership of Venerables Chi and **Lan**, the common spirits rebelled, seeking Heaven’s Venerable Title. They slaughtered the royals to the brink of extinction.
A figure descended from the crown of the tree—Venerable Lan.
Lan frowned at Du’s injuries. With a wave of his hand, pure vitality flowed from the World Tree into her body. Before their eyes, her wounds began to heal.
Only then did Lan turn to Chi and say, “The Nether used a broken array to summon her Guardian Spirit? If that’s true, then in Heaven’s eyes, she *is* the embodiment of the Spirit Clan. We must expel her once again. The Venerable Title will soon descend—we cannot allow her to return now.”
Chi agreed. “If you and I join forces, we can kill her. She cannot ascend the Great Dao. At best, she’ll stagnate where we stand—forever one step away from enlightenment.”
Two against one.
There was no reason to lose.
Even so, Chi turned to Du and said, “Go find the Blood Clan. Don’t they crave royal blood? The last of it lies here. Let them come claim it themselves.”
Du froze. “Venerable Chi?”
Chi replied coldly, “A precaution.”
During the rebellion, it had not been only Chi and Lan who had exterminated the royals.
The Blood Clan’s shadow was behind it as well.
The Spirit Clan had always despised the Blood Clan. The bloodkin were frail—almost as weak as humans, wriggling like worms.
At least humans could weave fine clothes and farm the land. Many great races kept humans as servants for that reason.
But the Blood Clan—weak and vile—were repulsive.
And yet, in that ancient rebellion, it was those very worms who devoured the Guardian Spirit of the royal line for Chi and Lan—allowing them to wipe the royals from existence.
Du could only obey and leave, to contact those bloodsucking worms.
Chi and Lan exchanged a glance, then both nodded.
Their auras surged, and the great World Tree behind them began to glow with sacred light.
*A little girl dares to talk about cultivation?*
*To reclaim the Spirit Clan? To seize the Venerable Title?*
A swordlight thick with nether energy came sweeping from afar.
Chi raised a hand.
*Crack.*
The swordlight shattered in his grasp.
Chi sneered. “So that’s all she’s capable of. Raised and sheltered by humans—she’s learned a few human tricks. Nothing to fear.”
He thought he’d overestimated her.
To think he had feared a young girl.
Perhaps, with the Heavenly Title soon descending, he had simply grown paranoid.
But before that thought could settle—
The night sky blazed with light. Before the World Tree appeared a colossal hourglass, its sands trickling slowly downward.
Every Spirit clansman could see it.
And an inexplicable dread took hold of their hearts.
*Thump.*
It was as if a great drum had been struck.
Chi and Lan frowned in unison.
Nether energy surged; thick fog rolled forth.
All sight was swallowed by the mist—then, from within, a woman’s voice echoed.
Majestic as the command of a monarch:
“Before the hourglass stops, all who have not knelt before me—die.”
A black radiance swept across the clan.
Every Spirit clansman, including Chi and Lan, found a black hourglass branded upon their foreheads.
The upper half of each hourglass held their lives—and the sand within was slowly falling.